Reference: Pentateuch
American
The five books the books of Moses; that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. See articles on those books, and also MOSES.
Easton
the five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Probably that was done by the LXX. translators. Some modern critics speak of a Hexateuch, introducing the Book of Joshua as one of the group. But this book is of an entirely different character from the other books, and has a different author. It stands by itself as the first of a series of historical books beginning with the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. (See Joshua.)
The books composing the Pentateuch are properly but one book, the "Law of Moses," the "Book of the Law of Moses," the "Book of Moses," or, as the Jews designate it, the "Torah" or "Law." That in its present form it "proceeds from a single author is proved by its plan and aim, according to which its whole contents refer to the covenant concluded between Jehovah and his people, by the instrumentality of Moses, in such a way that everything before his time is perceived to be preparatory to this fact, and all the rest to be the development of it. Nevertheless, this unity has not been stamped upon it as a matter of necessity by the latest redactor: it has been there from the beginning, and is visible in the first plan and in the whole execution of the work.", Keil, Einl. i.d. A. T.
A certain school of critics have set themselves to reconstruct the books of the Old Testament. By a process of "scientific study" they have discovered that the so-called historical books of the Old Testament are not history at all, but a miscellaneous collection of stories, the inventions of many different writers, patched together by a variety of editors! As regards the Pentateuch, they are not ashamed to attribute fraud, and even conspiracy, to its authors, who sought to find acceptance to their work which was composed partly in the age of Josiah, and partly in that of Ezra and Nehemiah, by giving it out to be the work of Moses! This is not the place to enter into the details of this controversy. We may say frankly, however, that we have no faith in this "higher criticism." It degrades the books of the Old Testament below the level of fallible human writings, and the arguments on which its speculations are built are altogether untenable.
The evidences in favour of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch are conclusive. We may thus state some of them briefly:
(1.) These books profess to have been written by Moses in the name of God (7/14/type/isv'>Ex 17:14; 24:3-4,7; 32:7-10,30-34; 34:27; Le 26:46; 27:34; De 31:9,24-25).
(2.) This also is the uniform and persistent testimony of the Jews of all sects in all ages and countries (comp. Jos 8:31-32; 1Ki 2:3; Jer 7:22; Ezr 6:18; Ne 8:1; Mal 4:4; Mt 22:24; Ac 15:21).
(3.) Our Lord plainly taught the Mosaic authorship of these books (Mt 5:17-18; 19:8; 22:31-32; 23:2; Mr 10:9; 12:26; Lu 16:31; 20:37; 24:26-27,44; Joh 3:14; 5:45-46,47; 6:32,49; 7:19,22). In the face of this fact, will any one venture to allege either that Christ was ignorant of the composition of the Bible, or that, knowing the true state of the case, he yet encouraged the people in the delusion they clung to?
(4.) From the time of Joshua down to the time of Ezra there is, in the intermediate historical books, a constant reference to the Pentateuch as the "Book of the Law of Moses." This is a point of much importance, inasmuch as the critics deny that there is any such reference; and hence they deny the historical character of the Pentateuch. As regards the Passover, e.g., we find it frequently spoken of or alluded to in the historical books following the Pentateuch, showing that the "Law of Moses" was then certainly known. It was celebrated in the time of Joshua (Jos 5:10, cf. Jos 4:19), Hezekiah (2Ch 30), Josiah (2Ki 23; 2Ch 35), and Zerubbabel (Ezr 6:19-22), and is referred to in such passages as 2Ki 23:22; 2Ch 35:18; 1Ki 9:25 ("three times in a year"); 2Ch 8:13. Similarly we might show frequent references to the Feast of Tabernacles and other Jewish institutions, although we do not admit that any valid argument can be drawn from the silence of Scripture in such a case. An examination of the following texts, 1Ki 2:9; 2Ki 14:6; 2Ch 23:18; 25:4; 34:14; Ezr 3:2; 7:6; Da 9:11,13, will also plainly show that the "Law of Moses" was known during all these centuries.
Granting that in the time of Moses there existed certain oral traditions or written records and documents which he was divinely led to make use of in his history, and that his writing was revised by inspired successors, this will fully account for certain peculiarities of expression which critics have called "anachronisms" and "contradictions," but in no way militates against the doctrine that Moses was the original author of the whole of the Pentateuch. It is not necessary for us to affirm that the whole is an original composition; but we affirm that the evidences clearly demonstrate that Moses was the author of those books which have come down to us bearing his name. The Pentateuch is certainly the basis and necessary preliminary of the whole of the Old Testament history and literature. (See Deuteronomy.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then the LORD told Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua: "I'll certainly wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven.'"
Then Moses came and reported all the words of the LORD and all the statutes to the people, and they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has decreed." So Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He got up early in the morning and built an altar with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain.
He took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They said, "We will put into practice and obey everything that the LORD has decreed."
The LORD told Moses, "Go down immediately, because your people whom you led out of Egypt have behaved corruptly. They have been quick to turn aside from the way I commanded them, and they have made for themselves a molten calf. They have bowed down to it in worship, they have offered sacrifices to it, and they have said, "This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt.'" read more. Then the LORD told Moses, "I've seen these people and indeed they're obstinate. Now let me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may consume them, but I'll make a great nation of you."
The next day Moses told the people, "You committed a great sin, and now I'll go up to the LORD, and perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Please, LORD, this people committed a great sin by making a god of gold for themselves. read more. Now, if you will, forgive their sin but if not, blot me out of your book which you have written." The LORD told Moses, "Whoever sins against me, I'll blot him out of my book. Now, go, and lead the people where I told you, and now my angel will go before you, but on the day when I do punish, I'll punish them for their sin."
Then the LORD told Moses, "Write down these words, because I'm making a covenant with you and with Israel according to these words."
These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that the LORD made between himself and the Israelis on Mount Sinai, as recorded by the hand of Moses.
These are the commands that the LORD commanded Moses to deliver to the Israelis on Mount Sinai.
Then Moses wrote down this Law and gave it to the Levitical priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and to all of Israel's leaders.
When Moses had finished writing the words of this Law in a book, he gave this charge to the descendants of Levi who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD:
The people came up from the Jordan River on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern outskirts of Jericho.
While the Israelis remained encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover during the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.
just the way Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelis in the Book of the Law of Moses: ""an altar of uncut stones that hasn't been worked with iron tools"" and they offered burnt offerings to the LORD on it, along with peace offerings. There Joshua inscribed on stones a copy of the Law of Moses that Moses had presented to the Israelis.
But don't let him off unpunished, since you're a wise man and you'll know what you need to do to him. Find a way that he dies in his old age by shedding his blood."
From the days of the judges who ruled in Israel, no Passover had been celebrated like this, not even in all the reigns of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
acting in compliance with the daily rule by offering them in conformity to commands issued by Moses for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, the three annual festivals (the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Tents).
Then Jozadak's son Jeshua and his brothers got up, along with Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel and his brothers. They built an altar of the God of Israel in order to offer burnt offerings, as prescribed by the Law of Moses, the man of God.
Furthermore, they established the priests in their divisions and the descendants of Levi in their positions for the service of God conducted at Jerusalem, as is proscribed in the Book of Moses. The former exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month read more. because the priests and descendants of Levi had purified themselves together all of them were pure and they killed the Passover lamb for every former exile, for their relatives the priests, and for themselves. So the Israelis who had returned from captivity ate the Passover with all who had consecrated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land in order to seek the LORD God of Israel. Then they observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, because the LORD had made them glad, turning the heart of the king of Assyria toward them and strengthening them for their work on the Temple of God, the God of Israel.
left Babylon. He was a skillful scribe of the Law of Moses that the LORD God of Israel had given. And the king granted him everything he had requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.
"Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat. Indeed, when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I didn't speak or command them about burnt offering and sacrifice,
And all Israel flouted your Law, turning aside from it and not obeying your voice. Because we've sinned against him, the curse has been poured upon us, along with the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God.
As it's written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has befallen us, but we still haven't sought the LORD our God by turning from our lawlessness to pay attention to your truth.
"Remember the Law of Moses my servant that I gave him at Horeb for all Israel both the decrees and laws.
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I didn't come to destroy them, but to fulfill them, because I tell all of you with certainty that until heaven and earth disappear, not one letter or one stroke of a letter will disappear from the Law until everything has been accomplished.
He told them, "It was because of your hardness of heart that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not this way.
"Teacher, Moses said, "If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for his brother.'
As for the resurrection from the dead, haven't you read what was spoken to you by God when he said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
"The scribes and the Pharisees administer the authority of Moses,
Therefore, what God has joined together, man must never separate."
As for the dead being raised, haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
"Then Abraham told him, "If your brothers do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone were to rise from the dead.'"
Even Moses demonstrated in the story about the bush that the dead are raised, when he calls the Lord, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'
The Messiah had to suffer these things and then enter his glory, didn't he?" Then, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them all the passages of Scripture about himself.
Then he told them, "These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms had to be fulfilled."
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Do not suppose that I will be the one to accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope, because if you believed Moses, you would believe me, since he wrote about me. read more. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe my words?"
Jesus told them, "Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and died.
Moses gave you the Law, didn't he? Yet none of you is keeping the Law. Why are you trying to kill me?"
Moses gave you circumcision not that it is from Moses, but from the Patriarchs and so you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
After all, Moses has had people to proclaim him in every city for generations, and on every Sabbath his books are read aloud in the synagogues."
Fausets
(See MOSES; LAW; GENESIS; EXODUS; LEVITICUS; NUMBERS; DEUTERONOMY.) A term meaning "five volumes" (teuchos in Alexandrian Greek "a book"); applied to the first five books of the Bible, in Tertullian and Origen. "The book of the law" in De 34:12; 29:21; 30:10; 31:26; "the book of the law of Moses," Jos 23:6; Ne 8:1; in Ezr 7:6, "the law of Moses," "the book of Moses" (Ezr 6:18). The Jews now call it Torah "the law," literally, the directory in Lu 24:27 "Moses" stands for his book.
The division into five books is probably due to the Septuagint, for the names of the five books, Genesis, Exodus, etc., are Greek not Hebrew. The Jews name each book from its first word; the Pentateuch forms one roll, divided, not into books, but into larger and smaller sections Parshiyoth and Sedorim. They divide its precepts into 248 positive, and 365 negative, 248 being the number of parts the rabbis assign the body, 365 the days of the year. As a mnemonic they carry a square cloth with fringes (tsitsit = 600 in Hebrew) consisting of eight threads and five knots, 613 in all. The five of the Pentateuch answer to the five books of the psalter, and the five megilloth of the hagiographa (Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther).
MOSES' AUTHORSHIP. After the battle with Amalek (Ex 17:14) "Jehovah said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in the Book," implying there was a regular account kept in a well known book. Also Ex 24:4, "Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah"; (Ex 34:27) "Jehovah said unto Moses, Write thou these words" distinguished from Ex 34:28, "He (Jehovah) wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments" (Ex 34:1). Nu 33:2 "Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of Jehovah." In De 17:18-19, the king is required to "write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites"; and De 31:9-11, "Moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests, the son of Levi," who should "at the end of every seven years read this law before all Israel in their hearing"; and De 31:24," Moses made an end of writing the words of this law in a book," namely, the whole Pentateuch ("the law," Mt 22:40; Ga 4:21), "and commanded the Levites ... put it in the side of the ark that it may be a witness against thee," as it proved under Josiah.
The two tables of the Decalogue were IN the ark (1Ki 8:9); the book of the law, the Pentateuch, was laid up in the holy of holies, close by the ark, probably in a chest (2Ki 22:8,18-19). The book of the law thus written by Moses and handed to the priests ends at De 31:23; the rest of the book of Deuteronomy is an appendix added after Moses' death by another hand, excepting the song and blessing, Moses' own composition. Moses speaks of "this law" and "the book of this law" as some definite volume which he had written for his people (De 28:61; 29:19-20,29). He uses the third person of himself, as John does in the New Testament He probably dictated much of it to Joshua or some scribe, who subsequently added the account of Moses' death and a few explanatory insertions. The recension by Ezra (and the great synagogue, Buxtori "Tiberius," 1:10, Tertullian De Cultu Fem. 3, Jerome ad Helvid.) may have introduced the further explanations which appear post Mosaic.
