Judges 11
1 Jephthah of Gilead was a strong fighter. He was the son of a prostitute, and his father was Gilead.
Now, Jephthah the Gileadite, was a mighty man of valour, but, he, was the son of an unchaste woman, —yet Gilead was the father of Jephthah.
2 Gilead's wife gave him sons, who when they grew up, drove Jephthah away, telling him, “You won't inherit anything from our father because you are another woman's son.”
And the wife of Gilead bare him sons, —and, when the wife’s sons grew up, they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him—Thou shalt not inherit with the house of our father, for, son of an alien woman, art thou.
3 Jephthah ran away from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. A gang of trouble-makers joined him and he led them out on raids.
So Jephthah fled from the face of his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob, —and there gathered about Jephthah unemployed men, who went forth with him.
4 Later on, the Ammonites were at war with Israel.
And so it came to pass, after a time, —that the sons of Ammon made war with Israel.
5 As the Ammonites were attacking Israel, the elders of Gilead came to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
When, therefore, it came to pass that the sons of Ammon made war with Israel, then went the elders of Gilead, to summon Jephthah out of the land of Tob.
6 “Come and be our army commander,” they asked Jepthah, “so we can fight the Ammonites.”
And they said to Jephthah, Oh! come and be our commander, —that we may do battle with the sons of Ammon.
7 “Weren't you the ones who hated me and drove me from my father's house?” Jephthah asked them, “Why are you coming to me now you're in trouble?”
But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Have not, ye, hated me, and thrust me out from the house of my father? Wherefore then, are ye come unto me, now, when ye are in distress?
8 “Yes, that's why we've turned to you now,” the elders of Gilead replied. “Come with us and fight the Ammonites, and you will be the leader of all the people of Gilead.”
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah—Therefore, have we, now, returned unto thee, that, if thou go with us, and do battle with the sons of Ammon, then shalt thou become our head, for all the inhabitants of Gilead.
9 “So if I go back with you and fight the Ammonites, and the Lord makes me victorious, then I'll be your leader?” Jephthah asked the elders of Gilead.
And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead—If ye do bring me back to do battle with the sons of Ammon, and Yahweh deliver them up before me, shall, I myself, become your head?
10 “The Lord will be a witness between us,” they replied. “We'll do whatever you say.”
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah—Yahweh himself, will be hearkening between us, if, according to thy word, so, we do not.
11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and army commander. And Jephthah repeated all his conditions before the Lord at Mizpah.
Then went Jephthah with the elders of Gilead, and the people set him over them, as head and commander, —and Jephthah spake all his words before Yahweh, in Mizpah.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to ask him, “What have you got against me that you want to attack my land?”
So then Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, —What occasion is there between us, that thou shouldst have come unto me, to fight against my land?
13 The king of the Ammonites replied to Jephthah's messengers, “Israel seized my land when they came from Egypt. It extended from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, and across to the Jordan River. So give it back and there'll be no fighting.”
And the king of the sons of Ammon said unto the messengers of Jephthah—Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto the Jabbok, and unto the Jordan, —now, therefore, restore them in peace.
14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of the Ammonites
And Jephthah yet once more sent messengers unto the king of the sons of Ammon;
15 to tell him, “This is Jephthah's reply: The Israelites did not take any land from Moab or from the Ammonites.
and said unto him, Thus, saith Jephthah, —Israel took not away the land of Moab, or the land of the sons of Ammon;
16 When they left Egypt, the Israelites went through the desert to the Red Sea and arrived at Kadesh.
for, when they came up out of Egypt, and Israel journeyed through the desert as far as the Red Sea, and came in unto Kadesh,
17 They sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your country,’ but the king of Edom refused to listen. They also sent the same request to the king of Moab, and he refused too. So they remained at Kadesh.
then did Israel send messengers unto the king of Edom, saying—Let me pass, I pray thee, through thy land, but the king of Edom hearkened not, unto the king of Moab also, sent they, but he would not consent, —so Israel abode in Kadesh.
18 Eventually the Israelites traveled through the desert, avoiding the lands of Edom and Moab. They arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River. But they did not enter Moab territory, for the Arnon River was its border.
Then journeyed they through the desert, and went round the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and so came, from the rising of the sun, to the land of Moab, but encamped beyond Arnon, —and entered not within the boundary of Moab, for, Arnon, is the boundary of Moab.
19 Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and asked him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our own country.’
Then did Israel send messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, —and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land as far as my own place.
20 But Sihon didn't trust the Israelites to pass through his territory. So he assembled his army, set up camp at Jahaz, and attacked the Israelites.
But Sihon trusted not Israel, to pass through his boundary, so Sihon gathered together all his people, and encamped in Jahaz, —and fought against Israel.
21 However, the Lord, the God of Israel, handed over Sihon and all his people to the Israelites, who defeated them. So the Israelites took over all the land inhabited by the Amorites.
