(KJV) Judges 31

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⥃Nations Left to Test Israel

[1] Now these [are] the nations2 which the Lord left, to prove3 Israel by them, [even] as many [of Israel] as had not4 known all the wars of Canaan;5 [2] Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know6, to teach7 them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; [3] [Namely], five lords8 of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites9, and the Sidonians10, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount11 Lebanon, from mount Baal–hermon unto the entering in of Hamath. [4] And they were to prove12 Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

[5] [¶]And the children of Israel dwelt13 among the Canaanites14, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: [6] And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.15

⥃Othniel

[7] And the children of Israel did evil16 in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves17.

[8] Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot18 against Israel, and he sold19 them into the hand of Chushan–rishathaim20 king of Mesopotamia21: and the children of Israel served Chushan–rishathaim eight years.22 [9] And when the children of Israel cried23 unto the Lord, the Lord raised up24 a deliverer25 to the children of Israel, who delivered them, [even] Othniel26 the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.27 [10] And the Spirit28 of the Lord came29 upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushan–rishathaim king of Mesopotamia30 into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan–rishathaim. [11] And the land31 had rest forty years. And Othniel32 the son of Kenaz died.

⥃Ehud

[12] And the children of Israel did evil33 again in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord34 strengthened Eglon the king35 of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.36 [13] And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon37 and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city38 of palm trees. [14] So the children of Israel served39 Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. [15] But when the children of Israel cried unto40 the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite41, a man lefthanded42: and by him the children of Israel sent a present43 unto Eglon the king of Moab.44 [16] But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges45, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon46 his right thigh. [17] And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon [was] a very fat47 man. [18] And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. [19] But he himself turned again from the quarries48 that [were] by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret49 errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that50 stood by him went out from him. [20] And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour51, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have52 a message from God unto thee. And he arose53 out of [his] seat. [21] And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it54 into his belly: [22] And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out55. [23] Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. [24] When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour [were] locked, they said, Surely he covereth56 his feet in his summer chamber. [25] And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened [them]: and, behold, their lord [was] fallen down dead on the earth. [26] And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries57, and escaped unto Seirath. [27] And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew58 a trumpet in the mountain59 of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. [28] And he said unto them, Follow60 after me: for the Lord61 hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords62 of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. [29] And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty63, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. [30] So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land64 had rest fourscore years.

⥃Shamgar

[31] [¶]And after him was Shamgar65 the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad66: and he also67 delivered Israel68.

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  1. Judg 3:1, The nations which were left to prove Israel; Judg 3:5, By communion with them they commit idolatry; Judg 3:8, Othniel delivered them from Chushan–rishathaim; Judg 3:12, Ehud from Eglon; Judg 3:31, and Shamgar from the Philistines. ↩

  2. Judg 2:21-22; Deut 7:22 ↩

  3. Deut 8:2, Deut 8:16; 2Chr 32:31; Job 23:10; Prov 17:3; Jer 6:27, Jer 17:9-10; Zech 13:9; John 2:24; 1Pet 1:7, 1Pet 4:12; Rev 2:23 ↩

  4. Judg 2:10 ↩

  5. am 2561, bc 1443, An, Ex, Is, 48 ↩

  6. Gen 2:17, Gen 3:5, Gen 3:7; 2Chr 12:8; Matt 10:34-39; John 16:33; 1Cor 9:26-27; Eph 6:11-18; 1Tim 6:12; 2Tim 2:3, 2Tim 4:7 ↩

  7. Their fathers fought by a divine power. God taught their hands to war and their fingers to fight, that they might be the instruments of destruction to the wicked nations on whom the curse rested; but now that they had forfeited His favour, they must learn what it is to fight like other men. ↩

  8. Judg 10:7, Judg 14:4; Josh 13:3; 1Sam 4:1-2, 1Sam 6:18, 1Sam 13:5, 1Sam 13:19-23, 1Sam 29:2 ↩

  9. Judg 4:2, Judg 4:23-24; Gen 10:15-19; Num 13:29 ↩

  10. Judg 10:12, Judg 18:7; Gen 49:13; Josh 11:8-13, Josh 19:28 ↩

  11. Num 34:8; Deut 1:7, Deut 3:9; Josh 11:3, Josh 13:5 ↩

  12. Judg 3:1, Judg 2:22; Exod 15:25; Deut 33:8; 1Cor 11:19; 2Thess 2:9-12 ↩

  13. Judg 1:29-32; Ps 106:34-38 ↩

  14. Gen 10:15-18, Gen 15:19-21; Exod 3:8, Exod 3:17; Deut 7:1; Josh 9:1; Neh 9:8 ↩

  15. Exod 34:16; Deut 7:3-4; 1Kgs 11:1-5; Ezra 9:11-12; Neh 13:23-27; Ezek 16:3 ↩

  16. Judg 3:12, Judg 2:11-13 ↩

  17. Judg 6:25; Exod 34:13; Deut 16:21; 1Kgs 16:33, 1Kgs 18:19; 2Kgs 23:6, 2Kgs 23:14; 2Chr 15:16, 2Chr 24:18, 2Chr 33:3, 2Chr 33:19, 2Chr 34:3, 2Chr 34:7 ↩

  18. Judg 2:14, Judg 2:20; Exod 22:24; Deut 29:20; Ps 6:1, Ps 85:3 ↩

  19. Judg 2:14, Judg 4:9; Deut 32:30; 1Sam 12:9; Isa 50:1; Rom 7:14 ↩

  20. Hab 3:7 ↩

  21. Heb. Aram-naharaim. Aramnaharayim, "Syria of the two rivers," or Mesopotamia, "between the rivers," is a famous province situated between the Tigris and Euphrates. It is called by Arabian geographers, Maverannaher, "the country beyond the river;" and is now called Diarbek. ↩

