Bible Strands
Judges 11:35
As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jephthah speaks to himself and the LORD immediately after seeing his only daughter approach him at Mizpah with tambourines and dancing. He reacts to her arrival following his military victory over the Ammonites.
The words — The verb וַ/יִּקְרַ֣ע (va/i.yik.Ra') translates literally as "and he tore," denoting Jephthah's physical act of rending his garments. The interjection אֲהָ֤הּ ('a.Hah) means "alas!" and marks his immediate verbal response to the situation.
The thread — The gesture of tearing clothes appears in Genesis 37:29 when Reuben discovers Joseph is missing from the pit. The danger of binding oneself by oath runs through Matthew 14:7, while the lament over familial loss parallels Jacob's complaint in Genesis 42:36.
Why it lands — The text records Jephthah's direct recognition that his spoken vow to the LORD has created an inescapable obligation with devastating personal consequences. It requires the reader to examine the immediate weight of spoken commitments and the concrete outcomes of rigid adherence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Genesis 42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”
- Matthew 14:7 so much that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked.
- Genesis 37:29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes,
- Genesis 37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
- Numbers 30:2 If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.
- Judges 21:1 Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”
- 1 Samuel 14:44 And Saul declared, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if you, Jonathan, do not surely die!”
- 2 Samuel 13:30 While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom has struck down all the sons of the king; not one of them is left!”
- 2 Samuel 18:33 The king was shaken and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he walked, he cried out, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
- Job 1:20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,