¹ And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead.

² Then said David, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.

³ And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he hath sent comforters to thee? hath not David rather sent his servants to thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?

⁴ Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵ When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards are grown, and then return.

⁶ And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ish-tob twelve thousand men.

⁷ And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men.

⁸ And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ish-tob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

⁹ When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he selected of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians:

¹⁰ And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon.

¹¹ And he said, If the Syrians shall be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon shall be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee.

¹² Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seemeth him good.

¹³ And Joab and the people that were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him.

¹⁴ And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵ And when the Syrians saw that they were smitten before Israel, they assembled themselves.

¹⁶ And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river: and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before them.

¹⁷ And when it was told David, he assembled all Israel, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him.

¹⁸ And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there.

¹⁹ And when all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.

¹ Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.

² And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said to him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.

³ Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and they went out with him.

⁴ And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.

⁵ And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah out of the land of Tob:

⁶ And they said to Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.

⁷ And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did ye not hate me, and expel me from my father's house; and why have ye come to me now when ye are in distress?

⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

⁹ And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?

¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, The LORD be a witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.

¹¹ Then 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 Mizpeh.

¹² And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou hast come against me to fight in my land?

¹³ And the king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came out of Egypt, from Arnon even to Jabbok, and to Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.

¹⁴ And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon:

¹⁵ And said to him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:

¹⁶ But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness to the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;

¹⁷ Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken to it. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab; but he would not consent. And Israel abode in Kadesh.

¹⁸ Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.

¹⁹ And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land to my place.

²⁰ But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon collected all his people, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

²¹ And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

²² And they possessed all the borders of the Amorites, from Arnon even to Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to Jordan.

²³ So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldst thou possess it?

²⁴ Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our god shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.

²⁵ And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,

²⁶ While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that are along by the borders of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?

²⁷ Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be Judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.

²⁸ But, the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.

³⁰ And Jephthah vowed a vow to the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into my hands,

³¹ Then it shall be, that whatever cometh out 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 for a burnt-offering.

³² So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

³³ And he smote them from Aroer even till thou comest to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

³⁴ And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house, and behold, 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.

³⁵ And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot go back.

³⁶ And she said to him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth to the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thy enemies, even of the children of Ammon.

³⁷ And 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 fellows.

³⁸ And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

³⁹ And 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,

⁴⁰ That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.