Judges 11:12–28

¹²And 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?” ¹³And 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.” ¹⁴Once 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. ¹⁷Israel 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. ¹⁸Then 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 they^r encamped beyond the Arnon; and they did not go into the territory of Moab because the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹Israel 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. ²¹And 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 Amorites^u inhabiting that land. ²²They occupied all the territory of the Amorites^v from the Arnon up to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness up to the Jordan. ²³So then Yahweh, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites^w from before his people Israel, and you want to possess it? ²⁴Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gave you to possess? Whoever Yahweh our God has driven out before us, we will possess it. ²⁵So 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? ²⁶When 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? ²⁷I 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.