Limitless Word
that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
Judges 11:40 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
  • KJV That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
  • NKJV that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
  • NASB that the daughters of Israel went annually to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days in the year.
  • NLT for young Israelite women to go away for four days each year to lament the fate of Jephthah’s daughter.

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

Israel's daughters annually commemorate Jephthah's daughter for four days. Her memory becomes a lasting custom in Israel.

Overview

This yearly observance preserved the memory of her sorrow and devotion. It closes the episode on a note of national lament rather than celebration of the victory. The custom stands as a sober monument to the cost of reckless vows and the brokenness of the period of the judges.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 2

  • Judg 5:11the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates:
  • 1 Kgs 9:25Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense with them before the LORD. So he completed the temple.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Judges videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Judges 11:40YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JudgesMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 11:40 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.