44. Abimelech and the troops with him ran to the town gate and took control of it, while two other groups attacked and killed the people who were in the fields.
45. He and his troops fought in Shechem all day, until they had killed everyone in town. Then he and his men tore down the houses and buildings and scattered salt everywhere.
46. Earlier that day, the leaders of the temple of El Berith at Shechem had heard about the attack. So they went into the temple fortress,
47. but Abimelech found out where they were.
48. He led his troops to Mount Zalmon, where he took an axe and chopped off a tree branch. He lifted the branch on to his shoulder and shouted, “Hurry! Cut off a branch just as I did.”
49. When they all had branches, they followed Abimelech back to Shechem. They piled the branches against the fortress and set them on fire, burning down the fortress and killing about one thousand men and women.
50. After destroying Shechem, Abimelech went to Thebez. He surrounded the town and captured it.
51. But there was a tall fortress in the middle of the town, and the town leaders and everyone else went inside. Then they barred the gates and went up to the flat roof.
52. Abimelech and his army rushed to the fortress and tried to force their way inside. Abimelech himself was about to set the heavy wooden doors on fire,
53. when a woman on the roof dropped a large rock on his head and cracked his skull.