The Book of Judges

⭑ Catholic Public Domain :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 11 -

At that time, there was a Gileadite, Jephthah, a very strong man and a fighter, the son of a kept woman, and he was born of Gilead.(a)

Now Gilead had a wife, from whom he received sons. And they, after growing up, cast out Jephthah, saying, “You cannot inherit in the house of our father, because you were born of another mother.”

And so, fleeing and avoiding them, he lived in the land of Tob. And men who were indigent and robbers joined with him, and they followed him as their leader.

In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.

And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.

And they said to him, “Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon.”

But he answered them: “Are you not the ones who hated me, and who cast me out of my father’s house? And yet now you come to me, compelled by necessity?”

And the leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “But it is due to this necessity that we have approached you now, so that you may set out with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be commander over all who live in Gilead.”(b)

Jephthah also said to them: “If you have come to me so that I may fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and if the Lord will deliver them into my hands, will I truly be your leader?”

They answered him, “The Lord who hears these things is himself the Mediator and the Witness that we shall do what we have promised.”

And so Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and all the people made him their leader. And Jephthah spoke all his words, in the sight of the Lord, at Mizpah.

And he sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, who said on his behalf, “What is there between you and me, that you would approach against me, so that you might lay waste to my land?”

And he responded to them, “It is because Israel took my land, when he ascended from Egypt, from the parts of Arnon, as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan. Now therefore, restore these to me with peace.”

And Jephthah again commissioned them, and he ordered them to say to the king of Ammon:

“Jephthah says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon.

But when they ascended together from Egypt, he walked through the desert as far as the Red Sea, and he went into Kadesh.

And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Permit me to pass through your land.’ But he was not willing to agree to his petition. Likewise, he sent to the king of Moab, who also refused to offer him passage. And so he delayed in Kadesh,

and he circled around the side of the land of Edom and the land of Moab. And he arrived opposite the eastern region of the land of Moab. And he made camp across the Arnon. But he was not willing to enter the borders of Moab. (Of course, Arnon is the border of the land of Moab.)

And so Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who was living at Heshbon. And they said to him, “Permit me to cross through your land as far as the river.”

But he, too, despising the words of Israel, would not permit him to cross through his borders. Instead, gathering an innumerable multitude, he went out against him at Jahaz, and he resisted strongly.

But the Lord delivered him, with his entire army, into the hands of Israel. And he struck him down, and he possessed all the land of the Amorite, the inhabitant of that region,

with all its parts, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.

Therefore, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who overthrew the Amorites, by means of his people Israel fighting against them. And now you wish to possess his land?

Are not the things that your god Chemosh possesses owed to you by right? And so, what the Lord our God has obtained by victory falls to us as a possession.(c)

Or are you, perhaps, better than Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Or are you able to explain what his argument was against Israel, and why he fought against him?

And though he has lived in Heshbon, and its villages, and in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan for three hundred years, why have you, for such long a time, put forward nothing about this claim?

Therefore, I am not sinning against you, but you are doing evil against me, by declaring an unjust war against me. May the Lord be the Judge and the Arbiter this day, between Israel and the sons of Ammon.”

But the king of the sons of Ammon was not willing to agree to the words of Jephthah that he commissioned by the messengers.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

Therefore, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon Jephthah, and circling around Gilead, and Manasseh, and also Mizpah of Gilead, and crossing from there to the sons of Ammon,

he made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you will deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,

whoever will be the first to depart from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, the same will I offer as a holocaust to the Lord.”(d)

And Jephthah crossed to the sons of Ammon, so that he might fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands.

And he struck them down from Aroer, as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is covered with vineyards, in an exceedingly great slaughter. And the sons of Ammon were humbled by the sons of Israel.

But when Jephthah returned to Mizpah, to his own house, his only daughter met him with timbrels and dances. For he had no other children.

And upon seeing her, he tore his garments, and he said: “Alas, my daughter! You have cheated me, and you yourself have been cheated. For I opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do nothing else.”

And she answered him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me whatever you have promised, since victory has been granted to you, as well as vengeance against your enemies.”

