Judges 9:44-46

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Judges 9:44 tn Or possibly, “the unit that was with him.”
2. Judges 9:44 tn Heb “stood [at].”
3. Judges 9:45 tn Or “destroyed.”
4. Judges 9:45 tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”sn The spreading of salt over the city was probably a symbolic act designed to place the site under a curse, deprive it of fertility, and prevent any future habitation. The practice is referred to outside the Bible as well. For example, one of the curses in the Aramaic Sefire treaty states concerning Arpad: “May Hadad sow in them salt and weeds, and may it not be mentioned again!” See J. A. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire (BibOr), 15, 53. Deut 29:23, Jer 17:6, and Zeph 2:9 associate salt flats or salty regions with infertility and divine judgment.
5. Judges 9:46 sn Perhaps the Tower of Shechem was a nearby town, distinct from Shechem proper, or a tower within the city.
6. Judges 9:46 tn Apparently this rare word refers here to the most inaccessible area of the temple, perhaps the inner sanctuary or an underground chamber. It appears only here and in 1 Sam 13:6, where it is paired with “cisterns” and refers to subterranean or cave-like hiding places.
7. Judges 9:46 sn The name El-Berith means “God of the Covenant.” It is probably a reference to the Canaanite high god El.