Księga Sędziów 9:15

Nowe Przymierze Zaremba

A głóg tak odpowiedział drzewom: Jeśli naprawdę tego chcecie i namaścicie mnie na króla, możecie schronić się w mym cieniu. Lecz jeśli nie, to ogień z głogu buchnie i strawi cedry Libanu.

Parallel Translations

Biblia Brzeska (1563)
Tedy odpowiedziało ciernię drzewom: Jesliże już prawdziwie chcecie wy mnie pomazać za króla nad sobą, pódźcież a ufajcie w cieniu moim, a jesliż nie chcecie, tedy wynidzie ogień z ciernia a popali cedry libańskie.

Biblia Gdańska (1632)
Tedy odpowiedział oset drzewom: jeźli wy prawdziwie chcecie pomazać mię za króla nad sobą, pójdźcież, a odpoczywajcie pod cieniem moim, a jeźliż nie, niech wynijdzie ogień z ostu, a spali Cedry Libańskie.

Nowa Biblia Gdańska (2012)
A cierń odpowiedział drzewom: Jeśli rzeczywiście chcecie mnie namaścić na swojego króla, przyjdźcie i schrońcie się pod mój cień. A jeśli nie – wtedy z ciernia wyjdzie ogień i pochłonie cedry Libanu.

Biblia Tysiąclecia
Tedy odpowiedział oset drzewom: jeźli wy prawdziwie chcecie pomazać mię za króla nad sobą, pójdźcież, a odpoczywajcie pod cieniem moim, a jeźliż nie, niech wynijdzie ogień z ostu, a spali Cedry Libańskie.

Uwspółcześniona Biblia Gdańska
A oset odpowiedział drzewom: Jeśli naprawdę chcecie namaścić mnie na króla nad sobą, chodźcie i chrońcie się w moim cieniu. A jeśli nie, niech ogień wyjdzie z ostu i spali cedry libańskie.

Biblia Warszawska
A głóg odpowiedział drzewom: Jeżeli naprawdę chcecie mnie namaścić na swojego króla, Chodźcie, schrońcie się w moim cieniu. A jeżeli nie, to niech wyjdzie ogień z głogu I strawi cedry Libanu.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

shadow: Isaiah 30:2, Daniel 4:12, Hosea 14:7, Matthew 13:32

let fire: Judges 9:20, Judges 9:49, Numbers 21:28, Isaiah 1:31, Ezekiel 19:14

the cedars: 2 Kings 14:9, Psalms 104:16, Isaiah 2:13, Isaiah 37:24, Ezekiel 31:3

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:8 - therefore Judges 9:23 - God Judges 9:44 - rushed forward Judges 9:53 - woman Psalms 91:1 - under Ecclesiastes 7:12 - a defence Song of Solomon 2:3 - I sat Isaiah 16:3 - make Ezekiel 28:18 - therefore

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the bramble said unto the trees,.... Accepting of their offer at once:

if ye in trust anoint me king over you; suspecting they were not hearty and cordial in their choice and call to the kingly authority over them:

then come and put your trust in my shadow; promising protection to them as his subjects, requiring their confidence in him, and boasting of the good they should receive from him, as is common with wicked princes at their first entering on their office; but, alas! what shadow or protection can there be in a bramble? if a man attempts: to put himself under it for shelter, he will find it will be of no use to him, but harmful, since, the nearer and closer he comes to it, the more he will be scratched and torn by it:

and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon; signifying, that if they did not heartily submit to his government, and put confidence in him, and prove faithful to him, they should smart for it, and feel his wrath and vengeance, even the greatest men among them, comparable to the cedars of Lebanon; for thorns and brambles catching fire, as they easily do, or fire being put to them, as weak as they are, and placed under the tallest and strongest cedars, will soon fetch them down to the ground; and the words of the bramble, or Abimelech, proved true to the Shechemites, he is made to speak in 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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 9:15. Come and put your trust in any shadow — The vain boast of the would-be sovereign; and of the man who is seeking to be put into power by the suffrages of the people. All promise, no performance.

Let fire come out of the bramble — A strong catachresis. The bramble was too low to give shelter to any tree; and so far from being able to consume others, that the smallest fire will reduce it to ashes, and that in the shortest time. Hence the very transitory mirth of fools is said to be like the cracking of thorns under a pot. Abimelech was the bramble; and the ceders of Lebanon, all the nobles and people of Israel. Could they therefore suppose that such a low-born, uneducated, cruel, and murderous man, could be a proper protector, or a humane governor? He who could imbrue his hands in the blood of his brethren in order to get into power, was not likely to stop at any means to retain that power when possessed. If, therefore, they took him for their king, they might rest assured that desolation and blood would mark the whole of his reign.

The condensed moral of the whole fable is this: Weak, worthless, and wicked men, will ever be foremost to thrust themselves into power; and, in the end, to bring ruin upon themselves, and on the unhappy people over whom they preside.