Judges 9:7–15

⁷And they told Jotham, and he went up and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and he cried out loudⁱ and said to them, “Listen to me, lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.

⁸“The trees went certainly,

to anoint a king over themselves.

And they said to the olive tree,

‘Rule over us.’

⁹And the olive tree replied,

‘Should I stop producing my oil,

which by me gods and men are honored,

to go sway over the trees?’

¹⁰Then the trees said to the fig tree,

‘You, come rule over us.’

¹¹But the fig tree said to them,

‘Should I stop producing my sweetness,

and my good crop,

to go sway over the trees?’

¹²And the trees said to the vine,

‘You, come rule over us.’

¹³But the vine said to them,

‘Should I stop producing my wine

that makes the gods and men happy,

to go sway over the trees?’

¹⁴So all the trees said to the thornbush,

‘You, come rule over us.’

¹⁵And the thornbush said to the trees,

‘If in good faith^j you are anointing

me as king over you,

then come and take refuge in my shade;

if not, may fire go out from the thornbush

and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’