Judges 9:11

Legacy Standard Bible

Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have poured themselves into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But the fig tree said to them,“Should I stop givingmy sweetness and my good fruit,and rule over trees?”

Hebrew Names Version
But the fig tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?

King James Version
But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?

Lexham English Bible
But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my sweetness, and my good crop, to go sway over the trees?'

English Standard Version
But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?'

New Century Version
"But the fig tree answered, ‘Should I stop making my sweet and good fruit and go and sway over the other trees?'

New English Translation
But the fig tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my sweet figs, my excellent fruit, just to sway above the other trees!'

Amplified Bible
"But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?'

New American Standard Bible
"But the fig tree said to them, 'Shall I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?'

Geneva Bible (1587)
But the fig tree answered them, Should I forsake my sweetenesse, and my good fruite, and goe to aduance me aboue the trees?

Contemporary English Version
But the fig tree replied, "I won't stop growing my delicious fruit, just to have my branches wave above the other trees."

Complete Jewish Bible
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?'

Darby Translation
But the fig-tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?

Easy-to-Read Version
"But the fig tree answered, ‘Should I stop making my good, sweet fruit just to go and sway over the other trees?'

George Lamsa Translation
But the fig tree said to them, I am not going to leave my sweetness and my good fruit, to be abominated for reigning over the trees.

Good News Translation
But the fig tree answered, ‘In order to govern you, I would have to stop producing my good sweet fruit.'

Literal Translation
And the fig said to them, Should I cease from my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to hold sway over the trees?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But the fygge tre sayde vnto the: Shal I leaue my swetnes and my good frute, and go to be puft vp aboue the trees?

American Standard Version
But the fig-tree said unto them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?

Bible in Basic English
But the fig-tree said to them, Am I to give up my sweet taste and my good fruit and go waving over the trees?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The figge tree aunswered them: should I forsake my sweetnes, and my good fruite, and go to be promoted ouer the trees?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
But the fig-tree said unto them: Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruitage, and go to hold sway over the trees?

King James Version (1611)
But the Figge tree saide vnto them, Should I forsake my sweetenesse, and my good fruit, and goe to be promoted ouer the trees?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But the fig-tree said to them, Shall I leave my sweetness an my good fruits, and go to be promoted over the trees?

English Revised Version
But the fig tree said unto them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?

Berean Standard Bible
But the fig tree replied, 'Should I stop giving my sweetness and my good fruit, to hold sway over the trees?'

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Which answeride to hem, Whether Y may forsake my swetnesse and swetteste fruytis, and go that Y be auaunsid among othere trees?

Young's Literal Translation
And the fig saith to them, Have I ceased from my sweetness, and my good increase, that I have gone to stagger over the trees?

Update Bible Version
But the fig-tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?

Webster's Bible Translation
But the fig-tree said to them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?

World English Bible
But the fig tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?

New King James Version
But the fig tree said to them, "Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit, And go to sway over trees?'

New Living Translation
But the fig tree also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing my sweet fruit just to wave back and forth over the trees?'

New Life Bible
But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my good sweet fruit, and go to wave over the trees?'

New Revised Standard
But the fig tree answered them, ‘Shall I stop producing my sweetness and my delicious fruit, and go to sway over the trees?'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But the fig-tree said unto them, Should I leave my sweetness, and mine excellent increase, - and go to wave to and fro, over the trees?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And it answered them: Can I leave my sweetness, and my delicious fruits, and go to be promoted among the other trees?

Revised Standard Version
But the fig tree said to them, 'Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to sway over the trees?'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But the fig tree said to them, 'Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?'

Contextual Overview

⁷ Toe hulle dit aan Jotam meedeel, het hy op die top van die berg Gerísim gaan staan en sy stem verhef en uitgeroep en aan hulle gesê: Luister na my, burgers van Sigem, sodat God na julle kan luister. ⁸ Eendag het die bome gegaan om 'n koning oor hulle te salf en aan die olyfboom gesê: Wees koning oor ons! ⁹But Michael the archangel, when he, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" ¹⁰But 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. ¹¹Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have poured themselves into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. ¹²These 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; ¹³wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. ¹⁴But Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied about these men, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, ¹⁵to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." ¹⁶These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of their own benefit.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Luke 13:6, Luke 13:7

Cross-References

Genesis 9:21
And he drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.

Genesis 9:22
Then Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.

Genesis 9:23
But Shem and Japheth took the garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned backward, so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

Isaiah 54:9
"For this is like the days of Noah to Me,When I swore that the waters of NoahWould not overflow the earth again;So I have sworn that I will not be furious with youNor will I rebuke you.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the fig tree said unto them,.... Rejecting the offer made:

should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit; for such the fruit of the fig tree is, sweet and good: so Julian d the emperor shows from various authors, Aristophanes, Herodotus, and Homer, that nothing is sweeter than figs, excepting honey, and that no kind of fruit is better, and, where they are, no good is wanting:

and go to be promoted over the trees? the same is designed by this as the former.

d Opera, par. 2. ep. 24. Sarapioni, p. 142.

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 9:11. But the fig tree said - Should I forsake my sweetness — The fruit of the fig tree is the sweetest or most luscious of all fruits. A full-ripe fig, in its own climate, has an indescribable sweetness; so much so that it is almost impossible to eat it, till a considerable time after it is gathered from the trees, and has gone through an artificial preparation. This I have often noticed.