English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.
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Jephthah the Gileadite was one tough warrior. He was the son of a whore, but Gilead was his father.
2 And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman. ”
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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 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.
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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 After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel.
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Some time passed. And then the Ammonites started fighting Israel.
5 And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.
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With the Ammonites at war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
6 And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites. ”
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They said to Jephthah: "Come. Be our general and we'll fight the Ammonites."
7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress? ”
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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 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. ”
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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 said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head. ”
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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 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say. ”
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They said, "God is witness between us; whatever you say, we'll do."
11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.
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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 and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land? ”
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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 And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably. ”
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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
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Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with the message:
15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites,
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"Jephthah's word: Israel took no Moabite land and no Ammonite land.
16 but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
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When they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the desert as far as the Red Sea, arriving at Kadesh.
17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land, ’ but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.
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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 “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.
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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, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country, ’
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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 did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.
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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 And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.
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But God, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his troops to Israel. Israel defeated them. Israel took all the Amorite land,
22 And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
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all Amorite land from Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.
23 So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them?
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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 Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.
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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 Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them?
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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 While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in 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?
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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 I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon. ”
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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 did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.
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But the king of the Ammonites refused to listen to a word that Jephthah had sent him.
29 Then 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.
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God's Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites.
30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand,
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Jephthah made a vow before God: "If you give me a clear victory over the Ammonites,
31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. ”
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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 So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand.
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Then Jephthah was off to fight the Ammonites. And God gave them to him.
33 And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.
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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 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
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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 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow. ”
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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 And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites. ”
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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 So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions. ”
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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 So he said, “Go. ” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains.
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"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 And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel
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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 the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.
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that for four days every year the young women of Israel went out to mourn for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.