Abahluleli 11
1 Njalo uJefitha umGileyadi wayeliqhawe elilamandla, wayeyindodana yewule; uGileyadi wasezala uJefitha.
At that time, there was a Gileadite, Jephthah, a very strong man and a fighter, the son of a kept woman, and he was born of Gilead.
2 UmkaGileyadi wasemzalela amadodana; kwathi amadodana omkakhe esekhulile amxotsha uJefitha, athi kuye: Kawuyikudla ilifa endlini kababa, ngoba uyindodana yomunye umfazi.
Now Gilead had a wife, from whom he received sons. And they, after growing up, cast out Jephthah, saying, “You cannot inherit in the house of our father, because you were born of another mother.”
3 UJefitha wasebalekela abafowabo, wahlala elizweni leTobi. Amadoda ayize asebuthana kuJefitha, aphuma laye.
And so, fleeing and avoiding them, he lived in the land of Tob. And men who were indigent and robbers joined with him, and they followed him as their leader.
4 Kwasekusithi emva kwezinsuku abantwana bakoAmoni balwa loIsrayeli.
In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.
5 Kwasekusithi lapho abantwana bakoAmoni besilwa loIsrayeli, abadala beGileyadi bahamba ukuyathatha uJefitha elizweni leTobi,
And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.
6 bathi kuJefitha: Woza ube ngumkhokheli wethu ukuze silwe labantwana bakoAmoni.
And they said to him, “Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon.”
7 Kodwa uJefitha wathi kubadala beGileyadi: Lina kalingizondanga yini, langixotsha endlini kababa? Pho, lizelani kimi khathesi nxa selisenhluphekweni?
But he answered them: “Are you not the ones who hated me, and who cast me out of my father’s house? And yet now you come to me, compelled by necessity?”
8 Abadala beGileyadi basebesithi kuJefitha: Ngakho khathesi siyabuyela kuwe ukuze uhambe lathi uyekulwa umelene labantwana bakoAmoni, ube yinhloko yethu phezu kwabo bonke abakhi beGileyadi.
And the leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “But it is due to this necessity that we have approached you now, so that you may set out with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be commander over all who live in Gilead.”
9 UJefitha wasesithi kubadala beGileyadi: Uba lingibuyisa ukulwa ngimelene labantwana bakoAmoni, iNkosi ibanikele phambi kwami, mina ngizakuba yinhloko yenu yini?
Jephthah also said to them: “If you have come to me so that I may fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and if the Lord will deliver them into my hands, will I truly be your leader?”
10 Abadala beGileyadi basebesithi kuJefitha: INkosi iyezwa phakathi kwethu, uba singenzi njalo njengokwamazwi akho.
They answered him, “The Lord who hears these things is himself the Mediator and the Witness that we shall do what we have promised.”
11 UJefitha wasehamba labadala beGileyadi, abantu basebemenza waba yinhloko lomkhokheli phezu kwabo. UJefitha wasekhuluma wonke amazwi akhe phambi kweNkosi eMizipa.
And so Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and all the people made him their leader. And Jephthah spoke all his words, in the sight of the Lord, at Mizpah.
12 UJefitha wasethuma izithunywa enkosini yabantwana bakoAmoni esithi: Ngilani lawe ukuthi uze kimi ukulwa elizweni lami?
And he sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, who said on his behalf, “What is there between you and me, that you would approach against me, so that you might lay waste to my land?”
13 Inkosi yabantwana bakoAmoni yasisithi kuzithunywa zikaJefitha: Ngoba uIsrayeli wathatha ilizwe lami ekwenyukeni kwakhe eGibhithe kusukela eArinoni kuze kube seJaboki kuze kube seJordani; ngakho-ke libuyiseni ngokuthula.
And he responded to them, “It is because Israel took my land, when he ascended from Egypt, from the parts of Arnon, as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan. Now therefore, restore these to me with peace.”
14 UJefitha wasephinda ethuma izithunywa futhi enkosini yabantwana bakoAmoni,
And Jephthah again commissioned them, and he ordered them to say to the king of Ammon:
15 wathi kuye: Utsho njalo uJefitha: UIsrayeli kalithathanga ilizwe lakoMowabi lelizwe labantwana bakoAmoni,
“Jephthah says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon.
16 kodwa ekwenyukeni kwabo besuka eGibhithe uIsrayeli wahamba edabula enkangala waya eLwandle oluBomvu, wafika eKadeshi.
