The Judges & Ruth

and God turneth back the evil of Abimelech which he did to his father to slay his seventy brethren;

and all the evil of the men of Shechem hath God turned back on their head, and come unto them doth the cursing of Jotham son of Jerubbaal.

And there riseth after Abimelech, to save Israel, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he is dwelling in Shamir, in the hill-country of Ephraim,

and he judgeth Israel twenty and three years, and he dieth, and is buried in Shamir.

And there riseth after him Jair the Gileadite, and he judgeth Israel twenty and two years,

and he hath thirty sons riding on thirty ass-colts, and they have thirty cities, (they call them Havoth-Jair unto this day), which are in the land of Gilead;

and Jair dieth, and is buried in Kamon.

And the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and serve the Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the Bene-Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsake Jehovah, and have not served Him;

and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He selleth them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the Bene-Ammon,

and they crush and oppress the sons of Israel in that year--eighteen years all the sons of Israel who are beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorite, which is in Gilead.

And the Bene-Ammon pass over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, and Israel hath great distress.

And the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, saying, `We have sinned against Thee, even because we have forsaken our God, and serve the Baalim.'

And Jehovah saith unto the sons of Israel, ` Have I not saved you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorite, from the Bene-Ammon, and from the Philistines?

And the Zidonians, and Amalek, and Maon have oppressed you, and ye cry unto Me, and I save you out of their hand;

and ye--ye have forsaken Me, and serve other gods, therefore I add not to save you.

Go and cry unto the gods on which ye have fixed; they--they save you in the time of your adversity.'

And the sons of Israel say unto Jehovah, `We have sinned, do Thou to us according to all that is good in Thine eyes; only deliver us, we pray Thee, this day.'

And they turn aside the gods of the stranger out of their midst, and serve Jehovah, and His soul is grieved with the misery of Israel.

And the Bene-Ammon are called together, and encamp in Gilead, and the sons of Israel are gathered together, and encamp in Mizpah.

And the people--heads of Gilead--say one unto another, `Who is the man that doth begin to fight against the Bene-Ammon? he is for head to all inhabitants of Gilead.'

And Jephthah the Gileadite hath been a mighty man of valour, and he is son of a woman, a harlot; and Gilead begetteth Jephthah,

and the wife of Gilead beareth to him sons, and the wife's sons grow up and cast out Jephthah, and say to him, `Thou dost not inherit in the house of our father; for son of another woman art thou.'

And Jephthah fleeth from the face of his brethren, and dwelleth in the land of Tob; and vain men gather themselves together unto Jephthah, and they go out with him.

And it cometh to pass, after a time, that the Bene-Ammon fight with Israel,

and it cometh to pass, when the Bene-Ammon have fought with Israel, that the elders of Gilead go to take Jephthah from the land of Tob;