Biblia Sacra: VETUS TESTAMENTUM

1 1 Post mortem Josue, consuluerunt filii Israël Dominum, dicentes: Quis ascendet ante nos contra Chananæum, et erit dux belli? 2 Dixitque Dominus: Judas ascendet: ecce tradidi terram in manus ejus. 3 Et ait Judas Simeoni fratri suo: Ascende mecum in sortem meam, et pugna contra Chananæum, ut et ego pergam tecum in sortem tuam.

1 1 After the death of Joshua, the sons of Israel consulted the Lord, saying: Who shall go up before us against the Canaanite, and be leader of the war? 2 And the Lord said: Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother: Go up with me into my lot, and fight against the Canaanite, that I also may go with you into your lot.

Et abiit cum eo Simeon.

And Simeon went with him.

4 Ascenditque Judas, et tradidit Dominus Chananæum ac Pherezæum in manus eorum: et percusserunt in Bezec decem millia virorum. 5 Inveneruntque Adonibezec in Bezec, et pugnaverunt contra eum, ac percusserunt Chananæum et Pherezæum. 6 Fugit autem Adonibezec: quem persecuti comprehenderunt, cæsis summitatibus manuum ejus ac pedum. 7 Dixitque Adonibezec: Septuaginta reges amputatis manuum ac pedum summitatibus colligebant sub mensa mea ciborum reliquias: sicut feci, ita reddidit mihi Deus.

4 And Judas went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hands: and they struck down at Bezec ten thousand men. 5 And they found Adonibezec in Bezec, and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanite and the Perizzite. 6 But Adonibezec fled; and they, having pursued him, apprehended him, the extremities of his hands and feet having been cut off. 7 And Adonibezec said: Seventy kings, with the summits of their hands and feet amputated, used to gather under my table the remnants of foods: as I have done, so has God rendered to me.

Adduxeruntque eum in Jerusalem, et ibi mortuus est. 8 Oppugnantes ergo filii Juda Jerusalem, ceperunt eam, et percusserunt in ore gladii, tradentes cunctam incendio civitatem. 9 Et postea descendentes pugnaverunt contra Chananæum, qui habitabat in montanis, et ad meridiem, et in campestribus.

And they brought him into Jerusalem, and there he died. 8 Therefore the sons of Judah, assailing Jerusalem, captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, delivering the whole city to the fire. 9 And afterward, going down, they fought against the Canaanite, who dwelt in the hill-country, and toward the south, and in the plains.

10 Pergensque Judas contra Chananæum, qui habitabat in Hebron (cujus nomen fuit antiquitus Cariath Arbe), percussit Sesai, et Ahiman, et Tholmai: 11 atque inde profectus abiit ad habitatores Dabir, cujus nomen vetus erat Cariath Sepher, id est, civitas litterarum.

10 And Judah, going on, against the Canaanite who was dwelling in Hebron (whose name was anciently Kiriath-Arba), struck down Sesai, and Ahiman, and Tholmai: 11 and from there, having set out, he went to the inhabitants of Dabir, whose old name was Kiriath-Sepher, that is, the city of letters.

12 Dixitque Caleb: Qui percusserit Cariath Sepher, et vastaverit eam, dabo ei Axam filiam meam uxorem. 13 Cumque cepisset eam Othoniel filius Cenez frater Caleb minor, dedit ei Axam filiam suam conjugem. 14 Quam pergentem in itinere monuit vir suus ut peteret a patre suo agrum.

12 And Caleb said: Whoever shall strike Cariath Sepher and devastate it, I will give him Axam my daughter as wife. 13 And when Othoniel, son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb, had seized it, he gave him Axam his daughter as consort. 14 And as she was proceeding on the journey, her husband advised her to ask from her father a field.

Quæ cum suspirasset sedens in asino, dixit ei Caleb: Quid habes? 15 At illa respondit: Da mihi benedictionem, quia terram arentem dedisti mihi: da et irriguam aquis. Dedit ergo ei Caleb irriguum superius, et irriguum inferius.

And when she had sighed, sitting on the ass, Caleb said to her: What do you have? 15 But she replied: Give me a benediction, since you have given me arid land; give me also springs of water. Therefore Caleb gave her the upper springs, and the lower springs.

16 Filii autem Cinæi cognati Moysi ascenderunt de civitate palmarum cum filiis Juda, in desertum sortis ejus, quod est ad meridiem Arad, et habitaverunt cum eo. 17 Abiit autem Judas cum Simeone fratre suo, et percusserunt simul Chananæum qui habitabat in Sephaath, et interfecerunt eum. Vocatumque est nomen urbis, Horma, id est, anathema. 18 Cepitque Judas Gazam cum finibus suis, et Ascalonem, atque Accaron cum terminis suis.

16 But the sons of the Kenite, the kinsman of Moses, went up from the City of Palms with the sons of Judah, into the wilderness of his lot, which is to the south of Arad, and they dwelt with him. 17 But Judah went with Simeon his brother, and together they struck the Canaanite who was dwelling in Sephath, and they slew him. And the name of the city was called Horma, that is, anathema. 18 And Judah took Gaza with its borders, and Ascalon, and Accaron with their boundaries.

19 Fuitque Dominus cum Juda, et montana possedit: nec potuit delere habitatores vallis, quia falcatis curribus abundabant. 20 Dederuntque Caleb Hebron, sicut dixerat Moyses, qui delevit ex ea tres filios Enac. 21 Jebusæum autem habitatorem Jerusalem non deleverunt filii Benjamin: habitavitque Jebusæus cum filiis Benjamin in Jerusalem, usque in præsentem diem.

19 And the Lord was with Judah, and he possessed the mountains: nor was he able to destroy the inhabitants of the valley, because they abounded in scythed chariots. 20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said, who destroyed from it the three sons of Enac. 21 But the sons of Benjamin did not destroy the Jebusite inhabitant of Jerusalem: and the Jebusite dwelt with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem, up to the present day.

22 Domus quoque Joseph ascendit in Bethel, fuitque Dominus cum eis. 23 Nam cum obsiderent urbem, quæ prius Luza vocabatur, 24 viderunt hominem egredientem de civitate, dixeruntque ad eum: Ostende nobis introitum civitatis, et faciemus tecum misericordiam. 25 Qui cum ostendisset eis, percusserunt urbem in ore gladii: hominem autem illum, et omnem cognationem ejus, dimiserunt.

22 The House of Joseph also went up to Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 23 For when they were besieging the city, which previously was called Luz, 24 they saw a man going out from the city, and they said to him: Show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal mercy with you. 25 And when he had shown it to them, they struck the city with the edge of the sword: but that man, and all his kindred, they let go.

26 Qui dimissus, abiit in terram Hetthim, et ædificavit ibi civitatem, vocavitque eam Luzam: quæ ita appellatur usque in præsentem diem. 27 Manasses quoque non delevit Bethsan, et Thanac cum viculis suis, et habitatores Dor, et Jeblaam, et Mageddo cum viculis suis, cœpitque Chananæus habitare cum eis. 28 Postquam autem confortatus est Israël, fecit eos tributarios, et delere noluit.

26 He, having been dismissed, went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city there, and called it Luz: which is so called up to the present day. 27 Manasseh likewise did not destroy Bethsan, and Taanach with their hamlets, and the inhabitants of Dor, and Ibleam, and Megiddo with their hamlets, and the Canaanite began to dwell with them. 28 But after Israel was strengthened, he made them tributaries, and was unwilling to destroy them.

29 Ephraim etiam non interfecit Chananæum, qui habitabat in Gazer, sed habitavit cum eo. 30 Zabulon non delevit habitatores Cetron, et Naalol: sed habitavit Chananæus in medio ejus, factusque est ei tributarius. 31 Aser quoque non delevit habitatores Accho, et Sidonis, Ahalab, et Achazib, et Helba, et Aphec, et Rohob: 32 habitavitque in medio Chananæi habitatoris illius terræ, nec interfecit eum. 33 Nephthali quoque non delevit habitatores Bethsames, et Bethanath: et habitavit inter Chananæum habitatorem terræ, fueruntque ei Bethsamitæ et Bethanitæ tributarii.

29 Ephraim likewise did not kill the Canaanite who was dwelling in Gazer, but dwelt with him. 30 Zabulon did not wipe out the inhabitants of Cetron and Naalol: but the Canaanite dwelt in his midst, and became tributary to him. 31 Aser also did not wipe out the inhabitants of Accho, and of Sidon, Ahalab, and Achazib, and Helba, and Aphec, and Rohob: 32 and he dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite, the inhabitant of that land, and did not kill him. 33 Nephthali likewise did not wipe out the inhabitants of Bethsames, and Bethanath: and he dwelt among the Canaanite, the inhabitant of the land, and the Bethsamites and Bethanites were tributary to him.

34 Arctavitque Amorrhæus filios Dan in monte, nec dedit eis locum ut ad planiora descenderent: 35 habitavitque in monte Hares, quod interpretatur testaceo, in Ajalon et Salebim. Et aggravata est manus domus Joseph, factusque est ei tributarius. 36 Fuit autem terminus Amorrhæi ab ascensu Scorpionis, petra, et superiora loca.

34 And the Amorrite constricted the sons of Dan in the mountain, and did not give them a place to descend to the plains: 35 and he dwelt on Mount Hares, which is interpreted “testaceous,” in Ajalon and Salebim. And the hand of the house of Joseph was made heavy, and he became tributary to it. 36 Now the boundary of the Amorrite was from the Ascent of the Scorpion, the Rock, and the higher places.

2 1 Ascenditque angelus Domini de Galgalis ad Locum flentium, et ait: Eduxi vos de Ægypto, et introduxi in terram, pro qua juravi patribus vestris: et pollicitus sum ut non facerem irritum pactum meum vobiscum in sempiternum, 2 ita dumtaxat ut non feriretis fœdus cum habitatoribus terræ hujus, sed aras eorum subverteretis: et noluistis audire vocem meam: cur hoc fecistis? 3 Quam ob rem nolui delere eos a facie vestra: ut habeatis hostes, et dii eorum sint vobis in ruinam. 4 Cumque loqueretur angelus Domini hæc verba ad omnes filios Israël, elevaverunt ipsi vocem suam, et fleverunt.

2 1 And the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to the Place of Weeping, and said: I led you out of Egypt, and I brought you into the land for which I swore to your fathers; and I promised that I would not make void my pact with you forever, 2 only on this condition, that you should not strike a foedus with the inhabitants of this land, but that you should overthrow their altars; and you were unwilling to hear my voice: why have you done this? 3 For which reason I was unwilling to delete them from before your face: that you may have enemies, and their gods may be for you into ruin. 4 And when the angel of the Lord was speaking these words to all the sons of Israel, they themselves lifted up their voice, and they wept.

5 Et vocatum est nomen loci illius, Locus flentium, sive lacrimarum: immolaveruntque ibi hostias Domini.

5 And the name of that place was called, Place of Weeping, or of Tears: and they immolated there sacrifices to the Lord.

6 Dimisit ergo Josue populum, et abierunt filii Israël unusquisque in possessionem suam, ut obtinerent eam: 7 servieruntque Domino cunctis diebus ejus, et seniorum, qui longo post eum vixerunt tempore, et noverant omnia opera Domini quæ fecerat cum Israël. 8 Mortuus est autem Josue filius Nun, famulus Domini, centum et decem annorum, 9 et sepelierunt eum in finibus possessionis suæ in Thamnathsare in monte Ephraim, a septentrionali plaga montis Gaas. 10 Omnisque illa generatio congregata est ad patres suos: et surrexerunt alii, qui non noverant Dominum, et opera quæ fecerat cum Israël.

6 Therefore Joshua dismissed the people, and the sons of Israel went, each one to his possession, to possess it: 7 and they served the Lord all his days, and the days of the elders who lived long after him, and who knew all the works of the Lord which he had done with Israel. 8 But Joshua son of Nun, servant of the Lord, died, at one hundred and ten years of age, 9 and they buried him within the borders of his possession in Thamnathsare on Mount Ephraim, on the northern side of Mount Gaas. 10 And all that generation was gathered to their fathers: and others arose who did not know the Lord, nor the works which he had done with Israel.

11 Feceruntque filii Israël malum in conspectu Domini, et servierunt Baalim. 12 Ac dimiserunt Dominum Deum patrum suorum, qui eduxerat eos de terra Ægypti, et secuti sunt deos alienos, deosque populorum, qui habitabant in circuitu eorum, et adoraverunt eos: et ad iracundiam concitaverunt Dominum, 13 dimittentes eum, et servientes Baal et Astaroth. 14 Iratusque Dominus contra Israël, tradidit eos in manus diripientium: qui ceperunt eos, et vendiderunt hostibus qui habitabant per gyrum: nec potuerunt resistere adversariis suis, 15 sed quocumque pergere voluissent, manus Domini super eos erat, sicut locutus est, et juravit eis, et vehementer afflicti sunt.

11 And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals. 12 And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had led them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed alien gods, even the gods of the peoples who were dwelling round about them, and they adored them: and they provoked the Lord to wrath, 13 forsaking him, and serving Baal and Astaroth. 14 And the Lord, angered against Israel, delivered them into the hands of plunderers: who seized them, and sold them to enemies who dwelt round about: and they were not able to withstand their adversaries, 15 but whithersoever they wished to go, the hand of the Lord was upon them, as he had spoken, and had sworn to them, and they were vehemently afflicted.

16 Suscitavitque Dominus judices, qui liberarent eos de vastantium manibus: sed nec eos audire voluerunt, 17 fornicantes cum diis alienis, et adorantes eos. Cito deseruerunt viam, per quam ingressi fuerant patres eorum: et audientes mandata Domini, omnia fecere contraria. 18 Cumque Dominus judices suscitaret, in diebus eorum flectebatur misericordia, et audiebat afflictorum gemitus, et liberabat eos de cæde vastantium.

16 And the Lord raised up judges, who might free them from the hands of the devastators: but they were not willing even to hear them, 17 fornicating with alien gods, and adoring them. Quickly they deserted the way by which their fathers had entered; and, though hearing the mandates of the Lord, they did all things contrary. 18 And whenever the Lord raised up judges, in their days he was bent by mercy, and he heard the groans of the afflicted, and he delivered them from the slaughter of the devastators.

19 Postquam autem mortuus esset judex, revertebantur, et multo faciebant pejora quam fecerant patres eorum, sequentes deos alienos, servientes eis, et adorantes illos. Non dimiserunt adinventiones suas, et viam durissimam per quam ambulare consueverunt. 20 Iratusque est furor Domini in Israël, et ait: Quia irritum fecit gens ista pactum meum, quod pepigeram cum patribus eorum, et vocem meam audire contempsit: 21 et ego non delebo gentes, quas dimisit Josue, et mortuus est: 22 ut in ipsis experiar Israël, utrum custodiant viam Domini, et ambulent in ea, sicut custodierunt patres eorum, an non.

19 But after the judge had died, they would revert, and would do much worse than their fathers had done, following foreign gods, serving them, and adoring them. They did not relinquish their inventions, nor the very hard way in which they had been accustomed to walk. 20 And the fury of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said: Because this nation has made void my covenant, which I had struck with their fathers, and has scorned to hear my voice: 21 I also will not drive out the nations which Joshua left when he died: 22 that by them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.

23 Dimisit ergo Dominus omnes nationes has, et cito subvertere noluit, nec tradidit in manus Josue. 3 1 Hæ sunt gentes quas Dominus dereliquit, ut erudiret in eis Israëlem, et omnes qui non noverant bella Chananæorum: 2 ut postea discerent filii eorum certare cum hostibus, et habere consuetudinem præliandi: 3 quinque satrapas Philisthinorum, omnemque Chananæum, et Sidonium, atque Hevæum, qui habitabat in monte Libano, de monte Baal Hermon usque ad introitum Emath. 4 Dimisitque eos, ut in ipsis experiretur Israëlem, utrum audiret mandata Domini quæ præceperat patribus eorum per manum Moysi, an non.

23 Therefore the Lord dismissed all these nations, and he did not wish to subvert them quickly, nor did he hand them over into the hand of Joshua. 3 1 These are the nations which the Lord left, that he might educate in them Israel, and all who did not know the wars of the Canaanites: 2 that afterward their sons might learn to contend with enemies, and to have the habit of waging battle: 3 the five satraps of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivite, who dwelt on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon as far as the entrance of Hamath. 4 And he left them, that in them he might try Israel, whether it would hear the commandments of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses, or not.

5 Itaque filii Israël habitaverunt in medio Chananæi, et Hethæi, et Amorrhæi, et Pherezæi, et Hevæi, et Jebusæi: 6 et duxerunt uxores filias eorum, ipsique filias suas filiis eorum tradiderunt, et servierunt diis eorum.

5 Therefore the sons of Israel dwelt in the midst of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 6 and they took their daughters as wives, and they themselves gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.

7 Feceruntque malum in conspectu Domini, et obliti sunt Dei sui, servientes Baalim et Astaroth. 8 Iratusque contra Israël Dominus, tradidit eos in manus Chusan Rasathaim regis Mesopotamiæ, servieruntque ei octo annis. 9 Et clamaverunt ad Dominum, qui suscitavit eis salvatorem, et liberavit eos, Othoniel videlicet filium Cenez, fratrem Caleb minorem: 10 fuitque in eo spiritus Domini, et judicavit Israël. Egressusque est ad pugnam, et tradidit Dominus in manus ejus Chusan Rasathaim regem Syriæ, et oppressit eum.

7 And they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot their God, serving the Baalim and the Astaroth. 8 And the Lord, angered against Israel, delivered them into the hands of Chusan Rasathaim, king of Mesopotamia, and they served him for eight years. 9 And they cried out to the Lord, who raised up for them a savior and delivered them, namely Othoniel, the son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb. 10 And the Spirit of the Lord was in him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to battle, and the Lord delivered into his hand Chusan Rasathaim, king of Syria, and he oppressed him.

11 Quievitque terra quadraginta annis, et mortuus est Othoniel filius Cenez.

11 And the land was quiet for forty years, and Othoniel the son of Cenez died.

12 Addiderunt autem filii Israël facere malum in conspectu Domini: qui confortavit adversum eos Eglon regem Moab, quia fecerunt malum in conspectu ejus. 13 Et copulavit ei filios Ammon, et Amalec: abiitque et percussit Israël, atque possedit urbem palmarum. 14 Servieruntque filii Israël Eglon regi Moab decem et octo annis.

12 But the sons of Israel added to do evil in the sight of the Lord: and he strengthened against them Eglon, king of Moab, because they had done evil in his sight. 13 And he joined to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek: and he went and struck Israel, and took possession of the city of palms. 14 And the sons of Israel served Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years.

15 Et postea clamaverunt ad Dominum, qui suscitavit eis salvatorem vocabulo Aod, filium Gera, filii Jemini, qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur. Miseruntque filii Israël per illum munera Eglon regi Moab. 16 Qui fecit sibi gladium ancipitem, habentem in medio capulum longitudinis palmæ manus, et accinctus est eo subter sagum in dextro femore.

15 And afterward they cried out to the Lord, who raised up for them a savior named Aod, son of Gera, of the sons of Benjamin, who used either hand as his right—ambidextrous. And the sons of Israel sent by him tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. 16 And he made for himself a two-edged sword, having in the middle a hilt of the length of a palm of the hand, and he was girt with it beneath his cloak on his right thigh.

17 Obtulitque munera Eglon regi Moab. Erat autem Eglon crassus nimis. 18 Cumque obtulisset ei munera, prosecutus est socios, qui cum eo venerant.

17 And he offered the gifts to Eglon, king of Moab. Now Eglon was exceedingly fat. 18 And when he had offered him the gifts, he sent off his companions, who had come with him.

19 Et reversus de Galgalis, ubi erant idola, dixit ad regem: Verbum secretum habeo ad te, o rex. Et ille imperavit silentium: egressisque omnibus qui circa eum erant, 20 ingressus est Aod ad eum: sedebat autem in æstivo cœnaculo solus: dixitque: Verbum Dei habeo ad te. Qui statim surrexit de throno. 21 Extenditque Aod sinistram manum, et tulit sicam de dextro femore suo, infixitque eam in ventre ejus 22 tam valide, ut capulus sequeretur ferrum in vulnere, ac pinguissimo adipe stringeretur.

19 And returning from Gilgal, where the idols were, he said to the king: I have a secret word for you, O king. And he commanded silence: and when all who were around him had gone out, 20 Ehud entered to him: now he was sitting in a summer upper room alone: and he said: I have a word of God for you. And he immediately rose from the throne. 21 And Ehud stretched out his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly 22 so forcefully that the hilt followed the blade into the wound, and was gripped fast by the very fat.

Nec eduxit gladium, sed ita ut percusserat, reliquit in corpore: statimque per secreta naturæ alvi stercora proruperunt. 23 Aod autem clausis diligentissime ostiis cœnaculi, et obfirmatis sera, 24 per posticum egressus est. Servique regis ingressi viderunt clausas fores cœnaculi, atque dixerunt: Forsitan purgat alvum in æstivo cubiculo.

And he did not draw out the sword, but just as he had struck, he left it in the body; and at once, through the secret parts of nature, the dung of the belly burst forth. 23 But Aod, with the doors of the upper room closed most diligently, and the bolt made fast, 24 went out through the postern. And the king’s servants, having entered, saw the doors of the upper room closed, and said: Perhaps he is purging his belly in the summer chamber.

25 Expectantesque diu donec erubescerent, et videntes quod nullus aperiret, tulerunt clavem: et aperientes invenerunt dominum suum in terra jacentem mortuum.

25 And waiting a long time, until they were ashamed, and seeing that no one opened, they took the key; and opening, they found their lord lying dead on the ground.

26 Aod autem, dum illi turbarentur, effugit, et pertransiit locum idolorum, unde reversus fuerat. Venitque in Seirath: 27 et statim insonuit buccina in monte Ephraim, descenderuntque cum eo filii Israël, ipso in fronte gradiente. 28 Qui dixit ad eos: Sequimini me: tradidit enim Dominus inimicos nostros Moabitas in manus nostras.

