1 Then Gilead begate Iphtah, and Iphtah the Gileadite was a valiant man, but the sonne of an harlot. 2 And Gileads wife bare him sonnes, and when the womans children were come to age, they thrust out Iphtah, and sayd vnto him, Thou shalt not inherite in our fathers house: for thou art the sonne of a strange woman. 3 Then Iphtah fledde from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there gathered idle fellowes to Iphtah, and went out with him. 4 And in processe of time the children of Ammon made warre with Israel. 5 And when the children of Ammon fought with Israel, the Elders of Gilead went to fet Iphtah out of the land of Tob. 6 And they saide vnto Iphtah, Come and be our captaine, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. 7 Iphtah then answered the Elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expell me out of my fathers house? how then come you vnto me now in time of your tribulation? 8 Then the Elders of Gilead saide vnto Iphtah, Therefore we turne againe to thee now, that thou mayest goe with vs, and fight against the children of Ammon, and bee our head ouer all the inhabitants of Gilead. 9 And Iphtah said vnto the Elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home againe to fight against the children of Ammon, if the Lord giue them before me, shall I be your head? 10 And the Elders of Gilead saide to Iphtah, The Lord be witnesse betweene vs, if we doe not according to thy wordes. 11 Then Iphtah went with the Elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captaine ouer them: and Iphtah rehearsed all his wordes before the Lord in Mizpeh. 12 Then Iphtah sent messengers vnto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to doe with me, that thou art come against me, to fight in my lande? 13 And the King of the children of Ammon answered vnto the messengers of Iphtah, Because Israel tooke my lande, when they came vp from Egypt, from Arnon vnto Iabbok, and vnto Iorden: now therefore restore those lands quietly. 14 Yet Iphtah sent messengers againe vnto the King of the children of Ammon, 15 And said vnto him, Thus saith Iphtah, Israel tooke not the lande of Moab, nor the lande of the children of Ammon. 16 But when Israel came vp from Egypt, and walked through the wildernesse vnto the redde Sea, then they came to Kadesh. 17 And Israel sent messengers vnto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, goe thorowe thy lande: but the King of Edom woulde not consent: and also they sent vnto the King of Moab, but he would not: therefore Israel abode in Kadesh. 18 Then they went through the wildernesse, and compassed the lande of Edom, and the lande of Moab, and came by the Eastside of the lande of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, and came not within the coast of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Also Israel sent messengers vnto Sihon, King of the Amorites, the King of Heshbon, and Israel said vnto him, Let vs passe, we pray thee, by thy lande vnto our place. 20 But Sihon consented not to Israel, that he shoulde goe through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Iahaz, and fought with Israel. 21 And the Lord God of Israel gaue Sihon and all his folke into the handes of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the lande of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that countrey: 22 And they possessed all the coast of the Amorites, from Arnon vnto Iabbok, and from the wildernesse euen vnto Iorden. 23 Nowe therefore the Lord God of Israel hath cast out the Amorites before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possesse it? 24 Wouldest not thou possesse that which Chemosh thy god giueth thee to possesse? So whomesoeuer the Lord our God driueth out before vs, them will we possesse. 25 And art thou nowe farre better then Balak the sonne of Zippor King of Moab? did he not striue with Israel and fight against them, 26 When Israel dwelt in Heshbon and in her townes, and in Aroer and in her townes, and in all the cities that are by the coastes of Arnon, three hundreth yeeres? why did ye not then recouer them in that space? 27 Wherefore, I haue not offended thee: but thou doest me wrong to warre against me. The Lord the Iudge be iudge this day betweene the children of Israel, and the children of Ammon. 28 Howbeit the King of the children of Ammon hearkened not vnto the wordes of Iphtah, which he had sent him. 29 Then the Spirite of the Lord came vpon Iphtah, and he passed ouer to Gilead and to Manasseh, and came to Mizpeh in Gilead, and from Mizpeh in Gilead he went vnto the children of Ammon. 30 And Iphtah vowed a vowe vnto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt deliuer the children of Ammon into mine handes, 31 Then that thing that commeth out of the doores of mine house to meete me, when I come home in peace from the children of Ammon, shall be the Lordes, and I will offer it for a burnt offering. 32 And so Iphtah went vnto the children of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord deliuered them into his handes. 33 And he smote them from Aroer euen till thou come to Minnith, twentie cities, and so foorth to Abel of the vineyardes, with an exceeding great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the children of Israel. 34 Nowe when Iphtah came to Mizpeh vnto his house, beholde, his daughter came out to meete him with timbrels and daunces, which was his onely childe: he had none other sonne, nor daughter. 35 And when hee sawe her, hee rent his clothes, and saide, Alas my daughter, thou hast brought me lowe, and art of them that trouble me: for I haue opened my mouth vnto the Lord, and can not goe backe. 36 And she said vnto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth vnto the Lord, doe with me as thou hast promised, seeing that the Lord hath auenged thee of thine enemies the children of Ammon. 37 Also she saide vnto her father, Doe thus much for me: suffer me two moneths, that I may goe to the mountaines, and bewaile my virginitie, I and my fellowes. 38 And he sayde, Goe: and he sent her away two moneths: so she went with her companions, and lamented her virginitie vpon the moutaines. 39 And after the ende of two moneths, she turned againe vnto her father, who did with her according to his vowe which he had vowed, and she had knowen no man. and it was a custome in Israel: 40 The daughters of Israel went yere by yere to lament the daughter of Iphtah the Gileadite, foure dayes in a yeere.
