Judges 11:12-28

The Voice

Jephthah’s Message: What do you have against me? Why are you attacking my people in my land?

King of the Ammonites: Israel, when it traveled out of Egypt, took away my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok and from the Jabbok all the way to the Jordan. Give it back, and we will be at peace.

Jephthah’s Message: ¹⁵ Here is my response to your claim: Israel did not take away the land of the Ammonites or the Moabites. ¹⁶ When my people came up out of Egypt, Israel passed through the desert to the Red Sea and on to Kadesh. ¹⁷ At that time, Israel sent a messenger to the king of Edom, asking for permission to travel through his country. But the king would not hear us. Israel also sent a request to the king of Moab, but he also refused. So Israel remained where they were, at Kadesh.

¹⁸ Then they traveled through the wilderness, passing around the lands of Edom and Moab; and on the eastern edge of Moab, they camped on the far bank of the Arnon, well outside the border of Moab. ¹⁹ Israel then sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, in Heshbon, asking, “Let us pass through your land to reach our own country.” ²⁰ But Sihon, too, did not trust Israel. He gathered his armies at Jahaz and went to war with us. ²¹ Then the Eternal One, the True God of Israel, gave us victory over Sihon and all his people, and we defeated them utterly. That’s why Israel occupied the land of the Amorites, who had inhabited that territory, ²² all of the Amorite land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ The Eternal One, the True God of Israel, conquered the Amorites for the good of His people, Israel. Do you think you can replace them?

²⁴ Are you unsatisfied with what your god, Chemosh, has given you? We will possess what the Eternal One, our True God has given us. ²⁵ Are you a greater king than Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever have a conflict with Israel or go to war against us? ²⁶ For 300 years we have occupied Heshbon and its surrounding villages, Aroer and its villages, and all the towns along the Arnon. Why haven’t you ever attempted to recover them until now?

²⁷ I have not done any wrong to you, but you have wronged me by going to war against me and my people. So let the Eternal, the Judge over us all, decide today who will triumph in this conflict between Israel and Ammon.