Jephte also said to them: If you be come to me sincerely, that I should fight for you against the children of Ammon, and the Lord shall deliver them into my band, shall I be your prince?

Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, |If you bring me home again to fight with the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them over to me, I will be your head.|

And Jephthah saith unto the elders of Gilead, 'If ye are taking me back to fight against the Bene-Ammon, and Jehovah hath given them before me, I, am I to you for a head?'

Then Jephthah said to the responsible men of Gilead, If you take me back to make war against the children of Ammon, and if with the help of the Lord I overcome them, will you make me your head?

Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, 'If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them before me, shall I be your head?'

Jephthah also said to them: "If you have come to me so that I may fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and if the Lord will deliver them into my hands, will I truly be your leader?"

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 faithful Hebrews 11:32.

And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead,.... Considering the former usage he had met with from them, and the character which he himself bore, and the fickleness of men, when their turn is served, was willing to make a sure bargain with them:
if ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon; that is, should he consent to go along with them, and fight their battle for them:
and the Lord deliver them before me; or into his hands, on whom he depended for success, and not on his own courage and valour, and military skill:
shall I be your head? not only captain general of their forces during the war, but the chief ruler of them when that was ended.

Jephthah assented to this: "If ye will take me back to make war upon the Ammonites, and Jehovah shall give them up to me (lit. 'before me,' as in Joshua 10:12; Deuteronomy 2:31, etc.), I will be your head." "I" is emphatic as distinguished from he; and there is no necessity to regard the sentence as a question, with which the expression in Judges 11:10, "according to thy words," which presuppose an affirmative statement on the part of Jephthah, and not a question, would be altogether irreconcilable.

If, &c. - If you recall me from this place where I am now settled, to the place whence I was expelled. Shall I, &c. - Will you really make good this promise? Jephthah was so solicitous in this case, either from his zeal for the public good, which required that he should be so; or from the law of self - preservation, that he might secure himself from his brethren; whose ill - will he had experienced, and whose injuries he could not prevent, if, after he had served their ends, he had been reduced to his private capacity.