The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Jephthah Delivers Israel
Judges 11:1–28 — Jephthah Delivers Israel. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·yip̄·tāḥ hag·gil·‘ā·ḏî hā·yāh gib·bō·wr ḥa·yil wə·hū ben- ’iš·šāh zō·w·nāh gil·‘āḏ ’eṯ- yip̄·tāḥ way·yō·w·leḏ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-Jephthah the-Gileadite was mighty-of-valor; and-he son-of-a-woman a-prostitute; and-begat Gilead Jephthah.
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2And Gilead’s wife bore him sons who grew up, drove Jephthah out, and said to him, “You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.”
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gil·‘āḏ lōw ’ê·šeṯ- wat·tê·leḏ bā·nîm ḇə·nê- hā·’iš·šāh way·yiḡ·də·lū yip̄·tāḥ way·ḡā·rə·šū ’eṯ- way·yō·mə·rū lōw lō- ṯin·ḥal ’ā·ḇî·nū bə·ḇêṯ- kî ’āt·tāh ben- ’a·ḥe·reṯ ’iš·šāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-bore the-wife-of Gilead to-him sons; and-grew-up the-sons-of the-woman, and-they-drove-out Jephthah, and-said to-him: “Not shalt-thou-inherit in-house-of our-father, for son-of-a-woman other art-thou.”
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These sons drove their half-brother Jephthah out of the house because of his inferior birth, that he might not share with them in the paternal inheritance; just as Ishmael and the sons of Keturah were sent away by Abraham, that they might not inherit along with Isaac
As there were children by the legitimate wife, the son of the secondary one was not entitled to any share of the patrimony, and the prior claim of the others was indisputable. Hence, as the brothers of Jephthah seem to have resorted to rude and violent treatment, they must have been influenced by some secret ill-will.JFB concedes the brothers' legal case and still finds malice in the manner — the distinction the text itself makes by using the violent Piel of gârash.
3So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yip̄·tāḥ way·yiḇ·raḥ mip·pə·nê ’e·ḥāw way·yê·šeḇ bə·’e·reṣ ṭō·wḇ rê·qîm way·yiṯ·laq·qə·ṭū ’el- yip̄·tāḥ ’ă·nā·šîm way·yê·ṣə·’ū ‘im·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-fled Jephthah from-the-face-of his-brothers, and-dwelt in-land-of Tob; and-gathered-themselves unto Jephthah empty men, and-they-went-out with-him.
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there were gathered vain men to Jephthah—idle, daring, or desperate. and went out with him—followed him as a military chief. They led a freebooting life, sustaining themselves by frequent incursions on the Ammonites and other neighboring people, in the style of Robin Hood.
and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah; not wicked men, but empty men, whose pockets were empty; men without money, as Abarbinel interprets it, had nothing to live upon, no more than JephthahGill and JFB divide over one adjective: JFB hears “desperate,” Gill hears only “broke.” The Hebrew rêyq will bear either.
4Some time later, when the Ammonites fought against Israel
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî mî·yā·mîm ḇə·nê- ‘am·mō·wn way·yil·lā·ḥă·mū ‘im- yiś·rā·’êl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-came-to-pass from-days, and-fought sons-of-Ammon with Israel.
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after a while ] An indefinite mark of time as in Jdg 14:8 , Jdg 15:1 . The wording implies that the Ammonites have not been mentioned beforeCambridge's source-critical inference is a judgment about the book's composition, not a finding of the Hebrew text; Pulpit reads the same abruptness as simple resumption.
5and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî ka·’ă·šer- ḇə·nê- ‘am·mō·wn nil·ḥă·mū ‘im- yiś·rā·’êl ziq·nê ḡil·‘āḏ way·yê·lə·ḵū lā·qa·ḥaṯ ’eṯ- yip̄·tāḥ mê·’e·reṣ ṭō·wḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-was, when fought sons-of-Ammon with Israel, and-went the-elders-of Gilead to-take Jephthah from-land-of Tob.
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By direction or instinct from God, who both qualified him for and called him to the office of a judge. See Judges 12:7 Hebrews 11:32 . Otherwise they might not have chosen a bastardPoole is supplying a divine motive the verse does not state; the text reports only that the elders went. His alternative is more modest: “necessity dispensed with this law.”
they did not send messengers to him, but went themselves, partly to show greater respect to him, and partly in hopes of better success, being aware of objections he would make
6“Come,” they said, “be our commander, so that we can fight against the Ammonites.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lə·ḵāh way·yō·mə·rū lə·yip̄·tāḥ wə·hā·yî·ṯāh lā·nū lə·qā·ṣîn wə·nil·lā·ḥă·māh biḇ·nê ‘am·mō·wn
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-said to-Jephthah: “Come, and-be to-us for-commander, that-we-may-fight against sons-of-Ammon.”
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7Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”
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yip̄·tāḥ way·yō·mer lə·ziq·nê ḡil·‘āḏ ’at·tem hă·lō śə·nê·ṯem ’ō·w·ṯî wat·tə·ḡā·rə·šū·nî ’ā·ḇî mib·bêṯ ū·mad·dū·a‘ bā·ṯem ’ê·lay ‘at·tāh ka·’ă·šer ṣar lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Jephthah to-the-elders-of Gilead: “Did not you hate me, and-drive-me-out from-house-of my-father? And-why have-you-come unto-me now when it-is-tight for-you?”
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Thus he lays his expulsion upon the shoulders of the elders of Gilead, although it was only by his brethren that he had been driven away from his father's house, inasmuch as they had either approved of it, or at all events had not interfered as magistrates to prevent it.
(f) Often those things which men reject, God chooses to do great enterprises by.
