11:1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute.
11:2 Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.”
11:3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him.
11:4 Some time later, when the Ammonites made war on Israel,
11:5 the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
11:6 “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.”
11:7 Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”
11:8 The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead.”
11:9 Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me–will I really be your head?”
11:10 The elders of Gilead replied, “The LORD is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.”
11:11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.
11:12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against us that you have attacked our country?”
11:13 The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”
11:14 Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king,
11:15 saying: “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.
11:16 But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the desert to the Red Sea and on to Kadesh.
11:17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.
11:18 “Next they traveled through the desert, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.
11:19 “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your country to our own place.’
11:20 Sihon, however, did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his men and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.
11:21 “Then the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his men into Israel’s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country,
11:22 capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.
11:23 “Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over?
11:24 Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has given us, we will possess.
11:25 Are you better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them?
11:26 For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time?
11:27 I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
11:28 The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.
11:29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.
11:30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands,
11:31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’S, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
11:32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands.
11:33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
11:34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.
11:35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break.”
11:36 “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.
11:37 But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”
11:38 “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry.
11:39 After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom
11:40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. And he was the son of a harlot, and Gilead had begotten Jephthah.
11:2 And Gilead s wife bore him sons. And when the woman s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, You shall not have an inheritance in the house of our father, for you are the son of some other woman.
11:3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob. And worthless men collected around Jephthah, and they went out with him.
11:4 And after some time the children of Ammon fought with Israel.
11:5 And when the children of Ammon fought with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
11:6 And they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief, and we will fight against the children of Ammon.
11:7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Are you not the ones who hated me and drove me out from the house of my father? Why then do you come to me now that you are in distress?
11:8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, This is the reason we have turned now to you, that you would come with us and fight against the children of Ammon and be for us the head of all the inhabitants of Gilead.
11:9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you are bringing me back to fight against the children of Ammon and Jehovah delivers them up before me, will I be your head?
11:10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Let Jehovah be a Witness between us: As you have spoken, so shall we surely do.
11:11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah.
11:12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What is there between me and you, that you have come to me to fight against my land?
11:13 And the king of the children of Ammon said to Jephthah s messengers, Because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as Jabbok and the Jordan. Now therefore restore it peacefully.
11:14 And Jephthah yet again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon.
11:15 And he said to him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel did not take the land of Moab nor the land of the children of Ammon.
11:16 But when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh,
11:17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, May we please pass through your land? But the king of Edom would not hear of it. And they also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not allow it. So Israel remained in Kadesh.
11:18 And they went through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab; and they went to the east of the land of Moab and encamped beyond the Arnon. Thus they did not go through the territory of Moab, for the Arnon is the border of Moab.
11:19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon the king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, May we please pass through your land to our place?
11:20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped in Jahaz; and he fought with Israel.
11:21 And Jehovah the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. And Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land.
11:22 And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
11:23 So now Jehovah the God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites for the sake of His people Israel. Should you then dispossess them?
11:24 Will you not take possession of that which Chemosh your god has dispossessed for you? Thus we will take possession of all that Jehovah our God dispossesses for our sake.
11:25 And now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them?
11:26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?
11:27 So I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong in fighting against me. Jehovah the Judge will judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
11:28 But the king of the children of Ammon would not listen to the words of Jephthah, which he sent him.
11:29 And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah. And he passed through Gilead and through Manasseh; and he passed on to Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed on to the children of Ammon.
11:30 And Jephthah made a vow to Jehovah, and he said, If You will really deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
11:31 Whoever comes out through the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon will be Jehovah s, and I will offer him up as a burnt offering.
11:32 And Jephthah passed on to the children of Ammon to fight against them, and Jehovah delivered them into his hand.
11:33 And he struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, twenty cities, and to Abel-keramim, with a very great stroke. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
11:34 Then Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and there came his daughter out to meet him, with timbrels and with dances. Now she was an only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.
11:35 And when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, Ah, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me. For I have opened my mouth to Jehovah, and I cannot retract it.
11:36 And she said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to Jehovah; do with me according to what has gone forth from your mouth, seeing that Jehovah has executed vengeance for you on your enemies, on the children of Ammon.
11:37 And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: Let me be alone for two months that I may depart and descend upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.
11:38 And he said, Go; and he sent her away for two months. And she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
11:39 And at the end of two months she returned to her father, and he did with her according to the vow that he had vowed; and she had never known a man. And it became a custom in Israel
11:40 That each year the daughters of Israel would go to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in the year.