Judges 9:7-16

English Standard Version

⁷ When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of ^(A)Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ^8 (B)The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ^(C)‘Reign over us.’ ⁹ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰ And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹¹ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹² And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that ^(D)cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and ^(E)take refuge in my shade, but if not, ^(F)let fire come out of the bramble and devour ^(G)the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶ “Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with ^(H)Jerubbaal and his house and have done to him ^(I)as his deeds deserved—