Judges 11:29-12:7

New American Standard Bible

Jephthah’s Tragic Vow

²⁹ Now ^(A)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰ And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over to me the sons of Ammon, ³¹ then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return ^[a]safely from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” ³² So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord handed them over to him. ³³ He ^[b]inflicted a very great defeat on them from Aroer ^[c]to the entrance of ^(B)Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.

³⁴ But Jephthah came to his house at ^(C)Mizpah, and behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him ^(D)with tambourines and with dancing. And she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵ So when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh, my daughter! You have brought me disaster, and you are among those who trouble me; for I have ^[d]given my word to the Lord, and ^(E)I cannot take it back.” ³⁶ So she said to him, “My father, you have ^[e]given your word to the Lord; ^(F)do to me just as ^[f]you have said, since the Lord has brought you vengeance on your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷ And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; allow me two months, so that I may ^[g]go to the mountains and weep because of ^(G)my virginity, I and my friends.” ³⁸ Then he said, “Go.” So he let her go for two months; and she left with her friends, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. ³⁹ And at the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her ^[h]what he had vowed; and she ^[i]had no relations with a man. And it became a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰ that the ^[j]daughters of Israel went annually to ^[k]commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days in the year.

Jephthah and His Successors

12 Now the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed ^[l]to Zaphon; and ^(H)they said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you!” ² So Jephthah said to them, “I and my people were in a major dispute with the sons of Ammon; and I did call you, but you did not save me from their hand. ³ When I saw that you were no deliverer, I ^[m](I)took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead ^[n]defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You are survivors of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” ⁵ And the Gileadites ^(J)took control of the crossing places of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened whenever any of the survivors of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” that the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶ then they would say to him, “Just say, ‘Shibboleth.’” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he was not ^[o]prepared to ^[p]pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the crossing places of the Jordan. So at that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.