Zebah and Zalmunna

8 Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon,^(A) “Why have you treated us like this? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?^(B)”^(C) And they challenged him vigorously.^(D)

⁴¹ Soon all the men of Israel were coming to the king and saying to him, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal the king away and bring him and his household across the Jordan, together with all his men?”^(A)

⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us^[a]?^{(A) 6} But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

⁴ And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(A)

Jephthah and Ephraim

12 The Ephraimite forces were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon.^(A) They said to Jephthah,^(B) “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you?^(C) We’re going to burn down your house over your head.”

² Jephthah answered, “I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn’t save me out of their hands. ³ When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands^(D) and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave me the victory^(E) over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?”

⁴ Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead^(F) and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.^(G)” ⁵ The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan^(H) leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” ⁶ they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.