Week 118

• Torah (T): Bemidbar (Numbers) 25:10 – 26:51
• Prophets (P): Malachi 2:1-9
• Apostolic (A): 2 Corinthians 11:1-4
• Additional (ADD): 1 Maccabees 2:19-54

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Numbers 31:1-18 (T)
• Micah 6:1-8 (T)
• Joshua 22:6-34 (T)
• Deuteronomy 4:1-8 (T)
• Psalms 106:28-31 (T)
• 1 Chronicles 6:1-15; Ezra 7:1-6 (T)
• Ezekiel 44:6-16 (T)
• Hosea 9:1-10 (T)
• 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (T)
• 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 (T)
• 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (T)
• Hosea 2:1-23 (T)
• Numbers 1:1-4 (T)
• Genesis 46:1-27 (T)
• Genesis 46:8; 1 Chronicles 5:3 (T)
• Numbers 16:1-33 (T)
• Genesis 38:1-10; Genesis 46:12; 1 Chronicles 2:3 (T)
• Joshua 17:1-18 (T)
• Malachi 2:1-17 (P)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• Stories About the Tribes of Israel, 4Q371-373, 2Q22 (T)
• Numbers 25:10 – 26:51 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.6.6-13 (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)

25:10 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the sons of Israel, in that he was zealous with my zeal among them, so that I didn’t consume the sons of Israel in my zeal. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. 13 It will be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his Elohim, and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’ ” 14 Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Shimonites. 15 The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian. 16 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, [“Speak to the sons of Israel saying,]^(DSS)(LXX) 17 “Harass the Midianites, and strike them; 18 for they harassed you with their craftiness, wherein they have deceived you in the word of Peor, and in the incident regarding Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the smiting in the word of Peor.”

26:1 After the smiting, YHWH spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, 2 “Lift up the head of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all who are able to go out to war in Israel.” 3 Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 4 “Lift up the head, from twenty years old and upward, as YHWH commanded Moses and the sons of Israel.” These are those who came out of the land of Egypt. 5 Reuben, the firstborn of Israel; the sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the family of the Palluites; 6 of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the family of the Carmites. 7 These are the families of the ones of Reuben; and the registered ones of them were forty-three thousand seven hundred thirty. 8 The son of Pallu: Eliab. 9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are that Dathan and Abiram who were called by the congregation, who rebelled against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Qorach when they rebelled against YHWH; 10 and the land opened its mouth, and [the land]^(DSS) swallowed them up together with Qorach when that company died; at the time the fire devoured two hundred fifty men [who offered incense],^(DSS) and they became a sign. 11 But, the sons of Qorach didn’t die. 12 The sons of Shimon after their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites; 13 of [Zohar],^(LXX) the family of the [Zoharites]; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites. 14 These are the families of the Shimonites, twenty-two thousand two hundred. 15 [And]^(DSS) the sons of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the family of the Haggites; of Shuni, the family of the Shunites; 16 of [Ezbon],^(LXX) the family of the [Ezbonites]; of Eri, the family of the Erites; 17 of [Arodi],^(LXX) the family of the Arodites; of [Arel],^(DSS) the family of the [Arielites].^(DSS) 18 These are the families of the sons of Gad according to the registered ones of them, forty thousand and five hundred. 19 The sons of Judah: Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 20 The sons of Judah after their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites. 21 The sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of [Hamuel], the family of the [Hamuelites].^(DSS)(LXX) 22 These are the families of Judah according to the registered ones of them, seventy-six thousand five hundred. 23 The sons of Issachar after their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the family of the [Puvites];^(DSS) 24 of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites. 25 These are the families of Issachar according to the registered ones of them, sixty-four thousand three hundred. 26 The sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. 27 These are the families of the Zebulunites according to the registered ones of them, sixty thousand five hundred. 28 The sons of Joseph after their families: Manasseh and Ephraim. 29 The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites; and Machir became the father of Gilead; of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites. 30 These are the sons of Gilead: of [Abiezer],^(DSS) the family of the [Abiezerites];^(DSS) of Helek, the family of the Helekites; 31 and Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; and Shechem, the family of the Shechemites; 32 and Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; and [Hopher],^(DSS) the family of the [Hopherites].^(DSS) 33 Zelophehad the son of [Hopher]^(DSS) had no sons, but daughters: and [these are the names]^(DSS) of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noaḥ, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 34 These are the families of Manasseh; [of]^(DSS) the registered ones of them were fifty-two thousand seven hundred. 35 These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. 36 These are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the [Edenites].^{(LXX)(SP)(Syr)} 37 These are the families of the sons of Ephraim according to the registered ones of them, thirty-two thousand five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph after their families. 38 The sons of Benjamin after their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites; 39 of [Shuppim],^(mss)(LXX) the family of the Shuppimites; of [Huppim],^(mss)(LXX) the family of the Huppimites. 40 The sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: [of Ard,]^(LXX)(SP) the family of the Ardites; and of Naaman, the family of the [Naamanites].^(LXX) 41 These are the sons of Benjamin after their families; and the registered ones of them were forty-five thousand six hundred. 42 These are the sons of Dan after their families: of Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan after their families. 43 All the families of the Shuhamites, according to the registered ones of them, were sixty-four thousand four hundred. 44 The sons of Asher after their families: of Imnah, the family of the [Imnaites];^(mss)(LXX) of Ishvi, the family of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the family of the Berites. 45 Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites. 46 The name of the daughter of Asher was Serah. 47 These are the families of the sons of Asher according to the registered ones of them, fifty-three thousand four hundred. 48 The sons of Naphtali after their families: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the family of the Gunites; 49 of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the family of the Shillemites. 50 These are the families of Naphtali according to their families; and the registered ones of them were forty-five thousand four hundred. 51 These are the registered ones of the sons of Israel, six hundred one thousand seven hundred thirty.

