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Easy-to-Read Version

Judges 9:10

"Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.'

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Allegory;   Jotham;   Judge;   Parables;   Sarcasm;   Scofield Reference Index - Parables;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Children;   Fig-Trees;   Home;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Sarcasm;   Stories for Children;   Trees;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Parables;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Jotham;   Parable;   Shechem;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Fig;   Jotham;   Parables;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Anthropomorphism;   Type, Typology;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Fable;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Baal (2);   Bramble;   Fable;   Old Testament;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Abimelech;   Bramble;   Fable;   Judges, Book of;   Rhetoric;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Government;   Israel;   Jotham (1);   Levi;   Ophrah;   Palestine;   Shalman;   Shechem;   Wisdom;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Fig-Tree ;   Tree (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Jotham ;   Shechem ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Chief parables and miracles in the bible;   Gerizim;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Fable;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Fig (tree);   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Fable;   Government of the Hebrews;   Parable;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Reign of the Judges;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Accommodation;   Fable;   Food;   Jotham;   Poetry, Hebrew;   Reign;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Allegory in the Old Testament;   Fig and Fig-Tree;   Poetry;   Satire;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the trees said to the fig tree,“Come and reign over us.”
Hebrew Names Version
The trees said to the fig tree, Come, and reign over us.
King James Version
And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us.
Lexham English Bible
Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come rule over us.'
English Standard Version
And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.'
New Century Version
"Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be king over us!'
New English Translation
"So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king!'
Amplified Bible
"Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You come and reign over us!'
New American Standard Bible
"Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You, come, reign over us!'
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then the trees sayde to the fig tree, Come thou, and be King ouer vs.
Legacy Standard Bible
But these men blaspheme the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
Contemporary English Version
Then they asked the fig tree, "Will you be our king?"
Complete Jewish Bible
So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come and rule over us!'
Darby Translation
And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, reign over us.
George Lamsa Translation
And the trees said to the fig tree, Come you, and reign over us.
Good News Translation
Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king.'
Literal Translation
And the trees said to the fig, You come, reign over us.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde the trees vnto the fygge tre: Come thou and be kynge ouer vs.
American Standard Version
And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, and reign over us.
Bible in Basic English
Then the trees said to the fig-tree, You come and be king over us.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the trees sayd to the figge tree: Come thou, and be kyng ouer vs.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the trees said to the fig-tree: Come thou, and reign over us.
King James Version (1611)
And the trees said to the Figge tree, Come thou, and reigne ouer vs.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come, reign over us.
English Revised Version
And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us.
Berean Standard Bible
Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come and reign over us.'
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the trees seiden to the fige tree, Come thou, and take the rewme on vs.
Young's Literal Translation
And the trees say to the fig, Come thou, reign over us.
Update Bible Version
And the trees said to the fig-tree, You come, and reign over us.
Webster's Bible Translation
And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, [and] reign over us.
World English Bible
The trees said to the fig tree, Come you, and reign over us.
New King James Version
"Then the trees said to the fig tree, "You come and reign over us!'
New Living Translation
"Then they said to the fig tree, ‘You be our king!'
New Life Bible
Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and rule over us!'
New Revised Standard
Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.'
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said the trees unto the fig-tree, - Come! thou reign over us.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the trees said to the fig tree: Come thou and reign over us.
Revised Standard Version
And the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come you, and reign over us.'
THE MESSAGE
The trees then said to Fig Tree, "You come and rule over us." But Fig Tree said to them, "Am I no longer good for making sweets, My mouthwatering sweet fruits, and to be demoted to waving over trees?"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You come, reign over us!'

Contextual Overview

7 Jotham heard that the leaders of the city of Shechem had made Abimelech king. When he heard this, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out this story to the people: "Listen to me you leaders of the city of Shechem. Then let God listen to you. 8 "One day the trees decided to choose a king to rule over them. The trees said to the olive tree, ‘You be king over us.' 9 "But the olive tree said, ‘My oil is used to honor gods and humans. Should I stop making my oil just to go and sway over the other trees?' 10 "Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.' 11 "But the fig tree answered, ‘Should I stop making my good, sweet fruit just to go and sway over the other trees?' 12 "Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.' 13 "But the vine answered, ‘My wine makes men and kings happy. Should I stop making my wine just to go and sway over the trees?' 14 "Finally, all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.' 15 "But the thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to make me king over you, come and find shelter in my shade. But if you don't want to do this, let fire come out of the thornbush. Let the fire burn even the cedar trees of Lebanon.' 16 "Now if you were completely honest when you made Abimelech king, may you be happy with him. And if you have been fair to Gideon and his family, and if you have treated him as you should, this is also good.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 2:30 - them

Cross-References

Genesis 8:1
But God did not forget about Noah. God remembered him and all the animals that were with him in the boat. God made a wind blow over the earth, and all the water began to disappear.
Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Have many children. Fill the earth with your people.
Genesis 9:5
Also, I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any person or animal that takes a human life.
Genesis 9:6
"God made humans to be like himself. So whoever kills a person must be killed by another person.
Genesis 9:15
When I see this rainbow, I will remember the agreement between me and you and every living thing on the earth. This agreement says that a flood will never again destroy all life on the earth.
Genesis 9:16
When I look and see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the agreement that continues forever. I will remember the agreement between me and every living thing on the earth."
Psalms 145:9
The Lord is good to everyone. He shows his mercy to everything he made.
Jonah 4:11
If you can get upset over a plant, surely I can feel sorry for a big city like Nineveh. There are many people and animals in that city. There are more than 120,000 people there who did not know they were doing wrong."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the trees said to the fig tree,.... Another useful and fruit bearing tree, and to which also good men are sometimes compared, see Song of Solomon 2:13,

come thou, and reign over us: which Jarchi applies to Deborah, but may be better applied to one of Gideon's sons, who, though they had not a personal offer of kingly government themselves, yet it was made to them through their father, and refused, as for himself, so for them; and had it been offered to them, they would have rejected it, as Jotham seems to intimate by this parable.

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.


 
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