Text -- Judges 11:1-8 (NET)

11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. 11:2 Gilead’s wife also gave him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they made Jephthah leave and said to him, “You are not going to inherit any of our father’s wealth, because you are another woman’s son.” 11:3 So Jephthah left his half-brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Lawless men joined Jephthah’s gang and traveled with him. 11:4 It was some time after this when the Ammonites fought with Israel. 11:5 When the Ammonites attacked, the leaders of Gilead asked Jephthah to come back from the land of Tob. 11:6 They said, “Come, be our commander, so we can fight with the Ammonites.” 11:7 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?” 11:8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That may be true, but now we pledge to you our loyalty. Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader of all who live in Gilead.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jdg 11:1

¹ tn Heb “Now he was the son of a woman, a prostitute, and Gilead fathered Jephthah.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:2

¹ tn Heb “bore.”

² tn Heb “in the house of our father.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:3

¹ tn Or “fled from.”

² tn Heb “brothers.”

³ tn Heb “Empty men joined themselves to Jephthah and went out with him.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:5

¹ tn Heb “When the Ammonites fought with Israel.”

² tn Or “elders.”

³ tn Heb “went to take Jephthah.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:6

¹ tn Heb “to Jephthah.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:7

¹ tn Heb “Did you not hate me and make me leave?”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:8

¹ tn Heb “therefore”; “even so.” For MT לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) the LXX has an opposite reading, “not so,” which seems to be based on the Hebrew words לֹא כֵן (lo’ khen).

² tn Heb “we have returned to you.” For another example of שׁוּב אֶל (shuv ’el) in the sense of “give allegiance to,” see 1 Kgs 12:27b.

³ sn Then you will become the leader. The leaders of Gilead now use the word רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “head, leader”), the same term that appeared in their original, general offer (see 10:18). In their initial offer to Jephthah they had simply invited him to be their קָצִין (qatsin, “commander”; v. 6). When he resists they must offer him a more attractive reward – rulership over the region. See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 198.

⁴ tn Heb “leader of us and all who live in Gilead.”