Prophets Portion (P)

2:1 “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says YHWH of Armies, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. 4 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says YHWH of Armies. 5 “My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name. 6 Torah of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest’s lips should guard knowledge, and they should seek the Torah at his mouth; for he is the messenger of YHWH of Armies. 8 But you have turned away from the path. You have caused many to stumble in the Torah. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says YHWH of Armies. 9 “Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, as you have not guarded my ways, but lift up faces in the Torah.

Apostolic Portion (A)

11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am zealous over you with a pious zeal. For I promised you in marriage to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Messiah. 3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the nachash deceived Chavah in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity [and purity]^(mss) that is in Messiah. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Yeshua whom we didn’t proclaim, or if you receive a different spirit which you didn’t receive, or a different good news which you didn’t accept, you put up with that well enough.

Additional Portion (ADD)

1 and 2 Maccabees are set during the reign of the Seleucid Greek empire (the part of the Greek empire that found its roots in Syria). It tells the story of how the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes attested to suppress Temple worship and to destroy the practice of Jewish law. This caused the Maccabean revolt, led by Mattathias and his sons. As a part of the revolt, the Temple was freed from the control of the Greek empire and rededicated (an act that is still commemorated yearly in the festival of Hanukkah). The Maccabees then ruled over Israel, first as High Priests and then as High Priests and Princes of Israel.

1 Maccabees follows this story until the death of Shimon (the third son of Mattathias to rule over Israel) at the hands of the Egyptian Greeks (from about 175-134 B.C.).

