Iudicum 11
1 Fuit itaque illo in tempore Iephte Galaadites vir fortissimus atque pugnator, filius mulieris meretricis, qui natus est de Galaad.
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a great man of war; he was the son of a loose woman, and Gilead was his father.
2 Habuit autem Galaad uxorem, de qua suscepit filios: qui postquam creverant, eiecerunt Iephte, dicentes: Heres in domo patris nostri esse non poteris, quia de altera matre natus es.
And Gilead's wife gave birth to sons, and when her sons became men, they sent Jephthah away, saying, You have no part in the heritage of our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.
3 Quos ille fugiens atque devitans, habitavit in Terra Tob: congregatique sunt ad eum viri inopes, et latrocinantes, et quasi principem sequebantur.
So Jephthah went in flight from his brothers and was living in the land of Tob, where a number of good-for-nothing men, joining Jephthah, went out with him on his undertakings.
4 In illis diebus pugnabant filii Ammon contra Israel.
Now after a time the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
5 Quibus acriter instantibus perrexerunt maiores natu de Galaad, ut tollerent in auxilium sui Iephte de Terra Tob:
And when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the responsible men of Gilead went to get Jephthah back from the land of Tob;
6 dixeruntque ad eum: Veni et esto princeps noster, et pugna contra filios Ammon.
And they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief so that we may make war against the children of Ammon.
7 Quibus ille respondit: Nonne vos estis, qui odistis me, et eiecistis de domo patris mei, et nunc venistis ad me necessitate compulsi?
But Jephthah said to the responsible men of Gilead, Did you not, in your hate for me, send me away from my father's house? Why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?
8 Dixeruntque principes Galaad ad Iephte: Ob hanc igitur causam nunc ad te venimus, ut proficiscaris nobiscum, et pugnes contra filios Ammon, sisque dux omnium qui habitant in Galaad.
And the responsible men of Gilead said to Jephthah, That is the reason we have come back to you; so go with us and make war against the children of Ammon, and we will make you our head over all the people of Gilead.
9 Iephte quoque dixit eis: Si vere venistis ad me, ut pugnem pro vobis contra filios Ammon, tradideritque eos Dominus in manus meas, ego ero vester princeps?
Then Jephthah said to the responsible men of Gilead, If you take me back to make war against the children of Ammon, and if with the help of the Lord I overcome them, will you make me your head?
10 Qui responderunt ei: Dominus, qui haec audit, ipse mediator ac testis est quod nostra promissa faciemus.
And the responsible men of Gilead said to Jephthah, May the Lord be our witness: we will certainly do as you say.
11 Abiit itaque Iephte cum principibus Galaad, fecitque eum omnis populus principem sui. Locutusque est Iephte omnes sermones suos coram Domino in Maspha.
So Jephthah went with the responsible men of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah said all these things before the Lord in Mizpah.
12 Et misit nuncios ad regem filiorum Ammon, qui ex persona sua dicerent: Quid mihi et tibi est, quia venisti contra me, ut vastares terram meam?
Then Jephthah sent men to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have you against me that you have come to make war against my land?
13 Quibus ille respondit: Quia tulit Israel terram meam, quando ascendit de Aegypto a finibus Arnon usque Ieboc atque Iordanem: nunc ergo cum pace redde mihi eam.
And the king of the children of Ammon said to the men sent by Jephthah, Because Israel, when he came up out of Egypt, took away my land, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and as far as Jordan: so now, give me back those lands quietly.
14 Per quos rursum mandavit Iephte, et imperavit eis ut dicerent regi Ammon:
And Jephthah sent again to the king of the children of Ammon,
15 Haec dicit Iephte: Non tulit Israel Terram Moab, nec Terram filiorum Ammon:
And said to him, This is the word of Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the children of Ammon;
16 sed quando de Aegypto conscenderunt, ambulavit per solitudinem usque ad Mare rubrum, et venit in Cades.
But when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the waste land to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh;
17 Misitque nuncios ad regem Edom, dicens: Dimitte me ut transeam per terram tuam. Qui noluit acquiescere precibus eius. Misit quoque ad regem Moab, qui et ipse transitum praebere contempsit. Mansit itaque in Cades,
Then Israel sent men to the king of Edom saying, Let me now go through your land; but the king of Edom did not give ear to them. And in the same way he sent to the king of Moab, but he would not; so Israel went on living in Kadesh.
18 et circuivit ex latere Terram Edom, et Terram Moab: venitque contra Orientalem plagam Terrae Moab, et castrametatus est trans Arnon: nec voluit intrare terminos Moab: Arnon quippe confinium est Terrae Moab.
Then he went on through the waste land and round the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and put up their tents on the other side of the Arnon; they did not come inside the limit of Moab, for the Arnon was the limit of Moab.
19 Misit itaque Israel nuncios ad Sehon regem Amorrhaeorum, qui habitabat in Hesebon, et dixerunt ei: Dimitte ut transeam per terram tuam usque ad fluvium.
And Israel sent men to Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let me now go through your land to my place.
20 Qui et ipse Israel verba despiciens, non dimisit eum transire per terminos suos: sed infinita multitudine congregata egressus est contra eum in Iasa, et fortiter resistebat.
But Sihon would not give way and let Israel go through his land; and Sihon got together all his people, and put his army in position in Jahaz, and made war on Israel.
