士師記11:1-40

11:1 基列人耶弗他是個大能的勇士，是妓女的兒子。耶弗他是基列所生的。
11:2 基列的妻也生了幾個兒子：他妻所生的兒子長大了，就趕逐耶弗他，說：「你不可在我們父家承受產業，因為你是妓女的兒子。」
11:3 耶弗他就逃避他的弟兄，去住在陀伯地，有些匪徒到他那裡聚集，與他一同出入。
11:4 過了些日子，亞捫人攻打以色列。
11:5 亞捫人攻打以色列的時候，基列的長老到陀伯地去，要叫耶弗他回來；
11:6 對耶弗他說：「請你來作我們的元帥，我們好與亞捫人爭戰。」
11:7 耶弗他回答基列的長老說：「從前你們不是恨我、趕逐我出離父家嗎？現在你們遭遇急難為何到我這裡來呢？」
11:8 基列的長老回答耶弗他說：「現在我們到你這裡來，是要你同我們去，與亞捫人爭戰；你可以作基列一切居民的領袖。」
11:9 耶弗他對基列的長老說：「你們叫我回去，與亞捫人爭戰，耶和華把他交給我，我可以作你們的領袖嗎？」
11:10 基列的長老回答耶弗他說：「有耶和華在你我中間作見證，我們必定照你的話行。」
11:11 於是耶弗他同基列的長老回去，百姓就立耶弗他作領袖、作元帥。耶弗他在米斯巴將自己的一切話陳明在耶和華面前。
11:12 耶弗他打發使者去見亞捫人的王，說：「你與我有甚麼相干，竟來到我國中攻打我呢？」
11:13 亞捫人的王回答耶弗他的使者說：「因為以色列人從埃及上來的時候佔據我的地，從亞嫩河到雅博河，直到約旦河。現在你要好好地將這地歸還吧！」
11:14 耶弗他又打發使者去見亞捫人的王，
11:15 對他說：「耶弗他如此說，以色列人並沒有佔據摩押地和亞捫人的地。
11:16 以色列人從埃及上來乃是經過曠野到紅海，來到加低斯，
11:17 就打發使者去見以東王，說：『求你容我從你的地經過。』以東王卻不應允。又照樣打發使者去見摩押王，他也不允准。以色列人就住在加低斯。
11:18 他們又經過曠野，繞著以東和摩押地，從摩押地的東邊過來，在亞嫩河邊安營，並沒有入摩押的境內，因為亞嫩河是摩押的邊界。
11:19 以色列人打發使者去見亞摩利王西宏，就是希實本的王，對他說：『求你容我們從你的地經過，往我們自己的地方去。』
11:20 西宏卻不信服以色列人，不容他們經過他的境界，乃招聚他的眾民在雅雜安營，與以色列人爭戰。
11:21 耶和華─以色列的上帝將西宏和他的眾民都交在以色列人手中，以色列人就擊殺他們，得了亞摩利人的全地：
11:22 從亞嫩河到雅博河，從曠野直到約旦河。
11:23 耶和華─以色列的上帝在他百姓以色列面前趕出亞摩利人，你竟要得他們的地嗎？
11:24 你的神基抹所賜你的地你不是得為業嗎？耶和華─我們的上帝在我們面前所趕出的人，我們就得他的地。
11:25 難道你比摩押王西撥的兒子巴勒還強嗎？他曾與以色列人爭競，或是與他們爭戰嗎？
11:26 以色列人住希實本和屬希實本的鄉村，亞羅珥和屬亞羅珥的鄉村，並沿亞嫩河的一切城邑，已經有三百年了；在這三百年之內，你們為甚麼沒有取回這些地方呢？
11:27 原來我沒有得罪你，你卻攻打我，惡待我。願審判人的耶和華今日在以色列人和亞捫人中間判斷是非。」
11:28 但亞捫人的王不肯聽耶弗他打發人說的話。
11:29 耶和華的靈降在耶弗他身上，他就經過基列和瑪拿西，來到基列的米斯巴，又從米斯巴來到亞捫人那裡。
11:30 耶弗他就向耶和華許願，說：「你若將亞捫人交在我手中，
11:31 我從亞捫人那裡平平安安回來的時候，無論甚麼人，先從我家門出來迎接我，就必歸你，我也必將他獻上為燔祭。」
11:32 於是耶弗他往亞捫人那裡去，與他們爭戰；耶和華將他們交在他手中，
11:33 他就大大殺敗他們，從亞羅珥到米匿，直到亞備勒‧基拉明，攻取了二十座城。這樣亞捫人就被以色列人制伏了。
11:34 耶弗他回米斯巴到了自己的家，不料，他女兒拿著鼓跳舞出來迎接他，是他獨生的，此外無兒無女。
11:35 耶弗他看見她，就撕裂衣服，說：「哀哉！我的女兒啊，你使我甚是愁苦，叫我作難了；因為我已經向耶和華開口許願，不能挽回。」
11:36 他女兒回答說：「父啊，你既向耶和華開口，就當照你口中所說的向我行，因耶和華已經在仇敵亞捫人身上為你報仇」；
11:37 又對父親說：「有一件事求你允准：容我去兩個月，與同伴在山上，好哀哭我終為處女。」
11:38 耶弗他說：「你去吧！」就容她去兩個月。她便和同伴去了，在山上為她終為處女哀哭。
11:39 兩月已滿，她回到父親那裡，父親就照所許的願向她行了。女兒終身沒有親近男子。
11:40 此後以色列中有個規矩，每年以色列的女子去為基列人耶弗他的女兒哀哭四天。

