Numbers -- Joshua 11 | Christianscript

Black Ink -- Bible Pages/Text
Blue Ink--Understand & Pray Numbers 1-36

Gideoni -- of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; of Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran; of Gad, Eliasaph the sons of Deuel -- of Naphtali, Ahira the sons of Enan. These are the ones called of the assembly the chieftains of the tribes of their fathers. They are the heads of the 1000s of Israel. So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by names. And they congregated all the assembly on the 1st day of the 2nd month, that they might have their descent (offspring) acknowledged as regards their families in the house of their fathers, by number of the names, from 20 years old and upward, head by head of them, just as God had commanded Moses -- and proceeded to register them in the wilderness of Sinai. And the sons of Reuben, Israel's 1stborn, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers, came to be by number of their names, head by head of them, all the males from 20 years old and upward, everyone going out of the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Reuben, 46,500. Of the sons of Simeon, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers, those registered ones of his by the number of names, head by head of them, all the males from 20 years old upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Simeon were 59,300. Of the sons of Gad, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Gad were 45,650. Of the sons of Judah, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Judah were 74,600. Of the sons of Issachar, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Issachar were 54,400. Of sons of Zebulun, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400. Of the sons of Joseph -- of the sons of Ephraim, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500. Of the sons of Manasseh, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200. Of the sons of Benjamin, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward

everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400. Of the tribe of Dan, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Dan were 62,700. Of the sons of Asher, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers by the number of names by from 20 years and upward, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Asher were 41,500. Of the sons of Naphtali, their births according to their families in the house of their fathers, those registered ones of his by the number of names from 20 years and older, everyone going out to the army, those registered of them of the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400 -- These are the ones registered, whom Moses registered, together with Aaron and the chieftains of Israel, 12 men. They represented one each house of his fathers. And all those registered of the sons of Israel according to the house of their fathers from 20 years old and upward, everyone going out to the army in Israel, came to be, yes all those registered came to be 603,550. However the Levites according to the tribe of their fathers did not get registered in among them. Accordingly God spoke to Moses, saying -- "Only the tribe of Levi you must not register, and the sum of them you must not take in among the sons of Israel. And you yourself appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony and over all its utensils and over everything that belongs to it. They themselves will carry the tabernacle and all its utensils, and they themselves will minister at it -- and around the tabernacle they are to camp. And whenever the tabernacle is setting out, the Levites should take it down -- and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites should set it up -- and any stranger coming near should be put to death. "And the sons of Israel must encamp each with reference to his camp, and each man by his 3-tribe division by their armies. And the Levites should encamp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that no indignation (resentment, offense) may arise against the assembly of the sons of Israel -- and the Levites must keep the service due to the tabernacle of the testimony." And the sons of Israel proceeded to do according to all that God had commanded Moses. They did just so. 2 God now spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying -- "The sons of Israel should encamp, each man by his 3-tribe division, by the signs for the house of their fathers. Round about in front of the tent of meeting they should encamp. "And those camping eastward toward the sunrising will be the 3-tribe division of Judah in their armies, and the chieftain for the sons of Judah is Nashon the son of Amminadab. And his army and the ones registered of them are -- 74,600. And those camping alongside him will be the tribes of tribe of Issachar, and the chieftain for the sons of Issachar is Nethanel the son of

Zuar. And his army and his registered ones are 54,400. And the tribe of Zebulun -- and the chieftain for the sons of Zebulun is Eliab the son of Helon. And his army and his registered ones are 57,400. "All the registered ones of the camp of Judah are 186,400 in their armies. They should set out 1st. "The 3-tribe division of the camp of Reuben will be toward to the south in their armies, and the chieftain for the sons of Reuben is Elizur the son of Shedeur. All his army and his registered ones are 46,500. And those camping alongside him will be the tribe of Simeon, and the chieftain for the sons of Simeon is Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. And his army and the ones registered of them are 59,300. And tribe of Gad, and the chieftain for the sons of Gad is Eliasaph the son of Reuel. And his army of and the ones registered are 45,650. "All the registered ones of the camp of Reuben are 151,450 in their armies. They should set out 2nd. "When the tent of meeting must set out, the camp of the Levites will be in the middle of the camps. "Just as they should encamp, so they should set out, each one at his place, according to their 3-tribe divisions. "The 3-tribe division of the camp of Ephraim in their armies toward the west, and the chieftain for the sons of Ephraim is Elishama the son of Ammihud. And his army and the ones registered of them are 40,500. And alongside him will be the tribe of Manasseh, and the chieftain for the sons of Manasseh is Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. And his army and the ones registered of them are 32,200. And the tribe of Benjamin, and the chieftain for the sons of Benjamin is Abidan the son Gideoni. And his army and the ones registered of them are 35,400. "All the registered ones of the camp of Ephraim are 108,100 in their armies. They should set out 3rd. "The 3-tribe division of the camp of Dan will be toward the north in their armies, and chieftain for the sons of Dan is Ahiezer the son of Amminshaddai. And his army and the ones registered of them are 62,700. And the ones camping alongside him will be the tribe of Asher, and the chieftain for the sons of Asher is Pagiel the son of Ochran. And his army and the ones registered ones of them are 41,500. And the tribe of Naphtali -- and the chieftain of sons of Naphtali is Ahira the son of Enan. And his army and the ones registered ones are 53,400. "All the registered ones of the camp of Dan are 157,600. They should set out last -- according to their 3-tribe divisions." These were the registered ones of the sons of Israel according to the house of their fathers -- all the registered ones of the camps in their armies were 603,550.

But the Levites did not get registered in among the sons of Israel, just as God had commanded Moses. And the sons of Israel proceeded to do according to all that God had commanded Moses. That is the way they encamped in their 3-tribe divisions, and that is the way they set out, each one in his families with regard to the house of their fathers. 3 Now these were the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that God spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai. And these were the names of Aaron's sons -- the 1stborn Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. These were the names of Aarons' sons, the anointed priests whose hands had been filled with power to act as priests. However, Nadab and Abihu died before God when they offered illegitimate fire before God in the wilderness of Sinai -- and they did not come to have any sons. But Eleazar and Ithamar continued to act as priests along with Aaron their father. And God proceeded to speak to Moses, saying -- "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and you must stand them before Aaron the priest, and they must minister to him. And they must keep their obligation to him and their obligation to all the assembly before the tent of meeting in discharging the service of the tabernacle. And they must take care of all the utensils of the tent of meeting, even the obligation of the sons of Israel in discharging the service of tabernacle. And you must give the Levites to Aaron and his sons. They are given ones, given to him from the sons of Israel. And you should appoint Aaron and his sons, and they must take care of their priesthood -- and any stranger coming near should be put to death." And God continued to speak to Moses, saying -- "As for me, look! I do take the Levites from among the sons of Israel in place of all the 1stborn opening the womb of the sons of Israel-- and the Levites must become mine. For every 1stborn is mine. In the day that I struck every 1stborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified to myself every 1stborn in Israel from man to beast. They should become mine. I am God. And God spoke further to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying --"Register the sons of Levi according to the house of their fathers by their families. Every male from 1 month old and upward you should register. And Moses began to register them at the order of God, just as he had been commanded. And these came to be the sons of Levi by their names --Gershon and Kohath and Merari. Now these were the names of the sons of Gershon by their families-- Libni and Shimei. And the sons of Kohath by their families were Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. And the sons of Merari by their families were Mahli and Mushi. These were the families of the Levites according to the house of their fathers.

Of Gershon there were the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites. These were the families of the Gershonites. Their registered ones were by number of all males from a month and upward. Their registered ones were 7,500.

The families of Gershonites were behind the tabernacle. They were encamped to the west. And the chieftain of paternal house for the Gershonites were Eliasaph the son of Lael. And the obligation of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting was the tabernacle and the tent, its covering and the screen of the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the hangings of the courtyard and the screen of the entrance of the courtyard that is round about the tabernacle and the altar, and its tent cords, for all its service. And of Kohath there were families of the Amramites and the family of the Izharites and the familty of Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites. These were the families of the Kohathites. Among the number of all the males from 1 month and upward there were 8,600, taking care of the obligation to the holy place. The families of sons of Kohath were encamped on the side of the tabernacle to the south. And the chieftain of the paternal house for the families of Kohathites was Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. And their obligation was the Ark and the table and the lampstand and the altars and utensils of the holy place with which they would minister and the screen, all its service. And the chieftain of the chieftains of the Levites was Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, who had the oversight of those taking care of the obligation to the holy place. Of Merari there were the families of Mahlites and Mushites. These were the families of Merari. And their registered ones by the number of all the males from 1 month upward were 6,200. And the chieftain of the paternal house for the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were encamped on the side of the tabernacle toward the north. And the oversight for which the sons of Merari were obligated was over the panel frames of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its socket pedestals and all its utensils and all its service, and the pillars of the courtyard round about and their socket pedestals and their tent pins and their tent cords. And those camping before the tabernacle toward the east, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrising, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, those taking care of the obligation to the sanctuary as the obligation for the sons of Israel. And any stranger coming near would be put to death. All the registered ones of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron registered at the order of God by their families, all the males from 1 month old upward, were 22,000. Then God said to Moses -- "Register all the 1stborn males of the sons of Israel from 1 month old upward, and take the number of their names. And you must take the Levites for me -- I am God -- in place of all the 1stborn among the sons of Israel, and the domestic animals of the Levites in place of all the 1tborn among domestic animals of the sons of Israel." And Moses proceeded, just as God commanded him, to register all the 1stborn among the sons of Israel. And all the 1stborn males by the number of the names from 1 month old upward of their registered ones came

to be 22,273. And God continued to speak to Moses, saying--"Take the Levites in place of all the 1stborn among the sons of Israel, and the domestic animals of the Levites in place of their domestic animals -- and the Levites must become mine. I am God. And as the ransom price of the 273 from the 1stborn of the sons of Israel, who are in excess of the Levites, you must take 5 shekels (money, dollars) for each individual. In the shekel of the holy place you should take it. A shekel is a 20 gerahs. (a shekel was "A dollar" 20 gerahs

= 20 nickels = a shekel = a dollar). And you must give the money to Aaron and his sons as the ransom price of those who are in excess of them." So Moses took the money of the redemption price from those who were in excess of the ransom price of the Levites. From the 1stborn of the sons of Israel he took the money, a 1,365 shekels, in the shekel of the holy place. Then Moses gave the money of the ransom price to Aaron and his sons according to the order of God, just as God had commanded Moses. 4 God now spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying --"There will be a taking of the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, according to their families in the house of their fathers, from 30 years old upward to 50 years old, all those going into the service group to do the work in the tent of meeting. "This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting. It is something most holy. And Aaron and his sons must come in when the camp is departing, and they must take down the screening curtain and must cover the ark of the testimony with it. And they must put a covering of sealskins over it and spread out an entire cloth of blue on top and put in its poles. "And they will spread out a cloth of blue over the table of showbread, and they must put upon it the dishes, and the cups and the bowls and the pitchers of the drink offering -- and the constant bread should continue on it. And they must spread out a cloth of coccus scarlet over them, and they must cover it with a covering of sealskins and put in its poles. And they must take a cloth of blue and cover the lampstand of the luminary and its lamps and its snuffers and its fire holders and all its vessels for oil with which they regularly minister to it. And they must put it and all its utensils into a covering of sealskins and put it upon a bar. And over the golden altar they will spread out a cloth of blue, and they must cover it with a covering of sealskins and put in its poles. And they must take all the utensils of the ministry with which they regularly minister in the holy place, and they must put them in a cloth of blue and cover them with a covering of sealskins and put them upon a bar. "And they must clear away the fatty ashes of the altar and spread out a cloth of wool dyed reddish purple over it. And they must put upon it all its utensils with which they regularly minister at it, the fire holders, the forks and the shovels and the bowls, all the utensils of the altar -- and they must spread out over it a covering of sealskins and put in its poles. "And Aaron and his sons must finish covering the holy place and all the utensils of the holy place when the camp is departing, and after that the sons

of Kohath will come in to carry them, but they must not touch the holy place so that hey have to die. These things are the load the of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting. "And the oversight of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is over the oil of the luminary and the perfumed incense and the constant grain offering and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, namely, the holy place and its utensils." And God spoke further to Moses and Aaron, saying --"Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. But do this for them that they may indeed keep alive and may not die for their approaching the most holy things. Aaron and his sons will come in, and they must assign them each one to his service and to his load. They must not come in to see the holy things for the least moment of time, and so they have to die." Then God spoke to Moses, saying--" There will be a taking of the sum of the sons of Gershon, yes, them by the house of their fathers according to their families. From 30 years old upward 50 years you will register them, all who come to enter into the service group to render service in the tent of meeting. This is the service of the families of the Gershonites as to serving and as to carrying. And they must carry the tent cloths of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting, its covering and the sealskin covering that is on top over it, and the screen of the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the hangings of the courtyard and the entrance screen of the gate of the courtyard that is round about the tabernacle and the altar, and their tent cords and all their service utensils, and all things with which work is regularly done. Thus they must serve. At the order of Aaron and his sons all the service of the sons of the Gershonites should take place as regards all their loads and all their service, and you must assign all their loads to them by obligation. This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their obligatory service is under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. "As for the sons of Merar'i, you will register them by their families in the house their fathers. From 30 years old upward 50 to years you will register them, all who enter into the service group to render the service of the tent of meeting. And this is their obligation, their load, according to all their service in the tent of meeting -- the panel frames of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its socket pedestals, and the pillars of the courtyard round about and their socket pedestals and their tent pins and their tent cords together with all their equipment and all their service. And by their names you will assign the equipment for which they are obligated, as their load. This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari according to all their service in the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ith'amar the sons of Aaron the priest." And Moses and Aaron and the chieftains of the assembly proceeded to register the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by the house of their fathers, from 30 years old upward to 50 years, all who entered into the service group for the service in the tent of meeting. And the ones registered of them by their families came to be 2,750. These are the registered ones of the families of the Kohathites, all those serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moss and Aaron registered at the order of God by means of Moses. As for the registered ones of the sons of Gershon by their families and by the house of their fathers, from 30 years old to 50 years, all who entered into the service group for the service in the tent of meeting. And the ones registered

of them by their families came to be 2,750. These are the registered ones of the families of the Kohathites, all those serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the order of God by means of Moses. As for the registered ones of the sons of Gershon by their families and by the house of their fathers, from 30 years upward to 50 years, all who entered into the service group for the service in the tent of meeting, the ones registered of them by their families, by the house of their fathers, came to be 2,630. These were the registered ones of the families of the sons of Gershon, all those serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the order of God. As for the registered ones of their families of the sons of Merari by their families, by the house of their fathers, from 30 years old upward to 50 years old, all those entering into the service group for the service in the tent of meeting, the ones registered of them by their families came to be 3,200. These were the registered ones of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the order of God by means of Moses. All the registered ones whom Moses and Aaron and the chieftains of Israel registered as Levites by their families and by the house of their fathers, from 30 years old upward to 50 years old, all those coming to render the laborious service and the service of carrying loads in the tent of meeting, their registered ones came to be 8,580. At the order of God they were registered by means of Moses, each one according to his service and his load, and they were registered just as God had commanded Moses. 5 And God spoke further to Moses, saying -- "Command the sons of Israel that they send out of the camp every leprous person and everyone having running discharge, and everyone unclean by a deceased soul. Whether a male or a female you should send them out. You should send them outside the camp, that they may not contaminate the camps of those in the midst of whom I am tabernacling." And the sons of Israel proceeded to do so, even to send them outside the camp. Just as God had spoken to Moses, so the sons of Israel did. And God continued speaking to Moses, saying--"Speak to the sons of Israel, 'As for a man or a woman, in case they do any of all the sins of mankind in committing an act of unfaithfulness against God, that soul has also become guilty. And they must confess their sin that they have done, and he must return the amount of his guilt in its principal, also adding a 5th to it, and he must give it to the one against whom he did wrong. But if the latter has no near relative to whom to return the amount of the guilt, the amount of guilt that is being returned to God belongs to the priest, except the ram of atonement with which he will make atonement for him. "'And every contribution of all the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they will present to the priest, should become his. And the holy things of each one will remain his own. Whatever each one may give to the priest, that will become his.'"

And God went on to speak to Moses, saying --"Speak to the sons of Israel and you must say to them -- 'In case any man's wife turns aside in that she does commit an act of unfaithfulness against him, and another man actually lies down with her and has an emission of semen, and it has been hidden from the eyes of her husband and has remained undiscovered, and she, on her part has defiled herself, but there is no witness against her, and she herself has not been caught -- and the spirit of jealousy has passed upon him, and he has become suspicious of his wife's faithfulness, and she in fact has defiled herself, or the spirit of jealousy has passed upon him, and he has become suspicious of his wife's faithfulness, but she in fact has not defiled herself -- then the man must bring his wife to the priest and bring her offering along with her, a 10th of an ephah (1 ephah is 22 liters so 1/10 of ephah is 2.2 liters) of barley flour. He must not pour oil upon it nor pour frankincense upon it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a memorial grain offering brining error to remembrance. "'And the priest must bring her forward and make her stand before God. And the priest must take holy water in an earthenware vessel, and the priest will take some of the dust that happens to be on the floor of the tabernacle, and he must put it in the water. And the priest must make the woman stand before God and loosen the hair of the woman's head and put upon her palms the memorial grain offering, that is, the grain offering of jealousy, and in the hand of the priest there should be the bitter water that brings a curse. "'And the priest must make her swear, and he must say to the woman -- "If no man has lain down with you and if while under your husband you have not turned aside in any uncleanness, be free of the effect of this bitter water that brings a curse. But you in case you have turned aside while under your husband and in case you have defiled yourself and some man has put in you his seminal emission, besides your husband --" The priest must now make the woman swear with an oath involving cursing, and the priest must say to the woman--"May God set you for a cursing and an oath in the midst of your people by God's letting your thigh to fall away and your belly swell. And this water that brings a curse must enter into your intestines to cause your belly to swell and the thigh to fall away." To this the woman must say--"Amen! Amen!" "'And the priest must write these cursings in the book and must wipe them out into the bitter water. And he must make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse must enter into her as something bitter. And the priest must take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman's hand and wave the grain offering to and fro before God, and he must bring it near the altar. And the priest must grasp some of the grain offering as a remembrancer of it and must make it smoke upon the altar, and afterward he will make the woman drink the water. When he has made her drink the water, it must also occur that if she has defiled herself in that she committed an act of unfaithfulness toward her husband, the water that brings a curse must then enter into her as something bitter, and her belly must swell, and her thigh must fall away, and the woman must become a cursing

in among her people. However, if the woman has not defiled herself but she is clean, she must then be free from such punishment; and she must be made pregnant with semen. "'This is the law about jealousy, where a woman may turn aside while under her husband, and she does defile herself. or in the case of a man where the spirit of jealousy may pass upon him, and he does suspect his wife of unfaithfulness -- and he must make the wife stand before God, and the priest must carry out toward her all this law. And the man must be innocent of error, but that wife will answer for her error.'" 6 And God spoke further to Moses, saying -- "Speak to the sons of Israel and you must say to them, 'In case a man or a woman takes a special vow to live as a Nazirite (separate from God, consecrated to God, abstinate from wine, grow long hair, and not defiling oneself by a presence of a corpse) to God, he should keep away from wine and intoxicating liquor. He should not drink the vinegar of wine or the vinegar from intoxicating liquor, nor drink any liquid made from grapes, nor eat grapes either fresh or dried. All the days of his Naziriteship he should not eat anything at all that is made from the wine vine, from the unripe grapes to the skins. "'All the days of the vow of his Naziriteship no razor should pass over his head -- until the days that he should be separated to God come to the full, he should prove holy by letting the locks of hair of his head to grow. All the days of his keeping separate to God he may not come toward any dead soul. Not even for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister may he defile himself when they die, because the sign of his Naziriteship to his God upon his head. "' All the days of his Nazirteship he is holy to God. But in case anyone dying should die quite suddenly alongside him so that he has defiled the head of his Naziriteship, he must then shave his head in the day of establishing his purification. On the 7th day he should shave it. And on the 8th day he should bring 2 turtledoves or 2 young pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the priest must handle one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering and make atonement for him, since he has sinned because of the dead soul. Then he must sanctify his head on that day. And he must live as a Nazirite to God for the days of his Naziriteship, and he must bring a young ram in its 1st year as a guilt offering -- and the former days will go uncounted because he defiled his Naziriteship. "'Now this is the law about the Nazirite -- On the day that the days of his Naziriteship come to the full, he will be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting. And he must present as his offering to God one sound young ram in its 1st year as a burnt offering and one sound female lamb in its 1st year as a sin offering and one sound ram as a communion sacrifice, and a basket of unfermented ring shaped cakes of fine flour, moistened with oil, and unfermented wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings. And the priest must present them before God and render up his sin offering and his burnt offering. And he will render up the ram as a communion sacrifice to God along with the basket of unfermented cakes -- and the

priest must render up its grain offering and its drink offering. "'And the Nazirite must shave the head of his Naziriteship at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and he must take the hair of the head of his Naziriteship and put it upon the fire that is under the communion sacrifice. And the priest must take a boiled shoulder from the ram and one unfermented ring shaped cake out of the basket, and one unfermented wafer, and put them upon the palms of the Nazirite after he has had the sign of his Naziriteship shaved off. And the priest must wave them to and fro as a wave offering before God. It is something holy for the priest, along with the breast of the wave offering, and the leg of the contribution. And afterward the Nazirite may drink wine. "'This is the law about the Nazirite who vows -- his offering to God over his Naziriteship, besides that which he can afford. According to his vow that he may make, so he should do because of the law of his Naziriteship.'" Then God spoke to Moses, saying -- "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you should bless the sons of Israel, saying to them -- "May God bless you and keep you. May God make his face shine toward you, and may he favor you. May God lift up his face toward you and assign peace to you"' And they must place my name upon the sons of Israel, that I myself may bless them. 7 Now about on the day that Moses finished setting up the tabernacle that he proceeded to anoint it, and to sanctify it, and all its furnishings and the altar, and all its utensils. Thus he anointed them and sanctified them. Then the chieftains of the Israel, the heads of the house of their fathers, made a presentation, they being the chieftains of the tribes and standing over the ones registered, and they brought their offering before God, 6 covered wagons and 12 cattle, 1 wagon for 2 chieftains and 1 bull for each one -- and they presented them before the tabernacle. At this God said to Moses -- "Accept them from them, as they must serve for carrying on the service of the tent of meeting, and you must give them to Levites, each one in proportion to his own service." So Moses accepted the wagons and the cattle and gave them to the Levites. 2 wagons and 4 cattle he gave to the sons of Gershon in proportion to their service, and 4 wagons and 8 cattle he gave to the sons of Merari in proportion to their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the holy place was upon them. They did their carrying on the shoulder. Now the chieftains made their presentation at the inauguration of the altar on the day of its being anointed, and the chieftains proceeded with presenting their offering before the altar. So God said to Moses--"One chieftain on one day and another chieftain on another day is the way they will present their offering for the inauguration of the altar." Now the one presenting his offering on the 1st day proved to be Nahshon the son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah. And his offering was one silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver

bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering, 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Nashon the son of Amminadab. On the 2nd day Nethanel the son of Zuar, the chieftain of Issachar, made a presentation. He presented as his offering one silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, one silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering, 1 kid goat of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar. On the 3rd day there was the chieftain for the sons of Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Eliab the son of Helon. On the 4th day there was the chieftan for the sons of Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur. On the 5th day there was the chieftian for the sons of Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. On the 6th day there was the chieftain for the sons of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels,

full of incense, 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel. On the 7th day there was the chieftain for the son of Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud. On the 8th day there was the chieftian for the sons of Manasseh, Gemaliel the son of Pedahzur. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. On the 9th day there was the chieftain for the sons of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni. On the 10th day there was the chieftain for the sons of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. On the 11th day there was the chieftain for the sons of Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and

for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Pagiel the son of Ochran. On the 12th day there was the chieftain for the sons of Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan. His offering was 1 silver dish, its weight being a 130 shekels, 1 silver bowl of 70 shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of fine flour moistened with oil for a grain offering -- 1 gold cup of 10 shekels, full of incense -- 1 young bull, 1 ram, 1 male lamb in its 1st year, for a burnt offering -- 1 kid of the goats for a sin offering -- and for a communion sacrifice 2 cattle, 5 rams, 5 he-goats, 5 male lambs each 1 year old. This was offering of Ahira the son of Enan. This was the inauguration offering of the altar on the day of its being anointed, on the part of the chieftains of Israel -- 12 silver dishes, 12 silver bowls, 12 gold cups -- 130 shekels to each silver dish, and 70 to each bowl, all the silver of the vessels being 2,400 shekels by the shekel of the holy place -- the 12 gold cups of the full of incense being 10 shekels respectively to a cup by the shekel of the holy place-- all the gold of the cups being 120 shekels-- all the cattle for the burnt offering being 12 bulls, 12 rams, 12 male lambs each 1 year old and their grain offerings, 12 kids of the goats for a sin offering -- and all the cattle of the communion sacrifice being 24 bulls, 60 rams, 60 he-goats, 60 male lambs each 1 year old. This was the inauguration offering of the altar after its being anointed. Now whenever Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him. then he would hear the voice conversing with him from above the cover that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the 2 cherubs -- and he would speak to him. 8 And God proceeded to talk to Moses, saying --"Speak to Aaron, and you must say to him, 'Whenever you light up the lamps, the 7 lamps should shine on the area in front of the lampstand.'" And Aaron began to do so. He lit up its lamps for the area in front of the lampstand, just as God had commanded Moses. Now this was the workmanship of the lampstand. It was hammered work of gold. Up to its sides and up to its blossoms it was hammered work. According to the vision that God had shown Moses, so he had made the lampstand. And God spoke further to Moses, saying--"Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and you must cleanse them. And this is what you should do to them to cleanse them -- Spatter sin-cleansing water upon them, and they must have a razor pass over all their flesh (shave) and must wash their garments and cleanse themselves. Then they must take a young bull and its grain offering of fine flour moistened with oil, and you will take another young bull for a sin offering. And you must present the Levites before the tent of meeting and congregate the sons of Israel. And you must present the Levites before God, and the sons of Israel must lay their hands upon the Levites. And Aaron must cause Levites to move to and

fro before God as a wave offering from the sons of Israel, they must serve for carrying on the service of God. "Then the Levites will lay their hands upon the heads of the bulls. After that, render up the one as a sin offering, and the other as a burnt offering to God to make atonement for the Levites. And you must have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons and must cause them to move to and fro as a wave offering to God. And you must separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites must become mine. And afterward the Levites will come in to serve at the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them and cause them to move to and fro as a wave offering. For they are given ones, given to me from among the sons of Israel. In place of those opening all wombs, all the 1stborn of the sons of Israel, I must take them for myself. For every firstborn among in the sons of Israel is mine, among man and among beast. On the day of my striking every 1stborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them to myself. And I shall take the Levites in place of all the 1stborn among the sons of Israel. And I shall give the Levites as given ones to Aaron and his sons from among the sons of Israel, to carry on the service of the sons of Israel in the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the sons of Israel, that no plague (sickness) may occur among the sons of Israel because the sons of Israel approach the holy place." And Moses and Aaron and all the assembly of the sons of Israel proceeded to do so to the Levites. In accord with all that God had commanded Moses as regards the Levites, that is the way the sons of Israel did to them. So the Levites purified themselves and washed their garments, after which Aaron caused them to move to and fro as a wave offering before God. Then Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them. 1st after that the Levites came in to carry on their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons. Just as God had commanded Moses respecting the Levites, so they did to them. God now spoke to Moses, saying --"This is what applies to the Levites -- From 25 years old upward he will come to enter into the company in the service of the tent of meeting. But after the age of 50 years he will retire from the service company and serve no longer. And he must minister to his brothers in the tent of meeting in taking care of the obligation, but he must render no service. In accord with this you will do to the Levites in their obligation." 9 And God proceeded to speak to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the 2nd year of their coming out of the land of Egypt, in the 1st month, saying--"Now the sons of Israel should prepare the passover sacrifice at its appointed time. On the 14th day in this month between the 2 evenings you should prepare it at its appointed time. According to all its statutes, and all its regular procedures you should prepare it." So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel to prepare the passover sacrifice. Then they prepared the passover sacrifice in the 1st month, on the 14th day of the month between the 2 evenings, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that God had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did.

