1 Jefté, o galaadita, era. um valente guerreiro, filho de Galaad e duma meretriz.

2 A mulher de Galaad deu-lhe filhos, e estes, tendo crescido, expulsaram Jefté, dizendo: Tu não herdarás nada na casa de nosso pai, porque és um bastardo.

3 Jefté afastou-se de seus irmãos e fixou-se na terra de Tob. Alguns homens miseráveis reuniram-se a ele e tomaram parte em suas incursões.

4 Algum tempo depois, os amonitas entraram em luta contra Israel.

5 Os habitantes de Galaad, vendo-se assim atacados, foram em busca de Jefté na terra de Tob

6 e disseram-lhe: Vem: serás o nosso chefe, e combateremos os amonitas.

7 Jefté, porém, respondeu: Vós, que sois meus inimigos, tendo-me expulsado da casa de meu pai, por que vindes a mim agora que estais em aperto?

8 Os anciãos de Galaad disseram-lhe: Foi {precisamente} por isso que viemos agora ter contigo, para que venhas conosco e combatas contra os filhos de Amon, e sejas o nosso chefe, o chefe de todo o povo de Galaad.

9 Jefté disse-lhes: Se vós me conduzirdes para lutar contra os amonitas, e o Senhor mos entregar nas mãos, serei o vosso chefe.

10 Os anciãos responderam-lhe: O Senhor seja testemunha entre nós de que faremos tudo o que disseste!

11 E Jefté partiu com os anciãos de Galaad. O povo proclamou-o seu chefe e general, e Jefté repetiu diante do Senhor, em Masfa, tudo o que acabara de dizer.

12 Jefté enviou mensageiros ao rei dos amonitas para lhe dizer: Que tens tu contra mim para que me venhas combater em minha terra?

13 O rei respondeu-lhes: Israel, vindo do Egito, tomou a minha terra desde o Arnon até Jaboc e até o Jordão. Devolve-mo agora, pois, pacificamente.

14 Jefté mandou nova embaixada ao rei dos amonitas,

15 dizendo-lhe: Assim fala Jefté: Israel não se apoderou nem do território de Moab, nem da terra dos filhos de Amon.

16 Quando saiu do Egito, Israel marchou pelo deserto até o mar Vermelho, e chegou a Cades.

17 Mandou então mensageiros ao rei de Edom, pedindo-lhe a permissão de passar pela sua terra; mas o rei de Edom não o consentiu. Fez o mesmo pedido ao rei de Moab, que tampouco lhe deu passagem. Israel deteve-se, pois, em Cades.

18 Retomou em seguida sua marcha pelo deserto, e contornou as terras de Edom e de Moab; chegando à parte oriental da terra de Moab, acampou na outra banda do Arnon, sem contudo penetrar na terra de Moab, cuja fronteira é o Arnon.

19 Dali, Israel mandou ainda mensageiros a Seon, rei dos amorreus, em Hesebon pedindo-lhe que os deixasse passar pela sua terra, para que chegassem à deles.

20 Seon, porém, não teve bastante confiança em Israel para deixá-lo atravessar o seu território; antes, ajuntando todas as suas tropas, acampou em Jasa, e atacou Israel.

21 O Senhor, Deus de Israel, entregou-o com todo o seu povo nas mãos de Israel, que o derrotou, e conquistou todas as terras dos amorreus que habitavam naquela região;

22 tomou toda a terra dos amorreus, desde o Arnon até Jaboc, e desde o deserto até o Jordão.

23 Agora que o Senhor, Deus de Israel, expulsou os amorreus diante de seu povo de Israel, tu pretendes possuir a sua terra?

24 Porventura não tens a posse do que te deu a conquistar o teu deus Camos? E nós, por que não possuiríamos tudo aquilo que o Senhor, nosso Deus, expulsou diante de nós?

25 Serias tu melhor do que Balac, filho de Sefor, rei de Moab? Porventura disputou ele com os israelitas, ou combateu contra eles?

26 Eis já trezentos anos que Israel habita em Hesebon e em suas aldeias, em Aroer e em suas aldeias, e em todas as cidades banhadas pelo Arnon. Por que não lhe tiraste estas terras durante todo esse tempo?

27 Não sou eu, pois, que te faço dano, mas és tu mesmo que te prejudicas, declarando-me guerra. Que o Senhor, o Juiz, se pronuncie hoje entre os israelitas e os amonitas!

28 Mas o rei dos amonitas não quis ouvir nada do que Jefté lhe mandara dizer.

29 O Espírito do Senhor desceu sobre Jefté, e ele, atravessando Galaad e Manassés, passou dali até Masfa de Galaad, de onde marchou contra os amonitas.

30 Jetfé fez ao Senhor este voto:

31 Se me entregardes nas mãos os amonitas, aquele que sair das portas de minha casa ao meu encontro, quando eu voltar vitorioso dos filhos de Amon, será consagrado ao Senhor, e eu o oferecerei em holocausto.

32 Jefté marchou contra os amonitas, e o Senhor lhos entregou.

33 Ele os derrotou desde Aroer até as proximidades de Menit, e até Abel-Queramim, tomando-lhes vinte aldeias. E os amonitas, com este terrível golpe, foram humilhados perante Israel.

34 Ora, voltando Jefté para a sua casa em Masfa, eis que sua filha saiu-lhe ao encontro com tamborins e danças. Era a sua única filha, porque, afora ela, não tinha filho nem filha.

35 Quando a viu, rasgou as suas vestes: Ah, minha filha, exclamou ele, tu me acabrunhas de dor, e estás no número daqueles que causam a minha infelicidade! Fiz ao Senhor um voto que não posso revogar.

36 Meu pai, disse ela, se fizeste um voto ao Senhor, trata-me segundo o que prometeste, agora que o Senhor te vingou de teus inimigos, os amonitas.

37 E ajuntou: Concede-me somente isto: Deixa-me que vá sobre as colinas durante dois meses, para chorar a minha virgindade com as minhas amigas.

38 Vai, disse-lhe ele. E deu-lhe dois meses de liberdade. Ela foi com as suas companheiras, e chorou a sua virgindade sobre as colinas.

39 Passado o prazo, voltou para seu pai, e ele cumpriu o voto que tinha feito. Ela não tinha conhecido varão.

40 Daqui veio este costume, em Israel, que todos os anos as jovens israelitas reúnem-se para chorar durante quatro dias a filha de Jefté, o galaadita.

1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. He was the son of a prostitute. Gilead became the father of Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife bore him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out 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 lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws joined up with Jephthah, and they went out with him.

4 After a while, the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5 When the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob. 6 They said to Jephthah, "Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon."

7 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Didn’t you hate me, and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?"

8 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 children of Ammon. You will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivers them before me, will I be your head?"

10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Yahweh will be witness between us. Surely we will do what you say."

11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah.

12 Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, "What do you have to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?"

13 The king of the children of Ammon answered 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 that territory again peaceably."

14 Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon; 15 and he said to him, "Jephthah says: Israel didn’t take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children 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, ‘Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab, but he refused; so Israel stayed 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 within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass 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 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 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 Won’t you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever Yahweh our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess. 25 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 Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the side of the Arnon for three hundred years! Why didn’t you recover them within that time? 27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me. May Yahweh the Judge be judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon."

28 However, the king of the children of Ammon didn’t listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him. 29 Then Yahweh’s Spirit came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.

30 Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, "If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand, 31 then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering."

32 So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh delivered them into his hand. 33 He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

34 Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore 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 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, because Yahweh has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon." 37 Then she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions."

38 He said, "Go." He sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains. 39 At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. She was a virgin. It became 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.