26 But Aod, while they were thrown into confusion, escaped, and passed through the place of idols, whence he had returned. And he came to Seirath: 27 and at once the trumpet resounded on Mount Ephraim, and the sons of Israel went down with him, he himself leading at the front. 28 And he said to them: Follow me: for the Lord has delivered our enemies, the Moabites, into our hands.

Descenderuntque post eum, et occupaverunt vada Jordanis quæ transmittunt in Moab: et non dimiserunt transire quemquam: 29 sed percusserunt Moabitas in tempore illo, circiter decem millia, omnes robustos et fortes viros. Nullus eorum evadere potuit. 30 Humiliatusque est Moab in die illo sub manu Israël: et quievit terra octoginta annis.

And they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan which lead over into Moab; and they did not allow anyone to cross: 29 but they struck down the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand, all robust and strong men. None of them was able to escape. 30 And Moab was humbled on that day under the hand of Israel; and the land rested for eighty years.

31 Post hunc fuit Samgar filius Anath, qui percussit de Philisthiim sexcentos viros vomere: et ipse quoque defendit Israël. 4 1 Addideruntque filii Israël facere malum in conspectu Domini post mortem Aod, 2 et tradidit illos Dominus in manus Jabin regis Chanaan, qui regnavit in Asor: habuitque ducem exercitus sui nomine Sisaram, ipse autem habitabat in Haroseth gentium. 3 Clamaveruntque filii Israël ad Dominum: nongentos enim habebat falcatos currus, et per viginti annos vehementer oppresserat eos. 4 Erat autem Debbora prophetis uxor Lapidoth, quæ judicabat populum in illo tempore.

31 After him was Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down from among the Philistines six hundred men with a plowshare; and he too defended Israel. 4 1 And the sons of Israel added to do evil in the sight of the Lord after the death of Ehud, 2 and the Lord delivered them into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; and he had as commander of his army one named Sisera, but he himself was dwelling in Harosheth of the nations. 3 And the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord: for he had nine hundred scythed chariots, and for twenty years he had vehemently oppressed them. 4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging the people in that time.

5 Et sedebat sub palma, quæ nomine illius vocabatur, inter Rama et Bethel in monte Ephraim: ascendebantque ad eam filii Israël in omne judicium. 6 Quæ misit et vocavit Barac filium Abinoëm de Cedes Nephthali: dixitque ad eum: Præcepit tibi Dominus Deus Israël: Vade, et duc exercitum in montem Thabor, tollesque tecum decem millia pugnatorum de filiis Nephthali, et de filiis Zabulon: 7 ego autem adducam ad te in loco torrentis Cison, Sisaram principem exercitus Jabin, et currus ejus, atque omnem multitudinem, et tradam eos in manu tua. 8 Dixitque ad eam Barac: Si venis mecum, vadam: si nolueris venire mecum, non pergam.

5 And she was sitting beneath a palm, which was called by her name, between Ramah and Bethel on Mount Ephraim: and the sons of Israel went up to her for every judgment. 6 She sent and called Barak son of Abinoam from Kedes Nephthali, and said to him: The Lord God of Israel has commanded you: Go, and lead an army to Mount Tabor, and you shall take with you ten thousand fighters from the sons of Nephthali and from the sons of Zabulon: 7 but I will draw to you, at the place of the torrent Kishon, Sisera, the chief of Jabin’s army, and his chariots, and all the multitude, and I will deliver them into your hand. 8 And Barak said to her: If you come with me, I will go: if you are unwilling to come with me, I will not go forth.

9 Quæ dixit ad eum: Ibo quidem tecum, sed in hac vice victoria non reputabitur tibi, quia in manu mulieris tradetur Sisara. Surrexit itaque Debbora, et perrexit cum Barac in Cedes. 10 Qui, accitis Zabulon et Nephthali, ascendit cum decem millibus pugnatorum, habens Debboram in comitatu suo.

9 She said to him: I will indeed go with you, but on this occasion the victory will not be reckoned to you, because into the hand of a woman Sisera will be delivered. Deborah therefore arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 He, having summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, went up with ten thousand fighters, having Deborah in his retinue.

11 Haber autem Cinæus recesserat quondam a ceteris Cinæis fratribus suis, filiis Hobab cognati Moysi: et tetenderat tabernacula usque ad vallem, quæ vocatur Sennim, et erat juxta Cedes. 12 Nuntiatumque est Sisaræ quod ascendisset Barac filius Abinoëm in montem Thabor: 13 et congregavit nongentos falcatos currus, et omnem exercitum de Haroseth gentium ad torrentem Cison. 14 Dixitque Debbora ad Barac: Surge, hæc est enim dies, in qua tradidit Dominus Sisaram in manus tuas: en ipse ductor est tuus.

11 But Heber the Kenite had once withdrawn from the other Kenites, his brothers, the sons of Hobab, the kinsman of Moses: and he had pitched his tents as far as the valley which is called Sennim, and it was near Kedesh. 12 And it was announced to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had ascended Mount Tabor: 13 and he congregated nine hundred scythed chariots, and all the army from Harosheth of the nations to the torrent Kishon. 14 And Deborah said to Barak: Rise up, for this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hands: behold, he himself is your leader.

Descendit itaque Barac de monte Thabor, et decem millia pugnatorum cum eo. 15 Perterruitque Dominus Sisaram, et omnes currus ejus, universamque multitudinem in ore gladii ad conspectum Barac: in tantum, ut Sisara de curru desiliens, pedibus fugeret, 16 et Barac persequeretur fugientes currus, et exercitum usque ad Haroseth gentium, et omnis hostium multitudo usque ad internecionem caderet.

Barac therefore descended from Mount Thabor, and ten thousand fighters with him. 15 And the Lord terrified Sisara, and all his chariots, and the entire multitude with the edge of the sword before Barac: to such an extent that Sisara, leaping down from his chariot, fled on foot, 16 and Barac pursued the fleeing chariots and the army as far as Haroseth of the nations, and all the multitude of the enemies fell to extermination.

17 Sisara autem fugiens pervenit ad tentorium Jahel uxoris Haber Cinæi. Erat enim pax inter Jabin regem Asor, et domum Haber Cinæi. 18 Egressa igitur Jahel in occursum Sisaræ, dixit ad eum: Intra ad me, domine mi: intra, ne timeas. Qui ingressus tabernaculum ejus, et opertus ab ea pallio, 19 dixit ad eam: Da mihi, obsecro, paululum aquæ, quia sitio valde. Quæ aperuit utrem lactis, et dedit ei bibere, et operuit illum.

17 But Sisera, fleeing, came to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 Therefore Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him: Enter to me, my lord: enter, do not fear. And he, having entered her tent, was covered by her with a mantle. 19 And he said to her: Give me, I beseech, a little water, for I am very thirsty. She opened a skin-bottle of milk and gave him to drink, and covered him.

20 Dixitque Sisara ad eam: Sta ante ostium tabernaculi: et cum venerit aliquis interrogans te, et dicens: Numquid hic est aliquis? respondebis: Nullus est. 21 Tulit itaque Jahel uxor Haber clavum tabernaculi, assumens pariter et malleum: et ingressa abscondite et cum silentio, posuit supra tempus capitis ejus clavum, percussumque malleo defixit in cerebrum usque ad terram: qui soporem morti consocians defecit, et mortuus est.

20 And Sisara said to her: Stand before the door of the tabernacle; and when anyone comes, interrogating you and saying: Is there perhaps anyone here? you will answer: There is none. 21 Therefore Jahel, the wife of Haber, took a tent-peg, taking likewise a mallet; and going in stealthily and with silence, she set the peg upon the temple of his head, and striking it with the mallet she drove it into the brain down to the ground; and he, joining slumber to death, expired and died.

22 Et ecce Barac sequens Sisaram veniebat: egressaque Jahel in occursum ejus, dixit ei: Veni, et ostendam tibi virum quem quæris. Qui cum intrasset ad eam, vidit Sisaram jacentem mortuum, et clavum infixum in tempore ejus. 23 Humiliavit ergo Deus in die illo Jabin regem Chanaan coram filiis Israël: 24 qui crescebant quotidie, et forti manu opprimebant Jabin regem Chanaan, donec delerent eum.

22 And behold, Barak, following after Sisera, was coming; and Jael, having gone out to meet him, said to him: Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek. And when he had entered to her, he saw Sisera lying dead, and the nail fixed in his temple. 23 Therefore God humbled on that day Jabin, king of Canaan, before the sons of Israel: 24 who were growing day by day, and with a strong hand were oppressing Jabin, king of Canaan, until they wiped him out.

5 1 Cecineruntque Debbora et Barac filius Abinoëm in illo die, dicentes: 2 Qui sponte obtulistis de Israël animas vestras ad periculum, benedicite Domino. 3 Audite, reges ; auribus percipite, principes: ego sum, ego sum, quæ Domino canam, psallam Domino Deo Israël. 4 Domine, cum exires de Seir, et transires per regiones Edom, terra mota est, cælique ac nubes distillaverunt aquis. 5 Montes fluxerunt a facie Domini, et Sinai a facie Domini Dei Israël. 6 In diebus Samgar filii Anath, in diebus Jahel quieverunt semitæ: et qui ingrediebantur per eas, ambulaverunt per calles devios.

5 1 And Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying: 2 You who of Israel offered your souls willingly to peril, bless the Lord. 3 Hear, O kings ; perceive with your ears, O princes: it is I, it is I, who will sing to the Lord, I will psalm to the Lord, the God of Israel. 4 O Lord, when you went out from Seir, and passed through the regions of Edom, the earth was moved, and the sky and the clouds distilled with waters. 5 The mountains flowed at the face of the Lord, and Sinai at the face of the Lord, the God of Israel. 6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael the pathways were at rest: and those who were entering by them, walked by devious byways.

7 Cessaverunt fortes in Israël, et quieverunt: donec surgeret Debbora, surgeret mater in Israël. 8 Nova bella elegit Dominus, et portas hostium ipse subvertit: clypeus et hasta si apparuerint in quadraginta millibus Israël.

7 The mighty ceased in Israel, and were at rest:
until Deborah arose,
arose a mother in Israel.
8 The Lord chose new wars,
and he himself overthrew the gates of the enemies:
shield and spear—if they appeared—
among forty thousand of Israel.

9 Cor meum diligit principes Israël: qui propria voluntate obtulistis vos discrimini, benedicite Domino. 10 Qui ascenditis super nitentes asinos, et sedetis in judicio, et ambulatis in via, loquimini. 11 Ubi collisi sunt currus, et hostium suffocatus est exercitus, ibi narrentur justitiæ Domini, et clementia in fortes Israël: tunc descendit populus Domini ad portas, et obtinuit principatum.

9 My heart loves the princes of Israel:
you who of your own will offered yourselves to peril,
bless the Lord. 10 You who mount upon gleaming asses,
and sit in judgment,
and walk on the way,
speak. 11 Where the chariots were shattered,
and the army of the enemies was choked,
there let the justices of the Lord be recounted,
and his clemency toward the valiant of Israel:
then the people of the Lord went down to the gates,
and obtained the principate.

12 Surge, surge Debbora ; surge, surge, et loquere canticum: surge Barac, et apprehende captivos tuos, fili Abinoëm. 13 Salvatæ sunt reliquiæ populi: Dominus in fortibus dimicavit. 14 Ex Ephraim delevit eos in Amalec, et post eum ex Benjamin in populos tuos, o Amalec: de Machir principes descenderunt, et de Zabulon qui exercitum ducerent ad bellandum. 15 Duces Issachar fuere cum Debbora, et Barac vestigia sunt secuti, qui quasi in præceps ac barathrum se discrimini dedit: diviso contra se Ruben, magnanimorum reperta est contentio.

Arise, arise Deborah; arise, arise, and utter a canticle: arise, Barak, and lay hold of your captives, son of Abinoem. 13 The remnant of the people were saved: the Lord fought among the mighty. 14 Out of Ephraim he wiped them out in Amalek, and after him from Benjamin among your peoples, O Amalek: from Machir princes descended, and from Zebulun those who would lead the army to wage war. 15 The leaders of Issachar were with Deborah, and they followed in the footsteps of Barak, who, as it were headlong and into an abyss, gave himself to peril: Reuben, divided against himself, there was found contention of the great-hearted.

16 Quare habitas inter duos terminos, ut audias sibilos gregum? diviso contra se Ruben, magnanimorum reperta est contentio. 17 Galaad trans Jordanem quiescebat, et Dan vacabat navibus: Aser habitabat in littore maris, et in portubus morabatur.

16 Why do you dwell between two boundaries,
to hear the pipings of the flocks? Reuben, divided against himself,
the contention of the magnanimous was found. 17 Galaad was resting across the Jordan,
and Dan was at leisure with ships:
Aser was dwelling on the shore of the sea,
and was lingering in the ports.

18 Zabulon vero et Nephthali obtulerunt animas suas morti in regione Merome.

18 But Zebulun and Naphtali offered their souls to death in the region of Merome.

19 Venerunt reges et pugnaverunt: pugnaverunt reges Chanaan in Thanach juxta aquas Mageddo, et tamen nihil tulere prædantes. 20 De cælo dimicatum est contra eos: stellæ manentes in ordine et cursu suo, adversus Sisaram pugnaverunt. 21 Torrens Cison traxit cadavera eorum, torrens Cadumim, torrens Cison: conculca, anima mea, robustos.

19 Kings came and fought:
the kings of Canaan fought
in Thanach, next to the waters of Mageddo,
and yet the plunderers took nothing. 20 From heaven it was fought against them:
the stars, remaining in their order and in their course,
fought against Sisara. 21 The torrent Kishon dragged their cadavers,
the torrent of Cadumim, the torrent Kishon:
trample, my soul, the robust.

22 Ungulæ equorum ceciderunt, fugientibus impetu, et per præceps ruentibus fortissimis hostium. 23 Maledicite terræ Meroz, dixit angelus Domini: maledicite habitatoribus ejus, quia non venerunt ad auxilium Domini, in adjutorium fortissimorum ejus.

22 The hoofs of the horses fell, in the impetus of the fleeing,
and as the most valiant of the enemy were rushing headlong. 23 Curse the land of Meroz, said the angel of the Lord:
curse its inhabitants,
because they did not come to the aid of the Lord,
to the assistance of His most valiant.

24 Benedicta inter mulieres Jahel uxor Haber Cinæi, et benedicatur in tabernaculo suo. 25 Aquam petenti lac dedit, et in phiala principum obtulit butyrum. 26 Sinistram manum misit ad clavum, et dexteram ad fabrorum malleos.

24 Blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, and let her be blessed in her tabernacle. 25 To the one asking for water, she gave milk, and in a princely phial she offered butter. 26 She sent her left hand to the peg, and her right to the craftsmen’s hammers.

Percussitque Sisaram quærens in capite vulneri locum, et tempus valide perforans: 27 inter pedes ejus ruit ; defecit, et mortuus est: volvebatur ante pedes ejus, et jacebat exanimis et miserabilis. 28 Per fenestram respiciens, ululabat mater ejus: et de cœnaculo loquebatur: Cur moratur regredi currus ejus? quare tardaverunt pedes quadrigarum illius?

And she struck Sisera, seeking in the head a place for the wound,
and, at the moment, forcefully piercing:
27 between her feet he fell ; he failed, and he died:
he was rolling before her feet,
and he lay lifeless and pitiable. 28 Looking through the window, his mother howled:
and from the upper room she was speaking:
Why does his chariot delay to return? why have the feet of his chariots tarried?

29 Una sapientior ceteris uxoribus ejus, hæc socrui verba respondit: 30 Forsitan nunc dividit spolia, et pulcherrima feminarum eligitur ei: vestes diversorum colorum Sisaræ traduntur in prædam, et supellex varia ad ornanda colla congeritur. 31 Sic pereant omnes inimici tui, Domine: qui autem diligunt te, sicut sol in ortu suo splendet, ita rutilent. 32 Quievitque terra per quadraginta annos.

29 One, wiser than his other wives,
answered these words to her mother-in-law:
30 Perhaps now he is dividing the spoils,
and the fairest of the women is being chosen for him:
garments of divers colors are delivered to Sisera as booty,
and varied finery for adorning necks is being heaped up. 31 Thus may all your enemies perish, O Lord:
but those who love you, as the sun shines at its rising, so may they shine. 32 And the land rested for forty years.

6 1 Fecerunt autem filii Israël malum in conspectu Domini: qui tradidit illos in manu Madian septem annis, 2 et oppressi sunt valde ab eis. Feceruntque sibi antra et speluncas in montibus, et munitissima ad repugnandum loca. 3 Cumque sevisset Israël, ascendebat Madian et Amalec, ceterique orientalium nationum: 4 et apud eos figentes tentoria, sicut erant in herbis cuncta vastabant usque ad introitum Gazæ: nihilque omnino ad vitam pertinens relinquebant in Israël, non oves, non boves, non asinos.

6 1 Now the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and he delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2 and they were greatly oppressed by them. And they made for themselves dens and caves in the mountains, and the most fortified places for resisting. 3 And when Israel had sown, Midian and Amalek would go up, and the rest of the nations of the east as well: 4 and, pitching their tents among them, they laid waste everything, as it stood in the standing crops, as far as the entrance of Gaza: and they left nothing at all pertaining to life in Israel, neither sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys.

5 Ipsi enim et universi greges eorum veniebant cum tabernaculis suis, et instar locustarum universa complebant, innumera multitudo hominum et camelorum, quidquid tetigerant devastantes. 6 Humiliatusque est Israël valde in conspectu Madian. 7 Et clamavit ad Dominum postulans auxilium contra Madianitas.

5 For they themselves, and all their flocks, would come with their tabernacles, and like locusts they filled everything—an innumerable multitude of men and of camels—devastating whatever they touched. 6 And Israel was greatly humbled in the sight of Midian. 7 And Israel cried out to the Lord, asking for help against the Midianites.

8 Qui misit ad eos virum prophetam, et locutus est: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus Israël: Ego vos feci conscendere de Ægypto, et eduxi vos de domo servitutis, 9 et liberavi de manu Ægyptiorum, et omnium inimicorum qui affligebant vos: ejecique eos ad introitum vestrum, et tradidi vobis terram eorum. 10 Et dixi: Ego Dominus Deus vester: ne timeatis deos Amorrhæorum, in quorum terra habitatis. Et noluistis audire vocem meam.

8 He sent to them a man, a prophet, and he spoke: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I made you go up from Egypt, and I led you out from the house of servitude, 9 and I freed you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from all the enemies who were afflicting you: and I cast them out at your approach, and I handed over to you their land. 10 And I said: I am the Lord your God: do not fear the gods of the Amorrites, in whose land you dwell. And you were unwilling to hear my voice.

11 Venit autem angelus Domini, et sedit sub quercu, quæ erat in Ephra, et pertinebat ad Joas patrem familiæ Ezri. Cumque Gedeon filius ejus excuteret atque purgaret frumenta in torculari, ut fugeret Madian, 12 apparuit ei angelus Domini, et ait: Dominus tecum, virorum fortissime. 13 Dixitque ei Gedeon: Obsecro, mi domine, si Dominus nobiscum est, cur apprehenderunt nos hæc omnia?

11 But the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak which was in Ephra, and it pertained to Joas, father of the family of Ezri. And when Gedeon his son was shaking out and cleansing the grain in a winepress, that he might escape Midian, 12 the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: The Lord is with you, bravest of men. 13 And Gedeon said to him: I beseech, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why have all these things apprehended us?

ubi sunt mirabilia ejus, quæ narraverunt patres nostri, atque dixerunt: De Ægypto eduxit nos Dominus? nunc autem dereliquit nos Dominus, et tradidit in manu Madian. 14 Respexitque ad eum Dominus, et ait: Vade in hac fortitudine tua, et liberabis Israël de manu Madian: scito quod miserim te. 15 Qui respondens ait: Obsecro, mi domine, in quo liberabo Israël? ecce familia mea infima est in Manasse, et ego minimus in domo patris mei.

where are his marvels, which our fathers recounted, and said: Did the Lord bring us out of Egypt? but now the Lord has forsaken us, and has delivered us into the hand of Midian. 14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said: Go in this your fortitude, and you will liberate Israel from the hand of Midian: know that I have sent you. 15 And he, answering, said: I beg, my lord, by what shall I liberate Israel? behold, my family is the lowliest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

16 Dixitque ei Dominus: Ego ero tecum: et percuties Madian quasi unum virum. 17 Et ille: Si inveni, inquit, gratiam coram te, da mihi signum quod tu sis qui loqueris ad me: 18 nec recedas hinc, donec revertar ad te, portans sacrificium, et offerens tibi. Qui respondit: Ego præstolabor adventum tuum.

16 And the Lord said to him: I will be with you; and you shall strike Midian as if one man. 17 And he said: If I have found grace before you, give me a sign that it is you who speak to me: 18 do not withdraw hence, until I return to you, bringing a sacrifice and offering it to you. And he replied: I will await your advent.

19 Ingressus est itaque Gedeon, et coxit hædum, et de farinæ modio azymos panes: carnesque ponens in canistro, et jus carnium mittens in ollam, tulit omnia sub quercu, et obtulit ei. 20 Cui dixit angelus Domini: Tolle carnes et azymos panes, et pone supra petram illam, et jus desuper funde. Cumque fecisset ita, 21 extendit angelus Domini summitatem virgæ, quam tenebat in manu, et tetigit carnes et panes azymos: ascenditque ignis de petra, et carnes azymosque panes consumpsit: angelus autem Domini evanuit ex oculis ejus.

19 Therefore Gideon went in and cooked a kid, and from a modius of flour made unleavened loaves: and placing the meats in a basket, and putting the meat-broth into a pot, he brought everything under the oak and offered it to him. 20 And the angel of the Lord said to him: Take the meats and the unleavened loaves, and set them upon that rock, and pour the broth over it. And when he had done so, 21 the angel of the Lord stretched out the tip of the rod which he held in his hand, and touched the meats and the unleavened loaves: and fire went up from the rock and consumed the meats and the unleavened loaves: but the angel of the Lord vanished from his eyes.

