rd

Judges 11

2 Jphtáh being chased away by his brethren, was after made captaine over Israél. 30 He maketh a rashe vowe. 32 He vainquisheth the Ammonites, 39 And sacrificeth his daughter according to his vowe.
1.Then Gileád begate Jphtáh, and Jphtáh the Gileádite was ^a valiant man, but the sonne of an ^harlot.
2.And Gileads wife bare him sonnes, and when the womans children were come to age, they thrust out Jphtáh, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our fathers house: for thou art the sonne of a astrange woman.
3.Then Jphtáh fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of bTob: and there gathered ydle fellowes to Jphtáh, and cwent out with him.
4.¶ And in processe of time the children of Ammón made warre with Israél.
5.And when the children of Ammón fought with Israél, dthe Elders of Gileád went to fet Jphtáh out of the land of Tob.
6.And they said unto Jphtáh, eCome and be our captaine, that we may fight with the children of Ammón.
7.Jphtáh then answered the Elders of Gileád, Did not ye hate me, and fexpel me out of my fathers house? how then come you unto me now in time of your tribulacion?
8.Then the Elders of Gileád said unto Jphtáh, Therefore we turne againe to thee now, that thou maiest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammón, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gileád.
9.And Jphtáh said unto the Elders of Gileád, If ye bring me home againe to fight against the children of Ammón, if the Lord give them before me, shal I be your head?
10.And the Elders of Gileád said to Jphtáh, The Lord ^be witnes betwene us, if we do not according to thy wordes.
11.Then Jphtáh went with the Elders of Gileád, and the people made him head and captaine over them: and Jphtáh rehearsed all his wordes before the Lord in Mizpéh.
12.¶ Then Jphtáh sent messengers unto the King of the children of Ammón, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me, to fight in my land?
13.And the King of the children of Ammón answered unto the messengers of Jphtáh, *Because Israél toke my land, when they came up from Egypt, from Arnón unto Jabbók, and unto Jordén: now therefore restore those lands ^quietly.
14.Yet Jphtáh sent messengers againe unto the King of the children of Ammón,
15.And said unto him, Thus saith Jphtáh, *Israél toke not the land of Moáb, nor the land of the children of Ammón.
16.But when Israél came up from Egypt, and walked through the wildernes unto the red Sea, then they came to Kadésh.
17.*And Israél sent messengers unto the King of Edóm, saying, Let me, I pray thee, go through thy land: but the King of Edóm wolde not consent: and also they sent unto the King of Moáb, but he wolde not: therefore Israél abode in Kadésh.
18.Then thei went through the wildernes, and compassed the land of Edóm, & the land of Moáb, and came by the Eastside of the land Moáb, & pitched on the otherside of Arnón, *& came not within the coast of Moáb: for Arnón was the border of Moáb.
19.Also Israél *sent messengers unto Sihón, King of the Amorites, the King of Heshbón, and Israél said unto him, Let us passe, we pray thee, by thy land unto our ^place.
20.But Sihón gconsented not to Israél, that he shulde go through his coast: but Sihón gathered all his people together, & pytched in Jaház, and fought with Israél.
21.And the Lord God of Israél gave Sihón and all his folke into the hands of Israél, and they smote them: so Israél possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that countrey:
22.And they possessed *all the coast of the Amorites, from Arnón unto Jabbók, and from the wildernes even unto Jordén.
23.Now therefore the Lord God of Israél hathe cast out the Amorites before his people Israél, and shuldest thou possess it?
24.Woldest not thou possess that which Chemósh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomesoever the hLord our God driveth out before us, them wil we possesse.
25.*And art thou now farre better then Balák the sonne of Zippor King of Moáb? did he not strive with Israél & fight against them,
26.When Israél dwelt in Heshbón and in her townes, and in Aroér and in her townes, and in all the cities that are by the coasts of Arnón, thre hundreth yeres? why did ye not then recover ithem in that space?
27.Wherefore, I have not offended thee: but thou doest me wrong to warre against me. The Lord the Judge kbe judge this day betwene the children of Israél, and the children of Ammón.
28.Howbeit the King of the children of Ammón hearkened not unto the wordes of Jphtáh, which he had sent him.
29.¶ Then the lSpirit of the Lord came upon Jphtáh, & he passed over to Gileád and to Manasséh, & came to Mizpéh in Gileád, & from Mizpéh in Gileád he went unto the children of Ammón.
30.And Jphtáh mvowed a vowe unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt deliver the children of Ammón in to mine hands,
31.Then that thing that commeth out of the dores of mine house to mete me, when I come home in peace from the children of Ammón, shal be the Lords, and I wil offer it for a burnt offring.
32.And so Jphtáh went unto the children of Ammón to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33.And he smote them from Aroér even til you come to Minníth, twentie cities, and so forthe to ^Abél of the vineyardes, with an exceding great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammón were humbled before the children of Israél. Ibzán. Elón. Abdón. Judge
34.¶ Now when Jphtáh came to Mizpéh unto his house, beholde, his daughter came out to mete him with ntimbrels and dances, which was his onely childe: he had none other sonne, nor daughter.
35.And when he sawe her, he orent his clothes, & said, Alas my daughter, thou hast broght me low, & art of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouthe unto the Lord, & can not go backe.
36.And she said unto him, My father, if thou haste opened thy mouthe unto the Lord, do with me as thou hast promised, seing that the Lord hathe avenged thee of thine enemies the children of Ammón.
37.Also she said unto her father, Do thus muche for me: suffre me two monethes, that I may go to the mountaines, and pbewaile my virginitie, I and my fellowes.
38.And he said, Go: and he sent her away two monethes: so she went with her companions, and lamented her virginitie upon the mountaines.
39.And after the end of two monethes, she turned againe unto her father, who did with her according to his vowe which he had vowed, & she had knowen no man, & it was a custome in Israél.
40.The daughters of Israél went yere by yere to lament the daughter of Jphtáh the Gileadite, foure dayes in a yere.

Notes

1-^.
Ebr., a man of mighty force.
1-^-1.
Or, vitailer.
2-a.
That is, of a harlot, as ver. 1.
3-b.
Where the governor of the country was called Tob.
3-c.
Joined with him, as some think, against his brethren.
5-d.
Or, ambassadors, sent for that purpose.
6-e.
Men oft times are constrained to desire help of them, whom before they have refused.
7-f.
Oft times those things, which men reject, God choses to do great enterprises by.
10-^.
Ebr., be the hearer.
13-*.
Num. 21.13.
13-^.
Ebr., in peace.
15-*.
Deut. 2.9. 1 Geneva Bible 1560
17-*.
Num. 20.21.
18-*.
Num. 21.13 and 22.1-4.
19-*.
Deut. 2.26.
19-^.
Or, country.
20-g.
He trusted them not to go through his country.
22-*.
Deut. 2.36.
24-h.
For we ought more to believe and obey God, then you your idols.
25-*.
Nom. 22.2, Deut. 23.4, Josh. 24.9.
26-i.
Meaning their towns.
27-k.
To punish the offender.
29-l.
That is, the spirit of strength and zeal.
30-m.
As the Apostle commends Jphtah for his worthy enterprise in delivering the people, Ebr. 11:32: so by his rash vow & wicked perform- ance of the same, his victory was defamed: and here we see that the sins of the godly do not utterly extinguish their faith.
33-^.
Or, the plain. 1
34-n.
According to the manner after the victory.
35-o.
Being overcome with blind zeal, and not considering whether the vow was lawful or no.
37-p.
For it was counted as a shame in Israel, to die without children, and therefore they rejoiced to be married.