Judges 11:29-40
1599 Geneva Bible
29 ¶ Then the [a]Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over to Gilead, and to Manasseh, and came to Mizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead he went unto the children of Ammon.
30 And Jephthah [b]vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then that thing that cometh out of the doors of mine house to meet me, when I come home in peace from the children of Ammon, shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it for a burnt offering.
32 And so Jephthah went unto the children of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
33 And he smote them from Aroer even till thou come to Minnith, twenty cities, and so forth to [c]Abel of the vineyards, with an exceeding great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the children of Israel.
34 ¶ Now when Jephthah came to Mizpah unto his house, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with [d]timbrels and dances, which was his only child: he had none other son, nor daughter.
35 And when he saw her, he [e]rent his clothes, and said, Alas my daughter, thou hast brought me low, and art of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do with me as thou hast promised, seeing that the Lord hath avenged thee of thine enemies the children of Ammon.
37 Also she said unto her father, Do thus much for me: suffer me two months, that I may go to the mountains, and [f]bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
38 And he said, Go: and he sent her away two months: so she went with her companions, and lamented her virginity upon the mountains.
39 And after the end of two months, she turned again unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed, and she had known no man. And it was a custom in Israel:
40 The daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in a year.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Judges 11:29 That is, the spirit of strength and zeal.
- Judges 11:30 As the Apostle commendeth Jephthah for his worthy enterprise in delivering the people, Heb. 11:32, so by his rash vow and wicked performance of the same, his victory was defaced: and here we see that the sins of the godly do not utterly extinguish their faith.
- Judges 11:33 Or, the plain.
- Judges 11:34 According to the manner after the victory.
- Judges 11:35 Being overcome with blind zeal, and not considering whether the vow was lawful or no.
- Judges 11:37 For it was counted as a shame in Israel, to die without children, and therefore they rejoiced to be married.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
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