12. Next they asked the grapevine,“Will you be our king?”
13. But the grapevine replied,“My wine brings cheerto people and gods.I won't stop making wine,just so my branches can waveabove the other trees.”
14. Finally, they wentto the thorn bush and asked,“Will you be our king?”
15. The thorn bush replied,“If you really want meto be your king,then come into my shadeand I will protect you.But if you're deceiving me,I'll start a firethat will spread out and destroythe cedars of Lebanon.”After Jotham had finished telling this story, he said:
16-18. My father Gideon risked his life for you when he fought to rescue you from the Midianites. Did you reward Gideon by being kind to his family? No, you did not! You attacked his family and killed all seventy of his sons on that rock.And was it right to make Abimelech your king? He's merely the son of my father's slave girl. But just because he's your relative, you made him king of Shechem.
19. So, you leaders of Shechem, if you treated Gideon and his family the way you should have, then I hope you and Abimelech will make each other very happy.
20. But if it was wrong to treat Gideon and his family the way you did, then I pray that Abimelech will destroy you with fire, and I pray that you will do the same to him.
21. Jotham ran off and went to live in the town of Beer, where he could be safe from his brother Abimelech.
22. Abimelech had been a military commander of Israel for three years,
23-24. when God decided to punish him and the leaders of Shechem for killing Gideon's seventy sons.So God turned the leaders of Shechem against Abimelech.
25. Then they sent some men to hide on the hilltops and watch for Abimelech and his troops, while they sent others to rob everyone who went by on the road. But Abimelech found out what they were doing.
26. One day, Gaal son of Ebed went to live in Shechem. His brothers moved there too, and soon the leaders of Shechem started trusting him.
27. The time came for the grape harvest, and the people of Shechem went into their vineyards and picked the grapes. They put the grapes in their wine-pits and walked on them to squeeze out the juice in order to make wine. Then they went into the temple of their god and threw a big party. There was a lot of eating and drinking, and before long they were cursing Abimelech.
28. Gaal said:Hamor was the founder of Shechem, and one of his descendants should be our ruler. But Abimelech's father was Gideon, so Abimelech isn't really one of us. He shouldn't be our king, and we shouldn't have to obey him or Zebul, who rules Shechem for him.
29. If I were the ruler of Shechem, I'd get rid of that Abimelech. I'd tell him, “Get yourself an even bigger army, and we will still defeat you.”
30. Zebul was angry when he found out what Gaal had said.
31. And so he sent some messengers to Abimelech. But they had to pretend to be doing something else, or they would not have been allowed to leave Shechem. Zebul told the messengers to say:Gaal the son of Ebed has come to Shechem along with his brothers, and they have persuaded the people to let Gaal rule Shechem instead of you.
32. This is what I think you should do. Lead your army here during the night and hide in the fields.
33. Get up the next morning at sunrise and rush out of your hiding places to attack the town. Gaal and his followers will come out to fight you, but you will easily defeat them.
34. So one night, Abimelech led his soldiers to Shechem. He divided them into four groups, and they all hid near the town.