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SHIBBOLETH
Term used by Jephthah to detect the Ephraimites at the banks of the Jordan River (Jgs 12:6). After the battle, many Ephraimites tried to escape by crossing the Jordan and returning to their own land. When each of them came to the river, he was asked by one of Jephthah’s soldiers to say “shibboleth.” An Ephraimite could not pronounce the word with the same accent as Jephthah’s men and was thus discovered and immediately killed.
The exact problem in pronunciation is not known. Two possibilities exist. First, the Ephraimites had no sound comparable to “sh.” Thus, they pronounced “sh” as “s” (“shibboleth” becoming “sibboleth”). Second, the Gileadites pronounced “sh” as “th,” a sound which was unknown to the Ephraimites, who pronounced it as “s.” Thus, “shibboleth” was pronounced “thibboleth” by the Gileadites and “sibboleth” by the Ephraimites.