Now there happened to be men who had become unclean by a human soul so that they were not able to prepare the passover sacrifice on that day. Hence they presented themselves before Moses and Aaron on that day. Then those men said to him -- "We are unclean by a human soul. Why should we be restrained from presenting the offering to God at its appointed time in the midst of the sons of Israel?" At this Moses said to them: "Stand there, and let me hear what God may command regarding you." Then God spoke to Moses, saying--"Speak to the sons of Israel, saying -- 'Although any man of you, or of your generations should happen to be unclean by a soul, or off on a distant journey, he too must prepare the passover sacrifice to God. In the 2nd month, on the 14th day between the 2 evenings, they should prepare it. Together with unfermented cakes and bitter greens they should eat it. They must not let any of it remain until morning, and they should break no bone in it. According to the whole statute of the passover they should prepare it. But when the man was clean, or did not happen to be off on a journey and neglected to prepare the passover sacrifice, that soul must then be cut off from his people, because the offering of God he did not present at its appointed time. For his sin that man will answer. "'And in case an alien resident should be residing with you as an alien, he also must prepare the passover sacrifice to God. According to the statute of the passover and according to its regular procedure is the way he should do. There should exist one statute for you people, both for the alien resident and for the native of the land.'" Now on the day of setting up the tabernacle the cloud covered the tabernacle of the tent of the Testimony, but in the evening what appeared to be fire continued over the tabernacle until morning. That is the way it went on constantly -- The cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud would go up from over the tent, the sons of Israel would pull away right afterward, and in the place where the cloud would reside, there is where the sons of Israel would encamp. At the order of God the sons of Israel would pull away, and at the order of God they would encamp. All the days that the cloud would reside over the tabernacle, they would remain encamped. And when the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle many days, the sons of Israel also kept their obligation to God that they should not pull away. And sometimes the cloud would continue a few days over the tabernacle. At the order of God they would remain encamped, and at the order of God they would pull away. And sometimes the cloud would continue from evening to morning -- and the cloud lifted itself in the morning and they pulled away. Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud lifted itself, they also pulled away. Whether it was 2 days or 1 month or more days during which the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle by residing over it, the sons of Israel remained encamped and would not pull away, but when it lifted itself they would pull away. At the order of God they would encamp, and at the order of God they would pull away. They

kept their obligation to God at the order of God by means of Moses. 10 And God proceeded to speak to Moses, saying -- "Make yourself 2 trumpets of silver. You will make them of hammered work, and they must be at your service for converting the assembly and for breaking up the camps. And they must blow on them both, and the whole assembly must keep their appointment with you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And if they should blow on just one, the chieftains as heads of the 1000s of Israel must also keep their appointment with you. "And you men must blow a fluctuating (varying) blast, and the camps of those camping to the east must pull away. And you must blow a fluctuating (varying) blast a second time, and the camps of those camping to the south must pull away. They should blow a fluctuating (varying) blast for each time one of them pulls away. "Now when calling the congregation together, you should blow, but you must not sound a flutuating (varying) blast. And Aaron's sons, the priests, should blow on the trumpets, and the use of them must serve as a statute for you men to time indefinite during your generations. "And in case you should enter into war in your land against the oppressor who is harassing you, you must also sound a war call on the trumpets, and you will certainly be remembered before God your Lord and be saved from your enemies. "And in the day of your rejoicing and in your festal seasons and at the commencements of your months, you must blow on the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your communion sacrifices -- and their use must serve as a memorial for you before God your Lord. I am Jehovah your God." Now it came about that in the 2nd year, in the 2nd month, on the 20th day in the month, the cloud lifted itself from over the tabernacle of the Testimony. And the sons of Israel began to pull away in the manner of their departures from the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud proceeded to reside in the wilderness of Paran. And they began pulling away for the 1st time, according to the order of God by means of Moses. So the 3-tribe divisions of the camp of the sons of Judah pulled away 1st of all their armies, and Nahshon the son of Amminadab was over its army. And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Issachar there was Nethanel the son of Zuar. And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun there was Eliab the son of Helon. And the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari as carriers of the tabernacle pulled away. And the 3-tribe division of the camp of the Reuben pulled away in their armies, and Elizur the son of Shedeur was over its army. And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Simeon there was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Gad there was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. And the Kohathites as carriers of the sanctuary pulled away, as they will have set up the tabernacle by the time of their coming. And the 3-tribe division of the camp of the sons of

Ephraim pulled away in their armies, and Elishama the son of Ammihud was over its army. And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh there was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin there was Abidan the son of Gideoni. And the 3-tribe division of the camp of the sons of Dan pulled away as forming the rear guard for all the camps in their armies, and Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai was over its army. And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Asher there was Pagiel the son of Ochran. And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali there was Ahira the son of Enan. In this manner were the departures of the sons of Israel in their armies when they would pull away. Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses --"We are pulling away for the place about which God said, 'I shall give it to you.' Do come with us, and we shall certainly do good to you, because God has spoken good concerning Israel." But he said to him--"I shall not go along, but I shall go to my own country and to my relatives." At this he said --"Please, do not leave us, because, for the reason that you well know where we may encamp in the wilderness, you must serve as eyes for us. And it must occur that in case you should come with us, yes, it must occur that with what goodness God will do good with us, we, in turn, will do good to you." So they went marching from the mountain of God for a journey of 3 days, and the ark of God's covenant was marching before them for a journey of 3 days to search out a resting-place for them. And God's cloud was over them by day at their marching out from the encampment. And it would occur that when the Ark would set out, Moses would say--"Do arise, O God, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who intensely hate you flee from before you." And when it would rest, he would say--"Do return, O God, to the myriads of thousands of Israel." 11 Now the people became as men having something evil to complain about in the ears of God. When God got to hear it, then his anger grew hot, and a fire of God began to blaze against them and to consume some in the extremity of the camp. When the people began to cry out to Moses, then he made supplication to God, and the fire sank down. And the name of that place got to be called Taberah, because a fire of God had blazed against them. And the mixed crowd that was in the midst of them expressed selfish longing, and the sons of Israel too began to weep again and say -- "Who will give us meat to eat? How we remember the fish that we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, and the watermelons and the leeks and the onions and garlic. But now our soul is dried away. Our eyes are on nothing at all except the manna." Incidentally, the manna was like coriander seed, and its look was like the look of bdellium gum. The people spread out and picked it up and ground it in hand mills or pounded it in a mortar, and they boiled it in cooking pots or made it into

round cakes, and its taste proved to be like the taste of an oiled sweet cake. When the dew descended upon the camp by night, the manna would descend upon it. And Moses got to hear the people weeping in their families, each man at the entrance of his tent. And God's anger began growing very hot, and in the eyes of Moses it was bad. Then Moses said to God--"Why have you caused evil to your servant, and why have I not found favor in your eyes, in placing the load of all this people upon me? Have I myself conceived all this people? Is it me who has given them birth, so that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, just as the male nurse carries the suckling, to the soil about which you swore to their forefathers? From where do I have meat to give to all this people? For they keep weeping to me, saying, 'Do give us meat, and let us eat!' I am not able, I by myself, to carry all this people, because they are too heavy for me. So if this is the way you are doing to me, please kill me off altogether, if I have found favor in your eyes, and let me not look upon my calamity." In turn God said to Moses -- "Gather for me 70 men of the older men of Israel, whom you know that they are older men of the people and officers of theirs, and you must take them to the tent of meeting, and they must station themselves there with you. And I shall have to come down speak with you there -- and I shall have to take away some of the spirit that is upon you and place it upon them, and they will have to help you in carrying the load of the people that you may not carry it, just you alone. And to the people you should say -- 'Sanctify (purify) yourselves for tomorrow, as you will certainly eat meat, because you have wept in the ears of God, saying, 'Who will give us meat to eat, for it was well with us in Egypt?" And God will certainly give you meat, and you will indeed eat. You will eat, not 1 day nor 2 days, nor 5 days nor 10 days, nor 20 days, but up to a month of days, until it comes out of your nostrils, and it has become a loathing to you, just because you rejected God, who is in your midst, and you went weeping before him, saying--"Why is it that we have come out of Egypt?"'" Then Moses said--"The people in the midst of whom I am are 600,00 men on foot, and yet you -- you have said, 'Meat I shall give them and they will certainly eat for a month of days'! Will flocks and herds will be slaughtered for them, for it to be adequate for them? Or will all the fish of the sea be caught for them, for it to be adequate for them?" At this God said to Moses --"The hand of God is cut short, is it? Now you will see whether what I say falls upon you or not." After that Moses went out and spoke to the people the words of God. And he went gathering 70 men from the older men of the people and proceeded to have them stand round about the tent. Then God came down in a cloud and spoke to him and took away some of the spirit that was upon him and put it upon each of the 70 older men. And it came about that as soon as the spirit settled down upon them, then they proceeded to act as prophets, but they did not do it again. Now there were 2 of the men remaining in the camp. The

name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Medad. And the spirit began to settle down upon them, as they were among those written down, but they had not gone out to the tent. So they proceeded to act as prophets in the camp. And a young man went running and reporting to Moses and saying--"Eldad and Medad are acting as prophets in the camp!" Then Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses from his young manhood on, responded and said --"My lord Moses, restrain them!" However, Moses said to him --"Are you feeling jealous for me? No, I wish that all of God's people were prophets, because God would put his spirit upon them!" Later Moses withdrew to the camp, he and the older men of Israel. And a wind burst forth from God and began driving quails out of the sea and letting them fall above the camp about a day's journey this way, and about a day's journey that way, all around the camp, and about 2 cubits (approx. 3 feet) above the surface of the earth. Then the people got up all that day and all night, and all the next day and kept gathering the quail. The one collecting least gathered 10 homers (approx. 2,200 liters. 1 homer is 220 liters), and they kept spreading them extensively all around the camp for themselves. The meat was yet between their teeth, before it could be chewed, when God's anger blazed against the people, and God began striking at the people with a very great slaughter. The name of that place came to be called Kibrothhattaavah, because there they buried the people who showed selfish craving. From Kibrothhattaavah the people pulled away for Hazeroth. 12 Now Miriam and Aaron began to speak against Moses on account of the Cushite wife whom he had taken, because it was a Cushite wife he had taken. And they kept saying--"Is it just by Moses alone that God has spoken?" And God was listening. And the man Moses was by far the meekest of all the men who were upon the surface of the ground. Then God suddenly said to Moses Aaron and Miriam -- "Go out, the 3 of you, to the tent of meeting." So the 3 of them went out. After that God came down in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam. At this both of them went out. And he went on to say -- "Hear my words, please. If there came to be a prophet of yours for God, it would be in a vision I would make myself known to him. In a dream I would speak to him. Not so my servant Moses! He is being entrusted with all my house. Mouth to mouth I speak to him, thus showing him, and not by riddles -- and the appearance of God is what he beholds. Why, then, did you not fear to speak against my servant, against Moses?" And God's anger got to be hot against them, and he went his way. And the cloud turned away from over the tent, and look! Miriam was struck with leprosy as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and look! she was struck with leprosy. Immediately Aaron said to Moses --"Excuse me, my lord! Do not, please attribute to us the sin in which we have acted foolishly and which we have committed!" Please, do not let her continue like someone dead, whose

flesh at the time of his coming out of his mother's womb is half eaten off!" And Moses began to cry out to God, saying -- "O God, please! Heal her, please!" Then God said to Moses -- "Were her father to spit directly in her face, would she not be humiliated 7 days? Let her be quarantined 7 days outside the camp, and afterward let her be received in." Accordingly Miriam was quarantined outside the camp 7 days, and the people did not pull away Hazeroth and took up camping in the wilderness of Paran. 13 God now spoke to Moses, saying --"Send out for yourself men that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel. You will send out one man for each tribe of his fathers, each one a chieftain among them." So Moses sent them out from the wilderness of Paran at the order of God. All the men were heads of the sons of Israel. And these are their names--

Of the tribes of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur --

of the tribes of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori--

of the tribes of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh--

of the tribes of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph--

of the tribes of Ephraim, Hoshea the son Nun--

of the tribes of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu--

of the tribes of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi--

of the tribes of Joseph for the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi --

of the tribes ofDan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli --

of the tribes of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael --

of the tribes of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi --

of the tribes of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses continued to call Hoshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. When Moses was sending them to spy on the land of Canaan, he proceeded to say to them --"Go up here into the Negeb, and you must go up into the mountainous region. And you must see what the land is and the people who are dwelling on it, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many -- and what the land is in which they are dwelling, whether it is good or bad, and what the cities are in which they are dwelling, whether it is in encampments or in fortifications (defense walls), and what the land is, whether is is fat or lean, whether there are trees in it or not. And you must show yourselves courageous, and take some of the fruitage of the land. Now the days were the days of the 1st ripe fruits of the grapes. So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob to the entering in of Hamath. When they went up into the Negeb, they then came to Hebron. Now Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, those born of Anak, were there. Incidentally, Hebron had been built 7 years before Zoan of Egypt. When they came to the torrent valley of Eshcol, they then proceeded to cut down from there a shoot with one cluster of grapes. And they went carrying it with a bar on 2 of the men, and also some of the pomegranates and some of the figs. They called that place the torrent valley of Eshcol, on account of the cluster that the sons of Israel cut down from there. Finally at the end of 40 days they returned from spying out the land. So they

walked and came to Moses and Aaron and all the assembly of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. And they came bringing back word to them and all the assembly and showing them the fruitage of the land. And they went on to report to him and say-- "We entered into the land to which you sent us out, and it is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruitage. Nevertheless, the facts are that the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the fortified cities are very great -- and, too, those born of Anak we saw there. The Amalekites are dwelling in the land of the Negeb, and the Hittites and the Jebusites, and the Amorites are dwelling in the mountainous region, and the Canaanites are dwelling by the sea and by the side of the Jordan." Then Caleb tried to still the people toward Moses and went on to say -- "Let us go up directly, and we are bound to take possession of it, because we can surely prevail over it." But the men who went up with him said--" We are not able to go up against the people, because they are stronger than we are." And they kept on bringing forth to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying-- "The land, which we passed through to spy out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants -- and all the people whom we saw in the midst of it are men of extraordinary size. And there we saw the Nephilim (giants), the sons of Anak, who are from the Nephilim -- so that we became in our own eyes like grasshoppers, and the same way we became in their eyes" 14 Then all the assembly raised their voice, and the people continued giving went to their voice and weeping all through that night. And all the sons of Israel began to murmur against Moses and Aaron, and all the assembly began to say against them-- "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness. And why is God bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?" They even went to saying to one another -- "Let us appoint a head and let us return to Egypt!" At this Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces before all the congregation of the assembly of the sons of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, ripped their garments apart, and they proceeded to say this to all the assembly of the sons of Israel-- "The land that we passed through to spy it out is a very very good land. If God has found delight in us, then he will certainly bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that is flowing with milk and honey. Only against God do not rebel, and you, do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread to us. Their shelter has turned away from over them, and God is with us. Do not fear them." However, all the assembly talked of pelting them with stones. And God's glory appeared on the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel. Finally God said to Moses--"How long will this people treat me without respect, and how long will they not put faith in me for all the signs that I performed in among them? Let me strike them with pestilence and drive them away, and let me make you a nation greater and mightier than they are."

But Moses said to God --"Then the Egyptians will be bound to hear that you by your power have led this people up out of their midst. And they will be bound to tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you are God in among this people, who has appeared face to face. You are God, and your cloud is standing over them, and you are going before them in the pillar of cloud by day and in the pillar of fire by night. Were you to put this people to death as one man, then the nations who have heard of your fame would certainly say this --'Because of God's not being able to bring this people into the land about which he swore to them he proceeded to slaughter them in the wilderness.' And now, please, let your power become great, O God, just as you have spoken, saying--'God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, pardoning error and transgression (Wrong, sin, offense) but by no means will he give exemption from punishment, bringing punishment for the error of the fathers upon sons, upon the 3rd generations, and 4th generation.' Forgive, please, the error of this people according to the greatness of your loving-kindness, and just as you have pardoned this people from Egypt onward until now." Then God said--"I do forgive according to your word. And, on the other hand, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of God. But all the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I have performed in Egypt and in the wilderness and yet kept testing me these 10 times, and have not listened to my voice, will never see the land about which I swore to their fathers, yes, all those treating me without respect will not see it. As for my servant Caleb, because a different spirit has proved to be with him and he kept following wholly after me, I shall certainly bring him into the land where he has gone, and his offspring will take possession of it. While the Amalekites and the Canaanites are dwelling in the low plain, you people make a turn tomorrow and pull away to march to the wilderness by way of the Red Sea." And God went on to speak to Moses and Aaron, saying --"How long will this evil assembly have this murmuring that they are carrying on against me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel that they are murmuring against me. Say to them, '"As I live," is the utterance of God, "if I shall not do to you just that way as you have spoken in my ears!" In this wilderness your carcasses will fall, yes, all your registered ones of all your number from 20 years old upward, you who have murmured against me. As for you, you will not enter into the land in which I lifted my hand in oath to reside with you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. "'"And your little ones who you said would become plunder, these also I shall certainly bring in, and they will indeed know the land that you have rejected. But the carcasses of you yourselves will fall in this wilderness. And your sons will become shepherds in the wilderness 40 years, and they will have to answer for your acts of fornication, until your carcasses come to their end in the wilderness. By the number of the days that you spied out the land, 40 days, a day for a year, a day for

a year, you will answer for your errors 40 years, as you must know what my being estranged means. "'"I God have spoken if this is not what I shall do to all this evil assembly, those who have gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will come to their end, and there they will die. And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who, when they returned, began making whole assembly murmur against him, by bringing forth a bad report against the land, yes, the men bringing forth the bad report about the land will die by evil before God. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh will certainly live on, of those men who went to spy out the land."'" When Moses proceeded to speak these words to all the sons of Israel, then the people began to mourn a great deal. Moreover, they got up early in the morning, and tried to go up to the top of the mountain, saying--"Here we are, and we have to go up the place that God mentioned. For we have sinned. But Moses said--"Why is it that you are passing beyond the order of God? But that will not succeed. Do not go up, because God is not in your midst, that you may not be defeated before your enemies. For the Amalekites, and the Canaanites are there before you -- and you are certain to fall by the sword, because, for the reason that you turned back from following God, God will not continue with you." However, they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain, but the ark of God's covenant and Moses did not move away from the mist of the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who were dwelling in that mountain came on down and began striking them and went scattering them as far as Hormah. 15 And God spoke further to Moses, saying -- "Speak to the sons of Israel, and you must say to them, 'When you eventually come into the land of your living places, which I am giving you, and you must render up an offering made by fire to God, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to perform a special vow or voluntarily or during your seasonal festivals, in order to make a restful odor to God, from the herd or from the flock -- the one presenting his offering must also present to God a grain offering of fine flour, a 10th of an ephah (1 ephah is 22 liter), moistened with a 4th of a hin (approx. 1 hin is 3.67 liter) of oil. And you should render up wine as a drink offering, the 4th of a hin, together with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice of each male lamb. Or for a ram you should render up a grain offering of 2/10 of fine flour, moistened with a 3rd of a hin of oil. And you should present wine as a drink offering, a 3rd of a hin, as a restful odor to God. "'But in case you should render up a male of the herd as a burnt offering or a sacrifice to perform a special vow or communion sacrifices to God, one must also present together with the male of the herd a grain offering of 3/10 of fine flour, moistened with 1/2 a hin of oil. And you should present wine as a drink offering, 1/2 a hin as an offering made by fire, of a restful odor to God. This is the way it should be done for each bull or for each ram or for one head among the male lambs or among the goats.

Whatever may be the number that you may render up, that is the way you should do for each one according to the number of them. Every native should render up these in this way in presenting an offering made by fire, of a restful odor to God. "'And in case there should be residing as an alien with you an alien resident or one who is in your midst for generations of you, and he must render up an offering made by fire, of a restful odor to God, just as you should do, so he should do. You who are of the congregation and the alien resident who is living as an alien will have one statute. It will be a statute to time indefinite for your generations. The alien resident should prove to be the same as you before God. There should prove to be one law and one judicial decision for you and for the alien resident who is residing as an alien with you.'" And God went on to speak to Moses --"Speak to the sons of Israel, and you must say to them, 'On your coming into the land where I am bringing you, it must also occur that when you eat any of the bread of the land, you should make a contribution to God. You should make a contribution of the 1stfruits of your coarse meal as ring shaped cakes. Like the contribution of a threshing floor is the way you should contribute it. Some of the 1stfruits of your coarse meal you should give as a contribution to God throughout your generations. "'Now in case you should make a mistake and not do all these commandments, which God has spoken to Moses, all that God has commanded you by means of Moses from the day that God commanded and onward for your generations, it must then occur that if it has been done far from the eyes of the assembly by mistake, the whole assembly must then render up one young bull a burnt offering for a restful odor to God, and its grain offering and its drink offering according to the regular procedure, and one kid of the goats as a sin offering. And the priest must make atonement for the whole assembly of the sons of Israel, and it must be forgiven them -- because it was a mistake, and they, for their part, brought as their offering an offering made by fire to God and their sin offering before God for their mistake. And it must be forgiven the whole assembly of the sons of Israel and the alien resident who is living as an alien in their midst, because it was by mistake on the part of all the people. "'And if any soul should sin by mistake, then he must present a female goat in its first year for a sin offering. The priest must make atonement for the soul who made a mistake by a sin unintentionally before God, so as to make atonement for it, and it must be forgiven for him. As to the native among the sons of Israel and the alien resident who is residing as an alien resident who is residing as an alien in their midst, there should prove to be one law for you as respects doing something unintentionally. "'But the soul that does something deliberately, whether he is a native or an alien resident, he speaking abusively of God, in that case that soul must be cut off from among his people. Because it is God's word that he has despised and his commandment that he has broken, that soul should be cut off without fail. His own error is upon him.'"

While the sons of Israel were continuing in the wilderness, they once found a man collecting pieces of wood on the sabbath day. Then those who found him collecting pieces of wood brought him up to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly. So they committed him into custody, because it had not been distinctly stated what should be done to him. In time God said to Moses --"Without fail the man should be put to death, the whole assembly pelting him with stones outside the camp. According the whole assembly brought him forth outside the camp and pelted him with stones so that he died, just as God had commanded Moses. And God went on to say this to Moses--"Speak to the sons of Israel, and you must say to them that they must make for themselves fringed edges upon the skirts of their garments throughout their generations, and they must put a blue string above the fringed edge of the skirt, 'And it must serve as a fringed edge for you, and you must see it, and remember all the commandments of God and do them, and you must not go about following your hearts and your eyes, which you are following in immoral interc*urse (se*). The purpose is that you may remember and may certainly do all my commandments and indeed prove to be holy to your God. I am God your Lord, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to prove myself your God. I am God your Lord.'" 16 And Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, proceeded to get up, together with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben. And they proceeded to rise up before Moses, they and 250 men of the sons of Israel, chieftains of the assembly, summoned ones of the meeting, men of fame. So they congregated themselves against Moses and Aaron and said to them--"That is enough of you, because the whole assembly are all of them holy and God is in their midst. Why, then, should you lift yourselves up above the congregation of God?" When Moses got to hear it he at once fell upon his face. Then he spoke to Korah and to his entire assembly, saying: --"In the morning God will make known who belongs to him and who is holy and who must come near to him, and whoever he may choose will come near to him. Do this --Take fire holders for yourselves, Korah and his entire assembly, and put fire in them, and place incense upon them before God tomorrow, and it must occur that the man whom God will choose, he is the holy one. That is enough of you, you sons of Levi!" And Moses went on to say to Korah --"Listen, please, you sons of Levi. Is it such a little thing for you men that the God of Israel has separated you men from the assembly of Israel to present you to himself to carry on the service of God's tabernacle and to stand before the assembly to minister to them, and that he should bring you and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you near? So must you men also try to secure the priesthood? For that reason you and all your assembly who are gathering together are against God. As for Aaron, what is he that you men should murmur against him?"

Later Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said--"We are not going to come up!" Is it so little a thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to put us to death in the wilderness, that you should also try to play the prince over us to the limit? As it is, you have not brought us into any land flowing with milk and honey, that you may give us an inheritance of field and vineyard. Is it the eyes of those men that you want to bore out? We are not going to come up!" At this Moses became very angry and said to God--"Do not turn to look at their grain offering. Not one male ass have I taken away from them, nor have I harmed one of them." Then Moses said to Korah--"You and all your assembly, be present before God, you and they and Aaron, tomorrow. And take each one his fire holder, and you men must put incense upon them and present each one his fire holder before God, 250 fire holders and you and Aaron each his fire holder." So they took each one his fire holder and put fire upon them and placed incense upon them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting together with Moses and Aaron. When Korah got all the assembly together against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, then God's glory appeared to all the assembly. God now spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: "Separate yourselves from the midst of this assembly, that I may exterminate them in an instant." At this their faces fell and said--"O God, the God of the spirits of every sort of flesh, will just one man sin and you become indignant (angry) against the entire assembly?" In turn God spoke to Moses, saying--"Speak to the assembly, saying, 'Get away from around the tabernacles of Korah, Dathan and Abiram!'" After that Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and older men of Israel went with him. Then he spoke to the assembly, saying -"Turn aside, please, from before the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, that you may not be swept away in all their sin." Immediately they got away from before the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, from every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out, taking their stand at the entrance of their tents, together with their wives and their sons and their little ones. Then Moses said--"By this you will know that God has sent me to do all these deeds, that it is not of my own heart. If it is according to the death of all mankind that these people will die, and with the punishment of all mankind that punishment will be brought upon them, then it is not God that has sent me. But if it is something created that God will create, and the ground has to open its mouth and swallow up (earthquake) them and everything that belongs to them and they have to go down alive into Sheol (hell), you will then know for certain that these men have treated God disrespectfully." And it came about that as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them began to be split apart. And the earth proceeded to open its mouth and swallow up them and their households and all humankind

that belonged to Korah and all the goods. So down they went, and all who belonged to them, alive into Sheol, and the earth went covering them over, so that they perished from the midst of the congregation. And all the Israelites who were round about them fled at the screaming of them, for they began to say--"We are afraid that the earth may swallow us up!" And a fire came out from God and proceeded to consume the 250 men offering incense. God now spoke to Moses, saying --"Say to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest that he should take up the fire holders from within the conflagration (firestorm), 'And you scatter the fire over there -- for they are holy, even the fire holders of these men who sinned against their own souls. And they must make them into thin metal plates as an overlaying for the altar, because they presented them before God, so that they became holy -- and they should serve as a sign to the sons of Israel'" Accordingly Eleazar the priest took the copper fire holders, which those who had been burned up had presented, and they proceeded to beat them out into an overlaying for the altar, as a memorial for the sons of Israel, to the end that no strange man who is not of the offspring of Aaron should come near to make incense smoke before God, and no one might become like Korah and his assembly, just as God had spoken to him by means of Moses. And directly the next day the whole assembly of the sons of Israel began to murmur against Moses and Aaron, saying --"You men, you have put God's people to death." And it was about that when the assembly had congregated themselves together against Moses and Aaron, they then turned toward the tent of meeting -- and, look! the cloud covered it, and God's glory began to appear. And Moses and Aaron proceeded to come before the tent of meeting. Then God spoke to Moses, saying -- "You men, rise up from the midst of this assembly, that I may exterminate them in an instant. At this they fell upon their faces. After that Moses said to Aaron--"Take the fire holder and put fire from upon the altar in it and put on incense and go to the assembly in a hurry and make atonement for them, because the indignation has gone out from the face of God. The plague (sickness) has started!" Aaron at once took it, just as Moses had spoken, and went running into the midst of the congregation -- and look! the plague had started among the people. So he put the incense on and began making atonement for the people. And he kept standing between the dead and the living. Eventually the scourge (plague, evil) was stopped. And those dead from the scourge amounted to 14,700, aside from those dead on account of Korah. When at last Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, the scourge had been stopped. 17 God now spoke to Moses, saying -- "Speak to the sons of Israel and take from them one rod (staff) for each paternal house from all their chieftains, by the house of their fathers, 12 rods. You will write the name of each one upon his rod. And Aaron's name you will write upon Levi's rod, because there is one rod for the head of the house of their fathers. And you must deposit them in the tent of meeting

before the Testimony, where I regularly present myself to you. And what must occur is that the man whom I shall choose, his rod will bud, and I shall certainly make subside from against me, the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against you." So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their chieftains went giving him a rod for each chieftain, a rod for each chieftain, by the house of their fathers, 12 rods -- and Aaron's rod was in among their rods. Then Moses deposited the rods before God in the tent of the Testimony. And it came about the next day that when Moses went into the tent of Testimony, look! Aaron's rod for the house of Levi had budded, and it was bringing forth buds and blossoming flowers and was bearing ripe almonds. Moses then brought out all the rods from before God to all the sons of Israel, and they went looking and taking each man his own rod. Subsequently God said to Moses --"Put Aaron's rod back before the Testimony as something to be kept for a sign to the sons of rebelliousness, that their murmurings may cease from against me, that they may not die." At once Moses did just as God had ordered him. He did just so. And the sons of Israel began to say this to Moses --"Now we are bound to expire, we are bound to perish, we are all of us bound to perish. Anyone approaching, coming near to God's tabernacle, will die!" Must we end up expiring that way?" 18 And God proceeded to say to Aaron-- "You and your sons and the house of your father with you will answer for error against the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will answer for error against your priesthood. And bring near, also, your brothers of the tribe of Levi, the clan of your father, with you, that they may be joined to you, and may minister to you, to both of you and your sons with you, before the tent of the Testimony. And they must keep their obligation to you and their obligation to the entire tent. Only to the utensils of the holy place and to the altar they must not come near that they may not die, neither they nor you men. And they must be joined to you and must keep their obligation to the tent of meeting as respects all the service of the tent, and no stranger may come near to you men. And you must keep your obligation to the holy place and your obligation to the altar, that no further indignation may occur against the sons of Israel. And I, look! I have taken your brothers, the Levites, from the among the sons of Israel, as a gift for you, as those given to God to carry on the service of the tent of meeting. And you and your sons with you should safeguard your priesthood as regards every concern of the altar and as regards what is inside the curtain -- and you men must render service. As a service of gift I shall give your priesthood, and the stranger drawing near should be put to death." And God spoke to further to Aaron--"As for me, look! I have given you the custody of the contribution made to me. Of all the holy things of the sons of Israel I have given them to you and to your sons as a portion, as an allowance to time indefinite. This should become yours out of the most holy things, out of the offering made by fire, every offering of theirs together

with every grain of theirs and every sin offering of theirs and every guilt offerings of theirs, which they will return to me. It is something most holy for you and for your sons. In a most holy place you should eat it. Every male should eat it. It should become something holy to you. And this belongs to you-- the contribution of their gift together with all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you and your sons and daughters with you, as an allowance to time indefinite. Everyone clean in your house may eat it. "All the best of the oil and all the best of new wine and grain, and their 1stfruits, which they will give to God, I have given them to you. The 1st ripe fruits of all that is on their land, which they will bring to God, yours it should become. Everyone clean in your house may eat it. "Every devoted thing in Israel should become yours. "Everything opening the womb, of every sort of flesh, which they will present to God, among man and beast, should become yours. However, you should without fail redeem the 1stborn of mankind -- and the 1stborn of the unclean beast you should redeem. And with a redemption price for it from a month old upward you should redeem it, by the estimated value, 5 silver shekels by the shekel (dollar) of the holy place. It is 20 gerahs (1 shekel= 1 dollar = 20 nickels). Only the 1stborn bull or 1stborn male lamb or 1stborn goat you should not redeem. They are something holy. Their blood you should sprinkle upon the altar, and their fat you should make smoke as an offering made by fire for a restful odor to God. And their flesh should become yours. Like the breast of the wave offering and like the right leg, it should become yours. All the holy contributions, which the sons of Israel will contribute to God, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you, as an allowance to time indefinite. It is a covenant of salt to time indefinite before God for you and your offspring with you." And God went on to say to Aaron -- "In their land you will not have an inheritance, and no share will become yours in their midst. I am your share and your inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel. "And to the sons of Levi, look! I have given every 10th part in Israel as an inheritance in return for their service that they are carrying on, the service of the tent of meeting. And the sons of Israel should no more come near to the tent of meeting to incur sin so as to die. And the Levites themselves must carry on their service of the tent of meeting, and they are the ones who should answer for their error. It is a statute to time indefinite during your generations that in the midst of the sons of Israel they should not get possession of an inheritance. For the 10th part of the sons of Israel, which they will contribute to God as a contribution, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. That is why I have said to them, 'In the midst of the sons of Israel they should not get possession of an inheritance.'" Then God spoke to Moses saying --"And you should speak to the Levites, and you must say to them, 'You will receive from the sons of Israel the 10th part that I have given to you from them for your inheritance, and you must contribute from it as a contribution to

God a 10th part of the 10th part. It must be reckoned to you as your contribution, like the grain of the threshing floor, and like full produce of the wine or oil press. In this way yourselves also will contribute a contribution to God from all your 10th parts that you will receive from the sons of Israel, and from them you must give the contribution to God to Aaron the priest. From all the gifts to you, you will contribute every sort of contribution to God, of the very best of it, as some holy thing from them. You must say to them--'When you contribute the best of them, then it will certainly be reckoned to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor, and as the produce of the wine or oil press. You must eat it in every place, you and your household, because it is your wages in return for your service in the tent of meeting. You must not incur sin for it when you contribute the best from them, and you must not profane (non religious) the holy things of the sons of Israel, that you may not die. 19 And God proceeded God proceeded to speak to Moses and Aaron, saying -- "This is a statute of the law that God has commanded, saying --'Speak to the sons of Israel that they should take for you a sound red cow in which there is no defect and upon which there is no yoke has come. And you must give it to Eleazar the priest, and he must lead it forth outside the camp, and it must be slaughtered before him. Then Eleazar the priest must take some of its blood with his finger and spatter some of its blood straight toward the front of the tent of meeting 7 times. And the cow must be burned under his eyes. Its skin and its flesh and its blood together with its dung will be burned. And the priest must take cedarwood and hyssop and coccus scarlet material and throw it into the midst of the burning of the cow. And the priest must wash his garments and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he may come into the camp, but the priest must be unclean until the evening. "'And the one who burned it will wash his garments in water and must bathe his flesh in water, and he must be unclean until the evening. "'And a clean man must gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place -- and they must serve the assembly of the sons of Israel as something to be kept for the water for cleansing. It is a sin offering. And the one gathering the ashes of the cow must wash his garments and be unclean until the evening. "'And it must serve the sons of Israel and the alien resident who is residing as an alien in their midst as a statute to time indefinite. Anyone touching the corpse of any human soul must also be unclean 7 days. Such one should purify himself with it on the 3rd day, and on the 7th day he will be clean. But if he will not purify himself on the 3rd day, then on the 7th day he will not be clean. Everyone touching a corpse, the soul of whatever man may die, and who will not purify himself, has defiled God's tabernacle, and that soul must be cut off from Israel. Because the water for cleansing has not been sprinkled upon him, he continues unclean. His uncleanness is still upon him. "'This is the law in case a man should die in a tent -- Everyone coming into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will

be unclean 7 days, And everyone who on the open field may touch someone slain with the sword or a corpse or a bone of a man or a burial place will be unclean 7 days. And they must take for the unclean one some of the dust of the burning of the sin offering and put running water upon it in a vessel. Then a clean man must take hyssop and dip it into the water and spatter it upon the tent and all the vessels and the souls that happened to be there and upon the one who touched the bone or the slain one or the corpse or the burial place. And the clean person must spatter it upon the unclean one on the 3rd day and on the 7th day and must purify him from sin on the 7th day -- and he must wash his garments and bathe in water, and he must be clean in the evening. "'But the man who may be unclean and who will not purify himself, well that soul must be cut off from the midst of the congregation, because it is God's sanctuary that he has defiled. The water for cleansing was not sprinkled upon him. He is unclean. "'And it must serve as a statute to time indefinite for them, that the one spattering the water for cleansing should wash his garments, also the one touching the water for cleansing. He will be unclean until the evening. And anything the unclean one may touch will be unclean, and the soul who touches it will be unclean until the evening. 20 And the sons of Israel, the entire assembly, proceeded to come into the wilderness of Zin in the 1st month, and the people took up living in Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and there that she was buried. Now there proved to be no water for the assembly, and they began to congregate themselves against Moses and Aaron. And the people went quarreling with Moses and saying --"If only we had expired when our brothers expired before God! And why have you men brought God's congregation into this wilderness for us and our beasts of burden (animals) to die there? And why have you conducted us up out Egypt to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of seed and figs and vines and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink." Then Moses and Aaron came from before the congregation to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell upon their faces, and God's glory began to appear to them. Then God spoke to Moses, said--"Take the rod and call the assembly together, you and Aaron your brother, and you must speak to the crag before their eyes that it may indeed give its water -- and you must bring out water for them from the crag and give the assembly and their beasts of burden drink." So Moses took the rod from before God, just as he had commanded him. After that Moses and Aaron called the congregation together before the crag, and he proceeded to say to them -- "Hear, now, you rebels! Is it from this crag that we shall bring out water for you?" With that Moses lifted his hand up and struck the crag with his rod twice -- and much water began to come out, and the assembly and their animals began to drink. Later God said to Moses and Aaron --"Because you did not show faith in me to sanctify

me before the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you will not bring this congregation into the land that I shall certainly give them." These are the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel quarreled with God, so that he was sanctified among them. Subsequently Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom-- "This is what your brother Israel has said, 'You yourself well know all the hardship that has overtaken us. And our fathers proceeded to go down to Egypt, and we continued to dwell in Egypt many days, and the Egyptians began doing harm to us and our fathers. Finally we cried out to God and he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt -- and here we are in Kadesh, a city at the extremity of your territory. Let us pass, please, through your land. We shall not pass through a field or a vineyard, and we shall not drink the water of a well. On the king's road we shall march. We shall not bend toward the right or the left, until we shall pass through your territory.'" However, Edom said to him--"You must not pass through me, for fear I may come out with the sword to meet you." In turn the sons of Israel said to him--"By the highway we shall go up and if I and my livestock should drink your water, I shall also certainly give the value of it (pay for it). I want nothing more than to pass through on my feet." Still he said--"You must not pass through." With that Edom came on out to encounter him with a great many people and a strong hand. So Edom refused to grant Israel to pass through his territory. Hence Israel turned away from him. And the sons of Israel, the entire assembly, proceeded to pull away from Kadesh and come to Mount Hor. Then God said this to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom -- "Aaron will be gathered to his people, for he will not enter into the land that I shall certainly give to the sons of Israel, on the ground that you men rebelled against my order respecting the waters of Meribath. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up into the Mount Hor. And strip Aaron of his garments, and you must clothe with them Eleazar his son -- and Aaron will be gathered and must die there." So Moses did just as God had commanded -- and before the eyes of all the assembly they went climbing Mount Hor. Then Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and clothed Eleazar his son with them, after which Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came on down from the mountain. And all the assembly got to see that Aaron had expired, and all the house of Israel continued weeping for Aaron for 30 days. 21 Now the Canaanite the king of Arad, who l dwelt in the Negeb, got to hear that Israel had come by the way of Atharim, and he began to fight with Israel and carry away some of them as captives. Consequently Israel made a vow to God and said--"If you will without fail give this people into my hand, I shall also certainly devote their cities to destruction." So God listened to Israel's voice and gave the Canaanites over -- and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. Hence they called the name of the place Hormah.

While they continued treking from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, the soul of the people began tiring out because of the way. And the people kept speaking against God and Moses --"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread and no water, and our soul has come to abhor the contemptible bread." So God sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they kept biting the people, so that many people of Israel died. Finally the people came to Moses and said --"We have sinned, because we have spoken against God and against you. Intercede with God that he may remove the serpents from upon us." And Moses went pleading in behalf of the people. Then God said to Moses--"Make for yourself a fiery snake and place it upon a signal pole. And it must occur that when anyone has been bitten, he then has to look at it, and to must keep alive. Moses at once made a serpent of copper and placed it upon the signal pole, and it did occur that if a serpent had bitten a man and he gazed at the copper serpent, he then kept alive. After that the sons of Israel pulled away and encamped in Oboth. Then they pulled away from Oboth and encamped in Iyeabarim, in the wilderness that is toward the front of Moab, toward the rising of the sun. From there they pulled away and went camping in the torrent valley of Zered. From there they pulled away and went camping in the region of the Arnon, which is in wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. That is why it is said in the book of the Wars of God -- "Vaheb in Suphah and the torrent valleys of Arnon, and the mouth of the torrent valleys, which has bent itself toward the seat of Ar and has leaned against the border of Moab." Next from there on to Beer. This is the well about which God said to Moses--"Gather the people, and let me give them water." At that time Israel proceeded to sing this song -- "Spring up, O well! Respond to it you people! A well, princes dug it! The nobles of the people excavated it. With a commander's staff, with their own staffs." Then from the wilderness on to Mattanah. And from Mattanah on to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel on to Bamoth. And from Bamoth on to the valley that is in the field of Moab, at the head of Pisgah, and it projects over toward the face of Jeshimon. Israel now sent messengers to Sihon the king of the Amoirtes, saying--"Let me pass through your land. We shall not turn off into a field or vineyard. We shall drink water of no well. On the King's road we shall march until we pass through your territory." And Sihon did not allow Israel to pass through his territory, but Sihon gathered all his people and went out to meet Israel in the wilderness, and came to Jahaz and began fighting with Israel. At that Israel struck him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, near the sons of Ammon -- because

Jazer is the border of the sons of Ammon. So Israel took all these cities, and Israel began dwelling in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its dependent towns. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon. He was the king of the Amorites, and it was he who fought with the king of Moab formerly and went taking all his land as far as the Arnon. That is why the sayers of mock verses would say -- "Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and be proved firmly set up. For a fire has come out of Heshbon, a flame from the town of Sihon. It has consumed (burned) Ar of Moab, the owners of the high places of the Arnon. Woe (sorrow) to you, Moab! You will certainly perish, O people of Chemosh! He will certainly give his sons as escaped ones and his daughters in the captivity to the king of the Amorites, Sihon. So let us shoot at them. Heshbon will certainly perish up to Dibon, and the women up to Nophah, the men up to Medeba. And Israel began to dwell in the land of Amorites. Then Moses sent some to spy on Jazer. So they captured its dependent towns and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. After that they turned and went up by the way of Bashan. At this Og the king of Bashan came out to meet them, he and all his people, to the battle of Edrei. God now said to Moses --"Do not be afraid of him, for into your hand I shall certainly give him and all his people and his land -- and you must do to him just as you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who used to dwell in Heshbon. So they went striking him and his sons and all his people, until there was no survivor remaining to him -- and they went taking possession of the land. 22 Then the sons of Israel pulled away and encamped on the desert plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor got to see all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab became very frightened at the people, because they were many -- and Moab began to feel sickening dread of the sons of Israel. And Moab proceeded to say to the older men of Midian--"Now this congregation will lick up all our surroundings like the bull licking up the green growth of the field." And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that particular time. He now sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the River of the land of the sons of his people, to call him saying --"Look! A people has come out of Egypt. Look! They have covered the earth as far as one can see, and they are dwelling right in front of me. And now do come, please, do curse this people for me, for they are mighitier than I am. Perhaps I may be able to strike them and I may drive them out of the land -- for I well know that the one whom you bless is a blessed one and the one whom you curse is cursed." So the older men of Moab and the older men of Midian traveled with the payments for divination (seeking knowledge of the future) in their hands and went to Balaam and spoke to him Balak's words. At that he said to them -- "Lodge here

tonight and I shall certainly return you word just as God may speak to me." Accordingly the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. Then God came to Balaam and said--"Who are these men with you?" So Balaam said to the true God -- "Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, 'Look! The people who are coming out of Egypt, and they go covering the earth as far as the eye can see, now do come, do execrate (curse, denounce) them for me. Perhaps I may be able to fight against them and I shall certainly drive them out.'" But God said to Balaam --"You must not go with them. You must not curse the people, for they are blessed." After that Balaam got up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak --"Go to your country, because God has refused to let me go with you." So the princes Moab got up and came to Balak and said--"Balaam has refused to come with us." However, Balak sent again other princes in greater number and more honorable than the former. In turn they came to Balaam and said to him--"This is what Balak the son of Zippor has said, 'Do not be detained, please, from coming to me. For I shall without fail honor you greatly, and everything you may say to me I shall do. So do come, please. Do denounce this people for me.'" But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak--"If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I should not be able to pass beyond the order of Lord my Jehovah, so as to do something small or great. And now you men also stay here, please, tonight that I may know what further God will speak with me." Then God came to Balaam by night and said to him --"If it is to call you that the men have come, get up, go with them. But only the word that I shall speak to you is what you may speak." After that Balaam got up in the morning and saddled his she-ass and went with the princes of Moab. And the anger of God began to blaze because he was going -- and God's angel proceeded to station himself in the road to resist him. And he was riding upon his she-ass, and 2 attendants of his were with him. And the ass got to see God's angel stationed in the road with his drawn sword in his hand -- and the ass tried to turn aside from the road that she might go into the field, but Balaam began to strike the ass in order to turn her away from the road. And God's angel kept standing in the narrow way between the vineyards, with a stone wall on this side and a stone wall on that side. And the she-ass kept seeing God's angel and began to squeeze herself against the wall and so to squeeze Balaam's foot against the wall -- and he went beating her some more. God's angel now passed by again and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn aside to the right or the left. When the ass got to see God's angel she now lay down under Balaam, so that Balaam's anger blazed, and he kept beating the ass with this staff. Finally God opened the mouth of the ass and she said to Balaam --"What have I done to you so that you have beaten me these 3 times?" At this Balaam said to the ass --"It is because you have dealt ruthlessly with me. If only there were a sword in my hand, for

now I should have killed you!" Then the she-ass said to Balaam --"Am I not your she-ass that you have ridden upon all your life long until today? Have I ever been used to do to you this way?" To which he said, "No!" And God proceeded to uncover Balaam's eyes, so that he saw God's angel stationed in the road with his drawn sword in his hand. At once he bowed low and prostrated himself on his face. Then God's angel said to him--"Why have you beaten your she-ass these 3 times? Look! I-I have come out to offer resistance, because your way has been reckless against my will. And the she-ass got to see me and tried to turn aside before me these 3 times. Supposing she had not turned aside from before me! For by now even you I should have killed, but her I should have saved alive." At this Balaam said to God's angel --"I have sinned, because I did not know that it was you stationed in the road to meet me. Now, if it is bad in your eyes, let me go my way back." But the God's angel said to Balaam--"Go with the men, and nothing but the word I shall speak to you is what you may speak." And Balaam continued going with the princes of Balak. When Balak got the hear that Balaam had come, he at once went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the bank of the Arnon, which is on the extremity of the territory. Then Balak said to Balaam --"Have I not for a fact sent to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not really and truly able to honor you?" At this Balaam said to Balak --"Here I have come to you now. Shall I be able at all to speak something? The word that God will place in my mouth is what I shall speak." So Balaam went with Balak and they came to Kiriathhuzoth. Balak proceeded to sacrifice cattle and sheep and to send some to Balaam and the princes who were with him. And it came about in the morning that Balak went taking Balaam and bringing him up to Bamothbaal, that he might see from there the whole of the people. 23 Then Balaam said to Balak--"Build for me on this spot 7 altars and make ready for me on this spot 7 bulls and 7 rams." Balak immediately did just as Balaam had spoken. After that Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. And Balaam went on to say to Balak --"Station yourself by your burnt offering, and let me go. Perhaps God will get in touch, and meet with me. In that case whatever he will show me, I shall certainly tell you." So he went to a bare hill. When God got in touch with Balaam, he then said to Him--"I set the 7 altars in rows, and I proceeded to offer up a bull and a ram on each altar." Accordingly God put word in the mouth of Balaam and said --"Return to Balak, and this is what you will speak." So he returned to him, and look! he and all the princes of Moab were stationed by his burnt offering. Then he took up his proverbial (famous) utterance and said --"From Aram Balak the king Moab tried to conduct me, From the mountains of the east -- Do come, do curse Jacob for me. Yes, do come, do denounce Israel.

How could I execrate (loathe) those whom God has not execrated? And how could I denounce (execrate, curse) those whom God has not denounced? For from the top of the rocks I see them, And from the hills I behold them. There as a people they keep tabernacling isolated, and among the nations they do not reckon themselves. Who has numbered the dust particles of Jacob, And who has counted the 4th part of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the upright ones. And let my end turn out afterward like theirs." At this Balak said to Balaam--"What have you done to me? It was in order to execrate my enemies that I took you, and here you have blessed them to the limit." In turn he answered and said --"It is not whatever God may put in my mouth that I should take care to speak?" Then Balak said to him--"Do come, please, with me to another place from which you can see them. Only the extremity of them you will see, and you will not see all of them. And execrate (denounce) them for me from there." So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and proceeded to build 7 altars and to offer up a bull and a ram on each altar. After that he said to Balak--"Station yourself here by your burnt offering, and as for me, let me get in touch with him there." Subsequently God got in touch with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said--"Return to Balak, and this is what you will speak." So he came to him, and look! he was stationed by his burnt offering and the princes of Moab with him. Then Balak said to him--"What has God spoken?" At this he took up his proverbial utterance and said --" Get up, Balak and listen. Do give ear to me, O son of Zippor. God is not a man that he should tell lies, Neither a son of mankind that he should feel regret. Has he himself said it and will he not do it, And has he spoken and will he not carry it out? Look! I have been taken to bless, And He has blessed, and I shall not reverse it. He has not looked upon any uncanny (unnatural) power against Jacob, And no trouble has he seen against Israel. God his Lord is with him, And the loud hailing of a king is in his midst. God is bringing them out of Egypt. The swift course like that of a wild bull is his. For there is no unlucky spell against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. At this time it may be said respecting Jacob and Israel, 'What has God worked out!' Behold, a people will get up like a lion, And like the lion it will lift itself up. It will not lie down until it may eat prey, And the blood of slain ones it will drink. At this Balak said to Balaam--"If, on the one hand, you cannot execrate him at all, then,

on the other hand, you should not bless him at all. In turn Balaam answered and said to Balak --"Did I not speak to you, saying, 'All that God will say is what I shall do'?" Then Balak said to Balaam --"O come, please. Let me take you to still another place. Perhaps it will be right in the eyes of the true God so that you will certainly execrate him for me from there." With that Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which looks toward Jeshimon. Then Balaam said to Balak--"Build for me on this spot 7 altars and make ready for me on this spot 7 bulls and 7 rams." So Balak did just as Balaam had said, and he went offering up a bull and a ram on each altar. 24 When Balaam got to see that it was good in the eyes of God to bless Israel, he did not go away as at the other times to come upon any unlucky omens, but he directed his face to the wilderness. When Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel tabernacling by his tribes, then the spirit of God came to be upon him. Hence he took up his proverbial utterance and said --"The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, and the utterance of the able-bodied man with the eye unsealed (opened), The utterance of the one hearing the sayings of God, who got to see a vision of Almighty. While falling down with the eyes uncovered (opened) --How good looking are your tents, O Jacob, your tabernacles, O Israel! Like torrent valleys they have extended a long way, like gardens by the river. Like aloe plants that God has planted, like cedars by the waters, Water keeps trickling from his 2 leather buckets, And his seed is by many waters. His king also will be higher than Agag, And his kingdom will be lifted up. God is bringing him out of Egypt -- The swift course of a wild bull is his. He will consume (burn) the nations, his oppressors, And their bones he will gnaw (chew), and he will break them to pieces with his arrows. He bowed down, he lay down like the lion, And like a lion, who dares rouse him? Those blessing you are the ones blessed, And those cursing you are the ones cursed." At that Balak's anger blazed against Balaam and he clapped his hands, and Balak went on to say to Balaam--"It was to execrate (loathe) my enemies that I called you, and look! you have blessed them to the limit these 3 times. And now run your way off to your place. I had said to myself I was without fail going to honor you, but, look! God has held you back from honor." In turn Balaam said to Balak --"Was it not also to your messengers whom you sent to me that I spoke, saying, 'If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I should not be able to pass beyond the order of God so as to do something good or bad out of my own heart. Whatever God may speak is what I shall speak'? And now here I am

going away to my people. Do come, let me advise you what this people will do to our people afterward in the end of the days." So he took up his proverbial (famous) utterance and said --"The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, and the utterance of the able-bodied man with the eye unsealed (open), The utterance of the one hearing the sayings of God, And the one knowing the knowledge of the Most High -- A vision of Almighty he got to see While falling down with the eyes uncovered (opened)-- I shall see him, but not now, -- I shall behold him, but not near. A star will certainly step forth out of Jacob, And a scepter will indeed rise out of Israel. And he will certainly break apart the temples of Moab's head And the cranium (skull) of all the sons of tumult (uproar) of war. And Edom must become a possession, Yes, Seir must become the possession of his enemies, While Israel is displaying his courage. And out of Jacob one will go suppressing, And he must destroy any survivor from the city. When he go to see Amalek, he carried further his proverbial utterance and went on to say --"Amalek was the 1st one of the nations, But his end afterward will be even his perishing." When he got to see the Kenites, he carried further his proverbial utterance and went to say--"Durable is your dwelling, and set on the crag (rock) is your abode (home). But there will come to be one to burn Kain down. How long will it be till Assyria will carry you away captive?' And he carried further his proverbial utterance and went on to say--"Woe! Who will survive when God causes it? And there will be ships from the coast of Kittim, and they will certainly afflict (trouble, oppress) Eber. But he too will eventually perish. After that Balaam got up and went and returned to his place. And Balak also went his own way. 25 Now Israel was dwelling in Shittim. Then the people started to have immoral relations with the daughters of Moab. And the women came calling the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people began to eat and to bow down to their gods. So Israel attached itself to the Baal of Peor -- and the anger of God began to blaze (burn) against Israel. Hence God said to Moses--"Take all the head ones of the people, and expose them to God toward the sun, that the burning anger of God may turn back (away) from Israel." Then Moses said to the judges of Israel --"Each one of you kill his men who have an attachment with the Baal of Peor." But look! a man of the sons of Israel came, and he was

bringing near to his brothers a Midianite woman before Moses eyes, and before the eyes of all the assembly of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest caught sight of it-- he at once got up from the midst of the assembly, and took a lance (spear) in his hand. Then he went after the man of Israel into the vaulted tent and pierced both of them through--the man of Israel and the woman through her genital parts. At that the scourge (plague, evil) was stopped from upon the sons of Israel. And those who died from the scourge amounted to 24,000. Then God spoke to Moses, saying --"Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest has turned back my wrath (fury) from upon the sons of Israel by his tolerating no rivalry at all toward me in the midst of them, so that I have not exterminated the sons of Israel in my insistence on exclusive (sole) devotion. For that reason say, 'Here I am giving him my covenant of peace. And it must serve as the covenant of a priesthood to time indefinite for him and his offspring after him, due to the fact that he tolerated no rivalry toward his God and proceeded to make atonement (begging for forgiveness) for the sons of Israel.'" Incidentally the name of the fatally struck Israelite man who was fatally struck with the Midianitess was Zimri the son of Salu, a chieftain of a paternal house of the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianite woman fatally struck was Cozbi the daughter of Zur -- he was the head one of the clans of a paternal house in Midian. Later God spoke to Moses, saying --"Let there be a harassing of the Midianites, and you men must strike them, because they are harassing you with their deeds of cunning that they committed against you cunningly in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cozbi the daughter of a chieftain of Midian, their sister who was fatally struck in the day of the scourge over the affair of Peor. 26 And it came about after the scourge (affliction, bane), that Jehovah went on to say this to Moses and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest --"Take the sum of the whole assembly of the sons of Israel from 20 years of age and upward, according to the house of their fathers, all those going out to the army in Israel." And Moses and Eleazar the priest proceeded to speak with them in the desert plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho, saying -- "Take the sum of the whole assembly of the sons of Israel from 20 years of age and upward, just as God had commanded Moses. Now the sons of Israel who went out of the land of Egypt were -- Reuben, Israel's 1stborn, Reuben's sons--

of Hanoch the family of the Hanochites--

of Pallu the family of the Pallusites--

of Hezron the family of the Hezronites--

of Carmi the family of the Carmites -- These were the families of Reubenites, and their registered ones amounted to 43,730. And the son of Pallu was Eliab. The sons of Eliab -- Nemuel and Dathan and Abiram. This Dathan and Abiram were summoned ones of assembly, who engaged in a struggle against Moses and Aaron in the assembly of Korah, when they engaged in a struggle against God. Then the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up.

As for Korah, he died at the death of the assembly when the fire consumed (burned) 250 men. And they came to be a symbol. However, the sons of Korah did not die. The sons of Simeon by their families--

Of Nemuel the family of the Neumelites--

of Jamin the family of the Jaminites--

of Jachin the family of the Jachinites--

of Jerah the family of the Jerahites--

of Shaul the family of the Shaulites. These were the families of the Simeonites --22,200.

Sons of Gad by their families --

of Zephon the family of the Zephonites--

of Haggi the family of the Haggites--

of Shunni the family of the Shunites--

of Ozni the family of the Oznites--

Of Eri the family of the Erites--

of Arod the family of the Arodites--

of Areli the family of the Arelites-- These were the

families of the sons of Gad, of their registered ones, 40,500.

The sons of Judah were Er and Onan. However, Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Judah came to be, by their families--

Of Shelah the family of the Shelanites--

of Perez the family of the Perezites--

of Zerah the family of the Zerahites--

And the sons of Perez came to be --

Of Hezron the family of the Hezronites--

of Hamul the family of the Hamulites --

These were the families of Judah, of their registered ones--76,500.

The sons of Issachar by their families were--

Of Tola the family of the Tolaites--

of Puvah the family of the Punites--

of Jashub the family of the Jashubites--

of Shimron the family of Shimronites--

These were the families of Issachar, of their registered ones--64,300.

The sons of Zebulun by their families were--

Of Sered the family of the Seredites--

of Elon the family of the Elonites--

of Jahleel the family of the Jahleelites--

These were the families of Zebulunites, of their registered ones--60,500.

The sons of Joseph by their families were Manasseh and Ephraim.

The sons of Manasseh were--

Of Machir the family of the Machirites.

And Machir became father to Gilead.

Of Gilead the family of the Gileadites.

These were the sons of Gilead--

Of Iezer the family of the Iezerites--

of Helek the family of the Helekites-

of Asriel the family of the Asrielites--

of Shechem the family of the Shechemites--

of Hepher the family of the Hepherites--

Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher proved to have no sons, but daughters, and the names of daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. These were the families of Manasseh, and their registered ones were 52,700.

These were the sons of Ephraim by their families--

Of Shuthelah the family of the Shuthelahites--

of Becher the family of the Becherites--

of Tahan the family of the Tahanites--

And these were the sons of Shuthelah--

Of Eran the family of the Eranites.

These were the families of the sons of Ephraim, of their registered ones--32,500. These were the sons of Joseph by their families.

the sons of Benjamin by their families were--

Of Bela the family of the Belaites--

of Ashbel the family of the Ashbelites--

of Ahiram the family of the Ahiramites-

of Shephupham the family of the Shuphamites--

of Hupham the family of theHuphamites--

The sons of Bela came to be Ard and Naaman--

Of Ard the family of the Ardites--

of Naaman the family of the Naamites.

These were the sons of Benjamin by their families, and their registered ones were 45,600.

These were the sons of Dan by their families:

Of Shuham the family of the Shuhamiters.

These were the families of Dan by their families.

All the families of the Shuhamites,

of their registered ones were 64,400.

The sons of Asher by their families were --

Of Imnah the family of the Imnites--

of Ishvi the family of the Ishvites--

of Beriah the family of the Beriites--

of the sons of Beriah--

Of Heber the family of the Heberites--

of Malchiel the family of the Malchielites.

And the name of the Asher's daughter was Serah.

These were the families of the sons of Asher,

of their registered ones--53,400.

The sons of Naphtali by their families were--

Of Jahzeel the family of the Jahzeelites --

of Guni the family of the Gunites--

of Jezer the family of the Jezerites--

of Shillem the family of the Shillemites.

These were the families of Naphtali by their families,

and their registered ones were 45,400.

These were the registered ones of the sons of Israel--601,730.

After that God spoke to Moses, said--"To these the land should be apportioned for an inheritance by the number of the names. According to the great number you should increase one's inheritance, and according to the fewness--you should reduce one's inheritance. Each one's inheritance should be given in proportion to his registered ones. Only by the lot should the land be apportioned. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they should get an inheritance. By the determination of the lot one's inheritance should be apportioned between the many and the few."

Now these were the registered ones of the Levites by their families--

Of Gershon the family of the Gershonites--

of Kohath the family of the Kohathites--

of Merari the family of the Merarites.

These were the families of Levites. the family of Libnites,

the family of Hebronites,

the family of the Mahlites,

the family of the Mushites,

the family of Korahites.

And Kohath became father to Amran.

And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, Levi's daughter, whom his wife bore to Levi in Egypt. In time she bore to Amram Aaron, Moses and Miriam their sister. Then there were born to Aaron -- Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died for their presenting illegimate fire before God. And their registered ones amounted to 23,000, all males from a month old and upward. For they did not get registered in among the sons of Israel, because no inheritance

was to be given to them in among the sons of Israel. These were the ones registered by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they registered the sons of Israel in the desert plains of Moab the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there did not prove to be a man of those registered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they registered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For God had said concerning them --"They will die without fail in the wilderness." So there was not left of them a man, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 27 Then the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, came near. These were the names of his daughters Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. And they proceeded to stand before Moses and before the chieftains and all the assembly at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying--"Our father has died in the wilderness, and yet he did not prove to be in among the assembly, that is, those who ranged themselves against God in the assembly of Korah, but for his own sin he has died, and he did not get to have any sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from the midst of his family because he had no son? O give us a possession in the midst of our father's brothers." At that Moses presented their case before God. God then said this to Moses--"The daughters of Zelophehad are speaking right. By all means you should give them the possession of an inheritance in the midst of their father's brothers, and you must cause their father's inheritance to pass to them. And to the sons of Israel you should speak, saying, 'In case any man should die without having a son, you must then cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. But if he has no daughter, then you must give the inheritance to his brothers. A nd if he has no brothers then he must give inheritance to his father's brothers (uncles). But if his father has no brothers then give inheritance to his blood relation who is closest to him of his family, and he must take possession of it. And it must serve as a statute (regulation) by judicial decision for the sons of Israel, just as God has commanded Moses.'" Subsequently God said to Moses--"Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I shall certainly give the sons of Israel. When you have seen it, then you must be gathered to your people, yes, you, just as Aaron your brother was gathered, inasmuch as you men rebelled against my order in the wilderness of Zin at the quarreling of the assembly, in relation to sanctifying me by the waters before their eyes. These are the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the widerness of Zin." Then Moses spoke to God, saying--"Let God the Lord of the spirits of all sorts of flesh appoint over the assembly a man who will go out before them and who will come in before them, and who will bring them out, and who will bring them in, that God's assembly may not become like sheep that have no shepherd." So God said to Moses -- "Take for yourself Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom there

is spirit, and you must lay your hand upon him, and you must stand him before Eleazar the priest and before all the assembly, and you must commission him before their eyes. You must put some of your dignity upon him, in order that all the assembly of the sons of Israel may listen to him. And it is before Eleazar the priest that he will stand, and he must inquire in his behalf by the judgment of the Urim before God. At his order they will go out and at his order they will come in, he and all the sons of Israel with him and all the assembly." And Moses proceeded to do just as God had commanded him. Accordingly he took Joshua and stood him before Eleazar the priest and before all the assembly and laid his hands upon him and commissioned him, just as God had spoken by means of Moses. 28 And God spoke further to Moses, saying -- "Command the sons of Israel, and you must say to them, 'You should take care to present it to me my offering, my bread, for my offering made by fire as a restful odor to me, at their appointed times.' "And you must say to them, 'This is the offering made by fire that you will present to God -- 2 sound year- old male lambs a day as a burnt offering constantly. The 1 male lamb you will render up in the morning, and the other male lamb you will render up between the 2 evenings, together with the 10th of an ephah (1/10 of 22 liter is 2.2 liter) of fine flour as a grain offering moistened with the 4th of a hin (1 hin is 3.67 liter so 1/4 of a hin is 0.92 liter = Approx. 4 cups) of beaten oil -- the constant burnt offering which was rendered up at Mount Sinai as a restful odor, an offering made by fire to God, along with its drink offering, the 4th of a hin to each male lamb. Pour out in the holy place the drink offering of intoxicating liquor to God. And you will render up the other male lamb between the 2 evenings. With the same grain offering as of the morning and with its same drink offering you will render it up as an offering made by fire, of a restful odor to God. "'However, on the sabbath day there will be 2 sound year old male lambs and two 10th measures of fine flour as a grain offering moistened with oil, together with its drink offering, as a sabbath burnt offering on its sabbath, along with the constant burnt offering and its drink offering. "'And at the commencements of your months you people will present as a burnt offering to God 2 young bulls and 1 ram, 7 sound male lambs each 1 year old, and three 10th measures of fine flour as a grain offering moistened with oil for each bull and two 10th measures of fine flour as a grain offering moistened with oil for the one ram, and a 10th measure of fine flour respectively as a grain offering moistened with oil for each male lamb, as a burnt offering, a restful odor, an offering made by fire to God. As their drink offerings there should go 1/2 a hin (11. liter) of wine for a bull, and a 1/3 of hin (approx. 7.33 liter) or the ram and a 4th of hin (approx. 0.92 liter) for a male lamb. This is the monthly burnt offering in its month of the months of the year. Also, 1 kid of the goat should be rendered up as a sin offering to God in addition to the constant burnt offering together with its drink offering. "'And in the 1st month, on the 14th day of the

month, will be God's passover. And on the 15th day of this month will be a festival. 7 days unfermented cakes will be eaten. On the 1st day there will be a holy convention. No sort of laborious work must you do. And you must present as an offering made by fire, a burnt offering to God, 2 young bulls and 1 ram and 7 male lambs each a year old. They should prove to be sound ones for you. And as their grain offerings of fine flour moistened with oil you will render up three 10th measures for a bull and two 10th measures for the ram. You will render up a 10th measure respectively for each male lamb of the 7 male lambs -- and 1 goat of sin offering to make atonement for you. Aside from the morning burnt offering, which is for the constant burnt offering, you will render these up. The same as these you will render up daily for the 7 days as bread, an offering made by fire, of a restful odor to God. Along with the constant burnt offering it should be rendered, and its drink offering. And on the 7th day you should hold a holy convention. No sort of laborious work must you do. "'And on the day of the 1st ripe fruits, when you present a new grain offering to God, in your feast of weeks you should hold a holy convention. No sort of laborious work must you do. And you must present as a burnt offering for a restful odor to God 2 young bulls, 1 ram, 7 male lambs each 1 year old and as their grain offering of fine flour moistened with oil three 10th measures for each bull, two 10th measures for the one ram. a 10th measure respectively for each male lamb of the 7 male lambs, 1 kid of the goat to make atonement for you. Aside from the constant burnt offering and its grain offering you will render them up. They should prove to be sound ones for you, together with their drink offerings. 29 "'And in the 7th month, on the 1st day of the month, you should hold a holy convention. No sort of laborious work must you do. It should prove to be a day of the trumpet blast for you. And you must render up as a burnt offering for a restful odor to God 1 young bull, 1 ram, 7 male lambs each 1 year old, sound ones, and their grain offering of fine flour moistened with oil, three 10th measures for the bull, two 10th measures for the ram, and one 10th measure for each male lamb of the 7 male lambs -- and 1 male kid of the goats as a sin offering to make atonement for you, aside from the monthly burnt offering and its grain offering and the constant burnt offering and its grain offering, together with their drink offerings, according to the regular procedure for them, as a restful odor, an offering made by fire to God. "'And on the 10th of this 7th month you should hold a holy convention, and you must afflict your souls. No sort of work must you do. And you must present as a burnt offering to God, as a restful odor, 1 young bull, 1 ram, 7 male lambs each 1 year old. They should prove to be sound ones for you. And as their grain offering of fine flour moistened with oil three 10th measures for the bull, two 10th measures for the 1 ram, a 10th measures respectively for each male

lamb of the 7 male lambs -- 1 kid of the goats as a sin offering aside from the sin offering of atonement and the constant burnt offering and its grain offering, together with their drink offerings. "'And on the 15th day of the 7th month you should hold a holy convention. No sort of laborious work must you do, and you must celebrate a festival to God 7 days. And you must present as a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a restful odor to God, 13 young bulls, 2 rams, 14 male lambs each 1 year old. They should prove to be sound ones. And as their grain offering of fine flour moistened with oil three 10th measures for each bull of the 13 bulls, two 10th measures for each ram of the 2 rams, and a 10th measure for each male lamb of the 14 male lambs, and 1 kid of the goats as a sin offering, aside from the constant burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering. "'And on the 2nd day 12 young bulls, 2 rams, 14 male lambs each 1 year old, sound ones -- and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams and the male lambs by their number according to the regular procedure, and 1 kid of the goats as a sin offering, aside from the constant burnt offering and its grain offering, together with their drink offerings. "'And on the 3rd day 11 bulls, 2 rams, 14 male lambs each 1 year old, sound ones-- and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams and the male lambs by their number according to the regular procedure -- and one goat as a sin offering, aside from the constant burnt offering, and its grain offering and drink offering. "'And on the 4th day-- 10 bulls, 2 rams, 14 male lambs each 1 year old, sound (healthy) ones -- their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams and the male lambs by their number according to the regular procedure, and 1 kid (young) goats as a sin offering, aside from the constant burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering. "And on the 5th day--9 bulls, 2 rams, 14 male lambs each 1 year old, sound ones, their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams and the male lambs by their number according to the regular procedure, and 1 goat as a sin offering, aside from the constant burnt offering, and its grain offering and its drink offering. "'And on the 6th day -- 8 bulls, 2 rams, 14 male lambs each 1 year old, healthy ones, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams and the male lambs by their number according to the regular procedure, and 1 goat as a sin offering, aside from the constant burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offerings. "'And on the 7th day-- 7 bulls, 2 rams, 14 male lambs, each 1 year old, sound ones, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams and the male lambs by their number according to the regular procedure for them, and one goat as a sin offering, aside from the constant burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering, "'And on the 8th day you should hold a solemn assembly. No sort of laborineous work

must you do. And you must present as a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a restful odor to God, one bull, one ram, 7 male lambs each a year old, sound ones, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bull, the ram and the male lambs by their number according to the regular procedure -- and one goat as a sin offering, aside from the constant burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering. "'These you will render up to God at your seasonal festivals, besides your vow offerings and your voluntary offerings as your burnt offerings and your grain offerings and your drink offerings and your communion sacrifices.'" And Moses proceeded to talk to the sons of Israel according to everything that God had commanded Moses. 30 Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying -- "This is the word that God has commanded -- In case a man makes a vow to God or swears an oath to bind a vow of abstinence upon his soul, he must not violate his word. According to all that has gone out of his mouth he should do. In case a woman makes a vow to God or she does bind herself with a vow of abstinence in the house of her father in her youth, and her father actually hears her vow or her abstinence vow that she has bound upon her soul and her father does keep silent toward her, all her vows must also stand, and vows must stand, and every abstinence vow that she has bound upon her soul will stand. But if her husband on the day of hearing it forbids her, he has also father has forbidden her on the day of his hearing all her vows or her abstinence vows that she has bound upon her soul, it will not stand, but God will forgive her, and because her father forbade her. "However, if she at all happens to belong to a husband, and her vow is upon her or the thoughtless promise of her lips that she has bound upon her soul, and her husband actually hears it and keeps silent toward her on the day of his hearing it, her vows must also stand or her abstinence vows that she has bound upon her soul will stand. But if her husband on the day of hearing it forbids her, he has also annulled (legally invalid) her vow that was upon her or the thoughtless promise of her lips that she bound upon her soul, and God will forgive her. "In the case of the vow of a widow or a divorced woman, everything that she has bound upon her soul will stand against her. "However, if it is in the house of her husband that she has vowed or has bound an abstinence vow upon her soul by an oath, and her husband has heard it and has kept silent toward her, he has not forbidden her -- and all her vows must stand or any abstinence vow that she has bound upon her soul will stand. But if her husband has totally annulled them on the day of his hearing any expression of her lips as her vows or as an abstinence vow of her soul, they will not stand. Her husband has annulled them, and God will forgive her. Any vow or any oath of an abstinence vow to afflict the soul, her husband should establish it or her husband should annul it. But if her husband absolutely keeps silent toward her from day to day, he has also established all her vows or all her abstinence vows that are upon her. He has established them because he kept silent toward her on the day

of his hearing them. And if he totally annuls them after his hearing them-- he actually bears her error. " These are the regulations that God commanded Moses as between a husband and his wife, as between a father and his daughter in her youth in the house of her father." 31 God then spoke to Moses, saying --"Take vengeance for the sons of Israel upon the Midianites. Afterward you will be gathered to your people." So Moses spoke to the people, saying -- "Equip men from among you for the army, that they may serve against Midian to execute God's vengeance upon Midian. A 1000 of each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you will send into the army." Accordingly from the 1000s of Israel a 1000 were assigned of a tribe, 12,000 equipped for the army. Then Moses sent them out, a 1000 of each tribe, to the army, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the army, and the holy utensils and the the trumpets for blowing calls were in his hand. And they went waging war against Midian, just as God had commanded Moses, and they proceeded to kill every male. And they killed the kings of Midian along with the others slain, namely, Evi and Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian, and they killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. But the sons of Israel carried off the women of Midian and their little ones captive -- and all their domestic animals and all their livestock and all their means of maintenance they plundered (rob, raid). And all their cities in which they had settled and all their walled camps they burned with fire. And they went taking all the spoil and the plunder and all the booty (valuables stolen/seized in war) in the way of humans and domestic animals. And they came bringing to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the assembly of the sons of Israel the captives and the booty and the spoil, to the camp, to the desert plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho. Then Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chieftains of the assembly went out to meet them outside the camp. And Moses grew indignant at the appointed men of the combat forces, the chiefs of the 1000s and the chiefs of the 100s who were coming in from the military expedition. So Moses said to them--"Have you preserved alive every female? Look! They are the ones who, by Balaam's word, served to induce the sons of Israel to commit unfaithfulness toward God over the affair of Peor, so that the scourge came upon the assembly of God. And now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has had intercourse with man by lying with a male. And save alive for yourselves all the little ones among the women who have not known the act of lying with a male. As for yourselves, camp outside the camp 7 days. Everyone who has killed a soul and everyone who has touched someone slain, you should purify yourselves on the 3rd day, and the 7th day, you and your captives. And every garment and every article of skin and everything made of goat's hair and every article of wood you should purify for yourselves from sin." Eleazar the priest then said to the men of the army who had gone into the battle --

"This is the statute of the law that God commanded Moses, 'Only the gold and the silver, copper, the iron, the tin and the lead, everything that is processed with fire, you should pass through the fire, and it must be clean. Only it should be purified by the water for cleansing. And everything that is not processed with fire you should pass through the water. And you must wash your garments on the 7th day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.'" And God proceeded to say this to Moses--"Take the sum of the booty, the captives both of humankind and the domestic animals, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers of the assembly. And you must divide the booty in 2 between those taking part in the battle who went out on the expedition, and all the rest of the assembly. And as a tax for God you must take away from the men of war who went out on the expedition one soul out of 500, of humankind and of the herd and of the asses and of the flock. From their 1/2 you should take it and must give to Eleazar the priest as God's contribution. And from the 1/2 of sons of Israel you should take 1 out 50, of humankind, of the herd, of the asses and of the flock, of every sort of domestic animal, and you must give them to the Levites, the keepers of the obligation of God's tabernacle." And Moses and Eleazar the priest went doing just as God had commanded to Moses. And the booty, the rest the plunder that the people of the expedition had taken as plunder, amounted to 675,000 of the flock, and 72,00 of the herd, and 61,000 asses. As for human souls from the women who had not known the act of lying with a male, all the souls were 32,000. And the 1/2 that was the share of those who went out on the expedition amounted in number to 337,500 of the flock. And the tax for God from the flock amounted to 675. And of the herd there were 36,000 and the tax on them for God was 72. And the asses were 30,500, and the tax on them for God was 61. And the human souls were 16,000 and the tax on them for God was 32 souls. Then Moses gave the tax as God's contribution to Eleazar the priest, just as God had commanded Moses. And from the 1/2 belonging to the sons of Israel, which Moses divided from that belong to the men who waged war -- Now the 1/2 of the assembly from the flock amounted to 337,500, and of the herd, 36,000, and the asses, 30,500, and the human souls, 16,000. Then Moses took from the 1/2 belonging to the sons of Israel the 1 to be taken out of 50, of humankind and of domestic animals, and gave them to the Levites, the keepers of the obligation of God's tabernacle, just as God had commanded Moses. And the appointed men who were of the 1000s of the army, the chiefs of the 1000s and the chiefs of the 100s, proceeded to approach

Moses, and to say to Moses --"Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are in our charge and not one has been reported missing from us. So let us present each one what he has found as God's offering, articles of gold, ankle chainlets, and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and female ornaments, in order to make atonement for our souls before God." Accordingly Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from them, all the jewelry. And all the gold of the contribution that they contributed to God amounted to 16,750 shekels from the chiefs of the 1000s and the chiefs of the 100s. The men of the army had taken plunder each for himself. So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the chiefs of the 1000s and of the 100s and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before God. 32 Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had come to have numerous livestock, very many, in fact. And they began to see the land of Jazer and the land Gilead, and look! the place was a place for a livestock. Hence the sons of Gad and Reuben came and said this to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the chieftains of the assembly--"Ataroth and Dibon and Jazer and Mimrah and Heshbon and Elealeh and Sebam, and Nebo and Beon, the land the God defeated before the assembly of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock." And they went on to say--"If we have found a favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan." Then Moses said to the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben --"Are your brothers to go to war while you yourselves keep living here? And why should you disheartened the sons of Israel from crossing into the land that God will certainly give them? That is the way your fathers did when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the land. When they went up to the torrent valley of Eshcol and saw the land, then they disheartened the sons of Israel, so as not to go into the land that God was certain to give them. Consequently God's anger blazed on that day so that he swore, saying --'The men who came up out of Egypt from 20 years old upward will not see the soil of which I have sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because they have not followed me wholly, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the sons of Nun, because they have followed God wholly. So God 's anger blazed against Israel and he made them wander about in the wilderness 40 years, until all the generation that was doing evil in the eyes God came to their end. And here you have risen in the place of your fathers as the brood of sinful men in order to add further to the burning anger of God against Israel. In case you should turn back from following him, he also would certainly once again let them stay longer in the wilderness, and you would have acted ruinously toward all this people." Later they approached him and said--"Let us build here stone flock pens for our livestock, and cities for our little ones. But we ourselves will go equipped

in battle formation before the sons of Israel until whenever we have brought them to their place, while our little ones must dwell in the cities with fortifications (defenses walls) away from the face of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses until the sons of Israel have provided themselves with landed property, each with his own inheritance. For we shall not get an inheritance with them from the side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us from the side of the Jordan toward the sunrising." At this Moses said to them -- "If you will do this thing, if you will equip yourselves before God for the war, and every equipped one of yours will actually pass over the Jordan before God, until he drives away his enemies from before him, and the land is actually subdued before God, and afterward you return, you also will indeed prove yourselves free from guilt against God and against Israel-- and this land must become yours as a possession before God. But if you will not do this way, you will also certainly sin against God. In that case know that your sin will catch up with you. Build for yourselves cities for your little ones and stone pens for your flocks, and what has gone forth from your mouth you should do." Then the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said this to Moses -- "Your servants will do just as my lord is commanding. Our little ones, our wives, our livestock and all our domestic animals will stay there in the cities of Gilead. but your servants will pass over, everyone equipped for the army, before God for the war, just as my lord is speaking." Accordingly Moses gave a command respecting them to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel. So Moses said to them--"If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben pass with you over the Jordan, everyone equipped for the war, before God, and the land is actually subdued before you, you must then give them the land of Gilead as a possession. But if they do not pass over equipped with you, they must then be settled in your midst in the land of Canaan." To this the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying --"What God has spoken to your servants is the way we shall do. We ourselves will pass over equipped before God to the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance will be with us on this side of the Jordan." At this Moses gave to them, that is, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to 1/2 the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon the king of Amorites and the kingdom of Og the king Bashan, the land belonging to its cities in the territories, and the cities of the land round about. And the sons of Gad proceeded to build Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer, and Atrothshophan and Jazer and Jogbehah, Bethnimrah and Bethharan, the cities with fortifications (defenses), and stone flock pens. And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim, and Nobo and Baalmeon--their names being changed--and Sibmah -- and they began to call by their own names the names of the cities that they built.

And the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh proceed to march to Gilead, and to capture it and to drive away the Amorites who were in it. So Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he took up living in it. And Jair the son of Manasseh marched and went capturing their tent villages, and he began to call them Havvothjair. And Nobah marched and went capturing Kenath and its dependent towns -- and he began to call it Nobah by his own name. 33 There were stages of the sons of Israel who went out of the land of Egypt in their armies by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Moses kept recording the departure places by their stages at the order of God -- and these were their stages of one departure place to another-- And they proceeded to pull away from Rameses in the 1st month, on the 15th day of the 1st month. Directly the day after passover the sons of Israel went out with uplifted hand before the eyes of all the Egyptians. All the while the Egyptians were burying those whom God had struck among them, that is, all the 1stborn--and upon their gods God had executed judgements. So the sons of Israel pulled away from Rameses and went camping in Succoth. Then they pulled away Succoth and went camping in Etham, which is on the edge of wilderness. Next they pulled away from Etham and turned back toward Pihahiroth, which is in view of Baalzephon - and they went camping before Migdol. After that they pulled away from Pihahiroth and went passing through the midst of sea to the wilderness and kept marching a 3 day journey in wilderness of Etham and took up camping in Marah. Then they pulled away from Marah and came to Elim. Now in Elim there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. So they camped there. Next they pulled away from Elim and went camping by the Red Sea. After that they pulled away Red Sea and went camping in the wilderness of Sin. Then they pulled away from the wilderness of Sin and camping at Dophkah. Later they pulled away from Dophkah and went camping at Alush. They next pulled away from Alush and went camping in Rephidim. And there proved to be no water for people to drink. After that they pulled away from Rephidim went camping in the wilderness of Sinai. Subsequently they pulled away from the wilderness of Sinai and went camping at Kibrothhattaavah and camping in Hazeroth. After that they pulled away from Hazeroth and went camping in Rithmah. Next they pulled away from Rithmah and camping in Rimmonperez. Then they pulled away from Rimmonperez and went camping in Libnah. Later they pulled away from Rissah and went camping in Kehelathah. Then they pulled away from Kehelathah and went camping in Mount Shepher. After that they pulled away from Mount Shepher and went camping in Haradah. Then they pulled away from Haradah and went camping

in Makheloth. Next they pulled away from Makheloth and went camping in Tahath. After that they pulled away from Tahath and went camping in Terah. Then they pulled away from Terah and went camping in Mithkah. Later they pulled away from Mithkah and went camping in Hashmonah. Next they pulled away from Hashmonah and went camping in Moseroth. Then they pulled away from Moseroth and went camping in Benejaakan. After that they pulled away from Benejaakan and went camping in Horhaggidgad. Later they pulled away from Horhaggidgad and went camping in Jotbathah. Later they pulled away from Jotbathah and went camping in Abronah. Then they pulled away from Abronah and went camping in Eziongeber. After that they pulled away from Eziongeber and went camping in the wilderness of Zin, that is to say, Kadesh. Later they pulled away from Kadesh and went camping in Mount Hor, on the frontier of the land of Edom. And Aaron the priest proceeded to go up into Mount Hor at the order of God and to die there in the 40th year of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the 5th month, on the 1st of the month. And Aaron was 123 years old at his death on Mount Hor. Now the Canaanite, the king Arad, as he was dwelling in the Negeb, in the land of Canaan, got to hear about the coming of the sons of Israel. In time they pulled away from Mount Hor and went camping in Zalmonah. After that they pulled away from Zalmonah and went camping in Punon. Next they pulled away from Punon and went camping in Oboth. Then they pulled away from Oboth and went camping in Iyeabarim on the border of Moab. Later they pulled away from Iyim and went camping in Dibongad. After that they pulled away from Dibongad and went camping in Almondiblathaim. Then they pulled away from Almondiblathaim and went camping in the Mountains of Abarim before Nebo. Finally they pulled away from the mountains of Abarim and took up camping on the desert plains of Moab by Jordan at Jericho. And they continued camping by the Jordan from Bethjeshimoth to Abelshittim on the desert plains of Moab. And God proceeded to speak to Moses on the desert plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying --"Speak to the sons of Israel, and you must say to them, 'You are crossing the Jordan into the land of Canaan. And you must drive away all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their stone figures, and all their images of molten metal you should destroy, and all their sacred high places you should annihilate. And you must take possession of the land and dwell in it, because to you I shall certainly give the land to take possession of it. And you must apportion the land to yourselves as a possession by lot according to your families. To the populous one you should increase his inheritance, and to the sparse one you should reduce his inheritance. To where the lot will come out for him, there it will become his. By the tribes of your fathers you should provide yourselves with landed property.

"'If though, you will not drive the inhabitants of the land away from before you, then those whom you leave of them will certainly become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in you sides, and they will indeed harass you on the land in which you will be dwelling. And it must occur that just as I had figured doing to them I shall do to you.'" 34 And God spoke further to Moses, saying -- "Command the sons of Israel, and must say to them--'You are going into the land of Canaan. This is the land which will fall to you by inheritance, the land of Canaan by its boundaries. "'And your south side must proved to be from wilderness of Zin alongside Edom, and your south boundary must prove to be from extremity of the Salt Sea on the east. And your boundary must change direction from the south of the ascent of Akrabbim and cross over to Zin, and its termination must prove to be on the south of Kadeshbarnea -- and it must go out to Hazaraddar and pass over to Azmon. And the boundary must change direction at Azmon to the torrent valley of Egypt, and its termination must prove to be at the Sea. "'As for a west boundary, it must prove to be for you the Great Sea and the shoreland. This will become your west boundary. "'Now this will become your north boundary -- From the Great Sea you will mark out to Mount Hor as a boundary for yourselves. From Mount Hor you will mark out the boundary to the entering in of Hamath, and the termination of the boundary must prove to be at Zedad. And the boundary must go out to Ziphron, and its termination must prove to be Hazarenan. This will become your north boundary. "'Then you must mark for yourselves as your boundary on the east from Hazarenan to Shepham. And the boundary must go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east of Ain, and the border must go down and strike upon the eastern slope of the sea of Chinnereth. And the border must go down to the Jordan, and its termination must prove to be the Salt Sea. This will become your land according to its boundaries all around.'" So Moses commaned the sons of Israel, saying --"This is the land that you will apportion to yourselves as a possession by lot, just as God has commanded to give to the 9 1/2 tribes. For the tribe of the sons of the Reubenites by the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the sons of the Gadites by the house of their fathers have already taken thier inheritance. The 2 1/2 tribes have already taken their inheritance from the region of the Jordan by Jericho eastward toward the sunrising." And God spoke further to Moses, saying --"These are the names of the men who will divide the land to you people for a possession, Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. And you will take one chieftain out of each tribe to divide land for a possession. And these are the names of the men-Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh -- and the of the tribe of sons of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud -- of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon -- and of the tribe of sons of Dan a chieftain

Bukki the son of Jogli -- of the sons of Joseph, of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh a chieftain, Hanniel the son of Ephod -- and of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim a chieftain, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan -- and of the tribe of the sons of Zubulun a chieftain, Elizaphan the son of Parnach -- and of the tribe of the sons of Issachar a chieftain, Paltiel the son of Azzan -- and of the tribe of the sons of Asher a chieftain, Ahihud the son of Shelomi -- and of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali a chieftain Pedahel the son of Ammihud." These are the ones whom God commanded to make the sons of Israel landholders in the land of Canaan. 35 And God went on speak to Moses on the desert plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying --"Give the sons of Israel command that they must give the Levites cities to inhabit out of the inheritance of their possession, and they should give the Levites the pasture ground all around them. And the cities must serve for them to inhabit, while their pasture ground will serve for domestic animals and all their goods and for all their and wild beasts. And the pasture grounds of the cities, which you will give to the Levites, will be from the wall of the city and out for a 1,000 cubits (approx. 1500 feet) all around. And you must measure outside the city on the east side 2,000 cubits (approx. 3,000 feet) and on the south side 2,000 cubits (approx. 3,000 feet) and on the west side 2,000 cubits (approx. 3,000 feet) and on the north side 2,000 cubits ( approx. 3000 feet), with the city in the middle. This will serve them as pasture grounds of the cities. "These are the cities that you will give to the Levites -- 6 cities of refuge, which you will give for the manslayer (murderer) to flee there, and beside them you will give 42 other cities. All the cities that you will give to the Levites will be 48 cities to the Levites, they together with their pasture grounds. The cities that you will give will be from the possession of the sons of Israel. From the many you will take many, and from the few you will take few. Each one, in proportion to his inheritance that he will take as a possession, will give some of his cities to the Levites." And God continued to speak to Moses, saying --"Speak to the sons of Israel, and you must say to them, 'You are crossing Jordan to the land of Canaan. And you must choose cities convenient for yourselves. As cities of refuge they will serve for you, and the manslayer must flee there who fatally strikes a soul unintentionally. And the cities must serve you as a refuge from the blood avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the assembly for judgment. And the ciities that you will give, the 6 cities of refuge will be at your service. 3 cities you will give on the side of the Jordan, and 3 cities you will give in land of Canaan. As cities of refuge they will serve. For the sons of Israel and for the alien resident and for the settler in the midst of them these 6 cities will serve as a refuge, for anyone to flee there that fatally strikes a soul unintentionally. "'Now if it was with an iron that he has struck him so that he dies, he is a murderer. Without fail murderer should be put to death. And if it was a small stone by which he could die that has struck him so that he

dies, he is a murderer. Without fail the murderer should be put to death. And if it was with a small instrument of wood by which he could die that he has struck him so that he dies, he is a murderer. Without fail the murderer should be put to death. "'The avenger of blood is the one who will put the murderer to death. When he chances upon him he himself will put him to death. And if in hatred he was pushing him or he has thrown at him while lying in wait that he might die, or in enmity he has struck him with his hand that he might die, without fail the striker should be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood will put the murderer to death when he chances upon him. "'But if it was unexpectedly without enmity that he has pushed him or has thrown any article toward him without lying in wait, or any stone by which he could die without seeing him or he should cause it to fall upon him, so that he died, while he was not at enmity with him and was not seeking his injury, the assembly must then judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these judgements. And the assembly must deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly must return him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he must dwell in it until the death of high priest who was anointed with holy oil. "'But if the manslayer without fail goes out of the boundary of his city of refuge to which he may flee, and the avenger of blood does find him outside the boundary of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood does slay the manslayer, he has no blood guilt. For he ought to dwelt in his city of refuge until high priest's death, and after high priest's death the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. And these must serve as a statute of judgment for you throughout your generations in all of your dwelling places. "'Every fatal striker of a soul should be slain as a murderer at the mouth of witnesses, and one witness may not testify against a soul for him to die. And you must take no ransom for the soul of a murderer who is deserving to die, for without fail he should be put to death. And you must not take a ransom for one who has fled to the city of refuge, to resume dwelling in the land before the death of the high priest. "'And you must not pollute the land where you are, because it is the blood that pollutes the land, and for the land there may be no atonement respecting the blood that has been spilled upon it except by the blood of the one who spilling it. And you must not defile the land in which you are dwelling, in the midst of it which I am residing in the midst of the sons of Israel.'" 36 And the heads of the fathers of the family of the sons of Gilead the son of Machir the son of Manasseh of the families of the sons of Joseph proceeded to come near and speak before Moses and the chieftains, the heads of the fathers of the sons of of Israel, and say -- "God commanded my lord to give the land in inheritance by lot to the sons of Israel, and my lord was commanded by God to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. If any of the sons of Israel happened to get them as wives, the women's inheritance must also be

withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and must be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they may come to belong, so that it would be withdrawn from the lot of our inheritance. Now if the Jublilee takes place for the sons of Israel, the women's inheritance must also be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they may come to belong, so that their inheritance would be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers." Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel at the order of God, saying--"The tribe of the sons of Joseph is speaking right. This is the word of God has commanded for the daughters of Zelophehad, saying--'To whom it is good in their eyes they may become wives. Only it is to the family of the tribe of their fathers that they should become wives. And no inheritance of the sons of Israel should cleave from tribe to tribe, because the sons of Israel should Cleave each one to the inheritance of the tribe of his forefathers. And every daughter getting possession of an inheritance out of the tribes of the sons of Israel, to one of the family of the tribe of her father she should become a wife, in order that the sons of Israel may get possession each one of the inheritance of his forefathers. And no inheritance should circulate from one tribe to another tribe, because the tribes of the sons of Israel cleave each to its own inheritance.'" Just as God had commanded Moses, that is the way of daughters of Zelophehad did. Accordingly Mahlah, Tirzah and Hoglah and Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, became the wives of the sons of their father's brothers. To some of the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph they became wives, that their inheritance might continue together with the tribe of the family of their father. These are the commandments and the judicial decisions that God commanded by means of Moses to the sons of Israel on the desert plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

Deuteronomy

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the region of the Jordan in the wilderness, on the desert plains in front of Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab, it being 11 days from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadeshbarnea. And it was about in the 40th year, in the 11th month and on the 1st day of the month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that God had commanded him for them, after his defeating Sihon the king of the Amorites, who was dwelling in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who was dwelling in Ashtaroth, in Edrei. In the region of the Jordan in the land of Moab Moses undertook to explain this law, saying --"God our Jehovah spoke to us in Horeb, saying, 'You have

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Deuteronomy 1 -34

dwelt long enough in this mountainous region. Turn and set out on your way and go into the mountainous region of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, the mountainous region and the Shephelah and the Negeb and the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, up to the great river, the river of Euphraites. See, I do put the land before you people. Go in and take possession of the land about which God swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give to them and their seed after them.' "And I proceeded to say this to you at that particular time, 'I am not able by myself to carry you, Jehovah your God has multiplied you, and here you are today like the stars of the heavens of multitude. May Jehovah the God of your ancestors increase you a 1000 times as many as you are, and may HE bless you just as he promised you. How can I carry by myself the burden of you, and the load of you, and your quarreling? Get wise and discreet and experienced men of your tribes, that I may set them as heads over you.' At that you answered me and said, 'The thing you have spoken for us to do is good' So I took the heads of your tribes, men wise and experienced, and put them as heads over you, chiefs of 1000s and chiefs of 100s and chiefs of 50s and chiefs of 10s and officers of your tribes. "And I went on to command your judges at that particular time, saying, 'When having a hearing between your brothers, you must judge with righteousness between a man and his brother or his alien resident. You must not be partial in judgment. You should hear the little one the same as the great one. You must not become frightened because of a man, for the judgment belongs to God -- and the case that is too hard for you, you should present it to me, and I must hear it. And I proceeded to command you at that particular time all the things that you should do. "Then we pulled away from Horeb and went marching through all that great and fear-inspiring wilderness, which you have seen, by the way of the mountainous region of the Amorites, just as our God had commanded us, and we eventually came to Kadeshbarnea. I Now said to you, 'You have come to the mountainous region of the Amorites, just as God our Lord is giving to us. See, Jehovah your God has abandoned the land to you. Go up, take possession, just as Jehovah the God of your forefathers has spoken to you. Do not be afraid, nor be terrified. "However, all of you came near me and said, 'Do let us send men ahead of us that they may search out the land for us, and bring us back word concerning the way by which we should go up and the cities which we will come' Well, the thing proved to be good in my eyes, so that I took 12 men of yours, one for each tribe. Then they turned and went up into the mountainous region and got as far as torrent valley of Eshcol and went spying on it. And they proceeded to take some of the fruitage of the land in their hand and to bring it down to us, and they came bringing us back word and saying, 'The land that God our Lord is giving us is good.' But you did not wish to go up, and you began to behave rebelliously

against the order of God our Lord. And you kept grumbling in your tents and saying--'It was because God hated us that HE brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us into the hands of Amorites, to annihilate (destroy) us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have caused our hearts to melt, saying--"A people greater and taller than we are, cities great and fortified to the heavens and also the sons of the Anakim we saw there."' "So I said to you, 'You must not suffer a shock or be afraid because of them. God your Jehovah is the one going before you. He will fight for you according to all that he did with you in Egypt under your own eyes, and in the wilderness, where you saw how God your Lord carried you just as a man carries his son, in all the way that you walked until you coming to this place.' But despite this word you were not putting faith in God your Lord, who was going before you in the way to spy out for you a place for you to camp, by fire at night for you to see by what way you should walk and by a cloud in daytime. "All the while God heard the voice of your words. So he became indignant and swore, saying, 'Not one among these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and to him and to his sons I shall give the land upon which he trods (walks), by reason of the fact that he has followed God fully. (Even against me God got incensed (enraged) on your account, saying, 'You too will not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who is standing before you, is the one who will go in there.' Him he has made strong, because he will cause Israel to inherit it.) As for your little ones of whom you said--"plunder they will become!" and your sons who today do not know good or bad, these will go in there, and to them I shall give it, and they will take possession of it. As for you yourselves, change your direction and pull away for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.' "At this you answered and said to me, 'We have sinned against God. We -- we shall go up and fight in accord with all our God has commanded us! So you girded on, each one, his weapons of war and regarded it as easy to go up into the mountain. But God said to me--'Say to them--"You must not go up and fight, because I am not in your midst, that you may not be defeated before your enemies."' So I spoke to you, and you did not listen but began to behave rebelliously against God's order and to get all heated up (angry), and you tried to go up into the mountain. Then the Amorites who were dwelling in that mountain came out to meet you and went chasing you, just as bees do, and scattering you in Seir as far as Hormah. After that you returned and began to weep before God, but God did not listen to your voice, neither did he give ear to you. So you kept dwelling in Kadesh many days, as many days as you did dwell there. 2 "Then we turned and pulled away for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, just as God had spoken to me -- and we were many days in going around Mount Seir. Finally God said this to me, 'You have gone around this mountain long enough. Change your

direction to the north. And you command the people, saying --"You are passing along by the border of your brothers, the sons of Esau who are dwelling in Seir, and they will be afraid because of you, and you must be very careful. Do not engage in strife (conflict) with them, because I shall not give you their land so much as the width of the sole of the foot -- because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a holding. What food you may buy from them for money, you must eat -- and also what water you may purchase from them for money--you must drink. For Jehovah your God has blessed you in every deed of your hand. He well knows of your walking through this great wilderness. These 40 years God your Lord has been with you. You have not lacked a thing." So we passed on away from our brothers, the sons of Esau, who are dwelling in Seir, from the way of Arabah, from Elath and from Eziongeber. "Next we turned and passed on by the way of the wilderness of Moab. God then said to me, 'Do not molest Moab or engage in war with them, because I shall not give you any of his land as a holding, for to the sons of Lot I have given Ar as a holding. (The Emim dwelt in it in former times, a people great and numerous and tall like the Anakim. As for the Rephaim, they also were considered like the Anakim, and the Moabites used to call them Emim. And the Horites dwelt in Seir in former times, and the sons of Esau proceeded to dispossess them and to annihilate (destroy) them from before them, and dwell in their place, just the same as Israel must do to the land that is his holding, which God will certainly give to them.) At this time rise and make your way across the torrent valley of Zered. Accordingly we went crossing the torrent valley of Zered. And the days that we walked from Kadeshbarnea until we crossed the torrent valley of Zered were 38 years, until all the generation of the men of war had come to their end from the midst of the camp, just as God had sworn to them. And the hand of God also proved to be upon them to disquiet them out of the midst of the camp, until they came to their end. "And it was about that as soon as all the men of war had finished dying off from the midst of the people. God spoke further to me, saying, 'You are passing today by the territory of Moab, that is Ar, and you must get close in front of the sons of Ammon. Do not molest them or engage in strife (conflict) with them, because I shall not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a holding, for it is to the sons of Lot that I have given it as a holding. As the land of the Rephaim it also used to be considered. (The Rephaim dwelt in it in former times, and Ammonites used to call them Zamzummim. They were a great and numerous and tall people like the Anakim -- and God went annihilating (destroying) them from before them, that they might dispossess them and dwell in their place -- just the same as he did for the sons of Esau, who are dwelling in Seir, when he annihilated (destroyed) the Horites from before them, that they might dispossess them and dwell in their place until this day. As for the Avvim, who were dwelling in settlements as far as

Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came out from Caphtor, anniliated them, that they might dwell in their place.) "'Get up, pull away and cross the torrent valley of Arnon. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the king of Heshbon, the Amorite. So start to possession of his land, and engage in war with him. This day I shall start to put the dread of you and the fear of you before the peoples beneath all the heavens, who will hear the report about you -- and they will indeed be agitated and have pains like those of childbirth because of you.' "Then I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying --'Let me pass through your land. Only on the road I shall walk. I shall not turn to the right or to the left. What food you will sell me for money, I must eat -- and what water you will give me for money, I must drink. Only let me pass through on my feet, just the same as the sons of Esau dwelling in Seir and the Moabites dwelling in Ar did to me, until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land that God our Lord is giving to us.' And Sihon king of Heshbon did not let us pass through him, because God our Lord had let his spirit become obstinate and his heart become hard, in order to give him into your hand just as at this day. "At this God said to me, 'See, I have started to abandon Sihon and his land to you. Start to take possession of his land.' When Sihon came on out, he and all his people, to meet us in battle at Jahaz, then God our Lord abandoned him to us, so that we defeated him and his sons and all his people. And we went capturing all his cities at that particular time and devoting every city to destruction, men and women and little children. We left no survivor. Only the domestic animals did we take as plunder for ourselves, together with the spoil of the cities that we had captured. From Aroer, which is by the bank of the torrent valley of Arnon, and the city that is in the torrent valley, as far as Gilead, there proved to be no town that was too high up for us. God our Jehovah abandoned them all to us. Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, the whole bank of the torrent valley of Jabbok, nor the cities of the mountainous region, nor anything about which God our Lord had given command. 3 "Then we turned and went up by the way of Bashan. At this Og the king of Bashan came on out, he and all his people, to meet us in battle at Edrei. So God said to me, 'Do not be afraid of him for I shall certainly give him and all his people and his land into your hand -- and you must do to him just as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who was dwelling in Heshbon.' Accordingly Jehovah our God gave into our hand also Og the king of Bashan and all his people, and we kept striking (killing) him until he had no survivor remaining. And we went capturing all his cities at that particular time. There proved to be no town that we did not take from them, 60 cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were cities fortified with high wall, doors and bar, aside from very many rural towns. However, we devoted them to destruction, just as we had done to Sihon the king of Heshbon, in devoting every city

to destruction, men, women and little children. And all the domestic animals and the spoil of the cities we took as plunder for ourselves. "And we proceeded to take at that particular time the land from the hand of the 2 kings of the Amorites who were in the region of the Jordan, from the torrent valley of Arnon as far as Mount Hermon --(the Sidonians used to call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites used to call it Senir,) all the cities of the tableland and all Gilead and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, the cities of kingdom of Og in Bashan). For only Og the king of Bashan remained of what was left of the Rephaim. Look! His bier (coffin) was a bier of the iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? 9 cubits (approx. 13 1/2 feet) is its length, and 4 cubits (approx. 6 feet) its width, by the cubit of a man. And we took possession of this land at that particular time -- from Aroer, which is is the torrent valley of Arnon, and 1/2 of the mountainous region of Gilead, and its cities I have given to the Reubenites and the Gadites. And the rest of Gilead and all Bashan of the kingdom of Og I have given to the half tribe of Manasseh. All the region of Argob of all Bashan, is it not called the land of the Rephaim? "Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he proceeded to call those villages of Bashan by his own name, Havvothjair, to this day. To Machir I have given Gilead. To the Reubenites and the Gadites I have given from Gilead to the torrent valley of Arnon, the middle of the torrent valley being a boundary, and as far as Jabbok, the torrent valley that is the boundary of the sons of Ammon, and the Arabah and the Jordan and the border, from Chinnereth to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the base of slopes of Pisgah toward the sunrising. "So I commanded you men at that particular time, saying--'Jehovah your God has given you this land to take possession of it. You will pass over, equipped, before your brothers, the sons of Israel, all the valiant (fearless) men. Only your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I well know that you have a great deal of livestock) will continue dwelling in your cities that I have given you, until God give your brothers rest, as well as you, and they also have taken possession of the land that Jehovah your God is giving them across the Jordan -- after which you must come back, each one to his holding that I have given you.' "And I commanded Joshua at that particular time, saying -- 'Your eyes are seeing all that God your Lord has done to these 2 kings. The same way God will do to all the kingdoms to which you are passing over there. You men must not be afraid of them, for God your Jehovah is the One fighting for you.' "And I proceeded to implore favor from God at that particular time, saying -- 'O Sovereign Lord God, you yourself have started to make your servant see your greatness and your strong arm, for who is a god in the heavens or on the earth that does deeds like yours and mighty performances like yours? Let me pass over, please, and see the good land that is across the Jordan, this good mountainous region

and Lebanon.' God continued to be furious against me on your account and did not listen to me -- but God said to me--'That is enough of you! Never speak to me further on this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and raise your eyes to the west and north and south and east and see with your eyes, for you will not pass over this Jordan. And commission Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, because he is the one to pass over before this people and he is the one to cause them to inherit the land that you will see.' All this while we were dwelling in the valley in front of Bethpeor. 4 "And now, O Israel, listen to the regulations and the judicial decisions that I am teaching you to do, in order that you may live and may indeed go in and take possession of the land that God of your forefathers is giving you. You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, neither must you take away from it, so as to keep the commandments of God your Jehovah that I am commanding you. "Your own eyes are the ones that saw what God did in the case of Baal of Peor, that every man who walked after the Baal of Peor was the one whom God of your Jehovah annihilate (destroyed) from your midst. But you who are cleaving (separating) to God your Lord are all of you alive today. See, I have taught you regulations and judicial decisions, just as God my Lord has commanded me, for you to do that way in the midst of the land to which you are going to take possession of it. And you must keep and do them, because this is wisdom on your part and understanding on your part before the eyes of the peoples who will hear of all these regulations, and they will certainly say, 'This great nation is undoubtedly a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has gods near to it the way God our Lord is in all our calling upon him? And what great nation is there that has righteous regulations and judicial decisions like all this law that I am putting before you today? "Only watch out for yourself and take good care of your soul, that you may not forget the things that your eyes have seen and that they may not depart from your heart all the days of your life -- and you must make them known to your sons and to your grandsons, the day that you stood before God your Lord in Horeb, when God said to me, 'Congregate the people together to me that I may let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they are alive on the soil and that they may teach their sons.' "So you people came near and stood at the base of the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to midheaven--there was darkness, cloud and thick gloom. And God began to speak to you out of the middle of the fire. The sound of words was what you were hearing, but no form were you seeing --nothing but a voice. And he proceeded to state to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform -- the Ten Words. after which he wrote them upon 2 tablets of stone. And it was I whom God commanded at that particular time to

teach you regulations and judicial decisions, for you to do them in the land to which you are passing over to take ownership of it. And you must take good care of your souls, because you did not see any form on the day of God's speaking to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire, that you may not act ruinously, and may not really make for yourselves a carved image, the form of any symbol, the representation of male or female, the representation of any beast that is in the earth, the representation of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, the representation of anything moving on the ground, the representation of any fish that is in the waters under the earth, and that you may not raise your eyes to the heavens and indeed see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of the heavens, and actually get seduced and bow down to them and serve them, which your God has apportioned to all the peoples under the whole heavens. But you are the ones God took that he might bring you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to become a people of private ownership to him as at this day. And God got very angry at me on your account, so that he swore-- I should not cross the Jordan or go into the good land our God is giving you as inheritance. For I am dying in this land. I am not crossing the Jordan, but you are crossing, and you must take ownership of this good land. Watch out for yourselves that you may not forget the covenant of Jehovah your God that he concluded with you, and that you do not make for yourselves a carved image, the form of anything about which your God has commanded you. For your God is a consuming fire, a God exacting exclusive devotion. In case you become father to sons and grandsons and you resided a long time in the land and do act ruinously and do make a carved image, a form of anything, and do commit evil in the eyes of Jehovah your God so as to offend him. I do take as witnesses against you today the heavens and the earth, that you will positively perish in a hurry from off the land to which you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of it. You will not lengthen your days on it, because you will positively be destroyed. God will certainly scatter you among the peoples, and you will indeed remain a few in number among the nations to which God will drive you away. There you will have to serve gods, the product of the hands of man, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. If you do look for God your Jehovah from there, you will also certainly find him, because you will ask for him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in sore straits and all these words have found you out at the close of the days, then you will have to return to your God and to listen to his voice. For your God is a merciful God. He will not desert you or bring you to ruin or forget the covenant of your forefathers that he swore to them. Now ask please, concerning the former days that occurred before you, from the day that God created man on the earth, and from one end of the

heavens to the other end of the heavens, was any great thing brought about like this or was anything heard like it? Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire the way you yourself have heard it, and kept on living? Or did God attempt to come to take a nation to himself out the midst of another nation with provings, with signs and with miracles and with war, and with a strong hand, and with an outstrectched arm and with fearsomeness like all that your God has done for you in Egypt before your eyes? You -- You have been shown, so as to know that Jehovah is the true God--there is no other besides him. Out of the heavens he made you hear his voice so as to correct you--and upon the earth he made you see his great fire, and his words you heard from the middle of the fire. And yet you continue to live, because he loved your forefathers so that he chose their seed after them and brought you out of Egypt in his sight with his great power, to drive away nations greater and mightier than you from before you, so as to bring you in, to give you their land as inheritance as at this day. You well know today, and you must call back to your heart that God is the true God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. There is no other. And you must keep his regulations and his commandments that I am commanding you today, that it may go well with you and your sons after you, and in order that you may lengthen your days on the soil that your God is giving you, always." At that time Moses proceeded to set apart cities on the side of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, for the manslayer to flee there who kills his fellow without knowing it, while he was not hating him formerly--and he must flee to one of these cities and live, namely, Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites. Now this is the law that Moses set before the sons of Israel. These are the testimonies and the regulations and the judicial decisions that Moses spoke to the sons of Israel on their way out of Egypt, in the region of the Jordan in the valley in front of Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who was living in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel defeated on their way out of Egypt. They took possession of the land, and of the land of Og the king of Bushan, the 2 kings of the Amorites who were in the region of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from Aroer, which is on the bank of the torrent valley of Arnon, up to Mount Sion, that is Hermon, and all the Arabah in the region of the Jordan toward the east, and as far as the sea of the Arabah at the base of the slopes of Pisgah. 5 Moses proceeded to call all Israel and to say to them--"Hear, O Israel, the regulations and the judicial decisions that I am speaking in your ears today, and you must learn them and be careful to do them. Our God concluded (ended) a covenant with us in Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that God concluded this covenant,

but with us, all those of us alive here today. Face to face God spoke with you in the mountain out of the middle of the fire. I was standing between God and you at that particular time to tell you the word of God, (for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up into the mountain) saying -- "'I am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. You must never have any other gods against my face. You must not make for yourself a carved image, any form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them or be led to serve them, because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion, bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons and upon the 3rd generation and upon the 4th generation, in the case of those who hate me--but exercising loving kindness toward the 1000th generation in the case of those who love me and keep my commandments. You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way-- for God will not leave anyone unpunished who takes up his name in worthless way. Keeping the sabbath day to hold it sacred, just as your God commanded you, you are to render service and you must do all your work 6 days. But the 7th day is a sabbath to your God. You must not do any work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, slave man, slave girl, bull nor your donkey, nor any domestic animal of yours, nor your alien resident who is inside your gates, in order that your slave man and your slave girl may rest the same as you. You must remember that you became a slave in Egypt and your God proceeded to bring you out from there with a strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why your God commanded you to carry on the sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother, just as your God has commanded you, in order that your days may prove long and it may go well with you on the ground that your God is giving you. You must not murder. You must not commit adultery You must not steal. Must not testify to a falsehood against your fellowman. You must not desire your fellowman's wife. Must not selfishly desire fellowman's house, his field, or his slave man or slave girl, his bull, his donkey or anything that belongs to your fellowman. These words of God spoke to all your congregation in the mountain out of the middle of the fire, the cloud and the thick gloom, with a loud voice and he added nothing, after which he wrote them upon 2 tablets of stone and gave them to me. It was about that as soon as you had heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you proceeded to come near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your

older men. Then you said, 'Here God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. This day we have seen that God may speak with man and he may actually keep living. Now why should we die, for this great fire may consume us? If we are again hearing the voice of God any further, we are also certain to die. For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire as we did and yet goes on living? You yourself go near and hear all that our God will say and you will be the one to speak to us all that our God will speak to you, and we shall certainly listen and do.' So God heard the voice of our words when you spoke to me, and God went on to say to me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all they have spoken. If only they would develop this heart of theirs to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, in order that it might go well with them and their sons forever. Go say to them--"Return home to your tents." You must stand here with me, and let me speak to you all the commandment and the regulations and the judicial decisions that you should teach to them and that they must do in the land that I am giving them to own it. You people must take care to do just as your God has commanded you. You must not turn to the right or the left. In all the way that your God has commanded you, you should walk, in order that you may live and it may be well with you and you may indeed lengthen your days in the land of which you will own it. 6 Now these are the commandment, the regulations and the judicial decisions that your God has commanded to teach you, so as to do them in the land to which you are passing over there to take ownership of it--in order that you may fear your God so as to keep all his statutes (laws) and his commandments that I am ordering you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and in order that your days may prove long. You must listen, O Israel and take care to do them, that it may go well with you and that you may become very many, just as Jehovah the God of your ancestors has promised you, as respects the land flowing with milk and honey. Listen, O Israel--Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. You must love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all our vital force. These words that I am commanding you today must prove to be on your heart, and you must instill them in your son, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. And you must tie them as a sign upon your hand, and they must serve as a frontlet (cloth ornament hanging in front of Altar) hand between your eyes, and you must write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates. It must occur that when your God will bring you into the land that he swore to your forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give

you, great and good looking cities that you did not build. and house full of all good things that you did not fill, cisterns (water holding receptacle) carved out that you did not carve out, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you shall have eaten and become full--watch out for yourself that you may not forget God who brought you out of Egypt, out of house of slaves. Lord your God you should fear, and him you should serve, and by his name you should swear. You must not walk after other gods, any gods of the peoples who are all around you, (For Lord your God in your midst is a God exacting exclusive devotion.) for fear of anger of God your Lord may burn against you and he must destroy you from off the surface of the ground. You must not put your God to the test, the way you put him to the test at Massah. You should by all means keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his testimonies and his regulations that he has commanded you. You must do what is right and good in God's eyes, in order that it may go well with you, and you may indeed enter and take ownership of the good land about which God has sworn to you, just as God has promised you. In case your son should ask you in the future, saying--'What do the testimonies and the regulations and the judicial decisions mean that God your Jehovah has commanded you? then you must answer your son, 'We became slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but God proceeded to bring us out of Egypt with a strong hand, So Jehovah kept putting signs and miracles great and disastrous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, upon all his household before our eyes. He brought us out of there in order that he might bring us here to give us the land about which he had sworn to our ancestors. Hence God ordered us to carry out all these regulations, to fear God our Jehovah for our good always, that we might keep alive as to this day. It will mean righteousness for us--that we take care to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as he commanded us.' 7 When your God at last bring you into the land to which you are going to take ownership of it, he must also clear away populous nations from before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites , the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites--7 nations more populous and mighty than you are. Your God will certainly abandon them to you, and you must defeat them. You should without fail devote them to destruction. You must end (conclude) no covenant with them, nor show them any favor. You must form no marriage alliance with them--Your daughter you must not give to his son, and his daughter you must not take for your son. For he will turn your son from following me, and they will certainly serve other gods, and God's anger will indeed burn against you, and he will certainly destroy you in a hurry. On the other hand, this is what you should do to them--

Their altars you should pull down, and their sacred pillars you should break down, and their sacred poles you should put down, and their graven images you should burn with fire. For you are a holy people to your God Jehovah. It is you your God has chosen to become his people, a special property, out of all the peoples that are on the surface of the ground. It is not because of your being the most populous of all the peoples that God showed affection for you so that he chose you, for you were the least of all the peoples. But it was because of God's loving you, and because of his keeping the sworn statement that he had sworn to your forefathers (ancestors), that God brought you out with a strong hand, that he might redeem you from the house of slaves, from the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt. You well know that your God is the true God, the faithful God, keeping covenant and loving-kindness in the case of those who love him and those who keep his commandments to a 1000 generations, but repaying to his face the one who hates him by destroying him. He will not hesitate toward the one who hates him-- he will repay him to his face. And you must keep the commandment and the regulations and the judicial decisions that I am commanding you today by doing them. It must occur that because you continue listening to these judicial decisions and you do keep them and do carry them out, your God must keep toward you the covenant (relationship) and the loving-kindness about which he swore to your ancestors. And he will certainly love you and bless you and multiply you and bless the fruit of your belly and the fruit of your soil, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the young of your cows and the offspring of your flock, on the soil that he swore to your forefathers to give to you. The most blessed of all the peoples you will become. There will not prove to be in you a male or a female without offspring, nor among your domestic animals. Jehovah will certainly remove from you every sickness and as for all the evil diseases of Egypt that you have known, he will not place them upon you, and he will indeed put them upon all those who hate you. You must consume all the peoples whom your God is giving to you. Your eye must not feel sorry for them, and you must not serve their gods, because that will be a trap (noose) to you. In case you say in your heart--'These nations are too populous for me. How shall I be able to drive them away?' you must not be afraid of them. You should by all means remember what your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt, the great provings that your eyes saw, and the signs and the miracles and the strong hand and outstretched arm with which your God brought you out. That is the way your God will do to all the peoples before whom you are afraid. Your God will also send the feeling of dejection upon them, until those perish who were let remain and who were hiding themselves from before you. You must not suffer a shock because of them, for God

your Jehovah is in your midst, a great fear-inspiring God. And your God will certainly push these nations away from before you little by little. You will not be allowed to finish them off quickly, for fear the wild beasts of the field may multiply against you. Your God will indeed abandon them to you and rout them with a great rout (retreat, defeated troop), until they are destroyed. He will certainly give their kings into your hand, and you must destroy their names from under the heavens. Nobody will take a firm stand against you, until you will have exterminated them. The graven images of their gods you should burn in the fire. You must not desire the silver and the gold upon them, nor indeed take it for yourself, for fear you may be entrapped by it, for it is a thing hated by your God. You must not bring a detestable thing into your house and actually become a thing devoted to destruction like it. You should thoroughly loathe (hate) it and absolutely detest it, because it is something devoted to destruction. 8 Every commandment I am commanding you today, you should be careful to keep, in order that you may continue living and indeed multiply and go in and own the land about which God swore to your ancestors. You must remember all the way that your God made you walk these 40 years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, to put you to the test so as to know what was in your heart, as to whether you would keep his commandments or not. So he humbled you and let you go hungry and fed you with the manna, which neither you had known nor your fathers had known, in order to make you know that not by bread alone does man live but by every expression word of God's mouth does man live. Your mantle, clothes did not wear out upon you, nor did your foot become swollen these 40 years. You well know with your own heart that just as a man corrects his son, your God was correcting you. You must keep the commandments of your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of torrent valleys of water, springs and watery deep issuing forth in the valley plain and in the mountainous region, a land of wheat and barley and vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil olives and honey, a land in which you will not eat bread with scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land the stones of which are iron and out of the mountains of which you will mine copper. When you have eaten and satisfied yourself, you must also bless your God for the good land that he has given you. Watch out for yourself that you may not forget your God so as not to keep his commandments and his judicial decisions and his statutes that I am commanding you today, for fear that you may eat and indeed satisfy yourself, and you may build good houses and indeed live in them, and your herd and your flock may increase, for silver and gold may increase for you, and all that is yours may increase -- and your heart indeed be lifted up and you may indeed forget your God, who brought

you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves, who caused you to walk through the great and fear-inspiring wilderness, with poisonous serpents and scorpions and with thirsty ground that has no water--who brought forth water for you out of the stony rock--who fed you with manna in the wilderness, which your father had not known, in order to humble you and in order to put you to the test so as to do you good in your afterdays--and you do say in your heart, 'My own power and the full might of my own hand have made this wealth for me.' You must remember your God, because he is the giver of power to you to make wealth, in order to carry out his covenant that he swore to your forefathers, as at this day. It must occur that if you should at all forget your God and you should actually walk after other gods and serve them and bow down to them, I do bear witness against you today that you people will absolutely perish. Like the nations that God is destroying from before you, that is the way you will perish, because you will not listen to the voice of your God. 9 "Hear O Israel, you are today crossing the Jordan to go in and dispossess/disown nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified to the heavens, a people great and tall, the sons of Anakim, about whom you yourself have known and you yourself have heard it said, 'Who can make a firm stand before the sons of Anak? And you well know today that your God is crossing before you. A consuming fire he is. He will destroy them, and he himself will subdue them before you and you must disown them and destroy them speedily, just as God has spoken to you. Don't say in your heart when your God pushes them away from before you this, 'It was for my own righteousness that God has brought me in to take possession of this land,' whereas it is for the wickedness of these nations that God is driving them away from before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to take ownership of their land, in fact, it is for the wickedness of these nations that your God is driving them away from before you, and in order to carry out the word that God swore your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You must know that it is not for your righteousness that your God is giving you this good land to own it, for you are a stiff-necked people (stubborn, selfish, uncompromising). Remember--Do not forget how you have provoked your God in the wilderness. From the day that you went out of the land of Egypt until your coming to this place you people have proved rebellious in your behavior with God. Even in Horeb you provoked God to anger so that God got enraged at you to the point of destroying you. When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that God had concluded with you, and I kept living in the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, (I neither ate bread nor drank water) then God gave me the 2 tablets of stone written upon with God's finger, and upon them were all the words that God

had spoken with you in the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the congregation. It was about at the end of the 40 days and 40 nights God gave me the 2 tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant, and God proceeded to say to me, 'Get up, go down quickly from here, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted ruinously. They have turned away quickly from the way about which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten image. God went on to say this to me, 'I have seen this people, and look! it is a stiff necked (not listening) people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and wipe out their name from under the heavens, and let me make you a nation mightier and more populous than they are.' After that I turned and went down from the mountain, while the mountain was burning with fire, and the 2 tablets of the covenant were in both my hands. Then I looked, and there you had sinned against your God. You had made yourselves a molten calf. You had turned away quickly from the way about which God had commanded you. At that I took hold of the 2 tablets and flung them down from both my hands and shattered them before your eyes. I proceeded to prostrate myself before God, as at first, 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin that you had committed in doing evil in the eyes of God so as to offend him. For I was scared because of the hot anger with which God had got resentful at you to the point of destroying you. However, God listened to me also that time. At Aaron too, God got very enraged to the point of destroying him, but I made supplication (begging earnestly) also in behalf of Aaron at that particular time. Your sin that you had made, the calf, I took, and I proceeded to burn it in the fire and to crush it, grinding it thoroughly until it had become fine like dust--after which I threw its dust into the flood that was descending (coming down) from the mountain. Further at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibrothhattaavah you proved yourselves provokers of God to anger. When God sent you out of Kadeshbarnea, saying-- 'Go up and take the land that I certainly shall give you!' then you behaved rebelliously against the order of your God, and you did not exercise faith toward him and did not listen to his voice. You have proved yourselves rebellious in behavior with God from the day of my knowing you. So I kept prostrating myself before God 40 days and 40 nights, for I prostrated myself because God talked of destroying you. I began to make supplication to God and to say--'O Sovereign Lord God, do not bring to ruin your people, even your private properties whom you redeemed with your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do not turn your face to the hardness of his people and their wickedness and their sin, for fear the land out of which you brought us may say--"Because God was unable to bring them into the land that he had promised them, and because he hated them he brought them out to put them to death in

the wilderness. They are too, your people and your private property whom you brought out with your great power and our outstretched arm. 10 At that particular time God said to me-- 'Carve for yourself 2 tablets of stone like the first ones, and come up to me into the mountain, and you must make an ark of wood for yourself. I shall write upon the tablets the words that appeared on the 1st tablets, which you shattered, and you must place them in the ark.' So I made an ark of acacia wood and carved 2 tablets of stone like the 1st ones and went up into the mountain, and two 2 tablets were in my hand. Then he wrote upon the tablets the same writing as the 1st, the Ten Words, which God had spoken to you in the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the congregation--after which God gave them to me. Then I turned and went down from the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark that I had made, that they might continue there, just as God commanded me. The sons of Israel pulled away from Beeroth Benejaakan for Moserah. There Aaron died, and he got to be buried there, and Eleazar his son began to act as priest instead of him. From there they pulled away for Gudgodah and from Gudgodah for Jotbathah, a land of torrent valleys running with water. At that particular time God separated the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of God's covenant, to stand before God for ministering to him and to bless in his name until this day. That is why Levi has come to have no share and inheritance with his brothers. God is his inheritance, just as your God had said to him. And I --I stayed in the mountain the same as the first days, 40 days and 40 nights, and God proceeded to listen to me also on that occasion. God did not want to bring you to ruin. The God said to me--'Get up, go before the people for a pulling away, that they may go in and take the land that I have sworn to their ancestors to give to them. Now O Israel, what is your God asking of you but to fear your God, so as to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve your God with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments of God and his statutes that I am commanding you today, for your good? Behold, to your God belong the heavens, even the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Only to your ancestors did God get attached so as to love them, so that he chose their offspring after them, even you, out of all the peoples, this day. You must circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and not harden your necks any longer. For your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the God great, mighty and fear-inspiring, who treats none with partiality nor accepts a bribe, executing judgment for the fatherless boy and the widow and loving the alien resident so as to give him bread and a mantle. You too must love the alien resident, for you became alien residents in Egypt.

Jehovah your God you should fear. Him you should serve and to Him you should cling and by His name you should make sworn statements. He is One for you to praise, and he is your God, who has done with you these great fear-inspiring things that your eyes have seen. With 70 souls your ancestors went down to Egypt, and how your God has constituted you like the stars of the heavens for multitude. 11 And you must love your God and keep your obligation to him and his statutes and his judicial decisions and his commandments always. And you well know today (for I don't address your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of your God, his greatness, his strong hand and his outstretched arm, nor his signs and his deeds that he did in the midst of Egypt and to all his land--nor what he did to the military forces of Egypt, to his horses and his war chariots against the faces of which he made the waters of the Red Sea overflow when they were chasing after them, and God proceeded to destroy them till this day--nor what he has done to you in the wilderness until your coming to this place--nor what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and proceeded to swallow them up and their households and their tents and every existing thing that stepped after them in he midst of all Israel)--for your eyes were the ones seeing all the great deeds of God that he did.

And you must keep the whole commandment that I am commanding you today, in order that you may grow strong and may indeed enter in and take the land to which you are crossing to take ownership of it, and in order that you may lengthen your days on the soil that God swore for your ancestors to give to them and their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land to which you are going to take, it is not like the land of Egypt out of which you came, where you used to sow your seed and you had to do irrigating (supply water) with your foot, like garden of vegetables. But the land to which you are crossing to own, is a land of mountains and valley plains. Of the rain of the heavens it drinks water, a land that your God is caring for. The eyes of your God are constantly upon it, from the beginning of the year to close of the year. It must occur that if you will without fail obey my commandments that I am commanding you today so as to love your God and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul, I also shall certainly give rain for your land at its appointed time, autumn rain and spring rain, and you will indeed gather your grain and your sweet wine and your oil. And I shall certainly give vegetation in your field for your domestic animals, and you will indeed eat and be satisfied. Watch out for yourselves for fear your heart may be tempted, and you do turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them, and God's anger does burn against you, and he does shut up the heavens so that no rain will occur and the

ground will not give its produce and you have to perish speedily from off the good land that God is giving you. You must apply these words of mine to your heart and your soul and bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they must serve as a frontlet band between your eyes. You must also teach them to your sons, so as to speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. You must write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates, in order that your sons may be many on the soil that God swore to your ancestors to give to them, as the days of the heavens over the earth. For if you strictly keep all this commandment that I am commanding you so as to do it, to love your God, to walk in all his ways and to cling to him. God also must drive away all these nations on account of you, and you will certainly dispossess nations greater and more numerous than you are. Every place on which the sole of your foot will tread will become yours. From the wilderness up to Lebanon, from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea your boundary will become. No man will make a firm stand against you. The dread of you and the fear of you your God will put before the face of all the land on which you will tread, just as he has promised you. See, I am putting before you today blessing and malediction (curse), the blessing, provided you will obey the commandments of your God that I am commanding you today--and the malediction, if you will not obey the commandments of your God and you do turn away from the way about which I am commanding you today, so as to walk after other gods whom you have not known. It must occur that when your God brings you into the land to which you are going to own it, you must also give the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the malediction upon Mount Ebal. Are they not on the side of the Jordan toward the direction of the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites living in the Arabah, in front of Gilgal, beside the big trees of Moreh? For you are crossing the Jordan to go in and own the land that your God is giving you, and you must take possession of it and live in it. You must be careful to carry out all the regulations and the judicial decisions that I am putting before you today. 12 These are the regulations and the judicial decisions that you should be careful to carry out in the land that God of your ancestors will certainly allow you to take possession of, all the days that you are alive on the soil. You should absolutely destroy all the places where the nations whom you are dispossessing have served their gods, on the tall mountains and the hills and under every luxuriant tree. And you must pull down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars, and you should burn their scared poles in the fire and cut down the graven images of their gods, and you must destroy their names from that place.

