Judges 11-12

New International Version

11 Jephthah^(A) the Gileadite was a mighty warrior.^(B) His father was Gilead;^(C) his mother was a prostitute.^(D) ²Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” ³So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob,^(E) where a gang of scoundrels^(F) gathered around him and followed him.

⁴Some time later, when the Ammonites^(G) were fighting against Israel, ⁵the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶“Come,” they said, “be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.”

⁷Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house?^(H) Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”

⁸The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head^(I) over all of us who live in Gilead.”

⁹Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me—will I really be your head?”

¹⁰The elders of Gilead replied, “The Lord is our witness;^(J) we will certainly do as you say.” ¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders^(K) of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated^(L) all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.^(M)

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?”

¹³The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon^(N) to the Jabbok,^(O) all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”

¹⁴Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, ¹⁵saying:

“This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab^(P) or the land of the Ammonites.^(Q) ¹⁶But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea^[a]^(R) and on to Kadesh.^(S) ¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers^(T) to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’^(U) but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab,^(V) and he refused.^(W) So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

¹⁸“Next they traveled through the wilderness, skirted the lands of Edom^(X) and Moab, passed along the eastern side^(Y) of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon.^(Z) They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.

¹⁹“Then Israel sent messengers^(AA) to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon,^(AB) and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your country to our own place.’^(AC) ²⁰Sihon, however, did not trust Israel^[b] to pass through his territory. He mustered all his troops and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.^(AD)

²¹“Then the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel’s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, ²²capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.^(AE)

²³“Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? ²⁴Will you not take what your god Chemosh^(AF) gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us,^(AG) we will possess. ²⁵Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor,^(AH) king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them?^(AI) ²⁶For three hundred years Israel occupied^(AJ) Heshbon, Aroer,^(AK) the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time? ²⁷I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge,^(AL) decide^(AM) the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.^(AN)”

²⁸The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.

²⁹Then the Spirit^(AO) of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah^(AP) of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.^(AQ) ³⁰And Jephthah made a vow^(AR) to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, ³¹whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph^(AS) from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.^(AT)”

³²Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. ³³He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith,^(AU) as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

³⁴When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing^(AV) to the sound of timbrels!^(AW) She was an only child.^(AX) Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵When he saw her, he tore his clothes^(AY) and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.^(AZ)”

³⁶“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised,^(BA) now that the Lord has avenged you^(BB) of your enemies,^(BC) the Ammonites. ³⁷But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

³⁸“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. ³⁹After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

From this comes the Israelite tradition ⁴⁰that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Jephthah and Ephraim

12 The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon.^(BD) They said to Jephthah,^(BE) “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you?^(BF) We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”

²Jephthah answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands. ³When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands^(BG) and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory^(BH) over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”

⁴Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead^(BI) and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.^(BJ)” ⁵The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan^(BK) leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” ⁶they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.

⁷Jephthah led^[c] Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon and Abdon

⁸After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem^(BL) led Israel. ⁹He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years. ¹⁰Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

¹¹After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years. ¹²Then Elon died and was buried in Aijalon^(BM) in the land of Zebulun.

¹³After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon,^(BN) led Israel. ¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty grandsons,^(BO) who rode on seventy donkeys.^(BP) He led Israel eight years. ¹⁵Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.^(BQ)

Footnotes

Judges 11:16 Or the Sea of Reeds
Judges 11:20 Or however, would not make an agreement for Israel
Judges 12:7 Traditionally judged; also in verses 8-14

Judges 11-12

New King James Version

Jephthah

11 Now ^(A)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(B)a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. ²Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have ^(C)no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of ^(D)Tob; and ^(E)worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

⁴It came to pass after a time that the ^(F)people of Ammon made war against Israel. ⁵And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”

⁷So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, ^(G)“Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in ^[a]distress?”

⁸^(H)And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have ^(I)turned^[b] again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be ^(J)our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”

¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ^(K)“The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” ¹¹Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him ^(L)head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words ^(M)before the Lord in Mizpah.

¹²Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, ^(N)“What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?”

¹³And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^(O)“Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from ^(P)the Arnon as far as ^(Q)the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”

¹⁴So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, ¹⁵and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^(R)‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon; ¹⁶for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and ^(S)came to Kadesh. ¹⁷Then ^(T)Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” ^(U)But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the ^(V)king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(W)remained in Kadesh. ¹⁸And they ^(X)went along through the wilderness and ^(Y)bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹Then ^(Z)Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please ^(AA)let us pass through your land into our place.” ²⁰^(AB)But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹And the Lord God of Israel ^(AC)delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they ^(AD)defeated^[c] them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²²They took possession of ^(AE)all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³‘And now the Lord God of Israel has ^[d]dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? ²⁴Will you not possess whatever ^(AF)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever ^(AG)the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. ²⁵And now, are you any better than ^(AH)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them? ²⁶While Israel dwelt in ^(AI)Heshbon and its villages, in ^(AJ)Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? ²⁷Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord, ^(AK)the Judge, ^(AL)render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’ ” ²⁸However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Vow and Victory

²⁹Then ^(AM)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 advanced toward the people of Ammon. ³⁰And Jephthah ^(AN)made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, ³¹then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, ^(AO)shall surely be the Lord’s, ^(AP)and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

³²So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. ³³And he ^[e]defeated them from Aroer as far as ^(AQ)Minnith—twenty cities—and to ^[f]Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Jephthah’s Daughter

³⁴When Jephthah came to his house at ^(AR)Mizpah, there was ^(AS)his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he ^(AT)tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I ^(AU)have ^[g]given my word to the Lord, and ^(AV)I cannot ^[h]go back on it.”

³⁶So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, ^(AW)do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because ^(AX)the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” ³⁷Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and ^[i]bewail my virginity, my ^[j]friends and I.”

³⁸So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he ^(AY)carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She ^[k]knew no man.

And it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to ^[l]lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim

12 Then ^(AZ)the men of Ephraim ^[m]gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire!”

²And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. ³So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I ^(BA)took my life in my hands and crossed over against the people of Ammon; and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You Gileadites ^(BB)are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.” ⁵The Gileadites seized the ^(BC)fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶then they would say to him, “Then say, ^(BD)‘Shibboleth’!”^[n] And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not ^[o]pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.

⁷And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹He had thirty sons. And he gave away thirty daughters in marriage, and brought in thirty daughters from elsewhere for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. ¹⁰Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. He judged Israel ten years. ¹²And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.

¹³After him, Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who ^(BE)rode on seventy young donkeys. He judged Israel eight years. ¹⁵Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, ^(BF)in the mountains of the Amalekites.

Footnotes

Judges 11:7 trouble
Judges 11:8 returned
Judges 11:21 Lit. struck
Judges 11:23 driven out
Judges 11:33 Lit. struck
Judges 11:33 Lit. Plain of Vineyards
Judges 11:35 Lit. opened my mouth
Judges 11:35 Lit. take it back
Judges 11:37 lament
Judges 11:37 companions
Judges 11:39 Remained a virgin
Judges 11:40 commemorate
Judges 12:1 were summoned
Judges 12:6 Lit. a flowing stream; used as a test of dialect
Judges 12:6 Lit. speak so

Judges 11-12

New American Standard Bible

Jephthah, the Ninth Judge

11 Now ^(A)Jephthah the Gileadite was a ^[a]valiant warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. And Gilead had fathered Jephthah. ²Gilead’s wife bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(B)Tob; and worthless men gathered ^[b]around Jephthah, and they went ^[c]wherever he did.

⁴Now it came about, after a while, that ^(C)the sons of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵When the sons of Ammon fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob; ⁶and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.” ⁷But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “^(D)Did you not hate me and drive me from my father’s house? So why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?” ⁸The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “For this reason we have now returned to you, that you may go with us and fight the sons of Ammon, and ^(E)become our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and the Lord gives them up ^[d]to me, will I become your head?” ¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “^(F)The Lord is ^[e]witness between us; be assured we will do ^[f]as you have said.” ¹¹Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at ^(G)Mizpah.

¹²So Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “What conflict do you and I have, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³And the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “It is because Israel ^(H)took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the ^(I)Jabbok and the Jordan; so return them peaceably now.” ¹⁴But Jephthah sent messengers once again to the king of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁵and they said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁶For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel ^(J)went through the wilderness to the ^[g]Red Sea, and ^(K)came to Kadesh, ¹⁷then Israel ^(L)sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land”; but the king of Edom would not listen. ^(M)And they also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh. ¹⁸Then they went through the wilderness and ^(N)around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they ^(O)did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹And Israel sent ^(P)messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land to our place.” ²⁰But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. ²¹And the Lord, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel, and they ^[h]^(Q)defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ²²^(R)So they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. ²³And now the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from His people Israel; so should you possess it? ²⁴Do you not possess what ^(S)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess it. ²⁵Now then, are you any better than ^(T)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ²⁶^(U)While Israel was living in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? ²⁷So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me. ^(V)May the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’” ²⁸But the king of the sons of Ammon ^[i]disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

²⁹Now ^(W)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over to me the sons of Ammon, ³¹then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return ^[j]safely from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” ³²So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord handed them over to him. ³³He ^[k]inflicted a very great defeat on them from Aroer ^[l]to the entrance of ^(X)Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

