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.
Parallel translations
- WEB He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
- KJV 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.
- BSB “Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains.
- NASB 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.
- NLT “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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jephthah grants the two months, and his daughter departs with her companions to mourn. The narrative slows to honor her grief.
Overview
The father's consent and the shared mourning underscore the gravity of what is to come. The communal lament reflects the seriousness with which Israel regarded the loss. The verse invites the reader to feel the weight of a vow made without godly wisdom, a recurring lesson in this dark era.
Cross-references & the web
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Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 11:38 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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