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?”
Parallel Translations
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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?”
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And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
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And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead: 'If ye bring me back home to fight with the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, I will be your head.'
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Judges 11:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 32:20-29 Moses said to them: “If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves to go before Yahweh to the war, and every one of your armed men will pass over the Jordan before Yahweh until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before Yahweh; then afterward you shall return, and be clear of obligation to Yahweh and to Israel. Then this land shall be your possession before Yahweh. “But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh; and be sure your sin will find you out. Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth.” The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall be there in the cities of Gilead; but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before Yahweh to battle, as my lord says.” So Moses commanded concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the children of Israel. Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle before Yahweh, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jdg 11:9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of…
Jdg 11:9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
Ver. 9. Shall I be your head?] He would make his bargain wisely, to prevent all differences for the future, and the rather because he had been before but coarsely used by them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain If ye bring me home again; if you recall…
If ye bring me home again; if you recall me from this place where I am now settled, to the place whence I was expelled.
Shall I be your head? will you really make good this promise? Jephthah was so solicitous in this case, either from his zeal for the public good, which required that he should be so; or from the law of self-preservation, that he might secure himself from his brethren; whose ill will he had experienced, and whose injuries he could not prevent, if, after he had served their ends, he had been reduced to his private capacity: or there might be some tincture of ambition in him; for which God therefore severely, though paternally, chastiseth him, as we see afterwards.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead,.... Considering…
And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead,.... Considering the former usage he had met with from them, and the character which he himself bore, and the fickleness of men, when their turn is served, was willing to make a sure bargain with them:
if ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon; that is, should he consent to go along with them, and fight their battle for them:
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and the Lord deliver them before me; or into his hands, on whom he depended for success, and not on his own courage and valour, and military skill:
shall I be your head? not only captain general of their forces during the war, but the chief ruler of them when that was ended.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain If, &c. - If you recall me from this…
If, &c. - If you recall me from this place where I am now settled, to the place whence I was expelled. Shall I, &c. - Will you really make good this promise? Jephthah was so solicitous in this case, either from his zeal for the public good, which required that he should be so; or from the law of self-preservation, that he might secure himself from his brethren; whose ill-will he had experienced, and whose injuries he could not prevent, if, after he had served their ends, he had been reduced to his private capacity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jdg 11:9. If ye bring me home — If…
Jdg 11:9. If ye bring me home — If ye recall me from this place where I am now settled to the place whence I was expelled. Shall I be your head? — Will you really make good this promise? Jephthah was so solicitous in this case, either from his zeal for the public good, which required that he should be so; or from the law of self-preservation, that he might secure himself from his brethren; whose ill-will he had experienced, and whose injuries he could not prevent, if, after he had served their ends, he had been reduced to his private capacity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Jephthah made his own aggrandisement the condition of his…
Jephthah made his own aggrandisement the condition of his delivering; his country. The circumstances of his birth and long residence in a pagan land were little favorable to the formation of the highest type of character. Yet he has his record among the faithful Heb 11:32.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. Shall I be your head — Better to…
9. Shall I be your head — Better to make this a positive declaration, I will be your head; for the response of the elders in the next verse is not so much an answer to a question, as an expression of submission to Jephthah’s will.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. shall I be …?] Rather it is I…
9. shall I be …?] Rather it is I who am to be your head, accepting the agreement in Jdg_11:6.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) Shall I be your head?—We must not be…
(9) Shall I be your head?—We must not be surprised if Jephthah does not display a disinterested patriotism. He was only half an Israelite; he had been wronged by his father’s kin; he had spent long years of his manhood among heathens and outlaws, who gained their livelihood by brigandage or mercenary warfare. “As Gideon is the highest pitch of greatness to which this period reaches,” says Dean Stanley. “Jephthah and Samson are the lowest points to which it descends.” Since, then, we have marked elements of ferocity and religious ignorance and ambition even in the noble character of Gideon, we must remember that we might naturally make allowance for a still lower level of attainment in one who had been so unfavourably circumstanced as Jephthah. Apart from the Syrian influences which had told upon him, the whole condition of the pastoral tribes on the east of the Jordan was far below that of the agricultural western tribes.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Shall I be, etc. There is no interrogative in…
Shall I be, etc. There is no interrogative in the Hebrew. The words may be taken as the laying down of the condition by Jephthah, to which in the following verse the elders express their assent.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 leader and commander
leader and commander
These two words basically have the same meaning repeated to emphasize how important Jephthah had became. You can combine the two words. AT: "commander" (See: Doublet)
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When he was before Yahweh in Mizpah, Jephthah repeated all the promises he made
This is an idiom. Here the phrase "before Yahwheh" means that he repeated his promises as a vow before Yahweh. AT: "When Jephthah was in Mizpah he repeated all of these promises as a vow before Yahweh" (See: Idiom)
all the promises he made
This refers to the promises he made to the leaders of Gilead about becoming their leader.
translationWords
Jephthah
elder
Gilead
Ammon
Yahweh
testimony
commander
Mizpah
promise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.