Judges 9:26–49

²⁶A man named Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers moved into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷They 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. ²⁸Gaal 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? ²⁹If 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.’ ”

³⁰Now when Zebul, the ruler of Shechem, heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. ³¹He 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! ³²You and your men should get up during the night and hide in the fields outside the city. ³³As 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.”

³⁴So Abimelech and all his soldiers got up during the night and hid near Shechem in four groups. ³⁵Gaal 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.

³⁶When 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.”

³⁷But 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!”

³⁸Zebul 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.”

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

⁴²The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields. When Abimelech was told about it, ⁴³he separated his men into three groups and hid them in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he jumped up and attacked them. ⁴⁴Abimelech and his group ran to the entrance gate to the city. The other two groups ran out to the people in the fields and struck them down. ⁴⁵Abimelech and his men fought the city of Shechem all day until they captured it and killed its people. Then he tore it down and threw salt ⁿ over the ruins.

The Tower of Shechem Burns

⁴⁶When the leaders who were in the Tower of Shechem heard what had happened to Shechem, they gathered in the safest room of the temple of El Berith. ⁴⁷Abimelech heard that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem had gathered there. ⁴⁸So he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon, near Shechem. Abimelech took an ax and cut some branches and put them on his shoulders. He said to all those with him, “Hurry! Do what I have done!” ⁴⁹So all those men cut branches and followed Abimelech and piled them against the safest room of the temple. Then they set them on fire and burned the people inside. So all the people who were at the Tower of Shechem also died—about a thousand men and women.