Judges 12

¹The men of Ephraim were called to arms , and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah , Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire .

²And Jephthah said to them, I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites , and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand .

³And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites , and the Lord gave them into my hand . Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?

⁴Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim . And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim , because they said , You are fugitives of Ephraim , you Gileadites , in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh .

⁵And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites . And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said , Let me go over , the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite ? When he said , No,

⁶they said to him, Then say Shibboleth , and he said , Sibboleth , for he could not pronounce it right . Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan . At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell .

⁷Jephthah judged Israel six years . Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead .

⁸After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel .

⁹He had thirty sons , and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan , and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons . And he judged Israel seven years .

¹⁰Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem .

¹¹After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel , and he judged Israel ten years .

¹²Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun .

¹³After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel .

¹⁴He had forty sons and thirty grandsons , who rode on seventy donkeys , and he judged Israel eight years .

¹⁵Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim , in the hill country of the Amalekites .