16. So now, if you are upright and without sin in appointing Abimelech as a king over you, and if you have acted well with Jerubbaal, and with his house, and if you have repaid, in turn, the benefits of him who fought on your behalf,
17. and who gave his life to dangers, so that he might rescue you from the hand of Midian,
18. though you now have risen up against my father's house, and have killed his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have appointed Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, as a king over the inhabitants of Shechem, since he is your brother,
19. if therefore you are upright and have acted without fault with Jerubbaal and his house, then you should rejoice on this day in Abimelech, and he should rejoice in you.
20. But if you have acted perversely, may fire go forth from him and consume the inhabitants of Shechem and the town of Millo. And may fire go forth from the men of Shechem and from the town of Millo, and devour Abimelech."
21. And when he had said these things, he fled and went away to Beer. And he lived in that place, out of fear of Abimelech, his brother.
22. And so Abimelech reigned over Israel for three years.
23. And the Lord put a very grievous spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Shechem, who began to detest him,
24. and to place blame for the crime of the killing of the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, and for the shedding of their blood, upon Abimelech, their brother, and upon the rest of the leaders of the Shechemites, who assisted him.