Moses probably uses patriarchal documents, as e.g. genealogies for Genesis; these came down through Shem and Abraham to Joseph and Israel in Egypt. That writing existed ages before Moses is proved by the tomb of Chnumhotep at Benihassan, of the twelfth dynasty, representing a scribe presenting to the governor a roll of papyrus covered with inscriptions dated the sixth year of Osirtasin II long before the Exodus. The papyrus found by M. Prisse in the hieratic character is considered the oldest of existing manuscripts and is attributed to a prince of the fifth dynasty; weighed down with age, he invokes Osiris to enable him to give mankind the fruits of his long experience. It contains two treatises, the first, of 12 pages, the end of a work of which the former part is lost, the second by a prince, son of the king next before Assa, in whose reign the work was composed. The Greek alphabet borrows its names of letters and order from the Semitic; those names have a meaning in Semitic, none in Greek Tradition made Cadmus ("the Eastern") introduce them into Greece from Phoenicia (Herodot. 5:58).
Joshua took a Hittite city, Kirjath Sepher, "the city of the book" (Jos 15:15), and changed the name to Debir of kindred meaning. Pertaour, a scribe under Rameses the Great, in an Iliadlike poem engraved on the walls of Karnak mentions Chirapsar, of the Khota or Hittites, a writer of books. From the terms for "write," "book," "ink," being in all Semitic dialects, it follows they must have been known to the earliest Shemites before they branched off into various tribes and nations. Moses, Israel's wise leader, would therefore be sure to commit to writing their laws, their wonderful antecedents and ancestry, and the Divine promises from the beginning connected with them, and their fulfillment in Egypt, in the Exodus, and in the wilderness, in order to evoke their national spirit. Israel would certainly have a written history at a time when the Hittites among whom Israel settled were writers.
Moreover, from Joshua downward the Old Testament books abound in references to the laws, history, and words of Moses, as such, universally accepted. They are ordered to be read continually (Jos 1:7-8); "all the law which Moses My servant commanded ... this book of the law" (Jos 8:31,34; 23:6). In Jos 1:3-8,13-18 the words of De 11:24-25; 31:6-12, and De 3:18-20 Nu 32:20-28, are quoted. Israel's constitution in church and state accords with that established by Moses. The priesthood is in Aaron's family (Jos 14:1). "Eleazar," Aaron's son, succeeds to his father's exalted position and with Joshua divides the land (Jos 21:1), as Nu 34:17 ordained; the Levites discharge their duties, scattered among the tribes and having 48 cities, as Jehovah by Moses commanded (Nu 35:7). So the tabernacle made by Moses is set up at Shiloh (Jos 18:1). The sacrifices (Jos 8:31; 22:23,27,29) are those enjoined (Leviticus 1; 2; 3).
The altar built (Jos 8:30-31; Ex 20:25) is "as Moses commanded ... in the book of the law of Moses." Compare also as to the ark, Jos 3:3,6,8; 7:6; circumcision, Jos 5:2; Passover, Jos 5:10; with the Pentateuch. There is the same general assembly or congregation and princes (9/18/type/isv'>Jos 9:18-21; 20:6,9; 22:30; Ex 16:22); the same elders of Israel (Jos 7:6; De 31:9); elders of the city (De 25:8; Jos 20:4); judges and officers (Jos 8:33; De 16:18); heads of thousands (Jos 22:21; Nu 1:16). Bodies taken down from hanging (Jos 8:29; 10:27; De 21:23). No league with Canaan (Joshua 9; Ex 23:32). Cities of refuge (Joshua 20; Nu 35:11-15; De 4:41-43; 19:2-7). Inheritance to Zelophebad's daughters (Jos 17:3; Numbers 27; 36).
So in Judges Moses' laws are referred to (Jg 2:1-3,11-12,20; 6/8/type/isv'>6:8-10; 20:2,6,13; De 13:6,12-14; 22:21). The same law and worship appear in Judges as in Pentateuch. Judah takes the lead (Jg 1:2; 20:18; Ge 49:8; Nu 2:3; 10:14). The judge's office is as Moses defined it (De 17:9). Gideon recognizes the theocracy, as Moses ordained (Jg 8:22-23; Ex 19:5-6; De 17:14,20; 33:5). The tabernacle is at Shiloh (Jg 18:31); Israel goes up to the house of God and consults the high priest with Urim and Thummim (Jg 20:23,26-28; Ex 28:30; Nu 27:21; De 12:5). The ephod is the priest's garment (Jg 8:27; 17:5; 18:14-17).
The Levites scattered through Israel are the recognized ministers (Jg 17:7-13; 19:1-2). Circumcision is Israel's distinguishing badge (Jg 14:3; 15:18). Historical rereferences to the Pentateuch abound (Jg 1:16,20,23; 2:1,10; 6:13), especially Jg 11:15-27 epitomizes Numbers 20; 21; De 2:1-8,26-34; compare the language Jg 2 with Ex 34:13; Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28; De 7:2,8; 12:3; Jg 5:4-5 with De 33:2; 32:16-17. In the two books of Samuel the law and Pentateuch are the basis. Eli, high priest, is sprung from Aaron through Ithamar (1Ch 24:3; 2Sa 8:17; 1Ki 2:27). The transfer from Eli's descendants back to Eleazar's line fulfills Nu 25
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, to be like us. Let them be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, the livestock, everything that crawls on the earth, and over the earth itself!"
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, to be like us. Let them be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, the livestock, everything that crawls on the earth, and over the earth itself!" So God created mankind in his own image; in his own image God created them; he created them male and female. read more. God blessed the humans by saying to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it! Be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, and every living thing that crawls on the earth!"
So the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground, breathed life into his lungs, and the man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, where he placed the man whom he had formed. read more. The LORD God caused every tree that is both beautiful and suitable for food to spring up out of the ground. The tree of life was also in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The LORD God caused every tree that is both beautiful and suitable for food to spring up out of the ground. The tree of life was also in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flows from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides, becoming four branches. read more. The name of the first one is Pishon it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also found there. The name of the second river is Gihon it winds through the entire land of Cush. The third river is named the Tigris it flows to the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden in order to have him work it and guard it. The LORD God commanded the man: "You may freely eat from every tree of the garden, but you are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because you will certainly die during the day that you eat from it."
The LORD God told the Shining One, "Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all the livestock, and more than all the earth's animals, You'll crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live.
Also, I will certainly demand an accounting regarding bloodshed, from every animal and from every human being. I'll demand an accounting from every human being for the life of another human being.
King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine, since he was serving as the priest of God Most High.
Then the LORD took him outside. "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can!" he said. "Your descendants will be that numerous."
Your descendants will return here in the fourth generation, since the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet run its course."
and blinded the men who were at the entrance of the house, from the least important to the greatest, so they were unable to find the doorway.
After that, his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.
He reached a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun was setting. He found a stone there, used it for a pillow, and slept there for the night,
As it is, you didn't even allow me to kiss my grandchildren and daughters goodbye! You've acted foolishly.
And so Jacob was left alone, and he struggled with a man until daybreak.
But while Israel lived in that land, Reuben went inside his father's tent and had sexual relations with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Now Jacob had twelve sons.
Zibeon's children were Aiah and Anah. Anah discovered the hot springs in the wilderness while grazing his father Zibeon's donkeys.
who could see that the LORD was with Joseph, because the LORD made everything prosper that Joseph did.
The prison warden did not have to worry about anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with him. That's why Joseph prospered in everything he did.
"We're all guilty because of what we did to our brother!" they told each other. "We kept on watching his suffering while he pleaded with us! We're in this mess because we wouldn't listen!"
After all, if we hadn't delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!"
Then he told Joseph, "I never thought I'd see you again, and now God has allowed me to see your children as well!"
But you're as undisciplined as a roaring river, so eventually you won't succeed, because you got in your father's bed, defiled it, and then approached my couch."
I'll never join their council; I'll never enter their assembly. In their anger they committed murder and lamed cattle just for fun.
"Your brothers will praise you, Judah. Your hand will be at the throat of your enemies, and your father's children will bow down to you.
making their lives bitter through hard labor with mortar, bricks, and all kinds of outdoor labor. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.
But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus container, coated it with asphalt and pitch, placed the child in it, and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
Then he said, "I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
"You're no longer to give the people straw for making bricks, as in the past. They must gather straw for themselves. But you're to impose the previous quota of bricks that they're making. You're not to reduce it! It is because they're lazy that they're crying out, "Let's go offer sacrifices to our God.'
Now, go! Get to work! And straw won't be given to you, but you are to deliver the same number of bricks!"
When you enter the land that the LORD will give you, just as he promised, you are to observe this ritual. And when your children say to you, "What does this ritual mean?' read more. you are to say, "It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelis in Egypt when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" Then the people bowed down and worshipped.
The LORD spoke to Moses, "Consecrate to me every firstborn male. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelis, both of humans and of animals, belongs to me." read more. Then Moses told the people, "Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, from the house of bondage, because the LORD brought you out from this place with a strong show of force. Moreover, nothing leavened is to be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. When the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your ancestors to give you a land flowing with milk and honey you are to observe this ritual in this month.
The LORD went in front of them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel both day and night.
"Who is like you among the gods, LORD? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, and working wonders?
On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, about two omers per person. Then all the leaders of the congregation came and reported to Moses,
Moses told Joshua, "Choose some men for us and go out to fight against the Amalekites. Tomorrow I'll stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."
Then the LORD told Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua: "I'll certainly wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven.'"
Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken back Moses' wife Zipporah after she had been sent away,
You will certainly wear yourself out, both you and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot do it by yourself.
And now if you carefully obey me and keep my covenant, you are to be my special possession out of all the nations, because the whole earth belongs to me,
And now if you carefully obey me and keep my covenant, you are to be my special possession out of all the nations, because the whole earth belongs to me, but you are to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to me.' These are the words you are to declare to the Israelis."
When morning came on the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and the very loud sound of a ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.
but showing gracious love to the thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
If you make an altar of stone for me, you must not build it of cut stones, because if you strike it with your chisel, you will profane it.
"If you loan money to my people, to the poor among you, don't be like a creditor to them and don't impose interest on them.
"You are not to hold back the fullness of your harvest and the outflow of your wine presses. You are to give to me the firstborn of your sons.
You are not to take a bribe because a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and distorts the words of the righteous.
"Be careful about everything I've told you, and don't mention the name of other gods. Don't let them be heard in your mouth!"
"Look, I'm sending an angel in front of you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I've prepared. Be careful! Be sure to obey him. Don't rebel against him, because he won't forgive your transgression, since my Name is in him. read more. Indeed, if you carefully obey him and do everything that I say, then I'll be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries, because my angel will go ahead of you and will bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I'll annihilate them.
You are not to make a covenant with them or with their gods.
So Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He got up early in the morning and built an altar with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. He sent young Israeli men to offer up burnt offerings and sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.
Then you are to make 50 gold clasps, and join the curtains to each other with the clasps so that the tent will be one piece.
You are to make horns on its four corners. Its corners are to be of one piece with it, and you are to overlay it with bronze.
"And you are to command the Israelis to bring you pure olive oil, extracted by hand, for the light in order to keep the lamp burning continuously. In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to maintain the lamp stand from evening until morning in the LORD's presence. It is to be a perpetual ordinance from generation to generation among the Israelis."
You are to put the Urim and Thummim into the breast piece of judgment, and they are to be on Aaron's heart when he goes into the LORD's presence. He is to carry the breast piece of decision that depicts Israel's sons on his heart in the LORD's presence continuously."
