The subject was a son of Gideon by a concubine at Shechem. After his father's death he went to his mother's kin and persuaded the men of Shechem to make him their ruler, arguing it was better to be led by one than by seventy.

They gave him silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which he hired worthless men, and he went to his father's house and killed his seventy brothers on one stone. Only Jotham, the youngest, escaped by hiding.

Jotham stood on Mount Gerizim and told the parable of the trees that sought a king, ending with a curse: if they had dealt honorably, let them rejoice, but if not, let fire come out from the subject and from Shechem to consume each other.

After three years God sent an evil spirit between the subject and the men of Shechem, and they dealt treacherously with him. He destroyed the city, sowed it with salt, and burned the tower where its people had fled.

Coming against Thebez, he pressed to burn its tower, but a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and crushed his skull. He begged his armor-bearer to run him through, that none say a woman killed him. So God repaid his wickedness and the curse of Jotham was fulfilled.