Judges 11:1-40

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son
of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.

² Gilead's wife bore sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove
Jephthah out, and said to him, "You shall have no inheritance in our father's
house, for you are the son of another woman."

³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless
 men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

⁴ It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel.

⁵ And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders
of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

 ⁶ Then they said to Jephthah, "Come and be our commander, that we may fight
against the people of Ammon."

⁷ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Did you not hate me, and expel me
from my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?"

⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "That is why we have turned again to
you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be
our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

⁹ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you take me back home to fight against
the people of Ammon, and Yahweh delivers them to me, shall I be your head?"

¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Yahweh will be a witness between us,
 if we do not do according to your words."

¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head
and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah.

 ¹² Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, "What do
 you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?"

¹³ And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, "Because
 Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the
Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably."

¹⁴ So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon,

¹⁵ and said to him, "Thus says Jephthah: 'Israel did not take away the land of Moab,
nor the land of the people of Ammon;

¹⁶ 'for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far
as 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 would not heed. And in like manner they
sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh.

¹⁸ 'And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom
and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on
the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon
was the border of Moab.

¹⁹ 'Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and
 Israel said to him, "Please let us pass through your land into our place."

²⁰ 'But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all
his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

²¹ 'And Yahweh Elohim of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of
Israel, and they defeated them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the
Amorites, who inhabited that country.

²² 'They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to
the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³ 'And now Yahweh Elohim of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before
His people Israel; should you then possess it?

²⁴ 'Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your elohim gives you to possess?
 So whatever Yahweh our Elohim takes possession of before us, we will possess.

²⁵ 'And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did
 he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them?

²⁶ 'While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all
the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover
them within that time?

²⁷ 'Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me.
May Yahweh, the Judge, render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the
people of Ammon.' "

²⁸ However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

²⁹ Then the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh,
 and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people
 of Ammon.

³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, and said, "If You will indeed deliver the people of
Ammon into my hands,

³¹ "then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return
in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be Yahweh's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."

³² So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and Yahweh delivered them
 into his hands.

³³ And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith -- twenty cities -- and to Abel Keramim, with a
 very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

³⁴ When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with
 timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

³⁵ And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter!
You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to
Yahweh, and I cannot go back on it."

³⁶ So she said to him, "My father, if you have given your word to Yahweh, do to me according to
what has gone out of your mouth, because Yahweh has avenged you of your enemies, the people of
 Ammon."

³⁷ Then she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may
 go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I."

³⁸ So he said, "Go." And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed
her virginity on the mountains.

³⁹ And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with
 her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel

⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.