Judges 11:16-40 ▼

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.

19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorite, king of Heshbon. And Israel said to him, ‘Let us pass, please, through your land into our place.’

20 And Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. And Sihon gathered together all his people and encamped in Jahaz, and he fought against Israel.

21 And YHWH, God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. And Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorite inhabiting that land.

22 And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorite, from the Arnon and to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness and to the Jordan.

23 And YHWH, God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorite from before His people Israel; and should you possess it?

24 Whatever Chemosh your god would give you to possess, is it not that you will possess it? And all that YHWH our God takes possession of before us, we will possess.

25 And now are you so good, better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he at all fight against them?

26 In the dwelling of Israel in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are along the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years—why did you? not snatch them up within that time?

27 And I have not sinned against you, and you are doing to me evil by fighting against me. May YHWH, the Judge, render judgment this day between the sons of Israel and between the sons of Ammon.”

28 And the king of the sons of Ammon did not listen to the words of Jephthah, that he sent to him.

29 And the Spirit of YHWH came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed through to the sons of Ammon.

30 And Jephthah made a vow to YHWH, and said, “If You fully deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,

31 Then it shall come to pass that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it will be unto YHWH, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

32 And Jephthah passed over toward the sons of Ammon to fight against them, and YHWH delivered them into his hand.

33 And he defeated them from Aroer and as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and to Abel-keramim. And with a very great slaughter the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

34 And Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing. And she was his only child; none were unto him besides her, son or daughter.

35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have caused me greatly to bow, and you are among those who trouble me. For I have given my word to YHWH, and I cannot turn back.”

36 And she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to YHWH, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, after that YHWH has done for you vengeance on your enemies, the sons of Ammon.”

37 And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and mourn for my virginity, I and my friends.”

38 And he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months. And she went, and her friends, and wept for her virginity on the mountains.

39 And it was at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out with her his vow that he had vowed. And she knew not a man. And it became a custom in Israel

40 that from time to time the daughters of Israel went to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in the year.