Judges 11:7-19

New International Version

⁷Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house?^(A) 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^(B) 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;^(C) we will certainly do as you say.” ¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders^(D) of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated^(E) all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.^(F)

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^(G) to the Jabbok,^(H) 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^(I) or the land of the Ammonites.^(J) ¹⁶But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea^[a]^(K) and on to Kadesh.^(L) ¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers^(M) to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’^(N) but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab,^(O) and he refused.^(P) So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

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

¹⁹“Then Israel sent messengers^(T) to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon,^(U) and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your country to our own place.’^(V)

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