30 Zebul was angry when he found out what Gaal had said.
31 And so he sent some messengers to Abimelech. But they had to pretend to be doing something else, or they would not have been allowed to leave Shechem. Zebul told the messengers to say:Gaal the son of Ebed has come to Shechem along with his brothers, and they have persuaded the people to let Gaal rule Shechem instead of you.
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.”