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Grammar Analysis: Judges 11:37-40

The Daughter's Response, the Fulfillment, and the Annual Commemoration

Text

Judges 11:37

Hebrew: וַתֹּ֨אמֶר֙ אֶל־אָבִ֔יהָ יֵעָ֥שֶׂה לִּ֖י הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֑ה הַרְפֵּ֨ה מִמֶּ֜נִּי שְׁנַ֣יִם חֳדָשִׁ֗ים וְאֵֽלְכָה֙ וְיָרַדְתִּ֣י עַל־הֶֽהָרִ֔ים וְאֶבְכֶּה֙ עַל־בְּתוּלַ֔י אָנֹכִ֖י וְרֵעֹותָֽי׃

KJV: "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."

Judges 11:38

Hebrew: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר לֵ֔כִי וַיִּשְׁלַ֥ח אֹותָ֖הּ שְׁנֵ֣י חֳדָשִׁ֑ים וַתֵּ֤לֶךְ הִיא֙ וְרֵ֣עֹותֶ֔יהָ וַתֵּ֥בְךְּ עַל־בְּתוּלֶ֖יהָ עַל־הֶהָרִֽים׃

KJV: "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."

Judges 11:39

Hebrew: וַיְהִ֞י מִקֵּ֣ץ׀ שְׁנַ֣יִם חֳדָשִׁ֗ים וַתָּ֨שָׁב֙ אֶל־אָבִ֔יהָ וַיַּ֣עַשׂ לָ֔הּ אֶת־נִדְרֹ֖ו אֲשֶׁ֣ר נָדָ֑ר וְהִיא֙ לֹא־יָדְעָ֣ה אִ֔ישׁ וַתְּהִי־חֹ֖ק בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

KJV: "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,"

Judges 11:40

Hebrew: מִיָּמִ֣ים׀ יָמִ֗ימָה תֵּלַ֨כְנָה֙ בְּנֹ֣ות יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְתַנֹּ֕ות לְבַת־יִפְתָּ֖ח הַגִּלְעָדִ֑י אַרְבַּ֥עַת יָמִ֖ים בַּשָּׁנָֽה׃ ס

KJV: "[That] the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year."

Word-by-Word Parsing

Judges 11:37

# Hebrew Lemma Parsing Gloss
1 וַ ו Conj and
2 תֹּ֨אמֶר֙ אמר Verb.Qal.Wayq.3fs she said
3 אֶל אל Prep to
4 אָבִ֔יהָ אב Noun.ms.Abs.+3fs her father
5 יֵעָ֥שֶׂה עשׂה Verb.Niphal.Impf.3ms let (it) be done
6 לִּ֖י ל Prep.+1cs for me
7 הַדָּבָ֣ר דבר Art+Noun.ms.Abs the thing
8 הַזֶּ֑ה זה Art+DemPron.ms this
9 הַרְפֵּ֨ה רפה Verb.Hiphil.Impv.2ms let alone (desist from me)
10 מִמֶּ֜נִּי מן Prep.+1cs from me
11 שְׁנַ֣יִם חֳדָשִׁ֗ים שׁנים / חדשׁ Numeral.du + Noun.mp.Abs two months
12 וְאֵֽלְכָה֙ הלך Conj+Verb.Qal.Impf.1cs (cohortative) that I may go
13 וְיָרַדְתִּ֣י ירד Conj+Verb.Qal.Perf.1cs (waw-consec) and descend
14 עַל־הֶֽהָרִ֔ים על / הר Prep+Art+Noun.mp.Abs on the mountains
15 וְאֶבְכֶּה֙ בכה Conj+Verb.Qal.Impf.1cs and weep
16 עַל־בְּתוּלַ֔י על / בתולים Prep+Noun.fp.Abs.+1cs for my virginity
17 אָנֹכִ֖י אנכי PersPron.1cs I
18 וְרֵעֹותָֽי רעה Conj+Noun.fp.Abs.+1cs and my companions

