Add parallel Print Page Options

When this was reported to Jotham, he went and stood at the top of Mount Gerizim and cried out in a loud voice:

“Hear me, lords of Shechem,
    and may God hear you!
One day the trees went out
    to anoint a king over themselves.
So they said to the olive tree,
    ‘Reign over us.’
But the olive tree answered them,
    ‘Must I give up my rich oil,
    whereby gods and human beings are honored,[a]
    and go off to hold sway over the trees?’

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 9:9 Whereby gods and human beings are honored: olive oil had a variety of cultic uses (e.g., Lv 2:1, 6, 15; 24:2), and it was also used in the consecration of priests and kings for office (e.g., Ex 30:25, 30; 1 Sm 10:1; 16:13).