Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.
Parallel translations
- WEB Won’t you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.
- KJV Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
- NKJV Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God takes possession of before us, we will possess.
- NASB Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess it.
- NLT You keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you, and we will keep whatever the Lord our God gives us.
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 notes Ammon keeps what Chemosh gives, so Israel keeps what the LORD gives. He uses Ammon's own logic against its claim.
Overview
Jephthah argues from Ammon's perspective that they accept lands their god grants, so Israel may hold what the LORD grants. He references Chemosh, commonly linked to Moab, perhaps reflecting shared regional worship or a rhetorical point. Whether the naming is loose or pointed, his deeper claim is that the LORD, the true God, has given Israel its inheritance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Num 21:29Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.
- Ps 78:55He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
- Mic 4:5Though each of the peoples may walk in the name of his god, yet we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.
- Josh 3:10He continued, “This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that He will surely drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.
- 1 Kgs 11:7At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.
- Deut 18:12For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.
- Ps 44:2With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
- Jer 48:46Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished; for your sons have been taken into exile and your daughters have gone into captivity.
- Jer 48:7Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.
- Deut 9:4–5When the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, “Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” Rather, the LORD is driving out these nations before you because of their wickedness.
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 11:24 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.