41. Abimelech continued to live at Arumah. Zebul threw Gaal and his brothers out and would not let them live in Shechem.
42. The next day the people ⌊of Shechem⌋ went into the fields. Abimelech was told about it.
43. So he took his troops, divided them into three companies, and set an ambush in the fields. He watched and saw the people coming out of the city. Then he began to attack them.
44. Abimelech and his company charged the city and captured its entrance. The other two companies charged at everyone in the fields and attacked them.
45. Abimelech attacked the city all day long. He captured the city and killed the people in it. He also tore down the city and scattered salt all over the land.
46. All the citizens of Shechem’s Tower heard about it and went into the basement of the temple of El Berith.
47. When Abimelech was told that they had gathered there,
48. he and all his men went to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took an ax, cut some brushwood, and carried it on his shoulder. He told his men, “Hurry and do what you’ve seen me do!”
49. So all his troops also cut brushwood and followed Abimelech. They piled the brushwood on top of the basement and set it on fire with the people inside. So all the people in Shechem’s Tower died too. There were about a thousand men and women.