The Judges & Ruth

And he presented the gifts to Eglon, king of Moab Now Eglon was exceeding fat.

And when he had presented the gifts unto him he followed his companions that came along with him.

Then returning from Galgal, where the idols were, he said to the king: I have a secret message to thee, O king. And he commanded silence: and all being gone out that were about him,

Aod went in to him: now he was sitting in a summer parlour alone, and he said: I have a word from God to thee. And he forthwith rose up from his throne.

And Aod put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly,

With such force that the haft went in after the blade into the wound, and was closed up with the abundance of fat. So that he did not draw out the dagger, but left it in the body as he had struck it in: and forthwith, by the secret parts of nature, the excrements of the belly came out.

And Aod carefully shutting the doors of the parlour, and locking them,

Went out by a postern door. And the king's servants going in, saw the doors of the parlour shut, and they said: Perhaps he is easing nature in his summer parlour.

And waiting a long time, till they were ashamed, and seeing that no man opened the door, they took a key: and opening, they found their lord lying dead on the ground.

But Aod, while they were in confusion, escaped, and passed by the place of the idols from whence he had returned. And he came to Seirath:

And forthwith he sounded the trumpet in Mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel went down with him, he himself going in the front.

And he said to them: Follow me: for the Lord hath delivered our enemies, the Moabites, into our hands. And they went down after him, and seized upon the fords of the Jordan, which are in the way to Moab: and they suffered no man to pass over:

But they slew of the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand, all strong and valiant men: none of them could escape.

And Moab was humbled that day under the hand of Israel: and the land rested eighty years.

After him was Samgar, the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with a ploughshare: and he also defended Israel.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord after the death of Aod:

And the Lord delivered them up into the hands of Jabin, king of Chanaan, who reigned in Asor: and he had a general of his army named Sisara, and he dwelt in Haroseth of the Gentiles.

And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots set with scythes and for twenty years had grievously oppressed them.

And there was at that time Debbora, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, who judged the people.

And she sat under a palm tree, which was called by her name, between Rama and Bethel, in Mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for all judgment.

And she sent and called Barac, the Son of Abinoem, out of Cedes, in Nephthali: and she said to him: The Lord God of Israel hath commanded thee: Go, and lead an army to Mount Thabor, and thou shalt take with thee ten thousand fighting men of the children of Nephthali, and of the children of Zabulon:

And I will bring unto thee in the place of the torrent Cison, Sisara, the general of Jabin's army, and his chariots, and all his multitude, and will deliver them into thy hand.

And Barac said to her: If thou wilt come with me, I will go: if thou wilt not come with me, I will not go.

She said to him: I will go, indeed, with thee, but at this time the victory shall not be attributed to thee, because Sisara shall be delivered into the hand of a woman. Debbora therefore arose, and went with Barac to Cedes.

And he called unto him Zabulon and Nephthali, and went up with ten thousand fighting men, having Debbora in his company.