Judges 10

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¹After the time of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose up to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. ✦ ²Tola judged Israel twenty-three years, and when he died, he was buried in Shamir. ³Tola was followed by Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. ✦ ⁴He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair. ✦ ⁵When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon. ⁶And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. ✦ ⁷So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites, ✦ ⁸who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. ✦ ⁹The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress. ✦ ¹⁰Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.” ✦ ¹¹The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, ✦ ¹²Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands? ✦ ¹³But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. ✦ ¹⁴Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.” ✦ ¹⁵“We have sinned,” the Israelites said to the LORD. “Deal with us as You see fit; but please deliver us today!” ✦ ¹⁶So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel. ✦ ¹⁷Then the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, and the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. ✦ ¹⁸And the rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all who live in Gilead.” ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Judg 3 ·6 Deut 32 ·6 Judg 2 ·5 Ps 106 ·5 Judg 11 ·4 1 Kgs 11 ·3 Ps 107 ·3 1 Sam 12 ·3

Christ at the center

Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.

How Judges 10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Judges videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Judges 10YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Judges 10David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JudgesMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Judges 10Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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