Judges 12:1

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.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
men	אִ֣ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular construct
Ephraim	אֶפְרַ֔יִם 'ef.Ra.yim	H669	Ephrajim · proper noun, a man's name
together	וַיִּצָּעֵק֙ vai.yi.tza.'Ek	H6817	to shriek · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
went	וַֽיַּעֲבֹ֖ר vai.ya.'a.Vor	H5674	to cross over · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
northward	צָפ֑וֹנָה tza.Fo.nah	H6828	properly · proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
said	וַיֹּאמְר֨וּ vai.yo.me.Ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Jephthah	לְיִפְתָּ֜ח le.yif.Tach	H3316	Jiphtach · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
over	עָבַ֣רְתָּ 'a.Var.ta	H5674	to cross over · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
fight	לְהִלָּחֵ֣ם le.hi.la.Chem	H3898	to feed on · preposition + verb, niphal infinitive construct
children	בִּבְנֵי biv.nei-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Ammon	עַמּ֗וֹן a.Mon	H5983	Ammon · proper noun, a man's name
call	קָרָ֙אתָ֙ ka.Ra.ta	H7121	to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
go	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
burn	נִשְׂרֹ֥ף nis.Rof	H8313	to be (causatively · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
house	בֵּיתְךָ֕ bei.te.Kha	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
fire	בָּאֵֽשׁ ba.'Esh	H784	fire (literally or figuratively) · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Judges 8:1 And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianite…
John 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
James 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Judges 14:15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson’s wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest…
James 4:1-2 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Judges 15:6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and…
2 Samuel 19:41-43 And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and ha…
Psalms 109:4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 12:1-7

Here Is, I. The unreasonable displeasure of the men of Ephraim against Jephthah, because he had not called them in to his assistance against the Ammonites, that they might share in the triumphs and spoils, Jdg 12:1. Pride was at the bottom of the quarrel. Only by that comes contention. Proud men think all the honours lost that go beside themselves, and then who can stand before envy? The Ephraimites had the same quarrel with Gideon (Jdg 8:1), who was of Manasseh on their side Jordan, as Jephthah was of Manasseh on the other side Jordan. Ephraim and Manasseh were hearer akin than any other of the tribes, being both the sons of Joseph, and yet they were more jealous one of another than any oth…

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John Gill on Judges 12:1

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 ag…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 12:1-3

Jephthah's War with the Ephraimites, and Office of Judge. - Jdg 12:1. The jealousy of the tribe of Ephraim, which was striving after the leadership, had already shown itself in the time of Gideon in such a way that nothing but the moderation of that judge averted open hostilities. And now that the tribes on the east of the Jordan had conquered the Ammonites under the command of Jephthah without the co-operation of the Ephraimites, Ephraim thought it necessary to assert its claim to take the lead in Israel in a very forcible manner. The Ephraimites gathered themselves together, and went over צפונה. This is generally regarded as an appellative noun (northward); but in all probability it is a p…

Dictionary and topics

Shibboleth — River, or an ear of corn. The tribes living on the east of Jordan, separated from their brethren on the west by the deep ravines and the rapid river, gradually came to adopt peculiar customs, and…
Ammonites · General references — General references
Citizens · .Ephraimites — .Ephraimites
Ephraim · .Their jealousy of Jephthah — .Their jealousy of Jephthah
Ephraim, Tribe Of · Quarrelled with Jephthah for not seeking their aid against Ammon — Quarrelled with Jephthah for not seeking their aid against Ammon
Jealousy · .Of Jephthah — .Of Jephthah
Jephthah · Falsely accused by the Ephraimites — Falsely accused by the Ephraimites
Manasseh, The Tribe Of · Often at war with Ephraim — Often at war with Ephraim
Strife · .Jephthah and the Ephraimites — .Jephthah and the Ephraimites
Treason · .Of the Ephraimites against Jephthah — .Of the Ephraimites against Jephthah
War · Civil — Civil

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 12:1-7

John Gill on Judges 12:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 12:1-3

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 12:1-7

John Gill on Judges 12:1

Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 12:1-3

Dictionary and topics

Rashi on Judges 12:1