1 At that time, there was a Gileadite, Jephthah, a very strong man and a fighter, the son of a kept woman, and he was born of Gilead.
2 Now Gilead had a wife, from whom he received sons. And they, after growing up, cast out Jephthah, saying, "You cannot inherit in the house of our father, because you were born of another mother."
3 And so, fleeing and avoiding them, he lived in the land of Tob. And men who were indigent and robbers joined with him, and they followed him as their leader.
4 In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.
5 And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.
6 And they said to him, "Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon."
7 But he answered them: "Are you not the ones who hated me, and who cast me out of my father's house? And yet now you come to me, compelled by necessity?"