Judg 11
1
And Jephthae the Galaadite was Gr. exalted in strength a mighty man; and he was the son of a harlot, who bore Jephthae to
Galaad.
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.
3
And Jephthae fled from the face of his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob; and
vain men gathered to Jephthae, and went out with him.
4
And it came to pass when the children of Ammon prepared to fight with Israel,
5
that the elders of Galaad went to fetch Jephthae 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.
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 wherefore are you come to me now when
you want me?
8
And the elders of Galaad said to Jephthae, Therefore have we now turned to you, Gr. and you shall that you should go with
us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be our head
over all the inhabitants of Galaad.
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.
10
And the elders of Galaad said to Jephthae, The Lord be witness between us, if we shall
not do according to your word.
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.
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?
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.
14
And Jephthae again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon,
15
and said to him, Thus says Jephthae, Israel took not the land of Moab, nor the land
of the children of Ammon;
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.
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 Gr. heard not complied not: and Israel also sent to the king of Moab, and he did not
consent; and
Israel sojourned in Cades.
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.
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.
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.
21
And the Lord God of Israel delivered Seon and all his people into the hand of Israel,
and they smote him; and Israel inherited all the land of the Amorite who dwelt in
that land,
22
from Arnon and to Jaboc, and from the wilderness to Jordan.
23
And now the Lord God of Israel has removed the Amorite from before his people Israel,
and shall you inherit Gr. him his land?
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 So the text; but hmwn, us, is undoubtedly the true reading you?
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,
26
when Israel dwelt 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 wherefore did you
not Or, redeem recover them in that time?
27
And now The verb eimi is merely redundant after the pronoun egw, in these instances I have not sinned against you, but you
wrongest 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 children of Ammon hearkened not to the words of Jephthae, which
he sent to him.
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.
30
And Jephthae vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, If you will indeed deliver the children
of Ammon into my hand,
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.
32
And Jephthae advanced to meet the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord
delivered them into his hand.
33
And he smote 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
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
And it came to pass when he saw her, that he rent 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
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
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
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
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
and it was an ordinance in Israel, That the daughters of Israel went from Period of days, i. e., year year to year to bewail
the daughter of Jephthae the Galaadite for four days in a
year.