Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother who killed them, and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Judges 9:23-24 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Abimelech was prince over Israel three years. Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother who killed them, and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. The men of Shechem set an ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them; and Abimelech was told about it.
Parallel Translations
-
Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech,
that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother who killed them, and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.
-
Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:
That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.
Show all 3 translations
-
And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech;
that the violence done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid upon Abimelech their brother, who slew them, and upon the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to slay his brethren.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (21)
- Isaiah 33:1 (v23) Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed, and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be…
- 1 Kings 2:32 (v24) Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword,…
- Psalms 7:16 (v24) The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
- Isaiah 19:14 (v23) Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken…
- Esther 9:25 (v24) but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked plan, which he had planned against the Jews, should return…
Show all 21 cross-references
- Isaiah 19:2 (v23) I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they will fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor;…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 (v23) Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the…
- Numbers 35:33 (v24) “ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that…
- Deuteronomy 27:25 (v24) ‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- Judges 9:15-16 (v23) “The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come…
- Judges 9:20 (v23) but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of…
- Judges 9:56-57 (v24) Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers; and God repaid all the wickedness…
- 1 Samuel 15:33 (v24) Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women!” Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before…
- 1 Samuel 16:14-16 (v23) Now Yahweh’s Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him. Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit…
- 1 Samuel 18:9-10 (v23) Saul watched David from that day and forward. On the next day, an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the…
- 1 Kings 12:15 (v23) So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about from Yahweh, that he might establish his word, which Yahweh spoke…
- 1 Kings 22:22-23 (v23) Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice…
- 2 Chronicles 10:15 (v23) So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was brought about by God, that Yahweh might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah…
- 2 Chronicles 18:19-22 (v23) Yahweh said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ One spoke saying in this way, and another…
- Matthew 7:2 (v23) For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
- Matthew 23:34-36 (v24) Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v23 Because the people consented with the king in shedding…
Because the people consented with the king in shedding innocent blood, therefore God destroyeth both one and the other.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv23–24 Jdg 9:23 Then God sent an evil spirit between…
Jdg 9:23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:
Ver. 23. Then God sent an evil spirit.] The devil, that troubler, that seedsman of sedition, that great kindle coal and mischief maker of the world, who, working upon these men’s corruptions, whom God had justly given over to a reprobate mind, filled them with "envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity," &c. {Rom 1:28-29}
Read full note →
Dealt treacherously with Abimelech.] Whom themselves had chosen and set up. What a fickle tenure holdeth he by, who holdeth of the multitude! Neutrum modo, mas modo Vulgus. So the English were soon weary of Richard III, who yet was a good prince though an evil man, and made many good laws against those evils in others which himself practised.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv23–24 God gave the devil commission to enter into or…
God gave the devil commission to enter into or work upon their minds and hearts; knowing that he of himself, and by his own inclination, would fill them with mistakes, and jealousies, and dissensions, and heart-burnings, which would end in civil wars and mutual ruin.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv23–24 That the cruelty done to the seventy sons of…
That the cruelty done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come,.... That vengeance might come on the authors of it; so things were ordered in Providence that this might come to pass:
and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; be charged to his account, and he suffer for shedding it:
Read full note →
and upon the men of Shechem which aided him in killing of his brethren; by giving him money to hire men to go with him to do it, and perhaps by words encouraging the assassins, and who might be of the city of Shechem.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv23–24 God sent - God gave the devil commission to…
God sent - God gave the devil commission to work upon their minds.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v23 Verse 23. God sent an evil spirit] He permitted…
Verse 23. God sent an evil spirit] He permitted jealousies to take place which produced factions; and these factions produced insurrections, civil contentions, and slaughter.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v23 Jdg 9:23-24. God sent an evil spirit — That…
Jdg 9:23-24. God sent an evil spirit — That is, gave Satan permission to work upon their minds. That the cruelty done to the sons of Jerubbaal, &c. — That is, the punishment of the cruelty. Men may do evil, and think they have profited themselves; may imagine they have strengthened themselves in their wickedness, and are quite secure; that they have procured themselves friends, who will stand by them, and save them: but God can, with the greatest ease, make all the devices of the wicked of none effect; can turn their best contrivances to their ruin, and punish them by those on whom they depended for help and security. The example of Abimelech and the men of Shechem, recorded in this chapter, may assure us, that God will not suffer the murderer to escape even in this world; but will punish him in some grievous manner or other.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v23 Spirit. God permitted the spirit of discord to arise,…
Spirit. God permitted the spirit of discord to arise, like an executioner, (Calmet) to punish the sins both of the ruler and of his subjects. (Haydock) --- St. Augustine (q. 45.) observes, that God caused the people to be sorry for what they had done: but they afterwards proceeded to acts of violence and enmity, at the instigation of the devil, to whose advice they gave ear, in consequence of their former transgression. (Worthington) --- The common people began to open their eyes, and beheld the cruelty of Abimelech, and of some of the principal citizens, who had espoused his cause, with abhorrence. (Menochius) --- They reflected on the justice of Joatham’s parable, which tended to rouse them not to suffer the tyrant to remain unpunished any longer. (Haydock) --- Detest him. Hebrew, "revolted against (or dealt treacherously with) Abimelech, (24) that the crime (or punishment of the murder) of the, &c., might come, and their blood be laid upon," &c. (Haydock) --- God permitted that Abimelech should be punished by those very men who had been the occasion of his sin. To obtain the sceptre over them, he had committed the most horrible cruelty. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and…
Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem--In the course of providence, jealousy, distrust, secret disaffection, and smothered rebellion appeared among his subjects disappointed and disgusted with his tyranny; and God permitted those disorders to punish the complicated crimes of the royal fratricide and idolatrous usurper.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v23 23. God sent an evil spirit — Not merely…
23. God sent an evil spirit — Not merely “permitted jealousies to take place, which produced factions, but actually sent, or permitted to go, a personal evil demon, to generate discords among the Shechemites, and thus bring judgment on them for their wickedness. The Scriptures everywhere recognise a kingdom of darkness, as well as a kingdom of light; and it is contrary to reason and experience, as well as Scripture, to assume the impossibility of personal evil spirits having influence over the human soul. But these powers of darkness are held in check, and their agency is circumscribed, by the mightier power of God, who sometimes sends them, as a huntsman sends his dog after the game, by unbinding their powers and letting them loose to their own route. See note on Mar_5:13. The evil spirit that troubled Saul came by permission and command of God, (1Sa_16:14,) and even Satan goes forth to afflict pious Job by permission of Jehovah. Job_1:12; Job_2:6.
Dealt treacherously — The very men who had been so ready to make Abimelech king are the first to seek his overthrow.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v23 23. God sent an evil spirit] i.e. an infatuation…
23. God sent an evil spirit] i.e. an infatuation which led to their destruction, and so carried out the punishment which God determined. Where we speak of secondary causes, the ancients thought of the direct intervention of God; cf. 1Sa_16:14, 1Ki_22:21 ff., Amo_3:6. Elohim is thought to indicate that Jdg_9:22-25 come from the source E; Jdg_9:24 goes with Jdg_9:16-18.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv23–24 (23) An evil spirit.—Whether the word used for spirit…
(23) An evil spirit.—Whether the word used for spirit (ruach) is here meant to be personal or not we cannot say. Sometimes it seems to mean an evil being (1Sa_16:14), sometimes only an evil temper (Num_14:24). The later Jews would have made little or no difference between the two, since they attributed almost every evil to the direct agency of demons.
Dealt treacherously.—The word is used for the beginning of a defection.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v23 Vers. 23, 24. These two verses contain the summary…
Vers. 23, 24. These two verses contain the summary of what is related in detail in the rest of the chapter, and we arc told that it all happened providentially, that the violence done to the sons of Jerubbaal, and their blood, might come to be laid (literally, for some one to lay) upon Abimelech, etc. Which aided him literally, strengthened his hands, by giving him money, and encouraging him to make way to the throne by killing his brothers.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v23 God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the…
Jdg_9:23
God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem.
Read full note →
Disunion
It is not said that he was judge over Israel, for they were raised up by God, but he ruled and usurped, as tyrants use to do. And to begin first with his prosperity in that God gave him this short time to enjoy his desire, and to domineer as he did, it is to teach us that He doth for some little time give wicked men their longed-for desires; and yet not for that He applaudeth them therein, but that they may have time to repent, and to bethink themselves what they have done, and how they have gone to work, and how many ways they have provoked God. But to go forward: this evil spirit that was sent betwixt them, being the first occasion of their overthrow, was the devil, by whose malice and subtlety ill-will and hatred were kindled betwixt them, and this, with the breaking their promise, doth show us clearly that the league and friendship of the wicked is soon broken off. For why? It hath no good ground. The use whereof is that we make no such wicked and cursed leagues. Secondly, that we account no otherwise of them where they be made, but as of the spiders web, soon swept down; and thirdly, praise God highly when we see them broken. And in that it is said that the Lord sent an evil spirit betwixt them, we may note, that though God be not the author of evil, yet that sin which is in the wicked, hidden in their hearts, and never so secret, He bringeth forth at His pleasure, and lets it break out at His commandment, ruling and overruling the same. And they that nourish it in themselves, and do not give it a vent by repentance, may ever justly fear, and do sometime too truly find, that as water pent in breaks out violently in some place or other, even so the sin that is entertained in mens hearts shall one time or other break out to their shame in their lives. But as the stink of the dunghill riseth not from the sun, no more doth sin proceed from God. Also, by this division betwixt them we may note, that when God suffers division among the wicked, or an evil spirit any way to lead them, it is to punish their lewd fellowship, and to revenge the sin of both parts, and to make each the others executioner. And yet, oh what a sweet liberty it is thought to be, to enjoy fellowship with such? And first, grudges secretly being conceived, they are nourished by jealousies and suspicions exasperated by daily injuries, till they break out into hatred, and end in extremity. These things are commonly seen, but who beholdeth Gods justice therein? or is thereby prevented from having anything to do with such? or made wise to lay a better foundation of their amity and friendship. Furthermore, by this, that God would have the blood of the innocent sons of Gideon revenged upon Abimelech and the men of Shechem, He teacheth us that He will revenge the innocents cause. The Lord will bless them that bless His, and curse them that curse His. (R. Rogers.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.