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Judges 9:48

in Judges 9

he and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his axe in his hand and cut a branch from the trees, which he lifted to his shoulder, saying to his men, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder: and he said unto the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.

KJV

And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.

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This verse in Judges 9

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
Zalmon - A lofty and thickly-wooded hill, as the etymology of the name (“shady”) implies, in the immediate neighborhood of Shechem: perhaps the same as Ebal. The setting fire to the hold, where the men of Shechem were all crowded together, with their wives and children, was the literal fulfillment of Jotham’s curse in Jdg 9:20.

This site's exposition

when all the men of the tower

on Judges 9:46-49

The survivors shut themselves inside the stronghold of the house of the god Berith, the same temple that handed Abimelech the silver at verse 4, and it does not save them. He cuts a bough on mount Zalmon, tells his men to copy what they have seen him do, and burns about a thousand men and women in the hold. Jotham's line at verse 20, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem, is carried out with an axe and a pile of branches, and the trees of the fable are the fuel.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And Abimelech got him up to Mount Zalmon,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The officers in Christ's army should thus teach by their example, Phil. iv. He and they fetched each of them a bough from a wood not far off, laid all their boughs together under the wall of this tower, which it is probable was of wood, set fire to their boughs, and so burnt down their hold and all that were in it, who were either burnt or stifled with the smoke.

The words behind it

32 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּ֨עַלand he went up

    vaiyaalH5927 →890 times

  • אֲבִימֶ֜לֶךְAbimelech

    ʾavimelekhH40 →66 times

  • הַר־[the] mountain of

    har-H2022 →546 times

  • צַלְמ֗וֹןZalmon

    tzalmonH6756 →

  • הוּא֮he

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH3605 →5413 times

  • הָעָ֣םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • אִתּוֹ֒[was] with him

    ʾitoH854 →929 times

  • וַיִּקַּח֩and he took

    vaiyikachH3947 →966 times

  • אֲבִימֶ֨לֶךְAbimelech

    ʾavimelekhH40 →66 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַקַּרְדֻּמּ֜וֹתthe axes

    hakardumotH7134 →

  • בְּיָד֗וֹin hand his

    beyadoH3027 →1618 times

  • וַיִּכְרֹת֙and he cut off

    vaiyikhrotH3772 →288 times

  • שׂוֹכַ֣תa branch of

    sokhatH7754 →

  • עֵצִ֔יםwood<s>

    ʾetzimH6086 →328 times

  • וַיִּ֨שָּׂאֶ֔הָand he lifted up it

    vaiyisaehaH5375 →656 times

  • וַיָּ֖שֶׂםand he put [it]

    vaiyasemH7760 →584 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • שִׁכְמ֑וֹshoulder his

    shikhmoH7926 →

  • וַיֹּ֜אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הָעָ֣םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • עִמּ֗וֹ[was] with him

    imoH5973 →1050 times

  • מָ֤הwhatever

    mahH4100 →752 times

  • רְאִיתֶם֙you have seen

    reitemH7200 →1300 times

  • עָשִׂ֔יתִיI have done

    ʾasitiH6213 →2628 times

  • מַהֲר֖וּhurry

    maharuH4116 →

  • עֲשׂ֥וּdo

    ʾasuH6213 →2628 times

  • כָמֽוֹנִי׃like me

    khamoniH3644 →143 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 68:14

    When the Almighty scattered the kings in the land, it was like the snow falling on Zalmon.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 1:18

      “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

    • Revelation 19:14–21

      The armies of heaven, dressed in fine linen, white and pure, follow Him on white horses.

    • Judges 2:7

      And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel.

    • Joshua 10:10–43

      And the LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, pursued them along the ascent to Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and…

    • Psalms 51:7

      Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

About Judges

The Death of Gideon's Sons — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Death of Gideon's Sons — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Judges: the study guide →Read Judges 9 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Judges 9 →