King James Version · The judges
Judges 9
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And the son of went to unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s , saying, Speak, I you, in the ears of all the men of , Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of , which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your . And his mother’s brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of all these words: and their inclined to follow ; for they said, He is our brother. And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of –berith, wherewith hired and persons, which followed him. And he went unto his ’s house at , and slew his brethren the sons of , being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet the youngest son of was left; for he hid himself. And all the men of gathered together, and all the house of , and went, and made king, by the plain of that was in . And when they told it to , he went and stood in the top of , and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, unto me, ye men of , that may unto you. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 10And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? 12Then said the trees unto , Come thou, and reign over us. And said unto them, Should I leave my , which cheereth and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your in my shadow: and if not, let come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of . Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made king, and if ye have dealt well with and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; (For fought for you, and adventured his life far, and you out of the hand of : And ye are up against ’s house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made , the son of his maidservant, king over the men of , because he is your brother;) If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in , and let him also rejoice in you: But if not, let come out from , and devour the men of , and the house of ; and let come out from the men of , and from the house of , and devour . And ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of his brother. 22When had reigned three years over Israel, Then sent an between and the men of ; and the men of dealt treacherously with : That the done to the threescore and ten sons of might come, and their be laid upon their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of , which aided him in the killing of his brethren. And the men of 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 . And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren, and went over to : and the men of put their confidence in him. 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 , and did eat and drink, and . And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is , and who is , that we should him? is not he the son of ? and Zebul his officer? the men of of : for why should we him? And would to this people were under my hand! then would I remove . And he said to , Increase thine army, and come out. 30And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his was kindled. 31And he sent unto privily, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be come to ; and, behold, they fortify the city against thee. Now therefore up by night, thou and the people that is with thee, and lie in wait in the field: 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. 34And rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against in four companies. 35And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entering of the : and rose up, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait. 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. Then said Zebul unto him, Where is now thy , wherewith thou saidst, Who is , that we should him? is not this the people that thou hast despised? go out, I now, and fight with them. 39And Gaal went out before the men of , and fought with . And chased him, and he fled before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even unto the entering of the . And dwelt at Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren, that they should not in . 42And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people went out into the field; and they told . 43And 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 , and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entering of the : and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and slew them. And 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. And when all the men of the tower of heard that, they entered into an hold of the house of the Berith. 47And it was told , that all the men of the tower of were gathered together. And gat him up to mount , he and all the people that were with him; and 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. And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed , and put them to the hold, and set the hold on upon them; so that all the men of the tower of also, about a thousand men and women. 50Then went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it. 51But 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. And came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with . And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon ’s head, and all to brake his skull. Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy , and me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he . And when the men of Israel saw that was , they departed every man unto his place. Thus rendered the wickedness of , which he did unto his , in slaying his seventy brethren: And all the evil of the men of did render upon their heads: and upon them came the of the son of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.