Juges 11

Jephthah the Gileadite

¹Jephthah the Gileadite was a strong warrior. He was the son of a prostitute, and his father was Gilead. ²Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. When they grew up, they drove Jephthah away and told him, “You will have no share in our father’s estate, because you are the son of another woman.” ³So Jephthah escaped from his brothers and made his home in the land of Tob. A band of worthless men gathered around him and went out raiding with him.

⁴Some time later the Ammonites went to war against Israel. ⁵When the Ammonites were fighting against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. ⁶They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, so that we can fight the Ammonites.” ⁷But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Was it not you who hated me and drove me out of my father’s house? Why come to me now, when you are in trouble?” ⁸The elders of Gilead answered Jephthah, “That is exactly why we have come back to you now. Come with us and fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head, ruling over everyone who lives in Gilead.” ⁹Jephthah answered the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to make war on the Ammonites and the LORD hands them over to me, then I will be your head.” ¹⁰The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “the LORD is witness between us. We will certainly do as you say.” ¹¹So Jephthah went back with the elders of Gilead, and the people set him over themselves as head and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms before the LORD at Mizpah.

Jephthah’s message to the king of Ammon

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with this question: “What quarrel do you have with me, that you have come to attack my land?” ¹³The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, all the way from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Now give it back peacefully.” ¹⁴Jephthah sent messengers once more to the king of the Ammonites, ¹⁵and they said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶When Israel came up from Egypt, it journeyed through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and then reached Kadesh. ¹⁷Israel sent messengers to ask the king of Edom, ‘Please allow us to cross your land.’ But the king of Edom paid no attention. They sent the same request to the king of Moab, and he refused too. So Israel remained at Kadesh. ¹⁸Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and went around the lands of Edom and Moab. They passed along the east side of Moab and camped on the far side of the Arnon. They did not enter Moabite territory, because the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please allow us to cross your land to our own place.’ ²⁰But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his forces, camped at Jahaz and attacked Israel. ²¹Then the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his forces into Israel’s power, and Israel defeated them and took possession of the whole land of the Amorites who lived in that region. ²²They took over the whole Amorite territory, from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness across to the Jordan. ²³So now that the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, are you to take their land? ²⁴Do you not take possession of whatever your god Chemosh gives you? In the same way, we will possess all the land of those whom the LORD our God has driven out before us.^{a 25}Are you really a better man than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever dispute with Israel or make war on them? ²⁶Israel has lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon for 300 years. Why did you not take them back during all that time? ²⁷I have not wronged you, but you are wronging me by making war on me. Let the LORD, who is the Judge, settle the case today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” ²⁸But the king of the Ammonites paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah makes a vow

²⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on against the Ammonites. ³⁰And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: “If you will truly hand the Ammonites over to me, ³¹then whoever or whatever comes out through the doors of my house to meet me as I come home safe from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”^b

³²So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight them, and the LORD handed them over to him. ³³He defeated them with a great slaughter from Aroer to the area of Minnith, twenty towns, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were brought under the power of the Israelites.

Jephthah’s daughter comes out to meet him

³⁴When Jephthah reached his home in Mizpah, out came his daughter to meet him, dancing to the beat of tambourines. She was his one and only child; apart from her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵As soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh, my daughter! You have struck me down! You have become the one who brings ruin on me. I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it.” ³⁶She said to him, “My father, you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me what you have promised, now that the LORD has brought justice for you on your enemies the Ammonites.” ³⁷She also said to her father, “Grant me this one request. Give me two months to go off into the hills with my friends and weep there, because I will never marry.” ³⁸“Go,” he said, and he let her go for two months. She went with her friends into the hills and mourned that she would never marry. ³⁹At the end of two months she came back to her father, and he did to her what he had vowed. She had never had relations with a man. And it became a custom in Israel.^{c 40}Every year the young women of Israel would go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.