Judges 12:1

New King James Version

Then the men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire!"

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The men of Ephraim were called together and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight against the Ammonites but didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house with you in it!”

Hebrew Names Version
The men of Efrayim were gathered together, and crossed Tzafon; and they said to Yiftach, 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.

King James Version
And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire.

Lexham English Bible
The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over and make war against the Ammonites, and why did you not call us to go with you? We will burn down your house over you with fire."

English Standard Version
The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire."

New Century Version
The men of Ephraim called all their soldiers together and crossed the river to the town of Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why didn't you call us to help you fight the Ammonites? We will burn your house down with you in it."

New English Translation
The Ephraimites assembled and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why did you go and fight with the Ammonites without asking us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!"

Amplified Bible
The men of [the tribe of] Ephraim were summoned [to action], and they crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight with the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? [For that] we will burn your house down upon you."

New American Standard Bible
Now the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed to Zaphon; and they said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you!"

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the me of Ephraim gathered themselues together, and went Northwarde, and saide vnto Iphtah, Wherefore wentest thou to fight against the children of Ammon, and diddest not call vs to goe with thee? we will therefore burne thine house vpon thee with fire.

Legacy Standard Bible
En die manne van Efraim is saamgeroep en het oorgetrek na Safon toe en vir Jefta gesê: Waarom het u deurgetrek om teen die kinders van Ammon te veg en óns nie geroep om saam met u te trek nie? Ons sal u huis bo u met vuur verbrand.

Contemporary English Version
The men of the Ephraim tribe got together an army and went across the Jordan River to Zaphon to meet with Jephthah. They said, "Why did you go to war with the Ammonites without asking us to help? Just for that, we're going to burn down your house with you inside!"

Complete Jewish Bible
The men of Efrayim assembled, crossed into Tzafon and said to Yiftach, "Why didn't you call us to go with you when you went over to fight the people of ‘Amon? We're ready to burn down your house with you in it!"

Darby Translation
And the men of Ephraim were called together, and passed over northwards, and said to Jephthah, Why didst thou pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn thy house upon thee with fire.

Easy-to-Read Version
The men from the tribe of Ephraim called all their soldiers together. Then they went across the river to the city of Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why didn't you call us to help you fight the Ammonites? We will burn your house down with you in it."

George Lamsa Translation
THEN the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said to Jephthah, Why did you cross over to fight against the children of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.

Good News Translation
The men of Ephraim prepared for battle; they crossed the Jordan River to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross the border to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We'll burn the house down over your head!"

Literal Translation
And the men of Ephraim were called together, and went northward, and said to Jephthah, Why have you passed over to fight against the sons of Ammon, and you have not called on us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And they of Ephraim made insurreccion, & wente northwarde, & sayde vnto Iephthae: Wherfore wetest thou to the battayll agaynst the children of Ammon, & hast not called vs, that we mighte go with the? We wil burne thy house and the with fyre.

American Standard Version
And the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thy house upon thee with fire.

Bible in Basic English
Now the men of Ephraim came together and took up arms and went over to Zaphon; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you go over to make war against the children of Ammon without sending for us to go with you? Now we will put your house on fire over you.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the men of Ephraim gathered them selues together, & went northwarde, & sayd vnto Iephthah: Wherfore wentest thou to fight against the children of Ammon, and dyddest not call vs to go with thee? we will therfore burne thine house vpon thee with fire.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed to Zaphon; and they said unto Jephthah: 'Wherefore didst thou pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thy house upon thee with fire.'

King James Version (1611)
And the men of Ephraim gathered themselues together, and went Northward, & said vnto Iephthah, Wherefore passedst thou ouer to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call vs to goe with thee? Wee will burne thine house vpon thee with fire.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the men of Ephraim assembled themselves, and passed on to the north, and said to Jephthae, Wherefore didst thou go over to fight with the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thy house over thee with fire.

English Revised Version
And the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the men of Ephraim assembled and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why have you crossed over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down with you inside!"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
`Lo! forsothe discencioun roos in Effraym; for whi thei, that passiden ayens the north, seiden to Jepte, Whi yedist thou to batel ayens the sones of Amon, and noldist clepe vs, that we schulden go with thee? Therfor we schulen brenne thin hows.

Young's Literal Translation
And the men of Ephraim are called together, and pass over northward, and say to Jephthah, `Wherefore has thou passed over to fight against the Bene-Ammon, and on us hast not called to go with thee? thy house we burn over thee with fire.'

Update Bible Version
And the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you pass over to fight against the sons of Ammon, and didn't call us to go with you? we will burn your house on you with fire.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the men of Ephraim assembled, and went northward, and said to Jephthah, Why didst thou pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee; we will burn thy house upon thee with fire.

World English Bible
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.

New Living Translation
Then the people of Ephraim mobilized an army and crossed over the Jordan River to Zaphon. They sent this message to Jephthah: "Why didn't you call for us to help you fight against the Ammonites? We are going to burn down your house with you in it!"

New Life Bible
Then the men of Ephraim got ready for war. They crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight the men of Ammon without calling us to go with you? With fire we will burn down your house with you in it."

