Judges 11
1 And Jephthae the Galaadite [was] a mighty man; and he [was] the son of a harlot, who bore Jephthae to Galaad.
Jephthah of Gilead was a strong fighter. He was the son of a prostitute, and his father was Gilead.
2 And the wife of Galaad bore him sons; and the sons of his wife grew up, and they cast out Jephthae, and said to him, You shall not inherit in the house of our father, for you are the son of a concubine.
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.”
3 And Jephthae fled from the face of his brethren, and lived in the land of Tob; and vain men gathered to Jephthae, and went out with him.
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.
4 And it came to pass when the children of Ammon prepared to fight with Israel,
Later on, the Ammonites were at war with Israel.
5 that the elders of Galaad went to fetch Jephthae from the land of Tob.
As the Ammonites were attacking Israel, the elders of Gilead came to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
6 And they said to Jephthae, Come, and be our head, and we will fight with the sons of Ammon.
“Come and be our army commander,” they asked Jepthah, “so we can fight the Ammonites.”
7 And Jephthae said to the elders of Galaad, Did you not hate me, and cast me out of my father's house, and banish me from you? and therefore are you come to me now when you lack me?
“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?”
8 And the elders of Galaad said to Jephthae, Therefore have we now turned to you, that you should go with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Galaad.
“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.”
9 And Jephthae said to the elders of Galaad, If you turn me back to fight with the children of Ammon, and the Lord should deliver them before me, then will I be your head.
“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.
10 And the elders of Galaad said to Jephthae, The Lord be witness between us, if we shall not do according to your word.
“The Lord will be a witness between us,” they replied. “We'll do whatever you say.”
11 And Jephthae went with the elders of Galaad, and the people made him head and ruler over them: and Jephthae spoke all his words before the Lord in Massepha.
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.
12 And Jephthae sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have I to do with you, that you have come against me to fight in my land?
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?”
13 And the king of the children of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthae, Because Israel took my land when he went up out of Egypt, from Arnon to Jaboc, and to Jordan: now then return them peaceably and I will depart.
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.”
14 And Jephthae again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon,
Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of the Ammonites
15 and said to him, Thus says Jephthae, Israel took not the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon;
to tell him, “This is Jephthah's reply: The Israelites did not take any land from Moab or from the Ammonites.
16 for in their going up out of Egypt Israel went in the wilderness as far as the sea of Siph, and came to Cades.
When they left Egypt, the Israelites went through the desert to the Red Sea and arrived at Kadesh.
17 And Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, I will pass, if it please you, by your land: and the king of Edom complied not: and [Israel] also sent to the king of Moab, and he did not consent; and Israel sojourned in Cades.
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.
18 And [they] journeyed in the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab: and they came by the east of the land of Moab, an encamped in the country beyond Arnon, and came not within the borders of Moab, for Arnon [is] the border of Moab.
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.
19 And Israel sent messengers to Seon king of the Amorite, king of Esbon, and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray you, by your land to our place.
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.’
20 And Seon did not trust Israel to pass by his coast; and Seon gathered all his people, and they encamped at Jasa; and he set the battle in array against Israel.
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.
21 And the Lord God of Israel delivered Seon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck him; and Israel inherited all the land of the Amorite who lived in that land,
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.
22 from Arnon and to Jaboc, and from the wilderness to Jordan.
They occupied all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, and from the desert to the Jordan River.
23 And now the Lord God of Israel has removed the Amorite from before his people Israel, and shall you inherit his [land]?
It was the Lord, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites before his people Israel, so why should you take it over?
24 Will you not inherit those possessions which Chamos your god shall cause you to inherit; and shall not we inherit the [land of] all those whom the Lord our God has removed from before you?
Why don't you keep whatever your god Chemosh gave you, and we'll keep whatever the Lord our God has given us?
25 And now are you any better than Balac son of Sepphor, king of Moab? did he indeed fight with Israel, or indeed make war with him,
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?
26 when [Israel] lived in Esebon and in its coasts, and in the land of Aroer and in its coasts, and in all the cities by Jordan, three hundred years? and therefore did you not recover them in that time?
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?
27 And now I have not sinned against you, but you wrong me in preparing war against me: may the Lord the Judge judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
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.”
28 But the king of the children of Ammon listened not to the words of Jephthae, which he sent to him.
But the king of Ammon didn't pay any attention to what Jephthah had to say.
29 And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthae, and he passed over Galaad, and Manasse, and passed by the watch-tower of Galaad to the other side of the children of Ammon.
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.
30 And Jephthae vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
Jephthah made a solemn promise to the Lord, saying, “If you make me victorious over the Ammonites,
31 then it shall come to pass that whoever shall first come out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, he shall be the Lord's: I will offer him up for a whole burnt offering.
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.”
32 And Jephthae advanced to meet the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hand.
Jephthah advanced to attack the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him the victory over them.
33 And he struck them from Aroer till [one] comes to Arnon, in number twenty cities, and as far as Ebelcharmim, with a very great destruction: and the children of Ammon were straitened before the children of Israel.
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.
34 And Jephthae came to Massepha to his house; and behold, his daughter came forth to meet him with timbrels and dances; and she was his only child, he had not another son or daughter.
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.
35 And it came to pass when he saw her, that he tore his garments, and said, Ah, ah, my daughter, you have indeed troubled me, and you were the cause of my trouble; and I have opened my mouth against you to the Lord, and I shall not be able to return from it.
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.”
36 And she said to him, Father, have you opened your mouth to the Lord? Do to me accordingly as [the word] went out of your mouth, in that the Lord has wrought vengeance for you on your enemies of the children of Ammon.
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.”
37 And she said to her father, Let my father now do this thing: let me alone for two months, and I will go up and down on the mountains, and I will bewail my virginity, I and my companions.
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.”
38 And he said, Go: and he sent her away for two months; and she went, and her companions, and she bewailed her virginity on the mountains.
“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.
39 And it came to pass at the end of the two months that she returned to her father; and he performed upon her his vow which he vowed; and she knew no man:
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
40 and it was an ordinance in Israel, [That] the daughters of Israel went from year to year to bewail the daughter of Jephthae the Galaadite for four days in a year.
that every year the young women of Israel leave for four days to weep in commemoration of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
