Judges 9:16

16 So now, if you have done truly and uprightly in making Abimelech king, and if you have done well to Jerubbaal and his house in reward for the work of his hands;

Judges 9:16 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:16

Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye
have made Abimelech king
If they had done this conscientiously, and in the uprightness of their hearts, to take such a base man, and a murderer, and make him their king, which Jotham doubted, and put it in this manner to them, that they might consider of it themselves:

if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal, and his house;
if they could think so, which surely they could not, when they reflected upon the murder of his family they had consented to:

and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands;
to his memory, and to his family, according to the merit of his works which he had performed on their account, next mentioned.

Judges 9:16 In-Context

14 Then all the trees said to the thorn, You come and be king over us.

15 And the thorn said to the trees, If it is truly your desire to make me your king, then come and put your faith in my shade; and if not, may fire come out of the thorn, burning up the cedars of Lebanon.

16 So now, if you have done truly and uprightly in making Abimelech king, and if you have done well to Jerubbaal and his house in reward for the work of his hands;

17 (For my father made war for you, and put his life in danger, and made you free from the hands of Midian;

18 And you have gone against my father's family this day, and have put to death his sons, even seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his servant-wife, king over the townsmen of Shechem because he is your brother;)