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47 Abimelech heard that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem had gathered together. 48 So Abimelech and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon.[a] Abimelech took an ax and cut off some branches and carried them on his shoulders. Then Abimelech said to the men with him, “Hurry! Do the same thing that I have done.” 49 So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelech. They piled the branches against the safest room of the temple of the god El Berith. Then they set the branches on fire and burned the people in the room. About 1000 men and women living near the Tower of Shechem died.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 9:48 Mount Zalmon This is probably another name for Mount Ebal, a mountain near Shechem.

47 When Abimelek heard that they had assembled there, 48 he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon.(A) He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, “Quick! Do what you have seen me do!” 49 So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelek. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire with the people still inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.

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