1. Judges 11:29–40 (ESV)
  2. Structure and outline

The difference in dialogue between 11:29–40 and previous dialogues in the Jephthah cycle

Judges 11:29–40 (ESV)

29 Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.

In this fourth and climactic section, the dialogue differs from what has just preceded it in Judges 11:12–28. There, the dialogue was conducted at a distance, and couched in the formal language of diplomacy. Here, the dialogue is intimate and personal, and painfully tragic. It is arguably the dramatic climax of the entire Jephthah narrative.1