1 At that time, there was a Gileadite, Jephthah, a very strong man and a fighter, the son of a kept woman, and he was born of Gilead.
2 Now Gilead had a wife, from whom he received sons. And they, after growing up, cast out Jephthah, saying, “You cannot inherit in the house of our father, because you were born of another mother.”
3 And so, fleeing and avoiding them, he lived in the land of Tob. And men who were indigent and robbers joined with him, and they followed him as their leader.
4 In those days, the sons of Ammon fought against Israel.
5 And being steadfastly attacked, the elders of Gilead traveled so that they might obtain for their assistance Jephthah, from the land of Tob.
6 And they said to him, “Come and be our leader, and fight against the sons of Ammon.”
7 But he answered them: “Are you not the ones who hated me, and who cast me out of my father’s house? And yet now you come to me, compelled by necessity?”
8 And the leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “But it is due to this necessity that we have approached you now, so that you may set out with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon, and be commander over all who live in Gilead.”
9 Jephthah also said to them: “If you have come to me so that I may fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and if the Lord will deliver them into my hands, will I truly be your leader?”
10 They answered him, “The Lord who hears these things is himself the Mediator and the Witness that we shall do what we have promised.”
11 And so Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead, and all the people made him their leader. And Jephthah spoke all his words, in the sight of the Lord, at Mizpah.
12 And he sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, who said on his behalf, “What is there between you and me, that you would approach against me, so that you might lay waste to my land?”
13 And he responded to them, “It is because Israel took my land, when he ascended from Egypt, from the parts of Arnon, as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan. Now therefore, restore these to me with peace.”
14 And Jephthah again commissioned them, and he ordered them to say to the king of Ammon:
15 Jephtha says this: Israel did not take the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon.
16 But when they ascended together from Egypt, he walked through the desert as far as the Red Sea, and he went into Kadesh.
17 And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Permit me to pass through your land.’ But he was not willing to agree to his petition. Likewise, he sent to the king of Moab, who also refused to offer him passage. And so he delayed in Kadesh,
18 and he circled around the side of the land of Edom and the land of Moab. And he arrived opposite the eastern region of the land of Moab. And he made camp across the Arnon. But he was not willing to enter the borders of Moab. (Of course, Arnon is the border of the land of Moab.)
19 And so Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who was living at Heshbon. And they said to him, “Permit me to cross through your land as far as the river.”
20 But he, too, despising the words of Israel, would not permit him to cross through his borders. Instead, gathering an innumerable multitude, he went out against him at Jahaz, and he resisted strongly.
21 But the Lord delivered him, with his entire army, into the hands of Israel. And he struck him down, and he possessed all the land of the Amorite, the inhabitant of that region,
22 with all its parts, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan.
23 Therefore, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who overthrew the Amorites, by means of his people Israel fighting against them. And now you wish to possess his land?
24 Are not the things that your god Chemosh possesses owed to you by right? And so, what the Lord our God has obtained by victory falls to us as a possession.
25 Or are you, perhaps, better than Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Or are you able to explain what his argument was against Israel, and why he fought against him?
26 And though he has lived in Heshbon, and its villages, and in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan for three hundred years, why have you, for such long a time, put forward nothing about this claim?
27 Therefore, I am not sinning against you, but you are doing evil against me, by declaring an unjust war against me. May the Lord be the Judge and the Arbiter this day, between Israel and the sons of Ammon.”
28 But the king of the sons of Ammon was not willing to agree to the words of Jephthah that he commissioned by the messengers.
29 Therefore, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon Jephthah, and circling around Gilead, and Manasseh, and also Mizpah of Gilead, and crossing from there to the sons of Ammon,
30 he made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you will deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands,
31 whoever will be the first to depart from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, the same will I offer as a holocaust to the Lord.”
32 And Jephthah crossed to the sons of Ammon, so that he might fight against them. And the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 And he struck them down from Aroer, as far as the entrance to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel, which is covered with vineyards, in an exceedingly great slaughter. And the sons of Ammon were humbled by the sons of Israel.
34 But when Jephthah returned to Mizpah, to his own house, his only daughter met him with timbrels and dances. For he had no other children.
35 And upon seeing her, he tore his garments, and he said: “Alas, my daughter! You have cheated me, and you yourself have been cheated. For I opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do nothing else.”
36 And she answered him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me whatever you have promised, since victory has been granted to you, as well as vengeance against your enemies.”
