Judges 3:12-30

¹²Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees. ¹⁴The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵But when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak. ¹⁷He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸It came about when he had finished presenting the tribute, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. ¹⁹But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he said, “Keep silence.” And all who attended him left him. ²⁰Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. ²²The handle 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 came out. ²³Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.

²⁴When he had gone out, his servants came and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, “He is only relieving himself in the cool room.” ²⁵They waited until they became anxious; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the floor dead.

²⁶Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷It came about when he had arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was in front of them. ²⁸He said to them, “Pursue them, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross. ²⁹They struck down at that time about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was undisturbed for eighty years.