Judges 12:7
in Judges 12Jephthah judged Israel six years, and when he died, he was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
KJV
And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
⋯
This verse in Judges 12
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd Jephthah judged Israel six years,.... After the affair of the Ephraimites, he was acknowledged by all Israel as their judge and supreme governor, but did not live long; being perhaps depressed and worn away with grief, on account of his daughter, and other troubles that attended him: then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead: it is not said in what city he was buried, but very probably it was in his own city Mizpeh, where he dwelt.
This site's exposition
Jephthah then gathered all the men of Gilead
on Judges 12:4-7
The war turns on the taunt that the Gileadites were “fugitives in Ephraim”, a point Adam Clarke says is lost. The test at the ford rests on one consonant, and Clarke argues the difference between “Shibboleth” and “Sibboleth” was plain to a Hebrew ear. The 42,000 Ephraimites killed are the heaviest loss of one tribe, and Jephthah's six years are the shortest term of any judge.
This site's exposition
Jephthah judged Israel six years
John Gill holds that after the war with Ephraim all Israel took Jephthah as judge. The text names no city for his grave in Gilead. Gill takes it to be Mizpah, his own house.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
That which is remarkable concerning him is, 1. That he had many children, sixty in all, a quiver full of these arrows. Thus was Bethlehem of old famous for increase, the very city where he was to be born whose spiritual seed should be as the stars of heaven.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
He was followed by a succession of minor judges, of whom the only memorials preserved relate to the number of their families and their state [Jud 12:8-15].
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Say Shiboles please. May I cross this river flow? 1 Shiboles” is translated as “flow”.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשְׁפֹּ֥ט | vaiyishpot | and he judged | H8199 → | 202 times |
| יִפְתָּ֛ח | yiftach | Jephthah | H3316 → | 30 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| שֵׁ֣שׁ | shesh | six | H8337 → | 216 times |
| שָׁנִ֑ים | shanim | years | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וַיָּ֗מָת | vaiyamot | and he died | H4191 → | 839 times |
| יִפְתָּח֙ | yiftach | Jephthah | H3316 → | 30 times |
| הַגִּלְעָדִ֔י | hagiladi | the Gileadite | H1569 → | 11 times |
| וַיִּקָּבֵ֖ר | vaiyikaver | and he was buried | H6912 → | 133 times |
| בְּעָרֵ֥י | bearei | in [the] cities of | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| גִלְעָֽד׃ פ | gilad | Gilead | H1568 → | 134 times |
וַיִּשְׁפֹּ֥טand he judged
vaiyishpotH8199 →202 times
יִפְתָּ֛חJephthah
yiftachH3316 →30 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
שֵׁ֣שׁsix
sheshH8337 →216 times
שָׁנִ֑יםyears
shanimH8141 →877 times
וַיָּ֗מָתand he died
vaiyamotH4191 →839 times
יִפְתָּח֙Jephthah
yiftachH3316 →30 times
הַגִּלְעָדִ֔יthe Gileadite
hagiladiH1569 →11 times
וַיִּקָּבֵ֖רand he was buried
vaiyikaverH6912 →133 times
בְּעָרֵ֥יin [the] cities of
beareiH5892 →1090 times
גִלְעָֽד׃ פGilead
giladH1568 →134 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Judges
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.