Judges 11:24 - Prayer Tents



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Judges 11
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11Jephthah the Gileadite was one tough warrior. He was the son of a whore, but Gilead was his father.H3316H1569H1368H2428H1121H802H2181H1568H3205H3316 2Meanwhile Gilead's legal wife had given him other sons, and when they grew up, his wife's sons threw Jephthah out. They told him: "You're not getting any of our family inheritance—you're the son of another woman."H1568H802H3205H1121H802H1121H1431H1644H3316H559H5157H1H1004H1121H312H802 3So Jephthah fled from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. Some riff-raff joined him and went around with him.H3316H1272H6440H251H3427H776H2897H3950H7386H582H3316H3318 4Some time passed. And then the Ammonites started fighting Israel.H3117H1121H5983H3898H3478 5With the Ammonites at war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.H1121H5983H3898H3478H2205H1568H3212H3947H3316H776H2897 6They said to Jephthah: "Come. Be our general and we'll fight the Ammonites."H559H3316H3212H7101H3898H1121H5983 7But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: "But you hate me. You kicked me out of my family home. So why are you coming to me now? Because you are in trouble. Right?"H3316H559H2205H1568H8130H1644H1H1004H935H6887 8The elders of Gilead replied, "That's it exactly. We've come to you to get you to go with us and fight the Ammonites. You'll be the head of all of us, all the Gileadites."H2205H1568H559H3316H7725H1980H3898H1121H5983H7218H3427H1568 9Jephthah addressed the elders of Gilead, "So if you bring me back home to fight the Ammonites and GOD gives them to me, I'll be your head—is that right?"H3316H559H2205H1568H7725H3898H1121H5983H3068H5414H6440H7218 10They said, "GOD is witness between us; whatever you say, we'll do."H2205H1568H559H3316H3068H8085H6213H1697 11Jephthah went along with the elders of Gilead. The people made him their top man and general. And Jephthah repeated what he had said before GOD at Mizpah.H3316H3212H2205H1568H5971H7760H7218H7101H3316H1696H1697H6440H3068H4709 12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with a message: "What's going on here that you have come into my country picking a fight?"H3316H7971H4397H4428H1121H5983H559H935H3898H776 13The king of the Ammonites told Jephthah's messengers: "Because Israel took my land when they came up out of Egypt—from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Give it back peaceably and I'll go."H4428H1121H5983H559H4397H3316H3478H3947H776H5927H4714H769H2999H3383H7725H7965 14Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with the message:H3316H7971H4397H3254H4428H1121H5983 15"Jephthah's word: Israel took no Moabite land and no Ammonite land.H559H559H3316H3478H3947H776H4124H776H1121H5983 16When they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the desert as far as the Red Sea, arriving at Kadesh.H3478H5927H4714H3212H4057H5488H3220H935H6946 17There Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, 'Let us pass through your land, please.' But the king of Edom wouldn't let them. Israel also requested permission from the king of Moab, but he wouldn't let them cross either. They were stopped in their tracks at Kadesh.H3478H7971H4397H4428H123H559H5674H776H4428H123H8085H7971H4428H4124H14H3478H3427H6946 18So they traveled across the desert and circled around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came out east of the land of Moab and set camp on the other side of the Arnon—they didn't set foot in Moabite territory, for Arnon was the Moabite border.H3212H4057H5437H776H123H776H4124H935H4217H8121H776H4124H2583H5676H769H935H1366H4124H769H1366H4124 19Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites at Heshbon the capital. Israel asked, 'Let us pass, please, through your land on the way to our country.'H3478H7971H4397H5511H4428H567H4428H2809H3478H559H5674H776H5704H4725 20But Sihon didn't trust Israel to cut across his land; he got his entire army together, set up camp at Jahaz, and fought