The Downfall of Abimelech

²² Abim′elech ruled over Israel three years. ²³ And God sent an evil spirit between Abim′elech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abim′elech; ²⁴ that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubba′al might come and their blood be laid upon Abim′elech their brother, who slew them, and upon the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to slay his brothers. ²⁵ And the men of Shechem put men in ambush against him on the mountain tops, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way; and it was told Abim′elech.

⁵⁰ Then Abim′elech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the people of the city fled to it, all the men and women, and shut themselves in; and they went to the roof of the tower. ⁵² And Abim′elech came to the tower, and fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. ⁵³ And a certain woman threw an upper millstone upon Abim′elech’s head, and crushed his skull. ⁵⁴ Then he called hastily to the young man his armor-bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abim′elech was dead, they departed every man to his home. ⁵⁶ Thus God requited the crime of Abim′elech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers; ⁵⁷ and God also made all the wickedness of the men of Shechem fall back upon their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubba′al.