| Chapter
11 |
| 1 | Now
Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of an
harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah. |
|
2 | And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and
they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our
father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman. |
| 3 | Then Jephthah fled from his brethren,
and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and
went out with him. |
| 4 | And
it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against
Israel. |
| 5 | And it was so,
that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead
went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob: |
|
6 | And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain,
that we may fight with the children of Ammon. |
| 7 | And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye
hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now
when ye are in distress? |
| 8 |
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to
thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon,
and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. |
|
9 | And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye
bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD
deliver them before me, shall I be your head? |
| 10 | And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD
be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. |
| 11 | Then Jephthah went with the elders of
Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah
uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh. |
|
12 | And 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, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out
of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore
those lands again peaceably. |
| 14
| And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of
Ammon: |
| 15 | And said unto
him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away 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, and came to Kadesh; |
|
17 | Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let
me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken
thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not
consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh. |
|
18 | Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the
land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of
Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of
Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. |
| 19 | And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the
Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray
thee, through thy land into my place. |
| 20 | But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast:
but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought
against Israel. |
| 21 | And
the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of
Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites,
the inhabitants of that country. |
|
22 | And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon
even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. |
| 23 | So now the LORD God of Israel hath
dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou
possess it? |
| 24 | Wilt not
thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever
the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess. |
| 25 | And now art thou any thing
better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against
Israel, or did he ever fight against them, |
| 26 | While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in
Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of
Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that
time? |
| 27 | Wherefore I
have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the
LORD the Judge 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 sent him. |
| 29
| Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over
Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of
Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. |
|
30 | And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said,
If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, |
| 31 | Then it shall be, that
whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in
peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer
it up for a burnt offering. |
| 32
| So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against
them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands. |
|
33 | And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come
to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a
very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the
children of Israel. |
| 34 |
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out
to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside
her he had neither son nor daughter. |
|
35 | And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes,
and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of
them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go
back. |
| 36 | And she said
unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me
according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD
hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of
Ammon. |
| 37 | And she said
unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I
may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my
fellows. |
| 38 | And he said,
Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and
bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. |
| 39 | And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she
returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had
vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, |
| 40 | That the daughters of Israel went
yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a
year. |
