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The 11th Chapter
And there was one Jephthah a
Galaadite, a strong man, which was the son of an harlot: How be it
Galaad begat Jephthah. But Galaads wife bare him sons, which when
they were come to age, thrust out of Jephthah, and said unto him:
thou shalt not inherit in our fathers house, for thou art the son of
a strange woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brethren and dwelt in
the land of Tob. And there gathered *Idle people to Jephthah, and
went out with him. But it chanced in process of time, that the
children of Ammon made war against Israel, then the elders of Galaad
went and fetched Jephthah out of the land of Tob, and said unto him:
come and be our captain, and let us fight with the children of Ammon.
And Jephthah said unto the elders of Galaad: Did not ye hate me and
expel me out of my fathers house? how happeneth it then that you
come unto me now in time of your tribulation? And the elders of
Galaad answered Jephthah: Therefore we turn again to thee now, that
thou go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our
head over all the inhabiters of Galaad. And Jepthah said unto the
elders of Galaad: If ye bring me home again, to fight with the
children of Ammon, then if the Lord deliver them before me, I shall
be your head. And the elders of Galaad said to Jephthah, the Lord be
witness between us if we do not according to thy words. Then
Jephthah went with the elders of Galaad. And the people made him
head and ruler over them. And Jephthah rehearsed all his words in
Mazphah.
Then Jephthah sent messengers unto the King of the children of
Ammon, saying: what aileth thee with me that thou comest upon me to
fight against my land? And the King of the children of Ammon
answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, because Israel took away
my land, when they came out of Egypt: even from Arnon unto Jabok,
and from thence unto Jordan. Now therefore restore those lands again
with fair means. And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the
children of Ammon, and said unto him: thus saith Jephthah: Israel
took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of
Ammon. But when Israel came out of Egypt, they walked through the
wilderness, even unto the red sea, and came to Cades, and sent
messengers unto the king of Edom saying: let us we pray thee go
through thy land. But the King of Edom would not agree thereto. And
in like manner they sent unto the King of Moab, but he would not
consent. And so Israel abode still in Cades. And then they went
along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and
the land of Moab, and came along by the east side of the land of
Moab, and pitched on the other side of the river of Arnon, and came
not within the coasts of the Moabites: for Amen was their utmost
border. And then Israel sent messengers unto Sehon, King of the
Amorites, and King of Hesbon, and said unto him: Let us pass through
thy land unto our own country. But Sehon trusted not Israel, to go
through his coasts: but gathered all his people together and pitched
in Jazah, and fought with Israel. But the Lord God of Israel
delivered Sehon and all his folk into the hands of Israel. And so
Israel smote them and conquered all the land of the Amorites, the
inhabiters of the said country. And they conquered all the coasts of
the Amorites, from Arnon unto Jabok, and from the wilderness unto
Jordan. So now seeing the Lord God of Israel hath cast out the
Amorites before his people shouldest thou possess the land? Nay, but
what people Camos thy god driveth out, that land possess thou. But
whatsoever nations the Lord our God expelleth, that land ought we to
enjoy. And thereto art thou better than Balack the son of Zephor
King of Moab? did he strive with Israel or fight against thee? all
the while Israel dwelt in Hesbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her
towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon,
three hundred years? why didst thou not recover them in all that
space, wherefore I have not sinned against thee. But thou doest me
wrong, to war against me. The Lord therefore be judge this day,
between the children of Israel, and the children of Ammon. Howbeit
the King of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of
Jephthah which he sent him.
Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. And he passed
over Galaad and Manasses, and came to Mazphah that lieth in Galaad,
and from thence unto the children of Ammon. And Jephthah vowed a vow
unto the Lord and said: If thou shalt deliver the children of Ammon
into my hands, then that thing that cometh out of the doors of my
house against me, when I come home in peace, from the children of
Ammon, shall be the Lords, and I will offer it up a burntoffering.
And so Jephthah went unto the children of Ammon to fight with them.
And the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he smote them from
Aroer unto Menith, twenty cities. And so forth to the plain of the
vineyards, and made an exceeding great slaughter. And thus the
children of Ammon were brought under, before the children of Israel.
Then Jephthah came to Mazphah unto his house. And see, his
daughter came out against him, with timbrels and dances, which was
his only child: so that beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
And when he saw her, he rent his clothes and said: Alas my daughter,
thou hast made me stoop, and art one of them that trouble me. For I
have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and cannot go back. And she said
unto him: my father, if thou have opened thy mouth unto the Lord,
then do with me according to that proceeded out of thy mouth,
forasmuch as the Lord hath avenged thee of thine enemies the
children of Ammon. And she said unto her father, do this much for
me: let me alone two months that I may go down to the mountains and
bewail my virginity with my fellows. And he said: go, and so he sent
her away two months. And she went with her companions and lamented
her maidenhead upon the mountains. And after the two months she
turned again unto her father which did with her according to his vow
which he had vowed, and so she knew no man. And it became an
ordinance in Israel year by year, that the daughters of Israel
should go and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Galaadite, four
days in a year.
*Idle: from the Hebrew; "ramiyah": deceitful, deceived or "raphah":weak
feeble, dishearten.
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The 12th Chapter
And the men of
Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said
unto Jephthah: Wherefore wentest thou to fight with the children of
Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will therefore burn
thine house upon thee, with fire. And Jephthah said unto them: I and
my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon. And I
called you. But ye delivered me not out of their hands. And when I
saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands and went
upon the children of Ammon. And the Lord delivered them into my
hands. Wherefore then are ye come upon me to fight with me.
And Jephthah gathered together all the men of Galaad, and
fought with the Ephraites. And the men of Galaad smote the Ephraites,
because they said: Ye Galaadites are but renegades of Ephraim among
the Ephraites and the Manassites. Moreover the men of Galaad took
the passages of Jordan from the Ephraites. And when those Ephraites
that were escaped, said let us go over. Then the men of Galaad said
unto them: Ye are Ephraites, and they said nay. Then the other
answered: then say: Sciboleth. And they said Siboleth, and could not
so pronounce, whereupon the other took them and slew them at the
passages of Jordan. And there were overthrown at that time of the
Ephraites forty two thousand. And when Jephthah had judged Israel
six years he died, and was buried in one of the cities of Galaad.
After this man judged Israel one Abezan of Bethlehem, and he had
thirty sons and thirty daughters, and sent also his thirty daughters
out, and took thirty other in, for his sons. And when Abezan had
judged Israel seven years he died, and was buried at Bethlehem.
And after him Elon a Zabulonite judged Israel ten years, and
he died and was buried in Aialon, in the country of Zabulon.
And after him, Abdon the son of Hellel a Pharathonite judged
Israel. And he had forty sons, and thirty nephews, that rode on
thirty ass colts. And when Abdon the son of Hellel the Pharathonite
had judged Israel eight years, he died, and was buried in Pharthon,
the land of Ephraim in the mount of the Amalekites.
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The 13th Chapter
And the children
of Israel began again to commit wickedness in the sight of the Lord.
And the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty
years. And there was a man in Zaraah of the kindred of the Dannites,
named Manoah, whose wife was barren and bare not. And the Angel of
the Lord appeared unto his wife and said unto her: Behold, thou art
barren and bearest not: But thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And
now beware, and drink no wine, nor strong drink, neither eat any
unclean thing: for see, thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And
there may no razor or shearers come on his head: for the lad shall
be an abstainer unto God, even from the time of his birth. And he
shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.
Then the wife went and told her husband saying: a man of God
came unto me, and the fashion of him was like the fashion of an
Angel of God exceeding fearful. But I asked him not whence he was,
neither told he me his name. And he said unto me: behold thou shalt
be with child and bear a son, and now drink no wine nor strong
drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the lad shall be an
abstainer to God even from his birth to the day of his death.
Then Manoah made intercession to the Lord, and said: I pray
thee my Lord let the man of God which thou sendest come once more
unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the lad when he is born.
And God heard the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again
unto the wife, as she sat in the fields: But Manoah her husband was
not with her. Then the wife made haste and ran and showed her
husband and said to him: Behold the man appeared unto me that came
the other day unto me.
