< Judges 8 >
1 And the men of Ephraim came and said to him, Why did you not send for us when you went to war against Midian? And they said sharp and angry words to him.
エフライムの人々はギデオンに向かい「あなたが、ミデアンびとと戦うために行かれたとき、われわれを呼ばれなかったが、どうしてそういうことをされたのですか」と言って激しく彼を責めた。
2 And he said to them, What have I done in comparison with you? Is not that which Ephraim took up after the grape-cutting better than all the grapes which Abiezer got in from the grape-cutting?
ギデオンは彼らに言った、「今わたしのした事は、あなたがたのした事と比べものになりましょうか。エフライムの拾い集めた取り残りのぶどうはアビエゼルの収穫したぶどうにもまさるではありませんか。
3 God has given into your hands the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you? And when he said this, their feeling about him became kinder.
神はミデアンの君オレブとゼエブをあなたがたの手にわたされました。わたしのなし得た事は、あなたがたのした事と比べものになりましょうか」。ギデオンがこの言葉を述べると、彼らの憤りは解けた。
4 Then Gideon came to Jordan and went over it with his three hundred, overcome with weariness and in need of food.
ギデオンは自分に従っていた三百人と共にヨルダンに行ってこれを渡り、疲れながらもなお追撃したが、
5 And he said to the men of Succoth, Give bread cakes to my people, for they are overcome with weariness, and I am going on after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.
彼はスコテの人々に言った、「どうぞわたしに従っている民にパンを与えてください。彼らが疲れているのに、わたしはミデアンの王ゼバとザルムンナを追撃しているのですから」。
6 But the chiefs of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand that we are to give bread to your army?
スコテのつかさたちは言った、「ゼバとザルムンナは、すでにあなたの手のうちにあるのですか。われわれはどうしてあなたの軍勢にパンを与えねばならないのですか」。
7 Then Gideon said, Because of this, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will have you stretched on a bed of thorns of the waste land and on sharp stems, and have you crushed as grain is crushed on a grain-floor.
ギデオンは言った、「それならば主がわたしの手にゼバとザルムンナをわたされるとき、わたしは野のいばらと、おどろをもって、あなたがたの肉を打つであろう」。
8 So he went up from there to Penuel and made the same request to the men of Penuel; but they gave him the same answer as the men of Succoth had given.
そしてギデオンはそこからペヌエルに上り、同じことをペヌエルの人々に述べると、彼らもスコテの人々が答えたように答えたので、
9 So he said to the men of Penuel, When I come back in peace, I will have this tower broken down.
ペヌエルの人々に言った、「わたしが安らかに帰ってきたとき、このやぐらを打ちこわすであろう」。
10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, those of all the army of the children of the east who were still living; for a hundred and twenty thousand of their swordsmen had been put to death.
さてゼバとザルムンナは軍勢おおよそ一万五千人を率いて、カルコルにいた。これは皆、東方の民の全軍のうち生き残ったもので、戦死した者は、つるぎを帯びているものが十二万人あった。
11 And Gideon went up by the way used by the people living in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and made an attack on the army when they had no thought of danger.
ギデオンはノバとヨグベハの東の隊商の道を上って、敵軍の油断しているところを撃った。
12 And Zebah and Zalmunna went in flight; and he went after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and put all the army to the curse.
ゼバとザルムンナは逃げたが、ギデオンは追撃して、ミデアンのふたりの王ゼバとザルムンナを捕え、その軍勢をことごとく撃ち敗った。
13 Then Gideon, the son of Joash, went back from the fight:
こうしてヨアシの子ギデオンはヘレスの坂をとおって戦いから帰り、
14 And taking prisoner a young man of the people of Succoth, he got from him, in answer to his questions, a list of the chiefs of Succoth and the responsible men, seventy-seven men.
スコテの若者ひとりを捕えて、尋ねたところ、彼はスコテのつかさたち及び長老たち七十七人の名をギデオンのために書きしるした。
15 So he came to the men of Succoth and said, Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, on account of whom you made sport of me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand, that we are to give bread to your army who are overcome with weariness?
ギデオンはスコテの人々のところへ行って言った、「あなたがたがかつて『ゼバとザルムンナはすでにあなたの手のうちにあるのか。われわれはどうしてあなたの疲れた人々にパンを与えねばならないのか』と言って、わたしをののしったそのゼバとザルムンナを見なさい」。
16 Then he took the responsible men of the town and had them crushed on a bed of thorns and sharp stems.
そして彼は、その町の長老たちを捕え、野のいばらと、おどろとを取り、それをもってスコテの人々を懲らし、
17 And he had the tower of Penuel broken down and the men of the town put to death.
またペヌエルのやぐらを打ちこわして町の人々を殺した。
18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, Where are the men whom you put to death at Tabor? And they gave answer, As you are, so were they; every one of them was like a king's son.
