11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and
he [was] the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
11:2 And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and his wife's sons grew
up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said to him, Thou shalt
not inherit in our father's house; for thou [art] the son of a
strange woman.
11:3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land
of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and
[they] went out with him.
11:4 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children
of Ammon made war against Israel.
11:5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war
against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah out
of the land of Tob:
11:6 And they said to Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that
we may fight with the children of Ammon.
11:7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did ye not hate
me, and expel me from my father's house; and why have ye come
to me now when ye are in distress?
11:8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore we
turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight
against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the
inhabitants of Gilead.
11:9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me
home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD
deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
11:10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, The LORD be a
witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
11:11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the
people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah
uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh.
11:12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children
of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou hast
come against me to fight in my land?
11:13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered to the
messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when
they came out of Egypt, from Arnon even to Jabbok, and to
Jordan: now therefore restore those [lands] again peaceably.
11:14 And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the
children of Ammon:
11:15 And said to him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away
the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
11:16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the
wilderness to the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
11:17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying,
Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of
Edom would not hearken [to it]. And in like manner they sent to
the king of Moab; but he would not [consent]. And Israel abode
in Kadesh.
11:18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed
the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east
side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of
Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon [was]
the border of Moab.
11:19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites,
the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we
pray thee, through thy land to my place.
11:20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his border:
but Sihon collected all his people, and encamped in Jahaz, and
fought against Israel.
11:21 And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his
people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel
possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that
country.
11:22 And they possessed all the borders of the Amorites, from
Arnon even to Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to Jordan.
11:23 So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the
Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldst thou
possess it?
11:24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth
thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out
from before us, them will we possess.
11:25 And now [art] thou any thing better than Balak the son of
Zippor king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did
he ever fight against them,
11:26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer
and her towns, and in all the cities that [are] along by the
borders of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not
recover [them] within that time?
11:27 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest
me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this
day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
11:28 But, the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not to
the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
11:29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he
passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of
Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over [to] the
children of Ammon.
11:30 And Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, If thou
shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands,
11:31 Then it shall be, that whatever cometh out of the doors of
my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children
of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it for a
burnt-offering.
11:32 So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight
against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.
11:33 And he smote them from Aroer even till thou comest to
Minnith, [even] twenty cities, and to the plain of the
vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of
Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
11:34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house, and behold, his
daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances:
and she [was his] only child; beside her he had neither son nor
daughter.
11:35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his
clothes, and said Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very
low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have
opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot go back.
11:36 And she said to him, My father, [if] thou hast opened thy
mouth to the LORD, do to me according to that which hath
proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken
vengeance for thee of thy enemies, [even] of the children of
Ammon.
11:37 And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me:
Let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the
mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
11:38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away [for] two months:
and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity
upon the mountains.
11:39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she
returned to her father, who did with her [according] to his vow
which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in
Israel,
11:40 [That] the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the
daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
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