Liber Iudicum

Iudicum, chapter 11, Vulgate and King James Version

Chapter 11 Vulgate

   1 Fuit Iephte Galaadites vir fortissimus, filius meretricis mulieris, quem genuit Galaad.
   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 generatus es"
   3 Quos ille fugiens atque devitans habitavit in terra Tob; congregatique sunt ad eum viri inopes et exierunt cum eo.
   4 In illis diebus pugnabant filii Ammon contra Israel.
   5 Quibus acriter instantibus, perrexerunt maiores natu de Galaad, ut tollerent in auxilium sui Iephte de terra Tob.
   6 Dixeruntque ad eum: "Veni et esto princeps noster, et pugnemus contra filios Ammon"
   7 Quibus ille respondit: "Nonne vos estis, qui odistis me et eiecistis de domo patris mei? Et nunc venistis ad me necessitate compulsi"
   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"
   9 Iephte quoque dixit eis: "Si revocatis me, ut pugnem pro vobis contra filios Ammon, tradideritque eos Dominus in manus meas, ego ero princeps vester"
   10 Qui responderunt ei: "Dominus, qui haec audit, ipse mediator ac testis est quod secundum verbum tuum faciemus"
   11 Abiit itaque Iephte cum principibus Galaad, fecitque eum omnis populus principem sui. Locutusque est Iephte omnes sermones suos coram Domino in Maspha.
   12 Et misit Iephte nuntios ad regem filiorum Ammon, qui ex persona sua dicerent: "Quid mihi et tibi est, quia venisti contra me, ut invaderes terram meam?"
   13 Quibus ille respondit: "Quia tulit Israel terram meam, quando ascendit de Aegypto, a finibus Arnon usque Iaboc atque Iordanem; nunc igitur cum pace redde mihi eam"
   14 Rursumque Iephte nuntios misit et imperavit eis, ut dicerent regi Ammon:
   15 "Haec dicit Iephte: Non tulit Israel terram Moab nec terram filiorum Ammon.
   16 Sed, quando de Aegypto conscenderunt, ambulavit Israel per solitudinem usque ad mare Rubrum et venit in Cades;
   17 misitque nuntios ad regem Edom dicens: "Dimitte, ut transeam per terram tuam" Qui noluit acquiescere precibus eius. Misit quoque et ad regem Moab, qui et ipse transitum praebere contempsit. Mansit itaque Israel in Cades
   18 et pertransiens desertum 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.
   19 Misit itaque Israel nuntios ad Sehon regem Amorraeorum, regem Hesebon, et dixit ei: "Dimitte, ut transeam per terram tuam usque ad locum meum"
   20 Qui et ipse Israel verbis diffidens non dimisit eum transire per terminos suos, sed, omni populo suo congregato, egressus est contra eum in Iasa et fortiter resistebat.
   21 Tradiditque eum Dominus in manu Israel cum omni exercitu suo, qui percussit eum et possedit omnem terram Amorraei habitatoris regionis illius,
   22 universos fines eius de Arnon usque Iaboc et de solitudine usque ad Iordanem.
   23 Dominus ergo, Deus Israel, subvertit Amorraeum coram populo suo Israel; et tu nunc vis possidere terram eius?
   24 Nonne ea, quae tibi Chamos deus tuus in possessionem dat, tibi iure debentur? Quae autem Dominus Deus noster victor obtinuit, in nostram cedunt possessionem.
   25 Num quid melior es Balac filio Sephor rege Moab? Numquid iurgatus est contra Israel et pugnavit contra eum?
   26 Quando habitabat in Hesebon et viculis eius et in Aroer et villis illius et in cunctis civitatibus iuxta Arnon per trecentos annos, quare tanto tempore nihil super hac repetitione tentastis?
   27 Igitur non ego pecco in te, sed tu contra me male agis indicens mihi bella non iusta. Iudicet Dominus arbiter huius diei inter filios Israel et inter filios Ammon"
   28 Noluitque acquiescere rex filiorum Ammon verbis Iephte, quae per nuntios mandaverat.
   29 Factus est ergo super Iephte spiritus Domini, et pertransiens Galaad et Manasse venit in Maspha Galaad et inde ad filios Ammon.
   30 Votum autem vovit Domino dicens: "Si tradideris filios Ammon in manus meas,
   31 quicumque primus fuerit egressus de foribus domus meae mihique occurrerit revertenti cum pace a filiis Ammon, eum holocaustum offeram Domino"
   32 Transivitque Iephte ad filios Ammon, ut pugnaret contra eos; quos tradidit Dominus in manus eius.
   33 Percussitque eos ab Aroer usque dum venias in Mennith viginti civitates et usque ad Abelcharmim plaga magna nimis; humiliatique sunt filii Ammon a filiis Israel.
   34 Revertenti autem Iephte in Maspha domum suam occurrit unigenita filia cum tympanis et choris: non enim habebat alios liberos.
   35 Qua visa, scidit vestimenta sua et ait: "Heu, filia mi, incurvans incurvasti me! Et tu es in eis, qui me perturbant! Aperui enim os meum ad Dominum et aliud facere non potero"
   36 Cui illa respondit: "Pater mi, si aperuisti os tuum ad Dominum, fac mihi, quodcumque pollicitus es, concessa tibi a Domino ultione atque victoria de hostibus tuis filiis 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"
   38 Cui ille respondit: "Vade!" Et dimisit eam duobus mensibus. Cumque abisset cum sodalibus suis, flebat virginitatem suam in montibus.
   39 Expletisque duobus mensibus, reversa est ad patrem suum; et fecit ei, sicut voverat, quae non cognoverat virum. Exinde mos increbuit in Israel, et consuetudo servata est,
   40 ut post anni circulum conveniant in unum filiae Israel et plangant filiam Iephte Galaaditae diebus quattuor.

Source: Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, Sacrosanti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II, Ratione Habita, Iussu Pauli PP. VI Recognita, Auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II Promulgata, Editio Typica Altera

King James Version

   1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
   2 And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and his wife's sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.
   3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
   4 ¶ And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
   5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:
   6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
   7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?
   8 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
   9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
   10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
   11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh.
   12 ¶ And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
   13 And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
   14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon:
   15 And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
   16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
   17 Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
   18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.
   19 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
   20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
   21 And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
   22 And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
   23 So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
   24 Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
   25 And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,
   26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
   27 Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
   28 Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
   29 ¶ Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
   30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
   31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
   32 ¶ So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.
   33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
   34 ¶ And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
   35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.
   36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
   37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
   38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
   39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
   40 That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.