46. 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.
47. Someone reported to Abimelech that the citizens had gathered in the temple,
48. so he led his forces to Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and chopped some branches from a tree, then put them on his shoulder. “Quick, do as I have done!” he told his men.
49. So each of them cut down some branches, following Abimelech’s example. They piled the branches against the walls of the temple and set them on fire. So all the people who had lived in the tower of Shechem died—about 1,000 men and women.
50. Then Abimelech attacked the town of Thebez and captured it.
51. But there was a strong tower inside the town, and all the men and women—the entire population—fled to it. They barricaded themselves in and climbed up to the roof of the tower.
52. Abimelech followed them to attack the tower. But as he prepared to set fire to the entrance,
53. a woman on the roof dropped a millstone that landed on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.
54. He quickly said to his young armor bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me! Don’t let it be said that a woman killed Abimelech!” So the young man ran him through with his sword, and he died.
55. When Abimelech’s men saw that he was dead, they disbanded and returned to their homes.
56. In this way, God punished Abimelech for the evil he had done against his father by murdering his seventy brothers.
57. God also punished the men of Shechem for all their evil. So the curse of Jotham son of Gideon was fulfilled.