Genesis
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, the second day.
God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good. God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so. The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, the third day.
God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth”; and it was so. God 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. God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky.” God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished. On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The Lord God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became four heads. The name of the first is Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good. There is aromatic resin and the onyx stone. The name of the second river is Gihon: the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel: this is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die."
The Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. He made the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'" The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" The serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly shall you go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel." To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. The Lord God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them. The Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever..." Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, "I have gotten a man with the Lord's help." Again she gave birth, to Cain's brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat of it. The Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it."
Cain said to Abel, his brother, "Let us go into the field." It happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. The Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" He said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" The Lord said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground. Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. From now on, when you till the ground, it will not yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me out this day from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. It will happen that whoever finds me will kill me." The Lord said to him, "Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." The Lord appointed a sign for Cain, lest anyone finding him should strike him.
Cain went out from the Lord's presence, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
[Enoch’s descendants down to Lamech]
Lamech took two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother's name was Jubal, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe. Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. Tubal Cain's sister was Naamah. Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me. If Cain will be avenged seven times, truly Lamech will be seventy-seven times."
Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, "for God has appointed me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him." There was also born a son to Seth, and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the Lord's name.
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God's likeness. He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years, then he died.
[Adam’s descendents down to Enoch]
All the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
[Enoch’s descendents down to Lamech, same names as before but different people]
Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years, and became the father of a son, and he named him Noah, saying, "This same will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed."
[Lamech lived a long time]
Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose. The Lord said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years." The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters, they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. The Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the Lord's eyes.
This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. You shall make a roof in the ship, and to a cubit shall you finish it upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.
I myself will bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is on the earth will die. But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive. Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to you; and it will be food for you and for them."
Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, so he did. The Lord said to Noah, "Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation. You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female. Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep their seed alive on the surface of all the earth. In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, I will destroy from the surface of the ground." Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, because of the waters of the flood. Clean animals, animals that are not clean, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah. It happened after seven days, that the waters of the flood came on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were burst open, and the sky's windows were opened. The rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ship; they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. They went to Noah into the ship, by pairs of all flesh with the breath of life in them. Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth. The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ship floated on the surface of the waters. The waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died. Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship.
The waters prevailed on the earth one hundred fifty days. God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided. The deep's fountains and the sky's windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained. The waters receded from the earth continually. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters decreased. The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat's mountains. The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
It happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made, and he sent forth a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth. He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. He stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ship. The dove came back to him at evening, and, behold, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return to him anymore. It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
God spoke to Noah, saying, "Go out of the ship, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you. Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth." Noah went forth, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship.
Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord smelled the sweet savor. The Lord said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease."
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that the ground teems with and all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand. Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. Like the green herb, I have given everything to you. But flesh with the life in it (the blood in it) you shall not eat.
I will surely require the blood of your life. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image. Be fruitful and multiply. Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it."
God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, with your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every animal on the earth. I will establish my covenant with you: All flesh will never again be cut off by the waters of the flood, nor will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. When I bring a cloud over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."
The sons of Noah who went forth from the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these, the whole earth was populated. Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they did not see their father's nakedness. Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done to him. He said, "Canaan is cursed. He will be servant of servants to his brothers." He said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth. Let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant." Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood. All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, then he died.
[Descendants of Noah]
The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. It happened, as they traveled east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. They said one to another, "Come, let us make bricks, and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let us make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth." The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. The Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them which they intend to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. Therefore the name of it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. From there, the Lord scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.
[Descendants of Shem down to Terah]
Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot. Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees. Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran who was also the father of Iscah. Sarai was barren. She had no child. Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there. The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.
Now the Lord said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed." So Abram went, as the Lord had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan.
Into the land of Canaan they came. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your seed." He built an altar there to the Lord, who appeared to him. He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. Abram traveled, going on still toward the South.
There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land. It happened, when he had come near to enter Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at. It will happen, when the Egyptians will see you, that they will say, 'This is his wife.' They will kill me, but they will keep you alive. Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you." It happened that when Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels. The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this that you have done to me? Why did not you tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way." Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him, and they brought him on the way with his wife and all that he had.
Abram went up out of Egypt: he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. He went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the name of the Lord. Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together: for their substance was great, so that they could not live together. There was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite lived in the land at that time. Abram said to Lot, "Please, let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left." Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the Lord.
The Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, "Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then your seed may also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it to you." Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.
It happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (this is Zoar). All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (this is is the Salt Sea). Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year, they rebelled. In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to Elparan, which is by the wilderness. They returned, and came to En Mishpat (this is Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that lived in Hazazon Tamar. The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (this is Zoar) went out, and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim; against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against five.
Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills. They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way. They took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. Now he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner, and these were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him, and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." Abram gave him a tenth of all. The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, and take the goods to yourself." Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to the Lord, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.' I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion."
The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Abram said, “Lord God, what will you give me, since I continue childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no offspring, and behold, one of my household is my heir.” Behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come from your body will be your heir.” The Lord brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So shall your descendents be.” He believed the Lord, and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.
He said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it." He said, "Lord God, how will I know that I will inherit it?" He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds. The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth, but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age. In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain children by her." Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. Sarai said to Abram, "This wrong is your fault. I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between me and you." But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes." Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face. The angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. He said, "Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, where did you come from? Where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai." The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands." The angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude." The angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. He will live opposite all of his brothers." She called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "You are a God who sees," for she said, "Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?" Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. Hagar bore a son for Abram. Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless. I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." “Abram fell on his face, and God spoke to him, saying: “This is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. Nor will your name any more be Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come forth from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you. I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.” God said to Abraham, “For your part, you will keep my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.” This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant." God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?" Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" God said, "No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year." When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised. All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
The Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not go away from your servant. Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant." They said, "Very well, do as you have said." Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes." Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate. They said to him, "Where is Sarah, your wife? He said, "See, in the tent." He said, "I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child, though I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son." Then Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."
The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. The Lord said, "Will I hide from Abraham what I do, seeing that Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the Lord may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him. The Lord said, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know."
The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Should not the Judge of all the earth do right?" the Lord said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake." Abraham answered, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?" He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there." He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?" He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake." He said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?" He said, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." He said, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake." He said, "O do not let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake. The Lord went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you will rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No, we will stay in the street all night." He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may know them." Lot went out to them at the door, and shut the door after him. He said, "Please, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof." They said, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!" They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door, but the men put forth their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves finding the door.
The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place, for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it." Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city." But he lingered, and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, the Lord being merciful to him, and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!" Lot said to them, "Oh no my lord. See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. O let me escape there (is it not a little one?), and my soul will live."
He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of the sky. He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace. It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar.
He lived in a cave with his two daughters. The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she arose. It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed." They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she got up. Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar. Abraham said about Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man's wife." Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, "Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? Did he not tell me, 'She is my sister?' Even she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this." God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not allow you to touch her. Now therefore, restore the man's wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you do not restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours."
Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. The men were very scared. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!" Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you have done this thing?" Abraham said, "Because I thought, 'Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife's sake.' Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. It happened, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'"
Abimelech took sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah, his wife, to him. Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you." To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated." Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children. For the Lord had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had spoken. Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me." She said, "Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age." The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham had a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, having fun. Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, Isaac." The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son. God said to Abraham, "Do not let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called. I will also make a nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is your seed."
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Do not let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice and wept. God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Do not be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation." God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the desert, and became, as he grew up, an archer. He lived in the desert of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
It happened at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do. Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner." Abraham said, "I will swear." Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing, nor did you tell me, nor did I hear of it, until today." Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?" He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well." Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore there. So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.
It happened after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" He said, "Here I am." He said, "Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac himself, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of." Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off. Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you." Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son."
So they both went together. They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to kill his son. The angel of the Lord called to him out of the sky, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" He said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy, nor do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham called the name of that place the Lord Will Provide. As it is said to this day, "On the Lord's mountain, it will be provided."
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of the sky, and said, "I have sworn by myself, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba. It happened after these things, that Abraham was told: "Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel." Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. This was the length of Sarah's life. Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (this is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Abraham rose up from before his dead and spoke to the children of Heth, saying, "I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight." The children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, "Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead." Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. He talked with them, saying, "If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is in the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me among you for a possession of a burying-place." Now Ephron was sitting in the middle of the children of Heth. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, "No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead." Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, "But if you will, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there." Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, "My lord, listen to me. What is a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver between me and you? Therefore bury your dead." Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the current merchants' standard. So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all of its borders, were deeded to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. The field, and the cave that is in it, were deeded to Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the children of Heth.
Abraham was old and well stricken in age. The Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, "Please put your hand under my thigh. I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac." The servant said to him, "What if the woman is not willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?" Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not bring my son there again. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, 'I will give this land to your seed' will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. If the woman is not willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this my oath. Only you shall not bring my son there again." The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.
The servant took ten camels, of his master's camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master's with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. He said, "O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, 'Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,' and she will say, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,'-- let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
It happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder. The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, no man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up. The servant ran to meet her, and said, "Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher." She said, "Drink, my lord." She hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him drink. When she had done giving him drink, she said, "I will also draw for your camels, until they have done drinking." She hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw and drew for all his camels. The man looked steadfastly at her, remaining silent, to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.
It happened, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, and said, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father's house for us to lodge in?" She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor." She said moreover to him, "We have both straw and provender enough and room to lodge in." The man bowed his head, and worshiped the Lord. He said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master's relatives." The young lady ran and told her mother's house about these words.
Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. It happened, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, "This is what the man said to me," that he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. He said, "Come in, you blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels." The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
Food was set before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told my message." He said, "Speak on." He said, "I am Abraham's servant. The Lord has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him. My master made me swear, saying, 'You shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, but you shall go to my father's house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.' I said to my master, 'What if the woman will not follow me?' He said to me, 'the Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son of my relatives, and of my father's house. Then will you be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they do not give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.'
I came this day to the spring, and said, 'O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go-- behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes forth to draw, to whom I will say, "Give me, I pray you, a little water from your pitcher to drink," and she will tell me, "Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,"--let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master's son.' Before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew. I said to her, 'Please let me drink.' She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.' So I drank, and she made the camels drink also. I asked her, and said, 'Whose daughter are you?' She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him.' I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands. I bowed my head, and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son. Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left."
Then Laban and Bethuel answered, "The thing proceeds from the Lord. We cannot speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken." It happened that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to the Lord. The servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, "Send me away to my master." Her brother and her mother said, "Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she will go." He said to them, "Do not hinder me, seeing the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master." They said, "We will call the young lady, and ask her." They called Rebekah, and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" She said, "I will go."
They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham's servant, and his men. They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, "Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed possess the gate of those who hate them." Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way. Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South. Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming. Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. She said to the servant, "Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." She took her veil, and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, but to the sons of Abraham's concubines, Abraham gave gifts. He sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, to the east country. These are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years. Abraham gave up the spirit, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife.
It happened after the death of Abraham that God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi. Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations. These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.
This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. The Lord was entreated by him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. The children struggled together within her. She said, "If it be thus, why do I live?" She went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger.”
When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau's heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob.
One day, Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that red stew, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom. Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright." Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?" Jacob said, "Swear to me first." He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. The Lord appeared to him, and said, "Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
Isaac lived in Gerar. The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at." It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife. Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'" Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!" Abimelech charged all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death."
Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. The Lord blessed him. The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we." Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there. Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called the name of it Sitnah. He left that place, and dug another well. They did not argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."
He went up from there to Beersheba. The Lord appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake." He built an altar there, and called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?" They said, "We saw plainly that the Lord was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of the Lord." He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water." He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. They grieved Isaac's and Rebekah's spirits. It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, "My son?" He said to him, "Here I am." He said, "See now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and get me venison. Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die." Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 'Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.'
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good kids of the goats. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves. You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death." Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing." His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me." He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved. Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. She put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
He came to his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me." Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He said, "Because the Lord your God gave me success." Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not." Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau's hands. So he blessed him. He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am." He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless you." He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank.
His father Isaac said to him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son." He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you."
It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me." Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed."
When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father." He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing." He said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" Isaac answered Esau, "Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then will I do for you, my son?" Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. Isaac his father answered him, "Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above. By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck."
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob." The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away; until your brother's anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?" Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?"
Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. Take a wife from there, one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, and give the blessing of Abraham to you, to you and to your seed with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham." Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah's brother, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram, to get himself a wife there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan," and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan-aram. Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac, his father. Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.
Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have told you." Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." He was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other than God's house, and this is the gate of heaven."
Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and the Lord will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me, I will surely give the tenth to you."
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east. He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well's mouth was large. There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well's mouth in its place. Jacob said to them, "My brothers, where are you from?" They said, "We are from Haran." He said to them, "Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him." He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep." He said, "Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them." They said, "We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep."
While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. It happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son. She ran and told her father. It happened, when Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh.
He lived with him for a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?" Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive. Jacob loved Rachel. He said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter." Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me." Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her." Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
It happened in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid. It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?" Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me another seven years." Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. Then Laban gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her handmaid. Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban another seven years.
The Lord saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, "Because the Lord has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me." She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, "Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also." She named him Simeon. She conceived again, and bore a son. Said, "Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore was his name called Levi. She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, "This time I will praise the Lord." Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.
When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die." Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I may obtain children by her." She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her. Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan. Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.
When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son. Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad. Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son. Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy." She named him Asher.
Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you also take away my son's mandrakes?" Rachel said, "Therefore Jacob will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes." Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." He lay with her that night. God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, "God has given me my pay, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar. Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun. Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.
God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach." She named him Joseph, saying, "May the Lord add another son to me."
It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you." Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that the Lord has blessed me for your sake." He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it." He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. For you had little before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. The Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house?" He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my pay. So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my pay that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen." Laban said, "Behold, I desire it to be according to your word."
That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. Jacob got for himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, and peeled white streaks in them, making the white appear which was in the rods. He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks at the troughs, the watering place where the flocks came to drink. They bred when they came to drink. The flocks bred before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban, and he put his own droves apart, and did not put them into Laban's flock. It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the rods before the eyes of the flock in the troughs, that they might breed among the rods; but when the flock were feeble, he did not put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's. From that which was our father's, he has gotten all this wealth." Jacob saw the expression on Laban's face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. The Lord said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you." Jacob sent for and called Rachel and Leah to the field of his flock, and said to them, "I see the expression on your father's face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. If he said, 'The speckled will be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled. If he said, 'The streaked will be your wages,' then all the flock bore streaked. Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given them to me. It happened during mating season that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.' He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"
Rachel and Leah answered him, "Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not thought of by him as foreigners? For he has sold us and has also devoured our money. For all the riches which God has taken away from our father are ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do." Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives on the camels, and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. Laban had gone to shear his sheep.
Rachel stole the idols that were her father's. Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he was running away. So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the river, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. God came to Laban the Syrian, in a dream at night and said to him, "Take heed to yourself that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad." Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his kin encamped in the mountain of Gilead.
Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and did not tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly. It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed to yourself that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.' Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father's house, but why have you stolen my idols?" Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid, for I said, 'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.' But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. Before our kin, discern what of yours is with me and take it." Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he did not find them. He went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but did not find them. She said to her father, "Do not let my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before you; for the way of women is on me." He searched, but did not find the idols.
Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kin and your kin that they may judge between us two. These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. That which was torn of animals, I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away emptyhanded. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."
Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between me and you." Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. Jacob said to his kin, "Gather stones." They got stones and made a heap. They ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, "This heap is a witness between me and you this day." Therefore it was named Galeed and Mizpah, for he said, "May the Lord watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, though no man is with us; behold, God is the witness between me and you." Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us."
Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac. Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his kin to eat bread. They ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. Early in the morning, Laban rose up, kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.
Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When he saw them, Jacob said, "This is God's army." He called the name of that place Mahanaim.
Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall tell my lord Esau: 'This is what your servant Jacob says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban and stayed there until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.'" The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him." Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies, and he said, "If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape."
Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, 'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,' I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered because there are so many.'"
He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Cross over before me, and put a space between each herd." He commanded the first, saying, "When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, 'Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?' you shall say, 'They are your servant Jacob's. It is a present sent to my lord Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.'" He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, "This is how you shall speak to Esau when you find him. You shall say, 'Not only that, but behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For, he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me." So the present crossed over before him, and he himself lodged that night in the camp. He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them over the stream and sent over that which he had.
Jacob was left alone and wrestled with a man there until daybreak. When he saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip socket was strained, as he wrestled. The man said, "Let me go, for day is breaking." Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." He said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed." Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." He said, "Why would you ask what my name is?" He blessed him there. Jacob called the name of the place Penuel: for, he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." The sun rose on him as he crossed over Penuel, and he limped because of his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip on the hip socket, to this day, because he touched Jacob's hip socket in the sinew of the hip.
Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two handmaids. He put the handmaids and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept. He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" He said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." Then the handmaids came near with their children, and they bowed themselves. Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves. After them, Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed themselves.
Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" Jacob said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord." Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours." Jacob said, "Please, no, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive the present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." He urged him, and he took it.
Esau said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you." Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young, and if they overdrive them even one day all the flocks will die. Please let my lord cross over before his servant, and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the livestock that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord, to Seir." Esau said, "Let me now leave with you some of the folk who are with me." He said, "Why? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord." So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.
Jacob traveled to Succoth, built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and encamped before the city. He bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for one hundred pieces of money. He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel [God, the God of Israel].
Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humiliated her. His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, "Get me this young lady as a wife." Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter, and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came. Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him. The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; a thing which ought not to be done. Hamor talked with them, saying, "The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it." Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give. Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife."
The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, and said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us. Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised; then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone." Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son.
The young man did not wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter. He was honored above all the house of his father. Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and spoke with the men of their city, saying, "These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised. Will not their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us."
All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. It happened on the third day, when they were sore, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away. Jacob's sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field, and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house. Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house." They said, "Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?"
God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother." Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments. Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went." They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under an oak, and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth [the oak of weeping].
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob anymore; your name will be Israel." He named him Israel. God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your seed after you I will give the land." God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him. Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it. Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him "Bethel."
They traveled from Bethel. There was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and Rachel went into labor. She had hard labor. When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, "Do not be afraid, for now you will have another son." It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Benoni [son of my sorrow], but his father named him Benjamin [son of the right hand]. Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath (this is Bethlehem). Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. This pillar is on Rachel's grave to this day. Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. It happened, while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah (Rachel's handmaid): Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah (Leah's handmaid): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram. Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners. The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. Isaac gave up the spirit, and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.
[Descendants of Esau, the father of the Edomites.]
Jacob lived in the land of his father's travels, in the land of Canaan. This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright, and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf." His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me." He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?" His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.
His brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here I am." He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock, and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, "What are you looking for?" He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock." The man said, "They have left here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. They saw him afar off and, before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said one to another, "Behold, the dreamer comes. Come now therefore, and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'A fierce animal has devoured him.' We will then see what will become of his dreams." Reuben heard this and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let us not take his life." Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the desert, but lay no hand on him"—so that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.
So it happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him, and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it. They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him. Midianite merchants passed by. They drew and lifted Joseph up out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. Reuben returned to the pit, and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, and he tore his clothes. He returned to his brothers, and said, "The child is no more, and I, where will I go?"
They took Joseph's coat, and killed a male goat and dipped the coat in the blood. They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, "We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son's coat or not." He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's coat. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces." Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "I will go down to Sheol, to my son, mourning." His father wept for Joseph. The Midianites sold Joseph into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard.
It happened at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her, and went in to her. She conceived, and bore a son, and he named him Er. She conceived again, and bore a son, and she named him Onan. She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bore him. Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord. The Lord killed him. Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother." Onan knew that the seed would not be his, and it happened, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. The thing which he did was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he killed him also.
Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;" for he said, "Lest he also die, like his brothers." Tamar went and lived in her father's house. After many days, Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite. It was told Tamar, saying, "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." She took off her garments of widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she was not given to him as a wife. When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her along the way, and said, "Please come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?" He said, "I will send you a kid of the goats from the flock." She said, "Will you give me a pledge until you send it?" He said, "What pledge will I give you?" She said, "Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, but he did not find her. Then he asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?" They said, "There has been no prostitute here." He returned to Judah, and said, "I have not found her, and also the men of the place said, 'There has been no prostitute here.'" Judah said, "Let her keep it, lest we be laughed at. Behold, I sent this kid, and you have not found her."
It happened about three months later, that it was told Judah, saying, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute, and moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution." Judah said, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt." When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man, whose these are, I am with child." She also said, "Please discern whose are these--the signet, and the cords, and the staff." Judah acknowledged them, and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah, my son." He knew her again no more. In the time of her labor, it happened that behold, twins were in her womb. When she labored, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This came out first." It happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out, and she said, "Why have you made a breach for yourself?" Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites that had brought him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man. He was in the house of his master the Egyptian. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did succeed in his hand. Joseph found favor in his sight; he attended him. He made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. It happened from the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in the house and in the field. He left all that he had in Joseph's hand. He did not concern himself with anything but the food which he ate.
Joseph was well-built and handsome. It happened after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph, and she said, "Lie with me." But he refused, and said to his master's wife, "Behold, my master does not concern himself about anything in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand. He is not greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he did not listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her. About this time, he went into the house to do his work, and there were none of the men of the house inside. She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had run outside, she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, "Behold, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. It happened, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and ran outside." She laid up his garment by her, until his master came home. She spoke to him according to these words, saying, "The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me, and it happened, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and ran outside." It happened, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, "This is what your servant did to me," that his wrath was kindled.
Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody. But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, he was responsible for it. The keeper of the prison did not look after anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it prosper.
It happened after these things, that the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.
They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each dream with its own interpretation, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison. Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them and saw that they were sad. He asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?" They said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it." Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me."
The chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me, and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters of it brought forth ripe grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days. Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh's cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cupbearer. But remember me when it will be well with you, and show kindness, please, to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon." When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, "I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head. In the uppermost basket there were all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head." Joseph answered, "This is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days. Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off of you, and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from off you." It happened the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand; but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
It happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed: and behold, he stood by the river. Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass. Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke. He slept and dreamed a second time: and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. In the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt's magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I remember my faults today. Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker. We dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. We dreamed, each dream with its own interpretation. There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. To each man according to his dream he interpreted. It happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was: I was restored to my office, and he was hanged."
