Judges 9:14

Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	וַיֹּאמְר֥וּ vai.yo.me.Ru	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
trees	הָעֵצִ֖ים ha.'e.Tzim	H6086	a tree (from its firmness) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
bramble	הָאָטָ֑ד ha.'a.Tad	H329	a thorn-tree (especially the buckthorn) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Come	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
reign	מְלָךְ me.lokh-	H4427	to reign · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

2 Kings 14:9 And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon,…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 9:7-21

We have here the only testimony that appears to have been borne against the wicked confederacy of Abimelech and the men of Shechem. It was a sign they had provoked God to depart from them that neither any prophet was sent nor any remarkable judgment, to awaken this stupid people, and to stop the progress of this threatening mischief. Only Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, who by a special providence escaped the common ruin of his family (Jdg 9:5), dealt plainly with the Shechemites, and his speech, which is here recorded, shows him to have been a man of such great ingenuity and wisdom, and really such an accomplished gentleman, that we cannot but the more lament the fall of Gideon's sons.…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 9:13

wine, which cheereth God and man--not certainly in the same manner. God might be said to be "cheered" by it, when the sacrifices were accepted, as He is said also to be honored by oil (Jdg 9:9).

John Gill on Judges 9:14

Then said all the trees unto the bramble,.... Perceiving they could not prevail upon any of the useful and fruitful trees to take the government of them, they unite in a request to a bramble, scarce to be called a tree, and however a very barren and fruitless one, yea, hurtful and distressing: come thou, and reign over us; this respects Abimelech, and describes him as a mean person, the son of a concubine, as having no goodness in him, not any good qualifications to recommend him to government, but all the reverse, cruel, tyrannical, and oppressive; and this exposes the folly of the Shechemites, and their eagerness to have a king at any rate, though ever so mean and despicable, useless and…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 9:7-15

When Jotham, who had escaped after the murder, was told of the election which had taken place, he went to the top of Mount Gerizim, which rises as a steep wall of rock to the height of about 800 feet above the valley of Shechem on the south side of the city (Rob. iii. p. 96), and cried with a loud voice, "Hearken to me, ye lords of Shechem, and God will also hearken to you." After this appeal, which calls to mind the language of the prophets, he uttered aloud a fable of the trees which wanted to anoint a king over them-a fable of true prophetic significance, and the earliest with which we are acquainted (Jdg 9:8-15). To the appeal which is made to them in succession to become king over the t…

The Church Fathers

Dark is the passage in which the bush is introduced, that is, a thorny tree, saying in an apologue to all the trees that gather around it, so that it reigns over them: If you really anoint me to reign upon you, come, trust in my protection; and if not, let fire come out of the bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon (Jc 9,15). The meaning is obscure, but, making a proper separation, it becomes clear. Do not read like this: And if fire did not come out of the bush. You have to separate the phrase as follows: And if not, and then continue: that fire comes out of the bush. That is, if you do not trust in my protection, or, if you do not truly anoint me to rule over you, let fire come out of the bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon. It is, then, threatening words of those who say what they could do if they did not want her to reign over them. But as it does not say: fire will come out of the bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon, but: that fire comes out and devours, the meaning becomes darker than if only the separation of words were hidden. Indeed, it is a threat more vehement and, in a way, a greater effectiveness if one said: If you do not want to do what I want, that my anger falls with all its force on you, that is to say, already fall with force Why do I keep it? What if I said: my wrath will fall on you, threatening a sorrow that has to come with a kind of promise.
— Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 44 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Atad — Buckthorn, a place where Joseph and his brethren, when on their way from Egypt to Hebron with the remains of their father Jacob, made for seven days a “great and very sore lamentation.” On this…
Bramble — (1.) Hebrew atad, Judg. 9:14; rendered “thorn,” Ps. 58:9. The LXX. and Vulgate render by rhamnus, a thorny shrub common in Palestine, resembling the hawthorn. (2.) Hebrew hoah, Isa. 34:13 (R.V.…
Fable — Applied in the New Testament to the traditions and speculations, “cunningly devised fables”, of the Jews on religious questions (1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:4; Titus 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16). In such…
Allegory · Of the trees seeking a king — Of the trees seeking a king
Bramble · Allegory of — Allegory of
Jotham · .Rebukes the Shechemites with the parable about the trees — .Rebukes the Shechemites with the parable about the trees
Parables · Of the trees — Of the trees
Pride · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Sarcasm · .By Jotham — .By Jotham

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 9:7-21

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 9:13

John Gill on Judges 9:14

Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 9:7-15

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Judges 9:7-21

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 9:13

John Gill on Judges 9:14

Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 9:7-15

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Rashi on Judges 9:14