7. Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now when you’re in trouble? ”
8. They answered Jephthah, “Since that’s true, we now turn to you. Come with us, fight the Ammonites, and you will become leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
9. So Jephthah said to them, “If you are bringing me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, I will be your leader.”
10. The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord is our witness if we don’t do as you say.”
11. So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead. The people put him over themselves as leader and commander, and Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the Lord at Mizpah.
12. Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against me in my land? ”
13. The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and the Jordan. Now restore it peaceably.”
14. Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites
15. to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.