Judges 3:15-25

New International Version

¹⁵ Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer^(A)—Ehud^(B), a left-handed^(C) man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute^(D) to Eglon king of Moab. ¹⁶ Now Ehud^(E) had made a double-edged sword about a cubit^[a] long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. ¹⁷ He presented the tribute^(F) to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man.^{(G) 18} After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it. ¹⁹ But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”

The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.

²⁰ Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace^[b](H) and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose^(I) from his seat, ²¹ Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword^(J) from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. ²² Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. ²³ Then Ehud went out to the porch^[c]; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

²⁴ After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself^(K) in the inner room of the palace.” ²⁵ They waited to the point of embarrassment,^(L) but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.