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Judges 11

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Jephthah's Expulsion and Exile 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. ​
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.
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. ​

Gilead Recruits Jephthah as Leader 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:
6
And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
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? ​
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.
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.
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. ​

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

The Vow and the Victory 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, ​
31
Then 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.
32
So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.
33
And 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.

The Fulfillment of the Tragic Vow 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. ​
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. ​
36
And 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.
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.
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.
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, ​
40
That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Judges 11

Verse 1

a mighty man of valour — The phrase (gibbor chayil) is the angel's address to Gideon (6:12), and in Judges it stands only there and here. 'Harlot' is the word used of Rahab (Josh 2:1). Gilead is the household head whose wife's sons later thrust Jephthah out (v.2). Heb 11:32 names 'Jephthae' among those of faith.

Verse 3

vain men — Reyq, empty, is the word for the men Abimelech hired (9:4). Jephthah flees to the land of Tob; 'Ishtob' is later named among the Syrians (2 Sam 10:6). The band that gathers to him resembles the one that gathers to David in flight from Saul: 'every one that was in distress… in debt… discontented' (1 Sam 22:2).

Verse 7

Did not ye hate me, and expel me — The question is almost Isaac's to Abimelech of Gerar: 'Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?' (Gen 26:27). Joseph was likewise sold by his brothers and later received them in their need (Gen 45:4–5). Jephthah names the elders' 'distress' as their only reason for coming.

Verse 11

head and captain — The elders first asked him to be their 'captain' (v.6); Jephthah asked whether he would be 'head' (v.9), and the people made him both. 'Uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh' sets the agreement under the witness the elders called on in v.10, 'The LORD be witness between us'. Mizpeh is where Israel had assembled in 10:17.

Verse 12

Jephthah sent messengers — He begins with words, as Israel did toward Sihon, 'with words of peace' (Deut 2:26), and as the law directs for a city: 'proclaim peace unto it' (Deut 20:10). His question to the king of Ammon is why he has come against Jephthah's land. The reply is the claim of v.13.

Verse 13

from Arnon even unto Jabbok — Ammon claims the land between the rivers. Israel took it from Sihon king of the Amorites, 'from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong' (Num 21:24), and did not enter Ammon itself (Deut 2:37). Jephthah's reply is in v.15.

Verse 21

the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon — Jephthah's history follows Deuteronomy: 'the LORD our God delivered him before us' (Deut 2:33). The verb yarash, to possess, runs through vv.21–24: Israel 'possessed' the land (vv.21–22), the LORD 'hath dispossessed' the Amorites (v.23), and Chemosh is said to give land to 'possess' (v.24).

Verse 24

Chemosh thy god — Moab is called 'the people of Chemosh' (Num 21:29), and Ammon's god is Milcom (1 Kgs 11:33). The land in question had belonged to Moab before Sihon took it (Num 21:26). Jephthah's principle is that each people keeps what its god gives, and 'whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess'.

Verse 26

three hundred years — The count runs from the taking of Heshbon and the cities by the Arnon (Num 21:25–26), where Reuben built Heshbon and Gad built Aroer (Num 32:34, 37). The argument is that Ammon had all that time to recover them and did not.

Verse 29

the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah — The same words are used of Othniel (3:10), Gideon (6:34) and Samson (14:6; at 13:25 the Spirit 'began to move' him). Jephthah then passes through Gilead and Manasseh to Mizpeh of Gilead (10:17) and on to Ammon. The vow follows in v.30, and the text does not say the Spirit gave it.

Verse 30

vowed a vow — A vow of this form, 'If thou…' followed by a gift, is Jacob's (Gen 28:20) and Hannah's (1 Sam 1:11). Num 30:2 binds the one who makes it: 'he shall not break his word'. 'Without fail deliver' repeats the verb, literally 'giving, thou wilt give'. The vow names no object, only 'whatsoever cometh forth' (v.31).

Verse 34

his daughter came out to meet him — 'Came out' and 'to meet' are the two verbs of the vow in v.31. 'Only child' is yachid, the word for Isaac, 'thine only son' (Gen 22:2), and in Judges it occurs only here. She comes 'with timbrels and with dances', as the women went out after Miriam (Ex 15:20).

Verse 35

I have opened my mouth unto the LORD — Rending clothes is the sign of mourning, as with Jacob for Joseph (Gen 37:34). 'Brought me very low' is literally 'bowing thou hast bowed me'. 'Opened my mouth' is the vow of Num 30:2, 'according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth', and his daughter answers in the same words in v.36.

Verse 39

according to his vow — The vow was that what met him 'shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering' (v.31). Christians have read the outcome two ways: that she was offered, or that she was given to the LORD for life, since vv.37–39 stress her virginity: 'she knew no man'. The law forbids offering children (Lev 18:21; Deut 12:31).

Verse 40

to lament — Tanah occurs elsewhere in Judges only at 5:11, where it is 'rehearse' the righteous acts of the LORD. The daughters of Israel kept the custom of v.39 for 'four days in a year', so that Jephthah's daughter, who is not named, is remembered.