¹ Now after Abimelech died, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, 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 in the land of Gilead that are called 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, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook 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 into the hands of the sons of Ammon. ⁸ They afflicted and crushed the sons of Israel that year; for eighteen years they afflicted all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan 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 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 from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines? ¹² "Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hands. ¹³ "Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer deliver you. ¹⁴ "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, do to us whatever seems good to You; only please deliver us this day." ¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and He ^F191 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 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."
 

Jephthah the Ninth Judge

⁴ It came about after a while that the sons of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵ When 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, "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 trouble?" ⁸ 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 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 the LORD gives them up to me, will I become your head?" ¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD is witness between us; surely we will do 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 the LORD at Mizpah.

¹² Now 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 The king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan; therefore, return them peaceably now." 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. <sup>16</sup> `For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to 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," but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh. ¹⁸ `Then they went through the wilderness and around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. <sup>19</sup> `And Israel sent 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 trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel. <sup>21</sup> `The LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated ^F199 them; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ²² `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. <sup>23</sup> `Since now the LORD, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorites from before His people Israel, are you then to possess it? ²⁴ `Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God has driven out before us, we will possess it. <sup>25</sup> `Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ²⁶ `While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? <sup>27</sup> `I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the LORD, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.' " ²⁸ But the king of the sons of Ammon disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah's Tragic Vow

²⁹ Now the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰ Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, ³¹ then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." ³² So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD gave them into his hand. ³³ He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

³⁴ When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter.
 

God Speaks of Nature and Its Beings

¹ "Do you know the time the mountain ^F449 goats give birth?

Do you observe the calving of the deer?

² "Can you count the months they fulfill,

Or do you know the time they give birth?

³ "They kneel down, they bring forth their young,

They get rid of their labor pains.

⁴ "Their offspring become strong, they grow up in the open field;

They leave and do not return to them.

⁵ "Who sent out the wild donkey free?

And who loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶ To whom I gave the wilderness for a home

And the salt land for his dwelling place?

⁷ "He scorns the tumult of the city,

The shoutings of the driver he does not hear.

⁸ "He explores the mountains for his pasture

And searches after every green thing.

⁹ "Will the wild ox consent to serve you,

Or will he spend the night at your manger?

¹⁰ "Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes,

Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

¹¹ "Will you trust him because his strength is great

And leave your labor to him?

¹² "Will you have faith in him that he will return your grain

And gather it from your threshing floor?

¹³ "The ostriches' wings flap joyously

With the pinion and plumage of love,

¹⁴ For she abandons her eggs to the earth

And warms them in the dust,

¹⁵ And she forgets that a foot may crush them,

Or that a wild beast may trample them.

¹⁶ "She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers;

Though her labor be in vain, she is unconcerned;

¹⁷ Because God has made her forget wisdom,

And has not given her a share of understanding.

¹⁸ "When she lifts herself on high,

She laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ "Do you give the horse his might?

Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

²⁰ "Do you make him leap like the locust?

His majestic snorting is terrible.

²¹ "He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;

He goes out to meet the weapons.

²² "He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;

And he does not turn back from the sword.

²³ "The quiver rattles against him,

The flashing spear and javelin.

²⁴ "With shaking and rage he races over the ground,

And he does not stand still at the voice of the trumpet.

²⁵ "As often as the trumpet sounds he says, `Aha!'

And he scents the battle from afar,

And the thunder of the captains and the war cry.

²⁶ "Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,

Stretching his wings toward the south?

²⁷ "Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up

And makes his nest on high?

²⁸ "On the cliff he dwells and lodges,

Upon the rocky crag, an inaccessible place.

²⁹ "From there he spies out food;

His eyes see it from afar.

³⁰ "His young ones also suck up blood;

And where the slain are, there is he."

¹ It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. ² He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." ³ And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, "Into John's baptism." ⁴ Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." ⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. ⁷ There were in all about twelve men.

⁸ And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. ⁹ But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia ^F424 heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Miracles at Ephesus

¹¹ God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. ¹³ But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." ¹⁴ Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" ¹⁶ And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. ¹⁸ Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. ¹⁹ And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the ^F427 word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.