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Judges 11
- 1
- Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour,
and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
- 2
- And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons
grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not
inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.
- 3
- Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the
land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with
him.
- 4
- And it came to pass in process of time, that the
children of Ammon made war against Israel.
- 5
- And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war
against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of
Tob:
- 6
- And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain,
that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
- 7
- And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye
hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me
now when ye are in distress?
- 8
- And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore
we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the
children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
- 9
- And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring
me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver
them before me, shall I be your head?
- 10
- And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be
witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
- 11
- Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the
people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words
before the LORD in Mizpeh.
- 12
- And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the
children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come
against me to fight in my land?
- 13
- And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the
messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up
out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore
restore those lands again peaceably.
- 14
- And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the
children of Ammon:
- 15
- And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not
away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
- 16
- But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through
the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
- 17
- Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom,
saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would
not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but
he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
- 18
- Then they went along through the wilderness, and
compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of
the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within
the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.
- 19
- And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the
Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray
thee, through thy land into my place.
- 20
- But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast:
but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought
against Israel.
- 21
- And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his
people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all
the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
- 22
- And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from
Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
- 23
- So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the
Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
- 24
- Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth
thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before
us, them will we possess.
- 25
- And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of
Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight
against them,
- 26
- While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in
Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of
Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that
time?
- 27
- Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest
me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the
children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
- 28
- Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not
unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
- 29
- Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he
passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from
Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
- 30
- And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If
thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
- 31
- Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the
doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of
Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt
offering.
- 32
- So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to
fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.
- 33
- And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to
Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very
great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children
of Israel.
- 34
- And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold,
his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was
his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
- 35
- And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his
clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou
art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and
I cannot go back.
- 36
- And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened
thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out
of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine
enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
- 37
- And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for
me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and
bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
- 38
- And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months:
and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the
mountains.
- 39
- And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she
returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had
vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
- 40
- That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the
daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
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