Judges
Chapter Eleven
1 ¶ Now Jephthah
the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and
Gilead begot Jephthah.
2 Gilead's wife bore sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah
out, and said to him, "You shall have no inheritance in our father's 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 father's 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.
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
LORD'S, 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 Minnith-twenty cities-and to Abel
Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued
before the children of Israel.
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. And it
became a custom in Israel
40 that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter
of Jephthah the Gileadite.
Go to Chapter Twelve
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