Judges 9:10-20

10 And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and take the realm on us (Come thou, and take the kingdom, and reign over us). Which answered to them,

11 Whether I may forsake my sweetness, and my full sweet fruits, and go that I be advanced among other trees? (Can I forsake my sweetness, and my full sweet fruits, and go that I be advanced over the other trees?)

12 Also the trees spake to the vine, (and said,) Come thou, and command to us.

13 Which answered, Whether I may forsake my wine, that gladdeth God and men, and be advanced among other trees? (Which answered, Can I forsake my wine, that gladdeneth both the gods and people, and go that I be advanced over the other trees?)

14 And all the trees said to the rhamn, or the thieve-thorn, Come thou, and be lord on us (Come thou, and be lord over us).

15 Which answered to them, If ye make me verily king to you, come, and rest ye under my shadow; and, if ye will not, fire go out of the rhamn, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. (Which answered to them, If ye truly shall make me king over you, come, and rest ye under my shadow; but if ye will not, then let fire go out of the rhamn, and devour Lebanon's cedars.)

16 Now therefore, if rightfully and without sin ye have made Abimelech king on you, and if ye have done well with Jerubbaal, and with his house, and if ye have yielded while to the benificences of him, (And so now, if rightfully and without sin ye have made Abimelech king over you, and if ye have done the right thing with Jerubbaal, and with his household, and if ye have yielded to him according to his good deeds,)

17 that fought for you, and gave his life for perils, that he should deliver you from the hand of Midian; (yea, he who fought for you, and gave, or risked, his life to perils, so that he could save you from the hands of the Midianites;)

18 and ye have risen now against the house of my father, and have slain his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, [the] son of his handmaid, king on the dwellers of Shechem, for he is your brother; (and ye have risen up now against my father's household, or his family, and have killed his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his slave-girl, king over the inhabitants of Shechem, for he is your kinsman;)

19 therefore if ye have done rightfully, and without sin with Jerubbaal and his house, today be ye glad in Abimelech, and be he glad in you; (and so if ye have done rightfully, and without sin with Jerubbaal and with his household, or his family, today, then be ye happy with Abimelech, and let him be happy with you;)

20 but if ye have done waywardly, (may) fire go out from Abimelech, and waste the dwellers of Shechem, and the city of Millo; and (may) fire go out from the men of Shechem, and from the city of Millo, and devour Abimelech.

Judges 9:10-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 9

This chapter contains an account of the craft and cruelty of Abimelech, by which he got himself made king of the Shechemites, Jud 9:1-6 of the parable of Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, concerning the trees, in which he exposes their folly in making Abimelech king, and foretells the ruin of them both, Jud 9:7-21 of the contentions which arose between Abimelech, and the men of Shechem, increased by Gaal the son of Ebed, Jud 9:22-29 who was drawn into a battle with Abimelech, and beaten and forced to fly, Jud 9:30-41 but the quarrel between Abimelech and the men of Shechem ceased not, but still continued, which issued in the entire ruin of the city and the inhabitants of it, Jud 9:42-49 and in the death of Abimelech himself, according to Jotham's curse, Jud 9:50-57.