Judges 9:5
And he came to his father's house in Ephra, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men, upon one stone: and there remained only Joatham the youngest son of Jerobaal, who was hidden.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et venit in domum patris sui in Ephra, et occidit fratres suos filios Jerobaal, septuaginta viros super lapidem unum : remansitque Joatham filius Jerobaal minimus, et absconditus est.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ εἰς Ἐφράθα καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ υἱοὺς Ἰεροβάαλ ἑβδομήκοντα ἄνδρας ἐπὶ λίθον ἕνα· καὶ κατελείφθη Ἰωαθὰν υἱὸς Ἰεροβάαλ ὁ νεώτερος, ὅτι ἐκρύβη.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיָּבֹ֤א בֵית אָבִיו֙ עָפְרָ֔תָה וַֽיַּהֲרֹ֞ג אֶת אֶחָ֧יו בְּנֵֽי יְרֻבַּ֛עַל שִׁבְּעִ֥ים אִ֖ישׁ עַל אֶ֣בֶן אֶחָ֑ת וַיִּוָּתֵ֞ר יוֹתָ֧ם בֶּן יְרֻבַּ֛עַל הַקָּטֹ֖ן כִּ֥י נֶחְבָּֽא
Haydock's commentary
Stone where criminals were, perhaps, commonly executed, that he might seem to act with justice, (Tostat) or he might slaughter his brethren on the very altar, which had been erected to God by Gedeon, after he had thrown down that of Baal. By doing so, he would seem to vindicate the idol, and gratify the people of Sichem, who were zealous idolaters, ver. 46. Joatham escaped his fury, yet he, also, uses a round number, 70, when he says you have killed 70 men, ver. 18. (Calmet)
Abimelech himself must also be deducted from the number. Thus we say the seventy interpreters, (Menochius) though the Greek interpreters of the Bible are supposed (Haydock) to have been 72. (Menochius)
The history of nations is full of similar instances of cruelty. Ochus, king of Persia, killed his uncle, and 80 or 100 of his sons. Phraartees, son of Herod, king of the Parthians, by a concubine, slew his father and his 30 children. (Justin. x. and xlii.)
The Turkish emperors have shewn equal barbarity on many occasions, and they still murder or confine all their brothers. (Serar. q. 6.)
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.