Judges 11:37-39

11:37 She then said to her father, “Please grant me this one wish. ¹  For two months allow me to walk through the hills with my friends and mourn my virginity.” ²  11:38 He said, “You may go.” He permitted her to leave ³  for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity as she walked through the hills. ⁴  11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. ⁵  Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. ⁶ 

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¹ tn Heb “Let this thing be done for me.”

² tn Heb “Leave me alone for two months so I can go and go down on the hills and weep over my virginity – I and my friends.”

³ tn Heb “he sent her.”

⁴ tn Heb “on the hills.” The words “as she walked” are supplied.

⁵ tn Heb “She had never known a man.” Some understand this to mean that her father committed her to a life of celibacy, but the disjunctive clause (note the vav + subject + verb pattern) more likely describes her condition at the time the vow was fulfilled. (See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 302-3; C. F. Burney, Judges, 324.) She died a virgin and never experienced the joys of marriage and motherhood.

⁶ tn Heb “There was a custom in Israel.”