¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior, and he was the son of a harlot woman, and it was Gilead who begot Jephthah. ²And Gilead's wife bore him sons, and his wife's sons grew up and drove Jephthah out, and they said to him, “You will not inherit anything in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³At this Jephthah fled from his brothers, and he dwelt in the land of Tob, and some idle men gathered around Jephthah and went out with him. ⁴And it came to pass after a number of days that the sons of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵And it so happened as the sons of Ammon were fighting against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, and let us fight against the sons of Ammon.” ⁷Then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Have you not hated me and driven me out of my father's house? So why have you come to me now that you are in a strait?” ⁸And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “This is why we have now turned to you: for you to come with us and fight against the sons of Ammon, and you will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹Then Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you are bringing me back to fight against the sons of Ammon, when the Lord has delivered them before me, then I will be your head.” ¹⁰Then the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “May the Lord hold us to account if we do not act according to your words.” ¹¹Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him to be head over them and a leader, and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. ¹²Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon and said, “What is the issue between me and you that you should come to me to fight in my land?” ¹³And the king of the sons of Ammon said to Jephthah's messengers, “Because Israel took my land when it came up from Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and up to the Jordan. So now, give it back in peace.” ¹⁴Then Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁵and he said to him, “This is what Jephthah says: ‘Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁶for when it came up from Egypt, Israel went into the desert, to the Red Sea, and it came to Kadesh. ¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom and said, «Please let me cross your land.» But the king of Edom did not consent. And it also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he was not willing, and Israel stayed in Kadesh. ¹⁸And it went into the desert, and it went round the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and it came to the land of Moab from the sunrise direction, and they encamped across the Arnon, but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon is the border of Moab. ¹⁹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites – the king of Heshbon – and Israel said to him, «Please let us cross through your land to our place.» ²⁰But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross its territory, and Sihon gathered all his people, and they encamped at Jahaz, and he did battle with Israel. ²¹And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into Israel's hand, and they struck them, and Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land. ²²So they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the desert to the Jordan. ²³So now that the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites before his people Israel, will you then take possession of it? ²⁴Is it not so, that whatever Chemosh your god dispossesses for you, you take possession of? And that everything that the Lord our God dispossesses before us, we take possession of? ²⁵So now, are you really any better than Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he strive vehemently with Israel, or did he fight fiercely against them? ²⁶When Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its satellites, and in Aroer and its satellites, and in all the cities alongside the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not deliver these places, at that time? ²⁷And I have not committed any offence against you, but you are doing wrong with me in fighting me. May the Lord, the judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.’ ” ²⁸But the king of the sons of Ammon did not favourably receive the words of Jephthah which he had sent to him. ²⁹Then the spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he crossed Gilead and Manasseh, and he crossed Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he crossed over to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰Then Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and he said, “If you will make a point of delivering the sons of Ammon into my hand, ³¹then it will be the case that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon will be the Lord's, or I will offer it as a burnt offering.” ³²Then Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hand. ³³And he struck them from Aroer to where one approaches Minnith – twenty cities – and as far as Abel-Keramim, with a very great blow, and the sons of Ammon were humiliated before the sons of Israel. ³⁴Then Jephthah went to Mizpah, to his house, and what should happen but his daughter came out to meet him, with timbrels and dancing, and moreover, she was an only child – besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵And it came to pass when he saw her that he tore his clothes, and he said, “Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low, and you have joined those who cause me sorrow, for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot reverse it.” ³⁶Then she said to him, “My father, have you opened your mouth to the Lord? Do to me according to what was uttered from your mouth, since the Lord has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, on the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me – leave me alone for two months, and I will go up and down on the mountains and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸And he said, “Go.” And he sent her off for two months. So she went – she and her companions – and she bewailed her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹Then it came to pass after two months that she returned to her father, and he performed with her his vow which he had made, and she did not know a man, and it became a statute in Israel. ⁴⁰On these days, as they recur, the daughters of Israel go to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, for four days per year.