Judges 11:23
in Judges 11Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So now Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess them?
KJV
So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
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This verse in Judges 11
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThe Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites - Jephthah shows that the Israelites did not take the land of the Moabites or Ammonites, but that of the Amorites, which they had conquered from Sihon their king, who had, without cause or provocation, attacked them; and although the Amorites had taken the lands in question from the Ammonites, yet the title by which Israel held them was good, because they took them not from the Ammonites, but conquered them from the Amorites.
This site's exposition
dispossessed the Amorites from before
on Judges 11:23-24
The god named in verse 24 is Chemosh, and Chemosh belongs to Moab in Numbers 21:29 and 1 Kings 11:7, while Ammon's god is Milcom in 1 Kings 11:5. Readers take the difficulty three ways: that Jephthah argues from the king's own premise without granting it, that Moab and Ammon shared cults along that border, or that the disputed strip had been Moabite before Sihon took it from Moab. Whether the sentence concedes anything real to Chemosh is argued as well, and commentators differ over how much of Israel's theology a Gileadite captain carried. The text reports his words and passes no judgment on them.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
on Judges 11:12-28
The bravest officers have always been averse to war; so Jephthah, whose courage was indisputable, resolved not only to make it clearly appear that hostilities were forced upon him, but to try measures for avoiding, if possible, an appeal to arms: and in pursuing such a course he was acting as became a leader in Israel (De 20:10-18).
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעַתָּ֞ה | veatah | and now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה׀ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֣י | ʾelohei | [the] God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| הוֹרִישׁ֙ | horish | he has dispossessed | H3423 → | 231 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָ֣אֱמֹרִ֔י | haemori | the Amorite[s] | H567 → | 87 times |
| מִפְּנֵ֖י | mipenei | from before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| עַמּ֣וֹ | amo | people his | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וְאַתָּ֖ה | veatah | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| תִּירָשֶֽׁנּוּ׃ | tirashenu | will you take possession of? it | H3423 → | 231 times |
וְעַתָּ֞הand now
veatahH6258 →433 times
יְהוָ֣ה׀Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֣י[the] God of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
הוֹרִישׁ֙he has dispossessed
horishH3423 →231 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָ֣אֱמֹרִ֔יthe Amorite[s]
haemoriH567 →87 times
מִפְּנֵ֖יfrom before
mipeneiH6440 →2123 times
עַמּ֣וֹpeople his
amoH5971 →1873 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וְאַתָּ֖הand you
veatahH859 →1094 times
תִּירָשֶֽׁנּוּ׃will you take possession of? it
tirashenuH3423 →231 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Judges
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth.