SEV Biblia, Chapter 11:1
¶ Existía entonces Jeft, galaadita, hombre valiente, hijo de una ramera, a la cual Galaad había engendrado un hijo .
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Judges 11:1
Verse 1. Now Jephthah-was the son of a harlot] I think the word hnwz zonah, which we here render harlot, should be translated, as is contended for on Josh. ii. 1, viz. a hostess, keeper of an inn or tavern for the accommodation of travelers; and thus it is understood by the Targum of Jonathan on this place: atyqdnwp atta rb awhw vehu bar ittetha pundekitha, "and he was the son of a woman, a tavern keeper." See the note referred to above. She was very probably a Canaanite, as she is called, ver. 2, a strange woman, trja ha ishshah achereth, a woman of another race; and on this account his brethren drove him from the family, as he could not have a full right to the inheritance, his mother not being an Israelite.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour , etc.] Jephthah had his name of Gileadite either from his father, whose name was Gilead, or from the city and country in which he was born, which is most likely, and so was of the same country with the preceding judge; and he was a man of great strength and valour, and which perhaps became known by his successful excursions on parties of the enemies of Israel, the Ammonites, being at the head of a band of men, who lived by the booty they got from them: and he was the son of an harlot ; the Targum says, an innkeeper; and, according to Kimchi, she was a concubine, which some reckoned no better than an harlot, but such are not usually called so; some Jewish writers will have her to be one of another tribe his father ought not to have married; and others, that she was of another nation, a Gentile, so Josephus f224 : and, according to Patricides f225 , he was the son of a Saracen woman; but neither of these are sufficient to denominate her a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah ; he was his son; this was a descendant of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, called after the name of his great ancestor.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-11 - Men ought not to be blamed for their parentage, so long as they by their personal merits roll away any reproach. God had forgiven Israel therefore Jephthah will forgive. He speaks not with confidence of his success, knowing how justly God might suffer the Ammonites to prevai for the further punishment of Israel. Nor does he speak with an confidence at all in himself. If he succeed, it is the Lord deliver them into his hand; he thereby reminds his countrymen to look up to God as the Giver of victory. The same question as here, in fact, is put to those who desire salvation by Christ. If he save you, will ye be willing that he shall rule you? On no other terms will he save you. I he make you happy, shall he make you holy? If he be your helper, shal he be your Head? Jephthah, to obtain a little worldly honour, wa willing to expose his life: shall we be discouraged in our Christia warfare by the difficulties we may meet with, when Christ has promise a crown of life to him that overcometh?
Original Hebrew
ויפתח 3316 הגלעדי 1569 היה 1961 גבור 1368 חיל 2428 והוא 1931 בן 1121 אשׁה 802 זונה 2181 ויולד 3205 גלעד 1568 את 853 יפתח׃ 3316
