Judges 9:42-57

Evangelical Heritage Version

⁴² The next day, when the people went out into the countryside, this was reported to Abimelek. ⁴³ He took his people and divided them into three units and set up an ambush in the countryside.

As he kept watch, he saw people coming out of the city. He rose up against them and struck them down. ⁴⁴ Abimelek and the unit that was with him rushed forward and took a position in front of the entrance to the city’s gatehouse. The other two units attacked everyone who was still out in the open country and struck them down. ⁴⁵ Abimelek fought against the city all that day and captured it. He killed the people who were in it, and he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When all the citizens defending the citadel of Shechem realized what was happening, they went into the vault^[a] of the temple of El^[b] of the Covenant. ⁴⁷ When it was reported to Abimelek that all the citizens were gathered together in the citadel of Shechem, ⁴⁸ Abimelek went up to Mount Zalmon—he and all the people who were with him. Abimelek took an ax in his hand and cut brushwood. He picked up the brush and placed it on his shoulder. He told the people who were with him, “Quickly do exactly what you saw me do.” ⁴⁹ All the people, each man, also cut brushwood and followed Abimelek. They placed the branches against the vault and with the branches they set the vault on fire, and all the people in the citadel of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Abimelek then went to Thebez, besieged it, and captured it. ⁵¹ There was a strong tower in the middle of the city, and all the men and women and all the rulers of the city fled there. They shut it up tight behind them and went up to the roof of the tower. ⁵² Abimelek came up to the tower and attacked it. He approached the entrance of the tower to burn it down.

⁵³ A certain woman threw down an upper millstone onto the head of Abimelek, and she fractured his skull. ⁵⁴ He called quickly to the young man who carried his gear and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they do not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So this young man ran him through with his sword, and Abimelek died. ⁵⁵ When the men of Israel saw that Abimelek was dead, they all went back, each to his place.

⁵⁶ In this way God avenged the evil that Abimelek had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also returned all the evil done by the men of Shechem onto their own heads, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.