14. So the messengers of Jephthah took this message back to Jephthah. Then Jephthah sent the messengers to the king of the Ammonites again.
15. They took this message: “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of the Moabites or the land of the Ammonites.
16. When the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, they went into the desert. They went to the Red Sea. Then they went to Kadesh.
17. The Israelites sent messengers to the king of Edom. The messengers asked for a favor. They said, ‘Let the Israelites cross through your land.’ But the king of Edom didn’t let us go through his land. We also sent the same message to the king of Moab. But the king of Moab would not let us go through his land either. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.
18. “Then the Israelites went through the desert and around the edges of the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab. They made their camp on the other side of the Arnon River. They did not cross the border of the land of Moab. (The Arnon River was the border of the land of Moab.)
19. “Then the Israelites sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites. Sihon was the king of the city of Heshbon. The messengers asked Sihon, ‘Let the Israelites pass through your land. We want to go to our land.’
20. But King Sihon of the Amorites would not let the Israelites cross his borders. So Sihon gathered all of his people and made a camp at Jahaz. Then the Amorites fought with the Israelites.
21. But the Lord, the God of Israel, helped the Israelites defeat Sihon and his army. So the land of the Amorites became the property of the Israelites.
22. The Israelites got all the land of the Amorites from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River. The land also went from the desert to the Jordan River.
23. “It was the Lord, the God of Israel, who forced the Amorites to leave their land. And he gave the land to the Israelites. Do you think you can make the Israelites leave this land?
24. Surely you can live in the land that your god Chemosh has given to you. So we will live in the land that the Lord our God has given to us.
25. Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor? He was the king of the land of Moab. Did he argue with the Israelites? Did he actually fight with the Israelites?
26. The Israelites have lived in the city of Heshbon and the towns around it for 300 years. They have lived in the city of Aroer and the towns around it for 300 years. They have lived in all the cities along the side of the Arnon River for 300 years. Why have you not tried to take these cities in all that time?
27. The Israelites have not sinned against you. But you are doing a very bad thing against them. May the Lord, the true Judge, decide whether the Israelites or the Ammonites are right.”
28. The king of the Ammonites refused to listen to this message from Jephthah.
29. Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he passed through the area of Gilead and Manasseh. He went through the city of Mizpah in Gilead on his way to the land of the Ammonites.
30. Jephthah made a promise to the Lord. He said, “If you will let me defeat the Ammonites,
31. I will give you the first thing that comes out of my house when I come back from the victory. I will give it to the Lord as a burnt offering.”
32. Then Jephthah went to the land of the Ammonites. He fought the Ammonites, and the Lord helped him defeat them.
33. He defeated them from the city of Aroer to the city of Minnith. Jephthah captured 20 cities. Then he fought the Ammonites to the city of Abel Keramim. The Israelites defeated them. It was a very great defeat for the Ammonites.