Judges · 57 verses

Judges 9

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

A woman crushed Abimelech’s skull with an upper millstone, and his chief concern was that nobody should say she had killed him.

The thornbush takes the thronevv. 1–24

Abimelech begins with a family argument dressed up as public policy: seventy brothers or one, and conveniently the one is the speaker. Shechem supplies silver from the temple of Baal-berith, and the seventy sons are murdered on one stone, though Jotham escapes by hiding. The leaders then make Abimelech king beside the oak at the pillar, whereupon Jotham climbs Mount Gerizim and tells a wonderfully alarming tree story. The olive, fig, and vine decline the crown because they have useful work to do; the thornbush accepts, offering shade and threatening to burn the cedars. Jotham leaves the matter hanging over Shechem like a rather combustible branch. Three years later, God sends animosity between Abimelech and the leaders who helped him, and Jotham’s curse begins its long walk toward the door.

Gaal finds a quarrel ready-madevv. 25–45

The leaders of Shechem turn to ambushes and roadside robbery, then place their confidence in Gaal son of Ebed, who arrives with his brothers at precisely the moment when confidence is in short supply. At a grape festival he curses Abimelech and wonders aloud why anyone should serve him. Zebul, the governor, hears this and burns with anger, sending secret word to Abimelech. Abimelech lies in wait in four companies, while Gaal mistakes approaching men for mountain shadows until Zebul’s patience gives way to mockery. Gaal goes out and loses; Zebul drives him and his brothers from the city. The next day Abimelech attacks again, captures Shechem, kills its people, demolishes it, and sows it with salt. The text gives the salt no explanation, which is perhaps the most economical flourish in the whole affair.

The millstone has the last wordvv. 46–57

The surviving leaders retreat into the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith, which proves a poor choice of room. Abimelech cuts a branch on Mount Zalmon, orders his men to copy him, and burns the tower with everyone inside—about a thousand men and women. He then goes to Thebez, captures it, and attacks its strong tower. There, an unnamed woman drops an upper millstone onto his head. Abimelech, mortally crushed, summons his armor-bearer and arranges for the death to be credited to a sword rather than to her. The Israelites go home when he dies. At the end, God repays Abimelech’s murder of his brothers and brings the wickedness of the men of Shechem back upon them; Jotham’s curse has found its destination.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Judg 9:1Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother,
Judg 9:2“Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.”
Judg 9:3And when his mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the presence of all the leaders of Shechem, their hearts were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”
Judg 9:4So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.
Judg 9:5He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.
Judg 9:6Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered beside the oak at the pillar in Shechem and proceeded to make Abimelech their king.
Judg 9:7When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you.
Judg 9:8One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
Judg 9:9But the olive tree replied, ‘Should I stop giving my oil that honors both God and man, to hold sway over the trees?’
Judg 9:10Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and reign over us.’
Judg 9:11But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I stop giving my sweetness and my good fruit, to hold sway over the trees?’
Judg 9:12Then the trees said to the grapevine, ‘Come and reign over us.’
Judg 9:13But the grapevine replied, ‘Should I stop giving my wine that cheers both God and man, to hold sway over the trees?’
Judg 9:14Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and reign over us.’
Judg 9:15But the thornbush replied, ‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’
Judg 9:16Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have done to him as he deserves—
Judg 9:17for my father fought for you and risked his life to deliver you from the hand of Midian,
Judg 9:18but you have risen up against my father’s house this day and killed his seventy sons on a single stone, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the leaders of Shechem because he is your brother—
Judg 9:19if you have acted faithfully and honestly toward Jerubbaal and his house this day, then may you rejoice in Abimelech, and he in you.
Judg 9:20But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”
Judg 9:21Then Jotham ran away, escaping to Beer, and he lived there for fear of his brother Abimelech.
Judg 9:22After Abimelech had reigned over Israel for three years,
Judg 9:23God sent a spirit of animosity between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem and caused them to treat Abimelech deceitfully,
Judg 9:24in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.
Judg 9:25The leaders of Shechem set up an ambush against Abimelech on the hilltops, and they robbed all who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech.
Judg 9:26Meanwhile, Gaal son of Ebed came with his brothers and crossed into Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem put their confidence in him.
Judg 9:27And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.
Judg 9:28Then Gaal 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 officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?
Judg 9:29If only this people were under my authority, I would remove Abimelech; I would say to him, ‘Muster your army and come out!’”
Judg 9:30When Zebul the governor of the city heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he burned with anger.
Judg 9:31So he covertly sent messengers to Abimelech to say, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.
Judg 9:32Now then, tonight you and the people with you are to come and lie in wait in the fields.
Judg 9:33And in the morning at sunrise, get up and advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, do to them whatever you are able.”
Judg 9:34So Abimelech and all his troops set out by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies.
Judg 9:35Now Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelech and his men came out from their hiding places.
Judg 9:36When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountains!” But Zebul replied, “The shadows of the mountains look like men to you.”
Judg 9:37Then Gaal spoke up again, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming by way of the Diviners’ Oak.”
Judg 9:38“Where is your gloating now?” Zebul replied. “You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the people you ridiculed? Go out now and fight them!”
Judg 9:39So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought against Abimelech,
Judg 9:40but Abimelech pursued him, and Gaal fled before him. And many Shechemites fell wounded all the way to the entrance of the gate.
Judg 9:41 Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem.
Judg 9:42The next day the people of Shechem went out into the fields, and this was reported to Abimelech.
Judg 9:43So he took his men, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose up against them and attacked them.
Judg 9:44Then Abimelech and the companies with him rushed forward and took their stand at the entrance of the city gate. The other two companies rushed against all who were in the fields and struck them down.
Judg 9:45And all that day Abimelech fought against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he demolished the city and sowed it with salt.
Judg 9:46On hearing of this, all the leaders in the tower of Shechem entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.
Judg 9:47And when Abimelech was told that all the leaders in the tower of Shechem were gathered there,
Judg 9:48he and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his axe in his hand and cut a branch from the trees, which he lifted to his shoulder, saying to his men, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”
Judg 9:49So each man also cut his own branch and followed Abimelech. Then they piled the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire above them, killing everyone in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women.
Judg 9:50Then Abimelech went to Thebez, encamped against it, and captured it.
Judg 9:51But there was a strong tower inside the city, and all the men, women, and leaders of the city fled there. They locked themselves in and went up to the roof of the tower.
Judg 9:52When Abimelech came to attack the tower, he approached its entrance to set it on fire.
Judg 9:53But a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull.
Judg 9:54He quickly called his armor-bearer, saying, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So Abimelech’s armor-bearer ran his sword through him, and he died.
Judg 9:55And when the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.
Judg 9:56In this way God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father in murdering his seventy brothers.
Judg 9:57And God also brought all the wickedness of the men of Shechem back upon their own heads. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 251 passages were voted onto 44 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

23 Isaiah 33:1Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
53 2 Samuel 11:21Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”
1 Judges 8:31His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
4 Judges 8:33And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god.
15 Isaiah 30:2They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.
48 Psalms 68:14When the Almighty scattered the kings in the land, it was like the snow falling on Zalmon.
2 Genesis 29:14Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,
2 Judges 8:30Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.
5 2 Kings 11:1–2When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.
7 Deuteronomy 11:29When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
18 Judges 9:5–6He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.
20 Judges 9:15But the thornbush replied, ‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’
24 1 Kings 2:32The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.
28 1 Samuel 25:10But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters.
28 Genesis 34:2When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.
33 1 Samuel 10:7When these signs have come, do as the occasion demands, for God is with you.

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