Shibboleth

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A stream. In a war between the Ephraimites and the men of Gilead under Jephthah, the former were discomfited, and fled towards the fords of the Jordan. The Gileadites took possession of all these fords, and when an Ephraimite who had escaped came to the riverside and desired to pass over, they asked him if he were not an Ephraimite. It he said, No, they bade him pronounce shibboleth; but he pronouncing it sibboleth, according to the dialect of the Ephraimites, they killed him. In this war there fill 42,000 Ephraimites, Judges 12:1-15 . This incident should mot be passed over without observing, that it affords proof of dialectical variations among the tribes of the same nation, and speaking the same language, in those early days. There can be no wonder, therefore, if we find in later ages the same word written different ways, according to the pronunciation of different tribes. That this continued, is evident from the peculiarities of the Galilean dialect, by which Peter was discovered to be of that district, Mark 14:70 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

SHIBBOLETH (means both ‘ear of corn’ and ‘stream’). In the strife that arose between the Gileadites, under Jephthah, and the Ephraimites, an episode occurred which is recounted in Judges 12:1-6 . According to this, the Gileadites were holding the fords of Jordan in order to cut off the fugitive Ephraimites; but the only way of differentiating between friend and foe was to test a fugitive as to his pronunciation of such a word as ‘Shibboleth,’ in which the Ephraimite peculiarity of pronouncing sh as s would immediately be noticed. If, on uttering this word, the fugitive pronounced it ‘ Sibboleth ,’ he was known to be an Ephraimite, and was forthwith slain. In this way there fell, according to the obviously exaggerated account in J [Note: Jahwist.] , ‘forty and two thousand.’

W. O. E. Oesterley.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Shibboleth. (a stream). Judges 12:6. Shibboleth is the Hebrew word, which the Gileadites, under Jephthah, made use of at the passage of the Jordan, after a victory over the Ephraimites, to test the pronunciation of the sound, "sh", by those who wished to cross over the river. The Ephraimites, it would appear, in their dialect, substituted for "sh", the simple sound "s"; and the Gileadites, regarding every one who failed to pronounce "sh" as an Ephraimite, and therefore an enemy, put him to death accordingly. In this way, there fell 42,000 Ephraimites. There is no mystery in this particular word. Any word beginning with the sound "sh" would have answered equally well as a test.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

"an ear of corn," was a word which the Gileadites used as the test of an Ephraimite. For the Ephraimites could not, from disuse, pronounce the Hebrew letter shin; therefore, they said Sibboleth instead of Shibboleth, Judges 12:6 . The Greeks, says Hartley, have not the sound sh in their language: hence they are liable to be detected, like the Ephraimites. I was struck with this circumstance, in learning Turkish from a Greek tutor; pasha, he pronounced pasa; shimdi, he called simdi; Dervish, Dervis, &c.

Shibboleth he would, of course, pronounce Sibboleth.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A word chosen by the Gileadites — apparently without any reference to its signification, which some take to be 'an ear of corn,' and others 'a stream' — by which to ascertain those that were Ephraimites, who pronounced the SH as S, making the word SIBBOLETH. As the men fled from the victorious Jephthah and approached the ford of the river, they were thus tested, and the Ephraimites, who had brought the conflict on themselves, were slain. Judges 12:6 . From this has originated the calling any watchword of a party, or indeed any particular view of truth or doctrine held by a section of the church, a mere 'shibboleth.'

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) A word which was made the criterion by which to distinguish the Ephraimites from the Gileadites. The Ephraimites, not being able to pronounce sh, called the word sibboleth. See Judges xii.

(2): (n.) Hence, the criterion, test, or watchword of a party; a party cry or pet phrase.

(3): (n.) Also in an extended sense.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

We meet with this word Judges 12:6; and the history connected with it concerning the men of Ephraim is not a little singular. Wherefore they could not pronounce it, is not easily explained. They used the Samech instead of the Shin. It is blessed for us that our gospel privileges are given to us upon very different terms—when we cannot speak of them, yet looking to Christ we are blessed in them.

King James Dictionary

SHIB'BOLETH, n. Heb. an ear of corn, or a stream of water.

1. A word which was made the criterion by which to distinguish the Ephraimites not being able to pronounce the letter sh, pronounced the word sibboleth. See Judges 12 . Hence, 2. The criterion of a party or that which distinguishes one party from another and usually some peculiarity in things of little importance.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Shibboleth (shĭb'bo-lĕth), stream. A word which the Gileadites required the fugitive Ephraimites to speak, in order to detect by their pronunciation whether or no they were really of that tribe. Judges 12:4-6. The variations of dialect in the spoken language of Palestine made it difficult for the Ephraimites to speak it.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("a stream" or "ear of grain".) The Ephraimites, unable to pronounce the aspirate (as indeed the Greeks also have no "sh" sound), said Sibboleth, and so were detected by the Gileadites under Jephthah at the passage of Jordan (Judges 12:6).

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Judges 12:1-6

"Without reprieve, adjudged to death, For want of well-pronouncing shibboleth."

Holman Bible Dictionary

sh Judges 12:6

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Shibbo'leth, שׁבֹּלֶת ). After Jephthah bad beaten the Ammonites, the men of Ephraim were jealous of the advantage obtained by the tribes beyond Jordan, and complained loudly that they had not been called to that expedition. Jephthah answered with much moderation; but that did not prevent the Ephraimites from using contemptuous language towards the men of Gilead. They taunted them with being only fugitives from Ephraim and Manasseh a kind of bastards that belonged to neither of the two tribes. A war ensued, and the men of Gilead killed a great number of Ephraimites; after which, they set guards at all the passes of Jordan, and when an Ephraimite who had escaped came to the riverside and desired to pass over, they asked him if he were not an Ephraimite? If he said No, they bade him pronounce Shibboleth; but he pronouncing it Sibboleth (q.v.), substituting שׂ or ס for שׁ, according to the diction of the Ephraimites, they killed him. In this way there fell 42,000 Ephraimites (Judges 12). (See Jephthah).

The word Shibboleth, which has now a second life in the English language in a new signification, has two meanings in Hebrew:

(1) an ear of corn. (Genesis 41, etc.);

(2) a stream or flood and it was, perhaps, in the latter sense that this particular word suggested itself to the Gileadites, the Jordan being a rapid river. The word, in the latter sense, is used twice in Psalms 69, in Psalms 69:2; Psalms 69:15, where the translation of the A.V. is "the floods overflow me," and "let not the water flood overflow me;" also in Isaiah 27:12 ("channel"); Zechariah 4:12 ("branch"). If in English the word retained its original meaning, the latter passage might be translated "let not a shibboleth of waters drown me." — There is no mystery in this particular word. Any word beginning with the sound sh would have answered equally well as a test. The above incident should not be passed over without observing that it affords proof of dialectical variations among the tribes of the same nation, and speaking the same language in those early days. There can be no wonder, therefore, if we find in later ages the, same word written different ways, according to the pronunciation of different tribes or of different colonies or residents of the Hebrew people; whence various pointings, etc. That this continued is evident from the peculiarities of the Galilaean dialect, by which Peter was discovered to be of that district (Mark 14:70). Before the introduction of vowel points (which took place not earlier than the 6th century A.D.) there was nothing in Hebrew to distinguish the letters Shin and Sin, so it could not be known, by the eye in reading when h was to be sounded after s, just as now in English there is nothing to show that it should be sounded in the words sugar, Asia, Persia; or in German, according to the most common pronunciation, after s in the words Sprache, Spiel, Sturm, Stiefel, and a large class of similar words. It is to be noted that the sound sh is unknown to the Greek language, as the English th is unknown to so many modern languages. Hence in the Sept. proper names commence simply with s which in Hebrew commence with sh; and one result has been that, through the Sept. and the Vulg., some of these names, such as Samuel, Samson, Simeon, and Solomon, having become naturalized in the Greek form in the English language, have been retained in this form in the English version of the Old Test. Hence, likewise, it is a singularity of the Sept. version that in the passage in Judges 12:6 the translator could not introduce the word "Shibboleth" and has substituted one of its translations, στάχυς "an ear of corn," which tells the original story by analogy. It is not impossible that this word, may have been ingeniously preferred to any Greek word signifying "stream," or "flood," from its first letters being rather harsh sounding, independently of its containing a guttural. See Gunther, De Dialect. Triburum Judoe, Ephraim, et Benjamin (Lips. 1714). (See Hebrew Language).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Shib´boleth. The word means a stream or flood, and was hence naturally suggested to the followers of Jephthah, when, having seized the fords of the Jordan to prevent the retreat of the defeated Ephraimites, they sought to distinguish them through their known inability to utter the aspirated sound sh. The fugitives gave instead the unaspirated s, sibboleth, on which they were slain without mercy . The certainty which was felt that the Ephraimites could not pronounce sh, is very remarkable, and strongly illustrates the varieties of dialect which had already arisen in Israel, and which perhaps even served to distinguish different tribes, as similar peculiarities distinguish men of different counties with us. If what is here mentioned as the characteristic of a particular tribe had been shared by other tribes, it would not have been sufficiently discriminating as a test.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

shib´ṓ - leth ( שבּלת , shibbōleth ): A test of speech applied by the men of Gilead to the Ephraimites, who wished to cross the Jordan, after defeat. If they pronounced the word ṣibbōlēth , their dialectic variety of speech betrayed them. ( Judges 12:6 ). The word probably has the sense of stream or "flood" (compare Psalm 69:2 ).

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

A word by which the Gileadites distinguished an Ephraimite from his inability to sound the sh in the word, and so discovered whether he was friend or foe; hence it has come to denote a party cry or watchword.