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Judges 11

Common English Bible CEB

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. Gilead was his father, but he was a prostitute's son.

2 Gilead's wife gave birth to other sons for him, and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away. They told him, "You won't get an inheritance in our father's household because you're a different woman's son."

3 So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Worthless men gathered around Jephthah and became his posse.

4 Sometime afterward, the Ammonites made war against Israel.

5 And when the Ammonites attacked Israel, Gilead's elders went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob.

6 They said to him, "Come be our commander so we can fight against the Ammonites."

7 But Jephthah replied to Gilead's elders, "Aren't you the ones who hated me and drove me away from my father's household? Why are you coming to me now when you're in trouble?"

8 Gilead's elders answered Jephthah, "That may be, but now we're turning back to you, so come with us and fight the Ammonites. Then you'll become the leader over us and everyone who lives in Gilead."

9 And Jephthah said to Gilead's elders, "If you bring me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them over to me, I alone will be your leader."

10 Gilead's elders replied to him, "The LORD is our witness; we will surely do what you've said."

11 So Jephthah went with Gilead's elders, and the people made him leader and commander over them. At Mizpah before the LORD, Jephthah repeated everything he had said.

12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying, "What is the problem between us that you've come against me to make war in my land?"

13 The Ammonite king responded to Jephthah's messengers, "When the Israelites were coming up from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peacefully!"

14 Then Jephthah again sent messengers to the Ammonite king

15 and said to him, “Jephthah states: Israel didn't seize the land of the Moabites or the land of the Ammonites.

16 When they were coming up from Egypt, the Israelites went through the desert to the Reed Sea and came to Kadesh.

17 Then the Israelites sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please allow us to pass through your land'; but the Edomite king refused. They sent the same request to the king of Moab, and he was unwilling. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.

18 “Later they journeyed into the desert but went around the lands of Edom and Moab, arriving on the east side of the land of Moab and setting up camp on the other side of the Arnon. They never entered Moabite territory, because the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

19 Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites and king of Heshbon and said to him, ‘Please allow us to pass through your land to our own place.'

20 Yet Sihon didn't trust the Israelites to pass through his territory. He assembled his entire army, set up camp at Jahaz, and went to war with the Israelites.

21 The LORD, Israel's God, handed over Sihon and his entire army to the Israelites, and they defeated Sihon. So the Israelites took possession of all the land of the Amorites who were living in that area.

22 They took possession of all the Amorite territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

23 "So now that the LORD, Israel's God, has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, will you take possession of their land?

24 Shouldn't you possess what Chemosh your god has given you to possess? And shouldn't we possess everything that the LORD our God has given us to possess?

25 Do you now have a better case than Moab's King Balak, Zippor's son? Did he make an accusation against the Israelites or go to war with them?

26 Why didn't you take back this territory while the Israelites lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the branches of the Arnon for three hundred years?

27 I haven't sinned against you, but you're doing me wrong by making war against me. Let the LORD, who is the judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites!"

28 But the Ammonite king refused to listen to the message that Jephthah sent to him.

29 Then the LORD's spirit came on Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he crossed over to the Ammonites.

30 Jephthah made a solemn promise to the LORD: "If you will decisively hand over the Ammonites to me,

31 then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return victorious from the Ammonites will be given over to the LORD. I will sacrifice it as an entirely burned offering."

32 Jephthah crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD handed them over to him.

33 It was an exceptionally great defeat; he defeated twenty towns from Aroer to the area of Minnith, and on as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were brought down before the Israelites.

34 But when Jephthah came to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was an only child; he had no other son or daughter except her.

35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Oh no! My daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You are my agony! For I opened my mouth to the LORD, and I can't take it back."

36 But she replied to him, "My father, you've opened your mouth to the LORD, so you should do to me just what you've promised. After all, the LORD has carried out just punishment for you on your enemies the Ammonites."

37 Then she said to her father, "Let this one thing be done for me: hold off for two months and let me and my friends wander the hills in sadness, crying over the fact that I never had children."

38 "Go," he responded, and he sent her away for two months. She and her friends walked on the hills and cried because she would never have children.

39 When two months had passed, she returned to her father, and he did to her what he had promised. She had not known a man intimately. But she gave rise to a tradition in Israel where

40 for four days every year Israelite daughters would go away to recount the story of the Gileadite Jephthah's daughter.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Jephthah the Gileadite was one tough warrior. He was the son of a whore, but Gilead was his father.

