It is helpful to know that the verb for turned
can also be translated as turn back
or returned.
This sounds like they are rewriting history, since they had never left him; instead, they had forced him to leave them. So why do they speak this way? The verb they use is one of the standard expressions for repent
in the Old Testament. These men are referring to a change of their minds or attitudes in relation to Jephthah. They adopt the language of repentance.1
8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”