And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man
and said unto him: art thou the man that spakest unto my wife? And
he said, yee. Then Manoah said, now when thy saying is come to pass:
what shall be the manner of the child, and what shall he do? And the
Angel of the Lord said unto Manoah: thy wife must abstain from all
that I said unto her: she may eat of nothing that cometh of the vine
tree, nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: But
must observe all that I bade her. Then said Manoah unto the Angel of
the Lord, grant us to tarry until we have made ready a kid and have
set it before thee. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah:
though thou make me abide, I will not eat of thy meat. And moreover,
if thou wilt prepare a burntoffering, that thou must offer unto the
Lord. For Manoah knew not that it was an angel of the Lord. And
Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord: what is thy name, that when
thy saying is come to pass, we may do thee some worship? And the
angel of the Lord said unto him: why askest thou after my name? when
it is marvelous.
And Manoah took a Kid with a meat offering and offered it upon
a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wonderfully, Manoah and his
wife looking upon. For when the flame came up out of the altar, the
angel of the Lord ascended up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah
and his wife looked upon and fell flat on their faces unto the
ground: But the angel of the Lord did no more appear unto Manoah and
his wife. And then Manoah knew that it was an angel of the Lord: and
said unto his wife: we shall surely die, because we have seen God.
But his wife said unto him: If the Lord would kill us, he would not
have received a burntoffering and a meatoffering of our hands,
neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would have
told us as he hath of things to come. And the wife bare a son, and
called his name Samson. And the lad grew, and the Lord blessed him.
And the spirit of the Lord began first to be with the house of Dan,
between Zaraah and Esthaol.
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The 14th Chapter
Samson went down to Thamnath,
and saw a woman in Thamnath of the daughters of the Philistines, and
came up and told his father and his mother, and said: I have seen a
woman in Thamnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And now give
her me to wife. Then his father and mother said unto him, is there
never a woman of the daughters of thy brethren, among all my people:
but that thou must go and fetch a wife of the uncircumcised
Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, give me this woman for
she pleaseth me well. But his father and mother knew not that it was
the Lords doing, and that he sought an occasion of the Philistines,
which at that time reigned over Israel.
Then went Samson and his father and his mother down to
Thamnath. And when they came to the vineyards of Thamnath: behold a
young lion roared upon him. And the spirit of the Lord came upon
him. And he tare him, as a man would rent a Kid, and yet had nothing
in his hand. Nevertheless he told not his father and mother what he
had done. And he went down and talked with the woman, which seemed
well favoured in the sight of Samson.
And within a short space after, as he went thither again to
take her to wife, he turned out of the way, to see the carcase of
the *Lion. And behold there was a swarm of bees in the carcase of
the *Lion and honey. And he took of the honey in his hands and went
eating, and came to his father and mother, and gave them also. And
they did eat. But he told not them, that he had taken the honey out
of the carcase of the *Lion.
And when his father was come unto the woman, Samson made there
a feast, for so used the young men to do. And when her friends saw
him, they brought thirty companions to bear fellowship. And Samson
said unto them: I will put forth a riddle unto you. And if you can
declare it within seven days of the feast and find it out, I will
give you thirty shirts and thirty changes of garments: But and if
you cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty shirts and
thirty changes of garments. And they answered him, put forth thy
riddle and let us hear it. And he said unto them: Out of the eater
came meat: and out of the strong came sweetness. And they could not
in three days expound the riddle. And when the seventh day was come,
they said unto Samsons wife, Flatter with thine husband, that he may
declare us thy riddle, or else we will burn thee and thy fathers
house with fire: have ye called us to make us beggars or not? Then
Samsons wife wept unto him and said, it cannot be but that thou
hatest me and lovest me not: for thou hast put forth a riddle unto
the children of my folk and wilt not tell me what it meaneth. And he
said: Behold, I have not told it my father, nor my mother, and
should I tell it thee?
And she wept unto him seven days, while the feast lasted. And
the seventh day he told her, because she lay so sore upon him. And
she told it the children of her folk. And the men of the city said
unto him the seventh day before the *son went down, What is sweeter
than honey, and what is stronger or than a Lion. Then said he unto
them: If ye had not ploughed with my calf, ye had not found out my
riddle. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon him. And he went down
to Askalon, and slew thirty men of them and spoiled them, and gave
their garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And he was
wroth and went up to his fathers house. But Samsons wife was given
to one of his companions that bare him company.
