A Foolish Vow Spells Death for a Daughter
11:29 The Lord’s spirit empowered 1 Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went 2 to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. 3 11:30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 11:31 then whoever is the first to come through 4 the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he 5 will belong to the Lord and 6 I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.” 11:32 Jephthah approached 7 the Ammonites to fight with them, and the Lord handed them over to him. 11:33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith – twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! 8 The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites. 9
