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.
