Judges 12

₁The men from the Ephraim tribe came together and they went over the Jordan River to the town of Zaphon. They said to Jephthah: ‘Why did you go to war_against the Ammonites and not ask us to come and help you? We are going to burn you and your family in your house.’

₂Jephthah said to them: ‘I did ask you to come and help when my men and I went to war_against the Ammonites, but you did not come to save us. ₃When you did not come to help us, my men and I went without you. I was afraid that I would die but the Lord helped me win. Why did you come today to fight against me?’

₄Then Jephthah called all the men from Gilead and they went to war_against the people of Ephraim and they defeated them. The Ephraim people said: ‘You Gilead people are bad people who ran away from us and you live in the land that belongs to the Manasseh people and us.’

₅The men of Gilead went to the Jordan River and they waited at places where the water was not deep. When one of the Ephraim people came and said that he wanted to go over the river, the men of Gilead asked him: ‘Are you from Ephraim?’ When he answered ‘No,’ ₆they told him: ‘Say: “Shibboleth” ’, because they knew that people of Ephraim could not say ‘Shibboleth’. They said: ‘Sibboleth’. And if the man said ‘Sibboleth’, then the Gilead men killed him there at the Jordan River. There were 42 000 people of Ephraim who died in the war at the river.

₇Jephthah, the man of Gilead, was the leader of the Israelites for 6 years, and then he died. His family buried him in his town in Gilead.

₈After Jephthah, Ibsan was the leader of the Israelites. He came from the town of Bethlehem. ₉He had 30 sons and 30 daughters. He let his 30 daughters marry men who were not from his tribe and he let his sons marry girls who were not from his tribe. He was the leader of the Israelites for 7 years. ₁₀When Ibsan died his family buried him in Bethlehem.

₁₁After Ibsan, Elon was the leader of the Israelites. He was from the Zebulun tribe and he was the leader of the Israelites for 10 years. ₁₂When Elon died, his family buried him in the town of Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun.

₁₃After Elon, Abdon, son of Hillel, was the leader of the Israelites. He was from the town of Pirathon. ₁₄He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons and they rode on 70 donkeys. Abdon was the leader of the Israelites for 8 years. ₁₅When he died, his family buried him in the town of Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim on the hills of the Amalekites.