0 SAB Judges 11

Judges

CHAPTER 11

Jephthah was the son of a harlot
11:1-3

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.

Jephthah was a mighty man of valor. His father was Gilead and his mother was a harlot.

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.

When Gilead's other sons grew up, they kicked out Jephthah, saying to him,
You won't inherit anything when our father dies, because you are 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.

So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob.
He became the captain
11:4-11

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:

Sometime later, the Ammonites made war against Israel, and 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.

They said to Jephthah,
Come be our captain and help us fight the Ammonites.

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?

Jephthah said to them,
You hated me and threw me out of my father's house. Now you come and ask me to help you fight in your war?

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.

They replied,
Yes but if you help us fight against the Ammonites, we will make you our leader.

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.

Jephthah said,
OK, I'll be your captain.

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.

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead.
The king of Ammon and Jephthah exchange messages
11:12-28

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?

Jephthah sent a message to the king of Ammon, saying,

Why do you want to fight with us?

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.

The king of Ammon sent messengers to Jephthah, saying,

Because you stole our land when you left Egypt.

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.

Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of Ammon, saying,

We tried to peacefully pass through your land, but King Sihon wouldn't let us.

So we killed him and all of his people. [1]

Now your land belongs to us.

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?

God delivered Sihon and all its people to us.

So we killed them all and possessed their land.

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.

If Chemosh your god [2] gives you land to possess, won't you possess it?

We will possess any land that our God gives us by driving out its inhabitants.

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?

Are you any better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab?

Did he strive against Israel? Did he fight against them? [3]

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.

I haven't sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me.

Let God be the judge between us.

28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

The king of Ammon ignored Jephthah's final message.
The Ammonite massacre
11:29-33

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,

31Then 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.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah and he vowed a vow to the Lord, saying,
If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, I will sacrifice to you as a burnt offering whoever comes out of my house to meet me when I return from battle.

32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

Jephthah went to fight the Ammonites, and God delivered them into his hands. [4]

33And 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.

And Jephthah smote twenty Ammonite cities with a very great slaughter.
Jephthah sacrifices his daughter to God
(as a burnt offering)
11:34-40

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.

When Jephthah came home, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and dances. [5]

She was his only child.

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.

When Jephthah saw her, he rent his clothes, and said,

I made a promise to God. I must keep it.

36And 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.

Jephthah's daughter said unto him,

If you have made a promise to God, you must keep it.

God helped you slaughter the Ammonites, now you have to do what you promised you'd do.

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.

But let me do one thing first. Let me be alone for two months to go up and down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity with my friends. [6]

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.

Jephthah said to her, "Go."

And he sent her away for two months to bewail her virginity on the mountains.

39And 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.

At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did what he promised God he would do. [7]
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