Notice the original vow: "If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering" (Judges 11:30-31). First, notice that it is a conditional vow ("if...then"). Second, "whatever comes out...to meet me" actually is "the one who comes forth to meet me" in Hebrew, an apparent reference to a person. The Nelson Study Bible concurs: "The phrase to meet me seems to refer more appropriately to a human than to an animal" (note on 11:31).
How then are we to understand Jephthah's vow? The translation of the Hebrew text for verse 31 is the source of the difficulty. The next phrase could just as well be translated, "shall surely be the Lord's, or I will offer it a burnt offering."
The Nelson Study Bible notes, "The conjunction in Jephthah's pivotal statement in v. 31, that whatever or whoever came out of the door 'shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering' could be translated or. Thus, if a person came out first, he would dedicate that person to the Lord, or if an animal came out first, he would offer the animal as a burnt sacrifice" (note on Judges 11:39).
This explanation, however, leaves out the possibility of an unclean animal, such as a dog, coming out. Presumably, he would sacrifice a clean animal in this scenario, while he would dedicate an unclean animal as he would a person. But there is a possibility that this translation is not entirely correct either, as it leaves out the possibility of nothing—animal or person—coming out to meet Jephthah. This brings us to the next apparent problem in translation.
The clause "or I will offer it up as a burnt offering" could also be rendered, "or I will offer Him a burnt offering." If that is correct, then we are left with Jephthah imagining a person coming out to meet him and stating, in a perhaps corrected rendering of verse 31, "The one who comes forth to meet me I will consecrate to the Lord, or [if no one comes out] I will offer Him [i.e., the Lord] a burnt offering." This changes the complexion entirely.
What emerges from a clear understanding of the Hebrew is significant. If God would give Jephthah the victory and bring him safely home, then he would either dedicate a person of his household to God, or if no one came out, he would offer a burnt offering to God. Once God performed His part of the vow, Jephthah was bound to fulfill his part.
Jephthah left the matter in God's hands. Jephthah could not control who would come out of the doors of his house to greet him (or whether anyone would). The vow contained a choice for God to make: to accept either a consecrated person or a burnt offering.
Therefore, Jephthah was perhaps, to a degree, acting on faith, allowing God to choose how matters would turn out. Even so, the vow seems rash and unwise. Jephthah had apparently not thought this through well enough, because the appearance of his daughter shocked and deeply grieved him (verse 35). She clearly caught him off guard, which indicates he was expecting someone else—probably a household servant. No doubt, he learned a profound lesson that day.
Thankfully, the indication is that Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter, but rather he devoted her to the service of God, much as Hannah devoted Samuel to the service of God. As such, Jephthah's daughter would remain a virgin as she served at the tabernacle as part of a special class of dedicated women (compare Exodus 38:8; 1 Samuel 2:22; Luke 2:36-37). It appears that they acted as door porters, singers, musicians and workers in cloth (most valuable and needed in the tabernacle of Jephthah's day). This dedication meant that Jephthah would have no grandchildren—for his daughter was his only child—and thus, he would have no heir.
The Israelites viewed barrenness as a stigma, considering the ending of the family line as virtually a curse from God. Now Jephthah's grief is clear, for he would have no heir. His daughter's grief is also clear, for she would never marry or have children. Her friends grieved that their friend would never become "a mother in Israel" (and possibly mother of the promised Messiah—always a hope of Israelite families). The people of Israel also grieved, for their hero, Jephthah, would not leave them descendants and his name would perish out of Israel.
As a final observation, we must note verse 39 again. The sacred historian records that Jephthah "carried out his vow with her which he had vowed" and adds, "She knew no man." The record doesn't say that Jephthah sacrificed her.
If Jephthah sacrificed his daughter in gruesome and flagrant disobedience to God (God calls child sacrifice an abomination in Deuteronomy 18:9-10), this added statement about knowing no man would seem to be superfluous and inane; it only makes sense if she continued in a state of celibacy after Jephthah fulfilled his vow.
Hebrews 11:32 lists Jephthah among the outstanding examples of faith, an unlikely designation if he committed human sacrifice.
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