Judges 9:10

Complete Jewish Bible

So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come and rule over us!'

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?"

Darby Translation
And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, reign over us.

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

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 When they told this to Yotam, he went and stood on top of Mount G'rizim and shouted, "Listen to me, you leaders of Sh'khem; then God will listen to you! ⁸ Once the trees went out to choose a king to rule them. They said to the olive tree, ‘Rule over us!' ⁹ But the olive tree replied, ‘Am I supposed to leave my oil, which is used to honor both God and humanity, just to go and hold sway over the trees?' ¹⁰ So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You, come and rule over us!' ¹¹ But the fig tree replied, ‘Am I supposed to leave my sweetness and my good fruit just to go and hold sway over the trees?' ¹² So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You, come and rule over us!' ¹³ But the grapevine replied, ‘Am I supposed to leave my wine, which gives cheer to God and humanity, just to go and hold sway over the trees?' ¹⁴ Finally, all the trees said to the thorn bush, ‘You, come and rule over us!' ¹⁵ The thorn bush replied, ‘If you really make me king over you, then come and take shelter in my shade. But if not, let fire come out of the thorn bush and burn down the cedars of the L'vanon!' ¹⁶ "Here's the point. Have you been honest and straightforward in making Avimelekh king? Have you been fair with Yeruba‘al and his household and treated him as he deserves?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 2:30 - them

Cross-References

Genesis 8:1
God remembered Noach, every living thing and all the livestock with him in the ark; so God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to go down.

Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noach and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:5
I will certainly demand an accounting for the blood of your lives: I will demand it from every animal and from every human being. I will demand from every human being an accounting for the life of his fellow human being.

Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds human blood, by a human being will his own blood be shed; for God made human beings in his image.

Genesis 9:15
I will remember my covenant which is between myself and you and every living creature of any kind; and the water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings.

Genesis 9:16
The rainbow will be in the cloud; so that when I look at it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of any kind on the earth."

Psalms 145:9
Adonai is good to all; his compassion rests on all his creatures.

Jonah 4:11
So shouldn't I be concerned about the great city of Ninveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who don't know their right hand from their left — not to mention all the animals?"

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.