Judges 11
1 At that time, there was a Gileadite, Jephthah, a very strong man and a fighter, the son of a kept woman, and he was born of Gilead.
基列人耶弗他是個大能的勇士，是妓女的兒子。耶弗他是基列所生的。
2 Now Gilead had a wife, from whom he received sons. And they, after growing up, cast out Jephthah, saying, “You cannot inherit in the house of our father, because you were born of another mother.”
基列的妻也生了幾個兒子：他妻所生的兒子長大了，就趕逐耶弗他，說：「你不可在我們父家承受產業，因為你是妓女的兒子。」
3 And so, fleeing and avoiding them, he lived in the land of Tob. And men who were indigent and robbers joined with him, and they followed him as their leader.
耶弗他就逃避他的弟兄，去住在陀伯地，有些匪徒到他那裏聚集，與他一同出入。
4 In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.
過了些日子，亞捫人攻打以色列。
5 And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.
亞捫人攻打以色列的時候，基列的長老到陀伯地去，要叫耶弗他回來；
6 And they said to him, “Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon.”
對耶弗他說：「請你來作我們的元帥，我們好與亞捫人爭戰。」
7 But he answered them: “Are you not the ones who hated me, and who cast me out of my father’s house? And yet now you come to me, compelled by necessity?”
耶弗他回答基列的長老說：「從前你們不是恨我、趕逐我出離父家嗎？現在你們遭遇急難為何到我這裏來呢？」
8 And the leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “But it is due to this necessity that we have approached you now, so that you may set out with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be commander over all who live in Gilead.”
基列的長老回答耶弗他說：「現在我們到你這裏來，是要你同我們去，與亞捫人爭戰；你可以作基列一切居民的領袖。」
9 Jephthah also said to them: “If you have come to me so that I may fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and if the Lord will deliver them into my hands, will I truly be your leader?”
耶弗他對基列的長老說：「你們叫我回去，與亞捫人爭戰，耶和華把他交給我，我可以作你們的領袖嗎？」
10 They answered him, “The Lord who hears these things is himself the Mediator and the Witness that we shall do what we have promised.”
基列的長老回答耶弗他說：「有耶和華在你我中間作見證，我們必定照你的話行。」
11 And so Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and all the people made him their leader. And Jephthah spoke all his words, in the sight of the Lord, at Mizpah.
於是耶弗他同基列的長老回去，百姓就立耶弗他作領袖、作元帥。耶弗他在米斯巴將自己的一切話陳明在耶和華面前。
12 And he sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, who said on his behalf, “What is there between you and me, that you would approach against me, so that you might lay waste to my land?”
耶弗他打發使者去見亞捫人的王，說：「你與我有甚麼相干，竟來到我國中攻打我呢？」
13 And he responded to them, “It is because Israel took my land, when he ascended from Egypt, from the parts of Arnon, as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan. Now therefore, restore these to me with peace.”
亞捫人的王回答耶弗他的使者說：「因為以色列人從埃及上來的時候佔據我的地，從亞嫩河到雅博河，直到約旦河。現在你要好好地將這地歸還吧！」
14 And Jephthah again commissioned them, and he ordered them to say to the king of Ammon:
耶弗他又打發使者去見亞捫人的王，
15 “Jephthah says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon.
對他說：「耶弗他如此說，以色列人並沒有佔據摩押地和亞捫人的地。
16 But when they ascended together from Egypt, he walked through the desert as far as the Red Sea, and he went into Kadesh.
以色列人從埃及上來乃是經過曠野到紅海，來到加低斯，
17 And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Permit me to pass through your land.’ But he was not willing to agree to his petition. Likewise, he sent to the king of Moab, who also refused to offer him passage. And so he delayed in Kadesh,
就打發使者去見以東王，說：『求你容我從你的地經過。』以東王卻不應允。又照樣打發使者去見摩押王，他也不允准。以色列人就住在加低斯。
18 and he circled around the side of the land of Edom and the land of Moab. And he arrived opposite the eastern region of the land of Moab. And he made camp across the Arnon. But he was not willing to enter the borders of Moab. (Of course, Arnon is the border of the land of Moab.)
他們又經過曠野，繞着以東和摩押地，從摩押地的東邊過來，在亞嫩河邊安營，並沒有入摩押的境內，因為亞嫩河是摩押的邊界。
19 And so Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who was living at Heshbon. And they said to him, “Permit me to cross through your land as far as the river.”
以色列人打發使者去見亞摩利王西宏，就是希實本的王，對他說：『求你容我們從你的地經過，往我們自己的地方去。』
20 But he, too, despising the words of Israel, would not permit him to cross through his borders. Instead, gathering an innumerable multitude, he went out against him at Jahaz, and he resisted strongly.
