Judges 12:2

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Judges 12:1–4 · Berean Standard Bible

1 Then the men of Ephraim assembled and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!”

2 But Jephthah replied, “My people and I had a serious conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called, you did not save me out of their hands.

3 When I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”

4 Jephthah then gathered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives in Ephraim, living in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Judges 11:12

Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?”

Judges 11:13

The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”

Judges 11:14

Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites

Judges 11:15

to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites.

Judges 11:16

But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

Judges 11:17

Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

Judges 11:18

Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.

Judges 11:19

And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’

Judges 11:20

But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

Judges 11:21

Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country,

Judges 11:22

seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

Judges 11:23

Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it?

Judges 11:24

Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.

Judges 11:25

Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?

Judges 11:26

For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time?

Judges 11:27

I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

Judges 11:28

But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him.

Judges 11:29

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.

Judges 11:30

Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,

Judges 11:31

then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

Judges 11:32

So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand.

Judges 11:33

With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.