¹² And 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 Then the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel ^(A)took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the ^(B)Jabbok and the Jordan; so now, return them peaceably.” 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 ^(C)went through the wilderness to the ^[a]Red Sea and ^(D)came to Kadesh, ¹⁷ then Israel ^(E)sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. ^(F)And they also sent to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel remained at Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they went through the wilderness and ^(G)around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and came to the east toward the sunrise of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they ^(H)did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ And Israel sent ^(I)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 believe Israel to allow them to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel. ²¹ Then Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they ^(J)struck them down; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ^22 (K)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 So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel. Are you then to possess it? ²⁴ Do you not possess what ^(L)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever Yahweh our God has taken possession of before us, we will possess it. ²⁵ So now are you any better than ^(M)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ^26 (N)While Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns and in Aroer and its towns and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them for yourself within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me evil by making war against me; ^(O)may Yahweh, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’” ²⁸ But the king of the sons of Ammon did not listen to the words which Jephthah sent him.