Judges 11

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior. He was a prostitute's son. Gilead was Jephthah's father,	1 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 but Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and the sons of this wife, when they grew up, drove Jephthahaway, saying, 'No share of the paternal heritage for you, since you are a son of another woman.'	2 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 Jephthah fled far from his brothers and settled in the territory of Tob. Jephthah enlisted a group ofadventurers who used to go raiding with him.	3 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 It was some time after this that the Ammonites made war on Israel.	4 In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.
5 And when the Ammonites had attacked Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah from theterritory of Tob.	5 And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.
6 'Come', they said, 'and be our commander, so that we can fight the Ammonites.'	6 And they said to him, “Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon.”
7 Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, 'Didn't you hate me and drive me out of my father's house?Why come to me now, when you are in trouble?'	7 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 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, 'That is why we are turning to you now. Come with us; fight theAmmonites and be our chief, chief of al the people living in Gilead.'	8 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 Jephthah then said to the elders of Gilead, 'If you bring me home to fight the Ammonites and Yahwehdefeats them for me, I am to be your chief?'	9 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 And the elders of Gilead then said to Jephthah, 'Yahweh be witness between us, if we do not do asyou have said!'	10 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 So Jephthah set off with the elders of Gilead. The people put him at their head as chief andcommander; and Jephthah repeated al his conditions at Mizpah in Yahweh's presence.	11 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 Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to say to him, 'What do you have against us,for you to come and make war on my country?'	12 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 The king of the Ammonites replied to Jephthah's messengers, 'The reason is that when Israel cameup from Egypt, they seized my country from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; so now restore it to mepeaceful y.'	13 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 Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of the Ammonites	14 And Jephthah again commissioned them, and he ordered them to say to the king of Ammon:
15 with this answer, 'Jephthah says this, "Israel seized neither the country of Moab nor the country of theAmmonites.	15 “Jephthah says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon.
16 When Israel came out of Egypt, they marched through the desert as far as the Sea of Reeds and,having reached Kadesh,	16 But when they ascended together from Egypt, he walked through the desert as far as the Red Sea, and he went into Kadesh.
17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom to say: Please let me pass through your country, butthe king of Edom would not listen. They sent similarly to the king of Moab, but he refused, and Israel remained atKadesh;	17 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 later, moving on through the desert and skirting the countries of Edom and Moab until arriving to theeast of Moabite territory, the people camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter Moabite territory,the Arnon being the Moabite frontier.	18 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 Israel then sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, ruling in Heshbon. Israel's message was:Please let me pass through your country to my destination.	19 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 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory; he mustered his whole army; they encampedat Jahaz, and he then joined battle with Israel.	20 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 Yahweh, God of Israel, delivered Sihon and his whole army into the power of Israel, who defeatedthem; as the result of which, Israel took possession of the entire territory of the Amorites living in that region.	21 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 Israel took possession of all the Amorite territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert tothe Jordan.	22 with all its parts, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
23 And now that Yahweh, God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites before his people Israel, do youthink you can dispossess us?	23 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 Will you not keep as your possession whatever Chemosh, your god, has given you? And, just thesame, we shal keep as ours whatever Yahweh our God has given us, to inherit from those who were before us!	24 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 Are you a better man than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he pick a quarrel with Israel? Didhe make war on them?	25 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 When Israel settled in Heshbon and its dependencies, and in Aroer and its dependencies, or in any ofthe towns on the banks of the Arnon (three hundred years ago), why did you not recover them then?	26 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 I for my part have done you no harm, but you are wronging me by making war on me. Let Yahwehthe Judge give judgement today between the Israelites and the king of the Ammonites." '	27 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 But the king of the Ammonites took no notice of the message that Jephthah sent him.	28 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 The spirit of Yahweh was on Jephthah, who crossed Gilead and Manasseh, crossed by way ofMizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead crossed into Ammonite territory.	29 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 And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, 'If you deliver the Ammonites into my grasp,	30 he made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you will deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,
31 the first thing to come out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from fightingthe Ammonites shal belong to Yahweh, and I shal sacrifice it as a burnt offering.'	31 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 Jephthah crossed into Ammonite territory to attack them, and Yahweh delivered them into his grasp.	32 And Jephthah crossed to the sons of Ammon, so that he might fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 He beat them from Aroer to the border of Minnith (twenty towns) and to Abel-Keramim. It was a verysevere defeat, and the Ammonites were humbled by the Israelites.	33 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 As Jephthah returned to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, dancing to thesound of tambourines. She was his only child; apart from her, he had neither son nor daughter.	34 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 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and exclaimed, 'Oh my daughter, what misery you havebrought upon me! You have joined those who bring misery into my life! I have made a promise before Yahwehwhich I cannot retract.'	35 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 She replied, 'Father, you have made a promise to Yahweh; treat me as the promise that you havemade requires, since Yahweh has granted you vengeance on your enemies the Ammonites.'	36 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 She then said to her father, 'Grant me this! Let me be free for two months. I shal go and wander inthe mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity.'	37 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 He replied, 'Go,' and let her go away for two months. So she went away with her companions andbewailed her virginity in the mountains.	38 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 When the two months were over she went back to her father, and he treated her as the vow that hehad uttered bound him. She had remained a virgin. And hence, the custom in Israel	39 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 for the daughters of Israel to leave home year by year and lament over the daughter of Jephthah theGileadite for four days every year.	40 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.