Judges 12:6

they would ask him, then say ‘Shibboleth,’ which is translated as ‘ear of grain.’ But he would answer ‘Sibboleth,’ not being able to express the word for an ear of grain in the same letters. And immediately apprehending him, they would cut his throat, at the same crossing point of the Jordan. And in that time of Ephraim, forty-two thousand fell.

Catholic Public Domain Version

In The King James Version

Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

In Context

5And the Gileadites occupied the fords of the Jordan, along which Ephraim was to return. And when anyone from the number of Ephraim had arrived, fleeing, and had said, “I beg that you permit me to pass,” the Gileadites would say to him, “Could you be an Ephraimite?” And if he said, “I am not,”

7And so Jephthah, the Gileadite, judged Israel for six years. And he died, and he was buried in his city in Gilead.

Read all of Judges 12

Cross References

Proverbs 18:19A brother who is helped by a brother is like a reinforced city, and judgments are like the bars of cities.

Isaiah 27:12And this shall be: in that day, the Lord will strike, from the channel of the river, even to the torrent of Egypt. And you shall be gathered together, one by one, O sons of Israel.

Matthew 26:73And after a little while, those who were standing nearby came and said to Peter: “Truly, you also are one of them. For even your manner of speaking reveals you.”

Galatians 5:15But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you are not consumed by one another!

Matthew Henry on Judges 12:2-8

Displeasure of the Ephraimites; Punishment of the Ephraimites. ( b. c. 1143.) 1 And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire. 2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3 And when I saw that ye… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Judges 12:6