17. Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land. But the king of Edom would not hear them. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab, but he would not consent either; therefore Israel abode in Kadesh.
18. Then they went along through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and came by the side of the rising of the sun to the land of Moab; they pitched their camp on the other side of Arnon and did not enter within the border of Moab, for Arnon was the border of Moab.
19. And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
20. But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together and pitched camp in Jahaz and fought against Israel.
21. But the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorite that inhabited that land.
22. And they possessed all the border of the Amorites from Arnon even unto Jabbok and from the wilderness even unto the Jordan.
23. So now the Lord God of Israel has expelled the Amorites from before his people Israel and should thou possess it?
24. If Chemosh thy god should expel anyone for you, would thou not possess it? So whoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
25. Art thou better now in any thing than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Peradventure did he ever strive against Israel? Peradventure did he ever fight against them?
26. Furthermore, Israel has dwelt in Heshbon and her towns and in Aroer and her towns and in all the cities that are along by the coasts of Arnon, for three hundred years. Why, therefore, did ye not recover them within that time?
27. Therefore, I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me; let the Lord, who is the Judge, judge this day between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.
28. But the king of the sons of Ammon did not hear the reasons of Jephthah which he sent him.
29. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed through Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he went unto the sons of Ammon.
30. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,
31. whoever comes forth of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer them up for a burnt offering.