Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
And Gilead's wife bare him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove out Jepthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of another woman.
Then 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.
And it came to pass after a while, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
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;
and they said unto Jephthah, Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
And 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?
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore are we turned again 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.
And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and Jehovah deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Jehovah shall be {Hebrew: hearer.}witness between us; surely according to thy word so will we do.
Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them: and Jephthah spake all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah.
And 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?
And 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 lands again peaceably.
And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon;
and he said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah: Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon,
but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness unto the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh;
then 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.
Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they came not within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.
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 unto my place.
But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
And Jehovah, 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.
And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even unto the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto the Jordan.
So now Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess them?
Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever Jehovah our God hath dispossessed from before us, them will we possess.
And now art thou anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them?
While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its {Hebrew: daughters.}towns, and in Aroer and its {Hebrew: daughters.}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?
I therefore have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: Jehovah, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
Then the Spirit of Jehovah 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.
And Jephthah vowed a vow unto Jehovah, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,
then it shall be, that {Or, whosoever}whatsoever cometh forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be Jehovah's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering.
So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and Jehovah delivered them into his hand.
And he smote them from Aroer until thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto {That is, The meadow of vineyards.}Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
And 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; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
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 Jehovah, and I cannot go back.
And she said unto him, My father, thou hast opened thy mouth unto Jehovah; do unto me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth, forasmuch as Jehovah hath taken vengeance for thee on thine enemies, even on the children of Ammon.
And 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.
And 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.
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 not man. And it was a {Or, an ordinance}custom in Israel,
that the daughters of Israel went yearly to {Or, lament}celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
Querverweise zu Richter 11,34 Ri 11,34
Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them: and Jephthah spake all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah.
Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,
For that the leaders took the lead in Israel,For that the people offered themselves willingly,Bless ye Jehovah.
Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes;I, even I, will sing unto Jehovah;I will sing praise to Jehovah, the God of Israel.
Jehovah, when thou wentest forth out of Seir,When thou marchedst out of the field of Edom,The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped,Yea, the clouds dropped water.
The mountains quaked at the presence of Jehovah,Even yon Sinai at the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel.
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,In the days of Jael, {Or, the caravans ceased}the highways were unoccupied,And the travellers walked through {Hebrew: crooked ways.}byways.
{Or, The villages were unoccupied}The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased,Until that I Deborah arose,That I arose a mother in Israel.
They chose new gods;Then was war in the gates:Was there a shield or spear seenAmong forty thousand in Israel?
My heart is toward the governors of Israel, {Or, Ye that offered yourselves willingly among the people, bless &c.}That offered themselves willingly among the people:Bless ye Jehovah.
Tell of it, ye that ride on white asses,Ye that sit on rich carpets,And ye that walk by the way.
{Or, Because of the voice of the archers…there let them rehearse}Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water,There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of Jehovah,Even the righteous acts {Or, toward his villages}of his rule in Israel.Then the people of Jehovah went down to the gates.
Awake, awake, Deborah;Awake, awake, utter a song:Arise, Barak, and lead away thy captives, thou son of Abinoam.
{Or, Then go down, O remnant, for the nobles…O Jehovah, go down for me against the mighty Or, Then made he a remnant to have dominion over the nobles and the people; Jehovah made me have dominion over the mighty}Then came down a remnant of the nobles {Or, as otherwise read. The people of Jehovah came down for me against (or, among) the mighty}and the people;Jehovah came down for me {Or, among}against the mighty.
Out of Ephraim came down they whose root is in Amalek;After thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples;Out of Machir came down {Or, lawgivers}governors,And out of Zebulun they that handle {Or, the staff of the scribe}the marshal's staff.
And {Or, my princes in Issachar}the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;As was Issachar, so was Barak;Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet.By the watercourses of ReubenThere were great resolves of heart.
Why sattest thou among the sheepfolds,To hear the pipings for the flocks?At the watercourses of ReubenThere were great searchings of heart.
Gilead abode beyond the Jordan:And Dan, why did he remain in ships?Asher sat still at the {Or, shore}haven of the sea,And abode by his creeks.
Zebulun was a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death,And Naphtali, upon the high places of the field.
The kings came and fought;Then fought the kings of Canaan.In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo:They took no gain of money.
From heaven fought the stars,From their courses they fought against Sisera.
The river Kishon swept them away,That ancient river, the river Kishon.O my soul, {Or, thou hast trodden down strength}march on with strength.
Then did the horsehoofs stampBy reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones.
Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of Jehovah.Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof,Because they came not to the help of Jehovah,To the help of Jehovah {Or, among}against the mighty.
Blessed {Or, of}above women shall Jael be,The wife of Heber the Kenite;Blessed shall she be {Or, of}above women in the tent.
He asked water, and she gave him milk;She brought him butter in a lordly dish.
She put her hand to the tent-pin,And her right hand to the workmen's hammer;And with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote through his head;Yea, she pierced and struck through his temples.
At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay;At her feet he bowed, he fell;Where he bowed, there he fell down {Or, overpowered}dead.
Through the window she looked forth, and cried,The mother of Sisera cried through the lattice,Why is his chariot so long in coming?Why tarry the {Hebrew: steps.}wheels of his chariots?
Her wise ladies answered her, {Or, (Yet she repeateth her words unto herself)}Yea, she returned answer to herself,
Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil?A damsel, two damsels to every man;To Sisera a spoil of dyed garments,A spoil of dyed garments embroidered,Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the spoil?
So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah:But let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.And the land had rest forty years.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto {According to some Massoretic text., him.}me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.
Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpah.
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.
Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, there was carried out one that was dead, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
And it came to pass as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the {Or, Philistines}Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with {Or, triangles Or, three-stringed instruments}instruments of music.
for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went the multitudes thronged him.
And the women {Or, answered one another}sang one to another as they played, and said,Saul hath slain his thousands,And David his ten thousands.
And behold, a man from the multitude cried, saying, Teacher, I beseech thee to look upon my son; for he is mine only child:
The singers went before, the minstrels followed after,In the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels.
Kings of the earth and all peoples;Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and virgins;Old men and children:
Praise him with timbrel and dance:Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: again shalt thou be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.