Israel.H5511H539H3478H5674H1366H5511H622H5971H622H2583H3096H3898H3478 21But GOD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his troops to Israel. Israel defeated them. Israel took all the Amorite land,H3068H430H3478H5414H5511H5971H3027H3478H5221H3478H3423H776H567H3427H776 22all Amorite land from Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.H3423H1366H567H769H2999H4057H3383 23It was GOD, the God of Israel, who pushed out the Amorites in favor of Israel; so who do you think you are to try to take it over?H3068H430H3478H3423H567H6440H5971H3478H3423 24Why don't you just be satisfied with what your god Chemosh gives you and we'll settle for what GOD, our God, gives us?H3423H3645H430H3423H3068H430H3423H6440H3423 25Do you think you're going to come off better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he get anywhere in opposing Israel? Did he risk war?H2896H1111H1121H6834H4428H4124H7378H7378H3478H3898H3898 26All this time—it's been three hundred years now!—that Israel has lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon, why didn't you try to snatch them away then?H3478H3427H2809H1323H6177H1323H5892H3027H769H7969H3967H8141H5337H6256 27No, I haven't wronged you. But this is an evil thing that you are doing to me by starting a fight. Today GOD the Judge will decide between the People of Israel and the people of Ammon."H2398H6213H853H7451H3898H3068H8199H8199H3117H1121H3478H1121H5983 28But the king of the Ammonites refused to listen to a word that Jephthah had sent him.H4428H1121H5983H8085H1697H3316H7971 29GOD's Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites.H7307H3068H3316H5674H1568H4519H5674H4708H1568H4708H1568H5674H1121H5983 30Jephthah made a vow before GOD: "If you give me a clear victory over the Ammonites,H3316H5087H5088H3068H559H5414H5414H1121H5983H3027 31then I'll give to GOD whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in one piece from among the Ammonites—I'll offer it up in a sacrificial burnt offering."H3318H3318H1817H1004H7125H7725H7965H1121H5983H3068H5927H5930 32Then Jephthah was off to fight the Ammonites. And GOD gave them to him.H3316H5674H1121H5983H3898H3068H5414H3027 33He beat them soundly, all the way from Aroer to the area around Minnith as far as Abel Keramim—twenty cities! A massacre! Ammonites brought to their knees by the People of Israel.H5221H6177H935H4511H6242H5892H58H3754H64H3966H1419H4347H1121H5983H3665H6440H1121H3478 34Jephthah came home to Mizpah. His daughter ran from the house to welcome him home—dancing to tambourines! She was his only child. He had no son or daughter except her.H3316H935H4709H1004H1323H3318H7125H8596H4246H3173H1121H176H1323 35When he realized who it was, he ripped his clothes, saying, "Ah, dearest daughter—I'm dirt. I'm despicable. My heart is torn to shreds. I made a vow to GOD and I can't take it back!"H7200H7167H899H559H162H1323H3766H3766H3766H5916H6475H6310H3068H3201H7725 36She said, "Dear father, if you made a vow to GOD, do to me what you vowed; GOD did his part and saved you from your Ammonite enemies."H559H1H6475H6310H3068H6213H834H3318H6310H310H3068H6213H5360H341H1121H5983 37And then she said to her father, "But let this one thing be done for me. Give me two months to wander through the hills and lament my virginity since I will never marry, I and my dear friends."H559H1H1697H6213H7503H8147H2320H3212H3381H2022H1058H1331H7464H7474 38"Oh yes, go," he said. He sent her off for two months. She and her dear girlfriends went among the hills, lamenting that she would never marry.H559H3212H7971H8147H2320H3212H7464H1058H1331H2022 39At the end of the two months, she came back to her father. He fulfilled the vow with her that he had made. She had never slept with a man. It became a custom in IsraelH7093H8147H2320H7725H1H6213H5088H5087H3045H376H2706H3478 40that for four days every year the young women of Israel went out to mourn for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.H1323H3478H3212H3117H3117H8567H1323H3316H1569H702H3117H8141


The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. More details.
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