37 And she said to her father: “Grant to me this one thing, which I request. Permit me, that I may wander the hillsides for two months, and that I may mourn my virginity with my companions.”
38 And he answered her, “Go.” And he released her for two months. And when she had departed with her friends and companions, she wept over her virginity in the hillsides.
39 And when the two months expired, she returned to her father, and he did to her just as he had vowed, though she knew no man. From this, the custom grew up in Israel, and the practice has been preserved,
40 such that, after each year passes, the daughters of Israel convene as one, and they lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, for four days.
1 And behold, a sedition rose up in Ephraim. Then, while passing by toward the north, they said to Jephthah: “When you were going to fight against the sons of Ammon, why were you unwilling to summon us, so that we might go with you? Therefore, we will burn down your house.”
2 And he answered them: “I and my people were in a great conflict against the sons of Ammon. And I called you, so that you might offer assistance to me. And you were not willing to do so.
3 And discerning this, I put my life in my own hands, and I crossed to the sons of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hands. What am I guilty of, that you would rise up in battle against me?”
4 And so, calling to himself all the men of Gilead, he fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck down Ephraim, because he had said, “Gilead is a fugitive from Ephraim, and he lives in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.”
5 And the Gileadites occupied the fords of the Jordan, along which Ephraim was to return. And when anyone from the number of Ephraim had arrived, fleeing, and had said, “I beg that you permit me to pass,” the Gileadites would say to him, “Could you be an Ephraimite?” And if he said, “I am not,”
6 they would ask him, then say ‘Shibboleth,’ which is translated as ‘ear of grain.’ But he would answer ‘Sibboleth,’ not being able to express the word for an ear of grain in the same letters. And immediately apprehending him, they would cut his throat, at the same crossing point of the Jordan. And in that time of Ephraim, forty-two thousand fell.
7 And so Jephthah, the Gileadite, judged Israel for six years. And he died, and he was buried in his city in Gilead.
8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
9 He had thirty sons, and the same number of daughters, whom he sent away to be given to husbands. And he accepted wives for his sons of the same number, bringing them into his house. And he judged Israel for seven years.
10 And he died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.
11 After him succeeded Elon, a Zebulunite. And he judged Israel for ten years.
12 And he died, and he was buried in Zebulun.
13 After him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel.
14 And he had forty sons, and from them thirty grandsons, all riding upon seventy young donkeys. And he judged Israel for eight years.
15 And he died, and he was buried at Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, on the mountain of Amalek.
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11 And now, O Lord God of Israel, who has led your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders, and with your great power, and with an exalted arm, and has made a name for yourself, just as on this day,
12 we have sinned, we become impious, we have acted unjustly, O Lord our God, against all your principles.
13 May your wrath be turned away from us because, having been forsaken, we are few among the irreligious where you have scattered us.
14 Heed, O Lord, our petitions and our prayers, and deliver us for your own sake, and grant that we may find favor before the face of those who have led us away,
15 so that all the earth may know that you are the Lord our God, and because your name has been invoked over Israel and over his posterity.
16 Gaze upon us, O Lord, from your holy home, and incline your ear, and heed us.
17 Open your eyes and see, because the dead, who are in the underworld, whose spirit has been taken away from their vital organs, will not give honor and justification to the Lord.
18 But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil, approaches bowed down and weak, and the failing eyes and the hungering soul give glory and justice to you, the Lord.
19 For it is not according to the righteousness of our fathers that we pour out our petitions and beg mercy in your sight, O Lord our God,
20 but because you have sent your wrath and your fury upon us, just as you have spoken by the hand of your children the prophets, saying:
21 Thus says the Lord, ‘Bow down your shoulder and your neck, and do work for the king of Babylon, and settle in the land which I gave to your fathers,
22 because, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Babylon, I will cause you to depart from the cities of Judah and from the gates of Jerusalem.
23 And I will take away from you the voice of cheerfulness and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and all the land will be without any trace of its inhabitants.’ “
24 And they did not listen to your voice, that they should serve the king of Babylon, and so you have fulfilled your words, which you spoke by the hands of your children the prophets, so that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be carried away from their place.
25 And, behold, they have been cast out into the heat of the sun and the frost of the night, and they have died by means of grievous evils, by famine, and by the sword, and by banishment.
