{"id":6335,"date":"2026-07-28T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T07:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=6335"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:26:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T23:26:57","slug":"judges-126-then-they-would-say-to-him-then-say-shibboleth-and-he-would-say-sibboleth-for-he-could-not-pronounce-it-right-then-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=6335","title":{"rendered":"Judges 12:6: \u201cthen they would say to him, \u2018Then say, \u201cShibboleth\u201d!\u2019 And he would say, \u2018Sibboleth,\u2019 for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Hebrew word shibboleth<\/em> means a flowing stream, similar to where they had crossed the Jordan River. The tribe of Ephraim had a unique accent that made them pronounce the letter h<\/em> differently than the other tribes. It seems they pronounced it sibboleth<\/em> instead. Something similar to what happens in the English language when a Californian says wa-der<\/em> instead of water or a Texan saying y’all<\/em>. Today the term shibboleth in the English language has taken on the meaning of a sort of acid test that shows which side of a dispute a person is on.<\/p>\n

Peter had the same sort of accent problem in Matthew 26:73: \u201cYou are one of them, your speech betrays you as a Galilean,\u201d they said to him by the fire, after Jesus had been taken. There is an important spiritual application here for us all. How you speak betrays your heart. Listen to how someone talks about Jesus and you will learn something about their heart. Listen carefully to how someone talks about the Bible and you will again learn something about their heart.<\/p>\n

We might ask ourselves the question \u201cWhat are the shibboleths<\/em> in our lives?\u201d We all have one kind or another. They probably don\u2019t bring such immediate, deadly results, as in the case of the Ephraimites, but the shibboleths in our lives can stumble those around us, words said that are the opposite of what should be flowing from our mouths. Jesus told us:<\/p>\n

\n

And He said, \u201cWhat comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man. (Mark 7:20\u201323)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“LORD, forgive our sins, cleanse our hearts and fill our mouths with words of life for others this day we ask.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Judges 12 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0And 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.\u00a0\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3<\/sup>\u00a0And when I saw that ye delivered\u00a0me\u00a0<\/em>not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the\u00a0LORDdelivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me?\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>among the Manassites.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was\u00a0so\u00a0<\/em>, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him,\u00a0Art\u00a0<\/em>thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>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.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in\u00a0one of\u00a0<\/em>the cities of Gilead. 8<\/sup>\u00a0And after him Ibzan of Beth-lehem judged Israel.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters,\u00a0whom\u00a0<\/em>he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Beth-lehem. 11<\/sup>\u00a0And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun. 13<\/sup>\u00a0And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. 14<\/sup>\u00a0And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years.\u00a0\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Hebrew word shibboleth means a flowing stream, similar to where they had crossed the Jordan River. The tribe of Ephraim had a unique accent that made them pronounce the letter h differently than the other tribes. It seems they pronounced it sibboleth instead. Something similar to what happens in the English language when a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6335"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16093,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6335\/revisions\/16093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}