Judges 10-12

New King James Version

Tola

10 After Abimelech there ^(A)arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. ²He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir.

Jair

³After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴Now he had thirty sons who ^(B)rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, ^(C)which are called ^[a]“Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. ⁵And Jair died and was buried in Camon.

Israel Oppressed Again

⁶Then ^(D)the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and ^(E)served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, ^(F)the gods of Syria, the gods of ^(G)Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. ⁷So the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He ^(H)sold them into the hands of the ^(I)Philistines and into the hands of the people of ^(J)Ammon. ⁸From that year they ^[b]harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years—all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the ^(K)land of the Amorites, in Gilead. ⁹Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

¹⁰^(L)And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have ^(M)sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!”

¹¹So the Lord said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you ^(N)from the Egyptians and ^(O)from the Amorites and ^(P)from the people of Ammon and ^(Q)from the Philistines? ¹²Also ^(R)the Sidonians ^(S)and Amalekites and ^[c]Maonites ^(T)oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. ¹³^(U)Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. ¹⁴“Go and ^(V)cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.”

¹⁵And the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned! ^(W)Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.” ¹⁶^(X)So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And ^(Y)His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

¹⁷Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in ^(Z)Mizpah. ¹⁸And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall ^(AA)be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah

11 Now ^(AB)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(AC)a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. ²Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have ^(AD)no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of ^(AE)Tob; and ^(AF)worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

⁴It came to pass after a time that the ^(AG)people of Ammon made war against Israel. ⁵And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.”

⁷So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, ^(AH)“Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in ^[d]distress?”

⁸^(AI)And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have ^(AJ)turned^[e] again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be ^(AK)our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

⁹So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?”

¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ^(AL)“The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” ¹¹Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him ^(AM)head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words ^(AN)before the Lord in Mizpah.

¹²Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, ^(AO)“What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against me in my land?”

¹³And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^(AP)“Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from ^(AQ)the Arnon as far as ^(AR)the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.”

¹⁴So Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, ¹⁵and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^(AS)‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon; ¹⁶for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and ^(AT)came to Kadesh. ¹⁷Then ^(AU)Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” ^(AV)But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the ^(AW)king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(AX)remained in Kadesh. ¹⁸And they ^(AY)went along through the wilderness and ^(AZ)bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹Then ^(BA)Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please ^(BB)let us pass through your land into our place.” ²⁰^(BC)But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹And the Lord God of Israel ^(BD)delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they ^(BE)defeated^[f] them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²²They took possession of ^(BF)all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³‘And now the Lord God of Israel has ^[g]dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? ²⁴Will you not possess whatever ^(BG)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever ^(BH)the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. ²⁵And now, are you any better than ^(BI)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them? ²⁶While Israel dwelt in ^(BJ)Heshbon and its villages, in ^(BK)Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time? ²⁷Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you wronged me by fighting against me. May the Lord, ^(BL)the Judge, ^(BM)render judgment this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon.’ ” ²⁸However, the king of the people of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah sent him.

Jephthah’s Vow and Victory

²⁹Then ^(BN)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon. ³⁰And Jephthah ^(BO)made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, ³¹then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, ^(BP)shall surely be the Lord’s, ^(BQ)and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

³²So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. ³³And he ^[h]defeated them from Aroer as far as ^(BR)Minnith—twenty cities—and to ^[i]Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Jephthah’s Daughter

³⁴When Jephthah came to his house at ^(BS)Mizpah, there was ^(BT)his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he ^(BU)tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I ^(BV)have ^[j]given my word to the Lord, and ^(BW)I cannot ^[k]go back on it.”

³⁶So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, ^(BX)do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because ^(BY)the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon.” ³⁷Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and ^[l]bewail my virginity, my ^[m]friends and I.”

³⁸So he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he ^(BZ)carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She ^[n]knew no man.

And it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to ^[o]lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim

12 Then ^(CA)the men of Ephraim ^[p]gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire!”

²And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. ³So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I ^(CB)took my life in my hands and crossed over against the people of Ammon; and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You Gileadites ^(CC)are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.” ⁵The Gileadites seized the ^(CD)fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶then they would say to him, “Then say, ^(CE)‘Shibboleth’!”^[q] And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not ^[r]pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.

⁷And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹He had thirty sons. And he gave away thirty daughters in marriage, and brought in thirty daughters from elsewhere for his sons. He judged Israel seven years. ¹⁰Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. He judged Israel ten years. ¹²And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.

¹³After him, Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who ^(CF)rode on seventy young donkeys. He judged Israel eight years. ¹⁵Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, ^(CG)in the mountains of the Amalekites.