11Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant soldier, but he was also the son of a prostitute and Jephthah's father Gilead.H3316H1569H1368H2428H1121H802H2181H1568H3205H33162Gilead'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."H1568H802H3205H1121H802H1121H1431H1644H3316H559H5157H1H1004H1121H312H8023So 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.H3316H1272H6440H251H3427H776H2897H3950H7386H582H3316H33184Later on, the Ammonites attacked Israel.H3117H1121H5983H3898H34785When this happened, the elders of Gilead went to the territory of Tob to find Jephthah.H1121H5983H3898H3478H2205H1568H3212H3947H3316H776H28976They told him, "Come and be our commander so we can fight the Ammonites!"H559H3316H3212H7101H3898H1121H59837But 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?"H3316H559H2205H1568H8130H1644H1H1004H935H68878So 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."H2205H1568H559H3316H7725H1980H3898H1121H5983H7218H3427H15689Then 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?"H3316H559H2205H1568H7725H3898H1121H5983H3068H5414H6440H721810The 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."H2205H1568H559H3316H3068H8085H6213H169711So 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?"H3316H7971H4397H4428H1121H5983H559H935H3898H77613The 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."H4428H1121H5983H559H4397H3316H3478H3947H776H5927H4714H769H2999H3383H7725H796514But Jephthah sent additional messengers again to the king of the AmmonitesH3316H7971H4397H3254H4428H1121H598315and they informed him, "This is Jephthah's response: 'Israel didn't seize the land of Moab nor the land of the Ammonites.H559H559H3316H3478H3947H776H4124H776H1121H598316Here's what happened: When Israel came up from Egypt, passed through the desert to the Red Sea, and arrived at Kadesh,H3478H5927H4714H3212H4057H5488H3220H935H694617Israel 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.H3478H7971H4397H4428H123H559H5674H776H4428H123H8085H7971H4428H4124H14H3478H3427H694618Then 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.H3212H4057H5437H776H123H776H4124H935H4217H8121H776H4124H2583H5676H769H935H1366H4124H769H1366H412419'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."H3478H7971H4397H5511H4428H567H4428H2809H3478H559H5674H776H5704H472520But Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his territory, so he assembled his entire army, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.H5511H539H3478H5674H1366H5511H622H5971H622H2583H3096H3898H347821'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.H3068H430H3478H5414H5511H5971H3027H3478H5221H3478H3423H776H567H3427H77622They 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.H3423H1366H567H769H2999H4057H338323'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?H3068H430H3478H3423H567H6440H5971H3478H342324Don'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.H3423H3645H430H3423H3068H430H3423H6440H342325Also 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?H2896H1111H1121H6834H4428H4124H7378H7378H3478H3898H389826When 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—23H3478H3427H2809H1323H6177H1323H5892H3027H769H7969H3967H8141H5337H625627'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.'H2398H6213H853H7451H3898H3068H8199H8199H3117H1121H3478H1121H598328But 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.H7307H3068H3316H5674H1568H4519H5674H4708H1568H4708H1568H5674H1121H598330Jephthah made this solemn vow to the Lord: "If you truly give the Ammonites into my control,H3316H5087H5088H3068H559H5414H5414H1121H5983H302731then 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."H3318H3318H1817H1004H7125H7725H7965H1121H5983H3068H5927H593032Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites and attacked them. The Lord gave them into his control.H3316H5674H1121H5983H3898H3068H5414H302733He 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.H5221H6177H935H4511H6242H5892H58H3754H64H3966H1419H4347H1121H5983H3665H6440H1121H347834When 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.H3316H935H4709H1004H1323H3318H7125H8596H4246H3173H1121H176H132335When 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.H7200H7167H899H559H162H1323H3766H3766H3766H5916H6475H6310H3068H3201H772536She 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."H559H1H6475H6310H3068H6213H834H3318H6310H310H3068H6213H5360H341H1121H598337Then 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."11H559H1H1697H6213H7503H8147H2320H3212H3381H2022H1058H1331H7464H747438So 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.H559H3212H7971H8147H2320H3212H7464H1058H1331H202239Later, 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 IsraelH7093H8147H2320H7725H1H6213H5088H5087H3045H376H2706H347840that for four days out of every year the Israelite women would go to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite in commemoration.H1323H3478H3212H3117H3117H8567H1323H3316H1569H702H3117H8141
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