1
And behold, a sedition rose up in Ephraim. Then, while passing by toward the north, they said to Jephthah: “When you were going to fight against the sons of Ammon, why were you unwilling to summon us, so that we might go with you? Therefore, we will burn down your house.”
2
And he answered them: “I and my people were in a great conflict against the sons of Ammon. And I called you, so that you might offer assistance to me. And you were not willing to do so.
3
And discerning this, I put my life in my own hands, and I crossed to the sons of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hands. What am I guilty of, that you would rise up in battle against me?”
4
And so, calling to himself all the men of Gilead, he fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck down Ephraim, because he had said, “Gilead is a fugitive from Ephraim, and he lives in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.”
5
And the Gileadites occupied the fords of the Jordan, along which Ephraim was to return. And when anyone from the number of Ephraim had arrived, fleeing, and had said, “I beg that you permit me to pass,” the Gileadites would say to him, “Could you be an Ephraimite?” And if he said, “I am not,”
6
they would ask him, then say ‘Shibboleth,’ which is translated as ‘ear of grain.’ But he would answer ‘Sibboleth,’ not being able to express the word for an ear of grain in the same letters. And immediately apprehending him, they would cut his throat, at the same crossing point of the Jordan. And in that time of Ephraim, forty-two thousand fell.
7
And so Jephthah, the Gileadite, judged Israel for six years. And he died, and he was buried in his city in Gilead.
Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon
8
After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
9
He had thirty sons, and the same number of daughters, whom he sent away to be given to husbands. And he accepted wives for his sons of the same number, bringing them into his house. And he judged Israel for seven years.
10
And he died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.
11
After him succeeded Elon, a Zebulunite. And he judged Israel for ten years.
12
And he died, and he was buried in Zebulun.
13
After him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel.
14
And he had forty sons, and from them thirty grandsons, all riding upon seventy young donkeys. And he judged Israel for eight years.
15
And he died, and he was buried at Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, on the mountain of Amalek.