Judges 9-10

21st Century King James Version

9 And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying,

² “Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”

³ And his mother’s brethren spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words; and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”

⁴ And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light persons, who followed him.

⁵ And he went unto his father’s house at Ophrah and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone. Notwithstanding, yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself.

⁶ And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Bethmillo, and went and made Abimelech king by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

⁷ And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice and cried, and said unto them, “Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.

⁸ The trees went forth once to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, ‘Reign thou over us.’

⁹ But the olive tree said unto them, ‘Should I leave my fatness, withwhich by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?’

¹⁰ And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come thou, and reign over us.’

¹¹ But the fig tree said unto them, ‘Should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?’

¹² Then said the trees unto the vine, ‘Come thou, and reign over us.’

¹³ And the vine said unto them, ‘Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?’

¹⁴ Then said all the trees unto the bramble, ‘Come thou, and reign over us.’

¹⁵ And the bramble said unto the trees, ‘If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands

¹⁷ (for my father fought for you, and ventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian;

¹⁸ and ye have risen up against my father’s house this day and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother),

¹⁹ if ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you.

²⁰ But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Bethmillo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from the house of Bethmillo, and devour Abimelech.”

²¹ And Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother.

²² When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel,

²³ then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech,

²⁴ that the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, who slew them, and upon the men of Shechem, who aided him in the killing of his brethren.

²⁵ And the men of Shechem set liersinwait for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them; and it was told Abimelech.

²⁶ And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren and went over to Shechem, and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him.

²⁷ And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech.

²⁸ And Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is not he the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem. For why should we serve him?

²⁹ And would to God this people were under my hand! Then would I remove Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Increase thine army, and come out!”

³⁰ And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.

³¹ And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privily, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren have come to Shechem; and behold, they fortify the city against thee.

³² Now therefore, up by night, thou and the people who are with thee, and lie in wait in the field.

³³ And it shall be that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou shalt rise early and set upon the city; and behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.”

³⁴ And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they lay in wait against Shechem in four companies.

³⁵ And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city; and Abimelech rose up, and the people who were with him, from lying in wait.

³⁶ And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains.” And Zebul said unto him, “Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.”

³⁷ And Gaal spoke again and said, “See, there come people down by the middle of the land, and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim.”

³⁸ Then said Zebul unto him, “Where now is thy mouth, wherewith thou saidst, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom thou hast despised? Go out, I pray now, and fight with them.”

³⁹ And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

⁴⁰ And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him; and many were overthrown and wounded, even unto the entrance of the gate.

⁴¹ And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah; and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren, that they should not dwell in Shechem.

⁴² And it came to pass on the morrow that the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech.

⁴³ And he took the people and divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the field, and looked, and behold, the people had come forth out of the city; and he rose up against them and smote them.

⁴⁴ And Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city; and the two other companies ran upon all the people who were in the fields and slew them.

⁴⁵ And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people who were therein, and beat down the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into a stronghold of the house of the god Berith.

⁴⁷ And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.

⁴⁸ And Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people who were with him, “What ye have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done.”

⁴⁹ And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough and followed Abimelech, and put them to the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire upon them, so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez and took it.

⁵¹ But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women and all those of the city, and shut it to them and went up to the top of the tower.

⁵² And Abimelech came unto the tower and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

⁵³ And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head and broke his skull.

⁵⁴ Then he called hastily unto the young man, his armorbearer, and said unto him, “Draw thy sword and slay me, that men say not of me, ‘A woman slew him.’” And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place.

⁵⁶ Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father in slaying his seventy brethren.

⁵⁷ And all the evil of the men of Shechem God returned upon their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

10 And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in Mount Ephraim.

² And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died and was buried in Shamir.

³ And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years.

⁴ And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty ass colts; and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair [the villages of Jair] unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

⁵ And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

⁶ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord and served not Him.

⁷ And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon.

⁸ And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years — all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

⁹ Moreover the children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was sore distressed.

¹⁰ And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against Thee, both because we have forsaken our God and also served the Baalim.”

¹¹ And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, “Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon and from the Philistines?

¹² The Sidonians also and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you; and ye cried to Me, and I delivered you out of their hand.

¹³ Yet ye have forsaken Me and served other gods: therefore I will deliver you no more.

¹⁴ Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.”

¹⁵ And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, “We have sinned! Do Thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto Thee. Deliver us only, we pray Thee, this day.”

¹⁶ And they put away the strange gods from among them and served the Lord; and His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

¹⁷ Then the children of Ammon were gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together and encamped in Mizpah.

¹⁸ And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, “What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”