Jephthah

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.

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.”

So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.

and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

“Come,” they said, “be our commander, so that we can fight against the Ammonites.”

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?”

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.”

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?”

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”

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.

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?”

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.”

Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites

to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites.

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

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.

Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,

So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand.

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.

that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Then the men of Ephraim assembled and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!”

But Jephthah replied, “My people and I had a serious conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called, you did not save me out of their hands.

Jephthah then gathered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives in Ephraim, living in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”

Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he died, he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely.