1 The men of the tribe of Ephraim summoned their soldiers, and they crossed the Jordan River to Zaphon town to talk with Jephthah. They said to him, “◄Why did you not request us/You should have requested us► to help your army fight the Ammon people-group. So we will burn down your house while you are in it.”

2 Jephthah replied, “The Ammon people-group were oppressing us greatly. When we were prepared to start to attack them, I requested you to come and help us, but you refused. My men and I defeated the Ammon people-group, but you did not help us. 3 When I saw that you would not help us, I was willing to be killed in the battle against the Ammon people-group. But Yahweh helped us to defeat them. You did not help us when we requested it before, so ◄why have you come here today to fight against me?/you should not have come here today to fight against me.►” [RHQ]

4 Then Jephthah summoned the men of the Gilead region to fight against the men of the tribe of Ephraim. The men of the tribe of Ephraim said, “You men from the Gilead region are men who deserted us. Long ago you left us and moved to the area between our tribe and the tribe of Manasseh.” Because of their saying that, the men of the Gilead region attacked the men of the tribe of Ephraim. 5 The men of Gilead captured that ◄ford/place where people can walk across► at the Jordan River to go to the land where the tribe of Ephraim live. If someone from the tribe of Ephraim came to the ford to try to escape, he would say “Allow me to cross the river.” Then the men of Gilead would ask him, “Are you from the tribe of Ephraim?” If he said “No,” 6 they would say to him, “Say the word 'Shibboleth'.” The men of Ephraim could not pronounce that word correctly. So if the person from the tribe of Ephraim said 'Sibboleth', they would know that he was lying and that he was really from the tribe of Ephraim, and they would kill him there at the ford.

So the men of Gilead killed 42,000 people from the tribe of Ephraim at that time.

8 After Jephthah died, a man named Ibzan, from Bethlehem, became a leader of the Israeli people. 9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He allowed them all to marry people who were not in his clan. He was a leader of the Israeli people for seven years. 10 When he died he was buried in Bethlehem.

11 After Ibzan died, a man named Elon, from the tribe of Zebulun, became a leader of the Israeli people. He was their leader for ten years. 12 Then he died and was buried in Aijalon city in the area where the tribe of Zebulun lives.

13 After Elon died, a man named Abdon who was the son of Hillel, from Pirathon city, in the area where the tribe of Ephraim live became a leader of the Israeli people. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons. Each of them had his own donkey on which to ride. Abdon was a leader of the Israeli people for eight years. 15 When Abdon died, he was buried in Pirathon, in the hilly area where the descendants of Amalek lived previously, but now it is in the area where the tribe of Ephraim lives.