Bible Question: About Judges 11:28-40, after reading your answer I still believe that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter. She did die because of her devotion to God. She and her father showed undying love, devotion, and faith in the Lord. Their integrity and courage are great. Blaming the Hebrew alphabet for a "letter" mistranslated is a weak and cowardly stance on your part just because you do not like how the message comes across. We should not question God's judgment or the translation because we do not like how the story ended.   Bible Answer: The previous question and answer you refer to is a great example of faith for both the father and the daughter. This was a great sacrifice for her. If we believe she died - that is a great sacrifice. If we believe she lived the rest of her life as a virgin - in that culture and time that would have been a huge sacrifice too!     Cowardly Stance. There are several mistranslations in almost every Bible. We must remember that the Bible is a translation from the Aramaic, Hebrew, and the Greek and men do make mistakes. The best current Bibles are the New King James Version and the New American Standard Bible. It is not cowardly to seek to verify the accuracies of Bible translations. Those who translated the Bible have been known to make mistakes. The King James Version of 1611 is a good example of a bad translation in 1 John 5:7. Here is an example of two current translations which disagree about the vow Jepthhah made. Notice that the New American Standard Bible (NASB) uses "and" and Young's Literal Translation (YLT) uses "or."     . . . then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” (NASB) Judges 11:31   . . . then it hath been, that which at all cometh out from the doors of my house to meet me in my turning back in peace from the Bene-Ammon--it hath been to Jehovah, or I have offered up for it--a burnt-offering.’ (YLT) Judges 11:31   The Hebrew word can be translated as "and" as well as "or" according to the highly respected authority Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1 (p. 229). This is a standard work for Hebrew scholars.    Our Goal. Our desire must always be to know what the Bible says and not what we want it to mean. With regard to this passage, a highly respected seminary professor from a well known seminary has stated the current popular interpretation is that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter. We must be willing to avoid the popular and maybe end up being unpopular for the sake of the truth.   Conclusion:I believe that I am not always correct but before God and by His Holy Spirit I believe this is the best understanding of Judges 11:28-40. May the Holy Spirit always bring us into understanding of Word of Truth.         < Back
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