1 AFTER ABIMELECH there arose to rescue Israel, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.
2 He judged Israel twenty-three years; then he died and was buried in Shamir.
3 After him arose Jair the Gileadite, and he judged Israel twenty-two years.
4 And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty towns called Havvoth-jair [towns of Jair] which to this day are in the land of Gilead.
5 And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.
6 And the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, served the Baals, the Ashtaroth [female deities], the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. They forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.
7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites,
8 And they oppressed and crushed and broke the Israelites that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
9 And the Ammonites passed over the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was sorely distressed.
10 And the Israelites cried to the Lord, saying, We have sinned against You, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.
11 And the Lord said to the Israelites, Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines?
12 Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed and crushed you, you cried to Me, and I delivered you out of their hands.
13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will deliver you no more.
14 Go, cry to the gods you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.
15 And the Israelites said to the Lord, We have sinned, do to us whatever seems good to You; only deliver us, we pray You, this day.
16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and His heart became impatient over the misery of Israel.
17 Then the Ammonites were gathered together and they encamped in Gilead. And the Israelites assembled and encamped at Mizpah.
18 And the leaders of Gilead [the Israelites] said one to another, Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.