Judges 11:38

# Hebrew Lemma Parsing Gloss
1 וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אמר Verb.Qal.Wayq.3ms and he said
2 לֵ֔כִי הלך Verb.Qal.Impv.2fs go
3 וַיִּשְׁלַ֥ח שׁלח Verb.Qal.Wayq.3ms and he sent
4 אֹותָ֖הּ את DirObj+3fs her
5 שְׁנֵ֣י חֳדָשִׁ֑ים שׁנים / חדשׁ Numeral.Cst + Noun.mp.Abs two months
6 וַתֵּ֤לֶךְ הלך Verb.Qal.Wayq.3fs and she went
7 הִיא֙ וְרֵ֣עֹותֶ֔יהָ היא / רעה PersPron.3fs + Conj+Noun.fp+3fs she and her companions
8 וַתֵּ֥בְךְּ בכה Verb.Qal.Wayq.3fs and she wept
9 עַל־בְּתוּלֶ֖יהָ על / בתולים Prep+Noun.fp.Abs.+3fs for her virginity
10 עַל־הֶהָרִֽים על / הר Prep+Art+Noun.mp.Abs upon the mountains

Judges 11:39

# Hebrew Lemma Parsing Gloss
1 וַיְהִ֞י היה Verb.Qal.Wayq.3ms and it came to pass
2 מִקֵּ֣ץ מן / קץ Prep+Noun.ms.Cst at the end of
3 שְׁנַ֣יִם חֳדָשִׁ֗ים שׁנים / חדשׁ Numeral.du + Noun.mp.Abs two months
4 וַתָּ֨שָׁב֙ שׁוב Verb.Qal.Wayq.3fs and she returned
5 אֶל־אָבִ֔יהָ אל / אב Prep+Noun.ms.+3fs to her father
6 וַיַּ֣עַשׂ עשׂה Verb.Qal.Wayq.3ms and he did
7 לָ֔הּ ל Prep.+3fs to her
8 אֶת־נִדְרֹ֖ו את / נדר DirObj+Noun.ms.Abs.+3ms his vow
9 אֲשֶׁ֣ר אשׁר Rel.Particle which
10 נָדָ֑ר נדר Verb.Qal.Perf.3ms he had vowed
11 וְהִיא֙ היא Conj+PersPron.3fs and she
12 לֹא לא Neg not
13 יָדְעָ֣ה ידע Verb.Qal.Perf.3fs had known
14 אִ֔ישׁ אישׁ Noun.ms.Abs (a) man
15 וַתְּהִי היה Verb.Qal.Wayq.3fs and it became
16 חֹ֖ק חק Noun.ms.Abs a statute/custom
17 בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל ב / ישׂראל Prep+PropN in Israel

Judges 11:40

# Hebrew Lemma Parsing Gloss
1 מִיָּמִ֣ים׀ יָמִ֗ימָה מן / יום Prep+Noun.mp.Abs + Noun.mp.Abs-locative from days to days (yearly)
2 תֵּלַ֨כְנָה֙ הלך Verb.Qal.Impf.3fp they (fem) would go
3 בְּנֹ֣ות בת Noun.fp.Cst daughters of
4 יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל ישׂראל PropN Israel
5 לְתַנֹּ֕ות ל / תנה Prep+Verb.Piel.InfCon to recount / lament
6 לְבַת־יִפְתָּ֖ח ל / בת / יפתח Prep+Noun.fs.Cst+PropN for the daughter of Jephthah
7 הַגִּלְעָדִ֑י גלעדי Art+Adj.ms.Abs the Gileadite
8 אַרְבַּ֥עַת ארבע Numeral.fs.Cst four (of)
9 יָמִ֖ים יום Noun.mp.Abs days
10 בַּשָּׁנָֽה ב / ה / שׁנה Prep+Art+Noun.fs.Abs in the year

