Israelites in the Bible

Exact Match

Therefore, to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh by the tendon of the hip.

And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:

These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt:

Jacob’s firstborn: Reuben.

And he blessed them, saying, "At the example of these, the Israelites shall bless and say, 'God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.'" Thus set he Ephraim before Manasseh.

And the {Israelites} were fruitful and multiplied and were many and were very, very numerous, and the land was filled with them.

And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the {Israelites} [are] greater and more numerous than us.

So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, so that the Egyptians dreaded and were exasperated by the Israelites.

And the Egyptians made the Israelites serve rigorously [forcing them into severe slavery].

They made their lives bitter by hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous.

And now, look, the cry of distress of the {Israelites} has come to me, and also I see the oppression [with] which [the] Egyptians [are] oppressing them.

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers (ancestors) has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”

Then God also said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Israel), has sent me to you.’ This is My Name forever, and this is My memorial [name] to all generations.

Then Moses and Aaron went [into Egypt] and assembled all the elders of the Israelites;

So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the Israelites and that He had looked [with compassion] on their suffering, then they bowed their heads and worshiped [the Lord].

So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said, "Thus says Pharaoh: 'I am not giving you straw.

And the foremen of the {Israelites}, whom Pharaoh's slave drivers had appointed over them, were beaten [by men who were] saying, "Why have you not completed your portion of brickmaking {as before, both yesterday and today}?"

And the foremen of the {Israelites} came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, "Why do you treat your servants like this?

And the foremen of the {Israelites} saw they were in trouble {with the saying}, "You will not reduce from your bricks {for each day} on its day."

but also I myself heard the groaning of the {Israelites}, whom [the] Egyptians [are] making to work, and I remembered my covenant.

Therefore say to the {Israelites}, 'I [am] Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the {forced labor} of Egypt, and I will deliver you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great punishments.

Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their impatience and despondency, and because of their forced labor.

"Go, speak to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and let him release the {Israelites} from his land."

But Moses said to the Lord, “Look, [my own people] the Israelites have not listened to me; so how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled and inept in speech?”

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command concerning the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

[It was] that Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, "Bring the {Israelites} out from the land of Egypt according to their divisions."

They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt; these are [the same] Moses and Aaron.

You will speak all that I will command you, and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh, and he will release the {Israelites} from his land.

And Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will put my hand into Egypt and bring out my divisions, my people, the {Israelites}, from the land of Egypt with great punishments.

But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing that belongs to the Israelites will die.”’”

And the Lord did this thing the next day, and all [kinds of] the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the Israelites, not one died.

And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

Only in the land of Goshen, where the {Israelites} [were], there was no hail.

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart [so that it was even more resolved and obstinate], and he did not let the Israelites go.

The Egyptians could not see one another, nor did anyone leave his place for three days, but all the Israelites had [supernatural] light in their dwellings.

But not even a dog will threaten any of the Israelites, whether man or animal, so that you may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

Moses and Aaron did all these wonders (miracles) before Pharaoh; yet the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the Israelites go out of his land.

you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed [their heads] low and worshiped [God].

Then the Israelites went and did [as they had been told]: just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites; and go, serve the Lord, as you said.

Now the Israelites had acted in accordance with the word of Moses; and they had asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing.

Now the Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides [the women and] the children.

And the period of dwelling of the {Israelites} that they dwelled in Egypt [was] four hundred and thirty years.

It is a night of watching to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this [same] night is for the Lord, to be observed and celebrated by all the Israelites throughout their generations.

Then all the Israelites did so; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

And on that very same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their hosts (tribal armies).

So God led the people around [by] the way of the desert [to] the {Red Sea}, and the {Israelites} went up in battle array from the land of Egypt.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had solemnly ordered (placed under an oath) the Israelites, saying, “God will assuredly take care of you, and you must carry my bones away from here with you.”

"Speak to the {Israelites} so that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol {and the sea}; before Baal Zephon, [which is] opposite it, you will camp by the sea.

For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’

I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” So the Israelites did this.

The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, as they were leaving confidently and defiantly.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were very frightened; so the Israelites cried out to the Lord.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the {Israelites} [so that] they set out.

And you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it [so that] the {Israelites} can go in the middle of the sea on the dry land.

So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. It was a cloud along with darkness [even by day to the Egyptians], but it gave light by night [to the Israelites]; so one [army] did not come near the other all night.

The Israelites went into the middle of the sea on dry land, and the waters formed a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea -- not so much as one of them survived!

But the Israelites walked on dry land in the middle of the sea, and the waters formed a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Then Moses and the {Israelites} sang this song to Yahweh, {and they said}, "Let me sing to Yahweh because he is highly exalted; [the] horse and its rider he hurled into the sea.

When the horses of Pharaoh came into the sea with his chariots and with his charioteers, Yahweh brought back upon them the waters of the sea, and the {Israelites} traveled on dry ground through the middle of the sea.

And they set out from Elim, and all the community of the {Israelites} came to the desert of Sin, which [is] between Elim {and Sinai}, in the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out from the land of Egypt.

And the {Israelites} said to them, "{If only we had died} by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread {until we were full}, because you have brought us out to this desert to kill all of this assembly with hunger."

And Moses and Aaron said to all the {Israelites}, "[In the] evening, you will know that Yahweh has brought you out from the land of Egypt,

And Moses said to Aaron, "Say to all the community of the {Israelites}, 'Come near before Yahweh because he has heard your grumblings.'"

And at the moment of Aaron's speaking to all the community of the {Israelites}, they turned to the desert, {and just then} the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud.

“I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites; speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.

And the {Israelites} did so, and they gathered, some more and some less.

