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Text -- Judges 9:37-57 (NET)
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Context
9:37 Gaal again said , “Look , men are coming down from the very center of the land . A unit is coming by way of the Oak Tree of the Diviners .”
9:38 Zebul said to him , “Where now are your bragging words , ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the men you insulted ? Go out now and fight them!”
9:39 So Gaal led the leaders of Shechem out and fought Abimelech .
9:40 Abimelech chased him, and Gaal ran from him. Many Shechemites fell wounded at the entrance of the gate .
9:41 Abimelech went back to Arumah ; Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem .
9:42 The next day the Shechemites came out to the field . When Abimelech heard about it ,
9:43 he took his men and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field . When he saw the people coming out of the city , he attacked and struck them down .
9:44 Abimelech and his units attacked and blocked the entrance to the city’s gate . Two units then attacked all the people in the field and struck them down.
9:45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day . He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled the city and spread salt over it.
9:46 When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard the news, they went to the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith .
9:47 Abimelech heard that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were in one place .
9:48 He and all his men went up on Mount Zalmon . He took an ax in his hand and cut off a tree branch . He put it on his shoulder and said to his men , “Quickly , do what you have just seen me do !”
9:49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech . They put the branches against the stronghold and set fire to it . All the people of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women .
9:50 Abimelech moved on to Thebez ; he besieged and captured it.
9:51 There was a fortified tower 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 .
9:52 Abimelech came and attacked the tower . When he approached the entrance of the tower to set it on fire ,
9:53 a woman threw an upper millstone down on his head and shattered his skull .
9:54 He quickly called to the young man who carried his weapons , “Draw your sword and kill me, so they will not say , ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man stabbed him and he died .
9:55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead , they went home .
9:56 God repaid Abimelech for the evil he did to his father by murdering his seventy half-brothers .
9:57 God also repaid the men of Shechem for their evil deeds . The curse spoken by Jotham son of Jerub-Baal fell on them.
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Jdg 9:37; Jdg 9:37; Jdg 9:37; Jdg 9:38; Jdg 9:38; Jdg 9:38; Jdg 9:39; Jdg 9:40; Jdg 9:40; Jdg 9:41; Jdg 9:41; Jdg 9:42; Jdg 9:42; Jdg 9:43; Jdg 9:43; Jdg 9:43; Jdg 9:44; Jdg 9:44; Jdg 9:45; Jdg 9:45; Jdg 9:45; Jdg 9:46; Jdg 9:46; Jdg 9:46; Jdg 9:47; Jdg 9:47; Jdg 9:48; Jdg 9:48; Jdg 9:48; Jdg 9:48; Jdg 9:48; Jdg 9:49; Jdg 9:49; Jdg 9:49; Jdg 9:50; Jdg 9:50; Jdg 9:51; Jdg 9:51; Jdg 9:53; Jdg 9:53; Jdg 9:54; Jdg 9:54; Jdg 9:55; Jdg 9:56; Jdg 9:57
NET Notes: Jdg 9:37 Some English translations simply transliterated this as a place name (Heb “Elon-meonenim”); cf. NAB, NRSV.
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NET Notes: Jdg 9:40 The word “Shechemites” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarification.
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NET Notes: Jdg 9:45 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 fut...
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NET Notes: Jdg 9:46 The name El-Berith means “God of the Covenant.” It is probably a reference to the Canaanite high god El.
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NET Notes: Jdg 9:49 Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.
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NET Notes: Jdg 9:51 Or “fortress.” The same Hebrew term occurs once more in this verse and twice in v. 52.
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NET Notes: Jdg 9:53 Heb “Abimelech’s.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “his” in the translation in keeping with conventions...
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NET Notes: Jdg 9:54 The Hebrew text adds, “concerning me.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
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