So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
Parallel translations
- WEB So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them?
- BSB Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it?
- NKJV ‘And now the Lord God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it?
- NASB And now the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from His people Israel; so should you possess it?
- NLT “So you see, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who took away the land from the Amorites and gave it to Israel. Why, then, should we give it back to you?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jephthah argues that since the LORD dispossessed the Amorites for Israel, Ammon has no right to it. He frames the land as God-given.
Overview
Having recounted the history, Jephthah draws the conclusion that the LORD himself drove out the Amorites to give Israel the land. He asks pointedly whether Ammon should now claim what God granted. The reasoning rests Israel's possession on divine sovereignty rather than human conquest alone.
Cross-references & the web
No cross-references recorded for this verse.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 11:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.