1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor {chayil: proven battle strength}, and he was the son of a prostitute {zonah: woman selling sex}. Gilead fathered Jephthah.
2 And the wife of Gilead bore him sons, and when the sons of the woman grew up, they drove out Jephthah and said to him, “You will not inherit in the house of our father {avinu: family lineage}, because you are the son of another woman {ishah: not your mother}.”
3 So Jephthah fled from before his brothers and settled in the land of Tob. And worthless {reikim: without substance} men gathered themselves {vayitlaketu: self-organized group} to Jephthah, and they went out with him.
4 And it came to pass after some time {miyamim: elapsed period} that the sons {bnei: group designation} of Ammon fought with Israel.
5 And it happened, when the sons of Ammon fought with Israel, that the elders {ziknei: tribal council} of Gilead went to take Jephthah {yiftach: opener} from the land of Tob.
6 And they said to Jephthah, "Come, and you shall be commander {katzin: chief leader} for us, and let us fight against the sons {bivnei: opposing nation} of Ammon."
7 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Is it not you who hated me {sene’them: showed personal enmity} and drove me out from my father’s house? And why have you come to me now, when you are in distress {tsar: adversity}?”
8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore now, we have returned to you. Come with us, and you will fight against the sons of Ammon, and you will be for us as head {lerosh: chief leader} over all the inhabitants of Gilead {Gil’ad: the highland region}.”
9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you are bringing me back to fight against the sons of Ammon, and the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Deliverer} gives them before me, shall I be your head {lerosh: chief leader}?”
10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD {YHWH, Covenant Witness} will be a witness {shomea: hearing witness} between us, and if we do not act exactly according to your word, so shall we do.”
11 Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people set him over them as head and as commander. Then Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD {YHWH, Witness and Judge} in Mizpah {ba-mitzpah: a high place of assembly}.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers {malakhim: official envoys} to the king of the sons of Ammon to say, “What is there between me and you, that you have come to me to fight {hilakhem: armed conflict} in my land?”
13 And the king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, "Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from Arnon as far as the Jabbok and as far as the Jordan. Now return these places {artzi: my land, territorial claim} in peace {shalom: full reconciliation}."
14 Then Jephthah {Yiftach: Deliverer Judge} again sent messengers {malakhim: envoys} to the king of the sons of Ammon.
15 And he said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take the land of Moab {moav: eastern neighbor kingdom}, nor the land of the sons of Ammon {benei ammon: related tribal group}.”
16 For when they came up from Egypt, Israel {Yisrael: covenant people} went through the wilderness {midbar: desolate region} until the Sea of Reeds and came to Kadesh.
17 Then Israel {Yisrael: Covenant People} sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please let me pass through your land {eretz: territorial possession},” but the king of Edom would not listen. He also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel remained at Kadesh.
18 And they went through the wilderness, and they skirted the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and they came by the eastern side of Moab, and they camped on the far side {be’ever: opposite bank} of the Arnon; yet they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border {g’vul: boundary line}.
19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorite, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land {artzekha: territory under your rule} until I reach my place {mekomi: designated stopping place}.”
20 But Sihon {Sihon: Amorite leader} did not trust Israel to cross his boundary {gevul: official border}; so he gathered all his people, encamped at Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
21 And the LORD God of Israel {YHWH Elohei Yisrael, Covenant Deliverer} delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them; so Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorite {haEmori: Amorite nation} who dwelt in that land.
22 And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorite {ʾEmōrî: Canaanite people group} from Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness {midbār: arid region} to the Jordan.
23 And now the LORD God of Israel {YHWH Elohei Yisrael, Covenant Defender} has dispossessed {horish: forced expulsion} the Amorites from before His people Israel; and will you take possession of it?
24 Is it not true that whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess, you take possession of it? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu, Covenant Defender} has dispossessed {horish: dispossessed causatively} before us, we will possess it.
25 And now, are you better {tov: morally superior} than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend {rav: to strive earnestly} with Israel or ever fight against them?
26 When Israel {Yisrael: covenant nation} dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in every city along the banks of Arnon {Arnon: boundary river} for three hundred years, why did you not deliver them during that time?
27 But I have not sinned against you, and you are doing evil {ra’ah: moral wrongdoing} to me by waging war against me. May the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Arbiter} the Judge decide today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.
28 But the king of the Ammonites did not listen {shama: attentive hearing} to the words of Jephthah {Yiftakh: he opens} that he sent to him.
29 And the Spirit of the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Inspirer} was upon Jephthah, and he crossed over Gilead and Manasseh, then he crossed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the sons of Ammon {Ammon: eastern adversary}.
30 And Jephthah {Yiftach: God Opens} vowed a vow to the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}, and said, “If You surely give the sons of Ammon {benei ammon: Ammonite people} into my hand.”
31 And it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace {shalom: wholeness and safety} from the sons of Ammon shall be the LORD {YHWH, Vow Recipient}, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.
32 And Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD {YHWH, Divine Victor} gave them into his hand {beyado: total control}.
33 And he struck them down from Aroer as far as the entrance to Minnith {minnith: boundary settlement}, twenty cities, and as far as Abel Keramim, delivering a very great blow; and the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel {yisrael: covenant descendants}.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines {tuppim: hand drums used in festal music} and dances. She was his only child {yechidah: unique offspring}; he had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it happened when he saw her that he tore his clothes and said, “Ah! my daughter {bitti: child of my own}, you have brought me low, and you have become one of my adversaries. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD {YHWH: Covenant Judge}, and I cannot turn back.”
36 And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD {YHWH, Oath Witness}; now do for me whatever has gone forth from your mouth, after the LORD has accomplished for you acts of vengeance {nekamot: covenant justice} against your enemies from the sons of Ammon.”
37 She said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; grant me {harpeh: release} two months, and I will go up and down upon the mountains and weep for my virginity {betulai: unmarried status}, I and my companions.”
38 And he said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months {shnei: defined interval}. She and her companions {re'ot: close associates} went, and she wept on the mountains.
39 And it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he performed for her the vow which he had vowed. And she had known no man {yada’ah: intimate relationship}. And it became a statute {choq: established custom} in Israel.
40 From year to year, the daughters of Israel go out to lament {letannot: perform ritual mourning} the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite {ha-giladi: clan from Gilead} for four days in the year.