11:1 Now Yiftach the Gil'adi was a gibbor chayil (mighty man of valour), and he [was] Ben an ish zonah: and Gil'ad begat Yiftach.
11:2 And Gil'ad's wife bare him banim; and his wife's banim grew up, and they thrust out Yiftach, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's bayit; for thou [art] Ben a strange woman.
11:3 Then Yiftach fled from his achim, and dwelt in the eretz Tov: and there were gathered anashim reikim (outlawed men) to Yiftach, and went out with him.
11:4 And it came to pass in process of time, that Benai Ammon made war against Yisrael.
11:5 And it was so, that when Benai Ammon made war against Yisrael, the ziknei Gil'ad went to fetch Yiftach out of the eretz Tov:
11:6 And they said unto Yiftach, Come, and be our katzin (leader), that we may fight with Benai Ammon.
11:7 And Yiftach said unto the ziknei Gil'ad, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's bayit? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?
11:8 And the ziknei Gil'ad said unto Yiftach, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against Benai Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gil'ad.
11:9 And Yiftach said unto the ziknei Gil'ad, If ye bring me home again to fight against Benai Ammon, and YHWH (יהוה) deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
11:10 And the ziknei Gil'ad said unto Yiftach, YHWH (יהוה) be shema (witness שׁמע) between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
11:11 Then Yiftach went with the ziknei Gil'ad, and the people made him head and katzin (leader) over them: and Yiftach uttered all his words before YHWH (יהוה) in Mizpeh.
11:12 And Yiftach sent messengers unto the melekh Benai Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my eretz?
11:13 And the melekh Benai Ammon answered unto the messengers of Yiftach, Because Yisrael took away my eretz, when they came up out of Mitzrayim, from Arnon even unto Yabok, and unto Yarden: now therefore restore those [lands] again b'shalom.
11:14 And Yiftach sent messengers again unto the melekh Benai Ammon:
11:15 And said unto him, Thus saith Yiftach, Yisrael took not away the Eretz Moav, nor the Eretz Benai Ammon:
11:16 But when Yisrael came up from Mitzrayim, and walked through the midbar unto the Yam Suf, and came to Kadesh;
11:17 Then Yisrael sent messengers unto the melekh Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy eretz: but the melekh Edom would not hearken [thereto]. And in like manner they sent unto the melekh Moav: but he would not [consent]: and Yisrael abode in Kadesh.
11:18 Then they went along through the midbar, and compassed the Eretz Edom, and the Eretz Moav, and came by the east side of the Eretz Moav, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moav: for Arnon [was] the border of Moav.
11:19 And Yisrael sent messengers unto Sihon melekh the Emorites, the melekh Heshbon; and Yisrael said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy eretz into my place.
11:20 But Sihon trusted not Yisrael to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Yahaz, and fought against Yisrael.
11:21 And YHWH (יהוה) Elohim (אלהים) of Yisrael delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Yisrael, and they smote them: so Yisrael possessed all the Eretz the Emorites, the inhabitants of that country.
11:22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Emorites, from Arnon even unto Yabok, and from the midbar even unto Yarden.
11:23 So now YHWH (יהוה) Elohim (אלהים) of Yisrael hath dispossessed the Emorites from before his people Yisrael, and shouldest thou possess it?
11:24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh elohikha (אלהיך) giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever YHWH (יהוה) Eloheinu shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
11:25 And now [art] thou any thing better than Balak Ben Tzippor, melekh Moav? did he ever strive against Yisrael, or did he ever fight against them,
11:26 While Yisrael dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that [be] along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred shanah (years)? why therefore did ye not recover [them] within that time?
11:27 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: YHWH (יהוה) the Judge be judge this day between Benai Yisrael and Benai Ammon.
11:28 Howbeit the melekh Benai Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Yiftach which he sent him.
Yiftach's tragic vow
11:29 Then the Ruach of YHWH (יהוה) came upon Yiftach, and he passed over Gil'ad, and M'nasheh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gil'ad, and from Mizpeh of Gil'ad he passed over [unto] Benai Ammon.
11:30 And Yiftach vowed a vow unto YHWH (יהוה), and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver Benai Ammon into mine hands,
11:31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my bayit to meet me, when I return b'shalom from Benai Ammon, shall surely be YHWH (יהוה)'S, and I will offer it up for a Olah.
11:32 So Yiftach passed over unto Benai Ammon to fight against them; and YHWH (יהוה) delivered them into his hands.
11:33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, [even] twenty cities, and unto the plain of the avel-kramim (vineyards), with a very great slaughter. Thus Benai Ammon were subdued before Benai Yisrael.
11:34 And Yiftach came to Mizpeh unto his bayit, and, Hinnei, 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.
11:35 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 unto YHWH (יהוה), and I cannot go back.
11:36 And she said unto him, My avi, [if] thou hast opened thy mouth unto YHWH (יהוה), do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as YHWH (יהוה) hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, [even] of Benai Ammon.
11:37 And she said unto her avi, 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.
11:38 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.
11:39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her avi, who did with her [according] to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Yisrael,
11:40 [That] the banot Yisrael went yearly to lament the bat Yiftach the Gil'adi arba'at yamim bashanah.