Judges 11

Jephthah of Gilead was a strong and brave fighter. His mother was a prostitute, and his father was Gilead.

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

NoteGilead is both a man's name and the name of the hill country east of the Jordan River where this family lived; the chapter uses it both ways. "Jephthah the Gileadite" means Jephthah from that region.

2Gilead's wife also had sons by him. When those sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out. They told him, "You will get no share of our father's property, because you are another woman's son."

2And 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.

NoteUnder Israelite inheritance custom, property passed to the sons of a man's wife or wives. A son born to a prostitute had no recognized claim, and the brothers are invoking that rule to cut Jephthah out. The Hebrew phrase behind "another woman" means a different or outside woman, one not part of the household.

3So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob. Worthless men gathered around him there and went out with him.

3Then 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.

NoteTob was a small territory on the far northeastern edge of Gilead, outside Israel's settled area. "Worthless men" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning literally "empty men": men with no land, family standing or livelihood, who attached themselves to a strong leader as an armed band. It describes their social position more than their character.

4Some time later, the Ammonites went to war against Israel.

4And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

NoteThe Ammonites were a people living east of the Jordan River, north of Moab, in the region around modern Amman. Israelite tradition traced them, like the Moabites, back to Lot, so they counted as distant kin as well as rivals.

5When the Ammonites attacked Israel, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob.

5And 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:

6They said to Jephthah, "Come and be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites."

6And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.

Note"Commander" is a military term for the man who leads the troops in a single campaign. In verse 8 the elders offer something larger: "head" is the standing civil leader of the whole region. Jephthah's bargaining in verses 9 and 10 is about converting the temporary job into the permanent one.

7Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, "Didn't you hate me and force me out of my father's house? Why come to me now, when you are in trouble?"

7And 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?

8The leaders of Gilead answered Jephthah, "That is exactly why we are turning to you now. Come with us and fight the Ammonites, and you will be the head of everyone who lives in Gilead."

8And 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.

9Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, "Suppose you take me home to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD hands them over to me. Will I really be your head?"

9And 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?

NoteWhere the text prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has God's personal name, four consonants usually written YHWH, which was treated as too sacred to say aloud.

10The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD is our witness. We will do exactly what you have said."

10And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.

NoteNaming the LORD as witness turned the elders' promise into a sworn oath. Breaking it would then be an offense against God, not merely a broken word to Jephthah.

11So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and the people made him their head and commander. At Mizpeh, Jephthah repeated everything he had said in the presence of the LORD.

11Then 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.

NoteMizpeh (also spelled Mizpah) means "watchtower"; this one is a town in Gilead. To speak "in the presence of the LORD" means at a shrine or sanctuary, where words spoken carried the binding force of an oath rather than a private agreement.

12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to ask, "What is your quarrel with me? Why have you come to fight against my land?"

12And 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?

13The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "Because Israel took my land when they came up out of Egypt. They took it from the Arnon River to the Jabbok and over to the Jordan. Give it back peacefully now."

13And 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.

NoteThree natural boundaries define the disputed block of land: the Arnon, a deep river gorge running west into the Dead Sea, on the south; the Jabbok, a river to the north; and the Jordan on the west. The Ammonite king is claiming everything between them.

14Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites once more,

14And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon:

15and told him, "This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.

15And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:

16When Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the desert to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

16But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;

Note"Red Sea" renders a Hebrew phrase meaning literally "Sea of Reeds," used of the waters at the northern end of the Red Sea. Kadesh (Kadesh-barnea) was a desert oasis south of Canaan where Israel camped for a long stretch of the wilderness years.

17Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom and said, 'Please let us pass through your land.' But the king of Edom would not listen. They sent the same message to the king of Moab, and he refused too. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

17Then 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.

NoteEdom lay south of the Dead Sea, Moab directly east of it. Asking a king's permission before using the main road through his territory was ordinary practice between neighboring peoples; a refusal forced travelers into a long detour around the whole country, which is what verse 18 describes.

18Then they traveled through the desert and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They came along the east side of Moab and camped on the far side of the Arnon River. They never entered Moab's territory, because the Arnon was Moab's border.

18Then 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.

19Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon. Israel said to him, 'Please let us pass through your land to get to our own place.'

19And 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.

NoteThe Amorites were one of the peoples settled in Canaan and east of the Jordan before Israel arrived. Sihon ruled a kingdom from the city of Heshbon. This is the heart of Jephthah's legal argument: the land was taken from Sihon's Amorite kingdom, not from Ammon.

20But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. Instead he gathered all his people, camped at Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

20But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

21The LORD, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel, and Israel defeated them. So Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country.

21And 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.

22They took over the whole Amorite territory, from the Arnon River to the Jabbok, and from the desert to the Jordan.

22And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.

23So it was the LORD, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites for his people Israel. Should you now take that land?

23So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?

24Don't you keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you? In the same way, we will keep whatever the LORD our God drives out ahead of us.

