Oppression of Philistines and Ammonites

10 Now after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, ^(A)arose to save Israel; and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ² 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 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities ^[a]in the land of Gilead ^(B)that are called ^[b]Havvoth-jair to this day. ⁵ And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

⁶ Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(C)served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, ^(D)the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus ^(E)they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. ⁷ The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He ^(F)sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. ⁸ They ^[c]afflicted and crushed the sons of Israel ^[d]that year; for eighteen years they afflicted all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan ^[e]in Gilead in the land of the Amorites. ⁹ The sons of Ammon crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.

¹⁰ Then the ^(G)sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.” ¹¹ The Lord said to the sons of Israel, “Did I not deliver you ^(H)from the Egyptians, ^(I)the Amorites, ^(J)the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines? ¹² Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites ^(K)oppressed you, you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hands. ¹³ Yet ^(L)you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer deliver you. ^14 (M)Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress.” ¹⁵ The sons of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned, ^(N)do to us whatever seems good to You; only please deliver us this day.” ^16 (O)So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord; and ^[f](P)He could bear the misery 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 ^(Q)Mizpah. ¹⁸ The people, the leaders 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.”

Great Generosity

8 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been ^(A)given in the churches of ^(B)Macedonia, ² that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the ^(C)wealth of their liberality. ³ For I testify that ^(D)according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, ⁴ begging us with much urging for the ^(E)favor ^[a]of participation in the ^[b](F)support of the ^[c]saints, ⁵ and this, not as we had ^[d]expected, but they first ^(G)gave themselves to the Lord and to us by ^(H)the will of God. ⁶ So we ^(I)urged ^(J)Titus that as he had previously ^(K)made a beginning, so he would also complete in you ^(L)this gracious work as well.

⁷ But just as you ^(M)abound ^(N)in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the ^[e]love we inspired in you, see that you ^(O)abound in this gracious work also. ⁸ I ^(P)am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. ⁹ For you know ^(Q)the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^(R)though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ I ^(S)give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin ^(T)a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. ¹¹ But now finish ^[f]doing it also, so that just as there was the ^(U)readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. ¹² For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable ^(V)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality— ¹⁴ at this present time your abundance being a supply for ^(W)their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for ^(X)your need, that there may be equality; ¹⁵ as it is written, “^(Y)He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”

¹⁶ But ^(Z)thanks be to God who ^(AA)puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of ^(AB)Titus. ¹⁷ For he not only accepted our ^(AC)appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord. ¹⁸ We have sent along with him ^(AD)the brother whose fame in the things of the ^(AE)gospel has spread through ^(AF)all the churches; ^19 (AG)and not only this, but he has also been ^(AH)appointed by the churches to travel with us in ^(AI)this gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our ^(AJ)readiness, ^20 [g]taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift; ²¹ for we ^(AK)have regard for what is honorable, not only in ^(AL)the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. ²² We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you. ²³ As for ^(AM)Titus, he is my ^(AN)partner and fellow worker ^[h]among you; as for our ^(AO)brethren, they are ^[i](AP)messengers of the churches, ^(AQ)a glory to Christ. ²⁴ Therefore ^[j]openly before the churches, ^[k]show them the proof of your love and of our ^(AR)reason for boasting about you.