Judges 9:26–49

²⁶Then Gaal the son of Ebed came with his ¹relatives, and they crossed over into Shechem; and the lords of Shechem put their trust in him.

²⁷And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes of their vineyards and trod them and celebrated a ¹festival; and they came into the house of ^atheir god and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech.

²⁸Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is Zebul not his ¹officer? Serve the men of ^aHamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him?

²⁹“^1aWould, therefore, that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out.”

³⁰Then Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, and his anger burned.

³¹And he sent messengers to Abimelech ¹deceitfully, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his ²relatives have come to Shechem; and behold, they are ³stirring up the city against you.

³²“So now, arise by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.

³³“And it will be in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, that you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and behold, he and the people who are with him will come out against you, and you shall ^ado to them ¹whatever your hand finds pleasing.”

³⁴So Abimelech and all the people who were with him arose by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four ¹companies.

³⁵And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the city gate; and Abimelech and the people who were with him arose from the ambush.

³⁶Then Gaal saw the people and said to Zebul, “Behold, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.”

³⁷Yet Gaal spoke again and said, “Behold, people are coming down from ^athe ¹highest part of the land, and one ²company comes by the way of ³the soothsayers’ ⁴oak.”

³⁸Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your ¹boasting now with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Is this not the people whom you rejected? Go out now and fight with them!”

³⁹So Gaal went out before the lords of Shechem and fought with Abimelech.

⁴⁰And Abimelech pursued him, and he fled before him; and many fell slain up to the entrance of the gate.

⁴¹Then Abimelech remained at Arumah, but Zebul drove out Gaal and his ¹relatives so that they could not remain in Shechem.

⁴²Now it happened the next day, that the people went out to the field, and it was told to Abimelech.

⁴³So he took ¹his people and divided them into three ²companies and lay in wait in the field; then he looked, and behold, the people were coming out from the city. So he arose against them and struck them down.

⁴⁴Then Abimelech and the ¹company who was with him rushed forward and stood in the entrance of the city gate; but the other two ²companies rushed upon all who were in the field and struck them down.

⁴⁵So Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and he captured the city and killed the people who were in it; then he ^atore the city down and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶Then all the lords of the tower of Shechem heard of it, and they entered the inner chamber of the ¹temple of ^aEl-berith.

⁴⁷And it was told to Abimelech that all the lords of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.

⁴⁸So Abimelech went up to Mount ^aZalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took ¹an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees and lifted it and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do ²likewise.”

⁴⁹And all the people also cut down each one his branch and followed Abimelech and put them on the inner chamber and set the inner chamber on fire over those inside, so that all the men of the tower of Shechem also died, about one thousand men and women.