Iudicum 11
Clementine Vulgate, 1598Translation
Clementine Vulgate, 1598
JPS Tanakh (Jewish Publication Society, 1917)
1Fuit illo tempore Jephte Galaadites vir fortissimus atque pugnator, filius mulieris meretricis, qui natus est de Galaad.
1Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah.
2Habuit autem Galaad uxorem, de qua suscepit filios: qui postquam creverant, ejecerunt Jephte, dicentes: Hæres in domo patris nostri esse non poteris, quia de altera matre natus es.
2And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said unto him: 'Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of another woman.'
3Quos ille fugiens atque devitans, habitavit in terra Tob: congregatique sunt ad eum viri inopes, et latrocinantes, et quasi principem sequebantur.
3Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob; and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.
4In illis diebus pugnabant filii Ammon contra Israël.
4And it came to pass after a while, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
5Quibus acriter instantibus perrexerunt majores natu de Galaad, ut tollerent in auxilium sui Jephte de terra Tob:
5And 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.
6dixeruntque ad eum: Veni et esto princeps noster, et pugna contra filios Ammon.
6And they said unto Jephthah: 'Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.'
7Quibus ille respondit: Nonne vos estis, qui odistis me, et ejecistis de domo patris mei? et nunc venistis ad me necessitate compulsi.
7And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead: 'Did not ye hate me, and drive me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?'
8Dixeruntque principes Galaad ad Jephte: Ob hanc igitur causam nunc ad te venimus, ut proficiscaris nobiscum, et pugnes contra filios Ammon, sisque dux omnium qui habitant in Galaad.
8And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah: 'Therefore are we returned to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight with the children of Ammon, and thou shalt be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.'
9Jephte 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?
9And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead: 'If ye bring me back home to fight with the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, I will be your head.'
10Qui responderunt ei: Dominus, qui hæc audit, ipse mediator ac testis est quod nostra promissa faciemus.
10And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah: 'The LORD shall be witness between us; surely according to thy word so will we do.'
11Abiit itaque Jephte cum principibus Galaad, fecitque eum omnis populus principem sui. Locutusque est Jephte omnes sermones suos coram Domino in Maspha.
11Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.
12Et misit nuntios ad regem filiorum Ammon, qui ex persona sua dicerent: Quid mihi et tibi est, quia venisti contra me, ut vastares terram meam?
12And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying: 'What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come unto me to fight against my land?'
13Quibus ille respondit: Quia tulit Israël terram meam, quando ascendit de Ægypto, a finibus Arnon usque Jaboc atque Jordanem: nunc ergo cum pace redde mihi eam.
13And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah: 'Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even unto the Jabbok, and unto the Jordan; now therefore restore those cities peaceably.'
14Per quos rursum mandavit Jephte, et imperavit eis ut dicerent regi Ammon:
14And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon;
15Hæc dicit Jephte: Non tulit Israël terram Moab, nec terram filiorum Ammon:
15and he said unto him: 'Thus saith Jephthah: Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon.
16sed quando de Ægypto conscenderunt, ambulavit per solitudinem usque ad mare Rubrum, et venit in Cades.
16But when they came up from Egypt, and Israel walked through the wilderness unto the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh;
17Misitque nuntios ad regem Edom, dicens: Dimitte me ut transeam per terram tuam. Qui noluit acquiescere precibus ejus. Misit quoque ad regem Moab, qui et ipse transitum præbere contempsit. Mansit itaque in Cades,
17then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying: Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land; but the king of Edom hearkened not. And in like manner he sent unto the king of Moab; but he would not; and Israel abode in Kadesh.
18et circuivit ex latere terram Edom et terram Moab: venitque contra orientalem plagam terræ Moab, et castrametatus est trans Arnon: nec voluit intrare terminos Moab. (Arnon quippe confinium est terræ Moab.)
18Then he walked 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 they pitched on the other side of the Arnon; but they came not within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.
19Misit itaque Israël nuntios ad Sehon regem Amorrhæorum, qui habitabat in Hesebon, et dixerunt ei: Dimitte ut transeam per terram tuam usque ad fluvium.
