Jephthah was a Gileadite warrior and judge in Israel. He was the son of Gilead and a prostitute, first cast out by his half-brothers, but later called back to lead the fight against the Ammonites. He is best known for his foolish vow to the Lord and his victory over the Ammonites.
Jephthah was driven away by his half-brothers because he was the son of a prostitute, and they denied him any inheritance. He fled to the land of Tob and gathered a band of adventurers around him.
2Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when her sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out. "You will inherit nothing in our father's house," they told him, "for you are the son of another woman."
7But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Weren't you the ones who hated me and drove me out of my father's house? Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?"
8The elders of Gilead answered, "That is why we have turned to you now. Come with us and fight the Ammonites, and you shall be head over all of us who live in Gilead."
11So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their head and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his words before the LORD at Mizpah.
Shiphtham first attempted diplomacy and sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with a historical defense of Israel's right to the land, but the king rejected the negotiations.
13The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Now give those lands back peaceably."
17Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Please let us pass through your land.' But the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.
18Then they journeyed through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, where they camped on the far side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was Moab's border.
19Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, 'Please let us pass through your land to our own place.'
21And the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his troops into Israel's hand, and they struck them down. So Israel took possession of the whole land of the Amorites who lived in that country.
24Will you not take possession of whatever Chemosh your god gives you? So we will take possession of whatever the LORD our God has driven out before us.
26For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon. Why did you not reclaim them in all that time?
27I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by making war on me. Let the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites."
Before the battle against the Ammonites, Shiphtham made a vow to the Lord to offer as a sacrifice whatever first came out of his door if he won victory. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he defeated the Ammonites.
29Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed through Gilead and Manasseh, passed by Mizpah of Gilead, and from there advanced against the Ammonites.
31then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the Ammonites shall belong to the LORD, and I will offer him up as a burnt offering.
33He struck them down from Aroer to the outskirts of Minnith—twenty towns—and as far as Abel Keramim. It was a crushing blow, and the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.
When Shiphtham returned home, it was his only daughter who came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. After two months in the mountains, he fulfilled his vow, and she had never known a man.
34When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She was his only child; he had no other son or daughter.
35When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh, my daughter! You have brought me to my knees; you have become the cause of my ruin. I have opened my mouth to the LORD and I cannot take it back."
36She said to him, "My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD. Do to me as you have vowed, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, the Ammonites.
37She said to her father, "Grant me this one request: give me two months to go and wander the hills with my friends and weep, because I will never marry."
40that year after year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.[^1]
[^1]: Or "to lament for"; the Hebrew verb is rare and may mean either to recount or to mourn.