Jephthah’s Vow

²⁹ The Spirit of the Lord came^[a] on Jephthah, so he swept through Gilead and the territory of^[b] Manasseh, then swept through Mizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead he proceeded toward where the Ammonites were encamped. ³⁰ Jephthah made this solemn vow to the Lord: “If you truly give the Ammonites into my control, ³¹ then if I return from the Ammonites without incident,^[c] whatever comes^[d] out the doors of my house to meet me will become the Lord’s, and I will offer it^[e] up as a burnt offering.”

³² Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites and attacked them. The Lord gave them into his control. ³³ He attacked them from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith—twenty cities in all^[f]—even as far as Abel-keramim. As a result, the Ammonites were subdued right in front of the Israelis. ³⁴ When Jephthah arrived at his home in Mizpah—surprise!—it was his daughter who came out to meet him, playing tambourines and dancing. She was his one and only child. Except for her, he had no other son or daughter. ³⁵ When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and cried out, “Oh no! My daughter! You have terribly burdened me! You’ve joined those who are causing me trouble, because I’ve given my word^[g] to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it.^[h]

³⁶ She told him, “My father, you have given your word^[i] to the Lord. Do to me according to what has come out of your own mouth, considering that the Lord has paid back your enemies, the Ammonites.” ³⁷ Then she continued talking with her father, “Do this for me: leave me alone by myself for two months. I’ll go up to the mountains and cry there because I’ll never marry.^[j] My friends and I will go.”^[k]

³⁸ So he said, “Go!” He sent her away for two months. She left with her friends and cried there on the mountains because she would never marry.^{[l] 39} Later, after the two months were concluded, she returned to her father, and he fulfilled what he had solemnly vowed—and she never married.^[m] That’s how the custom arose in Israel ⁴⁰ that for four days out of every year the Israeli women would go to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite in commemoration.