Episode 433 - Jephthah and the will of God

<p><a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/judges/11?29">Jgs 11:29-39a</a></p> <p>The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.<br> He passed through Gilead and Manasseh,<br> and through Mizpah-Gilead as well,<br> and from there he went on to the Ammonites.<br> Jephthah made a vow to the LORD.<br> “If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said,<br> “whoever comes out of the doors of my house<br> to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites<br> shall belong to the LORD.<br> I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.”</p> <p>Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them,<br> and the LORD delivered them into his power,<br> so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them,<br> from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all)<br> and as far as Abel-keramim.<br> Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection<br> by the children of Israel.<br> When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah,<br> it was his daughter who came forth,<br> playing the tambourines and dancing.<br> She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.<br> When he saw her, he rent his garments and said,<br> “Alas, daughter, you have struck me down<br> and brought calamity upon me.<br> For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract.”<br> She replied, “Father, you have made a vow to the LORD.<br> Do with me as you have vowed,<br> because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you<br> on your enemies the Ammonites.”<br> Then she said to her father, “Let me have this favor.<br> Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains<br> to mourn my virginity with my companions.”<br> “Go,” he replied, and sent her away for two months.<br> So she departed with her companions<br> and mourned her virginity on the mountains.<br> At the end of the two months she returned to her father,<br> who did to her as he had vowed.</p> <h3>Responsorial Psalm</h3> <p><a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/40?5">40:5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10</a></p> <p>R.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;(8a and 9a) &nbsp;<strong>Here I am, Lo