So then Jerubbaal, son of Joash, went and dwelt in his own house.

Later, Joash's son Gideon died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash at Ophrah, which belonged to the descendants of Abiezer.

so the sons of Israel remembered not Yahweh, their own God, - who had rescued them out of the hand of all their enemies, on every side;

And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother's brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

"Say in the ears of all the citizens of Shechem, 'Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubba'al rule over you, or that one rule over you?' Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh."

And his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother.

So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men with this money, and they followed him.

And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

And they told Jotham, and he went up and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and {he cried out loud} and said to them, "Listen to me, lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.

'The trees have diligently gone to anoint over them a king, and they say to the olive, Reign thou over us.

But the olive tree said to them, 'Shall I leave my fatness, by which gods and men are honored, and go to sway over the trees?'

And the trees say to the fig, Come thou, reign over us.

But the fig tree said to them, 'Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to sway over the trees?'

'And the trees say to the vine, Come thou, reign over us.

But the vine said to them, 'Shall I leave my wine which cheers gods and men, and go to sway over the trees?'

And all the trees say unto the bramble, Come thou, reign over us.

And the furze bush said unto the trees, "If it will be true that ye will anoint me king over you, then come and rest under my shadow, and ye shall see that a fire shall come out of the furze-bush and waste the cypress trees of Lebanon!'

"So then, if you have acted in good faith and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerub-Baal and his house, and have dealt with him {according to his accomplishments}--

because my father fought on your behalf, throwing away all concern for his own life, and delivered you from Midian's domination.

And ye are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;)

So if you've acted in good faith and integrity toward Jerubbaal and his household today, then you're welcome to Abimelech, and he's welcome to you"

So Abimelech was chief over Israel for three years.

so that the violence done to the seventy brothers of Abimelech would be avenged and their blood be placed on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, {who helped} to kill his brothers.

The lords of Shechem rebelled against him by putting people on the tops of the mountains to ambush and rob everyone who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech.

Meanwhile, Ebed's son Gaal arrived with his relatives and crossed over into Shechem. The "lords" of Shechem put their faith in him.

So they went out to the countryside and harvested grapes from their vineyards. They trampled the grapes and held a celebration. Then they went to the house of their god, and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.

And Gaal son of Ebed said: Who is Abimelech - and who is the son of Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? Serve ye the men of Hamor, Shechem's father, but why should, we, serve him?

Would that this people were under my hand! then I would remove Abim'elech. I would say to Abim'elech, 'Increase your army, and come out.'"

When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger burned.

So he sent messengers secretly to Abimelech, saying, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed, with his brothers, have come to Shechem and are turning the city against you.

So then, get up [by] night, you and the army that [is] with you, and lie in ambush in the field.

and it shall be, in the morning, about sunrise, thou shalt get up early, and spread thyself out against the city, - when lo! he and the people that are with him coming out against thee, so shalt thou do unto him as thy hand shall find opportunity.

So Abimelech and all the army that [was] with him got up [by] night, and they lay in ambush against Shechem [in] four divisions.

Now Gaal the son of Ebed came out and stood in the entrance of the city gate; then Abimelech and the people who were with him got up from the ambush.

And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.

And Gaal spake again and said, See there come people down by the middle of the land, and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim.

Then Zebul said to him, Now where is your loud talk when you said, Who is Abimelech that we are to be his servants? Is this not the people whom you were rating so low? Go out now, and make war on them.

So Gaal went out before the lords of Shechem and fought against Abimelech.

And Abim'elech dwelt at Aru'mah; and Zebul drove out Ga'al and his kinsmen, so that they could not live on at Shechem.

He took his men and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the fields; and he looked and saw the men coming out of the city, and he rose against them and slew them.

Then Abimelech and the company with him advanced forward and stood in the entrance of the city gate; the two other companies attacked all who were in the field and killed them.

