JudgesChapter 11
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1Jephthah from Gilead was a strong and brave warrior. He was the son of a prostitute, and his father was Gilead. 2Gilead's wife also had sons by him. When they grew up, they drove Jephthah away. They told him, "You won't get any share of our father's property, because you are the son of another woman." 3So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There a group of worthless men gathered around him and went out with him. 4Some time later, the Ammonites fought against Israel. 5When the Ammonites went to war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. 6"Come," they said. "Be our commander. Then we can fight the Ammonites." 7Jephthah answered the elders of Gilead, "Didn't you hate me? Didn't you drive me out of my father's house? So why have you come to me now that you're in trouble?" 8They answered Jephthah, "That is why we're turning to you now. Come with us and fight the Ammonites. Then you will be the leader over all of us who live in Gilead." 9Jephthah asked them, "Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them to me. Will I really be your leader?" 10The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD is our witness if we don't do what you say." 11So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. And at Mizpah, Jephthah repeated all his terms before the LORD. 12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites. They asked, "What do you have against me? Why have you come to attack my land?" 13The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers. He said, "When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took my land. They took it from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, all the way to the Jordan. So now give it back peacefully." 14Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of the Ammonites. 15They told him, "This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. 16Israel came up out of Egypt and went through the wilderness to the Red Sea. Then they came to Kadesh. 17Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom. They said, 'Please let us go through your land.' But the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he refused too. So Israel stayed at Kadesh. 18Then Israel traveled through the wilderness. They went around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of Moab and camped across the Arnon River. But they did not go into Moab, because the Arnon was its border. 19Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon. They said to him, 'Please let us go through your land to our own place.' 20But Sihon did not trust Israel to go through his land. So he gathered all his people and camped at Jahaz. Then he fought against Israel. 21But the LORD, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel. Israel defeated them. So Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived there. 22They took all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan. 23The LORD, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorites in front of his people Israel. So should you take the land now? 24You keep whatever land your god Chemosh gives you, don't you? In the same way, we will keep whatever land the LORD our God has given us. 25Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever argue with Israel? Did he ever fight against them? 26For 300 years Israel has lived in Heshbon and Aroer and their villages. They have lived in all the cities along the Arnon River. Why didn't you take them back during all that time? 27I have not sinned against you. But you are doing wrong to me by attacking me. May the LORD, who is the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites." 28But the king of the Ammonites paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him. 29Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh. He went through Mizpah in Gilead. From there he marched against the Ammonites. 30Jephthah made a promise to the LORD. He said, "If you will truly hand the Ammonites over to me, 31then this is what I will do. When I come home from beating the Ammonites, whatever comes out the door of my house to meet me will belong to the LORD. I will offer it up as a burnt offering." 32Then Jephthah went over to fight against the Ammonites. And the LORD handed them over to him. 33He struck them hard and destroyed 20 towns. He went from Aroer to the area of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were beaten down by the Israelites. 34Then Jephthah came home to Mizpah. And there was his daughter, coming out to meet him! She was dancing and playing tambourines. She was his only child. He had no other son or daughter. 35As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes. He said, "Oh no! My daughter! You have crushed me! You have brought great pain on me. I made a promise to the LORD, and I can't take it back." 36"My father," she said, "you made a promise to the LORD. So do to me what you said you would, because the LORD has paid back your enemies, the Ammonites, for you." 37She also said to her father, "Let me do just one thing. Let me go for two months and wander in the mountains with my friends. Let me weep there because I will never marry."a 38"Go," he said. And he let her go for two months. So she went with her friends into the mountains. There she wept because she would never marry. 39After two months, she came back to her father. And he did to her what he had promised. She had never slept with a man. So it became a custom in Israel 40that every year the young women of Israel go out for four days. They go to weep for the daughter of Jephthah from Gilead.b