Discovery BoxJudges 11:37-39 
Context11:37 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
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.”
