The Father Raises Tola to Save Israel
10 1 After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, rose to save Israel; he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 He led Israel as judge for twenty-three years; then he died and was buried in Shamir.
Jair Leads Israel
3 After him rose Jair the Gileadite, who led Israel as judge for twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are called Havvoth-jair to this day. 1 1 v4 Havvoth-jair means "the settlements of Jair" — the towns took their name from him. 5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
Israel Forsakes the Father Again
6 Again the Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of our Father. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. They forsook our Father and no longer served him. 7 So our Father's anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. 8 That year they shattered and crushed the Israelites — for eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead. 9 The Ammonites even crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was in great distress. 10 Then the Israelites cried out to our Father: "We have sinned against you, for we have forsaken our Father and served the Baals."
11 And our Father said to the Israelites, "Did I not save you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines? 12 The Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you, and when you cried out to me, I saved you from their hand. 13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen; let them save you in your time of distress.
15 But the Israelites said to our Father, "We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you; only please rescue us this day." 16 Then they put away the foreign gods from among them and served our Father, and his heart could bear Israel's misery no longer.
17 The Ammonites were called to arms and encamped in Gilead, while the Israelites assembled and encamped at Mizpah. 18 The people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, "Whoever will begin the fight against the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead."