| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New Living Translation |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Then the people of Ephraim mobilized an army and crossed over the Jordan River to Zaphon. They sent this message to Jephthah: “Why didn’t you call for us to help you fight against the Ammonites? We are going to burn down your house with you in it!” |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Jephthah replied, “I summoned you at the beginning of the dispute, but you refused to come! You failed to help us in our struggle against Ammon. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3So when I realized you weren’t coming, I risked my life and went to battle without you, and the LORD gave me victory over the Ammonites. So why have you now come to fight me?” |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4The people of Ephraim responded, “You men of Gilead are nothing more than fugitives from Ephraim and Manasseh.” So Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and attacked the men of Ephraim and defeated them. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Jephthah judged Israel for six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead. Ibzan Becomes Israel’s Judge |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He sent his daughters to marry men outside his clan, and he brought in thirty young women from outside his clan to marry his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10When he died, he was buried at Bethlehem. Elon Becomes Israel’s Judge |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun judged Israel for ten years. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12When he died, he was buried at Aijalon in Zebulun. Abdon Becomes Israel’s Judge |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13After Elon died, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15When he died, he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
|
    |