Judges 11:29-40
Jephthah Vows a Burnt Offering
29Now athe Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, so that he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. 30Then Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh and said, “If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, 31then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” 32So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and Yahweh gave them into his hand. 33And he struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer 1to the entrance of aMinnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.
34Then Jephthah came to his house at aMizpah. And behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him bwith tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter. 35So it happened that when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who trouble me. But I have opened my mouth to vow to Yahweh, and aI cannot take it back.” 36So she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to vow to Yahweh; ado to me according to what has gone out from your mouth, since Yahweh has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon.” 37Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may 1go to the mountains and weep because of amy virginity, I and my companions.” 38Then he said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months; and she went with her companions and wept on the mountains because of her virginity. 39And it happened at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she did not know a man. Thus it became a 1custom in Israel, 40that the daughters of Israel went yearly to 1commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.