Judges 9:4
New International Version
They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers.

New Living Translation
They gave him seventy silver coins from the temple of Baal-berith, which he used to hire some reckless troublemakers who agreed to follow him.

English Standard Version
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him.

Berean Standard Bible
So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men; and they followed him.

New American Standard Bible
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him.

NASB 1995
They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, and they followed him.

NASB 1977
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, and they followed him.

Legacy Standard Bible
So they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, and they followed him.

Amplified Bible
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and undisciplined men, and they followed (supported) him.

Christian Standard Bible
So they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech used it to hire worthless and reckless men, and they followed him.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men with this money, and they followed him.

American Standard Version
And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal Qima, and Abimelek hired worthless and lewd men with them, and they went after him

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith; and Abimelech hired for himself vain and cowardly men, and they went after him.

Contemporary English Version
Then they gave Abimelech 70 pieces of silver from the temple of their god Baal Berith. Abimelech used the silver to hire a gang of rough soldiers who would do anything for money.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they gave him seventy weight of silver out of the temple of Baalberith: wherewith he hired to himself men that were needy, and vagabonds, and they followed him.

English Revised Version
And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, which followed him.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal Berith. With the silver, Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men to follow him.

Good News Translation
They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-of-the-Covenant, and with this money he hired a bunch of worthless scoundrels to join him.

International Standard Version
and they gave him 70 silver coins from the temple that they had built to Baal-berith. Abimelech hired some worthless and useless men, who followed him

JPS Tanakh 1917
And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him.

Literal Standard Version
and they give seventy [pieces] of silver out of the house of Ba‘al-Berith to him, and Abimelech hires vain and unstable men with them, and they go after him;

Majority Standard Bible
So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.

New American Bible
They also gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless men and outlaws as his followers.

NET Bible
They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous men as his followers.

New Revised Standard Version
They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the temple of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him.

New Heart English Bible
They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light persons, who followed him.

World English Bible
They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows who followed him.

Young's Literal Translation
and they give to him seventy silverings out of the house of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech hireth with them men, vain and unstable, and they go after him;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Abimelech's Conspiracy
3And when his mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the leaders of Shechem, their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” 4So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him. 5He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.…

Cross References
Judges 8:33
And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god.

2 Samuel 6:20
As soon as David returned home to bless his own household, Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him. "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!" she said. "He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do."

Zephaniah 3:4
Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.


Treasury of Scripture

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

house

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…

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 Baalberith their god.

vain.

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.

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 he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

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 Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.

Jump to Previous
Abimelech Abim'elech Adventurers Baal Baalberith Baal-Berith Ba'al-Be'rith Berith Hire Hired House Light Persons Pieces Reckless Seventy Shekels Silver Support Temple Ten Threescore Uncontrolled Used Vain Wherewith Worthless
Jump to Next
Abimelech Abim'elech Adventurers Baal Baalberith Baal-Berith Ba'al-Be'rith Berith Hire Hired House Light Persons Pieces Reckless Seventy Shekels Silver Support Temple Ten Threescore Uncontrolled Used Vain Wherewith Worthless
Judges 9
1. Abimelech by conspiracy with the Shechemites, and murder of his brothers, is made king
7. Jotham by a parable rebukes them, and foretells their ruin
22. Gaal conspires with the Shechemites against him
30. Zebul reveals it
34. Abimelech overcomes them, and sows the city with salt
46. He burns the hold of the god Berith
50. At Thebez he is slain by a piece of a millstone
56. Jotham's curse is fulfilled.














(4) Pieces.--Rather, shekels, which is the word normally understood in similar phrases (Judges 8:26). "Neither the citizens of Shechem nor the ignobly-ambitious bastard understood what true monarchy was, and still less what it ought to be in the commonwealth of Jehovah" (Ewald, ii. 389).

