1
And there rises after Abimelech, to save Israel, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he is dwelling in Shamir, in the hill-country of Ephraim,
2
and he judges Israel [for] twenty-three years, and he dies, and is buried in Shamir.
Jair
3
And there rises Jair the Gileadite after him, and he judges Israel [for] twenty-two years,
4
and he has thirty sons riding on thirty donkey-colts, and they have thirty cities (they call them Havoth-Jair to this day), which [are] in the land of Gilead;
5
and Jair dies, and is buried in Kamon.
Oppression by the Philistines and Ammonites
6
And the sons of Israel add to do evil in the eyes of YHWH, and serve the Ba‘alim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsake YHWH, and have not served Him;
7
and the anger of YHWH burns against Israel, and He sells them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the sons of Ammon,
8
and they crush and oppress the sons of Israel in that year; [and for] eighteen years—all the sons of Israel [who] are beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorite, which [is] in Gilead.
9
And the sons of Ammon pass over the Jordan to also fight against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, and Israel has great distress.
10
And the sons of Israel cry to YHWH, saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have even forsaken our God, and serve the Ba‘alim.”
11
And YHWH says to the sons of Israel, “[Have I] not [saved you] from the Egyptians, and from the Amorite, from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
12
And the Zidonians, and Amalek, and Maon have oppressed you, and you cry to Me, and I save you out of their hand;
13
and you have forsaken Me, and serve other gods, therefore I do not add to save you.
14
Go and cry to the gods on which you have fixed; they save you in the time of your tribulation.”
15
And the sons of Israel say to YHWH, “We have sinned, do to us according to all that is good in Your eyes; only please deliver us this day.”
16
And they turn aside the gods of the stranger out of their midst, and serve YHWH, and His soul is grieved with the misery of Israel.
17
And the sons of Ammon are called together, and encamp in Gilead, and the sons of Israel are gathered together, and encamp in Mizpah.
18
And the people—heads of Gilead—say to one another, “Who [is] the man that begins to fight against the sons of Ammon? He is for head to all inhabitants of Gilead.”
Copyright © 2020 Covenant Press and the CCC - licensed under CC BY-SA