1Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a woman who fornicated; and Gilead begot Jephthah.2The wife of Gilead bore sons to him, and the sons of the woman grew up; then they drove out Jephthah and said to him, "You shall not inherit in the house of our father, for you are the son of another woman."3So Jephthah fled from before his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; worthless men gathered themselves to Jephthah and went out with him.4After some time the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.5When the sons of Ammon fought against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.6They said to Jephthah, "Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon."7Jephthah answered the elders of Gilead, "Did you not hate me and drive me out from my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?"8The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "We have now returned to you; come with us, fight against the sons of Ammon, and be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."9Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me back to fight against the sons of Ammon and the LORD gives them into my hand, I will be your head."10The elders of Gilead replied to Jephthah, "The LORD will be witness between us; we will surely do according to your word."11Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and leader over them; Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah.12Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, "What have I to do with you, that you have come to me to fight against my land?"13The king of the sons of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and as far as the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably."14Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon.15He said to him, "Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the sons of Ammon.16For when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.17Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let us pass through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen; likewise he sent to the king of Moab, but he refused; so Israel remained at Kadesh.18Then Israel went through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, approached the sunrise side of the land of Moab, and camped beyond the Arnon; they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.19Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and said to him, "Please let us pass through your land to our place.20But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; instead Sihon gathered all his people, camped at Jahaz, and fought against Israel.21The LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them and took possession of all the land of the Amorite who inhabited that land.22They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan.23So now the LORD, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; will you dispossess them?24Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So we will possess whatever the LORD our God has dispossessed from before us.25And now, are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel or fight against them?26While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are beside the Arnon for three hundred years, why then did you not recover them at that time?27I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war on me; let the LORD, the Judge, decide this day between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.28But the king of the sons of Ammon paid no attention to the words that Jephthah sent to him.29Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah; he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed on to the sons of Ammon.30Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand,31then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon shall belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."32So Jephthah passed on to the sons of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD gave them into his hand.33He struck them from Aroer as far as Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a very great slaughter; thus the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.34When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dances; she was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.35When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of my trouble, for I have opened my mouth to the LORD and cannot take back my vow."36She 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, since the LORD has given you vengeance against your enemies, the sons of Ammon."37She also said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months, that I may go and wander upon the mountains and weep over my virginity, I and my companions."38He said, "Go," and he sent her away for two months; she departed with her companions and wept on the mountains over her virginity.39At the end of two months she returned to her father, and he did to her according to the vow he had made; she had never known a man. And it became a custom in Israel40that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.