46. When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard the news, they went to the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith.
47. Abimelech heard that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were in one place.
48. He and all his men went up on Mount Zalmon. He took an ax in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!”
49. So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches against the stronghold and set fire to it. All the people of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.
50. Abimelech moved on to Thebez; he besieged and captured it.