8They answered Jephthah, “This is why we now turn to you, that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become leader over all of us who live in Gilead.”
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ziq·nê ḡil·‘āḏ way·yō·mə·rū yip̄·tāḥ lā·ḵên ‘at·tāh šaḇ·nū ’ê·le·ḵā ’el- wə·hā·laḵ·tā ‘im·mā·nū wə·nil·ḥam·tā biḇ·nê ‘am·mō·wn wə·hā·yî·ṯā lə·rōš lə·ḵōl lā·nū yō·šə·ḇê ḡil·‘āḏ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-elders-of Gilead to Jephthah: “Therefore now we-have-turned-back unto-thee — and-thou-shalt-go with-us and-fight against sons-of-Ammon, and-be to-us for-head, to-all the-inhabitants-of Gilead.”
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9But Jephthah asked them, “If you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me, will I really be your leader?”
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yip̄·tāḥ way·yō·mer ’el- ziq·nê ḡil·‘āḏ ’im- ’at·tem ’ō·w·ṯî mə·šî·ḇîm lə·hil·lā·ḥêm biḇ·nê ‘am·mō·wn Yah·weh ’ō·w·ṯām wə·nā·ṯan lə·p̄ā·nāy ’ā·nō·ḵî ’eh·yeh lā·ḵem lə·rōš
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Jephthah unto the-elders-of Gilead: “If bringing-back me you are, to-fight against sons-of-Ammon, and-gives YHWH them before-my-face — I, I-shall-be to-you for-head?”
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The same question as here, in fact, is put to those who desire salvation by Christ. If he save you, will ye be willing that he shall rule you? On no other terms will he save you.
Jephthah made his own aggrandisement the condition of his delivering; his country. The circumstances of his birth and long residence in a pagan land were little favorable to the formation of the highest type of character. Yet he has his record among the faithfulBarnes states the charge and the canonical verdict in the same breath; Hebrews 11:32 names him without retracting anything this chapter records.
We must not be surprised if Jephthah does not display a disinterested patriotism. He was only half an Israelite; he had been wronged by his father’s kin; he had spent long years of his manhood among heathens and outlaws, who gained their livelihood by brigandage or mercenary warfare.Ellicott's explanation is also a nineteenth-century judgment on the eastern tribes as culturally inferior; the reason he gives is not one the text gives.
10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”
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ziq·nê- ḡil·‘āḏ way·yō·mə·rū ’el- yip̄·tāḥ Yah·weh yih·yeh šō·mê·a‘ bê·nō·w·ṯê·nū ’im- lō na·‘ă·śeh ḵiḏ·ḇā·rə·ḵā kên
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-elders-of Gilead unto Jephthah: “YHWH shall-be hearing between-us, if-not according-to-thy-word so we-do.”
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11So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the LORD at Mizpah.
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yip̄·tāḥ way·yê·leḵ ‘im- ziq·nê ḡil·‘āḏ hā·‘ām ’ō·w·ṯōw way·yā·śî·mū ‘ă·lê·hem lə·rōš ū·lə·qā·ṣîn yip̄·tāḥ ’eṯ- way·ḏab·bêr kāl- də·ḇā·rāw lip̄·nê Yah·weh bam·miṣ·pāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-went Jephthah with the-elders-of Gilead, and-set him the-people over-them for-head and-for-commander; and-spoke Jephthah all-his-words before-the-face-of YHWH at-the-Mizpah.
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Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh - This phrase designates the presence of the tabernacle, or the ark, or of the high priest with Urim and ThummimBarnes' reconstruction (“The high priest waited upon Jephthah with the ephod, and possibly the ark, at his own house”) goes well beyond what this verse says; K&D contests it directly, and we record both.
"Before Jehovah" does not necessarily presuppose the presence of the ark at Mizpeh; nor can we possibly assume this, since the war was resolved upon primarily by the eastern tribes alone, and they had no ark at all. It merely affirms that Jephthah performed this act, looking up to God, the omnipresent head of Israel.
12Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight against my land?”
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yip̄·tāḥ way·yiš·laḥ mal·’ā·ḵîm ’el- me·leḵ bə·nê- ‘am·mō·wn lê·mōr mah- lî wā·lāḵ kî- ḇā·ṯā lə·hil·lā·ḥêm ’ê·lay bə·’ar·ṣî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-sent Jephthah messengers unto the-king-of sons-of-Ammon, saying: “What to-me and-to-thee, that thou-hast-come unto-me to-fight in-my-land?”
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This first act in his judicial capacity reflects the highest credit on his character for prudence and moderation, justice and humanity. The bravest officers have always been averse to war; so Jephthah, whose courage was indisputable, resolved not only to make it clearly appear that hostilities were forced upon him, but to try measures for avoiding, if possible, an appeal to arms
What hast thou to do with me? —Literally, What to me and to thee? ( Joshua 22:24 ; 2Samuel 16:10 , &c.). Jephthah speaks in the name of Israel, as an acknowledged prince.
13The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
me·leḵ bə·nê- ‘am·mō·wn way·yō·mer ’el- yip̄·tāḥ kî- mal·’ă·ḵê yiś·rā·’êl ’eṯ- ba·‘ă·lō·w·ṯōw mim·miṣ·ra·yim lā·qaḥ ’ar·ṣî mê·’ar·nō·wn wə·‘aḏ- hay·yab·bōq wə·‘aḏ- hay·yar·dên wə·‘at·tāh hā·šî·ḇāh ’eṯ·hen bə·šā·lō·wm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-king-of sons-of-Ammon unto the-messengers-of Jephthah: “Because took Israel my-land in-his-going-up from-Egypt, from-Arnon and-unto the-Jabbok and-unto the-Jordan; and-now restore them in-peace.”
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Because Israel took away my land. —This was a very plausible plea, but was not in accordance with facts.
And indeed Moab and Ammon did for the most part join their interests and their forces, as appears from Scripture story; and as Balak the king of the Moabites acted for the AmmonitesPoole's harmonization is one solution to the Moab/Ammon problem of this speech; Cambridge's alternative is that verses 12-28 were composed against Moab and only framed as an Ammonite negotiation.
14Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yip̄·tāḥ way·yō·w·sep̄ ‘ō·wḏ way·yiš·laḥ mal·’ā·ḵîm ’el- me·leḵ bə·nê ‘am·mō·wn
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-added yet Jephthah, and-sent messengers unto the-king-of sons-of-Ammon.
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Jephthah then sent ambassadors again to explain to him the true state of the case, namely, that Israel had neither taken away the land of Moab nor the land of the Ammonites.
Being willing to give him all the satisfaction he could, and if possible live peaceably with him, and prevent the effusion of blood.
15to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or of the Ammonites.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·mer lōw kōh yip̄·tāḥ ’ā·mar yiś·rā·’êl ’eṯ- lō- lā·qaḥ ’e·reṣ mō·w·’āḇ wə·’eṯ- ’e·reṣ bə·nê ‘am·mō·wn
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said to-him: “Thus says Jephthah: Not took Israel the-land-of Moab and the-land-of sons-of-Ammon.”
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Took not away the land of Moab . . . —What they took was the territory of Sihon, which they had never been forbidden to take, and had indeed been forced to take by Sihon’s attack on them.
16But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
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kî ba·‘ă·lō·w·ṯām mim·miṣ·rā·yim yiś·rā·’êl way·yê·leḵ bam·miḏ·bār ‘aḏ- sūp̄ yam- way·yā·ḇō qā·ḏê·šāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For in-their-going-up from-Egypt, and-went Israel in-the-wilderness unto Sea-of-Reeds, and-came toward-Kadesh.
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the wilderness … the Red Sea … Kadesh ] The route is generalized, perhaps from reminiscences of Numbers 14:25 ; Numbers 20:14 (JE), as Moore suggests.
In this and the following verses there is a distinct reference to the history in Numbers and Deuteronomy, and in some instances verbal quotations.
17Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yiś·rā·’êl way·yiš·laḥ mal·’ā·ḵîm ’el- me·leḵ ’ĕ·ḏō·wm lê·mōr nā ’e‘·bə·rāh- ḇə·’ar·ṣe·ḵā me·leḵ ’ĕ·ḏō·wm wə·lō šā·ma‘ wə·ḡam šā·laḥ ’el- me·leḵ mō·w·’āḇ wə·lō ’ā·ḇāh yiś·rā·’êl way·yê·šeḇ bə·qā·ḏêš
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-sent Israel messengers unto the-king-of Edom, saying: “Let-me-pass-over, I-pray, through-thy-land”; and-not heard the-king-of Edom. And-also unto the-king-of Moab he-sent, and-not he-consented. And-dwelt Israel in-Kadesh.
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No mention is made of this embassy to Moab in the Pentateuch.
The knowledge of it must have been preserved either by tradition or in some other now lost writings; perhaps in the Book of the Wars of the LordPulpit's proposal is a conjecture about a lost source; the honest statement is Barnes's — the Pentateuch does not record this embassy.
18Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yê·leḵ bam·miḏ·bār way·yā·sāḇ ’eṯ- ’e·reṣ ’ĕ·ḏō·wm wə·’eṯ- ’e·reṣ mō·w·’āḇ way·yā·ḇō mim·miz·raḥ- še·meš lə·’e·reṣ mō·w·’āḇ way·ya·ḥă·nūn bə·‘ê·ḇer ’ar·nō·wn wə·lō- ḇā·’ū biḡ·ḇūl mō·w·’āḇ kî ’ar·nō·wn gə·ḇūl mō·w·’āḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-went in-the-wilderness, and-went-around the-land-of Edom and the-land-of Moab, and-came from-the-rising-of-the-sun to-the-land-of Moab, and-camped beyond Arnon; and-not came-they in-the-border-of Moab, for Arnon was border-of Moab.
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19And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land into our own place.’
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yiś·rā·’êl way·yiš·laḥ mal·’ā·ḵîm ’el- sî·ḥō·wn me·leḵ- hā·’ĕ·mō·rî me·leḵ ḥeš·bō·wn yiś·rā·’êl way·yō·mer lōw nā na‘·bə·rāh- ḇə·’ar·ṣə·ḵā ‘aḏ- mə·qō·w·mî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-sent Israel messengers unto Sihon king-of the-Amorite, king-of Heshbon; and-said to-him Israel: “Let-us-pass-over, I-pray, through-thy-land unto my-place.”
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Into my place - This expression implies that the trans-Jordanic possessions of Israel were not included in the land of Canaan properly speaking.
The site of Sihon’s capital is now represented by Ḥesbân (nearly 3000 ft.), finely placed among the mountains, 16 m. N.E. of the upper end of the Dead Sea
20But Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. So he gathered all his people, encamped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
sî·ḥō·wn ’eṯ- wə·lō- he·’ĕ·mîn yiś·rā·’êl ‘ă·ḇōr biḡ·ḇu·lōw sî·ḥō·wn ’eṯ- way·ye·’ĕ·sōp̄ kāl- ‘am·mōw way·ya·ḥă·nū bə·yā·hə·ṣāh way·yil·lā·ḥem ‘im- yiś·rā·’êl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-not trusted Sihon Israel to-pass-over in-his-border; and-gathered Sihon all-his-people, and-they-camped in-Jahaz, and-he-fought with Israel.
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So Sihon was the aggressor or beginner of the war; and the Israelites were forced to it for their own defence.
he did not trust to the assurance of Israel that they only wanted to pass peaceably through his land, but supposed the petition to cover an intention to take forcible possession of it.
21Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê- yiś·rā·’êl ’eṯ- way·yit·tên sî·ḥō·wn wə·’eṯ- kāl- ‘am·mōw bə·yaḏ yiś·rā·’êl way·yak·kūm yiś·rā·’êl ’êṯ way·yî·raš kāl- ’e·reṣ hā·’ĕ·mō·rî yō·wō·šêḇ ha·hî hā·’ā·reṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-gave YHWH God-of-Israel Sihon and-all-his-people into-the-hand-of Israel, and-they-smote-them; and-took-possession Israel of-all the-land-of the-Amorite, the-inhabitant-of that country.
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The Lord God of Israel. —This is evidently a cardinal point in the mind of Jephthah. The God of Israel has decided against the gods of Ammon.
The title "God of Israel" has a special emphasis here, and in Judges 11:23 . in a narrative of transactions relating to the pagan and their gods.
22seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yî·rə·šū ’êṯ kāl- gə·ḇūl hā·’ĕ·mō·rî ū·min- mê·’ar·nō·wn wə·‘aḏ- hay·yab·bōq ham·miḏ·bār wə·‘aḏ- hay·yar·dên
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-took-possession of-all the-border-of the-Amorite, from Arnon and-unto the-Jabbok, and-from the-wilderness and-unto the-Jordan.
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23Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it?
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wə·‘at·tāh Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê yiś·rā·’êl hō·w·rîš ’eṯ- hā·’ĕ·mō·rî mip·pə·nê ‘am·mōw yiś·rā·’êl wə·’at·tāh tî·rā·šen·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-now YHWH God-of-Israel dispossessed the-Amorite from-before-the-face-of His-people Israel — and-thou, wilt-thou-possess-him?
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God, the sovereign Lord of all lands, hath given us this land; this he adds, as a further and convincing reason; because otherwise it might have been alleged against the former argument, that they could gain no more right to that land from Sihon, than Sihon himself had.
From these facts Jephthah drew this simple but indisputable conclusion: "Jehovah the God of Israel has rooted out the Amorites before His people Israel, and thou wilt take possession of it
24Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hă·lō ’êṯ yō·w·rî·šə·ḵā ’ă·šer ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ’ō·w·ṯōw kə·mō·wōš ṯî·rāš wə·’êṯ hō·w·rîš kāl- ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê·nū nî·rāš mip·pā·nê·nū ’ō·w·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Is-it-not so: whom Chemosh thy-god dispossesses for-thee, him thou-possessest? And-all that YHWH our-God has-dispossessed from-before-us, him we-possess.
Where the English smooths the original
He does not call Chemosh a god; but only argues from the opinion that they had of him, which was such as all nations entertained of their gods, namely, that they owed their conquests to them
According to ancient ideas each nation had its own god, whose influence extended over the country where he was worshipped and no further; Micah 4:5 , cf. 1 Samuel 26:19 , Deuteronomy 4:19 etc.; an Israelite worshipper of Jehovah would not, therefore, deny the divinity of the gods of his neighbours. A belief in the sole Godhead of Jehovah had not yet been reached.Cambridge's developmental claim is a historical reconstruction, not a reading of this clause; Benson, Poole and Geneva read the same words as a debating concession to the king's own premises. We record the disagreement rather than resolving it.
(h) For we should believe and obey God more than you your idols.
25Are you now so much better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’at·tāh wə·‘at·tāh hă·ṭō·wḇ ṭō·wḇ mib·bā·lāq ben- ṣip·pō·wr me·leḵ mō·w·’āḇ hă·rō·wḇ rāḇ ‘im- yiś·rā·’êl ’im- nil·ḥōm nil·ḥam bām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-now, good, art-thou-better than Balak son-of-Zippor king-of Moab? Contending, did-he-contend with Israel, or fighting, did-he-fight against-them?
Where the English smooths the original
26For 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?
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šə·lōš mê·’ō·wṯ šā·nāh yiś·rā·’êl bə·še·ḇeṯ bə·ḥeš·bō·wn ū·ḇiḇ·nō·w·ṯe·hā ū·ḇə·‘ar·‘ō·wr ū·ḇiḇ·nō·w·ṯe·hā ū·ḇə·ḵāl he·‘ā·rîm ’ă·šer ‘al- yə·ḏê ’ar·nō·wn ū·mad·dū·a‘ lō- hiṣ·ṣal·tem ha·hî bā·‘êṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
In-the-dwelling-of Israel in-Heshbon and-in-her-daughters, and-in-Aroer and-in-her-daughters, and-in-all the-cities that-are-upon the-hands-of Arnon — three hundred year — and-why not did-you-snatch-them-away in-that time?
Where the English smooths the original
There is an almost insuperable difficulty in making out any reasonable scheme of chronology even by accepting this as a round number, because it is difficult to reconcile with nine or ten genealogies which have been preserved to us, and which represent the period between the conquest and David by seven or eight generations. Now the period covered by these genealogies includes the judgeship of Samuel and the reign of Saul—at least seventy years; and seven or eight generations cannot possibly span 370 years. The hypothesis that in all these genealogies—even the four times repeated genealogy of David—generations are always omitted is very improbable. The chronology of the Jews is confessedly loose and uncertain, and it seems quite possible that “three hundred years” may be a marginal gloss which has crept into the text.Ellicott's conjecture is offered as conjecture; he says himself that “there is nothing but conjecture to go upon.” We record it beside K&D's defence of the figure as roughly accurate.
within that time is an incorrect rendering; the words mean at that time (cf. Jdg 3:29 , Jdg 4:4 , Jdg 12:6 etc.), i.e. when Israel settled in Heshbon.
If the Ammonites had had any right to it, they ought to have asserted their claim in Moses' time. It was much too late now, after the expiration of 300 years. For "if no prescriptive right is to be admitted, on account of length of time, and if long possession gives no title, nothing would ever be held in safety by any people
27I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’ā·nō·ḵî lō- ḥā·ṭā·ṯî lāḵ wə·’at·tāh ‘ō·śeh ’it·tî rā·‘āh lə·hil·lā·ḥem bî Yah·weh yiš·pōṭ haš·šō·p̄êṭ hay·yō·wm bên bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl ū·ḇên bə·nê ‘am·mō·wn
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-I, I-have-not sinned against-thee; and-thou art-doing with-me evil, to-fight against-me. May-judge YHWH the-Judging-One today between sons-of-Israel and-between sons-of-Ammon.
Where the English smooths the original
the Lord … be judge ] Cf. Genesis 31:53 , 1 Samuel 24:12 ; 1 Samuel 24:15 . Even in early Israel Jehovah could be appealed to as the Judge, who in the quarrels of men or nations was known to take the side of justice against unfair aggression. The fundamental difference between Jehovah and the gods of the nations, and His superiority to them, lay in His essentially moral character.
There cannot be a finer picture of justice, candour, fair reasoning, moderation, and unwillingness to proceed to the dreadful miseries of war, joined with a noble spirit to defend his country in its just rights, than that which Jephthah shows in his messages to the Ammonites.Benson's praise is for the embassy alone; the chapter that follows will complicate any verdict on the man, and the brief for this unit does not reach it.
28But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
me·leḵ bə·nê ‘am·mō·wn wə·lō šā·ma‘ ’el- diḇ·rê yip̄·tāḥ ’ă·šer šā·laḥ ’ê·lāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-not heard the-king-of sons-of-Ammon unto the-words-of Jephthah that he-sent unto-him.
Where the English smooths the original
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The narrator sets two verdicts side by side before any action begins: Jephthah is גִּבּוֹר חַיִל (gibbōwr ḥayil, H1368 + H2428), and Jephthah is בֶּן־אִשָּׁה זוֹנָה, son of a zōwnāh (H2181). Ellicott refuses every softening of the second: “If an inferior wife had been meant, the word used would not have been zonah, but pilgesh, as in Judges 8:31,” and Gill catalogues the traditions — Targum's innkeeper, Kimchi's concubine, Josephus's foreigner — only to say that none of them is “sufficient to denominate her a harlot.” The brothers' expulsion uses גָּרַשׁ (gârash, H1644), which Strong's defines as driving out from a possession; K&D compares Abraham's sending away of Ishmael and the sons of Keturah, “that they might not inherit along with Isaac.” In Tob he collects רֵיקִים (rêqîm, H7386) — “empty.” JFB hears desperadoes and reaches for Robin Hood; Gill hears bankrupts: “not wicked men, but empty men, whose pockets were empty.” Ellicott is severe — “Jephthah simply became a sort of Syrian freebooter” — while JFB notes the obvious comparison, that his mode of life “was similar to that of David when driven from the court of Saul.” ⚙ The two words the chapter opens with, mighty and empty, are the two things Israel has to work with.
The negotiation is conducted in vocabulary. The elders open with קָצִין (qāṣîn, H7101), “a magistrate (as deciding)” — Ellicott: “specially a leader in time of war.” Poole hears what they carefully did not say: “they say not our king; for the experience of Abimelech's kingship had cooled their appetite in that particular.” Jephthah answers with their own verb, gârash, now suffixed to himself (“and you drove me out”), and K&D concedes the transfer of blame: they “had either approved of it, or at all events had not interfered as magistrates to prevent it.” Cambridge explains the elders' evasive “therefore” as a known idiom of concession. By verse 8 the offer has risen to רֹאשׁ (rōš, H7218), which K&D distinguishes as “a chief in peace and war,” and by verse 11 the people grant both titles at once. The oath itself is verbal too: the elders swear יְהוָה יִהְיֶה שֹׁמֵעַ — Ellicott corrects the English, “Rather, be hearing,” and Benson draws the line the whole chapter will test: “Whatever we speak, it concerns us to remember that God is a hearer!” What “before the LORD in Mizpah” means is genuinely disputed: Barnes argues it “designates the presence of the tabernacle, or the ark, or of the high priest with Urim and Thummim”; K&D denies it, since “the war was resolved upon primarily by the eastern tribes alone,” and quotes Hengstenberg that the phrase “implies nothing more than that Jephthah confirmed all his words by an oath.” Henry, reading the whole exchange pastorally, turns it into a question: “If he save you, will ye be willing that he shall rule you? On no other terms will he save you.”
Jephthah's first act as head is not a muster but a message. JFB: “The bravest officers have always been averse to war; so Jephthah… resolved not only to make it clearly appear that hostilities were forced upon him, but to try measures for avoiding, if possible, an appeal to arms.” The opening words are an idiom, מַה־לִּי וָלָךְ — Ellicott and K&D both render it literally, “What to me and to thee?”, and point to Joshua 22:24 and 2 Samuel 16:10. The Ammonite claim rests on one verb, לָקַח (lâqach, H3947): “Israel took away my land.” Ellicott judges it “a very plausible plea, but… not in accordance with facts.” Jephthah's rebuttal reuses the same verb in flat denial (v. 15) and then narrates: Kadesh, the refusals of Edom and Moab, the detour around both, the camp beyond the Arnon, the request to Sihon, and Sihon's refusal. The refusal is itself a theological word — Sihon לֹא־הֶאֱמִין (heʼĕmîn, H539, Hiphil), he would not trust; K&D notes Numbers 21:23 has “gave not” where Judges has “trusted not.” Barnes, Pulpit and Cambridge all observe how closely verses 16–22 track Numbers 20–21, and K&D states it flatly: “Judges 11:19-22 are almost verbatim the same as Numbers 21:21-25.” Henry draws the conclusion the retelling is for: “The whole of this message shows that Jephthah was well acquainted with the books of Moses.” Barnes adds a suggestion the text cannot confirm: if the ark and the copy of the law were at Mizpeh, “it would account for Jephthah's accurate knowledge of it.”
The center of the argument is one root used seven times in four verses: יָרַשׁ (yârash, H3423), “to occupy by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place.” K&D unpacks the Hiphil: it “combines the three meanings: to drive out of a possession, to deprive of a possessor, and to give for a possession; inasmuch as it is impossible to give a land for a possession without driving away or exterminating its former possessor.” English needs two or three different verbs — dispossess, drive out, possess, grant — and the drumbeat disappears. Then verse 24, the most argued line in the unit. Benson protects Jephthah: “He does not call Chemosh a god; but only argues from the opinion that they had of him.” Poole agrees — “He speaks according to their fond and absurd opinion” — and Geneva's gloss makes it doctrinal: “For we should believe and obey God more than you your idols.” Cambridge takes the other road: “According to ancient ideas each nation had its own god, whose influence extended over the country where he was worshipped and no further… A belief in the sole Godhead of Jehovah had not yet been reached,” and Pulpit allows that “Possibly Jephthah had not risen to the conception of Jehovah as the God of the whole earth.” Everyone notices that Chemosh is Moab's god, not Ammon's: Barnes, Ellicott, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit each account for it differently (one king over both, a Moabite king of Ammon, or a passage really aimed at Moab). Verse 25 then argues from silence — Ellicott: the infinitive-absolute construction is “one of the Hebrew ways of expressing the superlative” — and verse 26 from prescription. K&D quotes Clericus for the principle: “if no prescriptive right is to be admitted, on account of length of time… nothing would ever be held in safety by any people.”
The last word of the argument is a figure of etymology: יִשְׁפֹּט יְהוָה הַשֹּׁפֵט — “may the LORD, the one-judging, judge.” Both words are H8199 shâphaṭ, the verb that names the whole book. Cambridge: “Even in early Israel Jehovah could be appealed to as the Judge, who in the quarrels of men or nations was known to take the side of justice against unfair aggression. The fundamental difference between Jehovah and the gods of the nations… lay in His essentially moral character.” Benson calls the whole embassy “a finer picture of justice, candour, fair reasoning, moderation, and unwillingness to proceed to the dreadful miseries of war” than kings usually show. And then verse 28 answers with a single negated verb, וְלֹא שָׁמַע — the same “did not hear” that Edom gave Israel in verse 17, and the exact opposite of the LORD who “shall be hearing” in verse 10. Ellicott: “We are not told of any counter-arguments. Probably the king of Ammon cared only for the argument of the sword.” ⚙ The unit is framed by hearing: one party swears before a God who hears, and the other will not.
⚙ This is a fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text. Judges 11:1–28 is built on two verbs the English keeps separating: גָּרַשׁ (gârash, H1644), to drive a man out of his possession, and יָרַשׁ (yârash, H3423), to take possession by driving out. The brothers gârash Jephthah in verse 2; he throws the word back at the elders in verse 7; and then, holding the office they gave him, he spends twelve verses arguing about who has the right to yârash a land. The man whose own inheritance case was decided against him by his family becomes the man who argues Israel's inheritance case before a foreign king — and he argues it on exactly the ground his brothers denied him, not merit but grant: “whatever the LORD our God has granted us.” He never once claims Israel deserved Gilead; he claims it was given, and that the giving was public, old, and uncontested. That is the same claim he could never make about his father's house.
Notice also what the chapter refuses to do with him. The narrator calls him gibbōwr ḥayil before mentioning his mother, and never once says God chose him; Benson and Poole have to supply that from outside the text. What the text does say is that the LORD is invoked three times by Jephthah and never answers in this unit — as witness (v. 10), as giver (v. 9, v. 24), as judge (v. 27) — and that the chapter's decisive human act is a refusal to hear (v. 28). Judges is a book about deliverers who are themselves part of what is wrong; the honest reading is not that Jephthah's exile sanctified him, but that God's dealing with Israel here runs entirely through a man whose standing no one in Israel would defend. If that is right, then the elders' bargain — be our head and we will be yours — is not the story's moral but its indictment: Israel gets a ruler on contract because it would not keep a brother by covenant.
The line that follows is the tool's own fallible summary, not a verse of Scripture: “Israel could not keep him as a brother, so it had to hire him as a head.”
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
Jephthah settles in אֶרֶץ טוֹב (’ereṣ Ṭōwb, H2897), a place named only a handful of times in Scripture. The Verifier finds the lexeme in four verses in all, and two of them are 2 Samuel 10:6 and 10:8, where the Ammonites hire twelve thousand men of Tob against David. Barnes, Ellicott, JFB, Cambridge and K&D all make the identification independently: an Aramean district north-east of Gilead, on the Ammonite frontier, whose business is fighting for hire. ⚙ The same market that rents soldiers to Ammon in David's day is where Israel goes shopping for a commander in Jephthah's — and Ellicott warns against pressing the name's meaning, “good,” into allegory.
