|
childrensbiblestudy.com text of the book of Judges |
|
|
Chapter 10 |
After the time of
Abimelech a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose
to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.
He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in
Shamir.
Jair
He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years.
He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty
towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair. When
Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord again
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served
the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of
Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of
the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no
longer served him, he became angry with them. He sold them into the
hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, who that year shattered
and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the
Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the
Amorites. The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against
Judah, Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great
distress.
Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, "We have sinned against
you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals."
The Lord replied, "When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites,
the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites
oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from
their hands? But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I
will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen.
Let them save you when you are in trouble!"
But the Israelites said to the Lord, "We have sinned. Do with us
whatever you think best, but please rescue us now." Then they got
rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could
bear Israel's misery no longer.
When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the
Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. The leaders of the people
of Gilead said to each other, "Whoever will launch the attack
against the Ammonites will be the head of all those living in
Gilead." |
|
|
|
|
|