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Tola and Jair

¹ After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo became judge and began to deliver Israel. He was from Issachar and lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ² Tola judged Israel twenty-three years and when he died, was buried in Shamir.

³ After him came Jair the Gileadite,^(C1) who judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. They had thirty towns^(F1) in Gilead, which are still called Jair’s Villages^(F2) today. ⁵ When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

Israel’s Rebellion and Repentance

⁶ Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.^(C1) They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines.^(C2) They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him.^{(C3) 7} So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to^(F1) the Philistines and the Ammonites.^{(C1) 8} They shattered and crushed the Israelites that year, and for eighteen years they did the same to all the Israelites who were on the other side of the Jordan^(C1) in the land of the Amorites^(C2) in Gilead. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. Israel was greatly oppressed, ¹⁰ so they cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you.^(C1) We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.”

¹¹ The Lord said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians,^(C1) Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, ¹² Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites^(F1)(C1) oppressed you, and you cried out to me, did I not deliver you from them? ¹³ But you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods. Therefore, I will not deliver you again. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen.^(C1) Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed.”

¹⁵ But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal with us as you see fit;^(F1) only rescue us^(C1) today!” ¹⁶ So they got rid of the foreign gods^(C1) among them and worshiped the Lord,^(C2) and he became weary^(C3) of Israel’s misery.

¹⁷ The Ammonites were called together, and they camped in Gilead. So the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.^{(C1) 18} The rulers^(F1) of Gilead said to one another, “Which man will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He will be the leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”