1-2. The Lord did not force all the other nations to leave Israel’s land. He wanted to test the Israelites. None of the Israelites living at this time had fought in the wars to take the land of Canaan. So he let those other nations stay in their country. (He did this to teach the Israelites who had not fought in those wars.) These are the nations the Lord left in the land:
3. the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the people of Sidon, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.
4. He left those nations in the land to test the Israelites. He wanted to see if the Israelites would obey the Lord’S commands that he had given to their ancestors through Moses.
5. The Israelites lived with the Canaanites, Hittites, the Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
6. The Israelites began to marry the daughters of those people. They allowed their own daughters to marry the sons of those people. The Israelites also began to worship their gods.
7. The Lord saw that the Israelites did evil things. They forgot about the Lord their God and served the false gods Baal and Asherah.
8. The Lord was angry with the Israelites, so he allowed King Cushan Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim to defeat the Israelites and to rule over them. The Israelites were under that king’s rule for eight years.
9. But the Israelites cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent a man named Othniel to save them. He was the son of Kenaz, who was Caleb’s younger brother. Othniel saved the Israelites.
10. The Spirit of the Lord filled Othniel, and he became a judge for the Israelites. He led the Israelites to war. The Lord helped Othniel defeat King Cushan Rishathaim of Aram.
11. So the land was at peace for 40 years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
12. Again the Israelites did things the Lord considered evil, and the Lord saw them doing these things. So the Lord gave King Eglon of Moab power to defeat the Israelites.
13. Eglon got help from the Ammonites and the Amalekites. They joined him and attacked the Israelites. Eglon and his army defeated the Israelites and forced them to leave the City of Palm Trees.
14. King Eglon of Moab ruled over the Israelites for 18 years.
15. The Israelites cried to the Lord for help, so he sent a man named Ehud son of Gera to save them. Ehud was from the tribe of Benjamin and was trained to fight with his left hand. The Israelites sent Ehud with a gift to King Eglon of Moab.
16. Ehud made himself a sword with two sharp edges that was about 12 inches long. He tied the sword to his right thigh and hid it under his uniform.
17. So Ehud brought the gift to King Eglon of Moab. Eglon was a very fat man.