Judges 11:24

King James Version

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.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Isn’t it true that you can have whatever your god Chemosh conquers for you, and we can have whatever the Lord our God conquers for us?

Hebrew Names Version
Won't you possess that which Kemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever the LORD our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.

Lexham English Bible
Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gave you to possess? Whoever Yahweh our God has driven out before us, we will possess it.

English Standard Version
Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.

New Century Version
Take the land that your god Chemosh has given you. We will live in the land the Lord our God has given us!

New English Translation
You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the Lord our God has driven out before us.

Amplified Bible
'Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And everything that the LORD our God dispossessed before us, we will possess.

New American Standard Bible
'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.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Wouldest not thou possesse that which Chemosh thy god giueth thee to possesse? So whomesoeuer the Lorde our God driueth out before vs, them will we possesse.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,

Contemporary English Version
If Chemosh your god takes over a country and gives it to you, don't you have a right to it? And if the Lord takes over a country and gives it to us, the land is ours!

Complete Jewish Bible
You should just keep the territory your god K'mosh has given you; while we, for our part, will hold onto whatever Adonai our God has given us of the lands that belonged to others before us.

Darby Translation
Dost not thou possess what Chemosh thy god puts thee in possession of? and whatever Jehovah our God has dispossessed before us, that will we possess.

Easy-to-Read Version
Surely you can live in the land that your god Chemosh has given to you. So we will live in the land that the Lord our God has given to us.

George Lamsa Translation
Will you not possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whomever the LORD our God has destroyed from before us, their land will we possess.

Good News Translation
Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything that the Lord , our God, has taken for us.

Literal Translation
Whatever Chemosh your god causes you to possess, do you not possess it? And all that which Jehovah our God has dispossessed from before us, we will possess!

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Is it not so, yf thy God Camos gaue the oughte to possesse, woldest thou not possesse it? What so euer the LORDE oure God hath geue vs before vs to possesse, that shal we conquere and take in possession.

American Standard Version
Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever Jehovah our God hath dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.

Bible in Basic English
Do you not keep the lands of those whom Chemosh your god sends out from before you? So we will keep all the lands of those whom the Lord our God sends out from before us.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Nay, but what people Camos thy God dryueth out, that lande possesse thou: Euen so whatsoeuer nation the Lord our God expelleth before vs, that lande ought we to enioy.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God hath dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.

King James Version (1611)
Wilt not thou possesse that which Chemosh thy god giueth thee to possesse? so whomsoeuer the Lord our God shal driue out from before vs, them will we possesse.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Wilt thou not inherit those possessions which Chamos thy god shall cause thee to inherit; and shall not we inherit the land of all those whom the Lord our God has removed from before you?

English Revised Version
Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God hath dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.

Berean Standard Bible
Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe tho thingis whiche `oure Lord God ouercomere gat, schulen falle in to oure possessioun;

Young's Literal Translation
That which Chemosh thy god causeth thee to possess -- dost thou not possess it? and all that which Jehovah our God hath dispossessed from our presence, -- it we do possess.

Update Bible Version
Will not you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them we will possess.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
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.

New King James Version
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.

New Living Translation
You keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you, and we will keep whatever the Lord our God gives us.

New Life Bible
Do you not keep for your own what your god Chemosh gives you? We will keep the land of the people the Lord our God drove away for us.

New Revised Standard
Should you not possess what your god Chemosh gives you to possess? And should we not be the ones to possess everything that the Lord our God has conquered for our benefit?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
What Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess, that, wilt thou not possess? and, whatsoever Yahweh our God hath set before us to possess, that, shall we not possess?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Are not those things which thy god Chamos possesseth, due to thee by right? But what the Lord our God hath obtained by conquest, shall be our possession:

Revised Standard Version
Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God has driven out before us, we will possess it.

