Judges 9:44

44 Abimelech 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 on all who were in the fields and killed them.

Judges 9:44 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:44

And Abimelech, and the company that was with him
Which he had the particular command of; or "the heads" F13, for in the company with him, as Kimchi observes, were great men; and so the Septuagint renders it, the princes that were with him:

rushed forward, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city;
to prevent the people that were in the field getting into it, and any from coming out of it to their relief:

and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the
fields, and slew them;
so that by this means none escaped.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Myvarhw) "et capita", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "et principes", Vatablus.

Judges 9:44 In-Context

42 On the following day the people went out into the fields. When Abimelech was told,
43 he took his troops and divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields. When he looked and saw the people coming out of the city, he rose against them and killed them.
44 Abimelech 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 on all who were in the fields and killed them.
45 Abimelech 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.
46 When all the lords of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the temple of El-berith.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Vg and some Gk Mss: Heb [companies that were]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.