Judges Chapter 11
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Judges 11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.
Judges 11:2 And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”
Judges 11:3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.
Judges 11:4 After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel.
Judges 11:5 And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.
Judges 11:6 And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.”
Judges 11:7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”
Judges 11:8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
Judges 11:9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them over to me, I will be your head.”
Judges 11:10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.”
Judges 11:11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah.
Judges 11:12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?”
Judges 11:13 And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.”
Judges 11:14 Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites
Judges 11:15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites,
Judges 11:16 but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
Judges 11:17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.
Judges 11:18 “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and arrived on 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, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.
Judges 11:19 Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’
Judges 11:20 but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.
Judges 11:21 And the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country.
Judges 11:22 And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
Judges 11:23 So then the LORD, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them?