Judges 9:12

King James Version (1611 Edition)

Then saide the trees vnto the Uine, Come thou, and reigne ouer vs.

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!'

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

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.

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

⁷ And when they told it to Iotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lift vp his voice, and cried, and said vnto them, Hearken vnto mee, you men of Shechem, that God may hearken vnto you. ⁸ The trees went foorth on a time to annoint a King ouer them, and they said vnto the Oliue tree, Reigne thou ouer vs. ⁹ But the Oliue tree saide vnto them, Should I leaue my fatnesse, wherewith by mee they honour God and man, and goe to bee promoted ouer the trees? ¹⁰ And the trees said to the Figge tree, Come thou, and reigne ouer vs. ¹¹ But the Figge tree saide vnto them, Should I forsake my sweetenesse, and my good fruit, and goe to be promoted ouer the trees? ¹² Then saide the trees vnto the Uine, Come thou, and reigne ouer vs. ¹³ And the Uine said vnto them, Should I leaue my wine, which cheareth God and man, and goe to bee promoted ouer the trees? ¹⁴ Then said all the trees vnto the Bramble, Come thou, and reigne ouer vs. ¹⁵ And the Bramble said vnto the trees, If in trueth ye anoint me King ouer you, then come, and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the Bramble, and deuoure the Cedars of Lebanon. ¹⁶ Now therefore, if yee haue done truely and sincerely, in that yee haue made Abimelech King, and if yee haue dealt well with Ierubbaal, and his house, and haue done vnto him according to the deseruing of his hands:

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 9:17
And God said vnto Noah, This is the token of the couenant, which I haue established betweene mee and all flesh, that is vpon the earth.

Genesis 9:23
And Shem and Iaphet tooke a garment, and layed it vpon both their shoulders, and went backward, and couered the nakednesse of their father, and their faces were backward, and they saw not their fathers nakednesse.

Genesis 9:25
And he said, Cursed bee Canaan: a seruant of seruants shall hee be vnto his brethren.

Genesis 9:26
And hee saide, Blessed bee the LORD God of Shem, and Canaan shalbe his seruant.

Genesis 9:28
And Noah liued after the flood, three hundred and fifty yeeres.

Genesis 17:11
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskinne; and it shal be a token of the couenant betwixt me and you.

Exodus 12:13
And the blood shall be to you for a token vpon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will passe ouer you, and the plague shall not bee vpon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Exodus 13:16
And it shall be for a token vpon thine hand, and for frontlets betweene thine eyes. For by strength of hand the Lord brought vs foorth out of Egypt.

Joshua 2:12
Now therfore, I pray you, sweare vnto me by the Lord, since I haue shewed you kindnesse, that ye will also shew kindnesse vnto my fathers house, and giue me a true token:

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.