The Judges & Ruth

then it hath been, that which at all cometh out from the doors of my house to meet me in my turning back in peace from the Bene-Ammon--it hath been to Jehovah, or I have offered up for it--a burnt-offering.'

And Jephthah passeth over unto the Bene-Ammon to fight against them, and Jehovah giveth them into his hand,

and he smiteth them from Aroer, and unto thy going in to Minnith, twenty cities, and unto the meadow of the vineyards--a very great smiting; and the Bene-Ammon are humbled at the presence of the sons of Israel.

And Jephthah cometh into Mizpeh, unto his house, and lo, his daughter is coming out to meet him with timbrels, and with choruses, and save her alone, he hath none, son or daughter.

And it cometh to pass, when he seeth her, that he rendeth his garments, and saith, `Alas, my daughter, thou hast caused me greatly to bend, and thou hast been among those troubling me; and I--I have opened my mouth unto Jehovah, and I am not able to turn back.'

And she saith unto him, `My father--thou hast opened thy mouth unto Jehovah, do to me as it hath gone out from thy mouth, after that Jehovah hath done for thee vengeance on thine enemies, on the Bene-Ammon.'

And she saith unto her father, `Let this thing be done to me; desist from me two months, and I go on, and have gone down on the hills, and I weep for my virginity--I and my friends.'

And he saith, `Go;' and he sendeth her away two months, and she goeth, she and her friends, and she weepeth for her virginity on the hills;

and it cometh to pass at the end of two months that she turneth back unto her father, and he doth to her his vow which he hath vowed, and she knew not a man; and it is a statute in Israel:

from time to time the daughters of Israel go to talk to the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in a year.

And the men of Ephraim are called together, and pass over northward, and say to Jephthah, `Wherefore has thou passed over to fight against the Bene-Ammon, and on us hast not called to go with thee? thy house we burn over thee with fire.'

And Jephthah saith unto them, `A man of great strife I have been (I and my people) with the Bene-Ammon, and I call you, and ye have not saved me out of their hand,

and I see that thou art not a saviour, and I put my life in my hand, and pass over unto the Bene-Ammon, and Jehovah giveth them into my hand--and why have ye come up unto me this day to fight against me?'

And Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead, and fighteth with Ephraim, and the men of Gilead smite Ephraim, because they said, `Fugitives of Ephraim are ye Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim--in the midst of Manasseh.'

And Gilead captureth the passages of the Jordan to Ephraim, and it hath been, when any of the fugitives of Ephraim say, `Let me pass over,' and the men of Gilead say to him, `An Ephramite thou?' and he saith, `No;'

that they say to him, `Say, I pray thee, Shibboleth;' and he saith, `Sibboleth,' and is not prepared to speak right--and they seize him, and slaughter him at the passages of the Jordan, and there fall at that time, of Ephraim, forty and two chiefs.

And Jephthah judged Israel six years, and Jephthah the Gileadite dieth, and is buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

And after him Ibzan of Beth-Lehem judgeth Israel,

and he hath thirty sons and thirty daughters, he hath sent without and thirty daughters hath brought in to his sons from without; and he judgeth Israel seven years.

And Ibzan dieth, and is buried in Beth-Lehem.

And after him Elon the Zebulunite judgeth Israel, and he judgeth Israel ten years,

and Elon the Zebulunite dieth, and is buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun.

And after him, Abdon son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judgeth Israel,

and he hath forty sons, and thirty grandsons, riding on seventy ass-colts, and he judgeth Israel eight years.

And Abdon son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, dieth, and is buried in Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of the Amalekite.