Judges 11:12-28
Evangelical Heritage Version
Jephthah’s Negotiations With the Ammonites
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites. They said, “What is the problem between me and you? Why have you come against me to wage war against my land?”
13 The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah’s messengers, “The problem is that Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, my land between the Arnon and the Jabbok and extending to the Jordan. So now return the land peacefully.”
14 Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites. 15 This is what he said to the king:
This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of Ammon. 16 Instead, when they came up from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and they came to Kadesh. 17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please, let me cross over your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. In the same way Israel sent messengers to the king of Moab, but the king of Moab also was not willing, so Israel returned to Kadesh.
18 Then Israel made their way through the wilderness on a route that circled around the outside of the land of Edom and the land of Moab. After they had traveled along the eastern side of the land of Moab, they camped on the north side of the Arnon. So they did not cross the border of Moab, for the Arnon forms the border of Moab.
19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. Israel said to him, “Please let us cross over your land to our destination.” 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross his territory. Instead, Sihon gathered all his troops, and they camped at Jahaz and waged war against Israel.
21 Then the Lord God of Israel gave Sihon and his whole army into the hand of Israel, and Israel struck Sihon down. Israel took possession of the land of the Amorites who had been living in that land. 22 In this way Israel took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan.
23 The Lord, the God of Israel, has taken possession of the land of the Amorites for the sake of his people Israel—and now you want to take possession of it! 24 Shouldn’t you possess whatever Chemosh your god gives to you, but we should possess everything that the Lord our God takes for us to possess? 25 Also now, are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he have a valid quarrel with Israel? Did he have a reason to wage war against them?[a] 26 When Israel was living in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years, why didn’t you take the land back at that time? 27 As for me, I have not sinned against you. You are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, render a verdict today between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.
28 But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the message that Jephthah sent him.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Judges 11:25 The words valid and a reason in the two questions are not in the Hebrew text but are implied by the construction. Balak was, in fact, hostile to Israel and hired Balaam against them. Jephthah means that Balak had no valid complaint and no reason for hostility against Israel, any more than Ammon did.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.