The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 7: Judges
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9:23. And the Lord sent a very evil spirit between Abimelech and the
inhabitants of Sichem; who began to detest him,
9:24. And to lay the crime of the murder of the seventy sons of
Jerobaal, and the shedding of their blood, upon Abimelech, their
brother, and upon the rest of the princes of the Sichemites, who aided
him.
9:25. And they set an ambush against him on the top of the mountains:
and while they waited for his coming, they committed robberies, taking
spoils of all that passed by: and it was told Abimelech.
9:26. And Gaal, the son of Obed, came with his brethren, and went over
to Sichem. And the inhabitants of Sichem, taking courage at his coming,
9:27. Went out into the fields, wasting the vineyards, and treading down
the grapes: and singing and dancing, they went into the temple of their
god, and in their banquets and cups they cursed Abimelech.
9:28. And Gaal, the son of Obed, cried: Who is Abimelech, and what is
Sichem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerobaal, and
hath made Zebul, his servant, ruler over the men of Emor, the father of
Sichem? Why then shall we serve him?
9:29. Would to God that some man would put this people under my hand,
that I might remove Abimelech out of the way. And it was said to
Abimelech: Gather together the multitude of an army, and come.
9:30. For Zebul, the ruler of the city, hearing the words of Gaal, the
son of Obed, was very angry,
9:31. And sent messengers privately to Abimelech, saying: Behold, Gaal,
the son of Obed, is come into Sichem with his brethren, and endeavoureth
to set the city against thee.
9:32. Arise, therefore, in the night, with the people that is with thee,
and lie hid in the field:
9:33. And betimes in the morning, at sun rising, set upon the city, and
when he shall come out against thee, with his people, do to him what
thou shalt be able.
9:34. Abimelech, therefore, arose with all his army, by night, and laid
ambushes near Sichem in four places.
9:35. And Gaal, the son of Obed, went out, and stood in the entrance of
the gate of the city. And Abimelech rose up, and all his army with him,
from the places of the ambushes.
9:36. And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul: Behold, a
multitude cometh down from the mountains. And he answered him: Thou
seest the shadows of the mountains as if they were the heads of men, and
this is thy mistake.
9:37. Again Gaal said: Behold, there cometh people down from the midst
of the land, and one troop cometh by the way that looketh towards the
oak.
9:38. And Zebul said to him: Where is now thy mouth, wherewith thou
saidst: Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Is not this the
people which thou didst despise? Go out, and fight against him.
9:39. So Gaal went out, in the sight of the people of Sichem, and fought
against Abimelech,
9:40. Who chased and put him to flight, and drove him to the city: and
many were slain of his people, even to the gate of the city:
9:41. And Abimelech sat down in Ruma: but Zebul drove Gaal, and his
companions, out of the city, and would not suffer them to abide in it.
9:42. So the day following the people went out into the field. And it
was told to Abimelech,
9:43. And he took his army, and divided it into three companies, and
laid ambushes in the fields. And seeing that the people came out of the
city, he arose, and set upon them,
9:44. With his own company, assaulting and besieging the city: whilst
the two other companies chased the enemies that were scattered about the
field.
9:45. And Abimelech assaulted the city all that day: and took it, and
killed the inhabitants thereof, and demolished it, so that he sowed salt
in it.
Sowed salt... To make the ground barren, and fit for nothing.
9:46. And when they who dwelt in the tower of Sichem, had heard this,
they went into the temple of their god Berith, where they had made a
covenant with him, and from thence the place had taken its name, and it
was exceeding strong.
9:47. Abimelech also hearing that the men of the tower of Sichem were
gathered together,
9:48. Went up into mount Selmon, he and all his people with him: and
taking an axe, he cut down the bough of a tree, and laying it on his
shoulder, and carrying it, he said to his companions: What you see me
do, do ye out of hand.
9:49. So they cut down boughs from the trees, every man as fast as he
could, and followed their leader. And surrounding the fort, they set it
on fire: and so it came to pass, that with the smoke and with the fire a
thousand persons were killed, men and women together, of the inhabitants
of the town of Sichem.
9:50. Then Abimelech, departing from thence, came to the town of Thebes,
which he surrounded and besieged with his army.
9:51. And there was in the midst of the city a high tower, to which both
the men and the women were fled together, and all the princes of the
city, and having shut and strongly barred the gate, they stood upon the
battlements of the tower to defend themselves.
