Judges 11:1-18 ▼

1 And Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. And he was son of a woman, a prostitute. And Gilead begat Jephthah.

2 And the wife of Gilead bore to him sons, and the sons of his wife grew up, and they drove out Jephthah and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in the house of our father; for you are the son of another woman.”

3 And Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob. And worthless men gathered themselves to Jephthah and went out with him.

4 And it came to pass after some days, that the sons of Ammon made war against Israel.

5 And it came to pass, when the sons of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob;

6 and they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.”

7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did not you? hate me and expel me from the house of my father? Why have you? come to me now when there is distress to you??”

8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore now we have turned again to you, that you may go with us and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be our leader over all those dwelling in Gilead.”

9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you? take me back to fight against the sons of Ammon, and YHWH delivers them to me, will I be to you? leader?”

10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “YHWH will be a witness between us if according to your words we do not so.”

11 And Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head over them and commander. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the face of YHWH in Mizpah.

12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “And what do you have against me that you have come against me to fight in my land?”

13 And the king of the sons of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon and as far as the Jabbok and as far as the Jordan. And now, return them in peace.”

14 And Jephthah added again and sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon

15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the sons of Ammon.

16 For in their coming up out of Egypt, Israel walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh;

17 and Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Let me pass, please, through your land,’ and the king of Edom did not listen. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, and he was not willing. And Israel remained in Kadesh.

18 And he went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and he came to the east side of the land of Moab and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter into the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.