19And 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 unto my place.
20Qui et ipse Israël verba despiciens, non dimisit eum transire per terminos suos: sed infinita multitudine congregata, egressus est contra eum in Jasa, et fortiter resistebat.
20But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
21Tradiditque eum Dominus in manus Israël cum omni exercitu suo: qui percussit eum, et possedit omnem terram Amorrhæi habitatoris regionis illius,
21And the LORD, the 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.
22et universos fines ejus, de Arnon usque Jaboc, et de solitudine usque ad Jordanem.
22And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even unto the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto the Jordan.
23Dominus ergo Deus Israël subvertit Amorrhæum, pugnante contra illum populo suo Israël, et tu nunc vis possidere terram ejus?
23So now the LORD, the God of Israel, hath dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel, and shouldest thou possess them?
24nonne ea quæ possidet Chamos deus tuus, tibi jure debentur? quæ autem Dominus Deus noster victor obtinuit, in nostram cedent possessionem:
24Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God hath dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.
25nisi forte melior es Balac filio Sephor rege Moab; aut docere potes, quod jurgatus sit contra Israël, et pugnaverit contra eum,
25And 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?
26quando habitavit in Hesebon et viculis ejus, et in Aroër et villis illius, vel in cunctis civitatibus juxta Jordanem, per trecentos annos. Quare tanto tempore nihil super hac repetitione tentastis?
26While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; wherefore did ye not recover them within that time?
27Igitur non ego pecco in te, sed tu contra me male agis, indicens mihi bella non justa. Judicet Dominus arbiter hujus diei inter Israël, et inter filios Ammon.
27I therefore 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.'
28Noluitque acquiescere rex filiorum Ammon verbis Jephte, quæ per nuntios mandaverat.
28Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
29Factus est ergo super Jephte spiritus Domini, et circuiens Galaad et Manasse, Maspha quoque Galaad, et inde transiens ad filios Ammon,
29Then 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.
30votum vovit Domino, dicens: Si tradideris filios Ammon in manus meas,
30And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said: 'If Thou wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
31quicumque primus fuerit egressus de foribus domus meæ, mihique occurrerit revertenti cum pace a filiis Ammon, eum holocaustum offeram Domino.
31then 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, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering.'
32Transivitque Jephte ad filios Ammon, ut pugnaret contra eos: quos tradidit Dominus in manus ejus.
32So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hand.
33Percussitque ab Aroër usque dum venias in Mennith, viginti civitates, et usque ad Abel, quæ est vineis consita, plaga magna nimis: humiliatique sunt filii Ammon a filiis Israël.
33And he smote them from Aroer until thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto Abel-cheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
34Revertente autem Jephte in Maspha domum suam, occurrit ei unigenita filia sua cum tympanis et choris: non enim habebat alios liberos.
34And Jephthah came to Mizpah 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.
35Qua 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.
35And 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 become my troubler; for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.'
36Cui illa respondit: Pater mi, si aperuisti os tuum ad Dominum, fac mihi quodcumque pollicitus es, concessa tibi ultione atque victoria de hostibus tuis.
36And she said unto him: 'My father, thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD; do unto 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.'
37Dixitque ad patrem: Hoc solum mihi præsta quod deprecor: dimitte me ut duobus mensibus circumeam montes, et plangam virginitatem meam cum sodalibus meis.
37And she said unto her father: 'Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may depart and go down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.'
38Cui ille respondit: Vade. Et dimisit eam duobus mensibus. Cumque abiisset cum sociis ac sodalibus suis, flebat virginitatem suam in montibus.
38And he said: 'Go.' And he sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
39Expletisque duobus mensibus, reversa est ad patrem suum, et fecit ei sicut voverat, quæ ignorabat virum. Exinde mos increbruit in Israël, et consuetudo servata est,
39And 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 had not known man. And it was a custom in Israel,
40ut post anni circulum conveniant in unum filiæ Israël, et plangant filiam Jephte Galaaditæ diebus quatuor.
40that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
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