Text -- Judges 11:34-40 (NET)

11:34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter. 11:35 When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! You have brought me disaster! I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.” 11:36 She said to him, “My father, since you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. After all, the Lord vindicated you before your enemies, the Ammonites.” 11:37 She then said to her father, “Please grant me this one wish. For two months allow me to walk through the hills with my friends and mourn my virginity.” 11:38 He said, “You may go.” He permitted her to leave for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity as she walked through the hills. 11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. 11:40 Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jdg 11:34

¹ tn Heb “Look! His daughter was coming out.”

² tn Heb “with tambourines and dancing.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:35

¹ tn Heb “you have brought me very low,” or “you have knocked me to my knees.” The infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis.

² tn Heb “You are among [or “like”] those who trouble me.”

³ tn Heb “I opened my mouth to the Lord and I am not able to return.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:36

¹ tn The conjunction “since” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

² tn Heb “you opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to [what] went out from your mouth.”

³ tn Or “has given you vengeance against.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:37

¹ tn Heb “Let this thing be done for me.”

² 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.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:38

¹ tn Heb “he sent her.”

² tn Heb “on the hills.” The words “as she walked” are supplied.

NET Notes: Jdg 11:39

¹ 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.

² tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”

NET Notes: Jdg 11:40

¹ tn Heb “From days to days,” a Hebrew idiom for “annually.”

² tn Heb “go to commemorate.” The rare Hebrew verb תָּנָה (tanah, “to tell; to repeat; to recount”) occurs only here and in 5:11.

³ 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.