The Judges & Ruth

Then he presented the tribute to 'Eglon king of Mo'av. Now 'Eglon was a very fat man.

When he had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had brought it.

But he himself, after reaching the quarries at Gilgal, went back and said, "King, I have a secret message for you." The king commanded silence, and all his attendants withdrew.

Ehud came to him; he was sitting alone by himself in his upstairs room, where it was cool. Ehud said: "I have a message from God for you." As the king arose from his seat,

Ehud reached out with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into the king's belly.

The hilt too went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, so that it came out behind.

Then Ehud went out onto the porch, shut the doors of the upstairs room behind him and locked them.

After Ehud had left, the king's servants came. Seeing that the doors of the upper room were locked, they said, "He must be relieving himself in the inner part of the cool room."

They waited until they became embarrassed, but he still didn't open the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened them; and there before them lay their master, dead on the ground.

But while they were delaying, Ehud escaped- he passed beyond the quarries and arrived safely in Se'irah.

Upon arrival in the hills of Efrayim, he began sounding the call on the shofar; and the people of Isra'el went down with him from the hill-country; he himself took the lead.

He said to them: "Follow me, because ADONAI has given your enemy Mo'av into your hands. They went down after him, seized the fords of the Yarden opposite Mo'av and permitted no one to cross.

On that occasion they defeated Mo'av, some ten thousand men, all tough, experienced soldiers; not one of them escaped.

Thus was Mo'av subdued that day under the power of Isra'el. Then the land had rest for eighty years.

After Ehud came Shamgar the son of 'Anat, who killed 600 P'lishtim with an oxgoad; and he too rescued Isra'el.

But after Ehud had died, the people of Isra'el again did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective.

So ADONAI handed them over to Yavin king of Kena'an. He ruled from Hatzor; and the commander of his army was Sisra, who lived in Haroshet-HaGoyim.

The people of Isra'el cried out to ADONAI, because he had 900 iron chariots, and for twenty years he cruelly oppressed the people of Isra'el.

Now D'vorah, a woman and a prophet, the wife of Lapidot, was judging Isra'el at that time.

She used to sit under D'vorah's Palm between Ramah and Beit-El, in the hills of Efrayim; and the people of Isra'el would come to her for judgment.

She sent for Barak the son of Avino'am, from Kedesh in Naftali, and said to him: "ADONAI has given you this order: 'Go, march to Mount Tavor, and take with you 10,000 men from the people of Naftali and Z'vulun.

I will cause Sisra, the commander of Yavin's army, to encounter you at the Kishon River with his chariots and troops; and I will hand him over to you.'"

Barak answered her: "If you go with me, I'll go; but if you won't go with me, I won't go."

She replied, "Yes, I will gladly go with you; but the way you are doing it will bring you no glory; because ADONAI will hand Sisra over to a woman." Then D'vorah set out and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Barak summoned Z'vulun and Naftali to come to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him, and D'vorah went up with him.