New Revised Standard
The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down over you!"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the men of Ephraim were called together, and passed over northward, - and said unto Jephthah - Wherefore didst thou pass over to do battle with the sons of Ammon, and, for us, didst not call, to go with thee? Thy house, will we consume over thee with fire.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But behold there arose a sedition in Ephraim. And passing towards the north, they said to Jephte: When thou wentest to fight against the children of Ammon, why wouldst thou not call us, that we might go with thee? Therefore we will burn thy house.

Revised Standard Version
The men of E'phraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire."

THE MESSAGE
The men of Ephraim mustered their troops, crossed to Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, "Why did you go out to fight the Ammonites without letting us go with you? We're going to burn your house down on you!"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you."

Contextual Overview

¹ Then the men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire!" ² And Jephthah said to them, "My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. ³ So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the people of Ammon; and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?" ⁴ Now Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because they said, "You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites." ⁵ The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No," ⁶ then they would say to him, "Then say, "Shibboleth'!" And he would say, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites. ⁷ And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried among the cities of Gilead.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

gathered: Heb. were called

Wherefore: Judges 8:1, 2 Samuel 19:41-43, Psalms 109:4, Ecclesiastes 4:4, John 10:32

we will burn: Judges 14:15, Judges 15:6, Proverbs 27:3, Proverbs 27:4, James 3:16, James 4:1, James 4:2

Reciprocal: Numbers 21:24 - Israel 2 Samuel 19:43 - the words 1 Kings 12:13 - answered Proverbs 13:10 - Only Proverbs 17:14 - beginning Proverbs 26:4 - General Mark 3:24 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.

Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Genesis 12:6
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. [fn] And the Canaanites were then in the land.

Genesis 12:10
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.

Genesis 12:11
And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.

Genesis 15:7
Then He said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it."

Nehemiah 9:7
"You are the LORD God, Who chose Abram, And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, And gave him the name Abraham;

Isaiah 41:9
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, "You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away:

Isaiah 51:2
Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed him and increased him."

Ezekiel 33:24
"Son of man, they who inhabit those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, "Abraham was only one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together,.... Or "cried" r; got together by a cry or proclamation made: in the Hebrew text it is, "a man of Ephraim"; not a single man, but a body of men, who met together and joined as one man. It is highly probable that there were no less than 50,000 of them; for 42,000 of them were slain, Judges 12:6

and went northward; or, "went over northward s"; that is, over the river Jordan, which lay between Gilead and Ephraim; and when they had crossed the river, they turned northward; for Mizpeh, where Jephthah lived, was in the north of the land, near Hermon and Lebanon, Joshua 11:3

and said unto Jephthah, wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon? not over Jordan, but over that part of the land of Israel from the plain where Jephthah dwelt, to the country of the children of Ammon:

and didst not call us to go with thee? they quarrel with him just in the same manner as they did with Gideon: these Ephraimites were a proud and turbulent people, and especially were very jealous of the tribe of Manasseh, of which both Gideon and Jephthah were; the one of the half tribe on this side Jordan, and the other of the half that was on the other side; and they were jealous of both, lest any honour and glory should accrue thereunto, and they should get any superiority in any respect over them, since Jacob their father had given the preference to Ephraim; and this seems to lie at the bottom of all their proceedings:

we will burn thine house upon thee with fire; that is, burn him and his house, burn his house and him in it; which shows that they were in great wrath and fury, and argued not only the height of pride and envy, but wretched ingratitude, and a cruel disposition; who, instead of congratulating him as Israel's deliverer, and condoling him with respect to the case of his only child, threaten him in this brutish manner.

r יצעק εβοησεν, Sept. "clamatus", i.e. "clamando convocatus", Piscator. "mnellius", Pimcator. s יעבר "transivit", Pagninus, Montanus; "transiverunt", Junius et Tremellius, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare the similar complaint of the Ephraimites to Gideon Judges 8:1, when a civil war was only avoided by Gideon’s wise and patriotic moderation. The overhearing pride of Ephraim comes out in both occurrences (see also Joshua 17:14-18).

We will burn thine house upon thee with fire - Compare the fierce threat of the Philistines to Samson’s wife Judges 14:15, and the yet fiercer execution Judges 15:6. Burning appears as a mode of capital punishment Genesis 38:24; Joshua 7:25, and as a mode of desperate warfare (Judges 1:8; Judges 20:48; Joshua 8:8, Joshua 8:19, etc.).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XII

The Ephraimites are incensed against Jephthah, because he did

not call them to war against the Ammonites; and threaten his

destruction, 1.

He vindicates himself, 2, 3;

and arms the Gileadites against the men of Ephraim; they fight

against them, and kill forty-two thousand Ephraimites at the

passages of Jordan, 4-6.

Jephthah dies, having judged Israel six years, 7.

Ibzan judge seven years, 8.

His posterity and death, 9,10.

Elon judge ten years, and dies, 11, 12.

Abdon judge eight years, 13.

His posterity and death, 14, 15.

NOTES ON CHAP. XII

Verse Judges 12:1. The men of Ephraim gathered themselves together — ויצעק vaiyitstsaek, they called each other to arms; summoning all their tribe and friends to arm themselves to destroy Jephthah and the Gileadites, being jealous lest they should acquire too much power.