but Gilead also had sons by his wife, and when the wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out. They said to him, “You shall have no share in our father’s property, for you are the son of an outsider.”aan outsider Lit. “another woman.”
So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the Tob country. Men of low characterbMen of low character Or “Rootless men”; see note at 9.4. gathered about Jephthah and went out raiding with him.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויברח
226
יפתח
498
מפני
180
אחיו
25
וישב
318
בארץ
293
טוב
17
ויתלקטו
561
אליפתח
529
אנשים
401
ריקים
360
ויצאו
113
עמופ
196
Judges 11:4
Gematria: 1150
ויהימימיםוילחמובניעמוןעםישראל
Some time later, the Ammonites went to war against Israel.
Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “You are the very people who rejected me and drove me out of my father’s house. How can you come to me now when you are in trouble?”
The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Honestly, we have now turned back to you. If you come with us and fight the Ammonites, you shall be our commander over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “[Very well,] if you bring me back to fight the Ammonites and GOD delivers them to me, I am to be your commander.”
Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their commander and chief. And Jephthah repeated all these terms before GOD at Mizpah.
The king of the Ammonites replied to Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came from Egypt, they seized the land that is mine, from the Arnon to the Jabbok as far as the Jordan. Now, then, restore it peaceably.”
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויאמר
257
מלך
90
בניעמון
228
אלמלאכי
132
יפתח
498
כילקח
168
ישראל
541
אתארצי
702
בעלותו
514
ממצרים
420
מארנון
347
ועדהיבק
197
ועדהירדן
349
ועתה
481
השיבה
322
אתהן
456
בשלום
378
Judges 11:14
Gematria: 1584
ויוסףעודיפתחוישלחמלאכיםאלמלךבניעמון
Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויוסף
162
עוד
80
יפתח
498
וישלח
354
מלאכים
141
אלמלך
121
בני
62
עמון
166
Judges 11:15
Gematria: 3434
ויאמרלוכהאמריפתחלאלקחישראלאתארץמואבואתארץבניעמון
He said to him, “Thus said Jephthah: Israel did not seize the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויאמר
257
לו
36
כה
25
אמר
241
יפתח
498
לאלקח
169
ישראל
541
אתארץ
692
מואב
49
ואתארץ
698
בני
62
עמון
166
Judges 11:16
Gematria: 2551
כיבעלותםממצריםוילךישראלבמדברעדיםסוףויבאקדשה
When they left Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds and went on to Kadesh.
Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Allow us to cross your country.’ But the king of Edom would not consent. They also sent a mission to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel, after staying at Kadesh,
traveled on through the wilderness, skirting the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They kept to the east of the land of Moab until they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; and, since Moab ends at the Arnon, they never entered Moabite territory.
“Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon. Israel said to him, ‘Allow us to cross through your country to our homeland.’
But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. Sihon mustered all his troops, and they encamped at Jahaz; he engaged Israel in battle.
But the ETERNAL, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his troops into Israel’s hands, and they defeated them; and Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויתן
466
יהוה
26
אלהיישראל
587
אתסיחון
535
ואתכלעמו
573
ביד
16
ישראל
541
ויכום
82
ויירש
526
ישראל
541
את
401
כלארץ
341
האמרי
256
יושב
318
הארץ
296
ההיא
21
Judges 11:22
Gematria: 2520
ויירשואתכלגבולהאמרימארנוןועדהיבקומןהמדברועדהירדן
Thus they possessed all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
“While Israel has been inhabiting Heshbon and its dependencies, and Aroer and its dependencies, and all the towns along the Arnon for three hundred years, why have you not tried to recover them all this time?
Then the spirit of GOD came upon Jephthah. He marched through Gilead and Manasseh, passing Mizpeh of Gilead; and from Mizpeh of Gilead he crossed over [to] the Ammonites.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ותהי
421
עליפתח
598
רוח
214
יהוה
26
ויעבר
288
אתהגלעד
513
ואתמנשה
802
ויעבר
288
אתמצפה
616
גלעד
107
וממצפה
261
גלעד
107
עבר
272
בני
62
עמון
166
Judges 11:30
Gematria: 3337
וידריפתחנדרליהוהויאמראםנתוןתתןאתבניעמוןבידי
And Jephthah made the following vow to GOD: “If You deliver the Ammonites into my hands,
then whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return from the Ammonites shall be GOD’s and shall be offered by me as a burnt offering.”
Word-by-Word Analysis
והיה
26
היוצא
112
אשר
501
יצא
101
מדלתי
484
ביתי
422
לקראתי
741
בשובי
320
בשלום
378
מבני
102
עמון
166
והיה
26
ליהוה
56
והעליתיהו
542
עלהפ
185
Judges 11:32
Gematria: 1754
ויעבריפתחאלבניעמוןלהלחםבםויתנםיהוהבידו
Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites and attacked them, and GOD delivered them into his hands.
When Jephthah arrived at his home in Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, with hand-drum and dance! She was an only child; he had no other son or daughter.
On seeing her, he rent his clothes and said, “Alas, daughter! You have brought me low; you have become my troubler! For I have uttered a vowcuttered a vow Lit. “opened my mouth.” to GOD and I cannot retract.”
“Father,” she said, “you have uttered a vow to GOD; do to me as you have vowed, seeing that GOD has vindicated you against your enemies, the Ammonites.”
She further said to her father, “Let this be done for me: let me be for two months, and I will go with my companions and lamentdlament Lit. “descend,” i.e., with weeping; cf. Isa. 15.3. upon the hills and there bewail my maidenhood.”
for the maidensemaidens Lit. “daughters.” of Israel to go every year, for four days in the year, and chant dirges for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.