d, a
multitude cometh down from the mountains. And he answered him: Thou
seest the shadows of the mountains as if they were the heads of men, and
this is thy mistake.

9:37. Again Gaal said: Behold, there cometh people down from the midst
of the land, and one troop cometh by the way that looketh towards the
oak.

9:38. And Zebul said to him: Where is now thy mouth, wherewith thou
saidst: Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Is not this the
people which thou didst despise? Go out, and fight against him.

9:39. So Gaal went out, in the sight of the people of Sichem, and fought
against Abimelech,

9:40. Who chased and put him to flight, and drove him to the city: and
many were slain of his people, even to the gate of the city:

9:41. And Abimelech sat down in Ruma: but Zebul drove Gaal, and his
companions, out of the city, and would not suffer them to abide in it.

9:42. So the day following the people went out into the field. And it
was told to Abimelech,

9:43. And he took his army, and divided it into three companies, and
laid ambushes in the fields. And seeing that the people came out of the
city, he arose, and set upon them,

9:44. With his own company, assaulting and besieging the city: whilst
the two other companies chased the enemies that were scattered about the
field.

9:45. And Abimelech assaulted the city all that day: and took it, and
killed the inhabitants thereof, and demolished it, so that he sowed salt
in it.

Sowed salt... To make the ground barren, and fit for nothing.

9:46. And when they who dwelt in the tower of Sichem, had heard this,
they went into the temple of their god Berith, where they had made a
covenant with him, and from thence the place had taken its name, and it
was exceeding strong.

9:47. Abimelech also hearing that the men of the tower of Sichem were
gathered together,

9:48. Went up into mount Selmon, he and all his people with him: and
taking an axe, he cut down the bough of a tree, and laying it on his
shoulder, and carrying it, he said to his companions: What you see me
do, do ye out of hand.

9:49. So they cut down boughs from the trees, every man as fast as he
could, and followed their leader. And surrounding the fort, they set it
on fire: and so it came to pass, that with the smoke and with the fire a
thousand persons were killed, men and women together, of the inhabitants
of the town of Sichem.

9:50. Then Abimelech, departing from thence, came to th