Judges 9:22-11:28

Legacy Standard Bible

Zebul Deceives Abimelech

²² And Abimelech governed over Israel three years. ^23 (A)Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem; and the lords of Shechem ^(B)dealt treacherously with Abimelech, ^24 (C)so that the violence ^[a]done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and ^(D)their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. ²⁵ And the lords of Shechem set ^[b]men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who might pass by them along the road; and it was told to Abimelech.

²⁶ Then Gaal the son of Ebed came with his ^[c]relatives, and they crossed over into Shechem; and the lords of Shechem put their trust in him. ²⁷ And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes of their vineyards and trod them and celebrated a ^[d]festival; and they came into the house of ^(E)their god and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸ Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is Zebul not his ^[e]officer? Serve the men of ^(F)Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ^29 [f](G)Would, therefore, that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out.”

³⁰ Then Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, and his anger burned. ³¹ And he sent messengers to Abimelech ^[g]deceitfully, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his ^[h]relatives have come to Shechem; and behold, they are ^[i]stirring up the city against you. ³² So now, arise by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. ³³ And it will be in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, that you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and behold, he and the people who are with him will come out against you, and you shall ^(H)do to them ^[j]whatever your hand finds pleasing.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all the people who were with him arose by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four ^[k]companies. ³⁵ And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the city gate; and Abimelech and the people who were with him arose from the ambush. ³⁶ Then Gaal saw the people and said to Zebul, “Behold, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.” ³⁷ Yet Gaal spoke again and said, “Behold, people are coming down from ^(I)the ^[l]highest part of the land, and one ^[m]company comes by the way of ^[n]the soothsayers’ ^[o]oak.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your ^[p]boasting now with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Is this not the people whom you rejected? Go out now and fight with them!” ³⁹ So Gaal went out before the lords of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰ And Abimelech pursued him, and he fled before him; and many fell slain up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ Then Abimelech remained at Arumah, but Zebul drove out Gaal and his ^[q]relatives so that they could not remain in Shechem.

⁴² Now it happened the next day, that the people went out to the field, and it was told to Abimelech. ⁴³ So he took ^[r]his people and divided them into three ^[s]companies and lay in wait in the field; then he looked, and behold, the people were coming out from the city. So he arose against them and struck them down. ⁴⁴ Then Abimelech and the ^[t]company who was with him rushed forward and stood in the entrance of the city gate; but the other two ^[u]companies rushed upon all who were in the field and struck them down. ⁴⁵ So Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and he captured the city and killed the people who were in it; then he ^(J)tore the city down and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ Then all the lords of the tower of Shechem heard of it, and they entered the inner chamber of the ^[v]temple of ^(K)El-berith. ⁴⁷ And it was told to Abimelech that all the lords of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ So Abimelech went up to Mount ^(L)Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took ^[w]an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees and lifted it and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do ^[x]likewise.” ⁴⁹ And all the people also cut down each one his branch and followed Abimelech and put them on the inner chamber and set the inner chamber on fire over those inside, so that all the men of the tower of Shechem also died, about one thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he camped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower in the center of the city, and all the men and women with all the lords of the city fled there and shut themselves in; and they went up on the roof of the tower. ⁵² So Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire. ⁵³ But ^(M)a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and she smashed his skull. ⁵⁴ Then ^(N)he called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and put me to death, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So ^[y]the young man pierced him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ Then the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, so each went away to his ^[z]home. ⁵⁶ Thus ^(O)God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also returned all the evil of the men of Shechem on their own heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came ^[aa]upon them.

Tola and Jair Judge Israel

10 Then after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, ^(P)arose to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ² And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.

³ After him, Jair the Gileadite arose and judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities ^[ab]in the land of Gilead ^(Q)that are called ^[ac]Havvoth-jair to this day. ⁵ And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Israel Forsakes Yahweh Again

⁶ Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and ^(R)served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, ^(S)the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus ^(T)they forsook Yahweh and did not serve Him. ⁷ So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He ^(U)sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. ⁸ And they shattered and smashed the sons of Israel ^[ad]that year; for eighteen years they did this to all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan ^[ae]in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. ⁹ Then the sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.

Israel Cries Out to Yahweh

¹⁰ And the ^(V)sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, saying, “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.” ¹¹ Then Yahweh said to the sons of Israel, “Did I not save you ^(W)from the Egyptians, ^(X)the Amorites, ^(Y)the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines? ¹² Also the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites ^(Z)oppressed you. And you cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hand. ¹³ Yet ^(AA)you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer save you. ^14 (AB)Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” ¹⁵ Then the sons of Israel said to Yahweh, “We have sinned, so You, ^(AC)do to us whatever seems good in Your eyes; only please deliver us this day.” ^16 (AD)So they removed the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh; and ^[af](AE)He could bear the trouble of Israel no longer.

¹⁷ Then the sons of Ammon were summoned, and they camped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel gathered together and camped in ^(AF)Mizpah. ¹⁸ And the people, the princes of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He shall become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah Delivers Israel

11 Now ^(AG)Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot. And Gilead ^[ag]became the father of Jephthah. ² And Gilead’s wife bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(AH)Tob; and worthless fellows gathered themselves ^[ah]about Jephthah, and they went out with him.

⁴ Now it happened after a while that ^(AI)the sons of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵ So it happened that as the sons of Ammon fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob; ⁶ and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.” ⁷ Then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “^(AJ)Did you not hate me and drive me from my father’s house? So why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” ⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “For this reason we have now returned to you, that you may go with us and fight with the sons of Ammon and ^(AK)become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and Yahweh gives them up ^[ai]to me, will I become your head?” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “^(AL)Yahweh is ^[aj]witness between us; surely we will do ^[ak]as you have said.” ¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh at ^(AM)Mizpah.

¹² And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “What is between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ Then the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel ^(AN)took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the ^(AO)Jabbok and the Jordan; so now, return them peaceably.” ¹⁴ But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁵ and they said to him, “Thus says Jephthah, ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁶ For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel ^(AP)went through the wilderness to the ^[al]Red Sea and ^(AQ)came to Kadesh, ¹⁷ then Israel ^(AR)sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. ^(AS)And they also sent to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel remained at Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they went through the wilderness and ^(AT)around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and came to the east toward the sunrise of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they ^(AU)did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ And Israel sent ^(AV)messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our place.” ²⁰ But Sihon did not believe Israel to allow them to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel. ²¹ Then Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they ^(AW)struck them down; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ^22 (AX)So they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. ²³ So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel. Are you then to possess it? ²⁴ Do you not possess what ^(AY)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever Yahweh our God has taken possession of before us, we will possess it. ²⁵ So now are you any better than ^(AZ)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ^26 (BA)While Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns and in Aroer and its towns and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them for yourself within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me evil by making war against me; ^(BB)may Yahweh, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’” ²⁸ But the king of the sons of Ammon did not listen to the words which Jephthah sent him.