Judges 12:7

7 Jephthah led Israel for six years. Then he died and was buried in his hometown in Gilead.

Judges 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 12:7

And 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. Josephus ^F23 says it was in his own country, Sebee, a city of Gilead.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 12.

Judges 12:7 In-Context

5 In order to keep the Ephraimites from escaping, the Gileadites captured the places where the Jordan could be crossed. When any Ephraimite who was trying to escape would ask permission to cross, the men of Gilead would ask, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No,"

6 they would tell him to say "Shibboleth." But he would say "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they would grab him and kill him there at one of the Jordan River crossings. At that time forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites were killed.

7 Jephthah led Israel for six years. Then he died and was buried in his hometown in Gilead.

8 After Jephthah, Ibzan from Bethlehem led Israel.

9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside the clan and brought thirty young women from outside the clan for his sons to marry. Ibzan led Israel for seven years,

Footnotes

• [a]. [One ancient translation] his hometown; [Hebrew] the towns.