Single lesson
Jephthah and His Vow
Judges 10:6–11:40
As Israel suffered under Ammon, Jephthah became their leader, won the battle, and then faced the grief of his own rash vow.
Before you teach
Israel again did evil in Yahweh’s sight and served many gods. Yahweh gave them into the power of the Philistines and the Ammonites. For eighteen years the Ammonites oppressed Israelites in Gilead, and they also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. When Israel cried out, they confessed their sin, put away foreign gods, and served Yahweh. The Ammonites camped in Gilead, and Israel gathered at Mizpah, asking who would begin the fight and become head over Gilead. Jephthah was a mighty warrior, but his brothers had…
Explain the central teaching of Jephthah and His Vow, using two details from the reading. As Israel suffered under Ammon, Jephthah became their leader, won the battle, and then faced the grief of his own rash vow.
Welcome: Jephthah and His Vow
5 minIntroduce “Jephthah and His Vow” and locate Judges 10:6–11:40. As Israel suffered under Ammon, Jephthah became their leader, won the battle, and then faced the grief of his own rash vow. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Judges 10:6, Judges 11:14, Judges 11:40
Read and explain the passage
12 minIsrael again did evil in Yahweh’s sight and served many gods. Yahweh gave them into the power of the Philistines and the Ammonites. For eighteen years the Ammonites oppressed Israelites in Gilead, and they also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. When Israel cried out, they confessed their sin, put away foreign gods, and served Yahweh.
Jephthah agreed to come if, after Yahweh gave victory, he truly became their head. The people made him head and chief at Mizpah. Before any battle, Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon. The king claimed Israel had taken his land. Jephthah answered that Israel had not taken the land of Ammon or Moab, but had taken land from Sihon king of the Amorites after Sihon fought Israel. The king of Ammon would not listen.
When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, his daughter, his only child, came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. Jephthah tore his clothes in grief because of his vow. She asked for two months to go with her companions and mourn her virginity in the mountains. Then she returned, and Jephthah did with her according to his vow. After this, the daughters of Israel went each year for four days to remember Jephthah’s daughter.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Jephthah and His Vow”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Judges 10:6, Judges 10:9, Judges 10:16, Judges 11:11, Judges 11:19, Judges 11:17, Judges 11:34, Judges 11:39, Judges 11:40
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with ““The Ammonites camped in Gilead, and Israel gathered at Mizpah, asking who would begin the fight and become head over Gilead.” Which details explain how the account reaches this point?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. As Israel suffered under Ammon, Jephthah became their leader, won the battle, and then faced the grief of his own rash vow. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Judges 11:11, Judges 11:8, Judges 11:1, Judges 11:19, Judges 11:17, Judges 11:34, Judges 11:39, Judges 11:40
Make and respond: Choices and outcomes evidence map
12 minWork on “Jephthah and His Vow: Choices and outcomes evidence map”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Jephthah and His Vow” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Judges 10:6, Judges 11:14, Judges 11:40
Closing: return to Jephthah and His Vow
3 minRevisit Judges 10:6–11:40. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Jephthah and His Vow and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Judges 10:6, Judges 11:14, Judges 11:40
Questions to explore
“The Ammonites camped in Gilead, and Israel gathered at Mizpah, asking who would begin the fight and become head over Gilead.” Which details explain how the account reaches this point?
The Ammonites camped in Gilead, and Israel gathered at Mizpah, asking who would begin the fight and become head over Gilead. Jephthah was a mighty warrior, but his brothers had driven him away because he was the son of a prostitute. He had been living in Tob. So the elders of Gilead went there and asked him to return as their leader.
Judges 11:11, Judges 11:8, Judges 11:1
How does this moment affect the rest of the account: “Jephthah agreed to come if, after Yahweh gave victory, he truly became their head.”?
Jephthah agreed to come if, after Yahweh gave victory, he truly became their head. The people made him head and chief at Mizpah. Before any battle, Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon. The king claimed Israel had taken his land. Jephthah answered that Israel had not taken the land of Ammon or Moab, but had taken land from Sihon king of the Amorites…
Judges 11:11, Judges 11:19, Judges 11:17
“When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, his daughter, his only child, came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing.” How does this ending connect with the beginning?
When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, his daughter, his only child, came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. Jephthah tore his clothes in grief because of his vow. She asked for two months to go with her companions and mourn her virginity in the mountains. Then she returned, and Jephthah did with her according to his vow. After this, the daughters of Israel…
Judges 11:34, Judges 11:39, Judges 11:40
Make, think or respond
Jephthah and His Vow: Choices and outcomes evidence map
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “Words or actions”, “What happens next”, “Verse reference”.
- Read Judges 10:6–11:40. Use “Jephthah and His Vow” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Compare two actions or statements in the account and explain their different outcomes.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Jephthah and His Vow connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “Jephthah and His Vow” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Judges 10:6–11:40. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Judges 10:6–11:40. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Judges 10
6 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned Yahweh, and didn’t serve him.
7 Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the children of Ammon.
8 They troubled and oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
9 The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was very distressed.
10 The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, saying, “We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals.”
11 Yahweh said to the children of Israel, “Didn’t I save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
12 The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand.
13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more.
14 Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress!”
15 The children of Israel said to Yahweh, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, today.”
16 They put away the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
17 Then the children of Ammon were gathered together and encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together and encamped in Mizpah.
18 The people, the princes of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
Judges 11
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. He was the son of a prostitute. Gilead became the father of Jephthah.
2 Gilead’s wife bore him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will not inherit in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws joined up with Jephthah, and they went out with him.
4 After a while, the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
5 When the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob.
6 They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.”
7 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me, and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?”
8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight with the children of Ammon. You will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivers them before me, will I be your head?”
10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Yahweh will be witness between us. Surely we will do what you say.”
11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah.
12 Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What do you have to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?”
13 The king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore that territory again peaceably.”
14 Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon;
15 and he said to him, “Jephthah says: Israel didn’t take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon;
16 but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh,
17 then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab, but he refused; so Israel stayed in Kadesh.
18 Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn’t come within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.
19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to my place.’
20 But Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
21 Yahweh, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
22 They possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
23 So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them?
24 Won’t you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.
25 Now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them?
26 Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the side of the Arnon for three hundred years! Why didn’t you recover them within that time?
27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me. May Yahweh the Judge be judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.”
28 However, the king of the children of Ammon didn’t listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
29 Then Yahweh’s Spirit came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.
30 Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
31 then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
32 So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh delivered them into his hand.
33 He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
34 Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to Yahweh, and I can’t go back.”
36 She said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to Yahweh; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, because Yahweh has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon.”
37 Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.”
38 He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
39 At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. She was a virgin. It became a custom in Israel
40 that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.
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