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14 “So all the trees told the bramble bush,
    ‘Hey you! Come and reign over us!’
15 Then the bramble bush replied to the trees,
    ‘If you really are consecrating[a] me to rule you,
        come and put your confidence in my shade;
    but if not, may fire spring out from the bramble bush
        and burn up the cedars[b] of Lebanon…’

16 “Now then, if you have been acting in good faith and integrity by making a king out of Abimelech, if you have treated Jerubbaal and his household appropriately by acting toward him as he deserved[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 9:15 Or anointing
  2. Judges 9:15 I.e. a genus of coniferous evergreen in the family Pinaceae; and so throughout the book
  3. Judges 9:16 Lit. as his hands acted

14 “Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.’

15 “The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade;(A) but if not, then let fire come out(B) of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’(C)

16 “Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves?

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