Judges 11:2

And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Gilead’s	גִּלְעָ֛ד gil.'Ad	H1568	Gilad · proper noun, a man's name
wife	אֵֽשֶׁת 'e.shet-	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct
bare	וַתֵּ֧לֶד va.Te.led	H3205	to bear young · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
sons	בָּנִ֑ים ba.Nim	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
wife’s	הָאִשָּׁ֜ה ha.'i.Shah	H802	a woman · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
sons	בְֽנֵי ve.nei-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
up	וַיִּגְדְּל֨וּ vai.yig.de.Lu	H1431	to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
out	וַיְגָרְשׁ֣וּ vay.ga.re.Shu	H1644	to drive out from a possession · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Jephthah	יִפְתָּ֗ח yif.Tach	H3316	Jiphtach · proper noun, a man's name
said	וַיֹּ֤אמְרוּ vai.Yo.me.ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
inherit	תִנְחַ֣ל tin.Chal	H5157	to inherit (as a (figurative) mode of descent) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
father’s	אָבִ֔ינוּ 'a.Vi.nu	H1	father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
house	בְּבֵית be.veit-	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
son	בֶּן ben-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
strange	אַחֶ֖רֶת 'a.Che.ret	H312	properly · adjective, feminine singular absolute
woman	אִשָּׁ֥ה 'i.Shah	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 12:10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
Deuteronomy 23:2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LO…
Proverbs 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
Proverbs 5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
Proverbs 5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Proverbs 6:24-26 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Galatians 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of th…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 11:1-3

The princes and people of Gilead we left, in the close of the foregoing chapter, consulting about the choice of a general, having come to this resolve, that whoever would undertake to lead their forces against the children of Ammon should by common consent be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. The enterprise was difficult, and it was fit that so great an encouragement as this should be proposed to him that would undertake it. Now all agreed that Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of valour, and very fit for that purpose, none so fit as he, but he lay under three disadvantages: - 1. He was the son of a harlot (Jdg 11:1), of a strange woman (Jdg 11:2), one that was neither a wife…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 11:2

Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house--As there were children by the legitimate wife, the son of the secondary one was not entitled to any share of the patrimony, and the prior claim of the others was indisputable. Hence, as the brothers of Jephthah seem to have resorted to rude and violent treatment, they must have been influenced by some secret ill-will.

John Gill on Judges 11:2

And Gilead's wife bare him sons,.... It seems that, after the birth of Jephthah, Gilead took him a lawful wife, who bore him sons: and his wife's sons grew up; to the estate of men: and they thrust out Jephthah: out of his father's house, his father in all likelihood being dead, or he would not have suffered it, and what follows confirms it that he was dead: and said unto him, thou shalt not inherit in our father's house: as he might not, if the son of an harlot, or of a woman of another tribe, or of a concubine; though as Kimchi, from their Rabbins, observes, the son of such an one might, provided his mother was not an handmaid nor a stranger. And it looks as if this was not rightly done…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 11:1-2

Election of Jephthah as Prince and Judge of Israel. - Jdg 11:1-3. The account begins with his descent and early mode of life. "Jephthah (lxx Ἰεφθά) the Gileadite was a brave hero" (see Jdg 6:12; Jos 1:14, etc.); but he was the son of a harlot, and was begotten by Gilead, in addition to other sons who were born of his wife. Gilead is not the name of the country, as Bertheau supposes, so that the land is mythically personified as the forefather of Jephthah. Nor is it the name of the son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh (Num 26:29), so that the celebrated ancestor of the Gileadites is mentioned here instead of the unknown father of Jephthah. It is really the proper name of the father himsel…

Dictionary and topics

Bastard — In the Old Testament the rendering of the Hebrew word mamzer’, which means “polluted.” In Deut. 23:2, it occurs in the ordinary sense of illegitimate offspring. In Zech. 9:6, the word is used in the…
Children — The blessing of offspring, but especially of the male sex, is highly valued among all eastern nations, while a the absence is regarded as one of the severest punishments. (Genesis 16:2; 7:14; 1…
Gilead — Hill of testimony, (Gen. 31:21), a mountainous region east of Jordan. From its mountainous character it is called “the mount of Gilead” (Gen. 31:25). It is called also “the land of Gilead” (Num.…
Harlot — (1.) Heb. zonah (Gen. 34:31; 38:15). In verses 21, 22 the Hebrew word used in kedeshah, i.e., a woman consecrated or devoted to prostitution in connection with the abominable worship of Asherah or…
Jephthah — Whom God sets free, or the breaker through, a “mighty man of valour” who delivered Israel from the oppression of the Ammonites (Judg. 11:1-33), and judged Israel six years (12:7). He has been…
Children · Illegitimate: Despised by their brethren — Illegitimate: Despised by their brethren
Gilead · 5. Father of Jephthah — 5. Father of Jephthah
Jephthah · property — property
Strife · .Jephthah and his brothers — .Jephthah and his brothers

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).