Judges 11
1 Jephthah of Gilead was a strong fighter. He was the son of a prostitute, and his father was Gilead.
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a great man of war; he was the son of a loose woman, and Gilead was his father.
2 Gilead's wife gave him sons, who when they grew up, drove Jephthah away, telling him, “You won't inherit anything from our father because you are another woman's son.”
And Gilead's wife gave birth to sons, and when her sons became men, they sent Jephthah away, saying, You have no part in the heritage of our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.
3 Jephthah ran away from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. A gang of trouble-makers joined him and he led them out on raids.
So Jephthah went in flight from his brothers and was living in the land of Tob, where a number of good-for-nothing men, joining Jephthah, went out with him on his undertakings.
4 Later on, the Ammonites were at war with Israel.
Now after a time the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
5 As the Ammonites were attacking Israel, the elders of Gilead came to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
And when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the responsible men of Gilead went to get Jephthah back from the land of Tob;
6 “Come and be our army commander,” they asked Jepthah, “so we can fight the Ammonites.”
And they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief so that we may make war against the children of Ammon.
7 “Weren't you the ones who hated me and drove me from my father's house?” Jephthah asked them, “Why are you coming to me now you're in trouble?”
But Jephthah said to the responsible men of Gilead, Did you not, in your hate for me, send me away from my father's house? Why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?
8 “Yes, that's why we've turned to you now,” the elders of Gilead replied. “Come with us and fight the Ammonites, and you will be the leader of all the people of Gilead.”
And the responsible men of Gilead said to Jephthah, That is the reason we have come back to you; so go with us and make war against the children of Ammon, and we will make you our head over all the people of Gilead.
9 “So if I go back with you and fight the Ammonites, and the Lord makes me victorious, then I'll be your leader?” Jephthah asked the elders of Gilead.
Then Jephthah said to the responsible men of Gilead, If you take me back to make war against the children of Ammon, and if with the help of the Lord I overcome them, will you make me your head?
10 “The Lord will be a witness between us,” they replied. “We'll do whatever you say.”
And the responsible men of Gilead said to Jephthah, May the Lord be our witness: we will certainly do as you say.
11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and army commander. And Jephthah repeated all his conditions before the Lord at Mizpah.
So Jephthah went with the responsible men of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah said all these things before the Lord in Mizpah.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to ask him, “What have you got against me that you want to attack my land?”
Then Jephthah sent men to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have you against me that you have come to make war against my land?
13 The king of the Ammonites replied to Jephthah's messengers, “Israel seized my land when they came from Egypt. It extended from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, and across to the Jordan River. So give it back and there'll be no fighting.”
And the king of the children of Ammon said to the men sent by Jephthah, Because Israel, when he came up out of Egypt, took away my land, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and as far as Jordan: so now, give me back those lands quietly.
14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of the Ammonites
And Jephthah sent again to the king of the children of Ammon,
15 to tell him, “This is Jephthah's reply: The Israelites did not take any land from Moab or from the Ammonites.
And said to him, This is the word of Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the children of Ammon;
16 When they left Egypt, the Israelites went through the desert to the Red Sea and arrived at Kadesh.
But when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the waste land to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh;
17 They sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your country,’ but the king of Edom refused to listen. They also sent the same request to the king of Moab, and he refused too. So they remained at Kadesh.
Then Israel sent men to the king of Edom saying, Let me now go through your land; but the king of Edom did not give ear to them. And in the same way he sent to the king of Moab, but he would not; so Israel went on living in Kadesh.
18 Eventually the Israelites traveled through the desert, avoiding the lands of Edom and Moab. They arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River. But they did not enter Moab territory, for the Arnon River was its border.
Then he went on through the waste land and round the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and put up their tents on the other side of the Arnon; they did not come inside the limit of Moab, for the Arnon was the limit of Moab.
19 Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and asked him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our own country.’
And Israel sent men to Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let me now go through your land to my place.
20 But Sihon didn't trust the Israelites to pass through his territory. So he assembled his army, set up camp at Jahaz, and attacked the Israelites.
But Sihon would not give way and let Israel go through his land; and Sihon got together all his people, and put his army in position in Jahaz, and made war on Israel.
21 However, the Lord, the God of Israel, handed over Sihon and all his people to the Israelites, who defeated them. So the Israelites took over all the land inhabited by the Amorites.
