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Judges 11:40

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

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

Judges 11:40 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Judges 11:40

Theological / Devotional

To lament. The marginal reading of the KJV gives “to talk with.” This marginal reading may reflect the thinking of those who believed that the daughter was not sacrificed, but kept apart in a seclusion which was broken only once a year when virgins in Israel could talk with her. The Hebrew verb, tanah, does not mean “to talk with.” Basically it means “to recount,” with the idea of talking about some event, hence “to commemorate,” “to celebrate.” The same verb is translated “rehearse” in Judges 5:11. The Hebrew verb occurs only in these two passages in the Bible. The LXX translates tanah “to lament.”

By SdaBc