1 Jefté, o gileadita, era um guerreiro valente. Sua mãe era uma prostituta; seu pai foi Gileade.2 A mulher de Gileade também lhe deu filhos, que quando já estavam grandes, expulsaram Jefté, dizendo: "Você não vai receber nenhuma herança de nossa família, pois é filho de outra mulher".3 Então Jefté fugiu dos seus irmãos e se estabeleceu em Tobe. Ali um bando de vadios uniu-se a ele e o seguia.4 Algum tempo depois, quando os amonitas entraram em guerra contra Israel,5 os líderes de Gileade foram buscar Jefté em Tobe.6 "Venha", disseram. "Seja nosso comandante, para que possamos combater os amonitas. "7 Disse-lhes Jefté: "Vocês não me odiavam e não me expulsaram da casa de meu pai? Por que me procuram agora, quando estão em dificuldades? "8 "Apesar disso, agora estamos apelando para você", responderam os líderes de Gileade. "Venha combater conosco os amonitas, e você será o chefe de todos os que vivem em Gileade. "9 Jefté respondeu: "Se vocês me levarem de volta para combater os amonitas e o Senhor os entregar a mim, serei o chefe de vocês? "10 Os líderes de Gileade responderam: "O Senhor é nossa testemunha; faremos conforme você diz".11 Assim Jefté foi com os líderes de Gileade, e o povo o fez chefe e comandante sobre todos. E ele repetiu perante o Senhor, em Mispá, todas as palavras que tinha dito.12 Jefté enviou mensageiros ao rei amonita com a seguinte pergunta: "Que é que tens contra nós, para ter atacado a nossa terra? "13 O rei dos amonitas respondeu aos mensageiros de Jefté: "Quando Israel veio do Egito tomou as minhas terras, desde o Arnom até o Jaboque e até o Jordão. Agora, devolvam-me essas terras pacificamente".14 Jefté mandou de novo mensageiros ao rei amonita,15 dizendo: "Assim diz Jefté: Israel não tomou a terra de Moabe, e tampouco a terra dos amonitas.16 Quando veio do Egito, Israel foi pelo deserto até o mar Vermelho e daí para Cades.17 Então Israel enviou mensageiros ao rei de Edom, dizendo: ‘Deixa-nos atravessar a tua terra’, mas o rei de Edom não quis ouvi-lo. Enviou o mesmo pedido ao rei de Moabe, e ele também não consentiu. Assim Israel permaneceu em Cades.18 "Em seguida os israelitas viajaram pelo deserto e contornaram Edom e Moabe; passaram a leste de Moabe e acamparam do outro lado do Arnom. Não entraram no território de Moabe, pois o Arnom era a sua fronteira.19 "Depois Israel enviou mensageiros a Seom, rei dos amorreus, em Hesbom, e lhe pediu: ‘Deixa-nos atravessar a tua terra para irmos ao lugar que nos pertence! ’20 Seom, porém, não acreditou que Israel fosse apenas atravessar o seu território; assim convocou todos os seus homens, acampou em Jaza e lutou contra Israel.21 "Então o Senhor, o Deus de Israel, entregou Seom e todos os seus homens nas mãos de Israel, e este os derrotou. Israel tomou posse de todas as terras dos amorreus que viviam naquela região,22 conquistando-a por inteiro, desde o Arnom até o Jaboque, e desde o deserto até o Jordão.23 "Agora que o Senhor, o Deus de Israel, expulsou os amorreus da presença do seu povo Israel, queres tu tomá-la?24 Acaso não tomas posse daquilo que o teu deus Camos te dá? Da mesma forma tomaremos posse do que o Senhor nosso Deus nos deu.25 És tu melhor do que Balaque, filho de Zipor, rei de Moabe? Entrou ele alguma vez em conflito com Israel ou lutou com ele?26 Durante trezentos anos Israel ocupou Hesbom, Aroer, os povoados ao redor e todas as cidades às margens do Arnom. Por que não os reconquistaste todo esse tempo?27 Nada fiz contra ti, mas tu estás cometendo um erro, lutando contra mim. Que o Senhor, o Juiz, julgue hoje a disputa entre os israelitas e os amonitas".28 Entretanto, o rei de Amom não deu atenção à mensagem de Jefté.29 Então o Espírito do Senhor se apossou de Jefté. Este atravessou Gileade e Manassés, passou por Mispá de Gileade, e daí avançou contra os amonitas.30 E Jefté fez este voto ao Senhor: "Se entregares os amonitas nas minhas mãos,31 aquele que vier saindo da porta da minha casa ao meu encontro, quando eu retornar da vitória sobre os amonitas, será do Senhor, e eu o oferecerei em holocausto".32 Então Jefté foi combater os amonitas, e o Senhor os entregou nas suas mãos.33 Ele conquistou vinte cidades, desde Aroer até as vizinhanças de Minite, chegando a Abel-Queramim. Assim os amonitas foram subjugados pelos Israelitas.34 Quando Jefté chegou à sua casa em Mispá, sua filha saiu ao seu encontro, dançando ao som de tamborins. E ela era filha única. Ele não tinha outro filho ou filha.35 Quando a viu, rasgou suas vestes e gritou: "Ah, minha filha! Estou angustiado e desesperado por tua causa, pois fiz ao Senhor um voto que não posso quebrar".36 "Meu pai", respondeu ela, "sua palavra foi dada ao Senhor. Faça comigo o que prometeu, agora que o Senhor o vingou dos seus inimigos, os amonitas. "37 E prosseguiu: "Mas conceda-me dois meses para vagar pelas colinas e chorar com as minhas amigas, porque jamais me casarei".38 "Vá! ", disse ele. E deixou que ela fosse por dois meses. Ela e suas amigas foram para as colinas e choraram porque ela jamais se casaria.39 Passados os dois meses, ela voltou a seu pai, e ele fez com ela o que tinha prometido no voto. Assim, ela nunca deixou de ser virgem. Daí vem o costume em Israel40 de saírem as moças durante quatro dias, todos os anos, para celebrar a memória da filha de Jefté, o gileadita.