 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. ² Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.

⁴ Some time later, when the Ammonites were fighting against Israel, ⁵ the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶ “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.”

⁷ Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head over all of us who live in Gilead.”

⁹ Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me—will I really be your head?”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead replied, “The Lord is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?”

¹³ The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”

¹⁴ Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, ¹⁵ saying:

“This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶ But when they came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea^[a] and on to Kadesh. ¹⁷ Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Give us permission to go through your country,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “Next they traveled through the wilderness, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.

¹⁹ “Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, ‘Let us pass through your country to our own place.’ ²⁰ Sihon, however, did not trust Israel^[b] to pass through his territory. He mustered all his troops and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.

²¹ “Then the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel’s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country, ²² capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

²³ “Now since the Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over? ²⁴ Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the Lord our God has given us, we will possess. ²⁵ Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them? ²⁶ For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn’t you retake them during that time? ²⁷ I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

²⁸ The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. ³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, ³¹ whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

³² Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. ³³ He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

³⁴ When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”

³⁶ “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. ³⁷ But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”

³⁸ “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. ³⁹ After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

From this comes the Israelite tradition ⁴⁰ that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

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    「此後以色列中有個規矩，每年以色列的女子去為基列人耶弗他的女兒哀哭四天。」

    聖經所描述的能是以色列的一個傳統活動的起源，讓人看了有淡淡的哀愁，為一位年輕的女子因為父親起了不恰當的誓，而葬送了美好的人生，讓人覺得十分婉惜！尤其是讀到「兩月已滿，她回到父親那裡，父親就照所許的願向她行了。女兒終身沒有親近男子。」是不是流出眼淚呢？

    但是，人生就是這樣無奈，常常為了自己所愛的家人無心的舉動，讓人不得不要面對一些令人不捨的事情！就像耶弗他不被那些現實又近利的長老找去打仗，就不會亂起誓！他女兒拿著鼓跳舞出來迎接他，本是件快樂的事，反而成為耶弗他永遠的痛！

    這也讓人感受到，即使再大的光榮，卻要讓家人犧牲來換取，也是沒意義的事！但是由耶弗他獻上他摯愛的女兒的痛苦，讓我們感受到上帝為了拯救祂所愛的人，將祂最摯愛的獨生子耶穌基督獻為祭的痛苦！所以，救恩是出於上帝的至極愛，當將一切榮耀歸給上帝！