Judges 9:22-11:28

Modern English Version

The Downfall of Abimelek

²² After Abimelek ruled over Israel for three years, ²³ God sent an evil spirit between Abimelek and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelek, ²⁴ so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerub-Baal and their blood might come back upon Abimelek their brother, who killed them, and upon the leaders of Shechem, who empowered him to kill his brothers. ²⁵ The leaders of Shechem set ambushes against him on the hilltops and robbed all who passed by them on the road. This was told to Abimelek.

²⁶ Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers came to Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ They went out to the field, gathered and trod their grapes, and had a celebration. They went to the temple of their god and ate, drank, and cursed Abimelek. ²⁸ Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelek, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelek? ²⁹ If only this people were under my command, I would get rid of Abimelek.” So he said to Abimelek, “Muster your army and come out!”

³⁰ Then Zebul the city ruler heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed and he burned with anger. ³¹ He secretly sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, “Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers have come to Shechem and are fortifying the city against you. ³² So now, get up at night, you and the people with you, and lie in wait in the field. ³³ In the morning at sunrise, get up early and attack the city. He and the people with him will come out to you, then you can do to them as you find opportunity.”

³⁴ So Abimelek and all the people who were with him got up at night and lay in wait by Shechem in four companies. ³⁵ When Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate, then Abimelek and the people who were with him got up from their hiding places.

³⁶ Gaal saw these people and said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the hilltops.”

Zebul said to him, “The shadows of the hills look like men to you.”

³⁷ Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down the middle of the land, and a company is coming by way of the Diviner’s Oak.”

³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, which said, ‘Who is Abimelek, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people you dismissed out of hand? Go now, I pray, and fight against them.”

³⁹ So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought Abimelek. ⁴⁰ Abimelek chased him, and Gaal fled from him. Many fell wounded at the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers from living in Shechem.

⁴² The next day the people went out into the field, and this was told to Abimelek. ⁴³ So he took the people and divided them into three companies, and they laid in wait in the field. When the people came out from the city, he rose up against them and struck them down. ⁴⁴ Abimelek and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the city gate. The two other combat units attacked everyone in the field and struck them down. ⁴⁵ Abimelek fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people inside it; he tore down the city and spread salt over it.

⁴⁶ When the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard this, they entered the fortified temple of El-Berith. ⁴⁷ Abimelek was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem had gathered together. ⁴⁸ So Abimelek and all the people who were with him went up Mount Zalmon. He took an axe in his hand and cut off a tree branch, lifted it, and carried it on his shoulder. Then he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do the same.” ⁴⁹ So everyone likewise cut off a branch and followed Abimelek. They placed them on the fortification and set the fortification on fire over them. So all the people of the Tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelek went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a fortified tower within the city, so all of the men and women and the leaders of the city fled there. They shut themselves in and went up to the top of the tower. ⁵² Abimelek came to the tower and fought against it. But as he drew near to the tower entrance to burn it with fire, ⁵³ a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on the head of Abimelek, and it crushed his skull.

⁵⁴ Urgently he called to the young man who carried his gear and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that people may not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” So the young man pierced him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ Then the men of Israel saw that Abimelek was dead, so everyone went home.

⁵⁶ Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelek, which he committed against his father by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also repaid the evil deeds of the men of Shechem, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came upon them.

Tola

10 After the death of Abimelek, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. ² He judged Israel for twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.

Jair

³ After him Jair the Gileadite arose and judged Israel for twenty-two years. ⁴ He had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and owned thirty cities that are in the land of Gilead. They are called Havvoth Jair to this day. ⁵ Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Jephthah

⁶ Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They worshipped the Baals, the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not serve Him. ⁷ The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. ⁸ They brutally oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites in Gilead. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed over the Jordan to wage war against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed. ¹⁰ Then the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against You, for we have abandoned our God and worshipped the Baals.”

¹¹ The Lord said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites when they oppressed you? You cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hands. ¹³ Yet you have abandoned Me and worshipped other gods. Therefore I will not save you again. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of distress.”

¹⁵ Then the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good in Your sight. Please, just deliver us today.” ¹⁶ They removed the foreign gods from among them and worshipped the Lord, and He could no longer endure the suffering of Israel.

¹⁷ The Ammonites had been called out and set up camp in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled and set up camp in Mizpah. ¹⁸ The commanders of Gilead said to each other, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He will be the ruler of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. His wife’s sons grew up and drove Jephthah away. They said to him, “You will not inherit anything from our father’s house because you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Men of ill repute gathered around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴ Some time passed, then the Ammonites waged war with Israel. ⁵ When the Ammonites waged war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. ⁶ They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader so that we may fight the Ammonites.”

⁷ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now that you are in trouble?”

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Even so, we have turned to you. Come with us and fight the Ammonites. You will be ruler over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to wage war against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them to me, then I will be your ruler.”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “May the Lord be a witness between us if we do not act according to your word.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead. The people set him over them as ruler and leader. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.

¹² Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king to say, “What problem is there between you and me, that you have come to me to wage war in my land?”

¹³ The Ammonite king said to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because when Israel came up from Egypt, they took my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and as far as the Jordan. Now return it peacefully.”

¹⁴ Again Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, ¹⁵ and said to him,

“Jephthah says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the Ammonite land; ¹⁶ for when Israel came up from Egypt, they went into the desert as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. ¹⁷ Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land.’ Yet the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “They went into the wilderness, around the lands of Edom and Moab. They went east of the land of Moab and set up camp on the other side of the River Arnon. They did not cross the boundary of Moab, for the River Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

¹⁹ “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon. Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our home.” ²⁰ Yet Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people and set up camp in Jahaz to fight with Israel.

²¹ “The Lord God of Israel gave Sihon and all his people into the hands of Israel, and they struck them down. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land. ²² They took possession of all of the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

²³ “Now that the Lord God of Israel has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you take it? ²⁴ Will you not take possession of whatever Chemosh your god gives you? So everything that the Lord our God possesses before us, we will take possession of it. ²⁵ Now are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or wage war with them? ²⁶ Israel has lived in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the banks of the River Arnon for three hundred years. Why did you not take them back during that time? ²⁷ So I have not sinned against you, but it is you who are doing evil to me by waging war against me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the children of Israel and the Ammonites.”

²⁸ Yet the Ammonite king would not listen to the message that Jephthah had sent him.