The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they reached an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

And all the community of the {Israelites} set out from the desert of Sin for their journeys according to the command of Yahweh, and they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the {Israelites} and because of their testing Yahweh [by] saying, "Is Yahweh in our midst or not?"

Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods, {even in the matter where they the Egyptians dealt arrogantly against the Israelites}."

In the third month after the {Israelites} went out from the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the Sinai desert.

Moses went up to God [on the mountain], and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Say this to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.

“Now these are the ordinances (laws) which you shall set before the Israelites:

And he sent young men from the {Israelites}, and they offered burnt offerings, and they sacrificed sacrifices [as] fellowship offerings to Yahweh [using] bulls.

Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the Israelites; and they saw [the manifestation of the presence of] God, and ate and drank.

In the sight of the Israelites the appearance of the glory and brilliance of the Lord was like consuming fire on the top of the mountain.

"Speak to the {Israelites}, and let them bring to me a contribution. You will receive my contribution from every man whose heart prompts him.

There I will meet with you; from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, I will speak [intimately] with you regarding every commandment that I will give you for the Israelites.

“You shall command the Israelites to provide you with clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually [every night].

In the Tent of Meeting [of God with His people], outside the veil which is in front of the [ark of the] Testimony [and sets it apart], Aaron [the high priest] and his sons shall keep the lamp burning from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual statute [to be observed] throughout their generations on behalf of the Israelites.

"And bring near to you Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him from the midst of the {Israelites} to serve as priests for me--Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron.

"And you will take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the {Israelites},

[As the] work of a skilled stone craftsman, [with] seal engravings you will engrave on the two stones the names of the {Israelites}; you will make them mounted [in] gold filigree settings.

And you will set the two stones on the ephod's shoulder pieces [as] stones of remembrance for the {Israelites}, and Aaron will bear their names before Yahweh on his two shoulder pieces for remembrance.

The stones will be according to the names of the {Israelites}, twelve according to their names, [with] seal engravings, each according to its name they will be for [the] twelve tribes.

And Aaron will bear the names of the {Israelites} in the breast piece of judgment on his heart, when he comes to the sanctuary, for a remembrance before Yahweh continually.

Thematic Bible



And when the people of the land, the people of Canaan, at the grain-floor of Atad, saw their grief, they said, Great is the grief of the Egyptians: so the place was named Abel-mizraim, on the other side of Jordan.


You are to keep the feast of unleavened bread; for seven days let your bread be without leaven, as I gave you orders, at the regular time in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt); and let no one come before me without an offering:

Take note of the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God: for in the month of Abib the Lord your God took you out of Egypt by night.


So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace-offerings; and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure.

And Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them loose to their shame before their haters:

Because they have done shame in Israel, and have taken their neighbours' wives, and in my name have said false words, which I did not give them orders to say; and I myself am the witness, says the Lord.

In you there are men who say evil of others, causing death; in you they have taken the flesh with the blood for food; in your streets they have put evil designs into effect. In you they have let the shame of their fathers be seen; in you they have done wrong to a woman at the time when she was unclean. And in you one man has done what was disgusting with his neighbour's wife; and another has made his daughter-in-law unclean; and another has done wrong to his sister, his father's daughter.

You put your faith in your swords, you do disgusting things, everyone takes his neighbour's wife: are you to have the land for your heritage?

They are all untrue; they are like a burning oven; the bread-maker does not make up the fire from the time when the paste is mixed till it is leavened.


Now after these things were done, the captains came to me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not kept themselves separate from the people of the lands, but have taken part in the disgusting ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands; and in fact the captains and rulers have been the first to do this evil.



And when the dew was gone, on the face of the earth was a small round thing, like small drops of ice on the earth.

And this bread was named manna by Israel: it was white, like a grain seed, and its taste was like cakes made with honey.

Now the manna was like a seed of grain, like small clear drops. The people went about taking it up from the earth, crushing it between stones or hammering it to powder, and boiling it in pots, and they made cakes of it: its taste was like the taste of cakes cooked with oil. When the dew came down on the tents at night, the manna came down with it.

And you gave them bread from heaven when they were in need, and made water come out of the rock for their drink, and gave them orders to go in and take for their heritage the land which your hand had been lifted up to give them.

And he gave orders to the clouds on high, and the doors of heaven were open; And he sent down manna like rain for their food, and gave them the grain of heaven.


Then Moses and Aaron made the people come together in front of the rock, and he said to them, Give ear now, you people whose hearts are turned from the Lord; are we to get water for you out of the rock? And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough.

And the children of Israel went on from the waste land of Sin, by stages as the Lord gave them orders, and put up their tents in Rephidim: and there was no drinking-water for the people. So the people were angry with Moses, and said, Give us water for drinking. And Moses said, Why are you angry with me? and why do you put God to the test? And the people were in great need of water; and they made an outcry against Moses, and said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to send death on us and our children and our cattle through need of water? read more.
And Moses, crying out to the Lord, said, What am I to do to this people? they are almost ready to put me to death by stoning. And the Lord said to Moses, Go on before the people, and take some of the chiefs of Israel with you, and take in your hand the rod which was stretched out over the Nile, and go. See, I will take my place before you on the rock in Horeb; and when you give the rock a blow, water will come out of it, and the people will have drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the chiefs of Israel. And he gave that place the name Massah and Meribah, because the children of Israel were angry, and because they put the Lord to the test, saying, Is the Lord with us or not?

