Judges 11
1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. He was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.
2 Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. When her sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will have no inheritance in our father’s household, because you are the son of another woman.”
3 Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob. Some worthless men gathered around Jephthah and went out with him.
4 Some time later, the Ammonites made war against Israel.
5 When the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.
6 They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, so we can fight against the Ammonites.”
7 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of my father’s household? Why have you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”
8 The elders of Gilead replied to Jephthah, “That is exactly why we have come back to you now. Come with us, fight the Ammonites, and be the leader of all the people living in Gilead.”
9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD hands them over to me, I will be your leader.”
10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be our witness if we do not do as you say.”
11 Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him as their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated all his terms before the LORD at Mizpah.
12 Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against my land?”
13 The king of the Ammonites replied to Jephthah’s messengers, “It is because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and as far as the Jordan. Now return those lands peacefully.”
14 Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the Ammonites.
15 He said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.
16 When they came up from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds and came to Kadesh.
17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land.” But the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.
18 Then they traveled through the wilderness, went around the lands of Edom and Moab, and came to the eastern side of the land of Moab. They camped beyond the Arnon, but they did not enter Moabite territory, because the Arnon is Moab’s border.
19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our destination.”
20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people, camped at Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
21 The LORD, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel, and Israel defeated them. Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived there.
22 They took possession of all the Amorite territory, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
23 Now the LORD, the God of Israel, drove the Amorites out before his people Israel. Will you take possession of their land?
24 Don’t you take possession of whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So we will take possession of everything the LORD our God has driven out before us.
25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever argue with Israel or fight against them?
26 For three hundred years Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you take them back during that time?
27 I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by fighting against me. May the LORD, the Judge, judge today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.’”
28 But the king of the Ammonites paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.
29 The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed through Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead went on against the Ammonites.
30 Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you truly hand the Ammonites over to me,
31 then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer that person as a burnt offering.”
32 Jephthah went on against the Ammonites to fight them, and the LORD handed them over to him.
33 He struck them down from Aroer to the approach to Minnith—twenty towns—and as far as Abel-keramim. It was a great defeat, and the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.
34 Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah, and there his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She was his only child; apart from her, he had neither son nor daughter.
35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, my daughter! You have brought me down and caused me great misery, for I have made a promise to the LORD and cannot take it back.”
36 She said to him, “My father, you have made a promise to the LORD. Do to me as you promised, since the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, the Ammonites.”
37 She said to her father, “Please grant me this: let me go away for two months, so I can go down into the hills and weep over my virginity, with my companions.”
38 He said, “Go.” And he let her go for two months. She went with her companions and wept over her virginity in the hills.
39 At the end of two months, she returned to her father, and he carried out the vow he had made concerning her. She had never been with a man. And this became a custom in Israel.
40 Year after year, the daughters of Israel went to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days each year.
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