Judges 11-12

New King James Version

Jephthah

11 Now ^(A)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(B)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 ^(C)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 ^(D)Tob; and ^(E)worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.

⁴It came to pass after a time that the ^(F)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, ^(G)“Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in ^[a]distress?”

⁸^(H)And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have ^(I)turned^[b] again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be ^(J)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, ^(K)“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 ^(L)head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words ^(M)before the Lord in Mizpah.

¹²Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, ^(N)“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, ^(O)“Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from ^(P)the Arnon as far as ^(Q)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: ^(R)‘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 ^(S)came to Kadesh. ¹⁷Then ^(T)Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land.” ^(U)But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the ^(V)king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(W)remained in Kadesh. ¹⁸And they ^(X)went along through the wilderness and ^(Y)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 ^(Z)Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, “Please ^(AA)let us pass through your land into our place.” ²⁰^(AB)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 ^(AC)delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they ^(AD)defeated^[c] them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²²They took possession of ^(AE)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 ^[d]dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? ²⁴Will you not possess whatever ^(AF)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever ^(AG)the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. ²⁵And now, are you any better than ^(AH)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them? ²⁶While Israel dwelt in ^(AI)Heshbon and its villages, in ^(AJ)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, ^(AK)the Judge, ^(AL)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 ^(AM)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 ^(AN)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, ^(AO)shall surely be the Lord’s, ^(AP)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 ^[e]defeated them from Aroer as far as ^(AQ)Minnith—twenty cities—and to ^[f]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 ^(AR)Mizpah, there was ^(AS)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 ^(AT)tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I ^(AU)have ^[g]given my word to the Lord, and ^(AV)I cannot ^[h]go back on it.”

³⁶So she said to him, “My father, if you have given your word to the Lord, ^(AW)do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because ^(AX)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 ^[i]bewail my virginity, my ^[j]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 ^(AY)carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She ^[k]knew no man.

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

Jephthah’s Conflict with Ephraim

12 Then ^(AZ)the men of Ephraim ^[m]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 ^(BA)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 ^(BB)are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.” ⁵The Gileadites seized the ^(BC)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, ^(BD)‘Shibboleth’!”^[n] And he would say, “Sibboleth,” for he could not ^[o]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 ^(BE)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, ^(BF)in the mountains of the Amalekites.