The rocks of the waste land were broken by his power, and he gave them drink as out of the deep waters. He made streams come out of the rock; and waters came flowing down like rivers. And they went on sinning against him even more, turning away from the Most High in the waste land; read more.
Testing God in their hearts, requesting meat for their desire. They said bitter words against God, saying, Is God able to make ready a table in the waste land? See, the rock was cut open by his power, so that the water came rushing out, and overflowing streams; is he able to give us bread? is he able to get meat for his people?

His hand made the rock open, and the waters came streaming out; they went down through the dry places like a river.


At the people's request he sent birds, and gave them the bread of heaven for food.

Then the Lord sent a wind, driving little birds from the sea, so that they came down on the tents, and all round the tent-circle, about a day's journey on this side and on that, in masses about two cubits high over the face of the earth. And all that day and all night and the day after, the people were taking up the birds; the smallest amount which anyone got was ten homers: and they put them out all round the tents. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them.

And he gave orders to the clouds on high, and the doors of heaven were open; And he sent down manna like rain for their food, and gave them the grain of heaven. Man took part in the food of strong ones; he sent them meat in full measure. read more.
He sent an east wind from heaven, driving on the south wind by his power. He sent down meat on them like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the sea, And he let it come down into their resting-place, round about their tents. So they had food and were full; for he gave them their desire; But they were not turned from their desires; and while the food was still in their mouths,



Let it be an order for ever, through all your generations, in all your houses, that you are not to take fat or blood for food.

And if any man of Israel, or any other living among them, takes any sort of blood for food, my wrath will be turned against that man and he will be cut off from among his people.

For this reason I have said to the children of Israel, No man among you, or any others living with you, may take blood as food.


On the first day, take the fruit of fair trees, branches of palm-trees, and branches of thick trees and trees from the riverside, and be glad before the Lord for seven days. And let this feast be kept before the Lord for seven days in the year: it is a rule for ever from generation to generation; in the seventh month let it be kept. For seven days you will be living in tents; all those who are Israelites by birth are to make tents their living-places: read more.
So that future generations may keep in mind how I gave the children of Israel tents as their living-places when I took them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

And that they were to give out an order, and make it public in all their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain and get olive branches and branches of field olives and of myrtle, and palm branches and branches of thick trees, to make tents, as it says in the book. And the people went out and got them and made themselves tents, every one on the roof of his house, and in the open spaces and in the open squares of the house of God, and in the wide place of the water-doorway, and the wide place of the doorway of Ephraim.


This is what you are to say to them: The Lord has said, By my life, truly, those who are in the waste places will be put to the sword, and him who is in the open field I will give to the beasts for their food, and those who are in the strong places and in holes in the rocks will come to their death by disease.


But when the time came to give Merab, Saul's daughter, to David, she was given to Adriel of Meholath.

But still they would not give ear to their judges, but went after other gods and gave them worship; quickly turning from the way in which their fathers had gone, keeping the orders of the Lord; but they did not do so.

Even now they are turned away from the rule I gave them, and have made themselves a metal ox and given worship to it and offerings, saying, This is your god, O Israel, who took you up out of the land of Egypt.

But whenever the judge was dead, they went back and did more evil than their fathers, going after other gods, to be their servants and their worshippers; giving up nothing of their sins and their hard-hearted ways.

So they went on increasing the power of the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong for three years; and for three years they went in the ways of David and Solomon.

Now when Rehoboam's position as king had been made certain, and he was strong, he gave up the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.


But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his help, and, turning on the Philistine, gave him his death-blow. Then David's men took an oath, and said, Never again are you to go out with us to the fight, so that you may not put out the light of Israel.

And there was great weeping in all the country when all the people went through; and the king himself was waiting in the Kidron valley and all the people went by him in the direction of the olive-tree on the edge of the waste land.

Then they said to Joshua in answer, Whatever you say to us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. As we gave attention to Moses in all things, so we will give attention to you: and may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. Whoever goes against your orders, and does not give attention to all your words, will be put to death: only take heart and be strong.

And all the people took note of it and were pleased: like everything the king did, it was pleasing to the people. So it was clear to Israel and to all the people on that day that the king was not responsible for the death of Abner, the son of Ner.

And David went up the slopes of the Mount of Olives weeping all the way, with his head covered and no shoes on his feet: and all the people who were with him, covering their heads, went up weeping.

But the people said, It is better for you not to go out: for if we are put to flight, they will not give a thought to us, and if death overtakes half of us, it will be nothing to them: but you are of more value than ten thousand of us: so it is better for you to be ready to come to our help from this town.

All these men of war, expert in ordering the fight, came to Hebron with the full purpose of making David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were united in their desire to make David king.


But certain good-for-nothing persons said, How is this man to be our saviour? And having no respect for him, they gave him no offering.

And when all Israel saw that the king would give no attention to them, the people in answer said to the king, What part have we in David? what is our heritage in the son of Jesse? to your tents, O Israel; now see to your people, David. So Israel went away to their tents. (But Rehoboam was still king over those of the children of Israel who were living in the towns of Judah.) Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the overseer of the forced work; and he was stoned to death by all Israel. And King Rehoboam went quickly and got into his carriage to go in flight to Jerusalem. read more.
So Israel was turned away from the family of David to this day.


Judah and the land of Israel were your traders; they gave grain of Minnith and sweet cakes and honey and oil and perfume for your goods.

And King Solomon made a sea-force of ships in Ezion-geber, by Eloth, on the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. Hiram sent his servants, who were experienced seamen, in the sea-force with Solomon's men. And they came to Ophir, where they got four hundred and twenty talents of gold, and took it back to King Solomon.

After him Malchijah, one of the gold-workers to the Nethinim and the traders, made good the wall opposite the doorway of Hammiphkad and as far as the way up to the angle. And between the way up to the angle and the sheep door, the gold-workers and the traders made good the wall.


