Jephthah
1-5 The leaders of the Gilead clan decided to ask a brave warrior named Jephthah son of Gilead to lead the attack against the Ammonites.
Even though Jephthah belonged to the Gilead clan, he had earlier been forced to leave the region where they had lived. Jephthah was the son of a prostitute, but his half brothers were the sons of his father's wife.
One day his half brothers told him, “You don't really belong to our family, so you can't have any of the family property.” Then they forced Jephthah to leave home.
Jephthah went to the country of Tob, where he was joined by a number of men who would do anything for money.
So the leaders of Gilead went to Jephthah and said, 6 “Please come back to Gilead! If you lead our army, we will be able to fight off the Ammonites.”
7 “Didn't you hate me?” Jephthah replied. “Weren't you the ones who forced me to leave my family? You're only coming to me now because you're in trouble.”
8 “But we do want you to come back,” the leaders said. “And if you lead us in battle against the Ammonites, we will make you the ruler of Gilead.”
9 “All right,” Jephthah said. “If I go back with you and the Lord lets me defeat the Ammonites, will you really make me your ruler?”
10 “You have our word,” the leaders answered. “And the Lord is a witness to what we have said.”
11 So Jephthah went back to Mizpah with the leaders of Gilead. The people of Gilead gathered at the place of worship and made Jephthah their ruler. Jephthah also made promises to them.
12 After the ceremony, Jephthah sent messengers to say to the king of Ammon, “Are you trying to start a war? You have invaded my country, and I want to know why!”
13 The king of Ammon replied, “Tell Jephthah that the land really belongs to me, all the way from the Arnon River in the south, to the Jabbok River in the north, and west to the Jordan River. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they stole it. Tell Jephthah to return it to me, and there won't be any war.”
14 Jephthah sent the messengers back to the king of Ammon, 15 and they told him that Jephthah had said:
Israel hasn't taken any territory from Moab or Ammon. 16 When the Israelites came from Egypt, they traveled across the desert to the Red Sea and then to Kadesh. 17 They sent messengers to the king of Edom and said, “Please, let us go through your country.” But the king of Edom refused. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he wouldn't let them cross his country either. And so the Israelites stayed at Kadesh.
18 A little later, the Israelites set out into the desert, going east of Edom and Moab, and camping on the eastern side of the Arnon River gorge. The Arnon is the eastern border of Moab, and since the Israelites didn't cross it, they didn't even set foot in Moab.
19 The Israelites sent messengers to the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon. “Please,” they said, “let our people go through your country to get to our own land.”
20 Sihon didn't think the Israelites could be trusted, so he called his army together. They set up camp at Jahaz, then they attacked the Israelite camp. 21 But the Lord God helped Israel defeat Sihon and his army. Israel took over all of the Amorite land where Sihon's people had lived, 22 from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and from the desert in the east to the Jordan River in the west.
23 The messengers also told the king of Ammon that Jephthah had said:
The Lord God of Israel helped his nation get rid of the Amorites and take their land. Now do you think you're going to take over that same territory? 24 If Chemosh your god takes over a country and gives it to you, don't you have a right to it? And if the Lord takes over a country and gives it to us, the land is ours!
25 Are you better than Balak the son of Zippor? He was the king of Moab, but he didn't quarrel with Israel or start a war with us.
26 For 300 years, Israelites have been living in Heshbon and Aroer and the nearby villages, and in the towns along the Arnon River gorge. If the land really belonged to you Ammonites, you wouldn't have waited until now to try to get it back.
27 I haven't done anything to you, but it's certainly wrong of you to start a war. I pray that the Lord will show whether Israel or Ammon is in the right.
28 But the king of Ammon paid no attention to Jephthah's message.
29 Then the Lord's Spirit took control of Jephthah, and Jephthah went through Gilead and Manasseh, raising an army. Finally, he arrived at Mizpah in Gilead, where 30 he promised the Lord, “If you will let me defeat the Ammonites 31 and come home safely, I will sacrifice to you whoever comes out to meet me first.”
32 From Mizpah, Jephthah attacked the Ammonites, and the Lord helped him defeat them.
33 Jephthah and his army destroyed the 20 towns between Aroer and Minnith, and others as far as Abel-Keramim. After that, the Ammonites could not invade Israel any more.
Jephthah's Daughter
34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, the first one to meet him was his daughter. She was playing a tambourine and dancing to celebrate his victory, and she was his only child.
35 “Oh no!” Jephthah cried. Then he tore his clothes in sorrow and said to his daughter, “I made a sacred promise to the Lord, and I must keep it. Your coming out to meet me has broken my heart.”
