When the leading men of the city got up early the next morning, the altar to Baal had been torn down, along with the Asherah that had stood beside it, and the second bull had been offered on the altar that had been erected.

So the leading men of the city ordered Joash, "Bring us that son of yours. He's going to die, because he tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah that stood beside it!"

They stood up, each soldier in his assigned place surrounding the encampment, and the entire army ran away, sounding the alarm to retreat.

Ebed's son Gaal went out and stood in the entrance to the city gate while Abimelech and his army were creeping out of their ambush.

While the 600 Danite soldiers, armed with military weapons, stood guard at the entrance to the gate,

the five men who had gone to scout out the land arrived, entered Micah's home and confiscated the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the cast image. Meanwhile, the priest stood outside by the entrance to the gate with the 600 men armed with military weapons.

Then the entire army stood up as a single unit and declared, "Nobody's going back to his tent, and nobody's going home!