After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah,
son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill
country of Ephraim. And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then
he died and was buried at Shamir.
After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two
years. And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they
had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in
the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.
The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the
LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the
gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the
gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD and did not
serve him. So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and
he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of
the Ammonites, and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel
that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of
Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites,
which is in Gilead. And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight
also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of
Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.
And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have
sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have
served the Baals.” And the LORD said to the people of Israel, “Did
I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the
Ammonites and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the
Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me,
and I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and
served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry
out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time
of your distress.” And the people of Israel said to the LORD, “We
have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please
deliver us this day.” So they put away the foreign gods from among
them and served the LORD, and he became impatient over the misery
of Israel.
Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in
Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped
at Mizpah. And the people, the leaders of Gilead, 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.”
