if then you have done truly and faithfully with Jerubbaal, and with his house this day, [then] rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice over you.

And Jotham fled and ran away, and went as far as Beer, and dwelt there out of the way of his brother Abimelech.

And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shecem dealt treacherously with the house of Abimelech;

And the men of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the top of the mountains, and robbed everyone who passed by them on the way. And it was reported to Abimelech the king.

And they went out into the field, and gathered their grapes, and trod them, and made merry; and they brought [the grapes] into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

If only this people were under my hand! Then would I remove Abimelech, and I would say to him, Multiply your host, and come out.

And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and behold, they have besieged the city against you.

And it shall come to pass in the morning at sunrise, [that] you shall rise up early and draw toward the city; and behold, he and the people with him will come forth against you, and you shall do to him according to your power.

And Gaal the son of Ebed went forth, and stood by the door of the gate of the city. And Abimelech and the people with him rose up from the ambush.

And Gaal continued to speak and said, Behold, a people comes down westward from the part bordering on the middle of the land, and another company comes by the way of Diviners' Terebinth Tree.

And Gaal went forth before the men of Shechem, and set the battle in array against Abimelech.

And Abimelech entered into Aruma, and Zebul cast out Gaal and his brothers, so that they should not dwell in Shechem.

And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and formed an ambush in the field. And he looked, and behold, the people went forth out of the city, and he rose up against them, and struck them.

And Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and took the city, and killed the people that were in it, and destroyed the city, and sowed it with salt.

And it was reported to Abimelech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.

And every man likewise cut down a branch, and went after Abimelech, and laid them against the place of gathering, and burned the place of gathering over them with fire. And they died, even all the men of the tower of Sicima, about a thousand men and women.

And there was a strong tower in the midst of the city; and all the men and the women of the city fled there, and shut [the door] behind them, and went up on the roof of the tower.

And a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon the head of Abimelech, and broke his skull.

And the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, and they went each to his place.

And all the wickedness of the men of Shechem God repaid upon their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

And he made a decree in the twelfth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and cast lots daily and monthly, to slay in one day the race of Mordecai. And the lot fell on the fourteenth [day] of the month, which is Adar.

If it seems good to the king, let him make a decree to destroy them, and I will remit into the king's treasury ten thousand talents of silver.

And the king said to Haman, Keep the silver, and treat the nation as you will.

And [the message] was sent by posts throughout the kingdom of Artaxerxes, to utterly destroy the race of the Jews on the first day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and to plunder their goods. And the following is the copy of the letter: The great King Artaxerxes writes thus to the rulers and inferior governors of a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India even to Ethiopia, who hold authority under [him]. Ruling over many nations, and having obtained dominion over the whole world, I was minded, (not elated by the confidence of power but ever conducting [myself] with great moderation and with gentleness) to make the lives of [my] subjects continually tranquil, desiring both to maintain the kingdom quite and orderly to [its] utmost limits, and to restore the peace desired by all men. But when I had inquired of my counselors how this should be brought to pass, Haman, who excels in sound judgment among us, and has been manifestly well inclined without wavering and with unshaken fidelity, and has obtained the second post in the kingdom, informed us that a certain ill-disposed people is mixed up with all the tribes throughout the world, opposed in their laws to every [other] nation, and continually neglecting the commands of the kings, so that the united government blamelessly administered by us is not quietly established. Having then conceived that this nation alone [of all others] is continually set in opposition to every man, introducing as a change a foreign code of laws, and injuriously plotting to accomplish the worst of evils against our interests, and against the happy establishment of the monarchy; we have accordingly appointed those who are signified to you in the letters written by Haman, who is set over [the public] affairs and is our second governor, to utterly destroy them all with their wives and children by the swords of the enemies, without pitying or sparing any, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month (which is Adar) of the present year; that the people aforetime and now ill-disposed [to us] having been violently consigned to death in one day, may hereafter secure to us continually a well- constituted and quiet [state of] affairs.

And the business was hastened, and [that] at Susa. And the king and Haman began to drink, but the city was troubled.

And they shall no longer tell a fool to rule, and your servants shall no longer say, Be silent.

You have heard the blasphemy! How does it appear to you?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.