2:19 And Mattathias answered and said with a loud voice, If all the nations that are in the house of the king’s dominion listen to him, to fall away each one from the worship of his fathers, and have made choice to follow his commandments, 20 yet I and my sons and my kindred will walk in the covenant of our fathers. 21 Heaven forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances. 22 We will not listen to the king’s words, to go aside from our worship, on the right hand, or on the left. 23 And when he had left speaking these words, there came a Jew in the sight of all to slaughter on the altar which was at Modin, according to the king’s commandment. 24 And Mattathias saw it, and his zeal was kindled, and his reins trembled, and he showed forth his wrath according to judgment, and ran, and killed him upon the altar. 25 And the king’s officer, who compelled men to slaughter, he killed at that time, and pulled down the altar. 26 And he was zealous for the law, even as Phinehas did to Zimri the son of Salu. 27 And Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying, Whosoever is zealous for the law, and maintains the covenant, let him come forth after me. 28 And he and his sons fled into the mountains, and forsook all that they had in the city. 29 Then many that sought after justice and judgment went down into the wilderness, to dwell there, 30 they, and their sons, and their wives, and their cattle; because evils were multiplied upon them. 31 And it was told the king’s officers, and the forces that were in Jerusalem, the city of David, that certain men, who had broken the king’s commandment, were gone down into the secret places in the wilderness; 32 and many pursued after them, and having overtaken them, they encamped against them, and set the battle in array against them on the Sabbath day. 33 And they said to them, Thus far. Come forth, and do according to the word of the king, and you will live. 34 And they said, We will not come forth, neither will we do the word of the king, to profane the Sabbath day. 35 And they hurried to give them battle. 36 And they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped up the secret places, 37 saying, Let us die all in our innocency: the heavens and land witness over us, that you put us to death without trial. 38 And they rose up against them in battle on the Sabbath, and they died, they and their wives and their children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand souls of men. 39 And Mattathias and his friends knew it, and they mourned over them exceedingly. 40 And one said to another, If we all do as our kindred have done, and fight not against the Nations for our lives and our ordinances, they will now quickly destroy us from off the land. 41 And they took counsel on that day, saying, whoever will come against us to battle on the Sabbath day, let’s fight against him, and we will in no wise all die, as our kindred died in the secret places. 42 Then were gathered together to them a company of Chasdim, mighty men of Israel, every one that offered himself willingly for the law. 43 And all those who fled from the evils were added to them, and became a stay to them. 44 And they mustered an army, and struck sinners in their anger, and lawless men in their wrath: and the rest fled to the Nations for safety. 45 And Mattathias and his friends went round about, and pulled down the altars; 46 and they circumcised by force the children that were uncircumcised, as many as they found in the coasts of Israel. 47 And they pursued after the sons of pride, and the work prospered in their hand. 48 And they rescued the law out of the hand of the Nations, and out of the hand of the kings, neither gave they a horn to the sinner. 49 And the days of Mattathias drew near that he should die, and he said to his sons, Now have pride and rebuke gotten strength, and a season of overthrow, and wrath of indignation. 50 And now, my children, be you zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers. 51 And call to remembrance the deeds of our fathers which they did in their generations; and receive great glory and an everlasting name. 52 Was not Abraham found faithful in testing, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness? 53 Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt. 54 Phinehas our father, for that he was zealous exceedingly, obtained the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.

Related Scriptures

Numbers 25:1-9 (T)

25:1 Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab; 2 for they called the people to the slaughters of their elohim. The people ate and bowed down to their elohim. 3 Israel yoked himself to Baal Peor, and the anger of YHWH burned against Israel. 4 YHWH said to Moses, “Take the heads of the people, and hang them up to YHWH before the sun, that the fierce anger of YHWH may turn away from Israel.” 5 Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have yoked themselves to Baal Peor.” 6 Behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they [began] weeping at the door of the Appointed Tent. 7 When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. 8 He went after the man of Israel into the alcove, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the smiting was stopped among the sons of Israel. 9 Those who died by the smiting were twenty-four thousand. 10

31:1 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Avenge the sons of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you will be gathered to your people.” 3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, that they may go against Midian, to execute YHWH’s vengeance on Midian. 4 You will send one thousand out of every tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, to the war.” 5 So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 They fought against Midian, as YHWH commanded Moses. They killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9 The sons of Israel took the women of Midian captive with their little ones; and all their livestock, all their flocks, and all their goods, they took as plunder. 10 All their cities in the places in which they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire. 11 They took all the captives, and all the plunder, both of man and of animal. 12 They brought the captives with the prey and the plunder, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho. 13 Moses and Eleazar the priest, with all the princes of the congregation, went out to meet them outside of the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive? 16 Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against YHWH in the word of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of YHWH. 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. 18 But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

6:1 Listen now to what YHWH says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. 2 Hear, you mountains, YHWH’s indictment, and you enduring foundations of the land; for YHWH has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of YHWH.” 6 How will I come before YHWH, and bow myself before the exalted Elohim? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will YHWH be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does YHWH require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Elohim?

