Judges 10–11

Tola and Jair

10After Abimelech there arose to ^hsave Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in ⁱthe hill country of Ephraim. ²And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.

³After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴And he had thirty sons who ^jrode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, ^kwhich are in the land of Gilead. ⁵And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Further Disobedience and Oppression

^6lThe people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord ^mand served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, ⁿthe gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they ^oforsook the Lord and did not serve him. ⁷So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and ^phe sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, ⁸and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. ⁹And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

¹⁰And the people of Israel ^qcried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because ^rwe have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.” ¹¹And the Lord said to the people of Israel, “Did I not save you ^sfrom the Egyptians and ^tfrom the Amorites, ^ufrom the Ammonites and ^vfrom the Philistines? ¹²The Sidonians also, and ^wthe Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I ^xsaved you out of their hand. ¹³Yet you have ^yforsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. ¹⁴Go and cry out ^zto the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” ¹⁵And the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.” ¹⁶So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and ^ahe became impatient over the misery of Israel.

¹⁷Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at ^bMizpah. ¹⁸And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? ^cHe shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah Delivers Israel

11Now ^dJephthah the Gileadite was ^ea mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ²And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^fTob, and ^gworthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. ⁵And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of ^fTob. ⁶And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷But 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 distress?” ⁸And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and ^hbe our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” ¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ⁱ“The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.” ¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people ^jmade him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words ^kbefore the Lord at ^lMizpah.

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^m“Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the ⁿArnon to the ^oJabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” ¹⁴Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^pIsrael did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, ¹⁶but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness ^qto the Red Sea and ^rcame to Kadesh. ^17sIsrael then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ ^tbut the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^uremained at Kadesh.

¹⁸“Then they journeyed through the wilderness and ^vwent around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and ^warrived on the east side of the land of Moab and ^xcamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. ^19yIsrael then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’ ²⁰but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. ²¹And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²²And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? ²⁴Will you not possess what ^zChemosh your god gives you to possess? ^aAnd all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. ²⁵Now are you any better than ^bBalak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? ²⁶While Israel lived ^cin Heshbon and its villages, and ^din Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? ²⁷I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. ^eThe Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.” ²⁸But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

^29fThen the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. ³⁰And Jephthah ^gmade a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹then whatever¹ comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites ^hshall be the Lord’s, and ⁱI will offer it² up for a burnt offering.” ³²So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of ^jMinnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

³⁴Then Jephthah came to his home at ^kMizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him ^lwith tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, ^mand I cannot take back my vow.” ³⁶And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” ³⁷So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, ⁿwho did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.