Jephthah's Clash with Ephraim and the 'Shibboleth'
Judges 12:1-7
1A man of Ephraim cried out and passed northward, and they said to Jephthah, "Why did you pass over to fight with the sons of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire."2Jephthah said to them, "I and my people were in great strife with the sons of Ammon, and I cried out to you, but you did not save me from their hand."3When I saw that you were not saving, I placed my soul in my palm and passed over to the sons of Ammon, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me today to fight with me?4Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim, and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, for they said, "You are the survivors of Ephraim, Gilead in the midst of Ephraim and in the midst of Manasseh."5Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan against Ephraim. Whenever the survivors of Ephraim said, "Let me pass over," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" And he would say, "No."6They said to him, "Say now Shibboleth," and he said "Sibboleth," for he could not prepare to speak thus, and they grasped him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand fell from Ephraim.7Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in the cities of Gilead.