Judges 9:49

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

All the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire on them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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שׂוֹכֹ֗ה

sôwk

H7754

“bough · his”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 2× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Judges 9:48

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7753

TWOT: 2242a , 2242b

branch, brushwood, bough

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

26: words
20: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is שׂוֹכֹ֗ה bough H7754 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

שׂוֹכֹ֗ה bough H7754 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Judges 9:48

Grammatical profile

5 verbs
14 nouns
1 adjective
3 prepositions
1 adverb
2 particles

Verb forms

וַיִּכְרְת֨וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיֵּ֨לְכ֜וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיָּשִׂ֣ימוּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיַּצִּ֧יתוּ Hiphil · Sequential Imperfect
וַיָּמֻ֜תוּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אִ֣ישׁ man H376 ×3
גַם also H1571 ×2
כָּל all H3605 ×2
עַֽל upon H5921 ×2
הַצְּרִ֔יחַ cellar H6877 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 45 words from the Hebrew and 50 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 26 Hebrew tokens and 39 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Judges 9:49 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Judges 9:15 The bramble said to the trees, If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
Judges 9:20 but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech.
Galatians 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don't consume one another.
James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Judges 9:49 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּכְרְת֨וּ גַם כָּל הָעָ֜ם אִ֣ישׁ שׂוֹכֹ֗ה וַיֵּ֨לְכ֜וּ אַחֲרֵ֤י אֲבִימֶ֨לֶךְ֙ וַיָּשִׂ֣ימוּ עַֽל הַצְּרִ֔יחַ וַיַּצִּ֧יתוּ עֲלֵיהֶ֛ם אֶֽת הַצְּרִ֖יחַ בָּאֵ֑שׁ וַיָּמֻ֜תוּ גַּ֣ם כָּל אַנְשֵׁ֧י מִֽגְדַּל שְׁכֶ֛ם כְּאֶ֖לֶף אִ֥ישׁ וְאִשָּֽׁה

All the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire on them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Judges 9:49 Septuagint · lemma form

καί κόπτω καί γέ ἀνήρ κλάδος πᾶς ἀνήρ καί πορεύομαι ὀπίσω αβιμελεχ καί ἐπιτίθημι ἐπί ὁ συνέλευσις καί ἐνπυρίζω ἐπί αὐτός ὁ συνέλευσις ἐν πῦρ καί ἀποθνήσκω καί γέ πᾶς ὁ ἀνήρ πύργος σικιμα ὡς χίλιοι ἀνήρ καί γυνή

And they cut down likewise even every man a branch, and went after Abimelech, and laid them against the place of gathering, and burnt the place of gathering over them with fire; and they died, even all the men of the tower of Sicima, about a thousand men and women.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וְקָצוּ אַף כָּל עַמָא גְבַר סוֹכֵיה וַאֲזַלוּ בָּתַר אֲבִימֶלֶךְ וְשַׁוִיאוּ עַל צְרִיחַ וְאַדְלִיקוּ עֲלֵיהוֹן יַת צְרִיחַ בְּנוּרָא וְאִתְקְטָלוּ אַף כָּל אֱנָשֵׁי מִגְדַל שְׁכֶם כְּאֶלֶף גְבַר וְאִתְּתָא:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Judges 9:49 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Jdg 9:49 And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put [them] to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

Ver. 49. All the men of the tower of Shechem.] Who were, probably, those men of Millo that had helped to make Abimelech king; and so Jotham’s parable was fulfilled.

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.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Meaning, that all were destroyed as well they in the tower, as the other.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

49. upon them] See Jdg_9:46 n.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

Then went Abimelech to Thebez,.... Which, according to Ben Gersom, had rebelled against him; it was near to Shechem. Adrichomius says (p), the ruins, where he thinks stood the city of Thebez, were but one furlong from Neapolis or Shechem, where, to the left of Jacob's well, were to be seen ruins of a large town, marble stones, whole pillars, and other signs of large palaces, and the soil wonderfully fruitful; and Jerome says (q), that in his time there was a village called Thebes, on the borders of Neapolis or Shechem, as you go to Scythopolis, thirteen miles from it. It must be near Shechem, inhabited by Shechemites, to fulfil Jotham's curse, Jdg 9:20.

and encamped against Thebez, and took it: it seems not to have held out long, being deserted by its inhabitants, who fled to the tower, as follows.

(p) Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 70. (q) De loc. Heb. 95. D.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

And so. Hebrew and Septuagint, "upon them, so that all the men of the tower of Sichem died also, about a thousand men and women." The sanctity of the place where they had taken refuge, made no impression upon the tyrant’s mind, who was equally devoid of religion as of humanity. (Haydock)

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).

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

49. Set the hold on fire upon them — Burned down the house of Baal-berith, so that those who had fled for refuge into its cellars and secret holds perished under its falling ruins. Some, doubtless, were burned, others suffocated by the smoke of the green wood, while others were crushed under falling beams.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Set the hold on fire thus literally fulfilling Jotham"s curse in vers. 15 and 20. It is thought by many that those who thus perished miserably by suffocation and fire in the hold of the temple of Baal-berith had taken sanctuary there, not occupied it for the purposes of defence.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Judges, in the Historical, opens this verse with 26 words (20 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is sôwk (“bough”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word sôwk carries the sense “bough.” How does it shape the verse?
Judges 9:48 shares the word «bough» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“man” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «וַיִּכְרְת֨וּ» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 26 Hebrew ↔ 39 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 17 words in this verse.
“man” occurs 3× in this single verse.
20 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 26 words in this verse.