22:6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents. 7 Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but Joshua gave to the other half among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, 8 and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much wealth to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brothers.” 9 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the sons of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned, according to the commandment of YHWH by Moses. 10 When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at. 11 The sons of Israel heard this, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the sons of Israel.” 12 When the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. 13 The sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest. 14 With him were ten lifted up ones, one prince of a fathers’ house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were each head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel. 15 They came to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 16 “The whole congregation of YHWH says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the Elohim of Israel, to turn away today from following YHWH, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against YHWH? 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a smiting on the congregation of YHWH, 18 that you must turn away today from following YHWH? It will be, since you rebel today against YHWH, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of YHWH, in which the tabernacle of YHWH dwells, and take possession among us; but don’t rebel against YHWH, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than YHWH our Elohim’s altar. 20 Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t perish alone in his iniquity.’ ” 21 Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, 22 “The Mighty One, Elohim, YHWH, the Mighty One, Elohim, YHWH, he knows; and Israel will know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against YHWH, don’t save us today, 23 that we have built us an altar to turn away from following YHWH; or if to offer burnt offering or grain offering, or if to offer slaughters of peace offerings, let YHWH himself require it. 24 “If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons might speak to our sons, saying, “What have you to do with YHWH, the Elohim of Israel? 25 For YHWH has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad. You have no portion in YHWH.” ‘ So your sons might make our sons cease from fearing YHWH. 26 “Therefore we said, ‘Let’s now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for slaughter; 27 but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of YHWH before him with our burnt offerings, with our slaughters, and with our peace offerings;’ that your sons may not tell our sons in time to come, ‘You have no portion in YHWH.’ 28 “Therefore we said, ‘It will be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we will say, “Behold the pattern of the altar of YHWH, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for slaughter; but it is a witness between us and you.” ‘ 29 “Far be it from us that we should rebel against YHWH, and turn away today from following YHWH, to build an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering, or for slaughter, besides YHWH our Elohim’s altar that is before his tabernacle!” 30 When Phinehas the priest, and the lifted up ones of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. 31 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben, to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that YHWH is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against YHWH. Now you have delivered the sons of Israel out of the hand of YHWH.” 32 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the lifted up ones, returned from the sons of Reuben, and from the sons of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought them word again. 33 The thing pleased the sons of Israel; and the sons of Israel blessed Elohim, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad lived. 34 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad named the altar “A Witness Between Us that YHWH is Elohim.”

4:1 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you, to do them, that you may live and go in and possess the land which YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, gives you. 2 You will not add to the word which I command you, neither will you take away from it, that you may guard the commandments of YHWH your Elohim which I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what YHWH did because of Baal Peor; for YHWH your Elohim has destroyed all the men who followed Baal Peor from among you. 4 But you who were faithful to YHWH your Elohim are all alive today. 5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as YHWH my Elohim commanded me, that you should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it. 6 Guard therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 For what great nation is there that has an elohim so near to them as YHWH our Elohim is whenever we call on him? 8 What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you today? guard

106:28 They yoked themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the slaughters of the dead. 29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The smiting broke in on them. 30 Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the smiting was stopped. 31 That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come.

1 Chronicles 6:1 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Qohath, and Merari. 2 The sons of Qohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 3 The sons of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 4 Eleazar became the father of Phinehas, Phinehas became the father of Abishua, 5 Abishua became the father of Bukki. Bukki became the father of Uzzi. 6 Uzzi became the father of Zerahiah. Zerahiah became the father of Meraioth. 7 Meraioth became the father of Amariah. Amariah became the father of Ahitub. 8 Ahitub became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Ahimaaz. 9 Ahimaaz became the father of Azariah. Azariah became the father of Johanan. 10 Johanan became the father of Azariah, who executed the priest’s office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem. 11 Azariah became the father of Amariah. Amariah became the father of Ahitub. 12 Ahitub became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Shallum. 13 Shallum became the father of Hilkiah. Hilkiah became the father of Azariah. 14 Azariah became the father of Seraiah. Seraiah became the father of Jehozadak. 15 Jehozadak went into captivity when YHWH carried Judah and Jerusalem away by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

Ezra 7:1 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— 6 this Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the Torah of Moses, which YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to YHWH his Elohim’s hand on him.

44:6 You will tell the rebellious, even the house of Israel, ‘The Lord YHWH says: “You house of Israel, let that be enough of all your abominations, 7 in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. 8 You have not performed the duty of my holy; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.” 9 The Lord YHWH says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, will enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the sons of Israel. 10 “But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their iniquity. 11 Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They will kill the burnt offering and the slaughter for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord YHWH, “and they will bear their iniquity. 13 They will not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. 14 Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service and for all that will be done therein. 15 “But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, will come near to me to minister to me. They will stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord YHWH. 16 “They will enter into my sanctuary, and they will come near to my table, to minister to me, and they will guard my instruction.

9:1 Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your Elohim. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor. 2 The threshing floor and the wine press won’t feed them, and the new wine will fail her. 3 They won’t dwell in the land of YHWH; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria. 4 They won’t pour out wine offerings to YHWH, neither will they be pleasing to him. Their slaughters will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat of it will be polluted; for their bread will be for their appetite. It will not come into YHWH’s house. 5 What will you do in the day of closing assembly, and in the day of the feast of YHWH? 6 For, behold, when they flee destruction, Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. Thorns will be in their tents. 7 The days of inspection have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great. 8 A prophet watches over Ephraim with my Elohim. A fowler’s snare is on all of his paths, and hostility in the house of his Elohim. 9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins. 10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.

