JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER AND HER COMPANIONS
And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.
And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
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.
And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man.
And it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. Judges xi, 35-40.
【士11:35】 耶弗他看见她,就撕裂衣服,说,哀哉。我的女儿阿,你使我甚是愁苦,叫我作难了。因为我已经向耶和华开口许愿,不能挽回。
When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, 'Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break.'
【士11:36】 他女儿回答说,父阿,你既向耶和华开口,就当照你口中所说的向我行,因耶和华已经在仇敌亚扪人身上为你报仇。
'My father,' she replied, 'you have given your word to the LORD . Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.
【士11:37】 又对父亲说,有一件事求你允准,容我去两个月,与同伴在山上,好哀哭我终为处女。
But grant me this one request,' she said. 'Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.'
【士11:38】 耶弗他说,你去吧。就容她去两个月。她便和同伴去了,在山上为她终为处女哀哭。
'You may go,' he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry.
【士11:39】 两月已满,她回到父亲那里,父亲就照所许的愿向她行了。女儿终身没有亲近男子。
After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom
【士11:40】 此后以色列中有个规矩,每年以色列的女子去为基列人耶弗他的女儿哀哭四天。
that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.