Jephthah Vows a Burnt Offering

²⁹ Now ^(A)the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, so that 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 Then Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh and said, “If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, ³¹ then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’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 Yahweh gave them into his hand. ³³ And he struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer ^[a]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 Then Jephthah came to his house at ^(C)Mizpah. And behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him ^(D)with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. ³⁵ So it happened that when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me. But I have opened my mouth to vow to Yahweh, and ^(E)I cannot take it back.” ³⁶ So she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to vow to Yahweh; ^(F)do to me according to what has gone out from your mouth, since Yahweh has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” ³⁷ Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may ^[b]go to the mountains and weep because of ^(G)my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸ Then he said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months; and she went with her companions and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. ³⁹ And it happened at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she did not know a man. Thus it became a ^[c]custom in Israel, ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went yearly to ^[d]commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.