6:12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. 13 “Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but Elohim will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for whoring, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 Now Elohim raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Messiah? Shall I then take the members of Messiah and make them members of a whore? May it never be! 16 Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a whore is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee whoring! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits whoring sins against his own body. 19 Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from Elohim? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify Elohim in your body and in your spirit, which are Elohim’s.

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.

6:14 Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What agreement does Messiah have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement does a temple of Elohim have with idols? For you are a temple of the living Elohim. Even as Elohim said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their Elohim and they will be my people.” (cf. Leviticus 26:12) 17 Therefore Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you. 18 I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

2:1 “Say to your brothers, ‘Ammi’ (My people) and to your sisters, ‘Ruchamah’ (Compassion) 2 Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 3 lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst. 4 Indeed, on her sons I will have no mercy, for they are sons of unfaithfulness. 5 For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ 6 Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way. 7 She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.’ 8 For she didn’t know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. 10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand. 11 I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. 12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me,’ and I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field will eat them. 13 I will visit on her the days of the Baalim, to which she burned incense when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers and forgot me,” says YHWH. 14 “Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16 It will be in that day,” says YHWH, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’ 17 For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name. 18 In that day I will cut a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely. 19 I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. 20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you will know YHWH. 21 It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says YHWH. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the land; 22 and the land will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel. 23 I will sow her to me in the land; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘You are My Elohim!’ ”

1:1 YHWH spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Appointed Tent, on the first day of the second new moon, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “Lift up the head of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, every male, [according to their skull],^(MTT) 3 from a son of twenty years and upward, all who are able to go out to the army in Israel. You and Aaron will register them by their divisions. 4 With you there will be a man of every tribe, each one head of his fathers’ house.

46:1 Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Be’ersheba, and offered slaughters to the Elohim of his father, Isaac. 2 Elohim spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.” 3 He said, “I am Elohim, the Elohim of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. 4 I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.” 5 Jacob rose up from Be’ersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his seed with him, 7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his seed with him into Egypt. 8 These are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9 The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Shimon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Qohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. 14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three. 16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls. 19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. 21 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. 23 The son of Dan: Hushim. 24 The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven. 26 All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct seed, in addition to Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six. 27 The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.

Genesis 46:8 These are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.

1 Chronicles 5:1 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and the genealogy is not to be listed according to the birthright. 2 For Judah prevailed above his brothers, and from him came the prince; but the birthright was Joseph’s— 3 the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

16:1 Now Qorach, the son of Izhar, the son of Qohath, the son of Levi took, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, son^(LXX) of Reuben. 2 They rose up before Moses, with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred fifty lifted up ones of the congregation, called to the assembly, and^(LXX) men of name. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “It is great for you, since all the congregation are holy, all of them, and YHWH is in their midst! Why do you lift yourselves up above the assembly of YHWH?” 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face. 5 He said to Qorach and to all his company, “In the morning, YHWH will show who are his, [and he has brought whomsoever is holy near]^(LXX) to him. The one whom he [has chosen],^(LXX) he will cause to come near to him. 6 Do this: have Qorach and all his company take censers, 7 put fire in them, and put incense on them before YHWH tomorrow. It will be that the man whom YHWH chooses, he will be holy. It is great for you sons of Levi!” 8 Moses said to Qorach [and all of his company],^(LXX) “Hear now, you sons of Levi! 9 Is it a small thing to you that the Elohim of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of YHWH, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; 10 and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? Do you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore you and all your company have gathered together against YHWH! What is Aaron that you complain against him?” 12 Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, “We won’t come up! 13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a ruler over us? 14 Moreover you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We won’t come up.” 15 Moses was very angry, and said to YHWH, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them.” 16 Moses said to Qorach, “You and all your company go before YHWH, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. 17 Each man take his censer and put incense on it, and each man bring before YHWH his censer, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each with his censer.” 18 They each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the Appointed Tent with Moses and Aaron. 19 Qorach assembled all the congregation opposite them to the door of the Appointed Tent. the glory of YHWH appeared to all the congregation. 20 YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!” 22 They fell on their faces, and said, “Elohim, the Elohim of the spirits of all flesh, will one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” 23 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from around the tent of Qorach, Dathan, and Abiram!’ ” 25 Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins!” 27 So they went away from the tent of Qorach, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side. Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 Moses said, “Hereby you will know that YHWH has sent me to do all these works; for they are not from my own mind. 29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they experience what all men experience, then YHWH hasn’t sent me. 30 But if YHWH creates a creation, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up with all that belong to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have despised YHWH.” 31 As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart. 32 The land opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Qorach’s men, and all their goods. 33 So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The land closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.

