Jephthah and His Daughter
The Book of Judges
Chapter 11
- Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over
Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of
Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.
- And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt
without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
- Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when
I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's,
and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
- So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against
them; and the Lord delivered them unto his hands.
- And he smote them from Aroer, even until thou come to Minnith, even
twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great
slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of
Israel.
- And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter
came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only
child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
- And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and
said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one
of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I
cannot go back.
- And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto
the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy
mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine
enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
- And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me
alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail
my virginity, I and my fellows.
- And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went
with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
- And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto
her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and
she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
- That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
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Revised November 20, 2009.