New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Judges 11
1
Jephthah was a mighty warrior. He was from the land of Gilead. His father's name was Gilead. Jephthah's mother was a prostitute.
Reference
People
2
Gilead's wife also had sons by him. When they had grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You aren't going to get any share of our family's property," they said. "You are the son of another woman."
3
So Jephthah ran away from his brothers. He settled in the land of Tob. A group of men who weren't good for anything gathered around him there. And they followed him.
Reference
📍 Tob
4
Some time later, the Ammonites went to war against Israel.
Reference
References Israel
Judges 10:9
5
So the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
📍 Tob
6
"Come with us," they said. "Be our commander. Then we can fight against the Ammonites."
7
Jephthah said to them, "Didn't you hate me? Didn't you drive me away from my father's house? Why are you coming to me only when you are in trouble?"
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 26:27
8
The elders of Gilead replied to him. "You are right," they said. "That's why we're turning to you now. Come with us and fight against the Ammonites. Then you will be our leader. You will rule over everyone who lives in Gilead."
Reference
Parallel theme
Judges 10:18
9
Jephthah said, "Suppose you take me back to fight against the Ammonites. And suppose the Lord gives them over to me. Then will I really be your leader?"
10
The elders of Gilead replied, "The Lord is our witness. We'll certainly do as you say."
Reference
11
So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead. And the people made him their leader and commander. He went to Mizpah. There he repeated to the Lord everything he had said.
Reference
Creation
1 Samuel 11:15
Parallel theme
Judges 10:17
James 1:5
James 1:17
References Lord
Judges 20:1
1 Samuel 10:17
12
Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon. They asked, "What do you have against us? Why have you attacked our country?"
Reference
Kingdom
Deuteronomy 2:26
13
The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers. He said, "Israel came up out of Egypt. At that time they took my land away. They took all of the land that was between the Arnon River and the Jabbok River. It reached all the way to the Jordan River. Now give it back. Then there will be peace."
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 32:22
14
Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon.
15
They said, "Here is what Jephthah says to you. Israel didn't take the land of Moab. They didn't take the land of Ammon.
Reference
16
When Israel came up out of Egypt, they went through the desert to the Red Sea. From there they went on to Kadesh.
Reference
17
"Then 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 sent the same message to the king of Moab. But he refused too. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.
Reference
References Israel
Numbers 20:1
18
"Next, they traveled through the desert. They traveled along the borders of the lands of Edom and Moab. They passed along the east side of the country of Moab. They camped on the other side of the Arnon River. They didn't enter the territory of Moab. The Arnon River was Moab's border.
Reference
Parallel theme
Numbers 22:36
19
"Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon. He was the king of the Amorites. He ruled in Heshbon. They said to him, 'Let us pass through your country to our own land.'
20
"But Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his territory. Instead, he gathered all of his men together. They camped at Jahaz. And they fought against Israel.
21
"Then the Lord, the God of Israel, handed Sihon and all of his men over to Israel. Israel won the battle over them. Amorites were living in the country at that time. And Israel took over all of their land.
22
They captured all of the land that was between the Arnon River and the Jabbok River. It reached from the desert all the way to the Jordan River.
Reference
Parallel theme
Deuteronomy 2:36
23
"The Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out to make room for his people. So what right do you have to take it over?
24
You will take what your god Chemosh gives you, won't you? In the same way, we will take over what the Lord our God has given us.
Reference
Parallel theme
Numbers 21:29
Psalm 78:55
1 Kings 11:7
References God
Joshua 3:10
Micah 4:5
Deuteronomy 18:12
25
Are you better than Balak, the son of Zippor? Balak was the king of Moab. Did he ever argue with Israel? Did he ever fight against them?
Reference
Kingdom
Micah 6:5
26
"For 300 years Israel has been living in Heshbon and Aroer. They have been living in the settlements that are around those cities. They have also been living in all of the towns that are along the Arnon River. Why didn't you take those places back during that time?
Reference
Parallel theme
Deuteronomy 2:36
27
"I haven't done anything wrong to you. But you are doing something wrong to me. You have gone to war against me. The Lord is the Judge. So let him decide our case today. Let him settle matters between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon."
Reference
28
But the king of Ammon didn't pay any attention to the message Jephthah sent him.
Reference
Kingdom
2 Kings 14:11
29
Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He went across the territories of Gilead and Manasseh. He passed through Mizpah in the land of Gilead. From there he attacked the people of Ammon.
Reference
31
If you do, here's what I'll do when I come back from winning the battle. Anything that comes out the door of my house to meet me will belong to you. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
Reference
32
Then Jephthah went over to fight against the Ammonites. The Lord handed them over to him.
33
Jephthah destroyed 20 towns between Aroer and the area of Minnith. He destroyed them all the way to Abel Keramim. So Israel brought Ammon under their control.
Reference
📍 Locations
References Israel
Ezekiel 27:17
34
Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah. And guess who came out to meet him. It was his daughter! She was dancing to the music of tambourines. She was his only child. He didn't have any other sons or daughters.
Reference
35
When Jephthah saw her, he was so upset that he tore his clothes. He cried out, "My daughter! You have filled me with trouble and sorrow. I've made a promise to the Lord. And I can't break it."
36
"My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the Lord. So do to me just what you promised to do. The Ammonites were your enemies. And the Lord has paid them back for what they did to you.
Reference
References Lord
2 Samuel 18:19
37
"But please do one thing for me," she continued. "Give me two months to wander around in the hills. Let me sob there with my friends. I want to do that because I'll never get married."
Reference
Parallel theme
Luke 1:25
38
"You can go," he said. He let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills. They were filled with sadness because she would never get married.
39
After the two months were over, she returned to her father. He did to her just what he had promised to do. And she was a virgin. So that became a practice in Israel.
Reference
Parallel theme
Judges 11:31
40
Each year the young women of Israel go away for four days. They do it in honor of the daughter of Jephthah. He was from the land of Gilead.
Chapter Summary
Judges 11 describes the tale of Jephthah, a former outcast who rises to become a leader ofIsrael in the war against theAmmonites. Jephthah faces familial rejection but eventually persuades the people of Israel to choose him as their leader. He negotiates peace with the Ammonites but later repels them. After defeating theAmmonites, he performs a rash vow to God that brings him great sorrow and causes internal discord among the Israelites.
Jephthah is introduced to the reader as a mighty man of valour belonging toGilead. Gilead’s father is also named Gilead, but he is the son of a harlot. Gilead has other sons from his father, and they drive Jephthah away when he grows up because he is the son of another woman and is not entitled to his father’s inheritance.
Jephthah flees his home and finds refuge in the land of Tob. There, he finds ‘vain men’ who attach themselves to him, and Jephthah rules them as their leader. His experience as an outcast makes him well-suited for leadership.
The Ammonites are at war with Israel. When the Ammonites wage war against Gilead, the elders of Gilead come to Tob and implore Jephthah to be their captain in the war.
Jephthah asks them why they have come to him, saying that they have cast him off his father’s house. The elders said that they came because they wanted Jephthah to lead them and bring them back from the Ammonites’ hands. They promise that if Jephthah comes back with them, he shall rule over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
Jephthah agrees but asks them to swear to him by the covenant of the Lord before the people of Mizpeh. He arrives with them, and they make him the ruler of Gilead.
Before waging war, Jephthah sends messengers to the king ofAmmon and asks why they have come out against Israel.
TheAmmonite king replies that Israel stole his land when they came out against Egypt. He demanded that Israel return it to them peacefully.
Jephthah replies to them with a long message recounting the history ofIsrael’s travels. It says that Israel asked permission from Edom andMoabto buy provisions but that they were refused. Israel therefore went back back into the wilderness and came to the land ofSihonking of the Amorites. Israel asked him to buy provisions and pass through his land, but he refused. He gathered together his host and fought Israel, but the Lord gave him into Israel’s hands, and they took possession of his land.
Jephthah continued to say that Israel stayed in the land of the Amorites for three hundred years. If theAmmonites thought that they had a claim to the land, why had they not come against Israel in all these years? Israel had not taken the land that belonged toAmmon or the gods ofAmmon, but theLordhad given them all that the Ammorites had.
