Judges 9:52-57 sits inside this longer paragraph.
46When all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of Elberith. 47Abimelech was told that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. 48Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done!” 49All the people likewise each cut down his bough, followed Abimelech, and put them at the base of the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women. 50Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez, and took it. 51But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women of the city fled there, and shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower. 52Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and came near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and broke his skull.
54Then he called hastily to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, that men not say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ His young man thrust him through, and he died.”
55When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they each departed to his place. 56Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers; 57and God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv54, 57 Thus God by such miserable death taketh vengeance on…
Thus God by such miserable death taketh vengeance on tyrants even in this life.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv52–57 Jdg 9:52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and…
Jdg 9:52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
Ver. 52. And went hard unto the door.] This was not soldier-like, whose rule must be, Neque timide neque temere, Be neither timorous nor temerarious. See 2Sa 11:21. But Abimelech, lifted up with his former successes, thought, belike, he might do anything, and said within himself,
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“ Maior sum quam cui possit fortuna, nocere. ”
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 vv53, 54, 56 Such great stones no doubt they carried up with…
Such great stones no doubt they carried up with them, whereby they might defend themselves, or offend those who assaulted them. Here the justice of God is remarkable in suiting the punishment to his sin. He slew his brethren upon a stone, Jdg 9:5, and he loseth his own life by a stone.
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 vv52–56 And a certain woman cast a piece of a…
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" (r); 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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(r) "et confregit cranium ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Tigurine version.
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 vv53, 54, 56, 57 Mill-stone - Such great stones no doubt they carried…
Mill-stone - Such great stones no doubt they carried up with them, whereby they might defend themselves, or offend those who assaulted them. Here the justice of God is remarkable in suiting the punishment to his sin. He slew his brethren upon a stone, ver. 5, and he loseth his own life by a stone.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv53, 54, 56 Verse 53. A piece of a millstone] פלח רכב…
Verse 53. A piece of a millstone] פלח רכב pelach recheb, a piece of a chariot wheel; but the word is used in other places for upper millstones, and is so understood here by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic.
And all to break his skull.] A most nonsensical version of ותרץ את גלגלתו vattarits eth gulgolto, which is literally, And she brake, or fractured, his skull. Plutarch, in his life of Pyrrhus, observes that this king was killed at the siege of Thebes, by a piece of a tile, which a woman threw upon his head.
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 vv53, 56, 57 Jdg 9:53-54. A woman cast a piece of a…
Jdg 9:53-54. A woman cast a piece of a millstone — Such great stones, no doubt, they carried up with them, whereby they might defend themselves, or offend those who assaulted them. Here the justice of God is remarkable in suiting the punishment to his sin. He slew his brethren upon a stone, (Jdg 9:5,) and he loseth his own life by a stone. A woman slew him — Which was esteemed a matter of disgrace.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv52–53 Went hard unto the door ... - i. e.…
Went hard unto the door ... - i. e. went close to the door. An act of manifest danger, seeing the roof was covered with persons who would be likely to throw down missiles of all sorts on the heads of their assailants. But the hatred of Abimelech, and his thirst for revenge, made him despise danger.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv53–54 Above, or "of the upper millstone," according to the…
Above, or "of the upper millstone," according to the Hebrew and Septuagint. Pyrrhus met with a similar fate at Argos. Plutarch observes, (in Scylla) that the Lacedemonians did not like to attack walls, because the bravest men are there often slain by the greatest cowards. (Calmet) --- Hence Joab puts this advice in the mouth of David, that it is imprudent to come too near the walls, 2 Kings xi. 21. --- Skull, (cerebrum) "brain." Yet the tyrant’s understanding was not perhaps so much impaired, as to excuse him for commanding his armour-bearer to kill him. (Menochius)
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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv53–54 53. All-to brake his skull — Better, and she…
53. All-to brake his skull — Better, and she brake his skull. The phrase all-to was used by some of the old English authors in the sense of entirely, but is now obsolete.
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 vv53, 54, 55, 57 53. upper millstone] lit. ‘millstone of riding’; i.e. the…
53. upper millstone] lit. ‘millstone of riding’; i.e. the upper stone of a mill turned by a handle, the lower stone being stationary. In Palestine the grinding of corn for the household was, and still is, done by the women (Ecc_12:3, St Mat_24:41); this explains how a woman came to use such a weapon. Cf. Jdg_4:21.
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 vv52–56 (52) Went hard unto the door.—Hard, i.e., close. Like…
(52) Went hard unto the door.—Hard, i.e., close. Like other bad men, Abimelech was not lacking in physical courage. He had all his father’s impetuous energy. The peril of such rashness served the Israelites as a perpetual warning (2Sa_11:21).
To burn it with fire.—He naturally anticipated another hideous success like that at Millo.
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 vv52–57 To burn it with fire encouraged by his success…
To burn it with fire encouraged by his success at the tower of Shechem.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv52, 55 fought against it
fought against it
"attacked it"
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upper millstone
Two large, flat, round stones were used to grind grain in a mill. An upper millstone was the top one that was rolled on the lower one to crush the grain in between them.
armor-bearer
This is the man who carried the weapons of Abimelech.
pierced him through
This means the young man put the sword right through the body of Abimelech.
translationWords
Abimelech
watchtower
armor
sword
die
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.