"You are to weave the checkered tunic of fine linen, you are to make a turban of fine linen, and you are to make an embroidered sash. "You are to make tunics for the sons of Aaron, you are to make sashes for them, and you are to make head coverings for them for dignity and beauty. read more. You are to put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and you are to anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them to serve as my priests. "You are to make linen undergarments for them to cover their naked flesh, and they are to reach from the loins to the thighs.
"This is what you are to offer on the altar continually: two one year old lambs each day.
Each year Aaron is to make atonement on its horns with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. He is to make atonement on it each year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD."
and Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and their feet from it. When they enter the Tent of Meeting or when they approach the altar to minister to make an offering by fire to the LORD, they are to wash with water so they don't die.
You are to make them into a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture made by a perfumer. It is to be a holy anointing oil.
You are to anoint Aaron and his sons, and you are to consecrate them to serve as my priests.
"You are to tell the Israelis: "You are to certainly observe my Sabbaths because it's a sign between me and you from generation to generation, so you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
The descendants of Levi did just as Moses told them, and about 3,000 people died that day.
The LORD told Moses, "Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, and I'll write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets that you broke.
The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and filled with gracious love and truth.
Obey what I am commanding you today and I'll drive out from before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Rather, you are to tear down their altars, you are to smash their sacred pillars, and you are to cut down their sacred poles
since I'm going to drive out nations before you, and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land, when you go up to appear in the presence of the LORD your God three times a year.
Then the LORD told Moses, "Write down these words, because I'm making a covenant with you and with Israel according to these words." While Moses was there with the LORD for 40 days and 40 nights, he did not eat or drink. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.
He made the bronze basin and its bronze base from mirrors contributed by the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Then you are to bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water. You are to clothe Aaron with the holy garments, you are to anoint him, and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. read more. You are to bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. You are to anoint them just as you anointed their father so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing is to qualify them to belong to a perpetual priesthood from generation to generation."
He is then to tear it open by its wings, but not divide it completely into two parts. The priest is then to offer all of it on the wood over the fire as a burnt offering by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD."
"Any grain offering that you bring to the LORD is not to be prepared with yeast, because anything with leaven and honey may not be offered in smoke as an offering by fire to the LORD.
"The priest is then to put some blood on the horn of the altar that is near the Tent of Meeting as an incense of pleasing aroma in the LORD's presence. He is to pour the rest of the bull's blood for a burnt offering at the base of the altar that is at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Now as to his guilt offering, he is to bring to the LORD a ram without defect from the flock, estimated as to its value, to the priest. Then the priest is to make atonement for him in the LORD's presence, and it will be forgiven him regarding whatever he did."
Every grain offering that's baked in the oven and everything that's prepared in a stew pan or in the frying pan belongs to the priest who offered it.
If someone brings it to demonstrate thanksgiving, then he is to present along with the thanksgiving offering unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers spread with olive oil, and cakes of mixed fine flour with olive oil. Along with the cakes of unleavened bread, he is to bring his thanksgiving offering with his peace offerings.
You are to differentiate between what's sacred and common and between what's unclean and clean.
The whole time that the skin rash infects him, he will be unclean. He is to live by himself in a home outside the encampment."
"When you enter the land of Canaan that I'm about to give you as your own possession, and if I put a contagion in a house in the land that you possess,
Anyone who touches any of the objects on which she has sat is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening.
The LORD told Moses, "Remind your brother Aaron that at no time is he to enter the sacred place from the room that contains the curtain into the presence of the Mercy Seat on top of the ark. Otherwise, he'll die, because I will appear in a cloud at the Mercy Seat.
You are not to do what you used to do in the land of Egypt where you lived. You are not to do what Canaan does, where I'm about to bring you, so that you live according to their statutes.
"You are not to defile yourselves by doing any of these things, since all of these nations that I'm casting out before you have defiled themselves this way. The land has been defiled, so I brought the punishment of its iniquity to it. As a result, the land is vomiting out its inhabitants. read more. "Therefore, keep my statutes and ordinances. You are not to do any of these detestable things this applies to the native born and the resident alien who lives among you because the inhabitants of the land did all of these detestable things and by doing so defiled the land before you. So you are not to let the land vomit you up because of your uncleanness as it is vomiting the nations that were here before you.
"You are not to go around slandering your people. "You are not to stand idle when your neighbor's life is at stake. I am the LORD.
"When you have entered the land and planted all sorts of trees for food, regard its fruit as uncircumcised for the first three years for you. It is not to be eaten.
"You are not to act unjustly in deciding a case or when measuring weight and quantity. You are to maintain just balances and reliable standards for weights, dry volumes, and liquid volumes. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
"Be sure to keep all my statutes and observe all my ordinances, so that the land where I'm about to bring you to live won't vomit you out.
"I am your God. I've separated you from the people. You are to differentiate between the clean animal and the unclean and between the unclean bird and the clean. You are not to make yourselves detestable on account of any animal, bird, or any creeping creature of the ground that I've separated for you as unclean.
"Tell Aaron and his sons that they are to separate themselves for the sacred things of the Israelis and that they are not to defile my holy name. I am the LORD.
"Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelis that when a person from the house of Israel or from the resident aliens living in Israel brings his offering to the LORD as a whole burnt offering (whether in fulfillment of a promise or a free will offerings), so that he'll be sure to be accepted, he is to offer a male without defect from the bulls, the lambs, and the goats. read more. However, whatever has a defect is not to be offered, because it won't be acceptable for you. "If a person brings a peace offering sacrifice to the LORD to fulfill a vow or a free will offering from the herd or the flock, it is to be sound in order to be accepted, without any defect in it.
"Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land that I'm about to give you and gather its produce, you are to bring a sheaf from the first portion of your harvest to the priest,
"Tell the Israelis that they are to bring to you pure oil made from beaten olives in order to keep the lamp burning continuously. Outside the Canopy of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to arrange it continually in the LORD's presence from evening until morning as an eternal ordinance throughout your generations.
The LORD told Moses on Mount Sinai, "Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land that I'm about to give you, you are to let the land observe a Sabbath to the LORD.
I'll command my blessing on you during the sixth year so that it will yield produce for three years!
"The land is not to be sold with any finality, because the land belongs to me. You're sojourners and travelers with me.
"The land is not to be sold with any finality, because the land belongs to me. You're sojourners and travelers with me.
You are not to take interest or profit from him. Instead, you are to fear your God and let your relative live with you.
"If your brother with you becomes so poor that he sells himself to you, you are not to make him serve like a bond slave.
I'll make the land so desolate that your enemies who live in it will be astonished." "I'll scatter you among the nations and draw the sword after you so that your land becomes desolate and your towns become ruins. read more. Then the land will finally be pleased with its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time, the land will rest and take its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, it will have rest that it will not have had during your Sabbaths when you were living in it.
These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that the LORD made between himself and the Israelis on Mount Sinai, as recorded by the hand of Moses.
These are the commands that the LORD commanded Moses to deliver to the Israelis on Mount Sinai.
These men were appointed from within their communities, since they were leaders of their ancestral houses and heads of the tribes of Israel.
"The encampment of Judah is to settle east toward the sunrise under their standard. The leader of Judah is to be Amminadab's son Nahshon.
Then the LORD told Moses, "Tell the Israelis that a man or woman who commits to the vow of the Nazirite, is to be separated to the LORD, read more. then is to remain separate from wine and strong drink. He is not to drink vinegar or strong drink made from wine. He is not to drink grape juice or eat grapes, whether fresh or dried. During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to eat any product from the grapevine, from the seed to the skin. During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to allow a razor to pass over his head until the days of his holy consecration to the LORD have been fulfilled. He is to let the locks on his head grow long. "During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to come near a dead body. He is not to defile himself on account of his father, mother, brother, and sister when they die, because the crown of his consecration to God is on his head. During the entire time of his dedication, he is set apart to God. When someone suddenly dies beside him, so that his consecrated head is defiled, then he is to shave his head on the day of his purification. Seven days later he is to shave it again. On the eighth day, he is to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then the priest is to offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to make atonement for him because of the guilt he incurred on account of his contact with the dead body. Then he is to consecrate his head on that day. He is to dedicate to the LORD the days of his consecration by bringing a year old male lamb as his offering. The previous time will have failed because his consecration became defiled. "This is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his consecration are completed, he is to come to the entrance at the Tent of Meeting. He is to bring an offering to the LORD, a year old male lamb, and a year old ewe female lamb, both without blemish, for a sin offering and a ram without blemish for a peace offering, a basket of unleavened bread made from choice flour, cakes mixed with oil, a wafer of unleavened bread smeared with oil, along with grain and drink offerings. The priest is to come into the LORD's presence and present his sin and burnt offerings. He is to offer the ram, a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD, along with the basket of unleavened bread. Then the priest is to present his grain and drink offerings. The Nazirite is then to shave his head of consecration at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to take the lock of his head of consecration and set it over the fire where the peace offering for sacrifice is. Then the priest is to take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one cake of unleavened bread from the basket, and one wafer of unleavened bread. He is to place them in the hands of the Nazirite, after he himself has shaved his symbol of consecration. The priest is to wave the offerings, that is, the breast and the thigh offering in the LORD's presence. Then the Nazirite may drink wine afterward. This is to be the law of the Nazirite when he commits his offering to the LORD on account of his consecration, over and beyond what he owns alone plus whatever he can provide, based on the vow from his own mouth that he vows to fulfill on account of the law of his consecration."
May the LORD turn to face you, lavishing peace on you!
This is what you are to do for them in order to purify them: Sprinkle purifying water over them, have them shave their skin, and then have them wash their garments, and they will be purified.
At the beginning of the month, during your time of rejoicing at the appointed place, sound the trumpet over your burnt offering, then sacrifice your peace offering, since they are to be your memorial before the LORD your God. I am the LORD your God."
The standard of the camp of Judah was the first to travel, accompanied by its army with Amminadab's son Nahshon in charge.
Whenever the ark was ready to travel, Moses would say: "Arise, LORD, to scatter your enemies, so that whoever hates you will flee from your presence."
So they put out this false report to the Israelis about the land that they had explored: "The land that we've explored is one that devours its inhabitants. All the people whom we observed were giants.
and attempted to reason with the entire congregation of Israel. They told them, "The land that we went through and explored is very, very good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he'll bring us into this land and give it to us. It flows with milk and honey.
After this, the men whom Moses sent out to explore the land, who returned and made the whole congregation complain against him by bringing an evil report concerning the land,
Now Izhar's son Korah, the grandson of Kohath, a descendant of Levi, along with Eliab's sons Dathan and Abiram, and Peleth's son On, a descendant of Reuben, took charge
Then the LORD told Aaron, "Look! I am indeed placing you in charge of my raised offerings and the holy things concerning the Israelis. Because of your anointing, I'm giving you and your sons a prescribed portion forever. This is what is to belong to you from consecrated offerings spared from the fire: all of their offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings that they render to me. They're to be considered most sacred to you and your sons. read more. You may eat them as consecrated gifts. Every male may eat them. They're sacred for you. The raised offering and wave offerings presented by the Israelis are yours, too. I've given them to you, to your sons, and to your daughters as a prescribed apportionment forever. Everyone who is clean in your household may eat it. All the best oil, wine, grain, and first fruits that they give to the LORD are to belong to you. Everyone who is clean in your household may eat it. "The first ripe fruits of everything that the land produces and that they bring to the LORD are yours, too. Everyone who is clean in your household may eat it. Every devoted thing in Israel is yours, too. Everything that opens the womb, any living thing that they bring to the LORD whether from human beings or animals are for you. Just be sure that you redeem the firstborn of people and the firstborn of unclean animals. Those that can be redeemed, you are to redeem at the age of one month, based on your estimate for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, that is, for 20 gerahs. But you are not to redeem the firstborn of a cow, sheep, or a female goat. They are holy. You are to sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat for an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. Their meat is to belong to you, just as the breast wave offering and the right thigh is yours. I'm giving you, your sons, and your daughters as a prescribed portion forever all the raised offerings of the consecrated things that the Israelis offer to the LORD. It's a salt covenant forever before the LORD with you and your descendants with you."
You won't sin by offering the best of it, and you are not to profane the sacred things of the Israelis, so that you won't die."
I'm determined to reward you generously, and I'll do everything you tell me to do. So come right away and curse this people for me.'"
Who can count the dust of Jacob? Who can number the dust of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may I end up like him."
The LORD told Moses, "Eleazar's son Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from Israel. Because his zealousness reflected my own zeal for them, I didn't consume Israel in my jealousy. read more. Therefore, I'm certainly going to be giving him my covenant of peace, for him and for his descendants after him, too, a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelis."
who will go in and out before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in so that the LORD'S community won't be like a flock without a shepherd."
You are to make him stand in the presence of Eleazar the priest, who is to inquire on his behalf using the Urim in the presence of the LORD regarding a decision of judgment, because by his command he and all the Israelis with him will go out or come in."
Tell them that this is the offering, presented by fire, that you are to offer to the LORD: two one year old lambs, offered daily every day. Offer the first lamb in the morning and the second toward the evening,
"If you do this," Moses replied to them, "that is, if you equip yourselves for war in the LORD's presence and every one of your armed soldiers crosses over the Jordan River in the presence of the LORD until he has dispossessed his enemies ahead of him read more. and subjugated the land before him, then afterwards when you return, you'll be able to stand blameless before the LORD and before Israel. This land will then be your possession before the LORD. "But if you won't do so, look out! You will be sinning against the LORD. Be certain of this, that your sin will catch up to you! So after you've built cities for your families and corrals for your cattle, be sure to keep your promises." Then the descendants of Gad and descendants of Reuben spoke up. "Your servants will do exactly what our master has commanded." They said. "Our children, wives, flocks, and all our cattle will be settled in the cities of Gilead, but every soldier that we've equipped for battle will cross the Jordan River in the presence of the LORD, as our master has spoken." So Moses instructed Eleazar the priest and Nun's son Joshua, and the officers of the ancestral tribes of the Israelis,
Moses recorded their departures in their travels after being commanded to do so by the LORD. Here's a list of their travels based on their departures:
"Issue these orders to the Israelis: "You're about to enter the land of Canaan. This territory has been apportioned to you as your inheritance: the entire land of Canaan, all the way to its borders.'"
"These are the names of the men who are to divide the land for your inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Nun's son Joshua.
"Instruct the Israelis to set aside a portion of their inheritance for the descendants of Levi to live in, along with grazing land surrounding their towns. The towns are to be reserved for their dwelling places and the grazing lands are to be reserved for their cattle, livestock, and all their animals. read more. The grazing lands that you are to reserve for use by the descendants of Levi are to extend 1,000 cubits from the walls of the town. You are to measure from outside the wall of the town on the east side 2,000 cubits, on the south side 2,000 cubits, on the west side 2,000 cubits, and on the north side 2,000 cubits, with the town placed at the center. This reserved area is to serve as grazing land for their towns. You are to set aside six towns of refuge from the towns that you will be giving to the descendants of Levi, where someone who kills a human being may run for shelter. In addition, give them 42 other towns. The total number of towns that you are to give to the descendants of Levi is to be 48 towns, including grazing lands surrounding these towns.
The total number of towns that you are to give to the descendants of Levi is to be 48 towns, including grazing lands surrounding these towns. You are to apportion the towns that you will be giving the Israelis according to the relative size of the tribe. Take a larger portion from those larger in number and a lesser portion from those fewer in number. Each is to set aside towns for the descendants of Levi proportional to the size of their inheritance that they receive." read more. Then the LORD told Moses, "Tell the Israelis that when they have crossed the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, they are to designate some towns of refuge so that anyone who kills someone inadvertently may flee there.
they are to designate some towns of refuge so that anyone who kills someone inadvertently may flee there. They are to serve as cities of refuge from a blood avenger in order to keep the inadvertent killer from dying until he has stood trial in the presence of the community.
They are to serve as cities of refuge from a blood avenger in order to keep the inadvertent killer from dying until he has stood trial in the presence of the community. You are to set aside six towns of refuge.
You are to set aside six towns of refuge. Appoint three towns this side of the Jordan River and three towns in the land of Canaan to serve as the towns of refuge,
Appoint three towns this side of the Jordan River and three towns in the land of Canaan to serve as the towns of refuge, that is, places of refuge for the Israelis, the resident alien, and any travelers among them. Anyone who kills a person inadvertently may flee there."
that is, places of refuge for the Israelis, the resident alien, and any travelers among them. Anyone who kills a person inadvertently may flee there." "Whoever uses an iron implement to kill someone is to be adjudged a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. read more. Furthermore, whoever uses a stone implement to kill someone is to be adjudged a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. Also, whoever uses a wooden implement to kill someone with it is to be adjudged a murderer, and that murderer is certainly to be put to death. The blood avenger himself is to execute the murderer. When he meets him, the blood avenger is to put him to death. If the killer shoved his victim out of hatred, or hurled something at him while waiting in ambush so that he died, or if he struck him with his hand out of hatred so that he died, then the killer is certainly to be put to death for murder. The avenger of blood is to put him to death when he meets him." "But if he pushed him suddenly without hatred, or if he hurled something in his direction without waiting in ambush, or if he hit him with a stone carelessly so that he was fatally injured, though he isn't his enemy and he wasn't seeking to commit evil against him, then the community is to judge between the inadvertent killer and the blood avenger, following these ordinances. The community is to release the inadvertent killer from the blood avenger and return him to the town of refuge where he had fled. He is to live there until the High Priest dies, who will have anointed him with holy oil. But if the inadvertent killer leaves the town of refuge where he had fled and the blood avenger finds him outside the town of refuge where he had fled and kills him, the blood avenger is not to be found guilty of murder. The inadvertent killer is to live in the town of refuge until the High Priest dies. After the death of the High Priest, the inadvertent killer is to return to the land of his inheritance. These are to be the statutes and ordinances for you throughout all your generations, regardless of where you live." "Every murderer of a human being is to be executed only according to testimony given by multiple witnesses. A single witness is not to result in a death sentence.
"Every murderer of a human being is to be executed only according to testimony given by multiple witnesses. A single witness is not to result in a death sentence. You are to receive no ransom for the life of a killer who is guilty of murder; instead, he is to die. read more. You are not to receive payment of a ransom for someone who had fled to a town of refuge but then left to live in his homeland before the death of the high priest. You are not to pollute the land where you live, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot atone for blood that has been spilled on it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it.
You are not to pollute the land where you live, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot atone for blood that has been spilled on it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it. You are not to defile the land where you will be living, because I'm living among you. I am the LORD, who lives in Israel."
You are not to defile the land where you will be living, because I'm living among you. I am the LORD, who lives in Israel."
Every daughter who is in possession of an inheritance from the Israelis is to marry someone from the families within her father's tribe so the Israelis can retain possession of their ancestral inheritance.
These were the commands and the ordinances that the LORD issued to the Israelis through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan River in Jericho.
"We turned and set out for the desert on the road to the Reed Sea, just as the LORD had directed me. We traveled around Mount Seir for many days. Then the LORD told me, read more. "You've walked around this mountain long enough. Turn northward and command this people, "You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives, the descendants of Esau who live around Seir. They will be afraid of you so be very careful. Don't fight them, because I won't give you any part of their land, not even the size of a footprint. I have given Mount Seir to Esau as their property. You may buy food to eat and water to drink from them, paying with cash."' Indeed, the LORD your God blessed all the works of your hands. He knows about your travels through this vast desert. The LORD your God was with you these past 40 years, so that you didn't lack anything. So we bypassed our relatives, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir. We turned through the Arabah desert from Elath, and from Ezion-geber we traveled the desert road to Moab."
"I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with this message of peace: "Let me pass through your territory. I'll stay on the main road. I won't turn to the right or left. read more. Sell me food for cash, so I can eat and give me water for cash, so I can drink. Just let me pass through on foot, as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for me, as did the Moabites who live in Ar. I'll pass through, until I will have crossed the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is about to give us.' But King Sihon of Heshbon did not allow us to pass through, because the LORD your God had hardened his spirit and made him arrogant, in order to deliver him into your control today. "Then the LORD told me, "See, I've begun to deliver Sihon and his territory over to you. Prepare to take possession of his land.' "Sihon came out to meet us, including his entire army, at the battle of Jahaz. The LORD our God delivered him to us, so we attacked him, his son, and his whole army. We captured all his towns at that time. We utterly destroyed every town the men, the women, and the children leaving no survivors.
"Then I commanded you at that time, "The Lord your God gave you this land as a possession. Those equipped for battle every man a warrior will cross before your fellow Israelis. However, your women, children, and livestock and I know you have many may reside in your towns that I gave you read more. until the LORD grants rest to your fellow Israelis like you. When they take possession of the territory that the LORD your God is about to give them on the other side of the Jordan River, then each of you may return to the territory that I've allotted for you.'
"Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I'm teaching you to observe so you may live and go in to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is about to give you. Do not add or subtract a thing to what I'm commanding you. Observe the commands of the LORD your God.
But all of you who are clinging to the LORD your God are alive today.
Then Moses designated three cities on the east side of the Jordan, where a person who accidentally killed someone could flee, if he killed his neighbor without having enmity toward him in the past. He may flee to one of these cities and live: read more. Bezer in the desert plain for the descendants of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the descendants of Gad, and Golan in Bashan for the descendants of Manasseh.
"When the LORD your God brings you to the land that he promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you large and beautiful cities that you didn't build,
"When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, he will drive out many nations before you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations who are more numerous and stronger than you. So when the LORD your God delivers them to you and you have defeated them, then utterly destroy them. You are not to make any covenant with them nor be gracious to them.
But the LORD loved you and kept his oath that he made to your ancestors. The LORD brought you out with great power from slavery, from the control of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know that the LORD your God is God, the trusted God who faithfully keeps his covenant to the thousandth generation of those who love him and obey his commands.
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and who led you through the vast and dangerous desert, that parched land without water, with its poisonous snakes and scorpions. He brought water out of solid rock for you,
"Listen, Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and dispossess greater and mightier nations than you, who live in large cities that are fortified to the sky.
You see, heaven even the highest heavens belongs to the LORD, along with the earth and all that is in it,
Therefore, circumcise your heart and stop being stubborn.
Every place upon which the soles of your feet tread will be yours as boundaries from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, from the Euphrates) to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will instill terror and fear of you throughout the entire land wherever you go, just as he promised you.
Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place."
Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the LORD your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live. Bring your burnt offerings there, along with your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of promises, your freely given offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
But after you have crossed the Jordan River and settled in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and after you have received relief from the enemies around you and are living securely,
Now as to everything I'm commanding you, you must be careful to observe it. Don't add to or subtract from it."
"Your own blood brother, your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your friend who is like your soul mate may entice you quietly. He may tell you, "Let's go and serve other gods,' (whom neither you nor your ancestors have known
"You may hear in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit that worthless men have come from among you to entice those who live in the towns. They may say, "Let's go and serve other gods that you haven't known.' read more. You must thoroughly investigate and inquire if it is true that this detestable thing exists among you. If it is so,
Every third year, bring all the tithes of your produce of that year and store it in your cities
"Appoint judges and civil servants according to your tribes in all your cities that the LORD your God is about to give you, so they may judge the people impartially. You must not twist justice, show favoritism, or take bribes, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the speech of the righteous.
You must not twist justice, show favoritism, or take bribes, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the speech of the righteous.