2 Meanwhile Gilead's legal wife had given him other sons, and when they grew up, his wife's sons threw Jephthah out. They told him: "You're not getting any of our family inheritance - you're the son of another woman."

3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. Some riff-raff joined him and went around with him.

4 Some time passed. And then the Ammonites started fighting Israel.

5 With the Ammonites at war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

6 They said to Jephthah: "Come. Be our general and we'll fight the Ammonites."

7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: "But you hate me. You kicked me out of my family home. So why are you coming to me now? Because you are in trouble. Right?"

8 The elders of Gilead replied, "That's it exactly. We've come to you to get you to go with us and fight the Ammonites. You'll be the head of all of us, all the Gileadites."

9 Jephthah addressed the elders of Gilead, "So if you bring me back home to fight the Ammonites and God gives them to me, I'll be your head - is that right?"

10 They said, "God is witness between us; whatever you say, we'll do."

11 Jephthah went along with the elders of Gilead. The people made him their top man and general. And Jephthah repeated what he had said before God at Mizpah.

12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with a message: "What's going on here that you have come into my country picking a fight?"

13 The king of the Ammonites told Jephthah's messengers: "Because Israel took my land when they came up out of Egypt - from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Give it back peaceably and I'll go."

14 Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with the message:

15 "Jephthah's word: Israel took no Moabite land and no Ammonite land.

16 When they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the desert as far as the Red Sea, arriving at Kadesh.

17 There Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, 'Let us pass through your land, please.' But the king of Edom wouldn't let them. Israel also requested permission from the king of Moab, but he wouldn't let them cross either. They were stopped in their tracks at Kadesh.

18 So they traveled across the desert and circled around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came out east of the land of Moab and set camp on the other side of the Arnon - they didn't set foot in Moabite territory, for Arnon was the Moabite border.

19 Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites at Heshbon the capital. Israel asked, 'Let us pass, please, through your land on the way to our country.'

20 But Sihon didn't trust Israel to cut across his land; he got his entire army together, set up camp at Jahaz, and fought Israel.

21 But God, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his troops to Israel. Israel defeated them. Israel took all the Amorite land,

22 all Amorite land from Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

23 It was God, the God of Israel, who pushed out the Amorites in favor of Israel; so who do you think you are to try to take it over?

24 Why don't you just be satisfied with what your god Chemosh gives you and we'll settle for what God, our God, gives us?

25 Do you think you're going to come off better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he get anywhere in opposing Israel? Did he risk war?

26 All this time - it's been three hundred years now! - that Israel has lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon, why didn't you try to snatch them away then?

27 No, I haven't wronged you. But this is an evil thing that you are doing to me by starting a fight. Today God the Judge will decide between the People of Israel and the people of Ammon."

28 But the king of the Ammonites refused to listen to a word that Jephthah had sent him.

29 God's Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites.

30 Jephthah made a vow before God: "If you give me a clear victory over the Ammonites,

31 then I'll give to God whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in one piece from among the Ammonites - I'll offer it up in a sacrificial burnt offering."

32 Then Jephthah was off to fight the Ammonites. And God gave them to him.

33 He beat them soundly, all the way from Aroer to the area around Minnith as far as Abel Keramim - twenty cities! A massacre! Ammonites brought to their knees by the People of Israel.

34 Jephthah came home to Mizpah. His daughter ran from the house to welcome him home - dancing to tambourines! She was his only child. He had no son or daughter except her.

35 When he realized who it was, he ripped his clothes, saying, "Ah, dearest daughter - I'm dirt. I'm despicable. My heart is torn to shreds. I made a vow to God and I can't take it back!"

36 She said, "Dear father, if you made a vow to God, do to me what you vowed; God did his part and saved you from your Ammonite enemies."

37 And then she said to her father, "But let this one thing be done for me. Give me two months to wander through the hills and lament my virginity since I will never marry, I and my dear friends."

38 "Oh yes, go," he said. He sent her off for two months. She and her dear girlfriends went among the hills, lamenting that she would never marry.

39 At the end of the two months, she came back to her father. He fulfilled the vow with her that he had made. She had never slept with a man.

40 that for four days every year the young women of Israel went out to mourn for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.