Out of the house of Baal-berith.--Like most temples in ancient days (e.g., that of Venus on Mount Eryx, the Parthenon, and that of Jupiter Latiaris), this served at once as a sanctuary, a fortress, and a bank. Similarly the treasures amassed at Delphi enabled the three Phocian brothers, Phayllus, Phalaekus, and Onomarchus, to support the whole burden of the sacred war (Diodor. xvi. 30; comp. Thuc. i. 121, 2:13). (Comp. also 1Kings 15:18.)

Vain and light persons.--These are exactly analogous to the doruphoroi--a body-guard of spear-bearers, which an ambitious Greek always hired as the first step to setting up a tyranny (Diog. Laert. 1:49). We find Jephthah (Judges 11:3), and David (1Samuel 22:2), and Absalom (2Samuel 15:1), and Rezon (1Kings 11:24), and Adonijah (1Kings 1:5), and Jeroboam (2Chronicles 13:7) doing exactly the same thing. Who these "vain" persons were is best defined in 1Samuel 22:2. They were like the condottieri, or free-lances. The word vain (rikim) is from the same root as Raca; it means vauriens. The word for "light persons" (pochazim) occurs in Genesis 49:4 (applied to Reuben) and Zephaniah 3:4. It is from a root which means to boil over. . . .

Verse 4. - Threescore and ten of silver, i.e. shekels, which is always understood. Equal in value to about seven pounds; quite enough with which to hire a band of "vain and light persons," who would afterwards maintain themselves by plunder. Out of the house of Baal-berith. The custom of collecting treasures at the temple, both that of the true God and of idols, whether they were offerings and gifts for the service of the temple, or treasures deposited there for safety, was very general (see Joshua 6:19; 1 Kings 15:18; 1 Chronicles 29:8; Daniel 1:2, etc.). The treasures belonging to the temple of Apollo at Delphi were very great, and excited the cupidity of Xerxes, who sent an army to plunder the temple, but was foiled in the attempt. The Phocians are related to have seized 10,000 talents from the treasury of Delphi, nearly two and a half millions sterling. The temple of Diana at Ephesus had considerable treasures in money, as well as other valuable articles. Many other notices of the riches of temple treasures occur in classical writers. Vain and light persons. Of. Judges 11:3; 1 Samuel 22:2; 2 Samuel 15:1; 2 Chronicles 13:7. Vain, literally, empty; light, literally, boiling over. Applied to the false prophets (Zephaniah 3:4). In German, sprudel-kopf is a hot-headed, hasty man.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So they gave
וַיִּתְּנוּ־ (way·yit·tə·nū-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

him
לוֹ֙ (lōw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew

seventy [shekels]
שִׁבְעִ֣ים (šiḇ·‘îm)
Number - common plural
Strong's 7657: Seventy (a cardinal number)

of silver
כֶּ֔סֶף (ke·sep̄)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3701: Silver, money

from the temple
מִבֵּ֖יתּ‪‬ (mib·bêṯ)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of
בַ֣עַל‪‬ (ba·‘al)
Preposition
Strong's Hebrew

Baal-berith,
בְּרִ֑ית (bə·rîṯ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1170: Baal of (the) covenant', a Shechemite god

with which
בָּהֶ֜ם (bā·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

Abimelech
אֲבִימֶ֗לֶךְ (’ă·ḇî·me·leḵ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 40: Abimelech -- 'father is king', a Philistine name, also an Israelite name

hired
וַיִּשְׂכֹּ֨ר (way·yiś·kōr)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7936: To hire

some worthless
רֵיקִים֙ (rê·qîm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 7386: Empty, worthless

and reckless
וּפֹ֣חֲזִ֔ים (ū·p̄ō·ḥă·zîm)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 6348: To bubble up, froth, to be unimportant

men
אֲנָשִׁ֤ים (’ă·nā·šîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 582: Man, mankind

to follow
וַיֵּלְכ֖וּ (way·yê·lə·ḵū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

him.
אַחֲרָֽיו׃ (’a·ḥă·rāw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's 310: The hind or following part


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OT History: Judges 9:4 They gave him seventy pieces of silver (Jd Judg. Jdg)
Judges 9:3
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