¹³The king of Ammon answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When the people of Israel left Egypt, they took my land. It stretched from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now give it back peacefully.”

¹⁴Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of Ammon. ¹⁵They said, “This is what Jephthah says: The people of Israel didn’t take away the land belonging to Moab or Ammon. ¹⁶When the people of Israel left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh. ¹⁷The people of Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom. They said, ‘Please let us go through your country.’ But the king of Edom wouldn’t listen to them. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab. But he wouldn’t allow it, either. So the people of Israel remained at Kadesh.

¹⁸“Then they went through the desert, by-passing Edom and Moab. They camped east of Moab—east of the Arnon River. They did not cross the Arnon River because it was Moab’s border.

¹⁹“Then the people of Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites. Sihon ruled from Heshbon. The people of Israel said to him, ‘Please let us go through your land to our own.’ ²⁰But Sihon did not trust the Israelites enough to let them go through his territory. Sihon assembled all his troops. He camped at Jahaz and attacked Israel. ²¹But the Lord God of Israel handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel. Israel defeated them and took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived there. ²²Israel took all the Amorite territory from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and from the desert to the Jordan River.

²³“The Lord God of Israel forced the Amorites out of the way of his people Israel. So what right do you have to take it back? ²⁴Shouldn’t you take possession of what your god Chemosh took for you? Shouldn’t we take everything the Lord our God took for us? ²⁵You’re not any better than Balak, son of King Zippor of Moab, are you? Did he ever have a case against Israel? Or did he ever fight against Israel? ²⁶Israel has now lived in Heshbon, Aroer, all their villages, and in all the cities along the Arnon River for 300 years. Why didn’t you recapture these cities during that time? ²⁷I haven’t sinned against you. But you have done wrong by waging war against me. The Lord is the judge who will decide today whether Israel or Ammon is right.”

²⁸But the king of Ammon didn’t listen to the message Jephthah sent him.

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