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Judges
Chapter 11
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was
the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
2 And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and
they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in
our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of
Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with
him.
4 And it came to pass in process of time, 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 unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we
may fight with the children of Ammon.
7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me,
and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now
when ye are in distress?
8 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn
again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the
children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home
again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them
before me, shall I be your head?
10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness
between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people
made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words
before the LORD in Mizpeh.
12 And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of
Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against
me to fight in my land?
13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the
messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they
came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now
therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children
of Ammon:
15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the
land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the
wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
17 Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let
me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not
hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab:
but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the
land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the
land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not
within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.
19 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the
king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee,
through thy land into my place.
20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but
Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched 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 smote them: so Israel possessed all
the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon
even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
23 So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites
from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to
possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us,
them will we possess.
25 And now art thou any thing 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 her towns, and in Aroer and
her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon,
three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that
time?
27 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me
wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between
the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the
words of Jephthah which he sent him.
29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed
over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from
Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt
without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of
my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon,
shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt
offering.
32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight
against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith,
even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very
great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the
children of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his
daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she
was his only child; beside 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! thou hast brought me very low, and thou
art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the
LORD, and I cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth
unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of
thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine
enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let
me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and
bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she
went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the
mountains.
39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned
unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had
vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter
of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.