Old/New Testament
9 ¶ And Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying,
2 Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, What would seem better unto you, that seventy persons reign over you, all the sons of Jerubbaal; or that one reign over you? Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.
3 And his mother’s brethren spoke for him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother.
4 And they gave him seventy shekels of silver out of the house of Baalberith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light men who followed him.
5 And coming unto his father’s house at Ophrah, he slew his brethren, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy persons, upon a stone; yet Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, was left, for he hid himself.
6 And all the men of Shechem gathered together with all the house of Millo {Heb. the congregation} and went and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.
7 ¶ And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice and cried and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.
8 The trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
9 But the olive tree replied, Should I leave my fatness, which because of me, God and man are honoured, to go and sway over the trees?
10 And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou and reign over us.
11 But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit to go and sway over the trees?
12 Then the trees said unto the vine, Come thou and reign over us.
13 And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheers God and man, to go and sway over the trees?
14 Then all the trees said unto the bramble, Come thou and reign over us.
15 And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and confide under my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
16 Now therefore, if ye have proceeded with truth and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house and have recompensed him according to the work of his hands
17 (For my father fought for you and cast his life far from him to deliver you out of the hand of Midian;
18 and ye are risen up against my father’s house this day and have slain his sons, seventy men, upon a stone and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem because he is your brother;)
19 if ye then have dealt in truth and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you.
20 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from the house of Millo and devour Abimelech.
21 And Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beer and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.
22 ¶ When Abimelech had dominated over Israel 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 that the cruelty done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal and their blood might come to be laid upon Abimelech their brother who slew them and upon the men of Shechem, who aided him in the killing of his brethren.
25 And the men of Shechem set ambushers for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them; and it was told Abimelech.
26 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, came with his brethren and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him.
27 And they went out into the fields and gathered their vineyards and trod the grapes and made merry and went into the house of their gods and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech.
28 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, said, Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal? And is not Zebul his deputy? Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. For why should we serve him?
29 If these people were under my hand, then I would remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thine army and come out.
30 And when Zebul, the prince of the city, heard the words of Gaal, the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.
31 And he sent messengers unto Abimelech astutely, saying, Behold, Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brethren have come to Shechem; and, behold, they have fortified the city against thee.
32 Now, therefore, rise up by night, thou and the people that are with thee, and put an ambush in the field.
33 And in the morning as soon as the sun is up, thou shalt rise early and set upon the city; and, behold, when he and the people that are with him come out against thee, then thou may do to them as thou shalt find occasion.
34 And Abimelech rose up and all the people that were with him, by night, and they put an ambush against Shechem in four companies.
35 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, went out and stood in the entering of the gate of the city; and Abimelech and all the people that were with him rose up from the ambush.
36 And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold people that come down from the tops of the mountains. And Zebul said unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.
37 And Gaal spoke again and said, See there come people who descend through the middle of the land, and another company comes along by the plain of Meonenim.
38 Then Zebul said unto him, Where is now thy mouth, with which thou didst say, Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Is not this the people that thou hast despised? Go out now and fight with them.
39 And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem and fought with Abimelech.
40 And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even unto the entering of the gate.
41 And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah; and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren that they should not dwell in Shechem.
42 And it came to pass on the next day that the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech.
43 And he took the people and divided them into three companies and set ambushes in the field and looked, and, behold, the people were come forth out of the city; and he rose up against them and smote them.
44 And Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood in the entering of the gate of the city, and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields and slew them.
45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and he took the city and slew the people that were therein and beat down the city and sowed it with salt.
46 And when those of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into the stronghold of the temple of the god Berith.
47 And it was told Abimelech how all those of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.
48 Then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a bough from the trees and took it and laid it on his shoulder and said unto the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done.
49 And all the people likewise cut down each one his bough and followed Abimelech and put them next to the stronghold and set the stronghold on fire upon them; so that all those of the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women.
50 ¶ Then Abimelech went to Thebez and laid siege against Thebez and took it.
51 But in the midst of the city there was a strong tower, and all the men and women fled there, and all those of the city, and shutting the doors behind them, they climbed up to the top of the tower.
52 And Abimelech came to the tower, and fighting against it, he came to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
53 But a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.
54 Then he called hastily unto the young man, his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword and slay me that it not be said of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.
55 And when the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed each one unto his place.
56 Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did against his father in slaying his seventy brethren.
57 And all the evil of the men of Shechem God rendered upon their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal.
10 ¶ And after Abimelech there arose to save Israel, Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in Mount Ephraim.
2 And he judged Israel twenty-three years and died and was buried in Shamir.
3 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years.
4 And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called the cities of Jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.
5 And Jair died and was buried in Camon.
6 ¶ And the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD and served the Baalim and Ashtaroth and the gods of Syria and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the sons of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines and forsook the LORD and did not serve him.
7 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon,
8 who dashed in pieces and crushed the sons of Israel for eighteen years, all the sons of Israel that were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorite, which is in Gilead.
9 Moreover the sons of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim so that Israel was sore distressed.
10 ¶ And the sons of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee because we have forsaken our God and served the Baalim.
11 And the LORD replied unto the sons of Israel, Were you not oppressed by Egypt, by the Amorites, by the sons of Ammon, by the Philistines,
12 by those of Zidon, by Amalek, and by Maon, and ye cried to me and I delivered you out of their hands?
13 Yet ye have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore, I will deliver you no more.
14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your affliction.
15 And the sons of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned; do thou unto us whatever seems good unto thee; only deliver us now, we pray thee, this day.
16 And they put away the strange gods from among them and served the LORD; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
17 Then the sons of Ammon were gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And likewise the sons of Israel assembled themselves together and encamped in Mizpeh.
18 And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, Who shall it be that will begin the battle against the sons of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
17 ¶ And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who were come out of every town of Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him.
19 And when they could not find any way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
22 Then Jesus, knowing their thoughts and answering them said, What reason ye in your hearts?
23 What is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk?
24 But that ye may know that the Son of man has power upon earth to forgive sins (he said unto the paralytic), I say unto thee, Arise and take up thy couch and go to thine house.
25 And immediately he rose up before them and took up that upon which he lay and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen marvels today.
27 ¶ And after these things he went forth and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom, and he said unto him, Follow me.
28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
29 And Levi made a great banquet in his own house and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down at the table with them.
30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
31 And Jesus answering said unto them, Those that are whole have no need of a physician, but those that are sick.
32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
33 Then they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink?
34 And he said unto them, Can ye make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?
35 But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
36 And he also spoke a parable unto them: No one takes a piece of a new garment to mend an old one; if otherwise, then the new one is rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new does not agree with the old.
37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled and the wineskins shall perish.
38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.
39 No one also having drunk of the old straightway desires the new, for he says, The old is better.
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