• Torah (T): Bemidbar (Numbers) 20:14 – 22:1
• Prophets (P): Obadiah 1:1-5
• Apostolic (A): John 3:1-21
• Additional (ADD): Judith 5:1-24

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Deuteronomy 23:1-8 (T)
• Obadiah 1:1-21 (T)
• Genesis 15:12-16 (T)
• Exodus 2:23-25 (T)
• Exodus 14:16-20 (T)
• Judges 11:1-40 (T)
• Numbers 20:7-12 (T)
• Numbers 33:37-43 (T)
• Deuteronomy 10:1-22 (T)
• Deuteronomy 32:48-52 (T)
• Numbers 11:4-10 (T)
• Genesis 3:1-15 (T)
• 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 (T)
• Revelation 12:7-12; Revelation 20:1-3 (T)
• Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 4:1-13 (T)
• Isaiah 59:1-8 (T)
• Psalms 91:9-13 LXX (90:9-13)
• Matthew 23:29-36 (T)
• 2 Kings 18:1-4 (T)
• Deuteronomy 2:1-37 (T)
• Joshua 24:1-8 (T)
• Nehemiah 9:6-22 (T)
• Deuteronomy 29:1-9 (T)
• Joshua 12:1-6 (T)
• Psalms 135:1-12; Psalms 136:1-26 (T)
• Amos 2:1-10 (T)
• Deuteronomy 1:1-4; Deuteronomy 3:1-11; Deuteronomy 4:45-49; Deuteronomy 31:1-6 (T)
• Joshua 2:1-11 (T)
• Joshua 9:1-27 (T)
• Jeremiah 48:1-47 (T)
• 1 Kings 11:1-43 (T)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• Wisdom of Solomon 11:1-26 (T)
• Jubilees 34:1-9 (T)
• Damascus Document “The Exhortation” 4Q268
• Numbers 20:14 – 22:1 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.4.7. – 4.5.3 (T)

Note: (T) means the verse relates to that week’s Torah portion. (P) means the verse relates to that week’s Prophets portion. (A) means the verse relates to that week’s Apostolic portion. (ADD) means the verse relates to that week’s Additional portion.

Torah Portion (T)

20:14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “Your brother Israel says: You know all the travail that has happened to us; 15 how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers. 16 When we cried to YHWH, he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the edge of your border. 17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink from the water of the wells. We will go along the king’s highway. We will not turn away to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.” 18 Edom said to him, “You will not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.” 19 The sons of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway; and if we drink your water, I and my livestock, then I will give its price. Only let me, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.” 20 He said, “You will not pass through [or I will come out against you with a sword].”^(DSS) Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, so Israel turned away from him. 22 They traveled from Kadesh, and the sons of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. 23 YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, 24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he will not enter into the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; 26 and [you will strip]^(DSS) Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron will be gathered, and will die there.” 27 Moses did as YHWH commanded. They went up onto Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

21:1 The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the South, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim. He fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 Israel vowed a vow to YHWH, and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” 3 YHWH listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites [into his hand];^{(LXX)(SP)(Syr)} and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. The name of the place was called Hormah. 4 They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Sea of Reeds, to go around the land of Edom. The soul of the people was very discouraged because of the journey. 5 The people spoke against Elohim and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this light bread!” 6 YHWH sent the seraphim nachashim among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died. 7 The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against YHWH and against you. Pray to YHWH, that he take away the nachash from us.” Moses prayed for the people. 8 YHWH said to Moses, “Make a saraph, and set it on a pole. It will happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, will live.” 9 Moses made a nachash of bronze, and set it on the pole. If the nachash had bitten any man, when he looked at the nachash of bronze, he lived. 10 The sons of Israel traveled, and encamped in Oboth. 11 They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 [YHWH said to Moses, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot for a possession.”]^(DSS)(SP) From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered. 13 [YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, “You are to pass over Ar, the border of Moab, today. When you come near the border of the sons of Ammon, don’t bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon for a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.”]^(DSS)(SP) From there they traveled, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in The Book of the Wars of YHWH, “Vaheb in Suphah, the valleys of the Arnon, 15 the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab.” 16 From there they traveled to Be’er; that is the well of which YHWH said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, well! Sing to it, 18 the well, which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people dug, with the lawgiver, and with their staffs.” From the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah; 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; 20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert. 21 [Then YHWH spoke to Moses, “Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. Today I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under all the heavens, who will hear the report of you, and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”]^(DSS)(SP) Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn away into field or vineyard. We will not drink of the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway, until we have passed your border.” 23 Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz. He fought against Israel. 24 Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the sons of Ammon; for the border of the sons of Ammon was fortified. 25 Israel took all these cities. Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon. 27 Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established; 28 for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, [swallowed up]^(LXX) the high places of the Arnon. 29 Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. 30 We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon. We have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.” 31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 Moses sent to spy out Jazer. They took its villages, and drove out the Amorites who were there. 33 They turned and went up by the way of Bashan. Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 34 YHWH said to Moses, “Don’t fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, with all his people, and his land. You will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” 35 So they struck him, with his sons and all his people, until there were no survivors; and they possessed his land.

22:1 The sons of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.

Prophets Portion (P)

1:1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what [YHWH]^(mss) says about Edom. We have heard news from YHWH, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, “Arise, and let’s rise up against her in battle. 2 Behold, I have made you small among the nations. You are greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ 4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though [you make]^(mss) your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says YHWH. 5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, what disaster awaits you—wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes?

Apostolic Portion (A)

3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Judeans. 2 He came to Yeshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from Elohim, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless Elohim is with him.” 3 Yeshua answered him, “Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born from above, he can’t see the reign of Elohim.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Yeshua answered, “Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into the reign of Elohim. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?” 10 Yeshua answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? 11 Amen, amen, I tell you, we speak that which we know and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you the heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into the heavens but he who descended out of the heavens, the Son of Man[, who is in the heavens].^(mss) 14 As Moses lifted up the nachash in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but^(mss) may have eternal life. 16 For Elohim so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For Elohim didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of Elohim. 19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in Elohim.”

Additional Portion (ADD)

The Book of Judith relates the story of His deliverance of the Jewish people. This was accomplished “by the hand of a female”—a constant motif meant to recall the “hand” of Elohim in the Exodus narrative. The work may have been written around 100 B.C., but its historical range is extraordinary.

5:1 Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Asshur, was told that the sons of Israel had prepared for war, had shut up the passages of the hill country, had fortified all the tops of the high hills, and had laid impediments in the plains. 2 Then he was exceedingly angry, and he called all the princes of Moab, and the captains of Ammon, and all the governors of the sea coast, 3 and he said to them, “Tell me now, you sons of Canaan, who are these people who dwell in the hill country? What are the cities that they inhabit? How large is their army? Where is their power and their strength? What king is set over them, to be the leader of their army? 4 Why have they turned their backs, that they should not come and meet me, more than all who dwell in the west?” 5 Then Achior, the leader of all the children of Ammon, said to him, “Let my lord now hear a word from the mouth of your servant, and I will tell you the truth concerning these people who dwell in this hill country, near to the place where you dwell. No lie will come out of the mouth of your servant. 6 These people are descended from the Kasdim. 7 They sojourned before this in Mesopotamia, because they didn’t want to follow the elohim of their fathers, which were in the land of the Kasdim. 8 They departed from the way of their parents, and did bow down to the Elohim of the heavens, the Elohim whom they knew. Their parents cast them out from the face of their elohim, and they fled into Mesopotamia, and sojourned there many days. 9 Then their Elohim commanded them to depart from the place where they sojourned, and to go into the land of Canaan. They lived there, and prospered with gold and silver, and with exceedingly much cattle. 10 Then they went down into Egypt, for a famine covered all the land of Canaan. They sojourned there until they had grown up. They became a great multitude there, so that one could not count the population of their nation. 11 Then the king of Egypt rose up against them, and dealt subtly with them, and brought them low, making them labor in brick, and made them slaves. 12 They cried to their Elohim, and he struck all the land of Egypt with incurable plagues; so the Egyptians cast them out of their sight. 13 Elohim dried up the Red sea before them, 14 and brought them into the way of Sinai Kadesh-Barnea, and they cast out all that lived in the wilderness. 15 They lived in the land of the Amorites, and they destroyed by their strength everyone in Heshbon. Passing over Jordan, they possessed all the hill country. 16 They cast out before them the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, the Shechemite, and all the Girgashites, and they lived in that country many days. 17 And while they didn’t sin before their Elohim, they prospered, because Elohim who hates iniquity was with them. 18 But when they departed from the way which he appointed them, they were destroyed in many severe battles, and were led captives into a land that was not theirs. The temple of their Elohim was cast to the ground, and their cities were taken by their adversaries. 19 And now they have returned to their Elohim, and have come up from the dispersion where they were dispersed, and have possessed Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and are seated in the hill country; for it was desolate. 20 And now, my lord and master, if there is any error in this people, and they sin against their Elohim, we will consider what this thing is in which they stumble, and we will go up and overcome them. 21 But if there is no lawlessness in their nation, let my lord now pass by, lest their Lord defend them, and their Elohim be for them, and we will be a reproach before all the land.” 22 It came to pass, when Achior had finished speaking these words, all the people standing around the tent murmured. The great men of Holofernes, and all who lived by the sea side and in Moab, said that he should kill him. 23 For, they said, “We will not be afraid of the sons of Israel, because, behold, they are a people that has no power nor might to make the battle strong. 24 Therefore now we will go up, and they will be a prey to be devoured by all your army, Lord Holofernes.”

Related Scriptures

23:1 He who is emasculated by crushing or cutting will not enter into the assembly of YHWH. 2 A person born of a forbidden union will not enter into the assembly of YHWH; even to the tenth generation will no one of his enter into the assembly of YHWH. 3 An Ammonite or a Moabite will not enter into the assembly of YHWH; even to the tenth generation will no one belonging to them enter into the assembly of YHWH forever, 4 because they didn’t meet you with bread and with water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless YHWH your Elohim wouldn’t listen to Balaam, but YHWH your Elohim turned the curse into a blessing to you, because YHWH your Elohim loved you. 6 You will not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever. 7 You will not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You will not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land. 8 The children of the third generation who are born to them may enter into the assembly of YHWH.

1:1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord YHWH says about Edom. We have heard news from YHWH, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, “Arise, and let’s rise up against her in battle. 2 Behold, I have made you small among the nations. You are greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ 4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says YHWH. 5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, what disaster awaits you—wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes? 6 How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out! 7 All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him.” 8 “Won’t I in that day”, says YHWH, “destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau? 9 Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. 10 For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever. 11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them. 12 But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress. 13 Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity. 14 Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress. 15 For the day of YHWH is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. 16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been. 17 But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions. 18 The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.” Indeed, YHWH has spoken. 19 Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead. 20 The captives of this army of the sons of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev. 21 Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the reign will be YHWH’s.

15:12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. 13 He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. 14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; 15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.”

2:23 In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to Elohim because of the bondage. 24 Elohim heard their groaning, and Elohim remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 Elohim saw the sons of Israel, and Elohim understood.

14:16 Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. Then the sons of Israel will go into the middle of the sea on dry ground. 17 Behold, I myself will strengthen the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after them. I will get myself honor over Pharaoh, and over all his armies, over his chariots, and over his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am YHWH when I have gotten myself honor over Pharaoh, over his chariots, and over his horsemen.” 19 The angel of Elohim, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them. 20 It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. There was the cloud and the darkness, yet it gave light by night. One didn’t come near the other all night.

11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor. He was the son of a prostitute. Gilead became the father of Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife bore him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will not inherit in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws joined up with Jephthah, and they went out with him. 4 After a while, the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5 When the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah out of the land of Tob. 6 They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.” 7 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me, and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” 8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Therefore we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight with the children of Ammon. You will be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” 9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and YHWH delivers them before me, will I be your head?” 10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “YHWH will be witness between us. Surely we will do what you say.” 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before YHWH in Mizpah. 12 Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What do you have to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” 13 The king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore that territory again peaceably.” 14 Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon; 15 and he said to him, “Jephthah says: Israel didn’t take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon; 16 but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh, 17 then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab, but he refused; so Israel stayed in Kadesh. 18 Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn’t come within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to my place.’ 20 But Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. 22 They possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan. 23 So now YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them? 24 Won’t you possess that which Chemosh your elohim gives you to possess? So whoever YHWH our Elohim has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess. 25 Now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? 26 Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along the side of the Arnon for three hundred years! Why didn’t you recover them within that time? 27 Therefore I have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me. May YHWH the Judge be judge today between the sons of Israel and the children of Ammon.” 28 However, the king of the children of Ammon didn’t listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him. 29 Then the spirit of YHWH came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon. 30 Jephthah vowed a vow to YHWH, and said, “If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand, 31 then it will be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it will be YHWH’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” 32 So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and YHWH delivered them into his hand. 33 He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel. 34 Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to YHWH, and I can’t go back.” 36 She said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to YHWH; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, because YHWH has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon.” 37 Then she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me. Leave me alone two new moons, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.” 38 He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two new moons; and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains. 39 At the end of two new moons, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. She was a virgin. It became a custom in Israel 40 that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

20:7 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the branch, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You will bring water to them out of the rock; so you will give the congregation and their livestock drink.” 9 Moses took the branch from before YHWH, as he commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?” 11 Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his branch twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank. 12 YHWH said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore do not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

33:37 They traveled from Kadesh, and encamped in Mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. 38 Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of YHWH and died there, in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth new moon, on the first day of the new moon. 39 Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died in Mount Hor. 40 The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the sons of Israel. 41 They traveled from Mount Hor, and encamped in Zalmonah. 42 They traveled from Zalmonah, and encamped in Punon. 43 They traveled from Punon, and encamped in Oboth.

