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Jephthah’s Valor and Vow
11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor[a], but he was son of a prostitute, while Gilead was Jephthah’s father. 2 But Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when the wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You won’t inherit in our father’s house, for you are a son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Some worthless fellows joined with Jephthah and went out with him.
4 Now it came about after a while that the children of Ammon fought with Israel. 5 When the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, so we may fight the children of Ammon.”
7 Jephthah then said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? So why are you coming to me now that you’re in trouble?”
8 “Here is why we’re now turning to you,” the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah. “Come with us, fight the children of Ammon, and then you will become head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
9 So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight the children of Ammon, and Adonai gives them over to me, I should become your head!”
10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Let Adonai be witness between us if we don’t do as you say.” 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them, after Jephthah repeated all his terms before Adonai at Mizpah.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon saying, “What have you to do with me, that you have come to me to make war on my land?”
13 The king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land, when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok as far as the Jordan. Now therefore, return them peaceably.”
14 But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon, 15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah, ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the children of Ammon. 16 For upon departing from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds and came to Kadesh, 17 then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, “Please, let me pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not consent. Similarly he sent word to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel, after staying at Kadesh, 18 traveled through the wilderness, around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, came to the east side of the land of Moab and they camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, “Please, let us pass through your land to my place.” 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his troops, camped in Jahaz and fought against Israel. 21 But Adonai God of Israel gave Sihon and all his troops into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22 Thus they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. 23 So now Adonai God of Israel dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel. So should you possess their land? 24 Don’t you possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? Likewise, whatever Adonai our God has dispossessed from before us, this we will possess. 25 Besides, are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? 26 While Israel was living in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities on both sides of the Arnon for 300 years, why didn’t you try to recover them all that time? 27 So I myself have not transgressed against you, yet you are doing me harm by waging war against me. May Adonai, the Judge, judge today between Bnei-Yisrael and the children of Ammon.’”
28 However, the king of the children of Ammon paid no attention to the words of Jephthah that he sent him. 29 Then the Ruach Adonai came upon Jephthah, so he marched through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he crossed over to the children of Ammon. 30 Then Jephthah vowed a vow to Adonai and said, “If You will indeed give the children of Ammon into my hand, 31 then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the children of Ammon, it will be Adonai’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
32 So Jephthah crossed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them, and Adonai gave them into his hand. 33 So he utterly defeated them from Aroer until you come to Minnith—20 towns—and as far as Abel-cheramim. So the children of Ammon were subdued before Bnei-Yisrael.
34 Now when Jephthah arrived at his home in Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. Now she was his only child. Besides her he had no son or daughter. 35 Upon seeing her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You made me bow down in grief—you’ve made me miserable! For I have opened my mouth to Adonai, and I cannot take it back.”[b]
36 “My father, you have opened your mouth to Adonai,” she said to him. “Do to me what proceeded from your mouth—since Adonai brought vengeance on your enemies, the children of Ammon.” 37 She said further to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Let me be alone two months, so that I may go on the mountains and mourn my virginity, I and my companions.”
38 “Go!” he said. So he sent her away for two months. So she left, she and her companions, and mourned on the mountains because of her virginity. 39 Then at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow he had made—so she was never intimate with a man. So it became a custom in Israel, 40 that the daughters of Israel would go annually to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
12 Then the men of Ephraim were summoned and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the children of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” 2 So Jephthah responded to them, “I and my people were in a bitter conflict with the children of Ammon, yet when I called you, you didn’t deliver me from their hand. 3 So when I saw that you weren’t going to deliver, I put my life in my hand and crossed over against the children of Ammon, and Adonai gave them into my hand. So why have you come up to me today, to fight me?”
4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You Gileadites are just fugitives of Ephraim in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” 5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. So when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 then they would say to him, “Say now, ‘Shibboleth,’” and he said “Sibboleth” since he could not pronounce it right, then they would seize him and slay him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of Ephraim fell.
7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the towns of Gilead. 8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 Now he had 30 sons, and 30 daughters—he sent them outside and brought in 30 girls from outside for his sons. He judged Israel seven years, 10 then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.
11 Then after him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. He judged Israel ten years, 12 then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 13 After him Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
The Word Becomes Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word.[a] The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that through him everyone might believe. 8 He was not the light, but he came to bear witness concerning the light. 9 The true light, coming into the world, gives light to every man.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him; but the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. 12 But whoever did receive Him, those trusting in His name, to these He gave the right to become children of God. 13 They were born not of a bloodline, nor of human desire, nor of man’s will, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory,[b] the glory of the one and only[c] from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John testifies about Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘The One who comes after me is above me, because He existed before me.’” 16 Out of His fullness, we have all received grace on top of grace. 17 Torah was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah. 18 No one has ever seen God; but the one and only God,[d] in the Father’s embrace, has made Him known.
John’s Witness to Israel’s Leaders
19 This is John’s testimony, when the Judean leaders sent kohanim and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He openly admitted and did not deny; he admitted, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 “What then? Are you Elijah?” they asked him.
“I am not,” said John.
“Are you the Prophet?”
“No,” he answered.
22 So they said to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said, “I am ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of Adonai,”’[e] as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 Now those sent were from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “If you’re not the Messiah, Elijah, or the Prophet, why then are you immersing?”
26 “I immerse in water,” John answered. “Among you stands One you do not know, 27 coming after me, whose sandals I’m not worthy to untie.” 28 These things happened in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was immersing.
Pledge of Integrity
Psalm 101
1 A psalm of David.
I will sing of lovingkindness and justice.
To You, Adonai, I will sing praises.
2 I will behave wisely in the way of integrity
—when will You come to me?
I walk in my house with integrity in my heart.
3 No base thing will I set before my eyes.
Twisted behavior I hate—it will not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart will depart from me.
I will know nothing evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret
—him I will silence.
Who has haughty eyes and a proud heart
—him I will not tolerate.
6 My eyes are on the trustworthy of the land,
to be in my company.
One walking in a blameless way will serve me.
7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house.
No one who utters lies will endure before my eyes.
8 Each morning I silence all the land’s wicked ones—
to cut off from Adonai’s city every evildoer.
13 Even in laughter the heart may ache,
and the end of joy may be grief.
14 A backsliding heart partakes of its ways,
and a good man is rewarded for his.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.