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Jephthah, a brave soldier from Gilead, was the son of a prostitute. His father Gilead
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had other sons by his wife, and when they grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave home. They told him, "You will not inherit anything from our father; you are the son of another woman."
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Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There he attracted a group of worthless men, and they went around with him.
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It was some time later that the Ammonites went to war against Israel.
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When this happened, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob.
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They told him, "Come and lead us, so that we can fight the Ammonites."
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But Jephthah answered, "You hated me so much that you forced me to leave my father's house. Why come to me now that you're in trouble?"
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They said to Jephthah, "We are turning to you now because we want you to go with us and fight the Ammonites and lead all the people of Gilead."
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Jephthah said to them, "If you take me back home to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives me victory, I will be your ruler."
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They replied, "We agree. The LORD is our witness."
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So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and leader. Jephthah stated his terms at Mizpah in the presence of the LORD.
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Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon to say, "What is your quarrel with us? Why have you invaded our country?"
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The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers, "When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now you must give it back peacefully."
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Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon
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with this answer: "It is not true that Israel took away the land of Moab or the land of Ammon.
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This is what happened: when the Israelites left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Gulf of Aqaba and came to Kadesh.
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Then they sent messengers to the king of Edom to ask permission to go through his land. But the king of Edom would not let them. They also asked the king of Moab, but neither would he let them go through his land. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.
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Then they went on through the desert, going around the land of Edom and the land of Moab until they came to the east side of Moab, on the other side of the Arnon River. They camped there, but they did not cross the Arnon because it was the boundary of Moab.
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Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and asked him for permission to go through his country to their own land.
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But Sihon would not let Israel do it. He brought his whole army together, camped at Jahaz, and attacked Israel.
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But the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the Israelites victory over Sihon and his army. So the Israelites took possession of all the territory of the Amorites who lived in that country.
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They occupied all the Amorite territory from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north and from the desert on the east to the Jordan on the west.
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So it was the LORD, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites for his people, the Israelites.
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Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything that the LORD, our God, has taken for us.
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Do you think you are any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? He never challenged Israel, did he? Did he ever go to war against us?
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For three hundred years Israel has occupied Heshbon and Aroer, and the towns around them, and all the cities on the banks of the Arnon River. Why haven't you taken them back in all this time?
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No, I have not done you any wrong. You are doing wrong by making war on me. The LORD is the judge. He will decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites."
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But the king of Ammon paid no attention to this message from Jephthah.
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Then the spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh and returned to Mizpah in Gilead and went on to Ammon.
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Jephthah promised the LORD: "If you will give me victory over the Ammonites,
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I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I come back from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice."
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So Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave him victory.
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He struck at them from Aroer to the area around Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel Keramim. There was a great slaughter, and the Ammonites were defeated by Israel.
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When Jephthah went back home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, dancing and playing the tambourine. She was his only child.
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When he saw her, he tore his clothes in sorrow and said, "Oh, my daughter! You are breaking my heart! Why must it be you that causes me pain? I have made a solemn promise to the LORD, and I cannot take it back!"
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She told him, "If you have made a promise to the LORD, do what you said you would do to me, since the LORD has given you revenge on your enemies, the Ammonites."
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But she asked her father, "Do this one thing for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the mountains and grieve that I must die a virgin."
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He told her to go and sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless.
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After two months she came back to her father. He did what he had promised the LORD, and she died still a virgin. This was the origin of the custom in Israel
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that the Israelite women would go out for four days every year to grieve for the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.
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The men of Ephraim prepared for battle; they crossed the Jordan River to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross the border to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We'll burn the house down over your head!"
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But Jephthah told them, "My people and I had a serious quarrel with the Ammonites. I did call you, but you would not rescue me from them.
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When I saw that you were not going to, I risked my life and crossed the border to fight them, and the LORD gave me victory over them. So why are you coming up to fight me now?"
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Then Jephthah brought all the men of Gilead together, fought the men of Ephraim and defeated them. (The Ephraimites had said, "You Gileadites in Ephraim and Manasseh, you are deserters from Ephraim!")
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In order to keep the Ephraimites from escaping, the Gileadites captured the places where the Jordan could be crossed. When any Ephraimite who was trying to escape would ask permission to cross, the men of Gilead would ask, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No,"
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they would tell him to say "Shibboleth." But he would say "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they would grab him and kill him there at one of the Jordan River crossings. At that time forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites were killed.