*L all are capitals as recorded. *son as written sonne sun elsewhere
is spelled sunne.
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The 15th Chapter
But it chanced within a while
after, even in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his
wife with a Kid. And when he supposed to have gone in unto his wife
into the chamber, her father would not suffer him to go in: But
said: I thought that thou hadst hated her, and therefore gave I her
unto one of thy companions. Howbeit her younger sister is fairer
than she. Take her instead of the other. Then said Samson unto them:
Now I am blameless concerning the Philistines though I do them evil.
And Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes, and took
firebrands, and fastened tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the
midst between two tails. And he set the firebrands on fire, and put
them into the corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the reaped
corn and also the standing, with vine and olives. Then the
Philistines asked, who had done that? And it was told them that
Samson the son in law of the Thamnite, because he had taken his wife
and given her to one of his companions. And the Philistines came and
burnt her and her father with fire.
And Samson said unto them: should ye do so? for I will surely
be avenged of you, and then I will cease. And he smote them leg and
thigh with a mighty plague. And then he went and dwelt in the cave
of the rock Etam.
Then the Philistines came up and pitched against Juda, and lay
in Lehi. And the men of Juda said, Why are ye come against us? And
they answered to bind Samson are we come, even to do him as he hath
done to us. Then three thousand men of Juda went down to the cave of
the rock Etam, and said to Samson: wettest thou not that the
Philistines are rulers over us? Wherefore then hast thou served us
thus? And he answered them, as they served me, so have I served
them.
And they said unto him, we are come to bind thee and to
deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said unto
them: sware unto me, that ye shall not hurt me yourselves. And they
said, we will not hurt thee, save only bind thee and deliver thee
unto their hands: But we will not kill thee. And so they bound him
with two new cords and brought him up from the rock. And when he
come to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him. And the spirit of
the Lord came upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became
as flax that was burnt with fire and the bands loosed from his
hands. And he found a *Jaw bone of a *ratten ass, and put forth his
hand and caught it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
And Samson said: with the Jaw of an ass, have I made heaps:
with the Jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. And when he had
left speaking he cast away the Jaw out of his hand and called the
place Ramath Lehi. And he was sore a thirst, and called on the Lord
and said. Thou Lord hath given this great victory, through the hand
of thy servant. And now I must die for thirst and fall into the
hands of the uncircumcised. But God brake a great tooth that was in
the Jaw, and there came water thereout. And when he had drunk his
spirit came again, and he was refreshed, wherefore the name thereof
was called the well of the caller on, which is in Lehi unto this
day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty
years.
*J capital J as recorded. *ratten (rat eaten or rotten)
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The 16th Chapter
Then went Samson to Gaza, and
saw there an whore, and went in unto her. And it was told the
Gazites, that Samson was come thither. And they went about and laid
await for him all night in the gate of the city, but were still all
the night saying: Tarry till the morning that it be day, and then
let us kill him. And Samson took his rest till midnight, and arose
at midnight took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two side
posts, and rent them off, bars and all, and put them upon his
shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that lieth
before Hebron.
And after that he loved a woman, upon the river of Sorek,
called Dalilah unto whom came the Lords of the Philistines, and said
unto her: Flatter with him and see wherein his great strength lieth,
and by what means we may have power over him, that we may bind him,
to bring him under, and we will give every man eleven hundred
silverlings.
And Dalilah said to Samson. Oh, tell me where thy great
strength lieth, and if thou were bound wherewith men might constrain
thee. And Samson said unto her: If men bound me with seven green
*withies that were never dried, I should be weak and as another man.
And then the Lords of the Philistines brought her seven withies that
were yet green and never dried and she bound him therewith.
Notwithstanding she had men lying in wait with her in the chamber.
And she said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee Samson. And he
brake the cords as a string of tow breaketh, when it feeleth fire.
And so his strength was not known.