22 Vidensque Gedeon quod esset angelus Domini, ait: Heu mi Domine Deus: quia vidi angelum Domini facie ad faciem. 23 Dixitque ei Dominus: Pax tecum: ne timeas, non morieris. 24 Ædificavit ergo ibi Gedeon altare Domino, vocavitque illud, Domini pax, usque in præsentem diem.

22 And Gideon, seeing that it was an angel of the Lord, said: Alas, my Lord God: for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. 23 And the Lord said to him: Peace be with you; do not fear, you will not die. 24 Therefore Gideon built there an altar to the Lord, and he called it, The Lord is Peace, up to the present day.

Cumque adhuc esset in Ephra, quæ est familiæ Ezri, 25 nocte illa dixit Dominus ad eum: Tolle taurum patris tui, et alterum taurum annorum septem, destruesque aram Baal, quæ est patris tui, et nemus, quod circa aram est, succide. 26 Et ædificabis altare Domino Deo tuo in summitate petræ hujus, super quam ante sacrificium posuisti: tollesque taurum secundum, et offeres holocaustum super struem lignorum, quæ de nemore succideris. 27 Assumptis ergo Gedeon decem viris de servis suis, fecit sicut præceperat ei Dominus.

And while he was still in Ephra, which is of the family of Ezri, 25 on that night the Lord said to him: Take the bull of your father, and the other bull seven years old; and you shall destroy the altar of Baal, which is your father’s, and the grove that is around the altar, cut down. 26 And you shall build an altar to the Lord your God on the summit of this rock, upon which before you placed the sacrifice; and you shall take the second bull, and you shall offer a holocaust upon the pile of wood which you will cut down from the grove. 27 Therefore Gideon, having taken ten men from his servants, did as the Lord had commanded him.

Timens autem domum patris sui, et homines illius civitatis, per diem noluit id facere, sed omnia nocte complevit. 28 Cumque surrexissent viri oppidi ejus mane, viderunt destructam aram Baal, lucumque succisum, et taurum alterum impositum super altare, quod tunc ædificatum erat. 29 Dixeruntque ad invicem: Quis hoc fecit?

But fearing his father's household, and the men of that city, by day he did not wish to do it, but completed everything by night. 28 And when the men of his town had risen in the morning, they saw the altar of Baal destroyed, and the grove cut down, and the other bull set upon the altar which had then been constructed. 29 And they said to one another: Who has done this?

Cumque perquirerent auctorem facti, dictum est: Gedeon filius Joas fecit hæc omnia. 30 Et dixerunt ad Joas: Produc filium tuum huc, ut moriatur: quia destruxit aram Baal, et succidit nemus. 31 Quibus ille respondit: Numquid ultores estis Baal, ut pugnetis pro eo? qui adversarius est ejus, moriatur antequam lux crastina veniat: si deus est, vindicet se de eo, qui suffodit aram ejus.

And when they inquired the author of the deed, it was said: Gideon, son of Joash, did all these things. 30 And they said to Joash: Bring out your son here, that he may die, because he destroyed the altar of Baal and cut down the grove. 31 To whom he replied: Are you Baal’s avengers, that you fight for him? whoever is his adversary, let him die before the light of tomorrow comes: if he is a god, let him vindicate himself upon the one who dug down his altar.

32 Ex illo die vocatus est Gedeon Jerobaal, eo quod dixisset Joas: Ulciscatur se de eo Baal, qui suffodit aram ejus.

32 From that day Gideon was called Jerobaal, because Joas had said: Let Baal avenge himself upon him, who dug down his altar.

33 Igitur omnis Madian, et Amalec, et orientales populi, congregati sunt simul: et transeuntes Jordanem, castrametati sunt in valle Jezraël. 34 Spiritus autem Domini induit Gedeon, qui clangens buccina convocavit domum Abiezer, ut sequeretur se. 35 Misitque nuntios in universum Manassen, qui et ipse secutus est eum: et alios nuntios in Aser et Zabulon et Nephthali, qui occurrerunt ei. 36 Dixitque Gedeon ad Deum: Si salvum facis per manum meam Israël, sicut locutus es, 37 ponam hoc vellus lanæ in area: si ros in solo vellere fuerit, et in omni terra siccitas, sciam quod per manum meam, sicut locutus es, liberabis Israël. 38 Factumque est ita. Et de nocte consurgens expresso vellere, concham rore implevit. 39 Dixitque rursus ad Deum: Ne irascatur furor tuus contra me si adhuc semel tentavero, signum quærens in vellere.

33 Therefore all Midian, and Amalek, and the peoples of the East, were congregated together as one: and crossing the Jordan, they encamped in the valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, who, sounding the buccina, called together the house of Abiezer to follow him. 35 And he sent messengers through all Manasseh, and it too followed him; and other messengers to Asher and Zebulun and Naphtali, who came out to meet him. 36 And Gideon said to God: If you save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken, 37 I will set this fleece of wool on the threshing-floor: if dew shall be on the fleece alone, and dryness on all the ground, I shall know that by my hand, as you have spoken, you will free Israel. 38 And it was done so. And rising in the night, after squeezing the fleece, he filled a bowl with dew. 39 And he said again to God: Let not your wrath be angry against me if I shall test yet once more, seeking a sign in the fleece.

Oro ut solum vellus siccum sit, et omnis terra rore madens. 40 Fecitque Deus nocte illa ut postulaverat: et fuit siccitas in solo vellere, et ros in omni terra.

I pray that the fleece alone be dry, and all the earth wet with dew. 40 And God did on that night as he had requested: and there was dryness on the fleece alone, and dew on all the earth.

7 1 Igitur Jerobaal qui et Gedeon, de nocte consurgens, et omnis populus cum eo, venit ad fontem qui vocatur Harad. Erant autem castra Madian in valle ad septentrionalem plagam collis excelsi. 2 Dixitque Dominus ad Gedeon: Multus tecum est populus, nec tradetur Madian in manus ejus: ne glorietur contra me Israël, et dicat: Meis viribus liberatus sum.

7 1 Therefore Jerubbaal, who also is Gideon, rising by night, and all the people with him, came to the spring which is called Harod. Now the camp of Midian was in the valley on the northern side of the high hill. 2 And the Lord said to Gideon: The people with you are many, and Midian shall not be delivered into his hand, lest Israel boast against me and say: By my own strength I have been freed.

3 Loquere ad populum, et cunctis audientibus prædica: Qui formidolosus et timidus est, revertatur. Recesseruntque de monte Galaad, et reversi sunt de populo viginti duo millia virorum, et tantum decem millia remanserunt. 4 Dixitque Dominus ad Gedeon: Adhuc populus multus est: duc eos ad aquas et ibi probabo illos: et de quo dixero tibi ut tecum vadat, ipse pergat ; quem ire prohibuero, revertatur.

3 Speak to the people, and proclaim in the hearing of all: Whoever is fearful and timid, let him return. And they withdrew from Mount Gilead, and from the people there returned twenty-two thousand men, and only ten thousand remained. 4 And the Lord said to Gideon: The people are still many: lead them down to the waters and there I will test them: and of whom I shall say to you that he should go with you, he—let him go; whomever I shall forbid to go, let him return.

5 Cumque descendisset populus ad aquas, dixit Dominus ad Gedeon: Qui lingua lambuerint aquas, sicut solent canes lambere, separabis eos seorsum: qui autem curvatis genibus biberint, in altera parte erunt. 6 Fuit itaque numerus eorum qui manu ad os projiciente lambuerunt aquas, trecenti viri: omnis autem reliqua multitudo flexo poplite biberat. 7 Et ait Dominus ad Gedeon: In trecentis viris qui lambuerunt aquas, liberabo vos, et tradam in manu tua Madian: omnis autem reliqua multitudo revertatur in locum suum.

5 When the people had come down to the waters, the Lord said to Gideon: Those who will lap the waters with their tongue, as dogs are wont to lap, you shall separate them apart; but those who will drink with knees bent shall be on the other side. 6 Therefore the number of those who lapped the waters, thrusting the hand to the mouth, was three hundred men; but all the remaining multitude drank with knee bent. 7 And the Lord said to Gideon: In the three hundred men who lapped the waters I will deliver you, and I will hand Midian into your hand; but let all the remaining multitude return to its own place.

8 Sumptis itaque pro numero cibariis et tubis, omnem reliquam multitudinem abire præcepit ad tabernacula sua: et ipse cum trecentis viris se certamini dedit. Castra autem Madian erant subter in valle.

8 Therefore, having taken provisions and trumpets according to their number, he ordered all the remaining multitude to depart to their tents: and he himself with 300 men committed himself to the combat. But the camp of Midian was below in the valley.

9 Eadem nocte dixit Dominus ad eum: Surge, et descende in castra: quia tradidi eos in manu tua. 10 Sin autem solus ire formidas, descendat tecum Phara puer tuus. 11 Et cum audieris quid loquantur, tunc confortabuntur manus tuæ, et securior ad hostium castra descendes.

9 That same night the Lord said to him: Rise, and go down into the camp; for I have delivered them into your hand. 10 But if you fear to go alone, let Phara, your boy, go down with you. 11 And when you have heard what they are speaking, then your hands will be strengthened, and you will go down more securely to the enemies’ camp.

Descendit ergo ipse et Phara puer ejus in partem castrorum, ubi erant armatorum vigiliæ. 12 Madian autem et Amalec, et omnes orientales populi, fusi jacebant in valle, ut locustarum multitudo: cameli quoque innumerabiles erant, sicut arena quæ jacet in littore maris. 13 Cumque venisset Gedeon, narrabat aliquis somnium proximo suo: et in hunc modum referebat quod viderat: Vidi somnium, et videbatur mihi quasi subcinericius panis ex hordeo volvi, et in castra Madian descendere: cumque pervenisset ad tabernaculum, percussit illud, atque subvertit, et terræ funditus coæquavit. 14 Respondit is, cui loquebatur: Non est hoc aliud, nisi gladius Gedeonis filii Joas viri Israëlitæ: tradidit enim Dominus in manus ejus Madian, et omnia castra ejus.

He therefore went down, he himself and Phurah, his servant, into a part of the camp where the watches of the armed men were. 12 But Midian and Amalek, and all the peoples of the East, were lying strewn in the valley like a multitude of locusts; and camels too were innumerable, like the sand that lies on the seashore. 13 And when Gideon had come, someone was telling a dream to his neighbor, and in this manner he was relating what he had seen: I saw a dream, and it seemed to me as though an ash-baked barley loaf were rolling and coming down into the camp of Midian; and when it had come to the tent, it struck it and overturned it, and leveled it utterly to the ground. 14 He to whom he spoke answered: This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; for the Lord has delivered Midian into his hand, and all his camp.

15 Cumque audisset Gedeon somnium, et interpretationem ejus, adoravit: et reversus est ad castra Israël, et ait: Surgite, tradidit enim Dominus in manus nostras castra Madian. 16 Divisitque trecentos viros in tres partes, et dedit tubas in manibus eorum, lagenasque vacuas, ac lampades in medio lagenarum. 17 Et dixit ad eos: Quod me facere videritis, hoc facite: ingrediar partem castrorum, et quod fecero, sectamini.

15 And when Gideon had heard the dream, and its interpretation, he worshiped: and he returned to the camp of Israel, and said: Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into our hands. 16 And he divided the three hundred men into three parts, and gave trumpets into their hands, and empty jars, and lamps in the midst of the jars. 17 And he said to them: What you see me do, do this: I will enter a part of the camp, and what I do, follow.

18 Quando personuerit tuba in manu mea, vos quoque per castrorum circuitum clangite, et conclamate: Domino et Gedeoni.

18 When the trumpet sounds in my hand, you also, around the circuit of the camp, blow, and shout: "For the Lord and for Gideon."

19 Ingressusque est Gedeon, et trecenti viri qui erant cum eo, in partem castrorum, incipientibus vigiliis noctis mediæ: et custodibus suscitatis, cœperunt buccinis clangere, et complodere inter se lagenas. 20 Cumque per gyrum castrorum in tribus personarent locis, et hydrias confregissent, tenuerunt sinistris manibus lampades, et dextris sonantes tubas, clamaveruntque: Gladius Domini et Gedeonis: 21 stantes singuli in loco suo per circuitum castrorum hostilium. Omnia itaque castra turbata sunt, et vociferantes ululantesque fugerunt: 22 et nihilominus insistebant trecenti viri buccinis personantes.

19 And Gideon, and the three hundred men who were with him, entered into a part of the camp at the beginning of the watches of the middle night; and the guards having been roused, they began to blare with the trumpets and to smash the jars against one another. 20 And when they sounded in three places around the camp, and had broken the water-jars, they held the torches in their left hands, and in their right the trumpets sounding, and they shouted: The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. 21 standing each in his place around the circuit of the hostile camp. And so all the camp was thrown into turmoil, and crying out and howling they fled: 22 and nonetheless the three hundred men kept on, the trumpets resounding.

Immisitque Dominus gladium omnibus castris, et mutua se cæde truncabant, 23 fugientes usque ad Bethsetta, et crepidinem Abelmehula in Tebbath. Conclamantes autem viri Israël de Nephthali, et Aser, et omni Manasse, persequebantur Madian. 24 Misitque Gedeon nuntios in omnem montem Ephraim, dicens: Descendite in occursum Madian, et occupate aquas usque Bethbera atque Jordanem.

And the Lord sent a sword into all the camp, and they were cutting one another down with mutual slaughter, 23 fleeing as far as Bethsetta, and to the edge of Abel-meholah at Tebbath. But the men of Israel from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, crying out, were pursuing Midian. And Gideon sent messengers through all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying: Descend to meet Midian, and occupy the waters as far as Bethbera and the Jordan.

Clamavitque omnis Ephraim, et præoccupavit aquas atque Jordanem usque Bethbera. 25 Apprehensosque duos viros Madian, Oreb et Zeb, interfecit Oreb in petra Oreb, Zeb vero in torculari Zeb. Et persecuti sunt Madian, capita Oreb et Zeb portantes ad Gedeon trans fluenta Jordanis.

And all Ephraim cried out, and pre-occupied the waters and the Jordan as far as Beth-bera. And having apprehended the two men of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, they killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb, but Zeeb at the Winepress of Zeeb. And they pursued Midian, carrying the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the fordings of the Jordan.

8 1 Dixeruntque ad eum viri Ephraim: Quid est hoc quod facere voluisti, ut nos non vocares, cum ad pugnam pergeres contra Madian? jurgantes fortiter, et prope vim inferentes. 2 Quibus ille respondit: Quod enim tale facere potui, quale vos fecistis?

8 1 And the men of Ephraim said to him: What is this that you wanted to do, that you did not call us, when you were proceeding to the battle against Midian? wrangling stoutly, and almost bringing violence to bear. 2 To whom he replied: For what such thing could I do as you have done?

nonne melior est racemus Ephraim, vindemiis Abiezer? 3 In manus vestras Dominus tradidit principes Madian, Oreb et Zeb: quid tale facere potui, quale vos fecistis? Quod cum locutus esset, requievit spiritus eorum, quo tumebant contra eum.

Is not the cluster of Ephraim better than the vintages of Abiezer? 3 Into your hands the Lord delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeb: what thing like that could I do, such as you have done? When he had said this, their spirit, with which they had been swelling against him, grew quiet.

4 Cumque venisset Gedeon ad Jordanem, transivit eum cum trecentis viris, qui secum erant: et præ lassitudine, fugientes persequi non poterant. 5 Dixitque ad viros Soccoth: Date, obsecro, panes populo qui mecum est, quia valde defecerunt: ut possimus persequi Zebee et Salmana reges Madian. 6 Responderunt principes Soccoth: Forsitan palmæ manuum Zebee et Salmana in manu tua sunt, et idcirco postulas ut demus exercitui tuo panes.

4 And when Gideon had come to the Jordan, he crossed it with three hundred men who were with him: and because of lassitude, they were not able to pursue the fugitives. 5 And he said to the men of Succoth: Give, I beseech, loaves to the people who are with me, for they are very exhausted: that we may be able to pursue Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. 6 The princes of Succoth answered: Perhaps the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna are in your hand, and therefore you ask that we give loaves to your army.

7 Quibus ille ait: Cum ergo tradiderit Dominus Zebee et Salmana in manus meas, conteram carnes vestras cum spinis tribulisque deserti. 8 Et inde conscendens, venit in Phanuel: locutusque est ad viros loci illius similia. Cui et illi responderunt, sicut responderant viri Soccoth.

7 To whom he said: Therefore, when the Lord has delivered Zebee and Salmana into my hands, I will crush your flesh with the thorns and briers of the desert. 8 And going up from there, he came to Phanuel; and he spoke similar things to the men of that place. And they too answered him, just as the men of Soccoth had answered.

9 Dixit itaque et eis: Cum reversus fuero victor in pace, destruam turrim hanc.

9 And so he said also to them: When I shall have returned a victor in peace, I will destroy this tower.

10 Zebee autem et Salmana requiescebant cum omni exercitu suo. Quindecim enim millia viri remanserant ex omnibus turmis orientalium populorum, cæsis centum viginti millibus bellatorum educentium gladium. 11 Ascendensque Gedeon per viam eorum, qui in tabernaculis morabantur, ad orientalem partem Nobe et Jegbaa, percussit castra hostium, qui securi erant, et nihil adversi suspicabantur.

10 But Zebee and Salmana were resting with all their army. For 15,000 men had remained out of all the troops of the eastern peoples, 120,000 warriors drawing the sword having been cut down. 11 And Gedeon, going up by the way of those who were dwelling in tents, to the eastern part of Nobe and Jegbaa, smote the camp of the enemy, who were secure and suspected nothing adverse.

12 Fugeruntque Zebee et Salmana, quos persequens Gedeon comprehendit, turbato omni exercitu eorum. 13 Revertensque de bello ante solis ortum, 14 apprehendit puerum de viris Soccoth: interrogavitque eum nomina principum et seniorum Soccoth, et descripsit septuaginta septem viros. 15 Venitque ad Soccoth, et dixit eis: En Zebee et Salmana, super quibus exprobrastis mihi, dicentes: Forsitan manus Zebee et Salmana in manibus tuis sunt, et idcirco postulas ut demus viris, qui lassi sunt et defecerunt, panes.

12 And Zebee and Salmana fled; and Gideon, pursuing them, apprehended them, with all their army thrown into confusion. 13 And returning from the battle before the rising of the sun, 14 he seized a boy from the men of Soccoth; and he interrogated him for the names of the princes and elders of Soccoth, and he wrote down seventy-seven men. 15 And he came to Soccoth and said to them: Behold Zebee and Salmana, on whose account you reproached me, saying: “Perhaps the hands of Zebee and Salmana are now in your hands, and therefore you ask that we give bread to the men who are weary and have grown faint.”

16 Tulit ergo seniores civitatis et spinas deserti ac tribulos, et contrivit cum eis atque comminuit viros Soccoth. 17 Turrim quoque Phanuel subvertit, occisis habitatoribus civitatis. 18 Dixitque ad Zebee et Salmana: Quales fuerunt viri, quos occidistis in Thabor?

16 Therefore he took the elders of the city and the thorns of the desert and the briers, and with them he tore and crushed the men of Soccoth. 17 He also overthrew the tower of Phanuel, the inhabitants of the city having been slain. 18 And he said to Zebee and Salmana: What sort of men were those whom you killed at Tabor?

Qui responderunt: Similes tui, et unus ex eis quasi filius regis. 19 Quibus ille respondit: Fratres mei fuerunt, filii matris meæ. Vivit Dominus, quia si servassetis eos, non vos occiderem. 20 Dixitque Jether primogenito suo: Surge, et interfice eos.

They answered: Like you, and one of them as if a king’s son. 19 To whom he replied: They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had spared them, I would not kill you. 20 And he said to Jether his firstborn: Rise, and slay them.

Qui non eduxit gladium: timebat enim, quia adhuc puer erat. 21 Dixeruntque Zebee et Salmana: Tu surge, et irrue in nos: quia juxta ætatem robur est hominis. Surrexit Gedeon, et interfecit Zebee et Salmana: et tulit ornamenta ac bullas quibus colla regalium camelorum decorari solent.

He did not draw the sword: for he was afraid, because he was still a boy. 21 And Zebee and Salmana said: You, arise, and rush upon us: for according to the age is the strength of a man. Gideon rose and killed Zebee and Salmana: and he took the ornaments and the bullae with which the necks of royal camels are accustomed to be adorned.

22 Dixeruntque omnes viri Israël ad Gedeon: Dominare nostri tu, et filius tuus, et filius filii tui: quia liberasti nos de manu Madian. 23 Quibus ille ait: Non dominabor vestri, nec dominabitur in vos filius meus, sed dominabitur vobis Dominus. 24 Dixitque ad eos: Unam petitionem postulo a vobis: date mihi inaures ex præda vestra.

22 And all the men of Israel said to Gideon: Rule over us, you, and your son, and your son’s son: because you have liberated us from the hand of Midian. 23 To which he said: I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you, but the Lord will rule over you. 24 And he said to them: One petition I ask from you: give me the earrings from your spoils.

Inaures enim aureas Ismaëlitæ habere consueverant. 25 Qui responderunt: Libentissime dabimus. Expandentesque super terram pallium, projecerunt in eo inaures de præda: 26 et fuit pondus postulatarum inaurium, mille septingenti auri sicli, absque ornamentis, et monilibus, et veste purpurea, quibus reges Madian uti soliti erant, et præter torques aureas camelorum.

For the Ishmaelites had been accustomed to have golden earrings. 25 They answered: Most gladly will we give. And spreading a cloak upon the ground, they threw into it the earrings from the booty: 26 and the weight of the requested earrings was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, apart from the ornaments and necklaces and the purple garment which the kings of Midian were wont to use, and besides the golden collars of the camels.

27 Fecitque ex eo Gedeon ephod, et posuit illud in civitate sua Ephra. Fornicatusque est omnis Israël in eo, et factum est Gedeoni et omni domui ejus in ruinam. 28 Humiliatus est autem Madian coram filiis Israël, nec potuerunt ultra cervices elevare: sed quievit terra per quadraginta annos, quibus Gedeon præfuit.

27 And Gideon made from it an ephod, and he set it in his city, Ephra. And all Israel committed fornication by it, and it became for Gideon and for his whole house a ruin. 28 Moreover Midian was humbled before the sons of Israel, nor were they able any longer to lift up their necks: but the land rested for forty years, during which Gideon presided.