1 Jephthah, a brave soldier from Gilead, was the son of a prostitute. His father Gilead 2 had other sons by his wife, and when they grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave home. They told him, “You will not inherit anything from our father; you are the son of another woman.” 3 Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There he attracted a group of worthless men, and they went around with him.
4 It was some time later that the Ammonites went to war against Israel. 5 When this happened, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. 6 They told him, “Come and lead us, so that we can fight the Ammonites.”
7 But Jephthah answered, “You hated me so much that you forced me to leave my father's house. Why come to me now that you're in trouble?”
8 They said to Jephthah, “We are turning to you now because we want you to go with us and fight the Ammonites and lead all the people of Gilead.”
9 Jephthah said to them, “If you take me back home to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives me victory, I will be your ruler.”
10 They replied, “We agree. The Lord is our witness.” 11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and leader. Jephthah stated his terms at Mizpah in the presence of the Lord.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon to say, “What is your quarrel with us? Why have you invaded our country?”
13 The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers, “When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now you must give it back peacefully.”
14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon 15 with this answer: “It is not true that Israel took away the land of Moab or the land of Ammon. 16 This is what happened: when the Israelites left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Gulf of Aqaba and came to Kadesh. 17 Then they sent messengers to the king of Edom to ask permission to go through his land. But the king of Edom would not let them. They also asked the king of Moab, but neither would he let them go through his land. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh. 18 Then they went on through the desert, going around the land of Edom and the land of Moab until they came to the east side of Moab, on the other side of the Arnon River. They camped there, but they did not cross the Arnon because it was the boundary of Moab. 19 Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and asked him for permission to go through his country to their own land. 20 But Sihon would not let Israel do it. He brought his whole army together, camped at Jahaz, and attacked Israel. 21 But the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the Israelites victory over Sihon and his army. So the Israelites took possession of all the territory of the Amorites who lived in that country. 22 They occupied all the Amorite territory from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north and from the desert on the east to the Jordan on the west. 23 So it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites for his people, the Israelites. 24 Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything that the Lord, our God, has taken for us. 25 Do you think you are any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? He never challenged Israel, did he? Did he ever go to war against us? 26 For three hundred years Israel has occupied Heshbon and Aroer, and the towns around them, and all the cities on the banks of the Arnon River. Why haven't you taken them back in all this time? 27 No, I have not done you any wrong. You are doing wrong by making war on me. The Lord is the judge. He will decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” 28 But the king of Ammon paid no attention to this message from Jephthah.
29 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh and returned to Mizpah in Gilead and went on to Ammon. 30 Jephthah promised the Lord: “If you will give me victory over the Ammonites, 31 I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I come back from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice.”
32 So Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. 33 He struck at them from Aroer to the area around Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel Keramim. There was a great slaughter, and the Ammonites were defeated by Israel.
Jephthah's Daughter
34 When Jephthah went back home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, dancing and playing the tambourine. She was his only child. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes in sorrow and said, “Oh, my daughter! You are breaking my heart! Why must it be you that causes me pain? I have made a solemn promise to the Lord, and I cannot take it back!”
36 She told him, “If you have made a promise to the Lord, do what you said you would do to me, since the Lord has given you revenge on your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 But she asked her father, “Do this one thing for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the mountains and grieve that I must die a virgin.” 38 He told her to go and sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless. 39 After two months she came back to her father. He did what he had promised the Lord, and she died still a virgin.
This was the origin of the custom in Israel 40 that the Israelite women would go out for four days every year to grieve for the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.