Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jephthah argues that if the Ammonites believe their god Chemosh gives them the right to any land they conquer, then Israel has an equally valid claim to possess the land that the LORD, their God, drives out for them. This highlights a critical misunderstanding of divine sovereignty: the Ammonites attribute their territorial gains to their idol, while Jephthah correctly points to the LORD as the true giver of victory and possession.
Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jephthah is responding to the Ammonite king's claim that the Israelites are occupying land that rightfully belongs to Ammon. He argues that just as the Ammonites believe their god Chemosh gave them their current territory after they conquered its previous inhabitants, so too the Israelites possess their lands by the rightful conquest given to them by the Lord. This exchange highlights a fundamental difference in their understanding of divine claims to land and authority.
Jephthah faces down the Ammonite king, but his words reveal a world where gods and nations had very specific, territorial claims. How did ancient people view the gods' role in conquest?
Jephthah is responding to the Ammonite king's demand for land that Israel now occupies. The Ammonite king claims this land belongs to them because their god, Chemosh, has given it to them.
Ask a follow-up
Jephthah uses the names of both Chemosh and the LORD our God in his argument. What does this tell us about how he, and the people of his time, understood God's reach?
Jephthah’s dialogue highlights a crucial difference in the understanding of God, even within the context of ancient Near Eastern beliefs.
Understand the original words
Kemosh · Hebrew Proper Noun
A national deity of the Moabites and Ammonites, frequently mentioned in the Bible as a false god to whom detestable sacrifices, including children, were offered.
Jephthah's argument taps into ancient Near Eastern beliefs where nations attributed territorial gains to their gods. He uses the Ammonite's own logic – that their god Chemosh grants them land – to assert Israel's right to the territory granted by their God, Yahweh.
c. 1400 BC
Israelites Conquer Amorite Kingdom
The Israelites, led by Moses, conquer the Amorite kingdom of Sihon east of the Jordan River. The Amorites had previously taken this land from the Moabites.
c. 1300-1100 BC
Period of the Judges
A tumultuous era in Israel's history following Joshua's conquest, characterized by cycles of disobedience, oppression by neighboring nations, and deliverance by divinely appointed judges.
c. 1100 BC
Ammonite Oppression of Israel
The Ammonites, along with other nations, oppress the Israelites east of the Jordan for eighteen years, contributing to the circumstances Jephthah would later address.
c. 1100 BC— this verse
Jephthah's Diplomatic Exchange
Jephthah, as leader of Gilead, engages in a diplomatic dispute with the king of the Ammonites, who claims Israelite territory. This exchange sets the stage for the confrontation described in the verse.
This passage describes how God instructed Israel to not antagonize the descendants of Lot (Ammonites and Moabites), acknowledging their historical inheritance from God, which provides context for Jephthah's argument about divine entitlement to land.
Numbers 21:29This verse refers to Chemosh, the god of Moab, in a taunt song after Israel's conquest of Amorite territory. It highlights the cultural belief that national deities granted possession of land, directly paralleling Jephthah's point to the Ammonite king.
1 Samuel 26:19David laments that Saul has driven him out, essentially from his 'inheritance' in the 'land of the LORD.' This shows a similar concept of God granting possession of land, even when that possession is temporarily lost.
Jeremiah 48:7This prophetic judgment against Moab explicitly states that Chemosh and his priests will go into exile, underscoring the idea of national gods being tied to their people and territory, and the ultimate sovereignty of the LORD over all nations.
Romans 1:21-23Paul describes humanity 'exchanging the truth about God for a lie' and worshiping created things. This echoes Jephthah's situation, where the Ammonites/Moabites are attributed with divine rights by their idol Chemosh, failing to recognize the true Creator's authority.
pooleJudges 11:24: "Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess."
He speaks according to their fond and absurd opinion. The Ammonites and Moabites got their land by right of war, and conquest of the old inhabitants, whom they cast out; and this success, though given them by the true God, for Lot’s sake, Deu 2:19 , they impiously and ridiculously ascribe to their god Chemosh, whose gift th…
pulpitJudges 11:24: "Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess."
Verse 24. - Chemosh. The national god of the Moabites (cf. Numbers 21:29; 1 Kings 11:7, 33; Jeremiah 48:7, 13, 46, etc.). Thy god. The phrase indicates a very close connection between Moab and Ammon at the present time, both possibly being under one king. Chemosh, rather than Moloch, is mentioned because the territory had b…
Jephthah argues that if the Ammonites believe their god Chemosh gives them the right to any land they conquer, then Israel has an equally valid claim to possess the land that the LORD, their God, drives out for them. This highlights a critical misunderstanding of divine sovereignty: the Ammonites attribute their territorial gains to their idol, while Jephthah correctly points to the LORD as the true giver of victory and possession.
Jephthah is responding to the Ammonite king's claim that the Israelites are occupying land that rightfully belongs to Ammon. He argues that just as the Ammonites believe their god Chemosh gave them their current territory after they conquered its previous inhabitants, so too the Israelites possess their lands by the rightful conquest given to them by the Lord. This exchange highlights a fundamental difference in their understanding of divine claims to land and authority.
Jephthah is responding to the Ammonite king's claim that the Israelites are occupying land that rightfully belongs to Ammon. He argues that just as the Ammonites believe their god Chemosh gave them their current territory after they conquered its previous inhabitants, so too the Israelites possess their lands by the rightful conquest given to them by the Lord. This exchange highlights a fundamental difference in their understanding of divine claims to land and authority.
"Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? And all that the LORD our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess." — Jephthah argues that if the Ammonites believe their god Chemosh gives them the right to any land they conquer, then Israel has an equally valid claim to possess the land that the LORD, their God, dri…
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Last reviewed October 2026