Judges 10–11

Tola

10After the time of Abimelek,^k a man of Issachar^l named Tola son of Puah,^m the son of Dodo, rose to saveⁿ Israel. He lived in Shamir,^o in the hill country of Ephraim. ²He led^a Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.

Jair

³He was followed by Jair^p of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. ⁴He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys.^q They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.^{br 5}When Jair^s died, he was buried in Kamon.

Jephthah

⁶Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.^t They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths,^u and the gods of Aram,^v the gods of Sidon,^w the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites^x and the gods of the Philistines.^y And because the Israelites forsook the Lord^z and no longer served him, ⁷he became angry^a with them. He sold them^b into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, ⁸who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead,^c the land of the Amorites. ⁹The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah,^d Benjamin and Ephraim;^e Israel was in great distress. ¹⁰Then the Israelites cried^f out to the Lord, “We have sinned^g against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”^h

¹¹The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians,ⁱ the Amorites,^j the Ammonites,^k the Philistines,^{l 12}the Sidonians, the Amalekites^m and the Maonites^cn oppressed you^o and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? ¹³But you have forsaken^p me and served other gods,^q so I will no longer save you. ¹⁴Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save^r you when you are in trouble!^s”

¹⁵But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best,^t but please rescue us now.” ¹⁶Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord.^u And he could bear Israel’s misery^v no longer.^w

¹⁷When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.^{x 18}The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head^y over all who live in Gilead.”

11Jephthah^z the Gileadite was a mighty warrior.^a His father was Gilead;^b his mother was a prostitute.^{c 2}Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” ³So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob,^d where a gang of scoundrels^e gathered around him and followed him.

⁴Some time later, when the Ammonites^f were fighting against Israel, ⁵the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶“Come,” they said, “be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.”

⁷Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house?^g Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”

⁸The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head^h over all of us who live in Gilead.”

⁹Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me—will I really be your head?”

¹⁰The elders of Gilead replied, “The Lord is our witness;ⁱ we will certainly do as you say.” ¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders^j of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated^k all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.^l

¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?”

¹³The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon^m to the Jabbok,ⁿ all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”

¹⁴Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, ¹⁵saying:

“This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab^o or the land of the Ammonites.^{p 16}But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea^aq and on to Kadesh.^{r 17}Then Israel sent messengers^s to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’^t but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab,^u and he refused.^v So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

¹⁸“Next they traveled through the wilderness, skirted the lands of Edom^w and Moab, passed along the eastern side^x of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon.^y They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.

¹⁹“Then Israel sent messengers^z to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon,^a and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your country to our own place.’^{b 20}Sihon, however, did not trust Israel^b to pass through his territory. He mustered all his troops and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.^c

²¹“Then the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel’s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, ²²capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.^d

²³“Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? ²⁴Will you not take what your god Chemosh^e gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us,^f we will possess. ²⁵Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor,^g king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them?^{h 26}For three hundred years Israel occupiedⁱ Heshbon, Aroer,^j the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time? ²⁷I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge,^k decide^l the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.^m”

²⁸The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.

²⁹Then the Spiritⁿ of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah^o of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.^{p 30}And Jephthah made a vow^q to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, ³¹whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph^r from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.^s”

³²Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. ³³He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith,^t as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

³⁴When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing^u to the sound of timbrels!^v She was an only child.^w Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵When he saw her, he tore his clothes^x and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.^y”

³⁶“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised,^z now that the Lord has avenged you^a of your enemies,^b the Ammonites. ³⁷But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

³⁸“You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. ³⁹After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

From this comes the Israelite tradition ⁴⁰that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.