Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
Then they said to him, 'Say the word Shibboleth.' But he said 'Sibboleth' because he couldn't pronounce it correctly. So they captured him and killed him at the crossing places of the Jordan River. At that time, forty-two thousand men from Ephraim were killed.
The Gileadites used a pronunciation test to identify and kill their enemies from Ephraim, resulting in a massive slaughter of 42,000 people.
📚 Historical Context
In the Book of Judges, after Jephthah led Israel to victory against the Ammonites, the tribe of Ephraim felt slighted for not being included and initiated a civil war. To identify Ephraimite fugitives crossing the Jordan River, Jephthah's forces used a pronunciation test with the word "Shibboleth," as Ephraimites pronounced it as "Sibboleth" due to their dialect. This tragic event resulted in the deaths of 42,000 Ephraimites, highlighting the deep divisions among Israel's tribes.
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