Discovery BoxJudges 11:1-7 
Context11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. 1 11:2 Gilead’s wife also gave 2 him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they made Jephthah leave and said to him, “You are not going to inherit any of our father’s wealth, 3 because you are another woman’s son.” 11:3 So Jephthah left 4 his half-brothers 5 and lived in the land of Tob. Lawless men joined Jephthah’s gang and traveled with him. 6
11:4 It was some time after this when the Ammonites fought with Israel. 11:5 When the Ammonites attacked, 7 the leaders 8 of Gilead asked Jephthah to come back 9 from the land of Tob. 11:6 They said, 10 “Come, be our commander, so we can fight with the Ammonites.” 11:7 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave 11 my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?”
1 tn Heb “Now he was the son of a woman, a prostitute, and Gilead fathered Jephthah.”
2 tn Heb “bore.”
3 tn Heb “in the house of our father.”
4 tn Or “fled from.”
5 tn Heb “brothers.”
6 tn Heb “Empty men joined themselves to Jephthah and went out with him.”
7 tn Heb “When the Ammonites fought with Israel.”
8 tn Or “elders.”
9 tn Heb “went to take Jephthah.”
10 tn Heb “to Jephthah.”
11 tn Heb “Did you not hate me and make me leave?”
