Chapter 9

^1 [a]Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, traveled to Shechem to see his mother’s brothers, and he said to them and to all of his mother’s clan,^{[b] 2} “Ask in the hearing of the men of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that you have the seventy sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that you have one rule over you?’ Remember that I am your flesh and blood.” ³ When his mother’s brothers proclaimed this in the hearing of the men of Shechem, they were inclined to agree with Abimelech about this matter, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴ They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, and Abimelech used it to hire some worthless and reckless fellows who followed him. ⁵ Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and he killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, upon one stone. There was no one left except for Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, the youngest, for he had hid himself. ⁶ All of the men in Shechem and Beth-millo assembled together and they went and made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar that is in Shechem.

⁷ When Jotham was told about it, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out, “Listen to me, O men of Shechem, so that God might listen to you. ⁸ Once the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Why should I give up my oil, with which God and men are honored, to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Why should I give up my sweetness and my good fruit to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Why should I give up my wine which cheers both God and man^[c] to go and hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all of the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵ The bramble said to the trees, ‘If you truly intend to anoint me as your king, then come, and take refuge in my shade. If not, then let fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now if you have truly and in all sincerity made Abimelech king, if you have treated Abimelech and his household well, dealing with him as he deserved, ¹⁷ for my father fought for you, he risked his life and delivered you out of the hands of Midian, ¹⁸ but you have risen up against my father’s household, killing his sons, seventy men on one stone, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, as king of the men of Shechem because he is your relative, ¹⁹ if you have truly and in all sincerity dealt with Jerubbaal and his household today, then rejoice in Abimelech and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰ But if not, then let fire come out of Abimelech and consume the men of Shechem and Beth-millo, and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”

²¹ Jotham ran away and fled, going to Beer where he remained, for he was afraid of Abimelech his brother. ²² Now Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years. ²³ Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech. ²⁴ This happened because of the violence that was done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, so that their blood might be upon Abimelech, their brother, and upon the men of Shechem, who had assisted in killing his brothers.

²⁵ The men of Shechem sat in ambush against him upon the mountain tops. They robbed all of those who passed by on the road, and Abimelech was told about it. ²⁶ Now Gaal, the son of Ebed, arrived in Shechem, and the men of Shechem trusted him. ²⁷ They went out into the fields and gathered the grapes, treading them. They threw a celebration and went in to the temple of their god, eating and drinking and cursing Abimelech. ²⁸ Then Gaal, the son of Ebed, asked, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his assistant? Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve him? ²⁹ I wish that the people were under my authority, for then I would get rid of Abimelech. I would say to Abimelech, ‘Gather your army and come out!’ ”

³⁰ Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard what Gaal, the son of Ebed, had said and he grew angry at him. ³¹ He secretly sent messengers to Abimelech saying, “Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brethren have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up the city against you. ³² You and your men should come up by night and lie in wait in the fields. ³³ In the morning, at sunrise, advance on the city. He and his men will come out against you, and you can do whatever you see fit to them.”

³⁴ So Abimelech and all the men who were with him arose, and they laid in wait near Shechem during the night. They were divided into four companies. ³⁵ Now Gaal, the son of Ebed, had gone out and he was standing at the entrance to the city just as Abimelech and his men were coming out from their hiding places. ³⁶ When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountain tops.” Zebul said to him, “You are just seeing the shadows on the mountain, they just look like men.” ³⁷ But Gaal said, “Look, people are coming down from Tabbur-haarez. Another company is coming by way of the Diviner’s Terebinth.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the men whom you despised? So go out, now, and fight them!”

³⁹ Gaal went out with the men of Shechem and they fought against Abimelech. ⁴⁰ Abimelech chased after him, and he fled away from him. A large number fell wounded at the entrance to the city. ⁴¹ Abimelech dwelt in Arumah, and Zebul expelled Gaal and his brethren so that they could no longer live in Shechem. ⁴² The next day the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech. ⁴³ He took his men, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields for them. He kept watch, and when they came out of the city, he rose up and attacked them. ⁴⁴ Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood in the entranceway to the gate of the city; the other two companies rushed upon the people who were in the fields and killed them. ⁴⁵ Abimelech fought against the city all day long, and he captured the city and killed the people who were there. He demolished the city and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When the men in the tower of Shechem^[d] heard about this, they entered the stronghold in the temple of El-berith. ⁴⁷ Abimelech was told that all the men from the tower of Shechem were gathered together, ⁴⁸ so Abimelech and all the people who were with him climbed up Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a branch from a tree, and he carried it on his shoulder. He said to the people who were with him, “Hurry up and do what I just did.” ⁴⁹ So each of the men cut a branch like he had and they followed Abimelech. They laid them next to the stronghold, and they set fire to them so that all of the men in the tower of Shechem died, a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Abimelech went off to Thebez. He camped before Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ There was a strong tower in the city, so all the men and women from the city fled there and shut themselves in, climbing up to the top of the tower. ⁵² So Abimelech came up to the tower and fought against it. He approached the door of the tower to set it on fire.

^53 [e]A certain woman cast the upper part of a millstone down upon Abimelech’s head, and it cracked his skull. ⁵⁴ He called out quickly to his young man, his armor-bearer, and he said, “Draw out your sword and kill me, so that they cannot say, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” His young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they left, each man going home.

⁵⁶ God repaid Abimelech for the wicked thing that he had done against his father by killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ The Lord repaid all of the evil that the men of Shechem had done upon their own heads, for the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, came down upon them.

Chapter 10

Tola and Jair. ¹ After Abimelech, a certain Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, an Issacharite, rose up to deliver Israel. He dwelt in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. ² He was judge over Israel for twenty-three years, and when he died, he was buried at Shamir.

