1After Abimelech died, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, was the next person to rescue Israel. He was from the tribe of Issachar but lived in the town of Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.

2He judged Israel for twenty-three years. When he died, he was buried in Shamir.

3After Tola died, Jair from Gilead judged Israel for twenty-two years.

4His thirty sons rode around on thirty donkeys, and they owned thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are still called the Towns of Jair.10:4 Hebrew Havvoth-jair.

5When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

6Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all.

7So the Lord burned with anger against Israel, and he turned them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites,

8who began to oppress them that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites east of the Jordan River in the land of the Amorites (that is, in Gilead).

9The Ammonites also crossed to the west side of the Jordan and attacked Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim.