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So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Men of no worth gathered around Jephthah and went fighting and stealing with him.

So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. And the people made him head and leader over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.

But Sihon did not trust Israel. He would not let them pass through his land. Sihon gathered all his people together. They set up their tents in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

The Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel. They won the war against Sihon. So Israel took all the land of the Amorites, the people of that country.

'So the Lord, the God of Israel, drove the Amorites away from His people Israel. Now are you to take the land for your own?

Then Jephthah crossed over to fight against the people of Ammon. And the Lord gave them into his hand.

Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. His daughter came out to meet him with music and dancing. She was his one and only child. He had no other sons or daughters.

When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "It is bad, my daughter! You have made me very sad. You have brought much trouble to me. For I have made a promise to the Lord, and I must keep it."

He had thirty sons and thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage outside the family. And he brought in thirty daughters from outside the family for his sons. He ruled Israel for seven years.

There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites. His name was Manoah. His wife was not able to have children.

You will have a child and give birth to a son. His hair must never be cut. Because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the time he is born. He will begin to take Israel away from the Philistines' power."

Then the woman came and told her husband. She said, "A man of God came to me. He looked like the angel of God, filling me with fear. I did not ask him where he came from. And he did not tell me his name.

Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man he said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" And he said, "I am."

So Manoah took the young goat with the grain gift. And he gave it on the rock to the Lord. Then the Lord did powerful works while Manoah and his wife watched.

For the fire went up from the altar toward heaven. And the angel of the Lord went up in the fire of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces on the ground.

The angel of the Lord did not show himself to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord.

So Manoah said to his wife, "We will die for sure. For we have seen God."

But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had wanted to kill us, He would not have received a burnt gift and grain gift from us. He would not have shown us all these things, or let us hear these things."

He returned and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah. She is one of the daughters of the Philistines. Now get her for me as a wife."

But his father and mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your family or among all our people? Must you take a wife from the Philistines who have not gone through the religious act of the Jews?" Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she looks good to me."