Judges 9:39-45

9:39 So Gaal led the leaders of Shechem out ¹  and fought Abimelech. 9:40 Abimelech chased him, and Gaal ²  ran from him. Many Shechemites ³  fell wounded at the entrance of the gate. 9:41 Abimelech went back ⁴  to Arumah; Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem. ⁵ 

9:42 The next day the Shechemites ⁶  came out to the field. When Abimelech heard about it, ⁷  9:43 he took his men ⁸  and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city, ⁹  he attacked and struck them down. ¹⁰  9:44 Abimelech and his units ¹¹  attacked and blocked ¹²  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 ¹³  the city and spread salt over it. ¹⁴ 

[9:39]  ¹ tn Heb “So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem.”

[9:40]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gaal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:40]  ³ tn The word “Shechemites” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarification.

[9:41]  ³ tc Heb “stayed.” Some scholars revise the vowel pointing on this verb from that of the MT, resulting in the translation “and he returned to.” The Lucianic recension of the LXX understands the word in this way.

[9:41]  ⁴ tn Heb “drove…out from dwelling in Shechem.”

[9:42]  ⁴ tn Heb “the people”; the referent (the Shechemites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:42]  ⁵ tn Heb “And they told Abimelech.”

[9:43]  ⁵ tn Heb “his people.”

[9:43]  ⁶ tn Heb “And he saw and, look, the people were coming out of the city.”

[9:43]  ⁷ tn Heb “he arose against them and struck them.”

[9:44]  ⁶ tn Or possibly, “the unit that was with him.”

[9:44]  ⁷ tn Heb “stood [at].”

[9:45]  ⁷ tn Or “destroyed.”

[9:45]  ⁸ tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”