Judges 11

11 ¹ Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was Jephthah's father. ² Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, saying to him, "You will not inherit anything in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman." ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and went out raiding with him.

⁴ Some time later, the Ammonites made war against Israel. ⁵ And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. ⁶ They said to Jephthah, "Come, be our commander, so that we can fight against 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 do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?"

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "This is why we have turned back to you now. Come with us and fight against the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead."

⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me back to fight against the Ammonites and our Father gives them over to me, then I will be your head."

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Our Father is the witness between us if we do not do just as you say."

¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their head and commander over them. And Jephthah repeated all his words before our Father at Mizpah.

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, asking, "What do you have against me, that you have come to make war against my land?"

¹³ The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "Because Israel took my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Now restore it peacefully."

¹⁴ Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, ¹⁵ and said to him, "This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶ For when they came up from Egypt, 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 us pass through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent to the king of Moab, but he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they traveled through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab. They camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and said to him, "Please let us pass through your land to our own place." ²⁰ But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. Instead, Sihon gathered all his people, camped at Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹ Then our Father, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into Israel's hand, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country. ²² They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ So now that our Father, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, should you take possession of it? ²⁴ Do you not take what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever our Father has driven out before us, that we will possess. ²⁵ Now are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or go to war against them? ²⁶ For three hundred years Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon. Why did you not retake them during that time? ²⁷ I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. May our Father, the Judge, judge today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.

²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.

The Father's Spirit and a Tragic Vow

²⁹ Then the Spirit of our Father came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced against the Ammonites.

³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to our Father: "If you give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹ then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the Ammonites will belong to our Father, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."

³² So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and our Father gave them into his hand. ³³ He defeated them from Aroer to the area of Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel-keramim. It was a very great defeat, and the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

³⁴ When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me to my knees, and you have become the cause of my misery! For I have given my word to our Father, and I cannot take it back."

³⁶ She said to him, "My father, you have given your word to our Father. Do to me as you have promised, now that our Father has granted you justice against your enemies, the Ammonites." ³⁷ Then she said to her father, "Let this one thing be done for me: give me two months to go down to the hills and weep over my virginity, I and my companions."

³⁸ "Go," he said, and he sent her away for two months. So she went, she and her companions, and wept over her virginity on the hills. ³⁹ After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She had never known a man. And so it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰ that year after year the daughters of Israel would go out to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days each year.