# Judges 3

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/3

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. These are the nations Yahweh left in order to test Israel by them, all those in Israel who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan.
2. It was only so that the generations of the Israelites might know war, to teach it to those who had not known it before:
3. the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
4. They were left to test Israel by them, to find out whether they would obey the commands of Yahweh, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.
5. So the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
6. They took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7. The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh. They forgot Yahweh their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
8. So Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.
9. But when the Israelites cried out to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a deliverer for the Israelites who saved them: Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10. The Spirit of Yahweh came on him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and Yahweh gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hand, so that he overpowered Cushan-rishathaim.
11. So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
12. Once again the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and Yahweh strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of Yahweh.
13. Eglon brought the Ammonites and the Amalekites together with him, went and struck Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.
14. The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15. Then the Israelites cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
16. Ehud made himself a double-edged sword a cubit long, and he strapped it under his clothes on his right thigh.
17. He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.
18. When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried it.
19. But he himself turned back at the carved stones near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The king said, “Silence!” and all his attendants went out from his presence.
20. Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you,” and the king rose from his seat.
21. Ehud reached out with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into the king’s belly.
22. Even the handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, because he did not pull the sword out of his belly, and his bowels emptied.
23. Then Ehud went out into the porch, shut the doors of the upper room behind him, and locked them.
24. After he had gone, the king’s servants came and saw that the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the cool room.”
25. They waited until they were embarrassed, but still he did not open the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened them, and there was their master lying dead on the floor.
26. Ehud escaped while they were waiting. He passed the carved stones and escaped to Seirah.
27. When he arrived, he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with him leading them.
28. He said to them, “Follow me, for Yahweh has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and they did not let anyone cross.
29. At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all of them strong, able-bodied men; not one escaped.
30. So Moab was brought under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.
31. After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.

## Nearby chapters

[Judges 2](https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/2.md)
[Judges 4](https://www.lumin.faith/read/judges/4.md)

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