Judges Chapter 9 verse 45 Holy Bible
And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that were therein: and he beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.
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And all that day Abimelech was fighting against the town; and he took it, and put to death the people who were in it, and had the town pulled down and covered with salt.
read chapter 9 in BBE
And Abim'elech fought against the city all that day; he took the city, and killed the people that were in it; and he razed the city and sowed it with salt.
read chapter 9 in DARBY
And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.
read chapter 9 in KJV
And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that were in it, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.
read chapter 9 in WBT
Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and killed the people who were therein: and he beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.
read chapter 9 in WEB
and Abimelech hath fought against the city all that day, and captureth the city, and the people who `are' in it he hath slain, and he breaketh down the city, and soweth it `with' salt.
read chapter 9 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 45. - Abimelech fought against the city, etc. When all the Shechemites in the field were smitten or dispersed, Abimelech stormed the city, weakened as it was by the previous loss of so many of its defenders. The city made an obstinate defence notwithstanding, but was taken before night, and all the inhabitants were put to the sword. The walls were then razed to the ground, and the site was sown with salt to express the wish that it might be barren and uninhabited for ever (cf. Psalm 107:34, marg.; Jeremiah 17:6). This action of sowing with salt is not elsewhere mentioned; but it is well known that salt destroys vegetation, and is used by gardeners for this very purpose. Pliny (quoted by Rosenmuller) says, Omnis locus in quo reperitur sal sterilis est.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(45) Beat down the city.--Comp. 2Samuel 17:13; Micah 3:12.Sowed it with salt.--Nothing can better show his deadly execration against the populace to whom he owed his elevation, and who had been the instrument of his crimes. By this symbolic act he devoted the city to barrenness and desolation. (See Psalm 107:34; Deuteronomy 29:23; Job 39:6, and marg.) "When Milan was taken, in A.D. 1162, it was sown with salt, and the house of Admiral Coligny, A.D. 1572, was sown with salt by the command of Charles IX., king of France" (Wordsworth). . . .
