Judges 11:12-28 - Jephthah Rejects Ammonite Claims

12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, What have thou to do with me, that thou have come to me to fight against my land?

13 And the king of the sons of Ammon answered to 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 those [lands] agai

14 And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon. 15 And he said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons 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, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land, but the king of Edom did not hearken. And in like manner he sent to the king of Moab, but he would not. And Israel abode 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 did not come within the border

19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon. And Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land to my place. 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And LORD, the 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 Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22 And 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 LORD, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should thou possess them? 24 Will thou not possess that which Chemosh thy god gives thee to possess? So whomever LORD our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess. 25 And now are thou 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 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did ye not recover them within that time? 27 I therefore have not sinned against thee, but thou do me wrong to war against me. LORD, the Judge, be judge this day between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon. 28 However the king of the sons of Ammon did not hearken to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.