9. And when Jephtha had taken immediate care of their affairs, he
placed his army at the city Mizpeh, and sent a message to the
Ammonite [king], complaining of his unjust possession of their
land. But that king sent a contrary message; and complained of
the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt, and desired him to go
out of the land of the Amorites, and yield it up to him, as at
first his paternal inheritance. But Jephtha returned this answer:
That he did not justly complain of his ancestors about the land
of the Amorites, and ought rather to thank them that they left
the land of the Ammonites to them, since Moses could have taken
it also; and that neither would he recede from that land of their
own, which God had obtained for them, and they had now inhabited
[above] three hundred years, but would fight with them about it.

10. And when he had given them this answer, he sent the
ambassadors away. And when he had prayed for victory, and had
vowed to perform sacred offices, and if he came home in safety,
to offer in sacrifice what living creature soever should first
meet him, (17) he joined battle with the enemy, and gained a
great victory, and in his pursuit slew the enemies all along as
far as the city of Minnith. He then passed over to the land of
the Ammonites, and overthrew many of their cities, and took their
prey, and freed his own people from that slavery which they had
undergone for eighteen years. But as he came back, he fell into a
calamity no way correspondent to the great actions he had done;
for it was his daughter that came to meet him; she was also an
only child and a virgin: upon this Jephtha heavily lamented the
greatness of his affliction, and blamed his daughter for being so
forward in meeting him, for he had vowed to sacrifice her to God.
However, this action that was to befall her was not ungrateful to