CHAPTER 9

¹And Abimelech son of Jerubaal went to his mother’s brothers and to all the clan of his mother’s patriarchal house, saying, ²“Speak, pray, in the hearing of all the notables of Shechem: ‘What is better for you, that seventy men should rule over you, all the sons of Jerubaal, or that one man should rule over you? And you should remember that I am your bone and your flesh.’” ³And his mother’s brothers spoke about him all these words in the hearing of the notables of Shechem and their heart was swayed to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our kinsman.” ⁴And they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the house of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech hired with them no-account reckless men, and they followed him. ⁵And he came to his father’s house in Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubaal, seventy men on one stone, and Jotham the youngest son of Jerubaal was left, for he had hidden. ⁶And all the notables of Shechem and all Beth-Millo gathered and proclaimed Abimelech king by the standing terebinth which is in Shechem. ⁷And they told Jotham, and he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and he raised his voice and called out and said to them: “Listen to me, O notables of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸Once upon a time the trees went to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ ⁹And the olive tree said, ‘Have I left off my rich oil, for which God and men honor me, that I should go sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Go, you, reign over us.’ ¹¹And the fig tree said to them, ‘Have I left off my sweetness and my goodly yield that I should go sway over the trees?’ ¹²And the trees said to the vine, ‘Go, you, reign over us.’ ¹³And the vine said to them, ‘Have I left off my new wine, that gladdens God and men, that I should go sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴And all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Go, you, reign over us.’ ¹⁵And the thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you are really about to anoint me king over you, come shelter in my shade. And if not, a fire shall come out from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’ ¹⁶And now, if you have acted truly and honestly in making Abimelech king over you and if you have acted well toward Jerubaal and his house and have acted toward him as he deserves, ¹⁷for my father fought for you and risked his life and saved you from the hand of Midian, ¹⁸yet you rose up against my father’s house today and killed seventy men on one stone and made Abimelech the son of his slavegirl king over the notables of Shechem, for he was your kinsman. ¹⁹And if you have acted truly and honestly toward Jerubaal and toward his house on this day, rejoice in Abimelech and let him, too, rejoice in you. ²⁰And if not, let a fire come out from Abimelech and consume the notables of Shechem and Beth-Millo, and let a fire come out from the notables of Shechem and from Beth-Millo and consume Abimelech.” ²¹And Jotham fled and ran off and went to Beer and stayed there because of Abimelech his brother. ²²And Abimelech lorded it over Israel three years. ²³And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the notables of Shechem, and the notables of Shechem betrayed Abimelech, ²⁴that the outage of the seventy sons of Jerubaal and their blood should come upon Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and upon the notables of Shechem, who abetted him in killing his brothers. ²⁵And the notables of Shechem laid ambushes for him on the mountaintops, and they robbed whoever passed over them on the way. And it was told to Abimelech. ²⁶And Gaal son of Ebed came with his kinsmen and passed through Shechem, and the notables of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷And they went out to the field and harvested their vineyards and trod the vintage and held a celebration and came to the house of their god and ate and drank and reviled Abimelech. ²⁸And Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who the men of Shechem that we should be subject to them? Were not the son of Jerubaal and Zebul his officer subject to the men of Hamor father of Shechem? So why should we be subject to him? ²⁹Would that this people were in my hands. I would remove Abimelech, and I would say to Abimelech, ‘Muster the full strength of your army and sally forth.’” ³⁰And Zebul, the commander of the town, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, and his wrath flared. ³¹And he sent messengers to Abimelech in Arumah, saying, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his kinsmen are coming to Shechem, and they are about to turn the town against you. ³²And now rise in the night, you and the troops who are with you, and lie in ambush in the field. ³³And so, in the morning, as the sun comes up, rise early and attack the town, and, look, he and the troops who are with him will be coming out toward you, and you shall do whatever you are able.” ³⁴And Abimelech rose, and all the troops who were with him, in the night, and they lay in ambush against Shechem in four columns. ³⁵And Gaal son of Ebed came out and stood at the entrance of the gate of the town, and Abimelech and the troops who were with him rose up from the ambush. ³⁶And Gaal saw the troops and said to Zebul, “Look, troops are coming down from the mountaintops.” And Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadows of the mountains as though they were men.” ³⁷And Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, troops are coming down from the heartland and one column is coming from Elon Meonenim.” ³⁸And Zebul said to him, “Where then is your big mouth that you should have said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should be subject to him?’ Are not these the troops whom you scorned? Sally forth now, pray, and do battle with them.” ³⁹And Gaal sallied forth before the notables of Shechem and did battle with Abimelech. ⁴⁰And Abimelech pursued him, and he fled from him, and many slain fell as far as the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹And Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his kinsmen from dwelling in Shechem. ⁴²And it happened the next day that the troops sallied forth to the field, and they told Abimelech. ⁴³And he took his troops and split them into three columns and lay in ambush in the field. And he saw and, look, the troops were sallying forth from the town, and he rose against them and struck them. ⁴⁴And Abimelech and the column that was with him attacked and took a stance at the entrance of the town’s gate, and the two columns attacked whoever was in the field. ⁴⁵And Abimelech did battle with the town all that day, and he took the town and killed the people who were in it and smashed the town and sowed it with salt. ⁴⁶And all the notables of Shechem Tower heard, and they went into the redoubt of the house of El-Berith. ⁴⁷And it was told to Abimelech that all the notables of Shechem Tower had gathered together. ⁴⁸And Abimelech went up Mount Zalmon, he and all the troops who were with him, and he took one of the axes in his hand and cut down a bough and lifted it up and put it on his shoulder. And he said to the troops who were with him, “What you saw me doing, quick, do as I do.” ⁴⁹And all the troops cut down each one his bough and followed Abimelech and put them against the redoubt and set fire with them to the redoubt. And all the people of Shechem Tower died, about a thousand men and women. ⁵⁰And Abimelech went to Thebez and camped against Thebez and took it. ⁵¹And there was a tower stronghold within the town, and all the men and women and all the notables of the town fled there and shut themselves in and went up on the roof of the tower. ⁵²And Abimelech came up to the tower and did battle against it. And he approached the entrance of the tower to burn it in fire. ⁵³And a certain woman flung down an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and shattered his skull. ⁵⁴And he called quickly to the lad who was his armor bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and put me to death lest they say, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his lad ran him through and he died. ⁵⁵And the men of Israel saw that Abimelech had died and each man went back to his place. ⁵⁶And God turned back the evil of Abimelech that he had done to his father to kill his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷And all the evil of the men of Shechem God turned back on their heads, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerubaal came down upon them.