²¹ Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone), Gezer,

⁷ The following cities were designated as cities of refuge: Kedesh of Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), in the hill country of Judah.

⁶⁷ Shechem (a city of refuge in the hill country of Ephraim),^[a] Gezer,

The Northern Tribes Revolt

12 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had gathered to make him king.

Solomon’s Many Achievements

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, the supporting terraces,^[a] the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ (Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, killing the Canaanite population and burning it down. He gave the city to his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Solomon. ¹⁷ So Solomon rebuilt the city of Gezer.) He also built up the towns of Lower Beth-horon,

Abimelech Rules over Shechem

9 One day Gideon’s^[a] son Abimelech went to Shechem to visit his uncles—his mother’s brothers. He said to them and to the rest of his mother’s family,

¹⁹ Jacob bought the plot of land where he camped from the family of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of silver.^[a]