Judges 9:26-41

New Century Version

²⁶ A man named Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers moved into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ They went out to the vineyards to pick grapes, and they squeezed the grapes. Then they had a feast in the temple of their god, where they ate and drank and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸ Gaal son of Ebed said, “We are the men of Shechem. Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Isn’t he one of Gideon’s sons, and isn’t Zebul his officer? We should serve the men of Hamor, Shechem’s father. Why should we serve Abimelech? ²⁹ If you made me commander of these people, I would get rid of Abimelech. I would say to him, ‘Get your army ready and come out to battle.’”

³⁰ Now when Zebul, the ruler of Shechem, heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. ³¹ He sent secret messengers to Abimelech, saying, “Gaal son of Ebed and Gaal’s brothers have come to Shechem, and they are turning the city against you! ³² You and your men should get up during the night and hide in the fields outside the city. ³³ As soon as the sun comes up in the morning, attack the city. When Gaal and his men come out to fight you, do what you can to them.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all his soldiers got up during the night and hid near Shechem in four groups. ³⁵ Gaal son of Ebed went out and was standing at the entrance to the city gate. As he was standing there, Abimelech and his soldiers came out of their hiding places.

³⁶ When Gaal saw the soldiers, he said to Zebul, “Look! There are people coming down from the mountains!”

But Zebul said, “You are seeing the shadows of the mountains. The shadows just look like people.”

³⁷ But again Gaal said, “Look, there are people coming down from the center of the land, and there is a group coming from the fortune-tellers’ tree!”

³⁸ Zebul said to Gaal, “Where is your bragging now? You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ You made fun of these men. Now go out and fight them.”

³⁹ So Gaal led the men of Shechem out to fight Abimelech. ⁴⁰ Abimelech and his men chased them, and many of Gaal’s men were killed before they could get back to the city gate. ⁴¹ While Abimelech stayed at Arumah, Zebul forced Gaal and his brothers to leave Shechem.