Judges 11:26-13:13

New King James Version

²⁶ While Israel dwelt in ^(A)Heshbon and its villages, in ^(B)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? ²⁷ Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord, ^(C)the Judge, ^(D)render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’ ” ²⁸ However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Vow and Victory

²⁹ Then ^(E)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. ³⁰ And Jephthah ^(F)made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, ³¹ then 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, ^(G)shall surely be the Lord’s, ^(H)and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

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

Jephthah’s Daughter

³⁴ When Jephthah came to his house at ^(J)Mizpah, there was ^(K)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. ³⁵ And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he ^(L)tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I ^(M)have ^[c]given my word to the Lord, and ^(N)I cannot ^[d]go back on it.”

³⁶ So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, ^(O)do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because ^(P)the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” ³⁷ Then 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 ^[e]bewail my virginity, my ^[f]friends and I.”

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

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

Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim

12 Then ^(R)the men of Ephraim ^[i]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!”

² And 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. ³ So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I ^(S)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?” ⁴ Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You Gileadites ^(T)are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.” ⁵ The Gileadites seized the ^(U)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,” ⁶ then they would say to him, “Then say, ^(V)‘Shibboleth’!”^[j] And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not ^[k]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.

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

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸ After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹ He 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. ¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

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

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

The Birth of Samson^(Y)

13 Again the children of Israel ^(Z)did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them ^(AA)into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

² Now there was a certain man from ^(AB)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. ³ And the ^(AC)Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Now therefore, please be careful ^(AD)not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. ⁵ For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no ^(AE)razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be ^(AF)a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall ^(AG)begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶ So the woman came and told her husband, saying, ^(AH)“A Man of God came to me, and His ^(AI)countenance^[l] was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I ^(AJ)did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. ⁷ And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.”

⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!”

¹¹ So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?”

And He said, “I am.”

¹² Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?”

¹³ So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful.