For three hundred years Israel has lived in Heshbon, Aroer, and their villages, as well as all the cities along the banks of the Arnon. Why did you not take them back during that time?
Parallel translations
- WEB While Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; why didn’t you recover them within that time?
- KJV While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
- NKJV While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities along the banks of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?
- NASB While Israel was living in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?
- NLT “Israel has been living here for 300 years, inhabiting Heshbon and its surrounding settlements, all the way to Aroer and its settlements, and in all the towns along the Arnon River. Why have you made no effort to recover it before now?
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 points out Israel has held these towns for three hundred years, so why claim them now? Long possession argues against Ammon's case.
Overview
Citing roughly three centuries of undisputed Israelite settlement in Heshbon, Aroer, and the Arnon towns, Jephthah asks why Ammon waited so long to object. The lapse of time exposes the claim as opportunistic. The argument from settled possession strengthens Israel's just standing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Deut 2:36From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.
- Judg 10:8who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
- Judg 8:28In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon,
- Judg 5:31So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.
- Judg 3:11So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
- Judg 3:30So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.
- Judg 9:22After Abimelech had reigned over Israel for three years,
- Judg 10:2–3Tola judged Israel twenty-three years, and when he died, he was buried in Shamir.
- Deut 3:2But the LORD said to me, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, along with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”
- Deut 2:24“Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.
- Deut 3:6We devoted them to destruction, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.
- Josh 13:10and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the Ammonites;
- Josh 23:1A long time after the LORD had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, when Joshua was old and well along in years,
- Josh 12:5He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan up to the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.
- Josh 12:2Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,
- Num 21:25–30Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.
- Josh 11:18Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long period of time.
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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 11:26 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
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