Ehud and King Eglon

The people of Israel again did what was evil in Yahweh’s sight. So Eglon king of Moab grew strong against them. He joined with Ammon and Amalek, defeated Israel, and took the city of palm trees. Israel served Eglon for eighteen years.

When the people cried to Yahweh, he raised up a deliverer named Ehud son of Gera, a Benjamite who was left-handed. Israel sent tribute to Eglon by him. Ehud made a short two-edged sword, about a cubit long, and hid it under his clothing on his right thigh.

After giving the tribute, Ehud sent away the people who had carried it. Then he turned back at the stone idols near Gilgal and told the king he had a secret message. Eglon sent the others out. When Ehud came to him in the cool upper room and said he had a message from God, the king rose from his seat.

Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and struck Eglon. Then he shut and locked the doors of the upper room and escaped. The servants waited outside, thinking their master was occupied, but when they finally opened the doors, they found him dead on the floor.

Ehud escaped to Seirah. Then he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him as their leader. He told them to follow, because Yahweh had given the Moabites into their hands. They captured the fords of the Jordan, struck down about ten thousand Moabite men, and Moab was subdued. After that, the land had rest for eighty years.