Bible Strands
Judges 9:44
Then Abimelech and the companies with him rushed forward and took their stand at the entrance of the city gate. The other two companies rushed against all who were in the fields and struck them down.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abimelech and his companies rush to the city gate entrance while the remaining forces strike down those in the fields. This moment captures the execution phase of his three-company ambush against the people emerging from the city.
The words — פָּשְׁטוּ (pa.she.Tu) denotes a sudden raid or assault, and שַׁעַר (Sha.'ar) specifies the city gate as the tactical focal point. These terms ground the narrative in coordinated military action rather than spontaneous violence.
The thread — The coordinated division of forces and resulting slaughter continues the campaign outlined in Judges 9:15 and Judges 9:20. The warning against internal consumption mirrors the structural warning in Galatians 5:15.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of how calculated violence and divided allegiances produce systemic destruction. It requires the reader to observe the mechanical progression of betrayal without excusing the brutality.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Abimelech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and slew them.
Cross-references
- Galatians 5:15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
- Judges 9:15 But the thornbush replied, ‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’
- Judges 9:20 But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”