Week 129

• Torah (T): Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:1-49
• Prophets (P): Jeremiah 20:4-11
• Apostolic (A): Romans 11:1-36
• Additional (ADD): 2 Esdras 1:1-40

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Leviticus 19:35-37; Leviticus 20:7-8; Leviticus 22:31-33 (T)
• Psalms 105:42-45 (T)
• Deuteronomy 12:28-32; Proverbs 30:1-6; Revelation 22:16-21 (T)
• Numbers 25:1-9; Joshua 22:11-18 (T)
• Psalms 149:1-9 (T)
• Deuteronomy 26:16-19 (T)
• Exodus 33:1-17 (T)
• 2 Samuel 7:1-24; 1 Chronicles 17:1-22 (T)
• Deuteronomy 6:4-15; Deuteronomy 11:7-25 (T)
• Psalms 78:1-8 (T)
• Exodus 19:17-20 (T)
• 1 Kings 8:10-12 (T)
• Judges 13:22; John 1:14-18; John 5:37; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:12 (T)
• Exodus 34:27-35 (T)
• Genesis 1:14-19 (T)
• Job 31:1-35 (T)
• Exodus 19:1-6; Deuteronomy 7:1-6; 1 Kings 8:44-53; Jeremiah 11:1-5 (T)
• Deuteronomy 1:34-37; Deuteronomy 3:23-28; Deuteronomy 31:1-3; Deuteronomy 34:1-4 (T)
• Exodus 20:3-6; Exodus 34:10-17; Deuteronomy 5:7-10 (T)
• Deuteronomy 9:1-3; Hebrews 12:28-29 (T)
• Jeremiah 29:1-7 (T, H)
• Nehemiah 1:1-10 (T)
• Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (T)
• Deuteronomy 28:58-68 (T)
• Jeremiah 16:1-21 (T)
• John 7:1-36 (T)
• 1 Peter 1:1-25 (T)
• 2 Chronicles 15:1-17 (T)
• Leviticus 26:1-46 (T)
• Job 8:1-9 (T)
• Deuteronomy 5:22-29 (T)
• Deuteronomy 7:14-19 (T)
• Deuteronomy 29:1-15 (T)
• Deuteronomy 32:36-41 (T)
• 1 Kings 8:54-61 (T)
• 2 Chronicles 6:12-42 (T)
• Isaiah 44:1-28 (T)
• Isaiah 45:1-25 (T)
• Mark 12:26-34 (T)
• 1 Corinthians 8:1-6 (T)
• Ephesians 4:1-6 (T)
• Exodus 13:3-14 (T)
• Joshua 2:8-11 (T)
• Numbers 35:6-15 (T)
• Deuteronomy 19:1-10 (T)
• Joshua 20:8-9 (T)
• Numbers 21:21-35 (T)
• Deuteronomy 1:3-4; Deuteronomy 3:1-11 (T)
• Jeremiah 20:1-18 (P)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• Baruch 2:1-35 (T)
• Deuteronomy 4:1-49 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.8.1-49 (T)

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

Torah Portion (T)

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:1-49

4:1 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you [this day],^(LXX)(Syr) to do them, that you may live and go in and possess the land which YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, gives you. 2 You will not add to the word which I command you, neither will you take away from it, that you may guard the commandments of YHWH your Elohim which I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what YHWH did because of Baal Peor; for YHWH your Elohim has destroyed all the men who followed Baal Peor from among you. 4 But you who are clinging to YHWH your Elohim are all alive today. 5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as YHWH my Elohim commanded me, that you should do so within the land where you go in to possess it. 6 You will guard and do; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 For what great nation is there that has Elohim so near to them as YHWH our Elohim is whenever we call on him? 8 What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Torah which I set before you today? 9 Only guard yourself, and guard your soul diligently, lest you forget the words which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your sons’ sons— 10 the day that you stood before YHWH your Elohim in Horeb, when YHWH said to me, “Assemble the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the land, and that they may teach their sons.” 11 You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the heavens, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. 12 YHWH spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten words. He wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 YHWH commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land where you go over [the Jordan]^(DSS) to possess it. 15 Diligently guard yourselves, for you saw no kind of form on the day that YHWH spoke to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire, 16 lest you corrupt, and make yourself a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the land, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, 18 the likeness of anything that [crawls ]^(LXX) on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the land; 19 and lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of the heavens, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which YHWH your Elohim has allotted to all the peoples under all the heavens. 20 But [Elohim]^(LXX) 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 cut 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, he is El Qanna. 25 When you father sons and sons’ sons, and you have been long in the land, and then corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in YHWH your Elohim’s sight to provoke him to anger, 26 I call the heavens and the land to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land which you go over the Jordan to possess it. You will not prolong your days on it, but will utterly be destroyed. 27 YHWH will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where YHWH will lead you away. 28 There you will serve [other]^(LXX) elohim, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek YHWH your Elohim, and you will find him when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in oppression, and all these words have come on you, in the latter days you will return to YHWH your Elohim and listen to his voice. 31 For YHWH your Elohim is a merciful Elohim. He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them. 32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that Elohim created man on the land, and from the one end of the heavens to the other, whether there has been anything as great as this thing is, or has been heard like it? 33 Did a people ever hear the voice of [the living]^(LXX) Elohim speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live? 34 Or has Elohim tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that YHWH your Elohim did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 It was shown to you so that you might know that YHWH is Elohim. There is no one else besides him. 36 Out of the heavens he made you to hear his voice, that he might [correct]^(LXX)(MTT) you. On the land he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the middle of the fire. 37 Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose [their]^(LXX)(SP) seed after them, and brought you out with his face, with his great power, out of Egypt; 38 to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. 39 Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that YHWH himself is Elohim in the heavens above and on the land beneath. There is no one else. 40 You will guard his statutes and his commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your sons after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which YHWH your Elohim gives you for all time. 41 Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, 42 that the murderer might flee there, who kills his neighbor without knowledge and didn’t hate him in time past, and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live: 43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the ones of Reuben; and Ramoth in Gilead for the ones of Gad; and Golan in Bashan for the ones of Manasseh. 44 This is the Torah which Moses set before the sons of Israel. 45 These are the witnesses, 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, to Mount Zion, also called Hermon, 49 and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

Prophets Portion (P)

Jeremiah 20:4-11

20:4 For YHWH says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’ ” 7 YHWH, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me. 8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, “Violence and destruction!” because the word of YHWH has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day. 9 If I say that I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t. 10 For I have heard the defaming of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.” 11 But YHWH is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.

Apostolic Portion (A)

Romans 11:1-36

11:1 I ask then, did Elohim reject his people? (cf. Psalms 94:14) May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 Elohim didn’t reject his people, whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with Elohim against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have broken down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life.” (cf. 1 Kings 19:10, 14) 4 But how does Elohim answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” (cf. 1 Kings 19:18) 5 Even so too at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7 What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. 8 According as it is written, “Elohim gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” (cf. Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 29:10) 9 David says, “Let their table be made a snare, a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Always guard their backs bent.” (cf. Psalms 69:22-23) 11 I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Nations, to provoke them to zeal. 12 Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Nations, how much more their fullness! 13 For I speak to you who are Nations. Since then as I am an emissary to Nations, I glorify my service, 14 if by any means I may provoke to zeal those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. 15 For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? 16 If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the [rich root]^(mss) of the olive tree, 18 don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” 20 True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; 21 for if Elohim didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 See then the goodness and severity of Elohim. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for Elohim is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Nations has come in, 26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 27 This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.” (cf. Isaiah 59:20-21; 27:9; Jeremiah 31:33-34) 28 Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. 29 For the gifts and the calling of Elohim are irrevocable. 30 For as you in time past were disobedient to Elohim, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may [now]^(mss) also obtain mercy. 32 For Elohim has bound all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. 33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of Elohim! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (cf. Isaiah 40:13) 35 “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?” (cf. Job 41:11) 36 For of him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

Additional Portion (ADD)

2 Esdras, consisting of chapters 3-14, (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is the name of a book in many English versions of the Bible. Its authorship is ascribed to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the 5th century B.C., although modern scholarship places its composition between 70 and 218 A.D.. It is reckoned among the apocrypha by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and most Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Ethiopian Church considers 4 Ezra to be canonical, written during the Babylonian captivity, and calls it “Izra Sutuel” (ዕዝራ ሱቱኤል). It was also often cited by the Fathers of the Church. In the Eastern Armenian tradition it is called 3 Ezra.

2 Esdras 1:1-40

1:1 The second book of the prophet Esdras, the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 2 son of Ahijah, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraimoth, son of Arna, son of Uzzi, son of Borith, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, 3 son of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, who was a captive in the country of the Medes in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians. 4 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 Go your way, and show my people their sinful deeds, and their children their wickedness which they have done against me; that they may tell their children’s children: 6 because the sins of their fathers are increased in them: for they have forgotten me, and have done slaughter to strange elohim. 7 Did I not bring them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage? but they have provoked me to wrath, and have despised my counsels. 8 Shake you then the hair of your head, and cast all evils upon them, for they have not been obedient to my law, but it is a rebellious people. 9 How long will I forbear them, to whom I have done so much good? 10 I have overthrown many kings for their sakes; I have struck down Pharoah with his servants and all his army. 11 I have destroyed all the nations before them, and in the east I have scattered the people of two provinces, even of Tyre and Sidon, and have slain all their adversaries. 12 Speak therefore to them, saying, 13 The Lord says, of a truth I brought you through the sea, and where there was no path I made for you highways; I gave you Moses for a leader, and Aaron for a priest. 14 I gave you light in a pillar of fire, and great wonders have I done among you; yet have you forgotten me, says the Lord. 15 The Lord Almighty says, The quails were for a sign to you; I gave you a camp for your protection, nevertheless you murmured there: 16 and you triumphed not in my name for the destruction of your enemies, but ever to this day do you yet murmur. 17 Where are the benefits that I have done for you? when you were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness, did you not cry to me, 18 saying, Why have you brought us into this wilderness to kill us? it had been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than to die in this wilderness. 19 I had pity upon your mourning, and gave you manna for food; you did eat angels’ bread. 20 When you were thirsty, did I not cleave the rock, and waters flowed out to your fill? for the heat I covered you with the leaves of the trees. 21 I divided among you fruitful lands; I cast out the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Philistines, before you: what will I yet do more for you? says the Lord. 22 The Lord Almighty says, When you were in the wilderness, at the bitter river, being thirsty, and blaspheming my name, 23 I gave you not fire for your blasphemies, but cast a tree in the water, and made the river sweet. 24 What will I do to you, O Jacob? you, Judah, would not obey me: I will turn me to other nations, and I will give my name to them, that they may guard my statutes. 25 Seeing you have forsaken me, I also will forsake you; when you ask me to be merciful to you, I will have no mercy upon you. 26 Whenever you will call upon me, I will not hear you: for you have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit manslaughter. 27 You have not as it were forsaken me, but your own selves, says the Lord. 28 The Lord Almighty says, Have I not prayed you as a father his sons, as a mother her daughters, and a nurse her young babes, 29 that you would be my people, and I should be your Elohim; that you would be my children, and I should be your father? 30 I gathered you together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings: but now, what will I do to you? I will cast you out from my face. 31 When you offer oblations to me, I will turn my face from you: for your solemn feast days, your new moons, and your circumcisions of the flesh, have I rejected. 32 I sent to you my servants the prophets, whom you have taken and slain, and torn their bodies in pieces, whose blood I will require of your hands, says the Lord. 33 The Lord Almighty says, Your house is desolate, I will cast you out as the wind does stubble. 34 And your children will not be fruitful; for they have neglected my commandment together with you, and done that which is evil before me. 35 I will give your houses to a people that will come; which not having heard of me yet believe me; they to whom I have showed no signs will do that which I have commanded. 36 They have seen no prophets, yet they will call their former estate to remembrance. 37 I take to witness the grace of the people that will come, whose little ones rejoice with gladness: and though they see me not with bodily eyes, yet in spirit they will believe the thing that I say. 38 And now, O father, behold with glory; and see the people that come from the east: 39 to whom I will give for leaders, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Hosea and Amos and Micah and Joel and Obadiah and Jonah 40 and Nahum and Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, who is called also the angel of the Lord.

Related Scriptures

Leviticus 19:35-37; Leviticus 20:7-8; Leviticus 22:31-33 (T)

Leviticus 19:35 You will do no injustice in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity. 36 You will have righteous balances, righteous stones, a righteous ephah, and a righteous hin. I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 You will guard all my statutes and all my judgments, and do them. I am YHWH.’ ”

Leviticus 20:7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am YHWH your Elohim. 8 You will guard my statutes, and do them. I am YHWH who sanctifies you.

Leviticus 22:31 You will guard my commandments, and do them. 32 Do not profane my holy name, but I will be holy among the sons of Israel. I am YHWH who makes you holy, 33 who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your Elohim. I am YHWH.

Psalms 105:42-45 (T)

105:42 For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant. 43 He brought his people out with joy, his chosen with singing. 44 He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession, 45 that they might guard his statutes, and observe his laws. Halleluyah!

Deuteronomy 12:28-32; Proverbs 30:1-6; Revelation 22:16-21 (T)

Deuteronomy 12:28 Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and with your sons after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in YHWH your Elohim’s eyes. 29 When YHWH your Elohim cuts off the nations from before you where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you not inquire after their elohim, saying, “How do these nations serve their elohim? I will do likewise.” 31 You will not do so to YHWH your Elohim; for every abomination to YHWH, which he hates, they have done to their elohim; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their elohim. 32 Whatever thing I command you, that you will observe to do. You will not add to it, nor take away from it.

Proverbs 30:1 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the revelation: the man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: 2 “Surely I am the most ignorant man, and don’t have a man’s understanding. 3 I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One. 4 Who has ascended up into the heavens, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the land? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know? 5 “Every word of Elohim is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Don’t you add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

Revelation 22:16 I, Yeshua, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the seed of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, Elohim will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. 19 If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, Elohim will take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. 20 He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Yes, come, Lord Yeshua! 21 The grace of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with all the holy ones. Amen.

Numbers 25:1-9; Joshua 22:11-18 (T)

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

Joshua 22:11 The sons of Israel heard this, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the sons of Israel.” 12 When the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. 13 The sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest. 14 With him were ten lifted up ones, one prince of a fathers’ house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were each head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel. 15 They came to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 16 “The whole congregation of YHWH says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the Elohim of Israel, to turn away today from following YHWH, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against YHWH? 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of YHWH, 18 that you must turn away today from following YHWH? It will be, since you rebel today against YHWH, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

Psalms 149:1-9 (T)

149:1 Halleluyah! Sing to YHWH a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. 2 Let Israel rejoice in him who made them. Let the sons of Zion be joyful in their King. 3 Let them praise his name in the dance! Let them sing praises to him with tambourine and harp! 4 For YHWH takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation. 5 Let the saints rejoice in honor. Let them sing for joy on their beds. 6 May the high praises of Elohim be in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hand, 7 to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; 8 to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 to execute on them the written judgment. All his saints have this honor. Halleluyah!