They will be questioning about the way to Zion, with their faces turned in its direction, saying, Come, and be united to the Lord in an eternal agreement which will be kept in mind for ever.


But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to do all his orders and his laws which I give you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the town and cursed in the field. A curse will be on your basket and on your bread-basin. read more.
A curse will be on the fruit of your body, and on the fruit of your land, on the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. The Lord will send on you cursing and trouble and punishment in everything to which you put your hand, till sudden destruction overtakes you; because of your evil ways in which you have been false to me. The Lord will send disease after disease on you, till you have been cut off by death from the land to which you are going. The Lord will send wasting disease, and burning pain, and flaming heat against you, keeping back the rain till your land is waste and dead; so will it be till your destruction is complete. And the heaven over your heads will be brass, and the earth under you hard as iron. The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust, sending it down on you from heaven till your destruction is complete. The Lord will let you be overcome by your haters: you will go out against them one way, and you will go in flight before them seven ways: you will be the cause of fear among all the kingdoms of the earth. Your bodies will be meat for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth; there will be no one to send them away. The Lord will send on you the disease of Egypt, and other sorts of skin diseases which nothing will make well. He will make your minds diseased, and your eyes blind, and your hearts wasted with fear: You will go feeling your way when the sun is high, like a blind man for whom all is dark, and nothing will go well for you: you will be crushed and made poor for ever, and you will have no saviour. You will take a wife, but another man will have the use of her: the house which your hands have made will never be your resting-place: you will make a vine-garden, and never take the fruit of it. Your ox will be put to death before your eyes, but its flesh will not be your food: your ass will be violently taken away before your face, and will not be given back to you: your sheep will be given to your haters, and there will be no saviour for you. Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, and your eyes will be wasted away with looking and weeping for them all the day: and you will have no power to do anything. The fruit of your land and all the work of your hands will be food for a nation which is strange to you and to your fathers; you will only be crushed down and kept under for ever: So that the things which your eyes have to see will send you out of your minds. The Lord will send a skin disease, attacking your knees and your legs, bursting out from your feet to the top of your head, so that nothing will make you well. And you, and the king whom you have put over you, will the Lord take away to a nation strange to you and to your fathers; there you will be servants to other gods of wood and stone. And you will become a wonder and a name of shame among all the nations where the Lord will take you. You will take much seed out into the field, and get little in; for the locust will get it. You will put in vines and take care of them, but you will get no wine or grapes from them; for they will be food for worms. Your land will be full of olive-trees, but there will be no oil for the comfort of your body; for your olive-tree will give no fruit. You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours; for they will go away prisoners into a strange land. All your trees and the fruit of your land will be the locust's. The man from a strange land who is living among you will be lifted up higher and higher over you, while you go down lower and lower. He will let you have his wealth at interest, and will have no need of yours: he will be the head and you the tail. And all these curses will come after you and overtake you, till your destruction is complete; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, or keep his laws and his orders which he gave you: These things will come on you and on your seed, to be a sign and a wonder for ever; Because you did not give honour to the Lord your God, worshipping him gladly, with joy in your hearts on account of all your wealth of good things; For this cause you will become servants to those whom the Lord your God will send against you, without food and drink and clothing, and in need of all things: and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck till he has put an end to you. The Lord will send a nation against you from the farthest ends of the earth, coming with the flight of an eagle; a nation whose language is strange to you; A hard-faced nation, who will have no respect for the old or mercy for the young: He will take the fruit of your cattle and of your land till death puts an end to you: he will let you have nothing of your grain or wine or oil or any of the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, till he has made your destruction complete. Your towns will be shut in by his armies, till your high walls, in which you put your faith, have come down: his armies will be round your towns, through all your land which the Lord your God has given you. And your food will be the fruit of your body, the flesh of the sons and daughters which the Lord your God has given you; because of your bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters. That man among you who is soft and used to comfort will be hard and cruel to his brother, and to his dear wife, and to of those his children who are still living; And will not give to any of them the flesh of his children which will be his food because he has no other; in the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns. The most soft and delicate of your women, who would not so much as put her foot on the earth, so delicate is she, will be hard-hearted to her husband and to her son and to her daughter; And to her baby newly come to birth, and to the children of her body; for having no other food, she will make a meal of them secretly, because of her bitter need and the cruel grip of your haters on all your towns. If you will not take care to do all the words of this law, recorded in this book, honouring that name of glory and of fear, THE LORD YOUR GOD; Then the Lord your God will make your punishment, and the punishment of your seed, a thing to be wondered at; great punishments and cruel diseases stretching on through long years. He will send on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which were a cause of fear to you, and they will take you in their grip. And all the diseases and the pains not recorded in the book of this law will the Lord send on you till your destruction is complete. And you will become a very small band, though your numbers were like the stars of heaven; because you did not give ear to the voice of the Lord your God. And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and increasing you, so the Lord will take pleasure in cutting you off and causing your destruction, and you will be uprooted from the land which you are about to take as your heritage. And the Lord will send you wandering among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other: there you will be servants to other gods, of wood and stone, gods of which you and your fathers had no knowledge. And even among these nations there will be no peace for you, and no rest for your feet: but the Lord will give you there a shaking heart and wasting eyes and weariness of soul: Your very life will be hanging in doubt before you, and day and night will be dark with fears, and nothing in life will be certain: In the morning you will say, If only it was evening! And at evening you will say, If only morning would come! Because of the fear in your hearts and the things which your eyes will see. And the Lord will take you back to Egypt again in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You will never see it again: there you will be offering yourselves as men-servants and women-servants to your haters for a price, and no man will take you.

