Judges 11:7-19

7Jephthah said to them, ‘Before this, you hated me. You made me leave my father's house. So why do you come to me for help, now that you are in trouble?’

8The leaders of Gilead replied, ‘But we really need you to help us. Please join us to fight against the Ammonites. Then we will make you the leader of everyone who lives in Gilead.’

9Jephthah said to them, ‘So, you are saying that I should come back home to fight with you against the Ammonites. You are saying that if the Lord gives them to me, I will be your leader. Is that really true?’

10The leaders of Gilead said, ‘We promise to do that. The Lord will judge between us if we do not do what you have said.’

11So Jephthah went back with them to Gilead. The people made him their ruler and leader of their army. In Mizpah, Jephthah repeated his promise to the Lord.

12Jephthah sent men with a message to the Ammonite king. He asked, ‘Why have you come to fight against our people? What have we done to make you angry?’

13The Ammonite king answered Jephthah's men, ‘You Israelites came here from Egypt and you took our land on the east side of the Jordan River. You have taken for yourselves all our land from the Arnon river in the south to the Jabbok river in the north. You have taken it all, as far as the Jordan River in the west. Now give it back to us, so that we do not need to fight for it.’

14Jephthah sent the men back to the Ammonite king.

15They said to him, ‘This is what Jephthah says: “Israel did not take for themselves the land of Moab, or the land of the Ammonites.

16When the Israelites left Egypt, they went through the desert as far as the Red Sea. Then they travelled to Kadesh.

17Then they sent a message to the king of Edom. They asked him, ‘Please let us travel through your land.’ But the king of Edom refused to let them do that. The Israelites sent the same message to the king of Moab. He also refused to agree. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.

18Next, the Israelites went through the desert, around the edge of Edom and Moab. They arrived on the east side of Moab's land. They put up their tents on the other side of the Arnon river, which was the border of Moab's land. They did not go into Moab.

19Sihon was the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon. The Israelites sent a message to him. They asked him, ‘Please let us travel through your land to our own place.’