And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hands of Israel, and they overcame them; so all the land of the Amorites, the people of that land, became Israel's.
22 They occupied all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, and from the desert to the Jordan River.
All the limit of the Amorites was theirs, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and from the waste land even to Jordan.
23 It was the Lord, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites before his people Israel, so why should you take it over?
So now the Lord, the God of Israel, has taken away their land from the Amorites and given it to his people Israel; are you then to have it?
24 Why don't you keep whatever your god Chemosh gave you, and we'll keep whatever the Lord our God has given us?
Do you not keep the lands of those whom Chemosh your god sends out from before you? So we will keep all the lands of those whom the Lord our God sends out from before us.
25 Do you think you're so much better than Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or attack them?
What! are you any better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever take up a cause against Israel or make war against them?
26 Israelites have been living in Heshbon, Aroer, their villages, and in all the towns along the banks of the Arnon River for three hundred years. Why didn't you take them back during that time?
While Israel was living in Heshbon and its daughter-towns and in Aroer and its daughter-towns and in all the towns which are by the side of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not get them back at that time?
27 I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by going to war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
So I have done no wrong against you, but you are doing wrong to me in fighting against me: may the Lord, who is Judge this day, be judge between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
28 But the king of Ammon didn't pay any attention to what Jephthah had to say.
The king of the children of Ammon, however, did not give ear to the words which Jephthah sent to him.
29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then on through Mizpah of Gilead. From there he advanced to attack the Ammonites.
Then the spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he went through Gilead and Manasseh, and came to Mizpeh of Gilead; and from Mizpeh of Gilead he went over to the children of Ammon.
30 Jephthah made a solemn promise to the Lord, saying, “If you make me victorious over the Ammonites,
And Jephthah took an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give the children of Ammon into my hands,
31 I will dedicate to the Lord whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return from the battle. I will present it as a burnt offering.”
Then whoever comes out from the door of my house, meeting me when I come back in peace from the children of Ammon, will be the Lord's and I will give him as a burned offering.
32 Jephthah advanced to attack the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him the victory over them.
So Jephthah went over to the children of Ammon to make war on them; and the Lord gave them into his hands.
33 He soundly defeated them, capturing twenty cities from Aroer to the area around Minnith, up as far as Abel-keramim. This is how the Ammonites were conquered by the Israelites.
And he made an attack on them from Aroer all the way to Minnith, overrunning twenty towns, as far as Abel-cheramim, and put great numbers to the sword. So the children of Ammon were crushed before the children of Israel.
34 When Jephthah arrived home in Mizpah, there came his daughter out to meet him, with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child—he had no son or daughter apart from her.
Then Jephthah came back to his house in Mizpah, and his daughter came out, meeting him on his way with music and with dances; she was his only child; he had no other sons or daughters.
35 The moment he saw her, he ripped his clothes in agony and cried out, “Oh no, my daughter! You have crushed me completely! You have destroyed me, for I made a solemn promise to the Lord and I can't go back on it.”
And when he saw her he was overcome with grief, and said, Ah! my daughter! I am crushed with sorrow, and it is you who are the chief cause of my trouble; for I have made an oath to the Lord and I may not take it back.
36 She replied, “Father, you have made a solemn promise to the Lord. Do to me what you promised, for the Lord brought vengeance your enemies, the Ammonites.”
And she said to him, My father, you have made an oath to the Lord; do then to me whatever you have said; for the Lord has sent a full reward on your haters, on the children of Ammon.
37 Then she went on to say to him, “Just let me do this: let me walk through the hills for two months with my friends and grieve the fact that I'll never marry.”
Then she said to her father, Only do this for me: let me have two months to go away into the mountains with my friends, weeping for my sad fate.
38 “You can go,” he told her. He sent her away for two months, and she and her friends went into the hills and cried because she would never marry.
And he said, Go then. So he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends to the mountains, weeping for her sad fate.
39 When the two months were over, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had promised, and she was a virgin. This is the origin of the custom in Israel
And at the end of two months she went back to her father, who did with her as he had said in his oath: and she had never been touched by a man. So it became a rule in Israel,
40 that every year the young women of Israel leave for four days to weep in commemoration of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
For the women to go year by year sorrowing for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in every year.
