Judges 11
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.
At that time, there was a Gileadite, Jephthah, a very strong man and a fighter, the son of a kept woman, and he was born of Gilead.
2 And Gilead’s wife bore him sons who grew up, drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.”
Now Gilead had a wife, from whom he received sons. And they, after growing up, cast out Jephthah, saying, “You cannot inherit in the house of our father, because you were born of another mother.”
3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.
And so, fleeing and avoiding them, he lived in the land of Tob. And men who were indigent and robbers joined with him, and they followed him as their leader.
4 Some time later, when the Ammonites fought against Israel
In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.
5 and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.
6 “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so that we can fight against the Ammonites.”
And they said to him, “Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon.”
7 Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”
But he answered them: “Are you not the ones who hated me, and who cast me out of my father’s house? And yet now you come to me, compelled by necessity?”
8 They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.”
And the leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “But it is due to this necessity that we have approached you now, so that you may set out with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be commander over all who live in Gilead.”
9 But Jephthah asked them, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, will I really be your leader?”
Jephthah also said to them: “If you have come to me so that I may fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and if the Lord will deliver them into my hands, will I truly be your leader?”
10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”
They answered him, “The Lord who hears these things is himself the Mediator and the Witness that we shall do what we have promised.”
11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.
And so Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and all the people made him their leader. And Jephthah spoke all his words, in the sight of the Lord, at Mizpah.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?”
And he sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, who said on his behalf, “What is there between you and me, that you would approach against me, so that you might lay waste to my land?”
13 The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”
And he responded to them, “It is because Israel took my land, when he ascended from Egypt, from the parts of Arnon, as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan. Now therefore, restore these to me with peace.”
14 Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites
And Jephthah again commissioned them, and he ordered them to say to the king of Ammon:
15 to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites.
“Jephthah says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon.
16 But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
But when they ascended together from Egypt, he walked through the desert as far as the Red Sea, and he went into Kadesh.
17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.
And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Permit me to pass through your land.’ But he was not willing to agree to his petition. Likewise, he sent to the king of Moab, who also refused to offer him passage. And so he delayed in Kadesh,
18 Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.
and he circled around the side of the land of Edom and the land of Moab. And he arrived opposite the eastern region of the land of Moab. And he made camp across the Arnon. But he was not willing to enter the borders of Moab. (Of course, Arnon is the border of the land of Moab.)
19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’
And so Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who was living at Heshbon. And they said to him, “Permit me to cross through your land as far as the river.”
20 But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.
But he, too, despising the words of Israel, would not permit him to cross through his borders. Instead, gathering an innumerable multitude, he went out against him at Jahaz, and he resisted strongly.
21 Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country,
But the Lord delivered him, with his entire army, into the hands of Israel. And he struck him down, and he possessed all the land of the Amorite, the inhabitant of that region,
22 seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
with all its parts, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
23 Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it?
Therefore, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who overthrew the Amorites, by means of his people Israel fighting against them. And now you wish to possess his land?
24 Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.
Are not the things that your god Chemosh possesses owed to you by right? And so, what the Lord our God has obtained by victory falls to us as a possession.
25 Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?
Or are you, perhaps, better than Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Or are you able to explain what his argument was against Israel, and why he fought against him?
26 For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time?
And though he has lived in Heshbon, and its villages, and in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan for three hundred years, why have you, for such long a time, put forward nothing about this claim?
27 I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
Therefore, I am not sinning against you, but you are doing evil against me, by declaring an unjust war against me. May the Lord be the Judge and the Arbiter this day, between Israel and the sons of Ammon.”
28 But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him.
But the king of the sons of Ammon was not willing to agree to the words of Jephthah that he commissioned by the messengers.
29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.
Therefore, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon Jephthah, and circling around Gilead, and Manasseh, and also Mizpah of Gilead, and crossing from there to the sons of Ammon,
30 Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,
he made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you will deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,
31 then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
whoever will be the first to depart from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, the same will I offer as a holocaust to the Lord.”
32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand.
And Jephthah crossed to the sons of Ammon, so that he might fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.
And he struck them down from Aroer, as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is covered with vineyards, in an exceedingly great slaughter. And the sons of Ammon were humbled by the sons of Israel.
34 And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.
But when Jephthah returned to Mizpah, to his own house, his only daughter met him with timbrels and dances. For he had no other children.
35 As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”
And upon seeing her, he tore his garments, and he said: “Alas, my daughter! You have cheated me, and you yourself have been cheated. For I opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do nothing else.”
36 “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.”
And she answered him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me whatever you have promised, since victory has been granted to you, as well as vengeance against your enemies.”
37 She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander for two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.”
And she said to her father: “Grant to me this one thing, which I request. Permit me, that I may wander the hillsides for two months, and that I may mourn my virginity with my companions.”
38 “Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains.
And he answered her, “Go.” And he released her for two months. And when she had departed with her friends and companions, she wept over her virginity in the hillsides.
39 After two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she had never had relations with a man. So it has become a custom in Israel
And when the two months expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her just as he had vowed, though she knew no man. From this, the custom grew up in Israel, and the practice has been preserved,
40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
such that, after each year passes, the daughters of Israel convene as one, and they lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, for four days.
