1After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim.

2He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir.

3After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years.

4Now he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, which are called 10:4 Lit. Towns of Jair, Num. 32:41; Deut. 3:14“Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

5And Jair died and was buried in Camon.

6Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.

7So the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon.

8From that year they 10:8 Lit. shatteredharassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years—all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead.

9Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

10And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!”

11So the Lord said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines?

12Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and 10:12 LXX mss. MidianitesMaonites oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand.

13Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more.

14“Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.”

15And the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.”

16So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

17Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah.

18And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”