Judges 9

1Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother's brothers, and spoke to them and to the whole clan of his mother's father's house, saying,

2Please speak in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem: Which is better for you—that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you? And remember that I am your bone and your flesh.

3And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts turned after Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”

4And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith, and with them Abimelek hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him.

5Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal—seventy men—on one stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, was left, because he hid himself.

6Then all the leaders of Shechem and all Beth-millo gathered together, and they went and made Abimelech king beside the oak pillar that was in Shechem.

7And they told Jotham, and he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and he lifted up his voice and called out and said to them, “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you.”

8The trees once went to anoint a king over themselves, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

9But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my oil, by which gods and men are honored, and go to sway over the trees?’

10Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come, reign over us.’

11But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to sway over the trees?’

12Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come, reign over us.’

13But the vine said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my new wine, which gladdens gods and men, and go to sway over the trees?’

14Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come, reign over us.’

15Then the bramble said to the trees, ‘If you are truly anointing me as king over you, come, take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

16Now therefore, if you have acted in truth and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and with his house, and if you have dealt with him according to the recompense of his hands,

17because my father fought for you, cast his life in front of him, and delivered you from the hand of Midian.

18But you have risen up against my father's house today, and you killed his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and you made Abimelek, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, because he is your brother.

19And if today you have acted in truth and integrity toward Jerubbaal and toward his house, rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you.

20But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.

21Then Jotham fled and escaped and went to Beer, and he lived there away from Abimelech his brother.

22Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years.

23Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.

24so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the leaders of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

25Then the leaders of Shechem set men in ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed everyone who passed by them on the road; and it was reported to Abimelech.

26Then Gaal son of Ebed came with his brothers and crossed into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem put their trust in him.

27And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and they held a festival. Then they went into the house of their god and ate and drank and cursed Abimelek.

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

29If only this people were in my hand, then I would remove Abimelek. And he said to Abimelek, “Increase your army and come out!”

30When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, his anger burned.

31And he sent messengers to Abimelek secretly, saying, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem, and look, they are besieging the city against you.”

32Now then, arise by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.

33Then in the morning, as soon as the sun rises, you must get up early and spread out against the city. And look, when he and the people who are with him come out to you, you shall do to him as your hand finds.

34So Abimelech and all the people who were with him got up by night, and they lay in ambush against Shechem in four companies.

35Then Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate, and Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from the ambush.

36When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadow of the mountains as men.”

37Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming by the way of the Oak of the Soothsayers.”

38Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Is this not the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight against them.”

39So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought against Abimelech.

40Abimelech pursued him, and he fled before him; and many slain fell as far as the entrance of the gate.

41And Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out from dwelling in Shechem.

42And it happened on the next day that the people went out into the field, and it was reported to Abimelek.

43He took the people, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the field. When he saw that the people were coming out of the city, he rose up against them and struck them down.

44And Abimelech and the leaders who were with him rushed forward and took their stand at the entrance of the city gate, while the two other companies rushed against everyone who was in the field and struck them down.

45And Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and he captured the city and killed the people who were in it. Then he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

46When all the leaders of the tower of Shechem heard it, they went into the inner chamber of the house of El-berith.

47And it was reported to Abimelech that all the leaders of the tower of Shechem had gathered together.

48Then Abimelek went up Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. Abimelek took the axes in his hand, cut down a bundle of branches, lifted it, and put it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.”

49So all the people also cut down a branch each, and they went after Abimelech and piled them against the inner chamber, and set the inner chamber on fire over them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

50Then Abimelech went to Thebez, camped against Thebez, and captured it.

51But there was a strong tower in the middle of the city, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled there and shut themselves in, and they went up onto the roof of the tower.

52Abimelech came up to the tower and fought against it, and he came near to the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire.

53But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.

54Then he quickly called to the young man who carried his weapons and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his young man pierced him through, and he died.

55When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each went to his own place.

56Thus God repaid Abimelech for the evil that he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers.

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