³⁴But Jephthah came to his house at ^(Y)Mizpah, and behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him ^(Z)with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵So when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, my daughter! You have brought me disaster, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have ^[m]given my word to the Lord, and ^(AA)I cannot take it back.” ³⁶So she said to him, “My father, you have ^[n]given your word to the Lord; ^(AB)do to me just as ^[o]you have said, since the Lord has brought you vengeance on your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; allow me two months, so that I may ^[p]go to the mountains and weep because of ^(AC)my virginity, I and my friends.” ³⁸Then he said, “Go.” So he let her go for two months; and she left with her friends, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. ³⁹And at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her ^[q]what he had vowed; and she ^[r]had no relations with a man. And it became a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰that the ^[s]daughters of Israel went annually to ^[t]commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days in the year.

Jephthah and His Successors

12 Now the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed ^[u]to Zaphon; and ^(AD)they said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you!” ²So Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were in a major dispute with the sons of Ammon; and I did call you, but you did not save me from their hand. ³When I saw that you were no deliverer, I ^[v]^(AE)took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead ^[w]defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You are survivors of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” ⁵And the Gileadites ^(AF)took control of the crossing places of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened whenever any of the survivors of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” that the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶then they would say to him, “Just say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he was not ^[x]prepared to ^[y]pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the crossing places of the Jordan. So at that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

⁷Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

⁸Now Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel after him. ⁹He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he ^[z]gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel for seven years. ¹⁰Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

¹¹Now Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel after him; he judged Israel for ten years. ¹²Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³Now Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel after him. ¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel for eight years. ¹⁵Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Footnotes

Judges 11:1 Or mighty man of valor
Judges 11:3 Lit to
Judges 11:3 Lit out with him
Judges 11:9 Lit before
Judges 11:10 Lit listener
Judges 11:10 Lit according to your word
Judges 11:16 Lit Sea of Reeds
Judges 11:21 Lit struck
Judges 11:28 Lit did not listen to the words
Judges 11:31 Or with success; lit in well-being
Judges 11:33 Lit struck a...blow
Judges 11:33 Lit even until you are coming to
Judges 11:35 Lit opened my mouth wide
Judges 11:36 Lit opened your mouth wide
Judges 11:36 Lit has gone out of your mouth
Judges 11:37 Lit go and go down on
Judges 11:39 Lit his vow which he had vowed
Judges 11:39 Lit knew no man
Judges 11:40 I.e., women
Judges 11:40 Lit recount; some ancient versions, lament
Judges 12:1 Or northward
Judges 12:3 Lit put my soul in my palm
Judges 12:4 Lit struck
Judges 12:6 Some Heb mss read able to
Judges 12:6 Lit speak
Judges 12:9 Lit sent outside

Judges 11-12

New Living Translation

Jephthah Becomes Israel’s Judge

11 Now Jephthah of Gilead was a great warrior. He was the son of Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. ²Gilead’s wife also had several sons, and when these half brothers grew up, they chased Jephthah off the land. “You will not get any of our father’s inheritance,” they said, “for you are the son of a prostitute.” ³So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Soon he had a band of worthless rebels following him.

⁴At about this time, the Ammonites began their war against Israel. ⁵When the Ammonites attacked, the elders of Gilead sent for Jephthah in the land of Tob. ⁶The elders said, “Come and be our commander! Help us fight the Ammonites!”

⁷But Jephthah said to them, “Aren’t you the ones who hated me and drove me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now when you’re in trouble?”

⁸“Because we need you,” the elders replied. “If you lead us in battle against the Ammonites, we will make you ruler over all the people of Gilead.”

⁹Jephthah said to the elders, “Let me get this straight. If I come with you and if the Lord gives me victory over the Ammonites, will you really make me ruler over all the people?”

¹⁰“The Lord is our witness,” the elders replied. “We promise to do whatever you say.”

¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and commander of the army. At Mizpah, in the presence of the Lord, Jephthah repeated what he had said to the elders.

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon, asking, “Why have you come out to fight against my land?”

¹³The king of Ammon answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they stole my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and all the way to the Jordan. Now then, give back the land peaceably.”

¹⁴Jephthah sent this message back to the Ammonite king:

¹⁵“This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not steal any land from Moab or Ammon. ¹⁶When the people of Israel arrived at Kadesh on their journey from Egypt after crossing the Red Sea,^[a] ¹⁷they sent messengers to the king of Edom asking for permission to pass through his land. But their request was denied. Then they asked the king of Moab for similar permission, but he wouldn’t let them pass through either. So the people of Israel stayed in Kadesh.

