1Herren lod altså nogle folk blive i landet for at sætte den nye generation af israelitter på prøve, dem, der ikke selv havde været med i krigen mod kana’anæerne. 2Det gjorde han, for at de kunne lære at kæmpe og blive erfarne krigere. 3De folk, som var tilbage i landet, var: filistrene i deres fem byer, kana’anæerne, sidonierne og hivvitterne i Libanons bjerge fra Ba’al-Hermon til Lebo-Hamat. 4Dem ville Herren bruge til at sætte den nye generation af israelitter på prøve for at se, om de ville adlyde de befalinger, han havde givet deres forfædre gennem Moses.
5Israelitterne levede altså side om side med kana’anæerne, hittitterne, amoritterne, perizzitterne, hivvitterne og jebusitterne, 6og de blandede sig med dem ved at lade deres sønner og døtre gifte sig ind i deres familier, og de dyrkede deres guder.
Otniel som befrier
7Israelitterne gjorde, hvad der var ondt i Herrens øjne. De vendte sig fra Herren, deres Gud, og dyrkede i stedet afgudsbilleder af Ba’al og Ashera. 8Da blussede Herrens vrede op imod Israel, og han tillod kong Kushan-Rishatajim af Aram-Naharajim3,8 Den nordvestlige del af Mesopotamien. at besejre dem, så de var underkastet hans herredømme i otte år.
9Men da Israels folk råbte til Herren om hjælp, sendte han en befrier, nemlig Otniel, der var søn af Kalebs yngre bror, Kenaz. 10Herrens Ånd kom over ham, og han blev befrier i Israel. Han gik til angreb mod kong Kushan-Rishatajim og besejrede ham ved Herrens hjælp. 11De næste 40 år var der fred i landet, indtil Otniel døde.
Ehud som befrier
12Igen gjorde israelitterne, hvad der var ondt i Herrens øjne. Så lod Herren kong Eglon af Moab erobre landet. 13Sammen med ammonitterne og amalekitterne besejrede han israelitterne og indtog Palmernes By, Jeriko. 14De næste 18 år var israelitterne underkastet kong Eglon.
15Men da Israel råbte til Herren om hjælp, sendte han dem en ny befrier: Ehud, Geras søn af Benjamins stamme. Han var venstrehåndet. Engang skulle Ehud lede en delegation, der skulle overbringe den årlige skatteafgift fra israelitterne til kong Eglon af Moab. 16Inden han tog hjemmefra, lavede han sig et tveægget sværd, der var en halv meter langt, og spændte det fast ved sin højre side, så det var gemt under hans kappe. 17Han afleverede afgiften til kong Eglon, der var en meget tyk mand, 18og begav sig derefter på vej hjem sammen med de mænd, som havde hjulpet ham med at transportere pengene.
19Men da de nåede til billedstøtterne ved Gilgal, vendte han om og gik tilbage. Ved ankomsten gav han melding om, at han havde et hemmeligt budskab til kongen. „Lad ham komme til mig alene!” befalede kongen, og alle de tilstedeværende gik ud af kongens værelse. 20Da Ehud kom ind i det kølige værelse ovenpå, hvor kongen sad alene, sagde han: „Jeg har et budskab til dig fra Gud.” Idet kong Eglon rejste sig fra sin stol, 21trak Ehud med venstre hånd sværdet, som sad ved hans højre side, og stak det dybt ind i maven på kongen, 22så dybt, at skæftet forsvandt sammen med klingen under fedtlaget. Ehud lod sværdet blive siddende. 23Så gik han ud i søjlegangen, lukkede og låste døren til værelset efter sig og gik sin vej.
24Da han var gået, kom kongens tjenere og så, at døren var låst. „Han er nok gået på toilettet,” tænkte de. 25De ventede længe, men da han ikke åbnede døren til værelset, blev de bekymrede og hentede en nøgle. Da de åbnede døren, fandt de deres herre liggende død på gulvet.
26Mens tjenerne stod og ventede, slap Ehud bort forbi stenstøtterne og videre til Seira. 27Da han var nået sikkert til Efraims højland, satte han vædderhornet for munden og blæste signalet til krig. 28„Følg efter mig!” råbte han. „For Herren vil give jer sejr over vores fjender, moabitterne.”