Then said Dalilah to Samson: See thou hast mocked me and told
me lies. Now yet tell me I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be
bound. And he said: If I were bound with new ropes that never were
occupied, then should I be weak, and as another man. And Dalilah
took new ropes and bound him therewith, and said unto him, the
Philistines be upon thee Samson. And there were layers of wait in
the chamber, and he brake them from off his arms, as they had been
but a thread. And Dalilah said unto Samson, hitherto thou hast
beguiled me and told me lies: I pray thee yet tell me wherewith men
may bind thee. And he said unto her: If thou plaitedest the seven
locks of my head with an hair lace and fasten them with a nail. And
she said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee Samson. And awaked
out of his sleep, and plucked and went away with the nail that was
in the plaiting and with the hair lace. Then she said unto him: How
canst thou say that thou lovest me, when thine heart is not with me:
for thou hast mocked me this three times, and hast not told wherein
thy great strength lieth. And as she lay upon him with her words
continually vexing of him, his soul was encumbered even unto the
death. And he told her all his heart, and said unto her: there never
came razor nor shears upon mine head, for I have been an abstainer
to God even from my mothers womb. If mine hair were cut off, my
strength would go from me, and I should wax and be like all other
men. And when Dalilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she
sent for the Philistines saying, come up yet this once, for he hath
showed me all his heart.
Then the Lords of the Philistines came and brought the money
in their hands. And she made him sleep upon her lap, and sent for a
man, and cut off the seven locks of his head and began to vex him.
But his strength was gone from him. And she said the Philistines be
upon thee Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and thought to go
out as at other times before and shake himself, and knew not that
the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him and put
out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with
fetters. And he was made to grind in the prison house, how be it the
hair of his head began to grow again after that he was shorn.
Then the Lords of the Philistines gathered them together, for
to offer a solemn offering unto Dagon their God, and to rejoice: for
they said, our God hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.
And when the people saw him, they praised their God: for they said
our God hath delivered into our hands our enemy, that destroyed our
country and slew many of us. And when their hearts were merry, they
said: send for Samson and let him play before us. And they fetched
Samson out of the prison house, and he played before them, and they
set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that led
him by the hand: set me that I may touch the pillars that the house
stands upon, and that I may lean to them. And the house was full of
men and women. And there was all the lords of the Philistines. And
there were upon the roof a three thousand men and women, that beheld
how Samson played.
And Samson called unto the Lord, and said: my Lord Jehovah
think upon me, and strengthen me, at this time only O' God, that I
may be avenged of the Philstines for my two eyes. And Samson caught
the two middle pillars on which the house stood and on which it was
borne up, the one in his right hand, and the other in his left, and
said: my soul die with the Philistines, and bowed them with might.
And the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were
therein. And so the dead which he slew at his death, were more than
they which he slew in his life. And then his brethren and all the
house of his father; came down and took him up, and brought him and
buried him between Zaraah and Esthaol, in the burying place of
Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.
*withies (willow like branches)
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The 17th Chapter
There was a man
in mount Ephraim, named Micah which said unto his mother: the eleven
hundred silverlings that were taken from thee, about which thou
cursed and saidst in mine ears: Behold the silver is with me for I
took it away. Then said his mother, blessed be thou my son, in the
Lord. And so he restored the eleven hundred silverlings to his
mother again. And his mother said: I vowed the silver unto the Lord
of mine hand for my son: to make a graven image and an image of
metal. Now therefore I give it thee again. And he restored the money
again unto his mother. Then his mother took two hundred silverlings
and put them to a goldsmith, to make thereof a graven image and a
image of metal, which remained in the house of Micah. And the man
Micah had a chapel of Gods, and made an Ephod and images, and filled
the hand of one of his sons which became his priest. For in those
days there was no king in Israel, but every man did what thought him
best.
And there was a young man out of Bethlehem Juda, and out of
the kindreds of Juda: which young man was a Levite and sojourned
there. And the man departed out of the city of Bethlehem Juda, to go
dwell where he could find a place. And he came to mount Ephraim, and
to the house of Micah as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him,
whence comest thou? and the Levite answered him: I am of Bethlehem
Juda, and go to dwell where I may find a place. And Micah said unto
him: dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest. And I will
give thee ten silverlings by year and raiment of all sorts, and thy
meat and drink.
And the Levite went and began to dwell with the man, and was
unto him as dear as one of his own sons. And Micah filled the hand
of the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and continued in
the house of Micah. Then said Micah, now I am sure that the Lord
will be good unto me, seeing I have a Levite to my priest. |
Chapter 1-6 |
7-10
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