¹⁸“Finally, they went around Edom and Moab through the wilderness. They traveled along Moab’s eastern border and camped on the other side of the Arnon River. But they never once crossed the Arnon River into Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.

¹⁹“Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, asking for permission to cross through his land to get to their destination. ²⁰But King Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his land. Instead, he mobilized his army at Jahaz and attacked them. ²¹But the Lord, the God of Israel, gave his people victory over King Sihon. So Israel took control of all the land of the Amorites, who lived in that region, ²²from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, and from the eastern wilderness to the Jordan.

²³“So you see, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who took away the land from the Amorites and gave it to Israel. Why, then, should we give it back to you? ²⁴You keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you, and we will keep whatever the Lord our God gives us. ²⁵Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he try to make a case against Israel for disputed land? Did he go to war against them?

²⁶“Israel has been living here for 300 years, inhabiting Heshbon and its surrounding settlements, all the way to Aroer and its settlements, and in all the towns along the Arnon River. Why have you made no effort to recover it before now? ²⁷Therefore, I have not sinned against you. Rather, you have wronged me by attacking me. Let the Lord, who is judge, decide today which of us is right—Israel or Ammon.”

²⁸But the king of Ammon paid no attention to Jephthah’s message.

Jephthah’s Vow

²⁹At that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites. ³⁰And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, ³¹I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

³²So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. ³³He crushed the Ammonites, devastating about twenty towns from Aroer to an area near Minnith and as far away as Abel-keramim. In this way Israel defeated the Ammonites.

³⁴When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters. ³⁵When he saw her, he tore his clothes in anguish. “Oh, my daughter!” he cried out. “You have completely destroyed me! You’ve brought disaster on me! For I have made a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.”

³⁶And she said, “Father, if you have made a vow to the Lord, you must do to me what you have vowed, for the Lord has given you a great victory over your enemies, the Ammonites. ³⁷But first let me do this one thing: Let me go up and roam in the hills and weep with my friends for two months, because I will die a virgin.”

³⁸“You may go,” Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children. ³⁹When she returned home, her father kept the vow he had made, and she died a virgin.

So it has become a custom in Israel ⁴⁰for young Israelite women to go away for four days each year to lament the fate of Jephthah’s daughter.

Ephraim Fights with Jephthah

12 Then the people of Ephraim mobilized an army and crossed over the Jordan River to Zaphon. They sent this message to Jephthah: “Why didn’t you call for us to help you fight against the Ammonites? We are going to burn down your house with you in it!”

²Jephthah replied, “I summoned you at the beginning of the dispute, but you refused to come! You failed to help us in our struggle against Ammon. ³So when I realized you weren’t coming, I risked my life and went to battle without you, and the Lord gave me victory over the Ammonites. So why have you now come to fight me?”

⁴The people of Ephraim responded, “You men of Gilead are nothing more than fugitives from Ephraim and Manasseh.” So Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and attacked the men of Ephraim and defeated them.

⁵Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” ⁶they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time.

⁷Jephthah judged Israel for six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead.

Ibzan Becomes Israel’s Judge

⁸After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He sent his daughters to marry men outside his clan, and he brought in thirty young women from outside his clan to marry his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years. ¹⁰When he died, he was buried at Bethlehem.

Elon Becomes Israel’s Judge

¹¹After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun judged Israel for ten years. ¹²When he died, he was buried at Aijalon in Zebulun.

Abdon Becomes Israel’s Judge

¹³After Elon died, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel. ¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years. ¹⁵When he died, he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Footnotes

11:16 Hebrew sea of reeds.

Judges 11-12

The Message

11 ^1-3Jephthah the Gileadite was one tough warrior. He was the son of a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. Meanwhile Gilead’s legal wife had given him other sons, and when they grew up, his wife’s sons threw Jephthah out. They told him: “You’re not getting any of our family inheritance—you’re the son of another woman.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. Some riffraff joined him and went around with him.

^4-6Some time passed. And then the Ammonites started fighting Israel. With the Ammonites at war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. They said to Jephthah: “Come. Be our general and we’ll fight the Ammonites.”

⁷But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: “But you hate me. You kicked me out of my family home. So why are you coming to me now? Because you are in trouble. Right?”

⁸The elders of Gilead replied, “That’s it exactly. We’ve come to you to get you to go with us and fight the Ammonites. You’ll be the head of all of us, all the Gileadites.”

⁹Jephthah addressed the elders of Gilead, “So if you bring me back home to fight the Ammonites and God gives them to me, I’ll be your head—is that right?”

