11:39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin.70 Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel.71
tnHeb “She had never known a man.” Some understand this to mean that her father committed her to a life of celibacy, but the disjunctive clause (note the vav + subject + verb pattern) more likely describes her condition at the time the vow was fulfilled. (See G. F. Moore, Judges [ICC], 302–3; C. F. Burney, Judges, 324.) She died a virgin and never experienced the joys of marriage and motherhood.