Dual Panel1NOW JEPHTHAH the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a harlot. Gilead was Jephthah's father.
2And Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when his wife's sons grew up, they thrust Jephthah out and said to him, You shall not have an 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 Tob; and worthless men gathered around Jephthah and went on raids with him.
4And after a time, the Ammonites made war against Israel.
5And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah out of the land of Tob;
6And they said to Jephthah, Come and be our leader, that we may fight with the Ammonites.
7But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?
8And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, This is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight the Ammonites and be our head over all the citizens of Gilead.
9Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites and the Lord gives them over to me, [understand that] I will be your head.
10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, The Lord is witness between us, if we do not do as you have said.
11So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah repeated all he had promised before the Lord at Mizpah.
12And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, What have you to do with me, that you have come against me to fight in my land?
13The Ammonites' king replied to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land [which was not true] when they came up out of Egypt [300 years before], from the Arnon even to Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.
14And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the Ammonites
15And said to him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.
16But when [Israel] came up from Egypt, [they] walked through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
17Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let us, we pray, pass through your land, but the king of Edom would not listen. Also they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.
18Then they went through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon; but they came not within the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.
19Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray you, through your land to our country.
20But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.
21And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
22They possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
23So now the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel, and should you possess them?
24Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all the Lord our God dispossessed before us, we will possess.
25Now are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel or did he ever go to war with them?
26While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon for 300 years, why did you not recover [your lost lands] during that time?
27So I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong to war against me. The Lord, the [righteous] Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.
28But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the message Jephthah sent him.
29Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.
30And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, If You will indeed give the Ammonites into my hand,
31Then whatever {or} whoever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites, it shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it {or} him up as a burnt offering.
32Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight with them, and the Lord gave them into his hand.
33And from Aroer to Minnith he smote them, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-cheramim [the meadow of vineyards], with a very great slaughter. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.
34Then Jephthah came to Mizpah to his home, 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.
35And when he saw her, he rent his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are the cause of great trouble to me; for I have opened my mouth [in a vow] to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.
36And 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 Ammonites.
37And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may go and wander upon the mountains and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.
38And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months, and she went with her companions and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
39At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. She never mated with a man. This became a custom in Israel--
40That the daughters of Israel went yearly to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.