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.
1 Jephthah, a brave soldier from Gilead, was the son of a prostitute. His father Gilead 2 had other sons by his wife, and when they grew up, they forced Jephthah to leave home. They told him, “You will not inherit anything from our father; you are the son of another woman.” 3 Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. There he attracted a group of worthless men, and they went around with him.
4 It was some time later that the Ammonites went to war against Israel. 5 When this happened, the leaders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah back from the land of Tob. 6 They told him, “Come and lead us, so that we can fight the Ammonites.”
7 But Jephthah answered, “You hated me so much that you forced me to leave my father's house. Why come to me now that you're in trouble?”
8 They said to Jephthah, “We are turning to you now because we want you to go with us and fight the Ammonites and lead all the people of Gilead.”
9 Jephthah said to them, “If you take me back home to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives me victory, I will be your ruler.”
10 They replied, “We agree. The Lord is our witness.” 11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and leader. Jephthah stated his terms at Mizpah in the presence of the Lord.
12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon to say, “What is your quarrel with us? Why have you invaded our country?”
13 The king of Ammon answered Jephthah's messengers, “When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and the Jordan River. Now you must give it back peacefully.”
14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of Ammon 15 with this answer: “It is not true that Israel took away the land of Moab or the land of Ammon. 16 This is what happened: when the Israelites left Egypt, they went through the desert to the Gulf of Aqaba and came to Kadesh. 17 Then they sent messengers to the king of Edom to ask permission to go through his land. But the king of Edom would not let them. They also asked the king of Moab, but neither would he let them go through his land. So the Israelites stayed at Kadesh. 18 Then they went on through the desert, going around the land of Edom and the land of Moab until they came to the east side of Moab, on the other side of the Arnon River. They camped there, but they did not cross the Arnon because it was the boundary of Moab. 19 Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and asked him for permission to go through his country to their own land. 20 But Sihon would not let Israel do it. He brought his whole army together, camped at Jahaz, and attacked Israel. 21 But the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the Israelites victory over Sihon and his army. So the Israelites took possession of all the territory of the Amorites who lived in that country. 22 They occupied all the Amorite territory from the Arnon in the south to the Jabbok in the north and from the desert on the east to the Jordan on the west. 23 So it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who drove out the Amorites for his people, the Israelites. 24 Are you going to try to take it back? You can keep whatever your god Chemosh has given you. But we are going to keep everything that the Lord, our God, has taken for us. 25 Do you think you are any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? He never challenged Israel, did he? Did he ever go to war against us? 26 For three hundred years Israel has occupied Heshbon and Aroer, and the towns around them, and all the cities on the banks of the Arnon River. Why haven't you taken them back in all this time? 27 No, I have not done you any wrong. You are doing wrong by making war on me. The Lord is the judge. He will decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” 28 But the king of Ammon paid no attention to this message from Jephthah.
29 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh and returned to Mizpah in Gilead and went on to Ammon. 30 Jephthah promised the Lord: “If you will give me victory over the Ammonites, 31 I will burn as an offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I come back from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice.”
32 So Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. 33 He struck at them from Aroer to the area around Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel Keramim. There was a great slaughter, and the Ammonites were defeated by Israel.
Jephthah's Daughter
34 When Jephthah went back home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, dancing and playing the tambourine. She was his only child. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes in sorrow and said, “Oh, my daughter! You are breaking my heart! Why must it be you that causes me pain? I have made a solemn promise to the Lord, and I cannot take it back!”
36 She told him, “If you have made a promise to the Lord, do what you said you would do to me, since the Lord has given you revenge on your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 But she asked her father, “Do this one thing for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the mountains and grieve that I must die a virgin.” 38 He told her to go and sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless. 39 After two months she came back to her father. He did what he had promised the Lord, and she died still a virgin.
This was the origin of the custom in Israel 40 that the Israelite women would go out for four days every year to grieve for the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.