And she said to her father: “Grant to me this one thing, which I request. Permit me, that I may wander the hillsides for two months, and that I may mourn my virginity with my companions.”(e)

And he answered her, “Go.” And he released her for two months. And when she had departed with her friends and companions, she wept over her virginity in the hillsides.

And when the two months expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her just as he had vowed, though she knew no man. From this, the custom grew up in Israel, and the practice has been preserved,(f)

such that, after each year passes, the daughters of Israel convene as one, and they lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, for four days.

Footnotes

(a)11:1 Jephthah mother was not a common prostitute, for then she could not have known who the father was (especially in that time period, when they did not understand conception). She must have been a kept woman, that is, a concubine of her father’s. Thus, she would know who the father would be, and would send the son to live with the father and his wife.(Conte)

(b)11:8 The pronoun ‘hanc’ refers to the ‘necessity’ in the previous verse. The translation states what the pronoun implies, for the sake of clarity.(Conte)

(c)11:24 Chamos:The idol of the Moabites and Ammonites. He argues from their opinion, who thought they had a just title to the countries which they imagined they had conquered by the help of their gods: how much more then had Israel in indisputable title to the countries which God, by visible miracles, had conquered for them.(Challoner)

(d)11:31 Whosoever, etc:Some are of opinion, that the meaning of this vow of Jephte, was to consecrate to God whatsoever should first meet him, according to the condition of the thing; so as to offer it up as a holocaust, if it were such a thing as might be offered by the law; or to devote it otherwise to God, if it were not such as the law allowed to be offered in sacrifice. And therefore they think the daughter of Jephte was not slain by her father, but only consecrated to perpetual virginity. But the common opinion followed by the generality of the holy fathers and divines is, that she was offered as a holocaust, in consequence of her father’s vow: and that Jephte did not sin, at least not mortally, neither in making, nor in keeping, his vow: since he is no ways blamed for it in scripture; and was even inspired by God himself to make the vow (as appears from ver. 29, 30) in consequence of which he obtained the victory; and therefore he reasonably concluded that God, who is the master of life and death, was pleased on this occasion to dispense with his own law; and that it was the divine will he should fulfil his vow.(Challoner)

(e)11:37 Bewail my virginity:The bearing of children was much coveted under the Old Testament, when women might hope that from some child of theirs, the Saviour of the world might one day spring. But under the New Testament virginity is preferred. 1 Cor. 7:35.(Challoner)

(f)11:39 St. Thomas Aquinas quotes St. Gregory saying, “If you have promised ill, break your faith.” Although Jephthah promised to kill whoever met him on his return, he should not have promised. God did not give him the victory in exchange for that immoral promise, but despite the promise. This also highlights the danger of making a deal with God in prayer, where, if God’s Providence and grace grants you a favor, you promise to do something. God may want to do the favor, but He also might not want what you are promising.(Conte)

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. He was the son of a prostitute. Gilead became the father of Jephthah.

Gilead’s wife bore him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will not inherit in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”

Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws joined up with Jephthah, and they went out with him.

After a while, the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

When the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob.

They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.”

Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me, and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”

The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight with the children of Ammon. You will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them before me, will I be your head?”

The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD will be witness between us. Surely we will do what you say.”

Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What do you have to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?”

The king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore that territory again peaceably.”

Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon;

and he said to him, “Jephthah says: Israel didn’t take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon;

but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh,

then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab, but he refused; so Israel stayed in Kadesh.

Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn’t come within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.

Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to my place.’

But Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

The LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

They possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.

So now the LORD, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them?

Won’t you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever the LORD our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.

Now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them?

Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the side of the Arnon for three hundred years! Why didn’t you recover them within that time?

Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me. May The LORD the Judge be judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.”

However, the king of the children of Ammon didn’t listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

Then the LORD’s Spirit came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.

Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, “If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,

then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hand.

He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I can’t go back.”

She said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, because the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon.”

Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.”

He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains.

At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. She was a virgin. It became a custom in Israel

that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.