Key Grammatical Features

1. בְּתוּלַי / בְּתוּלֶיהָ — "my/her virginity"

  • Lemma: בְּתוּלִים (bethulim) — plural form; not the noun בְּתוּלָה (bethulah, "a virgin").
  • Form: Noun.fp.Abs.+1cs (11:37) and +3fs (11:38). Morphologically a plural of abstraction / condition: "virginity, state of being a virgin." The plural -îm ending here does not mean multiple virgins; it signals an abstract state (compare נְעוּרִים "youth," זְקֻנִים "old age").
  • Syntax: Object of verb בכה ("weep") via preposition עַל ("for, over") — the stereotyped formula "to weep over one's bethulim." The construction appears twice (stated by daughter, executed in narration), binding the lament tightly to the condition, not to a person.
  • Significance: The narrator repeats the noun verbatim in vv. 37 and 38. Whatever she mourns is a state, not a loss of life per se. The grammatical form itself is one of the strongest data points in the passage: בְּתוּלַי lexicalizes "my unmarried/childless condition" — see word study for the distinction from בְּתוּלָה.
  • Word study: H1330-bthuwlah

2. וַיַּ֣עַשׂ לָ֔הּ אֶת־נִדְרֹ֖ו אֲשֶׁ֣ר נָדָ֑ר — "he did to her his vow which he had vowed"

  • Form: וַיַּעַשׂ is Qal wayyiqtol 3ms (narrative preterite) of עשׂה, followed by indirect-object לָהּ, then direct-object marker אֶת + נִדְרוֹ ("his vow" + 3ms suffix). The relative clause אֲשֶׁר נָדָר is a perfect-aspect internal object construction (cognate accusative): the verb נָדַר and the noun נֶדֶר share the same root.
  • Clause pattern: Type Way0 (main-line narrative) followed by type xQt0 (relative-particle + qatal), per clause parser. The qatal נָדָר in the relative clause is anterior to the wayyiqtol וַיַּעַשׂ — the vow had already been uttered (vv. 30-31) before being "performed."
  • Crucial syntactic ambiguity: The verb עשׂה here takes לָהּ (to/for her) + direct object "his vow." Hebrew עשׂה with ל + person most often means "do to/for someone" in a neutral sense (cf. Gen 12:18 "What is this thou hast done unto me [עָשִׂ֣יתָ לִּ֔י]"). The construction does not lexically specify killing. The grammar alone is consistent with either (a) carrying out a vow of dedication (life-long service) or (b) carrying out a vow of sacrifice. The narrator deliberately reports the fulfillment by reference back to the vow-text, forcing the reader to reconstruct what "doing the vow" means from 11:30-31.
  • Cognate-accusative intensification: "vowed his vow which he vowed" (נדר…נדרו…אשר נדר) is an emphatic construction. Biblical Hebrew uses cognate-object pairs (e.g., חלם חלום, חטא חטאה) to underline the solemnity/irrevocability of the act. Here it emphasizes the legal binding force under which Jephthah acts.
  • Word study: H5087-nadar

3. וְהִיא֙ לֹא־יָדְעָ֣ה אִ֔ישׁ — "and she had not known a man"

  • Form: Qal perfect 3fs of ידע. Preceded by disjunctive waw + pronoun (וְהִיא) + negation (לֹא).
  • Clause type: WXQt — circumstantial/backgrounded waw-X-qatal clause (clause parser confirms). This is the standard BH construction for a parenthetical / explanatory statement breaking the wayyiqtol chain.
  • Aspect / sequence: The qatal after the wayyiqtol וַיַּעַשׂ is not sequential ("and then she knew no man"). It is anterior / stative relative to the main line — "now she, she had not known a man." The fronted pronoun הִיא adds contrastive topicalization ("as for her…").
  • Idiom: ידע + אישׁ (with man/woman as object) is the standard BH euphemism for sexual relations — the feminine counterpart of the masculine idiom ידע אשׁה (Gen 4:1, 17, 25; 24:16). The feminine formulation is rare; Num 31:17, 18, 35 are the only other clear cases, all of which concern Midianite women who either had or had not "known a man by lying with him." The vocabulary is loaded with sexual meaning.
  • Interpretive weight: This circumstantial clause is the narrator's own comment on what "doing the vow" entailed. Precisely what the narrator chooses to tell us is not "she died" but "she had not known a man" — a statement about her sexual/marital state, grammatically parallel to her earlier lament over בְּתוּלִים. The syntactic parallel (lament of her virginity → she had not known a man) frames the outcome in celibacy-language rather than death-language.
  • Grammar reference: See stem-niphal.md for the Qal/Niphal contrast; Qal ידע is the standard active-knowing stem.

