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1–11. Jephthah, a Gileadite, ruler and leader of the Israelites. 12–28. Negotiations between Jephthah and the king of Ammon regarding the possession of Gilead. 29–33. Jephthah's vow and the defeat of the Ammonites. 34–40. Jephthah fulfilling his vow. Judges 11:1. Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave man. He was the son of a harlot; Jephthah was born from Gilead. Judges 11:2. And the wife of Gilead bore him sons. When the wife's sons grew to maturity, they expelled Jephthah, saying to him: You are not an heir in our father's house, because you are the son of another woman. Judges 11:3. And Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and the idle people gathered to Jephthah and went out with him. Before the start of the war with the Ammonites, Jephthah lived in the town of Tob, in the Trans-Jordan region (2 Sam. 10:6; 1 Mac. 5:13). Judges 11:4. After some time, the Ammonites went to war against Israel. Judges 11:5. During the war between the Ammonites and the Israelites, the elders of Gilead came to take Jephthah from the land of Tob. Judges 11:6. and they said to Jephthah, Come, be our leader, and let us fight the Ammonites. Judges 11:7. 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 trouble? Judges 11:8. The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “For this reason we have now come to you, so that you can go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be with us a leader over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” Judges 11:9. And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me back to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, will I still remain your commander? Judges 11:10. The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah: Let the Lord be witness among us that we will do according to your word! Judges 11:11. And Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him ruler and leader over them, and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah. Having accepted the offer of the elders of Gilead to be the leader and leader of the people, Jephthah, like the elders, took an oath before the face of the Lord in Mizpah. Judges 11:12. And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon, saying, “What have you to do with me, that you have come to me to fight in my land?” Judges 11:13. The king of Ammon said to the ambassadors of Jephthah: When Israel came out of Egypt, it took my land from Arnon to Jabbok and Jordan; so, return her to me in peace [and I will retreat]. Judges 11:14. [And the ambassadors returned to Jephthah.] Jephthah another time sent ambassadors to the king of Ammon, Judges 11:15. say to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of Ammon; Judges 11:16. for when they came from Egypt, Israel went into the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh; Judges 11:17. From there Israel sent ambassadors to the king of Edom to say: “Let me pass through your land”; but the king of Edom did not listen; and he sent to the king of Moab, but he did not agree; therefore Israel remained in Kadesh. Judges 11:18. And he went through the wilderness, and passed through the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the eastern border of the land of Moab, and encamped beyond Arnon; but did not enter into the borders of Moab, for Arnon is the border of Moab. Judges 11:19. And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, Let us pass through thy land to our place. Judgment 11:20 . But Sihon did not agree to let Israel pass through his borders, and Sihon gathered all his people, and encamped in Jaaz, and fought with Israel. Judges 11:21. And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and he slew them; and Israel received as an inheritance all the land of the Amorites who dwelt in the land; Judges 11:22. and they received as an inheritance all the borders of the Amorites, from Arnon to Jabbok, and from the wilderness to Jordan. Judges 11:23. So the Lord God of Israel drove out the Amorites from before his people Israel, and you want to take his inheritance? Judges 11:24. Do you not possess what Chemosh your god has given you? And we possess all that the Lord our God has given us as an inheritance. Judgment 11:25. Are you better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he quarrel with Israel or fight with them? Judges 11:26. Israel has already lived for three hundred years in Heshbon and its towns, in Aroer and its towns, and in all the towns that are near Arnon; Why didn’t you take [them] away at that time? Judges 11:27. But I am not guilty before you, and you are doing me harm by going to war against me. May the Lord Judge now be the judge between the children of Israel and the Ammonites! Judges 11:28. But the king of Ammon did not listen to the words of Jephthah, with which he sent to him. Before the outbreak of hostilities, Jephthah negotiated with the Ammonite king regarding the rights of the Israelites to own the Transjordan region, part of which was occupied by the Ammonites. During these negotiations, the history of the conquest of Transjordan under Moses was reproduced in general terms (cf. Num. 20:14, 17, 21:13, 21, 24; Deut. 2:19). Chemosh, whom Jephthah calls the tribal god of the Ammonites (v. 24), was at the same time the tribal god of the Moabites, as is clear from 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13 and the inscriptions of the Moabite king Mesha (from the 9th century), but was equally revered by the Ammonites who were related to the Moabites. Judges 11:29. And the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went to the Ammonites. Court 11:30 . And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, If thou wilt deliver the Ammonites into my hand, Judges 11:31. then when I return in peace from the Ammonites, whatever comes out of the gates of my house to meet me will be to the Lord, and I will offer it as a burnt offering. Judges 11:32. And Jephthah came to the Ammonites to fight with them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands; Judges 11:33. and he smote them with a very great slaughter, from Aroer to Minith, twenty cities, and to Abel-keramim, and the Ammonites humbled themselves before the children of Israel. After the Ammonite king refused to fulfill Jephthah’s demand, Jephthah, animated by the Spirit of God, set out from Mizpah (Ramoth) of Gilead to fight against the Ammonites, having first made a terrible vow to God. During this war, the Ammonites were defeated, and the cities they occupied (20 in number) were taken from them, from Aroer (cf. Deut. 3:12) to Minith (cf. Eze. 27:17) (now Meniah, east of Hesbon) and Abel-Keramim (a place 7 miles from Philadelphia, even in the time of Eusebius (Onomast 225, 6) rich in vineyards; now the ruins of Avila). Judges 11:34. And Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and faces: he had only one of her, and he had neither son nor daughter yet. Judgment 11:35 . When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said: Oh, my daughter! you struck me down; and you are among the disturbers of my peace! I have opened my mouth [about you] before the Lord and cannot deny. Judges 11:36. She told him: my father! You have opened your mouth to the Lord, and do to me what your mouth said when the Lord took vengeance through you on your enemies the Ammonites. Judges 11:37. And she said to her father: Just do this to me: let me go for two months; I will go, climb the mountains and mourn my virginity with my friends. Judges 11:38. He said: go. And he let her go for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity in the mountains. Judges 11:39. After two months had passed, she returned to her father, and he fulfilled his vow to her, which he had made, and she did not know her husband. And it became a custom among Israel, Judgment 11:40 . that every year the daughters of Israel went to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days a year. Returning after the defeat of the Ammonites, Jephthah fulfilled his vow to God. There are different thoughts about the method of fulfilling Jephthah's vow. Many ancient interpreters argued that Jephthah actually brought his daughter, who came out first to meet him after the victory over the Ammonites, as a burnt offering (cf. St. I. Zlat., Review of the Book of Judges, Works of St. I. Zlat., vol. 6, p. 637; Bes. to Antioch. people. (XIV) vol. 2, p. 160–161). Others, especially the later ones (Hengstenberg, Reinke, Cassel, Kohler, etc.), believe that Jephthah’s daughter remained a virgin and was dedicated to the tabernacle for some service in accordance with her gender. St. ap. 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