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it." Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river: and behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, fat and sleek. They fed in the marsh grass, and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness. The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle, and when they had eaten them up, it would not be known that they had eaten them, for they were still ugly, as at the beginning. So I awoke. Then I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good: and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me."
Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. The seven good cattle are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one. The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. There will arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt's produce in the seven plenteous years. Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. The food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; that the land not perish through the famine." The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.
Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Because God has shown you all of this, there is none so discreet and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and according to your word will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne I will be greater than you." Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt." Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck, and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, "Bow the knee!" He set him over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt." Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife.
Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. In the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and stored up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, he stored up in the city. Joseph stored up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number. To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." The name of the second, he called Ephraim: "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end. The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do." The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth. Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?" He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy some for us there, so that we may live, and not die." Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm happen to him." The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth. Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, "Where did you come from?" They said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food." Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land." They said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. We are all one man's sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies." He said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land." They said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more." Joseph said to them, "It is like I told you, saying, 'You are spies.' By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies." He put them all together into custody for three days.
Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this, and live, for I fear God. If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses. Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you will not die." They did so. They said one to another, "We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we would not listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us." Reuben answered them, saying, "Did not I tell you, saying, 'Do not sin against the child,' and you would not listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required." They did not know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them food for the way. So it was done to them. They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there. As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, "My money is restored! Behold, it is in my sack!" Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"
They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying, "The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.' The man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.'" It happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me." Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I do not bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again." He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."
The famine was severe in the land. It happened, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again, buy us a little more food." Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.' If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food, but if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'" Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?" They said, "The man asked directly about us and our relatives saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'" Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we will get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones. I will be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I do not bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever, for if we had not delayed, surely we would have returned a second time by now." Their father, Israel, said to them, "If it must be so, then do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds, and take double money in your hand, and take back the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man. May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."
The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand and Benjamin and got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon." The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph's house. The men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house, and they said, "Because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time, we were brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, along with our donkeys." They came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house, and said, "Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand. We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks." He said, "Peace be to you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them.
The man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder. They made ready the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth. He asked them of their welfare, and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?" They said, "Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive." They bowed their heads and did homage. He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" He said, "God be gracious to you, my son." Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother, and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room and wept there. He washed his face and came out. He controlled himself, and said, "Serve the meal." They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians do not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in amazement. He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank and were merry with him. He commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth. Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his grain money." He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.
As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, "Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good? Is not this cup the one from which my lord drinks, and by which he practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.'" He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them. They said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! Behold, the money, which we found in the mouths of our sacks, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord's house? With whomever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's servants." He said, "let it be as you say: he with whom it is found will be my servant, and you will be blameless." Then they hurried, and every man took his sack down to the ground, and every man opened his sack. He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.
Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him. Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Do not you know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination?" Judah said, "What will we tell my lord? What will we say? Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found." He said, "Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my servant; but as for you, go up in peace to your father." Then Judah came near to him, and said, "Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are like Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father or a brother?' We said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one, and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.' You said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.' We said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.' You said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.' It happened when we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. Our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food.' We said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us.' Your servant, my father, said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons: and the one left me, and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces;" and I have not seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.' Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the boy's life; it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.' Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, a servant to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers. For how will I go up to my father if the boy is not with me?-- lest I see the evil that will come on my father."
Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, "Let every man to go out from me!" No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" His brothers could not answer him; for they were terrified at his presence. Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, 'This is what your son Joseph says, "God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Do not wait. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children's children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have."' Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here." He fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.
The report of it was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, "Joseph's brothers have come." It well pleased Pharaoh and his servants. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this. Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan. Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the bounty of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.' Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. Also, do not concern yourselves about your belongings, for the bounty of all the land of Egypt is yours." The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. To his father, he sent this: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father on the way. So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, "See that you do not quarrel on the way." They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father. They told him, saying, "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." His heart fainted, for he did not believe them. They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. Israel said, "It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."
Israel traveled with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" He said, "Here I am." He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes." Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt--Jacob, and all his seed with him, his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and he brought all his seed with him into Egypt.
[Descendants of Jacob]
All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.
He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive." Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father's house, "I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, 'My brothers, and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.' It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, 'What is your occupation?' that you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:' that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."
Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan, and behold, they are in the land of Goshen." From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers." They said to Pharaoh, "We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen." Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock." Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?" Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. Joseph fed his father, his brothers, and all of his father's household, with bread, according to their families.
There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone." Joseph said, "Give me your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone." They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.
When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land will not be desolate." So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh's. As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. Only he did not buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. Then Joseph said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for those of your households, and for food for your little ones." They said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants." Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.
Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they gained for themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years. The time drew near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place." He said, "I will do as you have said." He said, "Swear to me," and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.
It happened after these things, that someone said to Joseph, "Behold, your father is sick." He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Someone told Jacob, and said, "Behold, your son Joseph comes to you," and Israel strengthened himself and sat on the bed. Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.' Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine. Your issue, who you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance. As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (this is Bethlehem)."
Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?" Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them." Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. He brought them near to him, and he kissed them, and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, "I did not think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed also." Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near to him. Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, though Manasseh was the firstborn. He blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless these boys, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." His father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations." He blessed them that day, saying, "In you will Israel bless, saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh'" He set Ephraim before Manasseh. Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."
Jacob called his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. Assemble yourselves and listen, O sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power. Boiling over as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father's bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch. Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence. My soul, do not come into their council. My glory, do not be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until He-To-Whom-It-Belongs comes, to Him will the obedience of the peoples be. Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk. Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags. He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor. Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward. I await your salvation, O Lord! A troop will press on Gad, but he will press on their heel. Asher's food will be rich. He will yield royal dainties. Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns. Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, shot at him, and persecute him, but his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), even by the God of your father, who will help you; by the Almighty, who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning, he will devour the prey. At evening, he will divide the spoil."
These are all the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing. He charged them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah: the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth." When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people. Joseph fell on his father's face, wept on him, and kissed him. Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.
When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan." Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back again.'" Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, just like he made you swear." Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt, all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, did they leave in the land of Goshen. There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days. When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians." Therefore, the name of it was called Abel-mizraim [Mourning of Egypt]; it is beyond the Jordan. His sons did to him just as he commanded them, for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, to the east of Mamre. Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brothers and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him." They sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father commanded before he died, saying, 'You shall tell Joseph, "Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you."' Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, "Behold, we are your servants." Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones." He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father's house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years. Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Exodus
Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob): Reuben, Simeon, L0evi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the souls who came out of Jacob's body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already. Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation. The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them.Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land." Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of the children of Israel. The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field – the whole cruel fate of slaves.
The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, and he said, "When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live." But the midwives feared God, and did not do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive. The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and have saved the boys alive?" The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them." God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. It happened, because the midwives feared God, that he gave them families. Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, "You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."
A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the child in it and laid it in the reeds by the riverbank. His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him. Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her handmaid to get it. She opened it and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?" Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The maiden went and called the child's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it. The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."
It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers. He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?" He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known." Now when Pharaoh heard about it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh to live in the land of Midian.
He sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?" They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us and watered the flock." He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread." Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter. She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."
It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the children of Israel – and God knew.
Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the west of the wilderness and came to God's mountain, to Horeb. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Moses said, "I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses! Moses!" He said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground." Moreover he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" He said, "Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."
Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "You shall tell the children of Israel this, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have surely visited you, and seen what is done to you in Egypt, and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'
They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days' journey into the desert, that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God.' I know that the king of Egypt will not give you permission to go, no, not unless under a mighty hand. I will put forth my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst of it, and after that he will let you go. I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go emptyhanded. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall despoil the Egyptians.
Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'" The Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." He said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and Moses ran away from it. The Lord said to Moses, "Put forth your hand and take it by the tail." He put forth his hand and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand. "That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you. The Lord said furthermore to him, "Now put your hand inside your cloak." He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. He said, "Put your hand inside your cloak again." He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh. "It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the second sign. It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, nor listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."
Moses said to the Lord, "Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. The Lord said to him, "Who made man's mouth? Or who makes one mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is not it I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak." He said, "Oh Lord, please send someone else." The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, "What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he comes forth to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He will be your spokesman to the people, and it will happen that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God. You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."
Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” The Lord said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead." Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God's rod in his hand. The Lord said to Moses, "When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn, and I have said to you, "Let my son go, that he may serve me", and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'" It happened on the way at a lodging place, that the Lord met him and wanted to kill him. Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me." So he let him alone. Then she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," because of the circumcision.
The Lord said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." He went, and met him on God's mountain, and kissed him. Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had charged him. Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. The people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped. Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the desert.'" Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go." They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice to the Lord, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence or with the sword." The king of Egypt said to them, "Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!"
Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens." The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, "You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. The number of the bricks, which they made before, you require from them. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor therein, and do not let them pay any attention to lying words." The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, This is what Pharaoh says: "I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished." So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent saying, "Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!" The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, "Why have not you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?" Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, "Why do you deal this way with your servants? No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick!' and behold, your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people." But he said, "You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.' Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet shall you deliver the same number of bricks!" The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, "You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!" They met Moses and Aaron, who stood on the way as they came forth from Pharaoh, and they said to them, "May the Lord look at you, and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us."
Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, nor have you delivered your people at all. The Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land." God spoke to Moses, and said to him, "I am the Lord, and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I was not known to them. I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens. Moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore tell the children of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments, and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am the Lord.'" Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses for anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Go in, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land." Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, "Behold, the children of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, who am of uncircumcised lips?"
The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
[A list of heads of tribes and subtribes]
These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the Lord said, "Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies." These are those who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are that Moses and Aaron. It happened on the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "I am the Lord. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to you." Moses said before the Lord, "Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh listen to me?"
The Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt, but Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring forth my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them." Moses and Aaron did so. As the Lord commanded them, so they did. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Perform a miracle!' then you shall tell Aaron, 'Take your rod and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.'" Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did as the Lord had commanded, and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They, the magicians of Egypt, did it in the same manner with their enchantments. For every man cast down his rod, and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken.
The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river's bank to meet him, and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. You shall tell him, 'the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness:" and behold, until now you have not listened. Thus says the Lord, "In this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike with the rod that is in my hand the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. The fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul, and the Egyptians shall hate to drink water from the river."'" The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'" Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded, and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants, and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. The fish that were in the river died, and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river, and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. The magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken. Pharaoh turned and went into his house, nor did he take even this to heart. All the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the river.
Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the river. The Lord spoke to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, "This is what the Lord says, 'Let my people go, that they may serve me. If you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your borders with frogs: and the river shall swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into your house, and into your bedchamber, and on your bed, and into the house of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading troughs: and the frogs shall come up both on you and on your people and on all your servants.'"" The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Stretch forth your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.'" Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. The magicians did in like manner with their enchantments and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, "Entreat the Lord, that he take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord." Moses said to Pharaoh, "I give you the honor of setting the time that I should pray for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, and remain in the river only." He said, "Tomorrow." He said, "Be it according to your word, that you may know that there is none like the Lord our God. The frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only." Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord concerning the frogs which he had brought on Pharaoh. The Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields. They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken.
The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become fleas throughout all the land of Egypt.'" They did so, and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were fleas on man and on animal; all the dust of the earth became fleas throughout all the land of Egypt. The magicians tried with their enchantments to bring forth fleas, but they could not. There were fleas on man and on animal. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God", and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken.
The Lord said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes forth to the water and tell him, 'This is what the Lord says, "Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses, and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and even the ground where they are. I will set apart on that day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell: no swarms of flies shall be there, so that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. I will put a division between my people and your people: by tomorrow shall this sign be."'" The Lord did so, and there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses and in all the land of Egypt the land was corrupted by reason of the swarms of flies. Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God in the land!" Moses said, "It is not appropriate to do so; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. Behold, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us." Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me." Moses said, "Behold, I go out from you, and I will pray to the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh deal deceitfully anymore in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord." Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. The Lord did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. There remained not one. Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let them go, and hold them still, behold, the hand of the Lord is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks with a very grievous pestilence. The Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel."'" The Lord appointed a set time, saying, "Tomorrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land.” The Lord did that thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died, but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not so much as one of the livestock of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn, and he did not let the people go.
The Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, "Take handfuls of ashes out of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become small dust over all the land of Egypt and shall be boils breaking forth into sores on man and on animal, throughout all the land of Egypt." They took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it up toward the sky, and it became boils breaking forth into sores on man and on animal. The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the magicians, and on all the Egyptians. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
The Lord said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, that they may serve me. For this time I will send all my plagues against your heart, against your officials, and against your people; that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For by now I could have put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth; but indeed for this reason I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth; as you still exalt yourself against my people, that you will not let them go. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now. Now therefore command that all of your livestock and all that you have in the field be brought into shelter. Every man and animal that is found in the field, and is not brought home, the hail shall come down on them, and they shall die."'" Those who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made their servants and their livestock flee into the houses. Whoever did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field. The Lord said to Moses, "Stretch forth your hand toward the sky, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, and on animal, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt." Moses stretched forth his rod toward the heavens, and the Lord sent thunder, hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. The Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and animal, and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.
Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray to the Lord; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer." Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands to the Lord. The thunders shall cease, nor shall there be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God." The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they had not grown up. Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands to the Lord, and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. The heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the children of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.
The Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these, my signs among them, that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your son's son how harshly I dealt with the Egyptians and my signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord." Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one will not be able to see the earth. They shall eat the remnant which escaped the hail and remains to you and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field. Your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.'" He turned, and went out from Pharaoh.
Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord, their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is destroyed?" Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, serve the Lord your God, but who will go?" Moses said, "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord." He said to them, "The Lord be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces. Not so! Go now you men and serve the Lord, for that is what you desire!" They were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
The Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, everything that the hail has left." Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all the night, and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested in all the borders of Egypt. They were very grievous. Before them there were no such locusts, nor after them shall there be any like them. For they covered the surface of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. There remained nothing green, neither tree nor herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore please forgive my sin again and pray to the Lord your God, that he may also take away from me this death." He went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to the Lord. The Lord turned an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
The Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt." Moses stretched forth his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, "Go, serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with you." Moses said, "You must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us. There shall not be a hoof left behind, for from it we must take to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we come there." But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me! Be careful to see my face no more, for in the day you see my face you shall die!" Moses said, "You have spoken well. I will see your face again no more.”
