Judges 9:12

Amplified Bible

"Then the trees said to the vine, 'You come and reign over us.'

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Later, the trees said to the grapevine,“Come and reign over us.”

Hebrew Names Version
The trees said to the vine, Come, and reign over us.

King James Version
Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.

Lexham English Bible
And the trees said to the vine, ‘You, come rule over us.'

English Standard Version
And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.'

New Century Version
"Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be king over us!'

New English Translation
"So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king!'

New American Standard Bible
"Then the trees said to the vine, 'You, come, reign over us!'

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then sayd the trees vnto the Vine, Come thou, and be king ouer vs.

Legacy Standard Bible
These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;

Contemporary English Version
Next they asked the grape vine, "Will you be our king?"

Complete Jewish Bible
So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You, come and rule over us!'

Darby Translation
Then said the trees to the vine, Come thou, reign over us.

Easy-to-Read Version
"Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.'

George Lamsa Translation
Then the trees said to the vine, Come you, and reign over us.

Good News Translation
So the trees then said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king.'

Literal Translation
And the trees said to the vine, You come, reign over us.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde the trees vnto the vyne: Come thou and be oure kinge.

American Standard Version
And the trees said unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.

Bible in Basic English
Then the trees said to the vine, You come and be king over us.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then sayde the trees vnto the vine: Come thou and be kyng ouer vs.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the trees said unto the vine: Come thou, and reign over us.

King James Version (1611)
Then saide the trees vnto the Uine, Come thou, and reigne ouer vs.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the trees said to the vine, Come, reign over us.

English Revised Version
And the trees said unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the trees said to the grapevine, 'Come and reign over us.'

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Also `the trees spaken to the vyne, Come thou, and comaunde to vs.

Young's Literal Translation
`And the trees say to the vine, Come thou, reign over us.

Update Bible Version
And the trees said to the vine, You come, and reign over us.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then said the trees to the vine, Come thou, [and] reign over us.

World English Bible
The trees said to the vine, Come you, and reign over us.

New King James Version
"Then the trees said to the vine, "You come and reign over us!'

New Living Translation
"Then they said to the grapevine, ‘You be our king!'

New Life Bible
So the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and rule over us!'

New Revised Standard
Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said the trees unto the vine, - Come! thou, reign over us.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the trees said to the vine: Come thou and reign over us.

Revised Standard Version
And the trees said to the vine, 'Come you, and reign over us.'

THE MESSAGE
The trees then said to Vine, "You come and rule over us." But Vine said to them, "Am I no longer good for making wine, Wine that cheers gods and men, and to be demoted to waving over trees?"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Then the trees said to the vine, 'You come, reign over us!'

Contextual Overview

⁷When they told Jotham, he went and stood at the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, "Hear me, O men of Shechem, so that God may hear you. ⁸"Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us!' ⁹"But the olive tree said to them, 'Should I give up my fatness by which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the trees?' ¹⁰"Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You come and reign over us!' ¹¹"But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?' ¹²"Then the trees said to the vine, 'You come and reign over us.'¹³"And the vine replied, 'Should I give up my new wine, which makes God and men happy, and go to wave over the trees?' ¹⁴"Then all the trees said to the bramble, 'You come and reign over us.' ¹⁵"So the bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.' ¹⁶"Now then, if you acted in truth and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have dealt with him as he deserved—

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 9:17
And God said to Noah, "This [rainbow] is the sign of the covenant (solemn pledge, binding agreement) which I have established between Me and all living things on the earth."

Genesis 9:23
So Shem and Japheth took a robe and put it on both their shoulders, and walked backwards and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

Genesis 9:25
So he said, "Cursed be Canaan [the son of Ham]; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers."

Genesis 9:26
He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.

Genesis 9:28
Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.

Genesis 17:11
"And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be the sign (symbol, memorial) of the covenant between Me and you.

Exodus 12:13
'The blood shall be a sign for you on [the doorposts of] the houses where you live; when I see the blood I shall pass over you, and no affliction shall happen to you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Exodus 13:16
"So it shall serve as a sign and a reminder on your [left] hand (arm) and as frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong and powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."

Joshua 2:12
"And now, please swear [an oath] to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's household (family), and give me a pledge of truth and faithfulness,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then said the trees unto the vine,.... Another emblem of good and useful men; and it may be observed, that Jotham takes no notice of any trees but fruitful ones till he comes to the bramble, and them only such as were well known, and of the greatest use, in the land of Judea, as olives, figs, and vines, see Deuteronomy 8:8

come thou, and reign over us; this Jarchi applies to Gideon; but since there are three sorts of trees brought into the fable, and when the kingdom was offered to Gideon, it was proposed to him, and to his son, and his son's son, and refused, some reference may be had unto it in this apologue. Abarbinel thinks three sorts of men are intended as proper persons for rule and government, as honourable ones, such as are wealthy and rich, and also of good behaviour to God and man, as Gideon's sons were; but Abimelech was all the reverse.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This fable and that noted in the marginal reference are the only two of the kind found in Scripture. Somewhat different are the parables of the Old Testament, 2 Samuel 12:1-4; 2 Samuel 14:5-11; 1 Kings 20:39-40.

Judges 9:9

Honour God and man - Alluding to the constant use of oil in the meat-offerings Leviticus 2:1-16, and in the holy ointment Exodus 30:24-25. In like manner, the allusion in Judges 9:13 is to the drink-offerings of wine. See Leviticus 23:13; Numbers 15:10.

Judges 9:14

The bramble - Said to be the Rhamnus Paliurus of Linnaeus, otherwise called Spina-Christi, or Christ’s Thorn, a shrub with sharp thorns. The application is obvious. The noble Gideon and his worthy sons had declined the proffered kingdom. The vile, base-born Abimelech had accepted it, and his act would turn out to the mutual ruin of himself and his subjects.

Judges 9:15

If in truth - i. e. consistently with truth, honor, and uprightness, as explained in the interpretation in Judges 9:16, Judges 9:19.

Let fire come out ... - The propriety of the image is strictly preserved, for even the thorns of the worthless bramble might kindle a flame which would burn the stately cedars to the ground. See Psalms 58:9.

Judges 9:16-20

These verses contain the interpretation of the fable. In them Jotham points out the base ingratitude of the people in raising Abimelech upon the ruin of Gideon’s house, and foretells the retribution which would fall upon both parties.