After a long time passed, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites still groaned because they were slaves. So they cried out, and their cries for help went up to God.
You will grope in broad daylight as blind people grope in their blindness. You won’t be successful in anything you do. As long as you live, you will be oppressed and robbed with no one to rescue you.
Joseph’s descendants responded, “The mountains are not enough for us either. Besides, all the Canaanites living in the valley, in Beth Shean and its villages, and in the valley of Jezreel have chariots made of iron.”
The Lord was with the men of Judah so that they were able to take possession of the mountains. But they could not force out the people living in the valley who had chariots made of iron.
Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. They said, “We have sinned against you. We have abandoned our God and served other gods—the Baals.”
Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord sent a savior to rescue them. It was Ehud, a left-handed man from the tribe of Benjamin. (Ehud was the son of Gera.) The people sent him with their tax payment to King Eglon of Moab.