Part 274

12:1. But behold there arose a sedition in Ephraim. And passing towards the north, they said to Jephte: When thou wentest to fight against the children of Ammon, why wouldst thou not call us, that we might go with thee? Therefore we will burn thy house.

12:2. And he answered them: I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon: and I called you to assist me, and you would not do it.

12:3. And when I saw this, I put my life in my own hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon and the Lord delivered them into my hands. What have I deserved, that you should rise up to fight against me?

12:4. Then calling to him all the men of Galaad, he fought against Ephraim: and the men of Galaad defeated Ephraim, because he had said: Galaad is a fugitive of Ephraim, and dwelleth in the midst of Ephraim and Manasses.

12:5. And the Galaadites secured the fords of the Jordan, by which Ephraim was to return. And when any one of the number of Ephraim came thither in the flight, and said: I beseech you let me pass: the Galaadites said to him: Art thou not an Ephraimite? If he said: I am not:

12:6. They asked him: Say then, Scibboleth, which is interpreted, An ear of corn. But he answered, Sibboleth, not being able to express an ear of corn by the same letter. Then presently they took him and killed him in the very passage of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of Ephraim, two and forty thousand.

12:7. And Jephte, the Galaadite, judged Israel six years: and he died, and was buried in his city of Galaad.

12:8. After him Abesan of Bethlehem judged Israel:

12:9. He had thirty sons, and as many daughters, whom he sent abroad, and gave to husbands, and took wives for his sons, of the same number, bringing them into his house. And he judged Israel seven years:

12:10. And he died, and was buried in Bethlehem.

12:11. To him succeeded Ahialon, a Zabulonite: and he judged Israel ten years:

12:12. And he died, and was buried in Zabulon.

12:13. After him, Abdon, the son of Illel, a Pharathonite, judged Israel:

12:14. And he had forty sons, and of them thirty grandsons, mounted upon seventy ass colts, and he judged Israel eight years:

12:15. And he died, and was buried in Pharathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of Amalech.

Judges Chapter 13

The people fall again into idolatry and are afflicted by the Philistines. An angel foretelleth the birth of Samson.

13:1. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and he delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.

13:2. Now there was a certain man of Saraa, and of the race of Dan, whose name was Manue, and his wife was barren.

13:3. And an angel of the Lord appeared to her, and said: Thou art barren and without children: but thou shalt conceive and bear a son.

13:4. Now therefore beware, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.

13:5. Because thou shalt conceive, and bear a son, and no razor shall touch his head: for he shall be a Nazarite of God, from his infancy, and from his mother’s womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.

13:6. And when she was come to her husband, she said to him: A man of God came to me, having the countenance of an angel, very awful. And when I asked him who he was, and whence he came, and by what name he was called, he would not tell me:

13:7. But he answered thus: Behold thou shalt conceive and bear a son: beware thou drink no wine, nor strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite of God from his infancy, from his mother’s womb until the day of his death.

13:8. Then Manue prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, that the man of God, whom thou didst send, may come again, and teach us what we ought to do concerning the child, that shall be born.

13:9. And the Lord heard the prayer of Manue, and the angel of the Lord appeared again to his wife, as she was sitting in the field. But Manue her husband was not with her. And when she saw the angel,

13:10. She made haste, and ran to her husband: and told him, saying: Behold the man hath appeared to me, whom I saw before.

13:11. He rose up, and followed his wife: and coming to the man, said to him: Art thou he that spoke to the woman? And he answered: I am.