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One day the trees went out
    to anoint a king over themselves.
So they said to the olive tree,
    ‘Reign over us.’
But the olive tree answered them,
    ‘Must I give up my rich oil,
    whereby gods and human beings are honored,[a]
    and go off to hold sway over the trees?’
10 Then the trees said to the fig tree,
    ‘Come; you reign over us!’

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Footnotes

  1. 9:9 Whereby gods and human beings are honored: olive oil had a variety of cultic uses (e.g., Lv 2:1, 6, 15; 24:2), and it was also used in the consecration of priests and kings for office (e.g., Ex 30:25, 30; 1 Sm 10:1; 16:13).