9:52. And Abimelech, coming near the tower, fought stoutly: and,
approaching to the gate, endeavoured to set fire to it:
9:53. And behold, a certain woman casting a piece of a millstone from
above, dashed it against the head of Abimelech, and broke his skull.
9:54. And he called hastily to his armourbearer, and said to him: Draw
thy sword, and kill me: lest it should be said that I was slain by a
woman. He did as he was commanded, and slew him.
9:55. And when he was dead all the men of Israel that were with him,
returned to their homes.
9:56. And God repaid the evil that Abimelech had done against his
father, killing his seventy brethren.
9:57. The Sichemites also were rewarded for what they had done, and the
curse of Joatham, the son of Jerobaal, came upon them.
Judges Chapter 10
Thola ruleth Israel twenty-three years; and Jair twenty-two. The people
fall again into idolatry, and are afflicted again by the Philistines and
Ammonites. They cry to God for help, who upon their repentance hath
compassion on them.
10:1. After Abimelech, there arose a ruler in Israel, Thola, son of
Phua, the uncle of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, who dwelt in Samir of
mount Ephraim:
Uncle of Abimelech... i. e., half brother to Gedeon, as being born of
the same mother, but by a different father, and of a different tribe.
10:2. And he judged Israel three and twenty years, and he died, and was
buried in Samir.
10:3. To him succeeded Jair, the Galaadite, who judged Israel for two
and twenty years,
10:4. Having thirty sons, that rode on thirty ass colts, and were
princes of thirty cities, which from his name were called Havoth Jair,
that is, the towns of Jair, until this present day, in the land of
Galaad.
Havoth Jair... This name was now confirmed to these towns, which they
had formerly received from another Jair. Num. 32.41.
10:5. And Jair died, and was buried in the place which is called Camon.
10:6. But the children of Israel, adding new sins to their old ones, 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 children of
Ammon, and of the Philistines: and they left the Lord, and did not serve
him.
10:7. And the Lord being angry with them, delivered them into the hands
of the Philistines, and of the children of Ammon.
10:8. And they were afflicted, and grievously oppressed for eighteen
years, all they that dwelt beyond the Jordan in the land of the
Amorrhite, who is in Galaad:
10:9. Insomuch that the children of Ammon, passing over the Jordan,
wasted Juda, and Benjamin, and Ephraim: and Israel was distressed
exceedingly.
10:10. And they cried to the Lord, and said, We have sinned against
thee, because we have forsaken the Lord our God, and have served Baalim.
10:11. And the Lord said to them: Did not the Egyptians, and the
Amorrhites, and the children of Ammon, and the Philistines,
10:12. The Sidonians also, and Amalec, and Chanaan, oppress you, and you
cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand?
10:13. And yet you have forsaken me, and have worshipped strange gods:
therefore I will deliver you no more:
10:14. Go, and call upon the gods which you have chosen: let them
deliver you in the time of distress.
10:15. And the children of Israel said to the Lord: We have sinned, do
thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth thee: only deliver us this time.
10:16. And saying these things, they cast away out of their coasts all
the idols of strange gods, and served the Lord their God: and he was
touched with their miseries.
10:17. And the children of Ammon shouting together, pitched their tents
in Galaad: against whom the children of Israel assembled themselves
together, and camped in Maspha.
10:18. And the princes of Galaad said one to another: Whosoever of us
shall first begin to fight against the children of Ammon, he shall be
the leader of the people of Galaad.
Judges Chapter 11
Jephte is made ruler of the people of Galaad: he first pleads their
cause against the Ammonites; then making a vow obtains a signal victory;
he performs his vow.
11:1. There was at that time Jephte, the Galaadite, a most valiant man,
and a warrior, the son of a woman that was a harlot, and his father was
Galaad.
11:2. Now Galaad had a wife of whom he had sons: who, after they were
grown up, thrust out Jephte, saying: Thou canst not inherit in the house
of our father, because thou art born of another mother.
11:3. Then he fled and avoided them, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and
there were gathered to him needy men and robbers, and they followed him
as their prince.
11:4. In those days the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
11:5. And as they pressed hard upon them, the ancients of Galaad went to
fetch Jephte out of the land of Tob to help them:
11:6. And they said to him: Come thou, and be our prince, and fight
against the children of Ammon.
11:7. And he answered them: Are not you the men that hated me, and cast
me out of my father's house, and now you are come to me, constrained by
necessity?
11:8. And the princes of Galaad said to Jephte: For this cause we are
now come to thee, that thou mayst go with us, and fight against the
children of Ammon, and be head over all the inhabitants of Galaad.
