Footnotes

1. Judges 11:29 tn Heb “was on.”
2. Judges 11:29 tn Heb “passed through.”
3. Judges 11:29 tn Heb “From Mizpah in Gilead he passed through [to] the Ammonites.”
4. Judges 11:31 tn Heb “the one coming out, who comes out from.” The text uses a masculine singular participle with prefixed article, followed by a relative pronoun and third masculine singular verb. The substantival masculine singular participle הַיּוֹצֵא (hayyotseʾ, “the one coming out”) is used elsewhere of inanimate objects (such as a desert [Num 21:13] or a word [Num 32:24]) or persons (Jer 5:6; 21:9; 38:2). In each case context must determine the referent. Jephthah may have envisioned an animal meeting him, since the construction of Iron Age houses would allow for an animal coming through the doors of a house (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 208). But the fact that he actually does offer up his daughter indicates the language of the vow is fluid enough to encompass human beings, including women. He probably intended such an offering from the very beginning, but he obviously did not expect his daughter to meet him first.
5. Judges 11:31 tn The language is fluid enough to include women and perhaps even animals, but the translation uses the masculine pronoun because the Hebrew form is grammatically masculine.
6. Judges 11:31 tn Some translate “or,” suggesting that Jephthah makes a distinction between humans and animals. According to this view, if a human comes through the door, then Jephthah will commit him/her to the Lord’s service, but if an animal comes through the doors, he will offer it up as a sacrifice. However, it is far more likely that the Hebrew construction (vav [ו] + perfect) specifies how the subject will become the Lord’s, that is, by being offered up as a sacrifice. For similar constructions, where the apodosis of a conditional sentence has at least two perfects (each with vav) in sequence, see Gen 34:15-16; Exod 18:16.
7. Judges 11:32 tn Heb “passed over to.”
8. Judges 11:33 tn Heb “with a very great slaughter.”
9. Judges 11:33 tn Heb “The Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.”
10. Judges 11:34 tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”
11. Judges 11:34 tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”
12. Judges 11:35 tn Heb “you have brought me very low,” or “you have knocked me to my knees.” The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.
13. Judges 11:35 tn Heb “You are among [or “like”] those who trouble me.”
14. Judges 11:35 tn Heb “I opened my mouth to the Lord and I am not able to return.”
15. Judges 11:36 tn The conjunction “since” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
16. Judges 11:36 tn Heb “you opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to [what] went out from your mouth.”
17. Judges 11:36 tn Or “has given you vengeance against.”
18. Judges 11:37 tn Heb “Let this thing be done for me.”
19. Judges 11:37 tn Heb “Leave me alone for two months so I can go and go down on the hills and weep over my virginity—I and my friends.”
20. Judges 11:38 tn Heb “he sent her.”
21. Judges 11:38 tn Heb “on the hills.” The words “as she walked” are supplied.
22. Judges 11:39 tn Heb “She had never known a man.” Some understand this to mean that her father committed her to a life of celibacy, but the disjunctive clause (note the vav + subject + verb pattern) more likely describes her condition at the time the vow was fulfilled. (See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 302-3; C. F. Burney, Judges, 324.) She died a virgin and never experienced the joys of marriage and motherhood.
23. Judges 11:39 tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”
24. Judges 11:40 tn Heb “From days to days,” a Hebrew idiom for “annually.”
25. Judges 11:40 tn Heb “go to commemorate.” The rare Hebrew verb תָּנָה (tanah, “to tell; to repeat; to recount”) occurs only here and in 5:11.
26. Judges 11:40 tn The Hebrew text adds, “in the year.” This is redundant (note “every year” at the beginning of the verse) and has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.