Judges 12:6-8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 they would ask him to say “Shibboleth.”[a] If he said “Sibboleth,” not pronouncing it exactly right, they would seize him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell at that time.
7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years, and Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.(A)
Ibzan. 8 After him Ibzan[b] of Bethlehem judged Israel.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 12:6 Shibboleth: Hebrew meaning “ear of grain” or “torrent of water.” Though the Ephraimites probably spoke the same dialect of Hebrew as their Gileadite neighbors, there was enough regional variation in their pronunciation of the initial sound of this word to betray them to their enemies.
- 12:8–15 Ibzan…Elon…Abdon: three more of the so-called “minor judges”; see Introduction.
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