Juges 9

Abimelech kills his brothers

¹Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s relatives in Shechem and spoke to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family. He said, ²“Please put this question to all the leaders of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, to be ruled by seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, or to be ruled by one man? Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.’”^{a 3}His mother’s relatives spoke on his behalf and put all these words before the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts leaned toward Abimelech, because they said, “He is our own kin.” ⁴They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, and with that money Abimelech hired worthless, reckless men, who became his followers. ⁵He went to his father’s home at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on a single stone. But Jotham, Jerubbaal’s youngest son, survived because he had gone into hiding.

Jotham speaks from Mount Gerizim

⁶Then all the leaders of Shechem and all of Beth-millo came together and went and made Abimelech king beside the oak of the standing stone at Shechem. ⁷When Jotham was told about it, he went and stood on the summit of Mount Gerizim and shouted out to them, “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God will listen to you. ⁸One day the trees set out to anoint a king to rule them. \q They went to the olive tree and said, ‘Be our king.’ ⁹But the olive tree answered them, \q ‘Should I stop giving my rich oil, \q which is used to honor God and humans, \q and go to wave over the trees?’^{b 10}Then the trees said to the fig tree, \q ‘You come and be our king.’ ¹¹But the fig tree answered them, \q ‘Should I give up my sweetness and my fine fruit \q and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹²Then the trees said to the vine, \q ‘You come and be our king.’ ¹³But the vine answered them, \q ‘Should I give up my new wine, \q which brings joy to God and humans, \q and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴Then all the trees said to the bramble, \q ‘You come and be our king.’ ¹⁵The bramble answered the trees, \q ‘If you are truly anointing me king over you, \q come and shelter in my shade. \q Otherwise, may fire come out of the bramble \q and burn up the cedars of Lebanon!’ ¹⁶So now, if you acted faithfully and honorably when you made Abimelech king, and if you have treated Jerubbaal and his family well and given him what his deeds deserved— ¹⁷for my father fought for you, risked his life, and rescued you from the power of Midian, ¹⁸but today you have turned against my father’s family. You have killed his sons, seventy men, on a single stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his slave woman, king over the leaders of Shechem because he is your relative— ¹⁹if, I say, you have acted faithfully and honorably toward Jerubbaal and his family today, then be happy with Abimelech, and may he be happy with you. ²⁰But if not, may fire come out from Abimelech and burn up the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and burn up Abimelech!” ²¹Then Jotham ran for his life. He escaped to Beer and settled there, out of the reach of his brother Abimelech.

Shechem turns against Abimelech

²²Abimelech held power over Israel for three years. ²³Then God sent an evil spirit to come between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem broke faith with Abimelech,^{cd 24}so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal would come back on those who did it, and the guilt for their blood would fall on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the leaders of Shechem, who helped him kill his brothers. ²⁵The leaders of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the mountaintops, and they robbed everyone who came past them along the road. Abimelech was told about it.

²⁶Then Gaal son of Ebed arrived with his relatives and moved into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem came to trust him. ²⁷They went out to the fields, harvested the grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and held a harvest festival. They went into the temple of their god, ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and what is Shechem, that we should be his servants? Is he not Jerubbaal’s son, with Zebul as his deputy? Serve the men of Hamor, Shechem’s father! Why should we serve Abimelech?^{ef 29}If only this people were under my command! I would get rid of Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Build up your army and come out and fight!”^{g 30}When Zebul, the governor of the city, heard what Gaal son of Ebed had said, he was furious. ³¹He secretly sent messengers to Abimelech to say, “Gaal son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem, and they are turning the city against you.^{h 32}So now, set out during the night, you and the troops with you, and lie in ambush in the open country. ³³In the morning, as soon as the sun is up, get up early and charge the city. When he and his men come out against you, deal with him however the moment allows.”

³⁴So Abimelech and all the troops with him set out by night and took up hidden positions around Shechem in four companies. ³⁵Gaal son of Ebed went out and was standing at the entrance to the city gate when Abimelech and his troops rose up from their hiding places. ³⁶When Gaal saw the troops, he said to Zebul, “Look, there are people coming down from the mountaintops!” Zebul answered, “You are taking the shadows of the mountains for men.”

³⁷Gaal spoke again: “Look, troops are coming down from the center of the land, and another company is coming by the road from the Soothsayers’ Oak!”^{i 38}Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your big talk now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should be his servants?’ Are these not the men you looked down on? Go out now and fight them!”

³⁹So Gaal went out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and fought Abimelech. ⁴⁰Abimelech chased him, and Gaal ran from him. Many fell dead along the way, right up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹Abimelech then stayed at Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his relatives out, so that they could no longer live in Shechem. ⁴²On the following day the people of Shechem came out to the fields, and someone reported it to Abimelech. ⁴³He took his troops, split them into three companies, and set an ambush in the fields. As soon as he saw people leaving the city, he rose and attacked them. ⁴⁴Abimelech and the forces with him charged forward and took their stand at the entrance to the city gate, while the other two companies charged at everyone in the fields and struck them down.^{j 45}Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured it and killed the people in it; then he tore the city down and scattered salt over it.

⁴⁶When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard this, they went into the stronghold of the temple of El-berith.^{k 47}Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem had gathered there. ⁴⁸Abimelech and all his troops went up Mount Zalmon. He took an axe in his hand, cut a branch from the trees, lifted it up and put it on his shoulder. Then he said to the men with him, “Quick! Do just what you have seen me do!” ⁴⁹So all the troops also cut down a branch each and followed Abimelech. They piled the branches against the stronghold and set it on fire over the people inside. So all the people of the Tower of Shechem died too, about 1,000 men and women.

Abimelech dies at Thebez

⁵⁰Next Abimelech went to Thebez, laid siege to it, and captured it. ⁵¹But inside the city stood a strong tower, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled into it. They shut themselves in and climbed up onto the roof of the tower. ⁵²Abimelech came up to the tower and attacked it. He went right up to the entrance of the tower to set it on fire. ⁵³But a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and cracked his skull. ⁵⁴He quickly called to the young man who carried his armor and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that no one can say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his young man ran him through, and he died. ⁵⁵When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went back home. ⁵⁶In this way God paid Abimelech back for the evil he had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷God also brought all the evil of the men of Shechem back on their own heads, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.