^10-11They said, “God is witness between us; whatever you say, we’ll do.” Jephthah went along with the elders of Gilead. The people made him their top man and general. And Jephthah repeated what he had said before God at Mizpah.

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with a message: “What’s going on here that you have come into my country picking a fight?”

¹³The king of the Ammonites told Jephthah’s messengers: “Because Israel took my land when they came up out of Egypt—from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Give it back peaceably and I’ll go.”

^14-27Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with the message: “Jephthah’s word: Israel took no Moabite land and no Ammonite land. When they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the desert as far as the Red Sea, arriving at Kadesh. There Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, ‘Let us pass through your land, please.’ But the king of Edom wouldn’t let them. Israel also requested permission from the king of Moab, but he wouldn’t let them cross either. They were stopped in their tracks at Kadesh. So they traveled across the desert and circled around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came out east of the land of Moab and set camp on the other side of the Arnon—they didn’t set foot in Moabite territory, for Arnon was the Moabite border. Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites at Heshbon the capital. Israel asked, ‘Let us pass, please, through your land on the way to our country.’ But Sihon didn’t trust Israel to cut across his land; he got his entire army together, set up camp at Jahaz, and fought Israel. But God, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his troops to Israel. Israel defeated them. Israel took all the Amorite land, all Amorite land from Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan. It was God, the God of Israel, who pushed out the Amorites in favor of Israel; so who do you think you are to try to take it over? Why don’t you just be satisfied with what your god Chemosh gives you and we’ll settle for what God, our God, gives us? Do you think you’re going to come off better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he get anywhere in opposing Israel? Did he risk war? All this time—it’s been three hundred years now!—that Israel has lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon, why didn’t you try to snatch them away then? No, I haven’t wronged you. But this is an evil thing that you are doing to me by starting a fight. Today God the Judge will decide between the People of Israel and the people of Ammon.”

²⁸But the king of the Ammonites refused to listen to a word that Jephthah had sent him.

^29-31God’s Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites. Jephthah made a vow before God: “If you give me a clear victory over the Ammonites, then I’ll give to God whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in one piece from among the Ammonites—I’ll offer it up in a sacrificial burnt offering.”

^32-33Then Jephthah was off to fight the Ammonites. And God gave them to him. He beat them soundly, all the way from Aroer to the area around Minnith as far as Abel Keramim—twenty cities! A massacre! Ammonites brought to their knees by the People of Israel.

^34-35Jephthah came home to Mizpah. His daughter ran from the house to welcome him home—dancing to tambourines! She was his only child. He had no son or daughter except her. When he realized who it was, he ripped his clothes, saying, “Ah, dearest daughter—I’m dirt. I’m despicable. My heart is torn to shreds. I made a vow to God and I can’t take it back!”

³⁶She said, “Dear father, if you made a vow to God, do to me what you vowed; God did his part and saved you from your Ammonite enemies.”

³⁷And then she said to her father, “But let this one thing be done for me. Give me two months to wander through the hills and lament my virginity since I will never marry, I and my dear friends.”

^38-39“Oh yes, go,” he said. He sent her off for two months. She and her dear girlfriends went among the hills, lamenting that she would never marry. At the end of the two months, she came back to her father. He fulfilled the vow with her that he had made. She had never slept with a man.

^39-40It became a custom in Israel that for four days every year the young women of Israel went out to mourn for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

* * *

12 The men of Ephraim mustered their troops, crossed to Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you go out to fight the Ammonites without letting us go with you? We’re going to burn your house down on you!”

^2-3Jephthah said, “I and my people had our hands full negotiating with the Ammonites. And I did call to you for help but you ignored me. When I saw that you weren’t coming, I took my life in my hands and confronted the Ammonites myself. And God gave them to me! So why did you show up here today? Are you spoiling for a fight with me?”

⁴So Jephthah got his Gilead troops together and fought Ephraim. And the men of Gilead hit them hard because they were saying, “Gileadites are nothing but half breeds and rejects from Ephraim and Manasseh.”

^5-6Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan at the crossing to Ephraim. If an Ephraimite fugitive said, “Let me cross,” the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” and he would say, “No.” And they would say, “Say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he would always say, “Sibboleth”—he couldn’t say it right. Then they would grab him and kill him there at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two Ephraimite divisions were killed on that occasion.

⁷Jephthah judged Israel six years. Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city, Mizpah of Gilead.

Ibzan

^8-9After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside his clan and brought in thirty daughters-in-law from the outside for his sons.

¹⁰He judged Israel seven years. Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

Elon

^11-12After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. He judged Israel ten years. Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Abdon

^13-15After him, Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel eight years. Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the Amalekite hill country.

New International Version (NIV)