Judges 11:30-40 (NASB)
30
Judges 11:30
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand,
31
Judges 11:31
then 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 the LORD’S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
32
Judges 11:32
So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD gave them into his hand.
33
Judges 11:33
He struck them with a very great slaughter from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel.
34
Judges 11:34
When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. Now she was his one and only child; besides her he had no son or daughter.
35
Judges 11:35
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; for I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot take it back.”
36
Judges 11:36
So she said to him, “My father, you have given your word to the LORD; do to me as you have said, since the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the sons of Ammon.”
37
Judges 11:37
She said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may go to the mountains and weep because of my virginity, I and my companions.”
38
Judges 11:38
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.
39
Judges 11:39
At the end of two months she returned to her father, who did to her according to the vow which he had made; and she had no relations with a man. Thus it became a custom in Israel,
40
Judges 11:40
that the daughters of Israel went yearly to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.