Genesis 38:1 At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 There, Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite man named Shua. He took her, and went in to her. 3 She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er. 4 She conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan. 5 She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him. 6 Judah took a woman for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of YHWH. So YHWH killed him. 8 Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and raise up seed for your brother.” 9 Onan knew that the seed wouldn’t be his; and when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. 10 The thing which he did was evil in the sight of YHWH, and he killed him also.

Genesis 46:12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and [Hamuel].^(LXX)

2:3 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah, which three were born to him of Shua’s daughter the Canaanitess. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in YHWH’s* sight; and he killed him.

17:1 This was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. As for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan. 2 So this was for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families: for the sons of Abiezer, for the sons of Helek, for the sons of Asriel, for the sons of Shechem, for the sons of Hepher, and for the sons of Shemida. These were the male sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families. 3 But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noaḥ, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 They came to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the princes, saying, “YHWH commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” Therefore according to the commandment of YHWH he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. 5 Ten parts fell to Manasseh, in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan; 6 because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh. 7 The border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethath, which is before Shechem. The border went along to the right hand, to the inhabitants of En Tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh; but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim. 9 The border went down to the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook. These cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook, and ended at the sea. 10 Southward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it was Manasseh’s, and the sea was his border. They reached to Asher on the north, and to Issachar on the east. 11 Manasseh had three heights in Issachar, in Asher Beth Shean and its towns, and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns. 12 Yet the sons of Manasseh couldn’t drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 13 When the sons of Israel had grown strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and didn’t utterly drive them out. 14 The sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me just one lot and one part for an inheritance, since we are a numerous people, because YHWH has blessed us so far?” 15 Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest, and clear land for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” 16 The sons of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. All the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth Shean and its towns, and those who are in the valley of Jezreel.” 17 Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, that is, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, “You are a numerous people, and have great power. You will not have one lot only; 18 but the hill country will be yours. Although it is a forest, you will cut it down, and it’s farthest extent will be yours; for you will drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”

2:1 “Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If you will not listen, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says YHWH of Armies, “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. 4 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says YHWH of Armies. 5 “My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name. 6 The Torah of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest’s lips should guard knowledge, and they should seek the Torah at his mouth; for he is the messenger of YHWH of Armies. 8 But you have turned away from the path. You have caused many to stumble in the Torah. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says YHWH of Armies. 9 “Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the Torah. 10 Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one Elohim created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is done in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of YHWH which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 YHWH will cut off the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob and him who offers an offering to YHWH of Armies. 13 “This again you do: you cover the altar of YHWH with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand. 14 Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because YHWH has been witness between you and the woman of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and the woman of your covenant. 15 Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought pious seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the woman of his youth. 16 One who hates and divorces”, says YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, “covers his garment with violence!” says YHWH of Armies. “Therefore pay attention to your spirit, that you don’t be unfaithful. 17 You have wearied YHWH with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of YHWH, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the Elohim of justice?’

Related Additional Readings​

Portion 4 […] I will praise the LO[RD, that] my meditation [might] be pleasing to Him […] [and] heart, to teach understanding […] judgment, for my word is [swee]ter than honey, [my] ton[gue] more pleasing than wine. [Every word that I speak] is truth, every utterance of my mouth, righ[teousness]. None of these testimonies will fail, none of these fine promises perish, for all of them […] The LORD has opened my mouth, the words that I speak come from Him. His word is in me, so as to declare [… To us belong] His mercies; He will not grant His laws to another nation; neither will He adorn any stranger with them. Surely […] [A]braham, for He cut a covenant with Jacob to be with him for all etern[ity … He promised that any enemy of] [I]srael should come to an end, to exterminate by the agency of the nations all who should touch the inheritan[ce of His beloved…] […] He would avenge their shed blood. He put terror in the heart of Midian, e[nemy of Israel, for the LORD is our Elohim.] He alone. Zimri son of Salu and five kings of Midian were slain […]

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.).

