²²After Abimelek had governed Israel three years,²³God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek.²⁴God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.²⁵In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelek.

²⁶Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him.²⁷After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelek.²⁸Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelek, and why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn’t he Jerub-Baal’s son, and isn’t Zebul his deputy? Serve the family of Hamor, Shechem’s father! Why should we serve Abimelek?²⁹If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, ‘Call out your whole army!’”

³⁰When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry.³¹Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, “Gaal son of Ebed and his clan have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.³²Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields.³³In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them.”

³⁴So Abimelek and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies.³⁵Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelek and his troops came out from their hiding place.

³⁶When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!”

Zebul replied, “You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men.”

³⁷But Gaal spoke up again: “Look, people are coming down from the central hill, and a company is coming from the direction of the diviners’ tree.”

³⁸Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your big talk now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelek that we should be subject to him?’ Aren’t these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!”

³⁹So Gaal led out the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelek.⁴⁰Abimelek chased him all the way to the entrance of the gate, and many were killed as they fled.⁴¹Then Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his clan out of Shechem.

⁴²The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelek.⁴³So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them.⁴⁴Abimelek and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance of the city gate. Then two companies attacked those in the fields and struck them down.⁴⁵All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.

⁴⁶On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith.⁴⁷When Abimelek heard that they had assembled there,⁴⁸he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, “Quick! Do what you have seen me do!”⁴⁹So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelek. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire with the people still inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.

⁵⁰Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it.⁵¹Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women—all the people of the city—had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof.⁵²Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire,⁵³a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.

⁵⁴Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his servant ran him through, and he died.⁵⁵When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.

⁵⁶Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.⁵⁷God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.

Tola

10 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.²He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.

Jair

³He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years.⁴He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.⁵When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

Jephthah

⁶Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him,⁷he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites,⁸who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.⁹The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress.¹⁰Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”

¹¹The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,¹²the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, 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 when you are in trouble!”

¹⁵But the Israelites said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.”¹⁶Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.

¹⁷When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.¹⁸The 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.”

On the Road to Emmaus

¹³Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.¹⁴They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.¹⁵As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;¹⁶but they were kept from recognizing him.

¹⁷He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast.¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹“What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.²⁰The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;²¹but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.²²In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning²³but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.²⁴Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

²⁵He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!²⁶Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

²⁸As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.²⁹But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.³²They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together³⁴and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”³⁵Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

³⁶While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

³⁷They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.³⁸He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?³⁹Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

⁴⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.⁴¹And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish,⁴³and he took it and ate it in their presence.

⁴⁴He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

⁴⁵Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.⁴⁶He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,⁴⁷and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.⁴⁹I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus

⁵⁰When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.⁵¹While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.⁵²Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.⁵³And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Psalm 100

100 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
²    Worship the LORD with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
³Know that the LORD is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be destroyed,
    but the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way that appears to be right,
    but in the end it leads to death.