Judges 9:7–15

⁷When Jotham heard about this, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and shouted out to them, “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, and God may listen to you! ⁸Once upon a time the trees got together to choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’ ⁹The olive tree answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my oil, which is used to honour gods and human beings.’ ¹⁰Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king.’ ¹¹But the fig tree answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my good sweet fruit.’ ¹²So the trees then said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king.’ ¹³But the vine answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my wine, that makes gods and human beings happy.’ ¹⁴So then all the trees said to the thorn bush, ‘You come and be our king.’ ¹⁵The thorn bush answered, ‘If you really want to make me your king, then come and take shelter in my shade. If you don’t, fire will blaze out of my thorny branches and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.’