Judg 11:14-27 | ESV | STEP | Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites

Judges 11:14-27

14 Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites 15 and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^aIsrael did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, 16 but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness ^bto the Red Sea and ^ccame to Kadesh. 17 ^dIsrael then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ ^ebut the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^fremained at Kadesh.

18 “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and ^gwent around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and ^harrived on the east side of the land of Moab and ⁱcamped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. 19 ^jIsrael then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’ 20 but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. 21 And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. 22 And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. 23 So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? 24 Will you not possess what ^kChemosh your god gives you to possess? ^lAnd all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. 25 Now are you any better than ^mBalak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? 26 While Israel lived ⁿin Heshbon and its villages, and ^oin Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? 27 I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. ^pThe Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.”