12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the ⌊Ammonites⌋,l saying, “What is between you and me that you have come to me to make war against my land?” 13 And the king of the ⌊Ammonites⌋m said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel took my land from the Arnon up to the Jabbok and the Jordan when they came up from Egypt; so then, restore it peacefully.” 14 Once again Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the ⌊Ammonites⌋,n 15 and he said to him, “Thus says Jephthah, ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the ⌊Ammonites⌋,o 16 because when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the ⌊Red Sea⌋p and went to Kadesh. 17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let us cross through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. 18 Then they traveled through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and Moab, and came to ⌊the east⌋q side of the land of Moab, and theyr encamped beyond the Arnon; and they did not go into the territory of Moab because the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites,s king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us cross through your land ⌊to our country⌋.’t 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people and then encamped at Jahaz; and he made war with Israel. 21 And Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; and Israel occupied all the land of the Amoritesu inhabiting that land. 22 They occupied all the territory of the Amoritesv from the Arnon up to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness up to the Jordan. 23 So then Yahweh, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amoritesw from before his people Israel, and you want to possess it? 24 Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gave you to possess? Whoever Yahweh our God has driven out before us, we will possess it. 25 So then, are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel, or did he ever make war against them? 26 When Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns that are ⌊along the Arnon⌋,x for three hundred years,y why did you not recover them at that time? 27 I have not sinned against you; but you are the one who is doing wrong by making war against me. ⌊Let Yahweh judge⌋z today between the ⌊Israelites⌋a and the ⌊Ammonites⌋.”b 28 But the king of the ⌊Ammonites⌋c did not listen to the message that Jephthah sent to him.

Jephthah Makes a Vow

29 And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed through to the ⌊Ammonites⌋.d 30 And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, and he said, “If indeed you will give the ⌊Ammonites⌋e into my hand, 31 whateverf comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the ⌊Ammonites⌋g will be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it as a burnt offering.” 32 And Jephthah crossed over to the ⌊Ammonites⌋h to make war against them; and Yahweh gave them into his hand. 33 And he defeated them with a very great blow, from Aroer as far as Minnith, twenty towns,i up to Abel Keramim. And the ⌊Ammonites⌋j were subdued before the ⌊Israelites⌋.k

34 Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house, and behold his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She was his only child; he did not have a son or daughter except her. 35 And the moment he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Ah! My daughter, you have caused me to bow down, and you have become my trouble. ⌊I made an oath⌋l to Yahweh, and I cannot take it back.” 36 She said to him, “My father, ⌊you made an oath⌋m to Yahweh. Do to me according to what has gone out from your mouth, since Yahweh gave vengeance to you against your enemies, the ⌊Ammonites⌋.”n 37 And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months so that I may go wandero on the mountains and lament over my virginity, I and my companions. 38 And he said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months, and she went with her friends, and she lamented over her virginity on the mountains. 39 At the end of the two months she returned to her father, and he did to her according to his vow; and ⌊she did not sleep with a man⌋.p And it became an annual custom in Israel 40 for the daughters of Israel to go and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for forty days of the year.