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, How long am I to put up with this evil people and their outcries against me? The words which they say against me have come to my ears. Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, as certainly as your words have come to my ears, so certainly will I do this to you: read more.
Your dead bodies will be stretched out in this waste land; and of all your number, all those of twenty years old and over who have been crying out against me, Not one will come into the land which I gave my word you would have for your resting-place, but only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. And your little ones, whom you said would come into strange hands, I will take in, and they will see the land which you would not have. But as for you, your dead bodies will be stretched in this waste land. And your children will be wanderers in the waste land for forty years, undergoing punishment for your false ways, till your bodies become dust in the waste land. And as you went through the land viewing it for forty days, so for forty years, a year for every day, you will undergo punishment for your wrongdoing, and you will see that I am against you. I the Lord have said it, and this I will certainly do to all this evil people who have come together against me: in this waste land destruction will come on them, and death will be their fate. And the men whom Moses sent to see the land, and who, by the bad account they gave of the land, were the cause of the outcry the people made against Moses, Those same men who said evil of the land, came to their death by disease before the Lord. But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of those who went to see the land, were not touched by disease. And when Moses put these words before the children of Israel, the people were full of grief. And early in the morning they got up and went to the top of the mountain, saying, We are here and we will go up to the place which the Lord said he would give us: for we have done wrong. And Moses said, Why are you now acting against the Lord's order, seeing that no good will come of it? Go not up, for the Lord is not with you, and you will be overcome by those who are fighting against you. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will be put to death by their swords: because you have gone back from the way of the Lord, the Lord will not be with you. But they gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who were living in the hill-country, and overcame them completely, driving them back as far as Hormah.

And the Lord said to me, Say to them, Do not go up to the attack; for I am not among you, and you will be overcome by those who are against you.

In that day my wrath will be moved against them, and I will be turned away from them, veiling my face from them, and destruction will overtake them, and unnumbered evils and troubles will come on them; so that in that day they will say, Have not these evils come on us because our God is not with us? Truly, my face will be turned away from them in that day, because of all the evil they have done in going after other gods.


And take some hyssop and put it in the blood in the basin, touching the two sides and the top of the doorway with the blood from the basin; and let not one of you go out of his house till the morning.


And Pharaoh sent and got word that there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. But the heart of Pharaoh was hard and he did not let the people go.

And the priests who took up the ark of the agreement of the Lord kept their places, with their feet on dry land in the middle of Jordan, while all Israel went over on dry land, till all the nation had gone over Jordan.


And said to Moses, The people are giving much more than is needed for the work which the Lord has given us orders to do.


But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his help, and, turning on the Philistine, gave him his death-blow. Then David's men took an oath, and said, Never again are you to go out with us to the fight, so that you may not put out the light of Israel.

And there was great weeping in all the country when all the people went through; and the king himself was waiting in the Kidron valley and all the people went by him in the direction of the olive-tree on the edge of the waste land.

Then they said to Joshua in answer, Whatever you say to us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. As we gave attention to Moses in all things, so we will give attention to you: and may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. Whoever goes against your orders, and does not give attention to all your words, will be put to death: only take heart and be strong.

And all the people took note of it and were pleased: like everything the king did, it was pleasing to the people. So it was clear to Israel and to all the people on that day that the king was not responsible for the death of Abner, the son of Ner.

And David went up the slopes of the Mount of Olives weeping all the way, with his head covered and no shoes on his feet: and all the people who were with him, covering their heads, went up weeping.

But the people said, It is better for you not to go out: for if we are put to flight, they will not give a thought to us, and if death overtakes half of us, it will be nothing to them: but you are of more value than ten thousand of us: so it is better for you to be ready to come to our help from this town.

All these men of war, expert in ordering the fight, came to Hebron with the full purpose of making David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were united in their desire to make David king.


Then all the children of Israel took up arms, and the people came together like one man, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and the land of Gilead, before the Lord at Mizpah. And the chiefs of the people, out of all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the meeting of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen armed with swords. (Now the children of Benjamin had word that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the children of Israel said, Make clear how this evil thing took place.


Now a number of strange women were loved by Solomon, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:

And in those days I saw the Jews who were married to women of Ashdod and Ammon and Moab:

And Shaharaim became the father of children in the country of the Moabites after driving out Hushim and Beerah his wives;

And they took two women of Moab as their wives: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they went on living there for about ten years.


And the Lord said to me, Make no attack on Moab and do not go to war with them, for I will not give you any of his land: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their heritage.

And said to him, This is the word of Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the children of Ammon;


Do nothing for their peace or well-being for ever.


Now when Israel was living in Shittim the people became false to the Lord, doing evil with the daughters of Moab: For they sent for the people to be present at the offerings made to their gods; and the people took part in their feasts and gave honour to their gods. So Israel had relations with the women of Moab in honour of the Baal of Peor: and the Lord was moved to wrath against Israel.


And God said, Truly, I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears; for I have knowledge of their sorrows; And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. For now, truly, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the cruel behaviour of the Egyptians to them. read more.
Come, then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.


But on the day after, all the children of Israel made an outcry against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have put to death the Lord's people.

And crying out against God and against Moses, they said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to come to our death in the waste land? For there is no bread and no water, and this poor bread is disgusting to us. Then the Lord sent poison-snakes among the people; and their bites were a cause of death to numbers of the people of Israel.

But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them.

And all the children of Israel were crying out against Moses and Aaron in the waste land: And the children of Israel said to them, It would have been better for the Lord to have put us to death in the land of Egypt, where we were seated by the flesh-pots and had bread enough for our needs; for you have taken us out to this waste of sand, to put all this people to death through need of food.

So the people were angry with Moses, and said, Give us water for drinking. And Moses said, Why are you angry with me? and why do you put God to the test? And the people were in great need of water; and they made an outcry against Moses, and said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to send death on us and our children and our cattle through need of water?

And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge; for you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction.

And there was no water for the people: and they came together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people were angry with Moses and said, If only death had overtaken us when our brothers came to their death before the Lord! Why have you taken the Lord's people into this waste, for death to come to us and to our cattle there? read more.
Why have you made us come out of Egypt into this evil place? This is no place of seed or figs or vines or other fruits, and there is no water for drinking.

And they said to Moses, Was there no resting-place for the dead in Egypt, that you have taken us away to come to our death in the waste land? why have you taken us out of Egypt? Did we not say to you in Egypt, Let us be as we are, working for the Egyptians? for it is better to be the servants of the Egyptians than to come to our death in the waste land.

And when they came to Marah, the water was no good for drinking, for the waters of Marah were bitter, which is why it was named Marah. And the people, crying out against Moses, said, What are we to have for drink?

Now the people were saying evil against the Lord; and the Lord, hearing it, was angry and sent fire on them, burning the outer parts of the tent-circle. And the people made an outcry to Moses, and Moses made prayer to the Lord, and the fire was stopped. So that place was named Taberah, because of the fire of the Lord which had been burning among them. read more.
And the mixed band of people who went with them were overcome by desire: and the children of Israel, weeping again, said, Who will give us flesh for our food? Sweet is the memory of the fish we had in Egypt for nothing, and the fruit and green plants of every sort, sharp and pleasing to the taste: But now our soul is wasted away; there is nothing at all: we have nothing but this manna before our eyes. Now the manna was like a seed of grain, like small clear drops. The people went about taking it up from the earth, crushing it between stones or hammering it to powder, and boiling it in pots, and they made cakes of it: its taste was like the taste of cakes cooked with oil. When the dew came down on the tents at night, the manna came down with it. And at the sound of the people weeping, every man at his tent-door, the wrath of the Lord was great, and Moses was very angry.

And you made an angry outcry in your tents, and said, In his hate for us the Lord has taken us out of the land of Egypt, to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts feeble with fear by saying, The people are greater and taller than we are, and the towns are great and walled up to heaven; and more than this, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.


Because all these men, having seen my glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the waste land, still have put me to the test ten times, and have not given ear to my voice;


And they have put up the high place of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind.

And they have put up the high places of the Baal, burning their sons in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me, and it was never in my mind:

More than this, he had offerings burned in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and made his children go through fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.

But he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made his son go through the fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.

And they put up the high places of the Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, making their sons and their daughters go through the fire to Molech; which I did not give them orders to do, and it never came into my mind that they would do this disgusting thing, causing Judah to be turned out of the way.

And you took your sons and your daughters whom I had by you, offering even these to them to be their food. Was your loose behaviour so small a thing, That you put my children to death and gave them up to go through the fire to them?

For when she had made an offering of her children to her images, she came into my holy place to make it unclean; see, this is what she has done inside my house.

You who are burning with evil desire among the oaks, under every green tree; putting children to death in the valleys, under the cracks of the rocks?

I made them unclean in the offerings they gave, causing them to make every first child go through the fire, so that I might put an end to them.

And Topheth, in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, he made unclean, so that no man might make his son or his daughter go through the fire to Molech.

And when you give your offerings, causing your sons to go through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your images to this day; and will you come to me for directions, O children of Israel? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no direction from me.

For she has been false to me, and blood is on her hands, and with her images she has been untrue; and more than this, she made her sons, whom she had by me, go through the fire to them to be burned up.


And the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say:


Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, for ever and for ever. And all the people said, So be it; and gave praise to the Lord.


And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people? Am I the father of all this people? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers? Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food. read more.
I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength. If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame. And the Lord said to Moses, Send for seventy of the responsible men of Israel, who are in your opinion men of weight and authority over the people; make them come to the Tent of meeting and be there with you. And I will come down and have talk with you there: and I will take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them, and they will take part of the weight of the people off you, so that you do not have to take it by yourself. And say to the people, Make yourselves clean before tomorrow and you will have flesh for your food: for in the ears of the Lord you have been weeping and saying, Who will give us flesh for food? for we were well off in Egypt: and so the Lord will give you flesh, and it will be your food; Not for one day only, or even for five or ten or twenty days; But every day for a month, till you are tired of it, turning from it in disgust: because you have gone against the Lord who is with you, and have been weeping before him saying, Why did we come out of Egypt? Then Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, I will give them flesh to be their food for a month. Are flocks and herds to be put to death for them? or are all the fish in the sea to be got together so that they may be full? And the Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's hand become short? Now you will see if my word comes true for you or not. And Moses went out and gave the people the words of the Lord: and he took seventy of the responsible men of the people, placing them round the Tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and had talk with him, and put on the seventy men some of the spirit which was on him: now when the spirit came to rest on them, they were like prophets, but only at that time. But two men were still in the tent-circle one of them named Eldad and the other Medad: and the spirit came to rest on them; they were among those who had been sent for, but they had not gone out to the Tent: and the prophet's power came on them in the tent-circle. And a young man went running to Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are acting as prophets in the tent-circle. Then Joshua, the son of Nun, who had been Moses' servant from the time when he was a child, said, My lord Moses, let them be stopped. And Moses said to him, Are you moved by envy on my account? If only all the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord might put his spirit on them! Then Moses, with the responsible men of Israel, went back to the tent-circle. Then the Lord sent a wind, driving little birds from the sea, so that they came down on the tents, and all round the tent-circle, about a day's journey on this side and on that, in masses about two cubits high over the face of the earth. And all that day and all night and the day after, the people were taking up the birds; the smallest amount which anyone got was ten homers: and they put them out all round the tents. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them. So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah; because there they put in the earth the bodies of the people who had given way to their desires. From Kibroth-hattaavah the people went on to Hazeroth; and there they put up their tents.


Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God. And at the sound of their weeping the agreement which God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob came to his mind.


But they gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle.


And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take the land which I have given you; you went against the orders of the Lord your God, and had no faith in him, and would not give ear to his voice. From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord.


And news came to the children of Israel, See, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have put up an altar opposite the land of Canaan, in the country by Jordan on the side which is Israel's. Then all the meeting of the children of Israel, hearing this, came together at Shiloh to go up against them to war. And the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, read more.
And with him they sent ten chiefs, one for every tribe of the children of Israel, every one of them the head of his house among the families of Israel. And they came to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and said to them, This is what all the meeting of the people of the Lord has said, What is this wrong which you have done against the God of Israel, turning back this day from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, and being false to the Lord? Was not the sin of Baal-peor great enough, from which we are not clear even to this day, though punishment came on the people of the Lord, That now you are turned back from the Lord? and, because you are false to him today, tomorrow his wrath will be let loose on all the people of Israel. But if the land you now have is unclean, come over into the Lord's land where his House is, and take up your heritage among us: but do not be false to the Lord and to us by building yourselves an altar in addition to the altar of the Lord our God. Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, do wrong about the cursed thing, causing wrath to come on all the people of Israel? And not on him only came the punishment of death.


And again the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshipping the Baals and Astartes, and the gods of Aram and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines; they gave up the Lord and were servants to him no longer. And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year the children of Israel were crushed under their yoke; for eighteen years all the children of Israel on the other side of Jordan, in the land of the Amorites which is in Gilead, were cruelly crushed down. read more.
And the children of Ammon went over Jordan, to make war against Judah and Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great trouble. Then the children of Israel, crying out to the Lord, said, Great is our sin against you, for we have given up our God and have been servants to the Baals. And the Lord said to the children of Israel, Were not the Egyptians and the Amorites and the children of Ammon and the Philistines And the Zidonians and Amalek and Midian crushing you down, and in answer to your cry did I not give you salvation from their hands? But, for all this, you have given me up and have been servants to other gods: so I will be your saviour no longer. Go, send up your cry for help to the gods of your selection; let them be your saviours in the time of your trouble. And the children of Israel said to the Lord, We are sinners; do to us whatever seems good to you: only give us salvation this day. So they put away the strange gods from among them, and became the Lord's servants; and his soul was angry because of the sorrows of Israel.

Then Samuel said to all Israel, If with all your hearts you would come back to the Lord, then put away all the strange gods and the Astartes from among you, and let your hearts be turned to the Lord, and be servants to him only: and he will make you safe from the hands of the Philistines. So the children of Israel gave up the worship of Baal and Astarte, and became worshippers of the Lord only. Then Samuel said, Let all Israel come to Mizpah and I will make prayer to the Lord for you. read more.
So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah.


And the children of Israel said to the Lord, We are sinners; do to us whatever seems good to you: only give us salvation this day. So they put away the strange gods from among them, and became the Lord's servants; and his soul was angry because of the sorrows of Israel.


Now keep where you are and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not now the time of the grain cutting? My cry will go up to the Lord and he will send thunder and rain: so that you may see and be conscious of your great sin which you have done in the eyes of the Lord in desiring a king for yourselves. So Samuel made prayer to the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people were in fear of the Lord and of Samuel. read more.
And all the people said to Samuel, Make prayer for us to the Lord your God so that death may not overtake us: for in addition to all our sins we have done this evil, in desiring a king. Then Samuel said to the people, Have no fear: truly you have done evil, but do not be turned away from the Lord; be his servants with all your heart;


And the spirit of God came on Azariah, the son of Oded; And he came face to face with Asa and said to him, Give ear to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with him; if your heart's desire is for him, he will be near you, but if you give him up, he will give you up. Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law; read more.
But when in their trouble they were turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, searching after him, he let their search be rewarded. In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, but great trouble was on all the people of the lands. And they were broken by divisions, nation against nation and town against town, because God sent all sorts of trouble on them. But be you strong and let not your hands be feeble, for your work will be rewarded. And Asa, hearing these words of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, took heart and put away all the disgusting things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the towns which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he made new again the altar of the Lord in front of the covered way of the Lord's house. And he got together all Judah and Benjamin and those of Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon who were living with them; for numbers of them came to him out of Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. So they came together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the rule of Asa. And that day they made offerings to the Lord of the things they had taken in war, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they made an agreement to be true to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and all their soul; And that anyone, small or great, man or woman, who was not true to the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death. And they made an oath to the Lord, with a loud voice, sounding wind-instruments and horns. And all Judah was glad because of the oath, for they had taken it with all their heart, turning to the Lord with all their desire; and he was with them and gave them rest on every side.


But a prophet of the Lord was there, named Oded; and he went out in front of the army which was coming into Samaria and said to them, Truly, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them up into your hands, and you have put them to death in an outburst of wrath stretching up to heaven. And now your purpose is to keep the children of Judah and Jerusalem as men-servants and women-servants under your yoke: but are there no sins against the Lord your God to be seen among yourselves? And now give ear to me, and send back the prisoners whom you have taken from your brothers: for the wrath of the Lord is burning against you. read more.
Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah, the son of Johanan, Berechiah, the son of Meshillemoth Jehizkiah, the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, put themselves against those who had come from the war, And said to them, You are not to let these prisoners come here; for what you are designing to do will be a cause of sin against the Lord to us, making even greater our sin and our wrongdoing, which now are great enough, and his wrath is burning against Israel. So the armed men gave up the prisoners and the goods they had taken to the heads and the meeting of the people. And those men who have been named went up and took the prisoners, clothing those among them who were uncovered, with things from the goods which had been taken in the war, and putting robes on them and shoes on their feet; and they gave them food and drink and oil for their bodies, and seating all the feeble among them on asses, they took them to Jericho, the town of palm-trees, to their people, and then went back to Samaria.


