“The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
Parallel Translations
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“The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
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And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
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And the bramble said unto the trees: If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Judges 9:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 30:2 who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!
- Judges 9:20 but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from the house of Millo and devour Abimelech.”
- Isaiah 2:13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,
- Hosea 14:7 Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
- Numbers 21:28 for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, The lords of the high places of the Arnon.
- 2 Kings 14:9 Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife. Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle.
- Psalms 104:16 Yahweh’s trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted;
- Isaiah 37:24 By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.
- Ezekiel 19:14 Fire has gone out of its branches. It has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong branch to be a scepter to rule.’ This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”
- Daniel 4:12 The leaves of it were beautiful, and it had much fruit, and in it was food for all. The animals of the field had shade under it, and the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.
- Isaiah 1:31 The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”
- Ezekiel 31:3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.
- Matthew 13:32 which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”
- Judges 9:49 All the people likewise each cut down his bough, followed Abimelech, and put them at the base of the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Abimelech shall destroy the nobles of Shechem.
Abimelech shall destroy the nobles of Shechem.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jdg 9:15 And the bramble said unto the trees,…
Jdg 9:15 And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, [then] come [and] put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
Ver. 15. If in truth ye anoint me king over you.] Whereunto he also must be entreated for fashionsake: like as Richard III was by the Londoners at the solicitation of Buckingham, who knew his mind and factored for him, as here Abimelech’s uncles did. This base bramble, a dry, empty, sapless kex and weed, apt and able only to scratch, tear, and vex, must needs be up, and hoised into a high room, and domineer over others. Men of most prostituted consciences are, for most part, the most pragmatical prawlers, saith a grave divine, {a} after undeserved preferments, and the only men to serve themselves viis et modis, as they say, into offices, honours, and places of advancement.
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Then come and put your trust in my shadow.] At umbra rhamni non est commendabilis. The bramble bush yieldeth no very good shade; the silly sheep flying to it for shelter and defence in weather, is sure to lose part of his fleece, if not of his flesh.
Let fire come out of the bramble.] Isidore and many other learned men {b} say, that the bramble being much shaken by the wind, is thereby set on fire, whereby both itself and all the trees about it are consumed. Jotham might allude to this. The counsel is good that one here giveth; Let not the bramble be king; let not earthly things bear rule over thine affections. Fire will arise out of them that will consume thy cedars, emasculate all the powers of thy soul. One bastard will destroy all the true born sons.
{a} Bishop Hall.
{b} Testatus, Mercer, Forster, Carthusian, Moller.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain If in truth you anoint me king over you;…
If in truth you anoint me king over you; if you deal truly and justly in making me king.
Put your trust in my shadow; then you may expect protection under my government.
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Let fire come out of the bramble; instead of protection, you shall receive destruction by me; especially you cedars, i.e. nobles, such as the house of Millo, who have been most forward in this work.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the bramble said unto the trees,.... Accepting of…
And the bramble said unto the trees,.... Accepting of their offer at once:
if ye in trust anoint me king over you; suspecting they were not hearty and cordial in their choice and call to the kingly authority over them:
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then come and put your trust in my shadow; promising protection to them as his subjects, requiring their confidence in him, and boasting of the good they should receive from him, as is common with wicked princes at their first entering on their office; but, alas! what shadow or protection can there be in a bramble? if a man attempts: to put himself under it for shelter, he will find it will be of no use to him, but harmful, since, the nearer and closer he comes to it, the more he will be scratched and torn by it:
and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon; signifying, that if they did not heartily submit to his government, and put confidence in him, and prove faithful to him, they should smart for it, and feel his wrath and vengeance, even the greatest men among them, comparable to the cedars of Lebanon; for thorns and brambles catching fire, as they easily do, or fire being put to them, as weak as they are, and placed under the tallest and strongest cedars, will soon fetch them down to the ground; and the words of the bramble, or Abimelech, proved true to the Shechemites, he is made to speak in this parable.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain If in truth - If you deal truly and…
If in truth - If you deal truly and justly in making me king. Then trust - Then you may expect protection under my government. Devour the cedars - In stead of protection, you shall receive destruction by me; especially you cedars, that is, nobles, such as the house of Millo, who have been most forward in this work.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Come and put your trust in any…
Verse 15. Come and put your trust in any shadow] The vain boast of the would-be sovereign; and of the man who is seeking to be put into power by the suffrages of the people. All promise, no performance.
Let fire come out of the bramble] A strong catachresis. The bramble was too low to give shelter to any tree; and so far from being able to consume others, that the smallest fire will reduce it to ashes, and that in the shortest time. Hence the very transitory mirth of fools is said to be like the cracking of thorns under a pot. Abimelech was the bramble; and the ceders of Lebanon, all the nobles and people of Israel. Could they therefore suppose that such a low-born, uneducated, cruel, and murderous man, could be a proper protector, or a humane governor? He who could imbrue his hands in the blood of his brethren in order to get into power, was not likely to stop at any means to retain that power when possessed. If, therefore, they took him for their king, they might rest assured that desolation and blood would mark the whole of his reign.