But when they ascended together from Egypt, he walked through the desert as far as the Red Sea, and he went into Kadesh.
17 UIsrayeli wasethuma izithunywa enkosini yeEdoma esithi: Ake sedlule sidabule elizweni lakho; kodwa inkosi yeEdoma kayilalelanga. Wathumela njalo enkosini yakoMowabi, kodwa kayivumanga. Ngakho uIsrayeli wahlala eKadeshi.
And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Permit me to pass through your land.’ But he was not willing to agree to his petition. Likewise, he sent to the king of Moab, who also refused to offer him passage. And so he delayed in Kadesh,
18 Basebedabula enkangala, balibhoda ilizwe leEdoma lelizwe lakoMowabi, bafika lapho eliphuma khona ilanga kwelizwe lakoMowabi. Bamisa inkamba ngaphetsheya kweArinoni, kodwa kabangenanga emngceleni wakoMowabi, ngoba iArinoni yayingumngcele wakoMowabi.
and he circled around the side of the land of Edom and the land of Moab. And he arrived opposite the eastern region of the land of Moab. And he made camp across the Arnon. But he was not willing to enter the borders of Moab. (Of course, Arnon is the border of the land of Moab.)
19 UIsrayeli wasethuma izithunywa kuSihoni inkosi yamaAmori, inkosi yeHeshiboni; uIsrayeli wathi kuye: Ake sedlule elizweni lakho siye endaweni yami.
And so Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who was living at Heshbon. And they said to him, “Permit me to cross through your land as far as the river.”
20 Kodwa uSihoni kamthembanga uIsrayeli ukuthi adlule emngceleni wakhe; kodwa uSihoni wabutha bonke abantu bakhe, wamisa inkamba eJahazi, walwa loIsrayeli.
But he, too, despising the words of Israel, would not permit him to cross through his borders. Instead, gathering an innumerable multitude, he went out against him at Jahaz, and he resisted strongly.
21 Kodwa iNkosi, uNkulunkulu kaIsrayeli, yanikela uSihoni labo bonke abantu bakhe esandleni sikaIsrayeli, babatshaya. Ngakho uIsrayeli wadla ilifa lelizwe lonke lamaAmori, abahlali balelolizwe.
But the Lord delivered him, with his entire army, into the hands of Israel. And he struck him down, and he possessed all the land of the Amorite, the inhabitant of that region,
22 Badla ilifa layo yonke imingcele yamaAmori kusukela eArinoni kuze kube seJaboki, njalo kusukela enkangala kuze kube seJordani.
with all its parts, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
23 Khathesi-ke iNkosi, uNkulunkulu kaIsrayeli, yawaxotsha elifeni amaAmori phambi kwabantu bayo uIsrayeli; kanti wena uzakudla ilifa lalo yini?
Therefore, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who overthrew the Amorites, by means of his people Israel fighting against them. And now you wish to possess his land?
24 Kawuyikudla yini ilifa lalokhu uKemoshi unkulunkulu wakho akunika ukudla ilifa lakho? Ngakho loba ngubani iNkosi uNkulunkulu wethu ezamxotsha elifeni phambi kwethu, lokhu sizakudla ilifa lakho.
Are not the things that your god Chemosh possesses owed to you by right? And so, what the Lord our God has obtained by victory falls to us as a possession.
25 Pho-ke wena ungcono yini okwedlula uBalaki indodana kaZipori inkosi yakoMowabi? Wake waxabana loIsrayeli; kumbe wake walwa labo yini;
Or are you, perhaps, better than Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Or are you able to explain what his argument was against Israel, and why he fought against him?
26 lapho uIsrayeli esehlala eHeshiboni lemizaneni yayo, leAroweri lemizaneni yayo, lakuyo yonke imizi esekhunjini lweArinoni, iminyaka engamakhulu amathathu? Kungani-ke ungayophulanga ngalesosikhathi?
And though he has lived in Heshbon, and its villages, and in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan for three hundred years, why have you, for such long a time, put forward nothing about this claim?
27 Ngakho mina kangonanga kuwe, kodwa wena wenza okubi kimi ngokulwa lami; iNkosi uMahluleli kahlulele lamuhla phakathi kwabantwana bakoIsrayeli labantwana bakoAmoni.