Then did Yahweh, God of Israel, deliver up Sihon, and all his people, into the hand of Israel, and they smote them, —so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land.
22 They occupied all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, and from the desert to the Jordan River.
Yea they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, —from Arnon, even as far as the Jabbok, and from the desert, even as far as the Jordan.
23 It was the Lord, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites before his people Israel, so why should you take it over?
Now, therefore, it was, Yahweh God of Israel, that dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, —and shalt, thou, possess it?
24 Why don't you keep whatever your god Chemosh gave you, and we'll keep whatever the Lord our God has given us?
What Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess, that, wilt thou not possess? and, whatsoever Yahweh our God hath set before us to possess, that, shall we not possess?
25 Do you think you're so much better than Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or attack them?
Now, therefore, art thou, really better, than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Hath there been any, striving at all, with Israel, or any, fighting at all, with them,
26 Israelites have been living in Heshbon, Aroer, their villages, and in all the towns along the banks of the Arnon River for three hundred years. Why didn't you take them back during that time?
all the time that Israel hath been dwelling in Heshbon and in her towns, and in Aroer and in her towns, and in all the cities that are on the banks of Arnon, —for three hundred years? Wherefore, then, have ye not made a rescue within that time?
27 I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by going to war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
I, therefore, have not sinned against thee; but, thou, art doing me a wrong, in fighting against me, —Let Yahweh, the Judge, give judgment today, between the sons of Israel, and the sons of Ammon!
28 But the king of Ammon didn't pay any attention to what Jephthah had to say.
But the king of the sons of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah, which he sent unto him.
29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then on through Mizpah of Gilead. From there he advanced to attack the Ammonites.
Then came upon Jephthah the spirit of Yahweh, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, —and passed through Mizpeh of Gilead, and, from Mizpeh of Gilead, he passed through [unto] the sons of Ammon.
30 Jephthah made a solemn promise to the Lord, saying, “If you make me victorious over the Ammonites,
And Jephthah vowed a vow unto Yahweh, and said, —If thou wilt, deliver, the sons of Ammon into my hand,
31 I will dedicate to the Lord whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return from the battle. I will present it as a burnt offering.”
then shall it be, that, whosoever cometh forth out of the doors of my house, to meet me, when I return successful, from the sons of Ammon, shall belong unto Yahweh, and I will offer him up, as an ascending-sacrifice.
32 Jephthah advanced to attack the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him the victory over them.
So then Jephthah passed over unto the sons of Ammon, to fight against them, —and Yahweh delivered them into his hand;
33 He soundly defeated them, capturing twenty cities from Aroer to the area around Minnith, up as far as Abel-keramim. This is how the Ammonites were conquered by the Israelites.
and he smote them, from Aroer even till thou enterest in to Minnith, even twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with an exceeding great smiting, —and thus were the sons of Ammon subdued before the sons of Israel.
34 When Jephthah arrived home in Mizpah, there came his daughter out to meet him, with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child—he had no son or daughter apart from her.
Then came Jephthah towards Mizpah, unto his own house, and lo! his daughter, coming forth to meet him, with timbrels, and with dances, —and, she, was none other than his only child, he had not, besides her, either son or daughter.
35 The moment he saw her, he ripped his clothes in agony and cried out, “Oh no, my daughter! You have crushed me completely! You have destroyed me, for I made a solemn promise to the Lord and I can't go back on it.”
And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said—Alas! my daughter, Thou hast, brought me low, Even, thou, hast come to be among them who trouble me, —Yet, I, opened wide my mouth unto Yahweh, and cannot go back.
36 She replied, “Father, you have made a solemn promise to the Lord. Do to me what you promised, for the Lord brought vengeance your enemies, the Ammonites.”
And she said unto him—My father! Thou hast opened wide thy mouth unto Yahweh, Do with me, according to that which hath gone forth out of thy mouth, —after that Yahweh hath exacted for thee an avenging from thine enemies, from the sons of Ammon.
37 Then she went on to say to him, “Just let me do this: let me walk through the hills for two months with my friends and grieve the fact that I'll never marry.”
And she said unto her father, Let this thing, be done for me, —Let me alone two months, that I may depart, and go down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.
38 “You can go,” he told her. He sent her away for two months, and she and her friends went into the hills and cried because she would never marry.
And he said—Depart. So he let her go, for two months, —and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity, upon the mountains.
39 When the two months were over, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had promised, and she was a virgin. This is the origin of the custom in Israel
And it came to pass, at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, and he fulfilled on her his vow which he had vowed, —she not having known man. And it became a statute, in Israel: —
40 that every year the young women of Israel leave for four days to weep in commemoration of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
From year to year, departed the daughters of Israel, to lament aloud for the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, four days in the year.
