2 “But I did ask for your help,” Jephthah answered. “That was back when the people of Gilead and I were having trouble with the Ammonites, and you wouldn't do a thing to help us.
3 So when we realized you weren't coming, we risked our lives and attacked the Ammonites. And the Lord let us defeat them. There's no reason for you to come here today to attack me.”
4 But the men from Ephraim said, “You people of Gilead are nothing more than refugees from Ephraim. You even live on land that belongs to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.”So Jephthah called together the army of Gilead, then they attacked and defeated the army from Ephraim.
5 The army of Gilead also posted guards at all the places where the soldiers from Ephraim could cross the Jordan River to return to their own land.Whenever one of the men from Ephraim would try to cross the river, the guards would say, “Are you from Ephraim?”“No,” the man would answer, “I'm not from Ephraim.”
6 The guards would then tell them to say “Shibboleth,” because they knew that people of Ephraim could say “Sibboleth,” but not “Shibboleth.”If the man said “Sibboleth,” the guards would grab him and kill him right there. Altogether, 42,000 men from Ephraim were killed in the battle and at the Jordan.
7 Jephthah was a leader of Israel for six years, before he died and was buried in his hometown Mizpah in Gilead.
8 Ibzan, the next leader of Israel, came from Bethlehem.