35. Gaal son of Ebed went out and was standing at the entrance to the city gate. As he was standing there, Abimelech and his soldiers came out of their hiding places.
36. When Gaal saw the soldiers, he said to Zebul, “Look! There are people coming down from the mountains!”But Zebul said, “You are seeing the shadows of the mountains. The shadows just look like people.”
37. But again Gaal said, “Look, there are people coming down from the center of the land, and there is a group coming from the fortune-tellers’ tree!”
38. Zebul said to Gaal, “Where is your bragging now? You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ You made fun of these men. Now go out and fight them.”
39. So Gaal led the men of Shechem out to fight Abimelech.
40. Abimelech and his men chased them, and many of Gaal’s men were killed before they could get back to the city gate.
41. While Abimelech stayed at Arumah, Zebul forced Gaal and his brothers to leave Shechem.
42. The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields. When Abimelech was told about it,
43. he separated his men into three groups and hid them in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he jumped up and attacked them.
44. Abimelech and his group ran to the entrance gate to the city. The other two groups ran out to the people in the fields and struck them down.
45. Abimelech and his men fought the city of Shechem all day until they captured it and killed its people. Then he tore it down and threw salt over the ruins.