Judges
Judges 11
King James Version · tap any highlighted word for context
Judges 11 — Scripture text (King James Version)
Now the was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and begat . And ’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out , and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman. Then fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of : and there were gathered vain men to , and went out with him. And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of made war against . And it was so, that when the children of made war against , the elders of went to fetch out of the land of : And they said unto , Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of . And said unto the elders of , Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress? And the elders of said unto , Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of , and be our head over all the inhabitants of . And said unto the elders of , If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of , and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head? And the elders of said unto , The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. Then went with the elders of , and the people made him head and captain over them: and uttered all his words before the LORD in . And sent messengers unto the king of the children of , saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land? And the king of the children of answered unto the messengers of , Because took away my land, when they came up out of , from even unto , and unto : now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. And sent messengers again unto the king of the children of : And said unto him, Thus saith , took not away the land of , nor the land of the children of : But when came up from , and walked through the wilderness unto the , and came to ; Then sent messengers unto the king of , saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of : but he would not consent: and abode in . Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of , and the land of , and came by the east side of the land of , and pitched the other side of , but came not within the border of : for was the border of . And sent messengers unto king of the , the king of ; and said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. But trusted not to pass through his coast: but gathered all his people together, and pitched in , and fought against . And the LORD God of delivered and all his people into the hand of , and they smote them: so possessed all the land of the , the inhabitants of that country. And they possessed all the coasts of the , from even unto , and from the wilderness even unto . So now the LORD God of hath dispossessed the from before his people , and shouldest thou possess it? Wilt not thou possess that which thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess. And now art thou any thing better than the son of , king of ? did he ever strive against , or did he ever fight against them, While dwelt in and her towns, and in and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of , three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time? Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the be judge this day between the children of and the children of . Howbeit the king of the children of hearkened not unto the words of which he sent him. Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon , and he passed over , and , and passed over Mizpeh of , and from Mizpeh of he passed over unto the children of . And vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of , shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a . So passed over unto the children of to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands. And he smote them from , even till thou come to , even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of were subdued before the children of . And came to unto his house, and, behold, 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. 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 the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of . And she said unto her father, 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. 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. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in , That the daughters of went yearly to lament the daughter of the four days in a year.