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JUDGES ยท Chapter 11
11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was
the son of an harlot: and Gilead brings forth Jephthah.
11:2 And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up,
and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, You shall not inherit
in our father's house; for you are the son of a strange woman.
11:3 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.
11:4 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon
made war against Israel.
11:5 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:
11:6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we
may fight with the children of Ammon.
11:7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not all of you
hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are all of you
come unto me now when all of you are in distress?
11:8 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we return
to you now, that you may go with us, and fight against the children of
Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
11:9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If all of you bring
me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver
them before me, shall I be your head?
11:10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness
between us, if we do not so according to your words.
11:11 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.
11:12 And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of
Ammon, saying, What have you to do with me, that you are come against me
to fight in my land?
11:13 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.
11:14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children
of Ammon:
11:15 And said unto him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel took not away the
land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
11:16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness
unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
11:17 Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let
me, I pray you, pass through your 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.
11:18 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.
11:19 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the
king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray you, through
your land into my place.
11:20 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.
11:21 And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people
into the hand of Israel, and they stroke them: so Israel possessed all
the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
11:22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon
even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
11:23 So now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from
before his people Israel, and should you possess it?
11:24 Will not you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to
possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us,
them will we possess.
11:25 And now are you 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,
11:26 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 all of you not recover them within
that time?
11:27 Wherefore I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong
to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children
of Israel and the children of Ammon.
11:28 Nevertheless the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not
unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
11:29 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.
11:30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If you shall
without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
11:31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever comes out 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.
11:32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against
them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.
11:33 And he stroke them from Aroer, even till you 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.
11:34 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.
11:35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes,
and said, Alas, my daughter! you have brought me very low, and you are
one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD,
and I cannot go back.
11:36 And she said unto him, My father, if you have opened your mouth
unto the LORD, do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your
mouth; forasmuch as the LORD has taken vengeance for you of your enemies,
even of the children of Ammon.
11:37 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 mourn for my virginity, I and my fellows.
11:38 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.
11:39 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,
11:40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter
of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
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