Present the case to the Levitical priest or the judge at that time. When you have inquired and they have announced the verdict,
"When you have come to the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, and you have taken possession of it, and have settled in it, then you will say, "I will appoint a king over me like all the nations around me.'
"When you have come to the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, and you have taken possession of it, and have settled in it, then you will say, "I will appoint a king over me like all the nations around me.'
Only he must not amass horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt to obtain more horses. For the LORD said you must never return that way again.
When he occupies his royal throne, he must make a copy of this Law for himself from a scroll used by the Levitical priests.
When he occupies his royal throne, he must make a copy of this Law for himself from a scroll used by the Levitical priests. It is to remain with him the rest of his life so he may learn to fear the LORD his God and observe all the words of this Law and these statutes, in order to fulfill them.
It is to remain with him the rest of his life so he may learn to fear the LORD his God and observe all the words of this Law and these statutes, in order to fulfill them. He is not to exalt himself over his relatives, nor turn aside from the commandment neither to the right nor to the left so that he and his sons may reign long in Israel."
"The Levitical priests the whole tribe of Levi will not have a portion or an inheritance within Israel. Instead, they will eat the burnt offerings of the LORD, because that is their inheritance.
You must reserve three cities within the land that the LORD your God is about to give you to possess. Build roads throughout the land that the LORD your God is providing as an inheritance, and then divide it into three districts so that any killer may flee there. read more. "Now this is the situation for any killer who flees there to live: suppose he strikes his friend unwittingly, not having hated him previously. For instance, he may have accompanied his friend to go to a forest to cut trees. Then he swung his axe to cut some wood, but the ax head flew off the handle and hit his friend, so that he died. The killer may flee to one of these cities to live. Since hile the distance may be great, the angry avenger may overtake the killer he is pursuing and kill him, in which case there will be no justice in his death, because he did not hate his friend previously. Therefore I am commanding you to reserve three cities."
"Furthermore, let the officials ask the army, "Is there a man here who has built a new house but has not yet dedicated it? Let him go back home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.
his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don't defile your land that the LORD is about to give you as your inheritance."
they are to bring her to the door of her father's house. Then the men of the city are to stone her with boulders until she dies for doing a detestable thing in Israel acting like a prostitute while in her father's house. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.
If the guilty person deserves a beating, the judge will make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes fit for his crime.
"Don't muzzle an ox while it is threshing grain."
Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, "I don't want to marry her,'
"Don't have different weights in your bag one heavy and one light.
"I've removed the holy offering from my house and given it to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows just as you have commanded me. I haven't violated or forgotten your commands. I haven't eaten any part of it while mourning, nor removed any part of it while unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I've obeyed the voice of the LORD my God and did all that he commanded me.
On the day you cross over the Jordan River to the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, set up large stones and coat them with plaster. Then inscribe on them all the words of this Law when you've crossed over into the land that the LORD your God is about to give you a land flowing with milk and honey just as the LORD God of your ancestors promised you.
Then inscribe on them all the words of this Law when you've crossed over into the land that the LORD your God is about to give you a land flowing with milk and honey just as the LORD God of your ancestors promised you.
Your ox will be slaughtered in front of you, and you won't be able to eat it. Your donkey will be stolen from you while you watch and won't be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be handed to your enemies, and there will be no deliverer.
"The LORD will banish you and your king whom you will appoint over you to go to a nation that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you'll serve other gods of wood and stone.
"The LORD will raise a distant nation against you from the other side of the earth. Swooping down like a vulture,
"If you aren't careful to observe all the words of this Law that have been written in this book, instructing you to fear this glorious and awesome name of the LORD your God,
Moreover, the LORD will inflict you with illnesses and plagues that were not written in this Book of the Law, until you are exterminated.
"He'll scatter you among the nations from one end of the earth to the other, and there you'll serve other gods made of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. Among those nations you'll have no rest. There'll be no resting place for the soles of your feet. Instead, the LORD will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a despairing spirit. read more. You'll cling to life, being fearful by both night and day, with no assurance of survival. In the morning you'll say, "I wish it were evening.' Yet in the evening you'll say, "I wish it were morning,' on account of what you'll dread and what you'll see. Finally, the LORD will bring you back to Egypt by ship, a place that I said you'd never see again. There you'll try to sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."
because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he will bless himself and say: "I will have a peaceful life, even though I'm determined to be stubborn.' By doing this he will be sweeping away both watered and parched ground alike.' "The LORD won't forgive such a person. Instead, the zealous anger of the LORD will blaze against him. All the curses that were written in this book will fall on him. Then the LORD will wipe out his memory from under heaven. read more. The LORD will set him apart from all the tribes of Israel for destruction, according to the curses of the covenant that were written in this Book of the Law."
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but what has been revealed belongs to us and to our children forever, so that we might observe the words of this Law."
Then the LORD your God will circumcise both your hearts and those of your descendants so that you can love him with your heart and with your soul and therefore live.
if you obey him and keep his commands and statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, and if you return to him with all your heart and soul.
Be strong and courageous. Don't fear or tremble before them, because the LORD your God will be the one who keeps on walking with you he won't leave you or abandon you." Then Moses called on Joshua and told him in the presence of everyone in Israel, "Be strong and courageous, because you'll bring this people to the land that the LORD your God had promised to give your ancestors. You will be the one who causes them to possess it. read more. Indeed, the LORD is the one who will keep on walking in front of you. He'll be with you and won't leave you or abandon you, so never be afraid and never be dismayed." Then Moses wrote down this Law and gave it to the Levitical priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and to all of Israel's leaders.
Then Moses wrote down this Law and gave it to the Levitical priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and to all of Israel's leaders.
Then Moses wrote down this Law and gave it to the Levitical priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and to all of Israel's leaders. Then he gave these orders: "At the end of seven years, the year designated for release, during the Festival of Tents,
Then he gave these orders: "At the end of seven years, the year designated for release, during the Festival of Tents,
Then he gave these orders: "At the end of seven years, the year designated for release, during the Festival of Tents, when all of Israel comes to appear in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that he'll choose, read this Law aloud to them.
when all of Israel comes to appear in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that he'll choose, read this Law aloud to them.
when all of Israel comes to appear in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that he'll choose, read this Law aloud to them. Gather the people the men, women, children, and the foreigners that live in your cities so they may hear and fear the LORD your God, and so they may be careful to obey the words contained in this Law.
Gather the people the men, women, children, and the foreigners that live in your cities so they may hear and fear the LORD your God, and so they may be careful to obey the words contained in this Law. Their children who don't know will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land that you are crossing the Jordan River to possess."
Then the LORD charged Nun's son Joshua, "Be strong and courageous, because you'll bring the Israelis to the land that I promised to them by an oath. I'll be with you." When Moses had finished writing the words of this Law in a book,
"Take the book of this Law and set it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God. Let it remain there with you as witness against you,
"Take the book of this Law and set it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God. Let it remain there with you as witness against you,
For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is his allotted portion. The LORD found him in a desert land, in a barren, eerie wilderness. He surrounded, cared for, and guarded him as the pupil of his eye.
They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things. They sacrificed to demons not to the real God gods whom they didn't know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared.
"He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge? Who ate the fat of their offerings and drank the wine that was their drink offering? Let them rise and help you and be your hiding place!'
He said: "The LORD came from Sinai. Rising from Seir upon us, he shone forth from Mount Paran, accompanied by a myriad of his holy ones, with flaming fire from his right hand for them.
He said: "The LORD came from Sinai. Rising from Seir upon us, he shone forth from Mount Paran, accompanied by a myriad of his holy ones, with flaming fire from his right hand for them.
The LORD was king of Jeshurun when the leaders of the people all the tribes of Israel gathered together."
They will call the nations to the mountain, and there they will offer righteous sacrifices, for they'll draw from the abundance of the sea and from the hidden treasures of the sand."
"There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens with its lofty clouds to help you.
What great power and great terror Moses displayed on behalf of all Israel!
I'm giving you every place where the sole of your foot falls, just as I promised Moses. Your territorial border will extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon Mountains, to the river that great River Euphrates all the land of the Hittites as far as the Mediterranean Sea where the sun sets. read more. No one will be victorious against you for the rest of your life. I'll be with you just like I was with Moses I'll neither fail you nor abandon you. "Be strong and courageous, because you'll be leading this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Only be strong and very courageous to ensure that you obey all the instructions that my servant Moses gave you turn neither to the right nor to the left from it so that you may succeed wherever you go.
Only be strong and very courageous to ensure that you obey all the instructions that my servant Moses gave you turn neither to the right nor to the left from it so that you may succeed wherever you go. This set of instructions is not to cease being a part of your conversations. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to carry out everything that's written in it, for then you'll prosper and succeed.
This set of instructions is not to cease being a part of your conversations. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to carry out everything that's written in it, for then you'll prosper and succeed.
"Remember what Moses commanded you when he said, "The LORD your God will provide you rest, as well as this land.' Your wives, your young children, and your livestock will remain in the land that Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan River, but you and all your warriors will cross, ready for battle, in full view of your relatives, and you will help them read more. until the LORD gives relief to your relatives, as he did to you. Then they'll take the land that the LORD your God is giving them as their inheritance. You'll return to the land of your heritage and receive the inheritance that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the east side of the Jordan River, in the direction of the sunrise." "We'll do everything that you commanded," they replied. "We'll go wherever you send us. We'll listen and obey you in everything, just like we did with Moses. Only may the LORD your God be with you, just as he was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against what you say and doesn't listen to your words regarding everything that you command will be executed. Only be strong and courageous."
giving orders to the people. They said, "When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then get up, leave where you are, and follow it.
After this, Joshua instructed the priests, "Take up the Ark of the Covenant and cross over ahead of the people." So they took up the Ark of the Covenant and went on ahead of the people.
Give this command to the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant: "When you arrive at the water of the Jordan River, stand still in the Jordan.'"
At that time the LORD told Joshua, "Make for yourselves some flint knives and circumcise the Israelis who haven't been circumcised yet."
While the Israelis remained encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover during the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.
At this, Joshua tore his clothes, fell down to the ground on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening he and the leaders of Israel and they covered their heads with dust.
At this, Joshua tore his clothes, fell down to the ground on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening he and the leaders of Israel and they covered their heads with dust.
He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until dusk, and at sunset Joshua ordered his body brought down from the tree and laid at the entrance to the gate of the town. There he raised over it a large mound of stones, which stands there to this day. Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, just the way Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelis in the Book of the Law of Moses: ""an altar of uncut stones that hasn't been worked with iron tools"" and they offered burnt offerings to the LORD on it, along with peace offerings.
just the way Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelis in the Book of the Law of Moses: ""an altar of uncut stones that hasn't been worked with iron tools"" and they offered burnt offerings to the LORD on it, along with peace offerings.
just the way Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelis in the Book of the Law of Moses: ""an altar of uncut stones that hasn't been worked with iron tools"" and they offered burnt offerings to the LORD on it, along with peace offerings.
just the way Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelis in the Book of the Law of Moses: ""an altar of uncut stones that hasn't been worked with iron tools"" and they offered burnt offerings to the LORD on it, along with peace offerings. There Joshua inscribed on stones a copy of the Law of Moses that Moses had presented to the Israelis. read more. All Israel, both foreigners and citizens, together with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on opposite sides of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD. Half stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half stood in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the LORD's servant had commanded at the first, so that they could bless the people of Israel. Afterwards, Joshua read all the words of the Law both the blessings and the curses according to everything written in the Book of the Law.
The Israelis did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had made an oath with them in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the entire congregation grumbled against their leaders. Then all of the leaders spoke to the entire congregation, "We have sworn to them in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them. read more. So this is what we'll do to them: we'll let them live, so that wrath won't come upon us because of the oath that we swore to them." The leaders told them, "Let them live." So they became wood cutters and water carriers for the entire congregation, which is what the leaders had decided concerning them.
