Font Size
Judges 9:6-8
New English Translation
Judges 9:6-8
New English Translation
6 All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar[a] in Shechem.
Jotham’s Parable
7 When Jotham heard the news,[b] he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below,[c] “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!
8 “The trees were determined to go out[d] and choose a king for themselves.[e] They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’[f]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Judges 9:6 tc The translation assumes that the form in the Hebrew text (מֻצָּב, mutsav) should be מַצֵּבָה (matsevah, “pillar”). The reference is probably to a pagan object of worship (cf. LXX).
- Judges 9:7 tn Heb “And they reported to Jotham.” The subject of the plural verb is indefinite.
- Judges 9:7 tn Heb “He lifted his voice and called and said to them.”
- Judges 9:8 tn Heb “Going they went, the trees.” The precise emphatic force of the infinitive absolute (“Going”) is not entirely clear. Perhaps here it indicates determination, as in Gen 31:30, where one might translate, “You have insisted on going away.”
- Judges 9:8 tn Heb “to anoint [with oil] over them a king.”
- Judges 9:8 tn Or “Rule over us!”
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.