29 Abiit itaque Jerobaal filius Joas, et habitavit in domo sua: 30 habuitque septuaginta filios, qui egressi sunt de femore ejus: eo quod plures haberet uxores. 31 Concubina autem illius, quam habebat in Sichem, genuit ei filium nomine Abimelech. 32 Mortuusque est Gedeon filius Joas in senectute bona, et sepultus est in sepulchro Joas patris sui in Ephra de familia Ezri.

29 So Jerubbaal the son of Joash went away, and lived in his house: 30 and he had seventy sons, who went forth from his loins, because he had many wives. 31 But his concubine, whom he had in Shechem, bore him a son named Abimelech. 32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father in Ephra, of the family of Ezri.

33 Postquam autem mortuus est Gedeon, aversi sunt filii Israël, et fornicati sunt cum Baalim. Percusseruntque cum Baal fœdus, ut esset eis in deum: 34 nec recordati sunt Domini Dei sui, qui eruit eos de manibus inimicorum suorum omnium per circuitum: 35 nec fecerunt misericordiam cum domo Jerobaal Gedeon, juxta omnia bona quæ fecerat Israëli. 9 1 Abiit autem Abimelech filius Jerobaal in Sichem ad fratres matris suæ, et locutus est ad eos, et ad omnem cognationem domus patris matris suæ, dicens: 2 Loquimini ad omnes viros Sichem: Quid vobis est melius, ut dominentur vestri septuaginta viri omnes filii Jerobaal, an ut dominetur unus vir? simulque considerate quod os vestrum et caro vestra sum.

33 But after Gideon had died, the sons of Israel turned away, and fornicated with the Baals. And they struck a covenant with Baal, that he should be to them for a god: 34 nor did they remember the Lord their God, who delivered them from the hands of all their enemies round about: 35 nor did they do mercy with the house of Jerobaal, Gideon, according to all the good things which he had done to Israel. 9 1 And Abimelech, son of Jerobaal, went to Shechem, to the brothers of his mother, and he spoke to them and to the whole kindred of the house of the father of his mother, saying: 2 Speak to all the men of Shechem: What is better for you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerobaal, should rule over you, or that one man should rule? and at the same time consider that I am your bone and your flesh.

3 Locutique sunt fratres matris ejus de eo ad omnes viros Sichem universos sermones istos, et inclinaverunt cor eorum post Abimelech, dicentes: Frater noster est. 4 Dederuntque illi septuaginta pondo argenti de fano Baalberit. Qui conduxit sibi ex eo viros inopes et vagos, secutique sunt eum.

3 And the brothers of his mother spoke about him to all the men of Shechem all these words, and they inclined their heart after Abimelech, saying: He is our brother. 4 And they gave him seventy pounds of silver from the fane of Baalberit. With it he hired for himself indigent and vagrant men, and they followed him.

5 Et venit in domum patris sui in Ephra, et occidit fratres suos filios Jerobaal, septuaginta viros super lapidem unum: remansitque Joatham filius Jerobaal minimus, et absconditus est.

5 And he came to his father’s house in Ephra, and slew his brothers, the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men upon one stone; and Joatham, the youngest son of Jerobaal, remained, and hid himself.

6 Congregati sunt autem omnes viri Sichem, et universæ familiæ urbis Mello: abieruntque et constituerunt regem Abimelech, juxta quercum quæ stabat in Sichem. 7 Quod cum nuntiatum esset Joatham, ivit, et stetit in vertice montis Garizim: elevataque voce, clamavit, et dixit: Audite me, viri Sichem ; ita audiat vos Deus. 8 Ierunt ligna, ut ungerent super se regem: dixeruntque olivæ: Impera nobis.

6 The men of Shechem were congregated, and all the families of the city of Millo; and they went and constituted Abimelech king, beside the oak that stood in Shechem. 7 When this was announced to Jotham, he went and stood on the summit of Mount Gerizim; and with voice elevated, he cried out and said: Hear me, men of Shechem ; so may God hear you. 8 The trees went to anoint a king over themselves; and they said to the olive: Rule over us.

9 Quæ respondit: Numquid possum deserere pinguedinem meam, qua et dii utuntur et homines, et venire ut inter ligna promovear? 10 Dixeruntque ligna ad arborem ficum: Veni, et super nos regnum accipe. 11 Quæ respondit eis: Numquid possum deserere dulcedinem meam, fructusque suavissimos, et ire ut inter cetera ligna promovear?

9 Which answered: Can I desert my fatness, by which both gods and men make use, and come to be promoted among the trees? 10 And the trees said to the fig tree: Come, and receive the kingdom over us. 11 Which answered them: Can I desert my sweetness, and my most delectable fruits, and go to be promoted among the other trees?

12 Locutaque sunt ligna ad vitem: Veni, et impera nobis. 13 Quæ respondit eis: Numquid possum deserere vinum meum, quod lætificat Deum et homines, et inter ligna cetera promoveri? 14 Dixeruntque omnia ligna ad rhamnum: Veni, et impera super nos.

12 And the trees spoke to the vine: Come, and command over us. 13 Which answered them: Can I desert my wine, which gladdens God and men, and be advanced among the other trees? 14 And all the trees said to the buckthorn: Come, and command over us.

15 Quæ respondit eis: Si vere me regem vobis constituitis, venite, et sub umbra mea requiescite: si autem non vultis, egrediatur ignis de rhamno, et devoret cedros Libani. 16 Nunc igitur, si recte et absque peccato constituistis super vos regem Abimelech, et bene egistis cum Jerobaal, et cum domo ejus, et reddidistis vicem beneficiis ejus, qui pugnavit pro vobis, 17 et animam suam dedit periculis, ut erueret vos de manu Madian, 18 qui nunc surrexistis contra domum patris mei, et interfecistis filios ejus septuaginta viros super unum lapidem, et constituistis regem Abimelech filium ancillæ ejus super habitatores Sichem, eo quod frater vester sit: 19 si ergo recte et absque vitio egistis cum Jerobaal et domo ejus, hodie lætamini in Abimelech, et ille lætetur in vobis. 20 Sin autem perverse: egrediatur ignis ex eo, et consumat habitatores Sichem, et oppidum Mello: egrediaturque ignis de viris Sichem, et de oppido Mello, et devoret Abimelech.

15 Which answered them: If truly you appoint me king over you, come, and rest under my shade; but if you are unwilling, let fire go forth from the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. 16 Now therefore, if rightly and without sin you have set over you as king Abimelech, and if you have dealt well with Jerobaal and with his house, and have repaid a return for his benefactions, who fought for you, 17 and gave his soul to dangers, that he might deliver you from the hand of Midian, 18 whereas now you have risen up against the house of my father, and have slain his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have set as king Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, over the inhabitants of Shechem, because he is your brother: 19 if therefore rightly and without vice you have acted with Jerobaal and his house, today rejoice in Abimelech, and let him rejoice in you. 20 But if perversely: let fire go forth from him, and consume the inhabitants of Shechem, and the town of Mello; and let fire go forth from the men of Shechem, and from the town of Mello, and devour Abimelech.

21 Quæ cum dixisset, fugit, et abiit in Bera: habitavitque ibi ob metum Abimelech fratris sui.

21 When he had said this, he fled, and went into Bera: and he dwelt there on account of fear of Abimelech, his brother.

22 Regnavit itaque Abimelech super Israël tribus annis. 23 Misitque Dominus spiritum pessimum inter Abimelech et habitatores Sichem: qui cœperunt eum detestari, 24 et scelus interfectionis septuaginta filiorum Jerobaal, et effusionem sanguinis eorum conferre in Abimelech fratrem suum, et in ceteros Sichimorum principes, qui eum adjuverant. 25 Posueruntque insidias adversus eum in summitate montium: et dum illius præstolabantur adventum, exercebant latrocinia, agentes prædas de prætereuntibus: nuntiatumque est Abimelech.

22 Abimelech therefore reigned over Israel for three years. 23 And the Lord sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Shechem; and they began to detest him, 24 and to bring back the guilt of the killing of the seventy sons of Jerobaal, and the shedding of their blood, upon Abimelech their brother, and upon the other princes of the Shechemites who had aided him. 25 And they set ambushes against him on the summits of the mountains; and while they were awaiting his coming, they were exercising brigandage, making depredations upon those passing by; and it was reported to Abimelech.

26 Venit autem Gaal filius Obed cum fratribus suis, et transivit in Sichimam. Ad cujus adventum erecti habitatores Sichem, 27 egressi sunt in agros, vastantes vineas, uvasque calcantes: et factis cantantium choris, ingressi sunt fanum dei sui, et inter epulas et pocula maledicebant Abimelech, 28 clamante Gaal filio Obed: Quis est Abimelech, et quæ est Sichem, ut serviamus ei? numquid non est filius Jerobaal, et constituit principem Zebul servum suum super viros Emor patris Sichem? cur ergo serviemus ei? 29 utinam daret aliquis populum istum sub manu mea, ut auferrem de medio Abimelech.

26 But Gaal son of Obed came with his brothers and crossed into Shechem. At whose arrival the inhabitants of Shechem, being roused, 27 went out into the fields, devastating the vineyards, and treading the grapes: and, choirs of singers having been formed, they entered the fane of their god, and amid feasts and cups they were cursing Abimelech, 28 with Gaal son of Obed shouting: Who is Abimelech, and what is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and did he not appoint Zebul, his servant, as chief over the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem? Why then should we serve him? 29 Would that someone would give this people under my hand, that I might remove Abimelech from the midst.

Dictumque est Abimelech: Congrega exercitus multitudinem, et veni. 30 Zebul enim princeps civitatis, auditis sermonibus Gaal filii Obed, iratus est valde, 31 et misit clam ad Abimelech nuntios, dicens: Ecce Gaal filius Obed venit in Sichimam cum fratribus suis, et oppugnat adversum te civitatem. 32 Surge itaque nocte cum populo qui tecum est, et latita in agro: 33 et primo mane, oriente sole, irrue super civitatem.

And it was said to Abimelech: Gather the multitude of the army, and come. 30 For Zebul, the prince of the city, having heard the words of Gaal son of Obed, was very angry, 31 and he sent messengers secretly to Abimelech, saying: Behold, Gaal the son of Obed has come into Shechem with his brothers, and is attacking the city against you. 32 Therefore rise by night with the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field; 33 and at first light, the sun rising, rush upon the city.

Illo autem egrediente adversum te cum populo suo, fac ei quod potueris.

But when he goes out against you with his people, do to him what you can.

34 Surrexit itaque Abimelech cum omni exercitu suo nocte, et tetendit insidias juxta Sichimam in quatuor locis. 35 Egressusque est Gaal filius Obed, et stetit in introitu portæ civitatis. Surrexit autem Abimelech, et omnis exercitus cum eo, de insidiarum loco.

34 Abimelech therefore arose with all his army by night, and set ambushes near Shechem in four places. 35 And Gaal the son of Obed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. Then Abimelech rose up, and all the army with him, from the place of ambush.

36 Cumque vidisset populum Gaal, dixit ad Zebul: Ecce de montibus multitudo descendit. Cui ille respondit: Umbras montium vides quasi capita hominum, et hoc errore deciperis. 37 Rursumque Gaal ait: Ecce populus de umbilico terræ descendit, et unus cuneus venit per viam quæ respicit quercum.

36 And when Gaal had seen the people, he said to Zebul: Behold, a multitude is coming down from the mountains. He, however, replied: You are seeing the shadows of the mountains as if the heads of men, and by this error you are being deceived. 37 And again Gaal said: Behold, a people is coming down from the navel of the earth, and one wedge is coming by the road that looks toward the oak.

38 Cui dixit Zebul: Ubi est nunc os tuum, quo loquebaris: Quis est Abimelech ut serviamus ei? nonne hic populus est, quem despiciebas? egredere, et pugna contra eum. 39 Abiit ergo Gaal, spectante Sichimorum populo, et pugnavit contra Abimelech, 40 qui persecutus est eum fugientem, et in urbem compulit: cecideruntque ex parte ejus plurimi, usque ad portam civitatis.

38 Then Zebul said to him: Where now is your mouth with which you were speaking: Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? is not this the people whom you were despising? go out, and fight against him. 39 Therefore Gaal went out, with the people of Shechem looking on, and fought against Abimelech, 40 who pursued him as he fled, and drove him into the city; and from his side very many fell, up to the gate of the city.

41 Et Abimelech sedit in Ruma: Zebul autem Gaal et socios ejus expulit de urbe, nec in ea passus est commorari. 42 Sequenti ergo die, egressus est populus in campum. Quod cum nuntiatum esset Abimelech, 43 tulit exercitum suum, et divisit in tres turmas, tendens insidias in agris.

41 And Abimelech sat in Ruma: but Zebul expelled Gaal and his companions from the city, nor did he allow them to sojourn in it. 42 Therefore on the following day, the people went out into the plain. When this had been announced to Abimelech, 43 he took his army, and divided it into three companies, laying ambushes in the fields.

Vidensque quod egrederetur populus de civitate, surrexit, et irruit in eos 44 cum cuneo suo, oppugnans et obsidens civitatem: duæ autem turmæ palantes per campum adversarios persequebantur. 45 Porro Abimelech omni die illo oppugnabat urbem: quam cepit, interfectis habitatoribus ejus, ipsaque destructa, ita ut sal in ea dispergeret.

And seeing that the people were going out from the city, he arose and rushed upon them 44 with his wedge-formation, assaulting and besieging the city: but two troops, straggling through the plain, were pursuing the adversaries. 45 Moreover Abimelech all that day was assaulting the city: which he took, the inhabitants thereof having been slain, and the city itself destroyed, such that he scattered salt in it.

46 Quod cum audissent qui habitabant in turre Sichimorum, ingressi sunt fanum dei sui Berith, ubi fœdus cum eo pepigerant, et ex eo locus nomen acceperat: qui erat munitus valde. 47 Abimelech quoque audiens viros turris Sichimorum pariter conglobatos, 48 ascendit in montem Selmon cum omni populo suo: et arrepta securi, præcidit arboris ramum, impositumque ferens humero, dixit ad socios: Quod me videtis facere, cito facite. 49 Igitur certatim ramos de arboribus præcidentes, sequebantur ducem.

46 When those who were dwelling in the tower of the Shechemites heard this, they entered the fane of their god Berith, where they had struck a covenant with him, and from him the place had received its name: which was very strongly fortified. 47 Abimelech also, hearing that the men of the tower of the Shechemites had likewise massed together, 48 went up onto Mount Selmon with all his people: and, having taken up an axe, he cut off a branch of a tree, and, carrying it placed upon his shoulder, he said to his companions: What you see me doing, do quickly. 49 Therefore, cutting branches from the trees in rivalry, they followed the leader.

Qui circumdantes præsidium, succenderunt: atque ita factum est, ut fumo et igne mille homines necarentur, viri pariter et mulieres, habitatorum turris Sichem.

They, surrounding the stronghold, set it ablaze: and thus it came to pass that by smoke and fire a thousand persons were killed, men and women alike, the inhabitants of the tower of Shechem.

50 Abimelech autem inde proficiscens venit ad oppidum Thebes, quod circumdans obsidebat exercitu. 51 Erat autem turris excelsa in media civitate, ad quam confugerant simul viri ac mulieres, et omnes principes civitatis, clausa firmissime janua, et super turris tectum stantes per propugnacula. 52 Accedensque Abimelech juxta turrim, pugnabat fortiter: et appropinquans ostio, ignem supponere nitebatur: 53 et ecce una mulier fragmen molæ desuper jaciens, illisit capiti Abimelech, et confregit cerebrum ejus.

50 But Abimelech, setting out from there, came to the town of Thebes, which, surrounding it, he besieged with his army. 51 Now there was a lofty tower in the middle of the city, to which men and women together had fled, and all the chiefs of the city, the door being most firmly shut, and they were standing upon the roof of the tower along the battlements. 52 And Abimelech, drawing near to the tower, was fighting bravely: and approaching the door, he was striving to put fire underneath: 53 and behold, one woman, throwing from above a fragment of a millstone, dashed it against Abimelech’s head, and shattered his skull.

54 Qui vocavit cito armigerum suum, et ait ad eum: Evagina gladium tuum, et percute me, ne forte dicatur quod a femina interfectus sim. Qui jussa perficiens, interfecit eum. 55 Illoque mortuo, omnes qui cum eo erant de Israël, reversi sunt in sedes suas: 56 et reddidit Deus malum quod fecerat Abimelech contra patrem suum, interfectis septuaginta fratribus suis.

54 Who quickly called his armor-bearer, and said to him: Unsheathe your sword, and strike me, lest perhaps it be said that I was killed by a woman. And he, carrying out the orders, killed him. 55 And with him dead, all who were with him of Israel returned to their seats: 56 and God repaid the evil that Abimelech had done against his father, in killing his seventy brothers.

57 Sichimitis quoque quod operati erant, retributum est, et venit super eos maledictio Joatham filii Jerobaal.

57 To the Shechemites also, what they had wrought was retributed, and the malediction of Jotham, son of Jerubbaal, came upon them.

10 1 Post Abimelech surrexit dux in Israël Thola filius Phua patrui Abimelech, vir de Issachar, qui habitavit in Samir montis Ephraim: 2 et judicavit Israëlem viginti et tribus annis, mortuusque est, ac sepultus in Samir. 3 Huic successit Jair Galaadites, qui judicavit Israël per viginti et duos annos, 4 habens triginta filios sedentes super triginta pullos asinarum, et principes triginta civitatum, quæ ex nomine ejus sunt appellatæ Havoth Jair, id est, oppida Jair, usque in præsentem diem, in terra Galaad. 5 Mortuusque est Jair, ac sepultus in loco cui est vocabulum Camon.

10 1 After Abimelech there arose as leader in Israel Tola, son of Puah, the paternal uncle of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, who dwelt in Shamir of Mount Ephraim: 2 and he judged Israel for twenty-three years, and he died and was buried in Shamir. 3 To him succeeded Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel for twenty-two years, 4 having thirty sons sitting upon thirty donkey colts, and rulers of thirty cities, which from his name were called Havoth Jair, that is, the townships of Jair, unto the present day, in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died, and was buried in the place whose name is Camon.

6 Filii autem Israël peccatis veteribus jungentes nova, fecerunt malum in conspectu Domini, et servierunt idolis, Baalim et Astaroth, et diis Syriæ ac Sidonis et Moab et filiorum Ammon et Philisthiim: dimiseruntque Dominum, et non coluerunt eum. 7 Contra quos Dominus iratus, tradidit eos in manus Philisthiim et filiorum Ammon. 8 Afflictique sunt, et vehementer oppressi per annos decem et octo, omnes qui habitabant trans Jordanem in terra Amorrhæi, qui est in Galaad: 9 in tantum ut filii Ammon, Jordane transmisso, vastarent Judam et Benjamin et Ephraim: afflictusque est Israël nimis.

6 But the sons of Israel, joining new sins to old, did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served idols, Baalim and Astaroth, and the gods of Syria and of Sidon and of Moab and of the sons of Ammon and of the Philistines: and they forsook the Lord, and did not worship him. 7 Against whom the Lord, angered, delivered them into the hands of the Philistines and the sons of Ammon. 8 And they were afflicted, and greatly oppressed, for eighteen years, all who dwelt across the Jordan in the land of the Amorite, which is in Gilead: 9 to such an extent that the sons of Ammon, the Jordan having been crossed, laid waste Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim: and Israel was afflicted exceedingly.

10 Et clamantes ad Dominum, dixerunt: Peccavimus tibi, quia dereliquimus Dominum Deum nostrum, et servivimus Baalim. 11 Quibus locutus est Dominus: Numquid non Ægyptii et Amorrhæi, filiique Ammon et Philisthiim, 12 Sidonii quoque et Amalec et Chanaan oppresserunt vos, et clamastis ad me, et erui vos de manu eorum? 13 Et tamen reliquistis me, et coluistis deos alienos: idcirco non addam ut ultra vos liberem: 14 ite, et invocate deos quos elegistis: ipsi vos liberent in tempore angustiæ. 15 Dixeruntque filii Israël ad Dominum: Peccavimus, redde tu nobis quidquid tibi placet: tantum nunc libera nos.

10 And, crying out to the Lord, they said: We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken the Lord our God and have served the Baalim. 11 And the Lord spoke to them: Did not the Egyptians and the Amorites, and the sons of Ammon and the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians also and Amalek and Canaan, oppress you, and you cried out to me, and I rescued you from their hand? 13 And yet you abandoned me and worshiped alien gods: therefore I will no longer deliver you: 14 go, and invoke the gods you have chosen: let them themselves deliver you in the time of distress. 15 And the sons of Israel said to the Lord: We have sinned; render to us whatever pleases you: only now deliver us.

16 Quæ dicentes, omnia de finibus suis alienorum deorum idola projecerunt, et servierunt Domino Deo: qui doluit super miseriis eorum. 17 Itaque filii Ammon conclamantes in Galaad fixere tentoria, contra quos congregati filii Israël in Maspha castrametati sunt. 18 Dixeruntque principes Galaad singuli ad proximos suos: Qui primus ex nobis contra filios Ammon cœperit dimicare, erit dux populi Galaad.

16 Saying these things, they cast away from their borders all the idols of foreign gods, and served the Lord God: who grieved over their miseries. 17 Therefore the sons of Ammon, raising a cry, pitched their tents in Gilead; against them the sons of Israel, having gathered, encamped in Mizpah. 18 And the princes of Gilead, each to his neighbors, said: Whoever first of us begins to fight against the sons of Ammon shall be leader of the people of Gilead.

11 1 Fuit illo tempore Jephte Galaadites vir fortissimus atque pugnator, filius mulieris meretricis, qui natus est de Galaad. 2 Habuit autem Galaad uxorem, de qua suscepit filios: qui postquam creverant, ejecerunt Jephte, dicentes: Hæres in domo patris nostri esse non poteris, quia de altera matre natus es. 3 Quos ille fugiens atque devitans, habitavit in terra Tob: congregatique sunt ad eum viri inopes, et latrocinantes, et quasi principem sequebantur. 4 In illis diebus pugnabant filii Ammon contra Israël. 5 Quibus acriter instantibus perrexerunt majores natu de Galaad, ut tollerent in auxilium sui Jephte de terra Tob: 6 dixeruntque ad eum: Veni et esto princeps noster, et pugna contra filios Ammon.

