Jephthah makes a sacrifice of his daughter according to his rash vow. Line engraving by J.W. Cook after J. Opie.

Jephthah's vow had been: "If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me ... shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering" (Judges 11.30-1). When he returns from the battle, his daughter, his only child, "meet[s] him with timbrels and dances" ...