Chapter Twelve

1–6. The Ephraimites’ discontent with Jephthah and their punishment. 7. Jephthah’s death. 8–15. Judges who ruled after Jephthah’s death.

Judges 12:1. The Ephraimites gathered and crossed over into Zaphon and said to Jephthah: Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to come with you? We will burn down your house with fire and you with it. After crossing the Jordan and gathering in Zaphon (Tsaphon; see Josh 13:27), the inhabitants of the tribe of Ephraim began to reproach Jephthah for not inviting them along on the campaign against the Ammonites (cf. Judg 8:1).

Judges 12:2. Jephthah said to them: I and my people had a serious dispute with the Ammonites; I called upon you, but you did not save me from their hand; Judges 12:3. and when I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and went against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand; why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me? Judges 12:4. Then Jephthah gathered all the inhabitants of Gilead and fought the Ephraimites; and the men of Gilead struck down the Ephraimites, saying: You are refugees of Ephraim, Gilead dwelt in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh. Judges 12:5. And the Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites; and whenever one of the survivors of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him: Are you an Ephraimite? He would say: No. Judges 12:6. They said to him: Say now ‘shibboleth,’ and he said ‘sibboleth,’ and could not pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell. In punishment for the daring of the Ephraimites, Jephthah, gathering the Gileadites, fought the Ephraimites and put them to flight, so that they were forced to cross back to their own territory beyond the Jordan. By seizing the fords across the river, Jephthah stopped the Ephraimites who were returning, distinguishing them by their pronunciation of the word “shibboleth” (“ear of grain” or “stream,” see Isa 17:12, as they might have called the Jordan), which they pronounced “sibboleth,” and he would kill them there.

Judges 12:7. Jephthah judged Israel for six years, and Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead. After his death, Jephthah, who had been a judge of the Israelites for a relatively short time (6 years) and probably only over the eastern half of Palestine, was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

Judges 12:8. After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. Judges 12:9. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters he sent out in marriage, and thirty daughters he took from outside for his sons, and he judged Israel for seven years. Judges 12:10. And Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem. Judges 12:11. After him, Elon the Zebulonite judged Israel and judged Israel for ten years. Judges 12:12. And Elon the Zebulonite died and was buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun. Judges 12:13. After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel. Judges 12:14. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy young donkeys; and he judged Israel for eight years. Judges 12:15. And Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, on the hill of Amalek. After Jephthah’s death, the judges of the Israelites were Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, who did not distinguish themselves by any particular actions among the people. The first of them was buried in Bethlehem, probably Judah’s; the second in Aijalon of the Zebulonites (Josh 19:33 according to the Hebrew text), and the third in the tribe of Ephraim, in a place called the hill of Amalek. The birthplace of Abdon, the city of Pirathon, is identified with modern Faratha (in 1 Macc 9:50: Pharathon).