Teks -- Judges 12:6 (NET)

12:6 then they said to him, “Say ‘Shibboleth!’” If he said, “Sibboleth” (and could not pronounce the word correctly), they grabbed him and executed him right there at the fords of the Jordan. On that day forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell dead.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Jdg 12:6 - Shibboleth

Which signifies a stream or river, which they desired to pass over: so it was a word proper for the occasion, and gave them no cause to suspect the design, because they were required only to express their desire to go over the Shibboleth or river.

Wesley: Jdg 12:6 - Sibboleth

It is well known, that not only divers nations, but divers provinces, or parts of the same nation who use the same language, differ in their manner of pronunciation.

Wesley: Jdg 12:6 - Could not frame

Or rather, he did not frame to speak right; so as he was required to do it. The Hebrew text doth not say, that he could not do it, but that he did it not, because suspecting not the design he uttered it speedily according to his manner of expression.

Wesley: Jdg 12:6 - There fell

Not in that place, but in that expedition, being slain either in the battle, or in the pursuit, or at Jordan. See the justice of God! They had gloried, that they were Ephraimites: But how soon are they afraid to own their country? They had called the Gileadites, fugitives: And now they are in good earnest become fugitives themselves. It is the same word, Jdg 12:5, used of the Ephraimites that fled, which they had used in scorn of the Gileadites. He that rolls the stone, or reproach unjustly on another, it may justly return upon himself.

JFB: Jdg 12:4-6 - the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim

The remonstrances of Jephthah, though reasonable and temperate, were not only ineffectual, but followed by insulting sneers that the Gileadites were reckoned both by the western Manassites and Ephraimites as outcasts--the scum and refuse of their common stock. This was addressed to a peculiarly sensitive people. A feud immediately ensued. The Gileadites, determined to chastise this public affront, gave them battle; and having defeated the Ephraimites, they chased their foul-mouthed but cowardly assailants out of the territory. Then rushing to the fords of the Jordan, they intercepted and slew every fugitive. The method adopted for discovering an Ephraimite was by the pronunciation of a word naturally suggested by the place where they stood. Shibboleth, means "a stream"; Sibboleth, "a burden." The Eastern tribe had, it seems, a dialectical provincialism in the sound of Shibboleth; and the Ephraimites could not bring their organs to pronounce it.

Clarke: Jdg 12:6 - Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth

Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth - The original differs only in the first letter ס samech , instead of ש sheen ; אמר נא שבלת ויאמר סבלת emar na Shibboleth , vaiyomer Sibboleth . The difference between ש seen , without a point, which when pointed is pronounced sheen , and ס samech , is supposed by many to be imperceptible. But there can be no doubt there was, to the ears of a Hebrew, a most sensible distinction. Most Europeans, and, indeed, most who have written grammars of the language, perceive scarcely any difference between the Arabic seen and saad ; but as both those letters are radical not only in Arabic but in Hebrew, the difference of enunciation must be such as to be plainly perceivable by the ear; else it would be impossible to determine the root of a word into which either of these letters entered, except by guessing, unless by pronunciation the sounds were distinct. One to whom the Arabic is vernacular, hearing a native speak, discerns it in a moment; but the delicate enunciation of the characteristic difference between those letters ש seen and ס samech , and seen and saad , is seldom caught by a European. Had there been no distinction between the seen and samech but what the Masoretic point gives now, then ס samech would not have been used in the word סבלת sibboleth , but ש seen , thus שבלת : but there must have been a very remarkable difference in the pronunciation of the Ephraimites, when instead of שבלת shibboleth , an ear of corn, (see Job 24:24), they said סבלת sibboleth , which signifies a burden, Exo 6:6; and a heavy burden were they obliged to bear who could not pronounce this test letter. It is likely that the Ephraimites were, in reference to the pronunciation of sh, as different from the Gileadites as the people in some parts of the north of England are, in the pronunciation of the letter r, from all the other inhabitants of the land. The sound of th cannot be pronounced by the Persians in general; and yet it is a common sound among the Arabians. To this day multitudes of the German Jews cannot pronounce ת th, but put ss in the stead of it: thus for בית beith (a house) they say bess. Mr. Richardson, in his "Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of the Eastern Nations,"prefixed to his Persian and Arabic Dictionary, p. ii., 4th. edition, makes some observations on the different dialects which prevailed in Arabia Felix, the chief of which were the Hemyaret and Koreish; and to illustrate the point in hand, he produces the following story from the Mohammedan writers: "An envoy from one of the feudatory states, having been sent to the tobba, (the sovereign), that prince, when he was introduced, pronounced the word T'heb , which in the Hemyaret implied, Be seated: unhappily it signified, in the native dialect of the ambassador, Precipitate thyself; and he, with a singular deference for the orders of his sovereign, threw himself instantly from the castle wall and perished."Though the Ephraimites had not a different dialect, they had, it appears, a different pronunciation, which confounded, to others, letters of the same organ, and thus produced, not only a different sound, but even an opposite meaning. This was a sufficient test to find out an Ephraimite; and he who spake not as he was commanded, at the fords of Jordan, spoke against his own life

Clarke: Jdg 12:6 - For he could not frame to pronounce it right

For he could not frame to pronounce it right - This is not a bad rendering of the original ולא יכין לדבר כן velo yachin ledabber ken ; "and they did not direct to speak it thus."But instead of יכין yachin , to direct, thirteen of Kennicott’ s and De Rossi’ s MSS., with two ancient editions, read יבין yabin ; "they did not understand to speak it thus."The versions take great latitude in this verse. The Vulgate makes a paraphrase: Dic ergo Shibboleth, quod interpretatur spica: qui respondebat Sibboleth; eadem litera spicam exprimere non valens . "Say therefore, Shibboleth; which interpreted is an ear of corn: but he answered, Sibboleth; not being able to express an ear of corn by that letter."In my very ancient copy of the Vulgate, probably the editio princeps, there is sebboleth in the first instance as the test word, and thebboleth as the Ephraimite pronunciation. But cebboleth is the reading of the Complutensian Polyglot, and is supported by one of my own MSS., yet the former reading, thebboleth, is found in two of my MSS. The Chaldee has שובלתא shubbaltha for the Gileaditish pronunciation, and סבלתא subbaltha for that of Ephraim. The Syriac has shelba and sebla . The Arabic has the same word, with sheen and seen ; and adds, "He said Sebla, for the Ephraimites could not pronounce the letter sheen ."These notices, however trivial at first view, will not be thought unimportant by the Biblical critic.

Defender: Jdg 12:6 - pronounce it right

Three hundred years in their separate provinces in Canaan could make a significant difference in local pronunciations, even between two tribes of Israelites (compare differences between Brooklyn and Birmingham accents today)."

TSK: Jdg 12:6 - Say now // Shibboleth // there fell // forty

Say now : Mat 26:73; Mar 14:70

Shibboleth : which signifieth a stream, or flood, Psa 69:2, Psa 69:15; Isa 27:12 *Heb: Shibboleth also means an ear of corn (Job 24:24), and sibboleth signifies a burden (Exo 6:6); and a heavy burden they were obliged to bear who could not pronounce this test letter. It is well known that several nations cannot pronounce certain letters. The sound of th cannot be pronounced by the Persians, no more than by some of our Continental neighbours; though it is a common sound among the Arabians. To this day, many of the German Jews cannot articulate ת th , for which they substitute ss ; thus for baith , a house, they say baiss .

there fell : Pro 17:14, Pro 18:19; Ecc 10:12; Mat 12:25; Gal 5:15

forty : Arbaim ooshenayim aleph , ""forty and two thousand.""Here the ו , and, may mean simple addition; and this number may denote 2,040 and not 42,000. At the last census of the Israelites (Num 26:37) the whole tribe of Ephraim only amounted to 32,500, compared with which this last number appears far too great.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Jdg 12:6 - Shibboleth // He said Sibboleth // At that time

Shibboleth signifies a stream or river , which they desired to pass over; so it was a word proper for the occasion, and gave them no cause to suspect the design, because they were required only to express their desire to go over the Shibboleth or river.

He said Sibboleth . It is well known, that not only divers nations, but divers provinces, or parts of thee same nation, who use the same language, differ in their dialect and manner of pronunciation. He could not frame to pronounce it right , or rather, he did not frame or direct himself to speak so, or to speak right , i.e. so as he was required to do it. The Hebrew text doth not say that he could not do it , but that that he did it not , because he, suspecting not the design of it, uttered it speedily according to his manner of expression.

At that time not in that place, at the passages of Jordan, but in that expedition, being slain either in the battle, or in the pursuit, or at Jordan.

Haydock: Jdg 12:6 - Letter

Letter. Protestants, "Say now Shibboleth, and he said Sibboleth, for he could not frame to pronounce it right." The interpretation of the first word is added by St. Jerome, (Haydock) and denotes also "a running water;" (Menochius) whereas the Ephraimites pronounced a word which signifies "a burden," not being able to utter properly sh, or schin, for which the substituted s, or samec, sobloth. (Haydock) ---

In the same natioin, a variety of pronunciation frequently distinguishes the inhabitants of the different provinces. The Galileans were thus known from the rest of the Jews, Matthew xxvi. 23.

Gill: Jdg 12:6 - 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 said they unto him, say now "Shibboleth",.... Which signifies a stream or course of water, at which they now were; and so it was as if they had bid them say,"may I, or let me, pass over the stream of this river;''so Jarchi; and this being the case, though it was done to try them, and by their pronunciation learn whether they were Ephraimites or not, they were not upon their guard, but in an hurry, and at once expressed the word as they commonly did:

and he said, sibboleth; pronouncing the letter "shin" as if it was "sin", or a "samech"; just as the French, as Kimchi observes, pronounce "s" like a "t"; and though the Gileadites and Ephraimites were of the same nation of Israel, and spoke the same language, yet their pronunciation differed, as did that of the Galilean Jews from others in the times of Christ, Mat 26:73, and so in all nations, among the Greeks, Romans, and among ourselves, people in different counties pronounce in a different manner; which Kimchi thinks was in the Ephraimites owing to the air or climate, as the French, he observes, pronounce "s" as a "t", with a soft and gentle sound:

for he could not frame to pronounce it right; or "thus" ^t, as he was bid to do; being used to pronounce otherwise, he could not frame the organs of speech, or so dispose and order them as to say "shibboleth"; or he did not frame, order, and dispose ^u; he was not careful to do it, though with some care he could, being not aware of the design of the Gileadites in it:

then they took him and slew him at the passages of Jordan; everyone as they came thither, who could not say "shibboleth"; these they suffered not to pass over, but slew them:

and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand; not at the passages of Jordan only; but what fell there, with those at the battle, and in the pursuit, amounted to this number; so that the Ephraimites paid dearly for their pride and insolence.