Judges 11:18 - Prayer Tents



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Judges 11
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Jephthah, Israel’s Eighth Judge

11Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant soldier, but he was also the son of a prostitute and Jephthah's father Gilead.H3316H1569H1368H2428H1121H802H2181H1568H3205H3316
2Gilead's wife bore two sons through him, but when his wife's sons grew up, they expelled Jephthah and declared to him, "You won't have an inheritance in this house, since you're the son of a different woman."H1568H802H3205H1121H802H1121H1431H1644H3316H559H5157H1H1004H1121H312H802
3So Jephthah escaped from his brothers and lived in the territory of Tob, where worthless men gathered themselves around him and went out on raiding parties with him.H3316H1272H6440H251H3427H776H2897H3950H7386H582H3316H3318
4Later on, the Ammonites attacked Israel.H3117H1121H5983H3898H3478
5When this happened, the elders of Gilead went to the territory of Tob to find Jephthah.H1121H5983H3898H3478H2205H1568H3212H3947H3316H776H2897
6They told him, "Come and be our commander so we can fight the Ammonites!"H559H3316H3212H7101H3898H1121H5983
7But Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, "Weren't you the ones who hated me and drove me out of my father's house?And you come to me now that you're in trouble?"H3316H559H2205H1568H8130H1644H1H1004H935H6887
8So the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Well, we're coming back to you now so you can accompany us, fight the Ammonites, and become the head of all the inhabitants of Gilead."H2205H1568H559H3316H7725H1980H3898H1121H5983H7218H3427H1568
9Then Jephthah asked the elders of Gilead, "If you all return me to fight against the Ammonites and the Lord hands them over right in front of me, will I really become your head?"H3316H559H2205H1568H7725H3898H1121H5983H3068H5414H6440H7218
10The elders of Gilead responded to Jephthah, "May the Lord serve as a witness that we're making this agreement between ourselves to do as we've said."H2205H1568H559H3316H3068H8085H6213H1697
11So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him head and military commander over them. Jephthah uttered everything he had to say with the solemnity of an oath in the Lord's presence at Mizpah.H3316H3212H2205H1568H5971H7760H7218H7101H3316H1696H1697H6440H3068H4709

Jephthah’s Dialogue with the Ammonites

12Afterwards, Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to ask him, "What's your dispute between us that prompted you to come and attack my land?"H3316H7971H4397H4428H1121H5983H559H935H3898H776
13The king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, "We're here because Israel took away my land from the Arnon River as far as the Jabbok River and as far as the Jordan River when they came up from Egypt! So restore it as a gesture of good will."H4428H1121H5983H559H4397H3316H3478H3947H776H5927H4714H769H2999H3383H7725H7965
14But Jephthah sent additional messengers again to the king of the AmmonitesH3316H7971H4397H3254H4428H1121H5983
15and they informed him, "This is Jephthah's response: 'Israel didn't seize the land of Moab nor the land of the Ammonites.H559H559H3316H3478H3947H776H4124H776H1121H5983
16Here's what happened: When Israel came up from Egypt, passed through the desert to the Red Sea, and arrived at Kadesh,H3478H5927H4714H3212H4057H5488H3220H935H6946
17Israel sent a delegation to the king of Edom and asked him, "Please let us pass through your territory." 'But the king of Edom wouldn't listen. So they also sent word to the king of Moab, but he wouldn't consent, either. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.H3478H7971H4397H4428H123H559H5674H776H4428H123H8085H7971H4428H4124H14H3478H3427H6946
18Then they went through the desert, circumventing the territory belonging to Edom and Moab. They encamped on the other side of the Arnon River, but never entered the territory of Moab because the Arnon River is the border of Moab.H3212H4057H5437H776H123H776H4124H935H4217H8121H776H4124H2583H5676H769H935H1366H4124H769H1366H4124
19'Then Israel sent a delegation to Sihon, king of the Amorites and king of Heshbon. Israel requested of him, "Please let us pass through your territory to our place."H3478H7971H4397H5511H4428H567H4428H2809H3478H559H5674H776H5704H4725
20But Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his territory, so he assembled his entire army, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.H5511H539H3478H5674H1366H5511H622H5971H622H2583H3096H3898H3478
21'The Lord God of Israel handed Sihon and his entire army into the control of Israel, and defeated them. As a result, Israel took control over the entire land of the Amorites, who were living in that country.H3068H430H3478H5414H5511H5971H3027H3478H5221H3478H3423H776H567H3427H776
22They took possession of the entire territory of the Amorites from the Arnon River as far as the Jabbok River and from the desert as far as the Jordan River.H3423H1366H567H769H2999H4057H3383
23'Now then, since the Lord God of Israel expelled the Amorites right in front of his people Israel, are you going to control their territory?H3068H430H3478H3423H567H6440H5971H3478H3423
24Don't you control what your god Chemosh gives you?In the same way, we'll take control of whomever the Lord our God has driven out in front of us.H3423H3645H430H3423H3068H430H3423H6440H3423
25Also ask yourselves: do you have a better case than Zippor's son Balak, king of Moab?Did he ever have a quarrel with Israel or ever win a fight against them?H2896H1111H1121H6834H4428H4124H7378H7378H3478H3898H3898
26When Israel was living in Heshbon and its surrounding villages, in Aroer and its surrounding villages, and in all the cities that line the banks of the Arnon River these past three hundred years, why didn't you retake them during that time - 23H3478H3427H2809H1323H6177H1323H5892H3027H769H7969H3967H8141H5337H6256
27'I haven't sinned against you, but you are acting wrongly against me by declaring war on me. May the Lord, the Judge, sit in judgment today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.'H2398H6213H853H7451H3898H3068H8199H8199H3117H1121H3478H1121H5983
28But the king of the Ammonites wouldn't heed the message that Jephthah had sent to him.H4428H1121H5983H8085H1697H3316H7971

