Judges 10:6-18

New Catholic Bible

Israelites Subject to the Ammonites. ⁶ The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not serve him. ⁷ The anger of the Lord blazed out against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the hands of the Ammonites. ⁸ From that year on they oppressed and afflicted them for eighteen years, that is, all of the Israelites who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, that is, in Gilead.

⁹ The Ammonites also crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was sorely distressed. ¹⁰ The Israelites called upon the Lord saying, “We have sinned against you because we have abandoned our God and served the Baals.”

¹¹ The Lord said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Midianites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, did I not save you from out of their hands? ¹³ But you have abandoned me for other gods, therefore I will not save you anymore. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen. Let them save you in the hour of your desperation.”^[a]

¹⁵ The Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us however you see fit, but please rescue us today.” ¹⁶ They removed their foreign gods from their midst, and they served the Lord. Finally, he could no longer bear Israel’s misery.^{[b] 17} The Ammonites gathered together and they camped in Gilead. The Israelites also gathered together, and they camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸ The people and the leaders of Gilead said to one another, “Who will begin the battle against the Ammonites? That man will be the leader of all of those who live in Gilead.”