THE
BOOK OF JUDGES
Judges Chapter 11
1
¶ Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and
2
And
3
Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and lived in the
4
¶ Now in time it happened, that the children of Ammon
made war against
5
And when the children of Ammon made war against
6
And they said to Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the
children of Ammon.
7
And Jephthah said to the elders of
8
And the elders of
9
And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me home again to fight
against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them over to me, shall I
be your head?
10
And the elders of
11
So Jephthah went with the elders of
12
¶ And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying,
What have you to do with me, that you have come against me to fight in my land?
13
And the king of the children of Ammon replied to the messengers of Jephthah,
Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of
14
And Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of the children of Ammon:
15
And said to him, Thus says
16
But when
17
Then
18
Then they traveled through the desert, and went around the land of Edom, and
the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched
camp on the other side of the Arnon, but did not come within the border of
Moab: for the Arnon was the border of Moab.
19
Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon;
and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray you, through your land into my
country.
20
But Sihon did not trust
21
And the LORD God of
22
And they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to
Jabbok, and from the desert even to the
23
Since the LORD God of
24
Will you not possess the land which Chemosh your god gives you to possess?
Likewise we will possess the land of all whom the LORD our God drives
out before us.
25
Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of
26
While
27
Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to make war
against me: may the LORD the Judge decide this day
between the children of
28
However the king of the children of Ammon did not listen to the message that
Jephthah sent to him.
29
¶ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through
30
And Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, If you
will deliver the children of Ammon into my hands without fail,
31
Then whatever comes first out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I
return in peace from the Ammonites, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will
offer it up as a burnt offering.
32
Then Jephthah crossed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and
the LORD delivered them into his hands.
33
And he struck them down from Aroer, to the vicinity of Minnith, through twenty
cities, and as far as the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter.
Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of
34
And Jephthah returned to Mizpeh to his house, and his daughter came out to meet
him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; besides
her he had neither son nor daughter.
35
And when he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! you have brought me very low, and you are one of those who
trouble me: for I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot go back.
36
And she said to him, My father, if you have
opened your mouth to the LORD, do to me according to what you have vowed; since
the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, the children of Ammon.
37
And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for
me: let me alone for two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains,
and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.
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 at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according
to the vow which he had vowed: and she had never known a man. And it became a
custom in
40
For the maidens of