"You must not do that way to God your Jehovah, but to the place that your God will choose out of all your tribes to place his name there, to have it reside, you will seek, and there you must come. There you must bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your 10th parts and the contribution of your hand and your vow offerings and your voluntary offerings and the 1stborn ones of your herd and of your flock. There you must eat before your God and rejoice in every undertaking (pledge) promise of yours, you and your households, because your God has blessed you. You must not do according to all that we are doing here today, each one whatever is right in his own eyes, because you have not yet come into the resting-place and the inheritance that your God is giving you. You must cross the Jordan and live in the land that your God is giving you as a possession, and he will certainly give you rest from all your enemies round about, and you will indeed live in security. It must occur that the place that your God will choose to have his name live there is where you will bring all about which I am commanding you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your 10th parts and the contribution of your hand and every choice of your vow offerings that you will vow to God. You must rejoice before your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your man slaves and your slave girls and the Levite who is inside your gates, because he has no share or inheritance with you. Watch out for yourself for fear you may offer up your burnt offerings in any other place you may see. But in the place that God will choose in one of your tribes is where you should offer up your burnt offering and there you should do all that I am ordering you. Only whenever your soul craves it you may slaughter, and you must eat meat according to the blessing of your God that he has given you, inside all your gates. the unclean one and the clean one may eat it, like the gazelle (antelope-deer like animal) and like the stag (male deer). Only the blood you must not eat. On the earth you should pour it out like water. You will not be allowed to eat inside your gates the 10th part of your grain or of your new wine or of your oil or the 1stborn ones of your herd and of your flock or any of your vow offerings that you will vow or your voluntary offerings or the contribution of your hand. But before your God you will eat it, in the place that your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter and your man slave and your slave girl and the Levite who is inside our gates and you must rejoice before your God in every undertaking of yours. Watch out for yourself that you may not abandon the Levite all your days on your soil. When your God will widen out your territory just as he has promised you, and you will be certain to say, 'Let me eat meat, because your soul craves to eat meat, whenever your soul craves it you may eat meat. In case the place that your God will choose to put his name there should be far away from you, you must then slaughter some of your herd of some of your flock that God

has given you, just as I have ordered you, and you must eat inside your gates whenever your soul craves it. Only in the way that the gazelle and the stag may be eaten, so you may eat it--the unclean one and the clean one together may eat it. Simply the firmly resolved not to eat the blood, because the blood is the soul and you must not eat the soul with the flesh. You must not eat it. You should pour it out upon the ground as water. You must not eat it, in order that it may go well with you and your sons after you, because you will do what is right in God's eyes. Merely your holy things that will become yours, and your vow offerings you should carry, and you must come to the place that God will choose. You must render up your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of your God and the blood of your sacrifices should be poured against the altar of your God, the flesh you may eat. Watch and you must obey all these words that I am commanding you, in order that it may go well with you and your sons after you to time indefinite because you will do what is good and right in the eyes of your God. When your God will cut off from before you the nations to whom you are going to dispossess them, you must also dispossess them and live in their land. Watch out for yourself for fear you may be entrapped after them, after they have been destroyed from before you, and for fear you may inquire respecting their gods, saying, 'How was it these nations used to serve their gods? And I, yes, I will do the same way.' You must not do that way to your God, for everything detestable to God that he does hate-- they have done to their gods, for even their sons and their daughters they regularly burn in the fire to their gods. Every word that I am ordering you is what you should be careful to do. You must not add to it nor take away from it. 13 In case a prophet of a dreamer of a dream arises in your midst and does give you a sign or a warning, and the sign of the omen does come true of which he spoke to you, saying,--'Let us walk after other gods, whom you have not known, and let us serve them, you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to the dreamer of that dream, because your God is testing you to know whether you are loving your God with all your heart and all your soul. After your God you should walk, and him you should fear, and his commandments you should keep and to his voice you should listen, and him you should serve, and to him you should cling. And that prophet or that dreamer of the dream should be put to death, because he has spoken of revolt against your God, who has brought you out of Egypt and has redeemed you from the house of slaves, to turn you away from the way in which your God has commanded you to walk, and you must clear out what is evil from your midst. In case your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or your cherished wife or your companion who is like your own soul, should try to allure you to secrecy, saying--'Let us go and serve

other gods, whom you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors, some of the gods of the peoples who are all around you, the ones near you or those far away from you, from one end of the land to the other end of the land, you must not accede (submit, yield) to his wish or listen to him, nor should your eye feel sorry for him, nor must you feel compassion, nor cover him protectively, but you should kill him without fail. Your hand first of all should come upon him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterward. And you must stone him with stones, and he must die, because he has sought to turn you away from your God Jehovah, who has brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. Then all Israel will hear and become afraid, and they will not do anything like this bad thing again in your midst. In case you hear it said in one of your cities, which your God is giving you to live there. 'Good for-nothing men have gone out from your midst that they may try to turn away the people of their city, saying--"Let us go and serve other gods" whom you have not known,' you must also search and investigate and inquire thoroughly, and if the thing is established as the truth, this detestable thing has been done in your midst, you should without fail strike the people of that city with the edge of the sword. Devote it and everything that is in it, and its domestic animals, to destruction at the edge of the sword. All its spoil you should collect into the middle of its public square, and you must burn in the fire the city and all its spoil as a whole offering to your God, and it must become a heap of ruins to time indefinite. It should never be rebuilt. Nothing at all should stick to your hand of the thing made sacred by ban (forbid), in order that God may turn away from his burning anger and may indeed give you mercy and he may certainly show you mercy and multiply you, just as he has sworn to you ancestors. For you should listen to the voice of your God by keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, so as to do what is right in the eyes of your God. 14 Sons you are of Jehovah your God. You must not make cuttings upon yourselves or impose baldness on your foreheads for a dead person. For you are a holy people to your God, and God has chosen you to become his people, a special property, out of all the peoples who are on the surface of the ground. You must eat no detestable thing of any sort. This is the sort of animal that you may eat--the bull, the sheep and the goat, the stag and gazelle and roebuck (roe deer) and wild goat and antelope and wild sheep and chamois (agile goat-antelope), and every animal that splits the hoof and that forms a cleft into two hoofs, chewing the cud among animals. It you may eat. Only this sort you must not eat out of those that chew the cud or that split the hoof. The cloven-- the camel and the hare and the rock badger (rock rabbit), because they are chewers of the cud but do not split the hoof. They are unclean for you. The pig also, because it is a splitter of the hoof but there is no cud. It is unclean for you. None of their flesh must you eat, and their carcasses you must not touch. This sort out of everything that is in the waters you may eat--everything that has fins and

scales you may eat. And everything that has no fins and scales you must not eat. It is unclean for you. Any clean bird you may eat. But these are the ones of which you must not eat--the eagle and the osprey (similar to hawk) and the black vulture, the red kite and the black kite, the glede according to its kind, and every raven according to its kind, the ostrich, the owl and the gull, the falcon according to its kind, the little owl and the long-eared owl and the swan, the pelican, the vulture and the cormorant, the stork, the heron according to its kind, the hoopoe and the bat. And every winged swarming creature is unclean for you. They should not be eaten. Any clean flying creature you may eat. You must not eat any body already dead. To the alien resident who is inside your gates you may give it, and he must eat it, or there may be a selling of it to a foreigner, because you are a holy people to your God. You must not boil a kid (young goat) in its mother's milk. Without fail you should give a 10th of all the produce of your seed, that which comes forth of the field year by year. And before your God, in the place that he will choose to have his name live there, you must eat the 10th part of your grain, your new wine and your oil and the 1stborn ones of your herd and of your flock--in order that you may learn to fear your God always. Now in case the journey should be too long for you, because you will not be able to carry it, since the place that your God will choose to place his name there will be too far away for you, because your God will bless you, you must then turn it into money, and you must wrap the money up in your hand and travel to the place that your God will choose. You must also give the money for whatever your soul may crave in the way of cattle and sheep and goats and wine and intoxicating liquor and anything that your soul may ask of you--and you must eat there before your God and rejoice, you and your household. And the Levite who is inside your gates, you must not abandon him, for the he has no share or inheritance with you. At the end of 3 years you will bring out the entire 10th part of your produce in that year--and you must deposit it inside your gates. And the Levite, because he has no share or inheritance with you, and the alien resident and the fatherless boy and the widow, who are inside your gates, must come, and they must eat and satisfy themselves--in order that your God may bless you in every deed of your hand that you will do. 15 At the end of every 7 years you should make a release. This is the manner of the release--there will be a releasing by every creditor of the debt that he may let his fellow incur. He should not insists his fellow or his brother for payment, because a release to God must be called. The foreigner you may insist for payment, but whatever of yours may prove to be with your brother let your hand release. However, no one should come to be poor among you, because God will without fail bless you in the land that your God is giving you as an inheritance to take to own it, only if you will without fail listen to the

voice of your God so as to be careful to do all this commandment that I am commanding you today. For your God will indeed bless you just as he has promised you, and you will certainly lend on pledge to many nations, whereas you yourself will not borrow--and you must dominate over many nations, whereas over you they will not dominate. In case some one of your brothers becomes poor among you in one of your cities, in your land that your God is giving you, you must not harden your heart or be closefisted toward your poor brother. For you should generously open your hand to him and by all means lend him on pledge as much as he needs, which he is in need of. Watch out for yourself for fear a base word should come to be in your heart, saying--'The 7th year, the year of the release, has come close', and your eye should indeed become ungenerous toward your poor brother, and you should give him nothing, and he has to call out to God against you, and it has become a sin on your part. You should by all means give to him, and your heart should not be stingy in your giving to him, because on this account your God will bless you in every deed of yours and in every undertaking of yours. For someone poor will never cease to be in the midst of the land, that is why I am commanding you, saying--'You should generously open up your hand to your afflicted (troubled) and poor brother in your land.' In case there should be sold to you your brother, a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, and he has served you 6 years, then in the 7th year you should send him out from you as one set free. In case you should send him out from you as one set free, you must not send him out empty-handed. You should surely equip him with something from your flock and your threshing floor and your oil and wine-press. Just as your God has blessed you, you should give to him. And you must remember that you became a slave in Egypt and your God proceeded to redeem you. That is why I am commanding you this thing today. It must occur that in case he says to you--'I will not go out from your company because he does love you and your household, since it was well with him while with you, you must also take an needle and put it through his ear and to the door and he must become your slave to time indefinite. To your slave girl you should also do this way. It should not be some thing hard in your eyes when you send him out from your company as one set free--because for double the value of a hired laborer he served you 6 years, and your God has blessed you in everything that you would do. Every male 1stborn that will be born in your herd and in your flock you should sanctify to your God. You must do no service with the 1stborn of your bull, nor shear the 1stborn of your flock. Before your God you should eat it year by year in the place that God will choose, you and your household. In case there should prove to be in it a defect, being lame or blind, any bad defect, you must not sacrifice it to your God. Inside your gates you should eat it, the unclean one and the clean one together, like the gazelle and like the stag. Only its blood you must not eat. Upon

the earth you should pour it out like water. 16 Let there be an observing of the month of Abib and you must celebrate the passover to your God, because in the month of Abib your God brought you out of Egypt by night. You must sacrifice the passover to your God, of the flock and of the herd, in the place that God will choose to have his name live there. You must eat nothing leavened along with it for 7 days. You should eat along with it unfermented cakes, the bread of affliction, because it was in haste that you came out of Egypt, that you may remember the day of your coming out of Egypt all the days of your life. No sourdough should be seen with you in all your territory 7 days, neither should any of the animal, which you will sacrifice in the evening on the 1st day, stay all night until the morning. You will not be allowed to sacrifice the passover in any one of your cities that your God is giving you. But at the place that your God will choose to have his name live there, you should sacrifice the passover in the evening as soon as the sun sets, at the appointed time of your coming out of Egypt. You must do the cooking and the eating in the place that your God will choose, and in the morning you must turn around and go to your own tents. 6 days you should eat unfermented cakes, and on the 7th day there will be a solemn (formal and dignified) assembly to your God. You must do no work. 7 weeks you should count for yourself. From when the sickle is 1st put to cut the standing grain you will start to count 7 weeks. Then you must celebrate the festival of weeks to your God, according to the voluntary offering of your hand that you will give, just as your God may bless you. You must rejoice before your God, you and your son and your daughter and your man slave and girl, and the Levite who is inside your gates and the alien resident and the fatherless boy and the widow, who are in your midst, in the place that your God will choose to have his name live there. You must remember that you became a slave in Egypt, and you must observe and carry out these regulations. The festival of booths you should celebrate for yourself 7 days when you make an ingathering from your threshing floor (separating at harvest) and your oil and winepress. You must rejoice during your festival, you and your son and your daughter and your man slave and girl, and the Levite and the alien resident and the fatherless boy and the widow, who are inside your gate. 7 days you will celebrate the festival to your God in the place that God will choose, because your God will bless you in all your produce and in every deed of your hand, and you must become nothing but joyful. 3 times in the year every male of yours should appear before your God in the place that he will choose--in the festival of the unfermented cakes and in the festival of weeks and in the festival of booths, and none should appear before God empty handed. The gift of each one's hand should be in proportion to the blessing of your God that he has given you.

"You should set judges and officers for yourself inside all your gates that God is giving you by your tribes and they must judge the people by righteous judgments. You must not pervert judgement. You must not be partial or accept a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise ones and distorts the words of the righteous ones. Justice--justice you should pursue, in order that you may keep alive and may indeed take ownership of the land that your God is giving you. You must not for yourself plant any sort of tree as a sacred pole near the altar of your God Jehovah that you will make for yourself. Neither should you set up for yourself a sacred pillar the thing God hates indeed. 17 You must not sacrifice a bull or a sheep with a defect, anything bad--because it is something hateful to your God. In case there should be a man or a woman found in your midst in one of your cities who practices what is bad in the eyes of your God as to overstep his covenant, and he should go and worship other gods or bow down to them or to the sun or the moon or all the army of the heavens, a thing that I have not commanded, and it has been told to you and you heard it, and have searched thoroughly, and look! the thing has been established as the truth, this hateful, detestable thing has been done in Israel! You must also bring that man or woman who has done this bad thing out to the gates, and yes, that man or that woman you must stone, such one with stones, and such one must die. At the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses, the one dying must be put to death. He will not be put to death at the mouth of 1 witness. The hand of witnesses 1st of all should come upon him to put him to death, and hand of all people afterward, and you must clear out what is bad from your midst. In case a matter for judicial decision is too extraordinary for you in which there was a blood shed (murder) in which a legal claim has been raised, or a violent deed has been committed, matters of disputes, inside your gates, you must also rise and go up to the place that your God will choose, and you must go to your priests, the Levites, to the judge who will be acting in those days, and you must take inquiry, and they must hand down to you the word of judicial decision. You must do in accordance with the word that they hand down to you from that place that your God will choose, and you must be careful to do according to all that they instruct you. In accordance with the law that they will point out to you and according to the judicial decisions that they will say to you, you should do. You must not turn away from the word that they will hand down to you, to the right or to the left. And the man who will behave with presumptuousness (assume, audacity) in not listening to the priest who is standing to minister there to your God or to the judge, that man must die, and you must clear out what is bad from Israel. And all the people will hear and become afraid, and

they will not act presumptuously anymore. When you eventually come to the land that your God is giving you, and you have taken ownership of it, and have lived in it and have said -- 'let me set a king over myself like all the nations who are around about me'. You will without fail set over yourself a king whom your God will choose. From among your brothers you should set a king over yourself. You will not be allowed to put over yourself a foreigner who is not your brother. Only he should not increase horses for himself, nor make people go back to Egypt in order to increase horses, whereas God has said--'never go back again by this way.' He also must not multiply wives for himself, that his heart may not turn away, nor should he increase silver and gold for himself very much. It must occur that when he takes his seat on the throne of his kingdom, he must write in a book for himself a copy of this law from that which is in the charge of the priests, the Levites. It must continue with him and he must read in it all the days of his life in order that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God so as to keep all the words of this law and these regulations by doing them, that his heart must not glorify itself above his brothers, and he may not turn away from the commandments to the right or to the left, in order that he may lengthen his days upon his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel. 18 No share or inheritance with Israel should come to belong to the priests, the Levites, the entire tribe of Levi. The offerings made by fire of God, even his inheritance, they should eat. So no inheritance should come to belong to him in the midst of his brothers. God is his inheritance just as he has spoken to him. Now this should continue as due right of the priests from the people, from the one who sacrifice a victim, whether a bull or a sheep--One must give to the priest the shoulder blade, the jaws and the stomach. The first of your grain. your new wine and your oil, and first of your shorn wool of your flock you should give him. He is the one whom your God has chosen out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of Jehovah, he and his sons, always. In case the Levite goes out of one of your cities of all Israel, where he had resided for a while, and he does come because of any craving of his soul to the place that God will choose, he will also minister in the name of God his Jehovah the same as all his brothers, the Levites, who are standing there before God. An equal share he should eat, besides what he gets from things he sells of his ancestral goods. When you are entered into the land that your God is giving you, you must not learn to do according to the detestable things of those nations. There should not be found in you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, anyone employs divination, practicer of magic, or anyone who looks for omens or sorcerer (witch), or one who binds others with spell or anyone who consults a spirit medium or professional foreteller of events or anyone who inquires of the dead. For everybody

doing these things is something hateful to God and on account of these hateful things, your God is driving them away from before you. You should prove yourself faultless with your God. For these nations whom you are disowning, used to listen to those practicing magic and to those who divine, but as for you -- your God has not given you anything like this. A prophet from your own midst, from your brothers, like me, is what your God will rise up for you--to him you people should listen--in response to all that you asked of your God in Horeb on the day of the congregation, saying--'Do not let me hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, and this great fire don't let me see anymore so I may not die. At that God said to me--'They have done right speaking what they did. A prophet I will rise up from midst of their brothers, like you, and I will indeed put words in his mouth, and he will certainly speak to them all that I shall command him. It must occur that the man who will not listen to my words that he will speak in my name, I shall myself require an account from him. However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. In case you should say in your heart--"how would we know the word that God has not spoken?" when the prophet speaks in the name of God Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true--that is the word that God did not speak. With presumptuousness (unjustified claims) the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him.' 19 When your God cuts off the nations whose land your God is giving you, and you have disowned them and have lived in their cities and houses, you will set apart 3 cities in the midst of your land that your God is giving you to own it. You will prepare yourself the way and you must divide up the territory of your land that your God proceeded to give you as possession into 3 parts, it must be for any manslayer (killer) to flee there. Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and has to live--When he strikes a fellowman without knowing it and he is no hater of him formerly or when he goes with fellowman into the woods to gather wood and his hand has been raised to strike with ax to cut the tree, but the iron has slipped off from wooden handle and it hits fellowman and he died. He himself should flee to one of these cities and must live. Otherwise the avenger of blood may (because his heart is hot) chase after manslayer and actually overtake him, since the way is great--and indeed he may strike his soul fatally, whereas there is no sentence of death for him because he was no hater of him formerly. That is why I am ordering you, saying--'3 cities you will set apart for yourself' And your God widens out your territory according to what he swore to your ancestors, and he has given you all the land that he promised to give to your ancestors, because you will keep all this commandment that I am commanding

you today by doing it, to love your God Jehovah and walk in his ways always. then you must add 3 other cities for yourself to these 3, that no innocent blood will be spilled in midst of your land that your God is giving you as inheritance, and no bloodguilt has to be upon you. But in case there should be a man hating his fellowman, and he has lain in wait for him and has risen up against him and struck his soul fatally and he died, and the man has fled to one of these cities, older men of his city must then send and take him from there, and they must deliver him into the land of the avenger of blood and he must die. Your eye should not feel sorry for him and you must clear away the guilt of innocent blood out of Israel, that you may have good. You must not move back the boundary marks of your fellowman, when the ancestors will have set the boundaries in your inheritance that you will inherit in the land that your God is giving you to take ownership of it. No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin, in the case of any sin that he may commit. At the mouth of 2 witnesses or at the mouth of 3 witnesses the matter should stand good. In case of a witness scheming violence should rise up against a man to bring a charge of revolt against him, the 2 men who have the dispute must also stand before God, before the priests, judges who will be acting in those days. Judges must search thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and has brought a false charge against his brother, you must also do to him just as he had schemed to do to his brother, and you must clear away bad from your midst. So those who remain will hear and be afraid, and they never again do anything bad like this in your midst. Your eye should not feel sorry--soul will be for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. 20 In case you go out to battle against your enemies and you actually see horses and war chariots, a people more numerous than you, you must not be afraid of them--For your God is with you, who brought you up out of Egypt. It must occur that when you have drawn near to the battle, the priest must also approach and speak to the people. He must say to them--"Hear O Israel, you are drawing near today to the battle against your enemies. Do not let your hearts be timid. Do not be afraid and run in panic or shudder because of them, for your God is marching with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.' The officers too must speak to the people, saying--"Who is the man that has built a new house and has not inaugurated it? Let him go and return to his house, for fear he may die in the battle and another man should inaugurate it. Who is the man who has planted a vineyard not begun to use it? Let him go and return to his house, for fear that he may die in the battle and another man should begin to use it. Who is the man that has become engaged to a woman and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, for fear he may

die in the battle and another man should take her.' And the officer should speak further to the people and say--'Who is the man that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, that he may not cause the hearts of his brothers to melt as his own heart. It must occur that when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they must also appoint the chiefs of the armies at the head of the people. In case you draw near to a city to fight against it, you must also announce it terms of peace. It must occur that if it gives peaceful answer to you and opened up to you, it must even occur that all the people found in it should become yours for forced labor, and they must serve you. But if it does not make peace with you, and actually makes war with you and you have to besiege it. Your God will certainly also give it into your hand, and you must strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. Only the women and little children and domestic animals and everything that happens to be in the city, all its spoil (damage, remainder of battle) you will plunder (raid) for yourself, and you must eat the spoil of your enemies, whom your God has given you. That is the way you will do to all the cities very far away from you that are not of the cities of these nations. It is only of these cities of these people that your God is giving you as inheritance that you must not keep any breathing thing alive, because you should without fail devote them to destruction, Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, just as your God has ordered you, in order that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things, which they have done to their gods, and you may indeed sin against your God Jehovah. In case you lay siege to a city many days by fighting against it so as to capture it, you must not ruin its trees by wielding an ax against them--for you should eat from them, and you must not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man to be sieged by you? Only a tree that you know that is not a tree for food, it is the one you should ruin, and you must cut it down and build siegeworks against the city that is making war with you, until it falls. 21 In case someone is found slain (killed) on the ground that your God is giving you to own it, fallen on the field, and it has not become known who struck him fatally, your older men and your judges must also go out and measure to the cities that are all around the killed one--and it must prove to be city nearest to the killed one. And older men of that city must take a young cow of the herd that has not been worked with, that has not pulled in a yoke--and older men of that city must lead the young cow down to a torrent valley running with water in which there was customarily no tilling or sowing of seed, and they must break the neck of young cow there in the torrent valley. The priests the sons of Levi must approach, because they are the ones your God has chosen to minister to him and to bless in the name of Jehovah and at whose mouth every dispute over every violent deed should be disposed of. Then all older men of that city who are nearest to the killed one should wash their hands over the young cow, the neck of

which was broken in the torrent valley, and they must answer and say--'Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see it shed. Do not set it to the account of your people Israel, whom you redeemed. O God, and do not put innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel. And the bloodguilt must not be set to their account. And you--you will clear away the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you will do what is right in God's eyes. In case you go out to the battle against your enemies and your God has given them into your hand, and you have carried them away captive, and you have seen among the captives a woman beautiful in form, and got attached to her and taken her as a wife, you must then bring her into midst of your house. She must shave her head and attend to her nails, and remove the mantle of her captivity from off her and live in your house and weep for her father and mother for whole moon month, and after that you should have relations with her, and you must own her as your bride and she must become your wife. And it must occur that if you found no delight in her, then you must send her away, agreeably to her own soul, but you must by no means sell her for money.

You must not deal unjustly cruel or harshly after you have humiliated her, In case a man comes to have 2 wives, the one loved and other hated, and they--loved one and hated one gave birth to sons to him and the firstborn was from hated one, it must also occur that in the day that he gives as an inheritance to his sons what he happens to have, he will not be allowed to constitute the son of loved one his 1stborn at the expense of hated one's son, the 1stborn. For he should recognize as the firstborn the hated one's son by giving him 2 parts in everything he is found to have, because that one is the beginning of his generative power. The right of firstborn's position belongs to him. In case a man has a son who is stubborn and rebellious--not listening to voices of his father or mother and have corrected him but he will not listen to them, his father and mother also must take hold of him and bring him out to the older men of his city and to the gate of his place and they must say to the older men of his city--'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he is not listening to our voices being a glutton (greedy, excessive eating) and a drunkard. Then all the men of the city must pelt him with stones and he must die. So you must clear away what is bad from your midst, and all Israel will hear and become afraid. In case there comes to be in a man a sin deserving the sentence of death, and you have hanged him upon a stake, his dead body should not stay all night on the stake, but you should by all means bury him on that day because something cursed by God is the one who is hanged and you must not defile your soil which your God is giving you as inheritance. 22 You must not see the bull of your brother or his sheep straying about and deliberately withdraw from them. You should by all means lead them back to your brother. And if your brother is not near

you and you have not got to know him, you must also bring it home into the midst of your house and it must continue with you until your brother has searched for it. And you must return it to him, That is the way too that you will do with his donkey, his mantle and anything that is lost of your brother's, which has lost from him, which you have found. You will be not allowed to withdraw yourself. You must not see the donkey of your brother or his bull fall down on the road and deliberately withdraw from them. You should by all means help him raise them up. No clothes of abled-bodied man be put upon a woman, neither should an abled-bodied man wear the mantle of a woman--for anybody doing these things are something detestable (hateful) to your God. In case a bird's nest happens to be before you in the way, in any tree or on the earth with young ones or eggs, and the mother is sitting upon the young ones or the eggs, you must not take the mother along with the offspring, you should by all means send mother away, but may take offspring for yourself, in order that it may go well with you, and you may indeed lengthen your days. In case you build a new house, you must also make a wall for your roof, that you may not place bloodguilt upon your house because someone falling might fall from it. You must not sow your vineyard with 2 sorts of seed, for fear that the full produce of the seed that you might sow and the product of the vineyard may be forfeited (lose, deprived) to the sanctuary (holy place that provides protection). You must not sow with a bull and a donkey together. You must not wear mixed stuff of wool and linen together. You must make tassels for yourself on the 4 extremities of your clothing which you cover yourself. In case a man takes a wife and actually has relations with her and has come to hate her, and he charged her with notorious deeds and brought forth a bad name upon her and said--"This is the woman I have taken, and I proceeded to go near her, and I did not find evidence of virginity in her, the father of the girl and her mother must also take and bring forth the evidence of girl's virginity to the older men of the city at the gate of it, and the girl's father must say to the older men--'I gave my daughter as his wife and he went hating her. And he is charging her with notorious deeds, saying--"I have found your daughter does not have evidence of virginity" Now this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity' And they must spread out the mantle before older men of the city. And older men of that city must take the man and discipline him. And they must fine him 100 silver shekels (money) and give them to the girl's father, because he brought forth a bad name upon a virgin of Israel and she will continue to be his wife. He will not be allowed to divorce her all his days. If, though, this thing has proved to be the truth, evidence of virginity was not found in the girl, they must also bring the girl out to the entrance of her father's house, and the men of the city must pelt her with stones and she must die, because she has committed disgraceful folly in Israel by committing prostitution in the house of her father. So you must clear

away what is bad from your midst. In case a man is found lying down with a woman owned by a owner, both of them then must die together--the man lying down with woman and the woman. So you must clear away what is bad out of Israel. In case there happened to be a virgin girl engaged to a man, and a man actually found her in the city and lay down with her, you must also bring them both out to the gate of that city and pelt them with stones, and they must die-- the girl for the reason that she did not scream in the city, and man for the reason that he humiliated wife of a fellowman. So you must clear away what is evil from your midst. If however, it is in the field that the man found the girl who was engaged, and the man grabbed hold of her and lay down with her, the man who lay down with her also must die by himself, and to the girl you must do nothing. The girl has no sin deserving of death, because just as when a man rises up against his fellowman and indeed murders him, even a soul, so it is with this case. For it was in the field that he found her. The girl who was engaged screamed, but there was no one to rescue her. In case a man finds a girl, a virgin who was has not been engaged, and actually sieges her and lies down with her, and they have been found out, the man who lay down with her also must give girl's father 50 silver shekels, and she will become his wife due to the fact that he humiliated her. He will not be allowed to divorce her all his days. No man should take his father's wife, that he may not uncover the skirt of his father. 23 No man castrated by crushing his testicles or having his male member cut off may come into the congregation of God. No illegitimate son may come into the congregation of God. Even to the 10th generation--none of his may come into the congregation of God. No Ammonite or Moabite may come into the congregation of God. Even to the 10th generation--none of theirs may come into the congregation of God to time indefinite, for the reason that they did not come to your aid with bread and water in the way when you are going out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia to call down evil upon you. Your God did not want to listen to Baalam. but your God changed malediction/curse into a blessing, because your God Jehovah loved you. You must not hate an Edomite for he is your brother. You must not hate an Egyptian for you became an alien in his country. The sons that may be bore to them as the 3rd generation may come for themselves into the congregation of God. In case you go out into the camp against your enemies, you must also keep yourself from every bad thing. In case there happens to be in you a man who does not constitute clean, because of the pollution that occurs at night, he must also go outside the camp. He may not come into the midst of the camp. It must occur at the falling of evening--he should wash with water, and at the setting of the

sun he may come into the midst of the camp. And a private place should be at your service outside the camp, and you must go out there. And a peg should be at your service along with your implements, and it must occur when you squat outside, you must also dig a hole with it and turn and cover your human feces. For God is walking about within your camp to deliver you, and to abandon your enemies to you, and your camp must prove to be holy--that he may see nothing indecent in you and certainly turn away from accompanying you. You must not hand over a slave to his master when he escapes from his master to you. With you he will keep on living in among you in whatever place he may choose in one of your cities, wherever he likes. You must not maltreat him. None of the daughters of Israel may become a temple prostitute, neither may anyone of the sons of Israel become a temple prostitute. You must not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog into the house of your God for any vow, because they are something detestable to your God, even both of them. You must not make your brother pay interest, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything on which one may claim interest. You may make a foreigner pay interest, but your brother you must not make pay interest, in order that your God may bless you in every undertaking of yours on the land to which you are going so as to take ownership of it. In case you vow a vow to your God, you must not be slow about paying it, because your God will without fail require it of you, and it would indeed become a sin on you part. The utterance of your lips you should keep, and you must do just as you have vowed to your God as a voluntary offering that you spoke of it with your mouth. In case you go into the standing grain of your fellowman, you must pluck off only the ripe ears with your hand, but the sickle you must not swing to and fro upon the standing grain of your fellowman. 24 In case a man takes a woman and does make her his possession as a wife, it must also occur that if she should find no favor in his eyes because he has found something indecent on her part, he must also write out a certificate of a divorce for her and put it in her hand and dismiss her from his house. She must go out of his house and go to another man's. If the latter man has come to hate her and has written out a certificate of a divorce and put it in her hand and dismissed her from his house, or in this case the latter man who took her as his wife should die, the first owner of her who dismissed her will not be allowed to take her back again to become his wife after she has been defiled, for that is something detestable before God, and you must not lead the land that your God is giving you as an inheritance into sin. In case a man takes a new wife, he should not go out into

the army, nor should anything else be imposed onto him. He should continue exempt at his house for one year, and he must make his wife whom he has taken rejoice. No one should siege a hand mill or upper grindstone as a pledge, because it is a soul that he is seizing as a pledge. In case a man is found kidnapping a soul of his brothers of the sons of Israel, and he has dealt tyrannically (cruel, harshly) with him and sold him, that kidnapper must also die. And you must clear away what is bad from your midst. Be on your guard in the plague of leprosy to take good care and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, will instruct you. Just as I have ordered them, you should be careful to do. There should be a remembering of what your God did to the Miriam in the way when you were coming out of Egypt. In case you lend your fellowman a loan of any sort, you must not enter into his house to take what he has pledged. You should stand outside, and man to whom you are making a loan should bring the pledge outside to you. If the man is in trouble, you must not go to bed with his pledge. You should by all means return the pledge to him as soon as the sun sets, and he must go to bed in his clothes, and he must bless you and it will mean righteousness for you before your God. You must not defraud (cheat, swindle, deceive) your hired worker who is in trouble and poor, whether of your brothers or of alien residents in your land within your gates. In his day you should give him his wages, and the sun should not set upon them, because he is in trouble and he is lifting up his soul to his wages that he may not cry to God against you and it must become a sin on your part. Fathers should not be put to death on account of children and children should not be put to death account of their fathers. Each one should be put to death for his own sin. You must not pervert the judgment of alien resident or the fatherless boy and you must not take the clothes of a widow as pledge. And you must remember you became a slave in Egypt, and your God proceeded to redeem you from there. That's why I am ordering you to do this thing. It case you reap your harvest in your field and you have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you must not go back to get it. It should stay for the alien resident, for the fatherless boy and for the widow. In case you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not gather the leftovers following up yourself. They should stay for the alien resident for the fatherless boy and for the widow. You must remember that you became a slave in the land of Egypt. That's why I am ordering you to do this thing. 25 In case a dispute arises between men, and they have presented themselves for the judgment, they must also

