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 to him, You shall not inherit in our father's bayit; for you [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 Amon made war against Yisrael.
11:5 And it was so, that when Benai Amon made war against Yisrael, the ziknei Gil'ad went to fetch Yiftach out of the eretz Tov:
11:6 And they said to Yiftach, Come, and be our katzin (leader), that we may fight with Benai Amon.
11:7 And Yiftach said to the ziknei Gil'ad, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's bayit? and why are ye come to me now when ye are in distress?
11:8 And the ziknei Gil'ad said to Yiftach, Therefore we turn again to you now, that you may go with us, and fight against Benai Amon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gil'ad.
11:9 And Yiftach said to the ziknei Gil'ad, If ye bring me home again to fight against Benai Amon, and ADONAI (יהוה) deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
11:10 And the ziknei Gil'ad said to Yiftach, ADONAI (יהוה) be shema (witness שׁמע) between us, if we do not so according to your 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 ADONAI (יהוה) in Mizpeh.
11:12 And Yiftach sent messengers to the melekh Benai Amon, saying, What have you to do with me, that you art come against me to fight in my eretz?
11:13 And the melekh Benai Amon answered to the messengers of Yiftach, Because Yisrael took away my eretz, when they came up out of Mitzrayim, from Arnon even to Yabok, and to Yarden: now therefore restore those [lands] again b'shalom.
11:14 And Yiftach sent messengers again to the melekh Benai Ammon:
11:15 And said to 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 to the Yam Suf, and came to Kadesh;
11:17 Then Yisrael sent messengers to the melekh Edom, saying, Let me, I pray you, pass through your eretz: but the melekh Edom would not listen [thereto]. And in like manner they sent to 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 to Sihon melekh the Emorites, the melekh Heshbon; and Yisrael said to him, Let us pass, we pray you, through your 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 ADONAI (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 to Yabok, and from the midbar even to Yarden.
11:23 So now ADONAI (יהוה) Elohim (אלהים) of Yisrael has dispossessed the Emorites from before his people Yisrael, and shouldest you possess it?
11:24 Wilt not you possess that which Chemosh elohikha (אלהיך) giveth you to possess? So whomsoever ADONAI (יהוה) Eloheinu shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
11:25 And now [art] you 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 you, but you doest me wrong to war against me: ADONAI (יהוה) the Judge be judge this day between Benai Yisrael and Benai Amon.
11:28 Howbeit the melekh Benai Amon listened not to the words of Yiftach which he sent him.
Yiftach's tragic vow
11:29 Then the Ruach of ADONAI (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 Amon.
11:30 And Yiftach vowed a vow to ADONAI (יהוה), and said, If you shall without fail deliver Benai Amon into mine hands,
11:31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever comes forth of the doors of my bayit to meet me, when I return b'shalom from Benai Amon, shall surely be ADONAI (יהוה)'S, and I will offer it up for a Olah.
11:32 So Yiftach passed over to Benai Amon to fight against them; and ADONAI (יהוה) delivered them into his hands.
11:33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till you come to Minnith, [even] twenty cities, and to the plain of the avel-kramim (vineyards), with a very great slaughter. Thus Benai Amon were subdued before Benai Yisrael.
11:34 And Yiftach came to Mizpeh to his bayit, and, Hinei, 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! you have brought me very low, and you art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth to ADONAI (יהוה), and I cannot go back.
11:36 And she said to him, My avi, [if] you have opened your mouth to ADONAI (יהוה), do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth; forasmuch as ADONAI (יהוה) has taken vengeance for you of your enemies, [even] of Benai Amon.
11:37 And she said to 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 to 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.