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47 Abimelech heard[a] that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were in one place.[b] 48 He and all his men[c] went up on Mount Zalmon. He[d] took an ax[e] in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it[f] on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!”[g] 49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches[h] against the stronghold and set fire to it.[i] All the people[j] of the Tower of Shechem died—about 1,000 men and women.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 9:47 tn Heb “and it was told to Abimelech.”
  2. Judges 9:47 tn Heb “were assembled.”
  3. Judges 9:48 tn Heb “his people.”
  4. Judges 9:48 tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.
  5. Judges 9:48 tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.
  6. Judges 9:48 tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”
  7. Judges 9:48 tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”
  8. Judges 9:49 tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  9. Judges 9:49 tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”
  10. Judges 9:49 tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.

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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