The Judges & Ruth

and he bringeth near the present to Eglon king of Moab, and Eglon is a very fat man.

And it cometh to pass, when he hath finished to bring near the present, that he sendeth away the people bearing the present,

and he himself hath turned back from the graven images which are at Gilgal, and saith, `A secret word I have unto thee, O king;' and he saith, `Hush!' and go out from him do all those standing by him.

And Ehud hath come unto him, and he is sitting in the upper chamber of the wall which he hath for himself, and Ehud saith, `A word of God I have unto thee;' and he riseth from off the throne;

and Ehud putteth forth his left hand, and taketh the sword from off his right thigh, and striketh it into his belly;

and the haft also goeth in after the blade, and the fat shutteth on the blade, that he hath not drawn the sword out of his belly, and it goeth out at the fundament.

And Ehud goeth out at the porch, and shutteth the doors of the upper chamber upon him, and hath bolted it ;

and he hath gone out, and his servants have come in, and look, and lo, the doors of the upper chamber are bolted, and they say, `He is only covering his feet in the inner chamber of the wall.'

And they stay till confounded, and lo, he is not opening the doors of the upper chamber, and they take the key, and open, and lo, their lord is fallen to the earth--dead.

And Ehud escaped during their tarrying, and hath passed by the images, and is escaped to Seirath.

And it cometh to pass, in his coming in, that he bloweth with a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim, and go down with him do the sons of Israel from the hill-country, and he before them;

and he saith unto them, `Pursue after me, for Jehovah hath given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand;' and they go down after him, and capture the passages of the Jordan towards Moab, and have not permitted a man to pass over.

And they smite Moab at that time, about ten thousand men, all robust, and every one a man of valour, and not a man hath escaped,

and Moab is humbled in that day under the hand of Israel; and the land resteth eighty years.

And after him hath been Shamgar son of Anath, and he smiteth the Philistines--six hundred men--with an ox-goad, and he saveth--he also--Israel.

And the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah when Ehud is dead,

and Jehovah selleth them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who hath reigned in Hazor, and the head of his host is Sisera, and he is dwelling in Harosheth of the Goyim;

and the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, for he hath nine hundred chariots of iron, and he hath oppressed the sons of Israel mightily twenty years.

And Deborah, a woman inspired, wife of Lapidoth, she is judging Israel at that time,

and she is dwelling under the palm-tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Beth-El, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel go up unto her for judgment.

And she sendeth and calleth for Barak son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh-Naphtali, and saith unto him, `Hath not Jehovah, God of Israel, commanded? go, and thou hast drawn towards mount Tabor, and hast taken with thee ten thousand men, out of the sons of Naphtali, and out of the sons of Zebulun,

and I have drawn unto thee, unto the brook Kishon, Sisera, head of the host of Jabin, and his chariot, and his multitude, and have given him into thy hand.'

And Barak saith unto her, `If thou dost go with me, then I have gone; and if thou dost not go with me, I do not go;'

and she saith, `I do certainly go with thee; only, surely thy glory is not on the way which thou art going, for into the hand of a woman doth Jehovah sell Sisera;' and Deborah riseth and goeth with Barak to Kedesh.

And Barak calleth Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and he goeth up--at his feet are ten thousand men--and Deborah goeth up with him.