Judges 11:35-40

11:35 When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! ¹  You have brought me disaster! ²  I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.” ³  11:36 She said to him, “My father, since ⁴  you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. ⁵  After all, the Lord vindicated you before ⁶  your enemies, the Ammonites.” 11:37 She then said to her father, “Please grant me this one wish. ⁷  For two months allow me to walk through the hills with my friends and mourn my virginity.” ⁸  11:38 He said, “You may go.” He permitted her to leave ⁹  for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity as she walked through the hills. ¹⁰  11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. ¹¹  Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. ¹²  11:40 Every year ¹³  Israelite women commemorate ¹⁴  the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days. ¹⁵ 

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.”

⁴ tn The conjunction “since” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁵ tn Heb “you opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to [what] went out from your mouth.”

⁶ tn Or “has given you vengeance against.”

⁷ tn Heb “Let this thing be done for me.”

⁸ 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.”

⁹ tn Heb “he sent her.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “on the hills.” The words “as she walked” are supplied.

¹¹ 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.

¹² tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”

¹³ tn Heb “From days to days,” a Hebrew idiom for “annually.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “go to commemorate.” The rare Hebrew verb תָּנָה (tanah, “to tell; to repeat; to recount”) occurs only here and in 5:11.

¹⁵ 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.