However, some of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun put away their pride and came to Jerusalem.


Go up to that land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, for fear that I send destruction on you while you are on the way. Hearing this bad news the people were full of grief, and no one put on his ornaments.


Then they went on from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, going round the land of Edom: and the spirit of the people was overcome with weariness on the way. And crying out against God and against Moses, they said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to come to our death in the waste land? For there is no bread and no water, and this poor bread is disgusting to us. Then the Lord sent poison-snakes among the people; and their bites were a cause of death to numbers of the people of Israel. read more.
Then the people came to Moses and said, We have done wrong in crying out against the Lord and against you: make prayer to the Lord to take away the snakes from us. So Moses made prayer for the people.


Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, *** I took you out of Egypt, guiding you into the land which I gave by an oath to your fathers; and I said, My agreement with you will never be broken by me: And you are to make no agreement with the people of this land; you are to see that their altars are broken down: but you have not given ear to my voice: what have you done? And so I have said, I will not send them out from before you; but they will be a danger to you, and their gods will be a cause of falling to you. read more.
Now on hearing these words which the angel of the Lord said to all the children of Israel, the people gave themselves up to loud crying and weeping. And they gave that place the name of Bochim, and made offerings there to the Lord.


And the children of Israel said to the Lord, We are sinners; do to us whatever seems good to you: only give us salvation this day.


And Ephraim said, Now I have got wealth and much property; in all my works no sin may be seen in me.


Then take care that you keep your hearts true to the Lord, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house.

Let us take care for fear that their numbers may become even greater, and if there is a war, they may be joined with those who are against us, and make an attack on us, and go up out of the land. So they put overseers of forced work over them, in order to make their strength less by the weight of their work. And they made store-towns for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses. But the more cruel they were to them, the more their number increased, till all the land was full of them. And the children of Israel were hated by the Egyptians. read more.
And they gave the children of Israel even harder work to do: And made their lives bitter with hard work, making building-material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions. And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew women who gave help at the time of childbirth (the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah), When you are looking after the Hebrew women in childbirth, if it is a son you are to put him to death; but if it is a daughter, she may go on living. But the women had the fear of God, and did not do as the king of Egypt said, but let the male children go on living. And the king of Egypt sent for the women, and said to them, Why have you done this, and let the male children go on living? And they said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are strong, and the birth takes place before we come to them. And the blessing of God was on these women: and the people were increased in number and became very strong. And because the women who took care of the Hebrew mothers had the fear of God, he gave them families. And Pharaoh gave orders to all his people, saying, Every son who comes to birth is to be put into the river, but every daughter may go on living.

Give these men no more dry stems for their brick-making as you have been doing; let them go and get the material for themselves. But see that they make the same number of bricks as before, and no less: for they have no love for work; and so they are crying out and saying, Let us go and make an offering to our God. Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words. read more.
And the overseers of the people and their responsible men went out and said to the people, Pharaoh says, I will give you no more dry stems. Go yourselves and get dry stems wherever you are able; for your work is not to be any less. So the people were sent in all directions through the land of Egypt to get dry grass for stems. And the overseers went on driving them and saying, Do your full day's work as before when there were dry stems for you. And the responsible men of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's overseers had put over them, were given blows, and they said to them, Why have you not done your regular work, in making bricks as before?

Then you will say to your son, We were servants under Pharaoh's yoke in Egypt; and the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand:


How is it possible for me by myself to be responsible for you, and undertake the weight of all your troubles and your arguments?


How is it possible for me by myself to be responsible for you, and undertake the weight of all your troubles and your arguments?


And when the people came back to their tents, the responsible men of Israel said, Why has the Lord let the Philistines overcome us today? Let us get the ark of the Lord's agreement here from Shiloh, so that it may be with us and give us salvation from the hands of those who are against us.

So the Philistines went to the fight, and Israel was overcome, and every man went in flight to his tent: and great was the destruction, for thirty thousand footmen of Israel were put to the sword. And the ark of God was taken; and Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were put to the sword.


When Joab and his men came, news was given them that Abner, the son of Ner, had come to the king, who had let him go away again in peace.


Cursed are those who go down to Egypt for help, and who put their faith in horses; looking to war-carriages for salvation, because of their numbers; and to horsemen, because they are very strong; but they are not looking to the Holy One of Israel, or turning their hearts to the Lord;


And they did not give ear, but became stiff-necked, like their fathers who had no faith in the Lord their God.

And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take the land which I have given you; you went against the orders of the Lord your God, and had no faith in him, and would not give ear to his voice.


And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and take the land which I have given you; you went against the orders of the Lord your God, and had no faith in him, and would not give ear to his voice.


You have had no bread, or wine, or strong drink: so that you might see that I am the Lord your God.


Testing God in their hearts, requesting meat for their desire.

But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them. So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah; because there they put in the earth the bodies of the people who had given way to their desires.

So they had food and were full; for he gave them their desire; But they were not turned from their desires; and while the food was still in their mouths, The wrath of God came on them, and put to death the fattest of them, and put an end to the young men of Israel.


References

American

Watsons

Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain