Judges 11
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was his father.
And Jephthae the Galaadite [was] a mighty man; and he [was] the son of a harlot, who bore Jephthae to Galaad.
2 Gilead's wife also gave birth to his other sons. When his wife's sons grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave the house and said to him, “You are not going to inherit anything from our family. You are the son of another woman.”
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.
3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Lawless men joined Jephthah and they came and went with him.
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.
4 Some days later, the people of Ammon made war against Israel.
And it came to pass when the children of Ammon prepared to fight with Israel,
5 When the people of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob.
that the elders of Galaad went to fetch Jephthae from the land of Tob.
6 They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader that we may fight with the people of Ammon.”
And they said to Jephthae, Come, and be our head, and we will fight with the sons of Ammon.
7 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “You hated me and forced me to leave my father's house. Why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?”
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?
8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we are turning to you now; come with us and fight with the people of Ammon, and you will become the leader over all who live in Gilead.”
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.
9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the people of Ammon, and if Yahweh gives us victory over them, I will be your leader.”
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.
10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “May Yahweh be witness between us if we do not do as we say!”
And the elders of Galaad said to Jephthae, The Lord be witness between us, if we shall not do according to your word.
11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him leader and commander over them. When he was before Yahweh in Mizpah, Jephthah repeated all the promises he made.
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.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, “What is this conflict between us? Why have you come with force to take our land?”
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?
13 The king of the people of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because when Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, over to the Jordan. Now give back those lands in peace.”
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.
14 Again Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon,
And Jephthae again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon,
15 and he said, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab and the land of the people of Ammon,
and said to him, Thus says Jephthae, Israel took not the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon;
16 but they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds and on to Kadesh.
for in their going up out of Egypt Israel went in the wilderness as far as the sea of Siph, and came to Cades.
17 When Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Please let us pass through your land,' the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.
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.
18 Then they went through the wilderness and turned away from the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and they went along the east side of the land of Moab and they camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not go into the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was Moab's border.
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.
19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon; Israel said to him, 'Please, let us pass through your land to the place that is ours.'
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.
20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his army together and moved it to Jahaz, and there he fought against Israel.
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.
21 Then Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel and they defeated them. So Israel took all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country.
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,
22 They took over everything within the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
from Arnon and to Jaboc, and from the wilderness to Jordan.
23 So then Yahweh, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, and should you now take possession of their land?
And now the Lord God of Israel has removed the Amorite from before his people Israel, and shall you inherit his [land]?
24 Will you not take over the land that Chemosh, your god, gives you? So whatever land Yahweh our God has given us, we will take over.
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?
25 Now are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to have an argument with Israel? Did he ever wage war against them?
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,
26 While Israel lived for three hundred years in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are along the banks of the Arnon—why then did you not take them back during that time?
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?
27 I have not done you wrong, but you are doing me wrong by attacking me. Yahweh, the judge, will decide today between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.”
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.
28 But the king of the people of Ammon rejected the warning Jephthah sent him.
But the king of the children of Ammon listened not to the words of Jephthae, which he sent to him.
29 Then the Spirit of Yahweh came on Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed through to the people of Ammon.
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.
30 Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh and said, “If you give me victory over the people of Ammon,
And Jephthae vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
31 then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon will belong to Yahweh, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
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.
32 So Jephthah passed through to the people of Ammon to fight against them, and Yahweh gave him victory.
And Jephthae advanced to meet the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hand.
33 He attacked them and caused a great slaughter from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and to Abel Keramim. So the people of Ammon were put under the control of the people of Israel.
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.
34 Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah, and there his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. She was his only child, and besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
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.
35 As soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh! My daughter! You have crushed me with sorrow, and you have become one who causes me pain! For I have made an oath to Yahweh, and I cannot turn back on my promise.”
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.
36 She said to him, “My father, you have made a vow to Yahweh, do to me everything you promised, because Yahweh has taken vengeance for you against your enemies, the Ammonites.”
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.
37 She said to her father, “Let this promise be kept for me. Leave me alone for two months, that I may leave and go down to the hills and grieve over my virginity, I and my companions.”
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.
38 He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months. She left him, she and her companions, and they grieved her virginity in the hills.
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.
39 At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did with her according to the promise of the vow he had made. Now she had never slept with a man, and it became a custom in Israel
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:
40 that the daughters of Israel every year, for four days, would retell the story of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
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.