11:9. Jephte also said to them: If you be come to me sincerely, that I
should fight for you against the children of Ammon, and the Lord shall
deliver them into my hand, shall I be your prince?
11:10. They answered him: The Lord, who heareth these things, he himself
is mediator and witness that we will do as we have promised.
11:11. Jephte therefore went with the princes of Galaad, and all the
people made him their prince. And Jephte spoke all his words before the
Lord in Maspha.
11:12. And he sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, to
say in his name: What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come
against me, to waste my land?
11:13. And he answered them: Because Israel took away my land, when he
came up out of Egypt, from the confines of the Arnon unto the Jaboc and
the Jordan: now, therefore, restore the same peaceably to me.
11:14. And Jephte again sent word by them, and commanded them to say to
the king of Ammon:
11:15. Thus saith Jephte: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor
the land of the children of Ammon:
11:16. But when they came up out of Egypt, he walked through the desert
to the Red Sea, and came into Cades.
11:17. And he sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying: Suffer me to
pass through thy land. But he would not condescend to his request. He
sent also to the king of Moab, who, likewise, refused to give him
passage. He abode, therefore, in Cades,
11:18. And went round the land of Edom at the side, and the land of
Moab: and came over against the east coast of the land of Moab, and
camped on the other side of the Arnon: and he would not enter the bounds
of Moab.
11:19. So Israel sent messengers to Sehon, king of the Amorrhites, who
dwelt in Hesebon, and they said to him: Suffer me to pass through thy
land to the river.
11:20. But he, also despising the words of Israel, suffered him not to
pass through his borders: but gathering an infinite multitude, went out
against him to Jasa, and made strong opposition.
11:21. And the Lord delivered him, with all his army, into the hands of
Israel, and he slew him, and possessed all the land of the Amorrhite,
the inhabitant of that country,
11:22. And all the coasts thereof from the Arnon to the Jaboc, and from
the wilderness to the Jordan.
11:23. So the Lord, the God of Israel, destroyed the Amorrhite, his
people of Israel fighting against him, and wilt thou now possess his
land?
11:24. Are not those things which thy god Chamos possesseth, due to thee
by right? But what the Lord our God hath obtained by conquest, shall be
our possession:
Chamos... The idol of the Moabites and Ammonites. He argues from their
opinion, who thought they had a just title to the countries which they
imagined they had conquered by the help of their gods: how much more
then had Israel in indisputable title to the countries which God, by
visible miracles, had conquered for them.
11:25. Unless, perhaps, thou art better than Balac, the son of Sephor,
king of Moab: or canst shew that he strove against Israel, and fought
against him,
11:26. Whereas he hath dwelt in Hesebon, and the villages thereof, and
in Aroer, and its villages, and in all the cities near the Jordan, for
three hundred years. Why have you for so long a time attempted nothing
about this claim?
11:27. Therefore I do not trespass against thee, but thou wrongest me by
declaring an unjust war against me. The Lord be judge, and decide this
day, between Israel and the children of Ammon.
11:28. And the king of the children of Ammon would not hearken to the
words of Jephte, which he sent him by the messengers.
11:29. Therefore the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephte, and going
round Galaad, and Manasses, and Maspha of Galaad, and passing over from
thence to the children of Ammon,
11:30. He made a vow to the Lord, saying: If thou wilt deliver the
children of Ammon into my hands,
11:31. Whosoever shall first come forth out of the doors of my house,
and shall meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon,
the same will I offer a holocaust to the Lord.
Whosoever, etc... Some are of opinion, that the meaning of this vow of
Jephte, was to consecrate to God whatsoever should first meet him,
according to the condition of the thing; so as to offer it up as a
holocaust, if it were such a thing as might be offered by the law; or to
devote it otherwise to God, if it were not such as the law allowed to be
offered in sacrifice. And therefore they think the daughter of Jephte
was not slain by her father, but only consecrated to perpetual
virginity. But the common opinion followed by the generality of the holy
fathers and divines is, that she was offered as a holocaust, in
consequence of her father's vow: and that Jephte did not sin, at least
not mortally, neither in making, nor in keeping, his vow: since he is no
ways blamed for it in scripture; and was even inspired by God himself to
make the vow (as appears from ver. 29, 30) in consequence of which he
obtained the victory; and therefore he reasonably concluded that God,
who is the master of life and death, was pleased on this occasion to
dispense with his own law; and that it was the divine will he should
fulfil his vow.
