1. And Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem, to the relatives of his mother, and he said to them and to the house of his mother’s father,
2. “Speak to the lords of Shechem, ‘What is better for you, that seventy men all from the sons of Jerub-Baal rule over you, or that one man rules over you?’ Remember that I am your bone and your flesh.”
3. And his mother’s relatives spoke all these words concerning him to all the lords of Shechem; and they supported Abimelech, for they said, “He is our relative.”
4. And they gave to him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech hired with them worthless and reckless men, and they followed him.
5. And he went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and he killed his brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerub-Baal survived, because he hid himself.
6. All the lords of Shechem and Beth-Millo gathered, and they went and made Abimelech as king, near the oak of the pillar that is at Shechem.
7. And they told Jotham, and he went up and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and he cried out loud and said to them, “Listen to me, lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.
8. “The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, ‘Rule over us.’
9. And the olive tree replied, ‘Should I stop producing my oil, which by me gods and men are honored, to go sway over the trees?’
10. Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come rule over us.’
11. But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my sweetness, and my good crop, to go sway over the trees?’