Judges 9:4

And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
gave	וַיִּתְּנוּ vai.yi.te.nu-	H5414	to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
ten	שִׁבְעִ֣ים shiv.'Im	H7657	seventy · noun, common masculine plural absolute
silver	כֶּ֔סֶף Ke.sef	H3701	silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
house	מִבֵּ֖יתּ mi.Beit	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Baal-berith	בַ֣עַל Ba.'al	H1170	Baal-Berith · proper noun, a title
Abimelech	אֲבִימֶ֗לֶךְ 'a.vi.Me.lekh	H40	Abimelek · proper noun, a man's name
hired	וַיִּשְׂכֹּ֨ר vai.yis.Kor	H7936	to hire · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
vain	רֵיקִים֙ rei.Kim	H7386	empty · adjective, masculine plural absolute
light	וּפֹ֣חֲזִ֔ים u.Fo.cha.Zim	H6348	to bubble up or froth (as boiling water) · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
persons	אֲנָשִׁ֤ים 'a.na.Shim	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
followed	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
him	אַחֲרָֽיו 'a.cha.Rav	H310	properly · cardinal number, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Judges 8:33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-be…
Judges 11:3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
2 Chronicles 13:7 And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when…
Proverbs 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
Acts 17:5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all…
Judges 9:46-49 And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith.
1 Samuel 22:2 And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and h…
Job 30:8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 9:1-6

We are here told by what arts Abimelech got into authority, and made himself great. His mother perhaps had instilled into his mind some towering ambitious thoughts, and the name his father gave him, carrying royalty in it, might help to blow up these sparks; and now that he has buried his father nothing will serve his proud spirit but he will succeed him in the government of Israel, directly contrary to his father's will, for he had declared no son of his should rule over them. He had no call from God to this honour as his father had, nor was there any present occasion for a judge to deliver Israel as there was when his father was advanced; but his own ambition must be gratified, and its gra…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 9:4

the house of Baal-berith--either the temple, or the place where this idol was worshipped; Baal-berith, "god of the covenant," by invocation of whom the league of cities was formed. Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him--idle, worthless vagabonds, the scum of society, who had nothing to lose, but much to gain from the success of a revolutionary movement.

John Gill on Judges 9:4

And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baalbirith,.... The temple of their idol; of this name See Gill on Judges 8:33, out of the money which had been dedicated to his service by freewill offering, or out of a bank which they deposited there for greater safety, and perhaps out of a superstitious notion of its being more prosperous and successful: of what value these pieces were is not certain; by pieces of silver, commonly shekels are meant; but these are thought to be of too little value to be given to a man to raise an army with, or carry on a scheme to advance himself to the throne; and talents are judged to be too large a sum for such a city to contribute out of a…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 9:1-6

Dictionary and topics

Baal — Lord. (1.) The name appropriated to the principal male god of the Phoenicians. It is found in several places in the plural BAALIM (Judg. 2:11; 10:10; 1 Kings 18:18; Jer. 2:23; Hos. 2:17). Baal is…
Baal-berith — Covenant lord, the name of the god worshipped in Shechem after the death of Gideon (Judg. 8:33; 9:4). In 9:46 he is called simply “the god Berith.” The name denotes the god of the covenant into which…
Piece Of Silver — I. In the Old Testament the word “pieces” is used in the Authorized Version for a word understood in the Hebrew (if we except) (Psalms 68:30) The phrase is always “a thousand,” or the like, “of…
Ambition · .Abimelech — .Abimelech
Baal-Berith · A god of the Shechemites — A god of the Shechemites
Conspiracy · .Abimelech against Gi — .Abimelech against Gi
Idolatry · Idols, mentioned in Scripture: Baal-berith — Idols, mentioned in Scripture: Baal-berith

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 9:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 9:4

John Gill on Judges 9:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 9:1-6

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 9:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 9:4

John Gill on Judges 9:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 9:1-6

Dictionary and topics

Rashi on Judges 9:4