26 And you have set up the temple, in which your name itself was called upon, just as it is on this day, because of the iniquity of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
27 And you have accomplished in us, O Lord our God, according to all your goodness and according to all your great mercy,
28 just as you spoke by the hand of your child Moses, in the day when you commanded him to write your law before the sons of Israel,
29 saying: “If you will not listen to my voice, this great multitude will be changed into the least among the peoples, where I will scatter them.
30 For I know that the people will not listen to me, for the people are stiff necked. But they will have a change of their heart in the land of their captivity,
31 and they will know that I am the Lord their God. And I will give them a heart, and they will understand, ears, and they will hear.
32 And they will praise me in the land of their captivity, and will remember my name.
33 And they will turn themselves away from their stiff back, and from their wicked deeds, for they will call to mind the way of their fathers, who sinned against me.
34 And I will restore them to the land which I pledged to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they will rule over it, and I will multiply them, and they will not be diminished.
35 And I will establish for them a new and everlasting covenant, so that I will be their God and they will be my people. And I will no longer move my people, the sons of Israel, out of the land which I have given them.”
1 Unto the end, a canticle of a psalm of the resurrection. Shout with joy to God, all the earth,
2 Sing ye a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise.
3 Say unto God, How terrible are thy works, O Lord! in the multitude of thy strength thy enemies shall lie to thee.
4 Let all the earth adore thee, and sing to thee: let it sing a psalm to thy name.
5 Come and see the works of God; who is terrible in his counsels over the sons of men.
6 Who turneth the sea into dry land, in the river they shall pass on foot: there shall we rejoice in him.
7 Who by his power ruleth for ever: his eyes behold the nations; let not them that provoke him he exalted in themselves.
8 O bless our God, ye Gentiles: and make the voice of his praise to be heard.
1 After these things, there was a feast day of the Jews, and so Jesus ascended to Jerusalem.
2 Now at Jerusalem is the Pool of Evidence, which in Hebrew is known as the Place of Mercy; it has five porticos.
3 Along these lay a great multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the withered, waiting for the movement of the water.
4 Now at times an Angel of the Lord would descend into the pool, and so the water was moved. And whoever descended first into the pool, after the motion of the water, he was healed of whatever infirmity held him.
5 And there was a certain man in that place, having been in his infirmity for thirty-eight years.
6 Then, when Jesus had seen him reclining, and when he realized that he had been afflicted for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7 The invalid answered him: “Lord, I do not have any man to put me in the pool, when the water has been stirred. For as I am going, another descends ahead of me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your stretcher, and walk.”
9 And immediately the man was healed. And he took up his stretcher and walked. Now this day was the Sabbath.
10 Therefore, the Jews said to the one who had been healed: “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to take up your stretcher.”
11 He answered them, “The one who healed me, he said to me, ‘Take up your stretcher and walk.’ “
12 Therefore, they questioned him, “Who is that man, who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk?’ “
13 But the one who had been given health did not know who it was. For Jesus had turned aside from the crowd gathered in that place.
14 Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple, and he said to him: “Behold, you have been healed. Do not choose to sin further, otherwise something worse may happen to you.”
15 This man went away, and he reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had given him health.
16 Because of this, the Jews were persecuting Jesus, for he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus answered them, “Even now, my Father is working, and I am working.”
18 And so, because of this, the Jews were seeking to kill him even more so. For not only did he break the Sabbath, but he even said that God was his Father, making himself equal to God.
19 Then Jesus responded and said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son is not able to do anything of himself, but only what he has seen the Father doing. For whatever he does, even this does the Son do, similarly.
20 For the Father loves the Son, and he shows him all that he himself does. And greater works than these will he show him, so much so that you shall wonder.
21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wills.
22 For the Father does not judge anyone. But he has given all judgment to the Son,
23 so that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him.
24 Amen, amen, I say to you, that whoever hears my word, and believes in him who sent me, has eternal life, and he does not go into judgment, but instead he crosses from death into life.
25 Amen, amen, I say to you, that the hour is coming, and it is now, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear it shall live.
26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so also has he granted to the Son to have life in himself.
27 And he has given him the authority to accomplish judgment. For he is the Son of man.
28 Do not be amazed at this. For the hour is coming in which all who are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
29 And those who have done good shall go forth to the resurrection of life. Yet truly, those who have done evil shall go to the resurrection of judgment.
30 I am not able to do anything of myself. As I hear, so do I judge. And my judgment is just. For I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
