Judges 9:1-6

Modern English Version

Abimelek

9 Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers. He spoke to them and to the house of his mother’s father saying, ² “Please say in the hearing of all of the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, to have all seventy sons of Jerub-Baal rule over you, or for one man to rule over you? Remember that I am your own flesh and bone.’ ”

³ So his mother’s brothers spoke all these things about him in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined toward Abimelek, for they said, “He is our brother.” ⁴ They gave him seventy silver coins^[a] from the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelek hired unprincipled and undisciplined men, and they followed him. ⁵ He went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerub-Baal, on a single stone. Yet Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, survived because he hid himself. ⁶ All the leaders of Shechem and everyone from Beth Millo gathered together by the oak near the pillar in Shechem to make Abimelek king.