because the hill country will be yours also. It is a forest; clear it and its outlying areas will be yours. You can also drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and are strong.”
“ If you have so many people,” Joshua replied to them,“ go to the forest and clear an area for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, because Ephraim’s hill country is too small for you.”
Then Jephthah gathered all of the men of Gilead. They fought and defeated Ephraim, because Ephraim had said,“ You Gileadites are Ephraimite fugitives in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim. Whenever a fugitive from Ephraim said,“ Let me cross over,” the Gileadites asked him,“ Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered,“ No,”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. At that time 42,000 from Ephraim died.
