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Judges / Abimelech's Usurpation and Destruction
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Abimelech's Usurpation and Destruction

Judges 9:1-57

9
Chapter 9
1 Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brothers and spoke to them and to all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying: 2 "Please speak in the ears of all the owners of Shechem: 'What is good for you—the ruling over you by seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, or the ruling over you by one man?' And you will remember that I am your bone and your flesh." 3 His mother's brothers spoke about him in the ears of all the lords of Shechem, all these words, and their hearts inclined toward Abimelech because they said, "He is our brother." 4 And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith, and Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men with them, and they went after him. 5 He came 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, for he had hidden himself. 6 And all the lords of Shechem gathered, along with all the house of Millo. And they went and made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar that was at Shechem. 7 And they told Jotham, and he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and raised his voice and called and said to them, "Hear me, lords of Shechem, and may God hear you." 8 The trees went to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, “Reign over us.” 9 And he said to them, "Shall the olive tree go to sway over the trees? I have ceased my fatness, by which gods and men honor me." 10 And the trees said to the fig tree, "Come, be our king." 11 And the fig tree said to them, “Have I ceased my sweetness and my good produce, that I should go to sway over the trees?” 12 And the trees said to the vine, “Go, reign over us.” 13 And the vine said to them, "Should I cease my new wine that cheers gods and men and go to sway over the trees?" 14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, "Come, you reign over us." 15 And 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, may fire come out from the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon." 16 And now, if you have dealt truly and with integrity, and have 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 reward of his hands— 17 who fought for you and for my father and risked his life in the face of the enemy and delivered you from the hand of Midian. 18 And you arose against the house of my father today and killed his sons, seventy men upon one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your brother. 19 And if you have dealt in truth and integrity today with Jerubbaal and with his house, then rejoice in Abimelech, and he will rejoice also in you. 20 And if not, may fire go out from Abimelech and consume the lords of Shechem and the house of Millo, and may fire go out from the lords of Shechem and from the house of Millo and consume Abimelech. 21 Jotham fled and ran away and went to Beer and sat there because of Abimelech his brother. 22 And Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. 23 And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem, and the lords of Shechem betrayed Abimelech. 24 to bring the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal and their blood upon Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and upon the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. 25 And the lords of Shechem set ambushers for him on the heads of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed over them on the Way, and told Abimelech. 26 Gaal son of Abed and his brothers came and passed through Shechem, and the lords of Shechem trusted in him. 27 And they went out into the field and harvested their vineyards and trod them and held festivals and came to the house of their God and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech. 28 And Gaal son of the slave said, "Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem that we should serve him? Is it not the son of Jerubbaal and Zebul his officer, his slave of the men of Hamor father of Shechem, and why should we serve him?" 29 Who will put this people into my hand? Then I will rule over Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, "Increase your army and come out." 30 And Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, and his anger burned. 31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech at Tormah, saying, "Look, Gaal son of a servant and his brothers are coming to Shechem, and look, they are besieging the city against you." 32 And now rise up tonight, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. 33 And it will be, in the morning as the sun rises, you will rise early and spread out against the city. And behold, he and the people who are with him are going out to you, and you will do to him according as your hand finds. 34 And Abimelech arose, and all the people who were with him, at night, and they lay in wait against Shechem—four heads. 35 And Gaal son of Abod went out and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, and Abimelech rose up and the people who were with him from the ambush. 36 Gaal saw the people and said to Zebul, "Look, people are descending from the tops of the mountains." Zebul said to him, "You are seeing the shadow of the mountains as men." 37 And Gaal added to these words and said, "Look, people are descending from the top of the hill, and one head is coming from the way of the oak of the Maonites." 38 And Zebul said to him, "Where is your mouth now, which you said, 'Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?' Is not this the people that you despised? Go out now, please, and fight against him." 39 And Gaal went out before the lords of Shechem and fought Abimelech. 40 And Abimelech chased him, and he fled from his face, and many slain ones fell as far as the entrance of the gate. 41 And Abimelech dwelt in Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers from the dwelling of Shechem. 42 And it was the next day, and the people went out into the field, and they raided Abimelech. 43 And he took the people and divided them into three companies and lay in wait in the field. And he saw, and there, the people were coming out from the city, and he arose against them and struck them. 44 And Abimelech and the heads who were with him spread out and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, and two of the heads spread out upon all who were in the field and struck them down. 45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day, captured the city, killed the people who were in it, demolished the city, and sowed it with salt. 46 And when all the lords of the Tower of Shechem heard, they came to the crypt of the house of El Berith. 47 And he told Abimelech that all the lords of the Tower of Shechem had gathered. 48 Abimelech went up Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. Abimelech took branches of trees in his hand, cut down a sukkah of wood, carried it, and put it on his shoulder. And he said to the people who were with him, "What you have seen me do, hurry and do like me." 49 And all the people also cut a branch each, and they went after Abimelech and put them on the tower. And they set the tower ablaze with fire on them, and all the men of the Tower of Shechem died also—about a thousand men and women. 50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, encamped against Thebez, and captured it. 51 And a strong tower was in the midst of the city, and all the men and women and all the lords of the city fled there. And they shut themselves behind it and went up on the roof of the tower. 52 And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 And a woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and broke his skull. 54 And he called hastily to his young weapon-bearer and said to him, "Draw your sword and put me to death, lest they say of me, 'A woman killed him.'" And his young man stabbed him, and he died. 55 And they saw that Abimelech, a man of Israel, had died, and they went, each man to his place. 56 And God repaid the evil of Abimelech that he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. 57 And all the evil of the men of Shechem God returned upon their heads, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.