Chapter 11
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour . He was the son of a prostitute . Gilead became the father of Jephthah .
2 Gilead ’s wife bore him sons . When his wife’s sons grew up , they drove Jephthah out and said to him , " You will not inherit in our father ’s house , for you are the son of another woman ."
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob . Outlaws joined up with Jephthah , and they went out with him .
4 After a while , the children of Ammon made war against Israel .
5 When the children of Ammon made war against Israel , the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob .
6 They said to Jephthah , " Come and be our chief , that we may fight with the children of Ammon ."
7 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead , "Didn’t you hate me , and drive me out of my father’s house ? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress ?"
8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah , " Therefore we have turned again to you now , that you may go with us and fight with the children of Ammon . You will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead ."
9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead , " If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon , and the LORD delivers them before me , will I be your head ?"
10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah , " The LORD will be witness between us . Surely we will do what you say ."
11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead , and the people made him head and chief over them . Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah .
12 Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon , saying, " What do you have to do with me , that you have come to me to fight against my land?"
13 The king of the children of Ammon answered 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 that territory again peaceably ."
14 Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon ;
15 and he said to him , " Jephthah says : Israel didn’t take 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, ‘ Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen . In the same way , he sent to the king of Moab , but he refused ; so Israel stayed 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 didn’t come within the border of Moab , for the Arnon was the border of Moab .
19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon ; and Israel said to him , ‘ Please let us pass through your land to my place .’
20 But Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his border ; but Sihon gathered all his people together , and encamped in Jahaz , and fought against Israel .
21 The LORD , the God of Israel , delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel , and they struck them . So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
22 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 the LORD , the God of Israel , has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel , and should you possess them ?
24 Won’t you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess ? So whoever the LORD our God has dispossessed from before us , them will we possess .
25 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 Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns , and in Aroer and its towns , and in all the cities that are along the side of the Arnon for three hundred years ! Why didn’t you recover them within that time ?
27 Therefore I have not sinned against you , but you do me wrong to war against me . May the LORD the Judge be judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon ."
28 However , the king of the children of Ammon didn’t listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him .
29 Then the LORD ’s Spirit came on Jephthah , and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh , and passed over Mizpah of Gilead , and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon .
30 Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD , and said, " If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand ,
31 then it shall be , that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon , it shall be the LORD ’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 the LORD delivered them into his hand .
33 He struck 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 Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house ; and behold , his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances . She was his only child . Besides her he had neither son nor daughter .
35 When he saw her , he tore his clothes, and said , "Alas, my daughter ! You have brought me very low , and you are one of those who trouble me ; for I have opened my mouth to the LORD , and I can ’t go back ."
36 She said to him , " My father , you have opened your mouth to the LORD ; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth , because the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon ."
37 Then she said to her father, " Let this thing be done for me . Leave me alone two months , that I may depart and go down on the mountains , and bewail my virginity , I and my companions."
38 He said, " Go ." He sent her away for two months ; and she departed , she and her companions , and mourned her virginity on the mountains .
39 At the end of two months , she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed . She was a virgin. It became 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 .