2 Samuel 10:6 · 2 Samuel 10:8
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H2897 Ṭôwb — rare, occurring in only 4 verses — together with H5983 ʻAmmôwn (98 vv); the rarity of Ṭôwb carries the verbal link, and Barnes, Ellicott, JFB, Cambridge and K&D independently name 2 Samuel 10:6, 8 as the same district
Verses 19–22 are not an allusion to the Sihon campaign; they are, in large part, its text. K&D states it without hedging: “Judges 11:19-22 are almost verbatim the same as Numbers 21:21-25.” Pulpit checks it phrase by phrase — “They pitched on the other side of Arnon. The identical words occur in Numbers 21:13” — and Cambridge traces verses 16–18 to the same narrative stratum in Numbers. ⚙ Jephthah's case is therefore not his own composition but Israel's own record read back to a foreign king, which is why Henry concludes that he “was well acquainted with the books of Moses.”
Numbers 21:24
basis: The Verifier's computed overlap for Numbers 21:24 is H5983 ʻAmmôwn (98 vv) — a common lexeme that would only support a structural tier on its own. The verbal tier rests instead on the sourced verbatim identification by K&D (“almost verbatim the same as Numbers 21:21-25”) and Pulpit (“The identical words occur in Numbers 21:13”), stated as a quotation claim by named commentators
Joshua 12:2 describes Sihon's kingdom in Jephthah's own terms — from Aroer on the Arnon, half of Gilead, to the Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon. Jephthah's verse 22 sets the same four limits: Arnon, Jabbok, wilderness, Jordan. ⚙ Two books, one boundary description; the argument he makes in a diplomatic letter is the one Joshua's land-record had already filed.
Joshua 12:2
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1568 Gilʻâd (freq 123 vv) and H5983 ʻAmmôwn (98 vv) — both common, so the link is a shared boundary formula, not a quotation
The single geographical fact on which Jephthah's whole territorial case turns is that the Jabbok, not the Jordan, marked Ammon's edge. Deuteronomy 3:16 states it directly, and Cambridge cites that verse (with Joshua 12:2) when explaining why the Jabbok “is called ‘the border of the sons of Ammon.’” ⚙ If that border holds, the disputed land was never Ammon's to lose — which is precisely the claim of verses 15 and 22.
Deuteronomy 3:16
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H1568 Gilʻâd (123 vv) and H5983 ʻAmmôwn (98 vv) — common lexemes; the link is the shared border-definition, and Cambridge names Deuteronomy 3:16 for it explicitly
The elders' oath in verse 10 and the people's ratification in verse 11 make Jephthah head over “all the inhabitants of Gilead.” One chapter later the men of Ephraim dispute that headship, and the quarrel ends at the fords of the Jordan with forty-two thousand dead and a password nobody could fake (Judges 12:1–7). ⚙ The unit ends before the reader learns what a contract-made head does to a tribe that did not sign it; the Verifier's strongest name-links for this unit all point there.
Judges 12:1 · Judges 12:7
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H3316 Yiphtâch (26 vv) and H1569 Gilʻâdîy (11 vv, rare) at Judges 12:7, H3316 at Judges 12:1 — shared personal and gentilic names, i.e. a continuous narrative, not a quotation
When Samuel recites Israel's rescuers at Mizpah, Jephthah stands in the list (1 Samuel 12:11). ⚙ The recital makes no mention of his mother, his exile, or his bargain; it names only that the LORD sent and Israel was delivered — the same flattening that Hebrews 11 will later perform. Whether that is generous memory or deliberate confession of grace, the text does not say.
1 Samuel 12:11
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H3316 Yiphtâch (26 vv) — a shared personal name placing this figure in a later canonical list; no shared phrasing is claimed
Twice in this unit Barnes stops to say it: after noting that “Jephthah made his own aggrandisement the condition of his delivering his country,” he adds, “Yet he has his record among the faithful Hebrews 11:32.” Poole points to the same verse alongside Judges 12:7. ⚙ Hebrews names him without comment on anything this chapter records, which makes the New Testament's verdict on Jephthah a matter of inclusion rather than argument.
Hebrews 11:32
basis: Cross-Testament (Greek ↔ Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed between a Greek and a Hebrew text, so no verbal tier is possible. The link is the explicit naming of this same figure, adduced by Barnes (twice) and Poole from within the sourced commentary
The Verifier returns Joshua 15:43 as a candidate on the strength of H3316 Yiphtâch. ⚙ But that verse lists towns in the Shephelah of Judah, and the word there is a place-name, not the Gileadite judge. The match is real at the level of the lexeme and empty at the level of reference. We record it here rather than silently dropping it, because the same coincidence has produced genuine errors elsewhere, and because Cambridge notes the full form of the name “occurs as the name of a town Joshua 19:14; Joshua 19:27.”
Joshua 15:43
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H3316 Yiphtâch (26 vv), but the referents differ — a Judahite town versus the Gileadite judge. Lexical identity only; do not press it as a canonical connection
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The elders want deliverance; Jephthah will not give it except on the condition of headship (v. 9), and they swear to it before a God who hears (v. 10). Matthew Henry reads the exchange as an evangelical pattern and says so directly: “The same question as here, in fact, is put to those who desire salvation by Christ. If he save you, will ye be willing that he shall rule you? On no other terms will he save you. If he make you happy, shall he make you holy? If he be your helper, shall he be your Head?” ⚙ The analogy is not allegory imposed on the text; it is drawn from the text's own two nouns, qāṣîn and rōš — Israel wants a fighter for the emergency and is required to accept a ruler for the peace. The reading of Christ as a Saviour who cannot be received as rescue without being received as Lord is the common Protestant exposition of this passage, of which Henry is one witness.