10:1 At that time YHWH said to me, “Cut two stone tablets like the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of wood. 2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you will put them in the ark.” 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two stone tablets like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. 4 He wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which YHWH spoke to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly; and YHWH gave them to me. 5 I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are as YHWH commanded me. 6 The sons of Israel traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar was adorned in his place. 7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. 8 At that time YHWH set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of YHWH, to stand before YHWH to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers; YHWH is his inheritance, according as YHWH your Elohim spoke to him. 10 I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights; and YHWH listened to me that time also. YHWH would not destroy you. 11 YHWH said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people; and they will go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.” 12 Now, Israel, what does YHWH your Elohim require of you, but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 to guard the commandments of YHWH and statutes, which I command you today for your good? 14 Behold, to YHWH your Elohim belongs the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and the land, with all that is therein. 15 Only YHWH had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. 17 For YHWH your Elohim, he is Elohim of Elohim and Lord of lords, the great Elohim, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons or take bribes. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You will fear YHWH your Elohim. You will serve him. You will cling to him, and you will swear by his name. 21 He is your praise, and he is your Elohim, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now YHWH your Elohim has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

32:48 YHWH spoke to Moses that same day, saying, 49 “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel for a possession. 50 Die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people; 51 because you trespassed against me among the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn’t uphold my holiness among the sons of Israel. 52 For you will see the land from a distance; but you will not go there into the land which I give the sons of Israel.”

11:4 The mixed multitude that was among them coveted exceedingly; and the sons of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now we have lost our appetite. There is nothing at all except this manna to look at.” 7 The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium. 8 The people went around, gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it. 10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent; and the anger of YHWH burned greatly; and Moses was displeased.

3:1 Now the nachash was more subtle than any beast of the field which YHWH Elohim had made. He said to the woman, “Has Elohim really said, ‘You will not eat of any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the nachash, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3 but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. Elohim has said, ‘You will not eat of it. You will not touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 The nachash said to the woman, “You won’t really die, 5 for Elohim knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. 8 They heard YHWH Elohim’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of YHWH Elohim among the trees of the garden. 9 YHWH Elohim called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 Elohim said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 YHWH Elohim said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The nachash deceived me, and I ate.” 14 YHWH Elohim said to the nachash, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every beast of the field. You will go on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

10:1 Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Messiah. 5 However with most of them, Elohim was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not covet after evil things as they also coveted. 7 Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Let’s not commit whoring, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. 9 Let’s not test Messiah, as some of them tested, and perished by the nachashim. 10 Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.

Revelation 12:7 There was war in the heavens. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 8 They didn’t prevail. No place was found for them any more in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, the ancient nachash, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 I heard a loud voice in the heavens, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Reign of our Elohim, and the authority of his Messiah has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our Elohim day and night. 11 They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their witness. They didn’t love their life, even to death. 12 Therefore rejoice, the heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the land and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.”

Revelation 20:1 I saw an angel coming down out of the heavens, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, the ancient nachash, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.

Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 4:1-13 (T)

Matthew 4:1 Then Yeshua was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 3 The tester came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 8:3) 5 Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’ ” (cf. Psalms 91:11-12) 7 Yeshua said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You will not test the Lord, your God.’ ” (Deuteronomy 6:16) 8 Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Yeshua said to him, “Go away,^(mss) Satan! For it is written, ‘You will worship the Lord your God, and you will serve him only.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 6:13) 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.

Mark 1:9 In those days, Yeshua came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was immersed by Yochanan in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 12 Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was there in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan. He was with the wild beasts; and the angels were serving him.

Luke 4:1 Yeshua, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tested by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 Yeshua answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 8:3) 5 The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I want. 7 If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.” 8 Yeshua answered him, “Get behind me, Satan!^(mss) It is written, ‘You will worship the Lord your God, and you will serve him only.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 6:13) 9 He led him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’ 11 and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” (cf. Psalms 91:11-12) 12 Yeshua answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You will not test the Lord your God.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 6:16) 13 When the devil had completed every test, he departed from him until another time.

59:1 Behold, the hand of YHWH is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you and your Elohim, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness. 4 No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. 5 They hatch viper’s eggs and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into an adder. 6 Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths. 8 They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.

91:9 For thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou, my soul, hast made the Most High thy refuge. 10 No evils will come upon thee, and no scourge will draw nigh to thy dwelling. 11 For he will give his angels charge concerning thee, to guard thee in all thy ways. 12 They will bear thee up on their hands, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 13 Thou shalt tread on the venomous snake and basilisk: and thou shalt trample on the lion and dragon.

23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You nachashim, you seed of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehinnom? 34 Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the land, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Amen, amen, I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

18:1 Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did that which was right in the eyes of YHWH, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze nachash that Moses had made, because in those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nechushtan.

2:1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as YHWH spoke to me; and we encircled Mount Seir many days. 2 YHWH spoke to me, saying, 3 “You have encircled this mountain long enough. Turn northward. 4 Command the people, saying, ‘You are to pass through the border of your brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore be careful. 5 Don’t contend with them; for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession. 6 You will purchase food from them for money, that you may eat. You will also buy water from them for money, that you may drink.’ ” 7 For YHWH your Elohim has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has known your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years, YHWH your Elohim has been with you. You have lacked nothing. 8 So we passed by from our brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion Geber. We turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 YHWH said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.” 10 The Emim lived there before, a great and numerous people, and tall as the Anakim. 11 These also are considered to be Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 The Horites also lived in Seir in the past, but the children of Esau succeeded them. They destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place, as Israel did to the land of his possession, which YHWH gave to them. 13 “Now rise up and cross over the brook Zered.” We went over the brook Zered. 14 The days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea until we had come over the brook Zered were thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the middle of the camp, as YHWH swore to them. 15 Moreover the hand of YHWH was against them, to destroy them from the middle of the camp, until they were consumed. 16 So, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, 17 YHWH spoke to me, saying, 18 “You are to pass over Ar, the border of Moab, today. 19 When you come near the border of the children of Ammon, don’t bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.” 20 (That also is considered a land of Rephaim. Rephaim lived there in the past, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 21 a great people, many, and tall, as the Anakim; but YHWH destroyed them from before Israel, and they succeeded them, and lived in their place, 22 as he did for the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place even to this day. 23 Then the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza: the Caphtorim, who came out of Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) 24 “Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. 25 Today I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under all the heavens, who will hear the report of you, and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.” 26 I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27 “Let me pass through your land. I will go along by the highway. I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. 28 You will sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink. Just let me pass through on my feet, 29 as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me, until I pass over the Jordan into the land which YHWH our Elohim gives us.” 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for YHWH your Elohim hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is today. 31 YHWH said to me, “Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you. Begin to possess, that you may inherit his land.” 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 YHWH our Elohim delivered him up before us; and we struck him, his sons, and all his people. 34 We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. We left no one remaining. 35 Only the livestock we took for plunder for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities which we had taken. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. YHWH our Elohim delivered up all before us. 37 Only to the land of the children of Ammon you didn’t come near: all the banks of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever YHWH our Elohim forbade us.

24:1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before Elohim. 2 Joshua said to all the people, “YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor. They served other elohim. 3 I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. 4 I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. 5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. 6 I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 When they cried out to YHWH, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness many days. 8 I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land, and I destroyed them from before you.