4. לְתַנּוֹת — "to recount / to lament"

  • Form: Piel Infinitive Construct of תנה (Strong's H8567), with prefixed לְ (purpose/result). Parser code: Verb.Piel.InfCon.
  • Rarity: Only two clear attestations of this verb in the entire Hebrew Bible: Judg 5:11 (יְתַנּוּ, Piel impf. 3mp, "they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD") and Judg 11:40 (לְתַנּוֹת, Piel InfCon). The parser confirms these are the sole verbal occurrences — all other hits for root תנה are the unrelated noun מַתָּנָה ("gift"), the 2fp pronoun אַתֵּנָה, or the place-name Mattanah.
  • Semantic range: Because of the scarcity, glossing is debated. Two main options from lexica: (1) recount / rehearse / commemorate (cognate to Aramaic תְּנָא "repeat, teach" — this is the Judg 5:11 sense: reciting the LORD's deeds). (2) lament (traditional sense, following LXX θρηνεῖν and Vulgate plangere). Piel stem intensifies — whatever the base action, it is repeated/ceremonial.
  • Syntactic frame: InfCon with לְ encodes purpose of the main verb תֵּלַכְנָה ("they would go…in order to tanneh"). The indirect object לְבַת־יִפְתָּח ("for/to the daughter of Jephthah") uses ל, not עַל; one typically mourns for (עַל) the dead but recounts to/for (ל) a subject of memory. This dative-of-interest construction with ל favors the "recount, commemorate" reading — the rite is about her, not over her corpse.
  • Clause type: InfC in domain D (discursive) — the infinitival clause specifies the customary purpose of the yearly pilgrimage established as a חֹק ("statute/custom") in v. 39.
  • Word study: H8567-tanah

5. Additional noted forms

  • יֵעָשֶׂה (v. 37): Niphal imperfect 3ms of עשׂה — "let it be done." Passive/jussive. Polite/formal way for the daughter to request; she does not command her father with an active imperative. See stem-niphal.md.
  • הַרְפֵּה מִמֶּנִּי (v. 37): Hiphil imperative 2ms of רפה — lit. "let (yourself) loose from me," i.e. "leave me alone / grant me respite." Idiomatic Hiphil meaning "release, desist."
  • וְאֵלְכָה (v. 37): Qal cohortative 1cs of הלך (-āh ending). Cohortative expresses volitional self-exhortation ("let me go"). Paired with weqatal וְיָרַדְתִּי (Qal perfect 1cs with consecutive waw), which continues the same modal force.
  • מִיָּמִים יָמִימָה (v. 40): Distributive / iterative idiom: "from days to days-ward" (noun + same noun with -āh of direction). Standard BH for "yearly, from year to year" (cf. Exod 13:10; 1 Sam 1:3; 1 Sam 2:19 — the only other attestations of this exact formula).

Clause Structure Summary

v. 37 — The Daughter's Speech (Direct Discourse, Domain Q)

Clause Type Function
1 Way0 (narrative) speech-frame: "And she said to her father"
2 ZYqX (jussive) "Let this thing be done for me"
3 ZIm0 (imperative) "Leave me alone two months"
4 WYq0 (cohortative) "that I may go"
5 WQt0 (weqatal) "and descend on the mountains"
6 WYqX (cohortative) "and weep for my virginity, I and my companions"

Shift from jussive → imperative → 1cs cohortative chain: formal politeness (v.37a) yields to personal petition (v.37b-d). Grammatically the daughter controls the discourse of this scene.

