Judges 11:12–28

JEPHTHAH REJECTS AMMONITE CLAIMS

¹²Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, asking, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight me in my land?”

¹³The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok^a and the Jordan. Now restore it peaceably.”

¹⁴Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶But when they came from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. ¹⁷Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us travel through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he refused. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.^b

¹⁸“Then they traveled through the wilderness and around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter into the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

¹⁹“Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon.^c Israel said to him, ‘Please let us travel through your land to our country,’ ²⁰but Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. Instead, Sihon gathered all his troops, camped at Jahaz, and fought with Israel. ²¹Then the Lord God of Israel handed over Sihon and all his troops to Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession^d of the entire land of the Amorites who lived in that country. ²²They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³“The Lord God of Israel has now driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, and will you now force us out? ²⁴Isn’t it true that you can have whatever your god Chemosh conquers for you, and we can have whatever the Lord our God conquers for us? ²⁵Now are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them? ²⁶While Israel lived three hundred years in Heshbon and Aroer and their surrounding villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, why didn’t you take them back at that time? ²⁷I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by fighting against me. Let the Lord who is the judge^e decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” ²⁸But the king of the Ammonites would not listen to Jephthah’s message that he sent him.