9:6 You are YHWH, even you alone. You have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, with all their army, the land and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of the heavens worships you. 7 You are YHWH, the Elohim who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham, 8 found his heart faithful before you, and cut a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed your words, for you are righteous. 9 You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea, 10 and showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and made a name for yourself, as it is today. 11 You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the middle of the sea on the dry land; and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters. 12 Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go. 13 You also came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from the heavens, and gave them right judgments and true Torot, good statutes and commandments, 14 and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and a Torah, by Moses your servant, 15 and gave them bread from the heavens for their hunger, and brought water out of the rock for them for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them. 16 But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments, 17 and refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are an Elohim ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them. 18 Yes, when they had made themselves a molded calf, and said, ‘This is your Elohim who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed awful blasphemies, 19 yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go. 20 You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and didn’t withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. 21 Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell.” 22 Moreover you gave them reigns and peoples, which you allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

29:1 These are the words of the covenant which YHWH commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. 2 Moses called to all Israel, and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that YHWH did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; 3 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But YHWH has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your sandals have not grown old on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am YHWH your Elohim. 7 When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we struck them. 8 We took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the ones of Reuben, and to the ones of Gad, and to the half-tribe of the ones of Manasseh. 9 Therefore guard the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

12:1 Now these are the kings of the land, whom the sons of Israel struck, and possessed their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward: 2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, even to the river Jabbok, the border of the children of Ammon; 3 and the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, eastward, and to the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beth Jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah: 4 and the border of Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5 and ruled in Mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon. 6 Moses the servant of YHWH and the sons of Israel struck them. Moses the servant of YHWH gave it for a possession to the ones of Reuben, and the ones of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Psalms 135:1 Halleluyah! Praise Yah’s name! Praise him, you servants of YHWH, 2 you who stand in YHWH’s house, in the courts of our Elohim’s house. 3 Praise Yah, for YHWH is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant. 4 For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession. 5 For I know that YHWH is great, that our Lord is above all elohim. 6 Whatever YHWH pleased, that he has done, in the heavens and in land, in the seas and in all deeps. 7 He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the land. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries. 8 He struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal. 9 He sent signs and wonders into the middle of you, Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants. 10 He struck many nations, and killed mighty kings— 11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the reigns of Canaan— 12 and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people.

Psalms 136:1 Give thanks to YHWH, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the Elohim of Elohim, for his loving kindness endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness endures forever; 4 to him who alone does great wonders, for his loving kindness endures forever; 5 to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever; 6 to him who spread out the land above the waters, for his loving kindness endures forever; 7 to him who made the great lights, for his loving kindness endures forever; 8 the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness endures forever; 9 the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness endures forever; 10 to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn, for his loving kindness endures forever; 11 and brought out Israel from among them, for his loving kindness endures forever; 12 with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for his loving kindness endures forever; 13 to him who divided the Red Sea apart, for his loving kindness endures forever; 14 and made Israel to pass through the middle of it, for his loving kindness endures forever; 15 but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his loving kindness endures forever; 16 to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his loving kindness endures forever; 17 to him who struck great kings, for his loving kindness endures forever; 18 and killed mighty kings, for his loving kindness endures forever; 19 Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving kindness endures forever; 20 Og king of Bashan, for his loving kindness endures forever; 21 and gave their land as an inheritance, for his loving kindness endures forever; 22 even a heritage to Israel his servant, for his loving kindness endures forever; 23 who remembered us in our low estate, for his loving kindness endures forever; 24 and has delivered us from our adversaries, for his loving kindness endures forever; 25 who gives food to every creature, for his loving kindness endures forever. 26 Oh give thanks to the Elohim of the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever.

2:1 YHWH says: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime; 2 but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the voice of the shofar; 3 and I will cut off the judge from among them, and will kill all its princes with him,” says YHWH. 4 YHWH says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have rejected the law of YHWH, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked; 5 but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.” 6 YHWH says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals; 7 They trample the heads of the helpless into the dust of the land and deny justice to the oppressed. A man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name. 8 They lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge. In the house of their Elohim they drink the wine of those who have been fined. 9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. 10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

Deuteronomy 1:1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suf, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. 3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh new moon, on the first day of the new moon, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that YHWH had given him in commandment to them, 4 after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.

Deuteronomy 3:1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan. Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2 YHWH said to me, “Don’t fear him; for I have delivered him, with all his people and his land, into your hand. You will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” 3 So YHWH our Elohim also delivered into our hand Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We struck him until no one was left to him remaining. 4 We took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the reign of Og in Bashan. 5 All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls. 6 We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. 7 But all the livestock, and the plunder of the cities, we took for plunder for ourselves. 8 We took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon. 9 The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir. 10 We took all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the reign of Og in Bashan. 11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its width, after the cubit of a man.

Deuteronomy 4:45 These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel when they came out of Egypt, 46 beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel struck when they came out of Egypt. 47 They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise; 48 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Zion (also called Hermon), 49 and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

Deuteronomy 31:1 Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. YHWH has said to me, ‘You will not go over this Jordan.’ 3 YHWH your Elohim himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as YHWH has spoken. 4 YHWH will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 YHWH will deliver them up before you, and you will do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them, for YHWH your Elohim himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”

2:1 Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of the sons of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.” 4 The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from. 5 About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. 7 The men pursued them along the way to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 8 Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof. 9 She said to the men, “I know that YHWH has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how YHWH dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for YHWH your Elohim, he is Elohim in the heavens above, and on land beneath.

9:1 When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it 2 they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. 3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4 they also resorted to a ruse, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and old, torn-up and bound up wine skins, 5 and old and patched sandals on their feet, and wore old garments. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. 6 They went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country. Now therefore cut a covenant with us.” 7 The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “What if you live among us? How could we cut a covenant with you?” 8 They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Joshua said to them, “Who are you? Where do you come from?” 9 They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of YHWH your Elohim; for we have heard of his fame, all that he did in Egypt, 10 and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 11 Our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take supplies in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them. Tell them, “We are your servants. Now cut a covenant with us.” ‘ 12 This our bread we took hot for our supplies out of our houses on the day we went out to go to you; but now, behold, it is dry, and has become moldy. 13 These wine skins, which we filled, were new; and behold, they are torn. These our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey.” 14 The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from YHWH’s mouth. 15 Joshua made peace with them, and cut a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them. 16 At the end of three days after they had cut a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. 17 The sons of Israel traveled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. 18 The sons of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by YHWH, the Elohim of Israel. All the congregation murmured against the princes. 19 But all the princes said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by YHWH, the Elohim of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them. 20 We will do this to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them.” 21 The princes said to them, “Let them live.” So they became wood cutters and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the princes had spoken to them. 22 Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you live among us? 23 Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you will never fail to be slaves, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my Elohim.” 24 They answered Joshua, and said, “Because your servants were certainly told how YHWH your Elohim commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore we were very afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 Now, behold, we are in your hand. Do to us as it seems good and right to you to do.” 26 He did so to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the sons of Israel, so that they didn’t kill them. 27 That day Joshua made them wood cutters and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of YHWH to this day, in the place which he should choose.

48:1 When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it 2 they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. 3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4 they also resorted to a ruse, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and old, torn-up and bound up wine skins, 5 and old and patched sandals on their feet, and wore old garments. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. 6 They went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country. Now therefore cut a covenant with us.” 7 The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “What if you live among us? How could we cut a covenant with you?” 8 They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Joshua said to them, “Who are you? Where do you come from?” 9 They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of YHWH your Elohim; for we have heard of his fame, all that he did in Egypt, 10 and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 11 Our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take supplies in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them. Tell them, “We are your servants. Now cut a covenant with us.” ‘ 12 This our bread we took hot for our supplies out of our houses on the day we went out to go to you; but now, behold, it is dry, and has become moldy. 13 These wine skins, which we filled, were new; and behold, they are torn. These our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey.” 14 The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from YHWH’s mouth. 15 Joshua made peace with them, and cut a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them. 16 At the end of three days after they had cut a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. 17 The sons of Israel traveled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. 18 The sons of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by YHWH, the Elohim of Israel. All the congregation murmured against the princes. 19 But all the princes said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by YHWH, the Elohim of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them. 20 We will do this to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them.” 21 The princes said to them, “Let them live.” So they became wood cutters and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the princes had spoken to them. 22 Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you live among us? 23 Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you will never fail to be slaves, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my Elohim.” 24 They answered Joshua, and said, “Because your servants were certainly told how YHWH your Elohim commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore we were very afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 Now, behold, we are in your hand. Do to us as it seems good and right to you to do.” 26 He did so to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the sons of Israel, so that they didn’t kill them. 27 That day Joshua made them wood cutters and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of YHWH to this day, in the place which he should choose.

11:1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, 2 of the nations concerning which YHWH said to the sons of Israel, “You will not go among them, neither will they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their elohim.” Solomon joined to these in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. His wives turned his heart away. 4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other elohim; and his heart was not perfect with YHWH his Elohim, as the heart of David his father was. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH, and didn’t go fully after YHWH, as David his father did. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8 So he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and slaughtered to their elohim. 9 YHWH was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this word, that he should not go after other elohim; but he didn’t guard that which YHWH commanded. 11 Therefore YHWH said to Solomon, “Because this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the reign from you, and will give it to your servant. 12 Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand. 13 However, I will not tear away all the reign; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.” 14 YHWH raised up an adversary to Solomon: Hadad the Edomite. He was one of the king’s seed in Edom. 15 For when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the army had gone up to bury the slain, and had struck every male in Edom 16 (for Joab and all Israel remained there six new moons, until he had cut off every male in Edom), 17 Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt, when Hadad was still a little child. 18 They arose out of Midian and came to Paran; and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, and appointed him food, and gave him land. 19 Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own woman, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. 21 When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.” 22 Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you seek to go to your own country?” He answered, “Nothing, however only let me depart.” 23 Elohim raised up an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 He gathered men to himself, and became captain over a troop, when David killed them of Zobah. They went to Damascus and lived there, and reigned in Damascus. 25 He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, in addition to the mischief of Hadad. He abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria. 26 Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. 27 This was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breach of his father David’s city. 28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon saw the young man that he was industrious, and he put him in charge of all the labor of the house of Joseph. 29 At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the way. Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment; and the two of them were alone in the field. 30 Ahijah took the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. 31 He said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces; for YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says, ‘Behold, I will tear the reign out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you 32 (but he will have one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), 33 because they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the elohim of Moab, and Milcom the elohim of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and my statutes and my judgments, as David his father did. 34 However, I will not take the whole reign out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes, 35 but I will take the reign out of his son’s hand and will give it to you, even ten tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there. 37 I will take you, and you will reign according to all that your soul desires, and will be king over Israel. 38 It will be, if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my eyes, to guard my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. 39 I will afflict the seed of David for this, but not forever.’ ” 40 Therefore Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. 41 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, aren’t they written in the book of the acts of Solomon? 42 The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in his father David’s city; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Related Additional Readings​

The Wisdom of Solomon or Book of Wisdom is a Jewish work, written in Greek, and most likely composed in Alexandria, Egypt. Generally dated to the mid first century B.C. It is uncertain whether the book has a single author or comes from a school of writers, but recent scholarship has favored regarding it as a unified work. Fragments of the Wisdom of Solomon were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the first discovered and excavated cave at Qumran in 1949.

11:1 Wisdom prospered their works in the hand of a holy prophet. 2 They traveled through a desert without inhabitant, and they pitched their tents in trackless regions. 3 They withstood enemies and repelled foes. 4 They thirsted, and they called upon you, and water was given to them out of the flinty rock, and healing of their thirst out of the hard stone. 5 For by what things their foes were punished, by these they in their need were benefited. 6 When enemies were troubled with clotted blood instead of a river’s ever-flowing fountain, 7 to rebuke the decree for the slaying of babies, you gave them abundant water beyond all hope, 8 having shown by the thirst which they had suffered how you punished the adversaries. 9 For when they were tried, although chastened in mercy, they learned how the impious were tormented, being judged with wrath. 10 For you tested these as a father admonishing them; but you searched out those as a stern king condemning them. 11 Yes and whether they were far off or near, they were equally distressed; 12 for a double grief seized them, and a groaning at the memory of things past. 13 For when they heard that through their own punishments the others benefited, they recognized the Lord. 14 For him who long before was thrown out and exposed they stopped mocking. In the end of what happened, they marveled, having thirsted in another manner than the righteous. 15 But in return for the senseless imaginings of their unrighteousness, wherein they were led astray to worship irrational reptiles and wretched vermin, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them, 16 that they might learn that by what things a man sins, by these he is punished. 17 For your all-powerful hand that created the world out of formless matter didn’t lack means to send upon them a multitude of bears, fierce lions, 18 or newly-created and unknown wild beasts, full of rage, either breathing out a blast of fiery breath, or belching out smoke, or flashing dreadful sparks from their eyes; 19 which had power not only to consume them by their violence, but to destroy them even by the terror of their sight. 20 Yes and without these they might have fallen by a single breath, being pursued by Justice, and scattered abroad by the breath of your power; but you arranged all things by measure, number, and weight. 21 For to be greatly strong is yours at all times. Who could withstand the might of your arm? 22 Because the whole world before you is as a grain in a balance, and as a drop of dew that comes down upon the land in the morning. 23 But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things, and you overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent. 24 For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made; For you never would have formed anything if you hated it. 25 How would anything have endured unless you had willed it? Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved? 26 But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you who love the living.

Between 1947 and 1956 approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in five caves at Qumran, all written in Hebrew. The large number of manuscripts (more than for any biblical books except for Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, in descending order) indicates that Jubilees was widely used at Qumran. A comparison of the Qumran texts with the Ethiopic version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Ethiopic was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation. Scholars have dated Jubilees to have been written sometime around 160-150 B.C.

34:1 And in the sixth year of this week of this forty-fourth jubilee [2148 A.M.] Jacob sent his sons to pasture their sheep, and his servants with them to the pastures of Shechem. 2. And the seven kings of the Amorites assembled themselves together against them, to slay them, hiding themselves under the trees, and to take their cattle as a prey. 3. And Jacob and Levi and Judah and Joseph were in the house with Isaac their father; for his spirit was sorrowful, and they could not leave him: and Benjamin was the youngest, and for this reason remained with his father. 4. And there came the king[s] of Taphu and the king[s] of ‘Aresa, and the king[s] of Seragan, and the king[s] of Selo, and the king[s] of Ga’as, and the king of Bethoron, and the king of Ma’anisakir, and all those who dwell in these mountains (and) who dwell in the woods in the land of Canaan. 5. And they announced this to Jacob saying: ‘Behold, the kings of the Amorites have surrounded thy sons, and plundered their herds.’ 6. And he arose from his house, he and his three sons and all the servants of his father, and his own servants, and he went against them with six thousand men, who carried swords. 7. And he slew them in the pastures of Shechem, and pursued those who fled, and he slew them with the edge of the sword, and he slew ‘Aresa and Taphu and Saregan and Selo and ‘Amani- sakir and Ga[ga]’as, and he recovered his herds. 8. And he prevailed over them, and imposed tribute on them that they should pay him tribute, five fruit products of their land, and he built Robel and Tamnatares. 9. And he returned in peace, and made peace with them, and they became his servants, until the day that he and his sons went down into Egypt.

