Judges 11
Lexham English Bible
Jephthah
11 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.[a] 2 Gilead’s wife also bore for him sons; and the sons of his wife grew up and drove Jephthah away, and they said to him, “You will not inherit the house of our father because you are the son of another woman.” 3 So Jephthah fled from the presence of his brothers, and he lived in the land of Tob. And outlaws[b] gathered around Jephthah and went with him.
4 After a time the Ammonites[c] made war with Israel. 5 When the Ammonites[d] made war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, so that we may make war against the Ammonites.”[e] 7 Jephthah said to the elders, “Did you not shun me and drive me out from the house of my father? Why do you come to me now when you have trouble?” 8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That being so, we have now returned to you, that you may go with us to fight[f] against the Ammonites[g] and become for us as head of all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to fight[h] against the Ammonites,[i] and Yahweh gives them over to me,[j] will I be your head?” 10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Yahweh will be a witness[k] between us; we will act according to your word.” 11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh at Mizpah.
12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites,[l] saying, “What is between you and me that you have come to me to make war against my land?” 13 And the king of the Ammonites[m] said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel took my land from the Arnon up to the Jabbok and the Jordan when they came up from Egypt; so then, restore it peacefully.” 14 Once again Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites,[n] 15 and he said to him, “Thus says Jephthah, ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites,[o] 16 because when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea[p] and went to Kadesh. 17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us cross through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. 18 Then they traveled through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and Moab, and came to the east[q] side of the land of Moab, and they[r] encamped beyond the Arnon; and they did not go into the territory of Moab because the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites,[s] king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us cross through your land to our country.’[t] 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people and then encamped at Jahaz; and he made war with Israel. 21 And Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; and Israel occupied all the land of the Amorites[u] inhabiting that land. 22 They occupied all the territory of the Amorites[v] from the Arnon up to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness up to the Jordan. 23 So then Yahweh, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites[w] from before his people Israel, and you want to possess it? 24 Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gave you to possess? Whoever Yahweh our God has driven out before us, we will possess it. 25 So then, are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel, or did he ever make war against them? 26 When Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns that are along the Arnon,[x] for three hundred years,[y] why did you not recover them at that time? 27 I have not sinned against you; but you are the one who is doing wrong by making war against me. Let Yahweh judge[z] today between the Israelites[aa] and the Ammonites.”[ab] 28 But the king of the Ammonites[ac] did not listen to the message that Jephthah sent to him.
Jephthah Makes a Vow
29 And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed through to the Ammonites.[ad] 30 And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, and he said, “If indeed you will give the Ammonites[ae] into my hand, 31 whatever[af] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the Ammonites[ag] will be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it as a burnt offering.” 32 And Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites[ah] to make war against them; and Yahweh gave them into his hand. 33 And he defeated them with a very great blow, from Aroer as far as Minnith, twenty towns,[ai] up to Abel Keramim. And the Ammonites[aj] were subdued before the Israelites.[ak]
34 Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house, and behold his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She was his only child; he did not have a son or daughter except her. 35 And the moment he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Ah! My daughter, you have caused me to bow down, and you have become my trouble. I made an oath[al] to Yahweh, and I cannot take it back.” 36 She said to him, “My father, you made an oath[am] to Yahweh. Do to me according to what has gone out from your mouth, since Yahweh gave vengeance to you against your enemies, the Ammonites.”[an] 37 And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months so that I may go wander[ao] on the mountains and lament over my virginity, I and my companions. 38 And he said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months, and she went with her friends, and she lamented over her virginity on the mountains. 39 At the end of the two months she returned to her father, and he did to her according to his vow; and she did not sleep with a man.[ap] And it became an annual custom in Israel 40 for the daughters of Israel to go and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for forty days of the year.
Footnotes
- Judges 11:1 Literally “Gilead fathered Jephthah”
- Judges 11:3 Literally “unprincipled/worthless men”
- Judges 11:4 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:5 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:6 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:8 Literally “to make war”
- Judges 11:8 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:9 Literally “to make war”
- Judges 11:9 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:9 Literally “before me”
- Judges 11:10 Literally “hearer”
- Judges 11:12 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:13 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:14 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:15 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:16 Literally “sea of reed”
- Judges 11:18 Literally “from rise of sun”
- Judges 11:18 Hebrew “he”
- Judges 11:19 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Judges 11:19 Literally “to our place”
- Judges 11:21 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Judges 11:22 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Judges 11:23 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Judges 11:26 Literally “on the hands of the Arnon”
- Judges 11:26 Hebrew “year”
- Judges 11:27 Literally “Let Yahweh the judge, judge”
- Judges 11:27 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Judges 11:27 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:28 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:29 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:30 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:31 Or “whoever”
- Judges 11:31 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:32 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:33 Hebrew “town”
- Judges 11:33 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:33 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Judges 11:35 Literally “I have opened wide my mouth”
- Judges 11:36 Literally “you have opened wide your mouth”
- Judges 11:36 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”
- Judges 11:37 Hebrew “down”
- Judges 11:39 Literally “she did not know a man”
Judges 11
American Standard Version
11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah. 2 And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of another woman. 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.
4 And it came to pass after a while, 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 chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. 7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and drive 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 are we turned again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon; and thou shalt 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 with the children of Ammon, and Jehovah deliver them before me, shall I be your head? 10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Jehovah shall be [a]witness between us; surely according to thy word so will we do. 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them: and Jephthah spake all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah.
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 unto me to fight against my land? 13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even unto the Jabbok, and unto the Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. 14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon; 15 and he 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 they came up from Egypt, and Israel went 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 hearkened not. And in like manner he sent unto the king of Moab; but he would not: and Israel abode in Kadesh. 18 Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they came not within the border of Moab, for the 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 unto my place. 20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And Jehovah, the 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 border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even unto the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto the Jordan. 23 So now Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess them? 24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever Jehovah our God hath dispossessed from before us, them will we possess. 25 And now art thou anything 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 its [b]towns, and in Aroer and its [c]towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; wherefore did ye not recover them within that time? 27 I therefore have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: Jehovah, 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 Jehovah 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 Jehovah, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand, 31 then it shall be, that [d]whatsoever cometh forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be Jehovah’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 Jehovah delivered them into his hand. 33 And he smote them from Aroer until thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto [e]Abel-cheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpah unto his house; and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: 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 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 Jehovah, and I cannot go back. 36 And she said unto him, My father, thou hast opened thy mouth unto Jehovah; do unto me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth, forasmuch as Jehovah hath taken vengeance for thee on thine enemies, even on 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 depart and go down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions. 38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and 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 not man. And it was [f]a custom in Israel, 40 that the daughters of Israel went yearly to [g]celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
Footnotes
- Judges 11:10 Hebrew hearer.
- Judges 11:26 Hebrew daughters.
- Judges 11:26 Hebrew daughters.
- Judges 11:31 Or, whosoever
- Judges 11:33 That is, The meadow of vineyards.
- Judges 11:39 Or, an ordinance
- Judges 11:40 Or, lament
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