Tola and Jair

10 After Abimelech there arose to ^(A)save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in ^(B)the hill country of Ephraim. ² And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.

³ After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴ And he had thirty sons who ^(C)rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, ^(D)which are in the land of Gilead. ⁵ And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Further Disobedience and Oppression

^6 (E)The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord ^(F)and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, ^(G)the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they ^(H)forsook the Lord and did not serve him. ⁷ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and ^(I)he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, ⁸ and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. ⁹ And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

¹⁰ And the people of Israel ^(J)cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because ^(K)we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.” ¹¹ And the Lord said to the people of Israel, “Did I not save you ^(L)from the Egyptians and ^(M)from the Amorites, ^(N)from the Ammonites and ^(O)from the Philistines? ¹² The Sidonians also, and ^(P)the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I ^(Q)saved you out of their hand. ¹³ Yet you have ^(R)forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. ¹⁴ Go and cry out ^(S)to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” ¹⁵ And the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.” ¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and ^(T)he became impatient over the misery of Israel.

¹⁷ Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at ^(U)Mizpah. ¹⁸ And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? ^(V)He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah Delivers Israel

11 Now ^(W)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(X)a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² And Gilead's wife also bore him sons. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(Y)Tob, and ^(Z)worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴ After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. ⁵ And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of ^(AA)Tob. ⁶ And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” ⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and ^(AB)be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ^(AC)“The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people ^(AD)made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words ^(AE)before the Lord at ^(AF)Mizpah.

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^(AG)“Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the ^(AH)Arnon to the ^(AI)Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” ¹⁴ Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵ and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^(AJ)Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, ¹⁶ but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness ^(AK)to the Red Sea and ^(AL)came to Kadesh. ^17 (AM)Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ ^(AN)but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(AO)remained at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and ^(AP)went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and ^(AQ)arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and ^(AR)camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. ^19 (AS)Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’ ²⁰ 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. ²¹ And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²² And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? ²⁴ Will you not possess what ^(AT)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? ^(AU)And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. ²⁵ Now are you any better than ^(AV)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? ²⁶ While Israel lived ^(AW)in Heshbon and its villages, and ^(AX)in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. ^(AY)The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.” ²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.

Released from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brothers^[a]—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? ² For ^(A)a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.^{[b] 3} Accordingly, ^(B)she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

⁴ Likewise, my brothers, ^(C)you also have died ^(D)to the law ^(E)through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, ^(F)in order that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵ For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work ^(G)in our members ^(H)to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the ^(I)new way of ^(J)the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.^[c]

The Law and Sin

⁷ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^(K)I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^(L)the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin, ^(M)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^(N)For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment ^(O)that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, ^(P)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^(Q)deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So ^(R)the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^(S)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(T)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(U)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now ^(V)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^(W)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19 (X)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^(Y)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^(Z)I delight in the law of God, ^(AA)in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members ^(AB)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^(AC)this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^{[d] 2} For the law of ^(AD)the Spirit of life ^(AE)has set you^[e] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For ^(AF)God has done what the law, ^(AG)weakened by the flesh, ^(AH)could not do. ^(AI)By sending his own Son ^(AJ)in the likeness of sinful flesh and ^(AK)for sin,^[f] he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that ^(AL)the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, ^(AM)who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For ^(AN)those who live according to the flesh set their minds on ^(AO)the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on ^(AP)the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set ^(AQ)the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is ^(AR)hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; ^(AS)indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact ^(AT)the Spirit of God dwells in you. ^(AU)Anyone who does not have ^(AV)the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of ^(AW)him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus^[g] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^(AX)through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Heirs with Christ

¹² So then, brothers,^[h] we are debtors, ^(AY)not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you ^(AZ)put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are ^(BA)led by the Spirit of God are ^(BB)sons^[i] of God. ¹⁵ For ^(BC)you did not receive ^(BD)the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of ^(BE)adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ^(BF)“Abba! Father!” ^16 (BG)The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then ^(BH)heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^(BI)provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Future Glory

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ^(BJ)are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for ^(BK)the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation ^(BL)was subjected to futility, not willingly, but ^(BM)because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that ^(BN)the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that ^(BO)the whole creation ^(BP)has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have ^(BQ)the firstfruits of the Spirit, ^(BR)groan inwardly as ^(BS)we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, ^(BT)the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For ^(BU)in this hope we were saved. Now ^(BV)hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we ^(BW)wait for it with patience.

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For ^(BX)we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but ^(BY)the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And ^(BZ)he who searches hearts knows what is ^(CA)the mind of the Spirit, because^[j] the Spirit ^(CB)intercedes for the saints ^(CC)according to the will of God. ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together ^(CD)for good,^[k] for ^(CE)those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he ^(CF)foreknew he also ^(CG)predestined ^(CH)to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be ^(CI)the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also ^(CJ)justified, and those whom he justified he also ^(CK)glorified.

God's Everlasting Love

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? ^(CL)If God is for us, who can be^[l] against us? ^32 (CM)He who did not spare his own Son but ^(CN)gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? ^(CO)It is God who justifies. ^34 (CP)Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—^(CQ)who is at the right hand of God, ^(CR)who indeed is interceding for us.^{[m] 35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than ^(CU)conquerors through ^(CV)him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God's Sovereign Choice

9 ^(CW)I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— ² that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For ^(CX)I could wish that I myself were ^(CY)accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,^[n] my kinsmen ^(CZ)according to the flesh. ⁴ They are ^(DA)Israelites, and to them belong ^(DB)the adoption, ^(DC)the glory, ^(DD)the covenants, ^(DE)the giving of the law, ^(DF)the worship, and ^(DG)the promises. ⁵ To them belong ^(DH)the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, ^(DI)who is God over all, ^(DJ)blessed forever. Amen.

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham ^(DK)because they are his offspring, but ^(DL)“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but ^(DM)the children of the promise are counted as offspring. ⁹ For this is what the promise said: ^(DN)“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰ And not only so, but ^(DO)also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹ though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of ^(DP)him who calls— ¹² she was told, ^(DQ)“The older will serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, ^(DR)“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴ What shall we say then? ^(DS)Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, ^(DT)“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it depends not on human will or exertion,^[o] but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ^(DU)“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For ^(DV)who can resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, O man, ^(DW)to answer back to God? ^(DX)Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ^21 (DY)Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump ^(DZ)one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²² What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience ^(EA)vessels of wrath ^(EB)prepared for destruction, ²³ in order to make known ^(EC)the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he ^(ED)has prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴ even us whom he ^(EE)has called, ^(EF)not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As indeed he says in Hosea,

²⁷ And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ^(EJ)“Though the number of the sons of Israel^[p] be as the sand of the sea, ^(EK)only a remnant of them will be saved, ²⁸ for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” ²⁹ And as Isaiah predicted,

Israel's Unbelief

³⁰ What shall we say, then? ^(EO)That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ^(EP)a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but that Israel ^(EQ)who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness^{[q] (ER)}did not succeed in reaching that law. ³² Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the ^(ES)stumbling stone, ³³ as it is written,