Judges 11:1-28 ▼

1 And Jephthah the Gileadite has been a mighty man of valor, and he [is the] son of a harlot woman; and Gilead begets Jephthah,

2 and the wife of Gilead bears sons to him, and the wife’s sons grow up and cast Jephthah out, and say to him, “You do not inherit in the house of our father; for you [are the] son of another woman.”

3 And Jephthah flees from the face of his brothers, and dwells in the land of Tob; and vain men gather themselves together to Jephthah, and they go out with him.

4 And it comes to pass, after a time, that the sons of Ammon fight with Israel,

5 and it comes to pass, when the sons of Ammon have fought with Israel, that [the] elderly of Gilead go to take Jephthah from the land of Tob;

6 and they say to Jephthah, “Come, and you have been for a captain to us, and we fight against the sons of Ammon.”

7 And Jephthah says to [the] elderly of Gilead, “Have you not hated me? And you cast me out from the house of my father, and why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”

8 And [the] elderly of Gilead say to Jephthah, “Therefore, now, we have turned back to you; and you have gone with us, and have fought against the sons of Ammon, and you have been for head to us—to all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

9 And Jephthah says to [the] elderly of Gilead, “If you are taking me back to fight against the sons of Ammon, and YHWH has given them before me—am I for a head to you?”

10 And [the] elderly of Gilead say to Jephthah, “YHWH is listening between us—if we do not do so according to your word.”

11 And Jephthah goes with [the] elderly of Gilead, and the people set him over them for head and for captain, and Jephthah speaks all his words before YHWH in Mizpeh.

12 And Jephthah sends messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, “What [is this] to me and to you, that you have come to me, to fight in my land?”

13 And the king of the sons of Ammon says to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took my land in his coming up out of Egypt, from Arnon, and to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan; and now, restore them in peace.”

14 And Jephthah adds yet and sends messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon,

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

16 for in their coming up out of Egypt, Israel goes in the wilderness to the Red Sea, and comes to Kadesh,

17 and Israel sends messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Please let me pass over through your land, and the king of Edom did not listen; and [Israel] has also sent to the king of Moab, and he has not been willing; and Israel abides in Kadesh,

18 and he goes through the wilderness, and goes around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and comes in at the rising of the sun of the land of Moab, and they encamp beyond Arnon, and have not come into the border of Moab, for Arnon [is] the border of Moab.

19 And Israel sends messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and Israel says to him, Please let us pass over through your land, to my place,

20 and Sihon has not trusted Israel to pass over through his border, and Sihon gathers all his people, and they encamp in Jahaz, and fight with Israel;

21 and YHWH, God of Israel, gives Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they strike them, and Israel possesses all the land of the Amorite, the inhabitant of that land,

22 and they possess all the border of the Amorite from Arnon, and to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness, and to the Jordan.

23 And now, YHWH, God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorite from the presence of His people Israel, and you would possess it!

24 That which your god Chemosh causes you to possess—do you not possess it? And all that which our God YHWH has dispossessed from our presence—we possess it.

25 And now, [are] you at all better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he strive with Israel at all? Did he fight against them at all?

26 In Israel’s dwelling in Heshbon and in its towns, and in Aroer and in its towns, and in all the cities which [are] by the sides of Arnon [for] three hundred years—and why have you not delivered them in that time?

27 And I have not sinned against you, and you are doing evil with me—to fight against me. YHWH, the Judge, judges between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon today.”

28 And the king of the sons of Ammon has not listened to the words of Jephthah which he sent to him,