4.6.6. But Balak being very angry that the Israelites were not cursed, sent away Balaam without thinking him worthy of any honor. Whereupon, when he was just upon his journey, in order to pass the Euphrates, he sent for Balak, and for the princes of the Midianites, and spake thus to them: – “O Balak, and you Midianites that are here present, (for I am obliged even without the will of Elohim to gratify you,) it is true no entire destruction can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews, neither by war, nor by plague, nor by scarcity of the fruits of the land, nor can any other unexpected accident be their entire ruin; for the providence of Elohim is concerned to preserve them from such a misfortune; nor will it permit any such calamity to come upon them whereby they may all perish; but some small misfortunes, and those for a short time, whereby they may appear to be brought low, may still befall them; but after that they will flourish again, to the terror of those that brought those mischiefs upon them. So that if you have a mind to gain a victory over them for a short space of time, you will obtain it by following my directions: – Do you therefore set out the handsomest of such of your daughters as are most eminent for beauty, and proper to force and conquer the modesty of those that behold them, and these decked and trimmed to the highest degree able. Then do you send them to be near camp, and give them in charge, that the young men of the Hebrews desire their allow it them; and when they see they are enamored of them, let them take leaves; and if they entreat them to stay, let give their consent till they have persuaded leave off their obedience to their own laws, the worship of that Elohim who established them to worship the elohim of the Midianites and for by this means Elohim will be angry at them . Accordingly, when Balaam had suggested counsel to them, he went his way.

4.6.7. So when the Midianites had sent their daughters, as Balaam had exhorted them, the Hebrew men were allured by their beauty, and came with them, and besought them not to grudge them the enjoyment of their beauty, nor to deny them their conversation. These daughters of Midianites received their words gladly, and consented to it, and staid with them; but when they brought them to be enamored of them, and their inclinations to them were grown to ripeness, they began to think of departing from them: then it was that these men became greatly disconsolate at the women’s departure, and they were urgent with them not to leave them, but begged they would continue there, and become their wives; and they promised them they should be owned as mistresses all they had. This they said with an oath, and called Elohim for the arbitrator of what they promised; and this with tears in their eyes, and all such marks of concern, as might shew how miserable they thought themselves without them, and so might move their compassion for them. So the women, as soon as they perceived they had made their slaves, and had caught them with their conservation began to speak thus to them: –

4.6.8. “O you illustrious young men! we have of our own at home, and great plenty of good things there, together with the natural, affectionate parents and friends; nor is it out of our want of any such things that we came to discourse with you; nor did we admit of your invitation with design to prostitute the beauty of our bodies for gain; but taking you for brave and worthy men, we agreed to your request, that we might treat you with such honors as hospitality required: and now seeing you say that you have a great affection for us, and are troubled when you think we are departing, we are not averse to your entreaties; and if we may receive such assurance of your good-will as we think can be alone sufficient, we will be glad to lead our lives with you as your wives; but we are afraid that you will in time be weary of our company, and will then abuse us, and send us back to our parents, after an ignominious manner.” And they desired that they would excuse them in their guarding against that danger. But the young men professed they would give them any assurance they should desire; nor did they at all contradict what they requested, so great was the passion they had for them. “If then,” said they, “this be your resolution, since you make use of such customs and conduct of life as are entirely different from all other men, insomuch that your kinds of food are peculiar to yourselves, and your kinds of drink not common to others, it will be absolutely necessary, if you would have us for your wives, that you do withal worship our elohim. Nor can there be any other demonstration of the kindness which you say you already have, and promise to have hereafter to us, than this, that you worship the same elohim that we do. For has any one reason to complain, that now you are come into this country, you should worship the proper elohim of the same country? especially while our elohim are common to all men, and yours such as belong to nobody else but yourselves.” So they said they must either come into such methods of divine worship as all others came into, or else they must look out for another world, wherein they may live by themselves, according to their own laws.

4.6.9. Now the young men were induced by the fondness they had for these women to think they spake very well; so they gave themselves up to what they persuaded them, and transgressed their own laws, and supposing there were many elohim, and resolving that they would slaughter to them according to the laws of that country which ordained them, they both were delighted with their strange food, and went on to do every thing that the women would have them do, though in contradiction to their own laws; so far indeed that this transgression was already gone through the whole army of the young men, and they fell into a sedition that was much worse than the former, and into danger of the entire abolition of their own institutions; for when once the youth had tasted of these strange customs, they went with insatiable inclinations into them; and even where some of the principal men were illustrious on account of the virtues of their fathers, they also were corrupted together with the rest.

