308|Judges 12:2
to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!”
2 But Jephthah replied, “My people and I had a serious conflict with the Ammonites, and when I called, you did not save me out of their hands. 3 When I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”
4 Jephthah then gathered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives in Ephraim, living in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”
5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim would say, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?”
If he answered, “No,” 6 they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.”
If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. So at that time 42,000 Ephraimites were killed.
7 Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he died, he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.[1]
Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon
8 After Jephthah, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 He had thirty sons, as well as thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage to men outside his clan; and for his sons he brought back thirty wives from elsewhere. Ibzan judged Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.
11 After Ibzan, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel ten years. 12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died, and he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
13 After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. And he judged Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, died, and he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
The Birth of Samson
(Numbers 6:1–21)
13 Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2 Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children. 3 The angel [2] of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5 For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall come over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite [3] to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
6 So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or