  22. am 2591, bc 1413, An, Ex, Is, 78 ↩

  23. Judg 3:15, Judg 4:3, Judg 6:7, Judg 10:10; 1Sam 12:10; Neh 9:27; Ps 22:5, Ps 78:34, Ps 106:41-44; Ps 107:13-19 ↩

  24. Judg 2:16 ↩

  25. Heb. saviour ↩

  26. Judg 1:13 ↩

  27. am 2599, bc 1405, An, Ex, Is, 86 ↩

  28. Judg 6:34, Judg 11:29, Judg 13:25, Judg 14:6, Judg 14:19; Num 11:17, Num 27:18; 1Sam 10:6, 1Sam 11:6, 1Sam 16:13; 2Chr 15:1, 2Chr 20:14; Ps 51:11; 1Cor 12:4-11; Heb 6:4 ↩

  29. Heb. was ↩

  30. Heb. Aram ↩

  31. Judg 3:30, Judg 5:31, Judg 8:28; Josh 11:23; Esth 9:22 ↩

  32. Judg 3:9; Josh 15:17; 1Chr 4:13 ↩

  33. Judg 2:19; Hos 6:4 ↩

  34. Exod 9:16; 2Kgs 5:1; Isa 10:15, Isa 37:26, Isa 45:1-4; Ezek 38:16; Dan 4:22; Dan 5:18; John 19:11 ↩

  35. 1Sam 12:9 ↩

  36. am 2662, bc 1342, An, Ex, Is, 148 ↩

  37. Judg 5:14; Ps 83:6 ↩

  38. Judg 1:16; Deut 34:3; Ps 83:7 ↩

  39. Lev 26:23-25; Deut 28:40, Deut 28:47-48 ↩

  40. Judg 3:9; Ps 50:15, Ps 78:34, Ps 90:15; Jer 29:12-13, Jer 33:3 ↩

  41. or, the son of Jemini ↩

  42. Heb. shut of his right hand, This Hebrew phrase intimates that, either through disease or disuse, he made little or no use of the right hand, but of his left only, and so was the less fit for war, because he would most likely wield a dagger awkwardly. Yet God chose this left-handed man to be the minister of his retributive justice. It was God's right hand that gained Israel the victory, Ps 44:3; not the right hand of the instruments he employed. Judg 20:16; 1Chr 12:2 ↩

  43. 1Sam 10:27; Prov 18:16, Prov 19:6, Prov 21:14; Isa 36:16 ↩

  44. am 2679, bc 1325, An, Ex, Is, 166 ↩

  45. Ps 149:6; Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16, Rev 2:12 ↩

  46. Judg 3:21; Ps 45:3; Song 3:8 ↩

  47. Judg 3:29 *marg. 1Sam 2:29; Job 15:27; Ps 73:7, Ps 73:19; Jer 5:28, Jer 50:11; Ezek 34:20 ↩

  48. or graven images, Josh 4:20 ↩

  49. Judg 3:20; 2Kgs 9:5-6; Acts 23:18-19 ↩

  50. Gen 45:1 ↩

  51. Heb. a parlour of cooling, The aleeyah, or upper chamber, seems to have been of the same description as the oleah of the Arabs, but properly ventilated, described by Dr. Shaw, who says, that to most of their houses there is a smaller one annexed, which sometimes rises one story higher than the house; at other times, it consists of one or two rooms only, and a terrace; while others that are built, as they frequently are, over the porch or gateway, have, if we except the ground floor, which they want, all the conveniences that belong to the house itself. There is a door of communication from them into the gallery of the house; besides another, which opens immediately from a private staircase, down into the porch or street, without giving the least disturbance to the house. In these back houses strangers are usually lodged and entertained; and to them likewise the men are wont to retire from the noise and hurry of their families, to be more at leisure for mediation or diversions. Amos 3:15 ↩

  52. Judg 3:19; 2Sam 12:1-15, 2Sam 24:12; Mic 6:9 ↩

  53. Ps 29:1; Jer 10:7 ↩

  54. Num 25:7-8; 1Sam 15:33; Job 20:25; Zech 13:3; 2Cor 5:16 ↩

  55. or, it came out at the fundament, Judg 3:22 ↩

  56. etc. or, doeth his easement, 1Sam 24:3 ↩

  57. Judg 3:19 ↩

  58. Judg 5:14, Judg 6:34; 1Sam 13:3; 2Sam 20:22; 2Kgs 9:13 ↩

  59. Judg 7:24, Judg 17:1, Judg 19:1; Josh 17:15, Josh 17:18 ↩

  60. Judg 4:10, Judg 7:17 ↩

  61. Judg 7:9, Judg 7:15; 1Sam 17:47 ↩

  62. Judg 12:5; Josh 2:7 ↩

  63. Heb. fat, Judg 3:17; Deut 32:15; Job 15:27; Ps 17:10 ↩

  64. Judg 3:11, Judg 5:31 ↩

  65. Judg 5:6, Judg 5:8 ↩

  66. This implement, Mr. Maundrell informs us, in Palestine and Syria is of an extraordinary size. He measured several, and "found them about eight feet long; and at the bigger end about six inches in circumference. They were armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving the oxen; and at the other end with a small paddle of iron, strong and massive, for cleansing the plough from the clay. In the hand of a powerful man such an instrument must be more dangerous and fatal than a sword." Judg 15:15; 1Sam 13:19-22, 1Sam 17:47, 1Sam 17:50; 1Cor 1:17 ↩

  67. Judg 2:16 ↩

  68. "So part is called Israel." Judg 4:1, Judg 4:3-24, Judg 10:7, Judg 10:17, Judg 11:4-33; 1Sam 4:1 "It seems to concern only the country next to the Philistines." ↩