Jephthah Delivers Israel

11 Now ^(A)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(B)a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² And Gilead's wife also 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 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(C)Tob, and ^(D)worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴ After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. ⁵ And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of ^(E)Tob. ⁶ And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” ⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and ^(F)be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ^(G)“The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people ^(H)made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words ^(I)before the Lord at ^(J)Mizpah.

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^(K)“Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the ^(L)Arnon to the ^(M)Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” ¹⁴ Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵ and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^(N)Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, ¹⁶ but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness ^(O)to the Red Sea and ^(P)came to Kadesh. ^17 (Q)Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ ^(R)but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(S)remained at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and ^(T)went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and ^(U)arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and ^(V)camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. ^19 (W)Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’ ²⁰ but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. ²¹ And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²² And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? ²⁴ Will you not possess what ^(X)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? ^(Y)And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. ²⁵ Now are you any better than ^(Z)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? ²⁶ While Israel lived ^(AA)in Heshbon and its villages, and ^(AB)in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. ^(AC)The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.” ²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.

Jephthah's Tragic Vow

^29 (AD)Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. ³⁰ And Jephthah ^(AE)made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹ then whatever^[a] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites ^(AF)shall be the Lord's, and ^(AG)I will offer it^[b] up for a burnt offering.” ³² So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³ And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of ^(AH)Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

³⁴ Then Jephthah came to his home at ^(AI)Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him ^(AJ)with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, ^(AK)and I cannot take back my vow.” ³⁶ And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” ³⁷ So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸ So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹ And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, ^(AL)who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Jephthah's Conflict with Ephraim

12 ^(A)The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” ² And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. ³ And when I saw that you would not save me, ^(B)I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, ^(C)“You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ And the Gileadites captured ^(D)the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” ⁶ they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at ^(E)the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.^[a]

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸ After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹ He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. ¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹ After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. ¹² Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³ After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴ He had forty ^(F)sons and thirty grandsons, who ^(G)rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. ¹⁵ Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling ^(A)the seven angels, “Go and ^(B)pour out on the earth ^(C)the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

² So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful ^(D)sores came upon the people who bore ^(E)the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

³ The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and ^(F)it became like the blood of a corpse, and ^(G)every living thing died that was in the sea.

⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl into ^(H)the rivers and the springs of water, and ^(I)they became blood. ⁵ And I heard the angel in charge of the waters^[a] say,

⁷ And I heard ^(P)the altar saying,

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people ^(R)with fire. ⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and ^(S)they cursed^[b] the name of God who had power over these plagues. ^(T)They did not repent ^(U)and give him glory.

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on ^(V)the throne of the beast, and ^(W)its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish ¹¹ and cursed ^(X)the God of heaven for their pain and ^(Y)sores. ^(Z)They did not repent of their deeds.

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on ^(AA)the great river Euphrates, and ^(AB)its water was dried up, ^(AC)to prepare the way for the kings ^(AD)from the east. ¹³ And I saw, coming out of the mouth of ^(AE)the dragon and out of the mouth of ^(AF)the beast and out of the mouth of ^(AG)the false prophet, three ^(AH)unclean spirits like ^(AI)frogs. ¹⁴ For they are ^(AJ)demonic spirits, ^(AK)performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, ^(AL)to assemble them for battle on ^(AM)the great day of God the Almighty. ¹⁵ (“Behold, ^(AN)I am coming like a thief! ^(AO)Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, ^(AP)that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) ¹⁶ And ^(AQ)they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called ^(AR)Armageddon.

The Seventh Bowl

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into ^(AS)the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, ^(AT)“It is done!” ¹⁸ And there were ^(AU)flashes of lightning, rumblings,^[c] peals of thunder, and ^(AV)a great earthquake ^(AW)such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. ^19 (AX)The great city ^(AY)was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God ^(AZ)remembered ^(BA)Babylon the great, ^(BB)to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ And ^(BC)every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. ²¹ And ^(BD)great hailstones, about one hundred pounds^[d] each, fell from heaven on people; and ^(BE)they cursed God for ^(BF)the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.