Judges 12:5 — Meaning and Application

And when I saw that ye delivered {me} not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me?

Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites {are} fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, {and} among the Manassites.

And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was {so}, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, {Art} thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;

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.

And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in {one of} the cities of Gilead.