11:32. And Jephte passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against
them: and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
11:33. And he smote them from Aroer till you come to Mennith, twenty
cities, and as far as Abel, which is set with vineyards, with a very
great slaughter: and the children of Ammon were humbled by the children
of Israel.
11:34. And when Jephte returned into Maspha, to his house, his only
daughter met him with timbrels and with dances: for he had no other
children.
11:35. And when he saw her, he rent his garments, and said: Alas! my
daughter, thou hast deceived me, and thou thyself art deceived: for I
have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I can do no other thing.
11:36. And she answered him: My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth to
the Lord, do unto me whatsoever thou hast promised, since the victory
hath been granted to thee, and revenge of thy enemies.
11:37. And she said to her father: Grant me only this, which I desire:
Let me go, that I may go about the mountains for two months, and may
bewail my virginity with my companions.
Bewail my virginity... The bearing of children was much coveted under
the Old Testament, when women might hope that from some child of theirs,
the Saviour of the world might one day spring. But under the New
Testament virginity is preferred. 1 Cor. 7.35.
11:38. And he answered her: Go. And he sent her away for two months. And
when she was gone with her comrades and companions, she mourned her
virginity in the mountains.
11:39. And the two months being expired, she returned to her father, and
he did to her as he had vowed, and she knew no man. From thence came a
fashion in Israel, and a custom has been kept:
11:40. That, from year to year, the daughters of Israel assemble
together, and lament the daughter of Jephte the Galaadite, for four
days.
Judges Chapter 12
The Ephraimites quarrel with Jephte: forty-two thousand of them are
slain: Abeson, Ahialon, and Abdon, are judges.
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.
13:6. 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 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.
13:12. And Manue said to him: When thy word shall come to pass, what
wilt thou that the child should do? or from what shall he keep himself?
13:13. And the angel of the Lord said to Manue: From all the things I
have spoken of to thy wife, let her refrain herself:
Let her refrain, etc... By the Latin text it is not clear whether this
abstinence was prescribed to the mother, or to the child; but the Hebrew
(in which the verbs relating thereto are of the feminine gender)
determineth it to the mother. But then the child also was to refrain
from the like things, because he was to be from his infancy a Nazarite
of God, ver. 5, that is, one set aside, in a particular manner, and
consecrated to God: now the Nazarites by the law were to abstain from
all these things.
13:14. And let her eat nothing that cometh of the vine, neither let her
drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: and whatsoever I
have commanded her, let her fulfil and observe.
13:15. And Manue said to the angel of the Lord: I beseech thee to
consent to my request, and let us dress a kid for thee.
13:16. And the angel answered him: If thou press me I will not eat of
thy bread: but if thou wilt offer a holocaust, offer it to the Lord. And
Manue knew not it was the angel of the Lord.
13:17. And he said to him: What is thy name, that, if thy word shall
come to pass, we may honour thee?
13:18. And he answered him: Why askest thou my name, which is wonderful?
13:19. Then Manue took a kid of the flocks, and the libations, and put
them upon a rock, offering to the Lord, who doth wonderful things: and
he and his wife looked on.
13:20. And when the flame from the altar went up towards heaven, the
angel of the Lord ascended also in the same. And when Manue and his wife
saw this, they fell flat on the ground;
13:21. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them no more. And forthwith
Manue understood that it was an angel of the Lord,
13:22. And he said to his wife: We shall certainly die, because we have
seen God.
Seen God... Not in his own person, but in the person of his messenger.
The Israelites, in those days, imagined they should die if they saw an
angel, taking occasion perhaps from those words spoken by the Lord to
Moses, Ex. 33.20, No man shall see me and live. But the event
demonstrated that it was but a groundless imagination.
13:23. And his wife answered him: If the Lord had a mind to kill us, he
would not have received a holocaust and libations at our hands; neither
would he have shewed us all these things, nor have told us the things
that are to come.
13:24. And she bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child
grew, and the Lord blessed him.
13:25. And the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp of
Dan, between Saraa and Esthaol.
Judges Chapter 14
Samson desireth a wife of the Philistines. He killeth a lion: in whose
mouth he afterwards findeth honey. His marriage feast, and riddle, which
is discovered by his wife. He killeth, and strippeth thirty Philistines.
His wife taketh another man.
14:1. Then Samson went down to Thamnatha, and seeing there a woman of
the daughters of the Philistines,
14:2. He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying: I saw a
woman in Thamnatha of the daughters of the Philistines: I bescech you,
take her for me to wife.