Text -- Judges 9:43-57 (NET)

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.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jdg 9:43

¹ tn Heb “his people.”

² tn Heb “And he saw and, look, the people were coming out of the city.”

³ tn Heb “he arose against them and struck them.”

NET Notes: Jdg 9:44

¹ tn Or possibly, “the unit that was with him.”

² tn Heb “stood [at].”

NET Notes: Jdg 9:45

¹ tn Or “destroyed.”

² 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.

NET Notes: Jdg 9:46

¹ sn Perhaps the Tower of Shechem was a nearby town, distinct from Shechem proper, or a tower within the city.

² 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.

³ sn The name El-Berith means “God of the Covenant.” It is probably a reference to the Canaanite high god El.

NET Notes: Jdg 9:47

¹ tn Heb “and it was told to Abimelech.”

² tn Heb “were assembled.”

NET Notes: Jdg 9:48

¹ tn Heb “his people.”

² tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.

³ tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.

⁴ tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”

⁵ tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”

NET Notes: Jdg 9:49

¹ tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

² tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”

³ tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.

NET Notes: Jdg 9:50

¹ tn Or “went.”

² tn Heb “he camped near Thebez and captured it.”

NET Notes: Jdg 9:51

¹ tn Or “strong.”

² tn Or “fortress.” The same Hebrew term occurs once more in this verse and twice in v. 52.

NET Notes: Jdg 9:53

¹ 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.

² 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.

NET Notes: Jdg 9:54

¹ tn The Hebrew text adds, “and said to him.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn The Hebrew text adds, “concerning me.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: Jdg 9:55

¹ tn Heb “each to his own place.”

NET Notes: Jdg 9:56

¹ tn Heb “seventy brothers.”

NET Notes: Jdg 9:57

¹ tn Heb “came.”