Contextual Overview

¹² And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land? ¹³ And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. ¹⁴ And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon: ¹⁵ And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon: ¹⁶ But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; ¹⁷ Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹ And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. ²⁰ But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹ And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Wilt not thou possess: This is simply an argumentum ad hominem; in which Jephthah argues on this principles recognized by the king of Ammon. As if he had said, "You suppose that the land which you possess was given you by your god Chemosh; and therefore will not relinquish what you believe you hold by a divine right. Now we know that Jehovah, our God, has given us the land of the Israelites; and therefore we will not give it up."

Chemosh: Numbers 21:29, 1 Kings 11:7, Jeremiah 48:7, Jeremiah 48:46

whomsoever: Deuteronomy 9:4, Deuteronomy 9:5, Deuteronomy 18:12, Joshua 3:10, Psalms 44:2, Psalms 78:55, Micah 4:5

Reciprocal: Numbers 20:21 - wherefore Deuteronomy 2:21 - but the Lord Joshua 6:2 - the king Ruth 1:15 - her gods 2 Kings 1:2 - god 2 Kings 23:13 - Chemosh 2 Chronicles 20:11 - to cast us Jeremiah 48:13 - ashamed

Cross-References

Joshua 24:2
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.

Luke 3:34
Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess?.... Chemosh was the idol of the Moabites, see

Numbers 21:29, which has led some to think, that the present king of Ammon was also king of Moab, and who insisted on that part of the country, which formerly belonged to Moab, to be delivered to him, as well as that which had belonged to Ammon. Now since the land, which they now inhabited, as well as what they had lost, they had taken away from others, Deuteronomy 2:10, having conquered them, and which they ascribed to the help and assistance they had from their idol, and possessed as his gift; Jephthah argues with them "ad hominem", from the less to the greater:

so whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess; we have surely as good a claim to what the Lord our God gives to us in a way of conquest, as you have, or can think you have, to what your idol, as you suppose, has given you: however, what we have got, or get this way, we are determined to possess, and keep possession of.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Consult the marginal references. If the ark with the copy of the Law Deuteronomy 31:26 was at Mizpeh, it would account for Jephthah’s accurate knowledge of it; and this exact agreement of his message with Numbers and Deuteronomy would give additional force to the expression, “he uttered all his words before the Lord” Judges 11:11.

Judges 11:17

No mention is made of this embassy to Moab in the Pentateuch.

Judges 11:19

Into my place - This expression implies that the trans-Jordanic possessions of Israel were not included in the land of Canaan properly speaking.

Judges 11:21

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.

Judges 11:24

Chemosh was the national god of the Moabites (see the marginal references); and as the territory in question was Moabitish territory before the Amorites took it from “the people of Chemosh,” this may account for the mention of Chemosh here rather than of Moloch, or Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. Possibly the king of the children of Ammon at this time may have been a Moabite.

Judges 11:25, Judges 11:26

Jephthah advances another historical argument. Balak, the king of Moab, never disputed the possession of Sihon’s kingdom with Israel.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 11:24. Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee — As if he had said: "It is a maxim with you, as it is among all nations, that the lands which they conceive to be given them by their gods, they have an absolute right to, and should not relinquish them to any kind of claimant. You suppose that the land which you possess was given you by your god Chemosh and therefore you will not relinquish what you believe you hold by a Divine right. Now, we know that Jehovah, our God, who is the Lord of heaven and earth, has given the Israelites the land of the Amorites; and therefore we will not give it up." The ground of Jephthah's remonstrance was sound and good.

1. The Ammonites had lost their lands in their contests with the Amorites.

2. The Israelites conquered these lands from the Amorites, who had waged a most unprincipled war against them.

3. God, who is the Maker of heaven and earth had given those very lands as a Divine grant to the Israelites.

4. In consequence of this they had possession of them for upwards of three hundred years.

5. These lands were never reclaimed by the Ammonites, though they had repeated opportunities of doing it, whilst the Israelites dwelt in Heshbon, in Aroer, and in the coasts of Arnon; but they did not reclaim them because they knew that the Israelites held them legally. The present pretensions of Ammon were unsupported and unjustifiable.