Jephthah (jef′thä), one of the “judges” (B. C. 1336–1037) of the Israelites. He led in the war against the Ammonites, defeated them with great slaughter, and was chosen ruler in reward. He vowed that whoever came to him out of his house should be sacrificed to Jehovah. His own daughter met him and “he did with her according to his vow.” The story is much like that of Iphigenia in Greek mythology, and both are grouped together by Tennyson in his poem The Dream of Fair Women. See Judges 11 and 12.
