שופטים 12
| ויצעק איש אפרים ויעבר צפונה ויאמרו ליפתח מדוע עברת להלחם בבני עמון ולנו לא קראת ללכת עמך--ביתך נשרף עליך באש | 1 |
The men of the tribe of Ephraim summoned their soldiers, and they crossed [the Jordan River] to [the town of] Zaphon [to talk with] Jephthah. They said to him, “(Why did you not ask us for help?/You should have requested us) to help your army fight the Ammon people-group. So we will burn down your house while you are in it.”
| ויאמר יפתח אליהם איש ריב הייתי אני ועמי ובני עמון מאד ואזעק אתכם ולא הושעתם אותי מידם | 2 |
Jephthah replied, “The Ammon people-group were oppressing us greatly. When we were prepared to start to attack them, I requested you to come and help us, but you refused. My men and I defeated the Ammon people-group, but you did not help us.
| ואראה כי אינך מושיע ואשימה נפשי בכפי ואעברה אל בני עמון ויתנם יהוה בידי ולמה עליתם אלי היום הזה--להלחם בי | 3 |
When I saw that you would not help us, I was willing to be killed in the battle against the Ammon people-group. But Yahweh helped us to defeat them. [You did not help us when we requested it before], so (why have you come here today to fight against me?/you should not have come here today to fight against me.)” [RHQ]
| ויקבץ יפתח את כל אנשי גלעד וילחם את אפרים ויכו אנשי גלעד את אפרים כי אמרו פליטי אפרים אתם--גלעד בתוך אפרים בתוך מנשה | 4 |
Then Jephthah summoned the men of [the] Gilead [region] to fight [against the men of the tribe of] Ephraim. The men of the tribe of Ephraim said, “You men from [the] Gilead [region] are men who deserted us. Long ago you left us and moved to the area between our tribe and the tribe of Manasseh.” [Because of their saying that], the men of [the] Gilead [region] attacked the men of the tribe of Ephraim.
| וילכד גלעד את מעברות הירדן לאפרים והיה כי יאמרו פליטי אפרים אעברה ויאמרו לו אנשי גלעד האפרתי אתה ויאמר לא | 5 |
The men of Gilead captured that (ford/place where people can walk across) at the Jordan [River] to go to the land where the tribe of Ephraim live. Whenever one of the soldiers from the tribe of Ephraim came to the ford to try to escape, he would say, “Let me cross the river.” Then the men of Gilead would ask him, “Are you from the tribe of Ephraim?” If he said “No,”
| ויאמרו לו אמר נא שבלת ויאמר סבלת ולא יכין לדבר כן ויאחזו אותו וישחטוהו אל מעברות הירדן ויפל בעת ההיא מאפרים ארבעים ושנים אלף | 6 |
they would say to him, “Say the word ‘Shibboleth’.” The men of Ephraim could not pronounce that word correctly. So if the person from the tribe of Ephraim said ‘Sibboleth’, [they would know that he was lying and that he was really from the tribe of Ephraim, and] they would kill him there at the ford. So the men of Gilead killed 42,000 people from the tribe of Ephraim at that time.
| וישפט יפתח את ישראל שש שנים וימת יפתח הגלעדי ויקבר בערי גלעד | 7 |
Jephthah, the man from [the] Gilead [region], was a leader of the Israeli people for six years. Then he died and was buried in a town in [the] Gilead [region].
| וישפט אחריו את ישראל אבצן מבית לחם | 8 |
After Jephthah died, a man named Ibzan, from Bethlehem, became the leader of the Israeli people.
| ויהי לו שלשים בנים ושלשים בנות שלח החוצה ושלשים בנות הביא לבניו מן החוץ וישפט את ישראל שבע שנים | 9 |
He had 30 sons and 30 daughters. He forced all his daughters to marry men who were not in his clan, and brought women from outside his clan to marry his sons. He was the leader of the Israeli people for seven years.
| וימת אבצן ויקבר בבית לחם | 10 |
When he died, he was buried in Bethlehem.
| וישפט אחריו את ישראל אילון הזבולני וישפט את ישראל עשר שנים | 11 |
After Ibzan died, a man named Elon, from the tribe of Zebulun, became the leader of the Israeli people. He was their leader for ten years.
| וימת אילון הזבולני ויקבר באילון בארץ זבולן | 12 |
Then he died and was buried in Aijalon [city] in the area where the tribe of Zebulun lives.
| וישפט אחריו את ישראל עבדון בן הלל הפרעתוני | 13 |
After Elon died, a man named Abdon who was the son of Hillel, from Pirathon [city, in the area where the tribe of Ephraim live] became the leader of the Israeli people.
| ויהי לו ארבעים בנים ושלשים בני בנים רכבים על שבעים עירם וישפט את ישראל שמנה שנים | 14 |
He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons. Each of them had his own donkey on which to ride. Abdon was the leader of the Israeli people for eight years.
| וימת עבדון בן הלל הפרעתוני ויקבר בפרעתון בארץ אפרים בהר העמלקי | 15 |
When Abdon died, he was buried in Pirathon, in the hilly area where the descendants of Amalek lived previously, [but now it is the area where the tribe of Ephraim lives].
