I have come to cast  ¹fire on the earth, and  ²how I wish that it were already kindled!

But I have a  ¹baptism to be baptized with, and how I am  ²pressed until it is accomplished!

Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather  ¹division.

For from now on there will be five in one house divided, three against two and two against three.

They will be divided: father against son and son against father; mother against her daughter and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And He said also to the crowds, When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say that a shower is coming, and so it happens.

And when you see a south wind blowing, you say that there will be scorching heat, and it happens.

 ¹Hypocrites, you know how to  ²discern the  ³face of the earth and of the sky.  ⁴How is it then that you do not know how to  ⁵discern this time?

And why do you not judge also of  ¹yourselves what is right?

 ¹For as you are going with your opponent at law to a magistrate,  ²endeavor to be released from him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge; and the judge will deliver you up to the officer, and the officer will throw you into prison.

I tell you, You shall by no means come out from there until you have paid the very last  ¹lepton.

Then the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. And they served the Baals and the Ashtaroth and the gods of Aram and the gods of Sidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines, and they forsook Jehovah and did not serve Him.

And the anger of Jehovah burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the children of Ammon.

And they oppressed and crushed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel who were across the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

And the children of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah and Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was greatly distressed.

Then the children of Israel cried out to Jehovah, saying, We have sinned against You, for we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.

And Jehovah said to the children of Israel, Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the children of Ammon and from the Philistines?

And the Sidonians and Amalek and Maon oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I saved you from their hand.

But you forsook Me and served other gods; therefore I will not save you again.

Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress.

But the children of Israel said to Jehovah, We have sinned. You do with us according to all that is good in Your sight. Only deliver us this day, we pray.

And they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served Jehovah. And His soul could no longer bear Israel's misery.

Then the children of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead, and the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah.

And the people, that is, the princes of Gilead, said each to his companion, Who is the man who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. And he was the son of a harlot, and Gilead had begotten Jephthah.

And Gilead's wife bore him sons. And when the woman's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, You shall not have an inheritance in the house of our father, for you are the son of some other woman.

So Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob. And worthless men collected around Jephthah, and they went out with him.

And after some time the children of Ammon fought with Israel.

And when the children of Ammon fought with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

And they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief, and we will fight against the children of Ammon.

And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Are you not the ones who hated me and drove me out from the house of my father? Why then do you come to me now that you are in distress?

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, This is the reason we have turned now to you, that you would come with us and fight against the children of Ammon and be for us the head of all the inhabitants of Gilead.

And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you are bringing me back to fight against the children of Ammon and Jehovah delivers them up before me, will I be your head?

And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Let Jehovah be a Witness between us: As you have spoken, so shall we surely do.

So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah.

And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What is there between me and you, that you have come to me to fight against my land?

And the king of the children of Ammon said to Jephthah's messengers, Because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as Jabbok and the Jordan. Now therefore restore it peacefully.

And Jephthah yet again sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon.

And he said to him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel did not take the land of Moab nor the land of the children of Ammon.

But when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh,

Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, May we please pass through your land? But the king of Edom would not hear of it. And they also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not allow it. So Israel remained in Kadesh.

And they went through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab; and they went to the east of the land of Moab and encamped beyond the Arnon. Thus they did not go through the territory of Moab, for the Arnon is the border of Moab.

Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon the king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, May we please pass through your land to our place?

But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped in Jahaz; and he fought with Israel.

And Jehovah the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. And Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that land.

And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

So now Jehovah the God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites for the sake of His people Israel. Should you then dispossess them?

Will you not take possession of that which Chemosh your god has dispossessed for you? Thus we will take possession of all that Jehovah our God dispossesses for our sake.

And now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them?

While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?

So I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong in fighting against me. Jehovah the Judge will judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.

But the king of the children of Ammon would not listen to the words of Jephthah, which he sent him.

And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah. And he passed through Gilead and through Manasseh; and he passed on to Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed on to the children of Ammon.

And Jephthah made a vow to Jehovah, and he said, If You will really deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,

Whoever comes out through the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon will be Jehovah's, and I will offer him up as a burnt offering.

And Jephthah passed on to the children of Ammon to fight against them, and Jehovah delivered them into his hand.

And he struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, twenty cities, and to Abel-keramim, with a very great stroke. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Then Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, and there came his daughter out to meet him, with timbrels and with dances. Now she was an only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.

And when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, Ah, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me. For I have opened my mouth to Jehovah, and I cannot retract it.

And she said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to Jehovah; do with me according to what has gone forth from your mouth, seeing that Jehovah has executed vengeance for you on your enemies, on the children of Ammon.

And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: Let me be alone for two months that I may depart and descend upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.

And he said, Go; and he sent her away for two months. And she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

And at the end of two months she returned to her father, and he did with her according to the vow that he had vowed; and she had never known a man. And it became a custom in Israel

That each year the daughters of Israel would go to  ¹lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in the year.

Then the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and they crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, Why did you cross over to fight against the children of Ammon and not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down over you.

And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were in great strife with the children of Ammon; but when I called out to you, you did not save me from their hand.

So when I saw that there would be no help from you, I put my life in my own hand and crossed over to the children of Ammon; and Jehovah delivered them into my hand. So why have you come up against me this day to fight against me?

And Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead together and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim because they said, You are fugitives from Ephraim, O Gilead, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.

And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when a fugitive of Ephraim said, Let me cross over, the men of Gilead would say to him, Are you an Ephraimite? And if he said, No,

They would say to him, Then say, Shibboleth. And he would say, Sibboleth; for he could not say it correctly. Then they would seize him and slay him at the fords of the Jordan. And at that time forty-two thousand of Ephraim fell.

And Jephthah judged Israel six years. And Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

Then after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

And he had thirty sons; and he sent out thirty daughters abroad and brought in thirty foreign daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.

And Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

Then after him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. And he judged Israel ten years.

And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Then after him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.

And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode upon seventy donkeys. And he judged Israel eight years.

And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.