Judges 11:24-34

24 Will you not possess what 1Chemosh your god gives you to possess? 2And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.
25 Now are you any better than 3Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them?
26 While Israel lived 4in Heshbon and its villages, and 5in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time?
27 I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. 6The LORD, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon."
28 But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.

Jephthah's Tragic Vow

29 7Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.
30 And Jephthah 8made a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand,
31 then whatever[a] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites 9shall be the LORD's, and 10I will offer it[b] up for a burnt offering."
32 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand.
33 And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of 11Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.
34 Then Jephthah came to his home at 12Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him 13with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

Judges 11:24-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 11

This chapter gives an account of another judge of Israel, Jephthah, of his descent and character, Jud 11:1-3 of the call the elders of Gilead gave him to be their captain general, and lead out their forces against the Ammonites, and the agreement he made with them, Jud 11:4-11 of the message he sent to the children of Ammon, which brought on a dispute between him and them about the land Israel possessed on that side Jordan the Ammonites claimed; Israel's right to which Jephthah defended, and made it clearly to appear, hoping thereby to put an end to the quarrel without shedding of blood, Jud 11:12-27 but the children of Ammon not attending to what he said, he prepared to give them battle, and previous to it he made a vow, and then set forward and fought them, and got the victory over them, Jud 11:28-33 and the chapter concludes with the difficulties Jephthah was embarrassed with upon his return home, on account of his vow, and the performance of it, Jud 11:34-40.

Cross References 13

  • 1. Numbers 21:29; 1 Kings 11:7
  • 2. Deuteronomy 9:5; Deuteronomy 18:12; Joshua 3:10
  • 3. Numbers 22:2; Joshua 24:9; Micah 6:5
  • 4. Numbers 21:25
  • 5. Deuteronomy 2:36
  • 6. Genesis 16:5; Genesis 18:25; Genesis 31:53; 1 Samuel 24:12, 15
  • 7. See Judges 3:10
  • 8. Genesis 28:20; 1 Samuel 1:11
  • 9. [Leviticus 27:2; 1 Samuel 1:28]
  • 10. Psalms 66:13
  • 11. Ezekiel 27:17
  • 12. ver. 11; Judges 10:17
  • 13. Exodus 15:20; 1 Samuel 18:6; Psalms 68:25; Jeremiah 31:4

Footnotes 2

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.