1. And the men of Ephraim were called together, and went northward, and said to Jephthah, Why have you passed over to fight against the sons of Ammon, and you have not called on us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.
2. And Jephthah said to them, I have been a man of war, my people and I, having great strife with the sons of Ammon. And I called you, and you did not save me out of their hands.
3. And seeing that you did not save us, I put my life in my hand and passed over against the Ammonites, and Jehovah delivered them into my hand. And why have you come up to me today to fight with me?
4. And Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, You Gileadites are fugitives from Ephraim, in the midst of Ephraim, in the midst of Manasseh.
5. And Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan before Ephraim. And it happened when the fugitives from Ephraim said, Let me pass over, then the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? And he said, No.
6. And they said to him, Please say Shibboleth. And he said, Sibboleth, and they could not frame to speak so. And they would seize him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. And at that time forty two thousand of Ephraim fell.
7. And Jephthah judged Israel six years. And Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in the cities of Gilead.
8. And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
9. And he had thirty sons. And he sent thirty daughters abroad, and he brought thirty daughters in from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.
10. And Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem.
11. And after him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. And he judged Israel ten years.
12. And Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun.
13. And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judged Israel.
14. And he had forty sons, and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy he-asses; and he judged Israel eight years.
15. And Abdon the son of Hillel of Pirathon died, and was buried in Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the hills of the Amalekites.