Judges 11
11:1And Jephthah the Gileadite was mighty in strength. And he was the son of a harlot woman. And she bore Jephthah to Gilead.
11:2And the wife bore to Gilead himself sons. And the sons of the woman matured, and they cast out Jephthah, and said to him, You shall not inherit among the house of our father, for you are a son of a mistress woman.
11:3And Jephthah ran away from the face of his brothers, and he dwelt in the land of Tob. And cheap men collected together with Jephthah, and went forth together with him.
11:4And it came to pass after some days, that the sons of Ammon waged war against Israel. And it came to pass when the sons of Ammon waged war with Israel,
11:5that the elders of Gilead went forth to take Jephthah from the land of Tob.
11:6And they said to Jephthah, Come, and you will be to us as a leader, for we shall make war with the sons of Ammon.
11:7And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did you not detest me, and cast me from out of the house of my father, and sent me from you? And why is it that you came to me now when you are afflicted?
11:8And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Not so, now we gathered together to you, and you shall go with us, and we shall wage war against the sons of Ammon, and you will be to us as head to all the ones dwelling in Gilead.
11:9And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you return me to yourselves to make war against the sons of Ammon, and the lord should deliver them before me, I will be to you for head ruler.
11:10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Let the lord be the one hearing between us! if we do not do according to your word thus we will do.
11:11And Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people established him over them as head, and for leader. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the lord in Mizpeh.
11:12And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, What is it to me and to you, that you come to me to wage war in my land?
11:13And the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took my land in their ascending from out of Egypt, from Arnon unto Jabok, and unto the Jordan. And now return them with peace!
11:14And Jephthah again added, and he sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon.
11:15And they said to him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel did not take the land of Moab, and the land of the sons of Ammon.
11:16In their ascending from out of Egypt, it is that Israel went in the wilderness unto the red sea, and came to Kadesh.
11:17And Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, I shall go through your land. And the king of Edom did not hearken, and indeed to the king of Moab Israel sent, and he would not, and Israel settled in Kadesh.
11:18And Israel went through in the wilderness, and encircled the land of Edom and the land of Moab. And it arrived according to the rising of the sun of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of Arnon, and did not enter into the border of Moab.
11:19And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. And Israel said to him, I shall go by through your land unto my place.
11:20And Sihon did not want Israel to go through his borders. And Sihon gathered all his people, and they camped at Jahaz, and he waged war with Israel.
11:21And the lord God of Israel delivered up Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them, and Israel inherited all the land of the Amorites dwelling in that land.
11:22And Israel inherited all the border of the Amorites, from Arnon and unto the Jabok, and from the wilderness unto the Jordan.
11:23And now the lord God of Israel lifted away the Amorite from the face of his people Israel, and you, shall you inherit it?
11:24Is it not that as much as Chemosh your god allots to you, them you will inherit? And all as much as the lord our God inherits from your person we shall inherit them.
11:25And now are you any better than Balak son of Sephor king of Moab? Did he with battle do combat with Israel, or by war wage war with them?
11:26In the living of Israel in Heshbon, and in her daughter cities, and in Aroer, and in her daughter cities, and in all the cities by the Jordan for three hundred years -- Why is it that you did not rescue them in that time?
11:27And I sinned not against you, but you do wickedness with me to wage war against me. May the lord judge, the one judging today, between the sons of Israel and between the sons of Ammon.
11:28And the king of the sons of Ammon would not hearken to the words of Jephthah which he sent to him.
11:29And spirit of the lord became upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and he passed over the height of Gilead, and from the height of Gilead to the other side of the sons of Ammon.
11:30And Jephthah vowed a vow to the lord, and he said, If by delivering up you should deliver up the sons of Ammon in my hand,
11:31then it will be concerning the one going forth, who ever might come from the doors of my house for meeting me in my returning in peace from the sons of Ammon, that it will be to the lord, and I will offer him a whole burnt-offering.
11:32And Jephthah passed over to the sons of Ammon to wage war against them. And the lord delivered them into his hand.
11:33And he struck them from Aroer even unto the coming to Minnith -- twenty cities, and unto the Abel vineyards, an exceedingly great beating. And the sons of Ammon showed respect in front of the sons of Israel.
11:34And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house. And behold, his daughter went forth for meeting him with tambourines and dancers, and she was an only child. And there was not to him a son or daughter besides her.
11:35And it happened when he beheld her, that he tore his garments, and said, Alas my daughter you impede me, for you became an impediment in my eyes, and I opened my mouth concerning you to the lord, and I shall not be able to turn back.
11:36And she said to him, If about me you opened your mouth to the lord, let him do to me in which manner it came forth from out of your mouth, because the lord did vengeance for you on your enemies, of the sons of Ammon.
11:37And she said to her father, And do to me this thing! Allow me two months and I shall go and shall come down upon the mountains, and I shall weep over the tokens of my virginity, I and my female companions.
11:38And he said, Go! And he sent her out for two months. And she went, she and her female companions. And they wept over the tokens of her virginity upon the mountains.
11:39And it came to pass after the end of the two months, that she returned to her father, and Jephthah completed his vow which he vowed. And she did not know a man. And it became an order in Israel,
11:40from days unto days the daughters of Israel go with one another to wail over the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.