Judges 9
The Reign of
Abimelech |
1 |
And Abim'elech the son of Jerubba'al 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,
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2 |
Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the
men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all
the sons of Jerubba'al, 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.
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3 |
And his mother's brethren spake of him in
the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts
inclined to follow Abim'elech; for they said, He is our
brother.
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4 |
And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Ba'al-be'rith, wherewith
Abim'elech hired vain and light persons, which followed
him.
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5 |
And he went unto his father's house at
Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubba'al, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding, yet
Jotham the youngest son of Jerubba'al was left; for he hid
himself.
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6 |
And all the men of Shechem gathered
together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abim'elech
king, by the plain of the pillar that was in
Shechem.
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7 |
And when they told it to Jotham,
he went and stood in the top of mount Ger'izim, and lifted up his
voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of
Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.
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8 |
The trees went forth on a time to
anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign
thou over us.
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9 |
But the olive tree said unto them, Should
I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and man, and go
to be promoted over the trees?
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10 |
And the trees said to the fig tree, Come
thou, and reign over us.
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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?
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12 |
Then said the trees unto the vine, Come
thou, and reign over us.
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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?
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14 |
Then said all the trees unto the bramble,
Come thou, and reign over us.
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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.
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16 |
Now therefore, if ye have done truly
and sincerely, in that ye have made Abim'elech king, and if ye have
dealt well with Jerubba'al and his house, and have done unto him
according to the deserving of his hands:
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17 |
(for my father fought for you, and
adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of
Mid'i-an:
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18 |
and ye are risen up against my father's
house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons,
upon one stone, and have made Abim'elech, the son of his
maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your
brother:)
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19 |
if ye then have dealt truly and sincerely
with Jerubba'al and with his house this day, then rejoice ye
in Abim'elech, and let him also rejoice in you:
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20 |
but if not, let fire come out from
Abim'elech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo;
and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of
Millo, and devour Abim'elech.
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21 |
And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went
to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abim'elech his
brother.
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22 |
When Abim'elech had reigned three years
over Israel,
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23 |
then God sent an evil spirit between
Abim'elech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt
treacherously with Abim'elech:
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24 |
that the cruelty done to the
threescore and ten sons of Jerubba'al might come, and their blood be
laid upon Abim'elech their brother, which slew them, and upon the
men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his
brethren.
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25 |
And the men of Shechem set liers in wait
for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came
along that way by them: and it was told Abim'elech.
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26 |
And Ga'al the son of Ebed came with his
brethren, and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put their
confidence in him.
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27 |
And they went out into the fields, and
gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made
merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink,
and cursed Abim'elech.
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28 |
And Ga'al the son of Ebed said, Who is Abim'elech, and who is Shechem, that we should
serve him? is not he the son of Jerubba'al? and Zebul
his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why
should we serve him?
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29 |
And would to God this people were under
my hand! then would I remove Abim'elech. And he said to Abim'elech,
Increase thine army, and come out.
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30 |
And when Zebul the ruler of the city
heard the words of Ga'al the son of Ebed, his anger was
kindled.
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31 |
And he sent messengers unto Abim'elech
privily, saying, Behold, Ga'al the son of Ebed and his brethren be
come to Shechem; and, behold, they fortify the city against
thee.
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32 |
Now therefore up by night, thou and the
people that is with thee, and lie in wait in the
field:
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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 that is with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to
them as thou shalt find occasion.
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34 |
And Abim'elech rose up, and all the
people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait
against Shechem in four companies.
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35 |
And Ga'al the son of Ebed went out, and
stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and Abim'elech rose
up, and the people that were with him, from lying in
wait.
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36 |
And when Ga'al 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.
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37 |
And Ga'al spake again and said, See,
there come people down by the middle of the land, and another
company come along by the plain of Me-o'nenim.
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38 |
Then said Zebul unto him, Where is now thy mouth, wherewith thou saidst, Who is Abim'elech, that
we should serve him? is not this the people that thou hast
despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them.
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39 |
And Ga'al went out before the men of
Shechem, and fought with Abim'elech.
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40 |
And Abim'elech chased him, and he fled
before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even unto the entering of the gate.
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41 |
And Abim'elech dwelt at Aru'mah: and
Zebul thrust out Ga'al and his brethren, that they should not dwell
in Shechem.
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42 |
And it came to pass on the morrow, that
the people went out into the field; and they told
Abim'elech.
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43 |
And he took the people, and divided them
into three companies, and laid wait in the field, and looked, and,
behold, the people were come forth out of the city; and he
rose up against them, and smote them.
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44 |
And Abim'elech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entering of
the gate of the city: and the two other companies ran upon
all the people that were in the fields, and slew
them.
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45 |
And Abim'elech fought against the city
all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with
salt.
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46 |
And when all the men of the tower of
Shechem heard that, they entered into a hold of the house of
the god Berith.
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47 |
And it was told Abim'elech, that all the
men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.
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48 |
And Abim'elech gat him up to mount
Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and
Abim'elech took an axe 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 that were with him, What ye have seen me do,
make haste, and do as I have done.
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49 |
And all the people likewise cut down
every man his bough, and followed Abim'elech, and put them to
the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of
the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and
women.
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50 |
Then went Abim'elech to Thebez, and
encamped against Thebez, and took it.
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51 |
But there was a strong tower within the
city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the
city, and shut it to them, and gat them up to the top of the
tower.
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52 |
And Abim'elech came unto the tower, and
fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn
it with fire.
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53 |
And a certain woman cast a piece of a
millstone upon Abim'elech's head, and all to brake his
skull.
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54 |
Then he called hastily unto the young man
his armor-bearer, 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.
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55 |
And when the men of Israel saw that
Abim'elech was dead, they departed every man unto his
place.
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56 |
Thus God rendered the wickedness of
Abim'elech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy
brethren:
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57 |
and all the evil of the men of Shechem
did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of
Jotham the son of Jerubba'al.
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