Judges 9

₁Gideon's son, Abimelek, came to the town of Shechem to the brothers of his mother. He spoke to them and to all the people in his mother's family and he said: ₂‘Please talk to the important men from the town of Shechem and ask them: “Whom do you want to have to rule over you? Do you want the 70 sons of Gideon to rule over you, or do you think it is better that only one man rules over you? Remember, I am from your family.” ’

₃Abimelek's uncles told this to all the men of Shechem and they chose Abimelek to rule over them. They said: ‘He is one of us.’

₄The important men of Shechem gave Abimelek 70 pieces_of_silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used the money to pay people to help him. They were bad people who did not work and they became his soldiers. ₅Abimelek went to his father's house at Ophrah and he killed his 70 brothers, all the sons of Gideon. He killed them all on the same stone, but Gideon's youngest son, Jotham, hid and the soldiers did not kill him.

₆The people and priests of Shechem and Beth-Millo came together to make Abimelek king at the big tree near the big rock in Shechem. ₇Someone told Jotham what they wanted to do and he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and he shouted_loudly to all the people. He said:

₁₆Then Jotham said: ‘Now, men of Shechem, you did a very bad thing to Gideon's family. You did not remember what he did for you, and you were unfaithful to him. You chose Abimelek and you made him your king. ₁₇My father went to war so that you could live. He was not afraid to die. He saved you from the Midianite people. ₁₈But today you have done a bad thing. You have rebelled_against my father's family. You killed 70 of his sons all at the same time. You made Abimelek your king, because he is from your family. But he is only the son of my father's slave girl. ₁₉If you were faithful to Gideon and his family, then I hope you will be pleased with Abimelek. ₂₀But if you did a wrong thing to Gideon and his family, then I pray that Abimelek will destroy you, and I pray that you, men of Shechem and Beth-Millo, will burn Abimelek.’

₂₁Then Jotham ran away and fled. He went to the town of Beer and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.

₂₂Abimelek ruled over the Israelites for 3 years. _23-24Then the Lord sent an evil_spirit to make Abimelek and the men of Shechem enemies of one another. The men of Shechem rebelled_against Abimelek. The Lord wanted to punish Abimelek because he had murdered his brothers, the 70 sons of Gideon. The Lord also wanted to punish the men of Shechem because they had helped Abimelek murder his brothers.

₂₅The men of Shechem went to the mountains and they waited for people who went past on the road, then they took the people's money and things. Some people told Abimelek what his men were doing. ₂₆When Gaal, son of Ebed, and his brothers came to Shechem, the men of Shechem wanted him to be their leader. ₂₇One day Gaal and his brothers went to the vineyard to pick grapes and they made wine. They had a feast and they went into the temple of their god where they ate and drank. They said bad things about Abimelek. ₂₈Gaal, son of Ebed, said: ‘Who is Abimelek? Why must the people of Shechem serve him? Abimelek was the son of Gideon. He and his officer Zebul served the people of Shechem while Hamor, Shechem's father, was alive. We must not serve Abimelek. ₂₉If I were the ruler over these people, I would chase Abimelek away and say to him: “You can come with many men, but I am not afraid of you.” ’

₃₀Zebul, the officer of Shechem, heard what Gaal had said and he was very angry. ₃₁Abimelek went to the town of Torma. Zebul sent messengers to Abimelek, but no one knew that he had sent a message to him. He said to Abimelek: ‘You must know that Gaal, son of Ebed, came to Shechem. He and his brothers want the people of the town to rebel_against you. ₃₂You must do something now to stop him. You and your men must come tonight and you must lie down in the field outside the town and wait. ₃₃Tomorrow morning when the sun comes up, you must get up and run to the town and attack it. Then Gaal and his men will come out and you can do whatever you want to do.’

₃₄That night Abimelek and his men went to the town of Shechem and they waited. They were in 4 groups. ₃₅The next morning Gaal was standing in front of the gate of the town. Abimelek and all his men got up. ₃₆Gaal saw them and he said to Zebul: ‘Look, there are people coming from the mountains.’

But Zebul said to him: ‘No, you are seeing the shadows of the mountains and you think that they are people.’ ₃₇And Gaal said again: ‘Look, there are people coming from the middle of the field and they are coming from the oak tree of the fortune-tellers.’

₃₈Zebul said to Gaal: ‘Yesterday you boasted and said: “Who is Abimelek? Why must we be his servants?” Where is your big mouth now? You said: “Who is Abimelek? Why must we serve him?” Why aren't you boasting now? There are the people whom you have mocked. Now, go and fight a war_against Abimelek.’

₃₉Gaal and the men of Shechem went to start a war_against the men of Abimelek. ₄₀But the army of Abimelek was too strong and Gaal fled. Abimelek and his men killed many of Gaal's men before they could go back through the gate of the town.

₄₁Abimelek stayed in the town of Aruma and Zebul told Gaal and his brothers to go away from Shechem. ₄₂The next morning Gaal and the men of Shechem went out of the town into the field. Some people told Abimelek about it. ₄₃Then Abimelek divided all his men into 3 groups and he sent them into the field to lie down and wait. When he saw Gaal and the people with him who came from the town, they got up and started to kill them. ₄₄Abimelek and the men with him ran and stood at the gate of the town. The other 2 groups started to kill the people in the field. ₄₅Abimelek and his men did not stop fighting that day. They made war_against the people of the town and defeated them. They killed all the people and destroyed the town and they threw salt over it.

₄₆That morning when they told the people of the Tower of Shechem that the soldiers were attacking their town, they went to hide in the basement of the temple of El-Berith. ₄₇When they told Abimelek that all the people of the Tower of Shechem were there, ₄₈he and his men went to Mount Zalmon. He had an axe and he cut a branch from a tree and put it on his shoulder. He told his men to do the same quickly. ₄₉All his men cut branches and they followed Abimelek and they put the branches onto the basement. Then they set fire to the branches and burnt them on top of all the people who were in the basement of the Tower of Shechem. All the people in the Shechem Tower died. There were about 1 000 men and women.

₅₀Then Abimelek went to the town of Thebez. He attacked the town and defeated them. ₅₁Inside the town was a strong tower. All the men and women, as well as the leaders of the town, fled and went into the tower. They locked the door and went up to the roof of the tower. ₅₂Abimelek came to the tower to attack the people in the tower. He went to the door to burn it. ₅₃A woman took a heavy stone and she threw it down onto Abimelek's head. The stone broke his skull. ₅₄He immediately called the soldier who carried his weapons and said to him: ‘Take your sword and kill me. I do not want people to say that a woman has killed me.’

The soldier killed Abimelek ₅₅and when the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, everyone went back to his home.

₅₆That is how God punished Abimelek because he killed his brothers and did a very bad thing to the family of his father. ₅₇The Lord also punished the people of Shechem because they had helped Abimelek. Everything that Jotham had said happened to them.