judge them and pronounce the righteous one righteous and pronounce the wicked one wicked. It must occur that if the wicked one deserves to be beaten, the judge must also have him laid prostrate (lay face down arms stretched on the ground) and given strokes before him by number to correspond with his wicked deed. With 40 strokes he may beat him. He should add none, for fear he should continue to beat him with many strokes in addition to these and your brother is actually disgraced in your eyes. You must not muzzle a bull while it is threshing (loosening the grains). In case brothers live together and one of them has died without his having a son, the wife of the dead one should not become a strange man's outside. Her brother in law should go to her, and he must take her as his wife and perform brother in law marriage with her. It must occur that the firstborn whom she will bear should succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be wiped out of Israel. Now if the man finds no delight in taking his brother's widow, his brother's widow must then go up the gate to the older men and say--'My husband's brother has refused to preserve his brother's name in Israel. He has not consented to perform brother in law marriage with me.' The older men of his city must call him and speak to him, and he must stand and say--'I have found no delight in taking her.' At that his brother's widow must approach him before the eyes of the older men and draw his sandal off his foot and spit in his face and answer and say--'That is the way it should be done to the man who will not build up his brother's household.' His name must be called in Israel 'The house of the one who had his sandal drawn off.' In case men struggle together with one another, and the wife of the one has come near to deliver her husband out of the hand of the one striking him, and she has thrust out her hand and grabbed hold of him by his privates, you must then amputate her hand. Your eye must feel no sorrow. You must not come to have in your bag 2 sorts of weights, a great one and a small one. You must not have in your house -- 2 sorts of ephahs, great one and small one. A weight accurate and just you should continue to have. An ephah (35 liter) accurate and just you should continue to have, in order that your days may become long on the soil that your God is giving you. For everyone doing these things, every doer of injustice, is something hateful to your God. There should be remembering of what Amalek did to you in the way when you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you in the way and proceeded to strike in the rear of you all those straggling after you, while you were exhausted and weary, he did not fear God. It must occur that when your God has given you rest from all of your enemies round about in the land that your God is giving you as an inheritance to take ownership of it, you should wipe out the mention of Amalek from under the heavens. You must not forget. 26 It must occur that at last you enter into the land that your God is giving you as an inheritance and you have taken it and lived in it, you must also take some of the 1stfruits of all the fruitage of the soil,

which you will bring in from the land that your God is giving you, and you must put them in a basket and go to the place that your God will choose to have his name live there. You must come to the priest who will be acting in those days and say to him--'I must report today to your God that I have come into the land that God swore to our ancestors to give to us.' The priest must take the basket out of your hand and deposit it before the altar of your God. You must answer and say before your God--'My father was a perishing Syrian, and he proceeded to go down to Egypt and to live there as an alien with very few in number, but there he became a great nation, mighty and numerous. The Egyptians went treating us badly and afflicting us and putting hard slavery upon us. We began to cry out to Jehovah the God of our ancestors and God proceeded to hear our voice-- look on our affliction (suffering), troubles and oppression. Finally our God brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand, outstretched arm and with great fearsomeness and with signs and miracles. Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Now here I have brought the firstfruits of the fruitage of the ground that God has given me. You must also deposit it before your God and bow down before your God. You must rejoice over all the good that your God has given you and your household, you and the Levite, and the alien resident who is in your midst. When you are finish with your tithing (giving 10th of income to the church) the entire 10th of your produce in the 3rd year, the year of the 10th, you must also give it to the Levite, the alien resident, the fatherless boy, and the widow, and they must eat it within the gates and satisfy themselves. You must say before your God--'I have cleared away what is holy from the house and I have also given it to the Levite, the alien resident, the fatherless boy and the widow, in accord to all the commandment that you ordered me. I have not overstepped your commandment nor have I forgotten. I haven't eaten of it during morning nor have I removed any of it while unclean, nor have I given any of it to anyone dead. I have listen to the voice of my God. I have done in accord all that you have ordered me. Do look down from your holy living, the heavens, and bless your people Israel and the soil that you have given us, just as swore to our ancestors, the land flowing with milk and honey. This is the day your God is ordering you to carry out these regulations and judicial decisions, and you must observe and carry them out with all your heart and soul. Jehovah you have induced to say today that he will become your God while you walk in his ways and observe his regulations and commandments, judicial decisions and listen to his voice. As for God, he has induced you to say today that you will become his people, a special property, just as he promised you, that you will observe all his commandments, and that he will put you high above

all the other nations that he has made, resulting in praise and reputation and beauty, while you prove yourself a people holy to your God, just as he has promised. 27 Moses together with the older men of Israel went on to command the people, saying--"There should be an observing of every commandment that I am ordering you today. It must occur that in the day when you will cross the Jordan into the land that your God is giving you, you must also set up for yourself great stones and whitewash them with lime. You must write upon them all the words of this law when you have crossed, in order that you may enter into the land that your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, according to what your God of your ancestors has spoken to you. It must occur when you have crossed the Jordan, you should set up these stones, just as I am ordering you today, in Mount Ebal and you must whitewash them with lime. You must also build an altar there to your God, an altar of stones. You must not wield an iron tool upon them. With whole stones you should build the altar of your God, and you must offer burnt offerings to your God upon it. You must sacrifice communion sacrifices and eat them there, and you must rejoice before your God. You must write on the stones all the words of this law, making them quite clear. Then Moses and the priests, and the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying--Keep silent and listen O Israel. Today you have become the people of your God Jehovah. You must listen to the voice of your God and carry out his commandments and his reputations, which I am commanding you today. Moses went on to command the people on that day, saying--'The following are the ones who will stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you have crossed the Jordan--Simeon, Levi and Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. And the following are the ones who will stand for the malediction on Mount Ebal--Reuben, Gad and Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. Levites must answer and say with raised voice and say to every men of Israel--"Cursed is the man who makes a carved image or a molten statue, a thing hateful to God, a manufacturer of the hands of wood-and-metal worker, and who has put it to a hiding place (All the people must answer and say Amen!) Cursed is the one who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered the skirt of his father.' (All the people must say Amen!) Cursed is anyone who lies down with any beast, animal (All the people must say Amen!)

Cursed is the one who lies down with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother (All the people must say Amen!) Cursed is the one who lies down with his mother in law (All the people must say Amen!) Cursed is the one who fatally strikes a fellowman from a hiding place (All the people must say Amen!) Cursed is the one who accepts a bribe to strike a soul (person) fatally, when it is a innocent blood (All the people must say Amen!) Cursed is the one who will not put words of this law in force by doing them (All the people must say Amen!) 28 It must occur if you without fail listen to the voice your God by being careful to do all his commandments that I am commanding you today, your God will certainly put you high above all other nations of the earth. All these blessings must come upon you and overtake you, because you keep listening to the voice your God. Blessed you will be in the city and in the field. Blessed is the fruit of your belly and fruit of your ground and fruit of domestic beasts, young of your cattle and offspring of your flock. Blessed is your basket and your kneading trough. Blessed you will be when you come in, and blessed you will be when you go out. God cause your enemies who will rise up against you to be defeated before you. By one way they will come out against you, but by 7 ways they will flee before you. God will decree (mandate) for you blessing on your store supply every pledge of yours, and he will certainly bless you in the land your God is giving you. God will establish you as holy people to himself, just as he swore to you, because you continue to keep the commandments of your God and you have walked in his ways. All the peoples on the earth have to see that God's name has been called upon you, and indeed be afraid of you. God will also make you overflow indeed with prosperity (success, wealth) in the fruit of your belly, and domestic animals and fruitage of your ground, on the ground that your God has swore to your ancestors. God will open up to you his good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain on the land in its season and to bless every deed of your hand, and you will certainly lend to many nations while yourself will not borrow. God will indeed put you at the head not on the tail--and you must come to be only on top and you will not come to be on the bottom because you keep obeying the commandments of your God which I am ordering you today to observe and to do. You must not turn away from all the words that I am commanding you today, to the right or to the left, to walk after other gods to serve them. It must occur if you will not listen to the voice your God by taking care to do all his commandments and statutes that I am

commanding you today, all these malediction (curse) must also come upon you and overtake you. Cursed you will be in the city and in the field. Cursed will be your basket and your kneading trough. Cursed will be the fruit of your belly, and the fruitage of your ground, the young of your cattle and the offspring of your flock. Cursed you will be when you come in and cursed you will be when you go out. God will send upon you the curse, confusion, and rebuke (reproach) in every pledge of yours that you try to carry out, until you have been destroyed and have perished in a hurry because of the badness of your practices in that you have forsaken (abandoned) me. God will cause a sickness to cling to you until he has exterminated you from off the ground to which you are to take ownership of it. God will strike you with tuberculosis, burning fever and inflammation, feverish heat and the sword, scorching, mildew, and they will certainly pursue you until you have perished. Your skies that are over your head must also become copper, and the earth that is beneath you iron. God will give you powder and dust as rain of your land. From the heavens it will come down upon you until you have been destroyed. God will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. By one way you will go out against them, by 7 ways you will flee before them. And you must become scary object to all the earth's kingdoms. Your dead body must become food for every flying creature of the heavens and to the beast of the field, with no one to make them tremble. God will strike you with boil of Egypt and piles and eczema (rash, itchy inflammation of the skin) and skin eruption, from which you will be not able to be healed. God will strike you with madness and loss of sight, bewilderment of heart, and you will indeed become the one who gropes about in midday, just as a blind man gropes in gloom (darkness), and you will not make your ways successful, and you must become the only one always who is defrauded and robbed, with no one to save you. You will become engaged to a woman but another man will rape her. You will build a house but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but you will not begin to use it. Your bull slaughtered before your eyes--but you will not eat any of it. Your ass will be taken in robbery before your face--but it will not return to you. Your sheep given to your enemies--but you will have no savior. Your sons and daughters given to another people and your eyes looking on and yearning for them always--but your hands will be without power. The fruitage of your ground and all your production a people will eat whom you have not known and you must become one who is only defrauded and crushed always. You will certainly become maddened at the sight of your eyes that you will see. God will strike you with a infectious boil upon both your knees and legs, from which you will not be able to be healed, from sole of your foot to the crown of your head. God will march you and your

king whom you will set up over you to a nation whom you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors, and there you will have to serve other gods, of wood and stone. You must become an object of astonishment, a proverbial saying and a taunt (insult) among all the peoples to whom God will lead you away. A lot of seed you will take out to the field, but little will you gather, because the locust will devour it. Vineyards you will plant and certainly cultivate, but you will drink no wine and gather nothing in, because the worm will eat it up. You will come to have olive trees in all your territory, but you will rub yourself with no oil because your olives will drop off. Sons and daughters you will bring forth but they will not continue yours, because they will go off into captivity. All your trees and fruitage of your ground whirring insects will take in possession. The alien resident who is in your midst, will ascend (rise up) higher and higher above you, while you -- you keep descend (go down) lower and lower. He will be the one to lend to you, while you--you will not lend to him. He will become the head, while you--you become the tail. All these curse will certainly come upon you, and pursue you and overtake you until you have been destroyed, because you did not listen to your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he commanded you. They must continue on you and your offspring as a sign and omen to time indefinite, due to the fact that you did not serve God with rejoicing and joy for the heart for the abundance of everything. You will have to serve your enemies whom your God will send against you with hunger and thirst and nakedness and want of everything, and he will certainly put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. God will raise up against you far away, at from the end of the earth, just as an eagle pounces, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation fierce in appearance who will not be partial to an old man or show favor for a young man. They will certainly eat the fruit of your domestic animals and the fruitage of your ground until you have been destroyed, and they will let no grain, new wine or oil, no young of your cattle or offspring of your flock, remain for you until they have destroyed you. They will indeed besiege you within all your gates until high and fortified walls in which you are trusting fall in all your land, yes, they will certainly besiege you within all your gates in all your land, which your God has given you. Then you will have to eat the fruit of the belly, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom your God has given you, because the tightness and stress with which your enemies will hem you in. As for the very delicate and dainty man among you, his eyes will be evil inclined toward his brother and his cherished wife and remainder of his sons he has remaining, so as not give one of them any of the flesh of his sons that he will eat, because he has nothing at all remaining to him because of tightness and stress with which your enemies will hem you in within all your gates. As for the delicate and dainty woman among

you who never attempted to set the sole of the foot upon the earth of being a dainty habitat and for delicateness, her eyes will be evil inclined toward her cherished husband and her son and her daughter, even toward her afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and toward her sons whom she proceeded to bear, because she will eat them in secrecy for the want of everything because of the tightness and stress with which your enemy will hem you in within your gates. If you will not take care to carry out all the words of this law that are written in this book so as to fear this glorious and fear inspiring name, even your Jehovah your God. God will also make your plagues and the plagues of your offspring especially severe, great and long lasting plagues, and infectious and long lasting sicknesses. He will indeed bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt before which you got scared, and they will certainly hang onto you. Also, any sickness and any plague that is not written in the book of this law, God will bring them upon you until you have been destroyed. You will be left with few in number, although you have become like the stars of the heavens for multitude, because you did not listen to the voice of your God. It must occur that just as God rejoiced over you to do good and to multiply you, so God will rejoice over you to destroy you and you will simply be torn away from off the soil to which you are going to take possession of it. God will certainly scatter you among all the people from the one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, and there you will have to serve other gods whom you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors, wood and stone. Among those nations you will have no case, nor there prove to be any resting place for the sole of your foot, and there God indeed will give you a trembling heart and failing of the eyes and despair of soul. You certainly will be in the greatest danger for your life and be in dread night and day, and you will not be sure of your life. In the morning you will say--'If it only were evening!' and in the evening you will say--'If it only were morning!' because of the dread of your heart with which you will be in dread and because of the sight your eyes that you will see. God will certainly will bring you back to Egypt by ships by the way about which I have said to you--'You will never see it again.' and you will have to sell yourselves there to your enemies as slave men and maidservants but there will be no buyer." 29 These are the words of the covenant that God commanded Moses to conclude with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab aside form the covenant that he had concluded with them in Horeb. Moses proceeded to call all Israel and to say to them--"You were the ones seeing all that God did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land, the great provings that your eyes saw, those great signs and miracles. And yet God has not given you a heart to know and eyes to see and ears to hear down to this day. 'While I kept guiding you 40 years in the wilderness, your garments did not

wear out upon you, and your sandal did not wear out upon your foot. Bread you did not eat, and wine and intoxicating liquor you did not drink in order that you might know that I am your God. Eventually you came to this place, and Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan proceeded to come out to meet us in battle, but we defeated them. After that we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites and the Gadites and half the tribe of the Manassites. So you must keep the words of this covenant and do them, in order that you may make everything you will do turn out well. You are all of you stationed today before your God, the heads of your tribes, your older men and your officers, every man of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and your alien resident who is in the midst of your camp, from the gatherer of your wood to the drawer of your water. In order for you to enter into the covenant of your God and his oath, which your God is concluding with you today, for the purpose of establishing you today as his people and that he may prove himself your God, just as he has promised you and just as he has sworn to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now it is not with you alone that I am concluding this covenant and this oath, but it is with him who is here standing with us today before our God and with those who are not here with us today--for yourselves well know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the midst of the nations through whom you passed. You used to see their disgusting things and their dungy idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, that were with them--that there may not be among you a man or a woman or a family or a tribe whose heart is turning today away from our God to go and serve the gods of those nations that there may not be among you a root bearing the fruit of a poisonous plant and wormwood. It must occur that when someone has heard the words of this oath, and he has blessed himself in his heart, saying--'I shall come to have peace, although I will walk in the stubbornness of my heart, with the intention of sweeping away the well watered one along with the thirsty one. God will not want to forgive him, but then God's anger and his ardor (zeal, passion) will smoke against that man, and all the oath written in this book will certainly settle down on him and God will indeed wipe out his name from under the heavens. So God will have to separate him for calamity from all the tribes of Israel in accord that is written in this book of the law. The future generation, your sons who will rise up after you, will be bound to say, also the foreigner who will come from a distant land, even when they have seen the plagues of that land and its maladies with which God has sickened it, sulphur and salt and burning, so that its whole land will not be sown, nor sprout, nor will any vegetation spring up in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zebolim which God overthrew in his anger and in his

wrath (rage), yes all the nations will be bound to you say--'Why did God do like this to this land? Why the heat of this great anger?' Then they will have to say--'It was because they abandoned the covenant (relationship) of God the God their ancestors, which he concluded (ended) with them when he brought them out of Egypt. They proceeded to go and serve other gods and to bow down to them, gods that they had not known and he had not supported them. Then God's anger burned against that land by bringing upon it the whole curse (malediction) written in this book. Hence God uprooted them from off their soil in anger and rage and great indignation (distress). and threw them into another land as at this day.' The things concealed belong to our God, but that things revealed belong to us and to our sons to time indefinite, that we may carry out all the works of this law. 30 It must occur that when all these words will come upon you, the blessing and the malediction (curse), which I have put before you, and you have brought them back to your heart among all the nations where your God has scattered you, and you have returned to your God and listened to his voice according to all that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, with all your heart and all your soul. Your God must also bring back your captives and show you mercy and collect you again from all the peoples where your God has scattered you. If your scattered people should be at the end of the heavens, from there your God will collect you and from there he will take you. Your God will indeed bring you into the land of which your fathers took possession, and you will certainly take ownership of it, and he will indeed do you good and multiply you more than your fathers. Your God will have to circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring that you may love your God with all your heart and all your soul for the sake of your life. Your God will certainly put all these oaths upon your enemies and those who hate you, who have persecuted (oppress, abuse because of religion) you. As for you, you will turn and certainly listen to the voice of your God and do all his commandments that I am ordering you today. Your God indeed make you have more than enough in every work of your land, in the fruit of your belly, and the fruit of your domestic animals and the fruitage of your soil, resulting in prosperity, because God will again rejoice over you for good, just as he rejoiced over your ancestors, for you will listen to the voice of your God so as to keep his commandments and his statutes written in this book of the law, because you will return to your God with all your heart and all your soul. For this commandment that I am commanding you, today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. It is not in the heavens, so as to result in saying--'Who will ascend (rise) for us into the heavens and get it for us that he may let us hear it that we may do it? Neither is it on the other side of the sea, so as to result in saying, 'Who will passover for us to the other side of the

sea and get it for us, that he may let us hear it that we may do it? For the word is very near you, in your own mouth and in your own heart, that you may do it. See, I do put before you today life and good, and death and bad. If you will listen to the commandments of your God, which I am ordering you today, so as to love your God Jehovah, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, statutes, judicial decisions, then you will be bound to keep alive and multiply, and your God will bless you in the land to which you are going to take ownership of it. But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, and you are actually seduced and bow down to other gods and serve them, I do tell you today you will positively perish. You will not lengthen your days on the ground which you are crossing the Jordan to take ownership of it. I do take the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you today, that I have put life and death before you, the blessing and the curse, that you may choose life in order to keep alive, you and your offspring, by loving your God, by listening to his voice and sticking to him, for he is your life and length of your days, that you may live upon the ground that God swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give to them. 31 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel and said to them--"120 years old I am today. I shall no more be allowed to go out and come in as God has said to me--'You will not cross the Jordan.' Your God is the one crossing before you. He himself will stimulate these nations from before you, and you must drive them away. God is the one crossing before you, just as God has spoken. God will certainly do to them just as he has done to Sihon, Og, the kings of Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. God has abandoned them to you, and you must do to them according all commandment that I have commanded you. Be courageous and strong. Do not be afraid or suffer a shock before them, because your God is the one marching with you. He will neither desert you or leave you entirely." Moses proceeded to call Joshua and say to him before the eyes of all Israel--"Be courageous and strong--because you-- you will bring this people into the land that God swore to their ancestors to give to them, and you yourself will give to them as an inheritance. God is the one marching before you. He himself will continue with you. He will neither desert you nor leave you entirely. Do not be afraid or be terrified. Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests the sons of Levi, the carriers of the ark of God's covenant, and to all the older men of Israel. Moses went on to command them, said--"At the end of every 7 years, in the appointed time of the year of the release, in the festivals of booths, when all Israel comes to see the face of your God in the place that he will choose, you will read this law in front of

all Israel in their bearing. Congregate the people, the men and the women and the little ones and your alien resident who is within your gates, in order that they may listen and in order that they may learn, as they must fear your God and take care to carry out all the words of this law. And their sons who have not known should listen, and they must learn to fear your God all the days that you are living upon the soil to which you are crossing the Jordan to take ownership of it." After that God said to Moses--"Look! the days have drawn near for you to die. Call Joshua and station yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him." So Moses and Joshua went and stationed themselves in the tent of meeting. Then God appeared at the tent in the pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud began to stand by the entrance of the tent. God now said to Moses--"Look! You are lying down with your forefathers (ancestors), and this people will certainly get up and have immoral se* with foreign gods of the land to which they are going, in their very midst, and they will certainly forsake (abandon) me and break my covenant that I have concluded with them. At that my anger will indeed burn against them in that day, and I will certainly forsake them and conceal my face from them, and they must become something to be consumed, and many calamities and distresses must come upon them, and they will bound to say in that day--'Is it not because our God is not in our midst that these calamities have come upon us?' As for me, I will absolutely conceal my face in that day because of all the badness that they have done, because they have turned to other gods. Now write for yourselves this song and teach it to the sons of Israel. Place it in their mouths in order that this song may serve as my witness against the sons of Israel. For I shall bring them to the ground that I have sworn about to their ancestors, which flows with milk and honey, and they will certainly eat and be satisfied and grow fat, and turn to other gods, and they will indeed serve them, and treat me with disrespect and break my covenant. It must occur that when many calamities and distresses will come upon them, this song must also answer before them as a witness, because it should not be forgotten out of the mouth of their offspring, for I well know their inclination that they are developing today before I bring them into the land about which I have sworn. So Moses wrote this song in that day, that he might teach it to the sons of Israel. He proceeded to commission Joshua the son of Nun and to say--'Be courageous and strong, because you--you will bring the sons of Israel into the land about which I have sworn to them, and I myself will continue with you. It came about just as soon as Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book until their completion. Moses began to command the Levites, the carriers of the ark of God's covenant, said--"Taking this book of the law, you must place it at the side of the ark of the covenant of your God, and it must serve as a witness there against you. For I --I well know your

rebelliousness and your stiff neck. If while I am yet alive with you today, you have proved rebellious in behavior toward God, then how much more so after my death! Congregate to me all the older men of your tribes and your officers, and let me speak to their hearing these words, and let me take the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them. For I well know that after my death you will without fail act ruinously, and you will certainly turn away from the way about which I have commanded you, and calamity will be bound to befall you at the end of the days, because you will do what is bad in the eyes of God so as to offend him by the works of your hands." Moses proceeded to speak in the hearing of all congregation of Israel the words of this song until their completion"-- 32 Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak. And let the earth hear the sayings of my mouth. My instruction will drip as the rain, My saying will trickle as the dew, As gentle rains upon grass And as copious showers upon vegetation. For I shall declare the name of Jehovah. Do you attribute greatness to our God! The Rock, perfect is his activity, For all his ways are justice, God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice, Righteous and upright is he. They have acted ruinously on their own part, They are not his children, the defect is their own. A generation crooked and twisted! Is to Jehovah that you keep doing this way, O people stupid and not wise? Is he not your father who has produced you, He who made you and proceeded to give you stability? Remember the days of old, Consider the years back from generation to generation, Ask your father, and he can tell you, Your old men, and they can say it to you. When the most high give the nations an inheritance, when he parted sons of Adams from one another, He proceeded to fix the boundary of the peoples With regard for the number of the sons of Israel. For God's share is his people, Jacob is the allotment that he inherits. He came to find him in a wilderness land, And in an empty, howling desert. He began to encircle him, to take care of him, To safeguard him as the pupil of his eye. Just as an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its fledglings, Spreads out its wings, takes them, Carries them on its pinions,

Jehovah alone kept leading him, And there was no foreign god along with him. He kept making him ride upon earth's high places, so that he ate the produce of the land. And he kept making him suck honey out of a crag, And oil out of a flinty rock, Butter of the herd and milk of the flock Together with the fat of rams, And male sheep, the breed of Bashan, and he-goats Together with the kidney fat of wheat, And the blood of the grape you kept drinking as wine. When Jeshurun began to grow fat, then he kicked. You have grown fat, you have become thick, you have become gorged. So he forsook God, who made him, And despised the Rock of his salvation. They began inciting him to jealousy with strange gods, with detestable things they kept offending him. They went sacrificing to demons, not to God, Gods whom they had not known, New ones who recently came in, With whom your forefathers were not acquainted. The Rock who fathered you, you proceeded to forget, And you began to leave God out of memory, the One bringing you forth with childbirth pains. When Jehovah saw it, then he came to disrespect them, Because of the vexation his sons and his daughters gave. So he said, 'Let me conceal my face from them, Let me see what their end will be afterward. For they are a generation of perverseness, Sons in whom there is no faithfulness, They, for their part, have incited me to jealousy with what is no god, They have vexed me with their vain idols, And I, for my part, shall incite them to jealousy with what is no people. With a stupid nation I shall offend them. For a fire has been ignited in my anger And it will burn down to Sheol, the lowest place, And it will consume the earth and its produce And will set ablaze the foundations of mountains. I shall increase calamities upon them, My arrows I shall spend upon them. Exhausted from hunger they will be and eaten up by burning fever And bitter destruction. And the teeth of beasts I shall send upon them, With the venom of reptiles of the dust. Outdoors a sword will bereave them, And indoors fright, Of both young man and virgin,

Suckling together with gray haired man. I should have said, "I shall disperse them, I will make the mention of them cease from mortal men," Were it not that I was afraid of vexation from the enemy, That their adversaries might misconstrue it, That they might say, "Our hand has proved superior, And it was not Jehovah who worked all this out," For they are a nation on whom counsel perishes, And among them there is no understanding. O they were wise! Then they would ponder over this. They would consider their end afterward. How could one pursue a 1000, And 2 put 10,000 to flight? Not unless the Rock had sold them And Jehovah had surrendered them. For their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies being the ones to decide, For their vines are vines from Sodom And from the terraces of Gomorrah, Their grapes are grapes of poison, Their clusters are bitter, Their wines are venom of big snakes And cruel poison of cobras. Is it not laid up with me, With a seal affixed to it in my storehouse? Vengeance is mine and retribution At the appointed time their foot will move unsteadily, For the day of their disaster is near, And the events in readiness for them to make haste, for Jehovah will judge his people And he will feel regret over his servants, Because he will see that support has disappeared And there is only a helpless and worthless one. And he will certainly say, Where are their gods, The rock in whom they sought refuge, Who used to eat the fat of their sacrifices, To drink the wine of their drink offerings? Let them get up and help you, Let them become a concealed place for you. See now that I--I am he And there are no gods together with me. I put to death and I make alive. I have severely wounded, and I -- I will heal, And there is no one snatching out of my hand. For I raise my hand to heaven in an oath, And I do say, "As I am alive to time indefinite," If I indeed sharpen my glittering sword, And my hand takes hold on judgment, I will pay back vengeance to my adversaries

And render retribution to those who intensely hate me. I shall intoxicate my arrows with blood, While my sword will eat flesh With the blood of the slain and the captives, With the heads of the leaders of the enemy.' Be glad, you nations, with his people, For he will avenge the blood of his servants, And he will pay back vengeance to his adversaries And will indeed make atonement for ground of his people. Thus Moses spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea the son of Nun. After Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he went on to say to them--"Apply your hearts to all the words that I am speaking in warning to you today, that you may command your sons to take care to do all the words of this law. For it is no valueless word for you, but it means your life, and by these words you may lengthen your days upon the soil to which you are crossing the Jordan to take ownership of it." God proceeded to speak to Moses on this same day, said--"Go up into this mountain of Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which fronts toward Jericho, and see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel as a possession. Then die on the mountain into which you are going up, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on mount Hor and got to be gathered to his people, for the reason that you men acted un-dutifully toward me in the middle of sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, for the reason that you men did not sanctify me in the middle of sons of Israel. For from a distance you will see the land, but you will not go there into the land that I am giving to sons of Israel. 33 Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of true God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. He proceeded to say--"God came from Sinai and he flashed forth from Seir upon them. He beamed forth from mountainous region of Paran, and with him were holy myriads, at his right hand warriors belong to them. He was also cherishing his people. All their holy ones are in your hand. And they reclined at your feet. They began to receive some of your words, Moses laid as a command upon us a law, a possession of the congregation of Jacob. And he became a king of Jeshurun when the heads of the people gathered themselves, the entire number of tribes of Israel. Let Reuben live and not die off and let his men not become few. This was Judah's blessing, as he went on to say--

"Hear O God, the voice of Judah, And you bring him to his people, His arms have contented for what is his, may you prove yourself a helper from his adversaries." As to Levi he said--"Your Thummim and your Urim belong to the man loyal to you, Whom you put to the test at Massah. You began to contend with him by the waters of Meriah, The man who said to his father and his mother, 'I have not seen him.' Even his brothers he did not acknowledge. His sons he did not know. For they kept your saying, And your covenant they continued to observe. Let them instruct Jacob in judicial decisions And Israel in your law. Let them render up incense before your nostrils And a whole offering on your altar. O bless Jehovah, his vital energy, And may you show pleasures in activities of his hands. Wound severely in their hips those who rise up against him, And those who intensely hate him, and they may not rise up." As to Benjamin he said, "Let the beloved one of God reside in security by him, While he shelters him the whole day, And he must reside between his shoulders."

And as to God he said, "May his land be continually blessed from Jehovah With choice things from heaven, with dew, And with watery deep down below. And with the choice things, products of the sun, And with the choice things, the yield of lunar months, And with the choicest things from mountains of the east, And with the choice things of indefinitely lasting hills, And with the choice things of the earth and its fullness, And with the approval of the One residing in the thornbush. May they come upon the head of Joseph And upon the crown of the head of the one singled out from his brothers. As the 1stborn of his bull his splendor is, And his horns are the horns of the wild bull. With them he will push peoples All together to the ends of the earth, And they are the tens of thousands of Ephraim, And they are the thousands of Manasseh. As to Zebulun he said, "Rejoice O Zebulun, in your going out, And Issachar, in your tents, Peoples to the mountain they will call. There they will sacrifice the sacrifices of righteousness. For they will suck the abounding wealth of the seas

And hidden hoards of the sand." As to Gad he said, "Blessed is the one who is widening the borders of Gad. As a lion he must reside, And he must tear the arm, yes, the crown of the head. And he will pick out the first part for himself, For there allotment of a statute giver is reserved. And the heads of the people gather themselves together. The righteousness of Jehovah will he certainly execute And his judicial decisions with Israel. As to Dan he said, "Dan is a lion cub. He will keep out of Bashan." As to Naphtali he said, "Naphtali is satisfied with the approval And full of the blessing of Jehovah. Do take the possession of the west and south." As to Asher he said, "Blessed with sons is Asher. Let him become one approved by his brothers, and one dipping his foot in oil. Iron and copper are your gate locks, And in proportion to your days is your leisurely walk. There is none like the true God of Jeshurun, Who rises upon heaven in help of you And upon cloudy skies in his eminence. A hiding place is the God of ancient time, And underneath are the indefinitely lasting arms. And he will drive away from before you the enemy, and he will say, 'Annihilate them!' And Israel will reside in security, The mountain of Jacob by itself, Upon a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens will let the dew drip down. Happy you are, O Israel! Who is there like you, A people enjoying salvation in Jehovah, The shield of your help, And the One is the eminent sword? So your enemies will cringe before you, And you--upon their high places you will tread." 34 Then Moses proceeded to go up from the desert plains of Moab into Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, which fronts toward Jericho. Jehovah went showing him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, and the Negeb and the District, the valley plain of Jericho, the city of the palm trees as far as Zoar. God went on to say to him, "This is the land about which I have sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, said--'To your seed I shall give it.' I have caused you to see it with your own eyes, as you will not cross over there." After that Moses the servant of God died there in

the land of Moab at the order of God. He proceeded to bury him in the valley in the land of Moab in front of Bethpeor, and nobody has come to know his grave down to this day. Moses was 120 years old at this death. His eyes had not grown dim, and his vital strength had not fled. The sons of Israel proceeded to weep for Moses on the desert plains of Moab 30 days. At length the days of weeping of the mourning period for Moses were completed. Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hand upon him, and the sons of Israel began to listen to him and they went doing just as God had commanded Moses. But there has never yet risen up a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom God knew face to face, as respects all the signs and the miracles that God sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and his land, and as regards all the strong hand and all the great awesomeness that Moses exercised before the eyes of all Israel.

