Judges 11
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. 2 Gilead’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.” 3 So 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.
4 Now it came about, after a while, that (C)the sons of Ammon fought against Israel. 5 When the sons of Ammon fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob; 6 and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.” 7 But 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?” 8 The 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.” 9 So 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?” 10 And 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.” 11 Then 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.
12 So 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?” 13 And 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.” 14 But Jephthah sent messengers once again to the king of the sons of Ammon, 15 and 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. 16 For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel (J)went through the wilderness to the [g]Red Sea, and (K)came to Kadesh, 17 then 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. 18 Then 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. 19 And 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.” 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. 21 And 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. 23 And now the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from His people Israel; so should you possess it? 24 Do 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. 25 Now 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? 27 So 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.’” 28 But the king of the sons of Ammon [i]disregarded the message which Jephthah sent him.
Jephthah’s Tragic Vow
29 Now (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. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over to me the sons of Ammon, 31 then 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.” 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord handed them over to him. 33 He [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.
34 But 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. 35 So 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.” 36 So 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.” 37 And 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.” 38 Then 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. 39 And 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, 40 that the [s]daughters of Israel went annually to [t]commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days in the year.
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 11
Common English Bible
Rise of Jephthah
11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. Gilead was his father, but he was a prostitute’s son. 2 Gilead’s wife gave birth to other sons for him, and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away. They told him, “You won’t get an inheritance in our father’s household because you’re a different woman’s son.” 3 So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Worthless men gathered around Jephthah and became his posse.
4 Sometime afterward, the Ammonites made war against Israel. 5 And when the Ammonites attacked Israel, Gilead’s elders went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. 6 They said to him, “Come be our commander so we can fight against the Ammonites.”
7 But Jephthah replied to Gilead’s elders, “Aren’t you the ones who hated me and drove me away from my father’s household? Why are you coming to me now when you’re in trouble?”
8 Gilead’s elders answered Jephthah, “That may be, but now we’re turning back to you, so come with us and fight the Ammonites. Then you’ll become the leader over us and everyone who lives in Gilead.”
9 And Jephthah said to Gilead’s elders, “If you bring me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them over to me, I alone will be your leader.”
10 Gilead’s elders replied to him, “The Lord is our witness; we will surely do what you’ve said.” 11 So Jephthah went with Gilead’s elders, and the people made him leader and commander over them. At Mizpah before the Lord, Jephthah repeated everything he had said.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying, “What is the problem between us that you’ve come against me to make war in my land?”
13 The Ammonite king responded to Jephthah’s messengers, “When the Israelites were coming up from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peacefully!”
14 Then Jephthah again sent messengers to the Ammonite king 15 and said to him, “Jephthah states: Israel didn’t seize the land of the Moabites or the land of the Ammonites. 16 When they were coming up from Egypt, the Israelites went through the desert to the Reed Sea[a] and came to Kadesh. 17 Then the Israelites sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please allow us to pass through your land’; but the Edomite king refused. They sent the same request to the king of Moab, and he was unwilling. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.
18 “Later they journeyed into the desert but went around the lands of Edom and Moab, arriving on the east side of the land of Moab and setting up camp on the other side of the Arnon. They never entered Moabite territory, because the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. 19 Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites and king of Heshbon and said to him, ‘Please allow us to pass through your land to our own place.’ 20 Yet Sihon didn’t trust the Israelites to pass through his territory. He assembled his entire army, set up camp at Jahaz, and went to war with the Israelites. 21 The Lord, Israel’s God, handed over Sihon and his entire army to the Israelites, and they defeated Sihon. So the Israelites took possession of all the land of the Amorites who were living in that area. 22 They took possession of all the Amorite territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.
23 “So now that the Lord, Israel’s God, has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, will you take possession of their land? 24 Shouldn’t you possess what Chemosh your god has given you to possess? And shouldn’t we possess everything that the Lord our God has given us to possess? 25 Do you now have a better case than Moab’s King Balak, Zippor’s son? Did he make an accusation against the Israelites or go to war with them? 26 Why didn’t you take back this territory while the Israelites lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the branches of the Arnon for three hundred years? 27 I haven’t sinned against you, but you’re doing me wrong by making war against me. Let the Lord, who is the judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites!”
28 But the Ammonite king refused to listen to the message that Jephthah sent to him.
Jephthah’s promise
29 Then the Lord’s spirit came on Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he crossed over to the Ammonites. 30 Jephthah made a solemn promise to the Lord: “If you will decisively hand over the Ammonites to me, 31 then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return victorious from the Ammonites will be given over to the Lord. I will sacrifice it as an entirely burned offering.” 32 Jephthah crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to him. 33 It was an exceptionally great defeat; he defeated twenty towns from Aroer to the area of Minnith, and on as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were brought down before the Israelites.
34 But when Jephthah came to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was an only child; he had no other son or daughter except her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You are my agony! For I opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can’t take it back.”
36 But she replied to him, “My father, you’ve opened your mouth to the Lord, so you should do to me just what you’ve promised. After all, the Lord has carried out just punishment for you on your enemies the Ammonites.” 37 Then she said to her father, “Let this one thing be done for me: hold off for two months and let me and my friends wander the hills in sadness, crying over the fact that I never had children.”
38 “Go,” he responded, and he sent her away for two months. She and her friends walked on the hills and cried because she would never have children.
39 When two months had passed, she returned to her father, and he did to her what he had promised. She had not known a man intimately. But she gave rise to a tradition in Israel where 40 for four days every year Israelite daughters would go away to recount the story of the Gileadite Jephthah’s daughter.
Footnotes
- Judges 11:16 Or Red Sea
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