Judg 11
1
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot:
and Gilead engendered Jephthah.
2
And Gilead`s wife bare him sons; and when his wife`s sons grew up, they drove out
Jephthah, and said to him, You shall not inherit in our father`s house; for you are
the son of another woman.
3
Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were
gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.
4
And it came to pass after a while, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
5
And it was so, that, when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders
of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob;
6
and they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children
of Ammon.
7
And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did not you hate me, and drive me out of
my father`s house? and why are you come to me now when you are in distress?
8
And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore are we turned again to you now,
that you may go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon; and you shall be our
head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
9
And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me home again to fight with
the children of Ammon, and YHWH deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
10
And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, YHWH shall be witness between us; surely
according to your word so will we do.
11
Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief
over them: and Jephthah spoke all his words before YHWH in Mizpah.
12
And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have
you to do with me, that you are come to me to fight against my land?
13
And the king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because
Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the
Jabbok, and to the Jordan: now therefore restore those [lands] again peaceably.
14
And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon;
15
and he said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor
the land of the children of Ammon,
16
but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red
Sea, and came to Kadesh;
17
then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray you, pass
through your land; but the king of Edom hearkened not. And in like manner he sent
to the king of Moab; but he would not: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
18
Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land
of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other
side of the Arnon; but they came not within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was
the border of Moab.
19
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and
Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray you, through your land to my place.
20
But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his
people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
21
And YHWH, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel,
and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants
of that country.
22
And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok,
and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
23
So now YHWH, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people
Israel, and should you possess them?
24
Will not you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whomever
YHWH our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.
25
And now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he
ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them?
26
While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all
the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; wherefore
did you not recover them within that time?
27
I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me: YHWH,
the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
28
Nevertheless the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not to the words of Jephthah
which he sent him.
29
Then the Spirit of YHWH came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh,
and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the
children of Ammon.
30
And Jephthah vowed a vow to YHWH, and said, If you will indeed deliver the children
of Ammon into my hand,
31
then it shall be, that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me,
when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be YHWH`s, and I will
offer it up for a burnt-offering.
32
So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and YHWH delivered
them into his hand.
33
And he smote them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to
Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before
the children of Israel.
34
And Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and, behold, his daughter came out to meet
him with timbrels and with dances: 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 rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my
daughter! you have brought me very low, and you are one of them that trouble me; for
I have opened my mouth to YHWH, and I cannot go back.
36
And she said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to YHWH; do to me according
to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, seeing that as YHWH has taken vengeance
for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon.
37
And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months,
that I may depart and go down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my
companions.
38
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her
companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
39
And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who
did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew not man. And it
was a custom in Israel,
40
that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the
Gileadite four days in a year.