Judges 12
The full text of Judges 12 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over your head."
2 Jephthah answered, "I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn't save me out of their hands.
3 When I saw that you wouldn't help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?"
4 Jephthah then mustered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, "You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh."
5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan 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,"
6 they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.'" If he said "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
7 Jephthah led Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a town in Gilead.
8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel.
9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from elsewhere. He led Israel seven years.
10 Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.
11 After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years.
12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
13 After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel.
14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years.
15 Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
Translation notes (3)
- Judges 12:3a 'I took my life in my hands' is the Hebrew idiom for risking one's life in battle (compare 1 Samuel 19:5; 28:21).
- Judges 12:4a The taunt and the second half of the verse are textually awkward. The slur 'renegades/fugitives of Ephraim' sparked this Israelite-on-Israelite slaughter, which is reported plainly and not softened. The civil war's ethics are not judged here.
- Judges 12:6a 'Shibboleth' (meaning 'flowing stream' or 'ear of grain') was used as a password that the Ephraimites' dialect could not pronounce; 'Sibboleth' was their mispronunciation. The text reports the mass killing of fellow Israelites by a speech test plainly and without softening it; its ethics are not judged here. This is the origin of the English word 'shibboleth.'
About this translation
You are reading the Trinity Bible Version (TBV) — an original 2026 translation made straight from the Hebrew, in clear modern English, exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter of every book is free to read online. For the study edition — with Hebrew and Greek on every verse and the full translation notes — open Judges in the Trinity Bible app.
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