The Damascus Document, also called the Damascus Covenant or the Book of the Covenant of Damascus, Cairo Damascus document (CD) or Damascus Rule, is an ancient Jewish document that some scholars suggest serves as a “bridge” document, connecting Judaism’s post-exilic ‘Enochian’-Essene majority to the asserted leadership of its radical minority Qumran-Essene community that was established in isolation near the shores of the Dead Sea. It forms part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, found after 1947 near Qumran, but two fragments had already been discovered in 1897 in the Cairo Geniza. Only fragments remain of the opening paragraphs of the Damascus Document. The translation that follows is pieced together from 4Q266 and 4Q268. Enough can be recovered to tell that several of themes of the entire work are foreshadowed in the introductory paragraphs: the necessity of obedience to Elohim, the perfidy of the wicked, the insight of the pious into the future, the importance of observing the proper times of worship, and the special revelation given to the children of light.” This portion probably comes from the “sectarian reworking” of the document.

After the interpretive section, the train of thought continues: just as the present age is an age of wickedness, Elohim’s ways in the past reveal how he punishes sin and provides for the faithful of Israel.

For in times past. Elohim punished “their deeds and His wrath burned against their misdeeds, for they are a people without insight” (cf. Isa. 27:11), they are a people wandering in counsel, for there is no insight in them” (cf. Deut. 32:28). For in times past “Moses and Aaron stood in the power of the Prince of Lights and Belial raised up Yannes and “his brother in his cunning when seeking to do evil to Israel the first time. “In the time of destruction of the land the Boundary-Shifters appeared and led Israel astray and the land was devastated, for they had spoken rebellion against the commandments of Elohim through Moses and also 6 through the anointed of the spirit and they prophesied falsehood to turn Israel from following Elohim. But Elohim called to mind the covenant of the forefathers, and He raised up from Aaron insightful men and from Israel wise men and He taught them and they dug the well of knowledge the well the princes dug, the nobility of the people ‘dug it with a rod” (cf. Num. 21:18).

The symbolic interpretation of the verse last quoted.

The Well is the Law, and its “diggers” are the captives of Israel who went out of the land of Judah and dwelt in the land of Damascus; “because Elohim had called them all princes, for they sought Him and their honor was not denied by a single mouth. And the “rod” is the Interpreter of the Law of whom “Isaiah said, “he brings out a tool for his work” (Isa. 54:16). The “nobility of the people” are those who come to “dig the well” by following rules that the Rod made to live by during the whole era of wickedness, and without these rules they will obtain nothing until the appearance of one who teaches righteousness in the Last Days.

The continuation of the exhortation. These paragraphs read like a conclusion, and they may have occurred at the end of an earlier form of the text.

None who have been brought into the covenant “will enter into the sanctuary to light up His altar in vain; they will “lock the door,” for Elohim said, “Would that one of you would lock My door so that you should not light up My altar “in vain” (cf. Mal. 1:10). They must be careful to act according to specifications of the Law for the era of wickedness, separating from corrupt people, avoiding filthy wicked lucre taken from what is vowed or consecrated to Elohim or found in the Temple funds. They must not rob “the poor of Elohim’s people, making widows’ wealth their booty “and killing orphans” (cf. Isa. 10:2). They must distinguish between defiled and pure, teaching the difference “between holy and profane. They must guard the Sabbath day according to specification, and the holy days and the fast day according to the commandments of the members of the renewed covenant in the land of Damascus, “offering the holy according to their specifications. Each one must love his brother “as himself, and support the poor, needy, and alien. They must seek each the welfare of ‘his fellow, never betraying a family member according to the ordinance. Each must reprove his fellow according to the command, but must not bear a grudge day after day. They must separate from all kinds of ritual impurity according to their ordinance, not befoul ing each his holy spirit, just as Elohim has told them so to do. In short, for all who conduct their lives by these laws, in perfect holiness, according to all the instructions, Elohim’s covenant stands firm ‘to give them life for thousands of generations (Geniza B adds here: as it is written, “He keeps the covenant and loyalty to those who love Him and guard my commandments for a thousand generations” [cf. Deut. 7:9]).

The above excerpt is from Wise, Michael Owen, et al. The Dead Sea Scrolls: a New Translation. HarperSanFrancisco, 2005.

Composed in Talmudic Israel (c.150 – c.250 AD). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is a western targum (translation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it was known in medieval times. But because of a printer’s mistake it was later labeled Targum Jonathan, in reference to Jonathan ben Uzziel. Some editions of the Pentateuch continue to call it Targum Jonathan to this day. Most scholars refer to the text as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. This targum is more than a mere translation. It includes much Aggadic material collected from various sources as late as the Midrash Rabbah as well as earlier material from the Talmud. It is effectively a combination of a commentary and a translation. In the portions where it is pure translation, it often agrees with the Targum Onkelos. The date of its composition is disputed. It cannot have been completed before the Arabic conquest as it refers to Mohammad’s wife Fatimah, but might have been initially composed in the 4th Century AD. However, some scholars date it in the 14th Century.

Chapter 20…Then Mosheh sent messengers from Rekem unto the king of Edom, saying, Thus saith thy brother Israel. Thou hast known all the trouble that hath found us; that our fathers went down into Mizraim and dwelt in Mizraim many days, and the Mizraee afflicted us and our fathers. And we prayed before the Lord, who heard our prayers, and sent one of the ministering angels to lead us out of Mizraim: and, behold, we are in Rekem, a city built on the side of thy border. Let us now pass through thy land: we will not seduce virgins, nor carry off the betrothed, nor commit adultery: on the king’s highway, under the heavens, we will go forward, and turn not to the right or to the left, to do any injury in the public way while we pass through thy border. But Edomea answered him, You will not go through my coast, lest I come to meet thee with the unsheathed sword. And Israel said to him, We would go by the king’s highway; if we drink thy waters, I and my cattle, I will give thee the price of their value. I will only pass through, without doing wrong. But he said, You will not pass through. And Edomea came out to meet him with a large army and with a strong hand. So Edomea would not suffer Israel to pass through his coast; and Israel turned away from him, because it was commanded from before the Word of the Heavens that they should not set battle in array against them, forasmuch as the time was not yet come when the punishment of Edom should be given into their hands. And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from Rekem, and came unto Mount Umanom. And the Lord spake unto Mosheh in the Mount Umanom, on the coast of the land of Edom, saying: Aharon will be gathered unto his people; for he will not enter into the land which I have given unto the sons of Israel, because you were rebels against My Word at the Waters of Contention. Take Aharon and Elazar his son, and make them come up to Mount Umanom. And thou shalt strip Aharon of his vestments, the adornment (glory) of the priesthood, and put them on Elazar his son; but Aharon will be gathered, and die there. And Mosheh did as the Lord commanded him. And they ascended Mount Umanom, in the view of all the congregation. And Mosheh stripped Aharon of his vestments, the priestly decoration, and put them on Elazar his son; and Aharon died there on the summit of the mountain and Mosheh and Elazar came down from the mount. And when the soul of Aharon was at rest, the Cloud of Glory was lifted up on the first day of the new moon Ab; and all the congregation beheld Mosheh come down from the mountain with rent garments; and he wept and said, Woe unto me, for thee, my brother Aharon, the pillar of Israel’s prayers! And they too wept for Aharon thirty days, the men and the women of Israel.

