12 ¶ And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together towards the Aquilon and said unto Jephthah, Why didst thou go over to fight against the sons of Ammon and didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn thy house upon thee with fire.

² And Jephthah replied unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon, and when I called you, ye did not defend me from their hands.

³ Seeing, therefore, that ye did not defend me, I put my life in my hands and went over against the sons of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have ye come up against me this day to fight with me?

⁴ Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim because they had said, Ye are fugitives of Ephraim; ye are Gileadites among Ephraim and Manasseh.

⁵ And the Gileadites took the passages of the Jordan from Ephraim; and it was such that when any of those of Ephraim who had escaped would say, May I pass? The men of Gilead would ask them, Art thou an Ephrathite? If he said, No;

⁶ then they would say unto him, Now say Shibboleth. {Heb. a flowing stream} And he would say Sibboleth; {Heb. an ear of wheat} for he could not pronounce it the same. Then they would take him and slay him at the passages of the Jordan. And at that time forty-two thousand of those of Ephraim fell.

⁷ And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

⁸ ¶ After him Ibzan, of Bethlehem, judged Israel,

⁹ who had thirty sons and thirty daughters, whom he married abroad and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.

¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹ And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years.

¹² And Elon, the Zebulonite, died and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.

¹³ And after him Abdon, the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel.

¹⁴ And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons that rode on seventy he asses, and he judged Israel eight years.

¹⁵ And Abdon, the son of Hillel the Pirathonite, died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the mount of Amalek.