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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Judges 12 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/12.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/judges/12-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Judges 12</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/11.htm" title="Judges 11">◄</a> Judges 12 <a href="../judges/13.htm" title="Judges 13">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">The Ephraim Tribe Fights Jephthah's Army</h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_1"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.1" class="v7_12_1">1</span>The men of the Ephraim tribe got together an army and went across the Jordan River to Zaphon to meet with Jephthah. They said, “Why did you go to war with the Ammonites without asking us to help? Just for that, we're going to burn down your house with you inside!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_2"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.2" class="v7_12_2">2</span>“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. </span><span class="v7_12_3"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.3" class="v7_12_3">3</span>So when we realized you weren't coming, we risked our lives and attacked the Ammonites. And the <span class="nd">Lord</span> let us defeat them. There's no reason for you to come here today to attack me.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_4"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.4" class="v7_12_4">4</span>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.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.12.4!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_4">So Jephthah called together the army of Gilead, then they attacked and defeated the army from Ephraim. </span><span class="v7_12_5"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.5" class="v7_12_5">5</span>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.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_5">Whenever one of the men from Ephraim would try to cross the river, the guards would say, “Are you from Ephraim?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_5">“No,” the man would answer, “I'm not from Ephraim.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_6"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.6" class="v7_12_6">6</span>The guards would then tell them to say “Shibboleth,” because they knew that people of Ephraim could say “Sibboleth,” but not “Shibboleth.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_6">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.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_7"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.7" class="v7_12_7">7</span>Jephthah was a leader<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.12.7!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> of Israel for six years, before he died and was buried in his hometown Mizpah<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.12.7!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> in Gilead.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Ibzan</h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_8"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.8" class="v7_12_8">8</span>Ibzan, the next leader<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.12.8!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> of Israel, came from Bethlehem. </span><span class="v7_12_9"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.9" class="v7_12_9">9</span>He had 30 daughters and 30 sons, and he let them all marry outside his clan.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_9">Ibzan was a leader for seven years, </span><span class="v7_12_10"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.10" class="v7_12_10">10</span>before he died and was buried in Bethlehem.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Elon</h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_11"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.11" class="v7_12_11">11</span>Elon from the Zebulun tribe was the next leader<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.12.11!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> of Israel. He was a leader for ten years, </span><span class="v7_12_12"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.12" class="v7_12_12">12</span>before he died and was buried in Aijalon that belonged to the Zebulun tribe.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Abdon</h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_12_13"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.12.13-Judg.12.15" class="v7_12_13">13-15</span>Abdon the son of Hillel was the next leader<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.12.13-Judg.12.15!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> of Israel. He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons, and each one of them had his own donkey.<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.12.13-Judg.12.15!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> Abdon was a leader for eight years, before he died and was buried in his hometown of Pirathon, which is located in the part of the hill country of Ephraim where Amalekites used to live.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.4 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">You people of Gilead … Ephraim and Manasseh: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.7 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">leader: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See 2.16 and the note there.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.7 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">his hometown Mizpah: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.8 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">leader: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See 2.16 and the note there.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.11 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">leader: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See 2.16 and the note there.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.13-15 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">leader: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See 2.16 and the note there.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.13-15 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">each … donkey: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">A sign that the family was wealthy.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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