11 1 At that time Jephthah the Gileadite was a most mighty man and a fighter, the son of a prostitute woman, who had been born of Gilead. 2 But Gilead had a wife, of whom he received sons; who, after they had grown up, drove out Jephthah, saying: You will not be able to be heir in the house of our father, because you were born of another mother. 3 He, fleeing and avoiding them, lived in the land of Tob: and needy men and brigands gathered to him, and they followed him as though a chief. 4 In those days the sons of Ammon were fighting against Israel. 5 As they pressed hard, the elders of Gilead went to take into their aid Jephthah from the land of Tob: 6 and they said to him: Come and be our prince, and fight against the sons of Ammon.

7 Quibus ille respondit: Nonne vos estis, qui odistis me, et ejecistis de domo patris mei? et nunc venistis ad me necessitate compulsi. 8 Dixeruntque principes Galaad ad Jephte: Ob hanc igitur causam nunc ad te venimus, ut proficiscaris nobiscum, et pugnes contra filios Ammon, sisque dux omnium qui habitant in Galaad.

7 To whom he replied: Are not you the ones who hated me and cast me out from my father’s house? and now you have come to me, compelled by necessity. 8 And the princes of Gilead said to Jephthah: For this cause, therefore, we have now come to you, that you may set out with us and fight against the sons of Ammon, and that you may be leader of all who dwell in Gilead.

9 Jephte quoque dixit eis: Si vere venistis ad me, ut pugnem pro vobis contra filios Ammon, tradideritque eos Dominus in manus meas, ego ero vester princeps? 10 Qui responderunt ei: Dominus, qui hæc audit, ipse mediator ac testis est quod nostra promissa faciemus. 11 Abiit itaque Jephte cum principibus Galaad, fecitque eum omnis populus principem sui.

9 Jephthah also said to them: If truly you have come to me, that I may fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and the Lord shall have delivered them into my hands, shall I be your prince? 10 They answered him: The Lord, who hears these things, he himself is mediator and witness that we will do our promises. 11 And so Jephthah went with the princes of Gilead, and all the people made him their prince.

Locutusque est Jephte omnes sermones suos coram Domino in Maspha.

And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.

12 Et misit nuntios ad regem filiorum Ammon, qui ex persona sua dicerent: Quid mihi et tibi est, quia venisti contra me, ut vastares terram meam? 13 Quibus ille respondit: Quia tulit Israël terram meam, quando ascendit de Ægypto, a finibus Arnon usque Jaboc atque Jordanem: nunc ergo cum pace redde mihi eam. 14 Per quos rursum mandavit Jephte, et imperavit eis ut dicerent regi Ammon: 15 Hæc dicit Jephte: Non tulit Israël terram Moab, nec terram filiorum Ammon: 16 sed quando de Ægypto conscenderunt, ambulavit per solitudinem usque ad mare Rubrum, et venit in Cades.

12 And he sent envoys to the king of the sons of Ammon, who should say in his person: What is there between me and you, that you have come against me to devastate my land? 13 To whom he answered: Because Israel took my land, when it came up out of Egypt, from the borders of Arnon as far as Jabbok and the Jordan: now therefore restore it to me in peace. 14 Through whom Jephthah sent word again, and he commanded them to say to the king of Ammon: 15 Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon: 16 but when they came up out of Egypt, they journeyed through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh.

17 Misitque nuntios ad regem Edom, dicens: Dimitte me ut transeam per terram tuam. Qui noluit acquiescere precibus ejus. Misit quoque ad regem Moab, qui et ipse transitum præbere contempsit.

17 And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying: Permit me to pass through your land. Who was unwilling to acquiesce to his entreaties. He also sent to the king of Moab, who likewise disdained to afford transit.

Mansit itaque in Cades, 18 et circuivit ex latere terram Edom et terram Moab: venitque contra orientalem plagam terræ Moab, et castrametatus est trans Arnon: nec voluit intrare terminos Moab. (Arnon quippe confinium est terræ Moab.) 19 Misit itaque Israël nuntios ad Sehon regem Amorrhæorum, qui habitabat in Hesebon, et dixerunt ei: Dimitte ut transeam per terram tuam usque ad fluvium. 20 Qui et ipse Israël verba despiciens, non dimisit eum transire per terminos suos: sed infinita multitudine congregata, egressus est contra eum in Jasa, et fortiter resistebat.

So he remained in Cades, 18 and he went around along the side of the land of Edom and the land of Moab: and he came over against the eastern region of the land of Moab, and he encamped beyond the Arnon: nor was he willing to enter the boundaries of Moab. (For the Arnon is the boundary of the land of Moab.) 19 Therefore Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorites, who was dwelling in Hesebon, and they said to him: Permit that I may pass through your land as far as the river. 20 But he also, despising Israel’s words, did not permit him to pass through his borders: but with an innumerable multitude assembled, he went out against him at Jasa, and stoutly resisted.

21 Tradiditque eum Dominus in manus Israël cum omni exercitu suo: qui percussit eum, et possedit omnem terram Amorrhæi habitatoris regionis illius, 22 et universos fines ejus, de Arnon usque Jaboc, et de solitudine usque ad Jordanem. 23 Dominus ergo Deus Israël subvertit Amorrhæum, pugnante contra illum populo suo Israël, et tu nunc vis possidere terram ejus? 24 nonne ea quæ possidet Chamos deus tuus, tibi jure debentur?

21 And the Lord delivered him into the hands of Israel with all his army: and he struck him, and took possession of all the land of the Amorrite, the inhabitant of that region, 22 and all his borders, from Arnon as far as Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan. 23 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, overthrew the Amorrite, with his people Israel fighting against him, and do you now wish to possess his land? 24 Do not those things which Chemosh, your god, possesses, belong to you by right?

quæ autem Dominus Deus noster victor obtinuit, in nostram cedent possessionem: 25 nisi forte melior es Balac filio Sephor rege Moab ; aut docere potes, quod jurgatus sit contra Israël, et pugnaverit contra eum, 26 quando habitavit in Hesebon et viculis ejus, et in Aroër et villis illius, vel in cunctis civitatibus juxta Jordanem, per trecentos annos. Quare tanto tempore nihil super hac repetitione tentastis? 27 Igitur non ego pecco in te, sed tu contra me male agis, indicens mihi bella non justa.

but whatever the Lord our God, as victor, has obtained, will pass into our possession: unless perhaps you are better than Balac son of Sephor, king of Moab ; or you can show that he quarrelled against Israel and fought against him, when he dwelt in Hesebon and its hamlets, and in Aroër and its villages, or in all the cities along the Jordan, for three hundred years. Why for so long a time have you attempted nothing concerning this reclamation? Therefore I do not sin against you, but you act wickedly against me, imposing upon me wars not just.

Judicet Dominus arbiter hujus diei inter Israël, et inter filios Ammon. 28 Noluitque acquiescere rex filiorum Ammon verbis Jephte, quæ per nuntios mandaverat.

May the Lord judge, the arbiter of this day, between Israel and the sons of Ammon. 28 And the king of the sons of Ammon was unwilling to acquiesce to the words of Jephthah, which he had sent through messengers.

29 Factus est ergo super Jephte spiritus Domini, et circuiens Galaad et Manasse, Maspha quoque Galaad, et inde transiens ad filios Ammon, 30 votum vovit Domino, dicens: Si tradideris filios Ammon in manus meas, 31 quicumque primus fuerit egressus de foribus domus meæ, mihique occurrerit revertenti cum pace a filiis Ammon, eum holocaustum offeram Domino. 32 Transivitque Jephte ad filios Ammon, ut pugnaret contra eos: quos tradidit Dominus in manus ejus. 33 Percussitque ab Aroër usque dum venias in Mennith, viginti civitates, et usque ad Abel, quæ est vineis consita, plaga magna nimis: humiliatique sunt filii Ammon a filiis Israël.

29 Therefore the Spirit of the Lord was made upon Jephthah, and circling Gilead and Manasseh, Mizpah too of Gilead, and from there passing over to the sons of Ammon, 30 he vowed a vow to the Lord, saying: If you deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands, 31 whoever shall first have gone out from the doors of my house, and shall meet me returning with peace from the sons of Ammon, him I will offer as a holocaust to the Lord. 32 And Jephthah passed over to the sons of Ammon, to fight against them: and the Lord delivered them into his hands. 33 And he struck them from Aroer until one comes to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is planted with vineyards, with a very great slaughter: and the sons of Ammon were humbled by the sons of Israel.

34 Revertente autem Jephte in Maspha domum suam, occurrit ei unigenita filia sua cum tympanis et choris: non enim habebat alios liberos. 35 Qua visa, scidit vestimenta sua, et ait: Heu me, filia mea ! decepisti me, et ipsa decepta es: aperui enim os meum ad Dominum, et aliud facere non potero. 36 Cui illa respondit: Pater mi, si aperuisti os tuum ad Dominum, fac mihi quodcumque pollicitus es, concessa tibi ultione atque victoria de hostibus tuis.

34 But as Jephte was returning to his house in Maspha, his only-begotten daughter met him with timbrels and choirs: for he had no other children. 35 Seeing her, he rent his garments, and said: Alas for me, my daughter ! you have deceived me, and you yourself are deceived: for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I will be able to do nothing else. 36 To whom she replied: My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me whatever you have promised, vengeance and victory over your enemies having been granted to you.

37 Dixitque ad patrem: Hoc solum mihi præsta quod deprecor: dimitte me ut duobus mensibus circumeam montes, et plangam virginitatem meam cum sodalibus meis. 38 Cui ille respondit: Vade. Et dimisit eam duobus mensibus.

37 And she said to her father: Grant me only this which I beseech: dismiss me, that for two months I may go around the mountains and lament my virginity with my companions. 38 And he replied to her: Go. And he let her go for two months.

Cumque abiisset cum sociis ac sodalibus suis, flebat virginitatem suam in montibus. 39 Expletisque duobus mensibus, reversa est ad patrem suum, et fecit ei sicut voverat, quæ ignorabat virum. Exinde mos increbruit in Israël, et consuetudo servata est, 40 ut post anni circulum conveniant in unum filiæ Israël, et plangant filiam Jephte Galaaditæ diebus quatuor.

And when she had gone away with her companions and comrades, she lamented her virginity in the mountains. 39 And when the two months had been completed, she returned to her father, and he did to her just as he had vowed—she who had not known a man. From then on the custom grew prevalent in Israel, and the usage was observed, 40 that after the circle of the year the daughters of Israel gather together as one and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.

12 1 Ecce autem in Ephraim orta est seditio: nam transeuntes contra aquilonem, dixerunt ad Jephte: Quare vadens ad pugnam contra filios Ammon, vocare nos noluisti, ut pergeremus tecum? igitur incendemus domum tuam. 2 Quibus ille respondit: Disceptatio erat mihi et populo meo contra filios Ammon vehemens: vocavique vos, ut præberetis mihi auxilium, et facere noluistis.

12 1 But behold, in Ephraim a sedition arose: for, passing toward the north, they said to Jephte: Why, going to battle against the sons of Ammon, did you not wish to call us, that we might proceed with you? therefore we will burn your house. 2 To whom he replied: There was for me and my people a vehement contention against the sons of Ammon: and I called you, that you might provide me aid, and you were unwilling to do so.

3 Quod cernens, posui animam meam in manibus meis, transivique ad filios Ammon, et tradidit eos Dominus in manus meas. Quid commerui, ut adversum me consurgatis in prælium? 4 Vocatis itaque ad se cunctis viris Galaad, pugnabat contra Ephraim: percusseruntque viri Galaad Ephraim, quia dixerat: Fugitivus est Galaad de Ephraim, et habitat in medio Ephraim et Manasse.

3 Seeing which, I placed my soul in my hands, and I crossed over to the sons of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hands. What have I merited, that you rise up against me in battle? 4 Therefore, having called to himself all the men of Gilead, he was fighting against Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because he had said: Gilead is a fugitive from Ephraim, and dwells in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.

5 Occupaveruntque Galaaditæ vada Jordanis, per quæ Ephraim reversurus erat. Cumque venisset ad ea de Ephraim numero, fugiens, atque dixisset: Obsecro ut me transire permittatis: dicebant ei Galaaditæ: Numquid Ephrathæus es? quo dicente: Non sum: 6 interrogabant eum: Dic ergo Scibboleth, quod interpretatur Spica. Qui respondebat: Sibboleth: eadem littera spicam exprimere non valens.

5 And the Gileadites occupied the fords of the Jordan, by which Ephraim was about to return. And when someone from Ephraim in number, fleeing, had come to them, and had said: I beseech that you permit me to cross: the Gileadites would say to him: Are you an Ephraimite? he saying: I am not: 6 they would question him: Say then “Shibboleth,” which is interpreted “Ear (of grain).” He would answer: “Sibboleth,” not being able with the same letter to express the ear.

Statimque apprehensum jugulabant in ipso Jordanis transitu. Et ceciderunt in illo tempore de Ephraim quadraginta duo millia.

And immediately, once apprehended, they would cut his throat at the very crossing of the Jordan. And in that time there fell of Ephraim 42,000.

7 Judicavit itaque Jephte Galaadites Israël sex annis: et mortuus est, ac sepultus in civitate sua Galaad.

7 And so Jephthah the Gileadite judged Israel for six years: and he died, and was buried in his city in Gilead.

8 Post hunc judicavit Israël Abesan de Bethlehem: 9 qui habuit triginta filios, et totidem filias, quas emittens foras, maritis dedit, et ejusdem numeri filiis suis accepit uxores, introducens in domum suam. Qui septem annis judicavit Israël: 10 mortuusque est, ac sepultus in Bethlehem. 11 Cui successit Ahialon Zabulonites: et judicavit Israël decem annis: 12 mortuusque est, ac sepultus in Zabulon.

8 After him Abesan of Bethlehem judged Israel: 9 who had thirty sons, and just as many daughters, whom, sending abroad, he gave to husbands, and for his sons he took wives of the same number, bringing them into his house. He judged Israel for seven years: 10 and he died, and was buried in Bethlehem. 11 He was succeeded by Ahialon the Zebulonite: and he judged Israel for ten years: 12 and he died, and was buried in Zebulon.

13 Post hunc judicavit Israël Abdon filius Illel Pharathonites: 14 qui habuit quadraginta filios, et triginta ex eis nepotes, ascendentes super septuaginta pullos asinarum. Et judicavit Israël octo annis: 15 mortuusque est, ac sepultus in Pharathon terræ Ephraim, in monte Amalec.

13 After him Abdon son of Hillel, a Pharathonite, judged Israel: 14 who had forty sons, and thirty grandsons by them, riding upon seventy colts of asses. And he judged Israel eight years: 15 and he died, and was buried in Pharathon of the land of Ephraim, on Mount Amalek.

13 1 Rursumque filii Israël fecerunt malum in conspectu Domini: qui tradidit eos in manus Philisthinorum quadraginta annis. 2 Erat autem quidam vir de Saraa, et de stirpe Dan, nomine Manue, habens uxorem sterilem. 3 Cui apparuit angelus Domini, et dixit ad eam: Sterilis es et absque liberis: sed concipies, et paries filium.

13 1 And again the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: who delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. 2 Now there was a certain man from Saraa, and of the stock of Dan, named Manue, having a barren wife. 3 To whom the angel of the Lord appeared, and said to her: You are barren and without children: but you will conceive, and you will bear a son.

4 Cave ergo ne bibas vinum ac siceram, nec immundum quidquam comedas: 5 quia concipies, et paries filium, cujus non tanget caput novacula: erit enim nazaræus Dei ab infantia sua et ex matris utero, et ipse incipiet liberare Israël de manu Philisthinorum. 6 Quæ cum venisset ad maritum suum, dixit ei: Vir Dei venit ad me, habens vultum angelicum, terribilis nimis. Quem cum interrogassem quis esset, et unde venisset, et quo nomine vocaretur, noluit mihi dicere: 7 sed hoc respondit: Ecce concipies et paries filium: cave ne vinum bibas, nec siceram, et ne aliquo vescaris immundo: erit enim puer nazaræus Dei ab infantia sua, ex utero matris suæ usque ad diem mortis suæ. 8 Oravit itaque Manue Dominum, et ait: Obsecro, Domine, ut vir Dei, quem misisti, veniat iterum, et doceat nos quid debeamus facere de puero, qui nasciturus est.

4 Therefore beware lest you drink wine and strong drink, nor eat anything unclean: 5 for you will conceive, and bear a son, whose head a razor shall not touch: for he will be a Nazirite of God from his infancy and from his mother’s womb, and he himself will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines. 6 When she had come to her husband, she said to him: A man of God came to me, having an angelic countenance, exceedingly terrible. When I had asked him who he was, and whence he had come, and by what name he was called, he would not tell me: 7 but this he answered: Behold, you will conceive and bear a son: beware lest you drink wine, or strong drink, and that I eat nothing unclean: for the boy will be a Nazirite of God from his infancy, from his mother’s womb until the day of his death. 8 Therefore Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech you, Lord, that the man of God whom you sent may come again, and teach us what we ought to do concerning the boy who is about to be born.

9 Exaudivitque Dominus deprecantem Manue, et apparuit rursum angelus Dei uxori ejus sedenti in agro: Manue autem maritus ejus non erat cum ea. Quæ cum vidisset angelum, 10 festinavit, et cucurrit ad virum suum: nuntiavitque ei, dicens: Ecce apparuit mihi vir, quem ante videram. 11 Qui surrexit, et secutus est uxorem suam: veniensque ad virum, dixit ei: Tu es qui locutus es mulieri? Et ille respondit: Ego sum.

9 And the Lord hearkened to Manue as he was beseeching, and the angel of God appeared again to his wife as she was sitting in the field: but Manue, her husband, was not with her. When she had seen the angel, 10 she made haste, and ran to her husband: and announced to him, saying: Behold, the man whom I had seen before has appeared to me. 11 He rose and followed his wife: and coming to the man, he said to him: Are you the one who spoke to the woman? And he replied: I am.

12 Cui Manue: Quando, inquit, sermo tuus fuerit expletus, quid vis ut faciat puer? aut a quo se observare debebit?

12 To whom Manue said: “When,” he says, “your word has been fulfilled, what do you wish the boy to do? Or from what must he keep himself?”

13 Dixitque angelus Domini ad Manue: Ab omnibus, quæ locutus sum uxori tuæ, abstineat se, 14 et quidquid ex vinea nascitur, non comedat: vinum et siceram non bibat ; nullo vescatur immundo: et quod ei præcepi, impleat atque custodiat. 15 Dixitque Manue ad angelum Domini: Obsecro te ut acquiescas precibus meis, et faciamus tibi hædum de capris. 16 Cui respondit angelus: Si me cogis, non comedam panes tuos: si autem vis holocaustum facere, offer illud Domino.

13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manue: From all the things which I have spoken to your wife, let him abstain himself, 14 and whatever is born from the vine, let him not eat: wine and strong drink let him not drink ; let him partake of nothing unclean: and what I have commanded her, let him fulfill and keep. 15 And Manue said to the angel of the Lord: I beseech you to acquiesce to my prayers, and let us make for you a kid of the goats. 16 To whom the angel replied: If you constrain me, I will not eat your bread: but if you wish to make a holocaust, offer it to the Lord.

Et nesciebat Manue quod angelus Domini esset. 17 Dixitque ad eum: Quod est tibi nomen, ut, si sermo tuus fuerit expletus, honoremus te? 18 Cui ille respondit: Cur quæris nomen meum, quod est mirabile? 19 Tulit itaque Manue hædum de capris, et libamenta, et posuit super petram, offerens Domino, qui facit mirabilia: ipse autem et uxor ejus intuebantur.

And Manue did not know that he was an angel of the Lord. 17 And he said to him: What is your name, that, if your word shall have been fulfilled, we may honor you? 18 And he replied to him: Why do you inquire after my name, which is marvelous? 19 Therefore Manue took a kid of the goats, and libations, and set them upon the rock, offering to the Lord, who works marvels; and he and his wife were gazing.

20 Cumque ascenderet flamma altaris in cælum, angelus Domini pariter in flamma ascendit. Quod cum vidissent Manue et uxor ejus, proni ceciderunt in terram, 21 et ultra eis non apparuit angelus Domini. Statimque intellexit Manue angelum Domini esse, 22 et dixit ad uxorem suam: Morte moriemur, quia vidimus Deum.

20 And when the flame of the altar was ascending into heaven, the angel of the Lord likewise ascended in the flame. When Manue and his wife saw this, they fell prone to the ground, 21 and the angel of the Lord did not appear to them any further. And immediately Manue understood that it was the angel of the Lord, 22 and he said to his wife: We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

23 Cui respondit mulier: Si Dominus nos vellet occidere, de manibus nostris holocaustum et libamenta non suscepisset, nec ostendisset nobis hæc omnia, neque ea quæ sunt ventura dixisset.

23 To whom the woman replied: If the Lord wished to kill us, he would not have received from our hands the holocaust and the libations, nor shown us all these things, nor told us those things which are to come.

24 Peperit itaque filium, et vocavit nomen ejus Samson. Crevitque puer, et benedixit ei Dominus. 25 Cœpitque spiritus Domini esse cum eo in castris Dan inter Saraa et Esthaol.

24 Therefore she bore a son, and she called his name Samson. And the boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camps of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

14 1 Descendit ergo Samson in Thamnatha: vidensque ibi mulierem de filiabus Philisthiim, 2 ascendit, et nuntiavit patri suo et matri suæ, dicens: Vidi mulierem in Thamnatha de filiabus Philisthinorum: quam quæso ut mihi accipiatis uxorem. 3 Cui dixerunt pater et mater sua: Numquid non est mulier in filiabus fratrum tuorum, et in omni populo meo, quia vis accipere uxorem de Philisthiim, qui incircumcisi sunt? Dixitque Samson ad patrem suum: Hanc mihi accipe: quia placuit oculis meis.

