Judges 11
11
Rise of Jephthah
1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. Gilead was his father, but he was a prostitute’s son. 2Gilead’s wife gave birth to other sons for him, and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away. They told him, “You won’t get an inheritance in our father’s household because you’re a different woman’s son.” 3So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Worthless men gathered around Jephthah and became his posse.
4Sometime afterward, the Ammonites made war against Israel. 5And when the Ammonites attacked Israel, Gilead’s elders went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. 6They said to him, “Come be our commander so we can fight against the Ammonites.”
7But Jephthah replied to Gilead’s elders, “Aren’t you the ones who hated me and drove me away from my father’s household? Why are you coming to me now when you’re in trouble?”
8Gilead’s elders answered Jephthah, “That may be, but now we’re turning back to you, so come with us and fight the Ammonites. Then you’ll become the leader over us and everyone who lives in Gilead.”
9And Jephthah said to Gilead’s elders, “If you bring me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them over to me, I alone will be your leader.”
10Gilead’s elders replied to him, “The LORD is our witness; we will surely do what you’ve said.” 11So Jephthah went with Gilead’s elders, and the people made him leader and commander over them. At Mizpah before the LORD, Jephthah repeated everything he had said.
12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying, “What is the problem between us that you’ve come against me to make war in my land?”
13The Ammonite king responded to Jephthah’s messengers, “When the Israelites were coming up from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peacefully!”
14Then Jephthah again sent messengers to the Ammonite king 15and said to him, “Jephthah states: Israel didn’t seize the land of the Moabites or the land of the Ammonites. 16When they were coming up from Egypt, the Israelites went through the desert to the Reed Sea#11.16 Or Red Sea and came to Kadesh. 17Then the Israelites sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please allow us to pass through your land’; but the Edomite king refused. They sent the same request to the king of Moab, and he was unwilling. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.
18“Later they journeyed into the desert but went around the lands of Edom and Moab, arriving on the east side of the land of Moab and setting up camp on the other side of the Arnon. They never entered Moabite territory, because the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. 19Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites and king of Heshbon and said to him, ‘Please allow us to pass through your land to our own place.’ 20Yet Sihon didn’t trust the Israelites to pass through his territory. He assembled his entire army, set up camp at Jahaz, and went to war with the Israelites. 21The LORD, Israel’s God, handed over Sihon and his entire army to the Israelites, and they defeated Sihon. So the Israelites took possession of all the land of the Amorites who were living in that area. 22They took possession of all the Amorite territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.
23“So now that the LORD, Israel’s God, has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, will you take possession of their land? 24Shouldn’t you possess what Chemosh your god has given you to possess? And shouldn’t we possess everything that the LORD our God has given us to possess? 25Do you now have a better case than Moab’s King Balak, Zippor’s son? Did he make an accusation against the Israelites or go to war with them? 26Why didn’t you take back this territory while the Israelites lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the branches of the Arnon for three hundred years? 27I haven’t sinned against you, but you’re doing me wrong by making war against me. Let the LORD, who is the judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites!”
28But the Ammonite king refused to listen to the message that Jephthah sent to him.
Jephthah’s promise
29Then the LORD’s spirit came on Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he crossed over to the Ammonites. 30Jephthah made a solemn promise to the LORD: “If you will decisively hand over the Ammonites to me, 31then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return victorious from the Ammonites will be given over to the LORD. I will sacrifice it as an entirely burned offering.” 32Jephthah crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD handed them over to him. 33It was an exceptionally great defeat; he defeated twenty towns from Aroer to the area of Minnith, and on as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were brought down before the Israelites.
34But when Jephthah came to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was an only child; he had no other son or daughter except her. 35When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You are my agony! For I opened my mouth to the LORD, and I can’t take it back.”
36But she replied to him, “My father, you’ve opened your mouth to the LORD, so you should do to me just what you’ve promised. After all, the LORD has carried out just punishment for you on your enemies the Ammonites.” 37Then she said to her father, “Let this one thing be done for me: hold off for two months and let me and my friends wander the hills in sadness, crying over the fact that I never had children.”
