Judges 3-4

Contemporary English Version

3 ^1-2 And the Lord had another reason for letting these enemies stay. The Israelites needed to learn how to fight in war, just as their ancestors had done. Each new generation would have to learn by fighting ³ the Philistines and their five rulers, as well as the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites that lived in the Lebanon Mountains from Mount Baal-Hermon to Hamath Pass.^[a]

⁴ Moses had told the Israelites what the Lord had commanded them to do, and now the Lord was using these nations to find out if Israel would obey. ^5-6 But they refused. And some of them even married Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who lived all around them. That's how they started worshiping foreign gods.

Othniel

⁷ The Israelites sinned against the Lord by forgetting him and worshiping idols of Baal and Astarte. ⁸ This made the Lord angry, so he let Israel be defeated by King Cushan Rishathaim of northern Syria,^[b] who ruled Israel eight years and made everyone pay taxes. ⁹ The Israelites begged the Lord for help, and so he chose Othniel to rescue them. Othniel was the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz.^{[c] 10} The Spirit of the Lord took control of Othniel, and he led Israel in a war against Cushan Rishathaim. The Lord let Othniel win, ¹¹ and Israel was at peace until Othniel died about 40 years later.

Ehud

¹² Once more the Israelites started disobeying the Lord. So he let them be defeated by King Eglon of Moab, ¹³ who had joined forces with the Ammonites and the Amalekites to attack Israel. Eglon and his army captured Jericho.^{[d] 14} Then he ruled Israel for 18 years and forced the Israelites to pay heavy taxes.

^15-16 The Israelites begged the Lord for help, and the Lord chose Ehud^[e] from the Benjamin tribe to rescue them. They put Ehud in charge of taking the taxes to King Eglon, but before Ehud went, he made a double-edged dagger. Ehud was left-handed, so he strapped the dagger to his right thigh, where it was hidden under his robes.

^17-18 Ehud and some other Israelites took the taxes to Eglon, who was a very fat man. As soon as they gave the taxes to Eglon, Ehud said it was time to go home.

^19-20 Ehud went with the other Israelites as far as the statues^[f] at Gilgal.^[g] Then he turned back and went upstairs to the room^[h] where Eglon had his throne. Ehud said, “Your Majesty, I need to talk with you in private.”

Eglon replied, “Don't say anything yet!” His officials left the room, and Eglon stood up as Ehud came closer.

“Yes,” Ehud said, “I have a message for you from God!” ²¹ Ehud pulled out the dagger with his left hand and shoved it so far into Eglon's stomach ^22-23 that even the handle was buried in his fat. Ehud left the dagger there. Then after closing and locking the doors to the room, he climbed through a window onto the porch^{[i] 24} and left.

When the king's officials came back and saw that the doors were locked, they said, “The king is probably inside relieving himself.” ²⁵ They stood there waiting until they felt foolish, but Eglon still didn't open the doors. Finally, they unlocked the doors and found King Eglon lying dead on the floor. ²⁶ But by that time, Ehud had already escaped past the statues.^[j]

Ehud went to the town of Seirah ^27-28 in the hill country of Ephraim and started blowing a trumpet as a signal to call the Israelites together. When they came, he shouted, “Follow me! The Lord will help us defeat the Moabites.”

The Israelites followed Ehud down to the Jordan valley, and they captured the places where people cross the river on the way to Moab. They would not let anyone go across, ²⁹ and before the fighting was over, they killed about 10,000 Moabite warriors—not one escaped alive.

³⁰ Moab was so badly defeated that it was a long time before they were strong enough to attack Israel again. And Israel was at peace for 80 years.

Shamgar

³¹ Shamgar the son of Anath was the next to rescue Israel. In one battle, he used a sharp wooden pole^[k] to kill 600 Philistines.

Deborah and Barak

4 After the death of Ehud, the Israelites again started disobeying the Lord. ² So the Lord let the Canaanite King Jabin of Hazor conquer Israel. Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, lived in Harosheth-Ha-Goiim. ³ Jabin's army had 900 iron chariots, and for 20 years he made life miserable for the Israelites, until finally they begged the Lord for help.

⁴ Deborah the wife of Lappidoth was a prophet and a leader^[l] of Israel during those days. ⁵ She would sit under Deborah's Palm Tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where Israelites would come and ask her to settle their legal cases.

⁶ One day, Barak the son of Abinoam was in Kedesh in Naphtali, and Deborah sent word for him to come and talk with her. When he arrived, she said:

I have a message for you from the Lord God of Israel! You are to get together an army of 10,000 men from the Naphtali and Zebulun tribes and lead them to Mount Tabor. ⁷ The Lord will trick Sisera into coming out to fight you at the Kishon River. Sisera will be leading King Jabin's army as usual, and they will have their chariots, but the Lord has promised to help you defeat them.

⁸ “I'm not going unless you go!” Barak told her.

⁹ “All right, I'll go!” she replied. “But I'm warning you that the Lord is going to let a woman defeat Sisera, and no one will honor you for winning the battle.”

Deborah and Barak left for Kedesh, ¹⁰ where Barak called together the troops from Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand soldiers gathered there, and Barak led them out from Kedesh. Deborah went too.

¹¹ At this time, Heber of the Kenite clan was living near the village of Oak in Zaanannim,^[m] not far from Kedesh. The Kenites were descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, but Heber had moved and had set up his tents away from the rest of the clan.

¹² When Sisera learned that Barak had led an army to Mount Tabor, ¹³ he called his troops together and got all 900 iron chariots ready. Then he led his army away from Harosheth-Ha-Goiim to the Kishon River.

¹⁴ Deborah shouted, “Barak, it's time to attack Sisera! Because today the Lord is going to help you defeat him. In fact, the Lord has already gone on ahead to fight for you.”

Barak led his 10,000 troops down from Mount Tabor. ¹⁵ And during the battle, the Lord confused Sisera, his chariot drivers, and his whole army. Everyone was so afraid of Barak and his army, that even Sisera jumped down from his chariot and tried to escape. ¹⁶ Barak's forces went after Sisera's chariots and army as far as Harosheth-Ha-Goiim.

Sisera's entire army was wiped out. ¹⁷ Only Sisera escaped. He ran to Heber's camp, because Heber and his family had a peace treaty with the king of Hazor. Sisera went to the tent that belonged to Jael, Heber's wife. ¹⁸ She came out to greet him and said, “Come in, sir! Please come on in. Don't be afraid.”

After they had gone inside, Sisera lay down, and Jael covered him with a blanket. ¹⁹ “Could I have a little water?” he asked. “I'm thirsty.”

Jael opened a leather bottle and poured him some milk, then she covered him back up.

²⁰ “Stand at the entrance to the tent,” Sisera told her. “If someone comes by and asks if anyone is inside, tell them ‘No.’ ”

²¹ Sisera was exhausted and soon fell fast asleep. Jael took a hammer and drove a tent-peg through his head into the ground, and he died.

²² Meanwhile, Barak had been following Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “The man you're looking for is inside,” she said. “Come in and I'll show him to you.”

They went inside, and there was Sisera—dead and stretched out with a tent-peg through his skull.

²³ That same day God defeated the Canaanite King Jabin while the Israelites looked on, and his army was no longer powerful enough to attack the Israelites. ²⁴ Jabin grew weaker while the Israelites kept growing stronger, until at last the Israelites destroyed him.