4.6.10. Even Zimri, the head of the tribe of Shimon accompanied with Cozbi, a Midianitish women, who was the daughter of Sur, a man of authority in that country; and being desired by his wife to disregard the laws of Moses, and to follow those she was used to, he complied with her, and this both by slaughtering after a manner different from his own, and by taking a stranger to wife. When things were thus, Moses was afraid that matters should grow worse, and called the people to a congregation, but then accused nobody by name, as unwilling to drive those into despair who, by lying concealed, might come to repentance; but he said that they did not do what was either worthy of themselves, or of their fathers, by preferring pleasure to Elohim, and to the living according to his will; that it was fit they should change their courses while their affairs were still in a good state, and think that to be true fortitude which offers not violence to their laws, but that which resists their coveting. And besides that, he said it was not a reasonable thing, when they had lived soberly in the wilderness, to act madly now when they were in prosperity; and that they ought not to lose, now they have abundance, what they had gained when they had little: – and so did he endeavor, by saying this, to correct the young inert, and to bring them to repentance for what they had done.

4.6.11. But Zimri arose up after him, and said, “Yes, indeed, Moses, thou art at liberty to make use of such laws as thou art so fond of, and hast, by accustoming thyself to them, made them firm; otherwise, if things had not been thus, thou hadst often been punished before now, and hadst known that the Hebrews are not easily put upon; but thou shalt not have me one of thy followers in thy tyrannical commands, for thou dost nothing else hitherto, but, under pretense of laws, and of Elohim, wickedly impose on us slavery, and gain dominion to thyself, while thou deprivest us of the sweetness of life, which consists in acting according to our own wills, and is the right of free-men, and of those that have no lord over them. Nay, indeed, this man is harder upon the Hebrews then were the Egyptians themselves, as pretending to punish, according to his laws, every one’s acting what is most agreeable to himself; but thou thyself better deservest to suffer punishment, who presumest to abolish what every one acknowledges to be what is good for him, and aimest to make thy single opinion to have more force than that of all the rest; and what I now do, and think to be right, I will not hereafter deny to be according to my own sentiments. I have married, as thou sayest rightly, a strange woman, and thou hearest what I do from myself as from one that is free, for truly I did not intend to conceal myself. I also own that I slaughtered to those elohim to whom you do not think it fit to slaughter; and I think it right to come at truth by inquiring of many people, and not like one that lives under tyranny, to suffer the whole hope of my life to depend upon one man; nor will any one find cause to rejoice who declares himself to have more authority over my actions than myself.”

4.6.12. Now when Zimri had said these things, about what he and some others had wickedly done, the people held their peace, both out of fear of what might come upon them, and because they saw that their legislator was not willing to bring his insolence before the public any further, or openly to contend with him; for he avoided that, lest many should imitate the impudence of his language, and thereby disturb the multitude. Upon this the assembly was dissolved. However, the mischievous attry had proceeded further, if Zimri had not been first slain, which came to pass on the following occasion: – Phineas, a man in other respects better than the rest of the young men, and also one that surpassed his contemporaries in the dignity of his father, (for he was the son of Eleazar the high priest, and the grandson of [Aaron] Moses’s brother,) who was greatly troubled at what was done by Zimri, he resolved in earnest to inflict punishment on him, before his unworthy behavior should grow stronger by impunity, and in order to prevent this transgression from proceeding further, which would happen if the ringleaders were not punished. He was of so great magnanimity, both in strength of mind and body, that when he undertook any very dangerous attry, he did not leave it off till he overcame it, and got an entire victory. So he came into Zimri’s tent, and slew him with his javelin, and with it he slew Cozbi also, Upon which all those young men that had a regard to virtue, and aimed to do a glorious action, imitated Phineas’s boldness, and slew those that were found to be guilty of the same crime with Zimri. Accordingly many of those that had transgressed perished by the magnanimous valor of these young men; and the rest all perished by a plague, which distemper Elohim himself inflicted upon them; so that all those their kindred, who, instead of hindering them from such wicked actions, as they ought to have done, had persuaded them to go on, were esteemed by Elohim as partners in their wickedness, and died. Accordingly there perished out of the army no fewer than fourteen [twenty-four] thousand at this time.

4.6.13. This was the cause why Moses was provoked to send an army to destroy the Midianites, concerning which expedition we will speak presently, when we have first related what we have omitted; for it is but just not to pass over our legislator’s due encomium, on account of his conduct here, because, although this Balaam, who was sent for by the Midianites to curse the Hebrews, and when he was hindered from doing it by Divine Providence, did still suggest that advice to them, by making use of which our enemies had well nigh corrupted the whole multitude of the Hebrews with their wiles, till some of them were deeply infected with their opinions; yet did he do him great honor, by setting down his prophecies in writing. And while it was in his power to claim this glory to himself, and make men believe they were his own predictions, there being no one that could be a witness against him, and accuse him for so doing, he still gave his attestation to him, and did him the honor to make mention of him on this account. But let every one think of these matters as he pleases.