¹ 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 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.