1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a woman of prostitution; and Gilead begot Jephthah.

2 Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.

3 And Jephthah fled from before his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

4 It came to pass after a time that the sons of Ammon made war against Israel.

5 And so it was, when the sons of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

6 And then they said to Jephthah, Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the sons of Ammon.

7 So 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?

8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you take me back to fight against the sons of Ammon, and Jehovah delivers them up before me, shall I be your head?

10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Jehovah is witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.

11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah.

12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against my land?

13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore, restore those lands peaceably.

14 And Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon,

15 and said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon;

16 for when Israel came up from Egypt, they walked through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

17 Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Please let me pass through your land. But the king of Edom would not heed. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained in Kadesh.

18 And they went along through the wilderness and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.

19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Please let us pass through your land into our place.

20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

21 And Jehovah the God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. Thus Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that land.

22 They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

23 And now Jehovah the God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites before His people Israel; should you then possess it?

24 Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? Thus, whatever Jehovah our God dispossesses before us, we will possess.

25 And now, are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel? Did he ever fight against them?

26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why have you not recovered them within that time?

27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you are wronging me by fighting against me. May Jehovah, the Judge, render judgment this day between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.

28 However, the king of the children of Ammon did not heed the words which Jephthah had sent him.

29 Then the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on over toward the sons of Ammon.

30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto Jehovah, and said, If You will give over to deliver up the sons of Ammon into my hands,

31 then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, shall surely be Jehovah’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.

32 So Jephthah passed over toward the sons of Ammon to fight against them, and Jehovah delivered them into his hands.

33 And he struck them from Aroer as far as Minnith; twenty cities; and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

34 And when Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

35 And it came to pass when he saw her, that he tore his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word unto Jehovah, and I cannot go back on it.

36 So she said to him, My father, if you have opened your mouth unto Jehovah, do unto me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because Jehovah has taken vengeance upon your enemies, the sons of Ammon.

37 And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I.

38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

39 And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he did to her according to the vow which he had vowed. She had known no man. And it became a custom in Israel,

40 that the daughters of Israel went four days each year, year after year, to recount the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.