Abimelech became king in Shechem

9 Gideon’s son Abimelech went to talk with his mother’s brothers in Shechem city. He said to them and to all his mother’s relatives, 2 “Ask all the leaders of your city: ‘Do you think it would be good for all 70 of Gideon’s sons to rule over you? Or would it be better to have only one of his sons, me, to rule over you?’ And do not forget that I am your relative! [MTY]”

3 So Abimelech’s mother’s brothers spoke to all the leaders of Shechem about what Abimelech had said. They said to each other, “We should allow Abimelech to rule over us, because he is our relative.” 4 So the leaders of Shechem took from the temple of their god Baal-Berith ◄almost 2 pounds/0.8 kg.► of silver and gave it to Abimelech. With that silver he paid some worthless troublemakers to help him, and they went with Abimelech wherever he went. 5 They went to Ophrah, his father’s town, and murdered 69 of his 70 brothers, the sons of his father Gideon. They killed all those men on one huge rock. But Gideon’s youngest son Jotham hid from Abimelech and his men, and he escaped. 6 Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-Millo gathered under the big sacred tree in Shechem. There they appointed Abimelech to be their leader.

7 When Jotham heard about that, he climbed up Gerizim Mountain. He stood at the top of the mountain and shouted to the people down below, “You leaders of Shechem, listen to me, in order that God will listen to you! 8 One day the trees decided to appoint a king to rule over all of them. So they said to the olive tree, ‘You be our king!’

9 “But the olive tree said, ‘No! I will not be your king Men and gods enjoy the oil from my fruit. I will not [RHQ] stop producing olives from which we make that oil, in order to rule over you other trees!’

10 “Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king!’

11 “But the fig tree replied, ‘No! I do not want to [RHQ] stop producing my good sweet fruit, and rule over you other trees!’

12 “Then the trees said to the grapevine, ‘Come and be our king!’

13 “But the grapevine replied, ‘No! I will not be your king The new wine that is made from my grapes causes people and gods who drink it to become very happy. I do not want to stop producing grapes and rule over you other trees!’ [RHQ]

14 “Then all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king!’

15 “The thornbush replied, ‘If you truly want to appoint me to be your king, come into the shade of my tiny branches. But if you do not want to do that, I hope/desire that fire will come out from me and burn up all the huge cedar trees in Lebanon country!’ ”

16 “After Jotham finished telling them this parable, he said, “So now I ask you, were you being completely honest and sincere when you appointed Abimelech to be your king [RHQ]? And have you treated Gideon and his family [RHQ] fairly? Have you rewarded Gideon by honoring him as he deserved because of all the good things he did for you? No! 17 “Do not forget that my father fought a battle for you, and he was willing to die for you if that had been necessary, to save you from the Midian people-group. 18 But now you have rebelled against my father’s family, and you have killed 69 of his sons on one huge rock. And you have appointed Abimelech—who is the son of my father’s slave girl, not the son of his wife—to be the king who will rule you people of Shechem. You have done that only because he is one of your relatives! 19 So, if today you have truly acted fairly and sincerely toward Gideon and his family, I hope/desire that he will cause you to be happy and that you will cause him to be happy. 20 But if what you did was not right, I wish/desire that Abimelech will burn up all of you leaders of Shechem and Beth-Millo with fire! And I also hope/desire that the leaders of Shechem and Beth-Millo will cause fire to burn up Abimelech!”

21 After Jotham finished saying that, he escaped from them and ran away to Beer town. He stayed there because he was afraid that his brother Abimelech would try to kill him.