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/leb'>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
And Yahweh said to Moses, "Write this [as] a memorial in the scroll and {recite it in the hearing of} Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens."
And Moses came, and he told the people all the words of Yahweh and all the regulations. And all the people answered with one voice, and they said, "All the words that Yahweh has spoken we will do." And Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh, and he rose early in the morning, and he built an altar at the base of the mountain and [set up] twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.
And he took the scroll of the covenant and read [it] in the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that Yahweh has spoken we will do, and we will listen."
And Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go, go down because your people behave corruptly, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt. They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them; they have made for themselves a cast-image bull calf, and they bowed to it, and they sacrificed to it, and they said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.'" read more. And Yahweh said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and, indeed, they [are] a stiff-necked people. And now leave me [alone] so that {my anger may blaze} against them, and let me destroy them, and I will make you into a great nation."
{And} the next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." And Moses returned to Yahweh, and he said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin and made for themselves gods of gold. read more. And now if you will forgive their sin--and if not, please blot me from your scroll that you have written." And Yahweh said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot him from my scroll. And now go, lead the people to where I spoke to you. Look, my angel will go before you, and on the day [when] I punish I will punish them [for] their sin."
And Yahweh said to Moses, "Write for yourself these words, because {according to} these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."
These are the rules and the regulations and the laws that Yahweh gave between himself and the {Israelites} on {Mount Sinai} {through} Moses.
These [are] the commands that Yahweh commanded Moses for the {Israelites} on {Mount Sinai}.
So Moses wrote this law, and he gave it to the priests, the descendants of Levi, the [ones] carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.
{And then when Moses finished writing} the words of this law on the scroll {until they were complete}, then Moses commanded the Levites carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, {saying},
And the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho.
And the {Israelites} camped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho.
as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the {Israelites}, as [it is] written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn stones [on] which no one has {wielded} an iron implement." And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings. And there Joshua wrote on the stones copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the {Israelites}.
So then, do not leave him unpunished, for you [are] a wise man, and you will know what you must do to him. You must bring his grey hair down to Sheol with blood."
For they had not kept this Passover from the days of the judges who had judged over Israel {or} [during] the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
{as was the daily requirement}, to offer up according to the commandments of Moses for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the three {annual} feasts: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.
And Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers the priests stood up, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers built the altar of the God of Israel, in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.
Then they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their sections for the work of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. On the fourteenth day of the first month the returned exiles observed the Passover feast. read more. For the priests and Levites together had consecrated themselves; all of them were clean. And they slaughtered the Passover sacrifice for all of the returned exiles, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. The {Israelites} who returned from the exile and all those who separated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the earth to seek Yahweh the God of Israel, ate. With joy they celebrated the festival of unleavened bread [for] seven days, because Yahweh had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them in order to help them with the work of their hands on the house of the God of Israel.
this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Yahweh the God of Israel gave. The king granted him all his requests, for the hand of Yahweh was upon him.
All of the people gathered as one to the public square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that Yahweh had commanded Israel.
For I did not speak with your ancestors, nor did I command them in the day of bringing them out from the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offering and sacrifice.
"And all Israel transgressed your law and turned aside [so as] not to listen to your voice, and [so] the curse and the oath which [was] written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.
Just as [it is] written in the law of Moses, all of this calamity has come upon us, and {we have not implored} the face of Yahweh our God [so as] to turn from our iniquities and to attend closely to your faithfulness.
"Remember the instruction of my servant Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb to all Israel, the rules and regulations.
"Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy [them] but to fulfill [them]. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one tiny letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all takes place.
He said to them, "Moses, with reference to your hardness of heart, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not like this.
saying, "Teacher, Moses said if someone dies without having children, his brother is to marry his wife and {father} descendants for his brother.
Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, who said, "I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob"? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living!"
saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses.
Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."
Now concerning the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses {in the passage about the bush} how God spoke to him, saying, 'I [am] the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'?
But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.'"
But that the dead are raised, even Moses revealed in [the passage about] the bush, when he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and [the] God of Isaac and [the] God of Jacob.
Was it not necessary [that] the Christ suffer these [things] and enter into his glory?" And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.
And he said to them, "These [are] my words that I spoke to you [while I] was still with you, that everything that is written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."
And just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, thus it is necessary [that] the Son of Man be lifted up,
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father! The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope! For if you had believed Moses, you would believe me, for that one wrote about me. read more. But if you do not believe that one's writings, how will you believe my words?"
Then Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven!
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.
Has not Moses given you the law, and none of you carries out the law? Why do you seek to kill me?"
Because of this Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
For Moses has those who proclaim him in every city from ancient generations, [because he] is read aloud in the synagogues on every Sabbath."
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/leb'>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/leb'>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
And God said, "Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every moving thing that moves upon the earth."
And God said, "Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every moving thing that moves upon the earth." So God created humankind in his image, in the likeness of God he created him, male and female he created them. read more. And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven, and over every animal that moves upon the earth."
when Yahweh God formed the man [of] dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. read more. And Yahweh God caused to grow every tree [that] was pleasing to the sight and good for food. And the tree of life [was] in the midst of the garden, {along with} the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And Yahweh God caused to grow every tree [that] was pleasing to the sight and good for food. And the tree of life [was] in the midst of the garden, {along with} the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river flowed out from Eden that watered the garden, and from there it diverged and became four branches. read more. The name of the first [is] the Pishon. It went around all the land of Havilah, where [there is] gold. (The gold of that land [is] good; bdellium and onyx stones [are] there.) And the name of the second [is] Gihon. It went around all the land of Cush. And the name of the third [is] Tigris. It flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river [is] the Euphrates. And Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, "From every tree of the garden {you may freely eat}, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day {that you eat} from it {you shall surely die}."
Then Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you [will be] cursed more than any domesticated animal and more than any wild animal. On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
And {your lifeblood} I will require; from {every animal} I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of [each] man to his brother I will require the life of humankind.
And Melchizedek, the king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. (He was the priest of God Most High).
And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them." And he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
And the fourth generation shall return here, for the guilt of the Amorites {is not yet complete}."
And the men who [were] at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance.
And afterward his brother came out, and his hand grasped the heel of Esau, so his name was called Jacob. And Isaac {was sixty years old} at their birth.
And he arrived at a [certain] place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. And he took [one] of the stones of the place and put [it] under his head and slept at that place.
And [why] did you not give me opportunity to kiss my grandsons and my daughters [goodbye]? Now you have behaved foolishly [by] doing [this].
And Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the dawn.
And while Israel was living in that land Reuben went and had sexual relations with Bilhah, his father's concubine. And Israel heard [about it].
Now these [are] the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah--he [is] Anah who found the hot springs in the desert while he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father.
And his master observed that Yahweh [was] with him, and everything that [was] in his hand to do Yahweh made successful.
The chief of the prison {did not worry about} anything in his hand, since Yahweh [was] with him. And whatever he did Yahweh made [it] successful.
Then each said to his brother, "Surely we [are] guilty on account of our brother when we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded for mercy to us and we would not listen. Therefore this trouble has come to us."
Surely if we had not hesitated by this [time] we would have returned twice."
And Israel said to Joseph, "I did not expect to see your face and behold, God has also shown me your offspring."
Unstable as water, you shall not excel [any longer], for you went up upon the bed of your father, then defiled [it]. You went up upon my couch!
Let not my person be joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and at their pleasure they hamstrung cattle.
Judah, [as for] you, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand [shall be] on the neck of your enemies. The sons of your father shall bow down to you.
And they made their lives bitter with hard work with mortar and with bricks and with all [sorts] of work in the field--with all their work in which they ruthlessly enslaved them.
But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him, and she coated it with tar and with pitch, and she placed the boy in it, and she placed [it] among the reeds on the bank of the Nile.
And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face because he was afraid of looking at God.
"You must no longer give straw to the people to make the bricks like {before}. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the quota of the bricks that they [were] making {before} {you must require of them}. You must not reduce from it, because they [are] lazy. Therefore they [are] crying out, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'
And now go, work, but straw will not be given to you, and you must give the full quota of bricks."
{And} when you come into the land that Yahweh will give to you, as he said, you will keep this {religious custom}. {And} when your children say to you, 'What [is] this {religious custom} for you?' read more. you will say, 'It [is] a Passover sacrifice for Yahweh, who passed over the houses of the {Israelites} in Egypt when he struck Egypt; and he delivered our houses.'" And the people knelt down and they worshiped.
And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Consecrate to me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the {Israelites}, among humans and among domestic animals; {it belongs to me}." read more. And Moses said to the people, "Remember this day when you went out from Egypt, from a house of slaves, because with strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from here, and [food with] yeast will not be eaten. Today you are going out in the month of Abib. And when Yahweh brings you to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites--which he swore to your ancestors to give to you, a land flowing with milk and honey--you will perform this service in this month.
And Yahweh was going before them by day in a column of cloud to lead them [on] the way and [by] night in a column of fire to give light to them to go by day and night.
Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh? Who is like you--glorious in holiness, awesome [in] praiseworthy actions, doing wonders?
And when it was the sixth day, they gathered twice [as much] bread, two omers for one [person], and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses.
And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, and go out, fight against Amalek tomorrow. I [will be] standing on the top of the hill, and the staff of God [will be] in my hand."
And Yahweh said to Moses, "Write this [as] a memorial in the scroll and {recite it in the hearing of} Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens."
And Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, took Zipporah the wife of Moses after her sending away,
Surely you will wear out, both you and this people who [are] with you, because the thing [is too] {difficult} for you. You are not able to do it alone.
And now if you will carefully listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you will be a treasured possession for me out of all the peoples, {for all the earth is mine},
And now if you will carefully listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you will be a treasured possession for me out of all the peoples, {for all the earth is mine}, but you, you will [belong] to me [as] a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you will speak to the {Israelites}."
{And} on the third day, when it was morning, there was thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain and a very loud ram's horn sound, and all the people who [were] in the camp trembled.
and showing loyal love to thousands [of generations] of those loving me and of those keeping my commandments.
And if you make an altar of stones for me, you will not build them [as] hewn stone, because if you use your chisel on it, you have defiled it.
" 'If you lend money [to] my people, [to] the needy with you, you will not be to him as a creditor; you will not {charge him interest}.
" 'You will not delay the fullness of your harvest and the juice from your press; you will give me the firstborn of your sons.
And you will not take a bribe, because the bribe makes [the] sighted blind and ruins [the] words of [the] righteous.
" 'And you will be attentive to all that I have said to you, and you will not {profess} the name of other gods; it will not be heard in your mouth.
" 'Look, I [am about to] send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, because he will not forgive your transgression, for my name is in him read more. But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, I will wipe them out.
You will not make a covenant with them and with their gods.
And Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh, and he rose early in the morning, and he built an altar at the base of the mountain and [set up] twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men from the {Israelites}, and they offered burnt offerings, and they sacrificed sacrifices [as] fellowship offerings to Yahweh [using] bulls.
And you will make fifty gold clasps and join the curtains {to one another} with the clasps, so that the tabernacle will be one.
And you will make its horns on its four corners; its horns will be {of one piece with it}, and you will overlay it [with] bronze.
"And you will command the {Israelites}, and they will bring to you pure, beaten olive oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. In the tent of assembly outside the curtain that [is] before the testimony, Aaron and his sons will arrange it, from evening until morning, before Yahweh [as] a lasting statute throughout their generations from the {Israelites}.
And you will put the Urim and the Thummim on the breast piece of judgment, and they will be on the heart of Aaron when he comes before Yahweh, and Aaron will bear the judgment of the {Israelites} on his heart before Yahweh continually.
"And you will weave the tunic of fine linen, and you will make a turban of fine linen, and you will make a sash, the work of an embroiderer. And for the sons of Aaron you will make tunics, and you will make for them sashes and headdresses; you will make them for glory and for splendor. read more. And you will clothe them--Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him--and you will anoint them and {ordain them} and consecrate them, and they will serve as priests for me. And make for them undergarments of linen to cover naked flesh; they will be from loins to thigh.
"And this is what you shall offer on the altar: Two {one-year-old} male lambs {every day} continually.
And Aaron will make atonement on its horns one time in the year from the blood of the sin offering of the atonement; one time in the year he will make atonement on it throughout your generations; it is a most holy thing for Yahweh."
And Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet with it. When they come to the tent of assembly, they will wash with water so that they do not die, or when they approach the altar to serve by turning to smoke an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
And you will make it [into] holy anointing oil, a spice blend of a fragrant ointment [the] work of a perfumer; it will be holy anointing oil.
And you will anoint Aaron and his sons, and you will consecrate them to serve as priests for me.
"And you, speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, because it [is] a sign between me and you throughout your generations, [in order] to know that I [am] Yahweh, who consecrates you.
And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and from the people on that day about three thousand persons fell.
And Yahweh said to Moses, "Cut for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
And Yahweh passed over before him, and he proclaimed, "Yahweh, Yahweh, God, [who is] compassionate and gracious, {slow to anger}, and abounding with loyal love and faithfulness,
"Keep for yourself what I myself have commanded you today. Look, I [am about to] drive from before you the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
Rather, you will tear down their altars, and you will break their stone pillars, and you will cut off their Asherah poles.
because I will evict nations before you, and I will enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh your God three times in the year.
And Yahweh said to Moses, "Write for yourself these words, because {according to} these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." And he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights. He ate no food and drank no water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.
And he made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze from the mirrors of the serving women who served [at] the entrance of the tent of assembly.
And you will bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of assembly, and you will wash them with the water. And you will clothe Aaron with the holy garments, and you will anoint him, and you will consecrate him, and he will serve as a priest for me. read more. And you will bring his sons, and you will clothe them [with] tunics. And you will anoint them as you anointed their father, and they will serve as priests for me. And their anointing will be for them to be a lasting priesthood throughout their generations."
Then he must tear it apart by its wings [but] must not sever [it]; then the priest will turn it into smoke on the altar. It [is] a burnt offering [by] fire [as] an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh.'"
" 'Every grain [offering] you bring to Yahweh must not be made of yeasted food, because you must not turn into smoke any yeast or any honey from an offering made by fire for Yahweh.
The priest shall put {some of} the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before Yahweh, which [is] in [the] tent of assembly, and all [the rest] of the bull's blood he must pour out on the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which [is at the] entrance of [the] tent of assembly.
And he must bring as his guilt offering to Yahweh a ram without defect from the flock by your valuation as a guilt offering to the priest, and the priest shall make atonement for him {before} Yahweh, and he shall be forgiven {anything} from all that he might do {by which he might incur guilt}."
And every grain offering that is baked in the oven and all that is prepared in a cooking pan or on a flat baking pan {belongs to} the priest who presented it.
If he presents it for thanksgiving, in addition to the thanksgiving sacrifice he shall present ring-shaped unleavened bread mixed with oil and unleavened bread wafers smeared with oil and well-mixed ring-shaped bread cakes of finely milled flour mixed with oil. In addition to ring-shaped cakes of bread [with] yeast, he must present his [grain] offering together with his sacrifice of thanksgiving peace offerings.
and to distinguish between the holy and the unholy, as well as between the unclean and the clean,
[For] all [the] days [during] which the infection [is] on him, he shall be unclean; he must live alone; his dwelling [must be] {outside the camp}."
"When you come into the land of Canaan, which I [am about to] give to you [as your] possession, and I put {mildew} in a house [in] the land of your possession,
And any person who touches any object on which she sat must wash his garments, and he shall wash [himself] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening.
And Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell your brother Aaron [that] he should not enter at any time into the sanctuary {behind} the curtain {in front of} the atonement cover that [is] on the ark, so that he might not die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
You must not {carry out} the practices of the land of Egypt, in which you lived, and you must not {carry out} the practices of the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you; and you must not follow their statutes.
" 'You must not make yourself unclean in any of these [things], because the nations whom I am driving out from your presence were made unclean by all of these. So the land became unclean, and {I have brought the punishment of} its guilt upon it, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants. read more. But you ([neither] the native nor the alien who is dwelling in your midst) shall keep my statutes and my regulations, and you shall not {practice} any of these detestable things (because the people of the land, who [were] {before you}, did all these detestable things, so the land became unclean), so that the land will not vomit you out when you make it unclean [just] as it vomited out the nation that [was] {before you}.
You shall not go [about with] slander among your people; {you shall not endanger your neighbor's life}; I [am] Yahweh.
" 'And when you have come into the land and you plant any tree for food, {you shall regard its fruit as unharvestable}; [for] three years it shall be forbidden for you; it shall not be eaten.
" 'You shall not commit injustice in regulation, in measurement, in weight, or volume. You must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin; I [am] Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.
" 'And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations, and you shall do them, so that the land, to which I am bringing you to inhabit it, shall not vomit you out.
And you shall distinguish between the clean and the unclean animal and between the unclean and the clean bird; and you shall not defile yourselves with the animal or with the bird or with anything that moves along the ground that I have set apart for you {as unclean}.
"Tell Aaron and his sons that they must deal respectfully with the {Israelites}' votive offerings, and they must not profane my holy name, which they are consecrating to me; I [am] Yahweh.
"Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'Anyone from the house of Israel or from the alien in Israel who presents his offering for any of their vows or for any of their freewill offerings that they present to Yahweh as a burnt offering, [it must be] without defect {to be acceptable for you}: a male among the cattle, among the sheep, or among the goats. read more. You shall not present any [animal] in which [is] a physical defect, because it shall not be {acceptable} for you. And if anyone brings a sacrifice of fellowship offerings for Yahweh to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the cattle or from the flock, it must be without defect {to be acceptable}; there must not be any physical defect in it.
"Speak to the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'When you come to the land that I [am about] to give to you and you reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruit of your harvest to the priest.
"Command the {Israelites} that they should bring pure olive oil [from] beaten [olives] for the light to {present} a lamp continually. Aaron shall arrange for it {outside} the curtain of the testimony in [the] tent of assembly from evening until morning {before} Yahweh continually; [it shall be] a {lasting statute} throughout your generations.
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses on {Mount Sinai}, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'When you come into the land that I [am about to] give to you, then the land shall observe a Sabbath for Yahweh.
then I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will make the yield for three years.
" 'But the land must not be sold in perpetuity, because the land [is] mine, because you [are] aliens and temporary residents with me.
" 'But the land must not be sold in perpetuity, because the land [is] mine, because you [are] aliens and temporary residents with me.
You must not take interest or usury from him, but you shall revere your God, and your countryman shall live with you.
