Study Desk

And the Spirit of Jehovah was on Jephthah. And he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed on to the sons of Ammon.

And Jephthah vowed a vow to Jehovah, and said, If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand,

then it shall be that anything which comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall belong to Jehovah; and I will offer it instead of a burnt offering.

And Jephthah passed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them. And Jehovah delivered them into his hand.

And he struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to the Meadow of the Vineyard, a very great destruction. And the sons of Ammon were humbled before the sons of Israel.

And Jephthah came to Mizpeh to his house. And, behold his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels, and with choruses. And she only, she alone; there was no other son or daughter to him.

And it happened when he saw her, he tore his garments, and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those making me low. And surely I have opened my mouth to Jehovah, and I am not able to take it back.

And she said to him, My father, you have opened your mouth to Jehovah. Do to me whatever has gone out of your mouth, since Jehovah has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, on the sons of Ammon.

And she said to her father, Let this thing be done to me. Leave me alone two months, and let me go and descend on the mountains. And I will weep for my virginity, my friends and I.

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.

And it happened at the end of two months, she returned to her father. And he did to her his vow which he had vowed. And she never knew a man. And it is a fixed custom in Israel,

from days to days, the daughters of Israel go to tell again of the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in a year.