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Jephthah led Israel for six years. Then he died and was buried in his hometown in Gilead.
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After Jephthah, Ibzan from Bethlehem led Israel.
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He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside the clan and brought thirty young women from outside the clan for his sons to marry. Ibzan led Israel for seven years,
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then he died and was buried at Bethlehem.
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After Ibzan, Elon from Zebulun led Israel for ten years.
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Then he died and was buried at Aijalon in the territory of Zebulun.
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After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel from Pirathon led Israel.
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He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. Abdon led Israel for eight years,
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then he died and was buried at Pirathon in the territory of Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites.
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The Almighty God, the LORD, speaks; he calls to the whole earth from east to west.
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God shines from Zion, the city perfect in its beauty.
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Our God is coming, but not in silence; a raging fire is in front of him, a furious storm around him.
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He calls heaven and earth as witnesses to see him judge his people.
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He says, "Gather my faithful people to me, those who made a covenant with me by offering a sacrifice."
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The heavens proclaim that God is righteous, that he himself is judge.
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"Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel. I am God, your God.
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I do not reprimand you because of your sacrifices and the burnt offerings you always bring me.
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And yet I do not need bulls from your farms or goats from your flocks;
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all the animals in the forest are mine and the cattle on thousands of hills.
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All the wild birds are mine and all living things in the fields.
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"If I were hungry, I would not ask you for food, for the world and everything in it is mine.
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Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
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Let the giving of thanks be your sacrifice to God, and give the Almighty all that you promised.
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Call to me when trouble comes; I will save you, and you will praise me."
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But God says to the wicked, "Why should you recite my commandments? Why should you talk about my covenant?
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You refuse to let me correct you; you reject my commands.
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You become the friend of every thief you see, and you associate with adulterers.
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"You are always ready to speak evil; you never hesitate to tell lies.
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You are ready to accuse your own relatives and to find fault with them.
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You have done all this, and I have said nothing, so you thought that I am like you. But now I reprimand you and make the matter plain to you.
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"Listen to this, you that ignore me, or I will destroy you, and there will be no one to save you.
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Giving thanks is the sacrifice that honors me, and I will surely save all who obey me."
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From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and from our brother Timothy--- To the church of God in Corinth, and to all God's people throughout Achaia:
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May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
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Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, the God from whom all help comes!
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He helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God.
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Just as we have a share in Christ's many sufferings, so also through Christ we share in God's great help.
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If we suffer, it is for your help and salvation; if we are helped, then you too are helped and given the strength to endure with patience the same sufferings that we also endure.
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So our hope in you is never shaken; we know that just as you share in our sufferings, you also share in the help we receive.
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We want to remind you, friends, of the trouble we had in the province of Asia. The burdens laid upon us were so great and so heavy that we gave up all hope of staying alive.
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We felt that the death sentence had been passed on us. But this happened so that we should rely, not on ourselves, but only on God, who raises the dead.
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From such terrible dangers of death he saved us, and will save us; and we have placed our hope in him that he will save us again,
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as you help us by means of your prayers for us. So it will be that the many prayers for us will be answered, and God will bless us; and many will raise their voices to him in thanksgiving for us.
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We are proud that our conscience assures us that our lives in this world, and especially our relations with you, have been ruled by God-given frankness and sincerity, by the power of God's grace and not by human wisdom.
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We write to you only what you can read and understand. But even though you now understand us only in part, I hope that you will come to understand us completely, so that in the Day of our Lord Jesus you can be as proud of us as we shall be of you.
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I was so sure of all this that I made plans at first to visit you, in order that you might be blessed twice.
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For I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back, in order to get help from you for my trip to Judea.
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In planning this, did I appear fickle? When I make my plans, do I make them from selfish motives, ready to say "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time?
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As surely as God speaks the truth, my promise to you was not a "Yes" and a "No."
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For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was preached among you by Silas, Timothy, and myself, is not one who is "Yes" and "No." On the contrary, he is God's "Yes";
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for it is he who is the "Yes" to all of God's promises. This is why through Jesus Christ our "Amen" is said to the glory of God.
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It is God himself who makes us, together with you, sure of our life in union with Christ; it is God himself who has set us apart,
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who has placed his mark of ownership upon us, and who has given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us.
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I call God as my witness---he knows my heart! It was in order to spare you that I decided not to go to Corinth.
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We are not trying to dictate to you what you must believe; we know that you stand firm in the faith. Instead, we are working with you for your own happiness.