The king ofAmmon does not accept what Jephthah says, and the peace discussions break down. The Spirit of the Lord comes to Jephthah, and he goes through Gilead and Manasseh to gather his army. He goes before the Lord and vows that he will give them a burnt offering of whomever first comes out of the door of his house to meet him when he comes back from battle against the Ammonites.
Jephthah wages war againstAmmon, and the Lord delivers them into his hands. He kills all the people ofAmmon, from Aroer toMinith andAbel-cheramim. It is such a great slaughter that it extends all the way from Aroer (the city) toMinith (the city) to Abel-cheramim. The entire army ofAmmon is subdued before the children of Israel.
When Jephthah comes back to Mizpeh, his daughter comes to him, and she is his only child, for he had no son or daughter.
Jephthah rends his clothes saying that he will take her to his wife, but he has opened his mouth to the Lord. Her father tells his daughter that he has vowed a vow to the Lord, and she cannot turn back Jephthah’s vow. The daughter of Jephthah speaks to her father and says that she shall go two months with her friends, and she shall mourn her virginity. And her father allows her, and she goes with her friends and mourns her virginity.
After two months, she comes back to her father, and he does according to his vow that he vowed. It is unclear what Jephthah does with her, but the passage says that he did to her according to his vow. However, she knew no man.
The Bible interpreters have struggled with this passage. If we believe that Jephthah did the thing that he vowed, it seems quite monstrous, but if we believe that Jephthah vowed that she should be a perpetual virgin and burnt offering to the Lord, it also seems monstrous. The text does not say much more about it, and this is one of the most confusing parts of Scripture.
It goes on to say that the daughters of Israel repeated this practice, going every year to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.
The chapter closes by talking about the conflict between Jephthah and the men of Ephraim. The Ephraimites accuse Jephthah of not calling them when they fought theAmmonites. They come up to him and tell him that they would burn him and his house to the ground.
Jephthah responds that he fought them and called them, but they did not come to his aid when they fought theAmmonites. Therefore, he went himself and defeated theAmmonites, but the Ephraimites came after him in battle.
Jephthah and the Ephraimites fight one another, but the Ephraimites are defeated and killed by Jephthah’s soldiers, who take possession of the Jordan bridges. The Ephraimites attempt to flee toward theJordanriver, but Jephthah’s soldiers cut them down. The soldiers test the Ephraimites to identify them by asking them to say “Shibboleth,” but the Ephraimites say “Shiboloth” instead. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites, all men, are killed at theJordanriver crossings.
Jephthah judges Israel for six years before dying and being buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
Judges 11 introduces us to the complex character of Jephthah. He is a man who is cast out of his home but eventually becomes a military leader in Israel. He exercises caution by negotiating first before going to war against theAmmonites, but he shows rashness in making the vow. His story demonstrates how complicated the time of the judges was. Israel needed a deliverer, and even though the leaders of Israel were corrupt and self-serving, the people still had some faith that they could rally behind a new leader to fight theAmmonites.
Despite defeating one enemy, the Israelites turned on one another and made internal discord. Jephthah’s story also demonstrates the importance of keeping covenants. Jephthah was rash to vow but still felt bound to keep his covenant with God. Despite his military brilliance and leadership, the rash vow he made brought great grief and sorrow to his family and led to internal discord in Israel after the great victory.
Jephthah is introduced to the reader as a mighty man of valour belonging toGilead. Gilead’s father is also named Gilead, but he is the son of a harlot. Gilead has other sons from his father, and they drive Jephthah away when he grows up because he is the son of another woman and is not entitled to his father’s inheritance.
Jephthah flees his home and finds refuge in the land of Tob. There, he finds ‘vain men’ who attach themselves to him, and Jephthah rules them as their leader. His experience as an outcast makes him well-suited for leadership.
The Ammonites are at war with Israel. When the Ammonites wage war against Gilead, the elders of Gilead come to Tob and implore Jephthah to be their captain in the war.
Jephthah asks them why they have come to him, saying that they have cast him off his father’s house. The elders said that they came because they wanted Jephthah to lead them and bring them back from the Ammonites’ hands. They promise that if Jephthah comes back with them, he shall rule over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
Jephthah agrees but asks them to swear to him by the covenant of the Lord before the people of Mizpeh. He arrives with them, and they make him the ruler of Gilead.