14 1 Therefore Samson went down to Thamnatha: and seeing there a woman from the daughters of the Philistines, 2 he went up and announced to his father and his mother, saying: I saw a woman in Thamnatha from the daughters of the Philistines: whom, I pray, take for me as a wife. 3 And his father and his mother said to him: Is there not a woman among the daughters of your brothers, and in all my people, that you wish to take a wife from the Philistines, who are uncircumcised? And Samson said to his father: Take this one for me: for she was pleasing to my eyes.

4 Parentes autem ejus nesciebant quod res a Domino fieret, et quæreret occasionem contra Philisthiim: eo enim tempore Philisthiim dominabantur Israëli. 5 Descendit itaque Samson cum patre suo et matre in Thamnatha. Cumque venissent ad vineas oppidi, apparuit catulus leonis sævus, et rugiens, et occurrit ei. 6 Irruit autem spiritus Domini in Samson, et dilaceravit leonem, quasi hædum in frustra discerpens, nihil omnino habens in manu: et hoc patri et matri noluit indicare. 7 Descenditque, et locutus est mulieri quæ placuerat oculis ejus.

4 But his parents did not know that the matter was from the Lord, and that he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were dominating Israel. 5 So Samson went down with his father and mother to Thamnatha. And when they had come to the vineyards of the town, there appeared a fierce lion’s cub, roaring, and it rushed to meet him. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson, and he tore the lion apart, as one tears a kid into pieces, having absolutely nothing in his hand; and he did not wish to indicate this to his father and mother. 7 And he went down, and spoke to the woman who had pleased his eyes.

8 Et post aliquot dies revertens ut acciperet eam, declinavit ut videret cadaver leonis, et ecce examen apum in ore leonis erat ac favus mellis. 9 Quem cum sumpsisset in manibus comedebat in via: veniensque ad patrem suum et matrem, dedit eis partem, qui et ipsi comederunt: nec tamen eis voluit indicare quod mel de corpore leonis assumpserat.

8 And after several days, returning to take her, he turned aside to see the corpse of the lion, and behold, a swarm of bees was in the mouth of the lion and a honeycomb of honey. 9 Which, when he had taken in his hands, he was eating on the way: and coming to his father and his mother, he gave them a portion, and they also ate: yet he did not wish to indicate to them that he had taken the honey from the body of the lion.

10 Descendit itaque pater ejus ad mulierem, et fecit filio suo Samson convivium: sic enim juvenes facere consueverant. 11 Cum ergo cives loci illius vidissent eum, dederunt ei sodales triginta ut essent cum eo. 12 Quibus locutus est Samson: Proponam vobis problema: quod si solveritis mihi intra septem dies convivii, dabo vobis triginta sindones, et totidem tunicas: 13 sin autem non potueritis solvere, vos dabitis mihi triginta sindones, et ejusdem numeri tunicas. Qui responderunt ei: Propone problema, ut audiamus.

10 Therefore his father went down to the woman, and made a banquet for his son Samson: for thus the youths were accustomed to do. 11 When therefore the citizens of that place saw him, they gave him thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson spoke to them: I will propose to you a problem: and if you solve it for me within the seven days of the banquet, I will give you thirty sindons, and just as many tunics: 13 but if you cannot solve it, you shall give me thirty sindons, and tunics of the same number. They answered him: Propose the problem, that we may hear.

14 Dixitque eis: De comedente exivit cibus, et de forti egressa est dulcedo. Nec potuerunt per tres dies propositionem solvere. 15 Cumque adesset dies septimus, dixerunt ad uxorem Samson: Blandire viro tuo et suade ei ut indicet tibi quid significet problema: quod si facere nolueris, incendemus te, et domum patris tui: an idcirco vocastis nos ad nuptias ut spoliaretis?

14 And he said to them:
From the eater came forth food,
and from the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not solve the proposition for three days. 15 And when the seventh day was at hand, they said to Samson’s wife: Blandish your husband and persuade him to indicate to you what the problem signifies; but if you are unwilling to do this, we will burn you and your father’s house: was it for this reason that you called us to the nuptials, that you might despoil us?

16 Quæ fundebat apud Samson lacrimas, et quærebatur, dicens: Odisti me, et non diligis: idcirco problema, quod proposuisti filiis populi mei, non vis mihi exponere. At ille respondit: Patri meo et matri nolui dicere: et tibi indicare potero? 17 Septem igitur diebus convivii flebat ante eum: tandemque die septimo cum ei esset molesta, exposuit.

16 She was pouring out tears before Samson, and she complained, saying: You hate me, and you do not love: therefore the riddle which you have proposed to the sons of my people you are unwilling to expound to me. But he answered: To my father and to my mother I was unwilling to tell; and shall I indicate it to you? 17 Therefore for seven days of the banquet she wept before him; and at last on the seventh day, when she was troublesome to him, he expounded it.

Quæ statim indicavit civibus suis. 18 Et illi dixerunt ei die septimo ante solis occubitum: Quid dulcius melle, et quid fortius leone? Qui ait ad eos: Si non arassetis in vitula mea, non invenissetis propositionem meam.

She immediately indicated it to her fellow citizens. 18 And they said to him on the seventh day before the setting of the sun:
What is sweeter than honey,
and what is stronger than a lion? Who said to them:
If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have found my proposition.

19 Irruit itaque in eum spiritus Domini, descenditque Ascalonem, et percussit ibi triginta viros: quorum ablatas vestes dedit iis qui problema solverant. Iratusque nimis ascendit in domum patris sui: 20 uxor autem ejus accepit maritum unum de amicis ejus et pronubis. 15 1 Post aliquantulum autem temporis, cum dies triticeæ messis instarent, venit Samson, invisere volens uxorem suam, et attulit ei hædum de capris.

19 And so the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck there thirty men; and the garments stripped from them he gave to those who had solved the problem. And being very angry he went up to his father’s house: 20 but his wife took as husband one of his friends and groomsmen. 15 1 And after a little time, when the days of the wheat-harvest were at hand, Samson came, wishing to visit his wife, and he brought her a kid of the goats.

Cumque cubiculum ejus solito vellet intrare, prohibuit eum pater illius, dicens: 2 Putavi quod odisses eam, et ideo tradidi illam amico tuo: sed habet sororem, quæ junior et pulchrior illa est: sit tibi pro ea uxor. 3 Cui Samson respondit: Ab hac die non erit culpa in me contra Philisthæos: faciam enim vobis mala. 4 Perrexitque et cepit trecentas vulpes, caudasque earum junxit ad caudas, et faces ligavit in medio: 5 quas igne succendens, dimisit ut huc illucque discurrerent.

And when he wished to enter her bedchamber as usual, her father forbade him, saying: 2 I supposed that you hated her, and therefore I gave her over to your friend; but she has a sister, who is younger and fairer than she: let her be a wife to you in her stead. 3 To whom Samson replied: From this day there shall be no blame upon me against the Philistines; for I will do evils to you. 4 And he went off and seized three hundred foxes, and he joined their tails to tails, and tied torches in the middle: 5 which, kindling with fire, he released so that they might run here and there.

Quæ statim perrexerunt in segetes Philisthinorum. Quibus succensis, et comportatæ jam fruges, et adhuc stantes in stipula, concrematæ sunt, in tantum ut vineas quoque et oliveta flamma consumeret. 6 Dixeruntque Philisthiim: Quis fecit hanc rem?

Which at once went into the grainfields of the Philistines. These, once set on fire, both the crops already brought in and those still standing on the stalk were burned up, to such an extent that the flame consumed even the vineyards and the olive groves. 6 And the Philistines said: Who has done this thing?

Quibus dictum est: Samson gener Thamnathæi: quia tulit uxorem ejus, et alteri tradidit, hæc operatus est. Ascenderuntque Philisthiim, et combusserunt tam mulierem quam patrem ejus. 7 Quibus ait Samson: Licet hæc feceritis, tamen adhuc ex vobis expetam ultionem, et tunc quiescam.

To whom it was said: Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite: because he took his wife, and gave her to another, he has done these things. And the Philistines went up and burned both the woman and her father. 7 To whom Samson said: Although you have done these things, nevertheless I will still exact vengeance from you, and then I will rest.

8 Percussitque eos ingenti plaga, ita ut stupentes suram femori imponerent. Et descendens habitavit in spelunca petræ Etam. 9 Igitur ascendentes Philisthiim in terram Juda, castrametati sunt in loco, qui postea vocatus est Lechi, id est, Maxilla, ubi eorum effusus est exercitus.

8 And he struck them with an immense blow, so that, stupefied, they put the calf to the thigh (i.e., he smote them hip and thigh). And going down he dwelt in the cave of the rock Etam. 9 Therefore the Philistines went up into the land of Judah, and encamped in the place which afterwards was called Lehi, that is, Jawbone, where their army was poured out (routed).

10 Dixeruntque ad eos de tribu Juda: Cur ascendistis adversum nos? Qui responderunt: Ut ligemus Samson venimus, et reddamus ei quæ in nos operatus est.

10 And those of the tribe of Judah said to them: Why have you gone up against us? They answered: We have come to bind Samson, and to render to him what he has wrought against us.

11 Descenderunt ergo tria millia virorum de Juda ad specum silicis Etam, dixeruntque ad Samson: Nescis quod Philisthiim imperent nobis? quare hoc facere voluisti? Quibus ille ait: Sicut fecerunt mihi, sic feci eis.

11 Therefore three thousand men of Judah descended to the cave of the flint at Etam, and they said to Samson: Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? why did you wish to do this? To whom he said: As they did to me, so I did to them.

12 Ligare, inquiunt, te venimus, et tradere in manus Philisthinorum. Quibus Samson: Jurate, ait, et spondete mihi quod non occidatis me. 13 Dixerunt: Non te occidemus, sed vinctum trademus. Ligaveruntque eum duobus novis funibus, et tulerunt eum de petra Etam.

12 To bind you, they say, we have come, and to deliver you into the hands of the Philistines. To whom Samson: Swear, he says, and pledge to me that you will not slay me. 13 They said: We will not slay you, but we will deliver you bound. And they bound him with two new ropes, and took him from the rock of Etam.

14 Qui cum venisset ad locum Maxillæ, et Philisthiim vociferantes occurrissent ei, irruit spiritus Domini in eum: et sicut solent ad odorem ignis lina consumi, ita vincula, quibus ligatus erat, dissipata sunt et soluta. 15 Inventamque maxillam, id est, mandibulam asini, quæ jacebat, arripiens interfecit in ea mille viros, 16 et ait: In maxilla asini, in mandibula pulli asinarum, delevi eos, et percussi mille viros. 17 Cumque hæc verba canens complesset, projecit mandibulam de manu, et vocavit nomen loci illius Ramathlechi, quod interpretatur, Elevatio maxillæ. 18 Sitiensque valde, clamavit ad Dominum, et ait: Tu dedisti in manu servi tui salutem hanc maximam atque victoriam: en siti morior, incidamque in manus incircumcisorum.

14 When he had come to the place of Maxilla, and the Philistines, vociferating, had met him, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him: and as linen cords are wont to be consumed at the smell of fire, so the bonds with which he had been bound were scattered and loosed. 15 And finding a jaw, that is, the mandible of an ass, which was lying there, snatching it up he killed with it a thousand men, 16 and he said:
In the jaw of an ass,
in the mandible of a foal of asses,
I have destroyed them,
and I struck down a thousand men. 17 And when, singing these words, he had finished, he threw the mandible from his hand, and he called the name of that place Ramathlechi, which is interpreted, Elevation of the jaw. 18 And being very thirsty, he cried to the Lord, and said: You have given into the hand of your servant this very great salvation and victory: behold, I die of thirst, and I shall fall into the hands of the uncircumcised.

19 Aperuit itaque Dominus molarem dentem in maxilla asini, et egressæ sunt ex eo aquæ. Quibus haustis, refocillavit spiritum, et vires recepit. Idcirco appellatum est nomen loci illius, Fons invocantis de maxilla, usque in præsentem diem. 20 Judicavitque Israël in diebus Philisthiim viginti annis.

19 Therefore the Lord opened a molar tooth in the jawbone of an ass, and waters went forth out of it. Having drawn them, he refreshed his spirit and recovered his strength. Therefore the name of that place was called The Spring of the One Calling from the jawbone, unto the present day. 20 And he judged Israël in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

16 1 Abiit quoque in Gazam, et vidit ibi mulierem meretricem, ingressusque est ad eam. 2 Quod cum audissent Philisthiim, et percrebruisset apud eos intrasse urbem Samson, circumdederunt eum, positis in porta civitatis custodibus: et ibi tota nocte cum silentio præstolantes, ut facto mane exeuntem occiderent. 3 Dormivit autem Samson usque ad medium noctem: et inde consurgens, apprehendit ambas portæ fores cum postibus suis et sera, impositasque humeris suis portavit ad verticem montis, qui respicit Hebron.

16 1 He also went to Gaza, and there he saw a woman, a prostitute, and he went in to her. 2 When the Philistines heard of this, and it had become widely known among them that Samson had entered the city, they surrounded him, with guards set at the gate of the city: and there the whole night, in silence, they waited, so that when morning came they might kill him as he went out. 3 But Samson slept until midnight: and from there rising, he seized both the doors of the gate with their posts and the bar, and having placed them upon his shoulders, he carried them to the summit of the mountain that faces Hebron.

4 Post hæc amavit mulierem, quæ habitabat in valle Sorec, et vocabatur Dalila. 5 Veneruntque ad eam principes Philisthinorum, atque dixerunt: Decipe eum, et disce ab illo, in quo habeat tantam fortitudinem, et quomodo eum superare valeamus, et vinctum affligere: quod si feceris, dabimus tibi singuli mille et centum argenteos. 6 Locuta est ergo Dalila ad Samson: Dic mihi, obsecro, in quo sit tua maxima fortitudo, et quid sit quo ligatus erumpere nequeas?

4 After these things he loved a woman who was dwelling in the valley of Sorek, and she was called Delilah. 5 And the princes of the Philistines came to her and said: Deceive him, and learn from him wherein he has such great fortitude, and how we may be able to overcome him, and afflict him when bound; and if you do this, each of us will give you 1,100 silver-pieces. 6 Therefore Delilah spoke to Samson: Tell me, I beseech you, in what your greatest strength is, and with what, if bound, you would not be able to burst forth?

7 Cui respondit Samson: Si septem nerviceis funibus necdum siccis, et adhuc humentibus, ligatus fuero, infirmus ero ut ceteri homines. 8 Attuleruntque ad eam satrapæ Philisthinorum septem funes, ut dixerat: quibus vinxit eum, 9 latentibus apud se insidiis, et in cubiculo finem rei expectantibus: clamavitque ad eum: Philisthiim super te, Samson. Qui rupit vincula, quomodo si rumpat quis filum de stuppæ tortum putamine, cum odorem ignis acceperit: et non est cognitum in quo esset fortitudo ejus.

7 To whom Samson replied: If I shall have been bound with seven sinew-cords not yet dry, and still moist, I shall be weak like other men. 8 And the satraps of the Philistines brought to her seven cords, as he had said, with which she bound him, 9 while ambushers were lying hidden at her side, and in the chamber awaiting the end of the matter; and she cried to him: The Philistines are upon you, Samson. But he snapped the bonds, as when someone breaks a thread of tow twisted from the husk, when it has caught the scent of fire; and it was not known wherein his strength was.

10 Dixitque ad eum Dalila: Ecce illusisti mihi, et falsum locutus es: saltem nunc indica mihi quo ligari debeas. 11 Cui ille respondit: Si ligatus fuero novis funibus, qui numquam fuerunt in opere, infirmus ero, et aliorum hominum similis. 12 Quibus rursum Dalila vinxit eum, et clamavit: Philisthiim super te, Samson: in cubiculo insidiis præparatis.

10 And Delilah said to him: Behold, you have mocked me, and have spoken falsehood; at least now tell me with what you ought to be bound. 11 To whom he replied: If I should be bound with new ropes, which have never been in work, I shall be weak and like other men. 12 With which ropes Delilah again bound him, and cried out: Philistines upon you, Samson; with ambushes prepared in the chamber.

Qui ita rupit vincula quasi fila telarum. 13 Dixitque Dalila rursum ad eum: Usquequo decipis me, et falsum loqueris? ostende quo vinciri debeas.

Who thus broke the bonds as if they were threads of the loom. 13 And Delilah said again to him: How long do you deceive me and speak falsehood? show how you ought to be bound.

Cui respondit Samson: Si septem crines capitis mei cum licio plexueris, et clavum his circumligatum terræ fixeris, infirmus ero. 14 Quod cum fecisset Dalila, dixit ad eum: Philisthiim super te, Samson. Qui consurgens de somno extraxit clavum cum crinibus et licio.

To whom Samson answered: If you weave the seven locks of my head together with the web, and fix the pin, bound around these, into the earth, I shall be weak. 14 Which when Delilah had done, she said to him: The Philistines are upon you, Samson. He, rising from sleep, drew out the pin along with the hair and the web.

15 Dixitque ad eum Dalila: Quomodo dicis quod amas me, cum animus tuus non sit mecum? Per tres vices mentitus es mihi, et noluisti dicere in quo sit maxima fortitudo tua. 16 Cumque molesta esset ei, et per multos dies jugiter adhæreret, spatium ad quietem non tribuens, defecit anima ejus, et ad mortem usque lassata est.

15 And Delilah said to him: How do you say that you love me, when your spirit is not with me? On three occasions you have lied to me, and you were unwilling to say wherein your greatest fortitude lies. 16 And as she was vexatious to him, and for many days adhered to him continually, granting no space for rest, his soul failed, and he was wearied even unto death.

17 Tunc aperiens veritatem rei, dixit ad eam: Ferrum numquam ascendit super caput meum, quia nazaræus, id est, consecratus Deo, sum de utero matris meæ: si rasum fuerit caput meum, recedet a me fortitudo mea, et deficiam, eroque sicut ceteri homines. 18 Vidensque illa quod confessus ei esset omnem animum suum, misit ad principes Philisthinorum ac mandavit: Ascende adhuc semel, quia nunc mihi aperuit cor suum. Qui ascenderunt assumpta pecunia, quam promiserant.

17 Then, opening the truth of the matter, he said to her: Iron has never gone up upon my head, because I am a Nazirite, that is, consecrated to God, from my mother’s womb: if my head shall be shaven, my strength will depart from me, and I shall fail, and I shall be like the other men. 18 And seeing that he had confessed to her his whole heart, she sent to the princes of the Philistines and commanded: Come up yet once more, for now he has opened his heart to me. Who came up, taking the money which they had promised.

19 At illa dormire eum fecit super genua sua, et in sinu suo reclinare caput. Vocavitque tonsorem, et rasit septem crines ejus, et cœpit abigere eum, et a se repellere: statim enim ab eo fortitudo discessit. 20 Dixitque: Philisthiim super te, Samson.

19 But she made him sleep upon her knees, and to recline his head in her bosom. And she called the tonsor, and shaved his seven locks, and began to drive him away and to push him from herself: for immediately his strength departed from him. 20 And she said: The Philistines are upon you, Samson.

Qui de somno consurgens, dixit in animo suo: Egrediar sicut ante feci, et me excutiam: nesciens quod recessisset ab eo Dominus. 21 Quem cum apprehendissent Philisthiim, statim eruerunt oculos ejus, et duxerunt Gazam vinctum catenis, et clausum in carcere molere fecerunt.

Who arising from sleep said in his mind: I will go out as I did before, and I will shake myself free—not knowing that the Lord had departed from him. And when the Philistines had seized him, they immediately gouged out his eyes, and led him to Gaza bound with chains, and, shut up in the prison, they made him grind.

22 Jamque capilli ejus renasci cœperunt. 23 Et principes Philisthinorum convenerunt in unum ut immolarent hostias magnificas Dagon deo suo, et epularentur, dicentes: Tradidit deus noster inimicum nostrum Samson in manus nostras. 24 Quod etiam populus videns, laudabat deum suum, eademque dicebat: Tradidit deus noster adversarium nostrum in manus nostras, qui delevit terram nostram, et occidit plurimos.

22 And now his hair began to be born again. 23 And the princes of the Philistines gathered together as one to immolate magnificent victims to their god Dagon and to feast, saying: Our god has delivered our enemy Samson into our hands. 24 Which also the people, seeing, praised their god, and said the same: Our god has delivered our adversary into our hands, he who laid waste our land and killed very many.

25 Lætantesque per convivia, sumptis jam epulis, præceperunt ut vocaretur Samson, et ante eos luderet. Qui adductus de carcere ludebat ante eos, feceruntque eum stare inter duas columnas. 26 Qui dixit puero regenti gressus suos: Dimitte me, ut tangam columnas, quibus omnis imminet domus, et recliner super eas, et paululum requiescam.

25 And rejoicing through the banquets, with the banquet-courses now consumed, they ordered that Samson be called, and that he make sport before them. Who, led from the prison, was making sport before them, and they made him stand between two columns. 26 And he said to the boy guiding his steps: Allow me, that I may touch the columns on which the whole house rests, and that I may recline upon them, and rest a little.

27 Domus autem erat plena virorum ac mulierum, et erant ibi omnes principes Philisthinorum, ac de tecto et solario circiter tria millia utriusque sexus spectantes ludentem Samson. 28 At ille invocato Domino ait: Domine Deus, memento mei, et redde mihi nunc fortitudinem pristinam, Deus meus, ut ulciscar me de hostibus meis, et pro amissione duorum luminum unam ultionem recipiam. 29 Et apprehendens ambas columnas quibus innitebatur domus, alteramque earum dextera et alteram læva tenens, 30 ait: Moriatur anima mea cum Philisthiim.

27 But the house was full of men and women, and all the princes of the Philistines were there, and from the roof and the solarium about three thousand of both sexes were watching Samson playing. 28 But he, with the Lord invoked, said: Lord God, remember me, and restore to me now my former strength, my God, that I may avenge myself on my enemies, and for the loss of my two lights receive one vengeance. 29 And seizing both the columns on which the house was leaning, and holding one of them with his right hand and the other with his left, 30 he said: Let my soul die with the Philistines.