When evening had come, Joshua gave a command to remove the bodies from the gallows and bury them in the cave where they had hidden. The army sealed the mouth of the cave with large stones that remain there to this very day.
This is what the Israelis inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Nun's son Joshua, and the heads of the families of the Israelis allotted to them as an inheritance
Then he went up from there to attack the inhabitants of Debir. (Debir was formerly known as Kiriath-sepher.)
Hepher's son Zelophehad, grandson of Gilead and great-grandson of Manasseh's son Machir had no sons, only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
After this, the entire assembly of the Israelis gathered together at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there, where the land lay conquered before them.
He may run to one of those cities, stand at the entrance to the city gate, and tell his side of the story to the elders of the city. They are to bring him inside the city with them and provide him a place to live among them.
He is to live in that city until he stands trial before the community, until the death of the one who is high priest at that time. Then the killer may return to his own city and to his own home, that is, to the city from which he fled."
These were appointed to be cities for all the Israelis and for the foreigner who lives among them, so that whoever kills anyone unintentionally may run there and not die at the hands of a closely related avenger until he stands for trial before the community.
Then the family leaders of the descendants of Levi approached Eleazar the priest and Nun's son Joshua, along with the family leaders of the people of Israel.
The descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the officials of the tribes of Israel,
If we have built an altar for ourselves intended to turn us away from following the LORD, or to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself demand an accounting from us!
but instead it will serve as a reminder between us and you and between our generations after us, that we are to serve the LORD with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings. That way your descendants will not say to our descendants in the future, "You have no allotment from the LORD."'
May we never rebel against the LORD today by building an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifice to replace the altar of the LORD our God which stands before his Tent."'" When Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the community, and the heads of the families of Israel who were with him heard what the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the descendants of Manasseh said, they were pleased.
Many years later, after the LORD had given peace between Israel and all its surrounding enemies, and after Joshua had become very old,
Stand very strong, then, so you can obey and carry out everything written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning neither to the right nor to the left of it.
Stand very strong, then, so you can obey and carry out everything written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning neither to the right nor to the left of it.
The LORD replied, "The tribe of Judah is to lead you. Look! I've given the land into their control."
The descendants of the Kenites, the tribe from which Moses' father-in-law came, accompanied the descendants of Judah from the city of the palms to the Judean wilderness, which is in the desert area south of Arad, and lived with the people there.
They gave Hebron to Caleb, just as Moses had promised, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there.
The army of the tribe of Joseph scouted out Bethel, which had been formerly named Luz.
Some time later, the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim and announced to Israel, "I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land that I promised to your ancestors. I had told them, "I'll never breach my covenant with you.
Some time later, the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim and announced to Israel, "I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land that I promised to your ancestors. I had told them, "I'll never breach my covenant with you. As for you, you must not make any treaties with the inhabitants of this land. Instead, tear down their altars.' But you haven't obeyed me. What have you done? read more. Therefore I'm now saying, "I won't expel them before you. Instead, they'll remain at your side, and their gods will ensnare you.'"
After that whole generation had died, another generation grew up after them that was not acquainted with the LORD or with what he had done for Israel. So the Israelis practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by worshiping Canaanite deities. read more. They abandoned the LORD God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the nations who surrounded them. They bowed down in worship of them, and by doing so angered the LORD.
In his burning anger against Israel, the LORD said, "Because the people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep, and because they haven't obeyed me,
LORD, when you left Seir, when you marched out from the grain field of Edom, the earth quaked and the heavens poured out rain; indeed, the clouds poured out water. Mountains tremble at the presence of the LORD even Sinai! at the presence of the LORD God of Israel.
the LORD sent a man who was a prophet to the Israelis and told them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "I was the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, delivering you from the house of servitude. I delivered you from the domination of Egypt and from the domination of all of your oppressors, expelling them right in front of you and giving their land to you. read more. I told you, "I am the LORD your God. You are not to fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you'll be living."' But you haven't obeyed what I said."
But Gideon replied, "Right" Sir, if the LORD is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? And where are all of his miraculous works that our ancestors recounted to us when they said, "The LORD brought us up from Egypt, didn't he?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us over to Midian!"
Then the men of Israel asked Gideon, "Rule over us you, your son, and your grandsons because you have delivered us from Midian's domination." But Gideon told them, "I won't rule over you and my son won't rule over you. The LORD will rule you."
Gideon crafted the booty into an ephod and enshrined it in his home town of Ophrah. Then all of Israel committed spiritual adultery with it there, and it became a snare for Gideon and his household.
and they informed him, "This is Jephthah's response: "Israel didn't seize the land of Moab nor the land of the Ammonites. Here's what happened: When Israel came up from Egypt, passed through the desert to the Red Sea, and arrived at Kadesh, read more. Israel sent a delegation to the king of Edom and asked him, "Please let us pass through your territory." "But the king of Edom wouldn't listen. So they also sent word to the king of Moab, but he wouldn't consent, either. So Israel stayed at Kadesh. Then they went through the desert, circumventing the territory belonging to Edom and Moab. They encamped on the other side of the Arnon River, but never entered the territory of Moab because the Arnon River is the border of Moab. "Then Israel sent a delegation to Sihon, king of the Amorites and king of Heshbon. Israel requested of him, "Please let us pass through your territory to our place." But Sihon didn't trust Israel to pass through his territory, so he assembled his entire army, encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. The LORD God of Israel handed Sihon and his entire army into the control of Israel, and defeated them. As a result, Israel took control over the entire land of the Amorites, who were living in that country. They took possession of the entire territory of the Amorites from the Arnon River as far as the Jabbok River and from the desert as far as the Jordan River. "Now then, since the LORD God of Israel expelled the Amorites right in front of his people Israel, are you going to control their territory? Don't you control what your god Chemosh gives you? In the same way, we'll take control of whomever the LORD our God has driven out in front of us. Also ask yourselves: do you have a better case than Zippor's son Balak, king of Moab? Did he ever have a quarrel with Israel or ever win a fight against them? When Israel was living in Heshbon and its surrounding villages, in Aroer and its surrounding villages, and in all the cities that line the banks of the Arnon River these past three hundred years, why didn't you retake them during that time? I haven't sinned against you, but you are acting wrongly against me by declaring war on me. May the LORD, the Judge, sit in judgment today between the Israelis and the Ammonites.'"
His father and mother asked him, "Isn't there a woman suitable among the daughters of your relatives or among all of our people, since you're going to get your wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?"
Aferward, he became thirsty, called out to the LORD, and told him, "So, you provided this great deliverance at the hands of your servant, but now I'm to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"
This man Micah had his own shrine, had crafted his own ephod and some household idols, and had installed one of his sons as a priest.
A young male descendant of Levi happened to be visiting there from Bethlehem in the territory of Judah. The man had left his city Bethlehem in Judah to live wherever he could. As he traveled along, he eventually arrived at Micah's house in the mountainous region of Ephraim, looking for work. read more. Micah asked him, "Where did you come from?" He replied, "I'm a descendant of Levi from Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm going to stay temporarily wherever I can find a place." So Micah replied, "Come live with me! You can be a spiritual father to me, as well as a priest. I'll pay you ten silver coins a year, plus a priestly uniform and an income." So the descendant of Levi moved in. The descendant of Levi agreed to live with the man, and the young man became like one of the family. Micah set up the descendant of Levi in ministry, and the young man became his priest while he lived in Micah's house. As for Micah, he kept saying, "Now I know the LORD will make me rich, because I have a descendant of Levi for a priest!"
Then the five men who had gone to scout out the territory of Laish told their relatives, "Are you aware that in these houses there's an ephod, some household idols, a carved image, and a cast image? You know what you need to do." So they turned aside from there, went to Micah's house, and greeted him. read more. While the 600 Danite soldiers, armed with military weapons, stood guard at the entrance to the gate, the five men who had gone to scout out the land arrived, entered Micah's home and confiscated the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the cast image. Meanwhile, the priest stood outside by the entrance to the gate with the 600 men armed with military weapons.
Micah's carved image, that he himself had crafted, was in place during the entire time that God's tent was set up at Shiloh.
Now it happened in those days, before there was a king in Israel, that a certain male descendant of Levi, who lived in a remote part of the mountainous region of Ephraim, took a mistress for himself from Bethlehem in the territory of Judah. But his mistress was sexually unfaithful to him, and then she left him to live in her father's home in Bethlehem in the territory of Judah. She had been living there for a period of about four months
The officials of the entire nation, including every tribe of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God: 400,000 foot soldiers, all of them expert swordsmen.
So I grabbed my mistress, cut her in pieces, and sent her remains throughout the territory of Israel's inheritance, because they've committed a vile, stupid outrage in Israel.
Now then, hand over the men those ungodly men, and we'll execute them in order to remove this evil from Israel."
The Israelis mounted up, traveled to Bethel, and asked God what to do. They said, "Who is to lead us in our opening attack against the descendants of Benjamin?" The LORD replied, "Judah is to open the attack."
From there the Israelis went up and wept in the LORD's presence until evening. Then they asked the LORD, "Should we attack the descendants of Benjamin again?" The LORD replied, "Attack them."
All the Israelis, including its army, went up from there to Bethel and wept, remaining there in the LORD's presence, fasting throughout the day until dusk, when they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the LORD's presence. The Israelis inquired of the LORD, since the Ark of the Covenant was there at that time read more. while Eleazar's son Phinehas, a descendant of Aaron, served before it in those days. They asked, "Should we go out to war again against the descendants of our relative Benjamin, or shall we cease?" And the LORD answered, "Go out, and tomorrow I will deliver them into your control."
Now the sons of Eli were worthless men who did not know the LORD. The custom of the priests with the people was that whenever a person offered a sacrifice, a servant of the priest would come with a three pronged fork in his hand while the meat was boiling, and read more. he would stick it into the boiler or pot, and take everything the fork brought up that is, the priest would take it for himself. This is what they were supposed to do with all the Israelis who came there to Shiloh.
His mother would make a small robe for him, and she would bring it each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
Now Eli was very old, and he had heard everything that his sons were doing to the Israelis, and how they lay with the women who were serving regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
The lamp of God had not yet been extinguished, and Samuel was lying down in the tent of the LORD where the Ark of God was.
Therefore I've sworn concerning Eli's family that the iniquity of his family is not to be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever."
When the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why did the LORD defeat us today when we fought the Philistines? Let's take the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so it may go with us and deliver us from the power of our enemies." So the people sent word to Shiloh and took away from there the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, who sits above the cherubim.
How terrible for us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert.
How terrible for us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert.
When he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backwards by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, since he was old and heavy. Eli had judged Israel for 40 years.
She had named the boy Ichabod,saying, "Glory has departed from Israel," because the Ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and husband were dead. She said, "Glory has departed from Israel, because the Ark of God has been captured."
When the people of Ashdod got up the next morning, there was Dagon, lying on the ground in front of the Ark of the LORD. They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But when they got up the next morning, there was Dagon, lying on the ground again in front of the Ark of the LORD. Dagon's head and both of his arms were broken off and lying on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left intact. read more. This is why neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. The LORD heavily oppressed the people of Ashdod, devastating and afflicting Ashdod and its territories with tumors of the groin. When the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, "Don't let the Ark of the God of Israel stay with us, because he is severely attacking us and our god Dagon."
The descendants of Levi took down the Ark of the LORD, along with the box that was with it, containing the objects of gold, and they put them on the large stone. The men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD that day.
God struck down the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the Ark of the LORD. He struck down 50,070 men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD struck down the people with a great slaughter.
God struck down the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the Ark of the LORD. He struck down 50,070 men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD struck down the people with a great slaughter.
He would return to Ramah because his house was there, and judged Israel from there. He also built an altar to the LORD there.
His sons did not follow Samuel's example. Instead, they pursued dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.
They told him, "Look, you're old, and your sons don't follow your example. So appoint a king to govern us like all the other nations." Samuel was displeased when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." So Samuel prayed to the LORD.
