Judges 9:2-4

Contemporary English Version

² and told them to say to the leaders of Shechem, “Do you think it would be good to have all 70 of Gideon's sons ruling us? Wouldn't you rather have just one man be king? Abimelech would make a good king, and he's related to us.”

³ Abimelech's uncles talked it over with the leaders of Shechem who agreed, “Yes, it would be better for one of our relatives to be king.” ⁴ Then they gave Abimelech 70 pieces^[a] of silver from the temple of their god Baal Berith.^[b]

Abimelech used the silver to hire a gang of rough soldiers who would do anything for money.