1. At that time, there was a Gileadite, Jephthah, a very strong man and a fighter, the son of a kept woman, and he was born of Gilead.
2. Now Gilead had a wife, from whom he received sons. And they, after growing up, cast out Jephthah, saying, "You cannot inherit in the house of our father, because you were born of another mother."
3. And so, fleeing and avoiding them, he lived in the land of Tob. And men who were indigent and robbers joined with him, and they followed him as their leader.
4. In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.
5. And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.
6. And they said to him, "Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon."
7. But he answered them: "Are you not the ones who hated me, and who cast me out of my father's house? And yet now you come to me, compelled by necessity?"
8. And the leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "But it is due to this necessity that we have approached you now, so that you may set out with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be commander over all who live in Gilead."
9. Jephthah also said to them: "If you have come to me so that I may fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and if the Lord will deliver them into my hands, will I truly be your leader?"
10. They answered him, "The Lord who hears these things is himself the Mediator and the Witness that we shall do what we have promised."