Abimelech’s Conspiracy

9 Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal [fn] went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother, 2 “Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.”

3 And when his mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the leaders of Shechem, their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” 4 So they gave him seventy shekels of silver [fn] from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him. 5 He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.

6 Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered beside the oak [fn] at the pillar in Shechem and proceeded to make Abimelech their king.