- 1. The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn't call us to go with you? we will burn your house on you with fire.
- 2. Jephthah said to them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, you didn't save me out of their hand.
- 3. When I saw that you didn't save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand: why then are you come up to me this day, to fight against me?
- 4. Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, [and] in the midst of Manasseh.
- 5. The Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. It was so, that when [any of] the fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? If he said, No;
- 6. then said they to him, Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth; for he couldn't manage to pronounce it right: then they laid hold on him, and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time of Ephraim forty-two thousand.
- 7. Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in [one of] the cities of Gilead.
- 8. After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
- 9. He had thirty sons; and thirty daughters he sent abroad, and thirty daughters he brought in from abroad for his sons. He judged Israel seven years.
- 10. Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem.
- 11. After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years.
- 12. Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
- 13. After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.
- 14. He had forty sons and thirty sons' sons, who rode on seventy donkey colts: and he judged Israel eight years.
- 15. Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
1.Переправившись через Иордан и собравшись в Севине (Цафон, ср. (Нав 13:27), жители колена Ефремова стали упрекать Иеффая в том, что он не пригласил их вместе с собой на воину против аммонитян (ср. Суд 8.1).2-6.- В наказание за дерзость ефремлян Иеффай, собрав галаадитян, сразился с ефремлянами и обратил их в бегство, так что они были принуждены переправляться в свой удел за Иордан. Перехватив переправу через реку, Иеффай задержал возвращавшихся ефремлян, которых он отличал по произношению слова "шибболет" ("колос" или "поток", ср. (Ис 17:12), как могли называть Иордан), которое они произносили "сибболет", и здесь избивал их.7.После своей смерти Иеффай, бывший сравнительно непродолжительное время (6 лет) судьей израильтян и, вероятно, только в восточной половине Палестины, был погребен в одном из городов галаадских.8-15.- По смерти Иеффая судьями израильтян были Есевон, Елон и Авдон, не заявившие себя особыми действиями в народе. Первый из них по смерти был погребен в Вифлееме, вероятно, Иудином; второй - в Аиалоне завулоновом (Нав 19:33) по евр. тексту), и третий - в колене Ефремовом, в местности, называемой гора Амаликова. Место рождения Авдона, г. Пирафон, находят в современной Ферата (в (1Мак 9:50): Фарафон).
