Giacomo Carissimi (1605?-1674) was an Italian composer and teacher.  From 1628 until his death he held the same position as maestro de capella at the church of Sant'Apollinare in Rome, turning down other prestigious positions to stay there.  Notable composers travelled to Rome to study with him (eg Marc-Antoine Charpentier).

Carissimi is credited with being the first major composer of oratorio. Jephte was written in 1645.

Click this link for text and translation: www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Historia_di_Jephte_(Giacomo_Carissimi)

These programme notes describe it well: https://baroque.boston/carissimi-jephte

The same story was set in an oratorio by Handel just over 100 years later.  Considered the genius behind the English oratorio, Jephtha (1751) is Handel's final oratorio. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jephtha_(Handel)#:~:text=The%20story%20revolves%20around%20Jephtha's,her%20life%20to%20the%20Lord.

Consider some of the differences between these works. The expression, the shape of the movements, the role of each character, the nature of the accompaniment.

These sleeve notes give some great insight:  https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/CO6121.pdf

This article talks about the glorious heights achieved when composers coupled compositional excellence with expressive spiritual communcation.

JOURNAL ARTICLE Shapiro, Alexander H. “‘Drama of an Infinitely Superior Nature’: Handel’s Early English Oratorios and the Religious Sublime.” 

Music & Letters 74, no. 2 (1993): 215–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/735425.

Perhaps the most famous example of this genre is Handel's Messiah (1741)