Discovery BoxJudges 9:48-49 
Context9:48 He and all his men 1 went up on Mount Zalmon. He 2 took an ax 3 in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it 4 on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” 5 9:49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches 6 against the stronghold and set fire to it. 7 All the people 8 of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.
1 tn Heb “his people.”
2 tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.
3 tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.
4 tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”
5 tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”
6 tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
7 tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”
8 tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.
