Judges 12

Judges 12:1 The men of Ephraim were called together and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight against the Ammonites but haven’t called us to go with you? We should burn your house with you in it!”

Judges 12:2 Then Jephthah said to them, “My people and I had a bitter dispute with the Ammonites. So I called for you, but you didn’t rescue me from their power.

Judges 12:3 When I saw that you weren’t going to rescue me, I grasped my throat and crossed over to the Ammonites, and Yahveh handed them over to me. Why, then, have you come today to fight against me?”

Judges 12:4 Then Jephthah gathered all of Gilead’s men. They fought and struck down Ephraim because Ephraim had said, “You Gileadites are Ephraimite fugitives in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”

Judges 12:5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim. Whenever a fugitive from Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No,”

Judges 12:6 they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said “Sibboleth” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and executed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

Judges 12:7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead when he died.

Judges 12:8 Ibzan, who was from Bethlehem, judged Israel after Jephthah

Judges 12:9 and had thirty sons. He gave his thirty daughters in marriage to men outside the tribe and brought back thirty wives for his sons from outside the tribe. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years,

Judges 12:10 and when he died, he was buried in Bethlehem.

Judges 12:11 Elon, who was from Zebulun, judged Israel after Ibzan. He judged Israel for ten years,

Judges 12:12 and when he died, he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Judges 12:13 After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, who was from Pirathon, judged Israel.

Judges 12:14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. Abdon judged Israel for eight years,

Judges 12:15 and when he died, he was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Judges 12 quotes:

“Linguistic variation is a critical marker of difference in the story of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:7—9). Similarly, biblical prophets describe the enemy as people “of obscure speech and difficult language” (Ezek 3:5, 6) or of speaking “a language you do not know” (Jer 5:15). One who is regarded as strange and not to be trusted speaks in “an alien tongue” (Isa 28:11). Judges 12:6 is one of the few places in the Hebrew Bible in which the author consciously distinguishes between accents or dialects. Such differences are of great enthnographic significance and further testify to Israelite awareness concerning the “mixed multitude” that constituted the people. Some of the deepest animus is reserved for fellow Israelites in the book of Judges.’

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 138.

Judges 12 links:

ear of corn
ordinary judges
Please say Shibboleth

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library