King James Version · The judges
Judges 3
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Now these are the nations which left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of ; Only that the generations of the might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; Namely, five lords of the , and all , and the , and the that dwelt in mount , from mount –hermon unto the entering in of . And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would unto of , which he commanded their fathers by the hand of . And the dwelt among , , and , and , and , and : And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and their gods. And the did evil in the sight of , and forgat their , and and the groves. Therefore the of was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan–rishathaim king of : and the Chushan–rishathaim eight years. And when the cried unto , up a deliverer to the , who them, even the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. And of came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and Chushan–rishathaim king of into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan–rishathaim. And the land had rest forty years. And the son of Kenaz . And the did evil again in the sight of : and strengthened the king of against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of . And he gathered unto him and , and went and smote Israel, and the city of palm trees. So the the king of eighteen years. But when the cried unto , them up a deliverer, the son of , a , a man lefthanded: and by him the sent a present unto the king of . But made him a dagger which had two edges, of a length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto king of : and was a very fat man. 18And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that the present. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by , and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And said, I have a message from unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. And put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: 22And the haft also went in after the blade; and closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. 23Then went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. 25And they tarried till they were : and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their was fallen down on the earth. 26And escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a in the mountain of , and the went down with him from the mount, and he before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me: for hath your the into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward , and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all ; and there escaped not a man. So was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years. And after him was the son of , which slew of the six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also Israel.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.