Judges 9:26-57

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

²⁶ And Ga′al the son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his kinsmen; and the men of Shechem put confidence in him. ²⁷ And they went out into the field, and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and held festival, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank and reviled Abim′elech. ²⁸ And Ga′al the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abim′elech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Did not the son of Jerubba′al and Zebul his officer serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem? Why then should we serve him? ²⁹ Would that this people were under my hand! then I would remove Abim′elech. I would say^[a] to Abim′elech, ‘Increase your army, and come out.’”

³⁰ When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Ga′al the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. ³¹ And he sent messengers to Abim′elech at Aru′mah,^[b] saying, “Behold, Ga′al the son of Ebed and his kinsmen have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up^[c] the city against you. ³² Now therefore, go by night, you and the men that are with you, and lie in wait in the fields. ³³ Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, rise early and rush upon the city; and when he and the men that are with him come out against you, you may do to them as occasion offers.”

³⁴ And Abim′elech and all the men that were with him rose up by night, and laid wait against Shechem in four companies. ³⁵ And Ga′al the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city; and Abim′elech and the men that were with him rose from the ambush. ³⁶ And when Ga′al saw the men, he said to Zebul, “Look, men are coming down from the mountain tops!” And Zebul said to him, “You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.” ³⁷ Ga′al spoke again and said, “Look, men are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming from the direction of the Diviners’ Oak.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, ‘Who is Abim′elech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the men whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them.” ³⁹ And Ga′al went out at the head of the men of Shechem, and fought with Abim′elech. ⁴⁰ And Abim′elech chased him, and he fled before him; and many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ And Abim′elech dwelt at Aru′mah; and Zebul drove out Ga′al and his kinsmen, so that they could not live on at Shechem.

⁴² On the following day the men went out into the fields. And Abim′elech was told. ⁴³ He took his men and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the fields; and he looked and saw the men coming out of the city, and he rose against them and slew them. ⁴⁴ Abim′elech and the company^[d] that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed upon all who were in the fields and slew them. ⁴⁵ And Abim′elech fought against the city all that day; he took the city, and killed the people that were in it; and he razed the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When all the people of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the house of El-be′rith. ⁴⁷ Abim′elech was told that all the people of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ And Abim′elech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the men that were with him; and Abim′elech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bundle of brushwood, and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men that were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste to do, as I have done.” ⁴⁹ So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abim′elech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abim′elech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the people of the city fled to it, all the men and women, and shut themselves in; and they went to the roof of the tower. ⁵² And Abim′elech came to the tower, and fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. ⁵³ And a certain woman threw an upper millstone upon Abim′elech’s head, and crushed his skull. ⁵⁴ Then he called hastily to the young man his armor-bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abim′elech was dead, they departed every man to his home. ⁵⁶ Thus God requited the crime of Abim′elech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers; ⁵⁷ and God also made all the wickedness of the men of Shechem fall back upon their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubba′al.