Judges 11:38

THE MESSAGE

"Oh yes, go," he said. He sent her off for two months. She and her dear girlfriends went among the hills, lamenting that she would never marry. At the end of the two months, she came back to her father. He fulfilled the vow with her that he had made. She had never slept with a man. It became a custom in Israel that for four days every year the young women of Israel went out to mourn for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Go,” he said. And he sent her away two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity as she wandered through the mountains.

Hebrew Names Version
He said, Go. He sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains.

King James Version
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.

Lexham English Bible
And he said, "Go." He sent her away for two months, and she went with her friends, and she lamented over her virginity on the mountains.

English Standard Version
So he said, "Go." Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains.

New Century Version
Jephthah said, "Go." So he sent her away for two months. She and her friends stayed in the mountains and cried for her because she would never marry.

New English Translation
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.

Amplified Bible
And he said, "Go." So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept over her virginity on the mountains.

New American Standard Bible
Then he said, "Go." So he let her go for two months; and she left with her friends, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he sayde, Goe: and he sent her away two moneths: so she went with her companions, and lamented her virginitie vpon the moutaines.

Legacy Standard Bible
En hy sê: Gaan! En hy het haar vir twee maande laat gaan. Sy het toe weggegaan met haar vriendinne en haar maagdelike staat op die berge beween.

Contemporary English Version
"Yes, you may have two months," Jephthah said. She and some other girls left, and for two months they wandered in the hill country, crying because she could never get married and have children.

Complete Jewish Bible
"You may go," he answered, and he sent her away for two months. She left, she and her friends, and mourned in the mountains that she would die unmarried.

Darby Translation
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.

Easy-to-Read Version
Jephthah said, "Go." He sent her away for two months. Jephthah's daughter and her friends stayed in the mountains. They cried for her because she would not marry and have children.

George Lamsa Translation
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

Good News Translation
He told her to go and sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless.

Literal Translation
And he said, Go. And he sent her away two months. And she went, she and her friends. And she wept for her virginity on the mountains.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He sayde: Go thy waye. And he let her go two monethes. Then wente she with her playefeeres, and bewayled hir mayden heade vpon the mountaynes.

American Standard Version
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

Bible in Basic English
And he said, Go then. So he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends to the mountains, weeping for her sad fate.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he sayd, go. And he sent her away two monethes: And so she went with her companions, & lamented her maydenhead vpon the mountaynes.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he said: 'Go.' And he sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

King James Version (1611)
And he said, Goe. And he sent her away for two moneths, and shee went with her companions, and bewailed her virginitie vpon the mountaines.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he said, Go: and he sent her away for two months; and she went, and her companions, and she bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

English Revised Version
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

Berean Standard Bible
"Go," he said. And he sent her away for two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
To whom he answeride, Go thou. And he sufferide hir in two monethis. And whanne sche hadde go with hir felowis and pleiferis, sche biwepte hir maydynhed in the hillis.

Young's Literal Translation
And he saith, `Go;' and he sendeth her away two months, and she goeth, she and her friends, and she weepeth for her virginity on the hills;

Update Bible Version
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
He said, Go. He sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains.

New King James Version
So he said, "Go." And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

New Living Translation
"You may go," Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children.

New Life Bible
Jephthah said, "Go." He sent her away for two months with her friends. And they cried on the mountains because she would never have a man.

New Revised Standard
"Go," he said and sent her away for two months. So she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And he said - Depart. So he let her go, for two months, - and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity, upon the mountains.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he answered her: Go. And he sent her away for two months. And when she was gone with her comrades and companions, she mourned her virginity in the mountains.

Revised Standard Version
And he said, "Go." And he sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then he said, "Go." So he sent her away for two months; and she left with her companions, and wept on the mountains because of her virginity.

Contextual Overview

²⁹ God 's Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites. Jephthah made a vow before God : "If you give me a clear victory over the Ammonites, then I'll give to God whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in one piece from among the Ammonites—I'll offer it up in a sacrificial burnt offering." ³²Then Jephthah was off to fight the Ammonites. And God gave them to him. He beat them soundly, all the way from Aroer to the area around Minnith as far as Abel Keramim—twenty cities! A massacre! Ammonites brought to their knees by the People of Israel. ³⁴Jephthah came home to Mizpah. His daughter ran from the house to welcome him home—dancing to tambourines! She was his only child. He had no son or daughter except her. When he realized who it was, he ripped his clothes, saying, "Ah, dearest daughter—I'm dirt. I'm despicable. My heart is torn to shreds. I made a vow to God and I can't take it back!" ³⁶ She said, "Dear father, if you made a vow to God , do to me what you vowed; God did his part and saved you from your Ammonite enemies." ³⁷ And then she said to her father, "But let this one thing be done for me. Give me two months to wander through the hills and lament my virginity since I will never marry, I and my dear friends." ³⁸"Oh yes, go," he said. He sent her off for two months. She and her dear girlfriends went among the hills, lamenting that she would never marry. At the end of the two months, she came back to her father. He fulfilled the vow with her that he had made. She had never slept with a man. It became a custom in Israel that for four days every year the young women of Israel went out to mourn for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. ⁴⁰ Jephthah the Gileadite was one tough warrior. He was the son of a whore, but Gilead was his father. Meanwhile Gilead's legal wife had given him other sons, and when they grew up, his wife's sons threw Jephthah out. They told him: "You're not getting any of our family inheritance—you're the son of another woman." So Jephthah fled from his brothers and went to live in the land of Tob. Some riffraff joined him and went around with him. Some time passed. And then the Ammonites started fighting Israel. With the Ammonites at war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. They said to Jephthah: "Come. Be our general and we'll fight the Ammonites." But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead: "But you hate me. You kicked me out of my family home. So why are you coming to me now? Because you are in trouble. Right?" The elders of Gilead replied, "That's it exactly. We've come to you to get you to go with us and fight the Ammonites. You'll be the head of all of us, all the Gileadites." Jephthah addressed the elders of Gilead, "So if you bring me back home to fight the Ammonites and God gives them to me, I'll be your head—is that right?" They said, " God is witness between us; whatever you say, we'll do." Jephthah went along with the elders of Gilead. The people made him their top man and general. And Jephthah repeated what he had said before God at Mizpah. Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with a message: "What's going on here that you have come into my country picking a fight?" The king of the Ammonites told Jephthah's messengers: "Because Israel took my land when they came up out of Egypt—from the Arnon all the way to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Give it back peaceably and I'll go." Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites with the message: "Jephthah's word: Israel took no Moabite land and no Ammonite land. When they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the desert as far as the Red Sea, arriving at Kadesh. There Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, ‘Let us pass through your land, please.' But the king of Edom wouldn't let them. Israel also requested permission from the king of Moab, but he wouldn't let them cross either. They were stopped in their tracks at Kadesh. So they traveled across the desert and circled around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came out east of the land of Moab and set camp on the other side of the Arnon—they didn't set foot in Moabite territory, for Arnon was the Moabite border. Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites at Heshbon the capital. Israel asked, ‘Let us pass, please, through your land on the way to our country.' But Sihon didn't trust Israel to cut across his land; he got his entire army together, set up camp at Jahaz, and fought Israel. But God , the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his troops to Israel. Israel defeated them. Israel took all the Amorite land, all Amorite land from Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan. It was God , the God of Israel, who pushed out the Amorites in favor of Israel; so who do you think you are to try to take it over? Why don't you just be satisfied with what your god Chemosh gives you and we'll settle for what God , our God, gives us? Do you think you're going to come off better than Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he get anywhere in opposing Israel? Did he risk war? All this time—it's been three hundred years now!—that Israel has lived in Heshbon and its villages, in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns along the Arnon, why didn't you try to snatch them away then? No, I haven't wronged you. But this is an evil thing that you are doing to me by starting a fight. Today God the Judge will decide between the People of Israel and the people of Ammon." But the king of the Ammonites refused to listen to a word that Jephthah had sent him. God 's Spirit came upon Jephthah. He went across Gilead and Manasseh, went through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there approached the Ammonites. Jephthah made a vow before God : "If you give me a clear victory over the Ammonites, then I'll give to God whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in one piece from among the Ammonites—I'll offer it up in a sacrificial burnt offering." Then Jephthah was off to fight the Ammonites. And God gave them to him. He beat them soundly, all the way from Aroer to the area around Minnith as far as Abel Keramim—twenty cities! A massacre! Ammonites brought to their knees by the People of Israel. Jephthah came home to Mizpah. His daughter ran from the house to welcome him home—dancing to tambourines! She was his only child. He had no son or daughter except her. When he realized who it was, he ripped his clothes, saying, "Ah, dearest daughter—I'm dirt. I'm despicable. My heart is torn to shreds. I made a vow to God and I can't take it back!" She said, "Dear father, if you made a vow to God , do to me what you vowed; God did his part and saved you from your Ammonite enemies." And then she said to her father, "But let this one thing be done for me. Give me two months to wander through the hills and lament my virginity since I will never marry, I and my dear friends." "Oh yes, go," he said. He sent her off for two months. She and her dear girlfriends went among the hills, lamenting that she would never marry. At the end of the two months, she came back to her father. He fulfilled the vow with her that he had made. She had never slept with a man. It became a custom in Israel that for four days every year the young women of Israel went out to mourn for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Song of Solomon 8:13 - the companions

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he said, go,.... He granted her request at once:

and he sent her away for two months; as she desired:

and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains; for the space of two months: the Jewish commentators make mention of an allegorical exposition of a writer i of theirs, who by mountains understands the sanhedrim, to whom she proposed to go, who perhaps might find a way for the loosing of the vow; but it is a question whether there was such a court then in Israel; and had there been one, and either she or her father had applied to it, in this case the priests would have pointed out what was to be done, and especially if the vow had any regard to the sacrifice of his daughter; and even to her virginity, which he had no power to oblige her to; but the literal sense is no doubt to be followed.

i Tanchuma.