Hæren fulgte ham, og de besatte vadestederne ved Jordanfloden, så moabitterne ikke kunne komme over. 29Derefter gik de til angreb og dræbte 10.000 af moabitternes tapre og stærke krigere, ikke en eneste undslap. 30Den dag led Moab et sviende nederlag til Israel, hvorefter der var fred i landet de næste 80 år.
31Den næste befrier var Shamgar, Anats søn, som engang reddede Israel ved at slå 600 filistre ihjel med en pigstav.
1The Lord left some nations in the land. He left them to test the Israelites who hadn’t lived through any of the wars in Canaan. 2He wanted to teach the men in Israel who had never been in battle before. He wanted them to learn how to fight. 3So he left the five rulers of the Philistines. He left the people of Canaan and the people of Sidon. He left the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains. They lived in the area between Mount Baal Hermon and Lebo Hamath. 4The Lord left those nations where they were to test the Israelites. He wanted to see whether they would obey his commands. He had given those commands through Moses to their people of long ago.
5So the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6They married the daughters of those people. They gave their own daughters to the sons of those people. And they served the gods of those people.
Othniel
7The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God. They served gods that were named Baal. They also served female gods that were named Asherah. 8So the Lord was very angry with Israel. He handed them over to the power of Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Aram Naharaim. For eight years Israel was under his rule. 9They cried out to the Lord. Then he provided someone to save them. The man’s name was Othniel, the son of Kenaz. He was Caleb’s younger brother. 10The Spirit of the Lord came on Othniel. So he became Israel’s leader. He went to war. The Lord handed over to him Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Aram. Othniel won the battle over him. 11So the land was at peace for 40 years. Then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.
Ehud
12Again the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord gave Eglon power over Israel. Eglon was the king of Moab. 13He got the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him. All of them came and attacked Israel. They captured Jericho. Jericho was also known as The City of Palm Trees. 14For 18 years the Israelites were under the rule of Eglon, the king of Moab.
15Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord. Then he provided someone to save them. The man’s name was Ehud, the son of Gera. Ehud was left-handed. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. The Israelites sent Ehud to Eglon, the king of Moab. They sent him to give the king what he required them to bring him. 16Ehud had made a sword that had two edges. It was about a foot and a half long. He tied it to his right leg under his clothes. 17Eglon, the king of Moab, was a very fat man. Ehud gave him the gift he had brought. 18After that, Ehud sent away those who had carried it. 19When he came to the place where some statues of gods stood near Gilgal, Ehud went back to Eglon. He said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”
The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And all his attendants left him.
20Then Ehud approached him. King Eglon was sitting alone in the upstairs room of his palace. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So the king got up from his seat. 21Then Ehud reached out his left hand. He pulled out the sword tied to his right leg. He stuck it into the king’s stomach. 22Even the handle sank in after the blade. Eglon sagged and fell to the floor. Ehud didn’t pull out the sword. And the fat closed over it. 23Ehud went out to the porch. He shut the doors of the upstairs room behind him. Then he locked them.
24After he had gone, the servants came. They found the doors of the upstairs room locked. They said, “Eglon must be going to the toilet in the inside room of the palace.” 25They waited for a long time. They waited so long they became worried. But the king still didn’t open the doors of the room. So they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their king. He had fallen to the floor and was dead.
26While Eglon’s servants had been waiting, Ehud had gotten away. He passed by the statues of gods and escaped to Seirah. 27There in the hill country of Ephraim he blew a trumpet. Then he led the Israelites down from the hills.
28“Follow me,” Ehud ordered. “The Lord has handed your enemy Moab over to you.” So they followed him down. They took over the only places where people could go across the Jordan River to get to Moab. They didn’t let anyone go across. 29At that time they struck down about 10,000 men of Moab. All those men were strong and powerful. But not even one escaped. 30That day Moab was brought under the rule of Israel. So the land was at peace for 80 years.
Shamgar
31After Ehud, Shamgar became the next leader. He was the son of Anath. Shamgar struck down 600 Philistines with a large, pointed stick used to drive oxen. He too saved Israel.