Therefore, I am not sinning against you, but you are doing evil against me, by declaring an unjust war against me. May the Lord be the Judge and the Arbiter this day, between Israel and the sons of Ammon.”
28 Kodwa inkosi yabantwana bakoAmoni kayilalelanga amazwi kaJefitha awathumela kuyo.
But the king of the sons of Ammon was not willing to agree to the words of Jephthah that he commissioned by the messengers.
29 UMoya weNkosi wasesiza phezu kukaJefitha, wedlula eGileyadi leManase, wedlula eMizipa yeGileyadi; esuka eMizipa wedlulela kubantwana bakoAmoni.
Therefore, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon Jephthah, and circling around Gilead, and Manasseh, and also Mizpah of Gilead, and crossing from there to the sons of Ammon,
30 UJefitha wafunga isifungo eNkosini wathi: Uba uzanikela lokunikela abantwana bakoAmoni esandleni sami,
he made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you will deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,
31 kuzakuthi loba yikuphi okuphuma eminyango yendlu yami ukungihlangabeza ekubuyeni kwami ngokuthula ngivela kubantwana bakoAmoni, kuzakuba ngokweNkosi, ngizakunikela kube ngumnikelo wokutshiswa.
whoever will be the first to depart from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, the same will I offer as a holocaust to the Lord.”
32 Ngakho uJefitha wasesedlulela ebantwaneni bakoAmoni ukulwa emelene labo; iNkosi yasibanikela esandleni sakhe.
And Jephthah crossed to the sons of Ammon, so that he might fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 Wasebatshaya kusukela eAroweri uze ufike eMinithi, imizi engamatshumi amabili, kuze kube seAbeli-Keramimi, ukutshaya okukhulukazi. Ngokunjalo abantwana bakoAmoni behliselwa phansi phambi kwabantwana bakoIsrayeli.
And he struck them down from Aroer, as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is covered with vineyards, in an exceedingly great slaughter. And the sons of Ammon were humbled by the sons of Israel.
34 UJefitha wasefika eMizipa endlini yakhe. Khangela-ke, indodakazi yakhe yaphuma ukumhlangabeza, ilezigujana, lemigido; yayiyiyo yodwa eyakhe; ngaphandle kwayo wayengelandodana lendodakazi.
But when Jephthah returned to Mizpah, to his own house, his only daughter met him with timbrels and dances. For he had no other children.
35 Kwasekusithi lapho eyibona wadabula izigqoko zakhe wathi: Maye ndodakazi yami! Ungithobisile kakhulu, njalo wena uphakathi kwabangihluphayo, ngoba mina ngivule umlomo wami eNkosini, ngingeke ngibuyele emuva.
And upon seeing her, he tore his garments, and he said: “Alas, my daughter! You have cheated me, and you yourself have been cheated. For I opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do nothing else.”
36 Yasisithi kuye: Baba, uvulile umlomo wakho eNkosini, yenza kimi njengalokho okuphume emlonyeni wakho, lokhu iNkosi ikuphindisele ezitheni zakho, ebantwaneni bakoAmoni.
And she answered him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me whatever you have promised, since victory has been granted to you, as well as vengeance against your enemies.”
37 Yasisithi kuyise: Akungenzele linto: Ngiyekela inyanga ezimbili, ngiye ngehle ezintabeni, ngililele ubuntombi bami, mina labangane bami.
And she said to her father: “Grant to me this one thing, which I request. Permit me, that I may wander the hillsides for two months, and that I may mourn my virginity with my companions.”
38 Wasesithi: Hamba. Waseyiyekela ihamba inyanga ezimbili. Yasihamba, yona labangane bayo, yalilela ubuntombi bayo ezintabeni.
And he answered her, “Go.” And he released her for two months. And when she had departed with her friends and companions, she wept over her virginity in the hillsides.
39 Kwasekusithi ekupheleni kwenyanga ezimbili yabuyela kuyise, owenza kuyo isifungo sakhe asifungayo; yona kayiyazanga indoda. Kwasekusiba ngumkhuba koIsrayeli:
And when the two months expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her just as he had vowed, though she knew no man. From this, the custom grew up in Israel, and the practice has been preserved,
40 Iminyaka ngeminyaka amadodakazi akoIsrayeli ayehamba ukuyakhumbula indodakazi kaJefitha umGileyadi insuku ezine ngomnyaka.
such that, after each year passes, the daughters of Israel convene as one, and they lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, for four days.