Concussisque fortiter columnis, cecidit domus super omnes principes, et ceteram multitudinem quæ ibi erat: multoque plures interfecit moriens, quam ante vivus occiderat. 31 Descendentes autem fratres ejus et universa cognatio, tulerunt corpus ejus, et sepelierunt inter Saraa et Esthaol in sepulchro patris sui Manue: judicavitque Israël viginti annis. 17 1 Fuit eo tempore vir quidam de monte Ephraim nomine Michas, 2 qui dixit matri suæ: Mille et centum argenteos, quos separaveras tibi, et super quibus me audiente juraveras, ecce ego habeo, et apud me sunt.

And with the columns strongly shaken, the house fell upon all the princes, and the rest of the multitude that was there; and dying he slew many more than he had killed before while alive. 31 Then his brothers and all his kindred, going down, took up his body and buried it between Zorah and Eshtaol in the sepulcher of his father Manoah; and he judged Israel for 20 years. 17 1 There was at that time a certain man from the hill-country of Ephraim named Micah, 2 who said to his mother: A thousand and one hundred silvers, which you had set apart for yourself and concerning which, with me hearing, you had sworn—behold, I have them, and they are with me.

Cui illa respondit: Benedictus filius meus Domino. 3 Reddidit ergo eos matri suæ, quæ dixerat ei: Consecravi et vovi hoc argentum Domino, ut de manu mea suscipiat filius meus, et faciat sculptile atque conflatile: et nunc trado illud tibi. 4 Reddidit igitur eos matri suæ: quæ tulit ducentos argenteos, et dedit eos argentario, ut faceret ex eis sculptile atque conflatile, quod fuit in domo Michæ. 5 Qui ædiculam quoque in ea deo separavit, et fecit ephod, et theraphim, id est, vestem sacerdotalem, et idola: implevitque unius filiorum suorum manum, et factus est ei sacerdos.

To whom she replied: Blessed be my son by the Lord. 3 Therefore he returned them to his mother, who had said to him: I have consecrated and vowed this silver to the Lord, that my son may receive it from my hand and make a graven and molten image; and now I hand it over to you. 4 So he returned them to his mother; who took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, to make from them a graven and molten image, which was in the house of Micah. 5 And he also set apart a little shrine in it for a god, and made an ephod and teraphim, that is, a priestly garment and idols; and he filled the hand of one of his sons, and he became his priest.

6 In diebus illis non erat rex in Israël, sed unusquisque quod sibi rectum videbatur, hoc faciebat.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but each one did what seemed right in his own eyes.

7 Fuit quoque alter adolescens de Bethlehem Juda, ex cognatione ejus: eratque ipse Levites, et habitabat ibi. 8 Egressusque de civitate Bethlehem, peregrinari voluit ubicumque sibi commodum reperisset. Cumque venisset in montem Ephraim, iter faciens, et declinasset parumper in domum Michæ, 9 interrogatus est ab eo unde venisset.

7 There was also another adolescent from Bethlehem of Judah, from his kindred: and he himself was a Levite, and was dwelling there. 8 And having gone out from the city of Bethlehem, he wished to peregrinate wherever he might find it convenient for himself. And when he had come into the mountain of Ephraim, making the journey, and had turned aside for a little into the house of Micah, 9 he was interrogated by him whence he had come.

Qui respondit: Levita sum de Bethlehem Juda, et vado ut habitem ubi potuero, et utile mihi esse perspexero. 10 Dixitque Michas: Mane apud me, et esto mihi parens ac sacerdos: daboque tibi per annos singulos decem argenteos, ac vestem duplicem, et quæ ad victum sunt necessaria. 11 Acquievit, et mansit apud hominem, fuitque illi quasi unus de filiis.

He answered: I am a Levite from Bethlehem of Judah, and I am going to dwell where I shall be able, and shall have perceived it to be useful for me. 10 And Micah said: Stay with me, and be to me a father and priest: and I will give you year by year ten silver-pieces, and a double garment, and the things that are necessary for sustenance. 11 He acquiesced, and stayed with the man, and he was to him as one of the sons.

12 Implevitque Michas manum ejus, et habuit puerum sacerdotem apud se: 13 Nunc scio, dicens, quod benefaciet mihi Deus habenti Levitici generis sacerdotem.

12 And Micah filled his hand, and he had the youth as a priest with him: 13 Now I know, he said, that God will do good to me, having a priest of Levitical lineage.

18 1 In diebus illis non erat rex in Israël, et tribus Dan quærebat possessionem sibi, ut habitaret in ea: usque ad illum enim diem inter ceteras tribus sortem non acceperat. 2 Miserunt ergo filii Dan stirpis et familiæ suæ quinque viros fortissimos de Saraa et Esthaol, ut explorarent terram, et diligenter inspicerent: dixeruntque eis: Ite, et considerate terram. Qui cum pergentes venissent in montem Ephraim, et intrassent domum Michæ, requieverunt ibi: 3 et agnoscentes vocem adolescentis Levitæ, utentesque illius diversorio, dixerunt ad eum: Quis te huc adducit?

18 1 In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of Dan was seeking a possession for itself, that it might dwell in it: for up to that day it had not received a lot among the other tribes. 2 Therefore the sons of Dan sent from their stock and family five most valiant men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to explore the land and to inspect it diligently: and they said to them: Go, and consider the land. Who, when going, had come to the mountain of Ephraim, and had entered the house of Micah, rested there: 3 and recognizing the voice of the adolescent Levite, and making use of his lodging, they said to him: Who brings you here?

quid hic agis? quam ob causam huc venire voluisti? 4 Qui respondit eis: Hæc et hæc præstitit mihi Michas, et me mercede conduxit, ut sim ei sacerdos.

what are you doing here? for what cause did you wish to come here? 4 and he answered them: Micah has furnished me this and that, and has hired me for a wage, that I may be his priest.

5 Rogaverunt autem eum ut consuleret Dominum ut scire possent an prospero itinere pergerent, et res haberet effectum. 6 Qui respondit eis: Ite in pace: Dominus respicit viam vestram, et iter quo pergitis. 7 Euntes igitur quinque viri venerunt Lais: videruntque populum habitantem in ea absque ullo timore, juxta consuetudinem Sidoniorum, securum et quietum, nullo ei penitus resistente, magnarumque opum, et procul a Sidone atque a cunctis hominibus separatum.

5 They asked him moreover to consult the Lord so that they might know whether they should proceed by a prosperous journey, and whether the matter would have effect. 6 And he answered them: Go in peace: the Lord regards your way, and the journey on which you are going. 7 Therefore the five men, going, came to Lais; and they saw the people inhabiting it without any fear, according to the custom of the Sidonians, secure and quiet, with no one at all resisting it, and of great wealth, and separated far from Sidon and from all men.

8 Reversique ad fratres suos in Saraa et Esthaol, et quid egissent sciscitantibus responderunt: 9 Surgite, ascendamus ad eos: vidimus enim terram valde opulentam et uberem. Nolite negligere, nolite cessare: eamus, et possideamus eam: nullus erit labor. 10 Intrabimus ad securos, in regionem latissimam, tradetque nobis Dominus locum, in quo nullius rei est penuria eorum quæ gignuntur in terra.

8 And having returned to their brothers in Saraa and Esthaol, and to those asking what they had done, they answered: 9 Arise, let us go up to them: for we have seen the land very opulent and fertile. Do not be negligent, do not cease: let us go and possess it: there will be no labor. 10 We shall come in upon the secure, into a very broad region, and the Lord will hand over the place to us, in which there is penury of nothing of the things that are produced in the land.

11 Profecti igitur sunt de cognatione Dan, id est, de Saraa et Esthaol, sexcenti viri accincti armis bellicis, 12 ascendentesque manserunt in Cariathiarim Judæ: qui locus ex eo tempore Castrorum Dan nomen accepit, et est post tergum Cariathiarim. 13 Inde transierunt in montem Ephraim. Cumque venissent ad domum Michæ, 14 dixerunt quinque viri, qui prius missi fuerant ad considerandam terram Lais, ceteris fratribus suis: Nostis quod in domibus istis sit ephod, et theraphim, et sculptile, atque conflatile: videte quid vobis placeat.

11 Therefore they set out from the kin of Dan, that is, from Saraa and Esthaol, six hundred men girded with weapons of war, 12 and going up they stayed in Cariathiarim of Judah: which place from that time received the name Camp of Dan, and it is behind Cariathiarim. 13 Thence they crossed into Mount Ephraim. And when they had come to the house of Micah, 14 the five men who previously had been sent to reconnoiter the land of Lais said to their other brothers: You know that in these houses there is an ephod, and theraphim, and a graven image, and a molten one: see what pleases you.

15 Et cum paululum declinassent, ingressi sunt domum adolescentis Levitæ, qui erat in domo Michæ: salutaveruntque eum verbis pacificis. 16 Sexcenti autem viri ita ut erant armati, stabant ante ostium. 17 At illi, qui ingressi fuerant domum juvenis, sculptile, et ephod, et theraphim, atque conflatile tollere nitebantur, et sacerdos stabat ante ostium, sexcentis viris fortissimis haud procul expectantibus.

15 And when they had turned aside a little, they entered the house of the young Levite, who was in the house of Micah; and they greeted him with words of peace. 16 Now six hundred men, as they were, armed, were standing before the door. 17 But those who had entered the house of the youth were striving to take the carved image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest was standing before the door, with six hundred most valiant men waiting not far off.

18 Tulerunt igitur qui intraverant sculptile, ephod, et idola, atque conflatile. Quibus dixit sacerdos: Quid facitis? 19 Cui responderunt: Tace et pone digitum super os tuum: venique nobiscum, ut habeamus te patrem, ac sacerdotem.

18 Therefore those who had entered took the carved image, the ephod, and the idols, and the molten image. To whom the priest said: What are you doing? 19 To whom they answered: Be silent and put a finger upon your mouth; and come with us, that we may have you as a father and a priest.

Quid tibi melius est, ut sis sacerdos in domo unius viri, an in una tribu et familia in Israël? 20 Quod cum audisset, acquievit sermonibus eorum, et tulit ephod, et idola, ac sculptile, et profectus est cum eis. 21 Qui cum pergerent, et ante se ire fecissent parvulos ac jumenta, et omne quod erat pretiosum, 22 et jam a domo Michæ essent procul, viri qui habitabant in ædibus Michæ conclamantes secuti sunt, 23 et post tergum clamare cœperunt. Qui cum respexissent, dixerunt ad Micham: Quid tibi vis?

Which is better for you, to be a priest in the house of one man, or in one tribe and family in Israel? 20 When he heard this, he acquiesced to their words, and took the ephod, and the idols, and the graven image, and set out with them. 21 And as they were going, they made the little ones and the beasts of burden, and everything that was precious, go before them. 22 And when they were now far from the house of Micah, the men who dwelt in the house of Micah, shouting, followed after, 23 and began to cry out from behind. And when they looked back, they said to Micah: What do you want?

cur clamas? 24 Qui respondit: Deos meos, quos mihi feci, tulistis, et sacerdotem, et omnia quæ habeo, et dicitis: Quid tibi est? 25 Dixeruntque ei filii Dan: Cave ne ultra loquaris ad nos, et veniant ad te viri animo concitati, et ipse cum omni domo tua pereas.

why do you cry out? 24 He responded: My gods, which I made for myself, you have taken, and the priest, and everything that I have, and you say: What is it to you? 25 And the sons of Dan said to him: Beware lest you speak further to us, and men incited in spirit come against you, and you perish, you with all your house.

26 Et sic cœpto itinere perrexerunt. Videns autem Michas quod fortiores se essent, reversus est in domum suam.

26 And so, with the journey begun, they went on. But seeing that they were stronger than himself, Micah returned to his house.

27 Sexcenti autem viri tulerunt sacerdotem, et quæ supra diximus: veneruntque in Lais ad populum quiescentem atque securum, et percusserunt eos in ore gladii: urbemque incendio tradiderunt, 28 nullo penitus ferente præsidium, eo quod procul habitarent a Sidone, et cum nullo hominum haberent quidquam societatis ac negotii. Erat autem civitas sita in regione Rohob: quam rursum exstruentes habitaverunt in ea, 29 vocato nomine civitatis Dan, juxta vocabulum patris sui, quem genuerat Israël, quæ prius Lais dicebatur. 30 Posueruntque sibi sculptile, et Jonathan filium Gersam filii Moysi ac filios ejus sacerdotes in tribu Dan, usque ad diem captivitatis suæ. 31 Mansitque apud eos idolum Michæ omni tempore quo fuit domus Dei in Silo.

27 But the six hundred men carried off the priest, and the things which we said above; and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword, and delivered the city to the fire, 28 with no one at all bringing them aid, because they dwelt far from Sidon, and had no fellowship or business with any men. Now the city was situated in the region of Rehob, which, rebuilding anew, they inhabited; 29 and they called the name of the city Dan, according to the name of their father, whom Israel had begotten, which previously was called Laish. 30 And they set up for themselves the graven image, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons, were priests in the tribe of Dan, until the day of their captivity. 31 And the idol of Micah remained with them all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

In diebus illis non erat rex in Israël.

In those days there was no king in Israel.

19 1 Fuit quidam vir Levites habitans in latere montis Ephraim, qui accepit uxorem de Bethlehem Juda: 2 quæ reliquit eum, et reversa est in domum patris sui in Bethlehem, mansitque apud eum quatuor mensibus. 3 Secutusque est eam vir suus, volens reconciliari ei, atque blandiri, et secum reducere, habens in comitatu puerum et duos asinos: quæ suscepit eum, et introduxit in domum patris sui. Quod cum audisset socer ejus, eumque vidisset, occurrit ei lætus, 4 et amplexatus est hominem.

19 1 There was a certain man, a Levite, dwelling on the side of Mount Ephraim, who took a wife from Bethlehem of Judah: 2 who left him, and returned to the house of her father in Bethlehem, and she stayed with him for four months. 3 And her husband followed after her, wishing to be reconciled to her, and to soothe her, and to bring her back with him, having in his company a boy and two asses: and she received him, and brought him into her father’s house. When her father-in-law heard this, and saw him, he went out to meet him with joy, 4 and he embraced the man.

Mansitque gener in domo soceri tribus diebus, comedens cum eo et bibens familiariter. 5 Die autem quarto de nocte consurgens, proficisci voluit: quem tenuit socer, et ait ad eum: Gusta prius pauxillum panis, et conforta stomachum, et sic proficisceris. 6 Sederuntque simul, ac comederunt et biberunt.

And the son-in-law remained in the house of his father-in-law for three days, eating with him and drinking in a familiar way. 5 But on the fourth day, rising in the night, he wished to set out; his father-in-law held him back and said to him: Taste first a small bit of bread, and fortify your stomach, and thus you will set out. 6 And they sat together, and ate and drank.

Dixitque pater puellæ ad generum suum: Quæso te ut hodie hic maneas, pariterque lætemur. 7 At ille consurgens, cœpit velle proficisci. Et nihilominus obnixe eum socer tenuit, et apud se fecit manere.

And the father of the girl said to his son-in-law: I beseech you that today you remain here, and that we rejoice together. 7 But he, rising, began to wish to set out. And nonetheless the father-in-law held him strenuously, and made him remain with him.

8 Mane autem facto, parabat Levites iter. Cui socer rursum: Oro te, inquit, ut paululum cibi capias, et assumptis viribus donec increscat dies, postea proficiscaris. Comederunt ergo simul.

8 But when morning had come, the Levite was preparing the journey. To him the father-in-law again: “I beg you,” he said, “that you take a little bit of food, and, with strength assumed, until the day increases, afterward you should set out.” They therefore ate together.

9 Surrexitque adolescens, ut pergeret cum uxore sua et puero. Cui rursum locutus est socer: Considera quod dies ad occasum declivior sit, et propinquat ad vesperum: mane apud me etiam hodie, et duc lætum diem, et cras proficisceris ut vadas in domum tuam. 10 Noluit gener acquiescere sermonibus ejus: sed statim perrexit, et venit contra Jebus, quæ altero nomine vocatur Jerusalem, ducens secum duos asinos onustos, et concubinam.

9 And the youth rose, to proceed with his wife and the boy. To whom the father-in-law spoke again: Consider that the day is more inclined toward its setting, and draws near to evening: remain with me even today, and spend a glad day, and tomorrow you will set out that you may go to your house. 10 The son-in-law did not wish to acquiesce to his words: but immediately went on, and came opposite Jebus, which by another name is called Jerusalem, leading with him two laden asses, and the concubine.

11 Jamque erant juxta Jebus, et dies mutabatur in noctem: dixitque puer ad dominum suum: Veni, obsecro: declinemus ad urbem Jebusæorum, et maneamus in ea. 12 Cui respondit dominus: Non ingrediar oppidum gentis alienæ, quæ non est de filiis Israël: sed transibo usque Gabaa, 13 et cum illuc pervenero, manebimus in ea, aut certe in urbe Rama. 14 Transierunt ergo Jebus, et cœptum carpebant iter, occubuitque eis sol juxta Gabaa, quæ est in tribu Benjamin: 15 diverteruntque ad eam, ut manerent ibi. Quo cum intrassent, sedebant in platea civitatis, et nullus eos recipere voluit hospitio.

11 And they were already near Jebus, and the day was turning into night; and the boy said to his master: Come, I beg: let us turn aside to the city of the Jebusites, and let us stay in it. 12 To whom his master replied: I will not enter the town of an alien nation, which is not of the sons of Israel; but I will pass on as far as Gabaa, 13 and when I have come there, we will stay in it, or certainly in the city of Rama. 14 Therefore they passed by Jebus, and continued the journey they had begun, and the sun set upon them near Gabaa, which is in the tribe of Benjamin; 15 and they turned aside to it, to stay there. When they had entered it, they sat in the open square of the city, and no one was willing to receive them with hospitality.

16 Et ecce, apparuit homo senex, revertens de agro et de opere suo vesperi, qui et ipse de monte erat Ephraim, et peregrinus habitabat in Gabaa: homines autem regionis illius erant filii Jemini. 17 Elevatisque oculis, vidit senex sedentem hominem cum sarcinulis suis in platea civitatis, et dixit ad eum: Unde venis? et quo vadis?

16 And behold, there appeared an old man, returning from the field and from his work in the evening, who also was from Mount Ephraim, and as a sojourner was dwelling in Gibeah: but the men of that region were sons of Benjamin. 17 And when he lifted up his eyes, the old man saw a man sitting with his little bundles in the square of the city, and said to him: From where do you come? and where are you going?

18 Qui respondit ei: Profecti sumus de Bethlehem Juda, et pergimus ad locum nostrum, qui est in latere montis Ephraim, unde ieramus in Bethlehem: et nunc vadimus ad domum Dei, nullusque sub tectum suum nos vult recipere, 19 habentes paleas et fœnum in asinorum pabulum, et panem ac vinum in meos et ancillæ tuæ usus, et pueri qui mecum est: nulla re indigemus nisi hospitio. 20 Cui respondit senex: Pax tecum sit, ego præbebo omnia quæ necessaria sunt: tantum, quæso, ne in platea maneas. 21 Introduxitque eum in domum suam, et pabulum asinis præbuit: ac postquam laverunt pedes suos, recepit eos in convivium.

18 Who answered him: We have set out from Bethlehem of Judah, and we are proceeding to our place, which is on the side of Mount Ephraim, whence we had gone to Bethlehem: and now we are going to the house of God, and no one is willing to take us in under his roof, 19 having straw and hay for the donkeys’ fodder, and bread and wine for my use and for your handmaid’s, and for the boy who is with me: we are in need of nothing except hospitality. 20 To whom the old man replied: Peace be with you; I will furnish all things which are necessary: only, I pray, do not remain in the square. 21 And he led him into his house, and provided fodder for the donkeys: and after they had washed their feet, he received them to a banquet.

22 Illis epulantibus, et post laborem itineris cibo et potu reficientibus corpora, venerunt viri civitatis illius, filii Belial (id est, absque jugo), et circumdantes domum senis, fores pulsare cœperunt, clamantes ad dominum domus atque dicentes: Educ virum, qui ingressus est domum tuam, ut abutamur eo. 23 Egressusque est ad eos senex, et ait: Nolite, fratres, nolite facere malum hoc, quia ingressus est homo hospitium meum: et cessate ab hac stultitia. 24 Habeo filiam virginem, et hic homo habet concubinam: educam eas ad vos, ut humilietis eas, et vestram libidinem compleatis: tantum, obsecro, ne scelus hoc contra naturam operemini in virum. 25 Nolebant acquiescere sermonibus illius: quod cernens homo, eduxit ad eos concubinam suam, et eis tradidit illudendam: qua cum tota nocte abusi essent, dimiserunt eam mane.

22 While they were feasting, and after the labor of the journey were refreshing their bodies with food and drink, there came men of that city, sons of Belial (that is, without a yoke), and surrounding the house of the old man, they began to knock at the doors, shouting to the master of the house and saying: Bring out the man who has entered your house, that we may abuse him. 23 And the old man went out to them and said: Do not, brothers, do not do this evil, because the man has entered under my hospitality: and cease from this folly. 24 I have a virgin daughter, and this man has a concubine: I will bring them out to you, that you may humble them, and fulfill your lust: only, I beseech, do not work this crime against nature upon the man. 25 They were unwilling to acquiesce to his words: which perceiving, the man led out his concubine to them, and delivered her to be abused: and when they had abused her the whole night, they let her go in the morning.

26 At mulier, recedentibus tenebris, venit ad ostium domus, ubi manebat dominus suus, et ibi corruit. 27 Mane facto, surrexit homo, et aperuit ostium, ut cœptam expleret viam: et ecce concubina ejus jacebat ante ostium sparsis in limine manibus. 28 Cui ille, putans eam quiescere, loquebatur: Surge, et ambulemus.

26 But the woman, as the darkness was receding, came to the door of the house where her master was staying, and there she collapsed. 27 When morning had come, the man rose and opened the door to complete the journey he had begun: and behold, his concubine was lying before the door, her hands spread on the threshold. 28 To her he, thinking her to be resting, spoke: Rise, and let us go.

