Dommernes 11
1 Jefta frå Gilead var ei gjæv kjempa. Han var son åt ei skjøkja, men Gilead var far hans.
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 Med kona si hadde Gilead og søner; då dei vart vaksne, jaga dei Jefta burt, og sagde til honom: «Du fær ingen lut i arven etter far vår; for du er son åt ei framand kvinna.»
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 Då rømde Jefta for brørne sine, og sette seg ned i Tob-land, og det samla seg mange lause karar ikring honom, og var med honom på ferderne hans.
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 So leid det av ei tid; då var det ammonitarne gjorde åtak på Israel,
In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.
5 og då ammonitarne bar våpn mot Israel, tok styresmennerne i Gilead ut, og vilde henta Jefta heim frå Tob-land.
And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.
6 «Kom og ver føraren vår, » sagde dei med honom, «so vil me strida mot ammonitarne!»
And they said to him, “Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon.”
7 «Var det’kje de som hata meg, og dreiv meg burt frå heimen min?» svara Jefta; «kvi kjem de då til meg no som de er i naud?»
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 «Difor er det me no kjem att til deg, » svara styresmennerne: «Gjeng du med oss og strider mot ammonitarne, so skal du vera hovdingen vår og styra alle Gileads-buarne.»
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 Då sagde Jefta til styresmennerne i Gilead: «Vert eg med dykk heim, og strider mot ammonitarne, og Herren gjev deim i mi magt, skal eg so vera hovdingen dykkar?»
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 Og dei svara: «Herren skal vera vårt vitne at me i eit og alt vil gjera som du segjer!»
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 Då gjekk Jefta med styresmennerne; folket sette honom til sin hovding og førar, og i Mispa tok han upp att alle ordi sine for Herrens åsyn.
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 So sende han bod til ammonitarkongen, og sagde: «Hev me noko ubytt, eg og du, sidan du kjem hit og gjer åtak på landet mitt?»
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 Då sagde ammonitarkongen til sendemennerne åt Jefta: «Då Israel kom frå Egyptarland, tok dei landet mitt, frå Arnon til Jabbok og til Jordan. Gjev det no att med godo!»
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 Og Jefta sende endå ein gong bod til ammonitarkongen
And Jephthah again commissioned them, and he ordered them to say to the king of Ammon:
15 med dei ordi: «So segjer Jefta: «Israel hev ikkje teke land frå Moab eller frå Ammon.
“Jephthah says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon.
16 På vegen frå Egyptarland for Israel igjenom øydemarki til Sevhavet og kom til Kades.
But when they ascended together from Egypt, he walked through the desert as far as the Red Sea, and he went into Kadesh.
17 Då sende dei bod til kongen i Edom, og sagde: «Kjære, lat oss få fara gjenom landet ditt!» Men Edom-kongen høyrde ikkje på dei. Til Moab-kongen sende dei og bod; men han vilde ikkje heller. So gav dei seg til i Kades.
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 Sidan heldt dei fram gjenom øydemarki. Dei for utanikring Edomitarlandet og Moabitarlandet, til dei kom austanum Moab, og lægra seg på hi sida Arnon; dei kom ikkje inn på Moabs grunn; for Arnon er landskilet åt Moab.
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 So sende Israel bod til Sihon, amoritarkongen, kongen i Hesbon, og sagde: «Kjære, lat oss få fara gjenom landet ditt, so me kjem dit me skal!»
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 Men Sihon trudde ikkje Israel so vel at han torde lata dei fara gjenom riket sitt; han samla heile heren sin, og dei lægra seg i Jahsa, og gav seg i strid med Israel.
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 Og Herren, Israels Gud, gav Sihon og heile heren hans i Israels hender; Israel slo deim, og lagde under seg alle amoritarbygderne der i landet;
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 heile Amoritarriket lagde dei under seg, frå Arnon til Jabbok, og frå øydemarki til Jordan.
with all its parts, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
23 So hev då Herren, Israels Gud, teke landet frå amoritarne og gjeve det til folket sitt, til Israel, og no vil du eigna det til deg!
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 Er det’kje so at det som Kamos, guden din, let deg vinna, det eignar du til deg, og alt det som Herren, vår Gud, gjer rydigt for oss, det eignar me til oss?
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 Er då du so mykje betre enn Balak Sipporsson, Moabs-kongen? Trætta han med Israel, eller tok på deim?
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 No er det tri hundrad år sidan Israel busette seg i Hesbon og dei bygderne som ligg umkring, og i Aroer, og bygdarne der umkring og i alle byarne langsmed Arnon; kvi hev de’kje teke deim att i all den tidi?
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 Eg hev ikkje gjort deg noko vondt; men du gjer meg stor urett med di du tek på meg. Herren, som er den øvste domaren, skal i dag døma millom Israel og Ammon.»»
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 Men ammonitarkongen vilde ikkje høyra på det bodet Jefta sende honom.
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 Då kom Herrens Ande yver Jefta, og han for gjenom Gilead og Manasse; so for han fram til Gileadvarden, og Gileadvarden for han fram imot ammonitarne.
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 Og Jefta gjorde ein lovnad til Herren, og sagde: «Gjev du ammonitarne i henderne mine,
he made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you will deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,
31 då skal den som gjeng ut or husdøri mi og møter meg når eg kjem vel heim att frå ammonitarne, då skal den høyra Herren til; eg skal ofra honom til eit brennoffer.»
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 So for han fram imot ammonitarne, og stridde mot deim, og Herren gav deim i henderne hans.
And Jephthah crossed to the sons of Ammon, so that he might fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 Han slo deim, og elte deim frå Aroer til burtimot Minnit, og tok tjuge byar ifrå deim; sidan elte han deim alt til Abel-Keramim, det vart eit stort mannefall på deim. Då laut Ammons-sønerne bøygja seg under Israel.
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 Då Jefta kom heim att til garden sin i Mispa, gjekk dotter hans ut imot honom, og fagna honom med trummor og dans; ho var einaste barnet hans; umfram henne hadde han’kje anten son eller dotter.
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 Med det same han fekk sjå henne, reiv han sund klædi sine, og ropa: «Gud trøyste oss, mi dotter! for ei sorg du veld meg! for ei ulukke du fører meg i! Eg hev gjort so dyr ein lovnad til Herren, og eg kann ikkje taka att ordet mitt.»
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 Då sagde ho til honom: «Far, hev du gjort so dyr ein lovnad til Herren, so gjer det med meg som du gav ordet ditt på, sidan Herren let deg få hemn yver ammonitarne, uvenerne dine!
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 Men ein ting vilde eg gjerne skulde gjerast for meg, » sagde ho med far sin: «Lat meg vera fri tvo månader, so vil eg ganga ned på heidarne med venorne mine og gråta yver mitt unge liv, eg som lyt fara burt møy!»
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 «Gjer so!» svara han, og sagde ho kunde vera burte tvo månader. So gjekk ho med venorne sine, og gret på heidarne yver sitt unge liv.
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 Men då tvo månader var lidne, kom ho att til far sin, og då gjorde han med henne det som han hadde lova; og ho hadde aldri vore nær nokon mann. Sidan vart det sed i Israel
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 at Israels-døtterne år for år gjeng av og syng minnekvede um dotter åt Jefta frå Gilead, fire dagar um året.
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.