Judges 11:9 · Judges 11:11
Jephthah's case ends where he cannot enforce it: יִשְׁפֹּט יְהוָה הַשֹּׁפֵט, “may the LORD, the Judge, judge” (v. 27, H8199 twice). Gill glosses it as an appeal to “the Judge of the whole earth, the omniscient God, that knows all things, the right and wrong of every cause”; Cambridge grounds it in the moral character that distinguishes Jehovah from the national gods; Ellicott ranges it with Genesis 18:25 and 1 Samuel 24:15. ⚙ Scripture's answer to that appeal is eventually a person: the Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22), and God has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man He has appointed (Acts 17:31). Neither sentence is quoted here; both are summarized, and the reader should check them. Jephthah must leave the verdict to the outcome of a battle; the Church confesses a Judge who has already been named and vindicated. The identification of the biblical Judge of all the earth with the risen Christ is the ordinary apostolic reading, not a private one.
John 5:22 · Acts 17:31
⚙ This reading is offered as my own and should be weighed carefully. The chapter turns on a man expelled by his own father's house (gârash, v. 2), hated (sânêʼ, v. 7), and then, when Israel had no other resource, set over the whole inheritance as rōš — head (v. 11). Geneva's marginal note already gestures at the pattern: “Often those things which men reject, God chooses to do great enterprises by.” The rejected-then-exalted shape is the shape of Psalm 118:22 and of the Lord's own use of it (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11), and John's prologue states the rejection in the same domestic terms this chapter uses: he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. ⚙ The differences matter and must be kept: Jephthah is raised by a negotiated contract, not by resurrection; his brothers' motive was inheritance law, not envy of righteousness; and Scripture nowhere applies the rejected-stone text to him. This is a pattern-resemblance, not an attested typology, and I mark it novel rather than ancient.
Psalm 118:22 · John 1:11 · Matthew 21:42 · Acts 4:11
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Text and interlinear. The Berean interlinear's gloss column is aligned to the English word order, not the Hebrew, so several glosses sit under the wrong surface form. The clearest case is Judges 11:1, where word 11 (יִפְתָּח) carries the gloss “was his” and word 12 (וַיּוֹלֶד, a Hiphil verb, “and he begat”) carries the gloss “father.” Our notes are keyed to the surface forms and parses, not to the displaced glosses. Similar displacement occurs at 11:2 (words 0–6), 11:3, 11:9 and 11:24.
Who is Gilead? Unresolved, and the commentators know it. K&D argues for a literal father who bore the ancestor's name; Cambridge and Barnes read “Gilead” as the district or clan personified, with Cambridge assigning verses 1–2 to “the late editor”; Pulpit concludes that “whether son or descendant cannot positively be affirmed.” We have not adjudicated it.
The three hundred years (11:26). This is the unit's hardest crux and we do not solve it. Gill reproduces the rabbinic addition (Seder Olam) that reaches 294 and rounds; K&D calls it “a round number that comes very near the reality”; Cambridge derives 300 from the editor's own chronological framework (301 or 319 by the book's figures) and concludes the phrase “must have been inserted”; Ellicott judges it irreconcilable with the preserved genealogies and suggests it “may be a marginal gloss which has crept into the text”; Pulpit goes further still and wonders whether years is a corruption of cities. Cambridge and Pulpit agree, against the older English versions, that בָּעֵת הַהִיא means “at that time,” not “within that time.”
Moab or Ammon. The embassy is addressed to Ammon but argues against Moab: Chemosh (v. 24) is Moab's god, Balak (v. 25) is Moab's king, and Heshbon and Aroer (v. 26) are Moabite cities. Barnes suggests the Ammonite king may himself have been a Moabite; Poole and Pulpit posit one crown over both peoples; Cambridge treats verses 12–28 as a later insertion aimed at Moab. We have recorded the difficulty rather than choosing.
“Before the LORD in Mizpah” (11:11). Barnes and Pulpit take it to require the ark, the tabernacle, or a priest with the ephod; K&D, with Hengstenberg, denies any such presence and reduces the phrase to a sworn oath; Poole allows a congregation or an ad hoc altar; Ellicott weighs the two Mizpahs and settles for Gilead. Cambridge further argues that 11b originally followed the vow of 11:30–31. Nothing in the sourced material settles this.
Text-critical variants. Cambridge reports that some LXX recensions lack 11:5a and others omit 11:4, and that at 11:26 the LXX reads Jazer for Aroer and Jordan for Arnon, “which looks like the original text”; Pulpit and Ellicott note the Jordan reading too. Our literal renderings follow the Masoretic text as given in the brief.
Voices. Matthew Henry's commentary on this chapter is sectional, one block for 11:1–11 and one for 11:12–28, so his excerpts are section-level judgments rather than verse-level notes; that is why the same Henry paragraph stands behind more than one verse in the sources. Poole's entry at 11:1 in the brief is prefaced by JFB's chapter outline, and several verses carry “No text from Poole on this verse.” Cambridge's source-critical conclusions are that commentator's historical judgments, not readings of the Hebrew, and are cited as his.
What is ⚙ and what is not. Every parse, Strong's number, frequency count and lexeme gloss above comes from the brief's interlinear, lexicon and Verifier output. Every quoted judgment is attributed by name. The sola reading, the pullquote, the third Christ entry, and every sentence marked ⚙ are this tool's fallible synthesis, offered to be tested and corrected.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)