Judges 12

Jephthah and the Ephraimites

12The men of Ephraim prepared for battle; they crossed the River Jordan to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross the border to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We’ll burn the house down over your head!”

²But Jephthah said to them, “My people and I had a serious quarrel with the Ammonites. I did call you, but you would not rescue me from them. ³When I saw that you were not going to, I risked my life and crossed the border to fight them, and the Lord gave me victory over them. So why are you coming to fight me now?” ⁴Then Jephthah brought all the men of Gilead together, fought the men of Ephraim and defeated them. (The Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites in Ephraim and Manasseh, you are deserters from Ephraim!”) ⁵In order to keep the Ephraimites from escaping, the Gileadites captured the places where the Jordan could be crossed. When any Ephraimite who was trying to escape asked permission to cross, the men of Gilead would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” ⁶they would tell him to say “Shibboleth”. But he would say “Sibboleth”, because he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they would seize him and kill him there at one of the crossings of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites were killed.

⁷Jephthah led Israel for six years. Then he died and was buried in his home town^w in Gilead.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸After Jephthah, Ibzan from Bethlehem led Israel. ⁹He had 30 sons and 30 daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside the clan and brought 30 women from outside the clan for his sons to marry. Ibzan led Israel for seven years, ¹⁰then he died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹After Ibzan, Elon from Zebulun led Israel for ten years. ¹²Then he died and was buried at Aijalon in the territory of Zebulun.

¹³After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel from Pirathon led Israel. ¹⁴He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons, who rode on 70 donkeys. Abdon led Israel for eight years, ¹⁵then he died and was buried at Pirathon in the territory of Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites.