The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn't call us to go with you? we will burn your house on you with fire.
"The men of Ephraim gathered together and passed northward"  (Judges 12:1).  On another occasion, they had similarly confronted Gideon, who appeased them with diplomatic words and a sharing with them of the spoils of war, but when they attempted to do a similar thing here, no doubt expecting exactly the same kind of meek and submissive response that Gideon gave, they encountered a man of a different temperament from Gideon. Jephthah simply rejected their claims as false and promptly deployed his men in battle array.