Judges 9:53

53 and lo! a woman casted from above a gobbet of a millstone, and hurtled to the head of Abimelech, and it brake his noll. (and lo! a woman threw a piece of a millstone down from above, and hurtled it onto Abimelech's head, and it broke, or it cracked, 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 And the tower was high in the midst of the city, to which men and women fled together, and all the princes of the city, while the gate was closed full strongly; and they stood on the roof of the tower by [the] turrets. (And the tower there was high in the middle of the city, to which all the men and women, and all the city leaders fled, and then the gate was securely closed; and they stood on the roof of the tower by the turrets.)

52 And Abimelech came beside the tower, and fought strongly against it, and he nighed to the door, and endeavoured him to put fire under it (and he came up to the door, and endeavoured to put fire under it);

53 and lo! a woman casted from above a gobbet of a millstone, and hurtled to the head of Abimelech, and it brake his noll. (and lo! a woman threw a piece of a millstone down from above, and hurtled it onto Abimelech's head, and it broke, or it cracked, his skull.)

54 And he called anon his squire, and said to him, Draw out thy sword, and slay me, lest peradventure it be said, that I am slain of a woman. Which performed the commandments, and killed Abimelech; (And he called out at once to his squire, and said to him, Draw out thy sword, and kill me, lest it be said that I was killed by a woman. And he followed the order, and killed Abimelech;)

55 and when Abimelech was dead, all (the) men of Israel that were with him turned again to their places.