Jephthah Delivers Israel 1 UST There was a man from the region of Gilead whose name was Jephthah. He was a great soldier. But his mother was a prostitute. His father was a man whose name was Gilead. BSB BSB: Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.
2 UST Gilead also had a legal wife who gave birth to several sons. When they became adults, they forced Jephthah to leave. They told him,“You are not the son of our father’ s legal wife, so you have no right to inherit any of his property.” BSB BSB: And Gilead’s wife bore him sons who grew up, drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.”
3 UST So Jephthah ran away from his brothers. He settled in the region of Tob. He attracted a group of lawless men, and they went out raiding together. BSB BSB: So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.
4 UST Some time later, the soldiers of the Ammon people group attacked the people of Israel. BSB BSB: Some time later, when the Ammonites fought against Israel
5 UST The Israelites needed someone to lead their soldiers to fight against the Ammonites. So the leaders of the region of Gilead went to the land of Tob. They wanted to bring Jephthah back{ to be their commander}. BSB BSB: and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
6 UST They said to him,“Come back with us and lead our army. That way we will be able to defeat the Ammonite army.” BSB BSB: “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so that we can fight against the Ammonites.”
7 UST But Jephthah told the leaders of Gilead,“You rejected me! You let my brothers force me to leave home{ without any inheritance}! So you should not come and expect me to help you now that you are in trouble.” BSB BSB: Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”
8 UST The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah,“That is exactly why we are coming to you now{, because we are in trouble}. Come back with us and lead our soldiers against the Ammonite army. If you do, we will make you the leader over everyone who lives in Gilead.” BSB BSB: They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.”
9 UST Jephthah answered them,“So if I go back to Gilead with you to fight against the army of Ammon, and if Yahweh helps us to defeat them, then I will be your leader.” BSB BSB: But Jephthah asked them, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, will I really be your leader?”
10 UST The leaders of Gilead told Jephthah,“We swear that we will do what you have just described. Yahweh is a witness of the promises we are making to you. May he punish us if we do not keep those promises!” BSB BSB: And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”
11 UST So Jephthah went with the leaders back to Gilead.{ In a religious gathering} at Mizpah, Jephthah repeated to Yahweh the terms of the agreement they had made. Then the people appointed him to be their leader and the commander of their army. BSB BSB: So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.
12 UST Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites. They asked the king,“What have we done to make you angry, so that your army has invaded our land to fight against us?” BSB BSB: Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?”
13 UST The Ammonite king replied to Jephthah’ s messengers,“I am invading because you Israelites took our land when you came here from Egypt. You took all of our land east of the Jordan River, from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north. So now give it back to us without a fight.” BSB BSB: The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”
14 UST But Jephthah sent his messengers back to the Ammonite king. BSB BSB: Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites
15 UST They said to him,“Jephthah told us to tell you:‘Israel did not take any land that belonged to the Moabites or the Ammonites. BSB BSB: to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites.
16 UST Here is what actually happened. When the Israelite people came out of Egypt, they walked through the desert to the Sea of Reeds. From there they traveled to the town of Kadesh{ at the border of the region of Edom}. BSB BSB: But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
17 UST From there the Israelites sent messengers to the king of the Edomites. They asked him,“Please allow us to walk across your land.” But the king of the Edomites refused. When they sent the same message to the king of the Moabites, he also refused to allow them to go through his land. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh for a long time. BSB BSB: Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.
18 UST Then the Israelites went into the desert and walked outside the borders of Edom and Moab. They stayed to the east of Moab, and they did not set up their camp until they were north of the Arnon River. That means that they never went into the territory of Moab, since the Arnon River is the{ northern} border of Moab. BSB BSB: Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.
19 UST Then the leaders of Israel sent a message to the king of the Amorites. His name was Sihon. He ruled in the city of Heshbon. They asked him,“Please allow us Israelite people to cross through your land so we may go into the land that is ours.” BSB BSB: And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’
20 UST But Sihon thought that if he allowed the Israelites to come into his land, they would try to conquer it. So he gathered his whole army. His soldiers set up their tents at the town of Jahaz. From there, they attacked the Israelite people. BSB BSB: But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.
21 UST But Yahweh, the God of Israel, made the Israelite army stronger than the army of Sihon. So the Israelites destroyed that enemy army. Then they took possession of all the land where those Amorites had lived. BSB BSB: Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country,
22 UST Yes, the Israelites took all the land that belonged to those Amorites. It extended from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and from the desert in the east to the Jordan River in the west. BSB BSB: seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
23 UST So it was Yahweh, the God of Israel, who forced the Amorites to leave the land in which they were living. Yahweh allowed the Israelites to live there instead. So you cannot claim that land as if it belonged to you. BSB BSB: Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it?
24 UST You have the right to live in any land that your god Chemosh may give to you. But Yahweh our God forced others to leave this entire land so that we could live in it. And we are going to keep living in it! BSB BSB: Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.
25 UST You are not greater than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab. He never disputed that this land now belonged to the Israelites. He never fought against the Israelites to try to take the land from them{, even though it once belonged to the Moabites and Ammonites}. BSB BSB: Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?
26 UST The Israelites have been living for the past 300 years in the city of Heshbon and the town of Aroer and in the villages around them. They have also been living in settlements along the Arnon River. But during all of that time, you Ammonites have not tried to capture those areas for yourselves. BSB BSB: For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time?
27 UST So we Israelites have not harmed you{ by taking any land from you}. But you Ammonites are doing something bad to us by attacking us{ to try to conquer our land}. Yahweh{ our God} makes sure that people treat each other properly. If we fight, he will enable our Israelite army to defeat your Ammonite army, because we have done what is right and you are doing what is wrong.’” BSB BSB: I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
28 UST But even though Jephthah sent him this message, the king of Ammon did not command his army to stop fighting against the Israelites. BSB BSB: But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him.
Jephthah’s Tragic Vow 31 UST when I return safely from defeating the Ammonites, then I will devote to you the first person who comes out of my house to greet me. I will sacrifice that person by burning him up completely on an altar.” BSB BSB: then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
32 UST Then Jephthah and his soldiers went from Mizpah to attack the Ammonites. Yahweh enabled his army to defeat them. BSB BSB: So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand.
33 UST Jephthah and his men defeated the Ammonites at the town of Aroer. Then they pursued them all the way to the area around the city of Minnith. They destroyed 20 settlements, as far as the city of Abel Keramim. The Israelites killed a very great number of Ammonites. After that the Ammonites could no longer oppose the Israelites. BSB BSB: With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.
34 UST When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, his daughter was the first one to come out of the house to meet him. She was joyfully playing a tambourine and dancing. Since he had no other sons or daughters, she was his only child. BSB BSB: And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.
35 UST When Jephthah saw his daughter, he tore his clothes to show that he was very sad about what he thought he had to do. He said to her,“Oh, no! My daughter, you have made me terribly distressed{ by being the first one to greet me}. You are troubling me just as the Ammonites did. I made a solemn promise to Yahweh{ to sacrifice the first person who came out of my house}, and I have to do what I promised.” BSB BSB: As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”
36 UST His daughter said,“Father, you made a solemn promise to Yahweh. So you must do to me what you promised, because you said that you would do that if Yahweh helped you to defeat your enemies, the Ammonites.” BSB BSB: “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.”
38 UST Jephthah told her,“You may go.” And he let her leave for two months. So she and her friends wandered in the hills, and they all cried for her because she would never get married and have children. BSB BSB: “Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains.
40 UST The young Israelite women go into the hills for four days each year. There they sadly remember what happened to the daughter of Jephthah from the region of Gilead. BSB BSB: that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
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