24Wilt 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.

NoteChemosh was the chief god of Moab. Jephthah is using the ordinary diplomatic reasoning of the time (each nation rightfully holds the land its own god has granted it) and applying it to his opponent's case. Ammon's own national god is named elsewhere as Milcom, so either Jephthah is speaking loosely of the neighboring peoples together, or his argument is aimed at a Moabite claim.

25Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he ever pick a fight with Israel or go to war against them?

25And 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,

NoteBalak son of Zippor, king of Moab, appears in the story of Balaam (Numbers 22–24): he tried to have Israel cursed but never went to war with them and never pressed a claim for the territory. Jephthah's point is that Moab's own king, with a far stronger case, let the matter drop.

26For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon River. Why didn't you take them back in all that time?

26While 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?

NoteThree hundred years is a round figure for the time since Israel settled the area. Long, unchallenged possession was itself treated as evidence of legal right, a claim not pressed for generations was considered abandoned.

27I have done nothing wrong to you, but you are wronging me by making war on me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon."

27Wherefore 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.

Note"Judge" here does not mean a ruler but an arbiter who decides a case. Jephthah is formally referring the land dispute to God for a verdict, and the battle that follows is understood as the verdict being delivered.

28But the king of the Ammonites paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.

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

29Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpeh of Gilead, and from there he moved on against the Ammonites.

29Then 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.

Note"The Spirit of the LORD came upon" is this book's standard phrase for a man being seized by God-given power to lead and fight. Manasseh here means the part of the tribe of Manasseh that settled east of the Jordan, next to Gilead, Jephthah is mustering troops as he travels.

30Jephthah made a promise to the LORD. He said, "If you will truly hand the Ammonites over to me,

30And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,

31then whatever comes out the door of my house to meet me when I come home safe from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD. I will offer it up as a burnt offering."

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.

NoteThe Hebrew wording behind "whatever comes out the door" can mean either "whatever" or "whoever," so the vow is left open as it stands. A burnt offering was an animal killed and burned whole on an altar, with no portion kept back to be eaten. Some readers have argued the Hebrew of the two clauses can be read as alternatives ("shall belong to the LORD, or I will offer it up"), though the more natural reading joins them.

32So Jephthah crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD handed them over to him.

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

33He struck them from Aroer all the way to Minnith, twenty towns in all, and as far as the plain of the vineyards. It was a very great defeat. So the Ammonites were brought under Israel's control.

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.

NoteAroer, Minnith and "the plain of the vineyards" (Abel-keramim in Hebrew, a place name meaning "meadow of vineyards") are towns and districts marking how far into Ammonite territory the campaign reached.

34When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpeh, his daughter came out to meet him, playing a hand drum and dancing. She was his only child; he had no other son or daughter.

34And 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.

NoteA timbrel was a small hand drum, like a tambourine without the metal jingles. Women meeting returning soldiers with drumming, singing and dancing was the customary public welcome for a victory.

35When he saw her, he tore his clothes in grief and said, "Oh no, my daughter! You have crushed me. You are one of those who bring me trouble. I have made a promise to the LORD, and I cannot take it back."

35And 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.

NoteTearing one's own clothes was the recognized public sign of grief or shock. "You are one of those who bring me trouble" uses a Hebrew verb meaning to bring disaster or ruin down on someone. "I have opened my mouth to the LORD" is the idiom for having made a vow, which was treated as impossible to take back.

36She said to him, "My father, you have made a promise to the LORD. Do to me exactly what you said, since the LORD has paid back your enemies, the Ammonites, for you."

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.

Note"Taken vengeance for thee" carries the sense of legal redress rather than private revenge: the LORD has settled the score with your enemies on your behalf, as the arbiter Jephthah appealed to in verse 27.

37She also said to her father, "Do this one thing for me. Give me two months to wander in the mountains with my friends and cry because I will never marry or have children."

37And 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.

NoteTo die unmarried and childless meant leaving no descendants to carry the family name forward, which in that society was the whole expected shape of a woman's future. Her mourning is for that loss specifically, which is why the text keeps returning to it.

38He said, "Go." He sent her away for two months. She went with her friends and cried in the mountains because she would never marry or have children.

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 the two months she came back to her father, and he did to her what he had promised. She had never been with a man. From this came a custom in Israel:

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,

NoteThe text says only that he did to her what he had vowed, and never describes the act; it then adds that she had never been with a man. Readers ancient and modern have divided over whether this means she was put to death as a burnt offering or was given over to the sanctuary in lifelong virginity. The Hebrew does not settle the question. "She knew no man" is the ordinary biblical way of saying she never had sexual relations.

40every year the young women of Israel go out for four days to mourn the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.

40That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

NoteThe Hebrew verb translated "lament" is rare, and may instead mean "recount" or "commemorate", telling her story rather than mourning her. Nothing is known of this four-day yearly observance beyond this verse.