This climactic verse repeats the names of those fighting, making it very clear that Gilead (cited fully three times) defeated Ephraim (cited four times). Indeed, in many languages it is the person who loses the battle whose name appears the most. This incident involving two Israelite groups foreshadows the full-scale civil war that is described at the end of this book.

Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead: Then renders well the Hebrew waw conjunction, since it introduces the next event here. The use of the verb gathered indicates that Jephthah’s troops were dispersed at this point in time. It is likely that they had defeated the Ammonites several months earlier, so Jephthah needed to call them together again. Gathered renders a different Hebrew verb than the one translated “were called to arms” in verse 12.1, but it has a similar sense. This clause may be rendered “Then Jephthah once more called all the soldiers of Gilead together.”

And fought with Ephraim: This time, instead of attacking the Ammonites, Jephthah and his men attacked their brothers, the Ephraimites. For the Hebrew verb rendered fought (lacham), see verse 1.1. This time the preposition is with, rather than “against” (compare verse 12.1).

And the men of Gilead smote Ephraim: For the Hebrew verb nakah rendered smote (literally “struck”), see verse 1.4, where it is translated “defeated.” Here it implies thoroughly defeating the Ephraimites, so many versions say “defeated” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

Because they said: Because renders the Hebrew particle ki, which often introduces a reason. Here the narrator gives another reason—different from Jephthah’s explanation in verse 12.3—for the conflict between Gilead and Ephraim. The narrator says the people of Gilead attacked the Ephraimites because the Ephraimites (they) had taunted them. In some languages this background information may be presented by a special verb form, for example, “because the Ephraimites had said.” New English Bible and Revised English Bible omit this quote frame and the quotation, but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives them an {A} rating, so they should be kept.

You are fugitives of Ephraim …: This is a direct quote of what the Ephraimites said to the people of Gilead to make them angry. They are clearly taunting and provoking the people of Gilead referred to by the pronoun You. The Ephraimites insult the people of Gilead by saying that they are not really a separate people, but in fact, had their origins among the Ephraimites. Underlying this statement, there may be another point: their territory does not belong to them. In many places around the world, there are what is known as “joking relationships,” whereby groups jokingly insult one another, but here there is a real provocation. Fugitives of Ephraim is a degrading insult, since it claims the people of Gilead are “deserters from Ephraim” (Good News Translation) or even “renegades from Ephraim” (New International Version). In most histories there are stories of separation and division due to some conflict. We may also say “runaways.” Indeed, already in verse 11.1-3 Jephthah is described as an outcast and there is a suggestion that he and his men are “half-breeds.” However, though Jephthah was the son of a prostitute, there is no indication that his father was a descendant from the tribe of Ephraim who had broken away from this group.

You Gileadites: In Hebrew this vocative expression is placed in the middle of the quote, and could be linked to what precedes or what follows. Its tone is also insulting. If it links back to what precedes, it may be placed at the beginning of the quote by saying “You people of Gilead, you are nothing but runaways from Ephraim!” If it links with what follows, it may stay in the middle of the quote.

In the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh is literally “in the middle of Ephraim, in the middle of Manasseh.” The meaning of this phrase is difficult to determine. It may mean there is no distinction between Ephraim and Manasseh, and therefore the people of Gilead do not exist. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh expresses this sense by saying “being in Manasseh is like being in Ephraim.” However, according to Parole de Vie, it means the people of Gilead have abandoned the tribe of Ephraim to join the tribe of Manasseh. Good News Translation and New American Bible, on the other hand, think the Ephraimites are saying the people of Gilead are fugitives living in the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh. Translators will have to make a choice concerning the best interpretation. A possible model for this whole quote is “You Gilead people, you are [nothing but] deserters from Ephraim and Manasseh.”

Some versions rearrange the order of this verse by giving the reason before the result. Contemporary English Version, for example, says “But the men of Ephraim said, ‘You people of Gilead are nothing more than refugees from Ephraim. You even live on land that belongs to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.’ So Jephthah called together the army of Gilead, then they attacked and defeated the army from Ephraim.” Another possible model is:

• Jephthah then gathered all the soldiers of Gilead to attack the Ephraimites because the Ephraimites had said they were [no-good] deserters from Ephraim and Manasseh. So the soldiers of Gilead fought and defeated the Ephraimites.

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .