Judges 10
The full text of Judges 10 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.
2 He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.
3 He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years.
4 He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.
5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
6 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. And because they forsook the LORD and no longer served him,
7 the LORD's anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites.
8 That year they shattered and crushed the Israelites, and for eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim; and Israel was in great distress.
10 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals."
11 The LORD replied, "When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,
12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried out to me for help, did I not save you from their hands?
13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.
14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!"
15 But the Israelites said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now."
16 Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer.
17 When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.
18 The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, "Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead."
Translation notes (3)
- Judges 10:4a 'Havvoth Jair' means 'the settlements of Jair'; the Hebrew text uses a wordplay on similar-sounding words for 'donkeys' and 'towns,' which this translation keeps in sense rather than sound.
- Judges 10:6a The list of seven foreign pantheons is the worst statement of apostasy yet in the book. The phrase 'did evil in the eyes of the LORD' again opens the cycle (compare 2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1).
- Judges 10:16a 'He could bear Israel's misery no longer' translates the Hebrew phrase 'his soul was shortened at the trouble of Israel,' meaning God was moved to impatience or grief over their suffering. The subject (the LORD's compassion) and the exact emotion are left as the Hebrew text presents them, without being overly defined.
About this translation
You are reading the Trinity Bible Version (TBV) — an original 2026 translation made straight from the Hebrew, in clear modern English, exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter of every book is free to read online. For the study edition — with Hebrew and Greek on every verse and the full translation notes — open Judges in the Trinity Bible app.
Continue: Judges 11 → · All of Judges · About the TBV · Read Judges 10 in the KJV
Get the app: iOS · Android · Trinity Plus