Judges says Gilead's sons drove their half-brother Jephthah out of the inheritance, then made him their chief, and his vow cost him his only daughter

Judges 11 says Jephthah was a mighty warrior, the son of Gilead by a harlot. Gilead's wife's sons drove him out and told him, "Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house; for thou art the son of another woman." He fled to the land of Tob, where idle men gathered around him. When Ammon attacked, the elders of Gilead came to Tob to ask him to lead them. He asked why they came to him only now that they were in trouble, and he set his terms: if he won, he would be their head. They swore it, and he was installed at Mizpah. Before the battle he vowed that whatever came out of his house first to meet him on his return would be a burnt offering. He defeated Ammon. His only child, a daughter, came out dancing with timbrels. He tore his clothes. She asked for two months in the hills to mourn her virginity, and then he "did with her according to his vow." Each year Israel's daughters lamented her four days. The Jewish Encyclopedia notes that the medieval commentators Kimhi and Gersonides held she was kept secluded, while the Targum and Midrash say she was sacrificed. It reports a midrash that Jephthah's flesh fell from his body in pieces and each piece was buried where it fell. Judges 12:7 says he judged Israel six years; the Hebrew says he was buried "in the cities of Gilead," plural.