" 'And if your countryman [who is] with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, {you shall not treat him as a slave}.
And I myself will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it. And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword behind you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a ruin. read more. Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of its lying desolate, and you [shall be] in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths. All the days of its lying desolate it shall rest [for the time] that it had not rested during your Sabbaths while you were living on it.
These are the rules and the regulations and the laws that Yahweh gave between himself and the {Israelites} on {Mount Sinai} {through} Moses.
These [are] the commands that Yahweh commanded Moses for the {Israelites} on {Mount Sinai}.
These [are] the ones summoned from the community, the leaders of their ancestors' tribes; they [are] the heads of Israel's clans.
The ones who encamp on the eastern side, toward the sunrise, [will be] of the standard of the camp of Judah according to their divisions; and the leader of the descendants of Judah [will be] Nahshon son of Amminadab,
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When a man or a woman takes a special vow, a vow of a {Nazirite}, to keep separate for Yahweh, read more. he will abstain from wine and fermented drink; he will not drink wine vinegar or vinegar of fermented drink; he will not drink the fruit juice of grapes or eat fresh or dry grapes. All the days of his separation you will not eat from anything that is made from the grapevine, from sour grapes to the skin [of grapes]. " 'All the days of the vow of his separation a razor will not pass over his head. Until fulfilling the days that he separated himself to Yahweh he will be holy and grow long the locks of the hair of his head. " 'All the days of keeping himself separated for Yahweh he will not go to a person who is dead; for even his father, mother, brother, or sister he will not make himself unclean {by their death}, because the separation to his God [is] on his head. He will be holy for Yahweh all the days of his separation. " 'If someone dies suddenly and makes the head of his separation unclean, he will shave off [the hair of] his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he will shave it off. On the eighth day he will bring two turtledoves or two {young pigeons} to the priest by the doorway of the tent of assembly, and the priest will offer one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering, and he will make atonement for him because he sinned concerning the corpse. He will consecrate his head on that day. He will rededicate to Yahweh the days of his separation and bring a ram-lamb {in its first year} as a guilt offering. The former days [of his vow] will fall away because his separation was defiled. " 'This [is] the regulation of the Nazirite for the day of the fulfilling of the days of his separation: one will bring him to the doorway of the tent of the assembly. He will present his offering to Yahweh, one ram-lamb {in its first year} without defect as a burnt offering, and one ewe-lamb {in its first year} without defect as a sin offering, and one ram without defect as a fellowship offering; and a basket of unleavened bread, finely milled flour of ring-shaped bread cakes mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their libations. The priest will present {before Yahweh} and offer his sin offering, his burnt offering; he will offer a ram as a sacrifice of a fellowship offering to Yahweh, in addition to the basket of the unleavened bread; the priest will offer his grain offering and his libation. The Nazirite will shave off [the hair of] {his consecrated head} [at] the doorway of the tent of assembly, and he will take the hair of {his consecrated head}, and he will put [it] on the fire that [is] beneath the sacrifice of the fellowship offering. The priest will take the shoulder from the ram that is boiled, and one ring-shaped bread cake of unleavened bread from the basket, and one wafer of unleavened bread, and he will put [them] on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved {his consecrated head}. The priest will wave them [as] a wave offering {before the presence of} Yahweh; they are a holy object to the priest, in addition to the breast section of the wave offering, and in addition to the upper thigh of the contribution; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine. " 'This is the regulation of the Nazirite who has made a vow of his offering to Yahweh according to his separation, {in addition to what he can afford}. In accordance to the word of his vow that he vowed, he will do, concerning the instruction of his separation.'"
Yahweh will lift up his face upon you, and he will give you peace.'
So you will do to them, to purify them: sprinkle on them waters of purification, and {they will shave their whole body} and wash their garments.
"And on the day of your joy and in your appointed times, at the beginning of your months, you will blow on the trumpets in addition to your burnt offerings and in addition to the sacrifices of your fellowship offerings. And they will be as a memorial for you {before} your God; I [am] Yahweh your God."
The standard of the camp of the descendants of Judah set out for the first time according to their divisions, with Nahshon son of Amminadab over its division.
And whenever the ark was setting out Moses would say, "Rise up, Yahweh! May your enemies be scattered; may the ones that hate you flee from your presence."
And they presented the report of the land that they explored to the {Israelites}, saying, "The land that we went through to explore [is] a land that eats its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in its midst [are] {men of great size}.
And they said to all the community of the {Israelites}, "The land that we went through to explore [is] an {exceptionally good land}. If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and he will give it to us, a land that [is] flowing [with] milk and honey.
As for the men whom Moses sent to explore the land, who returned and made the community grumble against him by spreading a report over the land,
"Speak to the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When you come into the land of your dwellings that I [am about] to give to you,
"Speak to the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When you come into the land to which I [am about] to bring you,
Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, the descendants of Reuben,
Yahweh spoke to Aaron, "Behold, I myself have given to you the responsibility of my contributions for all the holy objects of the {Israelites}; I have given them as a portion to you and your sons as an eternal decree. This will be for you from the sanctuary of the holy things from the fire; all of their offerings, from every grain offering, from every sin offering, and from every guilt offering which they will bring to me [is] {a most holy thing} for you and your sons. read more. You will eat it in the most holy place; every male will eat it. It will be a holy object to you. This [is also] for you: the contribution of their gift of the wave offerings of the children Israel. I have given them to you and your sons and your daughters with you as an eternal decree; whoever [is] clean in your house may eat it. All [the] finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and their best grain that they have given to Yahweh, I have given them to you. [The] firstfruits of all that [is] in their land that they present to Yahweh will be for you; whoever [is] clean in your house may eat it. All consecrated possessions in Israel will be for you. All [the] first offspring of a womb of any creature that they offer to Yahweh, whether human or animal, will be yours; you will surely redeem the firstborn of the human and the unclean firstborn of the animal. As to their price of redemption, from {a one-month-old} you will redeem them according to your proper value, five shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which [is] twenty gerah. Only the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat you will not redeem; they [are] holy. Their blood you will sprinkle over the altar, and their fat you will turn into smoke [as] an offering made by fire, a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh. But their flesh will be for you like the breast section of the wave offering, and it will be for you like the right upper thigh. All the contributions of holiness that the {Israelites} offer to Yahweh I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you as an eternal decree; it [is] an eternal covenant of salt {before} Yahweh to you and your offspring with you."
You will not bear any sin because {you have presented} its fat; you will not defile the holy objects of the {Israelites}, or you will die.'"
because I will surely honor you greatly, and all that you say to me I will do. Please, come; curse this people for me.'"
Who can count the dust of Jacob, or [as] a number the fourth part of Israel? Let my life die the death of an upright person, and let my end be like his!"
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, turned away my anger from among the {Israelites} when he was jealous with my jealousy in their midst, and I did not destroy the {Israelites} with my jealousy. read more. Therefore say, 'Behold, I [am] giving to him my covenant of peace, and it will be for him and his {offspring} after him a covenant of an eternal priesthood because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the {Israelites}.'"
who will go out before them and will come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so the community of Yahweh will not be like a flock that does not have a shepherd."
He will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will ask for him by the decision of the Urim before Yahweh. On {his command} they will go out, and at {his command} they will come in, [both] he and all of the {Israelites} with him, the entire community."
You will say to them, 'This [is] the offering made by fire that you will offer to Yahweh: two male lambs without defect {in their first year} as a continual burnt offering each day. You will offer one male lamb in the morning, and the second male lamb you will offer {at twilight},
So Moses said to them, "If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves {before} Yahweh for the war, and everyone of you armed cross the Jordan {before} Yahweh until he has driven out his enemies from before him, read more. and the land is subdued {before} Yahweh, then afterward you will return and be free of obligation from Yahweh and from Israel, and this land will be your property {before} Yahweh. But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh, and know that your sin will find you. Build for yourselves cities for your little children and sheep pens for your flocks; what has gone out from your mouth you will do." So the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben said to Moses, saying, "Your servants will do just as my lord commands. Our little children, our wives, our livestock, and all of our animals {will remain} in the cities of Gilead, but your servants, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross over {before} Yahweh to the war, just as my lord says." So Moses commanded them, Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the {families} of the tribes of the {Israelites}.
Moses wrote down their movements according to their journeys on the command of Yahweh, and these [are] their journeys according to their movements.
"Command the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When you come into the land of Canaan, this [is] the land that was allotted to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its boundaries.
"These [are] the names of the men who divide up the land for your inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.
"Command the {Israelites} that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their property cities to live in; and you will give to the Levites pastureland all around the cities. The cities will be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their domestic animals, for their possessions, and their animals. read more. "The pasturelands of the cities that you will give to the Levites [will extend] from the wall of the city to [a distance of] a thousand cubits all around. You will measure outside the city the eastern edge two thousand cubits, for the southern edge two thousand cubits, for the western edge two thousand cubits, and for the northern edge two thousand cubits, with the city in the middle; this will be for them the pasturelands of the cities. "All the cities that you will give the Levites will be six cities of refuge, to which the killer can flee; in addition to them you will give forty-two cities. All the cities that you will give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities, them with their pasturelands.
All the cities that you will give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities, them with their pasturelands. And the cities that you will give from the property of the {Israelites}, you will take more from the larger group and less from the smaller group; each of them will give according to the portion of their inheritance according to the portion that he inherits." read more. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When you cross the Jordan [into] the land of Canaan, you will select for yourselves cities for your cities of refuge, that a killer who has killed a person unintentionally can flee there.
you will select for yourselves cities for your cities of refuge, that a killer who has killed a person unintentionally can flee there. The cities will be to you a refuge from a redeemer, so that the killer will not die until he stands before the community for judgment.
The cities will be to you a refuge from a redeemer, so that the killer will not die until he stands before the community for judgment. The cities that you are to give will be your six cities of refuge.
The cities that you are to give will be your six cities of refuge. You will give three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they will be cities of refuge.
You will give three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they will be cities of refuge. To the {Israelites}, to the alien, and to the temporary resident in their midst there will be these six cities as a refuge to which anyone who unintentionally kills a person may flee.
To the {Israelites}, to the alien, and to the temporary resident in their midst there will be these six cities as a refuge to which anyone who unintentionally kills a person may flee. " 'But if he hit him with an object of iron, so that he dies, the killer must surely be put to death. read more. And if he hit him with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and he does die, he [is] a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. Or if he hit him with a wooden object, by which he will die, and he does die, he [is] a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. The blood avenger himself will put the killer to death; he must put him to death when meeting him. If he shoves him in hatred, or he throws something at him with intention, and he dies, or if he hits him in hostility with his hand, and he dies, the one that struck him will put to death the killer when meeting him. " 'Or if in an instant he shoved him, not in hostility, or threw something at him without intention, or with any stone, without seeing it dropped on him so that he dies, while [he was] not seeking his injury, then the community will judge between the striker and between the blood avenger according to these ordinances. The community will deliver the killer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the community will restore him to the city of his refuge to which he fled; and he will live there in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil. But if the killer surely goes out of the territory of the city of his refuge to which he fled, and the blood avenger finds him outside the territory of the city of his refuge, and the blood avenger kills the killer, {he will not be guilty of blood} because he must live in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer will return to the land of his property. These things will be as a decree of justice for you for your generations in all your dwellings. " 'If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death {according to the testimony} of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person.
" 'If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death {according to the testimony} of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person. Also, you will not take a ransom payment for the life of a killer who [is] guilty of death; indeed, he must surely be put to death. read more. You will not take a ransom payment for the one that flees to the city of his refuge, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. So you will not pollute the land in which you are; because blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is poured out on it except with the blood of the one who poured it out.
So you will not pollute the land in which you are; because blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is poured out on it except with the blood of the one who poured it out. You will not defile the land on which you [are] living because I [am] living in the midst of it; I am Yahweh; I [am] living in the midst of the {Israelites}.'"
You will not defile the land on which you [are] living because I [am] living in the midst of it; I am Yahweh; I [am] living in the midst of the {Israelites}.'"
Every daughter who possesses an inheritance from the tribes of the {Israelites} will {marry} one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that the {Israelites} will possess the inheritance of his ancestors.
These [were] the commands and the stipulations that Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses to the {Israelites} on the desert-plateaus of Moab by the Jordan [across] Jericho.
"[Then] we turned and set out [toward] the wilderness in the direction of the {Red Sea}, as Yahweh told me, and we went around Mount Seir [for] many days. Yahweh spoke to me, {saying}, read more. '[Long] enough you have been skirting this mountain; turn yourselves north, and instruct the people, {saying}, "You [are] about to cross [through] the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who are living in Seir; they will be afraid of you, and [so] be very careful. Do not get involved in battle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even {a foot's breadth} [of it]; since I have given Mount Seir [as] a possession for Esau. You shall buy food from them so that you may eat; and also you shall purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. The fact of the matter is, Yahweh your God has blessed you in {all the work you have done}; he knows {your travels} [with respect to] this great wilderness; forty years Yahweh your God [has been] with you; you have not lacked a thing." ' And so we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, past the road of the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion Geber, and we turned and traveled along the route of the desert of Moab.
"So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon; [I sent] terms of peace, {saying}, 'Let me cross through your land [and] {only along the road} I will go; I will not turn aside to the right or [to the] left. read more. Food for money you shall sell me, so that I may eat, and water for money you will give to me, so that I may drink; just let me cross on foot. [Just as] the descendants of Esau did for me, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, until I cross the Jordan into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us.' But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us cross through his [territory] because Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and {made him obstinate} {in order to give him} into your hand, {just as he has now done}. Yahweh said to me, 'Look! I have begun to give {over to you} Sihon and his land; begin {to take possession of his land}.' Then Sihon and all his people came out to meet us for battle at Jahaz. And so Yahweh our God gave him over {to us}, and we struck him down, and his sons and all of his people. So we captured all of his cities at that time, and we destroyed each town [of] males and the women and the children; we did not leave behind a survivor.
"And I charged you [all] at that time [when I] said, "Yahweh has given you--to [all of] you--this land to possess. All the {warriors} shall cross over, ready to fight, before your brothers, the {Israelites}. Only your wives and your little children and your livestock (I know that {you have much livestock}) must stay in your towns that I have given you, read more. until Yahweh shall give rest to your brothers as [he did] to you, and also they take possession [of] the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to them beyond the Jordan; then they may return, each [one] to his possession that I have given to them.
"Now, Israel, listen to the rules and to the regulations that I [am] teaching you to do, in order that you may live and you may go [in] and you may take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, [is] giving to you. You must not add to the word that I [am] commanding you, and you shall not take away from it [in order] to keep the commands of Yahweh your God that I [am] commanding you [to observe].
But you, the [ones] holding fast to Yahweh your God, [are] all alive {today}.
Then Moses set apart three cities {on the other side of the Jordan}, {toward the east}, [in order for] {a manslayer} to flee there [who] has killed his neighbor {without intent} and was not hating him {previously}, and [so] he could flee to one of these cities {and be safe}. read more. [He set apart] Bezer in the wilderness in the land of the plateau of the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan of the Manassites.
"And then it will happen [that] when Yahweh your God will bring you to the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to you large and fine cities that you did not build,
"When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you [are] about to enter {into it} to take possession of it, and he drives out many nations {before you}, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you, and Yahweh your God will give them {over to you} and you defeat them, you must {utterly destroy them}; you shall not make a covenant with them, and you shall not show mercy [to them].
but {because of} the love of Yahweh [for] you and because of his keeping [of] the sworn oath that he swore to your ancestors, Yahweh brought you [out] with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. [So] know that Yahweh your God, he [is] God, the trustworthy God, maintaining his covenant and his loyal love with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments to a thousand generations,
the one leading you in the great and terrible desert [infested] with {dangerous} snakes and scorpions and parched ground, where there is no water, [and] the one bringing out water for you from flint rock,
"Hear, Israel, you [are] about to cross the Jordan today to go to dispossess nations larger and more numerous than you, great cities fortified {with high walls},
Look! For to Yahweh your God {belong} heaven and the {highest heavens}, the earth and all that [is] in it.
So you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and {do not be stubborn}.
And you shall write them on the doorframes of your house and on your gates,
Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, it shall be yours; your boundary shall be from the desert and Lebanon from the river, the river Euphrates, on up to the western sea. No one can take a stand {against you}; your dread and your fear Yahweh your God will put on the {surface} of all the land {where you tread}, [just] as he {promised} to you.
And you shall break down their altars, and you shall smash their stone pillars, and their Asherah poles you must burn with fire, and the images of their gods you shall hew down, and you shall blot out their names from that place.
{But only} to the place that Yahweh your God will choose from all [of] your tribes to place his name there as his dwelling shall you seek, and there you shall go. And you shall bring there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and {your donations} and your votive gifts and your freewill offerings and the firstling of your herd and your flock.
But you will cross the Jordan, and you will settle in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving you as an inheritance, and he will give rest to you from all your enemies from all around, and you will live securely,
All of the things that I [am] commanding you, {you must diligently observe}; you shall not add to it, and you shall not take away from it."
"If your brother, the son of your mother or your son or your daughter {or your wife whom you embrace} or {your intimate friend} in secrecy {says}, 'Let us go and let us serve other gods!' [gods] that you and your ancestors have not known,
"If you hear in one of your towns which Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to live in, [someone] {saying that} {worthless men} have gone out from your midst and have seduced the inhabitants of their town, {saying}, 'Let us go and serve other gods!' whom you have not known, read more. then you shall inquire and examine and interrogate thoroughly, and, look! [It is] true; the thing has actually been done, this detestable thing in your midst,
"At the end of three years you shall bring out all [of] the tithe of your yield for that year, and you shall store [it] in your {towns}.
"You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render [for] the people {righteous judgments}. You shall not subvert justice; you shall not {show partiality}; and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind [the] eyes of [the] wise and misrepresents [the] words of [the] righteous.
You shall not subvert justice; you shall not {show partiality}; and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind [the] eyes of [the] wise and misrepresents [the] words of [the] righteous.
then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be [in office] in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you {the verdict}.
"When you have come to that land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you and you have taken possession of it and you have settled in it, and you say, 'I will set over me a king like all the nations that [are] around me,'
"When you have come to that land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you and you have taken possession of it and you have settled in it, and you say, 'I will set over me a king like all the nations that [are] around me,'
Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}.
"{And then} {when he is sitting} on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll {before} the Levitical priests.