Qua nihil respondente, intelligens quod erat mortua, tulit eam, et imposuit asino, reversusque est in domum suam. 29 Quam cum esset ingressus, arripuit gladium, et cadaver uxoris cum ossibus suis in duodecim partes ac frustra concidens, misit in omnes terminos Israël. 30 Quod cum vidissent singuli, conclamabant: Numquam res talis facta est in Israël, ex eo die quo ascenderunt patres nostri de Ægypto usque in præsens tempus: ferte sententiam, et in commune decernite quid facto opus sit. 20 1 Egressi itaque sunt omnes filii Israël, et pariter congregati, quasi vir unus, de Dan usque Bersabee, et terra Galaad, ad Dominum in Maspha.

As she answering nothing, understanding that she was dead, he took her and set her upon an ass, and returned into his house. 29 And when he had entered his house, he seized a sword, and, cutting the cadaver of his wife, with her bones, into twelve parts, limb by limb, he sent them into all the borders of Israel. 30 Which when each saw, they cried aloud: Never has such a thing been done in Israel, from the day on which our fathers went up from Egypt unto the present time: bring your sentence, and determine in common what needs to be done. 20 1 Therefore all the sons of Israel went out, and were assembled together, as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, and the land of Gilead, to the Lord in Mizpah.

2 Omnesque anguli populorum, et cunctæ tribus Israël in ecclesiam populi Dei convenerunt, quadringenta millia peditum pugnatorum. 3 (Nec latuit filios Benjamin quod ascendissent filii Israël in Maspha.) Interrogatusque Levita, maritus mulieris interfectæ, quomodo tantum scelus perpetratum esset, 4 respondit: Veni in Gabaa Benjamin cum uxore mea, illucque diverti: 5 et ecce homines civitatis illius circumdederunt nocte domum in qua manebam, volentes me occidere, et uxorem meam incredibili furore libidinis vexantes, denique mortua est. 6 Quam arreptam, in frustra concidi, misique partes in omnes terminos possessionis vestræ: quia numquam tantum nefas, et tam grande piaculum, factum est in Israël. 7 Adestis, omnes filii Israël: decernite quid facere debeatis.

2 And all the chiefs of the peoples, and all the tribes of Israël, came together into the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 fighting infantry. 3 (Nor was it hidden from the sons of Benjamin that the sons of Israël had gone up to Maspha.) And the Levite, the husband of the woman who had been killed, when asked how so great a crime had been perpetrated, 4 answered: I came into Gabaa of Benjamin with my wife, and I turned aside there to lodge: 5 and behold, the men of that city surrounded by night the house in which I was staying, wanting to kill me, and, harassing my wife with an incredible fury of lust, in the end she died. 6 Whom I took up, I cut into pieces, and I sent the parts into all the borders of your possession: because never has so great a nefarious deed, and so great a piacular offense, been done in Israël. 7 You are present, all sons of Israël: decide what you ought to do.

8 Stansque omnis populus, quasi unius hominis sermone respondit: Non recedemus in tabernacula nostra, nec suam quisquam intrabit domum: 9 sed hoc contra Gabaa in commune faciamus. 10 Decem viri eligantur e centum ex omnibus tribubus Israël, et centum de mille, et mille de decem millibus, ut comportent exercitui cibaria, et possimus pugnare contra Gabaa Benjamin, et reddere ei pro scelere, quod meretur. 11 Convenitque universus Israël ad civitatem, quasi homo unus eadem mente, unoque consilio.

8 And all the people, standing, answered as by the speech of one man: We will not withdraw into our tabernacles, nor shall anyone enter his own house: 9 but this let us do against Gibeah in common. 10 Let ten men be chosen out of a hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to carry provisions for the army, so that we may be able to fight against Gibeah of Benjamin, and render to it, for the crime, what it deserves. 11 And all Israel came together to the city, as one man, with the same mind and with one counsel.

12 Et miserunt nuntios ad omnem tribum Benjamin, qui dicerent: Cur tantum nefas in vobis repertum est? 13 Tradite homines de Gabaa, qui hoc flagitium perpetrarunt, ut moriantur, et auferatur malum de Israël. Qui noluerunt fratrum suorum filiorum Israël audire mandatum: 14 sed ex cunctis urbibus, quæ sortis suæ erant, convenerunt in Gabaa, ut illis ferrent auxilium, et contra universum populum Israël dimicarent. 15 Inventique sunt viginti quinque millia de Benjamin educentium gladium, præter habitatores Gabaa, 16 qui septingenti erant viri fortissimi, ita sinistra ut dextra præliantes: et sic fundis lapides ad certum jacientes, ut capillum quoque possent percutere, et nequaquam in alteram partem ictus lapidis deferretur.

12 And they sent envoys to the whole tribe of Benjamin, to say: Why has such a nefarious deed been found among you? 13 Hand over the men of Gabaa who perpetrated this flagitious crime, that they may die, and let the evil be taken away from Israel. But they were unwilling to heed the command of their brothers, the sons of Israel: 14 rather, from all the cities that were of their lot, they gathered at Gabaa to bring them aid, and to fight against the whole people of Israel. 15 And there were found twenty-five thousand of Benjamin drawing the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gabaa, 16 who were seven hundred most valiant men, as skillful with the left as with the right in fighting: and thus with slings casting stones at a sure mark, such that they could even strike a hair, and the blow of the stone was by no means deflected to the other side.

17 Virorum quoque Israël, absque filiis Benjamin, inventa sunt quadringenta millia educentium gladium, et paratorum ad pugnam.

17 Of the men also of Israel, apart from the sons of Benjamin, there were found 400,000 drawing the sword and prepared for battle.

18 Qui surgentes venerunt in domum Dei, hoc est, in Silo: consulueruntque Deum, atque dixerunt: Quis erit in exercitu nostro princeps certaminis contra filios Benjamin? Quibus respondit Dominus: Judas sit dux vester. 19 Statimque filii Israël surgentes mane, castrametati sunt juxta Gabaa: 20 et inde procedentes ad pugnam contra Benjamin, urbem oppugnare cœperunt.

18 Who, arising, came into the House of God, that is, in Shiloh: and they consulted God, and said: Who shall be in our army the leader of the combat against the sons of Benjamin? To whom the Lord responded: Judah shall be your leader. 19 And immediately the sons of Israel, rising in the morning, encamped near Gibeah: 20 and from there, proceeding to the battle against Benjamin, they began to assault the city.

21 Egressique filii Benjamin de Gabaa, occiderunt de filiis Israël die illo viginti duo millia virorum. 22 Rursum filii Israël et fortitudine et numero confidentes, in eodem loco in quo prius certaverant, aciem direxerunt: 23 ita tamen ut prius ascenderent et flerent coram Domino usque ad noctem, consulerentque eum, et dicerent: Debeo ultra procedere ad dimicandum contra filios Benjamin fratres meos, an non? Quibus ille respondit: Ascendite ad eos, et inite certamen.

21 And the sons of Benjamin, having gone out from Gabaa, struck down of the sons of Israel on that day twenty-two thousand men. 22 Again the sons of Israel, confident both in fortitude and in number, in the same place in which they had previously contended, drew up their battle-line: 23 yet so that first they went up and wept before the Lord until night, and they consulted him, and said: Ought I to proceed further to fight against the sons of Benjamin, my brothers, or not? To whom he replied: Go up against them, and enter the contest.

24 Cumque filii Israël altera die contra filios Benjamin ad prælium processissent, 25 eruperunt filii Benjamin de portis Gabaa: et occurrentes eis tanta in illos cæde bacchati sunt, ut decem et octo millia virorum educentium gladium prosternerent.

24 And when the sons of Israel on the second day had advanced to battle against the sons of Benjamin, 25 the sons of Benjamin burst out from the gates of Gabaa: and, meeting them, they raged in such slaughter against them that they laid low eighteen thousand men drawing the sword.

26 Quam ob rem omnes filii Israël venerunt in domum Dei, et sedentes flebant coram Domino: jejunaveruntque die illo usque ad vesperam, et obtulerunt ei holocausta, atque pacificas victimas, 27 et super statu suo interrogaverunt. Eo tempore ibi erat arca fœderis Dei, 28 et Phinees filius Eleazari filii Aaron præpositus domus. Consuluerunt igitur Dominum, atque dixerunt: Exire ultra debemus ad pugnam contra filios Benjamin fratres nostros, an quiescere?

26 For which cause all the sons of Israel came into the house of God, and sitting they were weeping before the Lord; and they fasted that day until evening, and offered to him holocausts and peace-offerings, 27 and they inquired concerning their situation. At that time the ark of the covenant of God was there, 28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was set over the house. Therefore they consulted the Lord and said: Ought we to go out further to fight against the sons of Benjamin our brothers, or to be at rest?

Quibus ait Dominus: Ascendite: cras enim tradam eos in manus vestras. 29 Posueruntque filii Israël insidias per circuitum urbis Gabaa: 30 et tertia vice, sicut semel et bis, contra Benjamin exercitum produxerunt. 31 Sed et filii Benjamin audacter eruperunt de civitate, et fugientes adversarios longius persecuti sunt, ita ut vulnerarent ex eis sicut primo die et secundo, et cæderent per duas semitas vertentes terga, quarum una ferebatur in Bethel et altera in Gabaa, atque prosternerent triginta circiter viros: 32 putaverunt enim solito eos more cedere.

To whom the Lord said: Go up: for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hands. 29 And the sons of Israel set ambushes around the circuit of the city of Gibeah: 30 and for the third time, as once and twice, they drew out the army against Benjamin. 31 But the sons of Benjamin also boldly burst out from the city, and, pursuing their adversaries who were fleeing farther, they wounded some of them as on the first day and the second, and struck down along two byroads those turning their backs, one of which led to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and they laid low about thirty men: 32 for they supposed that they were yielding in their accustomed manner.

Qui fugam arte simulantes inierunt consilium ut abstraherent eos de civitate, et quasi fugientes ad supradictas semitas perducerent. 33 Omnes itaque filii Israël surgentes de sedibus suis, tetenderunt aciem in loco qui vocatur Baalthamar. Insidiæ quoque, quæ circa urbem erant, paulatim se aperire cœperunt, 34 et ab occidentali urbis parte procedere.

Those who, feigning flight by artifice, entered into a plan to draw them away from the city, and, as if fleeing, to lead them along the aforesaid paths. 33 Therefore all the sons of Israël, rising from their seats, drew up the battle-line in the place which is called Baalthamar. The ambush-parties too, which were around the city, little by little began to reveal themselves, 34 and to advance from the western part of the city.

Sed et alia decem millia virorum de universo Israël, habitatores urbis ad certamina provocabant. Ingravatumque est bellum contra filios Benjamin: et non intellexerunt quod ex omni parte illis instaret interitus. 35 Percussitque eos Dominus in conspectu filiorum Israël, et interfecerunt ex eis in illo die viginti quinque millia, et centum viros, omnes bellatores et educentes gladium.

But also another 10,000 men out of all Israel were provoking the inhabitants of the city to combat. And the war grew heavier against the sons of Benjamin, and they did not understand that destruction was pressing upon them from every side. 35 And the Lord struck them in the sight of the sons of Israel, and they killed 25,100 of them on that day, all warriors and drawing the sword.

36 Filii autem Benjamin cum se inferiores esse vidissent, cœperunt fugere. Quod cernentes filii Israël, dederunt eis ad fugiendum locum, ut ad præparatas insidias devenirent, quas juxta urbem posuerant. 37 Qui cum repente de latibulis surrexissent, et Benjamin terga cædentibus daret, ingressi sunt civitatem, et percusserunt eam in ore gladii.

36 But the sons of Benjamin, when they saw themselves to be the weaker, began to flee. Seeing this, the sons of Israel gave them room for fleeing, so that they might fall into the prepared ambushes, which they had set near the city. 37 And when these had suddenly risen from their hiding places, and Benjamin was turning their backs to those striking them, they entered the city and struck it with the edge of the sword.

38 Signum autem dederant filii Israël his quos in insidiis collocaverant, ut postquam urbem cepissent, ignem accenderent: ut ascendente in altum fumo, captam urbem demonstrarent. 39 Quod cum cernerent filii Israël in ipso certamine positi (putaverunt enim filii Benjamin eos fugere, et instantius persequebantur, cæsis de exercitu eorum triginta viris), 40 et viderent quasi columnam fumi de civitate conscendere: Benjamin quoque aspiciens retro, cum captam cerneret civitatem, et flammas in sublime ferri: 41 qui prius simulaverant fugam, versa facie fortius resistebant. Quod cum vidissent filii Benjamin, in fugam versi sunt, 42 et ad viam deserti ire cœperunt, illuc quoque eos adversariis persequentibus: sed et hi qui urbem succenderant, occurrerunt eis.

38 But the sons of Israel had given a sign to those whom they had stationed in ambush, that after they had taken the city, they should kindle fire: so that, as the smoke rose aloft, they might demonstrate the city as captured. 39 Which, when the sons of Israel beheld while positioned in the very combat (for the sons of Benjamin thought them to be fleeing, and were pursuing more insistently, with thirty men of their army cut down), 40 and when they saw, as it were, a column of smoke go up from the city: Benjamin also, looking back, when he perceived the city captured, and the flames being borne on high: 41 they who had previously simulated flight, with face turned, resisted more strongly. Which when the sons of Benjamin had seen, they were turned to flight, 42 and began to go toward the road of the desert, with the adversaries pursuing them there also: but even those who had set the city on fire ran to meet them.

43 Atque ita factum est, ut ex utraque parte ab hostibus cæderentur, nec erat ulla requies morientium. Ceciderunt, atque prostrati sunt ad orientalem plagam urbis Gabaa. 44 Fuerunt autem qui in eodem loco interfecti sunt, decem et octo millia virorum, omnes robustissimi pugnatores.

43 And thus it came to pass that from both sides they were cut down by the enemies, nor was there any respite for the dying. They fell, and were laid low on the eastern quarter of the city of Gibeah. 44 But those who in the same place were slain were eighteen thousand men, all most robust combatants.

45 Quod cum vidissent qui remanserant de Benjamin, fugerunt in solitudinem: et pergebant ad petram, cujus vocabulum est Remmon. In illa quoque fuga palantes, et in diversa tendentes, occiderunt quinque millia virorum. Et cum ultra tenderent, persecuti sunt eos, et interfecerunt etiam alia duo millia.

45 When those who had remained of Benjamin saw this, they fled into the wilderness; and they kept going to the rock whose name is Remmon. In that flight, too, straggling and heading in different directions, they killed five thousand men. And as they went farther, they pursued them and killed also another two thousand.

46 Et sic factum est, ut omnes qui ceciderant de Benjamin in diversis locis essent viginti quinque millia pugnatores ad bella promptissimi. 47 Remanserunt itaque de omni numero Benjamin, qui evadere et fugere in solitudinem potuerunt, sexcenti viri: sederuntque in petra Remmon mensibus quatuor. 48 Regressi autem filii Israël, omnes reliquias civitatis a viris usque ad jumenta gladio percusserunt, cunctasque urbes et viculos Benjamin vorax flamma consumpsit.

46 And thus it came to pass that all who had fallen of Benjamin in diverse places were twenty-five thousand fighters, most prompt for wars. 47 There remained therefore, of the whole number of Benjamin, those who could escape and flee into the wilderness, six hundred men; and they sat on the Rock Remmon for four months. 48 But the sons of Israel, returning, smote with the sword all the remnants of the city, from men even to beasts of burden, and the voracious flame consumed all the cities and hamlets of Benjamin.

21 1 Juraverunt quoque filii Israël in Maspha, et dixerunt: Nullus nostrum dabit filiis Benjamin de filiabus suis uxorem. 2 Veneruntque omnes ad domum Dei in Silo, et in conspectu ejus sedentes usque ad vesperam, levaverunt vocem, et magno ululatu cœperunt flere, dicentes: 3 Quare, Domine Deus Israël, factum est hoc malum in populo tuo, ut hodie una tribus auferretur ex nobis? 4 Altera autem die diluculo consurgentes, exstruxerunt altare: obtuleruntque ibi holocausta, et pacificas victimas, et dixerunt: 5 Quis non ascendit in exercitu Domini de universis tribubus Israël? grandi enim juramento se constrinxerant, cum essent in Maspha, interfici eos qui defuissent.

21 1 The sons of Israel also swore in Maspha, and said: None of us will give to the sons of Benjamin a wife from his own daughters. 2 And all came to the house of God in Silo, and, sitting in his sight until evening, they lifted up their voice and began to weep with great ululation, saying: 3 Why, Lord God of Israel, has this evil been done among your people, that today one tribe should be taken away from us? 4 But on the next day, rising at daybreak, they built an altar: and they offered there holocausts and peace-victims, and said: 5 Who did not go up in the host of the Lord from all the tribes of Israel? for they had bound themselves with a grand oath, when they were in Maspha, to put to death those who had failed.

6 Ductique pœnitentia filii Israël super fratre suo Benjamin, cœperunt dicere: Ablata est tribus una de Israël: 7 unde uxores accipient? omnes enim in commune juravimus, non daturos nos his filias nostras. 8 Idcirco dixerunt: Quis est de universis tribubus Israël, qui non ascendit ad Dominum in Maspha?

6 And the sons of Israel, led by penitence on account of their brother Benjamin, began to say: One tribe has been taken away from Israel: 7 whence will they receive wives? for we have all sworn in common that we would not give our daughters to them. 8 Therefore they said: Who is there of all the tribes of Israel who has not gone up to the Lord in Maspha?

Et ecce inventi sunt habitatores Jabes Galaad in illo exercitu non fuisse. 9 (Eo quoque tempore cum essent in Silo, nullus ex eis ibi repertus est.)

And behold, the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead were found not to have been in that army. 9 (At that time also, when they were in Shiloh, none of them was found there.)

10 Miserunt itaque decem millia viros robustissimos, et præceperunt eis: Ite, et percutite habitatores Jabes Galaad in ore gladii, tam uxores quam parvulos eorum. 11 Et hoc erit quod observare debebitis: omne generis masculini, et mulieres quæ cognoverunt viros, interficite ; virgines autem reservate. 12 Inventæque sunt de Jabes Galaad quadringentæ virgines, quæ nescierunt viri thorum: et adduxerunt eas ad castra in Silo, in terram Chanaan.

10 Therefore they sent ten thousand most robust men, and commanded them: Go, and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead by the edge of the sword, both the wives and their little ones. 11 And this will be what you must observe: every one of the male sex, and the women who have known men, kill ; but reserve the virgins. 12 And there were found from Jabesh Gilead four hundred virgins, who had not known the bed of a man: and they brought them to the camp in Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.

13 Miseruntque nuntios ad filios Benjamin, qui erant in petra Remmon, et præceperunt eis, ut eos susciperent in pace. 14 Veneruntque filii Benjamin in illo tempore, et datæ sunt eis uxores de filiabus Jabes Galaad: alias autem non repererunt, quas simili modo traderent. 15 Universusque Israël valde doluit, et egit pœnitentiam super interfectione unius tribus ex Israël.

13 And they sent messengers to the sons of Benjamin, who were in the rock of Rimmon, and commanded them to receive them in peace. 14 And the sons of Benjamin came at that time, and wives were given to them from the daughters of Jabesh-gilead; but they did not find others whom they might hand over in like manner. 15 And all Israel grieved greatly, and did penance over the slaying of one tribe out of Israel.

16 Dixeruntque majores natu: Quid faciemus reliquis, qui non acceperunt uxores? omnes in Benjamin feminæ conciderunt, 17 et magna nobis cura, ingentique studio providendum est, ne una tribus deleatur ex Israël. 18 Filias enim nostras eis dare non possumus, constricti juramento et maledictione qua diximus: Maledictus qui dederit de filiabus suis uxorem Benjamin. 19 Ceperuntque consilium, atque dixerunt: Ecce solemnitas Domini est in Silo anniversaria, quæ sita est ad septentrionem urbis Bethel, et ad orientalem plagam viæ, quæ de Bethel tendit ad Sichimam, et ad meridiem oppidi Lebona.

16 And the elders said: What shall we do for the rest who have not taken wives? all the women in Benjamin have fallen, 17 and with great care and with immense zeal we must make provision, lest one tribe be wiped out from Israel. 18 For we are not able to give them our daughters, being bound by the oath and the malediction with which we said: Cursed be he who gives from his daughters a wife to Benjamin. 19 And they took counsel, and said: Behold, the annual solemnity of the Lord is in Shiloh, which is situated to the north of the city of Bethel, and on the eastern side of the road that leads from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of the township of Lebonah.

20 Præceperuntque filiis Benjamin, atque dixerunt: Ite, et latitate in vineis. 21 Cumque videritis filias Silo ad ducendos choros ex more procedere, exite repente de vineis, et rapite ex eis singuli uxores singulas, et pergite in terram Benjamin. 22 Cumque venerint patres earum, ac fratres, et adversum vos queri cœperint atque jurgari, dicemus eis: Miseremini eorum: non enim rapuerunt eas jure bellantium atque victorum: sed rogantibus ut acciperent, non dedistis, et a vestra parte peccatum est.

And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, and said: Go, and lie hidden in the vineyards. And when you see the daughters of Shiloh proceeding, according to custom, to lead the choruses, come out suddenly from the vineyards, and seize from them, each man, a wife apiece, and go to the land of Benjamin. And when their fathers and brothers come and begin to complain against you and to quarrel, we will say to them: Have mercy on them; for they did not seize them by the right of warriors and victors; but to those who asked to take them you did not give, and the fault is on your side.

23 Feceruntque filii Benjamin ut sibi fuerat imperatum: et juxta numerum suum, rapuerunt sibi de his quæ ducebant choros, uxores singulas: abieruntque in possessionem suam ædificantes urbes, et habitantes in eis. 24 Filii quoque Israël reversi sunt per tribus et familias in tabernacula sua. In diebus illis non erat rex in Israël: sed unusquisque quod sibi rectum videbatur, hoc faciebat.

23 And the sons of Benjamin did as it had been commanded to them: and according to their number, they seized for themselves from those who were leading the choruses, each man a single wife: and they went away to their possession, building cities and dwelling in them. 24 The sons also of Israel returned by tribes and by families to their tabernacles. In those days there was no king in Israel: but each man was doing what seemed right to himself.