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The condensed moral of the whole fable is this: Weak, worthless, and wicked men, will ever be foremost to thrust themselves into power; and, in the end, to bring ruin upon themselves, and on the unhappy people over whom they preside.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Shadow or protection, Psalm xvi. 8., and Baruch i.…
Shadow or protection, Psalm xvi. 8., and Baruch i. 12. (Calmet) --- Joatham hints at the insolence of Abimelech, (Haydock) and foretels that he and his foolish subjects will soon be at variance, and destroy each other. Fire is often put for war. The people of Sichem began soon to despise their new king, and he made war upon them, and destroyed their city; though the people afterwards took ample revenge, ver. 20. (Calmet) --- Tyrants promise much, but their rage soon falls upon the more wealthy and powerful citizens, (Haydock) here signified by the cedars. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. Put your trust in my shadow — The…
15. Put your trust in my shadow — The bramble has no shadow worthy of the name, and the language here is a biting irony upon those who had chosen a worthless man for a king. A thorn bush give shade and protection to the olive or the fig tree! As well might one expect to gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles.
Let fire come out of the bramble — Thorn-bushes are commonly used for fuel in the East. They easily catch fire and soon burn out, and yet they may kindle a fire that will burn and destroy the greatest of trees, even the noble cedars of Lebanon. So a weak and worthless ruler may provoke civil discords, or incur foreign wars, which in their fiery progress swallow up and devour the brave, the virtuous, and the noble. So it was in the case of Abimelech.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. put your trust in my shadow] take refuge…
15. put your trust in my shadow] take refuge in …: an absurdity which sharpens the point of the moral.
let fire come out] A fire will sometimes spread from a thornbush to the monarchs of the forest (cf. Isa_9:18); the base bramble thus becomes the starting-point of all the ruin.
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So the fable points a contrast: on the one hand were those who naturally would have been the men to rule, Gideon and his sons, or (generally) more than one able member of the community, but they would have nothing to do with the proposal; on the other hand was the worthless Abimelech, who not only seized power with avidity but threatened those who refused to submit to him. Here the fable is dropped, though an echo of it is heard in Jdg_9:20; what follows is not strictly an application of it, but a couple of fresh topics: a stern reproof of the Shechemites for ingratitude, and a warning that they and their upstart chief are doomed to destroy one another.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) If in truth—i.e., with serious purpose. The bramble…
(15) If in truth—i.e., with serious purpose. The bramble can hardly believe in the infatuation of the trees.
Put your trust in my shadow.—The mean leaves and bristling thorns of the rhamnus could afford no shadow to speak of, and even such as they could afford would be dangerous; but the fable is full of fine and biting irony.
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If not.—The bramble is not only eager to be king, but has spiteful and dangerous threats—the counterpart of those, doubtless, which had been used by Abimelech—to discourage any withdrawal of the offer.
Let fire come out of the bramble.—Some suppose that there is a reference to the ancient notions of the spontaneous ignition of the boughs of the bramble when rubbed together by the wind. The allusion is far more probably to the use of thorns for fuel: Exo_22:6, “If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn . . . be consumed;” Psa_58:9, “Or ever your pots be made hot with thorns;” Ecc_7:6, “the crackling of thorns under a pot.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If in truth, i.e. truly, as the same phrase…
If in truth, i.e. truly, as the same phrase is rendered in vers. 16, 19, with integrity of purpose and sincerity of heart. The English would be less ambiguous if it ran, "If ye anoint me king over you in truth." The speech of the bramble indicates the grounds for suspicion already existing between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. Let fire come out, etc. keeping up the propriety of the image, as the natural function of the bramble was to kindle a fire, and as it had no other use; showing, too, how a base bramble could destroy a noble cedar, and the base-born Abimelech could bring ruin upon the lords of Shechem.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Psa 2:12")
trust
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Jotham continues telling his parable, where trees represent various people groups, and makes the application.
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The thornbush said to the trees
In this parable, Jotham describes the thornbush and the trees as doing things that humans do. (See: Parables and Personification)
to anoint me as king over you
To anoint someone with oil is a symbolic action that appoints a person to be king. AT: "to appoint me as your king" (See: Symbolic Action)
find safety
The word "safety" is an abstract noun that can be expressed as an adjective. AT: "be safe" (See: Abstract Nouns)
fire come out of the thornbush and let it burn up the cedars of Lebanon
This means to let the thornbush burn so that it will burn the cedars.
then let fire come out of the thornbush
The thornbush refers to itself as "the thornbush." AT: "then may fire come out from me, the thornbush" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
Now
This does not mean "at this moment," but is used to draw attention to the important point that follows.
if you have done well concerning Jerub Baal and his house, and if you have punished him as he deserves
Jotham offered the possibility that what they did was good, but Jotham does not actually believe what they did was good. AT: "if you have done what is right and Jerub Baal deserved for you to kill all of his sons" (See: Hypothetical Situations)
Jerub Baal
This is another name for Gideon. See how you translated this in Judges 6:32.
his house
Here "house" represents Gideon's family. (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
amen
anoint
king
cedar
Lebanon
true
Abimelech
house
punish
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.