1 And these are the nations which the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Tester} left in order to test {lə-nas-sōt: examine and prove} Israel by them—all who had not known any of the wars of Canaan.
2 Only that the generations {dorot: family cohorts} of the sons of Israel might know war {milchamah: armed conflict}, teaching it to those who had not known it before.
3 The five rulers {sarnei: governing officials} of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwell in the hill country {har: mountainous region} of Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon to Lebo-Hamath.
4 And they were to test Israel among them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Instructor}, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses {Mosheh: appointed leader}.
5 And the sons of Israel {benei: covenant community} dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites {yebusi: fortified inhabitants}.
6 And they took the daughters of these peoples for themselves as wives {lenashim: marital partners}, and they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods {eloheihem: foreign deities}.
7 And the sons of Israel did evil in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Arbiter}; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs {ha-asherot: Canaanite cult images}.
8 So the anger {af: wrathful emotion} of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Aram-Naharayim. And the sons of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.
9 So the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD {YHWH, Deliverer}, and the LORD raised up a deliverer {moshia: Rescuer} for the sons of Israel, and He saved them—Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10 And the Spirit of the LORD {YHWH, Empowering Sovereign} was upon him, and he judged Israel and went out to battle. And the LORD gave Cushan-Rishathayim {kushan-rishathayim: double wickedness}, king of Aram, into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Cushan-Rishathayim.
11 And the land rested {tishkot: cessation of conflict} for forty years; and Othniel {otniel: first judge of Israel}, the son of Kenaz, died.
12 And the sons of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, and the LORD strengthened Eglon, king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil {hara: moral corruption} in the eyes of the LORD.
13 And he gathered {asaf: assembled forces} to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and struck Israel, and they took possession of the city of the palms {temarim: palm grove}.
14 And the sons of Israel served {vayyaavdu: forced labor} Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years {shmoneh esreh shanah: period of oppression}.
15 And the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD {YHWH, Deliverer}, and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer—Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man {itter: limited/right-hand impaired}. The sons of Israel sent tribute by his hand to Eglon, king of Moab.
16 And Ehud made for himself a sword {kherev: close-combat weapon} with two edges; its length was a cubit, and he girded it under his garments {maddav: upper garments} on his right thigh.
17 And he brought near {yakrev: ceremonially presented} the tribute {minchah: official offering} to Eglon king of Moab, and Eglon was a very fat man.
18 And it happened when he had finished presenting the offering{minchah: tribute gift}, that he sent away the people bearing{noseei: those who carried} the offering.
19 But he turned back from the carved images {pseelim: pagan idols} at Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message {davarseter: confidential word} for you, O king.” Then the king said, “Silence.” And all who stood around him went out from his presence.
20 And Ehud came to him, and he was seated in the upper room of the cool chamber {haməqērāh, cool chamber} that was his alone. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God {Elohim, Message Originator} for you.” And he rose from his seat.
21 Then Ehud {Ehud: deliverer} reached out his left hand {yad: instrument of action} and took the sword from upon his right thigh and thrust it into his belly.
22 And the handle {nitzav: shaft component} also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the refuse {parshdonah: bodily waste} went out.
23 And Ehud went out through the porch, then he shut the doors of the upper room behind him {baado: barrier effect}, and he locked them {vena al: secured tightly}.
24 And he went out, and his servants came, and they saw—behold, the doors of the upper room were locked. And they said, “Surely he is relieving himself {mesikh: attending bodily needs} in the privy chamber {hamekerah: cool room}.”
25 And they waited until they were ashamed, and behold, he was not opening the doors of the upper room. So they took the key {mafteaḥ: locking instrument} and opened them, and there lay their lord {adoneihem: master of the house}, fallen to the ground, dead.
26 But Ehud escaped while they were delaying {hitmahmeham: lingering in hesitation}. He passed by the idols {pseilim: carved images} and escaped to Seirah.
27 And it came to pass when he arrived that he blew {vayitka: signaled mobilization} the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill, and he stood before them {lifnehem: leading position}.
28 And he said to them, “Follow after me, for the LORD {YHWH, Deliverer} has given your enemies—Moab—into your hand.” They then went down after him and captured the fords {maavrot: river crossings} of the Jordan toward Moab, and they did not allow anyone to cross over.
29 And they struck down Moab at that time, about ten thousand men {ish: adult male} and all robust {shamen: vigorous/healthy} and every man of valor, and not a man escaped.
30 So Moab was subdued on that day under the hand of Israel, and the land {ha-aretz: territorial region} was quiet for eighty years {shemonim: complete set}.
31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, and he struck down six hundred men of the Philistines with an oxgoad {malmed: pointed staff for driving cattle}, and he also saved Israel {Yisrael: covenant nation}.