Judges:9:23-56-57
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And God sent an evil spirit between Abim '
elech and the men of Shechem ;
and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abim '
elech ;
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that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubba '
al might come and their blood be laid upon Abim '
elech their brother ,
who slew them ,
and upon the men of Shechem ,
who strengthened his hands to slay his brothers .
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And the men of Shechem put men in ambush against him on the mountain tops ,
and they robbed all who passed by them along that way ;
and it was told Abim '
elech .
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And Ga '
al the son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his kinsmen ;
and the men of Shechem put confidence in him .
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And they went out into the field ,
and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them ,
and held festival ,
and went into the house of their god ,
and ate and drank and reviled Abim '
elech .
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And Ga '
al the son of Ebed said , "
Who is Abim '
elech ,
and who are we of Shechem ,
that we should serve him ?
Did not the son of Jerubba '
al and Zebul his officer serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem ?
Why then should we serve him ?
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Would that this people were under my hand !
then I would remove Abim '
elech .
I would say to Abim '
elech , `
Increase your army ,
and come out .'"
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When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Ga '
al the son of Ebed ,
his anger was kindled .
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And he sent messengers to Abim '
elech at Aru '
mah ,
saying , "
Behold ,
Ga '
al the son of Ebed and his kinsmen have come to Shechem ,
and they are stirring up the city against you .
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Now therefore ,
go by night ,
you and the men that are with you ,
and lie in wait in the fields .
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Then in the morning ,
as soon as the sun is up ,
rise early and rush upon the city ;
and when he and the men that are with him come out against you ,
you may do to them as occasion offers ."
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And Abim '
elech and all the men that were with him rose up by night ,
and laid wait against Shechem in four companies .
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And Ga '
al the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city ;
and Abim '
elech and the men that were with him rose from the ambush .
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And when Ga '
al saw the men ,
he said to Zebul , "
Look ,
men are coming down from the mountain tops !"
And Zebul said to him , "
You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men ."
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Ga '
al spoke again and said , "
Look ,
men are coming down from the center of the land ,
and one company is coming from the direction of the Diviners '
Oak ."
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Then Zebul said to him , "
Where is your mouth now ,
you who said , `
Who is Abim '
elech ,
that we should serve him ?'
Are not these the men whom you despised ?
Go out now and fight with them ."
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And Ga '
al went out at the head of the men of Shechem ,
and fought with Abim '
elech .
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And Abim '
elech chased him ,
and he fled before him ;
and many fell wounded ,
up to the entrance of the gate .
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And Abim '
elech dwelt at Aru '
mah ;
and Zebul drove out Ga '
al and his kinsmen ,
so that they could not live on at Shechem .
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On the following day the men went out into the fields .
And Abim '
elech was told .
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He took his men and divided them into three companies ,
and laid wait in the fields ;
and he looked and saw the men coming out of the city ,
and he rose against them and slew them .
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Abim '
elech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city ,
while the two companies rushed upon all who were in the fields and slew them .
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And Abim '
elech fought against the city all that day ;
he took the city ,
and killed the people that were in it ;
and he razed the city and sowed it with salt .
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When all the people of the Tower of Shechem heard of it ,
they entered the stronghold of the house of El-be '
rith .
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Abim '
elech was told that all the people of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together .
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And Abim '
elech went up to Mount Zalmon ,
he and all the men that were with him ;
and Abim '
elech took an axe in his hand ,
and cut down a bundle of brushwood ,
and took it up and laid it on his shoulder .
And he said to the men that were with him , "
What you have seen me do ,
make haste to do ,
as I have done ."
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So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abim '
elech put it against the stronghold ,
and they set the stronghold on fire over them ,
so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died ,
about a thousand men and women .
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Then Abim '
elech went to Thebez ,
and encamped against Thebez ,
and took it .
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But there was a strong tower within the city ,
and all the people of the city fled to it ,
all the men and women ,
and shut themselves in ;
and they went to the roof of the tower .
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And Abim '
elech came to the tower ,
and fought against it ,
and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire .
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And a certain woman threw an upper millstone upon Abim '
elech '
s head ,
and crushed his skull .
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Then he called hastily to the young man his armor-bearer ,
and said to him , "
Draw your sword and kill me ,
lest men say of me , `
A woman killed him .'"
And his young man thrust him through ,
and he died .
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And when the men of Israel saw that Abim '
elech was dead ,
they departed every man to his home .
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Thus God requited the crime of Abim '
elech ,
which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers ;
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