When I saw that you would not deliver me, I [a](A)took my life in my hands and crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim; and the men of Gilead [b]defeated Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, O Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh.” The Gileadites (B)captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 12:3 Lit put my soul in my palm
  2. Judges 12:4 Lit smote

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

Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead(C) and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.(D) The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan(E) 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,”

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