“So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king!’ ¹ 

“The trees were determined to go out ¹  and choose a king for themselves. ²  They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ ³ 

But the fig tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my sweet figs, my excellent fruit, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

“So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king!’ ¹ 

But the olive tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and men, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

“So all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘You come and be our king!’ ¹ 

Eglon formed alliances with ¹  the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees.

But the grapevine said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my wine, which makes gods and men so happy, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

Gaal again said, “Look, men are coming down from the very center ¹  of the land. A unit ²  is coming by way of the Oak Tree of the Diviners.” ³ 

The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to choose ¹  me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches! ²  Otherwise ³  may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

She would sit ¹  under the Date Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel ²  in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites would come up to her to have their disputes settled. ³ 

Now Heber the Kenite had moved away ¹  from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He lived ²  near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.

He and all his men ¹  went up on Mount Zalmon. He ²  took an ax ³  in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it ⁴  on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” ⁵ 

The Lord’s angelic messenger ¹  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ²  was threshing ³  wheat in a winepress ⁴  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ⁵ 

Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah, ¹  located in the Negev. ²  They went and lived with the people of Judah. ³ 

Gideon went and prepared a young goat, ¹  along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food ²  to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.

All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar ¹  in Shechem.

Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. ¹  Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.”

When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw ¹  the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar.

The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so we can execute him! ¹  He pulled down the Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.”