Judges Chapter 11

Judges Chapter 11
1 Then Gilead begat Jephthah, and
Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant
man, but the son of an harlot.
2 And Gilead's wife bear him sons, and
when the woman's children were come
to age, 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 gathered idle fellows
to Jephthah, and went out with him. 4
And in process of time the children of
Ammon made war with Israel. 5 And
when the children of Ammon fought with
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 Jephthah then answered the elders of
Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel
me out of my father's house? How then
come you unto me now in time of your
tribulation?
8 Then 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, if
the Lord give them before me, shall I be
your head?
10 And the elders of Gilead said to
Jephthah, The Lord be witness between
us, if we do not 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
rehearsed all his words before the Lord
in Mizpeh.
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, Because Israel took my
land, when they came up from Egypt,
from Arnon unto Jabbok, and unto
Jordan: now therefore restore
those lands quietly.
14 Yet Jephthah sent messengers again
unto the king of the children of Ammon,
15 And said unto him, Thus saith
Jephthah, 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 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 east side of the land of Moab, and
pitched on the other side of Arnon, and
came not within the coast of Moab: for
Arnon was the border of Moab.
19 Also Israel 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 place.
20 But Sihon 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 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 Lord our God
driveth out before us, them will we
possess.
25 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 them in that
space?
27 Wherefore, I have not offended 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 had sent him.
29 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon
Jephthah, and he passed over to Gilead
and to Manasseh, and came to Mizpeh in
Gilead, and from Mizpeh in Gilead he
went unto the children of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the
Lord, and said, If thou shalt deliver the
children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then that thing that cometh out of the
doors of mine house to meet me, when I
come home in peace from the children of
Ammon, shall be the Lord's, and I will
offer it for a burnt offering.
32 And so Jephthah went 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, twenty cities,
and so forth to Abel of the vineyards,
with an exceeding great slaughter. Thus
the children of Ammon were humbled
before the children of Israel. 34 Now
when Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his
house, behold, his daughter came out to
meet him with timbrels and dances,
which was his only child: he had none
other son, nor daughter.
35 And when he saw her, he rent his
clothes, and said, Alas my daughter, thou
hast brought me low, and art of them that
trouble me: for I have opened my mouth
unto the Lord, and cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if
thou hast opened thy mouth unto the
Lord, do with me as thou hast promised,
seeing that the Lord hath avenged thee of
thine enemies the children of Ammon.
37 Also she said unto her father, Do thus
much for me: suffer me two months, that
I may go to the mountains, and bewail
my virginity, I and my fellows. 38 And
he said, Go: and he sent her away two
months: so she went with her
companions, and lamented her virginity
upon the mountains.
39 And after the end of two months, she
turned again unto her father, who did
with her according to his vow which he
had vowed, and she had known no man.
and it was a custom in Israel:
40 The daughters of Israel went year by
year to lament the daughter of Jephthah
the Gileadite, four days in a year.