Judges 11:1
11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father.
Judges 11:1-40
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.”
11:9 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “All right! If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, I will be your leader.”
11:10 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will judge any grievance you have against us, if we do not do as you say.”
11:11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement before the Lord in Mizpah.
Jephthah Gives a History Lesson
11:12 Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying, “Why have you come against me to attack my land?”
11:13 The Ammonite king said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel stole my land when they came up from Egypt – from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and as far west as the Jordan. Now return it peaceably!”
11:14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the Ammonite king
11:15 and said to him, “This is what Jephthah says, ‘Israel did not steal the land of Moab and the land of the Ammonites.
11:16 When they left Egypt, Israel traveled through the desert as far as the Red Sea and then came to Kadesh.
11:17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please allow us to pass through your land.” But the king of Edom rejected the request. Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.
11:18 Then Israel went through the desert and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; they did not go through Moabite territory (the Arnon was Moab’s border).
11:19 Israel sent messengers to King Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, “Please allow us to pass through your land to our land.”
11:20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He assembled his whole army, camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.
11:21 The Lord God of Israel handed Sihon and his whole army over to Israel and they defeated them. Israel took all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land.
11:22 They took all the Amorite territory from the Arnon River on the south to the Jabbok River on the north, from the desert in the east to the Jordan in the west.
11:23 Since the Lord God of Israel has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them?
11:24 You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the Lord our God has driven out before us.
11:25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them?
11:26 Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time?
11:27 I have not done you wrong, but you are doing wrong by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!’”
11:28 But the Ammonite king disregarded the message sent by Jephthah.
A Foolish Vow Spells Death for a Daughter
11:29 The Lord’s spirit empowered Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites.
11:30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me,
11:31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he will belong to the Lord and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”
11:32 Jephthah approached the Ammonites to fight with them, and the Lord handed them over to him.
11:33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith – twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites.
11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.
11:35 When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! You have brought me disaster! I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.”
11:36 She said to him, “My father, since you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. After all, the Lord vindicated you before your enemies, the Ammonites.”
11:37 She then said to her father, “Please grant me this one wish. For two months allow me to walk through the hills with my friends and mourn my virginity.”
11:38 He said, “You may go.” He permitted her to leave for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity as she walked through the hills.
11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel.
11:40 Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.
Judges 19:1-30
Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited
19:1 In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
19:2 However, she got angry at him and went home to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. When she had been there four months,
19:3 her husband came after her, hoping he could convince her to return. He brought with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. When she brought him into her father’s house and the girl’s father saw him, he greeted him warmly.
19:4 His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay with him for three days, and they ate and drank together, and spent the night there.
19:5 On the fourth day they woke up early and the Levite got ready to leave. But the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have a bite to eat for some energy, then you can go.”
19:6 So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Why not stay another night and have a good time!”
19:7 When the man got ready to leave, his father-in-law convinced him to stay another night.
19:8 He woke up early in the morning on the fifth day so he could leave, but the girl’s father said, “Get some energy. Wait until later in the day to leave!” So they ate a meal together.
19:9 When the man got ready to leave with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look! The day is almost over! Stay another night! Since the day is over, stay another night here and have a good time. You can get up early tomorrow and start your trip home.”
19:10 But the man did not want to stay another night. He left and traveled as far as Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a pair of saddled donkeys and his concubine.
19:11 When they got near Jebus, it was getting quite late and the servant said to his master, “Come on, let’s stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night in it.”
19:12 But his master said to him, “We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. We will travel on to Gibeah.”
19:13 He said to his servant, “Come on, we will go into one of the other towns and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”
19:14 So they traveled on, and the sun went down when they were near Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin.
19:15 They stopped there and decided to spend the night in Gibeah. They came into the city and sat down in the town square, but no one invited them to spend the night.
19:16 But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.)
19:17 When he looked up and saw the traveler in the town square, the old man said, “Where are you heading? Where do you come from?”
19:18 The Levite said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. That’s where I’m from. I had business in Bethlehem in Judah, but now I’m heading home. But no one has invited me into their home.
19:19 We have enough straw and grain for our donkeys, and there is enough food and wine for me, your female servant, and the young man who is with your servants. We lack nothing.”
19:20 The old man said, “Everything is just fine! I will take care of all your needs. But don’t spend the night in the town square.”
19:21 So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. They washed their feet and had a meal.
19:22 They were having a good time, when suddenly some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, surrounded the house and kept beating on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.”
19:23 The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!
19:24 Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!”
19:25 The men refused to listen to him, so the Levite grabbed his concubine and made her go outside. They raped her and abused her all night long until morning. They let her go at dawn.
19:26 The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master was staying until it became light.
19:27 When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.
19:28 He said to her, “Get up, let’s leave!” But there was no response. He put her on the donkey and went home.
19:29 When he got home, he took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and carved her up into twelve pieces. Then he sent the pieces throughout Israel.
19:30 Everyone who saw the sight said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since the Israelites left the land of Egypt! Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”