Jephthah Makes a Vow

²⁹ And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed through to the Ammonites.^{[a] 30} And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, and he said, “If indeed you will give the Ammonites^[b] into my hand, ³¹ whatever^[c] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the Ammonites^[d] will be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it as a burnt offering.” ³² And Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites^[e] to make war against them; and Yahweh gave them into his hand. ³³ And he defeated them with a very great blow, from Aroer as far as Minnith, twenty towns,^[f] up to Abel Keramim. And the Ammonites^[g] were subdued before the Israelites.^[h]

³⁴ Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house, and behold his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She was his only child; he did not have a son or daughter except her. ³⁵ And the moment he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Ah! My daughter, you have caused me to bow down, and you have become my trouble. I made an oath^[i] to Yahweh, and I cannot take it back.” ³⁶ She said to him, “My father, you made an oath^[j] to Yahweh. Do to me according to what has gone out from your mouth, since Yahweh gave vengeance to you against your enemies, the Ammonites.”^{[k] 37} And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months so that I may go wander^[l] on the mountains and lament over my virginity, I and my companions. ³⁸ And he said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months, and she went with her friends, and she lamented over her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹ At the end of the two months she returned to her father, and he did to her according to his vow; and she did not sleep with a man.^[m] And it became an annual custom in Israel ⁴⁰ for the daughters of Israel to go and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for forty days of the year.