Judges 11 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior; he was the son of a prostitute, and ⌊Gilead was his father⌋.

VIN⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior; he was the son of a prostitute, and ⌊Gilead was his father⌋. ² Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when his wife's sons grew up they drove out Jephthah, and said to him, You shall not inherit in our father's house because you are the son of another woman. ³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and a group of adventurers gathered to Jephthah, and they went out with him. ⁴ After a time the Ammonites made war with Israel. ⁵ the elders of Galaad went to bring Jephthae from the land of Tob, ⁶ They told him, "Come and be our commander so we can fight the Ammonites!" ⁷ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Didn't you hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress? ⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore we have turned again to you now, so that you may go with us and fight the Ammonites, and you shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. ⁹ Jephthah said: »If you take me back home to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives me victory, will I be your ruler?« ¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, the LORD shall be witness between us; certainly we will do as you say. ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah. ¹² Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon. He said: "What do you have against us that you want to fight us? Why have you invaded our country?" ¹³ The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers: "Because Israel took away our land when they came out of Egypt. They took land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now you must give it back peacefully." ¹⁴ Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon. ¹⁵ and said to him, This is what Jephthah says: Israel didn't take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the Ammonites, ¹⁶ But when they came up out of Egypt, he walked through the desert to the Red Sea, and came into Cades. ¹⁷ then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab, but he refused; so Israel stayed in Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they traveled through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped beyond the Arnon; and they did not go into the territory of Moab because the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorite, king of Hesbron, and Israel said to him, Let us pass through your land to our place. ²⁰ But Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his territory, so he assembled his entire army, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹ And the LORD, the God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, who lived in that country. ²² And all the coasts thereof from the Arnon to the Jaboc, and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ So now the LORD, the God of Israel has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, and should you take it over? ²⁴ Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gave you to possess? Whoever the LORD our God has driven out before us, we will possess it. ²⁵ "'Do you think you are better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever challenge Israel or fight with them? ²⁶ "'Israel has occupied Heshbon and Aroer for three hundred years, and the towns around them, and all the cities on the banks of the Arnon River. Why did you not retake them during that time? ²⁷ "'I have not done you any wrong. You are doing wrong to me by making war on me. the LORD is the judge. He will decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.'" ²⁸ The king of Ammon paid no attention to this message from Jephthah. ²⁹ And the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed through to the Ammonites. ³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and he said, "If indeed you will give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹ whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will offer it as a burnt offering." ³² Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave him victory. ³³ And he defeated them with a very great blow, from Aroer as far as Minnith, twenty towns, up to Abel Keramim. And the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites. ³⁴ When Jephthah arrived at his home in Mizpah surprise! it was his daughter who came out to meet him, playing tambourines and dancing. She was his one and only child. Except for her, he had no other son or daughter. ³⁵ When he saw her he tore his clothes and said, Alas my daughter! You have made me very sad and troubled, for I have made a vow to the LORD and I can't go back on it. ³⁶ She said: "If you made a promise to the LORD, do what you said you would do to me, since the LORD has given you revenge on your enemies, the Ammonites." ³⁷ Then she said to her father, Only do this for me: let me have two months to go away into the mountains with my friends, weeping for my sad fate. ³⁸ So he said, "Go!" He sent her away for two months. She left with her friends and cried there on the mountains because she would never marry. ³⁹ And the two months being expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed, and she knew no man. From thence came a fashion in Israel, and a custom has been kept: ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went yearly four days in a year to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.