Shoftim - Judges
Chapter 11
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and
he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.
2 And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons
grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said unto him: 'Thou shalt not inherit in
our father's house; for thou art the son of another woman.'
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land
of Tob; and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with
him.
4 And it came to pass after a while, 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 chief, that
we may fight with the children of Ammon.'
7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead: 'Did not ye
hate me, and drive 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 are
we returned to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight with the
children of Ammon, and thou shalt be our head over all the inhabitants of
Gilead.'
9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead: 'If ye bring
me back home to fight with the children of Ammon, and HaShem deliver them before
me, I will be your head.'
10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah: 'The HaShem
shall be witness between us; surely according to thy word so will we do.'
11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the
people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words
before HaShem in Mizpah.
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 unto me to
fight against my land?'
13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the
messengers of Jephthah: 'Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out
of Egypt, from the Arnon even unto the Jabbok, and unto the Jordan; now
therefore restore those cities peaceably.'
14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the
children of Ammon;
15 and he 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 they came up from Egypt, and Israel 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 hearkened not.
And in like manner he sent unto the king of Moab; but he would not; and Israel
abode in Kadesh.
18 Then he walked 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 they pitched on the other side of the Arnon; but they came not within
the border of Moab, for the 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 unto my place.
20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his border;
but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought
against Israel.
21 And HaShem, the G-d 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 border of the Amorites, from
the Arnon even unto the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto the Jordan.
23 So now HaShem, the G-d of Israel, hath dispossessed the
Amorites from before His people Israel, and shouldest thou possess them?
24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth
thee to possess? So whomsoever HaShem our G-d hath dispossessed 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 its towns, and in Aroer
and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon,
three hundred years; wherefore did ye not recover them within that time?
27 I therefore have not sinned against thee, but thou doest
me wrong to war against me; HaShem, 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.
29 Then the spirit of HaShem 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 HaShem, and said: 'If Thou
wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
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,
it shall be HaShem'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 HaShem delivered them into his hand.
33 And he smote them from Aroer until thou come to Minnith,
even twenty cities, and unto Abel-cheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the
children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpah 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 become my troubler; for I have opened my mouth unto HaShem, and I cannot go
back.'
36 And she said unto him: 'My father, thou hast opened thy
mouth unto HaShem; do unto me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy
mouth; forasmuch as HaShem 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 depart and go down upon the mountains,
and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.'
38 And he said: 'Go.' And he sent her away for two months;
and she departed, she and 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 had not known 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.
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