Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9 Now ^(A)Abimelech the son of ^[a]Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s relatives, and spoke to them and to the entire family of the household of his mother’s father, saying, ² “Speak, now, in the hearing of all the ^[b]leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: for ^(B)seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, to rule over you, or for one man to rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am ^(C)your bone and your flesh.” ³ So his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the ^[c]leaders of Shechem; and ^[d]they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is ^(D)our relative.” ⁴ And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of ^(E)Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house in Ophrah and ^(F)killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, ^(G)seventy men, ^[e]on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. ⁶ All the ^[f]leaders of Shechem and all ^[g]Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the ^[h]oak of the memorial stone which was in Shechem.

⁷ Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on the top of ^(H)Mount Gerizim, and raised his voice and called out. And he said to them, “Listen to me, you ^[i]leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸ Once the trees went to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my fatness with ^[j]which God and mankind are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my sweetness and my good ^[k]fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I give up my new wine, which cheers God and mankind, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If you ^[l]really are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now then, if you have acted with ^[m]honesty and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^(I)Jerubbaal and his house, and ^[n]have dealt with him ^[o]as he deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you, and ^[p]risked his life and saved you from the hand of Midian; ¹⁸ but in fact you have risen against my father’s house today and have killed ^(J)his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, ^(K)the son of his female slave, king over the ^[q]leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— ¹⁹ so if you have acted with ^[r]honesty and integrity toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, be joyful about Abimelech, and may he also be joyful about you. ²⁰ But if not, may fire come out of Abimelech and consume the ^[s]leaders of Shechem and ^[t]Beth-millo; and may fire come out of the ^[u]leaders of Shechem and from ^[v]Beth-millo, and consume Abimelech.” ²¹ Then Jotham escaped and fled, and went to Beer; and he stayed there because of his brother Abimelech.

Shechem and Abimelech Fall

²² Now Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years. ^23 (L)Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the ^[w]leaders of Shechem; and the ^[x]leaders of Shechem ^(M)dealt treacherously with Abimelech, ^24 (N)so that the violence ^[y]done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal would come, and the responsibility for ^(O)their blood would be placed on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the ^[z]leaders of Shechem, who ^[aa]encouraged him to kill his brothers. ²⁵ The ^[ab]leaders of Shechem set up men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed everyone who would pass by them on the road; and it was reported to Abimelech.

²⁶ Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his relatives, and crossed over into Shechem; and the ^[ac]leaders of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ So they went out to the field and gathered the grapes of their vineyards and trampled them, and held a festival; and they went into the house of ^(P)their god, and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸ Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is Zebul not his governor? Serve the men of ^(Q)Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ^29 [ad](R)If only this people were under my authority! Then I would do away with Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Enlarge your army and come out!”

³⁰ When Zebul the leader of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger burned. ³¹ So using deception, he successfully sent messengers to Abimelech, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem; and behold, they are ^[ae]stirring up the city against you. ³² So now, arise by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. ³³ Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early and attack the city; and behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you shall ^(S)do to them ^[af]whatever you can.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all the people who were with him got up at night, and lay in wait against Shechem, in four ^[ag]units. ³⁵ Now Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate; and Abimelech and the people who were with him arose from the ambush. ³⁶ When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “^[ah]Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadow of the mountains as if they were people.” ³⁷ And Gaal spoke yet again and said, “Look, people are coming down from ^(T)the ^[ai]highest part of the land, and one ^[aj]unit is coming by way of ^[ak]the diviners’ ^[al]oak.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where then is your ^[am]boasting with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Is this not the people whom you rejected? Go out now and fight them!” ³⁹ So Gaal went out ^[an]in the sight of the ^[ao]leaders of Shechem and fought Abimelech. ⁴⁰ But Abimelech chased him, and he fled from him; and many fell wounded up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ Then Abimelech stayed in Arumah, but Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives so that they could not stay in Shechem.

⁴² Now it came about the next day, that the people went out to the field, and it was reported to Abimelech. ⁴³ So he took ^[ap]his people and divided them into three ^[aq]units, and lay in wait in the field; when he looked and ^[ar]saw the people coming out from the city, he ^[as]attacked them and killed them. ⁴⁴ Then Abimelech and the ^[at]company who was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the city gate; the other two ^[au]companies then attacked all who were in the field and killed them. ⁴⁵ Abimelech fought against the city that whole day, and he captured the city and killed the people who were in it; then he ^(U)tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When all the ^[av]leaders of the tower of Shechem heard about it, they entered the inner chamber of the ^[aw]temple of ^(V)El-berith. ⁴⁷ And it was reported to Abimelech that all the ^[ax]leaders of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ So Abimelech went up to Mount ^(W)Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took ^[ay]an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees, and lifted it and put it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you saw me do, hurry and do ^[az]likewise.” ⁴⁹ So all the people also cut down, each one, his branch and followed Abimelech, and put them on top of the inner chamber and set the inner chamber on fire over those inside, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he camped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower in the center of the city, and all the men and women with all the ^[ba]leaders of the city fled there and shut themselves in; and they went up on the roof of the tower. ⁵² So Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it down with fire. ⁵³ But ^(X)a woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull. ⁵⁴ Then ^(Y)he called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that it will not be said of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So ^[bb]the young man pierced him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ Now when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each left for his ^[bc]home. ⁵⁶ So ^(Z)God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also returned all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came ^[bd]upon them.

First Missionary Journey

13 Now there were ^(A)prophets and ^(B)teachers at ^(C)Antioch, in the ^(D)church that was there: ^(E)Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of ^(F)Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with ^(G)Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were ^[a]serving the Lord and fasting, ^(H)the Holy Spirit said, “Set ^(I)Barnabas and Saul apart for Me for ^(J)the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then, when they had fasted, ^(K)prayed, and ^(L)laid their hands on them, ^(M)they sent them away.

⁴ So, being ^(N)sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to ^(O)Cyprus. ⁵ When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in ^(P)the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had ^(Q)John as their helper. ⁶ When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a ^(R)magician, a Jewish ^(S)false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷ who was with the ^(T)proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the ^(U)magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the ^(V)proconsul away from ^(W)the faith. ⁹ But Saul, who was also known as Paul, ^[b](X)filled with the Holy Spirit, stared at him, ¹⁰ and said, “^[c]You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you ^(Y)son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked ^(Z)the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹ Now, behold, ^(AA)the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. ¹² Then the ^(AB)proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at ^(AC)the teaching of the Lord.

¹³ Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from ^(AD)Paphos and came to ^(AE)Perga in ^(AF)Pamphylia; but ^(AG)John left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ But going on from Perga, they arrived at ^(AH)Pisidian ^(AI)Antioch, and on ^(AJ)the Sabbath day they went into ^(AK)the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After ^(AL)the reading of the Law and ^(AM)the Prophets, ^(AN)the synagogue officials sent word to them, saying, “^[d]Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” ¹⁶ Paul stood up, and ^(AO)motioning with his hand said,

“Men of Israel, and ^(AP)you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel ^(AQ)chose our fathers and ^[e](AR)made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^(AS)He led them out from it. ¹⁸ For ^(AT)a period of about forty years ^(AU)He put up with them in the wilderness. ^19 (AV)When He had destroyed ^(AW)seven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^(AX)distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^(AY)about 450 years. ²⁰ After these things He ^(AZ)gave them judges until ^(BA)Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then they ^(BB)asked for a king, and God gave them ^(BC)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² After He had ^(BD)removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘^(BE)I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ^[f]will.’ ^23 (BF)From the descendants of this man, ^(BG)according to promise, God has brought to Israel ^(BH)a Savior, Jesus, ²⁴ after ^(BI)John had proclaimed, before ^[g]His coming, a ^(BJ)baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And while John ^(BK)was completing his course, ^(BL)he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶ “^[h]Brothers, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of ^(BM)this salvation has been sent. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem, and their ^(BN)rulers, ^(BO)recognizing neither Him nor the ^[i]declarations of ^(BP)the prophets which are ^(BQ)read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. ²⁸ And though they found no grounds for putting Him to death, they ^(BR)asked Pilate that He be executed. ²⁹ When they had ^(BS)carried out everything that was written concerning Him, ^(BT)they took Him down from the ^[j](BU)cross and ^(BV)laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God ^(BW)raised Him from the dead; ³¹ and for many days ^(BX)He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now ^(BY)His witnesses to the people. ³² And we ^(BZ)preach to you the good news of ^(CA)the promise made to the fathers, ³³ that God has fulfilled this promise to those of us who are the descendants by ^(CB)raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘^(CC)You are My Son; today I have fathered You.’ ³⁴ As for the fact that He ^(CD)raised Him from the dead, never again to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘^(CE)I will give you the holy and faithful mercies of David.’ ³⁵ Therefore, He also says in another Psalm: ‘^(CF)You will not ^[k]allow Your ^[l]Holy One to ^[m]undergo decay.’ ³⁶ For ^(CG)David, after he had ^[n]served God’s ^(CH)purpose in his own generation, ^(CI)fell asleep, and was ^[o]buried among his fathers and ^[p]underwent decay; ³⁷ but He whom God ^(CJ)raised did not ^[q]undergo decay. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, ^[r]brothers, that ^(CK)through ^[s]Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and ^[t]through Him ^(CL)everyone who believes is ^[u]freed ^[v]from all things, from which you could not be ^[w]freed ^[x]through the Law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Therefore, see that the thing spoken of ^(CM)in the Prophets does not come upon you:

⁴² As ^[z]Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people repeatedly begged to have these ^[aa]things spoken to them the next ^(CO)Sabbath. ⁴³ Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the ^(CP)God-fearing ^[ab](CQ)proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them and urging them to continue in ^(CR)the grace of God.

Paul Turns to the Gentiles

⁴⁴ The next ^(CS)Sabbath nearly all the city assembled to hear the word of ^[ac]the Lord. ⁴⁵ But when ^(CT)the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were ^[ad]blaspheming. ⁴⁶ Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you ^(CU)first. Since you repudiate it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, ^(CV)we are turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us,

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying ^(CY)the word of ^[ag]the Lord; and all who ^(CZ)had been appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And ^(DA)the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. ⁵⁰ But ^(DB)the Jews incited the ^[ah](DC)devout women ^(DD)of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their ^[ai]region. ⁵¹ But ^(DE)they shook off the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to ^(DF)Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples were continually ^(DG)filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.