38“Go,” he responded, and he sent her away for two months. She and her friends walked on the hills and cried because she would never have children.
39When two months had passed, she returned to her father, and he did to her what he had promised. She had not known a man intimately. But she gave rise to a tradition in Israel where 40for four days every year Israelite daughters would go away to recount the story of the Gileadite Jephthah’s daughter.
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Judges 11: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Judges 11
11
1Jephthah, a brave soldier from Gilead, was the son of a prostitute. His father Gilead 2had other sons by his wife, and when they grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave home. They said to him, “You will not inherit anything from our father; you are the son of another woman.” 3Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There he attracted a group of worthless men, and they went round with him.
4It was some time later that the Ammonites went to war against Israel. 5When this happened, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. 6They said, “Come and lead us, so that we can fight the Ammonites.”
7But Jephthah answered, “You hated me so much that you forced me to leave my father's house. Why come to me now that you're in trouble?”
8They said to Jephthah, “We are turning to you now because we want you to go with us and fight the Ammonites and lead all the people of Gilead.”
9Jephthah said to them, “If you take me back home to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives me victory, I will be your ruler.”
10They replied, “We agree. The LORD is our witness.” 11So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and leader. Jephthah stated his terms at Mizpah in the presence of the LORD.
12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon to say, “What is your quarrel with us? Why have you invaded our country?”
13The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers, “When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they took away my land from the River Arnon to the River Jabbok and the River Jordan. Now you must give it back peacefully.”
14Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon 15with this answer: “It is not true that Israel took away the land of Moab or the land of Ammon. 16This is what happened: when the Israelites left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Gulf of Aqaba and came to Kadesh. 17#Num 20.14–21Then they sent messengers to the king of Edom to ask permission to go through his land. But the king of Edom would not let them. They also asked the king of Moab, but neither would he let them go through his land. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh. 18#Num 21.4Then they went on through the desert, going round the land of Edom and the land of Moab until they came to the east side of Moab, on the other side of the River Arnon. They made camp there, but they did not cross the Arnon because it was the boundary of Moab. 19#Num 21.21–24Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and asked him for permission to go through his country to their own land. 20But Sihon would not let Israel do it. He brought his whole army together, made camp at Jahaz, and attacked Israel. 21But the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the Israelites victory over Sihon and his army. So the Israelites took possession of all the territory of the Amorites who lived in that country. 22They occupied all the Amorite territory from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north and from the desert on the east to the Jordan on the west. 23So it was the LORD, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites for his people, the Israelites. 24Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything that the LORD, our God, has given us. 25#Num 22.1–6Do you think you are any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? He never challenged Israel, did he? Did he ever go to war against us? 26For 300 years Israel has occupied Heshbon and Aroer, and the towns round them, and all the cities on the banks of the River Arnon. Why haven't you taken them back in all this time? 27No, I have not done you any wrong. You are doing wrong by making war on me. The LORD is the judge. He will decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” 28But the king of Ammon paid no attention to this message from Jephthah.
29Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh and returned to Mizpah in Gilead and went on to Ammon. 30Jephthah promised the LORD: “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, 31I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I come back from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice.”
32So Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave him victory. 33He struck at them from Aroer to the area round Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel Keramim. There was a great slaughter, and the Ammonites were defeated by Israel.
Jephthah's Daughter
34When Jephthah went back home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, dancing and playing the tambourine. She was his only child. 35#Num 30.2When he saw her, he tore his clothes in sorrow and said, “Oh, my daughter! You are breaking my heart! Why must it be you that causes me pain? I have made a solemn promise to the LORD, and I cannot take it back!”
36She said to him, “If you have made a promise to the LORD, do what you said you would do to me, since the LORD has given you revenge on your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37But she asked her father, “Do this one thing for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the mountains and grieve that I must die a virgin.” 38He told her to go and sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless. 39After two months she came back to her father. He did what he had promised the LORD, and she died still a virgin.
This was the origin of the custom in Israel 40that the young women would go away for four days every year to grieve for the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.