Joshua

1 And it was about after the death of Moses the servant of God that God

proceeded to say to Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses --"Moses my servant is dead, and now get up, cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place upon which the sole of your foot will tread, to you people I will certainly give it, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon to the great river, the river Euphrates, that is, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun your territory will prove to be. Nobody will take a firm stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I proved to be with Moses I will prove to be with you. I shall neither desert you nor leave you entirely. Be courageous and strong, for you are the one who will cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their ancestors to give to them. Only be courageous and very strong to take care to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn away from it to the right or to the left, in order that you may act wisely everywhere you go. This book of the law should not depart from your mouth, and you must in an undertone read in it day and night, in order that you may take care to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way successful and then you will act wisely. Have not commanded you? Be courageous and strong. do not suffer shock or be terrified, for your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua proceeded to command the officers of

Black Ink--Bible Page/Text

Blue Ink -- Understand & Pray

Joshua 1 to 12

the people, saying--"Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying--'Get provisions (supply) ready for yourselves, because 3 days from now you are crossing this Jordan to go in and take ownership of the land that God is giving you to take possession of it. To the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, "Let there be a remembering of the word that Jehovah commanded you, say--'Your God is giving you rest and has given you this land. Your wives, your little ones and your livestock will live in the land that Moses has given you on this side of the Jordan, but you men will pass over in battle formation before your brothers, all the courageous mighty men, and you must help them. 1st when God gives rest to your brothers the same as to you, and they also have taken possession of the land that your God is giving them, you must also return to the land of your holding and take possession of it, the one that Moses the servant of God has given you on the side of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun. Accordingly they answered Joshua, said--"All that you have commanded us we shall do, and wherever you may send us we shall

go. As we listened to Moses in everything, so we shall listen to you. Only may your God prove to be with you just as he proved to be with Moses. Any man that behaves rebelliously against your order and does not listen to your words in all that you may command him will be put to death. Only be courageous and strong. 2 Then Joshua the son of Nun sent 2 men out secretly from Shitttim as spies, said--"Go, take a look at the land and Jericho" So they went and came to the house of a prostitute woman whose name was Rahab and they took up lodging there. In time it was said to the king of Jericho--"Look! Men from the sons of Israel have come in here tonight to search out the land." At that the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, said--"Bring out the men that came to you, that have come into your house, for it is to search out all the land that they have come." Meanwhile the woman took the 2 men and hid them. And she proceeded to say--"Yes, the men did come to me, and I did not know from where they were. At about at the closing of the gate by dark that the men went out. I just do not know where the men have gone. Chase after them quickly for you will overtake them." (But she, though, had taken them up to the roof, and she kept them out of sight among stalks of flax laid in rows for her upon the roof.) And the men chased after them in the direction of the Jordan at the fords, and they shut the gate immediately after those chasing after them had gone out. As for these, before they could lie down, she herself came up to them on the roof. She went on to say to the men--"I do know that God will certainly give you the land, and that the fright of you has fallen upon us, and that all the people of the land have become disheartened because of you. For we have heard how God dried up the waters of the Red Sea from before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the 2 kings of

the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, namely Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. When we got to hear it, then our hearts began to melt, and no spirit has arisen yet in anybody because of you, for your God is in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now, please swear to me by God that because I have showed loving kindness toward you, you also will certainly show loving kindness toward the household of my father, and you must give me a trustworthy sign--you must keep alive my father, mother, brothers and sisters and all who belong to them, and you must deliver our souls from death." At that the men said to her--"Our souls are to die instead of you people! If you will not tell about this matter of ours, it must also occur that when God gives us the land, we also shall certainly exercise loving kindness and trustworthiness to you." After that she had them go down by a rope through the window, for her house was on a side of the wall, and it was on the wall that she was living. She proceeded to say to them--"Go to the mountainous region, that those in pursuit may not come in contact with you, and you must keep hiding there 3 days, until those in pursuit have come back, and afterward you may go in your own direction." In turn the men said to her--"We are free from guilt respecting this oath of yours that you have made us swear. Look! We are coming into the land. This cord of scarlet thread you should tie in the window by which you have had us go down, and your father, mother. brothers and all the household of your father you should gather to yourself into the house. It must occur that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the open, his blood will be upon his own head, and we shall be free from guilt, and everyone who continues with you in the house, his blood will be in our heads if a hand should come upon against him. If you should report this matter of ours, we shall also become free from guilt respecting this oath of yours that you have made us swear." To this she said--"According to your words so let it be." With that she sent them off and they went on their way. After that she tied the scarlet cord in the window. So they came to the mountainous region and kept living there for 3 days, until pursuers came back. Now the pursuers were looking for them on every road but they didn't find them. And the 2 men proceeded to come down from the mountainous area and to cross over and come to Joshua the son of Nun, and they began to relate to him all the things that have happened to them. They went on to say to Joshua--"God has given all the land into our hands. Consequently all the inhabitants of the land have also grown disheartened because of us." 3 Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and he and all the sons of Israel proceeded to pull away from Shittim and to go as far as Jordan, and they went spending the night there before they would cross. So it was about at the end of the 3 days that the officers proceeded to pass through the midst of the camp and to command the people,

saying--"As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests, the Levites, carrying it, then you yourselves will leave away from your place, and you must follow it -- only let there prove to be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits (approx. 3000 feet) by measure, do not get near to it--in order that you may know the way by which you should go, for you have not passed over on that way before." Joshua now said to the people--"Sanctify (purify) yourselves for tomorrow Jehovah will do wonderful things in your midst." Then Joshua said to the priest--"Take up the ark of the covenant and pass before the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. God proceeded to say to Joshua-- "This day I shall start to make you great in the eyes of all Israel, that they may know that just as I proved to be with Moses I shall prove to be with you. And you--you should command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, say--"As soon as you have come as far as the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you should stand still to the Jordan.'" Joshua went on to say to the sons of Israel--"Approach here and listen to the words of your God." After that Joshua said "By this you will know that a living God is in your midst, and that he will without fail drive away from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites. Look! The ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth is passing before you into the Jordan. Now take for yourselves 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. It must occur that at the instant that the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of the whole earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, the waters descending from above, and they will stand still as dam." It was about that when the people left away from their tents just before passing over the Jordan, with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, and at the instant that the carriers of the Ark came as far as the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the Ark were dipped in the edge of the waters (now the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), then the waters descending from above began to stand still. They rose up as one dam, very far away from Adam, the city at the side of Zarethan, while those descending toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were exhausted. They were cut off, and the people passed over in front of Jericho. Meanwhile the priests carrying the ark of God's covenant kept standing immovable on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan as all Israel were passing over on dry ground, until the whole nation had completed passing over the Jordan. 4 It was about as soon as the whole nation had completed passing over the Jordan, God proceeded to to say to Joshua--"Take for yourselves 12 men from the people, one man from each tribe and command them, say--"Take up for yourselves from the very midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests feet stood motionless,

12 stones, and you must carry them over with you and deposit them in the lodging place in which you will lodge tonight.'" So Joshua called 12 men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe. Joshua went on to say to them--"Pass ahead of the ark of God your Jehovah to the middle of the Jordan, and lift up for yourselves each one a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, in order that this may serve as a sign in your midst. In case your sons should ask in time, saying--"Why do you have these stones?" You must also say to them--'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off from before the ark of Jehovah's covenant. When it passed through the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off, and these stones must serve as a memorial to the sons of Israel to time indefinite.'" Accordingly the sons of Israel did so, just as Joshua had commanded, and they took up 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as God had stated to Joshua, to correspond with the number of tribes of the sons of Israel--they went taking them over with them to the lodging place and depositing them there. There were also 12 stones that Joshua set up in the middle of the Jordan on the standing place of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, and they continue there until this day. The priests carrying the Ark were standing in the middle of the Jordan until the whole matter had been completed that God had ordered Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. All the while people hurried up and passed over. It was about as soon as all the people had completed passing over, then the ark of God passed over, and the priests, before the people. The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh proceeded to pass over in battle formation in the sight of sons of Israel, just as Moses had stated to them. About 40,000 equipped for the army passed over before God for the war onto the desert plains of Jericho. On that day God made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel, and they began to fear him just as they had feared Moses all days of his life. Then God said to Joshua--"Command the priests carrying the ark of the testimony that they go up out of the Jordan." So Joshua commanded the priests, said--"Go up out of the Jordan." It was about that when the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of God came up out of the middle of the Jordan and the soles of the feet of the priests were drawn out onto the dry ground, then the waters of the Jordan began returning to their place and went overflowing all its banks as formerly. The people came up out of the Jordan on the 10th of the 1st month and took up camping at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. As for the 12 stones that they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set these up at Gilgal. He went on to say to the sons of Israel--"When your sons ask their fathers in time, asking--"What do these stones mean?" You must then let your sons know,

saying-'On the dry land it was that Israel passed over this Jordan, when your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before them until they had passed over, just as your God had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up from before us until we had passed over--in order that all the peoples of the earth may know God's hand, that it is strong, in order that you may indeed fear your God always.'" It was about that as soon as all the kings of the Amorites, who were on the side of the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that God had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel until they had passed over, then their hearts began to melt and there proved to be no spiritedness in them anymore because of the sons of Israel. At that particular time God said to Joshua--"Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel again, the 2nd time." Accordingly Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeathhaaraloth. This was the reason why Joshua did the circumcising, all the people that came out of Egypt, the males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the road when they were coming out of Egypt. For all the people who came out proved to be circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the road when they were coming out of Egypt they had not circumcised. For the sons of Israel had walked 40 years in the wilderness, until all the nation of the men of war who came out of Egypt that did not listen to the voice of God had come to its finish, to whom God swore that he would never let them see the land that God had sworn to their ancestors to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Their sons he raised up instead of them. These Joshua circumcised, because they proved to be uncircumcised, for they had not circumcised them on the road. It was about that when they had completed circumcising all the nation, they kept sitting in their place in the camp until they revived. Then God said to Joshua--"Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you." So the name of that place came to be called Gilgal until this day. The sons of Israel continued to camp in Gilgal, and they proceeded to carry out the passover on the 14th day of the month, in the evening on the desert plains of Jericho. They began to eat some of the yield of the land the day after the passover, unfermented cakes and roasted grains, on this same day. Then the manna ceased on the following day when they had eaten some of the yield of the land, and manna did not occur anymore for the sons of Israel, and they began to eat some of the produce of the land of Canaan in that year. It was about when Joshua happened to be by Jericho that he proceeded to raise his eyes and look, and there there was a man standing in front of him with his drawn sword in his hand. So Joshua walked up to him and said to him--"Are you for us or for our adversaries?" To this he said--"No, but I--as prince of the army of God I have now come." With that Joshua fell on his face to the

earth and prostrated (lay down with face to the ground and arms stretched out by sides and legs stretched out) himself and said to him--"What is my lord saying to his servant?" In turn the prince of the army of God said to Joshua--"Draw your sandals from off your feet, because the place on which you are standing is holy" At once Joshua did so. 6 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the sons of Israel, no one going out and no one entering. God went on to say to Joshua--"See, I have given Jericho and its king, the valiant (courageous) mighty men, into your hand. All you men of war must march round the city, going round the city once. That is the way you should do for 6 days. 7 priests should carry 7 rams horns, before the Ark, and march round the city 7 times, and the priests should blow the horns. It must occur that when they sound with the horn of the ram, when you hear the sound of the horn, all the people should shout a great war cry, and the wall of the city must fall down flat, and the people must go up, each one straight before him." Accordingly Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them--"Take up the ark of the covenant, and 7 priests should carry 7 rams' horns before the ark of Jehovah." He went on to say to the people--"Pass on and march round the city, and the war-equipped force should pass on ahead of the ark of Jehovah." So it came about just as Joshua said to the people, and 7 priests carrying 7 rams horns before Jehovah passed on and blew the horns, and the ark of the covenant of God was following them. The war-equipped force was going ahead of the priests blowing the horns, while the rear guard was following the Ark with continual blowing on the horns. Now Joshua had commanded the people, said--"You must neither shout nor let your voices be heard, and no word should come out of your mouths until the day when I say to you, 'Shout.! Then you must shout." He had the ark of God go marching round the city, going round ones, after which they went to the camp and stayed overnight in the camp. Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests went carrying the ark of God, and 7 priests carrying rams' horns before the ark of God were walking, continually blowing the horns, and the war equipped force was walking ahead of them, while the rear guard was following the ark of God with a continual blowing on the horns. They went marching round the city on the 2nd day once, after which they returned to the camp. That was the way they did for 6 days. It was about on the 7th day that they proceeded to get up early, as soon as the dawn ascended, and they went marching round the city in this manner 7 times. Just on that day they marched round the city 7 times. It was abut on the 7th time that the priests blew the horns, and Joshua proceeded to say to the people--"Shout, for God has given you the city. And the city must become a thing devoted to destruction, it with everything that is in it belongs to God. Only Rahab the prostitute may keep on living, she and all who are with her in the house, because she did hid messengers whom we sent out.

As for you people, only keep away from the thing devoted to destruction, for fear you may get a desire and you do take some of the thing devoted to destruction and do constitute the camp of Israel a thing devoted to destruction and bring ostracism upon it. But all the silver and the gold and the articles of copper and iron are something holy to God. Into the treasure of God it should go." Then the people shouted, when they proceeded to blow the horns. It was about that as soon as the people heard the sound of the horn and the people began to shout a great war cry, then the wall began to fall down flat. After that the people went up into the city, each one straight before him, and captured the city. They went devoting all that was in the city, from man to woman, from young man to old man and to bull and sheep and ass, to destruction by the edge of the sword. To the 2 men who had done the spying on the land, Joshua said--"Go into the house of the woman, the prostitute, and bring out of there the woman and all who belong to her, just as you have sworn to her." So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother, brothers and all who belonged to her, yes, all her family relationship they brought out, and they proceeded to set them down outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city with fire and everything that was to it. Only silver and gold, and the articles of copper and iron they gave to the treasure of God's house. Rahab the prostitute and the household of her father and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive, and she lives in the midst of Israel down to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent out to spy on Jericho. Then Joshua had an oath pronounced at that particular time, said--"Cursed may the man be before God who pets up and does build this city, even Jericho. At the forfeit (give up) of his 1stborn let him lay the foundation of it, and at the forfeit of his youngest let him put up its doors." So God proved to be with Joshua, and his fame came to be in all the earth. 7 The sons of Israel went committing an act of unfaithfulness respecting the thing devoted to destruction in that Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the thing devoted to destruction. At this God's anger grew hot against the sons of Israel. Then Joshua sent men out from Jericho to Ai, which is close by Bethaven, to the east of Bethel, and said to them--"Go up and spy on the land." Accordingly the men went up and spied on Ai. After that they returned to Joshua and said to him--"Let about 2,000 men or about 3,000 men go up and strike Ai. Do not weary all the people with going there, for they are few." So about 3,000 men of the people went up there, but they took to flight before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai got to strike down about 36 men of them, and they went pursuing them from before the gate as far as Shebarim and continued striking them down on the descent. Consequently

the heart of the people began to melt and became as water. At this Joshua ripped his mantles and fell upon his face to the earth before the ark of God until the evening, he and the older men of Israel, and they kept putting dust upon their heads. Joshua went on to say--"Alas, Sovereign Lord Jehovah, why did you bring this people all the way across the Jordan, just to give us into the hand of the Amorites for them to destroy us? Only if we had taken it upon ourselves and continued living on the other side of the Jordan! Excuse me, O God, but what can I say after Israel has turned his back before his enemies? The Canaanites and all the people of the land will hear of it, and they will certainly surround us and cut our name off from the earth--and what will you do for your great name?" In turn God said to Joshua--"Get up, you! Why is it that you are falling upon your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also overstepped my covenant that I laid as a command upon them, and they have also taken some of the thing devoted to destruction and have also stolen and also kept it secret, and have also put it among their own articles. The sons of Israel will not be able to rise up against their enemies. The back is what they will turn before their enemies, because they have become a thing devoted to destruction, I shall not prove to be with you again unless you destroy the thing devoted to destruction out of your midst. Get up! Sanctify the people, and you must say--"Sanctify yourselves tomorrow, for this is what God of Israel has said--"A thing devoted in destruction is in your midst, O Israel. You will not be able to rise up against your enemies until you have removed a thing devoted to destruction from your midst. You must present yourselves in the morning, tribe by tribe, it must occur that the tribe that God will pick will come near, family by family, and family that God will pick will come near, household by household, and household that God will pick will come near, able-bodied man by able-bodied man. It must occur that the thing devoted to destruction will be burned by fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has overstepped the covenant of God, and he has committed a disgraceful folly in Israel."'" Then Joshua rose early in the morning and had Israel come near, tribe by tribe of it, and tribe of Judah got to be picked. Next he had the families of Judah come near and picked family of Zerahites, after which he had the family of Zerahites come near, able-bodied man by able-bodied man, and Zabdi got to be picked, Finally he had his household come near, able-bodied man by able bodied man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, got to be picked. Then Joshua said to Achan --"My son, render please, glory to God of Israel and make confession to him, and tell me please, what have you done? Don't hide it from me." At this Achan answered Joshua and said--"For a fact I -- I have sinned against God of Israel, and this way and that way I have done. When I got to see among the spoil an official garment from Shinar, a good looking one, and 200

shekels (money) of silver and 1 gold bar, 50 shekels being its weight, then I wanted them, and I took them, and look! they are hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with money underneath it. At once God sent messengers, and they went running to the tent, and, look! it was hidden in his tent with the money underneath it. So they took them from the midst of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the sons of Israel and poured them out before God. Joshua, and all Israel with him, now took Achan the son of Zerah and the silver and the official garment and the bar of gold and his sons and his daughters and his bull, ass, his flock and his tent and everything that was his and they brought them up to the low plain of Achor. Then Joshua said--"Why have you brought ostracism upon us? God will bring ostracism upon you on this day." With that all Israel went pelting him with stones, after which they burned them with fire. Thus they stoned them with stones. They proceeded to raise up over him a big pile of stones, down to this day. At this God turned away from his hot anger. That is why the name of that place has been called Low Plains of Achor, down to this day. 8 Then God said to Joshua--"Do not be afraid or be terrified. Take with you all the people of war and get up, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king Ai and his people and his city and his land." You must do to Ai and to its king just as you did to Jericho and its king. Only you people may plunder its spoil and its domestic animals for yourselves. Set an ambush of yours against the city at its rear." Accordingly Joshua and all the people of war rose to go up to Ai, and Joshua proceeded to choose 30,000 men, valiant mighty ones, and to send them off by night. He went on to command them, said--"See, you are lying in ambush against the city to the rear of the city. Don't go very far away from the city, and you must all of you hold yourselves in readiness. As for me and all the people who are with me, we shall go close to the city. And it must occur that, in case they should come out to meet us just as at the 1st, we must then flee before them. They must come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say--'They are fleeing before us just as at the first.' We must flee before them. Then you--you will rise up from the ambush, and you must take ownership of the city, and your God will certainly give it into your hands. It must occur that as soon as you have seized the city, you should set the city on fire. According to God's word you should do. See, I have ordered you." After that Joshua sent them out and they marched to the place of ambush and took up quarters between Bethel and Ai to the west of Ai, while Joshua kept lodging on that night in the midst of the people. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and reviewed the people and went up, he and the older men of Israel, before the people to Ai. All the people of war who were with him went up, that they might approach and get in front of the city, and they proceeded to camp to the north of Ai, with the valley between them and Ai. In the meantime he took about 5,000 men and set them as an ambush between Bethel

and Ai, to the west of the city. So the people set the main camp that was to the north of the city and the extreme rear of it that was to the west of the city, and Joshua proceeded to go during that night into the middle of the low plain. It was about that, as soon as the king of Ai saw it, then the men of the city got in a hurry and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people, at the appointed time, before the desert plain. As for him, he did not know that there was an ambush (surprise attack) against him to the rear of the city. When Joshua and all Israel suffered a blow before them, then they took to flight by the way of the wilderness. At that all the people who were in the city were called out to chase after them, and they went chasing after Joshua and got to be drawn away from the city. There was not a man remaining in Ai and Bethel that did not go out after Israel, so that they left the city wide open and went chasing after Israel. God now said to Joshua--"Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for into your hand I shall give it." Accordingly Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. The ambush rose up quickly from its place, and they began to run at the instant that he stretched out his hand, and they proceeded to enter the city and capture it. Then they hurried and set the city on fire. The men of Ai began to turn back and look, and there the smoke of the city ascended (go up) to the heavens, and there proved to be no ability in them to flee this way or that. The people that were fleeing to the wilderness turned up the pursuers. Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush and captured the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, and so they turned around and went striking (killing) the men of Ai down. These others came out of the city to meet them, so that they got be in between Israel, these on this side and those on that, and they went striking them down until there did not remain of them either a survivor or an escapee. The king of Ai they caught alive and proceeded to bring him near to Joshua. It was about that while Israel was finishing the killing of all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness in which they had pursued them, they kept falling, all of them, by the edge of the sword until they came to their end. After that all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. All those who fell on that day, from man to woman, amounted to 12,000, all the people of Ai. Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the Javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction. Only the domestic animals and the spoil of that city Israel plundered for themselves, accordingly to God's word that he had laid in command upon Joshua. Then Joshua burned Ai and reduced it to an indefinitely lasting mound, as a desolation down to this day. He hanged the king of Ai upon a stake until the evening time, and as the sun was about to set Joshua gave the command, and then they took his dead body down from the stake and pitched it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised up a great pile of stones over him, down to this day.

It was then that Joshua proceeded to build an altar to God the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of God had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses--"An altar of whole stones, upon which no iron tool has been wielded", and they went offering up burnt offerings upon it to God and sacrificing communion sacrifices. Then he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses that he had written before the sons of Israel. All Israel and their older men, and the officers and their judges were standing on this side and on that side of the Ark in front of the priests, the Levites, carrying the ark of the covenant of God, the alien resident as well as the native, one half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and the other half of them in front of Mount Ebal, (just as Moses the servant of God had commanded), to bless the people of Israel first at all. After this he read aloud all the words of the law, the blessing and the malediction (curse), according to all that is written in the book of the law. There proved to be not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read aloud in front of all the congregation of Israel, together with the women and the little ones and the alien residents who walked in their midst. 9 It was about that as soon as all the kings who were on the side of the Jordan in the mountainous region and in the Shephelah and along the whole coast of the Great Sea and in front of Lebanon, the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, the Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites heard of it, they began to assemble themselves all together to make war against Joshua and Israel unanimously. The people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai. So they, even of their own account acted with shrewdness and went and stocked themselves with provisions and took worn out sacks for their asses, and wine skin-bottles worn out and burst and tied up, and worn out and patched sandals on the feet, and worn out clothes upon themselves, and all the bread of their provisions (supply) proved to be dry and crumby. Then they went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and the men of Israel--"It is from a distant land that we have come. Now conclude a covenant with us." At this the men of Israel said to the Hivites--"Perhaps it is in our vicinity that you are living. So how could we conclude a covenant with you?" In turn they said to Joshua--"We are your servants." Then Joshua said to them, "Who are you, and where do you come from?" At this they said to him--"It is from a very distant land that your servants have come in regard to the name of your God, because we have heard of his fame and of all that he did to Egypt, and of all that he did to the 2 kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, namely, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. Hence our older men and all the people of our land said this to us--"Take provisions in your hands for the journey and to go meet them, and you must say to them,

We are your servants. And now conclude a covenant (end a relationship) with us."' This bread of ours, it was hot when we took it as our provisions (supply) out of our houses on the day of our going out to come here to you, and now, look! it is dry and has become crumby. These are the wine skin bottles that we filled new, and look! they have burst, and these clothes and sandals of ours, they have worn out because of the great length of the journey." Upon that the men took some of their provisions, and at the mouth of God they did not inquire. Joshua went making peace with them, and concluding a covenant with them to let them live, and so the chieftains of the assembly swore to them. It was about that at the end of 3 days, after they had concluded a covenant with them, they got to hear that they were near to them, and it was in their vicinity they were living. Then the sons of Israel left and came to their cities on the 3rd day, and their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriathjearim. The sons of Israel did not strike them, because the chieftains of the assembly had sworn to them by God the God of Israel. All the assembly began to murmur against the chieftains. At this all the chieftains said to all the assembly--"We, for our part, have sworn to them by God the God of Israel, and now we are not allowed to hurt them. This is what we shall do to them while letting them live, that no indignation (resentment, anger) may come upon us over the oath that we have sworn to them." So the chieftains said to them--"Let them live and let them become gatherers of wood and drawers of water for all the assembly, just as the chieftains have promised them." Joshua now called them and spoke to them, said--"Why did you trick us, saying, 'We are very far away from you,' whereas you are living in our very midst? Now you are cursed people, and a slave's position and being gathers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God will never be cut off from you. Then they answered Joshua and said--"It was because your servants were plainly told that your God had ordered Moses his servant to give you all the land and to destroy all the people of the land before you, we became very much afraid for our souls because of you. So we did this thing. Now here we are, in your hand. Just as it is good and right in your eyes to do us, do." And he proceeded to do so to them and to deliver them from the hand of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them. Accordingly Joshua constituted them on that day gatherers of wood and drawers of water for the assembly and for God's altar, down to this day, at the place that he should choose. 10 It was about that as soon as Adonizedek the king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and then devoted it to destruction, that just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were continuing in their midst, he became very much afraid, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater

than Ai, and all its men were mighty ones. Consequently Adonizedek the king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham the king of Hebron and to Piram the king of Jarmuth and to Japhia the king of Lachish and to Debir the king of Eglon, said--'"Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon, because it has made peace with Joshua and the sons of Israel." At this they gathered together and went on up, 5 kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, these and all their camps, and they proceeded to camp against Gibeon and to war against it. Upon that the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, said--"Don't let your hand relax from your slaves. Come up to us quickly and do save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites living in the mountainous region have collected together against us." So Joshua went on up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant mighty men. Then God said to Joshua--"Don't be afraid of them. for into your hand I have given them. Not a man of them will stand against you." Joshua proceeded to come up against them by surprise. All night long he had gone up from Gilgal. God went throwing them into confusion before Israel, and they began to slay (kill) them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and went pursuing them by way of the ascent (rise) of Bethhoron, and slaying them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. It was about that while they were fleeing from before Israel and were on the descent of Bethhoron, God hurled (toss) a great stones from the heavens upon them as far as Azekah, so that they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword. It was then that Joshua proceeded to speak to God on the day of God's abandoning the Amorites to the sons of Israel, and he went on to say before the eyes of Israel--"Sun," be motionless over Gibeon, And moon, over the low plains of Aijalon." Accordingly the sun kept motionless, and the moon did stand still, until the nation could take vengeance on its enemies. Is it not written in the book Jashar? The sun kept standing still in the middle of the heavens and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. No day has proved to be like that one, either before it or after it, in that God listened of the voice of a man, for God himself was fighting for Israel. After that Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal. Meantime these 5 kings fled and went hiding themselves in the cave at Makkedah. Then the report was made to Joshua, said--"The 5 kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah." At that Joshua said--"Roll, great stones up to the mouth of the cave and assign men over it to guard them. As for you men, do not stand still. Chase after your enemies, and you must strike them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter into their cities, for your God has given them into your hands." It was about that as soon as Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished slaying them with a very great slaughter, until these came to their end, and

those who did survive of them escaped and went entering into the fortified (defense walled) cities, all the people then began to return to the camp, to Joshua, at Makkedah in peace. Not a man moved his tongue eagerly against the sons of Israel. Then Joshua said--"Open the mouth of the cave and bring out these 5 kings from the cave to me." At that they did so and brought out to him from the cave these 5 kings, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon. It was about that as soon as they had brought out these kings to Joshua, Joshua proceeded to call all the men of Israel and to say to the commanders of the men of war that had gone with him--"Come forward. Place your feet on the back of the necks of these kings." So they came forward and placed their feet on the back of their necks. Joshua went on to say to them--"Don't be afraid or be terrified. Be courageous and strong, for it is like this that God will do to all your enemies against whom you are warring." After that Joshua proceeded to strike them and put them to death and hang them upon live stakes, and they continued hanging upon the stakes until the evening. It was about that at the time of the setting of the sun Joshua commanded, and they went taking them down off the stakes and throwing them into the cave where they had hid themselves. Then they placed big stones at the mouth of the cave--until this very day. Joshua captured Makkedah on that day, and went striking it with the edge of the sword. As for its king, he devoted him and every soul that was in it to destruction. He let no survivor remain. So he did to the king of Makkedah just as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makkadek to Libnah and warred against Libnah. Accordingly God gave it also and its king into Israel's hand, and they went striking it and every soul that was in it with the edge of the sword. They did not let a survivor remain in it. So they did to its king just as they had done to the king of Jericho. Next Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish and went camping against it and warring upon it. Accordingly God gave Lachish into Israel's hand so that they captured it on the 2nd day, and they went striking it and every soul that was in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that they had done to Libnah. It was then that Horam the king of Gezer went up to help Lachish. So Joshua struck him and his people until he had let not a survivor of his remain. Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon and went camping against it and warring against it. They got to capture it on that day and began to smite it with the edge of the sword, and they devoted every soul that was in it to destruction on that day, according to all that they had done to Lachish. Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron and began to war against it. They got to capture it and went striking it, and its king and all its towns and every soul that was in it with the edge of the sword. He did not let a survivor remain, according to all that he had done to Eglon. So

he devoted it and every soul that was in it to destruction. Finally Joshua and all Israel with him came back to Debir and began to war against it. He got to capture it, and its king and all its towns, and they went striking them with the edge of the sword and devoting every soul that was in it to destruction. He did not let a survivor remain. Just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, and just as he had done to Libnah and its king. Joshua proceeded to strike all the land of the mountainous region and the Negeb, and the Shephelah and the slopes and all their kings. He did not let a survivor remain, and everything that breathed he devoted to destruction, just as God the God of Israel had commanded. Joshua went striking them from Kadeshbarnea to Gaza and all the land of Goshen and up to Gibeon. Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because it was God the God of Israel who was fighting for Israel. After that Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal. 11 It was about that as soon as Jabin the king of Hazor heard of it, he went sending to Jobab the king of Madon and to the king of Shimron and the king of Achshaph, and to the kings that were to the north in the mountainous region and in the desert plains south of Chinnereth and in the Shephelah and on the mountain ridges of Dor to the west, the Canaanites to the east and the west, and the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites, and Jebusites in the mountainous region and the Hivites at the base of Hermon in the land of Mizpah. So they went out, they and all their camps with them, a people as numerous as the grains of sand that are on the seashore for the masses, and very many horses and war chariots. Then all these kings met together by appointment and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel. At this God said to Joshua--"Don't be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I am abandoning all of them slain to Israel. Their horses you will hamstring (disable), and their chariots you will burn in the fire. More than that, Joshua turned about at that time, and captured Hazor, and its king he struck down with the sword, because Hazor was before that the head of all these kingdoms. They went striking every every soul that was in it with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction. No breathing thing at all was left over, and he burned Hazor in the fire. All the cities of these kings and all their kings Joshua captured and went striking them with the edge of the sword. He

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Black Ink -- Bible Pages/Text Blue Ink--Understand & Pray Numbers 1-36

Black Ink -- Bible Pages/Text
Blue Ink--Understand & Pray Numbers 1-36