"{And then} {when he is sitting} on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll {before} the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by {diligently observing} all the word of this law and these rules,
And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by {diligently observing} all the word of this law and these rules, [so as] not to exalt his heart above his countrymen and not to turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that {he may reign long over his kingdom}, he and his children in the midst of Israel."
"And there shall not be for the Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, a plot of ground and an inheritance with Israel, [rather] they may eat an offering made by fire [as] their inheritance, for Yahweh.
you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it. You shall prepare the roads for yourselves, and you shall divide the regions of your land into thirds that Yahweh your God gives you as a possession, so that {it will be available for any manslayer to flee there}. read more. "Now this [is] the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live [there] who has killed his neighbor {unintentionally}, and he did not hate him {previously}. {For example}, when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron [head] slips from the handle [of the tool] and strikes his neighbor and he dies, [then] he may flee to one of these cities, and [so] he may live. [He does this] lest the avenger of blood might pursue after the killer, because {he is hot with anger} and he overtakes him, because it is a long distance [to the city of refuge], and [so] {he kills him}, but {he did not deserve a death sentence}, because he [was] not hating him {before}. Therefore I [am] commanding you, {saying}, 'You shall set apart three cities.'
And the officials shall speak to the troops, {saying}, 'Who [is] the man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to this house, so that he does not die in battle and {another man} dedicates it.
his dead body shall not hang on the tree, but certainly you shall bury him on that day, for cursed by God [is] one that is [being] hung; so you shall not defile your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance."
and [then] they shall bring out the young woman to the doorway of the house of her father, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, and she shall die, because she did a disgraceful thing in Israel {by playing the harlot} [in] the house of her father, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.
then it will happen if the guilty [one] {deserves beating}, then the judge shall make him lie, and he shall beat him {before him}, {according to} {the prescribed number of lashes proportionate to the offense}.
"You shall not muzzle an ox {when he is threshing}.
Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him, and [if] he persists and says, '{I do not desire to} marry her'
"There shall not be {for your use} in your bag {two kinds of stone weights, a large one and a small one}.
I have not eaten during my [time of] mourning, and I have not removed [anything] from it while [being] unclean, and I have not offered {any of it} to someone who [has] died. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have done all that you commanded me [to do].
And then on the day that you cross the Jordan to the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, then you shall set up {for yourselves} large stones, and you shall paint them with lime, and you shall write on them all the words of this law at your crossing, so that you may come into the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, {promised} to you.
and you shall write on them all the words of this law at your crossing, so that you may come into the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, {promised} to you.
Your ox [shall] [be] slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey [shall be] stolen [right] {before you}, and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats [shall] be given to your enemies, and {there shall not be anyone who rescues you}.
Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors have not known, and there you will serve other gods [of] wood and stone.
Yahweh will raise [up] against you a nation from far [off], from the end of the earth, [attacking] as the eagle swoops [down], {a nation whose language you will not understand},
"If {you do not diligently observe} all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God,
Also any illness and any plague that [is] not written in the scroll of this law, he shall bring them, Yahweh, upon you until you are destroyed.
And Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations from [one] end of the earth up to the [other] end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods that you have not known nor your ancestors, [gods of] wood and stone. And among these nations you shall not find rest, and [there] shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes and a languishing of [your] inner self. read more. And {your life shall hang in doubt before you}, and you shall be startled night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life. In the morning you shall say, '{If only it was evening}!' and in the evening you shall say '{If only it was morning}!' because of the dread of your heart that you shall feel, and because of the sight of your eyes that you shall see. And Yahweh shall bring you back [to] Egypt in ships by the route that I {promised} to you [that] '{You shall not see it again}!' And you shall sell yourself there to your enemies as slaves and as female slaves, but there will not be a buyer."
And then when he hears the words of this oath, then {he will assure himself} in his heart, {saying}, '{Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart},' thereby destroying the well-watered [land] [along] with the parched. Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for [by then] the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. read more. And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law.
"The hidden [things] {belong to Yahweh} our God, but the revealed [things] {belong to us} [to know] and to our children {forever}, [in order] to do all the words of this law."
"And Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your inner self {so that you may live}.
[He will do this] if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God by keeping his commandment and his statutes written in the scroll of this law [and] if you return to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your inner self.
Be strong and be courageous; you should not be afraid, and you {should not be in dread from their presence}, for Yahweh your God [is] the [one] going with you; he will not leave you alone and he will not forsake you." Then Moses summoned Joshua, and he said to him {in the presence of all Israel}, "Be strong and be courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that Yahweh swore to their ancestors to give to them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance. read more. Yahweh [is] the [one] going {before you}; he will be with you, and he will not leave you alone, and he will not forsake you; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be discouraged." So Moses wrote this law, and he gave it to the priests, the descendants of Levi, the [ones] carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.
So Moses wrote this law, and he gave it to the priests, the descendants of Levi, the [ones] carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.
So Moses wrote this law, and he gave it to the priests, the descendants of Levi, the [ones] carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel. Then Moses commanded them, {saying}, "At the end of seven years, in the time of the year for canceling debts during the Feast of Booths,
Then Moses commanded them, {saying}, "At the end of seven years, in the time of the year for canceling debts during the Feast of Booths,
Then Moses commanded them, {saying}, "At the end of seven years, in the time of the year for canceling debts during the Feast of Booths, {when all Israel comes to appear before} Yahweh their God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel {in their hearing}.
{when all Israel comes to appear before} Yahweh their God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel {in their hearing}.
{when all Israel comes to appear before} Yahweh their God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel {in their hearing}. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little children and your aliens that are in your {towns}, so that they may hear and so that they may learn and they may revere Yahweh your God, and {they shall diligently observe} all the words of this law.
Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little children and your aliens that are in your {towns}, so that they may hear and so that they may learn and they may revere Yahweh your God, and {they shall diligently observe} all the words of this law. And [then] their children, who have not known, they [too] may hear, and they may learn to revere Yahweh their God all the days {that you live} on the land that you [are] crossing the Jordan {to get there} to take possession of it."
Then he told Joshua the son of Nun, and said [to him], "Be strong and be courageous, for you shall bring the {Israelites} into the land that I swore to them, and I will be with you." {And then when Moses finished writing} the words of this law on the scroll {until they were complete},
"Take the scroll of this law and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, and it will be there as a witness against you.
"Take the scroll of this law and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, and it will be there as a witness against you.
For Yahweh's portion [was] his people, Jacob the share of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in a howling, desert wasteland; he {encircled him}, he cared for him, he protected him like the {apple} of his eye.
They made him jealous with strange [gods]; with detestable things they provoked him. They sacrificed to the demons, not God, [to] gods whom they had not known, new [gods] [who] came from recent times; {their ancestors had not known them}.
And he will say, 'Where [are] their gods, [their] rock in whom they took refuge? Who ate the fat of their sacrifices [and] drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise [up], and let them help you; {Let them be to you a refuge}.
Then he said, "Yahweh came from Sinai, and he dawned upon them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran, and he came with myriads of holy ones, at his right hand a fiery law for them.
Then he said, "Yahweh came from Sinai, and he dawned upon them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran, and he came with myriads of holy ones, at his right hand a fiery law for them.
And [then] a king arose in Jeshurun, at the gathering of the leaders of [the] people, {united were the tribes of Israel}.
They summon people [to the] mountains; there they sacrifice the sacrifices of righteousness, because the affluence of [the] seas they suck [out], and {the most hidden treasures of the sand}."
"There is no [one] like God, O, Jeshurun, who rides [through] the heavens to your help, and with his majesty [through the] skies.
and as far as all of {the mighty deeds} and as far as {the great awesome wonders} Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.
Every place that the soles of your feet will tread, I have given it to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness {and the Lebanon}, up to the great river, the river Euphrates, all of the land of the Hittites, and up to {the great sea in the west}, will be your territory. read more. No one will stand before you all the days of your life. [Just] as I was with Moses, [so] will I be with you; I will not fail you, and I will not forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you will give the people this land as an inheritance that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very courageous {to observe diligently the whole law} that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn aside from it, [to] the right or left, so that you may succeed {wherever you go}.
Only be strong and very courageous {to observe diligently the whole law} that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn aside from it, [to] the right or left, so that you may succeed {wherever you go}. The scroll of this law will not depart from your mouth; you will meditate on it day and night so that {you may observe diligently all that is written} in it. For then you will succeed [in] your ways and prosper.
The scroll of this law will not depart from your mouth; you will meditate on it day and night so that {you may observe diligently all that is written} in it. For then you will succeed [in] your ways and prosper.
"Remember the word that Moses Yahweh's servant commanded you, saying, 'Yahweh your God [is] giving rest to you, and he is giving you this land.' Your wives, your little children, and your livestock, they will remain in the land that Moses gave to you beyond the Jordan. {All of the best fighting men} will cross armed in front of your families; they will help you read more. until Yahweh gives rest to your families as well as to you. They will take possession of the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to them. Then you will return to your own land and take possession of it, [the land] that Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan {to the east}." And they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you will send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses, so will we obey you. Only may Yahweh your God be with you, as he was with Moses. Whoever {rebels against your orders} and does not obey your words according to what you commanded us will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous."
and they commanded the people: "When you see the Levitical priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God you must set out from your place and go after it.
And Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross [over] {ahead of the people}." And they took up the ark of the covenant and went {ahead of the people}.