36 “Father,” she said, “you made a sacred promise to the Lord, and he let you defeat the Ammonites. Now, you must do what you promised, even if it means I must die. 37 But first, please let me spend two months, wandering in the hill country with my friends. We will cry together, because I can never get married and have children.”
38 “Yes, you may have two months,” Jephthah said.
She and some other girls left, and for two months they wandered in the hill country, crying because she could never get married and have children. 39 Then she went back to her father. He did what he had promised, and she never got married.
That's why 40 every year, Israelite girls walk around for four days, weeping for Jephthah's daughter.
1 Jefutha we N'giliyadi wakabe ali mbhayani wakasima. Tate babe bakabe bali Giliyadi, mmebabe bakabe bali fukula. 2 Nkadzi wa Giliyadi kanzwalila bakololo, ngono kwakati bakololo be nkadzi uwe batjikula, bakatata Jefutha bakandwa bakati, “Akuna thaka yaunowowana mu nsha wedu, ngoti u nkololo we nkadzi upoga.” 3 Ndizo Jefutha katizha mu bana batate babe, kanogala mu shango ye Tobi. Ngono gupo le batoleli likankubunganila likansala shule liyenda litolela bathu naye. 4 Kwakati shule kwe tjibaka Baamoni bakanogwa ne Baiziraela. 5 Kwakati Baamoni begwa ne Baiziraela, bakulu be Giliyadi bakanodana Jefutha ku shango ye Tobi. 6 Bakandwa beti, “Buya ube ntungamili wedu, ndizo tigwe ne Baamoni.” 7 Koga Jefutha kadwa bakulu be Giliyadi kati, “Apa amuzondibenga, mukanditata mu ng'umba ya tate bangu kene? Ini matjizha kundili matjibe mu kudziyidzika kene?” 8 Ngono bakulu be Giliyadi bakadwa Jefutha bakati, “Ndizo tashandukila kukuli ngwenu, kuti uyende naswi tinogwa ne Baamoni ube nsholo wedu mu bagali bose be Giliyadi.” 9 Ngono Jefutha kadwa bakulu be Giliyadi kati, “Ha mundibgwiliza kanyi kuti ndinogwa ne Baamoni ngono Yahwe bebendipa ibo ndibakunda, ndowobe nsholo wenyu kene?” 10 Bakulu be Giliyadi bakashandula beti, “Yahwe ndibo ntendeki wedu, towothama sekwa unoleba.” 11 Ndizo Jefutha kayenda ne bakulu be Giliyadi, ngono bathu bakanthama nsholo ne nge ntungamili wabo. Jefutha kaleba matama awe wose mbeli kwa Yahwe ku Mizipha.
12 Ipapo Jefutha katuma batumwa kuna mambo we Baamoni kati, “Uneni naswi kwaungatinginilila mu shango yedu kene?” 13 Mambo we Amoni kashandula batumwa ba Jefutha eti, “Kwakati Baiziraela bedwa ku Egipiti, bakatola shango yangu kudwa ku Arinoni kunoti ku Jabhoki ne kunoti ku Jorodani, ngwenu tjindibgwilizilani iyo nge mbakiso.”
14 Ngono Jefutha katuma batumwa kakale kuna mambo we Amoni, 15 kandwa kati, “Tjinoleba Jefutha ndiyetji, Iziraela aizotola shango ye Moabu kene ye Amoni, 16 koga bakati bedwa ku Egipiti, Baiziraela bakapalama tjilambanyika kunoti ku Gungwa Shaba, bakaswika ku Kadeshi. 17 Baiziraela bakatuma batumwa kuna mambo we Baedomu kati, ‘Tokumbila palama shango yenyu,’ koga mambo we Edomu kaside hwa. Ngono bakatumila kakale kuna mambo we Moabu koga kasidume. Ndizo Baiziraela bakagala ku Kadeshi. 18 Ngono bakayenda mu tjilambanyika, bepoteleka shango ye Baedomu ne shango ye Bamoabu, pakapinda tjekubhezhuba kwe shango ye Moabu, bakakotokela seli ye Arinoni, koga abazongina mu ntuthu we Moabu, ngoti Arinoni yakabe ili ngathu we Moabu.
