Judges 9:46
And when they who dwelt in the tower of Sichem had heard this, they went into the temple of their god Berith where they had made a covenant with him, and from thence the place had taken its name, and it was exceeding strong.
Open Judges 9:46 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quod cum audissent qui habitabant in turre Sichimorum, ingressi sunt fanum dei sui Berith, ubi fœdus cum eo pepigerant, et ex eo locus nomen acceperat : qui erat munitus valde.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἤκουσαν πάντες οἱ ἄνδρες πύργων Συχέμ, καὶ ἦλθον εἰς συνέλευσιν Βαιθηρβερίθ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַֽיִּשְׁמְע֔וּ כָּֽל בַּעֲלֵ֖י מִֽגְדַּל שְׁכֶ֑ם וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ אֶל צְרִ֔יחַ בֵּ֖ית אֵ֥ל בְּרִֽית
Haydock's commentary
Tower. Serarius thinks it was the house of Mello, out of the city, ver. 6. (Menochius)
It was the citadel, large enough to contain 1000 soldiers. They durst not, however, stop here to encounter Abimelech, but retired to the temple, either because it was still stronger and higher, or in hopes that they would be secure, on account of the veneration (Calmet) to which the place was entitled among the idolaters.
Berith. Protestants, "they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith." Septuagint, "of the covenant." (Haydock)
Where, &c., is added by way of explanation, (Calmet) except the word strong, which the Septuagint render ochuroma, "a fortress." The tower and temple seem to have been contiguous, since Abimelech, by setting fire to the tower, destroyed these people at the same time, ver. 49. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.