Abimelech Becomes King

9 Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and spoke to them and to all his maternal grandfather’s clan, saying, ² “Please speak in the presence of all the lords of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that 70 men, all the sons of Jerubbaal,^(A) rule over you or that one man rule over you?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.”^[a]

³ His mother’s relatives spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the lords of Shechem, and they were favorable to Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴ So they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith.^[b] Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men with this money, and they followed him. ⁵ He went to his father’s house in Ophrah and killed his 70 brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, on top of a large stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself. ⁶ Then all the lords of Shechem and of Beth-millo gathered together and proceeded to make Abimelech king at the oak of the pillar in Shechem.