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Judges 11:1-40 — Jephthah

Judg.11.1-40

¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, and he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ²Gilead's wife bore him sons, and when the wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not inherit in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob. Worthless men gathered around Jephthah and went out with him. ⁴After some time, the Ammonites fought against Israel. ⁵And when the Ammonites fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, so that we may fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” ⁸The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have now turned back to you, so that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to fight against the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them over to me, will I be your head?” ¹⁰The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be a witness between us; we will surely do as you say.” ¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah. ¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³The king of the Ammonites said to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore those lands peaceably.” ¹⁴Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, ¹⁵and said to him, "Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶For when they came up from Egypt, Israel walked through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. ¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Please let me pass through your land,' but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed at Kadesh. ¹⁸Then they walked through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, 'Please let us pass through your land to my place.' ²⁰But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people, camped at Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹The LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land. ²²They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³So now the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before his people Israel, and are you to possess it? ²⁴Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has driven out before us, we will possess. ²⁵Now are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ²⁶While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are along the banks of the Arnon for three hundred years, why did you not recover them at that time? ²⁷I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by fighting against me. May the LORD, the Judge, judge today between the children of Israel and the Ammonites." ²⁸But the king of the Ammonites would not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him. ²⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. ³⁰And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will indeed give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." ³²So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand. ³³He struck them from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a very great slaughter. So the Ammonites were subdued before the children of Israel. ³⁴Then Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵As soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of my trouble. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take it back.” ³⁶She said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, the Ammonites.” ³⁷And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and mourn my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸He said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months. So she went, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹At the end of two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her according to his vow that he had made. And she had never known a man . And it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰that yearly the daughters of Israel would go to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in the year.

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4/11/2026

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