12 ¶ Then Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me, to fight in my land?

13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, (A)Because Israel took my land, when they came up from Egypt, from Arnon unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands [a]quietly.

14 Yet Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon,

15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, (B)Israel took not the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon.

16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the red sea, then they came to Kadesh.

17 (C)And Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, go through thy land: but the king of Edom would not consent: and also they sent unto the king of Moab, but he would not: therefore Israel abode in Kadesh.

18 Then they went through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the Eastside of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, (D)and came not within the coast of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.

19 Also Israel (E)sent messengers unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, by thy land unto our [b]place.

20 But Sihon [c]consented not to Israel, that he should go through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

21 And the Lord God of Israel gave Sihon, and all his folk into the hands of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country:

22 And they possessed (F)all the coast of the Amorites, from Arnon unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.

23 Now therefore the Lord God of Israel hath cast out the Amorites before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?

24 Wouldest not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the [d]Lord our God driveth out before us, them will we possess.

25 (G)And art thou now far better than Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab? did he not strive with Israel and fight against them,

26 When Israel dwelt in Heshbon and in her towns, and in Aroer and in her towns, and in all the cities that are by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why did ye not then recover [e]them in that space?

27 Wherefore I have not offended thee: but thou doest me wrong to war against me. The Lord the Judge [f]be judge this day between the children of Israel, and the children of Ammon.

28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah, which he had sent him.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 11:13 Hebrew, in peace.
  2. Judges 11:19 Or, country.
  3. Judges 11:20 He trusted them not to go through his country.
  4. Judges 11:24 For we ought more to believe and obey God, than thou thine idols.
  5. Judges 11:26 Meaning, their towns.
  6. Judges 11:27 To punish the offender.

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