Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws joined up with Jephthah, and they went out with him.
- BSB So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.
- NKJV Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.
- NASB So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob; and worthless men gathered around Jephthah, and they went wherever he did.
- NLT So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Soon he had a band of worthless rebels following him.
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 flees to Tob, where a band of outlaws gathers around him. The rejected son becomes a leader of fighting men.
Overview
Exiled, Jephthah settles in Tob and attracts a company of restless men who follow his lead. There he hones the military reputation that Gilead will later need. God is quietly preparing his deliverer in obscurity, much as he prepared David in his outlaw years, working through hardship for his redemptive ends.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Judg 9:4And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him.
- 1 Sam 22:2And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
- Job 30:1–10But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
- 2 Sam 10:6And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Bethrehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ishtob twelve thousand men.
- 2 Sam 10:8And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ishtob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.
- 1 Sam 27:2And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
- Acts 17:5But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
- 1 Sam 30:22–24Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.
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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 11:3 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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