Judges 11
1 2
3 4 5
6 7 8
9 10 11
12 13
14 15
16 17
18 19
20 21
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite
was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead
begat Jephthah.
2 And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and
his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou
shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a
strange woman.
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren,
and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and
went out with him.
4 And it came to pass in
process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
5 And it was so, that when the children of
Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out
of the land of Tob:
6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and
be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of
Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are
ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?
8 And the elders of Gilead said unto
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.
9 And Jephthah said unto 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?
10 And the elders of Gilead said unto
Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy
words.
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.
12 And Jephthah sent
messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do
with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
13 And the king of the children of Ammon
answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when
they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now
therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto
the king of the children of Ammon:
15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah,
Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and
walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
17 Then Israel sent messengers unto the
king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king
of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the
king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
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.
19 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon
king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us
pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass
through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in
Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
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.
22 And they possessed all the coasts of
the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto
Jordan.
23 So now the LORD God of Israel hath
dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou
possess it?
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.
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,
26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her
towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by
the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them
within that time?
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.
28 Howbeit the king of the children of
Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
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 unto the children of
Ammon.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD,
and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine
hands,
31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever
cometh forth 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 up for
a burnt offering.
32 So Jephthah passed over unto the
children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his
hands.
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till
thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the
vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued
before the children of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto 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.
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 unto
the LORD, and I cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if
thou hast opened thy mouth unto 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 thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
37 And she said unto 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.
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.
39 And it came to pass at the end of two
months, that she returned unto 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,
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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