¹ And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,

² Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Which is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are seventy persons, should reign over you, or that one should reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.

³ And his mother's brethren spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother.

⁴ And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light persons, who followed him.

⁵ And he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, upon one stone; notwithstanding, yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

⁶ And all the men of Shechem assembled, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

⁷ And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice and cried, and said to them, Hearken to me, ye men of Shechem, that God may Hearken to you.

⁸ The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive-tree, Reign thou over us.

⁹ But the olive-tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

¹⁰ And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, and reign over us.

¹¹ But the fig-tree said to them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?

¹² Then said the trees to the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.

¹³ And the vine said to them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

¹⁴ Then said all the trees to the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.

¹⁵ And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

¹⁶ Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands:

¹⁷ (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you from the hand of Midian:

¹⁸ And ye have risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother:)

¹⁹ If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you:

²⁰ But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech.

²¹ And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

²² When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel,

²³ Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:

²⁴ That the cruelty done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother who slew them, and upon the men of Shechem who aided him in the killing of his brethren.

²⁵ And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him on the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech.

²⁶ And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren, and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him.

²⁷ And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

²⁸ And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him; is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?

²⁹ And would that this people were under my hand! then would I remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thy army, and come out.

³⁰ And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.

³¹ And he sent messengers to Abimelech privately, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed, and his brethren, are come to Shechem; and behold, they fortify the city against thee.

³² Now therefore rise by night, thou, and the people that are with thee, and lie in wait in the field:

³³ And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun hath risen, thou shalt rise early, and attack the city: and behold, when he and the people that are with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.

³⁴ And Abimelech rose, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies.

³⁵ And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait.

³⁶ And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said to him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.

³⁷ And Gaal spoke again, and said, See, there come people down by the middle of the land, and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim.

³⁸ Then said Zebul to him, Where is now thy mouth, with which thou saidst, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? are not these the people that thou hast despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them.

³⁹ And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

⁴⁰ And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.

⁴¹ And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren, that they should not dwell in Shechem.

⁴² And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech.

⁴³ And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field, and looked, and behold, the people had come out of the city; and he rose up against them, and smote them.

⁴⁴ And Abimelech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and slew them.

⁴⁵ And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that were in it, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into a hold of the house of the god Berith.

⁴⁷ And it was told to Abimelech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were assembled.

⁴⁸ And Abimelech ascended mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said to the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.

⁴⁹ And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them: so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

⁵⁰ Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.

⁵¹ But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it after them, and ascended to the top of the tower.

⁵² And Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and came near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

⁵³ And a certain woman cast a piece of of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and broke his skull.

⁵⁴ Then he called hastily to the young man his armor-bearer, and said to him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place.

⁵⁶ Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in slaying his seventy brethren:

⁵⁷ And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

¹ It happened, that when he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples."

² He said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven.

³ Give us day by day our daily bread.

⁴ Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'"

⁵ He said to them, "Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, 'friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,'

⁷ and he from within will answer and say, 'Don't bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give it to you'?

⁸ I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.

⁹ "I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.

¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.

¹¹ "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won't give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

¹² Or if he asks for an egg, he won't give him a scorpion, will he?

¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

¹⁴ He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. It happened, when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled.

¹⁵ But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons."

¹⁶ Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷ But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls.

¹⁸ If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

¹⁹ But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore will they be your judges.

²⁰ But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.

²¹ "When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe.

²² But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.

²³ "He that is not with me is against me. He who doesn't gather with me scatters.

²⁴ The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says, 'I will turn back to my house from which I came out.'

²⁵ When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.

²⁶ Then he goes, and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

²⁷ It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!"

²⁸ But he said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it."

²⁹ When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, "This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet.

³⁰ For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of Man be to this generation.

³¹ The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, one greater than Solomon is here.

³² The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, one greater than Jonah is here.

³³ "No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light.

³⁴ The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness.

³⁵ Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn't darkness.

³⁶ If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light."

³⁷ Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table.

³⁸ When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner.

³⁹ The Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.

⁴⁰ You foolish ones, didn't he who made the outside make the inside also?

⁴¹ But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.

⁴² But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don't know it."

⁴⁵ One of the lawyers answered him, "Teacher, in saying this you insult us also."

⁴⁶ He said, "Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens that are difficult to carry, and you yourselves won't even lift one finger to help carry those burdens.

⁴⁷ Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

⁴⁸ So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹ Therefore also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute,

⁵⁰ that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.' Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

⁵² Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn't enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered."

⁵³ As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him;

⁵⁴ lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.