Ehud

¹²[ . . . ] the Israelites again did what was offensive to the Lord. And because they did what was offensive to the Lord, the Lord let King Eglon of Moab prevail over Israel. ¹³[Eglon] brought the Ammonites and the Amalekites together under his command, and went and defeated Israel and occupied the City of Palms. ¹⁴The Israelites were subject to King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.

¹⁵Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a champion for them: the Benjaminite Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed man. It happened that the Israelites sent tribute to King Eglon of Moab through him. ¹⁶So Ehud made for himself a two-edged dagger, a gomed in length, which he girded on his right side under his cloak. ¹⁷He presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon was a very stout man. ¹⁸When [Ehud] had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had conveyed the tribute. ¹⁹But he himself returned from Pesilim, near Gilgal, and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.” [Eglon] thereupon commanded, “Silence!” So all those in attendance left his presence; ²⁰and when Ehud approached him, he was sitting alone in his cool upper chamber. Ehud said, “I have a message for you from God”; whereupon he rose from his seat. ²¹Reaching with his left hand, Ehud drew the dagger from his right side and drove it into [Eglon’s] belly. ²²The fat closed over the blade and the hilt went in after the blade—for he did not pull the dagger out of his belly—and the filth came out.

²³Stepping out into the vestibule, Ehud shut the doors of the upper chamber on him and locked them. ²⁴After he left, the courtiers returned. When they saw that the doors of the upper chamber were locked, they thought, “He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber.” ²⁵They waited a long time; and when he did not open the doors of the chamber, they took the key and opened them—and there their master was lying dead on the floor! ²⁶But Ehud had made good his escape while they delayed; he had passed Pesilim and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷When he got there, he had the ram’s horn sounded through the hill country of Ephraim, and all the Israelites descended with him from the hill country; and he took the lead. ²⁸“Follow me closely,” he said, “for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands.” They followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites; they let no one cross. ²⁹On that occasion they slew about 10,000 Moabites; they were all robust and brave men, yet not one of them escaped. ³⁰On that day, Moab submitted to Israel; and the land was tranquil for eighty years.