Chapter 21 And Amalek, who had dwelt in the south, and changed, and came and reigned in Arad, heard that the soul of Aharon was at rest, that the pillar of the Cloud which for his sake had led the people of the house of Israel had been taken up, and that Israel was coming by the way of the explorers to the place where they had rebelled against the Lord of the world. For, when the explorers had returned, the sons of Israel abode in Rekem, but afterward returned from Rekem to Motseroth, in six encampments during forty years, when they journeyed from Motseroth, and returned to Rekem by the way of the explorers, and came unto Mount Umanom, where Aharon died; (and,) behold, he came and arrayed battle against Israel, and captured some of them with a great captivity. And Israel vowed a vow before the Lord and said, If Thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, I will destroy their cities. And the Lord heard Israel’s prayer, and delivered up the Kenaanites, and he destroyed them and their cities. And he called the name of the place Hormah. And they journeyed from Mount Umanom, by the way of the Sea of Suph, that they might compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was wearied in the way. And the people thought (wickedly) in their heart, and talked against the Word of the Lord, and contended with Mosheh, saying: Why didst thou bring us up from Mizraim to die in the wilderness; for there is neither bread nor water, and our soul is weary of manna, this light food? And the bath-kol fell from the high the heavens, and thus spake: Come, all men, and see all the benefits which I have done to the people whom I brought up free out of Mizraim. I made manna come down for them from the heavens, yet now turn they and murmur against Me. Yet, behold, the nachash, whom, in the days of the beginning of the world, I doomed to have dust for his food, hath not murmured against me: but My people are murmuring about their food. Now will the nachashim who have not complained of their food come and bite the people who complain. Therefore did the Word of the Lord send the basilisk nachashim, and they bit the people, and a great multitude of the people of Israel died. And the people came to Mosheh, and said: We have sinned, in thinking and speaking against the glory of the Lord’s Shekinah, and in contending with thee. Pray before the Lord to remove the plague of nachashim from us. And Mosheh prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Mosheh, Make thee a nachash of brass, and set it upon a place aloft; and it will be that when a nachash hath bitten any one, if he behold it, then will he live, if his heart be directed to the Name of the Word of the Lord. And Mosheh made a nachash of brass, and set it upon a place aloft; and it was, when a nachash had bitten a man, and the nachash of brass was gazed at, and his heart was intent upon the Name of the Word of the Lord, he lived. And the sons of Israel journeyed from thence, and pitched in Oboth; and they journeyed from Oboth, and encamped in the plain of Megistha, in a desert place which looketh toward Moab from the rising of the sun. Thence they journeyed and encamped in a valley abounding in reeds, osiers, and mandrakes. And they journeyed from thence, and encamped beyond the Arnon, in a passage of the desert that stretcheth from the coast of the Amoraah; for Arnon is the border of Moab, situate between Moab and the Amoraah; and therein dwelt a priesthood of the worshippers of idols. Therefore it is said in the book of the Law, where are recorded the wars of the Lord: Eth and Heb, who had been smitten with the blast of the leprosy, and had been banished beyond the confine of the camp, made known. to Israel that Edom and Moab were concealed among the mountains in ambush, to destroy the people of the house of Israel. But the Lord of the world made a sign to the mountains, which pressed one to another so that they died: and their blood flowed through a valley on the brink of the Arnon (or, a valley adjoining Arnon). And the effusion of the streams of their blood flowed to the habitations of Lechaiath, which were, however, delivered from this destruction, because they had not been in their counsels; and, behold, it was unto the confine of Moab. And from thence was given to them (the Israelites) the living well, the well concerning which the Lord said to Mosheh, Assemble the people and give them water. Then, behold, Israel sang the thanksgiving of this song, at the time that the well which had been hidden was restored to them through the merit of Miriam: Spring up, O well, spring up, O well! sang they to it, and it sprang up: the well which the fathers of the world, Abraham Izhak, and Jakob dug: the princes who were of old dug it, the chiefs of the people: Mosheh and Aharon, the scribes of Israel, found it with their rods; and from the desert it was given to them for a gift. And from thence it was given to them in Mattana; turning, it went up with them to the high mountains, and from the high mountains it went down with them to the hills surrounding all the camp of Israel, and giving them drink, every one at the door of his tent. And from the high mountains it descended with them to the lower hills, but was hidden from them on the borders of Moab, at the summit of the hill looking toward Bethjeshimon, because there they neglected the words of the Law. Then sent Israel messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying: I would pass through thy country. We will not carry off the betrothed, nor seduce virgins, nor have to do with the wives of men; by the highway of the King who is in the heavens we will go, until we have passed through thy border. But Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his limit, but constrained all his people, and came out to Jahaz, and made war against Israel. And Israel smote him with the anathema of the Lord, that he would destroy (him) with the edge of the sword; and he took possession of his country, from Arnon unto the Jabbok, unto the border of the children of Ammon; because Rabbath, which is the limit of the children of Ammon, was strong; and so far was their boundary. And Israel took all those cities, and dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her villages. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites; for he had beforetime made war with the King of Moab, and had taken all his country from his hand unto the Arnon. Therefore, say the young men, (or the chosen ones,) using proverbs: The righteous who rule their passions say, Come let us reckon (Heshbon) the strength of a good work by the recompense, and the recompense of an evil work by the strength for whoso is watchful and diligent in the law is builded up and perfected; for mighty words like fire go forth from the lips of the righteous, the masters of such thought, (calculation, heshbona,) and powerful merit like flames from those who are read and devoted in the law: their fire devoureth the foe and the adversary, who are reckoned before them as the worshippers of the idol altars in the valley of Arnona. Woe to you, ye haters of the just! ye have perished, ye people of Kemosh, haters of the words of the law, in whom there is no righteousness, unless he waste you to bring you captive unto the place where they teach. the law, and their sons and daughters be removed by captivity of the sword to be near them who consult in its counsels the instructors and those anointed with the law. The wicked have said, In all this there is nothing lofty to the sight; but your numbers will perish until the falsehood of your souls be ended, and the Lord of the world destroy them till their lives have expired, and they have come to nothing, as the cities of the Amorites have perished, and the palaces of their princes from the great gate of the house of the reign to the street of the smiths which is nigh to Medeba. And Israel, after they had destroyed Sihon, dwelt in the land of the Amorites. And Mosheh sent Kaleb and Phineas to examine Makbar, and they subdued the villages, and destroyed the Amorites who were there. Then they turned, and went up by the way of Mathnan; and Og, the king of Mathnan, came out to meet us, he and all his people, to give battle at Edrei. And it was, when Mosheh saw Og, he trembled before him, stricken with fear: but he (soon) answered and said, This is Og the Wicked, who taunted Abraham our father and Sarah, saying: You are like trees planted by the water channels, but bring forth no fruit: therefore hath the Holy One, blessed be He, spared him to live through generations, that he might see the great multitude of their children, and be delivered into our hands. Then spake the Lord unto Mosheh: Fear him not, for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people and country; and thou shalt do to him as thou hast done to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon. Now it was, after Og the Wicked had seen the camp of Israel spreading over six miles he said with himself, I will make war against this people, that they may not do to me as they have done to Sihon: so went he and tare up a mountain six miles in size, and brought it upon his head to hurl it upon them. But the Word of the Lord forthwith prepared a reptile which ate into the mountain and perforated it, and his head was swallowed up within it; and he sought to withdraw it, but could not, because his back teeth and his front ones were drawn hither and thither. And Mosheh went and took an axe of ten cubits, and sprang ten cubits, and struck him on the ankle of his foot, and he fell, and died beyond the camp of Israel. Thus it is written. And they smote him and his sons and daughters, and all his people, till none of them remained to escape; and they took possession of his land.