The Lord said to Moses, "Yet one plague more will I bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; afterward he will let you go. When he lets you go, he will even thrust you out altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold.” The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people. Moses said, "This is what the Lord says: 'About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the mill and all the firstborn of livestock. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been nor shall be anymore. But against any of the children of Israel a dog will not even bark or move its tongue, against man or animal, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel. All these your servants shall come down to me and bow themselves down to me, saying, "Get out, with all the people who follow you", and after that I will go out.'" He went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt." Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, "This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household, and if the household be too little for a lamb, then he and his next-door-neighbor shall take one according to the number of the souls, according to what everyone can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year old male. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they shall eat it. They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted over fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts. You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. This is how you shall eat it: with your waist girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall be no plague on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
This day shall be for you a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. "'Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; the first day you shall get all yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there shall be for you a holy convocation, and on the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done on them, except to prepare what everyone must eat, that only may be done by you. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt, therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be no yeast found in your houses, for whoever eats what is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, be he a foreigner or one born in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.'"
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Select and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out of the door of their house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. It shall happen when you have come to the land which the Lord will give you, as he has promised, that you shall keep this service. It will happen, when your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this service?' that you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.'" The people bowed their heads and worshiped. The children of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
It happened at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go, serve the Lord, as you have said! Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!" The Egyptians were urgent with the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We are all dead men." The people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing. The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they despoiled the Egyptians.
The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, men, besides women and children. A mixed multitude went up also with them, with flocks, herds, and even a lot of livestock. They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared for themselves any food. Now the time that the children of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. It happened at the end of four hundred thirty years, on the very day, it happened that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be greatly observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, to be greatly observed by all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat of it, but every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, he shall eat of it. A foreigner or a hired servant shall not eat of it. In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry any of the meat out of the house, nor shall you break a bone of it. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and wants to keep the Passover of the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as one who is born in the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. One law shall be for him who is born at home, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you." Thus did all the children of Israel do. As the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. It happened the same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of humans and of animals, is mine." Moses said to the people, "Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today you go forth in the month Abib. So it shall be, when the Lord 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 shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days, and no leavened bread shall be seen with you, nor shall there be yeast seen with you, in all your borders. You shall tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.' It shall be for a sign to you on your hand and for a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
"It shall be, when the Lord shall bring you into the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it you, that you shall set apart for the Lord all that opens the womb, and every firstborn male you have that comes from an animal shall be the Lord's. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck, and you shall redeem all the firstborn of human among your sons. It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What is this?' that you shall tell him, 'By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage, and it happened, when Pharaoh stubbornly would not let us go, that the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of human, and the firstborn of animal. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that opens the womb, being males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.' It shall be for a sign on your hand, and for symbols between your eyes: for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt."
It happened, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and they return to Egypt;" but God led the people around by the way of the desert near the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the children of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away from here with you." They took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, at the edge of the desert. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, did not depart from before the people.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon. You shall encamp opposite it by the sea. Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, 'They are wandering in the land. The desert has shut them in.' I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will follow after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh, and over all his armies, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord." They did so, and it was told to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" He made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued after them: all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his charioteers, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baal-zephon.
When Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they were very afraid. The children of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? Why have you treated us this way, to bring us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the desert." Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today, for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall never see them again. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall stand still. The Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them, and I will get myself glory over Pharaoh, and over all his armies, over his chariots, and over his charioteers. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten myself honor over Pharaoh, over his chariots, and over his charioteers."
The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them. It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet it gave light by night while the one did not come near the other. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea: all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his charioteers. It happened in the morning watch that the Lord looked out on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and panicked the Egyptian army. He took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians!" The Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their charioteers." Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared. As the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the charioteers, all Pharaoh's army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work which the Lord did to the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said, "I will sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously triumphant. Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. He has cast Pharaoh's chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, dashes the enemy to pieces. In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send forth your wrath. It consumes them like stubble. With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, 'I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.' You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation. The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Now the chiefs of Edom are dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. Terror and dread falls upon them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone--until your people pass over, O Lord, until the people pass over whom you have purchased. You shall bring them in, and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place, O Lord, which you have made for yourself to dwell upon; the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever."
For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his charioteers into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea. Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances. Miriam answered them, "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."
Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Shur, and they went three days in the desert and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. The people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" Then he cried to the Lord. The Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them, and he said, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and will do what is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you." They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
They journeyed on from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after departing out of the land of Egypt. The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the desert, and the children of Israel said to them, "We wish that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt while we sat by the meat pots and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. It shall come to pass on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, "At evening, you shall know that the Lord has brought you out from the land of Egypt, and in the morning, you shall see the glory of the Lord; because he hears your murmurings against the Lord. Who are we, that you murmur against us?" Moses said, "Now the Lord shall give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you, because the Lord hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And who are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord."
Moses said to Aaron, "Tell all the congregation of the children of Israel, 'Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your murmurings.'" It happened, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they looked toward the desert, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, 'At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread: thus you shall know that I am the Lord your God.'" It happened at evening that quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay around the camp. When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the desert was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground. When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat." This is what the Lord has commanded: "Gather of it everyone according to his needs, an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, you shall take it, every man for those who are in his tent." The children of Israel did so, but some gathered more, and some less. When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man gathered according to his needs. Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it until morning." Nevertheless they did not listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms and became foul: and Moses was angry with them. They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his needs. When the sun grew hot, it melted.
It happened that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. He said to them, "This is what the Lord has spoken, 'Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.'" They laid it up until the morning, as Moses said, and it did not become foul, nor was there any worm in it. Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none." It happened on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, and they found nothing. The Lord said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? Behold, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day." So the people rested on the seventh day.
The house of Israel called it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. Moses said, "This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, 'Let an omer-full of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the desert, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.'" Moses said to Aaron, "Take a pot, and put an omer-full of manna in it, and put it before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations." As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron put it before the Testimony, to be kept. The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan. An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the desert of Sin, by their journeys, according to the Lord's commandment, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" The people were thirsty for water there, and the people murmured against Moses and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt? To kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?" Moses cried to the Lord, saying, "What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me. The Lord said to Moses, "Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God's rod in my hand." So Joshua did as Moses had told him and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. It happened, when Moses held up his hands that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hands, Amalek prevailed, but Moses' hands were heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until sunset. Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. The Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky." Moses built an altar and called the name of it, “Lord our Banner”. He said, "A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.'"
Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, received Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, along with her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom, for Moses said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land." The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword." Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the desert where he was encamped, at the Mountain of God. He said to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you with your wife, and her two sons with her. Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed and kissed him. They asked each about their welfare, and they went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships that had come on them along the way, and how the Lord delivered them. Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro said, "Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods because in this case they dealt arrogantly against them." Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came with all of the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
The next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from the morning to evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, "What is this thing that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning to evening?" Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws." Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you do is not good. You will surely wear away, both you and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone. Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God and bring the causes to God. You shall teach them the statutes and the laws and shall show them the way in which they must walk and the work that they must do. Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain, and place them over the people, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. Let them judge the people at all times. In every great matter they shall bring it to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves. So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share the load with you. If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all of these people also will go to their place in peace." So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard causes to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.
In the third month after the children of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the desert of Sinai. When they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the desert of Sinai, they encamped in the desert, and there Israel encamped before the mountain. Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, "This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. All the people answered together, and said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do." Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever." Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai. You shall set bounds to the people round about, saying, 'Be careful that you do not go up on the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it is animal or man, he shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain."
Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. He said to the people, "Be ready by the third day. Do not have sexual relations with a woman." It happened on the third day, when it was morning, that there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet, and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the lower part of the mountain. Mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because the Lord descended on it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. The Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. The Lord said to Moses, "Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. Let the priests also, who come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth on them." Moses said to the Lord, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you charged us, saying, 'Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it.'" The Lord said to him, "Go down and you shall bring Aaron up with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break forth on them." So Moses went down to the people, and told them.
God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall not do any work on it, you, not your son nor your daughter, your male servant nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your alien who is within your gates, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
All the people perceived the thunder, the lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stayed at a distance. They said to Moses, "Speak with us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die." Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, that his fear may be before you, so that you will not sin." The people stayed at a distance, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
[God tells Moses lots of laws. Mostly how to build all the stuff needed for worship]
The Lord gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God's finger. When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me." All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf, and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord." They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
The Lord spoke to Moses, "Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'" The Lord said to Moses, "I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, that I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation." Moses begged the Lord his God, and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'He brought them forth for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?' Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.'" The Lord repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.
Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, tablets that were written on both their sides, on the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is the noise of war in the camp." But he replied, "It is not the voice of those who shout for victory, nor is it the voice of those who cry for defeat, but the noise of those who sing that I hear." It happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them beneath the mountain. He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
Moses said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?" Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them take it off' so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire and out came this calf." When Moses saw that the people had broken loose, (for Aaron had let them break loose to the derision of their enemies), Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me!" All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. He said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'" The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, every man at the cost of his son and his brother, that he may bestow on you a blessing this day."
It happened on the next day that Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "O these people have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold, yet now, if you will, forgive their sin, and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written. The Lord said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” The Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
The Lord 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 which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your seed.' 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. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up in the midst of you, lest I consume you in the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." When the people heard this evil news, they mourned, and no one put on their jewelry. The Lord said to Moses, "Tell the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up in your midst for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry, that I may know what to do to you.'" The children of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.
Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it "The tent of meeting." It happened that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. It happened that when Moses went out to the Tent all the people rose up and stood at their tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the Tent. It happened, when Moses entered into the Tent, that the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and spoke with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped at their tent door. The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses returned again to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart out of the Tent.
Moses said to the Lord, "Behold, you tell me, 'Bring up this people', but you have not 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.' Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your ways now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight. And consider that this nation as your people." He said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." He said to him, "If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here. For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not because you go with us, so that we are separate, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?" The Lord said to Moses, "I will do this thing also that you have said, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."
Moses said, "Please show me your glory." He said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." He said, "You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live. The Lord also said, "Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face shall not be seen.
The Lord said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you; nor let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; nor let the flocks nor the herds feed by that mountain." He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two stone tablets. The Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The Lord! The Lord! A merciful and gracious God! Slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and truth! Keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin, but will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation!" Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. He said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."
The Lord said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation, and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you, but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim; for you shall worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
[Laws about Idols, false worship, and true worship]
The Lord said to Moses, "Write these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." He was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand as he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him. When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out, and he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what he was commanded. The children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them, "These are the words which the Lord has commanded, that you should do them. 'Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord: whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.'" Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, 'Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the Lord's offering: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, fine leather, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. Let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that the Lord has commanded, the tent, its outer covering, its roof, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the ark, and its poles, the mercy seat, the veil of the screen; the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the show bread; the lampstand also for the light, with its vessels, its lamps, and the oil for the light, and the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, the screen for the door, at the door of the tent; the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, it poles, and all its vessels, the basin and its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; the pins of the tent, the pins of the court, and their cords; the finely worked garments, for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office.'"
All the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. They came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord's offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all of its service, and for the holy garments. They came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, earrings, signet rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; everyone who could offered an offering of gold to the Lord. Everyone, with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and fine leather, brought them. Everyone who could offer an offering of silver and bronze brought the Lord's offering, and everyone, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun, the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. All the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats' hair. The rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastplate, and the spice, and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by Moses. Moses said to the children of Israel, "Behold, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to make skillful works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of skillful workmanship. He has put in his heart the ability to teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, of the skillful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any workmanship, and of those who make skillful works.
"Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord has commanded." Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it, and they received from Moses all the offerings which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They brought to him freewill offerings every morning. All the wise men, who performed all the work of the sanctuary, each came from the work he did and spoke to Moses, saying, "The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make." Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman make any other offering for the sanctuary." So the people were restrained from bringing. For the things they had were sufficient to make all the items, were even too much.
[They make everything they need to build the Tabernacle and ark and tent and altars, etc.]
Moses did so. According to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did. It happened in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up. Moses raised up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards of it, and put in the bars of it, and raised up its pillars. He spread the covering over the tabernacle, and put the roof of the tent above it, as the Lord commanded Moses. He took and put the covenant into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark. He brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the covenant, as the Lord commanded Moses. He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside of the veil. He set the bread in order on it before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. He lit the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, and he burnt incense of sweet spices on it, as the Lord commanded Moses. He put up the screen of the door to the tabernacle. He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as the Lord commanded Moses. He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, with which to wash. Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet there. When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed, as the Lord commanded Moses. He raised up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and the Lord's glory filled the tabernacle. When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not travel until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Leviticus
[How to do sacrifices]
[The ordination ceremony of Aaron and his sons]
Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and came out, and blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. There came forth fire from before the Lord, and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came forth from before the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke of, saying, 'I will show myself holy to those who come near me and before all the people I will be glorified.'" Aaron held his peace. Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, "Draw near, carry your brothers from before the sanctuary out of the camp." So they drew near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, "Do not let the hair of your heads go loose, nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and lest he be angry with all the congregation, but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled. You shall not go out from the door of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is on you." They did according to the word of Moses.
The Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, "Drink no wine nor strong drink, you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that you are to make a distinction between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and that you are to teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by Moses." Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, "Take the grain offering that remains of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and eat it without yeast beside the altar, for it is Most Holy, and you shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your portion, and your sons' portion of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, for so I am commanded. The waved breast and the gifted thigh you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your portion, and your sons' portion, out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the children of Israel. They shall bring the gifted thigh and the waved breast with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours, and your sons' with you, as a portion forever; as the Lord has commanded."
Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burned, and he was angry with Eleazar and with Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying, "Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, seeing it is Most Holy, and he has given it you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary, you certainly should have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded." Aaron spoke to Moses, "Behold, this day they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would the Lord have approved?" When Moses heard this, he approved.
[Food and animals, clean and unclean]
[Laws on pregnancy]
[Laws about leprosy]
The leper in whom the disease is shall wear torn clothes, and the hair of his head shall hang loose. He shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!' All the days in which the disease is in him he shall be unclean. He is unclean. He shall dwell alone. Outside of the camp shall be his dwelling.
[Laws about leprosy]
[Laws about bodily discharges]
The Lord spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord, and died, and the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother, not to come at all times into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat. This is howl Aaron shall come into the sanctuary:”
[Day of Atonement ceremonies]
It shall be a statute to you forever, in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no manner of work, the native-born, or the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you, for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls; it is a statute forever. The priest, who is anointed and who is consecrated to be priest in his father's place, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, the holy garments. Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” It was done as the Lord commanded Moses.
[Do not kill an ox, a lamb, or a goat, without sacrificing it at the tent of meeting.]
[Do not eat blood.]
[Laws against Incest]
[Laws against Various Sexual Acts]
Do not defile yourselves in any of these things, for in all these things the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled. The land was defiled, therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants. You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you; (for all these abominations have the men of the land done, that were before you, and the land became defiled); that the land not vomit you out also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For whoever shall do any of these abominations, the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore you shall keep my charge, that you do not practice any of these abominable customs, which were practiced before you, and that you do not defile yourselves with them, I am the Lord your God.