So Abimelech fought against the city that entire day, captured it, and killed the people who were in it. Then he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

So Abimelech went up Mount Zalmon, he and all his army that [were] with him, and Abimelech took the ax in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood, and he lifted it and put [it] on his shoulder. And he said to the army that [was] with him, "What you have seen me do, quickly do also."

And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

There was a fortified tower in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city's leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower.

And Abimelech came in as far as the tower, and fought against it, - and so came near, as far as the entrance of the tower, to burn it with fire.

And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull.

Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place.

So God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech committed against his father by killing his seventy brothers.

And God also returned all the evil of the men of Shechem on their heads. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came on them.

A man from the tribe of Issachar, Puah's son Tola, grandson of Dodo, arose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the mountainous region of Ephraim.

He had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys. They had 30 towns in Gilead, which are called Jair’s Villages to this day.

Later on, the Israelis again practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by serving the Baals, the stars, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the descendants of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. In doing so, they ignored the LORD and wouldn't serve him.

So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He sold them to the Philistines and the Ammonites.

Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.

so they cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You. We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.”

And Jehovah will say to the sons of Israel, Was it not out of Egypt, and from the Amorite, and from the sons of Ammon and from Philisteim?

But, for all this, you have given me up and have been servants to other gods: so I will be your saviour no longer.

And the sons of Israel say unto Jehovah, 'We have sinned, do Thou to us according to all that is good in Thine eyes; only deliver us, we pray Thee, this day.'

So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and he became indignant over the misery of Israel.

The Ammonites were called together, and they camped in Gilead. So the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.

And the people -- heads of Gilead -- say one unto another, 'Who is the man that doth begin to fight against the Bene-Ammon? he is for head to all inhabitants of Gilead.'

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.

So Jephthah fled from the presence of his brothers, and he lived in the land of Tob. And {outlaws} gathered around Jephthah and went with him.

And so it came to pass, after a time, - that the sons of Ammon made war with Israel.

And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:

and they say unto Jephthah, 'Come, and thou hast been to us for captain, and we fight against the Bene-Ammon.'

And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?

and the elders of Gilead say unto Jephthah, 'Therefore, now, we have turned back unto thee; and thou hast gone with us, and fought against the Bene-Ammon, and thou hast been to us for head -- to all the inhabitants of Gilead.'

So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me back {to fight} against the {Ammonites}, and Yahweh gives them {over to me}, will I be your head?"

And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah.

So then Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, - What occasion is there between us, that thou shouldst have come unto me, to fight against my land?

And the king of the {Ammonites} said to Jephthah's messengers, "Because Israel took my land from [the] Arnon up to the Jabbok and the Jordan when they came up from Egypt; so then, restore it peacefully."

and they informed him, "This is Jephthah's response:

But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;

Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Let us pass, we pray, through your land'; but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.

Then journeyed they through the desert, and went round the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and so came, from the rising of the sun, to the land of Moab, but encamped beyond Arnon, - and entered not within the boundary of Moab, for, Arnon, is the boundary of Moab.

And Israel will send messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel will say to him, We will pass now through in thy land, even to my place.

But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped at Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

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.

So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?

Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.

So then, [are] you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel, or did he ever make war against them?

In Israel's dwelling in Heshbon and in its towns, and in Aroer and in its towns, and in all the cities which are by the sides of Arnon three hundred years -- and wherefore have ye not delivered them in that time?

So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the Lord, the [righteous] Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.’”

But the king of the Ammonites would not listen to Jephthah’s message that he sent him.

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manas'seh, and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

And Jephthah will vow a vow to Jehovah, and he will say, If giving, thou wilt give the sons of Ammon into my hand,

Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

And he smote them from Aroer until thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Then Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house. And see, his daughter came out against him, with timbrels and dances, which was his only child: so that beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.

So she said to him, “My father, you have given your word to the Lord; do to me as you have said, since the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon.”

And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months so that I may go wander on the mountains and lament over my virginity, I and my companions.

“Go,” he said. And he sent her away two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity as she wandered through the mountains.