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for Israel. ⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old. ⁹And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, that knew not the Lord, nor yet the work which He had wrought for Israel.

      ¹¹And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baalim. ¹²And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and worshipped them; and they provoked the Lord. ¹³And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He gave them over into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken, and as the Lord had sworn unto them; and they were sore distressed. ¹⁶And the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. ¹⁷And yet they hearkened not unto their judges, for they went astray after other gods, and worshipped them; they turned aside quickly out of the way wherein their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not so. ¹⁸And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it repented the Lord because of their groaning by reason of them that oppressed them and crushed them. ¹⁹But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to worship them; they left nothing undone of their practices, nor of their stubborn way. ²⁰And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and He said: 'Because this nation have transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto My voice; ²¹I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died; ²²that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.' ²³So the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered He them into the hand of Joshua.

      3Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan; ²only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as beforetime knew nothing thereof; ³namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Zidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entrance of Hamath. ⁴And they were there, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ⁵And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites; ⁶and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

      ⁷And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baalim and the Asheroth. ⁸Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them over into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim; and the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a saviour to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. ¹⁰And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

      ¹²And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and smote Israel, and they possessed the city of palm-trees. ¹⁴And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a saviour, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed; and the children of Israel sent a present by him unto Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶And Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh. ¹⁷And he offered the present unto Eglon king of Moab—now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸And when he had made an end of offering the present, he sent away the people that bore the present. ¹⁹But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said: 'I have a secret errand unto thee, O king.' And he said: 'Keep silence.' And all that stood by him went out from him. ²⁰And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting by himself alone in his cool upper chamber. And Ehud said: 'I have a message from God unto thee.' And he arose out of his seat. ²¹And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²²And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, for he drew not the sword out of his belly; and it came out behind. ²³Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper chamber upon him, and locked them. ²⁴Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the upper chamber were locked; and they said: 'Surely he is covering his feet in the cabinet of the cool chamber.' ²⁵And they tarried till they were ashamed; and, behold, he opened not the doors of the upper chamber; therefore they took the key, and opened them; and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. ²⁶And Ehud escaped while they lingered, having passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirah. ²⁷And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a horn in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he before them. ²⁸And he said unto them: 'Follow after me; for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.' And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and suffered not a man to pass over. ²⁹And they smote of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every man of valour; and there escaped not a man. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

      ³¹And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who smote of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad; and he also saved Israel.

      4And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead. ²And the Lord gave them over into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth-goiim. ³And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

      ⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. ⁵And she sat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him: 'Hath not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded, saying: Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? ⁷And I will draw unto thee to the brook Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thy hand. ⁸And Barak said unto her: 'If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go.' ⁹And she said: 'I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thy honour; for the Lord will give Sisera over into the hand of a woman.' And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet; and Deborah went up with him.

      ¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had severed himself from the Kenites, even from the children