21 Tradiditque eum Dominus in manus Israel cum omni exercitu suo, qui percussit eum, et possedit omnem Terram Amorrhaei habitatoris regionis illius,
And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hands of Israel, and they overcame them; so all the land of the Amorites, the people of that land, became Israel's.
22 et universos fines eius de Arnon usque Iaboc, et de solitudine usque ad Iordanem.
All the limit of the Amorites was theirs, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and from the waste land even to Jordan.
23 Dominus ergo Deus Israel subvertit Amorrhaeum, pugnante contra illum populo suo Israel, et tu nunc vis possidere terram eius?
So now the Lord, the God of Israel, has taken away their land from the Amorites and given it to his people Israel; are you then to have it?
24 Nonne ea quae possidet Chamos Deus tuus, tibi iure debentur? Quae autem Dominus Deus noster victor obtinuit, in nostram cedent possessionem:
Do you not keep the lands of those whom Chemosh your god sends out from before you? So we will keep all the lands of those whom the Lord our God sends out from before us.
25 nisi forte melior es Balac filio Sephor rege Moab: aut docere potes, quod iurgatus sit contra Israel, et pugnaverit contra eum,
What! are you any better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever take up a cause against Israel or make war against them?
26 quando habitavit in Hesebon, et viculis eius, et in Aroer, et villis illius, vel in cunctis civitatibus iuxta Iordanem, per trecentos annos. Quare tanto tempore nihil super hac repetitione tentastis?
While Israel was living in Heshbon and its daughter-towns and in Aroer and its daughter-towns and in all the towns which are by the side of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not get them back at that time?
27 Igitur non ego pecco in te, sed tu contra me male agis, indicens mihi bella non iusta. Iudicet Dominus arbiter huius diei inter Israel, et inter filios Ammon.
So I have done no wrong against you, but you are doing wrong to me in fighting against me: may the Lord, who is Judge this day, be judge between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
28 Noluitque acquiescere rex filiorum Ammon verbis Iephte, quae per nuncios mandaverat.
The king of the children of Ammon, however, did not give ear to the words which Jephthah sent to him.
29 Factus est ergo super Iephte Spiritus Domini, et circuiens Galaad, et Manasse, Maspha quoque Galaad, et inde transiens ad filios Ammon,
Then the spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he went through Gilead and Manasseh, and came to Mizpeh of Gilead; and from Mizpeh of Gilead he went over to the children of Ammon.
30 votum vovit Domino, dicens: Si tradideris filios Ammon in manus meas,
And Jephthah took an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give the children of Ammon into my hands,
31 quicumque primus fuerit egressus de foribus domus meae, mihique occurrerit revertenti cum pace a filiis Ammon, eum holocaustum offeram Domino.
Then whoever comes out from the door of my house, meeting me when I come back in peace from the children of Ammon, will be the Lord's and I will give him as a burned offering.
32 Transivitque Iephte ad filios Ammon, ut pugnaret contra eos: quos tradidit Dominus in manus eius.
So Jephthah went over to the children of Ammon to make war on them; and the Lord gave them into his hands.
33 Percussitque ab Aroer usque dum venias in Mennith, viginti civitates, et usque ad Abel, quae est vineis consita, plaga magna nimis. humiliatique sunt filii Ammon a filiis Israel.
And he made an attack on them from Aroer all the way to Minnith, overrunning twenty towns, as far as Abel-cheramim, and put great numbers to the sword. So the children of Ammon were crushed before the children of Israel.
34 Revertente autem Iephte in Maspha domum suam, occurrit ei unigenita filia sua cum tympanis et choris. non enim habebat alios liberos.
Then Jephthah came back to his house in Mizpah, and his daughter came out, meeting him on his way with music and with dances; she was his only child; he had no other sons or daughters.
35 Qua visa, scidit vestimenta sua, et ait: Heu me filia mea decepisti me, et ipsa decepta es: aperui enim os meum ad Dominum, et aliud facere non potero.
And when he saw her he was overcome with grief, and said, Ah! my daughter! I am crushed with sorrow, and it is you who are the chief cause of my trouble; for I have made an oath to the Lord and I may not take it back.
36 Cui illa respondit: Pater mi, si aperuisti os tuum ad Dominum, fac mihi quodcumque pollicitus es, concessa tibi ultione atque victoria de hostibus tuis.
And she said to him, My father, you have made an oath to the Lord; do then to me whatever you have said; for the Lord has sent a full reward on your haters, on the children of Ammon.
37 Dixitque ad patrem: Hoc solum mihi praesta quod deprecor: Dimitte me ut duobus mensibus circumeam montes, et plangam virginitatem meam cum sodalibus meis.
Then she said to her father, Only do this for me: let me have two months to go away into the mountains with my friends, weeping for my sad fate.
38 Cui ille respondit: Vade. Et dimisit eam duobus mensibus. Cumque abiisset cum sociis ac sodalibus suis, flebat virginitatem suam in montibus.
And he said, Go then. So he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends to the mountains, weeping for her sad fate.
39 Expletisque duobus mensibus, reversa est ad patrem suum, et fecit ei sicut voverat, quae ignorabat virum. Exinde mos increbruit in Israel, et consuetudo servata est:
And at the end of two months she went back to her father, who did with her as he had said in his oath: and she had never been touched by a man. So it became a rule in Israel,
40 ut post anni circulum conveniant in unum filiae Israel, et plangant filiam Iephte Galaaditae diebus quattuor.
For the women to go year by year sorrowing for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in every year.
