Shechem

Abram passed through the country unto the place of Sichem, as far as the noble vale: now the Chanaanite was at that time in the land.

And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites, which is in the land of Chanaan, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria: and he dwelt by the town.

And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with her, ravishing the virgin.

So they gave him all the strange gods they had, and the earrings which were in their ears: and he buried them under the turpentine tree, that is behind the city of Sichem.

And when his brethren abode in Sechem, feeding their father's flocks,

Israel said to him: Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem: come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered:

I am ready: he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren, and the cattle: and bring me word again what is doing. So being sent from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem:

And the border of Manasses was from Aser, Machmethath which looketh towards Sichem: and it goeth out on the right hand by the inhabitants of the fountain of Taphua.

And they appointed Cedes in Galilee of mount Nephtali, and Sichem in mount Ephraim, and Cariath-Arbe, the same is Hebron in the mountain of Juda.

Of the tribe of Ephraim, Sichem one of the cities of refuge, with the suburbs thereof in mount Ephraim, and Gazer,

And Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel in Sichem, and called for the ancients, and the princes and the judges, and the masters: and they stood in the sight of the Lord:

Joshua therefore on that day made a covenant, and set before the people commandments and judgments in Sichem.

And the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had taken out of Egypt, they buried in Sichem, in that part of the field which Jacob had bought of the sons of Hemor the father of Sichem, for a hundred young ewes, and it was in the possession of the sons of Joseph.

And his concubine, that he had in Sichem, bore him a son, whose name was Abimelech.

And Abimelech, the son of Jerobaal, went to Sichem, to his mother's brethren, and spoke to them, and to all the kindred of his mother's father, saying:

Speak to all the men of Sichem: whether is better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerobaal, should rule over you, or that one man should rule over you? And withal, consider that I am your bone, and your flesh.

And his mother's brethren spoke of him to all the men of Sichem, all these words, and they inclined their hearts after Abimelech, saying: He is our brother:

And all the men of Sichem were gathered together, and all the families of the city of Mello: and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak that stood in Sichem.

This being told to Joatham, he went, and stood on the top of Mount Garizim: and lifting up his voice, he cried, and said: Hear me, ye men of Sichem, so may God hear you.

And you are now risen up against my father's house, and have killed his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, king over the inhabitants of Sichem, because he is your brother:

But if unjustly: let fire come out from him, and consume the inhabitants of Sichem, and the town of Mello: and let fire come out from the men of Sichem and from the town of Mello, and devour Abimelech.

And the Lord sent a very evil spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Sichem; who began to detest him,

And to lay the crime of the murder of the seventy sons of Jerobaal, and the shedding of their blood, upon Abimelech, their brother, and upon the rest of the princes of the Sichemites, who aided him.

And they set an ambush against him on the top of the mountains: and while they waited for his coming, they committed robberies, taking spoils of all that passed by: and it was told Abimelech.

And Gaal, the son of Obed, came with his brethren, and went over to Sichem. And the inhabitants of Sichem, taking courage at his coming,