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a prostitute: and Gilead begot Jephthah.2 And Gilead's wife bore him sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said to him, You will not inherit in our father's house; for you are the son of another woman.3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.4 And it came to pass after awhile, that the sons of Ammon made war against Israel.5 And it was so, that, when the sons of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob;6 and they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the sons of Ammon.7 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Didn't you{+} hate me, and drive me out of my father's house? And why have you{+} come to me now when you{+} are in distress?8 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us, and fight with the sons of Ammon; and you will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.9 And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you{+} bring me home again to fight with the sons of Ammon, and Yahweh delivers them before me, shall I be your{+} head?10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Yahweh will be witness between us; surely according to your word so we will do.11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them: and Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah.12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, What do you have to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?13 And the king of the sons of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan: now therefore restore those [lands] again peaceably.14 And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon;15 and he said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon,16 but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh;17 then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray you, pass through your land; but the king of Edom didn't listen. And in like manner he sent to the king of Moab; but he would not: and Israel remained in Kadesh.18 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 didn't come inside the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.19 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray you, through your land to my place.20 But Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.21 And Yahweh, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.22 And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.23 So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them?24 Will not you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whomever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them we will possess.25 And now are you anything 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 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; why didn't you{+} recover them within that time?27 I therefore haven't sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me: Yahweh, the Judge, will be judge this day between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.28 Nevertheless the king of the sons of Ammon didn't listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him.29 Then the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the sons of Ammon.30 And Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, If you will indeed deliver the sons of Ammon into my hand,31 then it will be, that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it will be Yahweh's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering.32 So Jephthah passed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh delivered them into his hand.33 And he struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.34 And Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and saw that 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.35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to Yahweh, and I can't go back.36 And she said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to Yahweh; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, since Yahweh has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the sons of Ammon.37 And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.38 And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she had no sex with a man. And it was a custom in Israel,40 that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.