Jephthah Delivers Israel

1And there was one Iephthah a Gileadite, a strong man, the sonne of an harlot. 2And Gilead begat Iephthah: And Gileads wyfe bare him sonnes, which when they were come to age, thrust out Iephthah, and said vnto him: Thou shalt not inherite in our fathers house, for thou art the sonne of a straunge woman. 3Then Iephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the lande of Tob: And there gathered ydle men to Iephthah, and went out with him.

4And in processe of time, the children of Ammon made warre agaynst Israel. 5And when the children of Ammon fought thus agaynst Israel, the elders of Gilead went to set Iephthah out of the lande of Tob, 6And sayde vnto him: Come, and be our captayne, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. 7Iephthah aunswered the elders of Gilead: Dyd not ye hate me, & expell me out of my fathers house? howe then come you vnto me nowe in time of your tribulation? 8And the elders of Gilead sayde vnto Iephthah: Therfore we turne agayne to thee nowe, that thou mayest go with vs, & fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head ouer all the inhabitauntes of Gilead. 9And Iephthah sayde vnto the elders of Gilead: If ye bring me home againe to fight against the children of Ammon, then yf the Lorde deliuer them before me, shall I be your head? 10And the elders of Gilead sayd to Iephthah: The Lorde be witnesse betweene vs, if we do not according to thy wordes. 11Then Iephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and ye people made hym head & captayne ouer them: And Iephthah rehearsed al his wordes before the Lorde in Mispah.

12And Iephthah sent messengers vnto the king of the children of Ammon, saying: What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me, to fight in my lande? 13The king of the children of Ammon aunswered vnto ye messengers of Iephthah: Because Israel toke away my lande when they came out of Egypt, euen from Arnon vnto Iabok, and vnto Iordane: Nowe therfore restore those landes agayne with faire meanes. 14And Iephthah sent messengers agayne vnto the king of the children of Ammon, 15And sayd vnto him, thus sayth Iephthah: Israel toke not away the lande of Moab, nor the lande of the children of Ammon. 16But when Israel came vp fro Egypt, and walked thorowe the wildernesse, euen vnto ye red sea, they came to Cades: 17And Israel sent messengers vnto the king of Edom, saying, Let me I praye thee go thorow thy lande: But the king of Edo would not agree therto. And in lyke maner they sent vnto the king of Moab: but he woulde not consent. And Israel abode stil in Cades. 18And then they went along thorowe the wildernesse, and compassed the land of Edom, & the land of Moab, and came along by the east syde of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, and woulde not come within the coast of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. 19And then Israel sent messengers vnto Sehon king of the Amorites, & king of Hesbon, and sayde vnto him: Let vs passe we pray thee thorow thy land vnto our owne countrey. 20But Sehon consented not to Israel, that he shoulde go thorowe his coast: but gathered all his people together, & pitched in Iasa, & fought with Israel. 21And the Lorde God of Israel deliuered Sehon & all his folke into the handes of Israel, and they smote them: So Israel smote them, and possessed all the land of the Amorites the inhabitauntes of that countrey. 22And they possessed al the coastes of the Amorites, from Arnon vnto Iabok, & from the wildernesse vnto Iordane. 23So nowe, seyng the Lord God of Israel hath cast out the Amorites before his people Israel, shouldest thou possesse it? 24Nay, but what people Camos thy God dryueth out, that lande possesse thou: Euen so whatsoeuer nation the Lord our God expelleth before vs, that lande ought we to enioy. 25And art thou better then Balac the sonne of Zephor king of Moab? Did he not stryue with Israel and fight against them, 26All the whyle Israel dwelt in Hesbon and her townes, in Aroer and her townes, and in all the cities that be along by ye coastes of Arnon three hundred yeres? Why did ye not recouer them in all that space? 27Wherfore I haue not synned agaynst thee, but thou doest me wrong to warre against me: The Lord therfore whiche is a iudge, be iudge this day betweene the children of Israel, and the children of Ammon. 28Howbeit, the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not vnto the wordes of Iephthah, which he sent him.

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

29Then the spirite of the Lord came vpo Iephthah, and he passed ouer to Gilead & to Manasses, and came to Mispah that lieth in Gilead, & from thence vnto the children of Ammon. 30And Iephthah vowed a vowe vnto ye Lorde, & sayd: If thou shalt deliuer the children of Ammon into my handes, 31Then that thing that commeth out of the doores of my house against me, whe I come home in peace from the children of Ammon, shalbe the Lordes, and I will offer it vp for a burnt offering. 32And so Iephthah went vnto the children of Ammon to fight agaynst them, and the Lorde deliuered them into his handes. 33And he smote them from Aroer tyll thou come to Mennith, euen twentie cities, and so foorth to the playne of the vineyardes, with an exceeding great slaughter: And thus the childre of Ammon were brought vnder, before the children of Israel.

34When Iephthah came to Misphah vnto his house, see, his daughter came out agaynst him with timbrelles and daunces, which was his onely chylde: so that beside her, he had neither sonne nor daughter. 35And when he sawe her, he rent his clotes, & sayde: Alas my daughter, thou hast brought me lowe, & art one of them that troubleth me: For I haue opened my mouth vnto the Lorde, and cannot go backe. 36And she sayde vnto him: My father, if thou haue opened thy mouth vnto the Lorde, then do with me according to it that proceeded out of thy mouth, for as much as the Lorde hath auenged thee of thyne enemies ye children of Ammon. 37And she sayd vnto her father, Do this much for me: Let me alone two monethes, that I may go to the mountaynes and bewayle my virginite, I and my felowes. 38And he sayd, go. And he sent her away two monethes: And so she went with her companions, & lamented her maydenhead vpon the mountaynes. 39And after the ende of two monethes, she turned agayne vnto her father, whiche dyd with her according to his vowe whiche he had vowed, & she had knowne no man: And it grewe to a custome in Israel, 40The daughters of Israel came yere by yere to lamet the daughter of Iephthah the Gileadite, foure dayes in a yere.