You will command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, 'At the moment that you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you will stand [still] in the Jordan.'"
At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, "Make for yourself knives of flint, and circumcise the {Israelites} a second time."
And the {Israelites} camped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho.
And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went down Joshua commanded [them], and they brought down his dead body from the tree. Then they threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised over it a great heap of stones [that remains] to this day. Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel,
Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel, as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the {Israelites}, as [it is] written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn stones [on] which no one has {wielded} an iron implement." And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings.
as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the {Israelites}, as [it is] written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn stones [on] which no one has {wielded} an iron implement." And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings.
as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the {Israelites}, as [it is] written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn stones [on] which no one has {wielded} an iron implement." And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings.
as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the {Israelites}, as [it is] written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn stones [on] which no one has {wielded} an iron implement." And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings. And there Joshua wrote on the stones copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the {Israelites}. read more. Then all Israel, {foreigner as well as native}, with the elders, officials, and judges stood {on either side} of the ark before the priests and the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. Half of them [stood] in front of Mount Gerizim, and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses Yahweh's servant had commanded before to bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, according to all that was written in the scroll of the law.
But the {Israelites} did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured {against their leaders}. But all the leaders of the congregation said, "We have sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel, and so we cannot touch them. read more. This we will do to them: [we will] let them live so that wrath will not be on us because of the oath we swore to them." And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them.
And it happened {at the time of sunset}, Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and they put large stones against the mouth of the cave, [which are there] to this very day.
These [are the territories] that the {Israelites} inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of the {Israelites} gave as an inheritance to them.
And from there he went up against the inhabitants of Debir (the former name of Debir [was] Kiriath Sepher).
But Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. These [are] the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
The entire congregation of the {Israelites} assembled [at] Shiloh, and they set up there the tent of meeting, and the land was subdued before them.
The killer will flee to one of these cities, stand [at] the entrance of the gate of the city, and {state his case to the elders of that city}; and they will take him into the city and give him a place, and he will dwell among them.
The killer will stay in that city until he stands before the congregation for the trial, until the death of the one who is the high priest in those days. Then {the killer will return} to his city and to his house, to the city from which he fled.'"
These were the cities designated for all the {Israelites}, and for the foreigners dwelling among them, for anyone that kills a person unintentionally to flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, {until there is a trial} before the congregation.
Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of the tribes of the {Israelites}.
And the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh spoke with the heads of the clans of Israel,
for building for ourselves an altar to turn away from Yahweh, or if [it was] to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or fellowship offerings on it, may Yahweh himself take vengeance.
instead, it [is] a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us for performing the serving of Yahweh in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings; so that your children may not say in the future to our children, "You have no portion in Yahweh." '
Far be it from us to rebel against Yahweh, to turn today from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, instead of the altar of Yahweh our God that [is] before his tabernacle." Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the congregation, and the heads of the clans of Israel who [were] with him heard the words that the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh spoke, and {they were satisfied}.
And it happened, after {a long time}, after Yahweh had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and [after] Joshua was old and {well-advanced in years},
Be very strong to observe carefully all that is written in the scroll of the law of Moses so as not to turn aside from it, [to] the right or left,
Be very strong to observe carefully all that is written in the scroll of the law of Moses so as not to turn aside from it, [to] the right or left,
And Yahweh said, "Judah will go up. I hereby give the land into his hand."
The descendants of Hobab [the] Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the descendants of Judah from the city of palms [into] the wilderness of Judah, which [is] in [the] Negev [near] Arad. And they went and settled with the people.
They gave Hebron to Caleb just as Moses said, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there.
And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (the former name of the city was Luz).
And the angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you to the land that I had promised to your ancestors. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you.
And the angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you to the land that I had promised to your ancestors. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you. And [as for] you, do not {make a covenant} with the inhabitants of this land; break down their altars.' But you did not listen to my voice. {Why would you do such a thing}? read more. Now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; they will {become as thorns} for you, and their gods will be a trap for you."
Moreover, that entire generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them who did not know Yahweh or the work he had done for Israel. The {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and {they served} the Baals. read more. They abandoned Yahweh the God of their ancestors, who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They {followed} other gods from the gods of the people who [were] around them; and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the anger of Yahweh.
{So the anger of Yahweh burned} against Israel, and he said, "Because this people transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors, and have not obeyed my voice,
Yahweh, when you went down from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured down, the clouds poured down water. The mountains trembled before Yahweh, this Sinai, at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
Yahweh sent a prophet to the {Israelites}, and he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I brought you up from Egypt; I brought you from the house of slavery. I delivered you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors, and drove them out from {before you}; and I gave you their land. read more. And I said to you, 'I [am] Yahweh your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you [are] living.' But you have not listened to my voice."
Gideon said to him, "Excuse me, my lord. [If] Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, 'Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?' But now Yahweh has forsaken us; he has given us into the palm of Midian."
The men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your sons, and your sons' son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian. But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; Yahweh will rule over you."
Gideon made an ephod [out of] it, and he put it in his town in Ophrah, and all Israel prostituted [themselves] to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
and he said to him, "Thus says Jephthah, 'Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the {Ammonites}, because when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the {Red Sea} and went to Kadesh. read more. Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let us cross through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent [messengers] to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. Then they traveled through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and Moab, and came to {the east} side of the land of Moab, and they encamped beyond [the] Arnon; and they did not go into the territory of Moab because [the] Arnon [was] the border of Moab. Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, 'Please let us cross through your land {to our country}.' But Sihon did not trust Israel to cross through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people and then encamped at Jahaz; and he made war with Israel. And Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; and Israel occupied all the land of the Amorites inhabiting that land. They occupied all the territory of the Amorites from [the] Arnon up to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness up to the Jordan. So then Yahweh, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before his people Israel, and you want to possess it? Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gave you to possess? Whoever Yahweh our God has driven out before us, we will possess it. So then, [are] you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel, or did he ever make war against them? When Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns that [are] {along the Arnon}, for three hundred years, why did you not recover [them] at that time? I have not sinned against you; but you [are] the one who is doing wrong by making war against me. {Let Yahweh judge} today between the {Israelites} and the {Ammonites}."
But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a wife among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must take a wife from [the] uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Take her for me because {she pleases me}."
And he was very thirsty, and he called to Yahweh and said, "You gave this great victory into the hand of your servant, but now I must die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"
The man Micah had for himself {a shrine}, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and {he appointed one of his sons} who became a priest for him.
There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the clan of Judah; he [was] a Levite and [was] dwelling as a foreigner there. And the man went from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to live as a foreigner wherever he could find [a place]. And he came [to] the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, to continue his journey. read more. And Micah said to him, "From where do you come?" And he said to him, "I [am] a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah; I [am] going to dwell as a foreigner wherever I can find [a place]." And Micah said to him, "Stay with me and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give to you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your food." So the Levite went [with him]. The Levite agreed to stay with the man; and the young man became as one of his sons. So Micah {appointed the Levite}, and the young man became a priest for him; and he was in the house of Micah. And Micah said, "Now I know Yahweh will make me prosperous, because the Levite has become my priest."
And the five men that went out to spy out the land ([that is], Laish) responded and said to their relatives, "Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim, and an idol of cast metal? So then, consider what you must do." So they turned to that direction, and they came to the house of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and {they greeted him}. read more. And six hundred men from the descendants of Dan, armed [with] their weapons of war, [were] standing [at] the entrance of the gate. And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and they entered there [and] took the carved divine image, ephod, teraphim, and the molten image. The priest [was] standing [at] the entrance of the gate [with] the six hundred men armed [with] the weapons of war.
So they set up for themselves the carved divine image that Micah had made, all the days that the house of God [was] in Shiloh.
In those days there was no king in Israel; there was a man, a Levite, who dwelled as a foreigner in the remote areas of the hill country of Ephraim. And he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But his concubine felt repugnance toward him, and she left him and went to her father's house, to Bethlehem in Judah; she was there some four months.
And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand sword-bearing infantry.
Then I grabbed my concubine and cut her into pieces, and I sent her throughout all the territory of Israel's inheritance; for they committed a shameful and disgraceful thing in Israel.
So then, hand over the men, {the perverse lot}, who [are] in Gibeah, so that we may kill them and purge [this] wickedness from Israel." But the descendants of Benjamin were not willing to listen to the voice of their relatives, the {Israelites}.
Then the {Israelites} got up and went up [to] Bethel, and they inquired of God, saying, "Who will go up first for the battle against the descendants of Benjamin?" And Yahweh said, "Judah [will go] first."
The {Israelites} went up and wept before Yahweh until evening and inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Should we again draw near from the battle against the descendants of Benjamin, our relatives?" And Yahweh said, "Go up against them."
And all the {Israelites} and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh. And the {Israelites} inquired of Yahweh (In those days the ark of the covenant of God [was] there, read more. and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, [was] standing {before it} [to minister] in those days), saying, "Should we go out once more to battle against the descendants of Benjamin our relatives, or should we stop?" And Yahweh said, "Go up tomorrow; I will give them into your hand."
Now the sons of Eli [were] {worthless scoundrels}; they did not know Yahweh. And the custom of the priests with the people [was this]: When any man {brought a sacrifice}, as the meat was boiling, the servant of the priest would take a three-pronged meat fork in his hand read more. and would thrust it into the pan or into the kettle or into the cauldron or into the cooking pot. All that the meat fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This [is] what they used to do to all of the Israelites who came there at Shiloh.
His mother used to make for him a small robe and take it to him {year by year} whenever she came up with her husband to offer the {annual sacrifice}.
Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel and that they [were] having sexual relations with the women who [were] serving [at] the entrance of [the] tent of assembly.
and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, Samuel was lying in the temple of Yahweh where the ark of God [was].
Therefore I swore to the house of Eli [that] the iniquity of the house of Eli would not be atoned for by sacrifice or by offering forever."
When the army came [back] to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why has Yahweh defeated us today before [the] Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to us from Shiloh so that it may come into our midst and deliver us from the hand of our enemies." So the army sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of hosts who sits [between] the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, [were] there with the ark of the covenant of God.
Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These [are] the [same] gods who struck the Egyptians with all [sorts of] plagues in the desert.
Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These [are] the [same] gods who struck the Egyptians with all [sorts of] plagues in the desert.
Just as he mentioned the ark of God, he fell from his chair backwards against the side of the gate. He broke his neck and died, because the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.
She called the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel," referring to the capture of the ark of God and concerning her father-in-law and husband. And she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God was captured."
When the Ashdodites got up early the next morning, {there was} Dagon fallen with his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh! So they took Dagon and returned him to his place. When they got up early in the morning the next day, {there was} Dagon fallen [again] with his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh! The head of Dagon and the palms of his two hands were cut off, lying at the threshold; only [the body] of Dagon was left. read more. (Therefore the priests of Dagon and all who come into the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod until this [very] day.) Now the hand of Yahweh was heavy against the Ashdodites and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, both in Ashdod and its territories. The men of Ashdod saw [that] it [was] so, and they said, "The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, because his hand [is] harsh on us and on Dagon our god!"
Then the Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the container that was beside it, in which [were] the gold objects, and [they] set them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings, and they {made} sacrifices to Yahweh on that day.
He struck seventy men among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahweh. So the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great blow among the people.
He struck seventy men among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahweh. So the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great blow among the people.
Then {he returned} to Ramah, because his house was there, and there he judged Israel, and he built an altar to Yahweh there.
But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after gain, they took bribes, and they perverted justice.
They said to him, "Look, you are old and your sons do not follow in your ways. So then appoint a king for us to judge us, like all the nations. But the matter {was displeasing to Samuel} when they said, "Give us a king to judge us," so Samuel prayed to Yahweh.
Like all the deeds they have done from the day I brought them up from Egypt until this day, they have forsaken me and have served other gods--so they [are] doing to you also.
As soon as you enter the town, you will find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice. Then afterward the invited [guests] will eat. So then, go up, because you will find him today!"
Then you will go down before me to Gilgal. Look, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings {and to make} fellowship offerings. You must wait seven days until I come to you. Then I will let you know what you should do."
Then you will go down before me to Gilgal. Look, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings {and to make} fellowship offerings. You must wait seven days until I come to you. Then I will let you know what you should do."
So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel.
"When Jacob came to Egypt, your ancestors cried out to Yahweh, so he sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your ancestors out from Egypt and settled them in this place.
So Saul said, "Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered up the burnt offering.
So Saul said, "Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered up the burnt offering. {Just as} he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Samuel was coming. So Saul went out to meet him [and] to bless him.
Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you with them. You have shown loyal love to all the {Israelites} when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites left from among [the] Amalekites.
But Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me." Yahweh said, "You must take a heifer from the herd {with you}, and you must say, 'I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.' You will invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will make known to you what you must do. You will anoint for me [the one] whom I tell you." read more. So Samuel did what Yahweh said. He came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. They said, "{Have you come in peace}?" He said, "[I come in] peace. I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." So he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
And so then, please let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant: If Yahweh has incited you against me, may he delight in an offering; but if {it is mortals}, [may] they be accursed {before} Yahweh, for they have driven me away today from sharing in the inheritance of Yahweh, saying, 'Go, serve other gods!'
David built an altar to Yahweh there, and he offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then Yahweh responded to [his] prayer for the land and brought the plague to a halt from upon Israel.
You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn,
But the people [were] sacrificing on the high places, for the house for the name of Yahweh had not [yet] been built in those days.
So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice, for the great high place [was] there. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year [after] the {Israelites} went out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year {of Solomon's rule} over Israel, the month of Ziv (that [is] the second month), that he began to build the house for Yahweh.
There was not [anything] in the ark {except} the two tablets of stone which Moses had placed there at Horeb, where Yahweh {made} [a covenant] with the {Israelites} after they went out from the land of Egypt.
if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem. The heart of this people will return to their master Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they shall kill me and {return to him}." And the king had decided, so he made two golden calves and he said to them, "{You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough}; here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."
Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered [sacrifices] on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. He offered [sacrifices] on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the {Israelites}, and he went up to the altar to offer incense.
Naboth said to Ahab, "Far be it from me from Yahweh that I should give the inheritance of my ancestors to you."
A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.
Then he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him with the testimony, and they made him king, anointed him, clapped [their] hands, and said, "[Long] live the king!"
The king of Assyria brought from Babylonia, from Cush, from Arva, from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled [them] in the cities of Samaria in place of the {Israelites}, so they took possession of Samaria and lived in her cities.
So one of the priests went, whom they had deported from Samaria, and he settled in Bethel and was teaching them how they should fear Yahweh.
He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent which Moses had made, for up to those days the {Israelites} were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan.
He held on to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him, and he kept his commands that Yahweh had commanded Moses.
Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple of Yahweh," and Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it.
Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple of Yahweh," and Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. Shaphan the secretary came to the king and returned the king a word, and he said, "Your servant poured out the money found in the temple, and they have given it into the hand of the doers of the work appointed [over] the temple of Yahweh." read more. Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll." Then Shaphan read before the king. When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Acbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, "Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and for the people and for all of Judah concerning the words of this scroll [that was] found. For the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us [is] great because our ancestors did not listen to the words of this scroll to do according to all that is written concerning us!"
"Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and for the people and for all of Judah concerning the words of this scroll [that was] found. For the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us [is] great because our ancestors did not listen to the words of this scroll to do according to all that is written concerning us!" So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah the son of Harhas, the keeper of the robes. Now she [was] living in Jerusalem in the second district. Then they spoke to her,
And to the king of Judah who sent all of you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall say to him, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, '[Concerning] the words that you have heard, because you have a responsive heart, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants to become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before my face, I have also heard, declares Yahweh.
So the king sent [word], and all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him. Then the king went up [to] the temple of Yahweh, and all of the men of Judah and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [were] with him, [including] the priests, the prophets, and all of the people from smallest to greatest; and in their {hearing} he read all of the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the temple of Yahweh. read more. Then the king stood by the pillar, and he {made} a covenant before Yahweh, to go after Yahweh and to keep his commands and his warnings and his statutes, with all of [his] heart and with his all of his soul, to keep the words of this covenant written on this scroll. Then all of the people {joined} in the covenant. Then the {king} commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the second priests, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all of the objects made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and then he carried their ashes to Bethel
The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son, read more. Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son. The sons of Elkanah: Amasai and Ahimoth, Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son, Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son. The sons of Samuel: [Joel] his firstborn and Abijah the second.
And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their appointments for their service.
And they taught in Judah, and the scroll of the law of Yahweh [was] with them when they went around in all the cities of Judah, and they taught the people.
But on account of his strength his heart grew proud unto destruction. And he acted unfaithfully against Yahweh his God and went into the temple of Yahweh to offer an incense offering on the altar. And Azariah the priest, along with eighty strong priests with him, went in after him. read more. And they stood against King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but [it is] for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully. There will be no honor for you from Yahweh God." Then Uzziah, his censer in hand to burn incense, became angry. And when he became angry with the priests, then leprosy appeared on his forehead in front of the priests in the house of Yahweh at the altar of incense. When Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned to him, behold, he [was] leprous in the forehead. So they rushed him away from there, and he also hastened to go out, for Yahweh had smitten him. So King Uzziah was leprous until the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house as a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh. And Jotham his son [was] over the house of the king, judging the people of the land.
And when they brought out the money that had been brought [to] the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.
Josiah kept the Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover [sacrifice] on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he set the priests at their posts and encouraged them in the service of the house of Yahweh. read more. And he said to the Levites who [were] teaching all Israel, who were sanctified to Yahweh, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. There is no [need] to carry it on [your] shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God and his people Israel.
And slaughter the Passover [lamb] and consecrate yourself and prepare for your brothers to do according to the word of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.
Then they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their sections for the work of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Yahweh the God of Israel gave. The king granted him all his requests, for the hand of Yahweh was upon him.
Anyone who did not come within three days, by decision of the officials and elders, all of his possessions would be devoted to God, and he himself would be excluded from the assembly of exiles.
All of the people gathered as one to the public square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that Yahweh had commanded Israel.
He read from it facing the public square before the Water Gate from dawn until noon that day, opposite the men, women, and those with understanding. The ears of all the people [were attentive] to the book of the law.
And he read from the scroll of the law of God day by day from the first day up to the last day. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly according to the rule.
One from the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, [who was] the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonote [was there]. I chased him away from me.
And so, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that gives its fruit in its season; its leaf also does not wither. Therefore all that he does prospers.
Offer correct sacrifices, and {trust in} Yahweh. Many are saying, "Who will show us [something] good?" Lift up over us the light of your face, O Yahweh.
You make him over the works of your hands; all [things] you have placed under his feet: sheep and cattle, all of them, and also [the] wild animals of [the] field, read more. [the] birds of [the] sky and the fish of the sea, [everything] that passes along the paths of seas.
for he [who] {avenges bloodshed} remembers them. He does not forget the distressed cry of [the] afflicted.
Those [who] hurry [after] another [god] increase their sorrows. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor take up their names on my lips. Yahweh [is] the portion [which is] my share and my cup. You hold my lot. read more. [The] measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Yes, [my] inheritance is delightful for me.
Keep me as {the apple of your eye}. Hide me in the shadow of your wings
The earth is Yahweh's, with its fullness, [the] world and those who live in it,
Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and listen [to] my cry for help; do not be deaf to my tears. For I [am] an alien with you, a sojourner like all my ancestors.
God will arise; his enemies will be scattered, and those who hate him will flee from before him.
Sing to God, sing praises to his name. Lift up [a song] to [the] rider on the clouds--his name is Yah-- and rejoice before him.
O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through [the] desert, Selah [the] earth shook; [the] heavens also dripped [rain] at the presence of God who [was] at Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
The chariots of God [are] twice ten thousand, [with] thousands doubled. The Lord [is] among them [at] Sinai, distinctive [in victory].
Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, [who] leads Joseph like a flock. Shine forth, [you who] sits [enthroned above] the cherubim.
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, and there are no works like yours.
O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, even a gang of ruthless men seek my life, but they do not set you before them. But you, O Lord, [are] a compassionate and gracious God, {slow to anger} and abundant in loyal love and faithfulness.
But the loyal love of Yahweh [is] from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to [their] children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his precepts.
Yahweh has sworn and he will not change [his mind], "You [are] a priest forever according to the manner of Melchizedek."
[It is] like the fragrant oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, that runs down upon the edges of his robes.
Honor Yahweh from your substance, and from the firstfruits of all that will come to you,
She is a tree of life for those who seize her; those who take hold of her are considered happy.
He who conceals hatred [has] lips of deceit, and he who utters slander--he is a fool.
Balances of deceit [are] an abomination of Yahweh, but {an accurate weight} delights him.
A gossip walks [about] telling a secret, but the trustworthy in spirit keeps [the] matter.
Stone and stone, measure and measure, {both of them} [are] an abomination of Yahweh.
An abomination of Yahweh [is] {a stone and a weight}, and scales of falsehood are not good.
Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down [in the] flame, so their root will become like [the] stench, and their blossom will go up like [the] dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.
And [if] the document is given to [one] who does not {know how to read}, saying, "{Read} this now!" he says, "I do not {know how to read}."
For it [is] a people of rebellion, deceitful children, children [who are] not willing to hear the instruction of Yahweh,
And the word of Yahweh came to me, {saying}, "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I remember [concerning] you the loyal love of your childhood, the love of your betrothal-time, your going after me in the desert, in [the] land not sown. read more. Israel [was] holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce. All [those who] ate it were held guilty; disaster came to them," {declares} Yahweh.'" Hear the word of Yahweh, house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. Thus says Yahweh: "What injustice did your ancestors find in me that they were far from me, and they went after the vanity, and they became vain? And they did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert, in a land of desert plains and gorges, in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land {that no one passes through}, and no human lives there?'
And they did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert, in a land of desert plains and gorges, in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land {that no one passes through}, and no human lives there?' And I brought you to the land of the orchard, to eat its fruit, and its good things. But you entered and defiled my land, and my inheritance you made a detestable thing. read more. The priests did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have {rebelled against me}, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after [things which] do not profit.
The priests did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have {rebelled against me}, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after [things which] do not profit.
But where [are] your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For [according to] the number of your towns are your gods, Judah.
Look, I [am] about to bring on you a nation from afar, house of Israel," {declares} Yahweh. "It [is] an enduring nation, it [is] {an ancient nation}. A nation whose language you do not know, and you cannot understand what they speak.
How can you say, 'We [are] wise and the law of Yahweh [is] with us'? Look, surely {the lying stylus of the scribes} has made it a lie.
They have treated father and mother with contempt in you; {they violated} the alien with extortion; in the midst of you they mistreated [the] orphan and widow. You despised my holy objects; my Sabbaths you profaned. read more. Slanderous men are {among you} to shed blood, and they, {among you}, eat upon the mountains; they do wickedness in the midst of you. They uncover [the] nakedness of father among you; they violate [a woman] unclean of menstruation among you. And a man does a detestable thing [with] the wife of his neighbor, and a man defiles his daughter-in-law in wickedness, and a man sexually violates among you his sister, the daughter of his father. They take a bribe among you in order to shed blood; and you take usury, and you make gain [from] your neighbors by extortion, and [so] you have forgotten me, {declares} the Lord Yahweh.
Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and [so] I am profaned in the midst of them.
From there I will give her her vineyards, and the Valley of Achor as a doorway of hope. And there she will respond, as [in] the days of her youth, just as [in] the day of her coming out of the land of Egypt.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from acting as a priest for me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
But like Adam, they transgressed [the] covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.
[Put] to your lips [the] trumpet like a vulture over the house of Yahweh, because they have {broken my covenant} and rebelled against my law.
I write for him myriads of my instruction; they are regarded as a strange thing.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
In the womb he deceived his brother, and in his manhood he struggled with God. He struggled with [the] angel and prevailed; he pleaded for his mercy. He met him at Bethel, and there he spoke with him.
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they have rejected the law of Yahweh and have not kept his rules, and their lies have led them astray, {after which their ancestors walked}!
And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness forty years to take possession of the land of the Amorite. And I raised up some [of] your sons to [be] prophets and some [of] your young men to [be] Nazirites. Is it not so, O {people} of Israel? [This is] the declaration of Yahweh! read more. But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.'
Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole clan that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
"For on the day I punish Israel for {its transgression}, I will also punish the altars of Bethel and the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
"Come [to] Bethel and transgress; [to] Gilgal and {multiply transgression}! Bring your sacrifices in the morning and your tithes on the {third day}. And bring a thank offering of unleavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings, pronounce them, for so you love [to do], O {people} of Israel," [is] the declaration of my Lord Yahweh.
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and from the house of slavery I redeemed you. And I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you. O my people, remember what Balak the king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and [what happened from] Shittim to Gilgal, so that you might know the righteous acts of Yahweh."
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, those dwelling alone [in] a forest in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as [in] the days of old.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.
But he answered [and] said, "It is written, 'Man will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God."
Jesus said to him, "On the other hand it is written, 'You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.'"
Then Jesus said to him, "Go away, Satan, for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'"
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat {a meal}." read more. So he answered [and] said to them, "Why do you also break the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'The one who speaks evil of father or mother {must certainly die}.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or his mother, "Whatever {benefit you would have received} from me [is] a gift [to God]," need not honor his father,' and you make void the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah correctly prophesied about you saying, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me, and they worship me in vain, teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.'"
And he answered [and] said, "Have you not read that the one who created [them] from the beginning made them male and female and said, 'On account of this a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?
They said to him, "Why then did Moses command [us] to give a document--a certificate of divorce--and to divorce her?" He said to them, "Moses, with reference to your hardness of heart, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not like this.
But Jesus answered [and] said to them, "You are mistaken, [because] you do not know the scriptures or the power of God!
On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
But Jesus said to them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart.
and the two will become one flesh,' so that they are no longer two but one flesh.
Now concerning the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses {in the passage about the bush} how God spoke to him, saying, 'I [am] the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'?
But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they must listen to them.'
But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.'"
saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us if someone's brother dies having a wife, and this man is childless, that his brother should take the wife and {father} descendants for his brother.
But that the dead are raised, even Moses revealed in [the passage about] the bush, when he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and [the] God of Isaac and [the] God of Jacob.
And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.
And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.
And he said to them, "These [are] my words that I spoke to you [while I] was still with you, that everything that is written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father! The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope! For if you had believed Moses, you would believe me, for that one wrote about me.
So they gathered [them], and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"
Abraham your father rejoiced that he would see my day, and he saw [it] and was glad."
Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you.
Therefore I have experienced help from God until this day, [and] I stand here testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except what both the prophets and Moses have said were going to happen,
Tell me, [you] who are wanting to be under the law, do you not understand the law?
By faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain, by which he was approved that he was righteous, [because] God approved [him] for his gifts, and through it he still speaks, [although he] is dead.
These all died in faith without receiving the promises, but seeing them from a distance and welcoming [them], and admitting that they were strangers and temporary residents on the earth. For those who say such [things] make clear that they are seeking a homeland. read more. And if they remember that [land] from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they aspire to a better [land], that is, a heavenly [one]. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
By faith Moses, [when he] was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing instead to be mistreated with the people of God [rather] than to experience the transitory enjoyment of sin, read more. considering {reproach endured for the sake of Christ} greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the anger of the king, for he persevered as [if he] saw the invisible one.
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
And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had established with the people, for the matter happened suddenly.
Then Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, to come to the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem to make a Passover feast to Yahweh the God of Israel.
And the runners went with the letter from the hand of the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah according to the command of the king, saying, "O sons of Israel, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
Only men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.