Judges:9-10
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And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother '
s brethren ,
and communed with them ,
and with all the family of the house of his mother '
s father ,
saying ,
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Speak ,
I pray you ,
in the ears of all the men of Shechem ,
Whether is better for you ,
either that all the sons of Jerubbaal ,
which are threescore and ten persons ,
reign over you ,
or that one reign over you ?
remember also that I am your bone and your flesh .
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And his mother '
s brethren spake of 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 .
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And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith ,
wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons ,
which followed him .
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And he went unto his father '
s house at Ophrah ,
and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal ,
being threescore and ten persons ,
upon one stone :
notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left ;
for he hid himself .
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And all the men of Shechem gathered together ,
and all the house of Millo ,
and went ,
and made Abimelech king ,
by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem .
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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 .
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The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them ;
and they said unto the olive tree ,
Reign thou over us .
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But the olive tree said unto them ,
Should I leave my fatness ,
wherewith by me they honour God and man ,
and go to be promoted over the trees ?
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And the trees said to the fig tree ,
Come thou ,
and reign over us .
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But the fig tree said unto them ,
Should I forsake my sweetness ,
and my good fruit ,
and go to be promoted over the trees ?
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Then said the trees unto the vine ,
Come thou ,
and reign over us .
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And the vine said unto them ,
Should I leave my wine ,
which cheereth God and man ,
and go to be promoted over the trees ?
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Then said all the trees unto the bramble ,
Come thou ,
and reign over us .
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And the bramble said unto the trees ,
If in truth ye anoint me king over you ,
then come and put your trust in my shadow :
and if not ,
let fire come out of the bramble ,
and devour the cedars of Lebanon .
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Now therefore ,
if ye have done truly and sincerely ,
in that ye have made Abimelech king ,
and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house ,
and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands ;
* (
For my father fought for you ,
and adventured his life far ,
and delivered you out of the hand of Midian :
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And ye are risen up against my father '
s house this day ,
and have slain his sons ,
threescore and ten persons ,
upon one stone ,
and have made Abimelech ,
the son of his maidservant ,
king over the men of Shechem ,
because he is your brother ;)
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If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day ,
then rejoice ye in Abimelech ,
and let him also rejoice in you :
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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 .
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And Jotham ran away ,
and fled ,
and went to Beer ,
and dwelt there ,
for fear of Abimelech his brother .
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When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel ,
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Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem ;
and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech :
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That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come ,
and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother ,
which slew them ;
and upon the men of Shechem ,
which aided him in the killing of his brethren .
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And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him in the top of the mountains ,
and they robbed all that came along that way by them :
and it was told Abimelech .
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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 .
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And they went out into the fields ,
and gathered their vineyards ,
and trode the grapes ,
and made merry ,
and went into the house of their god ,
and did eat and drink ,
and cursed Abimelech .
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And Gaal the son of Ebed said ,
Who is Abimelech ,
and who is Shechem ,
that we should serve him ?
is not he the son of Jerubbaal ?
and Zebul his officer ?
serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem :
for why should we serve him ?
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And would to God this people were under my hand !
then would I remove Abimelech .
And he said to Abimelech ,
Increase thine army ,
and come out .
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And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed ,
his anger was kindled .
*
And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privily ,
saying ,
Behold ,
Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be come to Shechem ;
and ,
behold ,
they fortify the city against thee .
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Now therefore up by night ,
thou and the people that is with thee ,
and lie in wait in the field :
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And it shall be ,
that 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 is with him come out against thee ,
then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion .
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And Abimelech rose up ,
and all the people that were with him ,
by night ,
and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies .
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And Gaal the son of Ebed went out ,
and stood in the entering of the gate of the city :
and Abimelech rose up ,
and the people that were with him ,
from lying in wait .
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And when Gaal saw the people ,
he said to Zebul ,
Behold ,
there come people down from the top of the mountains .
And Zebul said unto him ,
Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men .
*
And Gaal spake again and said ,
See there come people down by the middle of the land ,
and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim .
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Then said Zebul unto him ,
Where is now thy mouth ,
wherewith thou saidst ,
Who is Abimelech ,
that we should serve him ?
is not this the people that thou hast despised ?
go out ,
I pray now ,
and fight with them .
*
And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem ,
and fought with Abimelech .
*
And Abimelech chased him ,
and he fled before him ,
and many were overthrown and wounded ,
even unto the entering of the gate .
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And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah :
and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren ,
that they should not dwell in Shechem .
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And it came to pass on the morrow ,
that the people went out into the field ;
and they told Abimelech .
*
And he took the people ,
and divided them into three companies ,
and laid wait in the field ,
and looked ,
and ,
behold ,
the people were come forth out of the city ;
and he rose up against them ,
and smote them .
*
And Abimelech ,
and the company that was with him ,
rushed forward ,
and stood in the entering of the gate of the city :
and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields ,
and slew them .
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And Abimelech fought against the city all that day ;
and he took the city ,
and slew the people that was therein ,
and beat down the city ,
and sowed it with salt .
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And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that ,
they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith .
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And it was told Abimelech ,
that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together .
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And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon ,
he and all the people that were with him ;
and Abimelech took an axe in his hand ,
and cut down a bough from the trees ,
and took it ,
and laid it on his shoulder ,
and said unto the people that were with him ,
What ye have seen me do ,
make haste ,
and do as I have done .
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And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough ,
and followed Abimelech ,
and put them to the hold ,
and set the hold on fire upon them ;
so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also ,
about a thousand men and women .
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Then went Abimelech to Thebez ,
and encamped against Thebez ,
and took it .
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But there was a strong tower within the city ,
and thither fled all the men and women ,
and all they of the city ,
and shut it to them ,
and gat them up to the top of the tower .
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And Abimelech came unto the tower ,
and fought against it ,
and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire .
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And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech '
s head ,
and all to brake his skull .
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Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer ,
and said unto him ,
Draw thy sword ,
and slay me ,
that men say not of me ,
A woman slew him .
And his young man thrust him through ,
and he died .
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And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead ,
they departed every man unto his place .
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Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech ,
which he did unto his father ,
in slaying his seventy brethren :
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And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads :
and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal .
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And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah ,
the son of Dodo ,
a man of Issachar ;
and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim .
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And he judged Israel twenty and three years ,
and died ,
and was buried in Shamir .
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And after him arose Jair ,
a Gileadite ,
and judged Israel twenty and two years .
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And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts ,
and they had thirty cities ,
which are called Havothjair unto this day ,
which are in the land of Gilead .
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And Jair died ,
and was buried in Camon .
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And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD ,
and served Baalim ,
and Ashtaroth ,
and the gods of Syria ,
and the gods of Zidon ,
and the gods of Moab ,
and the gods of the children of Ammon ,
and the gods of the Philistines ,
and forsook the LORD ,
and served not him .
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And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel ,
and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines ,
and into the hands of the children of Ammon .
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And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel :
eighteen years ,
all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites ,
which is in Gilead .
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Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah ,
and against Benjamin ,
and against the house of Ephraim ;
so that Israel was sore distressed .
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And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD ,
saying ,
We have sinned against thee ,
both because we have forsaken our God ,
and also served Baalim .
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And the LORD said unto the children of Israel ,
Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians ,
and from the Amorites ,
from the children of Ammon ,
and from the Philistines ?
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The Zidonians also ,
and the Amalekites ,
and the Maonites ,
did oppress you ;
and ye cried to me ,
and I delivered you out of their hand .
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Yet ye have forsaken me ,
and served other gods :
wherefore I will deliver you no more .
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Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen ;
let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation .
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And the children of Israel said unto the LORD ,
We have sinned :
do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee ;
deliver us only ,
we pray thee ,
this day .
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And they put away the strange gods from among them ,
and served the LORD :
and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel .
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Then the children of Ammon were gathered together ,
and encamped in Gilead .
And the children of Israel assembled themselves together ,
and encamped in Mizpeh .
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And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another ,
What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon ?
he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead .
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Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour ,
and he was the son of an harlot :
and Gilead begat Jephthah .
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