Judges 12:1–6

Jephthah and Ephraim

12The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon.^c They said to Jephthah,^d “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you?^e We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”

²Jephthah answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands. ³When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands^f and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory^g over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”

⁴Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead^h and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.ⁱ” ⁵The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan^j leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” ⁶they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’ ” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.