&#8220;The following tribes<n id="1" /> must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

When the <sc>Lordsc> your God brings you into the land you are to possess, you must pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">When Jotham heard the news,<n id="1" /> he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you!p>

All the people,<n id="1" /> rulers,<n id="2" /> leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc>. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there.<n id="3" /> Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony.<n id="4" />