About this song
About this song
This song belongs to the Judges collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.
- Collection
- Judges
[Verse 1]
Eight years beneath Mesopotamia, Israel learned the weight of chains,
Then Othniel rose beneath the Spirit, and forty years released the plains.
But evil called the yoke again; Moab seized the city of palms,
Eighteen years the tribute traveled while Israel cried beneath alarm.
[Pre-Chorus]
A hidden blade, a guarded room,
A trumpet waiting past the doors.
[Chorus]
The left-handed deliverer carried freedom through the gate,
A secret word became the turning of a nation under weight.
Seize the Jordan, sound the trumpet, do not let the tyrant flee,
The LORD had heard the cry of Israel and broke the power of Moab free.
[Verse 2]
Ehud bore the tribute inward, dagger bound against his thigh,
Sent the carriers from the palace, then returned beneath the king's eye.
“I have a message,” and the chamber closed; the servants waited still,
While Ehud crossed beyond the idols and escaped into the hills.
[Bridge]
Ephraim gathered at the signal, Moab met them at the ford,
Ten thousand strong could not withstand the people strengthened by the LORD.
Eighty years the land lay quiet; then Shamgar took the ox goad high,
Six hundred Philistines fell before another unexpected hand.
[Final Chorus]
The left-handed deliverer carried freedom through the gate,
A secret word became the turning of a nation under weight.
Seize the Jordan, sound the trumpet, do not let the tyrant flee,
The LORD had heard the cry of Israel and broke the power of Moab free.
[Outro]
God did not need the obvious hand
To answer Israel's cry.
Named in this songJordan
About the passage
Judges 3: The cycle begins with Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar
Judges 3 moves from explanation to examples. The nations left in the land test whether Israel will obey, but ordinary proximity becomes intermarriage and service to other gods. Othniel then provides the cycle in its cleanest form: Israel forgets the LORD, falls under foreign domination, cries out, receives a deliverer empowered by the Spirit, and enjoys forty years of rest. Ehud’s account is stranger and more detailed. His left hand, concealed dagger, Eglon’s private chamber, and the servants’ delay turn royal confidence into humiliation before Ehud rallies Israel and seizes the Jordan crossings. The chapter ends with only one line for Shamgar and his ox goad. Three deliverers receive radically different amounts of attention, but each is remembered because Israel was delivered.
Study Judges 3 in depth →