12 6 Jephthah killeth two and forty thousand Ephraimites, 8 After Jephthah succeedeth Ibzan,  11 Elon, 13 and Abdon.

And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went [a]Northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore wentest thou to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call [b]us to go with thee? we will therefore burn thine house upon thee with fire.

And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon, and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.

So when I saw that ye delivered me not, [c]I put my life in mine hands, and went upon the children of Ammon: so the Lord delivered them into mine hands. Wherefore then are ye come upon me now to fight against me?

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 12:1 After they had passed Jordan.
  2. Judges 12:1 Thus ambition envieth God’s work in others as they did also against Gideon, Judg. 8:1.
  3. Judges 12:3 That is, I ventured my life, and when man’s help failed, I put my trust only in God.

Jephthah and Ephraim

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

Jephthah 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. When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands(D) and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory(E) over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”

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