“Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and righteously, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands (for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; and you have risen up against my father’s house today and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother); if you then have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house today, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you; 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.”
Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer and lived there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv17, 19 Hebrew, he cast his life far from him.
Hebrew, he cast his life far from him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–21 Jdg 9:16 Now therefore, if ye have done truly…
Jdg 9:16 Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands;
Ver. 16. Now therefore.] This is the επιμυθιον, the explication and application of the parable, the key to it, and use of it, bringing it home to the hearers.
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If ye have done truly and sincerely.] With God, whose government ye have rejected: and if candidly and gratefully with my father, who jeoparded his life for you, then much happiness may you have in your new choice. But, alas! he that hath but half an eye may see the contrary, and foresee the mischief that will follow upon it.
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 On vv17, 18, 20, 21 Heb. cast away his soul or life far off,…
Heb. cast away his soul or life far off, out of his reach or power to recover it, i.e. exposed himself to utmost hazard for your sakes.
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 On vv16–21 Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely,…
Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king,.... If they had done this conscientiously, and in the uprightness of their hearts, to take such a base man, and a murderer, and make him their king, which Jotham doubted, and put it in this manner to them, that they might consider of it themselves:
if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal, and his house; if they could think so, which surely they could not, when they reflected upon the murder of his family they had consented to:
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and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; to his memory, and to his family, according to the merit of his works which he had performed on their account, next mentioned.
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 On vv18, 20, 21 Ye have slain - Abimelech's fact is justly charged…
Ye have slain - Abimelech's fact is justly charged upon them, as done by their consent, approbation and assistance. Maidservant - His concubine, whom he so calls by way of reproach. Over Shechem - By which limitation of their power, and his kingdom, he reflects contempt upon him, and chargeth them with presumption, that having only power over their own city, they durst impose a king upon all Israel.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv20–21 Verse 20. Let fire come out from Abimelech] As…
Verse 20. Let fire come out from Abimelech] As the thorn or bramble may be the means of kindling other wood, because it may be easily ignited; so shall Abimelech be the cause of kindling a fire of civil discord among you, that shall consume the rulers and great men of your country. A prophetic declaration of what would take place.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 20, 21 Jdg 9:16. Now therefore if ye have done truly…
Jdg 9:16. Now therefore if ye have done truly and sincerely, &c. — In these and the following words, Jotham applies his parable to the Shechemites, and signifies, if they had dealt sincerely, and done that which was right to the family of Gideon, in slaying all his legitimate sons, and making the son of his concubine their king, that then he wished they might be happy in Abimelech as their king; but if they had done that which was unjust and ungenerous, (as they certainly had,) he prays that mutual jealousies might break out between them, and that they might plague, injure, and destroy each other. And this prayer, we find, was heard, for it is said expressly in the 23d verse, that within three years God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 21 You are. People are answerable for the injuries which…
You are. People are answerable for the injuries which they do not prevent, when they have it in their power. (Calmet) --- Many of the citizens of Sichem had assisted Abimelech, ver. 4. --- Brother. The ties of kindred could not hide their ingratitude and cruelty. (Haydock)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v21 Joatham . . . went to Beer--the modern village…
Joatham . . . went to Beer--the modern village El-Bireh, on the ridge which bounds the northern prospect of Jerusalem.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16, 20, 21 16. Now therefore — Jotham proceeds to apply his…
16. Now therefore — Jotham proceeds to apply his fable, so that no one can possibly fail to see and feel its force.
Truly and sincerely — Literally, in truth and integrity. These words, repeated again in Jdg_9:19, when taken in connection with the mention of the debt of gratitude which the Shechemites owed to Jotham’s father, contain a most scornful and caustic rebuke for all the men of Shechem, and implied, as surely as he spake by inspiration, that their lack of truth and integrity would bring upon them swift destruction.
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 On vv18–21 18. his maidservant] This goes beyond Jdg_9:1 and Jdg_8:31,…
18. his maidservant] This goes beyond Jdg_9:1 and Jdg_8:31, which imply that Abimelech’s mother was not a slave but a freewoman.
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 On vv16–21 (16) Now therefore.—Here follows the epimuthion. or application of…
(16) Now therefore.—Here follows the epimuthion. or application of the fable. Jdg_9:16-18 are the protasis of the sentence, which is a long and parenthetic series of premisses; the conclusion, or apodosis, follows in Jdg_9:19.
If ye have done truly and sincerely.—A bitterly ironical supposition with a side glance at the phrase used by the bramble (see Jdg_9:15).
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 On vv16, 21 Vers. 16-20. Now therefore, etc. The fable being ended,…
Vers. 16-20. Now therefore, etc. The fable being ended, now comes the forcible and bitter application. The simple reference to Gideon"s great actions, and the juxtaposition of the base and bloody deed in which the Shechemites and the men of the house of Millo had made themselves accomplices by choosing Abimelech for their king, formed an indictment which could not be answered. With lofty scorn and irony he wishes well to them if they had acted honourably; but if not, he predicts the inevitable Nemesis of an alliance founded in bloodshed and treachery and wrong, viz., the mutual hatred and destruction of the contracting parties. Observe how "the house of Millo" is consistently spoken of as a separate community from "the men 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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17, 19 General Information:
General Information:
Jotham makes the application to the situation at that time and place.
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to think that my father fought for you ... out of the hand of Midian
Here Jotham is expressing that he cannot believe how badly the people of Shechem have treated Gideon and his family even after Gideon fought to save the people of Shechem.
out of the hand of Midian
Here "hand" represents power or control. AT: "from the power of the Midianites" or "from the Midianites" (See: Metonymy)
you have risen up against
This is an idiom. AT: "you have opposed" or "you have rebelled against" (See: Idiom)
my father's house
Here "house" represents family. AT: "my father's family" (See: Metonymy)
seventy
"70" (See: Numbers)
one stone
"1 stone" (See: Numbers)
his female servant
Here "his" refers to Gideon.
translationWords
Midian
raise
house
Abimelech
servant
king
Shechem
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.