⁷ Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on the top of ^(A)Mount Gerizim, and raised his voice and called out. And he said to them, “Listen to me, you ^[a]leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸ Once the trees went to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my fatness with ^[b]which God and mankind are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁰ Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I give up my sweetness and my good ^[c]fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹² Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I give up my new wine, which cheers God and mankind, and go to wave over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You, come, reign over us!’ ¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If you ^[d]really are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now then, if you have acted with ^[e]honesty and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^(B)Jerubbaal and his house, and ^[f]have dealt with him ^[g]as he deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you, and ^[h]risked his life and saved you from the hand of Midian; ¹⁸ but in fact you have risen against my father’s house today and have killed ^(C)his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, ^(D)the son of his female slave, king over the ^[i]leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— ¹⁹ so if you have acted with ^[j]honesty and integrity toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, be joyful about Abimelech, and may he also be joyful about you. ²⁰ But if not, may fire come out of Abimelech and consume the ^[k]leaders of Shechem and ^[l]Beth-millo; and may fire come out of the ^[m]leaders of Shechem and from ^[n]Beth-millo, and consume Abimelech.” ²¹ Then Jotham escaped and fled, and went to Beer; and he stayed there because of his brother Abimelech.