Judges 9:1-6
New Living Translation
Abimelech Rules over Shechem
9 One day Gideon’s[a] son Abimelech went to Shechem to visit his uncles—his mother’s brothers. He said to them and to the rest of his mother’s family, 2 “Ask the leading citizens of Shechem whether they want to be ruled by all seventy of Gideon’s sons or by one man. And remember that I am your own flesh and blood!”
3 So Abimelech’s uncles gave his message to all the citizens of Shechem on his behalf. And after listening to this proposal, the people of Shechem decided in favor of Abimelech because he was their relative. 4 They gave him seventy silver coins from the temple of Baal-berith, which he used to hire some reckless troublemakers who agreed to follow him. 5 He went to his father’s home at Ophrah, and there, on one stone, they killed all seventy of his half brothers, the sons of Gideon.[b] But the youngest brother, Jotham, escaped and hid.
6 Then all the leading citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo called a meeting under the oak beside the pillar[c] at Shechem and made Abimelech their king.
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Judges 9:1-6
International Standard Version
Abimelech Attempts to Become King
9 Then Jerubbaal’s son Abimelech went to his mother’s relatives in Shechem. He spoke to the entire family of his mother’s father, telling them, 2 “Ask all the “lords”[a] of Shechem, ‘What’s better for you? That 70 men, each of them Jerubbaal’s sons, rule over you? Or that one man rule over you?’ Keep in mind that I’m like your own close relative.”[b]
3 So his mother’s relatives spoke all of this on his behalf in the presence[c] of all the “lords” of Shechem. Since they were inclined to follow Abimelech, they said, “He’s our relative!” 4 and they gave him 70 silver coins from the temple that they had built to[d] Baal-berith. Abimelech hired some worthless and useless men, who followed him 5 to his father’s house in Ophrah. There he murdered his own brothers, Jerubbaal’s sons—all 70 of them—in one place.[e] But Jerubbaal’s youngest son Jotham survived by hiding himself.
6 All the men from Shechem and Beth-millo[f] gathered together and set up Abimelech as king near the pillar erected[g] in Shechem.
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- Judges 9:2 Lit. baals; i.e. the leaders—a pun contrasting the Heb. word lords with Baal, the chief male Canaanite deity; and so through v. 47
- Judges 9:2 Lit. your skin and flesh
- Judges 9:3 Lit. hearing
- Judges 9:4 Lit. temple of
- Judges 9:5 Lit. them—on one stone
- Judges 9:6 Or and from the household of Rampart; and so throughout the chapter
- Judges 9:6 I.e. a cultic object of worship
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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