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Abimelech rules Israel
22 Abimelech ruled Israel for three years. 23 Then God caused the leaders of Shechem to turn against Abimelech. They were no longer friends. 24 God did this to punish Abimelech because he had killed his brothers, Gideon's 70 sons. The leaders of Shechem were also guilty for their murder, because they had helped Abimelech.
25 The leaders of Shechem no longer obeyed Abimelech. They sent men to hide in the hills near Shechem. Those men robbed everyone who travelled on that road. But someone told Abimelech about this.
26 Ebed's son Gaal went to live in Shechem with his brothers. The leaders of Shechem started to trust Gaal as their leader. 27 They went out of the city to pick grapes in their fields. They squeezed the grapes to make wine. They went to the temple of their god and they had a party. They ate a lot of food and they drank a lot of wine. At their party, they cursed Abimelech.
28 Gaal said, ‘Why does Abimelech think he is so great? There is no reason why the people of Shechem should serve him! He is a son of Gideon and he does not really belong here. Zebul only serves Abimelech as his officer. Instead we should be faithful to Hamor's descendants. He is the ancestor of Shechem's clan. 29 If I were the leader of these people, I would remove Abimelech as king. I would say to him, “Make your army strong and try to fight against us!” ’
30 Some people told Zebul, the town's officer, what Gaal had said. Zebul was very angry when he heard this. 31 He sent men secretly to Abimelech with a message. They told him, ‘Ebed's son Gaal and his brothers have come to live in Shechem. They are causing the people of the city to turn against you. 32 So you must come here in the night with your men. Hide in the fields outside the city. 33 When the sun rises in the morning, quickly attack the city. When Gaal and his men come out to fight, you can do to them whatever you want.’
34 So Abimelech and all his soldiers came out at night. They hid in four groups outside Shechem.
35 The next morning, Gaal stood beside the city gate. Abimelech and his men came out from the places where they were hiding. 36 Gaal saw them. He said to Zebul, ‘Look! There are men coming down from the tops of the hills.’ Zebul replied, ‘No, you are wrong. You can see shadows in the hills. They only look like men.’ 37 Gaal said again, ‘Look! I can really see men who are coming down from the middle of the land. There is another group of men who are coming along the road from the Diviner's Oak Tree.’
38 Then Zebul said to Gaal, ‘What has happened to your proud words now? You boasted when you said, “Abimelech is nobody! We should not serve him.” Here are the men that you insulted as useless! So now go out and fight them!’
39 Gaal led the men of Shechem out of the city to fight against Abimelech. 40 Abimelech chased after him. Gaal and his men ran back to the city. But Abimelech and his men caught and killed many of them before they reached the city gate. 41 Abimelech went back to live in Arumah. Zebul made Gaal and his brothers leave Shechem.
42 The next day, the people of Shechem went out into the fields around the city. Abimelech heard about this. 43 He took his men with him. He made them hide in three groups in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he and his men attacked them. 44 Abimelech and his group of soldiers ran to stand at the city gate. They stopped people going back into the city. The other two groups attacked the people in the fields and killed them.
45 Abimelech attacked the city all that day. He took the city and he killed all the people who lived there. Then he destroyed the city. He put salt all over it as a curse.
46 The city's leaders who lived in the tower of Shechem heard the news. They went to hide in the strong building of El-berith's temple. 47 Somebody told Abimelech that all the leaders were there together in the temple. 48 He took all his men up to Mount Zalmon. He used an axe to cut some branches off a tree. He put the branches on his shoulders. Then he said to his men, ‘Be quick! Do the same thing as you have seen me do!’ 49 So all the men cut branches and they followed Abimelech. They put the branches around the strong building. Then they brought fire to burn down the building. There were about 1,000 men and women in the tower of Shechem. They all died in the fire.
50 Then Abimelech and his men went to Thebez. They made their camp around the city to attack it. 51 There was a strong tower in the middle of the city. All the leaders of the city, as well as all the men and women, ran there to hide. They locked the door. They went up onto the roof of the tower. 52 Abimelech and his men came to attack the tower. Abimelech went near to the door of the tower, to put a fire there. 53 A woman on the roof dropped a heavy rock down on his head. It broke Abimelech's skull. 54 Abimelech quickly said to the young man who carried his weapons, ‘Take hold of your sword and kill me! I do not want people to say that a woman killed me!’ So the young man killed him with his sword. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home.
56 That was how God punished Abimelech. He had done an evil thing against his father when he killed his 70 brothers. 57 God was also punishing the people of Shechem for the evil things that they had done. When Gideon's son Jotham had cursed them, he said that these things would happen.
Tola and Jair
10 After Abimelech's death, another man became Israel's leader, to rescue them. He was Tola, the son of Puah and grandson of Dodo. He belonged to Issachar's tribe. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.
2 Tola led Israel for 23 years. Then he died and they buried him in Shamir.
3 After Tola, Jair of Gilead became Israel's leader. He led Israel for 22 years. 4 He had 30 sons. They rode on 30 donkeys and they ruled 30 towns in Gilead. These towns are still called Havvoth-Jair (Jair's villages). 5 Then Jair died and they buried him in Kamon.
The Ammonites fight against Israel
6 The Israelites again did things that the Lord saw were evil. They worshipped idols of Baal and Ashtoreth. They also worshipped the gods of Syria, Sidon and Moab, as well as the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines.[a] They turned away from the Lord and they did not serve him any more.
7 The Lord became angry with the Israelites. He put them under the power of the Ammonites and the Philistines. 8 That year they attacked the Israelites who lived in the Gilead region, on the east side of the Jordan River. That was the land where the Amorites lived. They were cruel to the Israelites for 18 years. 9 Then the Ammonites went across the Jordan River to fight against the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim. The Israelites were in a lot of trouble.
10 Then the Israelites called out to the Lord for help. They said, ‘We have turned against you. We have worshipped the idols of Baal instead of you.’
11-12 The Lord replied, ‘I have saved you many times when you called to me for help. I saved you from the power of the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Midianites.[b] 13 But now you have turned away from me and you worship other gods instead. So I will not rescue you again. 14 Go and ask those other gods to help you! They are the gods that you have chosen, so let them rescue you from your trouble!’
15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, ‘We are guilty. Punish us in whatever way you think is right, but please rescue us now.’ 16 Then they threw away all the idols of foreign gods that they had been worshipping. They began to worship the Lord again. Finally, the Lord decided to help them, because he saw how upset they were.
17 The Ammonite army came to Gilead and they made their camp there. The Israelite army also came and they made their camp in Mizpah. 18 The leaders of the people of Gilead asked each other, ‘Who will lead us to attack the Ammonites? Any man who agrees to do that will become the leader of everyone who lives in Gilead.’
Jesus shows himself to two disciples
13 Later on that same day, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village. The village was called Emmaus. It was about 11 kilometres from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. 15 While they were talking like this, Jesus himself came near to them. He started to walk along with them. 16 They saw him, but for some reason they did not recognize him. 17 Jesus asked them, ‘What are you talking about while you walk along the road?’
They stood still and they seemed sad. 18 One of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘Many things have happened in Jerusalem in the last few days. Are you the only visitor here that does not know about it?’ 19 Jesus asked them, ‘What things have happened?’
They replied, ‘The things that happened to Jesus who was from Nazareth. He was a prophet from God. He did many great things and he spoke powerful messages. God showed that his message was true. All the people believed him. 20 Then the leaders of the priests and our rulers took hold of him. They gave him to the Roman ruler. They said that he had done bad things and that he ought to die. So they killed him by fixing him to a cross. 21 But before that we had hoped that he would save the people of Israel. We hoped that he would make us free again.
There are other things too. Today is the third day since Jesus died. 22 After all this happened, some women in our group surprised us. Early this morning, they went to the place where Joseph had put him. 23 But they did not find his body there. So they returned to us and said, “Some angels appeared to us. They have told us that Jesus is alive.” 24 So some people from our group went to the place where his body had been. They found everything just the same as the women had said. But they did not see Jesus.’
25 Jesus then said to them, ‘How silly you are! You are very slow to believe everything that God's prophets said long ago. 26 You should have known that the Messiah had to die. Only then would he return to heaven and show how great and powerful he is.’ 27 Jesus then began to explain to them what Moses and all God's prophets had taught. He showed them what they wrote in the Bible about himself.
28 Then they came near to the village that the disciples were going to. It seemed that Jesus would continue his journey. 29 But they wanted him to stop there. They said to him, ‘Please stay in our home with us. It is getting late, and it will soon be night.’
So Jesus went into their house to stay with them. 30 He sat down to eat with them. He took the bread and he thanked God for it. He broke it into pieces and he gave some to them. 31 Their eyes became clear and they recognized him. But then he disappeared, and they could no longer see him. 32 They said to each other, ‘When he talked to us, it was like a fire that was burning inside us. We felt it while we were walking along the road. We also felt it when he was explaining God's message in the Bible.’
33 Immediately they got up and they returned to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 apostles and other people who were with them. 34 The people there told the two disciples, ‘It is true! The Lord Jesus is alive again. He has appeared to Simon!’
35 Then the two disciples spoke to the whole group. They told what had happened to them on the road to their village. They told how they recognized Jesus when he broke the bread into pieces in their home.
Jesus appears to the group
36 While they were still speaking like that, Jesus himself stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’
37 But the whole group was very surprised and afraid. They thought that they were seeing a spirit. 38 Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You seem to have trouble in your minds about what you are seeing. 39 Now look at my hands and my feet. It is really me! Touch me. Then you will know that I am not a spirit. A spirit does not have a body with skin and bones. You can see that I have a real body.’
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 This was such good news, they were very happy. But they could still not really believe it. So he asked them, ‘Do you have anything that I could eat?’ 42 They gave him a piece of fish that they had cooked. 43 While they were watching, he took it and he ate it.
44 Then he said to them, ‘I told you about these things while I was still with you. Everything that God's servants wrote about me in the Bible had to happen. Moses wrote about me in his book of God's Law. The prophets also wrote about me. The book called Psalms also tells about me. And now it has become true.’
45 Then he helped them to understand God's message in the Bible. 46 He told them, ‘This is what it says there: The Messiah had to die. Then, after three days, he had to rise up and become alive again. 47 People in every country of the world must hear God's message. They must stop doing wrong things and change how they live. When they do this, God will forgive them. He will forgive all the bad things that they have done. People need to tell this message about the Messiah in Jerusalem first, then tell people in other countries. 48 You are the people who have seen what has happened here. You must tell other people about it. 49 Now listen! I will send to you the gift that God my Father has promised to give to you. You must stay here in the city until this happens. Then the power of God will come from heaven and it will cover you.’
Jesus goes up to God in heaven
50 Then Jesus led the group of his disciples out of the city. They all went to a place near the village called Bethany. He held up his hands towards them all. He asked God to be good to them. 51 While he was praying for them like that, he went up away from them. God lifted him up to heaven. 52 The disciples praised Jesus for his great power. Then they returned to Jerusalem and they were all very happy. 53 All the time they were in the temple and they were praising God.
This is a psalm to say ‘thank you’.
Thank you, God![a]
100 Everyone on earth,
shout and praise the Lord!
2 Worship the Lord and be happy!
Come near to him with songs of joy.
3 Understand that the Lord is God.
He made us and we are his people.
He takes care of us,
like a shepherd with his sheep.
4 Thank him as you go through the gates into his temple.
Praise him as you stand in his temple yards.[b]
Thank him and praise him
as he deserves!
5 Yes, the Lord is good.
He always loves us as his people.
He always does what he has promised
to us and to our descendants for ever.
11 A wicked person's home will come to an end.
But the home of a good person will continue to be strong.
12 You may think that you are on a good, straight road.
But in the end, that road may lead you to death.
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