⁴ And more than this, Absalom said, If only I was made judge in the land, so that every man who has any cause or question might come to me, and I would give a right decision for him!

²⁹ If only I had authority over this people! I would put Abimelech out of the way, and I would say to Abimelech, Make your army strong, and come out.

¹ Now Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem to his mother's family, and said to them and to all the family of his mother's father,

² Say now in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem, Is it better for you to be ruled by all the seventy sons of Jerubbaal or by one man only? And keep in mind that I am your bone and your flesh.

³ So his mother's family said all this about him in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem: and their hearts were turned to Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother.

⁴ And they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech got the support of a number of uncontrolled and good-for-nothing persons.

⁵ Then he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and put his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, to death on the same stone; however, Jotham, the youngest, kept himself safe by going away to a secret place.

⁶ Do not take glory for yourself before the king, and do not put yourself in the place of the great:

² Let another man give you praise, and not your mouth; one who is strange to you, and not your lips.

⁸ When you get a request to come to a feast, do not take the best seat, for a more important man than you may be coming,

⁹ And then the giver of the feast will come to you and say, Give your place to this man; and you, with shame, will have to take the lowest seat.

¹⁰ But when you come, go and take the lowest seat, so that when the giver of the feast comes, he may say to you, Friend, come up higher; and then you will have honour in the eyes of all the others who are there.

¹¹ For every man who gives himself a high place will be put down, but he who takes a low place will be lifted up.

¹⁹ Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him.