Please don't leave me!

Thursday, Jan. 30, 2003

But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.

So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?

Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess. And now [art] thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,

While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that [be] along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover [them] within that time?

Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.

Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over [unto] the children of Ammon.

And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,

Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, [even] twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she [was his] only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.

And she said unto him, My father, [if] thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, [even] of the children of Ammon.

And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.

And he said, Go. And he sent her away [for] two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her [according] to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,

[That] the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year." -Judges 11:19-38

Plorate filii Israel, Plorate omnes virgines, et filiam Jephte unigenitam, in carmine doloris lamentamini.

Weep, ye children of Israel, weep, all ye virgins, and lament the only-begotten daughter or Jephthah in a song of sorrow.

To hear such sad text in such beautifu and sorrowful harmony will make you cry. More so if you are singing it. "Jephte" is a Latin Oratorio by Giacomo Carissimi for soloists, chorus, and continuo. It is beautiful. The energy came spinning out of our mouths. The emotion seen on our faces and in our eyes. Nobody talked about what they were feeling. But we all knew that we were all close to tears. Some of us cried. The emotion and the expression was raw and beautiful. Spinning and flowing, making the most incredible and fantastic sound. Feeling the sorrow perice through my heart. The sorrow for people that have passed on thousands and thousands of years ago. Singing their song of sorrow, their somg of lamentation.

In short we had a great rehersal today. I feel invigorated and powerful that I, and a small handful of incredibly and wonderfully talented individuals can come together and create one voice. With the sound we make, I am determined that we could change the world.

Who was and is and is to come. stopped here at 1:17 p.m.

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