³ After him Jair, the Gileadite, rose up and he was judge over Israel for twenty-two years. ⁴ He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they also possessed thirty towns. These are called Havvoth-jair up to the present, and they are in the land of Gilead. ⁵ Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

Israelites Subject to the Ammonites. ⁶ The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not serve him. ⁷ The anger of the Lord blazed out against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the hands of the Ammonites. ⁸ From that year on they oppressed and afflicted them for eighteen years, that is, all of the Israelites who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, that is, in Gilead.

⁹ The Ammonites also crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was sorely distressed. ¹⁰ The Israelites called upon the Lord saying, “We have sinned against you because we have abandoned our God and served the Baals.”

¹¹ The Lord said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, ¹² the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Midianites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, did I not save you from out of their hands? ¹³ But you have abandoned me for other gods, therefore I will not save you anymore. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods that you have chosen. Let them save you in the hour of your desperation.”^[a]

¹⁵ The Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us however you see fit, but please rescue us today.” ¹⁶ They removed their foreign gods from their midst, and they served the Lord. Finally, he could no longer bear Israel’s misery.^{[b] 17} The Ammonites gathered together and they camped in Gilead. The Israelites also gathered together, and they camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸ The people and the leaders of Gilead said to one another, “Who will begin the battle against the Ammonites? That man will be the leader of all of those who live in Gilead.”

Chapter 11

Jephthah. ¹ Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² Gilead’s wife bore him sons, but when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.”

³ Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob. Jephthah gathered some worthless fellows around himself, and they went out with him.

⁴ After some time, the Ammonites made war against Israel. ⁵ When the Ammonites fought against Israel, the elders of Israel went to bring back Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶ They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader so that we can fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now that you are in trouble?” ⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “This is why we have returned to you, so that you can go with us and fight against the Ammonites and be the leader of all of those who live in Gilead.” ⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord delivers them up to me, will I then be your leader?” ¹⁰ The elders of Gilead answered, “The Lord will be a witness between us if we do not do what you have said.” ¹¹ Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah spoke all of his words before the Lord at Mizpah.

¹² Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites asking, “What do you have against us? Why have you come here to fight in our land?” ¹³ The king of the Ammonites said to the messengers of Jephthah, “It is because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt. It is the land that lies between the Arnon and the Jabbok, all along the Jordan. Now, give it back to me peacefully.” ¹⁴ Jephthah sent the messengers back to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵ saying, “This is what Jephthah says, ‘Israel did not take away the land of the Moabites nor the land of the Ammonites. ¹⁶ When they came up out of Egypt, the people of Israel passed through the desert up to the Red Sea and then on to Kadesh. ¹⁷ Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, “Please let me pass through your land,” but the king of Edom would not listen. The same thing happened when they sent to the king of Moab; he would not agree, so Israel remained in Kadesh.

¹⁸ “ ‘They then went through the desert, skirting the land of Edom and the land of Moab. Passing along on the eastern side of Moab, they camped on the far side of the Arnon. They did not cross over the border with Moab, for the Arnon was the border with Moab.

¹⁹ “ ‘Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon. Israel said to him, “Please let us pass through your land into our territory.” ²⁰ But Sihon did not trust Israel enough to let them pass through his land. Sihon and all of his forces camped at Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²¹ The Lord, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all of his men into Israel’s hands. They defeated them, and so Israel took possession of all of the land of the Amorites who lived in that territory. ²² They captured the entire land of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

²³ “ ‘Now since it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who has driven the Amorites out from before the people of Israel, who are you that you should take it over? ²⁴ Should you not possess what Chemosh,^[a] your god, has given you to possess? Whatever the Lord, our God, has given us to possess, we will possess it.

²⁵ “ ‘Are you any better than Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight against it? ²⁶ Israel lived in Heshbon and the towns dependent upon it, in Aroer and the towns dependent upon it, and in all of the cities that lie along the Arnon for three hundred years. Why did you not take it back then? ²⁷ I have not wronged you, but you have done this evil to me by attacking me. Let the Lord, the judge, decide between the Israelites and the Ammonites today.’ ”

²⁸ The king of the Ammonites did not heed the message that Jephthah had sent him. ²⁹ The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. He crossed over into Gilead and Manasseh, passing through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced against the Ammonites.

³⁰ Jephthah’s Vow.^[b] Jephthah made a vow to the Lord saying, “If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, ³¹ then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I come back in peace from the Ammonites, I will surely offer it up to the Lord as a burnt offering.”

³² Jephthah went to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. ³³ He devastated some twenty cities between Aroer and up to near Minnith, as far away as Abel-keramim. It was a total massacre, and the Ammonites were subjected to the Israelites.

³⁴ When Jephthah came back to Mizpah, to his home, it was his daughter who came out to meet him dancing and playing the tambourines. (She was his only child, for beside her there were no other sons or daughters.) ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Woe is me, for my daughter has made me miserable and wretched. I made a vow to the Lord; I cannot break it.” ³⁶ “My father,” she said, “you have made a vow to the Lord. Do to me what you have vowed to do, for the Lord has taken vengeance for you upon your enemies, the Ammonites. ³⁷ Only let me do this one thing, my father,” she continued, “may I roam around the hill country to mourn my virginity, for I will never marry.” ³⁸ He answered, “Go!” She and her friends went into the hill country for two months, mourning her virginity. ³⁹ When the two months were over, she returned to her father. He did what he had promised in his vow to do to her. She never knew any man. This is why there is a custom in Israel ⁴⁰ for young women in Israel to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days every year.