Judges 9:51-57

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.

56 And God yielded to Abimelech the evil that he did against his father, for he killed his seventy brethren.

57 Also that evil was yielded to [the] men of Shechem, (for) that (that) they wrought, and (so) the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, came upon them.

Judges 9:51-57 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 9

This chapter contains an account of the craft and cruelty of Abimelech, by which he got himself made king of the Shechemites, Jud 9:1-6 of the parable of Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, concerning the trees, in which he exposes their folly in making Abimelech king, and foretells the ruin of them both, Jud 9:7-21 of the contentions which arose between Abimelech, and the men of Shechem, increased by Gaal the son of Ebed, Jud 9:22-29 who was drawn into a battle with Abimelech, and beaten and forced to fly, Jud 9:30-41 but the quarrel between Abimelech and the men of Shechem ceased not, but still continued, which issued in the entire ruin of the city and the inhabitants of it, Jud 9:42-49 and in the death of Abimelech himself, according to Jotham's curse, Jud 9:50-57.