Deuteronomy 26:16-19 (T)

26:16 Today YHWH your Elohim commands you to do these statutes and judgments. You will therefore guard and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared today that YHWH is your Elohim, and that you would walk in his ways, guard his statutes, his commandments, and his judgments, and listen to his voice. 18 YHWH has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should guard all his commandments. 19 He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to YHWH your Elohim, as he has spoken.

Exodus 33:1-17 (T)

33:1 YHWH spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed.’ 2 I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.” 4 When the people heard this evil news, they mourned; and no one put on his jewelry. 5 YHWH had said to Moses, “Tell the sons of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up among you for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry from you, that I may know what to do to you.’ ” 6 The sons of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward. 7 Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it “The Appointed Tent.” Everyone who sought YHWH went out to the Appointed Tent, which was outside the camp. 8 When Moses went out to the Tent, all the people rose up, and stood, everyone at their tent door, and watched Moses, until he had gone into the Tent. 9 When Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and YHWH spoke with Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and did bow down, everyone at their tent door. 11 YHWH spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent. 12 Moses said to YHWH, “Behold, you tell me, ‘Bring up this people;’ and you haven’t let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your way, now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight; and consider that this nation is your people.” 14 He said, “My face will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Moses said to him, “If your face doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here. 16 For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the land?” 17 YHWH said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

2 Samuel 7:1-24; 1 Chronicles 17:1-22 (T)

2 Samuel 7:1 When the king lived in his house, and YHWH had given him rest from all his enemies all around, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but Elohim’s ark dwells within curtains.” 3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for YHWH is with you.” 4 That same night, the word of YHWH came to Nathan, saying, 5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘YHWH says, “Should you build me a house for me to dwell in? 6 For I have not lived in a house since the day that I brought the sons of Israel up out of Egypt, even to this day, but have moved around in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7 In all places in which I have walked with all the sons of Israel, did I say a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ ” ‘ 8 Now therefore tell my servant David this: ‘YHWH of Armies says, “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people, over Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in the land. 10 I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be moved no more. The sons of wickedness will not afflict them any more, as at the first, 11 and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover YHWH tells you that YHWH will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his reign. 13 He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his reign forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of men; 15 but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. 16 Your house and your reign will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.” ‘ ” 17 Nathan spoke to David all these words, and according to all this vision. 18 Then David the king went in and sat before YHWH; and he said, “Who am I, Lord YHWH, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far? 19 This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Lord YHWH, but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come; and this among men, Lord YHWH! 20 What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Lord YHWH. 21 For your word’s sake, and according to your own heart, you have worked all this greatness, to make your servant know it. 22 Therefore you are great, YHWH Elohim. For there is no one like you, neither is there any Elohim besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 What one nation in the land is like your people, even like Israel, whom Elohim went to redeem to himself for a people, and to make himself a name, and to do great things for you, and awesome things for your land, before your people, whom you redeemed to yourself out of Egypt, from the nations and their elohim? 24 You established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever; and you, YHWH, became their Elohim.

1 Chronicles 17:1 When David was living in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I live in a cedar house, but the ark of the covenant of YHWH is in a tent.” 2 Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart; for Elohim is with you.” 3 That same night, the word of Elohim came to Nathan, saying, 4 “Go and tell David my servant, ‘YHWH says, “You will not build me a house to dwell in; 5 for I have not lived in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tent to another. 6 In all places in which I have walked with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ ” ‘ 7 “Now therefore, you will tell my servant David, ‘YHWH of Armies says, “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel. 8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the land. 9 I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more. The sons of wickedness will not waste them any more, as at the first, 10 and from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover I tell you that YHWH will build you a house. 11 It will happen, when your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his reign. 12 He will build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will not take my loving kindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you; 14 but I will settle him in my house and in my reign forever. His throne will be established forever.” ‘ ” 15 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. 16 Then David the king went in and sat before YHWH; and he said, “Who am I, YHWH Elohim, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far? 17 This was a small thing in your eyes, O Elohim, but you have spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have respected me according to the standard of a man of high degree, YHWH Elohim. 18 What can David say yet more to you concerning the honor which is done to your servant? For you know your servant. 19 YHWH, for your servant’s sake, and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness, to make known all these great things. 20 YHWH, there is no one like you, neither is there any Elohim besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 21 What one nation in the land is like your people Israel, whom Elohim went to redeem to himself for a people, to make you a name by great and awesome things, in driving out nations from before your people whom you redeemed out of Egypt? 22 For you made your people Israel your own people forever; and you, YHWH, became their Elohim.

Deuteronomy 6:4-15; Deuteronomy 11:7-25 (T)

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, Israel: YHWH is our Elohim. YHWH is one. 5 You will love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 These words, which I command you today, will be on your heart; 7 and you will teach them diligently to your sons, and will talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You will bind them for a sign on your hand, and they will be for frontlets between your eyes. 9 You will write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates. 10 It will be, when YHWH your Elohim brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities which you didn’t build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees which you didn’t plant, and you will eat and be full; 12 then beware lest you forget YHWH, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 13 You will fear YHWH your Elohim; and you will serve him, and will swear by his name. 14 You will not go after other elohim, of the elohim of the peoples who are around you, 15 for YHWH your Elohim among you is a zealous Elohim, lest the anger of YHWH your Elohim be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the land.

Deuteronomy 11:7 but your eyes have seen all of YHWH’s great work which he did. 8 Therefore you will guard the entire commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land that you go over to possess; 9 and that you may prolong your days in the land which YHWH swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land, where you go in to possess isn’t like the land of Egypt that you came out of, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs; 11 but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the heavens, 12 a land which YHWH your Elohim cares for. YHWH your Elohim’s eyes are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. 13 It will happen, if you will listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love YHWH your Elohim, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 that I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be full.

Psalms 78:1-8 (T)

78:1 Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, 3 which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their sons, telling to the generation to come the praises of YHWH, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done. 5 For he established a covenant in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their sons; 6 that the generation to come might know, even the sons who should be born; who should arise and tell their sons, 7 that they might set their hope in Elohim, and not forget Elohim’s deeds, but guard his commandments, 8 and might not be as their fathers— a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with Elohim.

Exodus 19:17-20 (T)

19:17 Moses led the people out of the camp to meet Elohim; and they stood at the lower part of the mountain. 18 All of Mount Sinai smoked, because YHWH descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 When the voice of the shofar grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and [the elohim] answered him by a voice. 20 YHWH came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. YHWH called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

1 Kings 8:10-12 (T)

8:10 It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled YHWH’s house, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of YHWH filled YHWH’s house.

Judges 13:22 Manoah said to his woman, “We will surely die, because we have seen Elohim.”

John 5:37 The Father himself, who sent me, has witnessed about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.

1 Timothy 6:16 He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

1 John 4:12 No one has seen Elohim at any time. If we love one another, Elohim remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.

Exodus 34:27-35 (T)

34:27 YHWH said to Moses, “Write these words; for in accordance with these words I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 He was there with YHWH forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, ten of the words. 29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face [was horned] by reason of his speaking with him. 30 When Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face [was horned]; and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that YHWH had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before YHWH to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the sons of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 The sons of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face [was horned]; so Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Genesis 1:14-19 (T)

1:14 Elohim said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for appointed times, and for days, and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the land;” and it was so. 16 Elohim made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17 Elohim set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light to the land, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. Elohim saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

Job 31:1-35 (T)

31:1 “I cut a covenant with my eyes; how then should I think upon young woman? 2 For what is the portion from Elohim above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity? 4 Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps? 5 “If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit 6 (let me be weighed in an even balance, that Elohim may know my integrity); 7 if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands, 8 then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out. 9 “If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door, 10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her. 11 For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, 12 for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase. 13 “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my maid, when they contended with me, 14 what then will I do when Elohim rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him? 15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb? 16 “If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 17 or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it 18 (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb); 19 if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; 20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece; 21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate; 22 then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone. 23 For calamity from Elohim is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing. 24 “If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’ 25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; 26 if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor, 27 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth; 28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the Elohim who is above. 29 “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him 30 (I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse); 31 if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’ 32 (the foreigner has not camped in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler); 33 if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart, 34 because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door— 35 oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!

Exodus 19:1-6; Deuteronomy 7:1-6; 1 Kings 8:44-53; Jeremiah 11:1-5 (T)

Exodus 19:1 In the third new moon after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 When they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. 3 Moses went up to Elohim, and YHWH called to him out of the mountain, saying, “This is what you will tell the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and guard my covenant, then you will be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the land is mine; 6 and you will be to me a reign of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you will speak to the sons of Israel.”

Deuteronomy 7:1 When YHWH your Elohim brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—seven nations greater and mightier than you; 2 and when YHWH your Elohim delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you will utterly destroy them. You will make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. 3 You will not make marriages with them. You will not give your daughter to his son, nor will you take his daughter for your son. 4 For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other elohim. So the anger of YHWH would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 5 But you will deal with them like this: you will break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people to YHWH your Elohim. YHWH your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the land.

1 Kings 8:44 “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you will send them, and they pray to YHWH toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name, 45 then hear in the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 46 If they sin against you, for there is no man who doesn’t sin, and you are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47 yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly,’ 48 if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen and the house which I have built for your name, 49 then hear their prayer and their supplication in the heavens, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause; 50 and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them, 51 for they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron furnace; 52 that your eyes may be open to the supplication of your servant and to the supplication of your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they cry to you. 53 For you separated them from among all the peoples of the land to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord YHWH.”

Jeremiah 11:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying, 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, YHWH, the Elohim of Israel says: ‘Cursed is the man who doesn’t hear the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace,’ saying, ‘Obey my voice and do them, according to all which I command you; so you will be my people, and I will be your Elohim; 5 that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is today.” Then I answered, and said, “Amen, YHWH.”

Deuteronomy 1:34-37; Deuteronomy 3:23-28; Deuteronomy 31:1-3; Deuteronomy 34:1-4 (T)

Deuteronomy 1:34 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.

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 [on](DSS) the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes; for do 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.”

Deuteronomy 31:1 Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. YHWH has said to me, ‘Do not go over this Jordan.’ 3 YHWH your Elohim himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as YHWH has spoken.

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 do not go over there.”

Exodus 20:3-6; Exodus 34:10-17; Deuteronomy 5:7-10 (T)

Exodus 20:3 Other elohim will not exist for you before my face. 4 You will not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the land beneath, or that is in the water under the land: 5 you will not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, YHWH your Elohim, am a zealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and guard my commandments.

Exodus 34:10 He said, “Behold, I cut a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the land, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are will see the work of YHWH; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you. 11 Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Be careful, lest you cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you; 13 but you will break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you will cut down their Asherah poles; 14 for you will worship no other god; for YHWH, whose name is Zealous, is a zealous Elohim. 15 “Don’t cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they whore after their elohim, and slaughter to their elohim, and one call you and you eat of his slaughter; 16 and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters whore after their elohim, and make your sons whore after their elohim. 17 “You will make no cast idols for yourselves.

Deuteronomy 5:7 Other elohim will not exist for you before my face. 8 “You will not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the land beneath, or that is in the water under the land. 9 You will not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, YHWH your Elohim, am a zealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me 10 and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and guard my commandments.

Deuteronomy 9:1-3; Hebrews 12:28-29 (T)

Deuteronomy 9:1 Hear, Israel! You are to pass over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the heavens, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, “Who can stand before the sons of Anak?” 3 Know therefore today that YHWH your Elohim is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them and he will bring them down before you. So you will drive them out and make them perish quickly, as YHWH has spoken to you.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, receiving a Reign that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve Elohim acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our Elohim is a consuming fire. (cf. Deuteronomy 4:24)

Jeremiah 29:1-7 (T, H)

29:1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2 after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem, 3 by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don’t be diminished. 7 Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to YHWH for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”

Nehemiah 1:1-10 (T)

1:1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now in the new moon Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the palace, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned several days; and I fasted and prayed before the Elohim of the heavens, 5 and said, “I beg you, YHWH, the Elohim of the heavens, the great and awesome Elohim who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and guard his commandments, 6 let your ear now be attentive and your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer of your servant which I pray before you at this time, day and night, for the sons of Israel your servants, while I confess the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have dealt very corruptly against you, and have not guarded the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which you commanded your servant Moses. 8 “Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples; 9 but if you return to me, and guard my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.’ 10 “Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 11 Lord, I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name; and please prosper your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (T)

30:15 Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil. 16 For I command you today to love YHWH your Elohim, to walk in his ways and to guard his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that YHWH your Elohim may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other elohim, and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. 19 I call the heavens and land to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 to love YHWH your Elohim, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which YHWH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Deuteronomy 28:58-68 (T)

28:58 If you will not observe to do all the words of this Torah that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YHWH your Elohim, 59 then YHWH will make your plagues and the plagues of your seed fearful, even great plagues, and of long duration, and severe sicknesses, and of long duration. 60 He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they will cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this Torah, YHWH will bring them on you until you are destroyed. 62 You will be left few in number, even though you were as the stars of the heavens for multitude, because you didn’t listen to YHWH your Elohim’s voice. 63 It will happen that as YHWH rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so YHWH will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess. 64 YHWH will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the land to the other end of the land. There you will serve other elohim which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. 65 Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but YHWH will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul. 66 Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be afraid night and day, and will have no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, “I wish it were evening!” and at evening you will say, “I wish it were morning!” for the fear of your heart which you will fear, and for the sights which your eyes will see. 68 YHWH will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will offer yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.

Jeremiah 16:1-21 (T)

16:1 Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying, 2 “You will not take a woman, neither will you have sons or daughters, in this place.” 3 For YHWH says concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land: 4 “They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the heavens and for the animals of the land.” 5 For YHWH says, “Don’t enter into the house of mourning. Don’t go to lament. Don’t bemoan them, for I have taken away my peace from this people,” says YHWH, “even loving kindness and tender mercies. 6 Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. Men won’t lament for them, cut themselves, or make themselves bald for them. 7 Men won’t break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead. Men won’t give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8 “You will not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.” 9 For YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel says: “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. 10 It will happen, when you tell this people all these words, and they ask you, ‘Why has YHWH pronounced all this great evil against us?’ or ‘What is our iniquity?’ or ‘What is our sin that we have committed against YHWH our Elohim?’ 11 then you will tell them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me,’ says YHWH, ‘and have walked after other elohim, have served them, have worshiped them, have forsaken me, and have not guarded my Torah. 12 You have done evil more than your fathers, for behold, you each walk after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to me. 13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers. There you will serve other elohim day and night, for I will show you no favor.’ 14 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that it will no more be said, ‘As YHWH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’ 15 but, ‘As YHWH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them.’ I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers. 16 “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says YHWH, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes. 18 First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.” 19 YHWH, my strength, my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the land, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit. 20 Should a man make to himself elohim which yet are no elohim?” 21 “Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might. Then they will know that my name is YHWH.”

John 7:1-36 (T)

7:1 After these things, Yeshua was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Judeans sought to kill him. 2 Now the Jewish festival, the Festival of Booths, was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. 4 For no one does anything in secret while he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world.” 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him. 6 Yeshua therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.” 9 Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. 10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. 11 The Judeans therefore sought him at the feast, and said, “Where is he?” 12 There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “Not so, but he leads the multitude astray.” 13 Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Judeans. 14 But when it was now the middle of the feast, Yeshua went up into the temple and taught. 15 The Judeans therefore marveled, saying, “How does this man know letters, having never been educated?” 16 Yeshua therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from Elohim or if I am speaking from myself. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Didn’t Moses give you the Torah, and yet none of you keeps the Torah? Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?” 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.” 25 Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? 26 Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Messiah? 27 However, we know where this man comes from, but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 Yeshua therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” 30 They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, he won’t do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?” 32 The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Then Yeshua said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and won’t find me. You can’t come where I am.” 35 The Judeans therefore said among themselves, “Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Diaspora among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me, and won’t find me;’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?”

Ya’aqov (James) 1:1 (T)

1:1 Jacob, a servant of Elohim and of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, to the twelve tribes which are in the Diaspora: Greetings.

1 Peter 1:1-25 (T)

1:1 Peter, an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of Elohim the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Yeshua the Messiah and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. 3 Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah from the dead, 4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, 5 who by the power of Elohim are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, 7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah— 8 whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, 9 receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Messiah which was in them pointed to when he predicted the sufferings of Messiah and the glories that would follow them. 12 To them it was revealed that they served not themselves, but you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from the heavens; which things angels desire to look into. 13 Therefore put on the belt of the waist of your mind. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah— 14 as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former coveting as in your ignorance, 15 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior, 16 because it is written, “You will be holy, for I am holy.” (cf. Leviticus 11:44-45) 17 If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, 18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Messiah, 20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, 21 who through him are believers in Elohim, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in Elohim. 22 Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of Elohim, which lives and remains forever. 24 For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls; 25 but the Lord’s word endures forever.” (cf. Isaiah 40:6-8) This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.

2 Chronicles 15:1-17 (T)

15:1 The Spirit of Elohim came on Azariah the son of Oded. 2 He went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! YHWH is with you while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 Now for a long time Israel was without the true Elohim, without a teaching priest, and without Torah. 4 But when in their distress they turned to YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in; but great troubles were on all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for Elohim troubled them with all adversity. 7 But you be strong! Don’t let your hands be slack, for your work will be rewarded.” 8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of YHWH that was before YHWH’s porch. 9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Shimon; for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that YHWH his Elohim was with him. 10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third new moon, in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 11 They slaughtered to YHWH in that day, of the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep. 12 They entered into the covenant to seek YHWH, the Elohim of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 and that whoever would not seek YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14 They swore to YHWH with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. 15 All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found by them. Then YHWH gave them rest all around. 16 Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; so Asa cut down her image, ground it into dust, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

Leviticus 26:1-46 (T)

26:1 You will make for yourselves no worthless ones, and do not raise up a carved image or a pillar, and do not place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am YHWH your Elohim. 2 You will guard my Sabbaths, and fear for my sanctuary. I am YHWH. “If you walk in my statutes and guard my commandments, and do them, 4 then I will give [rains in your land]^(DSS) in their time, and the land will yield her increase, and the [fruit]^(DSS) trees of the field will yield his fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until the vintage, and the vintage will continue until the sowing time. You will eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you will lie down, and no one will make you afraid. I will remove evil [living ones] out of the land, neither will the sword go through your land. 7 You will chase your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand; and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9 I will turn my face to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you. 10 You will eat the stores that are being stored, and you will make the storage go out from the face of the new ones. 11 I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. 12 I will walk among you, and will be your Elohim, and you will be my people. 13 I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their servants. I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you walk upright. 14 But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these [my]^(DSS) commandments, 15 and if you will reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my judgments, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, consumption and fever, consuming eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when no one pursues you. 18 If you in spite of these things will not listen to me, then [I will add seven times upon your failures to correct you].^(MTT) 19 I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron, and your soil like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield her increase, neither will the trees of the land yield his fruit. 21 If you walk contrary to me, and won’t listen to me, then I will bring seven times more hittings on you according to your sins. 22 I will cause to send the [living ones of the field] among you, she will bereave you, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. Your roads will become desolate. 23 If by these things you won’t be turned back to me, but will walk contrary to me, 24 then I will walk contrary to you [in hostile wrath];^(DSS) and I will strike you, even I, seven times for your sins. 25 I will bring a sword upon you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. You will be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you. You will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will deliver your bread again by weight. You will eat, and not be satisfied. 27 If you in spite of this won’t listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you in wrath. I will also correct you seven times for your sins. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you. 31 I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation. I will not smell the sweet odors of your offerings. 32 I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell in her will be astonished at her. 33 I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities will be a waste. 34 Then the land will enjoy her Sabbaths as long as she lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land. Even then the land will rest and enjoy her Sabbaths. 35 As long as she lies desolate she will have rest, even the rest which she didn’t have in your Sabbaths when you lived on her. 36 As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they will flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues. 37 They will stumble over one another, as it were before the sword, when no one pursues. You will have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 You will perish among the nations. The land of your enemies will eat you up. 39 Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they will pine away with them. 40 If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their transgression which they transgressed against me; and also that because they walked contrary to me, 41 I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is lowered, and they then accept their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land. 43 The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy her Sabbaths while she lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity because they rejected my judgments, and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them; for I am YHWH their Elohim. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their Elohim. I am YHWH.” 46 These are the statutes, judgments, and the Torot, which YHWH made between him and the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.

Job 8:1-9 (T)

8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, 2 “How long will you speak these things? Will the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? 3 Does Elohim pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? 4 If your sons have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience. 5 If you want to seek Elohim diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty. 6 If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous. 7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase. 8 “Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers. 9 For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on land are a shadow.

Deuteronomy 5:22-29 (T)

5:22 YHWH spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me. 23 When you heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 24 and you said, “Behold, YHWH our Elohim has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that Elohim does speak with man, and he lives. 25 Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear YHWH our Elohim’s voice any more, then we will die. 26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living Elohim speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near, and hear all that YHWH our Elohim will say, and tell us all that YHWH our Elohim tells you; and we will hear it, and do it.” 28 YHWH heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me; and YHWH said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and guard all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their sons forever!

Deuteronomy 7:14-19 (T)

7:14 You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. 15 YHWH will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. 16 You will consume all the peoples whom YHWH your Elohim will deliver to you. Your eye will not pity them. You will not serve their elohim; for that would be a snare to you. 17 If you will say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?” 18 you will not be afraid of them. You will remember well what YHWH your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which YHWH your Elohim brought you out. So will YHWH your Elohim do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

Deuteronomy 29:1-15 (T)

29:1 These are the words of the covenant which YHWH commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he cut with them in Horeb. 2 Moses called to all Israel, and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that YHWH did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; 3 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But YHWH has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old on you, and your sandals have not grown old on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am YHWH your Elohim. 7 When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we struck them. 8 We took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the ones of Reuben, and to the ones of Gad, and to the half-tribe of the ones of Manasseh. 9 Therefore guard the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. 10 All of you stand today in the face of YHWH your Elohim: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners who are in the middle of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 that you may enter into the covenant of YHWH your Elohim, and into his oath, which YHWH your Elohim makes with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your Elohim, as he spoke to you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 Neither do I make this covenant and this oath with you only, 15 but with those who stand here with us today before YHWH our Elohim, and also with those who are not here with us today

Deuteronomy 32:36-41 (T)

32:36 For YHWH will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large. 37 He will say, “Where are their elohim, the rock in which they took refuge, 38 which ate the fat of their slaughters, and drank the wine of their libation offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection. 39 “See now that I myself am he. There is no elohim with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to the heavens and declare, as I live forever, 41 if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.

1 Kings 8:54-61 (T)

8:54 It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to YHWH, he arose from before the altar of YHWH, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward the heavens. 55 He stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 “Blessed be YHWH, who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant. 57 May YHWH our Elohim be with us as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us or forsake us, 58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to guard his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. 59 Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before YHWH, be near to YHWH our Elohim day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as every day requires; 60 that all the peoples of the land may know that YHWH himself is Elohim. There is no one else. 61 “Let your heart therefore be perfect with YHWH our Elohim, to walk in his statutes, and to guard his commandments, as it is today.”

2 Chronicles 6:12-42 (T)

6:12 He stood before the altar of YHWH in the face of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands 13 (for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward the heavens). 14 Then he said, “YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, there is no Elohim like you in the heavens or on land—you who guard covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart; 15 who have guarded with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today. 16 “Now therefore, YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, guard with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There will not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk in my Torah as you have walked before me.’ 17 Now therefore, YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David. 18 “But will Elohim indeed dwell with men on the land? Behold, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built! 19 Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, YHWH my Elohim, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you; 20 that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place where you have said that you would put your name, to listen to the prayer which your servant will pray toward this place. 21 Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from the heavens; and when you hear, forgive. 22 “If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house, 23 then hear from the heavens, act, and judge your servants, bringing retribution to the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. 24 “If your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house, 25 then hear from the heavens, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers. 26 “When the heavens is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and confess your name, and turn from their sin when you afflict them, 27 then hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. 28 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is— 29 whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who will each know his own plague and his own sorrow, and will spread out his hands toward this house, 30 then hear from the heavens your dwelling place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know, for you, even you only, know the hearts of the sons of men, 31 that they may fear you, to walk in your ways as long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers. 32 “Moreover, concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your great name’s sake and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house, 33 then hear from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the land may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name. 34 “If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name; 35 then hear from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 36 “If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near; 37 yet if they come to their senses in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;’ 38 if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name; 39 then hear from the heavens, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 “Now, my Elohim, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 41 “Now therefore arise, YHWH Elohim, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, YHWH Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness. 42 “YHWH Elohim, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.”

Isaiah 44:1-28 (T)

44:1 Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. 2 This is what YHWH who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your seed; 4 and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. 5 One will say, ‘I am YHWH’s.’ Another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand ‘to YHWH,’ and honor the name of Israel.” 6 This is what YHWH, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, YHWH of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no Elohim. 7 Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen. 8 Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there an Elohim besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.” 9 Everyone who makes a carved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed. 10 Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together. 12 The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house. 14 He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he burns it and bakes bread. Yes, he makes an elohim and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. 16 He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.” 17 The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” 18 They don’t know, neither do they consider, for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see, and their hearts, that they can’t understand. 19 No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Will I make the rest of it into an abomination? Will I bow down to a tree trunk?” 20 He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?” 21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. 23 Sing, you the heavens, for YHWH has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the land! Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees, for YHWH has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel. 24 YHWH, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am YHWH, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the land by myself; 25 who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish; 26 who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’ and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’ 27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers,’ 28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and will perform all my pleasure,’ even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’ ”

Isaiah 45:1-25 (T)

45:1 YHWH says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their armor, to open the doors before him, and the gates will not be shut: 2 “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, YHWH, who calls you by your name, even the Elohim of Israel. 4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me. 5 I am YHWH, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no Elohim. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me, 6 that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am YHWH, and there is no one else. 7 I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am YHWH, who does all these things. 8 Rain, you the heavens, from above, and let the heavens pour down righteousness. Let the land open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, YHWH, have created it. 9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the land! Will the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’ 10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you given birth to?’ ” 11 YHWH, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker says: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands! 12 I have made the land, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army. 13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He will build my city, and he will let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says YHWH of Armies. 14 YHWH says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They will come over in chains. They will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely Elohim is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god. 15 Most certainly you are an Elohim who has hidden yourself, Elohim of Israel, the Savior.’ ” 16 They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together. 17 Israel will be saved by YHWH with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting. 18 For YHWH who created the heavens, the Elohim who formed the land and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am YHWH. There is no other. 19 I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, YHWH, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. 20 “Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to an elohim that can’t save. 21 Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, YHWH? There is no other Elohim besides me, a just Elohim and a Savior. There is no one besides me. 22 “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the land; for I am Elohim, and there is no other. 23 I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will take an oath. 24 They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in YHWH.’ ” Even to him will men come. All those who raged against him will be disappointed. 25 All the seed of Israel will be justified in YHWH, and will rejoice!

Mark 12:26-34 (T)

12:26 But about the dead, that they are raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses about the Bush, how Elohim spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob’? (cf. Exodus 3:6) 27 He is not the Elohim of the dead, but of the living. You are therefore badly mistaken.” 28 One of the scribes came and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?” 29 Yeshua answered, “The greatest is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our Elohim, the Lord is one. 30 You will love the Lord your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4-5) This is the first commandment. 31 The second is like this: ‘You will love your neighbor as yourself.’ (cf. Leviticus 19:18) There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to him, “Truly, Rabbi, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he; 33 and to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and slaughters.” 34 When Yeshua saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the reign of Elohim.”

1 Corinthians 8:1-6 (T)

8:1 Now concerning things slaughtered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know. 3 But anyone who loves Elohim is known by him. 4 Therefore concerning the eating of things slaughtered to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other Elohim but one. 5 For though there are things that are called “elohim”, whether in the heavens or on land—as there are many “elohim” and many “lords”— 6 yet to us there is one Elohim, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom are all things, and we live through him.

Ephesians 4:1-6 (T)

4:1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 being eager to guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one immersion, 6 one Elohim and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in us all.

Exodus 13:3-14 (T)

13:3 Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand YHWH brought you out from this place. No leavened bread will be eaten. 4 Today you go out in the new moon Aviv. 5 It will be, when YHWH brings you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you will serve this service in this new moon. 6 Seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day will be a feast to YHWH. 7 Unleavened bread will be eaten throughout the seven days; and no leavened bread will be seen with you. No leaven will be seen with you, within all your borders. 8 You will tell your son in that day, saying, ‘It is because of that which YHWH did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 It will be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the Torah of YHWH may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand YHWH has brought you out of Egypt. 10 You will therefore guard this ordinance in its appointed time from year to year. 11 “It will be, when YHWH brings you into the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and will give it you, 12 that you will cross over to YHWH all that opens the womb, and every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have. The males will be YHWH’s. 13 Every firstborn of a donkey you will redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you will break its neck; and you will redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons. 14 It will be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you will tell him, ‘By strength of hand YHWH brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Joshua 2:8-11 (T)

2:8 Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof. 9 She said to the men, “I know that YHWH has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how YHWH dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for YHWH your Elohim, he is Elohim in the heavens above, and on land beneath.

Numbers 35:6-15 (T)

35:6 “The cities which you will give to the Levites, they will be the six cities of refuge, which you will give for the man-slayer to flee to. Besides them you will give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities which you will give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities together with their pasture lands. 8 Concerning the cities which you will give of the possession of the sons of Israel, from the many you will take many, and from the few you will take few. Everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits will give some of his cities to the Levites.” 9 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 then you will appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the murderer who kills any person in error may flee there. 12 The cities will be for your refuge from the redeemer, that the murderer not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 The cities which you will give will be for you six cities of refuge. 14 You will give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you will give three cities in the land of Canaan. They will be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities will be refuge for the sons of Israel, for the stranger, and for the stranger living among them, that everyone who kills any person in error may flee there.

Deuteronomy 19:1-10 (T)

19:1 When YHWH your Elohim cuts off the nations whose land YHWH your Elohim gives you, and you succeed them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2 you will set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land, which YHWH your Elohim gives you to possess. 3 You will prepare the way, and divide the borders of your land which YHWH your Elohim causes you to inherit into three parts, that every murderer may flee there. 4 This is the case of the murderer who will flee there and live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, and didn’t hate him in time past— 5 as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood and his hand swings the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and hits his neighbor so that he dies—he will flee to one of these cities and live. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the murderer while hot anger is in his heart and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally, even though he was not worthy of death, because he didn’t hate him in time past. 7 Therefore I command you to set apart three cities for yourselves. 8 If YHWH your Elohim enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers; 9 and if you guard all this commandment to do it, which I command you today, to love YHWH your Elohim, and to walk ever in his ways, then you will add three cities more for yourselves, in addition to these three. 10 This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land which YHWH your Elohim gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you.

Joshua 20:8-9 (T)

20:8 Beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel, and for the alien who lives among them, that whoever kills any person unintentionally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stands trial before the congregation.

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 1:3-4; Deuteronomy 3:1-11 (T)

Deuteronomy 1:3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh new moon, on the first day of the new moon, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that YHWH had given him in commandment to them, 4 after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.

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

Jeremiah 29:1-7 (T, H)

29:1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2 after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem, 3 by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don’t be diminished. 7 Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to YHWH for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”

Jeremiah 20:1-18 (P)

20:1 Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in YHWH’s house, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in YHWH’s house. 3 On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “YHWH has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor Missabib. 4 For YHWH says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’ ” 7 YHWH, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me. 8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, “Violence and destruction!” because the word of YHWH has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day. 9 If I say that I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t. 10 For I have heard the defaming of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.” 11 But YHWH is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten. 12 But YHWH of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you. 13 Sing to YHWH! Halleluyah, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers. 14 Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. 15 Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad. 16 Let that man be as the cities which YHWH overthrew, and didn’t repent. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime, 17 because he didn’t kill me from the womb. So my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. 18 Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Related Additional Readings​

The Book of Baruch is named after Baruch ben Neriah, Jeremiah’s well-known scribe, who is mentioned at Baruch 1:1, and has been presumed to be the author of the whole work. Although not in the Hebrew Bible, it is found in the Septuagint, in the Eritrean/Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, and the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox Churches. In some Bibles, Baruch chapter 6 is listed as a separate book called The Letter of Jeremiah, reflecting its separation from Baruch in some copies of the Greek Septuagint. Some scholars propose that it was written during or shortly after the period of the Maccabees. Although the earliest known manuscripts of Baruch are in Greek, linguistic features of the first parts of Baruch (1:1 – 3:8) have been proposed as indicating a translation from a Semitic language.

Baruch 2:1-35 (T)

2:1 Therefore the Lord has made good his word which he pronounced against us, and against our judges who judged Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Judah, 2 to bring upon us great plagues such as never happened before under all the heavens, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that are written in the Torah of Moses, 3 that we should each eat the flesh of our own son, and each eat the flesh of our own daughter. 4 Moreover he has given them to be in subjection to all the reigns that are around us, to be a reproach and a desolation among all the people around us, where the Lord has scattered them. 5 Thus they were cast down and not exalted, because we sinned against the Lord our Elohim in not listening to his voice. 6 To the Lord our Elohim belongs righteousness, but to us and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day. 7 All these plagues have come upon us which the Lord has pronounced against us. 8 Yet have we not entreated the favor of the Lord by everyone turning from the thoughts of his wicked heart. 9 Therefore the Lord has kept watch over the plagues. The Lord has brought them upon us, for the Lord is righteous in all his works which he has commanded us. 10 Yet we have not listened to his voice, to walk in the commandments of the Lord that he has set before us. 11 And now, O Lord, you Elohim of Israel who have brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, with signs, with wonders, with great power, and with a high arm, and have gotten yourself a name, as at this day: 12 O Lord our Elohim, we have sinned. We have been impious. We have done wrong in all your ordinances. 13 Let your wrath turn from us, for we are but a few left among the heathen where you have scattered us. 14 Hear our prayer, O Lord, and our petition, and deliver us for your own sake. Give us favor in the sight of those who have led us away captive, 15 that all the land may know that you are the Lord our Elohim, because Israel and his posterity is called by your name. 16 O Lord, look down from your holy house and consider us. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. 17 Open your eyes, and see; for the dead that are in Hades, whose breath is taken from their bodies, will give to the Lord neither glory nor righteousness; 18 but the soul who is greatly vexed, who goes stooping and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the hungry soul, will declare your glory and righteousness, O Lord. 19 For we do not present our supplication before you, O Lord our Elohim, for the righteousness of our fathers and of our kings. 20 For you have sent your wrath and your indignation upon us, as you have spoken by your servants the prophets, saying, 21 “The Lord says, ‘Bow your shoulders to serve the king of Babylon, and remain in the land that I gave to your fathers. 22 But if you won’t hear the voice of the Lord to serve the king of Babylon, 23 I will cause to cease out of the cities of Judah and from the region near Jerusalem the voice of mirth, the voice of gladness, voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. The whole land will be desolate without inhabitant.’ ” 24 But we wouldn’t listen to your voice, to serve the king of Babylon. Therefore you have made good your words that you spoke by your servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be taken out of their places. 25 Behold, they are cast out to the heat by day and to the frost by night. They died in great miseries by famine, by sword, and by pestilence. 26 You have made the house that is called by your name as it is today because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 27 Yet, O Lord our Elohim, you have dealt with us after all your kindness and according to all your great mercy, 28 as you spoke by your servant Moses in the day when you commanded him to write your law in the face of the sons of Israel, saying, 29 “If you won’t hear my voice, surely this very great multitude will be turned into a small number among the nations where I will scatter them. 30 For I know that they will not hear me, because they are a stiff-necked people; but in the land of their captivity they will take it to heart, 31 and will know that I am the Lord their Elohim. I will give them a heart and ears to hear. 32 Then they will praise me in the land of their captivity, and think about my name, 33 and will return from their stiff neck and from their wicked deeds; for they will remember the way of their fathers who sinned before the Lord. 34 I will bring them again into the land which I promised to their fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and they will rule over it. I will increase them, and they won’t be diminished. 35 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them to be their Elohim, and they will be my people. I will no more remove my people Israel out of the land that I have given them.”

Deuteronomy 4:1-49 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 4 And now, Israel, hear the statutes and judgments which I teach you to do, that you may live, and go in and inherit the land the Lord Elohim of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add to the words that I teach you nor diminish them, but keep the commandments of the Lord your Elohim which I command you.

Your eyes have seen what the Word of the Lord hath done to the worshippers of the idol Peor: for all the men who went astray after the idol Peor, the Lord thy Elohim hath destroyed from among you; but you who have cleaved to the worship of the Lord your Elohim are alive all of you this day. See, I teach you statutes and judgments, as the Lord Elohim hath taught me, that you may so do in the land which you are entering to possess it. So shall you observe and perform the law; for it it is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes, and will say: How wise and intelligent is this great people! For what people so great, to whom the Lord is so high in the Name of the Word of the Lord? But the custom of (other) nations is to carry their elohim upon their shoulders, that they may seem to be nigh them; but they cannot hear with their ears, (be they nigh or) be they afar off; but the Word of the Lord sitteth upon His throne high and lifted up, and heareth our prayer what time we pray before Him and make our petitions. [JERUSALEM. For what people is so great, who hath Elohim so nigh to it as the Lord our Elohim is, in every hour that we cry unto Him, and He answereth us?] And what people have statutes and right judgments according to all this law which I order before you this day? Only take heed to yourselves and diligently keep your souls, lest you forget the things which you beheld with your eyes at Sinai, and that they depart not from thy heart all the days of thy life, and you may teach them to your children, and to your childrens children; and that you may make yourselves pure in your transactions thereby, as in the day when you stood before the Lord your Elohim at Horeb, at the time when the Lord said to me: Gather the people before Me, that they may hear My words, by which they shall learn to fear before Me all the days that they remain upon the earth, and may teach their children. And you drew near, and stood at the lower part of the mount, and the mountain burned with fire, and its flame went up to the height of the heavens, with darkness, clouds, and shadows. And the Lord spake with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of the word, but you saw no like­ness, but only a voice speaking. And He proclaimed to you His covenant which He commanded you to per­form; Ten Words which He wrote upon sapphire tablets.

And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you the statutes and judgments, that you may do them in the land which you pass over to possess. Keep then your souls diligently; for you saw no likeness on the day when the Lord spake with you in Horeb from the midst of the fire. Be admonished, lest you corrupt your works, and make to you an image or likeness of any idol, the likeness either male or female of any beast of the earth, of any winged bird that flieth in the air in the expanse of heaven, of any reptile on the ground, or of any fish in the waters under the earth. [JERUSALEM. The likeness of any fishes which are in the waters under the earth.] And lest, when you lift up your eyes to the height of the heavens, and gaze at the sun, or the moon, and the principal stars of all the hosts of the heavens, you go astray, and adore and serve them; for the Lord your Elohim hath by them distributed (or divided) the knowledge of all the peoples that are under the whole heavens. For you hath the Word of the Lord taken for His portion, and hath brought you out from the iron furnace of Mizraim to be unto Him a people of inheritance as at this day. [JERUSALEM. To be a people beloved as a treasure in this day.]

But against me was displeasure before the Lord on account of your words, because you had murmured for the water; and He sware that I should not pass the Jordan, nor go into the land which the Lord your Elohim giveth you to inherit. But I must die in this land; I am not to pass over Jordan; but you will pass over and possess the inheritance of that good land. Beware, then, that you forget not the covenant of the Lord your Elohim which He hath confirmed with you, or make to you an image, the likeness of any thing of which the Lord your Elohim hath commanded that you should not make it. For the Word of the Lord your Elohim is a consuming fire; the zealous Elohim is a fire, and He avengeth Himself in jealousy. [JERUSALEM. For the Lord your Elohim is a consuming fire; the zealous Elohim is a fire, and He avengeth Himself in jealousy.]

If, when thou wilt have begotten children and children’s children, and wilt have grown old in the land, you corrupt your works, and make to you an image or any likeness, and do that which is evil before the Lord to provoke Him; I attest against you this day the sworn witnesses of the heavens and the earth, that perishing you will perish swiftly from the land to possess which you pass the Jordan: you will not lengthen out days upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the Gentiles, and you will remain as a little people with the nations among whom the Lord will disperse you in captivity. And there will you be constrained to serve the worshippers of idols, the work of men’s hands, of wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if there you seek to return to the fear of the Lord your God, you shall find mercy, when you seek before Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you suffer oppression, and all these things come upon you in the end of the days, and you be converted to the fear of the Lord your God, and obey His Word; for the Lord our Elohim is a merciful God; He will not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He sware unto them.

For ask now the generations which have been from the days of the beginning, which have been before thee from the day when the Lord created man upon the earth, from one end of the heavens to the other, whether so great a thing as this hath been, or any like to it hath been heard? Hath it ever been that a people should hear the voice of the Word of the Lord, the Living God, speaking from the midst of fire, as you heard, and remained alive? Or, as the wonder which the Lord hath wrought, revealing Himself to separate a people to Himself from among another people, by signs, by miracles, by portents, by the victories of ordered battles, by an uplifted arm, and by great visions, like all that the Lord our Elohim hath done for us in Mizraim, and your eyes beholding? [JERUSALEM. Or what is the people or kingdom that hath heard?. . . . . Or the signs which the Word of the Lord hath wrought, coming to announce (that He would separate) to Himself a people from among a people ?] Unto thee have these wonders been shown, that thou mayest know that the Lord is God, and there is none beside Him. He made you hear the voice of His Word from the heavens on high, to give you discipline by His doctrine, and showed thee upon earth His great fire, and made thee hear His words from the midst of the flame. And because He loved thy fathers Abraham and Izhak, therefore hath He plea­sure in the children of Jakob after him, and hath brought you in His lovingkindness and power from Mizraim, to drive out nations greater and stronger than you from before you, and give you their land to inherit as at this day. Know therefore today, and set your heart upon it, that the Lord is God, whose Shekinah dwelleth in the heavens above, and reigneth on the earth beneath, neither is there any other beside Him. Therefore observe His covenant, and the commandments which I command you this day, that He may do good to you and to your children after you, and that you may have continuance upon the land which the Lord your Elohim giveth you for all days.

And now, behold, Mosheh set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, that the manslayer who had killed his neighbour without intention, not having hated him yesterday or before, may flee, and escape into one of those cities, and be spared alive. [JERUSALEM. Who had slain his neighbour unawares, but had not entertained enmity toward him yesterday or before.] Kevatirin the wilderness, in the plain country, for the tribe of Reuben, and Ramatha in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Dabera in Mathnan for the tribe of Menasheh. This is the declaration of the law which Mosheh set in order before the sons of Israel [JERUSALEM. This is the declaration of the law which Mosheh set before the sons of Israel,] and the statutes and judgments which Mosheh spake with the sons of Israel at the time when they had come out of Mizraim. And Mosheh delivered them beyond Jordan over against Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amoraee, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Mosheb and the sons of Israel smote when the had come out of Mizraim. And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, king of Mathnan, the two kings of the Amoraee, who were beyond the Jordan, eastward, from Aroer on the bank of the river Arnon to the mountain of Saion, which is the Snowy Mount; [JERUSALEM. From Lechaiath, on the side of the river Arnona, unto the mountain whose fruits are delivered, which is the Snowy Mount;] and all the plain beyond Jordan, eastward, unto the sea that is in the plain under the spring of the heights.

Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.8.1-49 (T)

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.