Bible Glide

Judges 10

Judges 10 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Judges 10 shows a cycle that repeats across the book: brief peace under local judges, then renewed unfaithfulness, oppression, and crying out for help. The chapter highlights both God's seriousness about covenant faithfulness and His compassion when the people finally turn back to Him.

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What happens in Judges 10?

After Abimelech, Tola and then Jair led Israel for many years, giving the land a time of relative stability. But Israel again did evil by turning to many false gods and abandoning the Lord. In response, the Lord allowed the Philistines and Ammonites to oppress them for years. When the people confessed their sin and pleaded for rescue, God reminded them of past deliverance and their repeated unfaithfulness. Israel then put away foreign gods, and the chapter ends with the Ammonites gathering for war and Israel preparing to defend Gilead.

Judges 10 comes after Abimelech's violent rule and before the account of Jephthah in chapter 11. It begins the next cycle in Judges, where Israel's faithlessness leads to oppression and then to a new deliverer. The chapter also shows the growing pressure from enemies on the east side of the Jordan.

Themes to notice

  • Repeated unfaithfulnessIsrael turns again to false gods and abandons the Lord after a season of rest.
  • God's disciplineThe Lord allows oppression to expose sin and bring the people back to Him.
  • Repentance and rescueIsrael confesses its sin, removes foreign gods, and seeks deliverance from trouble.

Questions for Judges 10

  • What do Tola and Jair show about leadership in a troubled time?
  • Why does God's response to Israel's cry sound so severe before the rescue comes?
  • What does the people's decision to put away foreign gods suggest about true repentance?

Read the full text of Judges 10 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Judges 10

Tola

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.

Jair

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.

Oppression by the Philistines and Ammonites

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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