Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 77
12:4–13:3
J u dges
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without you, and the Lord gave me victory over the Ammonites. So why
have you now come to fight me?”
The people of Ephraim responded, “You men of Gilead are nothing
more than fugitives from Ephraim and Manasseh.” So Jephthah gathered
all the men of Gilead and attacked the men of Ephraim and defeated them.
Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead
would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they
would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” they would tell him to say “Shib
boleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people
from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would
take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000
Ephraimites were killed at that time.
Jephthah judged Israel for six years. When he died, he was buried in one
of the towns of Gilead.
After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. He had thirty
sons and thirty daughters. He sent his daughters to marry men outside
his clan, and he brought in thirty young women from outside his clan to
marry his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years. When he died, he was
buried at Bethlehem.
After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun judged Israel for ten years.
When he died, he was buried at Aijalon in Zebulun.
After Elon died, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel. He had
forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged
Israel for eight years. When he died, he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim,
in the hill country of the Amalekites.
Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them
over to the Philistines, who oppressed them for forty years.
In those days a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in
the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they
had no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and
said, “Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon