Week 126

• Torah (T): Devarim (Deuteronomy) 1:1-46
• Prophets (P): Jeremiah 30:4-11
• Apostolic (A): Hebrews 3:1-19
• Additional (ADD): Sirach 44:1-23

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Numbers 21:21-35 (T)
• Deuteronomy 4:44-49 (T)
• Joshua 9:1-10 (T)
• Joshua 12:1-24 (T)
• Genesis 15:1-21 (T)
• Genesis 17:1-10 (T)
• Exodus 18:1-27 (T)
• Numbers 11:1-17 (T)
• John 7:21-24 (T)
• Proverbs 31:1-9 (T)
• Leviticus 19:15-17 (T)
• Deuteronomy 16:18-20 (T)
• Leviticus 24:10-16 (T)
• Numbers 15:32-36 (T)
• Numbers 27:1-11 (T)
• Numbers 27:15-23 (T)
• 1 Samuel 28:1-20 (T)
• 1 Samuel 16:1-23 (T)
• Proverbs 18:5; Proverbs 24:21-25 (T)
• Ya’aqov (James) 2:1-13 (T)
• Numbers 13:1-3; Numbers 13:17-33 (T)
• Numbers 14:1-45 (T)
• Numbers 32:1-22 (T)
• Psalms 95:6-11 (T)
• Exodus 13:20-22 (T)
• Numbers 20:7-13; Numbers 27:12-23; Deuteronomy 3:23-29; Deuteronomy 4:20-24; Deuteronomy 34:1-12 (T)
• Joshua 1:1-9 (T)
• Jeremiah 30:1-24 (P)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• The Words of Moses 1Q22, Column 1 and 2 (T)
• Deuteronomy 1:1-46 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.8.1-49

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)

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 1:1-46

1:1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the desert plain, in front of [Yam]^(LXX) Suph, 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, [and]^(mss)(LXX) at Edrei. 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this Torah, saying, 6 “YHWH our Elohim spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the places near there: in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the South, by the seashore, in the land of the Canaanites, and in Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Look, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which [I]^(SP)(LXX) swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their seed after them.’ ” 9 I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am not able to bear you myself alone. 10 YHWH your Elohim has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the heavens for multitude. 11 May YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you! 12 How can I myself alone bear your problems, your burdens, and your strife? 13 Take wise men of understanding who are respected among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.” 14 You answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to do.” 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rulers of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. 16 I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the sojourner who is living with him. 17 You will not show partiality in judgment; you will hear the small and the great alike. You will not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is Elohim’s. The case that is too hard for you, you will bring to me, and I will hear it.” 18 I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do. 19 We traveled from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as YHWH our Elohim commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which YHWH our Elohim gives to us. 21 Behold, YHWH your Elohim has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as YHWH the Elohim of your fathers has spoken to you. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.” 22 You came near to me, everyone of you, and said, “Let’s send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we will come.” 23 The thing pleased me well. I took twelve of your men, one man for every tribe. 24 They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied out [the land].^(DSS) 25 They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, “It is a good land which YHWH our Elohim gives to us.” 26 Yet you wouldn’t go up, but rebelled against the commandment of YHWH your Elohim. 27 You murmured in your tents, and said, “Because YHWH hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the heavens. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there!’ ” 29 Then I said to you, “Don’t be terrified. Don’t be afraid of them. 30 YHWH your Elohim, who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you have seen how that YHWH your Elohim carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.” 32 Yet in this thing you didn’t believe YHWH your Elohim, 33 who went before you on the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day. 34 YHWH heard the voice of your words and was angry, and swore, saying, 35 “Surely not one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him and to his sons, because he has wholly followed YHWH.” 37 Also YHWH was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You also will not go [to]^(DSS) there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, will go in there. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, your sons, who today do not know good or evil, will go in there. I will give it to them, and they will possess it. 40 But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Reeds.” 41 Then you answered and said to me, “We have sinned against YHWH [our Elohim].^(LXX) We will go up and fight, according to all that YHWH our Elohim commanded us.” Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and readied to go up into the hill country. 42 YHWH said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go up and don’t fight; for I am not among you, lest you be struck before your enemies.’ ” 43 So I spoke to you, and you didn’t listen; but you rebelled against the commandment of YHWH, and [forced your way],^(LXX) and went up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you and chased you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to [the]^(DSS) Hormah. 45 You returned and wept before YHWH, but YHWH didn’t listen to your voice, nor turn his ear to you. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.

Prophets Portion (P)

Jeremiah 30:4-11

30:4 These are the words that YHWH spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5 For YHWH says: “We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale? 7 Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it! It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he will be saved out of it. 8 It will come to pass in that day, says YHWH of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. Strangers will no more make them their bondservants; 9 but they will serve YHWH their Elohim, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. 10 Therefore don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant, says YHWH. Don’t be dismayed, Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar, and save your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. 11 For I am with you, says YHWH, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

Apostolic Portion (A)

Hebrews 3:1-19

3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Emissary and High Priest of our confession: Yeshua, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was in all his house. (cf. Numbers 12:7) 3 For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is Elohim. 5 Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a witness of those things which were afterward to be spoken, 6 but Messiah is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.^(mss) 7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your heart as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness, (cf. Psalms 95:8) 9 where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years. 10 Therefore I was displeased with [that]^(mss) generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’ ” (cf. Psalms 95:7-11) 12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living Elohim; 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Messiah, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, 15 while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” (cf. Psalms 95:7-8) 16 For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.

Additional Portion (ADD)

Sirach, or Wisdom of Sirach, and also known as the Book of Ecclesiasticus (abbreviated Ecclus.) or Ben Sira, is a work of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 B.C., written by the Jewish scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his father Joshua son of Sirach, sometimes called Jesus son of Sirach or Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira. The Sirach was almost completely uncovered in Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls, at Masada, and the Cairo Geniza. The multiplicity of manuscript fragments uncovered in the Cairo Genizah evidence its authoritative status among Egyptian Jewry until the Middle Ages. Quotes from Sirach can be found in Rabbinic literature in multiple places  including the Talmud in Bava Kamma 92b:13 and Hagigah 13a:2. Additionally, the Gospels and other Apostolic Scriptures quote from the Book of Sirach including the Song of Miriam in Luke 1:52 (cf. Sirach 10:14); the description of the seed in Mark 4:5, 16–17 (cf. Sirach 40:15); the statement by Yeshua in Matthew 7:16,20 (cf. Sirach 27:6); and Ya’aqov (James) 1:19 (cf. Sirach 5:11).

Sirach 44:1-23

44:1 Let us now praise famous men, And our fathers that became the father of us. 2 The Lord created in them great glory, Even his mighty power from the beginning. 3 Such as did bear rule in their reigns, And were men renowned for their power, They will take counsel by their understanding, Such as have brought tidings in prophecies: 4 Leaders of the people by their counsels, And by their understanding men of learning for the people; Wise were their words in their instruction: 5 Such as sought out musical tunes, And set forth verses in writing: 6 Rich men furnished with ability, Living peaceably in their habitations: 7 All these were honored in their generations, And were a glory in their days. 8 There be of them, that have left a name behind them, To declare their praises. 9 And some there be, which have no memorial; Who are perished as though they had not been, And are become as though they had not been born; And their children after them. 10 But these were men of mercy, Whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten. 11 With their seed will remain continually a good inheritance; Their children are within the covenants. 12 Their seed stands fast, And their children for their sakes. 13 Their seed will remain forever, And their glory will not be blotted out. 14 Their bodies were buried in peace, And their name lives to all generations. 15 Peoples will declare their wisdom, And the congregation tells out their praise. 16 Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, Being an example of repentance to all generations. 17 Noaḥ was found perfect and righteous; In the season of wrath he was taken in exchange for the world; Therefore was there left a remnant to the land, When the flood came. 18 Everlasting covenants were made with him, That all flesh should no more be blotted out by a flood. 19 Abraham was a great father of a multitude of nations; And there was none found like him in glory; 20 Who kept the Torah of the Most High, And was taken into covenant with him: In his flesh he established the covenant; And when he was proved, he was found faithful. 21 Therefore he assured him by an oath, That the nations should be blessed in his seed; That he would multiply him as the dust of the land, And exalt his seed as the stars, And cause them to inherit from sea to sea, And from the River to the utmost part of the land. 22 In Isaac also did he establish likewise, for Abraham his father’s sake, The blessing of all men, and the covenant: 23 And he made it rest upon the head of Jacob; He acknowledged him in his blessings, And gave to him by inheritance, And divided his portions; Among twelve tribes did he part them.

Related Scriptures

Numbers 21:21-35 (T)

21:21 [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) 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, The lords of 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.

Deuteronomy 4:44-49 (T)

4:44 This is the Torah which Moses set before the sons of Israel. 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.

Joshua 9:1-10 (T)

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.

Joshua 12:1-24 (T)

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 sons 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. 7 These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel struck beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon even to Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir. Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions; 8 in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 9 the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; 10 the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; 11 the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; 12 the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; 13 the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; 14 the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; 15 the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; 16 the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one; 17 the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; 18 the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one; 19 the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; 20 the king of Shimron Meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; 21 the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; 22 the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; 23 the king of Dor in the height of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one; 24 the king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty-one.

Genesis 15:1-21 (T)

15:1 After these things the word of YHWH came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2 Abram said, “Lord YHWH, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram said, “Behold, you have given no children to me: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Behold, the word of YHWH came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” 5 YHWH brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your seed will be.” 6 He believed in YHWH, who credited it to him for righteousness. 7 He said to Abram, “I am YHWH who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.” 8 He said, “Lord YHWH, how will I know that I will inherit it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young dove.” 10 He brought him all these, and cut them in two in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t cut the birds in two. 11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 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 strangers 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.” 17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 In that day YHWH cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Genesis 17:1-10 (T)

17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHWH appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk before me and be perfect. 2 I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Abram fell on his face. Elohim talked with him, saying, 4 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be an Elohim to you and to your seed after you. 8 I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their Elohim.” 9 Elohim said to Abraham, “As for you, you will guard my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you will guard, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you will be circumcised.

Exodus 18:1-27 (T)

18:1 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that Elohim had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how YHWH had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, received Zipporah, Moses’ woman, after he had sent her away, 3 and her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom, for Moses said, “I have lived as a stranger in a foreign land”. 4 The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s Elohim was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword.” 5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the Mountain of Elohim. 6 He said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you with your wife, and her two sons with her.” 7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed and kissed him. They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law all that YHWH had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that had come on them on the way, and how YHWH delivered them. 9 Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which YHWH had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 Jethro said, “Blessed be YHWH, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that YHWH is greater than all elohim because of the way that they treated people arrogantly.” 12 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and slaughters for Elohim. Aaron came with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before Elohim. 13 On the next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from the morning to the evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, “What is this thing that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning to evening?” 15 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of Elohim. 16 When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of Elohim, and his Torot.” 17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. 18 You will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone. 19 Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and Elohim be with you. You represent the people before Elohim, and bring the causes to Elohim. 20 You will teach them the statutes and the Torot, and will show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do. 21 Moreover you will provide out of all the people able men which fear Elohim: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 22 Let them judge the people at all times. It will be that every great matter they will bring to you, but every small matter they will judge themselves. So will it be easier for you, and they will share the load with you. 23 If you will do this thing, and Elohim commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” 24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. 27 Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.

Numbers 11:1-17 (T)

11:1 The people were complaining in the ears of YHWH. When YHWH heard it, his anger burned; and YHWH’s fire burned among them, and consumed at the outskirts of the camp. 2 The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to YHWH, and the fire abated. 3 The name of that place was called Taberah, because YHWH’s fire burned among them. 4 The rabble that was among them will desire a desiring; and the sons of Israel also will turn back and weep, and they will say, “Who will give us flesh to eat? 5 We remember the fish, which we freely ate in Egypt; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; 6 now our souls are dry, without anything except for the manna before our eyes.” 7 The manna, he is like coriander seed, and his eye is like the eye of the bedolach. 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 him. His 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. 11 Moses said to YHWH, “Why have you done evil to your servant? Why haven’t I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them out, that you should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers?’ 13 Where could I get flesh to give all these people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us flesh, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. 15 If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and don’t let me see my evil.” 16 YHWH said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Appointed Tent, that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they will bear the burden of the people with you, that you don’t bear it yourself alone.

John 7:21-24 (T)

7:21 Yeshua answered them, “I did one work and you all marvel because of it. 22 Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. 23 If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the Torah of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? 24 Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

Proverbs 31:1-9 (T)

31:1 The words of King Lemuel—the revelation which his mother taught him: 2 “Oh, my son! Oh, son of my womb! Oh, son of my vows! 3 Don’t give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings. 4 It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to say, ‘Where is strong drink?’ 5 lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted. 6 Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish, and wine to the bitter in soul. 7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. 8 Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate. 9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.”

Leviticus 19:15-17 (T)

19:15 You will do no injustice in judgment. Do not lift up the face of the helpless and do not give honor to the face of the great one; but you will judge your fellow in righteousness. 16 Do not go around as a talebearer among your people. Do not stand upon the blood of your neighbor. I am YHWH. 17 Do not hate your brother in your heart. You will surely rebuke your fellow and not lift up sin upon him.

Deuteronomy 16:18-20 (T)

16:18 You will make judges and officers in all your gates, which YHWH your Elohim gives you, according to your tribes; and they will judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You will not pervert justice. You will not show partiality. You will not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. 20 You will follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which YHWH your Elohim gives you.

Leviticus 24:10-16 (T)

24:10 The son of a woman, an Israelite, went out in the midst of the sons of Israel, and he is a son of a man, one of Egypt; and the son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp. 11 The son of the Israelite woman [pierced through] the Name, and belittled it; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Divri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 They made him rest in custody until YHWH’s mouth should be distinctly declared to them. 13 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring him who belittled out of the camp; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 You will speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever belittles his Elohim will bear his sin. 16 He who [pierces through] YHWH’s name, he will surely be put to death. All the congregation will certainly stone him. The stranger as well as the native will be put to death when he [pierces through] the Name.

Numbers 15:32-36 (T)

15:32 While the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. 35 YHWH said to Moses, “The man will surely be put to death. All the congregation will stone him with stones outside of the camp.” 36 All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as YHWH commanded Moses.

Numbers 27:1-11 (T)

27:1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of [Hopher],^(DSS) the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph came near. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah [and]^(DSS) Noaḥ, Hoglah, Milcah, and [Torzah].^(DSS) 2 They stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the lifted up ones and all the congregation, at the door of the Appointed Tent, saying, 3 “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against YHWH in the company of Qorach, but he died in his own sin and he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father.” 5 Moses brought their cause before YHWH. 6 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 7 “The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You will surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You will cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. 8 You will speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you will cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. 9 If he has no daughter, then you will give his inheritance to his brothers. 10 If he has no brothers, then you will give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. 11 If his father has no brothers, then you will give his inheritance to his kinsman who is next to him of his family, and he will possess it. This will be a statute and ordinance for the sons of Israel, as YHWH commanded Moses.’ ”

Numbers 27:15-23 (T)

27:15 Moses spoke to YHWH, saying, 16 “Let YHWH, the Elohim of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, 17 who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of YHWH may not be as sheep which have no shepherd.” 18 YHWH said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and command him in their sight. 20 You will give from your splendor upon him, that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey. 21 He will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before YHWH. At his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, both he and all the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation [with him].”^(DSS) 22 Moses did as YHWH commanded him. He took Joshua [son of Nun],^(DSS) and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. 23 He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as YHWH spoke by Moses. [And Moses said to him, “Your eyes have seen all that YHWH your Elohim has done to these two kings. So will YHWH do to all the reigns where you go over. You will not fear them; for YHWH your Elohim himself fights for you.”]^(DSS)

1 Samuel 28:1-20 (T)

28:1 In those days, the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the army, you and your men.” 2 David said to Achish, “Therefore you will know what your servant can do.” Achish said to David, “Therefore I will make you my bodyguard forever.” 3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Shaul had sent away those who had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. 4 The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Shaul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa. 5 When Shaul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 When Shaul inquired of YHWH, YHWH didn’t answer him by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Shaul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.” 8 Shaul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. Then he said, “Please consult for me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I will name to you.” 9 The woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Shaul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?” 10 Shaul swore to her by YHWH, saying, “As YHWH lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.” 11 Then the woman said, “Whom will I bring up to you?” He said, “Bring Samuel up for me.” 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” 13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What do you see?” The woman said to Saul, “I see an elohim coming up out of the land.” 14 He said to her, “What does he look like?” She said, “An bearded man comes up. He is covered with a robe.” Shaul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect. 15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?” Shaul answered, “I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and Elohim has departed from me, and answers me no more, by prophets, or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I will do.” 16 Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since YHWH has departed from you and has become your adversary? 17 YHWH has done to you as he spoke by me. YHWH has torn the reign out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, even to David. 18 Because you didn’t obey the voice of YHWH, and didn’t execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore YHWH has done this thing to you today. 19 Moreover YHWH will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. YHWH will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.” 20 Then Shaul fell immediately his full length on the land, and was terrified, because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all day long or all night long.

1 Samuel 16:1-23 (T)

16:1 YHWH said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided a king for myself among his sons.” 2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Shaul hears it, he will kill me.” YHWH said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to slaughter to YHWH.’ 3 Call Jesse to the slaughter, and I will show you what you will do. You will anoint to me him whom I name to you.” 4 Samuel did that which YHWH spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 He said, “Peaceably; I have come to slaughter to YHWH. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the slaughter.” He sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the slaughter. 6 When they had come, he looked at Eliab, and said, “Surely YHWH’s anointed is before him.” 7 But YHWH said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but YHWH looks at the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “YHWH has not chosen this one, either.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, “YHWH has not chosen this one, either.” 10 Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “YHWH has not chosen these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your children here?” He said, “There remains yet the youngest. Behold, he is feeding the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.” 12 He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with a handsome face and good appearance. YHWH said, “Arise! Anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the middle of his brothers. Then the spirit of YHWH came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. 14 Now the spirit of YHWH departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from YHWH troubled him. 15 Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from Elohim troubles you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are in front of you to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. Then when the evil spirit from Elohim is on you, he will play with his hand, and you will be well.” 17 Shaul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.” 18 Then one of the young men answered and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and YHWH is with him.” 19 Therefore Shaul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” 20 Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a container of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 David came to Shaul and stood before him. He loved him greatly; and he became his armor bearer. 22 Shaul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 When the spirit from Elohim was on Saul, David took the harp and played with his hand; so Shaul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

Proverbs 18:5; Proverbs 24:21-25 (T)

Proverbs 18:5 To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

Proverbs 24:21 My son, fear YHWH and the king. Don’t join those who are rebellious, 22 for their calamity will rise suddenly. Who knows what destruction may come from them both? 23 These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good. 24 He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” peoples will curse him, and nations will abhor him— 25 but it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and a rich blessing will come on them.

Ya’aqov (James) 2:1-13 (T)

2:1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Yeshua the Messiah with partiality. 2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, 3 and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” 4 haven’t you shown discrimination among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t Elohim choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Reign which he promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts? 7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? 8 However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You will love your neighbor as yourself,” (cf. Leviticus 19:18) you do well. 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” (cf. Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18) also said, “Do not commit murder.” (cf. Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom. 13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Numbers 13:1-3; Numbers 13:17-33 (T)

13:1 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, one man, one man to the tribe of his fathers you will send, all lifted up from among them.” 3 Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of YHWH. All of them were men who were heads of the sons of Israel…17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country. 18 See the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many; 19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or evil; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in fortifications; 20 and what the land is, whether it is fertile or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be courageous, and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes. 21 So they went up, [and entered],^(LXX) and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. 22 They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the sons of Anak, were [over there]^(LXX). Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. 23 They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes [on it],^(LXX) and they bore it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. 24 [They]^(LXX) called that place the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there. 25 They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. 26 They went and came to Moses, to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them and to all the congregation. They showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the sons of Anak there. 29 Amalek dwells in the land of the South. The Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country. The Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along the side of the Jordan.” 30 Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let’s go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!” 31 But the men who went up with him said, “We aren’t able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” 32 They brought up a slander of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great measurements. 33 There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim. We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

Numbers 14:1-45 (T)

14:1 All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2 All the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why does YHWH bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?” 4 They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.” 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. 6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes. 7 They spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If YHWH delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only don’t rebel against YHWH, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and YHWH is with us. Don’t fear them.” 10 But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. the glory of YHWH appeared in the Appointed Tent to all the sons of Israel. 11 YHWH said to Moses, “How long will this people provoke me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence, and dispossess them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” 13 Moses said to YHWH, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them. 14 They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you YHWH are among this people; for you YHWH are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard your name will speak, saying, 16 ‘Because YHWH was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’ 17 Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, 18 ‘YHWH is slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, forgiving iniquity and trespass; and he will by no means acquit, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth.’ 19 Please forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” 20 YHWH said, “I forgave according to your word; 21 yet, as I live, and as all the land will be filled with the glory of YHWH— 22 because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tested me these ten times, and they did not hear my voice; 23 surely they will not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither will any of those who despised me see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His seed will possess it. 25 Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Reeds.” 26 YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long will I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they complain against me. 28 Tell them, ‘As I live, says YHWH, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. 29 Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness; and all who were registered of you, according to your number, from a son of twenty years and upward, who have complained against me, 30 surely you will not come into the land which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But I will bring in your little ones that you said should become plunder, and they will know the land which you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your sons will be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and will bear your whoredom, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, forty years, and you will know my breaking off.’ 35 I, YHWH, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will be consumed, and there they will die.” 36 The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up a slander against the land, 37 those men who brought up a slander of the land, died by the pestilence before YHWH. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. 39 Moses told these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. 40 They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place of which YHWH has spoken; for we have sinned.” 41 Moses said, “Why now do you cross over the mouth of YHWH and it does not prosper? 42 Don’t go up, for YHWH isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following YHWH; therefore YHWH will not be with you.” 44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of the covenant of YHWH and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down as far as the Hormah.

Numbers 32:1-22 (T)

32:1 Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock. They saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead. Behold, the place was a place for livestock. 2 Then the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the lifted up ones of the congregation, saying, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, [Sibmah],^(DSS) Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land which YHWH struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock; and your servants have livestock.” 5 They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Don’t bring us over the Jordan.” 6 Moses said to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Reuben, “Will your brothers go to war while you sit here? 7 Why do you discourage the heart of the sons of Israel from going over into the land which YHWH has given them? 8 Your fathers did so when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 9 For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the sons of Israel, that they should not go into the land which YHWH had given them. 10 the anger of YHWH burned in that day, and he swore, saying, 11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, will see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me, 12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed YHWH completely.’ 13 the anger of YHWH burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation who had done evil in the sight of YHWH was consumed. 14 “Behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, an increase of sinful men, to increase the fierce anger of YHWH toward Israel. 15 For if you turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all these people.” 16 They came near to him, and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones; 17 but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our houses until the sons of Israel have all received their inheritance. 19 For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.” 20 Moses said to them: “If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves to go before YHWH to the war, 21 and every one of your armed men will pass over the Jordan before YHWH until he has driven out his enemies from before him, 22 and the land is subdued before YHWH; then afterward you will return, and be clear of obligation to YHWH and to Israel. Then this land will be your possession before YHWH.

Psalms 95:6-11 (T)

95:6 Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before YHWH, our Maker, 7 for he is our Elohim. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today if you will hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers tested me, tested me, and saw my work. 10 Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “They are a people who err in their heart. They have not known my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They won’t enter into my rest.”

Exodus 13:20-22 (T)

13:20 They took their journey from Sukkot, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. YHWH went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: 22 the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, didn’t depart from before the people.

Numbers 20:7-13; Numbers 27:12-23; Deuteronomy 3:23-29; Deuteronomy 4:20-24; Deuteronomy 34:1-12 (T)

Numbers 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! Will 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 you will not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah; because the sons of Israel strove with YHWH, and he was sanctified in them. [And Moses said, “Lord YHWH, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand. For what elohim is there in the heavens or in the land that can do works like yours, and mighty acts like yours? Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that fine mountain, and Lebanon.” But YHWH said to me, “Enough! Speak no more to me of this word. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes; for you will not go over this Jordan.]^(DSS)

Numbers 27:12 YHWH said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. 13 When you have seen it, you also will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered; 14 because in the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, to honor me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. 15 Moses spoke to YHWH, saying, 16 “Let YHWH, the Elohim of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, 17 who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of YHWH may not be as sheep which have no shepherd.” 18 YHWH said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and command him in their sight. 20 You will give from your splendor upon him, that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey. 21 He will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before YHWH. At his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, both he and all the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation [with him].”^(DSS) 22 Moses did as YHWH commanded him. He took Joshua [son of Nun],^(DSS) and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. 23 He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as YHWH spoke by Moses. [And Moses said to him, “Your eyes have seen all that YHWH your Elohim has done to these two kings. So will YHWH do to all the reigns where you go over. You will not fear them; for YHWH your Elohim himself fights for you.”]^(DSS)

Deuteronomy 3:23 I begged YHWH at that time, saying, 24 “Lord YHWH, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand. For what elohim is there in the heavens or in land that can do works like yours, and mighty acts like yours? 25 Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that fine mountain, and Lebanon.” 26 But YHWH was angry with me because of you, and didn’t listen to me. YHWH said to me, “That is enough! Speak no more to me of this word. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes; for you will not go over this Jordan. 28 But command Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he will go over before this people, and he will cause them to inherit the land which you will see.” 29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

Deuteronomy 4:20 But YHWH has taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as it is today. 21 Furthermore YHWH was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land which YHWH your Elohim gives you for an inheritance; 22 but I must die in this land. I must not go over the Jordan, but you will go over and possess that good land. 23 Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of YHWH your Elohim, which he made with you, and make yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which YHWH your Elohim has forbidden you. 24 For YHWH your Elohim is a devouring fire, a zealous Elohim.

Deuteronomy 34:1 Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is opposite Jericho. YHWH showed him all the land of Gilead to Dan, 2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the Western Sea, 3 and the south, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, to Zoar. 4 YHWH said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you will not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of YHWH died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of YHWH. 6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows where his tomb is to this day. 7 Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his strength gone. 8 The sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended. 9 Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. The sons of Israel listened to him, and did as YHWH commanded Moses. 10 Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom YHWH knew face to face, 11 in all the signs and the wonders which YHWH sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, 12 and in all the mighty hand, and in all the awesome deeds, which Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Joshua 1:1-9 (T)

1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of YHWH, YHWH spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the sons of Israel. 3 I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, will be your border. 5 No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. 6 “Be strong and courageous; for you will cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the Torah which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This book of the Torah will not depart from your mouth, but you will meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for YHWH your Elohim† is with you wherever you go.”

Jeremiah 30:1-24 (P)

30:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying, 2 “YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says, ‘Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. 3 For, behold, the days come,’ says YHWH, ‘that I will reverse the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,’ says YHWH. ‘I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’ ” 4 These are the words that YHWH spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5 For YHWH says: “We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale? 7 Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it! It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he will be saved out of it. 8 It will come to pass in that day, says YHWH of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. Strangers will no more make them their bondservants; 9 but they will serve YHWH their Elohim, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. 10 Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says YHWH. Don’t be dismayed, Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar, and save your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. 11 For I am with you, says YHWH, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.” 12 For YHWH says, “Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous. 13 There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines. 14 All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased. 15 Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. 16 Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured. All your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will be plunder. I will make all who prey on you become prey. 17 For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says YHWH, “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’ ” 18 YHWH says: “Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place. 19 Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. 20 Their sons also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them. 21 Their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will proceed from among them. I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?” says YHWH. 22 “You will be my people, and I will be your Elohim. 23 Behold, YHWH’s storm, his wrath, has gone out, a sweeping storm; it will burst on the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of YHWH will not return until he has accomplished, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.”

Related Additional Readings​

The Words of Moses 1Q22, Column 1 and 2 (T)

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

Column 1 [Elohim called] to Moses [on the fortieth] year after the [children of] Israel left [the land of] Egypt, in the eleventh new moon, on the first day of the new moon, saying, [Convene] the entire nation and go up to […] and stand there, you and Eleazar [son of] Aaron. Ex[plain to the family] heads, to the Levites, and all the priests and command the sons of Israel the words of the Law that I have commanded [you] on Mount Sinai to command them in their hearing.

Column 2 [So] Moses [called] and [said to the children of] Israel, It is now forty [years] since we [came out of] the land of [Egypt. This very] day [the Lord] our Elohim [has expressed these words] from his mouth: [all his] statutes and all his <regulations> (MS: statutes). How [will I bear alone] your trouble [and your burdens and your quarreling]? So it will be, [when I finish giving] the covenant and commanding [the] way [that you] should walk in, [appoint for yourself wise men who] should explain [to you and to your children] all [these] words of the [Law]. Be [very careful] of yourselves [to do them lest] his anger burn and his wrath ignite against you, and He closes the heavens above from raining [upon you], and the [waters below the land] from giving you produce.

Sirach 4:20-31 (T)

Sirach, or Wisdom of Sirach, and also known as the Book of Ecclesiasticus (abbreviated Ecclus.) or Ben Sira, is a work of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 B.C., written by the Jewish scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his father Joshua son of Sirach, sometimes called Jesus son of Sirach or Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira. The Sirach was almost completely uncovered in Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls, at Masada, and the Cairo Geniza. The multiplicity of manuscript fragments uncovered in the Cairo Genizah evidence its authoritative status among Egyptian Jewry until the Middle Ages. Quotes from Sirach can be found in Rabbinic literature in multiple places  including the Talmud in Bava Kamma 92b:13 and Hagigah 13a:2. Additionally, the Gospels and other Apostolic Scriptures quote from the Book of Sirach including the Song of Miriam in Luke 1:52 (cf. Sirach 10:14); the description of the seed in Mark 4:5, 16–17 (cf. Sirach 40:15); the statement by Yeshua in Matthew 7:16,20 (cf. Sirach 27:6); and Ya’aqov (James) 1:19 (cf. Sirach 5:11).

4:20 Watch for the opportunity, and beware of evil. Don’t be ashamed of your soul. 21 For there is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that is glory and grace. 22 Don’t show partiality, discrediting your soul. Don’t revere any man to your falling. 23 Don’t refrain from speaking when it is for safety. [… …] 24 For wisdom will be known by speech, and instruction by the word of the tongue. 25 Don’t speak against the truth and be shamed for your ignorance. 26 Don’t be ashamed to confess your sins. Don’t fight the river’s current. 27 Don’t lay yourself down for a fool to tread upon. Don’t be partial to one who is mighty. 28 Strive for the truth to death, and the Lord Elohim will fight for you. 29 Don’t be hasty with your tongue, or slack and negligent in your deeds. 30 Don’t be like a lion in your house, or suspicious of your servants. 31 Don’t let your hand be stretched out to receive, and closed when you should repay.

Deuteronomy 1:1-46 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)

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 1 These are the words of admonition which Mosheh spake with all Israel. He gathered them together to him while they were beyond the Jordan, and answered and said to them:

Was it not in the wilderness at the mountain of Sinai that the law was given to you? and in the plains of Moab you were made to understand how many miracles and signs the Holy One, blessed be He, had wrought for you, from the time that you passed over the border of the Weedy Sea, where He made for you a way for every one of your tribes. But you declined from His word, and wrought provocation before Him, in Pharan, on account of the words of the spies, and put together lying words against Him, and murmured about the manna, which He had made to come down for you, white from the heavens; in Hazeroth you demanded flesh, and made yourselves deserving to perish from the midst of the world, but for the memory, on your behalf, of the merit of your righteous fathers, the tabernacle of ordinance, and the ark of the covenant, and the holy vessels which you had covered with pure gold, and made atonement for you on account of the sin of the golden calf. It is a journey of eleven days (only) from Horeb by the way of Mount Gebal unto Rekem Giah; but because you declined and provoked the Lord to displeasure, you have been retarded forty years.

And it was at the end of forty years, in the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, on the first of the month, that Mosheh spake with the sons of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him commandment for them.

[JERUSALEM. These are the words which Mosheh, spake with all Israel, reproving them, while as yet they were situate beyond the Jordan. Mosheh answering said to them: Was it not in the wilderness at Mount Sinai, that the law was given to you? and on the plains of Moab was shown you what miracles and mighty acts the Word of the Lord had wrought on your behalf. When you stood by the Weedy Sea, the sea was divided before you, and there were made twelve ways of one way, (a path) for each tribe. Yet you provoked Him at the sea, and rebelled at the Sea of Suph. On account of the matter of the spies who had been sent from the wilderness of Pharan, the decree (came forth) against you, that you should not enter into the land of Israel; and for that of the manna, of which you said, Our soul is afflicted with this bread, whose eating is too light, the serpents were let loose upon you; and in Hazeroth, where your carcasses fell on account of the flesh, and concerning the calf that you had made, He would have spoken in His Word to destroy you, had He not been mindful of the covenant which He sware to your fathers, Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, and of the tabernacle of ordinance which you had made unto His name, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and of your burnt slaughters in the midst (of the tabernacle and the ark) which you covered with purified gold. A journey of eleven days is it from Mount Horeb by way of Mount Gebal unto Rekem Giah; yet, because you sinned and provoked anger before Him, you have been delayed, and have been journeying for forty years. And it was at the end of forty years.]

After He had smitten Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Mathnan, who dwelt at Astarvata in Edrehath, beyond Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Mosheh to speak the words of this law, saying: The Lord our Elohim spake with us (and not I, of my own mind) in Horeb, saying: It is enough for you, and hath been profitable for you until this time (during) which you have received the law, and have made the tabernacle and its vessels, and appointed your princes over you; but now it would be evil for you to tarry longer at this mount. Turn you, and journey to Arad and Hormah, and go up to the mountain of the Amorites; and to the dwelling‑places of Ammon, Moab, and Gebala, in the plains of the forests, in mountain and valley, and by the south on the shore of the sea, Ashkelon and Kiserin, the land of the Kenaanite unto Kaldohi, and Lebanon, the place of the mountain of the sanctuary, to the great river, the River Phrat. See, I have given up the inhabitants of the land before you; nor shall it be needful to carry arms; go in and possess the land, and appoint the allotters, and divide it, even as the Lord sware to your fathers, to Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, that He would give it unto them and their sons after them.

And I spake to you at that time, saying: We will not leave you with but one judge, for I am not able to bear you alone. The Word of the Lord our Elohim hath multiplied you; and, behold, you are today as the stars of heaven for multitude. The Lord Elohim of your fathers increase you a thousand fold on account of this my benediction, and bless you beyond numbering as He hath said unto you. But how can I alone sustain the labour, your sensuality, your evil thoughts, your words of strife, your offering one shekel for two? Present, then, from among you wise men, prudent in their thinking, men of wisdom, by your tribes, and I will appoint them to be chiefs over you. And you answered me and said: The thing that thou hast spoken it is right for us to do. So I took the chiefs of your tribes, and moved them kindly with words; wise men, masters of knowledge, but prudent in their thoughts, I found not; and I appointed them chiefs over you, rabbans of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties; twelve thousand rabbans of tens, six myriads, officers of your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time with the orders of judgments, saying: So hear your brethren that one may not (be permitted to) speak all his words, while another is compelled to cut his words short; and so hearken to their words, as that it may be impossible for you not to judge them, and deliver judgment in truth, and to resolve (a matter) completely between a man and his brother, and between him who hireth words of litigation. You shall not have respect to persons in a judgment; you shall hear little words as well as great ones, nor be afraid before the rich man and the ruler; for a judgment is from before the Lord, and He seeth every secret. But the thing that is too hard for you bring to me, and I will hear it. And at that time I taught you all the Ten Words which you are to practise about judgments of money, and judgments of life.

And we journeyed from Horeb, and came through all that great and fearful desert, where you saw serpents like boughs, and loathsome scorpions darting at you like arrows, on the way of the mountain of the Amoraah, as the Lord our Elohim had commanded us, and came to Rekem Giah. And I said to you, Ye are come to the mountain of the Amoraah, which the Lord our Elohim will give to us. Behold, the Lord our Elohim hath given you the land; arise and possess it, as the Lord your Elohim hath told you; fear not, nor be dismayed (broken). And all of you came to me in a body, and said, We will send men before us to examine the land for us, and bring us back word by what way we shall go up to it, and the cities we should enter. And the thing was proper in my eyes; and I took from you twelve chosen men, one man for a tribe, and they turned and went up into the mountain, and came to the stream of Ethkela, and explored it. [JERUSALEM. And they prepared and went up into the mountain, and came to the stream of the Grapes, and surveyed it.] And they took in their hands of the produce of the land and brought to us. And they returned us word; and Kaleb and Jehoshua said, The land which the Lord our Elohim hath given us is good. But you were not willing to go up, but believed the words of the ten wicked ones, and rebelled against the Word of the Lord your God. And you cried in your tents, taking your sons and your daughters to your breasts, saying, Woe to you, ye stricken ones! to‑morrow ye will be slain. Why hath the Lord hated us, to have brought us out of the land of Mizraim, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? How shall we go up? Our brethren have dissolved our hearts, saying, The people are greater and mightier than we; their cities are vast and walled to the height of heaven, and we saw there also the sons of Ephron the giant.

And I said to you, Be not broken down, nor be afraid of them: the Word of the Lord your Elohim who goeth before you will Himself fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Mizraim before your eyes. And in the desert, where thou sawest burning serpents full of deadly venom, the Lord thy Elohim bare thee with the glorious clouds of His Shekinah, as a man carrieth his child, all the way that you went, until you have come to this place. But in this thing you believed not in the Word of the Lord your God, who led before you in the way to prepare for you the place of your encampments, in the pillar of fire by night to light you in the way you should go, and in the pillar of the cloud by day. And the voice of your words was heard before the Lord, and He was displeased, and did make oath saying, If any one of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I covenanted to give unto their fathers, except Kaleb bar Jephunneh, who shall see it, and to whom I will give the good land, the land of Hebron through which he walked, and to his children, because he hath followed with integrity the fear of the Lord. Against me also was there displeasure before the Lord on your account, saying, Thou too art not to go in thither; Jehoshua bar Nun, who ministereth in thy house of instruction, he is to go in thither: strengthen him, for he is to make Israel possess it. But your little ones, of whom you said, They will be for prey, and your children, who as yet know not between good and evil, they shall go in thither: I will give it to them, and they shall possess it for an inheritance. As for you, turn, and go (back) into the wilderness by the way of the Weedy Sea. Then answered you, and said to me, We have sinned before the Lord ; we will go up and fight according to all that the Lord our Elohim commanded us. And you girded on every man his arms, and began to ascend the mountain. But the Lord said to me, Say to them, Go not up, nor prepare for battle, for My Shekinah goeth not among you; that you be not crushed before your enemies. And I spake with you, but you would not obey but were rebellious against the Word of the Lord, and did wickedly, and went up to the mountain. And the Amoraah who dwelt in that mountain came out to meet you, and pursued you, as they drive away and destroy hornets, and smote you from Gebal unto Hormah. [JERUSALEM. And they chased you as bees are chased, and slew you in Gebal unto destruction.] And you returned, and wept before the Lord: but the Lord would not receive your prayers, nor hearken to your words. So you abode in Rekem many days, according to the days that you abode.

Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.8.1-49

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.).

4.8.1. When forty years were completed, within thirty days, Moses gathered the congregation together near Jordan, where the city Abila now stands, a place full of palm-trees; and all the people being come together, he spake thus to them: –

4.8.2. “O you Israelites and fellow soldiers, who have been partners with me in this long and uneasy journey; since it is now the will of Elohim, and the course of old age, at a hundred and twenty, requires it that I should depart out of this life; and since Elohim has forbidden me to be a patron or an assistant to you in what remains to be done beyond Jordan; I thought it reasonable not to leave off my endeavors even now for your happiness, but to do my utmost to procure for you the eternal enjoyment of good things, and a memorial for myself, when you will be in the fruition of great plenty and prosperity. Come, therefore, let me suggest to you by what means you may he happy, and may leave an eternal prosperous possession thereof to your children after you, and then let me thus go out of the world; and I cannot but deserve to be believed by you, both on account of the great things I have already done for you, and because, when souls are about to leave the body, they speak with the sincerest freedom. O sons of Israel! there is but one source of happiness for all mankind, the favor of Elohim for he alone is able to give good things to those that deserve them, and to deprive those of them that sin against him; towards whom, if you behave yourselves according to his will, and according to what I, who well understand his mind, do exhort you to, you will both be esteemed blessed, and will be admired by all men; and will never come into misfortunes, nor cease to be happy: you will then preserve the possession of the good things you already have, and will quickly obtain those that you are at present in want of, – only do you be obedient to those whom Elohim would have you to follow. Nor do you prefer any other constitution of government before the laws now given you; neither do you disregard that way of Divine worship which you now have, nor change it for any other form: and if you do this, you will be the most courageous of all men, in undergoing the fatigues of war, and will not be easily conquered by any of your enemies; for while Elohim is present with you to assist you, it is to be expected that you will be able to despise the opposition of all mankind; and great rewards of virtue are proposed for you, if you preserve that virtue through your whole lives. Virtue itself is indeed the principal and the first reward, and after that it bestows abundance of others; so that your exercise of virtue towards other men will make your own lives happy, and render you more glorious than foreigners can be, and procure you an undisputed reputation with posterity. These blessings you will be able to obtain, in case you hearken to and observe those laws which, by Divine revelation, I have ordained for you; that is, in case you withal meditate upon the wisdom that is in them. I am going from you myself, rejoicing in the good things you enjoy; and I recommend you to the wise conduct of your law, to the becoming order of your polity, and to the virtues of your commanders, who will take care of what is for your advantage. And that Elohim, who has been till now your Leader, and by whose goodwill I have myself been useful to you, will not put a period now to his providence over you, but as long as you desire to have him your Protector in your pursuits after virtue, so long will you enjoy his care over you. Your high priest also Eleazar, as well as Joshua, with the senate, and chief of your tribes, will go before you, and suggest the best advices to you; by following which advices you will continue to be happy: to whom do you give ear without reluctance, as sensible that all such as know well how to be governed, will also know how to govern, if they be promoted to that authority themselves. And do not you esteem liberty to consist in opposing such directions as your governors think fit to give you for your practice, – as at present indeed you place your liberty in nothing else but abusing your benefactors; which error if you can avoid for the time to come, your affairs will be in a better condition than they have hitherto been. Nor do you ever indulge such a degree of passion in these matters, as you have oftentimes done when you have been very angry at me; for you know that I have been oftener in danger of death from you than from our enemies. What I now put you in mind of, is not done in order to reproach you; for I do not think it proper, now I am going out of the world, to bring this to your remembrance, in order to leave you offended at me, since, at the time when I underwent those hardships from you, I was not angry at you; but I do it in order to make you wiser hereafter, and to teach you that this will be for your security; I mean, that you never be injurious to those that preside over you, even when you are become rich, as you will he to a great degree when you have passed over Jordan, and are in possession of the land of Canaan. Since, when you will have once proceeded so far by your wealth, as to a contempt and disregard of virtue, you will also forfeit the favor of Elohim; and when you have made him your enemy, you will be beaten in war, and will have the land which you possess taken away again from you by your enemies, and this with great reproaches upon your conduct. You will be scattered over the whole world, and will, as slaves, entirely fill both sea and land; and when once you have had the experience of what I now say, you will repent, and remember the laws you have broken, when it is too late. Whence I would advise you, if you intend to preserve these laws, to leave none of your enemies alive when you have conquered them, but to look upon it as for your advantage to destroy them all, lest, if you permit them to live, you taste of their manners, and thereby corrupt your own proper institutions. I also do further exhort you, to overthrow their altars, and their groves, and whatsoever temples they have among them, and to burn all such, their nation, and their very memory with fire; for by this means alone the safety of your own happy constitution can be firmly secured to you. And in order to prevent your ignorance of virtue, and the degeneracy of your nature into vice, I have also ordained you laws, by Divine suggestion, and a form of government, which are so good, that if you regularly observe them, you will be esteemed of all men the most happy.”

4.8.3. When he had spoken thus, he gave them the laws and the constitution of government written in a book. Upon which the people fell into tears, and appeared already touched with the sense that they should have a great want of their conductor, because they remembered what a number of dangers he had passed through, and what care he had taken of their preservation: they desponded about what would come upon them after he was dead, and thought they should never have another governor like him; and feared that Elohim would then take less care of them when Moses was gone, who used to intercede for them. They also repented of what they had said to him in the wilderness when they were angry, and were in grief on those accounts, insomuch that the whole body of the people fell into tears with such bitterness, that it was past the power of words to comfort them in their affliction. However, Moses gave them some consolation; and by calling them off the thought how worthy he was of their weeping for him, he exhorted them to keep to that form of government he had given them; and then the congregation was dissolved at that time.

4.8.4. Accordingly, I will now first describe this form of government which was agreeable to the dignity and virtue of Moses; and will thereby inform those that read these Antiquities, what our original settlements were, and will then proceed to the remaining histories. Now those settlements are all still in writing, as he left them; and we will add nothing by way of ornament, nor any thing besides what Moses left us; only we will so far innovate, as to digest the several kinds of laws into a regular system; for they were by him left in writing as they were accidentally scattered in their delivery, and as he upon inquiry had learned them of Elohim. On which account I have thought it necessary to premise this observation beforehand, lest any of my own countrymen should blame me, as having been guilty of an offense herein. Now part of our constitution will include the laws that belong to our political state. As for those laws which Moses left concerning our common conversation and intercourse one with another, I have reserved that for a discourse concerning our manner of life, and the occasions of those laws; which I propose to myself, with Elohim’s assistance, to write, after I have finished the work I am now upon.

4.8.5. When you have possessed yourselves of the land of Canaan, and have leisure to enjoy the good things of it, and when you have afterward determined to build cities, if you will do what is pleasing to Elohim, you will have a secure state of happiness. Let there be then one city of the land of Canaan, and this situate in the most agreeable place for its goodness, and very eminent in itself, and let it be that which Elohim will choose for himself by prophetic revelation. Let there also be one temple therein, and one altar, not reared of hewn stones, but of such as you gather together at random; which stones, when they are whited over with mortar, will have a handsome appearance, and be beautiful to the sight. Let the ascent to it be not by steps but by an acclivity of raised land. And let there be neither an altar nor a temple in any other city; for Elohim is but one, and the nation of the Hebrews is but one.

4.8.6. He that blasphemeth Elohim, let him be stoned; and let him hang upon a tree all that day, and then let him be buried in an ignominious and obscure manner.

4.8.7. Let those that live as remote as the bounds of the land which the Hebrews will possess, come to that city where the temple will be, and this three times in a year, that they may give thanks to Elohim for his former benefits, and may entreat him for those they will want hereafter; and let them, by this means, maintain a friendly correspondence with one another by such meetings and feastings together, for it is a good thing for those that are of the same stock, and under the same institution of laws, not to be unacquainted with each other; which acquaintance will be maintained by thus conversing together, and by seeing and talking with one another, and so renewing the memorials of this union; for if they do not thus converse together continually, they will appear like mere strangers to one another.

4.8.8. Let there be taken out of your fruits a tenth, besides that which you have allotted to give to the priests and Levites. This you may indeed sell in the country, but it is to be used in those feasts and slaughters that are to be celebrated in the holy city; for it is fit that you should enjoy those fruits of the land which Elohim gives you to possess, so as may be to the honor of the donor.

4.8.9. You are not to offer slaughters out of the hire of a woman who is a harlot for the Deity is not pleased with any thing that arises from such abuses of nature; of which sort none can be worse than this prostitution of the body. In like manner no one may take the price of the covering of a bitch, either of one that is used in hunting, or in keeping of sheep, and thence slaughter to Elohim.

4.8.10. Let no one blaspheme those elohim which other cities esteem such; nor may any one steal what belongs to strange temples, nor take away the gifts that are dedicated to any god.

4.8.11. Let not any one of you wear a garment made of woolen and linen, for that is appointed to be for the priests alone.

4.8.12. When the multitude are assembled together unto the holy city for slaughtering every seventh year, at the feast of tabernacles, let the high priest stand upon a high desk, whence he may be heard, and let him read the laws to all the people; and let neither the women nor the children be hindered from hearing, no, nor the servants neither; for it is a good thing that those laws should be engraven in their souls, and preserved in their memories, that so it may not be possible to blot them out; for by this means they will not be guilty of sin, when they cannot plead ignorance of what the laws have enjoined them. The laws also will have a greater authority among them, as foretelling what they will suffer if they break them; and imprinting in their souls by this hearing what they command them to do, that so there may always be within their minds that intention of the laws which they have despised and broken, and have thereby been the causes of their own mischief. Let the children also learn the laws, as the first thing they are taught, which will be the best thing they can be taught, and will be the cause of their future felicity.

4.8.13. Let every one commemorate before Elohim the benefits which he bestowed upon them at their deliverance out of the land of Egypt, and this twice every day, both when the day begins and when the hour of sleep comes on, gratitude being in its own nature a just thing, and serving not only by way of return for past, but also by way of invitation of future favors. They are also to inscribe the principal blessings they have received from Elohim upon their doors, and show the same remembrance of them upon their arms; as also they are to bear on their forehead and their arm those wonders which declare the power of Elohim, and his good-will towards them, that Elohim’s readiness to bless them may appear every where conspicuous about them.

4.8.14. Let there be seven men to judge in every city, and these such as have been before most zealous in the exercise of virtue and righteousness. Let every judge have two officers allotted him out of the tribe of Levi. Let those that are chosen to judge in the several cities be had in great honor; and let none be permitted to revile any others when these are present, nor to carry themselves in an insolent manner to them; it being natural that reverence towards those in high offices among men should procure men’s fear and reverence towards Elohim. Let those that judge be permitted to determine according as they think to be right, unless any one can show that they have taken bribes, to the perversion of justice, or can allege any other accusation against them, whereby it may appear that they have passed an unjust sentence; for it is not fit that causes should be openly determined out of regard to gain, or to the dignity of the suitors, but that the judges should esteem what is right before all other things, otherwise Elohim will by that means be despised, and esteemed inferior to those, the dread of whose power has occasioned the unjust sentence; for justice is the power of Elohim. He therefore that gratifies those in great dignity, supposes them more potent than Elohim himself. But if these judges be unable to give a just sentence about the causes that come before them, (which case is not infrequent in human affairs,) let them send the cause undetermined to the holy city, and there let the high priest, the prophet, and the sanhedrim, determine as it will seem good to them.

4.8.15. But let not a single witness be credited, but three, or two at the least, and those such whose witness is confirmed by their good lives. But let not the witness of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex. Nor let servants be admitted to give witness, on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is probable that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain, or fear of punishment. But if any one be believed to have borne false witness, let him, when he is convicted, suffer all the very same punishments which he against whom he bore witness was to have suffered.

4.8.16. If a murder be committed in any place, and he that did it be not found, nor is there any suspicion upon one as if he had hated the man, and so had killed him, let there be a very diligent inquiry made after the man, and rewards proposed to any one who will discover him; but if still no information can be procured, let the magistrates and senate of those cities that lie near the place in which the murder was committed, assemble together, and measure the distance from the place where the dead body lies; then let the magistrates of the nearest city thereto purchase a heifer, and bring it to a valley, and to a place therein where there is no land ploughed or trees planted, and let them cut the sinews of the heifer; then the priests and Levites, and the senate of that city, will take water and wash their hands over the head of the heifer; and they will openly declare that their hands are innocent of this murder, and that they have neither done it themselves, nor been assisting to any that did it. They will also beseech Elohim to be merciful to them, that no such horrid act may any more be done in that land.

4.8.17. Aristocracy, and the way of living under it, is the best constitution: and may you never have any inclination to any other form of government; and may you always love that form, and have the laws for your governors, and govern all your actions according to them; for you need no supreme governor but Elohim. But if you will desire a king, let him be one of your own nation; let him be always careful of justice and other virtues perpetually; let him submit to the laws, and esteem Elohim’s commands to be his highest wisdom; but let him do nothing without the high priest and the votes of the senators: let him not have a great number of wives, nor pursue after abundance of riches, nor a multitude of horses, whereby he may grow too proud to submit to the laws. And if he affect any such things, let him be restrained, lest he become so potent that his state be inconsistent with your welfare.

4.8.18. Let it not be esteemed lawful to remove boundaries, neither our own, nor of those with whom we are at peace. Have a care you do not take those landmarks away which are, as it were, a divine and unshaken limitation of rights made by Elohim himself, to last for ever; since this going beyond limits, and gaining ground upon others, is the occasion of wars and seditions; for those that remove boundaries are not far off an attry to subvert the laws.

4.8.19. He that plants a piece of land, the trees of which produce fruits before the fourth year, is not to bring thence any first fruits to Elohim, nor is he to make use of that fruit himself, for it is not produced in its proper season; for when nature has a force put upon her at an unseasonable time, the fruit is not proper for Elohim, nor for the master’s use; but let the owner gather all that is grown on the fourth car, for then it is in its proper season. And let him that has gathered it carry it to the holy city, and spend that, together with the tithe of his other fruits, in feasting with his friends, with the orphans, and the widows. But on the fifth year the fruit is his own, and he may use it as he pleases.

4.8.20. You are not to sow with seed a piece of land which is planted with vines, for it is enough that it supply nourishment to that plant, and be not harassed by ploughing also. You are to plough your land with oxen, and not to oblige other animals to come under the same yoke with them; but to till your land with those beasts that are of the same kind with each other. The seeds are also to be pure, and without mixture, and not to be compounded of two or three sorts, since nature does not rejoice in the union of things that are not in their own nature alike; nor are you to permit beasts of different kinds to gender together, for there is reason to fear that this unnatural abuse may extend from beasts of different kinds to men, though it takes its first rise from evil practices about such smaller things. Nor is any thing to be allowed, by imitation whereof any degree of subversion may creep into the constitution. Nor do the laws neglect small matters, but provide that even those may be managed after an unblameable manner.

4.8.21. Let not those that reap, and gather in the corn that is reaped, gather in the gleanings also; but let them rather leave some handfuls for those that are in want of the necessaries of life, that it may be a support and a supply to them, in order to their subsistence. In like manner when they gather their grapes, let them leave some smaller bunches for the poor, and let them pass over some of the fruits of the olive-trees, when they gather them, and leave them to be partaken of by those that have none of their own; for the advantage arising from the exact collection of all, will not be so considerable to the owners as will arise from the gratitude of the poor. And Elohim will provide that the land will more willingly produce what will be for the nourishment of its fruits, in case you do not merely take care of your own advantage, but have regard to the support of others also. Nor are you to muzzle the mouths of the oxen when they tread the ears of corn in the thrashing-floor; for it is not just to restrain our fellow-laboring animals, and those that work in order to its production, of this fruit of their labors. Nor are you to prohibit those that pass by at the time when your fruits are ripe to touch them, but to give them leave to fill themselves full of what you have; and this whether they be of your own country or strangers, – as being glad of the opportunity of giving them some part of your fruits when they are ripe; but let it not be esteemed lawful for them to carry any away. Nor let those that gather the grapes, and carry them to the wine-presses, restrain those whom they meet from eating of them; for it is unjust, out of envy, to hinder those that desire it, to partake of the good things that come into the world according to Elohim’s will, and this while the season is at the height, and is hastening away as it pleases Elohim. Nay, if some, out of bashfulness, are unwilling to touch these fruits, let them be encouraged to take of them (I mean, those that are Israelites) as if they were themselves the owners and lords, on account of the kindred there is between them. Nay, let them desire men that come from other countries, to partake of these tokens of friendship which Elohim has given in their proper season; for that is not to be deemed as idly spent, which any one out of kindness communicates to another, since Elohim bestows plenty of good things on men, not only for themselves to reap the advantage, but also to give to others in a way of generosity; and he is desirous, by this means, to make known to others his peculiar kindness to the people of Israel, and how freely he communicates happiness to them, while they abundantly communicate out of their great superfluities to even these foreigners also. But for him that acts contrary to this law, let him be beaten with forty stripes save one by the public executioner; let him undergo this punishment, which is a most ignominious one for a free-man, and this because he was such a slave to gain as to lay a blot upon his dignity; for it is proper for you who have had the experience of the afflictions in Egypt, and of those in the wilderness, to make provision for those that are in the like circumstances; and while you have now obtained plenty yourselves, through the mercy and providence of Elohim, to distribute of the same plenty, by the like sympathy, to such as stand in need of it.

4.8.22. Besides those two tithes, which I have already said you are to pay every year, the one for the Levites, the other for the festivals, you are to bring every third year a third tithe to be distributed to those that want; to women also that are widows, and to children that are orphans. But as to the ripe fruits, let them carry that which is ripe first of all into the temple; and when they have blessed Elohim for that land which bare them, and which he had given them for a possession, when they have also offered those slaughters which the law has commanded them to bring, let them give the first fruits to the priests. But when any one hath done this, and hath brought the tithe of all that he hath, together with those first fruits that are for the Levites, and for the festivals, and when he is about to go home, let him stand before the holy house, and return thanks to Elohim, that he hath delivered them from the injurious treatment they had in Egypt, and hath given them a good land, and a large, and lets them enjoy the fruits thereof; and when he hath openly witnessed that he hath fully paid the tithes [and other dues] according to the laws of Moses, let him entreat Elohim that he will be ever merciful and gracious to him, and continue so to be to all the Hebrews, both by preserving the good things which he hath already given them, and by adding what it is still in his power to bestow upon them.

4.8.23. Let the Hebrews marry, at the age fit for it, virgins that are free, and born of good parents. And he that does not marry a virgin, let him not corrupt another man’s wife, and marry her, nor grieve her former husband. Nor let free men marry slaves, although their affections should strongly bias any of them so to do; for it is decent, and for the dignity of the persons themselves, to govern those their affections. And further, no one ought to marry a harlot, whose matrimonial oblations, arising from the prostitution of her body, Elohim will not receive; for by these means the dispositions of the children will be liberal and virtuous; I mean, when they are not born of base parents, and of the covetous conjunction of such as marry women that are not free. If any one has been espoused to a woman as to a virgin, and does not afterward find her so to be, let him bring his action, and accuse her, and let him make use of such indications to prove his accusation as he is furnished withal; and let the father or the brother of the damsel, or some one that is after them nearest of kin to her, defend her If the damsel obtain a sentence in her favor, that she had not been guilty, let her live with her husband that accused her; and let him not have any further power at all to put her away, unless she give him very great occasions of suspicion, and such as can be no way contradicted. But for him that brings an accusation and calumny against his wife in an impudent and rash manner, let him be punished by receiving forty stripes save one, and let him pay fifty shekels to her father: but if the damsel be convicted, as having been corrupted, and is one of the common people, let her be stoned, because she did not preserve her virginity till she were lawfully married; but if she were the daughter of a priest, let her be burnt alive. If any one has two wives, and if he greatly respect and be kind to one of them, either out of his affection to her, or for her beauty, or for some other reason, while the other is of less esteem with him; and if the son of her that is beloved be the younger by birth than another born of the other woman, but endeavors to obtain the right of primogeniture from his father’s kindness to his mother, and would thereby obtain a double portion of his father’s substance, for that double portion is what I have allotted him in the laws, – let not this be permitted; for it is unjust that he who is the elder by birth should be deprived of what is due to him, on the father’s disposition of his estate, because his mother was not equally regarded by him. He that hath corrupted a damsel espoused to another man, in case he had her consent, let both him and her be put to death, for they are both equally guilty; the man, because he persuaded the woman willingly to submit to a most impure action, and to prefer it to lawful wedlock; the woman, because she was persuaded to yield herself to be corrupted, either for pleasure or for gain. However, if a man light on a woman when she is alone, and forces her, where nobody was present to come to her assistance, let him only be put to death. Let him that hath corrupted a virgin not yet espoused marry her; but if the father of the damsel be not willing that she should be his wife, let him pay fifty shekels as the price of her prostitution. He that desires to be divorced from his wife for any cause whatsoever, (and many such causes happen among men,) let him in writing give assurance that he will never use her as his wife any more; for by this means she may be at liberty to marry another husband, although before this bill of divorce be given, she is not to be permitted so to do: but if she be misused by him also, or if, when he is dead, her first husband would marry her again, it will not be lawful for her to return to him. If a woman’s husband die, and leave her without children, let his brother marry her, and let him call the son that is born to him by his brother’s name, and educate him as the heir of his inheritance, for this procedure will be for the benefit of the public, because thereby families will not fail, and the estate will continue among the kindred; and this will be for the solace of wives under their affliction, that they are to be married to the next relation of their former husbands. But if the brother will not marry her, let the woman come before the senate, and protest openly that this brother will not admit her for his wife, but will injure the memory of his deceased brother, while she is willing to continue in the family, and to hear him children. And when the senate have inquired of him for what reason it is that he is averse to this marriage, whether he gives a bad or a good reason, the matter must come to this issue, That the woman will loose the sandals of the brother, and will spit in his face, and say, He deserves this reproachful treatment from her, as having injured the memory of the deceased. And then let him go away out of the senate, and bear this reproach upon him all his life long; and let her marry to whom she pleases, of such as seek her in marriage. But now, if any man take captive, either a virgin, or one that hath been married, and has a mind to marry her, let him not be allowed to bring her to bed to him, or to live with her as his wife, before she hath her head shaven, and hath put on her mourning habit, and lamented her relations and friends that were slain in the battle, that by this means she may give vent to her sorrow for them, and after that may betake herself to feasting and matrimony; for it is good for him that takes a woman, in order to have children by her, to be complaisant to her inclinations, and not merely to pursue his own pleasure, while he hath no regard to what is agreeable to her. But when thirty days are past, as the time of mourning, for so many are sufficient to prudent persons for lamenting the dearest friends, then let them proceed to the marriage; but in case when he hath satisfied his coveting, he be too proud to retain her for his wife, let him not have it in his power to make her a slave, but let her go away whither she pleases, and have that privilege of a free woman.

4.8.24. As to those young men that despise their parents, and do not pay them honor, but offer them affronts, either because they are ashamed of them or think themselves wiser than they, – in the first place, let their parents admonish them in words, (for they are by nature of authority sufficient for becoming their judges,) and let them say thus to them: – That they cohabited together, not for the sake of pleasure, nor for the augmentation of their riches, by joining both their stocks together, but that they might have children to take care of them in their old age, and might by them have what they then should want. And say further to him, “That when thou wast born, we took thee up with gladness, and gave Elohim the greatest thanks for thee, and brought time up with great care, and spared for nothing that appeared useful for thy preservation, and for thy instruction in what was most excellent. And now, since it is reasonable to forgive the sins of those that are young, let it suffice thee to have given so many indications Of thy contempt of us; reform thyself, and act more wisely for the time to come; considering that Elohim is displeased with those that are insolent towards their parents, because he is himself the Father of the whole race of mankind, and seems to bear part of that dishonor which falls upon those that have the same name, when they do not meet with dire returns from their children. And on such the law inflicts inexorable punishment; of which punishment mayst thou never have the experience.” Now if the insolence of young men be thus cured, let them escape the reproach which their former errors deserved; for by this means the lawgiver will appear to be good, and parents happy, while they never behold either a son or a daughter brought to punishment. But if it happen that these words and instructions, conveyed by them in order to reclaim the man, appear to be useless, then the offender renders the laws implacable enemies to the insolence he has offered his parents; let him therefore be brought forth by these very parents out of the city, with a multitude following him, and there let him be stoned; and when he has continued there for one whole day, that all the people may see him, let him be buried in the night. And thus it is that we bury all whom the laws condemn to die, upon any account whatsoever. Let our enemies that fall in battle be also buried; nor let any one dead body lie above the ground, or suffer a punishment beyond what justice requires.

4.8.25. Let no one lend to any one of the Hebrews upon usury, neither usury of what is eaten or what is drunken, for it is not just to make advantage of the misfortunes of one of thy own countrymen; but when thou hast been assistant to his necessities, think it thy gain if thou obtainest their gratitude to thee; and withal that reward which will come to thee from Elohim, for thy humanity towards him.

4.8.26. Those who have borrowed either silver or any sort of fruits, whether dry or wet, (I mean this, when the Jewish affairs shall, by the blessing of Elohim, be to their own mind,) let the borrowers bring them again, and restore them with pleasure to those who lent them, laying them up, as it were, in their own treasuries, and justly expecting to receive them thence, if they will want them again. But if they be without shame, and do not restore it, let not the lender go to the borrower’s house, and take a pledge himself, before judgment be given concerning it; but let him require the pledge, and let the debtor bring it of himself, without the least opposition to him that comes upon him under the protection of the law. And if he that gave the pledge be rich, let the creditor retain it till what he lent be paid him again; but if he be poor, let him that takes it return it before the going down of the sun, especially if the pledge be a garment, that the debtor may have it for a covering in his sleep, Elohim himself naturally showing mercy to the poor. It is also not lawful to take a millstone, nor any utensil thereto belonging, for a pledge, that the debtor, may not be deprived of instruments to get their food withal, and lest they be undone by their necessity.

4.8.27. Let death be the punishment for stealing a man; but he that hath purloined gold or silver, let him pay double. If any one kill a man that is stealing something out of his house, let him be esteemed guiltless, although the man were only breaking in at the wall. Let him that hath stolen cattle pay fourfold what is lost, excepting the case of an ox, for which let the thief pay fivefold. Let him that is so poor that he cannot pay what mulet is laid upon him, be his servant to whom he was adjudged to pay it.

4.8.28. If any one be sold to one of his own nation, let him serve him six years, and on the seventh let him go free. But if he have a son by a woman servant in his purchaser’s house, and if, on account of his good-will to his master, and his natural affection to his wife and children, he will be his servant still, let him be set free only at the coming of the year of jubilee, which is the fiftieth year, and let him then take away with him his children and woman, and let them be free also.

4.8.29. If any one find gold or silver on the road, let him inquire after him that lost it, and make proclamation of the place where he found it, and then restore it to him again, as not thinking it right to make his own profit by the loss of another. And the same rule is to be observed in cattle found to have wandered away into a lonely place. If the owner be not presently discovered, let him that is the finder keep it with himself, and appeal to Elohim that he has not purloined what belongs to another.

4.8.30. It is not lawful to pass by any beast that is in distress, when in a storm it is fallen down in the mire, but to endeavor to preserve it, as having a sympathy with it in its pain.

4.8.31. It is also a duty to show the roads to those who do not know them, and not to esteem it a matter for sport, when we hinder others’ advantages, by setting them in a wrong way.

4.8.32. In like manner, let no one revile a person blind or dumb.

4.8.33. If men strive together, and there be no instrument of iron, let him that is smitten be avenged immediately, by inflicting the same punishment on him that smote him: but if when he is carried home he lie sick many days, and then die, let him that smote him not escape punishment; but if he that is smitten escape death, and yet be at great expense for his cure, the smiter will pay for all that has been expended during the time of his sickness, and for all that he has paid the physician. He that kicks a woman with child, so that the woman miscarry, let him pay a fine in money, as the judges will determine, as having diminished the multitude by the destruction of what was in her womb; and let money also be given the woman’s husband by him that kicked her; but if she die of the plague, let him also be put to death, the law judging it equitable that life should go for life.

4.8.34. Let no one of the Israelites keep any poison that may cause death, or any other harm; but if he be caught with it, let him be put to death, and suffer the very same mischief that he would have brought upon them for whom the poison was prepared.

4.8.35. He that maimeth any one, let him undergo the like himself, and be deprived of the same member of which he hath deprived the other, unless he that is maimed will accept of money instead of it for the law makes the sufferer the judge of the value of what he hath suffered, and permits him to estimate it, unless he will be more severe.

4.8.36. Let him that is the owner of an ox which pusheth with his horn, kill him: but if he pushes and gores any one in the thrashing-floor, let him be put to death by stoning, and let him not be thought fit for food: but if his owner be convicted as having known what his nature was, and hath not kept him up, let him also be put to death, as being the occasion of the ox’s having killed a man. But if the ox have killed a man-servant, or a maid-servant, let him be stoned; and let the owner of the ox pay thirty shekels to the master of him that was slain; but if it be an ox that is thus smitten and killed, let both the oxen, that which smote the other and that which was killed, be sold, and let the owners of them divide their price between them.

4.8.37. Let those that dig a well or a pit be careful to lay planks over them, and so guard them shut up, not in order to hinder any persons from drawing water, but that there may be no danger of falling into them. But if any one’s beast fall into such a well or pit thus dug, and not shut up, and perish, let the owner pay its price to the owner of the beast. Let there be a battlement round the tops of your houses instead of a wall, that may prevent any persons from rolling down and perishing.

4.8.38. Let him that has received any thing in trust for another, take care to keep it as a sacred and divine thing; and let no one invent any contrivance whereby to deprive him that hath entrusted it with him of the same, and this whether he be a man or a woman; no, not although he or she were to gain an immense sum of gold, and this where he cannot be convicted of it by any body; for it is fit that a man’s own conscience, which knows what he hath, should in all cases oblige him to do well. Let this conscience be his witness, and make him always act so as may procure him commendation from others; but let him chiefly have regard to Elohim, from whom no wicked man can lie concealed: but if he in whom the trust was reposed, without any deceit of his own, lose what he was entrusted withal, let him come before the seven judges, and swear by Elohim that nothing hath been lost willingly, or with a wicked intention, and that he hath not made use of any part thereof, and so let him depart without blame; but if he hath made use of the least part of what was committed to him, and it be lost, let him be condemned to repay all that he had received. After the same manner as in these trusts it is to be, if any one defraud those that undergo bodily labor for him. And let it be always remembered, that we are not to defraud a poor man of his wages, as being sensible that Elohim has allotted these wages to him instead of land and other possessions; nay, this payment is not at all to be delayed, but to be made that very day, since Elohim is not willing to deprive the laborer of the immediate use of what he hath labored for.

4.8.39. You are not to punish children for the faults of their parents, but on account of their own virtue rather to vouchsafe them commiseration, because they were born of wicked parents, than hatred, because they were born of bad ones. Nor indeed ought we to impute the sin of children to their fathers, while young persons indulge themselves in many practices different from what they have been instructed in, and this by their proud refusal of such instruction.

4.8.40. Let those that have made themselves eunuchs be had in detestation; and do you avoid any conversation with them who have deprived themselves of their manhood, and of that fruit of generation which Elohim has given to men for the increase of their kind: let such be driven away, as if they had killed their children, since they beforehand have lost what should procure them; for evident it is, that while their soul is become effeminate, they have withal transfused that effeminacy to their body also. In like manner do you treat all that is of a monstrous nature when it is looked on; nor is it lawful to geld men or any other animals.

4.8.41. Let this be the constitution of your political laws in time of peace, and Elohim will be so merciful as to preserve this excellent settlement free from disturbance: and may that time never come which may innovate any thing, and change it for the contrary. But since it must needs happen that mankind fall into troubles and dangers, either undesignedly or intentionally, come let us make a few constitutions concerning them, that so being apprised beforehand what ought to be done, you may have salutary counsels ready when you want them, and may not then be obliged to go to seek what is to be done, and so be unprovided, and fall into dangerous circumstances. May you be a laborious people, and exercise your souls in virtuous actions, and thereby possess and inherit the land without wars; while neither any foreigners make war upon it, and so afflict you, nor any internal sedition seize upon it, whereby you may do things that are contrary to your fathers, and so lose the laws which they have established. And may you continue in the observation of those laws which Elohim hath approved of, and hath delivered to you. Let all sort of warlike operations, whether they befall you now in your own time, or hereafter in the times of your posterity, be done out of your own borders: but when you are about to go to war, send embassages and heralds to those who are your voluntary enemies, for it is a right thing to make use of words to them before you come to your weapons of war; and assure them thereby, that although you have a numerous army, with horses and weapons, and, above these, an Elohim merciful to you, and ready to assist you, you do however desire them not to compel you to fight against them, nor to take from them what they have, which will indeed be our gain, but what they will have no reason to wish we should take to ourselves. And if they hearken to you, it will be proper for you to keep peace with them; but if they trust in their own strength, as superior to yours, and will not do you justice, lead your army against them, making use of Elohim as your supreme Commander, but ordaining for a lieutenant under him one that is of the greatest courage among you; for these different commanders, besides their being an obstacle to actions that are to be done on the sudden, are a disadvantage to those that make use of them. Lead an army pure, and of chosen men, composed of all such as have extraordinary strength of body and hardiness of soul; but do you send away the timorous part, lest they run away in the time of action, and so afford an advantage to your enemies. Do you also give leave to those that have lately built them houses, and have not yet lived in them a year’s time; and to those that have planted them vineyards, and have not yet been partakers of their fruits, – to continue in their own country; as well as those also who have betrothed, or lately married them wives, lest they have such an affection for these things that they he too sparing of their lives, and, by reserving themselves for these enjoyments, they become voluntary cowards, on account of their wives.

4.8.42. When you have pitched your camp, take care that you do nothing that is cruel. And when you are engaged in a siege; and want timber for the making of warlike engines, do not you render the land naked by cutting down trees that bear fruit, but spare them, as considering that they were made for the benefit of men; and that if they could speak, they would have a just plea against you, because, though they are not occasions of the war, they are unjustly treated, and suffer in it, and would, if they were able, remove themselves into another land. When you have beaten your enemies in battle, slay those that have fought against you; but preserve the others alive, that they may pay you tribute, excepting the nation of the Canaanites; for as to that people, you must entirely destroy them.

4.8.43. Take care, especially in your battles, that no woman use the habit of a man, nor man the garment of a woman.

4.8.44. This was the form of political government which was left us by Moses. Moreover, he had already delivered laws in writing in the fortieth year [after they came out of Egypt], concerning which we will discourse in another book. But now on the following days (for he called them to assemble continually) he delivered blessings to them, and curses upon those that should not live according to the laws, but should transgress the duties that were determined for them to observe. After this, he read to them a poetic song, which was composed in hexameter verse, and left it to them in the holy book: it contained a prediction of what was to come to pass afterward; agreeably whereto all things have happened all along, and do still happen to us; and wherein he has not at all deviated from the truth. Accordingly, he delivered these books to the priest, with the ark; into which he also put the ten commandments, written on two tables. He delivered to them the tabernacle also, and exhorted the people, that when they had conquered the land, and were settled in it, they should not forget the injuries of the Amalekites, but make war against them, and inflict punishment upon them for what mischief they did them when they were in the wilderness; and that when they had got possession of the land of the Canaanites, and when they had destroyed the whole multitude of its inhabitants, as they ought to do, they should erect an altar that should face the rising sun, not far from the city of Shechem, between the two mountains, that of Gerizzim, situate on the right hand, and that called Ebal, on the left; and that the army should be so divided, that six tribes should stand upon each of the two mountains, and with them the Levites and the priests. And that first, those that were upon Mount Gerizzim should pray for the best blessings upon those who were diligent about the worship of Elohim, and the observation of his laws, and who did not reject what Moses had said to them; while the other wished them all manner of happiness also; and when these last put up the like prayers, the former praised them. After this, curses were denounced upon those that should transgress those laws, they, answering one another alternately, by way of confirmation of what had been said. Moses also wrote their blessings and their curses, that they might learn them so thoroughly, that they might never be forgotten by length of time. And when he was ready to die, he wrote these blessings and curses upon the altar, on each side of it; where he says also the people stood, and then slaughtered and offered burnt offerings, though after that day they never offered upon it any other slaughter, for it was not lawful so to do. These are the constitutions of Moses; and the Hebrew nation still live according to them.

4.8.45. On the next day, Moses called the people together, with the women and children, to a congregation, so as the very slaves were present also, that they might engage themselves to the observation of these laws by oath; and that, duly considering the meaning of Elohim in them, they might not, either for favor of their kindred, or out of fear of any one, or indeed for any motive whatsoever, think any thing ought to be preferred to these laws, and so might transgress them. That in case any one of their own blood, or any city, should attry to confound or dissolve their constitution of government, they should take vengeance upon them, both all in general, and each person in particular; and when they had conquered them, should overturn their city to the very foundations, and, if possible, should not leave the least footsteps of such madness: but that if they were not able to take such vengeance, they should still demonstrate that what was done was contrary to their wills. So the multitude bound themselves by oath so to do.

4.8.46. Moses taught them also by what means their slaughters might be the most acceptable to Elohim; and how they should go forth to war, making use of the stones (in the high priest’s breastplate) for their direction, as I have before signified. Joshua also prophesied while Moses was present. And when Moses had recapitulated whatsoever he had done for the preservation of the people, both in their wars and in peace, and had composed them a body of laws, and procured them an excellent form of government, he foretold, as Elohim had declared to him “That if they transgressed that institution for the worship of Elohim, they should experience the following miseries: – Their land should be full of weapons of war from their enemies, and their cities should be overthrown, and their temple should be burnt that they should be sold for slaves, to such men as would have no pity on them in their afflictions; that they would then repent, when that repentance would no way profit them under their sufferings. “Yet,” said he, “will that Elohim who founded your nation, restore your cities to your citizens, with their temple also; and you will lose these advantages not once only, but often.”

4.8.47. Now when Moses had encouraged Joshua to lead out the army against the Canaanites, by telling him that Elohim would assist him in all his undertakings, and had blessed the whole multitude, he said, “Since I am going to my forefathers, and Elohim has determined that this should be the day of my departure to them, I return him thanks while I am still alive and present with you, for that providence he hath exercised over you, which hath not only delivered us from the miseries we lay under, but hath bestowed a state of prosperity upon us; as also, that he hath assisted me in the pains I took, and in all the contrivances I had in my care about you, in order to better your condition, and hath on all occasions showed himself favorable to us; or rather he it was who first conducted our affairs, and brought them to a happy conclusion, by making use of me as a vicarious general under him, and as a minister in those matters wherein he was willing to do you good: on which account I think it proper to bless that Divine Power which will take care of you for the time to come, and this in order to repay that debt which I owe him, and to leave behind me a memorial that we are obliged to worship and honor him, and to keep those laws which are the most excellent gift of all those he hath already bestowed upon us, or which, if he continue favorable to us, he will bestow upon us hereafter. Certainly a human legislator is a terrible enemy when his laws are affronted, and are made to no purpose. And may you never experience that displeasure of Elohim which will be the consequence of the neglect of these his laws, which he, who is your Creator, hath given you.”

4.8.48. When Moses had spoken thus at the end of his life, and had foretold what would befall to every one of their tribes afterward, with the addition of a blessing to them, the multitude fell into tears, insomuch that even the women, by beating their breasts, made manifest the deep concern they had when he was about to die. The children also lamented still more, as not able to contain their grief; and thereby declared, that even at their age they were sensible of his virtue and mighty deeds; and truly there seemed to be a strife betwixt the young and the old who should most grieve for him. The old grieved because they knew what a careful protector they were to be deprived of, and so lamented their future state; but the young grieved, not only for that, but also because it so happened that they were to be left by him before they had well tasted of his virtue. Now one may make a guess at the excess of this sorrow and lamentation of the multitude, from what happened to the legislator himself; for although he was always persuaded that he ought not to be cast down at the approach of death, since the undergoing it was agreeable to the will of Elohim and the law of nature, yet what the people did so overbore him, that he wept himself. Now as he went thence to the place where he was to vanish out of their sight, they all followed after him weeping; but Moses beckoned with his hand to those that were remote from him, and bade them stay behind in quiet, while he exhorted those that were near to him that they would not render his departure so lamentable. Whereupon they thought they ought to grant him that favor, to let him depart according as he himself desired; so they restrained themselves, though weeping still towards one another. All those who accompanied him were the senate, and Eleazar the high priest, and Joshua their commander. Now as soon as they were come to the mountain called Abarim, (which is a very high mountain, situate over against Jericho, and one that affords, to such as are upon it, a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan,) he dismissed the senate; and as he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, a cloud stood over him on the sudden, and he disappeared in a certain valley, although he wrote in the holy books that he died, which was done out of fear, lest they should venture to say that, because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to Elohim.

4.8.49. Now Moses lived in all one hundred and twenty years; a third part of which time, abating one new moon, he was the people’s ruler; and he died on the last new moon of the year, which is called by the Macedonians Dystrus, but by us Adar, on the first day of the new moon. He was one that exceeded all men that ever were in understanding, and made the best use of what that understanding suggested to him. He had a very graceful way of speaking and addressing himself to the multitude; and as to his other qualifications, he had such a full command of his passions, as if he hardly had any such in his soul, and only knew them by their names, as rather perceiving them in other men than in himself. He was also such a general of an army as is seldom seen, as well as such a prophet as was never known, and this to such a degree, that whatsoever he pronounced, you would think you heard the voice of Elohim himself. So the people mourned for him thirty days: nor did ever any grief so deeply affect the Hebrews as did this upon the death of Moses: nor were those that had experienced his conduct the only persons that desired him, but those also that perused the laws he left behind him had a strong desire after him, and by them gathered the extraordinary virtue he was master of. And this will suffice for the declaration of the manner of the death of Moses.