Judges 9:12

Wycliffe Bible

Also `the trees spaken to the vyne, Come thou, and comaunde to 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.

King James Version (1611)
Then saide the trees vnto the Uine, Come thou, and reigne ouer vs.

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.'

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 whanne this thing was teld to Joathan, he yede, and stood in the cop of the hil Garisym, and cried with `vois reisid, and seide, Ye men of Sichem, here me, so that God here you. <sup>8</sup> Trees yeden to anoynte a kyng on hem; and tho seiden to the olyue tre, Comaunde thou to vs. <sup>9</sup> Whiche answeride, Whether Y may forsake my fatnesse, which bothe Goddis and men vsen, and come, that Y be auaunsid among trees? <sup>10</sup> And the trees seiden to the fige tree, Come thou, and take the rewme on vs. <sup>11</sup> Which answeride to hem, Whether Y may forsake my swetnesse and swetteste fruytis, and go that Y be auaunsid among othere trees? <sup>12</sup> Also `the trees spaken to the vyne, Come thou, and comaunde to vs. ¹³ Which answeride, Whether Y may forsake my wyn, that gladith God and men, and be auaunsid among othere trees? ¹⁴ And alle trees seiden to the ramne, ether theue thorn, Come thou, and be lord on vs. ¹⁵ Whiche answeride to hem, If ye maken me verili kyng to you, come ye, and reste vndur my schadewe; sotheli, if ye nylen, fier go out of the ramne, and deuoure the cedris of the Liban. ¹⁶ Now therfor if riytfuli and without synne `ye han maad Abymelech kyng on you, and ye han do wel with Jerobaal, and with his hows, and ye han yolde while to the benefices of hym,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 9:17
And God seide to Noe, This schal be a signe of boond of pees, which Y made bitwixe me and ech fleisch on erthe.

Genesis 9:23
And sotheli Sem and Jafeth puttiden a mentil on her schuldris, and thei yeden bacward, and hileden the schameful membris of her fadir, and her faces weren turned awei, and thei sien not the priuy membris of her fadir.

Genesis 9:25
he seide, Cursid be the child Canaan, he schal be seruaunt of seruauntis to hise britheren.

Genesis 9:26
And Noe seide, Blessid be the Lord God of Sem,

Genesis 9:28
Forsothe Noe lyuede aftir the greet flood thre hundrid and fifti yeer;

Genesis 17:11
and ye schulen circumside the fleisch of youre mannes yeerd, that it be in to a signe of boond of pees bytwixe me and you.

Exodus 12:13
Forsothe blood schal be to you in to signe, in the housis in whiche ye schulen be; and Y schal se the blood, and Y schal passe you; nether a wounde distriynge schal be in you, whanne Y schal smyte the lond of Egipt.

Exodus 13:16
Therfor it schal be as a signe in thin hond, and as a thing hangid for mynde bifore thin iyen, for in a strong hond the Lord ledde vs out of Egipt.

Joshua 2:12
Now therfor swere ye to me bi the Lord God, that as Y dide merci with you, so and ye do with the hows of my fadir; and yyue ye to me a veri signe,

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.