Judges 8:18-9:21

English Standard Version

¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at ^(A)Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king.” ¹⁹ And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. ^(B)As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise and kill them!” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man. ²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” And Gideon arose and ^(C)killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took ^(D)the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Gideon's Ephod

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³ Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; ^(E)the Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴ And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, ^(F)because they were Ishmaelites.) ²⁵ And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. ²⁶ And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels^[a] of gold, besides ^(G)the crescent ornaments and ^(H)the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. ²⁷ And Gideon ^(I)made an ephod of it and put it in his city, ^(J)in Ophrah. And all Israel ^(K)whored after it there, and it became a ^(L)snare to Gideon and to his family. ²⁸ So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. ^(M)And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

The Death of Gideon

^29 (N)Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. ³⁰ Now Gideon had ^(O)seventy sons, his own offspring,^[b] for he had many wives. ³¹ And his concubine ^(P)who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. ³² And Gideon the son of Joash died ^(Q)in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, ^(R)at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

^33 (S)As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and ^(T)whored after the Baals and made ^(U)Baal-berith their god. ³⁴ And the people of Israel ^(V)did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, ^35 (W)and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

Abimelech's Conspiracy

9 Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to ^(X)his mother's relatives and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother's family, ² “Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all ^(Y)seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that ^(Z)I am ^(AA)your bone and your flesh.”

³ And his mother's relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, ^(AB)“He is our brother.” ⁴ And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of ^(AC)Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired ^(AD)worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him. ⁵ And he went to his father's house at ^(AE)Ophrah ^(AF)and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. ⁶ And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all ^(AG)Beth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.

⁷ When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of ^(AH)Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ^8 (AI)The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ^(AJ)‘Reign over us.’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰ And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹² And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that ^(AK)cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and ^(AL)take refuge in my shade, but if not, ^(AM)let fire come out of the bramble and devour ^(AN)the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^(AO)Jerubbaal and his house and have done to him ^(AP)as his deeds deserved— ¹⁷ for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, ¹⁸ and you have risen up against my father's house this day ^(AQ)and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made ^(AR)Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, ^(AS)because he is your relative— ¹⁹ if you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then ^(AT)rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰ But if not, ^(AU)let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” ²¹ And Jotham ran away and fled and went to ^(AV)Beer and lived there, because of Abimelech his brother.