4And it came to pass, in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob: 6And they said to him, “Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon”. 7And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? And why have you come to me now, when you are in distress?” 8And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “We turn again to you now, that you may go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead”. 9And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them before me, shall I be your head?” 10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to your words”. 11Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them; and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

12And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What have you to do with me, that you have come against me to fight in my land?” 13And the king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto the Jordan: now, therefore, restore those lands again peaceably”. 14And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon, 15And said to him, “Thus says Jephthah, ‘Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon; 16But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh, 17Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Let me, I pray you, pass through your land”; but the king of Edom would not listen to them. And in the same manner they sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent; and Israel stayed in Kadesh. 18Then they went along through the wilderness, and passed by the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of Arnon, but did not come within its border; for Arnon was the border of Moab. 19And Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the king of Heshbon; and Israel saying, “Let us pass through your land into my place”. 20But Sihon did not allow Israel to pass through his border; but gathered all his people together, and took position in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; and so Israel gained possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22And they possessed all the borders of the Amorites, from Arnon to Jabbok, and from the wilderness unto the Jordan. 23So now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel, and should you possess it? 24Will you not possess that which Chemosh, your god, gives you to possess? So whomever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess. 25And now are you any better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, 26While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the borders of Arnon, for three hundred years, Why did you not recover them in all that time? 27Therefore, I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me; and may the LORD, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.’ 28However, the king of the children of Ammon rejected the words which of Jephthah sent him.

29Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and crossed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he crossed over to the children of Ammon. 30And Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You shall without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, 31Then it shall be, that whatever comes forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering”. 32So Jephthah crossed over to fight against the children of Ammon; and the LORD delivered them into his hands. 33And he struck them from Aroer, till you come to Minnith, twenty cities, and to the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. And thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

34And Jephthah came to his house in Mizpah, and his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. 35And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of them who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot go back.” 36And she said to him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the LORD, do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, forasmuch as the LORD has taken vengeance for you of your enemies, even of the children of Ammon”. 37And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.” 38And he said, “Go.” And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. 39And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed; and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, 40That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, four days in a year.