¹⁷ Then the Ammonites were called to arms and set up camp in Gilead. The people of Israel also gathered and camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸ The army and the officers of Gilead said to each other, “Who is the man who will begin to wage war against the Ammonites? He will become head of all those who live in Gilead.”

The Eighth Judge: Jephthah Versus the Ammonites

11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a powerful warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife also bore sons for him, and when the wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away. They said to him, “You will not share the inheritance with our father’s household, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from the presence of his brothers. He lived in the Land of Tob, and a gang of worthless men gathered around him, and they went out on raids with him.

Jephthah and Gilead

⁴ Sometime later, the people of Ammon waged war against Israel. ⁵ No sooner did the Ammonites wage war against the Israelites than the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from Tob. ⁶ They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, and we will wage war against the Ammonites.”

⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of the house of my father? So why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?”

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is true, but now we have returned to you. Go with us and wage war against the Ammonites, and you will be the head over us and over everyone who lives in Gilead.”

⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to wage war against the Ammonites, and if the Lord hands them over to me, will I really become your head?”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “May the Lord be a witness between us if we do not do just as you have said.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him head and chief over them. Jephthah repeated all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.