Before waging war, Jephthah sends messengers to the king ofAmmon and asks why they have come out against Israel.
TheAmmonite king replies that Israel stole his land when they came out against Egypt. He demanded that Israel return it to them peacefully.
Jephthah replies to them with a long message recounting the history ofIsrael’s travels. It says that Israel asked permission from Edom andMoabto buy provisions but that they were refused. Israel therefore went back back into the wilderness and came to the land ofSihonking of the Amorites. Israel asked him to buy provisions and pass through his land, but he refused. He gathered together his host and fought Israel, but the Lord gave him into Israel’s hands, and they took possession of his land.
Jephthah continued to say that Israel stayed in the land of the Amorites for three hundred years. If theAmmonites thought that they had a claim to the land, why had they not come against Israel in all these years? Israel had not taken the land that belonged toAmmon or the gods ofAmmon, but theLordhad given them all that the Ammorites had.
The king ofAmmon does not accept what Jephthah says, and the peace discussions break down. The Spirit of the Lord comes to Jephthah, and he goes through Gilead and Manasseh to gather his army. He goes before the Lord and vows that he will give them a burnt offering of whomever first comes out of the door of his house to meet him when he comes back from battle against the Ammonites.
Jephthah wages war againstAmmon, and the Lord delivers them into his hands. He kills all the people ofAmmon, from Aroer toMinith andAbel-cheramim. It is such a great slaughter that it extends all the way from Aroer (the city) toMinith (the city) to Abel-cheramim. The entire army ofAmmon is subdued before the children of Israel.
When Jephthah comes back to Mizpeh, his daughter comes to him, and she is his only child, for he had no son or daughter.
Jephthah rends his clothes saying that he will take her to his wife, but he has opened his mouth to the Lord. Her father tells his daughter that he has vowed a vow to the Lord, and she cannot turn back Jephthah’s vow. The daughter of Jephthah speaks to her father and says that she shall go two months with her friends, and she shall mourn her virginity. And her father allows her, and she goes with her friends and mourns her virginity.
After two months, she comes back to her father, and he does according to his vow that he vowed. It is unclear what Jephthah does with her, but the passage says that he did to her according to his vow. However, she knew no man.
The Bible interpreters have struggled with this passage. If we believe that Jephthah did the thing that he vowed, it seems quite monstrous, but if we believe that Jephthah vowed that she should be a perpetual virgin and burnt offering to the Lord, it also seems monstrous. The text does not say much more about it, and this is one of the most confusing parts of Scripture.
It goes on to say that the daughters of Israel repeated this practice, going every year to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.
The chapter closes by talking about the conflict between Jephthah and the men of Ephraim. The Ephraimites accuse Jephthah of not calling them when they fought theAmmonites. They come up to him and tell him that they would burn him and his house to the ground.
Jephthah responds that he fought them and called them, but they did not come to his aid when they fought theAmmonites. Therefore, he went himself and defeated theAmmonites, but the Ephraimites came after him in battle.
Jephthah and the Ephraimites fight one another, but the Ephraimites are defeated and killed by Jephthah’s soldiers, who take possession of the Jordan bridges. The Ephraimites attempt to flee toward theJordanriver, but Jephthah’s soldiers cut them down. The soldiers test the Ephraimites to identify them by asking them to say “Shibboleth,” but the Ephraimites say “Shiboloth” instead. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites, all men, are killed at theJordanriver crossings.
Jephthah judges Israel for six years before dying and being buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
Judges 11 introduces us to the complex character of Jephthah. He is a man who is cast out of his home but eventually becomes a military leader in Israel. He exercises caution by negotiating first before going to war against theAmmonites, but he shows rashness in making the vow. His story demonstrates how complicated the time of the judges was. Israel needed a deliverer, and even though the leaders of Israel were corrupt and self-serving, the people still had some faith that they could rally behind a new leader to fight theAmmonites.
Despite defeating one enemy, the Israelites turned on one another and made internal discord. Jephthah’s story also demonstrates the importance of keeping covenants. Jephthah was rash to vow but still felt bound to keep his covenant with God. Despite his military brilliance and leadership, the rash vow he made brought great grief and sorrow to his family and led to internal discord in Israel after the great victory.