Judges 9:53

53 a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.

Judges 9:53 in Other Translations

53 And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull.

53 And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull.

53 a woman on the roof dropped a millstone that landed on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.

53 Just then some woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and crushed his skull.

53 But a woman threw the upper portion of a millstone on Abimelech's head and fractured his skull.

Judges 9:53 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:53

And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone
Of the upper millstone, as the word signifies, which is observed by Jarchi and other Jewish commentators; this with other stones being carried up to the top of the tower, to do what execution they could with them: and a woman observing Abimelech making up to the door of the tower, took up this piece of millstone, and threw it down

upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his skull;
she did it with that view, though it may as well be rendered, or "she", or "it broke his skull" ^F18; it made a fracture in it, which was mortal. Abendana observes, and so others, that that was measure for measure, a righteous retaliation, that as he had slain seventy of his brethren on one stone, he should die by means of a stone.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (wtlglg ta Urtw) "et confregit cranium ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Tigurine version.

Judges 9:53 In-Context

51 Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women—all the people of the city—had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof.

52 Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire,

53 a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.

54 Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” So his servant ran him through, and he died.

55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Samuel 11:21