Judges 11

Jephthah

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.2 Gileads wife bore sons; and when his wifes sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, You shall have no inheritance in our fathers house, for you are the son of another woman.3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.4 It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel.5 And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.6 Then they said to Jephthah, Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.7 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did you not hate me, and expel me from my fathers house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.12 Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?13 And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.14 So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon,15 and said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon;16 for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Please let me pass through your land. But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh.18 And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Please let us pass through your land into our place.20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.21 And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.22 They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.23 And now the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it?24 Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess.25 And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them?26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.28 However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthahs Vow and Victory

29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon.30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands,31 then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lords, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.32 So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands.33 And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnithtwenty citiesand to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Jephthahs Daughter

34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it.36 So she said to him, My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.37 Then she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.38 So he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man.40 that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

JUDGES 11

Jephthah

1-5 The leaders of the Gilead clan decided to ask a brave warrior named Jephthah son of Gilead to lead the attack against the Ammonites.
Even though Jephthah belonged to the Gilead clan, he had earlier been forced to leave the region where they had lived. Jephthah was the son of a prostitute, but his half brothers were the sons of his father's wife.
One day his half brothers told him, “You don't really belong to our family, so you can't have any of the family property.” Then they forced Jephthah to leave home.
Jephthah went to the country of Tob, where he was joined by a number of men who would do anything for money.
So the leaders of Gilead went to Jephthah and said,

6 “Please come back to Gilead! If you lead our army, we will be able to fight off the Ammonites.”

7 “Didn't you hate me?” Jephthah replied. “Weren't you the ones who forced me to leave my family? You're only coming to me now because you're in trouble.”

8 “But we do want you to come back,” the leaders said. “And if you lead us in battle against the Ammonites, we will make you the ruler of Gilead.”

9 “All right,” Jephthah said. “If I go back with you and the [Lord] lets me defeat the Ammonites, will you really make me your ruler?”

10 “You have our word,” the leaders answered. “And the [Lord] is a witness to what we have said.”

11 So Jephthah went back to Mizpaht with the leaders of Gilead. The people of Gilead gathered at the place of worship and made Jephthah their ruler. Jephthah also made promises to them.

12 After the ceremony, Jephthah sent messengers to say to the king of Ammon, “Are you trying to start a war? You have invaded my country, and I want to know why!”

13 The king of Ammon replied, “Tell Jephthah that the land really belongs to me, all the way from the Arnon River in the south, to the Jabbok River in the north, and west to the Jordan River. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they stole it. Tell Jephthah to return it to me, and there won't be any war.”
14 Jephthah sent the messengers back to the king of Ammon,

15 and they told him that Jephthah had said:
Israel hasn't taken any territory from Moab or Ammon. 16 When the Israelites came from Egypt, they traveled across the desert to the Red Seat and then to Kadesh.

17 t They sent messengers to the king of Edom and said, “Please, let us go through your country.” But the king of Edom refused. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he wouldn't let them cross his country either. And so the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.

18  t A little later, the Israelites set out into the desert, going east of Edom and Moab, and camping on the eastern side of the Arnon River gorge. The Arnon is the eastern border of Moab, and since the Israelites didn't cross it, they didn't even set foot in Moab.

19  t The Israelites sent messengers to the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon. “Please,” they said, “let our people go through your country to get to our own land.”
20 Sihon didn't think the Israelites could be trusted, so he called his army together. They set up camp at Jahaz, then they attacked the Israelite camp. 21 But the [Lord] God helped Israel defeat Sihon and his army. Israel took over all of the Amorite land where Sihon's people had lived,

22 from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and from the desert in the east to the Jordan River in the west.

23 The messengers also told the king of Ammon that Jephthah had said:
The [Lord] God of Israel helped his nation get rid of the Amorites and take their land. Now do you think you're going to take over that same territory?

24 If Chemosh your godt takes over a country and gives it to you, don't you have a right to it? And if the [Lord] takes over a country and gives it to us, the land is ours!

25  t Are you better than Balak the son of Zippor? He was the king of Moab, but he didn't quarrel with Israel or start a war with us.

26 For 300 years, Israelites have been living in Heshbon and Aroer and the nearby villages, and in the towns along the Arnon River gorge. If the land really belonged to you Ammonites, you wouldn't have waited until now to try to get it back.

27 I haven't done anything to you, but it's certainly wrong of you to start a war. I pray that the [Lord] will show whether Israel or Ammon is in the right.

28 But the king of Ammon paid no attention to Jephthah's message.
29 Then the [Lord]'s Spirit took control of Jephthah, and Jephthah went through Gilead and Manasseh, raising an army. Finally, he arrived at Mizpah in Gilead, where 30 he promised the [Lord], “If you will let me defeat the Ammonites

31 and come home safely, I will sacrifice to you whoever comes out to meet me first.”

32 From Mizpah, Jephthah attacked the Ammonites, and the [Lord] helped him defeat them.

33 Jephthah and his army destroyed the 20 towns between Aroer and Minnith, and others as far as Abel-Keramim. After that, the Ammonites could not invade Israel any more.

Jephthah's Daughter

34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, the first one to meet him was his daughter. She was playing a tambourine and dancing to celebrate his victory, and she was his only child.

35  t “Oh no!” Jephthah cried. Then he tore his clothes in sorrow and said to his daughter, “I made a sacred promise to the [Lord], and I must keep it. Your coming out to meet me has broken my heart.”
36 “Father,” she said, “you made a sacred promise to the [Lord], and he let you defeat the Ammonites. Now, you must do what you promised, even if it means I must die.

37 But first, please let me spend two months, wandering in the hill country with my friends. We will cry together, because I can never get married and have children.”

38 “Yes, you may have two months,” Jephthah said.
She and some other girls left, and for two months they wandered in the hill country, crying because she could never get married and have children.

39 Then she went back to her father. He did what he had promised, and she never got married.
That's why 40 every year, Israelite girls walk around for four days, weeping fort Jephthah's daughter.