Chapter 22 And the sons of Israel journeyed, and encamped in the plains of Moab, near the passage of the Jordan (toward) Jericho.

Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 AD in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. In 62 AD he went to Rome to free some imprisoned priests. After accomplishing this mission through the intercession of Nero’s wife, Poppaea, he returned to Jerusalem in 65 AD to find the country in revolt against Rome. Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the ruler of the ‘entire world’. His prophecy became true in 68 AD when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Rome and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78 AD, the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 AD. The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews contain two references to Yeshua of Nazareth (18.3.3. and 20.9.1.) and one reference to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist (18.5.2.).

4.4.7. Now when this purification, which their leader made upon the mourning for his sister, as it has been now described, was over, he caused the army to remove and to march through the wilderness and through Arabia; and when he came to a place which the Arabians esteem their metropolis, which was formerly called Arce, but has now the name of Petra, at this place, which was encompassed with high mountains, Aaron went up one of them in the sight of the whole army, Moses having before told him that he was to die, for this place was over against them. He put off his pontifical garments, and delivered them to Eleazar his son, to whom the high priesthood belonged, because he was the elder brother; and died while the multitude looked upon him. He died in the same year wherein he lost his sister, having lived in all a hundred twenty and three years. He died on the first day of that lunar new moon which is called by the Athenians Hecatombaeon, by the Macedonians Lous, but by the Hebrews Abba.

4.5.1. The people mourned for Aaron thirty days, and when this mourning was over, Moses removed the army from that place, and came to the river Arnon, which, issuing out of the mountains of Arabia, and running through all that wilderness, falls into the lake Asphaltitis, and becomes the limit between the land of the Moabites and the land of the Amorites. This land is fruitful, and sufficient to maintain a great number of men, with the good things it produces. Moses therefore sent messengers to Sihon, the king of this country, desiring that he would grant his army a passage, upon what security he should please to require; he promised that he should be no way injured, neither as to that country which Sihon governed, nor as to its inhabitants; and that he would buy his provisions at such a price as should be to their advantage, even though he should desire to sell them their very water. But Sihon refused his offer, and put his army into battle array, and was preparing every thing in order to hinder their passing over Arnon.

4.5.2. When Moses saw that the Amorite king was disposed to enter upon hostilities with them, he thought he ought not to bear that insult; and, determining to wean the Hebrews from their indolent temper, and prevent the disorders which arose thence, which had been the occasion of their former sedition, (nor indeed were they now thoroughly easy in their minds,) he inquired of Elohim, whether he would give him leave to fight? which when he had done, and Elohim also promised him the victory, he was himself very courageous, and ready to proceed to fighting. Accordingly he encouraged the soldiers; and he desired of them that they would take the pleasure of fighting, now Elohim gave them leave so to do. They then, upon the receipt of this permission, which they so much longed for, put on their whole armor, and set about the work without delay. But the Amorite king was not now like to himself when the Hebrews were ready to attack him; but both he himself was affrighted at the Hebrews, and his army, which before had showed themselves to be of good courage, were then found to be timorous: so they could not sustain the first onset, nor bear up against the Hebrews, but fled away, as thinking this would afford them a more likely way for their escape than fighting, for they depended upon their cities, which were strong, from which yet they reaped no advantage when they were forced to fly to them; for as soon as the Hebrews saw them giving ground, they immediately pursued them close; and when they had broken their ranks, they greatly terrified them, and some of them broke off from the rest, and ran away to the cities. Now the Hebrews pursued them briskly, and obstinately persevered in the labors they had already undergone; and being very skillful in slinging, and very dexterous in throwing of darts, or any thing else of that kind, and also having nothing but light armor, which made them quick in the pursuit, they overtook their enemies; and for those that were most remote, and could not be overtaken, they reached them by their slings and their bows, so that many were slain; and those that escaped the slaughter were sorely wounded, and these were more distressed with thirst than with any of those that fought against them, for it was the summer season; .and when the greatest number of them were brought down to the river out of a desire to drink, as also when others fled away by troops, the Hebrews came round them, and shot at them; so that, what with darts and what with arrows, they made a slaughter of them all. Sihon their king was also slain. So the Hebrews spoiled the dead bodies, and took their prey. The land also which they took was full of abundance of fruits, and the army went all over it without fear, and fed their cattle upon it; and they took the enemies prisoners, for they could no way put a stop to them, since all the fighting men were destroyed. Such was the destruction which overtook the Amorites, who were neither sagacious in counsel, nor courageous in action. Hereupon the Hebrews took possession of their land, which is a country situate between three rivers, and naturally resembled an island: the river Arnon being its southern ; the river Jabbok determining its northern side, which running into Jordan loses its own name, and takes the other; while Jordan itself runs along by it, on its western coast.

4.5.3. When matters were come to this state, Og, the king of Gilead and Gaulanitis, fell upon the Israelites. He brought an army with him, and in haste to the assistance of his friend Sihon: but though he found him already slain, yet did he resolve still to come and fight the Hebrews, supposing he should be too hard for them, and being desirous to try their valor; but failing of his hope, he was both himself slain in the battle, and all his army was destroyed. So Moses passed over the river Jabbok, and overran the reign of Og. He overthrew their cities, and slew all their inhabitants, who yet exceeded in riches all the men in that part of the continent, on account of the goodness of the soil, and the great quantity of their wealth. Now Og had very few equals, either in the largeness of his body, or handsomeness of his appearance. He was also a man of great activity in the use of his hands, so that his actions were not unequal to the vast largeness and handsome appearance of his body. And men could easily guess at his strength and magnitude when they took his bed at Rabbath, the royal city of the Ammonites; its structure was of iron, its breadth four cubits, and its length a cubit more than double thereto. However, his fall did not only improve the circumstances of the Hebrews for the present, but by his death he was the occasion of further good success to them; for they presently took those sixty cities, which were encompassed with excellent walls, and had been subject to him, and all got both in general and in particular a great prey.