Text -- Judges 11:38-40 (NET)

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 11:38

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.