[1] Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the
son of a prostitute: and Gilead became the father of Jephthah. [2] Gilead`s
wife bore him sons; and when his wife`s sons grew up, they drove out
Jephthah, and said to him, You shall not inherit in our father`s house; for
you are the son of another woman. [3] Then Jephthah fled from his brothers,
and lived in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain fellows to
Jephthah, and they went out with him. [4] It happened after a while, that
the children of Ammon made war against Israel. [5] It was so, that when the
children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get
Jephthah out of the land of Tob; [6] and they said to Jephthah, Come and be
our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. [7] Jephthah said
to the elders of Gilead, Didn`t you hate me, and drive me out of my
father`s house? and why are you come to me now when you are in distress?
[8] The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore are we turned again to
you now, that you may go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon; and
you shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. [9] Jephthah said
to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me home again to fight with the
children of Ammon, and Yahweh deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
[10] The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Yahweh shall be witness between
us; surely according to your word so will we do. [11] Then Jephthah went
with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over
them: and Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah. [12]
Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What
have you to do with me, that you are come to me to fight against my land?
[13] The king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of
Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt,
from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan: now therefore restore
those [lands] again peaceably. [14] Jephthah sent messengers again to the
king of the children of Ammon; [15] and he said to him, Thus says Jephthah:
Israel didn`t take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of
Ammon, [16] but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the
wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh; [17] then Israel sent
messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Please let me pass through your
land; but the king of Edom didn`t listen. In the same way, he sent to the
king of Moab; but he would not: and Israel abode in Kadesh. [18] Then they
went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land
of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped
on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn`t come within the border of
Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. [19] Israel sent messengers to
Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him,
Let us pass, we pray you, through your land to my place. [20] But Sihon
didn`t trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his
people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. [21]
Yahweh, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand
of Israel, and they struck them: so Israel possessed all the land of the
Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. [22] They possessed all the
border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the
wilderness even to the Jordan. [23] So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has
dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you
possess them? [24] Won`t you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you
to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them
will we possess. [25] Now are you anything 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 lived in Heshbon and its towns, and
in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of
the Arnon, three hundred years; why didn`t you recover them within that
time? [27] I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to
war against me: Yahweh, the Judge, be judge this day between the children
of Israel and the children of Ammon. [28] However the king of the children
of Ammon didn`t listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him. [29]
Then the Spirit of Yahweh came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and
Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he
passed over to the children of Ammon. [30] Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh,
and said, If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
[31] then it shall be, that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house
to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be
Yahweh`s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. [32] So Jephthah
passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh
delivered them into his hand. [33] He struck them from Aroer until you come
to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great
slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of
Israel. [34] Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and, behold, his
daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances: and she was
his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. [35] It
happened, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, Alas, my
daughter! you have brought me very low, and you are one of those who
trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to Yahweh, and I can`t go back. [36]
She said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to Yahweh; do to me
according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, because Yahweh has
taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon.
[37] She said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone
two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my
virginity, I and my companions. [38] He said, Go. He sent her away for two
months: and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity
on the mountains. [39] It happened at the end of two months, that she
returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had
vowed: and she was a virgin. It was a custom in Israel, [40] that the
daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the
Gileadite four days in a year.

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