Jephthah’s Vow

29The Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, so he swept through Gilead and the territory of Manasseh, then swept through Mizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead he proceeded toward where the Ammonites were encamped.H7307H3068H3316H5674H1568H4519H5674H4708H1568H4708H1568H5674H1121H5983
30Jephthah made this solemn vow to the Lord: "If you truly give the Ammonites into my control,H3316H5087H5088H3068H559H5414H5414H1121H5983H3027
31then if I return from the Ammonites without incident, whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me shall become the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."H3318H3318H1817H1004H7125H7725H7965H1121H5983H3068H5927H5930
32Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites and attacked them. The Lord gave them into his control.H3316H5674H1121H5983H3898H3068H5414H3027
33He attacked them from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith - twenty cities in all - even as far as Abel-keramim. As a result, the Ammonites were subdued right in front of the Israelites.H5221H6177H935H4511H6242H5892H58H3754H64H3966H1419H4347H1121H5983H3665H6440H1121H3478
34When Jephthah arrived at his home in Mizpah - surprise! - it was his daughter who came out to meet him, playing tambourines and dancing. She was his one and only child. Except for her, he had no other son or daughter.H3316H935H4709H1004H1323H3318H7125H8596H4246H3173H1121H176H1323
35When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and cried out, "Oh no! My daughter! You have terribly burdened me! You've joined those who are causing me trouble, because I've given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it.H7200H7167H899H559H162H1323H3766H3766H3766H5916H6475H6310H3068H3201H7725
36She said to him, "My father, you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me according to what has come out of your own mouth, considering that the Lord has paid back your enemies, the Ammonites."H559H1H6475H6310H3068H6213H834H3318H6310H310H3068H6213H5360H341H1121H5983
37Then she continued talking with her father, "Do this for me: leave me alone by myself for two months. I'll go up to the mountains and cry there because I'll never marry. My friends and I will go."11H559H1H1697H6213H7503H8147H2320H3212H3381H2022H1058H1331H7464H7474
38So he said, "Go!" He sent her away for two months. She left with her friends and cried there on the mountains because she would never marry.H559H3212H7971H8147H2320H3212H7464H1058H1331H2022
39Later, after the two months were concluded, she returned to her father, and he fulfilled what he had solemnly vowed - and she never married. That's how the custom arose in IsraelH7093H8147H2320H7725H1H6213H5088H5087H3045H376H2706H3478
40that for four days out of every year the Israelite women would go to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite in commemoration.H1323H3478H3212H3117H3117H8567H1323H3316H1569H702H3117H8141


International Standard Version. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible: International Standard Version®. Copyright © 1996-forever by The ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission. More details.
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