32. Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites. The Lord helped him defeat them.
33. Jephthah defeated them from the city of Aroer to the area of Minnith. He defeated them as far as the city of Abel Keramim. He defeated 20 cities in this area. The defeat was great. So the Ammonites were defeated by the Israelites.
34. When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him. She was playing a tambourine and dancing. She was his only child. Jephthah did not have any other sons or daughters.
35. When Jephthah saw his daughter, he tore his clothes to show how upset he was. He said, “My daughter! You have made me so sad! This is because I have made a promise to the Lord, and I cannot break it!”
36. Then his daughter said, “Father, you made a promise to the Lord. So do to me just what you promised. The Lord helped you defeat your enemies, the Ammonites.”
37. Then she said, “But let me do one thing. Let me be alone for two months to go to the mountains. I will never marry. So let me and my friends go and cry together.”
38. Jephthah said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months. She and her friends stayed in the mountains. There they cried for her because she would never marry.
39. After two months she returned to her father. Jephthah did to her what he promised to the Lord. Now Jephthah’s daughter had never had a husband.So this became a custom in Israel.
40. Every year the women of Israel would go out for four days. They did this to remember the daughter of Jephthah from Gilead.