Judges 9:42-57
New English Translation
42 The next day the Shechemites[a] came out to the field. When Abimelech heard about it,[b] 43 he took his men[c] and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city,[d] he attacked and struck them down.[e] 44 Abimelech and his units[f] attacked and blocked[g] the entrance to the city’s gate. Two units then attacked all the people in the field and struck them down. 45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled[h] the city and spread salt over it.[i]
46 When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem[j] heard the news, they went to the stronghold[k] of the temple of El Berith.[l] 47 Abimelech heard[m] that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were in one place.[n] 48 He and all his men[o] went up on Mount Zalmon. He[p] took an ax[q] in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it[r] on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!”[s] 49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches[t] against the stronghold and set fire to it.[u] All the people[v] of the Tower of Shechem died—about 1,000 men and women.
50 Abimelech moved on[w] to Thebez; he besieged and captured it.[x] 51 There was a fortified[y] tower[z] in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city’s leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower. 52 Abimelech came and attacked the tower. When he approached the entrance of the tower to set it on fire, 53 a woman threw an upper millstone[aa] down on his[ab] head and shattered his skull. 54 He quickly called to the young man who carried his weapons,[ac] “Draw your sword and kill me, so they will not say,[ad] ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man stabbed him and he died. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home.[ae]
56 God repaid Abimelech for the evil he did to his father by murdering his seventy half brothers.[af] 57 God also repaid the men of Shechem for their evil deeds. The curse spoken by Jotham son of Jerub Baal fell[ag] on them.
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- Judges 9:42 tn Heb “the people”; the referent (the Shechemites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Judges 9:42 tn Heb “And they told Abimelech.”
- Judges 9:43 tn Heb “his people.”
- Judges 9:43 tn Heb “And he saw and, look, the people were coming out of the city.”
- Judges 9:43 tn Heb “he arose against them and struck them.”
- Judges 9:44 tn Or possibly, “the unit that was with him.”
- Judges 9:44 tn Heb “stood [at].”
- Judges 9:45 tn Or “destroyed.”
- Judges 9:45 tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”sn The spreading of salt over the city was probably a symbolic act designed to place the site under a curse, deprive it of fertility, and prevent any future habitation. The practice is referred to outside the Bible as well. For example, one of the curses in the Aramaic Sefire treaty states concerning Arpad: “May Hadad sow in them salt and weeds, and may it not be mentioned again!” See J. A. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire (BibOr), 15, 53. Deut 29:23, Jer 17:6, and Zeph 2:9 associate salt flats or salty regions with infertility and divine judgment.
- Judges 9:46 sn Perhaps the Tower of Shechem was a nearby town, distinct from Shechem proper, or a tower within the city.
- Judges 9:46 tn Apparently this rare word refers here to the most inaccessible area of the temple, perhaps the inner sanctuary or an underground chamber. It appears only here and in 1 Sam 13:6, where it is paired with “cisterns” and refers to subterranean or cave-like hiding places.
- Judges 9:46 sn The name El-Berith means “God of the Covenant.” It is probably a reference to the Canaanite high god El.
- Judges 9:47 tn Heb “and it was told to Abimelech.”
- Judges 9:47 tn Heb “were assembled.”
- Judges 9:48 tn Heb “his people.”
- Judges 9:48 tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.
- Judges 9:48 tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.
- Judges 9:48 tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”
- Judges 9:48 tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”
- Judges 9:49 tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Judges 9:49 tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”
- Judges 9:49 tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.
- Judges 9:50 tn Or “went.”
- Judges 9:50 tn Heb “he camped near Thebez and captured it.”
- Judges 9:51 tn Or “strong.”
- Judges 9:51 tn Or “fortress.” The same Hebrew term occurs once more in this verse and twice in v. 52.
- Judges 9:53 sn A hand mill consisted of an upper stone and larger lower stone. One would turn the upper stone with a handle to grind the grain, which was placed between the stones. An upper millstone, which was typically about two inches thick and a foot or so in diameter, probably weighed 25-30 pounds (11.4-13.6 kg). See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 268; C. F. Burney, Judges, 288.
- Judges 9:53 tn Heb “Abimelech’s.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “his” in the translation in keeping with conventions of English narrative style.
- Judges 9:54 tn The Hebrew text adds, “and said to him.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Judges 9:54 tn The Hebrew text adds, “concerning me.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Judges 9:55 tn Heb “each to his own place.”
- Judges 9:56 tn Heb “seventy brothers.”
- Judges 9:57 tn Heb “came.”
Judges 9:42-57
American Standard Version
42 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. 43 And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field; and he looked, and, behold, the people came forth out of the city; and he rose up against them, and smote them. 44 And Abimelech, and the companies that were with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and the two companies rushed upon all that were in the field, and smote them. 45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that were therein: and he beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.
46 And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard thereof, they entered into the stronghold of the house of Elberith. 47 And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. 48 And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took [a]an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder: and he said unto the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done. 49 And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.
50 Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it. 51 But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut themselves in, and gat them up to the roof of the tower. 52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and drew near unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 And a certain woman cast an upper millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and brake his skull. 54 Then he called hastily unto the young man his armorbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and kill me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died. 55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place. 56 Thus God requited the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren; 57 and all the wickedness of the men of Shechem did God requite upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.
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- Judges 9:48 Hebrew the axes.
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