Clause Type Function
1 Way0 "And he said"
2 ZIm0 "Go" (2fs imperative)
3 Way0 "and he sent her away two months"
4 WayX "and she went, she and her companions"
5 Way0 "and she wept for her virginity on the mountains"

Tight wayyiqtol chain — rapid narrative execution. Notable: the narrator re-uses בְּתוּלֶיהָ to describe what she did, matching her own phrasing in v. 37 exactly.

v. 39 — The Return and the Vow's Fulfillment (Domain N)

Clause Type Function
1 Way0 temporal frame: "at end of two months"
2 Way0 "and she returned to her father"
3 Way0 "and he did to her his vow"
4 xQt0 relative clause: "which he had vowed"
5 WXQt circumstantial: "now as for her, she had not known a man"
6 Way0 result/consequence: "and it became a statute in Israel"

Clause 5 (WXQt) is the hinge. A wayyiqtol chain (3→6) is interrupted by one backgrounded X-qatal clause — the narrator's one-line commentary on what the "doing of the vow" entailed. The commentary is in sexual/marital terms, not mortality terms.

v. 40 — The Etiology (Domain D = Discursive/Habitual)

Clause Type Function
1 xYqX "Yearly the daughters of Israel would go"
2 InfC purpose: "to tanneh the daughter of Jephthah"

Domain shift from N (narrative) to D (discursive/habitual) marks the transition from event-time to institution-time. The yiqtol תֵּלַכְנָה is iterative/habitual. The passage closes as an etiological explanation of an ongoing Israelite custom.

Exegetical Observations from the Grammar

Three grammatical facts are especially load-bearing:

  1. The double use of בְּתוּלִים (vv. 37, 38) — noun of abstract condition, not simply "virgin" — frames the entire lament as over a state, and the narrator redoubles it by reusing the word.

  2. The circumstantial WXQt clause "she had not known a man" (v. 39) is the narrator's interpretive gloss on "he did to her his vow." Syntactically, this clause is not sequential to the vow's fulfillment; it is an explanatory aside. Its content is sexual/marital, aligning with the daughter's own lament-vocabulary (בְּתוּלִים).

  3. לְתַנּוֹת (v. 40) — a Piel infinitive of a verb used elsewhere only in Judg 5:11, where it means "rehearse the righteous acts of YHWH." If the same sense applies here (with ל of benefit, not mourning), the annual rite recounts / commemorates rather than bewails. The syntactic frame (ל of interest rather than עַל of object-of-mourning) leans this direction.

The grammatical evidence does not settle whether Jephthah's vow was fulfilled by (a) a literal burnt offering or (b) perpetual dedication to celibate sanctuary service. But the vocabulary the narrator chooses — בְּתוּלִים, לֹא יָדְעָה אִישׁ, לְתַנּוֹת — consistently belongs to the semantic field of unmarried / celibate life, not of death and mourning the dead. The reader is given grammar that is at minimum consistent with, and arguably biased toward, the dedication reading.

Cross-References

Grammar Library

Word Studies

Parallel Constructions

  • ידע + object "man" (fem. subj.): Gen 24:16; Num 31:17, 18, 35 (Midianite women); Judg 21:12.
  • בכה עַל: standard idiom of mourning; occurs with persons (2 Sam 1:24 for Saul), cities, and here uniquely with an abstract state (בְּתוּלַי).
  • מִיָּמִים יָמִימָה: Exod 13:10; 1 Sam 1:3; 1 Sam 2:19 — all cultic/pilgrimage contexts.
  • Piel of תנה: Judg 5:11 only other verbal attestation.