26. For three hundred years the Israelites have lived in Heshbon and Aroer and the towns around them and in all the cities along the Arnon River. Why have you not taken these cities back in all that time?
27. I have not sinned against you, but you are sinning against me by making war on me. May the Lord, the Judge, decide whether the Israelites or the Ammonites are right.”
28. But the king of the Ammonites ignored this message from Jephthah.
29. Then the Spirit of the Lord entered Jephthah. Jephthah passed through Gilead and Manasseh and the city of Mizpah in Gilead to the land of the Ammonites.
30. Jephthah made a promise to the Lord, saying, “If you will hand over the Ammonites to me,
31. I will give you as a burnt offering the first thing that comes out of my house to meet me when I return from the victory. It will be the Lord’s.”
32. Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to him.