西宏卻不信服以色列人，不容他們經過他的境界，乃招聚他的眾民在雅雜安營，與以色列人爭戰。
21 But the Lord delivered him, with his entire army, into the hands of Israel. And he struck him down, and he possessed all the land of the Amorite, the inhabitant of that region,
耶和華－以色列的上帝將西宏和他的眾民都交在以色列人手中，以色列人就擊殺他們，得了亞摩利人的全地：
22 with all its parts, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
從亞嫩河到雅博河，從曠野直到約旦河。
23 Therefore, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who overthrew the Amorites, by means of his people Israel fighting against them. And now you wish to possess his land?
耶和華－以色列的上帝在他百姓以色列面前趕出亞摩利人，你竟要得他們的地嗎？
24 Are not the things that your god Chemosh possesses owed to you by right? And so, what the Lord our God has obtained by victory falls to us as a possession.
你的神基抹所賜你的地你不是得為業嗎？耶和華－我們的上帝在我們面前所趕出的人，我們就得他的地。
25 Or are you, perhaps, better than Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Or are you able to explain what his argument was against Israel, and why he fought against him?
難道你比摩押王西撥的兒子巴勒還強嗎？他曾與以色列人爭競，或是與他們爭戰嗎？
26 And though he has lived in Heshbon, and its villages, and in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan for three hundred years, why have you, for such long a time, put forward nothing about this claim?
以色列人住希實本和屬希實本的鄉村，亞羅珥和屬亞羅珥的鄉村，並沿亞嫩河的一切城邑，已經有三百年了；在這三百年之內，你們為甚麼沒有取回這些地方呢？
27 Therefore, I am not sinning against you, but you are doing evil against me, by declaring an unjust war against me. May the Lord be the Judge and the Arbiter this day, between Israel and the sons of Ammon.”
原來我沒有得罪你，你卻攻打我，惡待我。願審判人的耶和華今日在以色列人和亞捫人中間判斷是非。」
28 But the king of the sons of Ammon was not willing to agree to the words of Jephthah that he commissioned by the messengers.
但亞捫人的王不肯聽耶弗他打發人說的話。
29 Therefore, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon Jephthah, and circling around Gilead, and Manasseh, and also Mizpah of Gilead, and crossing from there to the sons of Ammon,
耶和華的靈降在耶弗他身上，他就經過基列和瑪拿西，來到基列的米斯巴，又從米斯巴來到亞捫人那裏。
30 he made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you will deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,
耶弗他就向耶和華許願，說：「你若將亞捫人交在我手中，
31 whoever will be the first to depart from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, the same will I offer as a holocaust to the Lord.”
我從亞捫人那裏平平安安回來的時候，無論甚麼人，先從我家門出來迎接我，就必歸你，我也必將他獻上為燔祭。」
32 And Jephthah crossed to the sons of Ammon, so that he might fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands.
於是耶弗他往亞捫人那裏去，與他們爭戰；耶和華將他們交在他手中，
33 And he struck them down from Aroer, as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is covered with vineyards, in an exceedingly great slaughter. And the sons of Ammon were humbled by the sons of Israel.
他就大大殺敗他們，從亞羅珥到米匿，直到亞備勒‧基拉明，攻取了二十座城。這樣亞捫人就被以色列人制伏了。
34 But when Jephthah returned to Mizpah, to his own house, his only daughter met him with timbrels and dances. For he had no other children.
耶弗他回米斯巴到了自己的家，不料，他女兒拿着鼓跳舞出來迎接他，是他獨生的，此外無兒無女。
35 And upon seeing her, he tore his garments, and he said: “Alas, my daughter! You have cheated me, and you yourself have been cheated. For I opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do nothing else.”
耶弗他看見她，就撕裂衣服，說：「哀哉！我的女兒啊，你使我甚是愁苦，叫我作難了；因為我已經向耶和華開口許願，不能挽回。」
36 And she answered him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me whatever you have promised, since victory has been granted to you, as well as vengeance against your enemies.”
他女兒回答說：「父啊，你既向耶和華開口，就當照你口中所說的向我行，因耶和華已經在仇敵亞捫人身上為你報仇」；
37 And she said to her father: “Grant to me this one thing, which I request. Permit me, that I may wander the hillsides for two months, and that I may mourn my virginity with my companions.”
又對父親說：「有一件事求你允准：容我去兩個月，與同伴在山上，好哀哭我終為處女。」
38 And he answered her, “Go.” And he released her for two months. And when she had departed with her friends and companions, she wept over her virginity in the hillsides.
耶弗他說：「你去吧！」就容她去兩個月。她便和同伴去了，在山上為她終為處女哀哭。
39 And when the two months expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her just as he had vowed, though she knew no man. From this, the custom grew up in Israel, and the practice has been preserved,
兩月已滿，她回到父親那裏，父親就照所許的願向她行了。女兒終身沒有親近男子。
40 such that, after each year passes, the daughters of Israel convene as one, and they lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, for four days.
此後以色列中有個規矩，每年以色列的女子去為基列人耶弗他的女兒哀哭四天。
