11Now Jephthah the Gileadite, the son of a prostitute, was a mighty warrior. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.H3316H1569H1368H2428H1121H802H2181H1568H3205H33162Gilead's wife also bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away, saying to him, "You shall not inherit anything in our father's house; for you are the son of another woman."H1568H802H3205H1121H802H1121H1431H1644H3316H559H5157H1H1004H1121H312H8023Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws collected around Jephthah and went raiding with him.H3316H1272H6440H251H3427H776H2897H3950H7386H582H3316H33184After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel.H3117H1121H5983H3898H34785And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.H1121H5983H3898H3478H2205H1568H3212H3947H3316H776H28976They said to Jephthah, "Come and be our commander, so that we may fight with the Ammonites."H559H3316H3212H7101H3898H1121H59837But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Are you not the very ones who rejected me and drove me out of my father's house? So why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?"H3316H559H2205H1568H8130H1644H1H1004H935H68878The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Nevertheless, we have now turned back to you, so that you may go with us and fight with the Ammonites, and become head over us, over all the inhabitants of Gilead."H2205H1568H559H3316H7725H1980H3898H1121H5983H7218H3427H15689Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me home again to fight with the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them over to me, I will be your head."H3316H559H2205H1568H7725H3898H1121H5983H3068H5414H6440H721810And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD will be witness between us; we will surely do as you say."H2205H1568H559H3316H3068H8085H6213H169711So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah.H3316H3212H2205H1568H5971H7760H7218H7101H3316H1696H1697H6440H3068H470912Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, "What is there between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?"H3316H7971H4397H4428H1121H5983H559H935H3898H77613The king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel, on coming from Egypt, took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably."H4428H1121H5983H559H4397H3316H3478H3947H776H5927H4714H769H2999H3383H7725H796514Once again Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the AmmonitesH3316H7971H4397H3254H4428H1121H598315and said to him: "Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites,H559H559H3316H3478H3947H776H4124H776H1121H598316but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.H3478H5927H4714H3212H4057H5488H3220H935H694617Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Let us pass through your land'; but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.H3478H7971H4397H4428H123H559H5674H776H4428H123H8085H7971H4428H4124H14H3478H3427H694618Then they journeyed through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, arrived on the east side of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.H3212H4057H5437H776H123H776H4124H935H4217H8121H776H4124H2583H5676H769H935H1366H4124H769H1366H412419Israel then sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, 'Let us pass through your land to our country.'H3478H7971H4397H5511H4428H567H4428H2809H3478H559H5674H776H5704H472520But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped at Jahaz, and fought with Israel.H5511H539H3478H5674H1366H5511H622H5971H622H2583H3096H3898H347821Then the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel occupied all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.H3068H430H3478H5414H5511H5971H3027H3478H5221H3478H3423H776H567H3427H77622They occupied all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.H3423H1366H567H769H2999H4057H338323So now the LORD, the God of Israel, has conquered the Amorites for the benefit of his people Israel. Do you intend to take their place?H3068H430H3478H3423H567H6440H5971H3478H342324Should you not possess what your god Chemosh gives you to possess? And should we not be the ones to possess everything that the LORD our God has conquered for our benefit?H3423H3645H430H3423H3068H430H3423H6440H342325Now are you any better than King Balak son of Zippor of Moab? Did he ever enter into conflict with Israel, or did he ever go to war with them?H2896H1111H1121H6834H4428H4124H7378H7378H3478H3898H389826While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns that are along the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?H3478H3427H2809H1323H6177H1323H5892H3027H769H7969H3967H8141H5337H625627It is not I who have sinned against you, but you are the one who does me wrong by making war on me. Let the LORD, who is judge, decide today for the Israelites or for the Ammonites."H2398H6213H853H7451H3898H3068H8199H8199H3117H1121H3478H1121H598328But the king of the Ammonites did not heed the message that Jephthah sent him.H4428H1121H5983H8085H1697H3316H797129Then the spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.H7307H3068H3316H5674H1568H4519H5674H4708H1568H4708H1568H5674H1121H598330And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand,H3316H5087H5088H3068H559H5414H5414H1121H5983H302731then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the LORD's, to be offered up by me as a burnt offering."H3318H3318H1817H1004H7125H7725H7965H1121H5983H3068H5927H593032So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them; and the LORD gave them into his hand.H3316H5674H1121H5983H3898H3068H5414H302733He inflicted a massive defeat on them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty towns, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.H5221H6177H935H4511H6242H5892H58H3754H64H3966H1419H4347H1121H5983H3665H6440H1121H347834Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except her.H3316H935H4709H1004H1323H3318H7125H8596H4246H3173H1121H176H132335When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow."H7200H7167H899H559H162H1323H3766H3766H3766H5916H6475H6310H3068H3201H772536She said to him, "My father, if you have opened your mouth to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has given you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites."H559H1H6475H6310H3068H6213H834H3318H6310H310H3068H6213H5360H341H1121H598337And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: Grant me two months, so that I may go and wander on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I."H559H1H1697H6213H7503H8147H2320H3212H3381H2022H1058H1331H7464H747438"Go," he said and sent her away for two months. So she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.H559H3212H7971H8147H2320H3212H7464H1058H1331H202239At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to the vow he had made. She had never slept with a man. So there arose an Israelite custom thatH7093H8147H2320H7725H1H6213H5088H5087H3045H376H2706H347840for four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.H1323H3478H3212H3117H3117H8567H1323H3316H1569H702H3117H8141
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