On hearing of this, all the leaders in the tower of Shechem entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.
Parallel translations
- WEB When all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of Elberith.
- KJV And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith.
- NKJV Now when all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that, they entered the stronghold of the temple of the god Berith.
- NASB When all the leaders of the tower of Shechem heard about it, they entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.
- NLT When the leading citizens who lived in the tower of Shechem heard what had happened, they ran and hid in the temple of Baal-berith.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The men of the tower of Shechem retreat into the stronghold of the temple of El-berith. They flee to their false god for refuge.
Overview
Survivors take shelter in the fortified temple of Baal-berith (El-berith), the covenant-god whose silver had funded Abimelech's rise (9:4). Seeking safety in an idol's house, they find none. Their misplaced trust exposes the helplessness of false gods to save, in pointed contrast to the LORD who is a true refuge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Judg 8:33And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god.
- Ps 115:8Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
- Judg 9:4So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.
- Isa 37:38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.
- 1 Kgs 8:26And now, O God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David.
- Isa 28:15–18For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
- 2 Kgs 1:2–4Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”
- Judg 9:27And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 9:46 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.