19 “Ipapo Baiziraela bakatuma batumwa kuna Sihoni mambo we Baamoni wakabe ebusa mu Heshibhoni, ngono bakandwa bakati, ‘Tokumbila palama mu shango iyo toyenda kuna yedu.’ 20 Koga Sihoni kasigalebgwe Baiziraela ku palama ntuthu uwe, ndizo Sihoni kakubunganya bathu babe bose ngono kakotokela ku Jahazi ngono kagwa ne Baiziraela. 21 Ngono Yahwe Ndzimu we Iziraela kalonga Sihoni ne bathu babe bose mu maboko e Baiziraela ngono bakaba kunda. Ndizo Iziraela ikatola shango yose ye Baamori bakabe gala mu shango iyeyo. 22 Bakaitapa yose kudwa ku Arinoni kunoti ku Jabhoki ne kudwa ku tjilambanyika kunoti ku Jorodani.
23 “Ngono ngwenu se Yahwe Ndzimu we Iziraela bakatata Baamori mbeli kwe bathu babo Baiziraela, apa unafanilo dzekuitola kene? 24 Apa autotola tjaunopiwa na Khemoshi ndzimu uwo kene? Naswibo bo tjatinopiwa na Yahwe Ndzimu wedu towotjithuwa. 25 Apa moyita pana Bhalaki nkololo wa Zipori mambo we Moabu kene? Apa wakatongomusilana zhoba ne kukweba kwebana ne Baiziraela kene? 26 Kwe makole ali mazana matatu (300) Baiziraela begala mu Heshibhoni ne mizana yayo ne mu Aruwa ne mizana yayo ne mizi yose imu tjekelo dze Arinoni. Ini musakatitolela iyo nge tjibaka itjetjo? 27 Imi andizokutjinyila, koga iwe ndiwe unonditjinyila ngothama ngwa nami. Yahwe nsumikilisi ngabasumikilise pakati kwe bathu be Iziraela ne bathu be Amoni nasi.”
28 Koga mambo we Amoni kasibhulutane matama aakatumiligwa ndi Jefutha.
29 Ngono Meya ya Yahwe ikazha muna Jefutha. Kapalama Giliyadi ne Manase, kapindila ku Mizipha we Giliyadi, kudwa pa Mizipha kapindila ku Baamoni. 30 Ngono Jefutha katuna kuna Yahwe kati, “Ha mungalonga Baamoni mu maboko angu, 31 ipapo mmwe ne mmwe unowozha edwa mu ng'umba yangu kundishanganidza ha ndashanduka nge mbakiso ku Baamoni kowobe ba Yahwe, ngono ndowobadusa se tjibhayilo tjinopisiwa.” 32 Ndizo Jefutha katjulukila ku Baamoni kugwa nami, ngono Yahwe bakabalonga mu maboko bo. 33 Kabakunda kudwa ku Aruwa kunoti ku Miniti, katapa mizi ili makumi mabili (20), ne kunoti tjose ku Abelikeramimi, kwakabe kukunda kukulu. Ndizo Baamoni bakayisiwa pasi kwe Baiziraela.
Nkololokadzi wa Jefutha
34 Kwakati Jefutha azha ku nzi uwe ku Mizipha, bonani, nkololokadzi uwe kabhuda ku nshanganidza ne dzithamborini ne njimbo. Kwakabe kuli iye yega mwana uwe, kuzhe kukwe wakabe asina nkololo kene nkololokadzi. 35 Wakati embona kapalula zwiambalo zwizwe kati, “Aa, nkololokadzi wangu, wandiyisa pasi seni, ini ungadizhisila mathatha mangapa ngobe ndakazhula nlomo, ndikatuna kuna Yahwe ngono andingatjinyulule.”
36 Ngono nkololokadzi uwe kashandula eti, “Tate, ha makazhula nlomo mukatuna kuna Yahwe, thamani tjamakandigadzabgwe, ngoti Yahwe batjimubgwilizila mu zwita zwenyu Baamoni.” 37 Ngono kadwa tate babe eti, “Ndokumbila mundithamile etji, ‘Mundipe mimwedzi mibili ndi yende ku matombo ndinolilila buanadi gwangu, imi ne bazwalani bangu.’ ”
38 Ngono tate babe bakati, “Yenda.” Ngono bakanletja kayenda kwe mimwedzi mibili, ngono kayenda ne bazwalani babe bakanolilila buanadi gugwe ku matombo. 39 Shule kwe mimwedzi mibili kabgwilila kuna tate babe, bakanthamila kuyendidzana nge tuna kwabo. Wakabe asathu kaziba balume. Ngono kukabe tjilenje, 40 kuti gole ne gole mwanadi mmwe ne mmwe mu Iziraela unoyenda kwe mazhuba ali makumi manna (40) kuli kunokumbula nkololokadzi wa Jefutha we Giliyadi.