Jephthah the Ninth Judge

11 Now ^(A)Jephthah the Gileadite was a ^[a]valiant warrior, but he was the son of a harlot. And Gilead ^[b]was the father of 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 fellows gathered themselves ^[c]about Jephthah, and they went out with him.

⁴ 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 chief that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.” ⁷ Then 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 with the sons of Ammon and ^(E)become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and the Lord gives them up ^[d]to me, will I become your head?” ¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “^(F)The Lord is ^[e]witness between us; surely we will do ^[f]as you have said.” ¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at ^(G)Mizpah.

¹² Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “What is between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ The king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel ^(H)took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the ^(I)Jabbok and the Jordan; therefore, return them peaceably now.” ¹⁴ But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁵ and they said to him, “Thus says Jephthah, ‘Israel did not take away 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 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 The Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they ^[h](Q)defeated them; so Israel possessed 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 Since now the Lord, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorites from before His people Israel, are you then to possess it? ²⁴ Do you not possess what ^(S)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God has driven out before us, we will possess it. ²⁵ Now are you any better than ^(T)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ^26 (U)While Israel lived 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 I therefore 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, so that 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 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, ³¹ then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace 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 gave them into his hand. ³³ He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer ^[j]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 When Jephthah came to his house at ^(Y)Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him ^(Z)with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have ^[k]given my word to the Lord, and ^(AA)I cannot take it back.” ³⁶ So she said to him, “My father, you have ^[l]given your word to the Lord; ^(AB)do to me ^[m]as you have said, since the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷ She said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may ^[n]go to the mountains and weep because of ^(AC)my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸ Then he said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. ³⁹ At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she ^[o]had no relations with a man. Thus it became a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went yearly to ^[p]commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Parable of the Marriage Feast

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “^(A)The kingdom of heaven ^[a]may be compared to ^[b]a king who ^[c]gave a ^(B)wedding feast for his son. ³ And he ^(C)sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he ^(D)sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own ^[d]farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to ^(E)the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with ^[e]dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw ^(F)a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he *said to him, ‘^(G)Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into ^(H)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^[f](I)called, but few are ^(J)chosen.”

Tribute to Caesar

^15 (K)Then the Pharisees went and ^[g]plotted together how they might trap Him ^[h]in what He said. ¹⁶ And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the ^(L)Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and ^[i]defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what do You think? Is it ^[j]lawful to give a ^(M)poll-tax to ^(N)Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their ^[k]malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show Me the ^(O)coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a ^[l]denarius. ²⁰ And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹ They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “^(P)Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” ²² And hearing this, they were amazed, and ^(Q)leaving Him, they went away.

Jesus Answers the Sadducees

^23 (R)On that day some ^(S)Sadducees (who say ^(T)there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, ²⁴ asking, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘^(U)If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; ²⁶ so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. ²⁷ Last of all, the woman died. ²⁸ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.”

²⁹ But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, ^(V)not ^[m]understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither ^(W)marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹ But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ³² ‘^(X)I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” ³³ When the crowds heard this, ^(Y)they were astonished at His teaching.

^34 (Z)But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced ^(AA)the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. ³⁵ One of them, ^[n](AB)a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And He said to him, “‘^(AC)You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and ^[o]foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘^(AD)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ^40 (AE)On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

^41 (AF)Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: ⁴² “What do you think about ^[p]the Christ, whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “^(AG)The son of David.” ⁴³ He *said to them, “Then how does David ^[q](AH)in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

⁴⁵ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?” ^46 (AJ)No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him ^[r]another question.

A Prayer for Help, and Praise for Its Answer.

A Psalm of David.

The Wiles of the Harlot