8. The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “It is because of those troubles that we come to you now. Please come with us and fight against the Ammonites. You will be the ruler over everyone who lives in Gilead.”
9. Then Jephthah answered, “If you take me back to Gilead to fight the Ammonites and the Lord helps me win, I will be your ruler.”
10. The elders of Gilead said to him, “The Lord is listening to everything we are saying. We promise to do all that you tell us to do.”
11. So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander of their army. Jephthah repeated all of his words in front of the Lord at Mizpah.
12. Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, asking, “What have you got against Israel? Why have you come to attack our land?”
13. The king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, “We are fighting Israel because you took our land when you came up from Egypt. You took our land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River to the Jordan River. Now give our land back to us peacefully.”
14. Jephthah sent the messengers to the Ammonite king again.
15. They said:“This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of the people of Moab or Ammon.
16. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they went into the desert to the Red Sea and then to Kadesh.
17. Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Let the people of Israel go across your land.’ But the king of Edom refused. We sent the same message to the king of Moab, but he also refused. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.
18. “Then the Israelites went into the desert around the borders of the lands of Edom and Moab. Israel went east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River, the border of Moab. They did not cross it to go into the land of Moab.
19. “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of the city of Heshbon, asking, ‘Let the people of Israel pass through your land to go to our land.’
20. But Sihon did not trust the Israelites to cross his land. So he gathered all of his people and camped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.