The Lord’s spirit empowered ¹  Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went ²  to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. ³ 

The Ammonites assembled ¹  and camped in Gilead; the Israelites gathered together and camped in Mizpah.

Jephthah led ¹  Israel for six years; then he ²  died and was buried in his city in Gilead. ³ 

The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.”

So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement ¹  before the Lord in Mizpah.

All the Israelites from Dan to Beer Sheba ¹  and from the land of Gilead ²  left their homes ³  and assembled together ⁴  before the Lord at Mizpah.

The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said, “Explain how this wicked thing happened!”

When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out ¹  to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. ²  She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

So they asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering. ¹ 

The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed. ¹