The people of the princes of Gilead said one to another, “Whoever begins to fight against the children of Ammon will be chief over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
Now it came to pass after the death of Joshua that Bnei-Yisrael inquired of Adonai saying, “Who will be the first to go up for us against the Canaanites to attack them?”
Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them, after Jephthah repeated all his terms before Adonai at Mizpah.
All the men of Israel were saying, “Have you seen this man who keeps coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel! The man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, give him his daughter in marriage and make his father’s house tax-free in Israel!”