32 This is what I think you should do. Lead your army here during the night and hide in the fields.
33 Get up the next morning at sunrise and rush out of your hiding places to attack the town. Gaal and his followers will come out to fight you, but you will easily defeat them.
34 So one night, Abimelech led his soldiers to Shechem. He divided them into four groups, and they all hid near the town.
35 The next morning, Gaal went out and stood in the opening of the town gate. Abimelech and his soldiers left their hiding places,
36 and Gaal saw them. Zebul was standing there with Gaal, and Gaal remarked, “Zebul, that looks like a crowd of people coming down from the mountaintops.”“No,” Zebul answered, “it's just the shadows of the mountains. It only looks like people moving.”
37 “But Zebul, look over there,” Gaal said. “There's a crowd coming down from the sacred mountain, and another group is coming along the road from the tree where people talk with the spirits of the dead.”
38 Then Zebul replied, “What good is all your boasting now? You were the one who said Abimelech shouldn't be the ruler of Shechem. Out there is the army that you made fun of. So go out and fight them!”