そしてギデオンはゼバとザルムンナに言った、「あなたがたがタボルで殺したのは、どんな人々であったか」。彼らは答えた、「彼らはあなたに似てみな王子のように見えました」。
19 And he said, They were my brothers, my mother's sons: by the life of the Lord, if you had kept them safe, I would not put you to death.
ギデオンは言った、「彼らはわたしの兄弟、わたしの母の子たちだ。主は生きておられる。もしあなたがたが彼らを生かしておいたならば、わたしはあなたがたを殺さないのだが」。
20 Then he said to Jether, his oldest son, Up! Put them to death. But the boy did not take out his sword, fearing because he was still a boy.
そして長子エテルに言った、「立って、彼らを殺しなさい」。しかしその若者はなお年が若かったので、恐れてつるぎを抜かなかった。
21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Up! Put an end to us yourself: for you have a man's strength. Then Gideon got up and put Zebah and Zalmunna to death and took the ornaments which were on their camels' necks.
そこでゼバとザルムンナは言った、「あなた自身が立って、わたしたちを撃ってください。人によってそれぞれ力も違いますから」。ギデオンは立ちあがってゼバとザルムンナを殺し、彼らのらくだの首に掛けてあった月形の飾りを取った。
22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Be our ruler, you and your son and your son's son after him; for you have been our saviour from the hands of Midian.
イスラエルの人々はギデオンに言った、「あなたはミデアンの手からわれわれを救われたのですから、あなたも、あなたの子も孫もわれわれを治めてください」。
23 But Gideon said to them, I will not be a ruler over you, and my son will not be a ruler over you: it is the Lord who will be ruler over you.
ギデオンは彼らに言った、「わたしはあなたがたを治めることはいたしません。またわたしの子もあなたがたを治めてはなりません。主があなたがたを治められます」。
24 Then Gideon said to them, I have a request to make to you; let every man give me the ear-rings he has taken. (For they had gold ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
ギデオンはまた彼らに言った、「わたしはあなたがたに一つの願いがあります。あなたがたのぶんどった耳輪をめいめいわたしにください」。ミデアンびとはイシマエルびとであったゆえに、金の耳輪を持っていたからである。
25 And they gave answer, We will gladly give them. So they put down a robe, every man dropping into it the ear-rings he had taken.
彼らは答えた、「わたしどもは喜んでそれをさしあげます」。そして衣をひろげ、めいめいぶんどった耳輪をその中に投げ入れた。
26 The weight of the gold ear-rings which he got from them was one thousand, seven hundred shekels of gold; in addition to the moon-ornaments and jewels and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and the chains on their camels' necks.
こうしてギデオンが求めて得た金の耳輪の重さは一千七百金シケルであった。ほかに月形の飾りと耳飾りと、ミデアンの王たちの着た紫の衣およびらくだの首に掛けた首飾りなどもあった。
27 And Gideon made an ephod from them and put it up in his town Ophrah; and all Israel went after it there and were false to the Lord; and it became a cause of sin to Gideon and his house.
ギデオンはそれをもって一つのエポデを作り、それを自分の町オフラに置いた。イスラエルは皆それを慕って姦淫をおこなった。それはギデオンとその家にとって、わなとなった。
28 So Midian was broken before the children of Israel and the Midianites never got back their strength. And the land had peace for forty years, in the days of Gideon.
このようにしてミデアンはイスラエルの人々に征服されて、再びその頭をあげることができなかった。そして国はギデオンの世にあるうち、四十年のあいだ太平であった。
29 And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went back to his house and was living there.
ヨアシの子エルバアルは行って自分の家に住んだ。
30 Gideon had seventy sons, the offspring of his body; for he had a number of wives.
ギデオンは多くの妻をもっていたので、自分の子供だけで七十人あった。
31 And the servant-wife he had in Shechem had a son by him, to whom he gave the name Abimelech.
シケムにいた彼のめかけがまたひとりの子を産んだので、アビメレクと名づけた。
32 And Gideon, the son of Joash, came to his end when he was very old, and his body was put in the resting-place of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
ヨアシの子ギデオンは高齢に達して死に、アビエゼルびとのオフラにある父ヨアシの墓に葬られた。
33 And after the death of Gideon, the children of Israel again went after the gods of Canaan and were false to the Lord, and made Baal-berith their god.
ギデオンが死ぬと、イスラエルの人々はまたバアルを慕って、これと姦淫を行い、バアル・ベリテを自分たちの神とした。
34 And the children of Israel did not keep in their minds the Lord their God, who had been their saviour from all their haters on every side;
すなわちイスラエルの人々は周囲のもろもろの敵の手から自分たちを救われた彼らの神、主を覚えず、
35 And they were not kind to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in reward for all the good he had done to Israel.
またエルバアルすなわちギデオンがイスラエルのためにしたもろもろの善行に応じて彼の家族に親切をつくすこともしなかった。