Like all the things they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this very day, they have forsaken me and followed other gods. They're also doing the same thing to you.
When you come into town you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people don't eat until he arrives, because he must bless the sacrifice and then after that those who are invited will eat. So go up right now because you can find him now."
You are to go down ahead of me to Gilgal, and then I'll come down to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You are to wait seven days until I come to you to let you know what you are to do."
You are to go down ahead of me to Gilgal, and then I'll come down to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. You are to wait seven days until I come to you to let you know what you are to do."
So all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king in the LORD's presence in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings in the LORD's presence, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
After Jacob went to Egypt, and your ancestors cried out to the LORD, he sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering and the peace offering to me," and he offered the burnt offering.
Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering and the peace offering to me," and he offered the burnt offering. Just as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to meet and greet him.
Saul told the Kenites, "Withdraw from the Amalekites so that I don't destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelis when they departed from Egypt." So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites.
Samuel said, "How can I go? Saul will hear about this and kill me!" The LORD said, "Take a heifer with you and say, "I've come to offer a sacrifice to the LORD.' You are to invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I'll show you what you are to do. You are to anoint for me the one I tell you." read more. Samuel did what the LORD said and went to Bethlehem. The elders of the town came out to meet him trembling, and said, "May your coming be in peace." He said, "Peace, I've come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." Samuel consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
Now let your majesty listen to the words of his servant. If the LORD incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. But if it is people, may they be cursed in the LORD's presence, because they have driven me out today from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD by saying, "Go serve other gods.'
built an altar to the LORD there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD answered David's prayers for the land and the pestilence on Israel was averted.
by keeping the charge that the LORD your God entrusted to you. Live life his way, keep his statutes, his commands, his ordinances, and his testimonies, just as they're written down in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in everything you do and wherever you go,
The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to the LORD.
The king used to go to Gibeon to sacrifice, since there was a famous high place there, where Solomon once offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar.
During the month of Ziv, which was the second month of the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, 480 years after the Israelis left the land of Egypt, Solomon began to build the LORD's Temple.
The ark was empty except for the two stone tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb when the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelis after they had come out of the land of Egypt.
If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they'll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!" So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, "It's too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!"
Jeroboam invented a festival for the fifteenth day of the eighth month similar to the festival that takes place in Judah. He approached the altar that he had set up in Bethel and sacrificed to the calves that he had made, having stationed in Bethel the priests that he had appointed. Then, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, he went up to burn incense on the altar that he had set up in Bethel, thus beginning the festival that he had made up out of his own heart for the Israelis.
But Naboth replied to Ahab, "No way! The LORD prohibits the sale to you of the inheritance of my ancestors!"
Now there happened to be a certain woman who had been the wife of a member of the Guild of Prophets. She cried out to Elisha, "My husband who served you has died, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. But a creditor has come to take away my children into indentured servitude!"
Then he brought out the king's son, put the royal crown on him, presented him with the Testimony, and installed him as king. They anointed him, applauded, and said, "May the king live!"
Because the king of Assyria brought captives from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelis, the settlers possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.
So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria went to live in Bethel to teach them how they ought to fear the LORD.
He removed the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and tore down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted, because the Israelis had been burning incense to it right up until that time. Hezekiah called it a piece of brass.
because he depended on the LORD, not abandoning pursuit of him, and keeping the LORD's commands that he had commanded Moses.
Later on, Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, "I've discovered the Book of the Law in the LORD's Temple." Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he began to read it.
Later on, Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, "I've discovered the Book of the Law in the LORD's Temple." Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he began to read it. Shaphan the scribe reported to King Josiah, brought up the matter to him, and told him, "Your servants have distributed the money that was found in the Temple by giving it to the workmen who supervise the LORD's Temple." read more. Then Shaphan the scribe informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." Then Shaphan read from it in the king's presence. When the king heard what was written in the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes and issued these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan's son Ahikam, Micaiah's son Achbor, Shaphan the scribe, and the king's servant Asaiah: "Go ask the LORD for me, for the people, and for all of Judah about what's written in this book that has been discovered, because the LORD's anger is burning against us, since our ancestors have not listened to the words written in this book and have not lived according to everything that is written concerning us."
"Go ask the LORD for me, for the people, and for all of Judah about what's written in this book that has been discovered, because the LORD's anger is burning against us, since our ancestors have not listened to the words written in this book and have not lived according to everything that is written concerning us." So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Tikvah's son Shallum, the grandson of Harhas and supervisor of the royal wardrobe, who lived in the Second Quarter in Jerusalem. They spoke with her,
Nevertheless, tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask the LORD about this, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "Now about what you've heard, because your heart was sensitive, and you humbled yourself in the LORD's presence when you heard what I had to say against this place and against its inhabitants that they would become a desolation and a curse and you have torn your clothes and cried out before me, be assured that I have truly heard you,' declares the LORD.
At this, the king sent for and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The king went up to the LORD's Temple, accompanied by all the men of Judah, everyone who lived in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and everyone including those who were unimportant and those who were important and he read to them everything written in the Book of the Covenant that had been discovered in the LORD's Temple. read more. The king stood beside a pillar and made a covenant in the presence of the LORD: to follow after the LORD, to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all of his heart and soul, and to carry out what was written in the covenant contained in the book. All the people consented to enter into the covenant. The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the secondary order, and the doorkeepers to take out of the LORD's Temple all of the implements that had been crafted for Baal, for Asherah, and for every star in the heavens. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried the ashes to Bethel.
Kohath's descendants included Amminadab, his son Korah, his son Assir, his son Elkanah, his son Ebiasaph, his son Assir, read more. his son Tahath, his son Uriel, his son Uzziah, and his son Shaul. Elkanah's descendants included Amasai and Ahimoth, his son Elkanah, his son Zophai, his son Nahath, his son Eliab, his son Jeroham, and his son Elkanah. Samuel's descendants included Joel his firstborn and his second son Abijah.
Along with Zadok, one of Eleazar's descendants, and Ahimelech, one of Ithamar's descendants, David organized their service according to their assigned responsibilities.
They taught throughout Judah from a copy of the Book of the Law of the LORD that they took with them as they passed through all the cities of Judah, teaching among all the people.
But after he had become strong, in his arrogance he acted corruptly and became unfaithful to the LORD his God, and he dared to enter the LORD's Temple to burn incense on the incense altar. Azariah the priest ran after him, along with 80 of the LORD's valiant priests, read more. and they opposed King Uzziah. "Uzziah, it's not for you to burn incense to the LORD," they told him, "but for the priests to do, Aaron's descendants who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary now, because you have been unfaithful and won't receive any honor from the LORD God." Uzziah flew into a rage while he held in his hand a censer to burn incense. As he got angry at the priests, leprosy broke out all over his forehead right in front of the priests beside the incense altar in the LORD's Temple. So Azariah the chief priest and all the priests stared at Uzziah, who was infected with leprosy in his forehead! They all rushed at him and hurried him out of the Temple. Uzziah was in a hurry to get out anyway, because the LORD had struck him. King Uzziah remained a leper until the day he died. Because he was a leper, he lived in a separate residence and remained disqualified to enter the LORD's Temple. His son Jotham served in the royal palace, judging the people of the land.
While they were bringing out the money that had come in as gifts to the LORD's Temple, Hilkiah the priest discovered the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been handed down by Moses.
Josiah observed the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. He appointed priests to their offices, encouraging them in their service at the LORD's Temple. read more. He addressed the descendants of Levi who were teaching all Israel and who had consecrated themselves to the LORD, telling them:
Now slaughter the Passover, consecrate yourselves, and prepare your relatives to obey the command from the LORD given by Moses."
Furthermore, they established the priests in their divisions and the descendants of Levi in their positions for the service of God conducted at Jerusalem, as is proscribed in the Book of Moses.
left Babylon. He was a skillful scribe of the Law of Moses that the LORD God of Israel had given. And the king granted him everything he had requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.
Whoever would not come within three days would forfeit his assets and be separated from the community of the returning exiles, just as the high officials and elders had advised.
Ezra read from it, facing the plaza in front of the Water Gate, from early in the morning until mid-day in the presence of the men and women, as well as all who could understand. All the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
and Ezra continued to read from the Book of the Law of God day by day, from the first day through the last. They celebrated for seven days, and on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly according to regulation.
One of the sons of Eliashib the high priest's son Joiada was a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.
He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither. He will prosper in everything he does.
Offer sacrifices that are righteous, and put your confidence in the LORD. Many are asking, "Who will help us to see better days?" LORD, may the light of your favor shine upon us.
You gave him dominion over the work of your hands, you put all things under his feet: Sheep and cattle all of them, wild creatures of the field, read more. birds in the sky, fish in the sea whatever moves through the currents of the oceans.
As an avenger of blood, he remembers them; he has not forgotten the cry of the afflicted.
Those who hurry after another god will have many sorrows; I will not present their drink offerings of blood, nor will my lips speak their names. The LORD is my inheritance and my cup; you support my lot. read more. The boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places for me; truly, I have a beautiful heritage.
Protect me as the most precious part of the eye; hide me under the shadow of your wings
The earth and everything in it exists for the LORD the world and those who live in it.
Hear my prayer, LORD, pay attention to my cry, and do not ignore my tears. I am an alien in your presence, a stranger just like my ancestors were.
God arises, and his enemies are scattered. Those who hate him flee from his presence.
Sing to God! Sing praise to his name! Exalt the one who rides on the clouds. The LORD is his name. Be jubilant in his presence.
God, when you led out your people, when you marched through the desert, Interlude the land quaked. Indeed, the heavens poured down rain from the presence of God, this God of Sinai, from the presence of God, the God of Israel.
God's chariots were many thousands. The Lord was there with them at Sinai in holiness.
Shepherd of Israel, listen! The one who leads Joseph like a flock, the one enthroned on the cherubim, display your glory.
No one can compare with you among the gods, Lord; No one can accomplish your work.
God, arrogant men rise up against me, while a company of ruthless individuals want to kill me. They do not have regard for you. But you, Lord, are a compassionate God, merciful and patient, with unending gracious love and faithfulness.
Yet the LORD's gracious love remains throughout eternity for those who fear him and his righteous acts extend to their children's children, to those who keep his covenant and to those who remember to observe his precepts.
The LORD took an oath and will never recant: "You are a priest forever, after the manner of Melchizedek."
It is like precious oil on the head, descending to the beard even to Aaron's beard and flowing down to the edge of his robes.
Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the first of all your produce,
She is a tree of life for those who embrace her, and whoever clutches her tightly will be joyful.
Whoever conceals hatred is a deceitful liar, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
The LORD hates false scales, but he delights in accurate weights.
Whoever spreads gossip betrays secrets, but the trustworthy person keeps a confidence.
False weights and measures the LORD surely detests both of them.
The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not good.
Therefore, as flames of fire devour straw, as dry grass collapses in flames, so their root will be rotten, and their blossom will blow away like dust, because they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Or when they give the book to someone who cannot read, and say, "Read this, please,' he answers, "I don't know how to read.'"
For they are a rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to hear the LORD's instruction.
This message from the LORD came to me: "Go and announce to Jerusalem: "This is what the LORD says: "I remember the loyal devotion of your youth, your love as a bride. You followed me in the desert, in a land that was not planted. read more. Israel was consecrated to the LORD, she was the first fruits of his produce. All who devoured her became guilty and disaster came on them," declares the LORD.'" Listen to this message from the LORD, you descendants of Jacob and all the families of the descendants of Israel. This is what the LORD says: "What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless? "They didn't ask, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don't pass through, and where no one lives?'
"They didn't ask, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don't pass through, and where no one lives?' "I brought you into the fruitful land to eat its fruit and its good things. But you came in, defiled my land, and made my inheritance into an abomination. read more. "The priests didn't say, "Where is the LORD?' and those handling the Law didn't know me. The rulers transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they followed that which does not profit.
"The priests didn't say, "Where is the LORD?' and those handling the Law didn't know me. The rulers transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they followed that which does not profit.
"But where are your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them rise up, if they can deliver you in the time of your trouble. You have as many gods as you have towns, Judah.
People of Israel, I'm now bringing a nation from far away to attack you," declares the LORD. "It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know. And you won't understand what they say.
How can you say, "We're wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,' when, in fact, the deceitful pen of the scribe has made it into something that deceives.
They've treated mothers and fathers among you with contempt. They've oppressed the foreigner among you. They've maltreated the orphan and the widow among you. """You have despised my sacred things and profaned my Sabbaths. read more. Slanderous men live among you, intent on shedding blood. They've eaten at the top of mountain shrines. They've crafted plans to do evil things among you. They've revealed the nakedness of their father in your midst. They've humiliated those among you who were unclean due to their impurity. One of you commits detestable practices with his neighbor's wife. Another sexually defiles his daughter-in-law. Another humiliates his sister, his own father's daughter. They take bribes among you to shed blood. You've taken usury and exacted interest. You've gained control over your neighbor through extortion. And you've forgotten me," declares the Lord GOD.
Her priests have violated my Law and profaned my sacred things. They didn't differentiate between what's sacred and what's common. They didn't instruct others to discern clean from unclean things. They refused to keep my Sabbaths.
There I will restore her vineyards to her, and the Valley of Achor will become a doorway to hope. There she will respond as she did in her youth, when she came up from Egypt."
My people are destroyed because they lack knowledge of me. Because you rejected that knowledge, I will reject you as a priest for me. Since you forget the Law of your God, I will also forget your children.
"But like Adam, they broke the covenant; in this they have acted deceitfully against me.
"Sound the ram's horn! Like a vulture the enemy will come against the Temple of the LORD, because Israel violated my covenant, transgressing my Law.
I prescribed great things from my Law for them, but they considered them profane.
"When Israel was a young child I loved him, and from Egypt I called my son.
He circumvented his brother in the womb, and as an adult he fought with God. He even fought the angel and won; he cried and prayed to him. Then at Bethel he found him, and there he spoke with us
This is what the LORD says: "For three transgressions of Judah and now for a fourth I will not turn away; because they rejected the Law of the LORD and did not keep his statutes. Their own lies made them wander off, following along the same path their ancestors walked.
Furthermore, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, leading you in the wilderness for 40 years, to take possession of the land of the Amorites. I also raised up your sons to be prophets, and from your young men I raised up Nazirites. Is this not true, people of Israel?" declares the LORD. read more. "But you forced the Nazirites to drink wine, and commanded the prophets, "You are not to prophesy!'
"Listen to this message that the LORD has spoken about you, people of Israel. It concerns the entire family that I brought from the land of Egypt:
"because on that day I will lay out the charges against Israel. I will also bring judgment upon the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and will fall to the ground.
"Come to Bethel and sin, to Gilgal and sin even more! Bring along your morning sacrifices, and pay your tithes every other day. While you're at it, present a thank offering with leaven, and publicize your freewill offerings, letting everyone hear about it, because this is what you really love to do, you Israelis," declares the Lord GOD.
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and ransomed you from the house of slavery, sending Moses, Aaron, and Miriam into your presence. "My people, recall how king Balak of Moab deliberated, and how Beor's son Balaam counseled him from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteousness of the LORD."
Use your rod to shepherd your people, the flock that belongs to you, that lives alone in the forest of Carmel. Let them find pasture in Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago.
You will remain true to Jacob, and merciful to Abraham, as you promised our ancestors long ago.
But he answered, "It is written, "One must not live on bread alone, but on every word coming out of the mouth of God.'"
Jesus responded to him, "It is also written, "You must not tempt the Lord your God.'"
Then Jesus told him, "Go away, Satan! Because it is written, "You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'"
Then some Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked, "Why do your disciples disregard the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands when they eat." read more. But he answered them, "Why do you also disregard the commandment of God because of your tradition? Because God said, "You are to honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever curses father or mother must certainly be put to death.' But you say, "Whoever tells his father or his mother, "Whatever support you might have received from me has been given to God," does not have to honor his father.' Because of your tradition, then, you have disregarded the authority of God's word. You hypocrites! How well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is empty, because they teach human rules as doctrines.'"
He answered them, "Haven't you read that the one who made them at the beginning "made them male and female' and said, "That is why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?
They asked him, "Why, then, did Moses order us "to give a certificate of divorce and divorce her'?" He told them, "It was because of your hardness of heart that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not this way.
Jesus answered them, "You are mistaken because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power,
All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments."
But Jesus told them, "It was because of your hardness of heart that he wrote this command for you.
and the two will become one flesh.' So they're no longer two, but one flesh.
As for the dead being raised, haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
"Abraham said, "They have Moses and the Prophets. They should listen to them!'
"Then Abraham told him, "If your brothers do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone were to rise from the dead.'"
and asked him, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, the man should marry the widow and have children for his brother.
Even Moses demonstrated in the story about the bush that the dead are raised, when he calls the Lord, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'
Then, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them all the passages of Scripture about himself.
Then, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them all the passages of Scripture about himself.
Then he told them, "These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms had to be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds so that they might understand the Scriptures.
because while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus the Messiah.
Do not suppose that I will be the one to accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope, because if you believed Moses, you would believe me, since he wrote about me.
So they collected and filled twelve baskets full of pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women to death. What do you say?"
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day, and he saw it and was glad."
In fact, Moses said,
I've had help from God to this day, and so I stand here to testify to both the powerful and the lowly alike, stating only what the prophets and Moses said would happen
Tell me, those of you who want to live under the Law: Are you really listening to what the Law says?
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did, and by faith he was declared to be righteous, since God himself accepted his offerings. And by faith he continues to speak, even though he is dead.
All these people died having faith. They did not receive the things that were promised, yet they saw them in the distant future and welcomed them, acknowledging that they were strangers and foreigners on earth. For people who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own. read more. If they had been thinking about what they had left behind, they would have had an opportunity to go back. Instead, they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh's daughter, because he preferred being mistreated with God's people to enjoying the pleasures of sin for a short time. read more. He thought that being insulted for the sake of the Messiah was of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, without being afraid of the king's anger, and he persevered because he saw the one who is invisible.
Hastings
Morish
The Greek name given to the first five books of the O.T., which are also called 'the five books of Moses.' The many references to and quotations from them in other parts of the scripture, and allusions to them by Christ under the name of Moses, show plainly that Moses was the inspired writer of them, except of course the small portion that records his death and burial. See MOSES.
Watsons
PENTATEUCH. This word, which is derived from the Greek ???????????, from ?????, five, and ??????, a volume, signifies the collection of the five books of Moses, which are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. That the Jews have acknowledged the authenticity of the Pentateuch, from the present time back to the era of their return from the Babylonish captivity, a period of more than two thousand three hundred years, admits not a possibility of doubt. The five books of Moses have been during that period constantly placed at the head of the Jewish sacred volume, and divided into fixed portions, one of which was read and explained in their synagogues, not only every Sabbath with the other Scriptures, but in many places twice a week, and not unfrequently every evening, when they alone were read. They have been received as divinely inspired by every Jewish sect, even by the Sadducees, who questioned the divinity of the remaining works of the Old Testament. In truth, the veneration of the Jews for their Scriptures, and above all for the Pentateuch, seems to have risen almost to a superstitious reverence. Extracts from the Mosaic law were written on pieces of parchment, and placed on the borders of their garments, or round their wrists and foreheads: nay, they at a later period counted, with the minutest exactness, not only the chapters and paragraphs, but the words and letters, which each book of their Scriptures contains. Thus also the translation, first of the Pentateuch, and afterward of the remaining works of the Old Testament, into Greek, for the use of the Alexandrian Jews, disseminated this sacred volume over a great part of the civilized world, in the language most universally understood, and rendered it accessible to the learned and inquisitive in every country; so as to preclude all suspicion that it could be materially altered by either Jews or Christians, to support their respective opinions as to the person and character of the Messiah; the substance of the text being, by this translation, fixed and authenticated at least two hundred and seventy years before the appearance of our Lord.
But, long previous to the captivity, two particular examples, deserving peculiar attention, occur in the Jewish history, of the public and solemn homage paid to the sacredness of the Mosaic law as promulgated in the Pentateuch; and which, by consequence, afford the fullest testimony to the authenticity of the Pentateuch itself: the one in the reign of Hezekiah, while the separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel still subsisted; and the other in the reign of his great grandson Josiah, subsequent to the captivity of Israel. In the former we see the pious monarch of Judah assembling the priests and Levites and the rulers of the people; to deplore with him the trespasses of their fathers against the divine law, to acknowledge the justice of those chastisements which, according to the prophetic warnings of that law, had been inflicted upon them; to open the house of God which his father had impiously shut, and restore the true worship therein according to the Mosaic ritual, 2Ki 18; 2Ch 29; 30; with the minutest particulars of which he complied, in the sin-offerings and the peace- offerings which, in conjunction with his people, he offered for the kingdom and the sanctuary and the people, to make atonement to God for them and for all Israel; restoring the service of God as it had been performed in the purest times. "And Hezekiah," says the sacred narrative, "rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people; for the thing was done suddenly," 2Ch 29:36; immediately on the king's accession to the throne, on the first declaration of his pious resolution. How clear a proof does this exhibit of the previous existence and clearly acknowledged authority of those laws which the Pentateuch contains!
But a yet more remarkable part of this transaction still remains. At this time Hoshea was king of Israel, and so far disposed to countenance the worship of the true God, that he appears to have made no opposition to the pious zeal of Hezekiah; who, with the concurrence of the whole congregation which he had assembled, sent out letters and made a proclamation, not only to his own people of Judah, 2Ch 30:1, "but to Ephraim and Manasseh and all Israel, from Beersheba even unto Dan, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel; saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to the remnant of you who are escaped out of the hands of the kings of Assyria; and be not ye like your fathers and your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see. Now be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were; but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary which he hath sanctified for ever, and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun," 2Ch 30:6, &c.
Now, can we conceive that such an attempt as this could have been made, if the Pentateuch containing the Mosaic code had not been as certainly recognised through the ten tribes of Israel as in the kingdom of Judah? The success was exactly such as we might reasonably expect if it were so acknowledged; for, though many of the ten tribes laughed to scorn and mocked the messengers of Hezekiah, who invited them to the solemnity of the passover, from the impious contempt which through long disuse they had conceived for it. "Nevertheless," says the sacred narrative, "divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem; and there assembled at Jerusalem much people, to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation; and they killed the passover, and the priests and Levites stood in their places after their manner, according to the law of Moses, the man of God. So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like at Jerusalem: and when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all," 2Ch 30:11; 31. Can any clearer proof than this be desired of the constant and universal acknowledgment of the divine authority of the Pentateuch throughout the entire nation of the Jews, notwithstanding the idolatries and corruptions which so often prevented its receiving such obedience as that acknowledgment ought to have produced? The argument from this certain antiquity of the Pentateuch, a copy of which existed in the old Samaritan character as well as in the modern Hebrew, is most conclusive as to the numerous prophecies of Christ, and the future and present condition of the Jews which it contains. These are proved to have been delivered many ages before they were accomplished; they could be only the result of divine prescience, and the uttering of them by Moses proves therefore the inspiration and the authority of his writings. See LAW, and See MOSES.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Hezekiah and all of the people were ecstatic with joy because of what God had done for the people, since everything had come about so suddenly.
Hezekiah also sent word to all of Israel and Judah, and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem to observe the Passover to the LORD God of Israel.
Couriers were sent throughout all of Israel and Judah with letters written by the king and his princes, just as the king had commanded:
Nevertheless, a few men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and traveled to Jerusalem.