Judges 12

The Gileadites seized the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites arrived. And when any Ephraimite who escaped said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”  then they would say to him, “Then say, ‘Shibboleth’!” And he would say, “Sibboleth,” 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. vv.5-6

Read chapter 12
Accents.  Even within the same language there are many dialects as we all know just in the USA.  I'm a Minnesotan living in Oregon and everyone asks if I'm either from Canada or Minnesota when I say words like bag, rag, don't ya know, hot dishes and bars, etc.  It's pretty comical and entertaining.  Well that's not so much the case here but the different dialect was to catch fugitives because the Gileadites were being defeated by the Ephraimites, so they were trying to flee undercover of their own brethren (other Israelites of other tribes).  This was all started because the Ephraimites were mad that Jephthah, being a Gileadite and the judge over Israel at the time, went and fought the Ammonites without them, even though Jephthah won with God's help.  The Ephraimites desired for power and control and therefore caused this battle that never should have happened.  How do you treat other people with different dialects or accents who live around you?  How do you see this jealousy or desire for power that others want to be a part of that they don't need to be?