Judges 11:30-40

New Life Version

³⁰ Jephthah made a promise to the Lord and said, “You give the people of Ammon into my hand. ³¹ And I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon. I will give it to the Lord as a burnt gift.” ³² Then Jephthah crossed over to fight against the people of Ammon. And the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³ He killed many of them from Aroer to Minnith, through twenty cities, as far as Abelkeramin. The people of Ammon were destroyed in front of the people of Israel.

Jephthah’s Daughter

³⁴ Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. His daughter came out to meet him with music and dancing. She was his one and only child. He had no other sons or daughters. ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “It is bad, my daughter! You have made me very sad. You have brought much trouble to me. For I have made a promise to the Lord, and I must keep it.” ³⁶ She said to him, “My father, you have made a promise to the Lord. Do to me what you have promised you would do. Because the Lord has punished the people of Ammon, who fought against you. ³⁷ But do this for me. Let me alone for two months. So I and my friends may go to the mountains and cry because I will never have a man.” ³⁸ Jephthah said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months with her friends. And they cried on the mountains because she would never have a man. ³⁹ She returned to her father after two months. And he did what he promised the Lord and she died without having a man. So it became the way in Israel ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went to have sorrow for the daughter of Jephthah for four days each year.