Judges 12

¹ And the men of Ephraim are called together, and pass over northward, and say to Jephthah, ‘Wherefore has thou passed over to fight against the Bene-Ammon, and on us hast not called to go with thee? thy house we burn over thee with fire.’

² And Jephthah saith unto them, ‘A man of great strife I have been (I and my people) with the Bene-Ammon, and I call you, and ye have not saved me out of their hand,

³ and I see that thou art not a saviour, and I put my life in my hand, and pass over unto the Bene-Ammon, and Jehovah giveth them into my hand — and why have ye come up unto me this day to fight against me?’

⁴ And Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead, and fighteth with Ephraim, and the men of Gilead smite Ephraim, because they said, ‘Fugitives of Ephraim [are] ye Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim — in the midst of Manasseh.’

⁵ And Gilead captureth the passages of the Jordan to Ephraim, and it hath been, when [any of] the fugitives of Ephraim say, ‘Let me pass over,’ and the men of Gilead say to him, ‘An Ephramite thou?’ and he saith, ‘No;’

⁶ that they say to him, ‘Say, I pray thee, Shibboleth;’ and he saith, ‘Sibboleth,’ and is not prepared to speak right — and they seize him, and slaughter him at the passages of the Jordan, and there fall at that time, of Ephraim, forty and two chiefs.

⁷ And Jephthah judged Israel six years, and Jephthah the Gileadite dieth, and is buried in [one of] the cities of Gilead.

⁸ And after him Ibzan of Beth-Lehem judgeth Israel,

⁹ and he hath thirty sons and thirty daughters, he hath sent without and thirty daughters hath brought in to his sons from without; and he judgeth Israel seven years.

¹⁰ And Ibzan dieth, and is buried in Beth-Lehem.

¹¹ And after him Elon the Zebulunite judgeth Israel, and he judgeth Israel ten years,

¹² and Elon the Zebulunite dieth, and is buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun.

¹³ And after him, Abdon son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judgeth Israel,

¹⁴ and he hath forty sons, and thirty grandsons, riding on seventy ass-colts, and he judgeth Israel eight years.

¹⁵ And Abdon son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, dieth, and is buried in Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of the Amalekite.