10. Gilead’s leaders said to Jephthah, “The Lord is a witness between us. We will certainly do what you say.”
11. Jephthah went with them, and the people made him their leader and commander. So Jephthah went to Mizpah and repeated all these things in the presence of the Lord.
12. Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon. They asked the king, “Why did you invade my land and wage war against me?”
13. The king of Ammon answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When the people of Israel left Egypt, they took my land. It stretched from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now give it back peacefully.”
14. Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of Ammon.
15. They said, “This is what Jephthah says: The people of Israel didn’t take away the land belonging to Moab or Ammon.
16. When the people of Israel left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
17. The people of Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom. They said, ‘Please let us go through your country.’ But the king of Edom wouldn’t listen to them. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab. But he wouldn’t allow it, either. So the people of Israel remained at Kadesh.
18. “Then they went through the desert, by-passing Edom and Moab. They camped east of Moab—east of the Arnon River. They did not cross the Arnon River because it was Moab’s border.
19. “Then the people of Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites. Sihon ruled from Heshbon. The people of Israel said to him, ‘Please let us go through your land to our own.’
20. But Sihon did not trust the Israelites enough to let them go through his territory. Sihon assembled all his troops. He camped at Jahaz and attacked Israel.
21. But the Lord God of Israel handed Sihon and all his people over to Israel. Israel defeated them and took possession of all the land of the Amorites who lived there.
22. Israel took all the Amorite territory from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and from the desert to the Jordan River.
23. “The Lord God of Israel forced the Amorites out of the way of his people Israel. So what right do you have to take it back?