Judges 9:1-21

New American Standard Bible

Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9 Now ^(A)Abimelech the son of ^[a]Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s relatives, and spoke to them and to the entire family of the household of his mother’s father, saying, ² “Speak, now, in the hearing of all the ^[b]leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: for ^(B)seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, to rule over you, or for one man to rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am ^(C)your bone and your flesh.” ³ So his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the ^[c]leaders of Shechem; and ^[d]they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is ^(D)our relative.” ⁴ And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of ^(E)Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house in Ophrah and ^(F)killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, ^(G)seventy men, ^[e]on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. ⁶ All the ^[f]leaders of Shechem and all ^[g]Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the ^[h]oak of the memorial stone which was in Shechem.

⁷ Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on the top of ^(H)Mount Gerizim, and raised his voice and called out. And he said to them, “Listen to me, you ^[i]leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸ Once the trees went to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my fatness with ^[j]which God and mankind are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my sweetness and my good ^[k]fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I give up my new wine, which cheers God and mankind, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If you ^[l]really are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now then, if you have acted with ^[m]honesty and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^(I)Jerubbaal and his house, and ^[n]have dealt with him ^[o]as he deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you, and ^[p]risked his life and saved you from the hand of Midian; ¹⁸ but in fact you have risen against my father’s house today and have killed ^(J)his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, ^(K)the son of his female slave, king over the ^[q]leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— ¹⁹ so if you have acted with ^[r]honesty and integrity toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, be joyful about Abimelech, and may he also be joyful about you. ²⁰ But if not, may fire come out of Abimelech and consume the ^[s]leaders of Shechem and ^[t]Beth-millo; and may fire come out of the ^[u]leaders of Shechem and from ^[v]Beth-millo, and consume Abimelech.” ²¹ Then Jotham escaped and fled, and went to Beer; and he stayed there because of his brother Abimelech.