[Various Laws]
[Do not sacrifice your children or curse your parents]
[Laws about Sexuality]
[Various Laws]
[Laws for Priests]
[Disabled priests cannot serve as priests]
[Eating the Holy Bread]
[Offering imperfect animals]
[Other animal sacrifice laws]
Therefore you shall keep my commandments, and do them. I am the Lord. You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be made holy among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am the Lord.
[Laws about feasts]
[Providing oil and bread for the temple]
The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel, and the son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed, and they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. They put him in custody, until the will of the Lord should be declared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Bring out of the camp him who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
[Laws including an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth]
Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they brought forth him who had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. The children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.
[Laws on the Sabbath year and the Jubilee year]
[Laws concerning slaves]
You shall make for yourselves no idols, nor shall you raise up an engraved image or a pillar, nor shall you place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. "'You shall keep my Sabbaths, and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them, I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one will make you afraid, and I will remove evil animals out of the land, nor shall the sword go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will have respect for you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you. You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new. I will set my tent among you, and my soul will not abhor you. I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves, and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.
But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments, and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant; I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, consumption and fever, to consume the eyes and make the soul to pine away, and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it. 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. If you in spite of these things will not listen to me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like bronze, and your strength will be spent in vain, for your land will not yield its increase, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. If you walk contrary to me, and will not listen to me, then I will bring seven times more diseases on you according to your sins. I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number, and your roads will become desolate. If by these things you will not be reformed to me, but will walk contrary to me; then I will also walk contrary to you, and I will strike you seven times for your sins. I will bring a sword upon you, to execute the vengeance of the covenant, and you will be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall again ration your bread by weight, and you shall eat but not be satisfied.
If you in spite of this will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me; then I will walk contrary to you in wrath, and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins. You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters. 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. I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not take delight in the sweet fragrance of your offerings. I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies that dwell therein will be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land. Then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest which it did not have in your sabbaths, when you lived on it. As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight, and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword, and they will fall when no one pursues. They will stumble over one another, as if before the sword, when no one pursues, and you will have no power to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will eat you up. Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands, and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
If they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that they walked contrary to me so that I walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they accept the punishment of their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. But the land will be left by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity, because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God, but I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.'" These are the statutes, ordinances and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.
[Laws concerning Vows]
Numbers
The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, "Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, every male, one by one; from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their divisions. With you there shall be a man of every tribe, each the head of his the house of his fathers'.
[The name of each tribe’s prince]
These are the ones called from the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the clans of Israel.
Moses and Aaron took these men who are mentioned by name. They assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their ancestry by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, one by one. As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the desert of Sinai.
[Census Data of the Tribes]
But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor shall you take a census of them among the children of Israel, but appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the covenant, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle, and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it. When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death. The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their divisions. But the Levites shall encamp around the tabernacle of the covenant, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be responsible for the tabernacle of the covenant." Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they did.
[Directions for Camping: locations in reference to the Tent of Meeting.]
But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses. Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they encamped by their standards, and so they set out, everyone by their families, according to their fathers' houses.
Now this is the history of the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office. Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the desert of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. They shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. They shall keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel. You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal. They shall be mine. I am the Lord. The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, saying, "Number the children of Levi by their fathers' houses, by their families, every male from a month old and upward shall you number." Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, as he was commanded.
[The sub-tribes of Levi and their responsibilities for the worship and the census of the Levites]
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone who has a bodily discharge, and whoever is unclean by touching the dead. Both male and female shall you put out, outside of the camp you shall put them, so that they do not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell." The children of Israel did so, and put them out outside of the camp; as the Lord told Moses, so the children of Israel did.
[Rules for Sin Offerings]
[Procedure when a man suspects his wife of adultery without proof]
[Rules for Nazarites: a special vow that anyone can make to be particularly dedicated to the Lord for a time. Main rules: no alcohol or haircuts]
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'This is how you shall bless the children of Israel.' You shall tell them, 'The Lord bless you, and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.' So they shall put my name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."
It happened on the day that Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it, with all its furniture, and the altar with all its vessels, and had anointed and sanctified them; that the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, made offerings. These were the princes of the tribes. These are the ones who were over those who were numbered, and they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the princes, and for each one an ox, and they presented them before the tabernacle. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Accept these from them, that they may be used in doing the service of the tent of meeting, and you shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service." Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. He gave two wagons and four oxen to the sons of Gershon, according to their service, and he gave four wagons and eight oxen to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them, and they carried it on their shoulders.
The princes gave offerings for the dedication of the altar on the day that it was anointed, the princes gave their offerings before the altar. The Lord said to Moses, "They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar."
[Each prince makes the same offering for the altar]
When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard his voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the Ark of the Covenant, from between the two cherubim, and he spoke to him.
[Lighting the lamps]
[Preparing the Levites for Service]
The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, "Moreover let the children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season. On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season--according to all its statutes, and according to all its ordinances, you shall keep it." Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover. They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the desert of Sinai. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did. There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. Those men said to him, "We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of the Lord in its appointed season among the children of Israel?" Moses answered them, "Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.” The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Say to the children of Israel, 'If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord. In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it. But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, but fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he did not offer the offering of the Lord in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. If a foreigner lives among you, and desires to keep the Passover to the Lord; according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner, and for him who is born in the land.'"
On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the Tent of the Covenant, and at evening it was over the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning. So it was continually. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night. Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel traveled, and in the place where the cloud remained, there the children of Israel encamped. At the commandment of the Lord, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of the Lord they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped. When the cloud stayed on the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and did not travel. Sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; then according to the commandment of the Lord they remained encamped, and according to the commandment of the Lord they traveled. Sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning, and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they traveled, or by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up, they traveled. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a year that the cloud stayed on the tabernacle, remaining on it, the children of Israel remained encamped, and did not travel; but when it was taken up, they traveled. At the commandment of the Lord they encamped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord by Moses.
[Rules for Trumpets that Signal the People]
It happened in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tent of the covenant. The children of Israel set forward by stages out of the desert of Sinai, and the cloud set down in the desert of Paran.
[Specific Travel Arrangements]
Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, “We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do you good, for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel.” He said to him, “I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my kin.” He said, “Do not leave us, please, because you know how we are to encamp in the desert, and you shall be for us like eyes. It shall be, if you go with us, yes, it shall be, that whatever good the Lord shall do to us, the same will we do to you.” They set forward from the Mount of the Lord three days' journey, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them. The cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp. It happened, whenever the ark set forward, that Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” When it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”
The people were murmuring evil in the ears of the Lord, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and devoured in the outlying part of the camp. The people cried to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated. The name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them. The rabble that was among them craved exceedingly, and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who shall give us meat to eat? We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic, but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all except this manna to look at.” The manna was like coriander seed, and the appearance of it as the appearance of bdellium. The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased.
Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? and why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that you should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom’, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers? Where should I get meat to give to all this people? for they weep to me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. If you deal thus with me, please kill me out of hand, if I have found favor in your sight, and let me not see my wretchedness.” The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and talk with you there, and I will take from the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone. Say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, “Who shall give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you, for you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come forth out of Egypt?”’” Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, to satisfy them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to satisfy them?” The Lord said to Moses, “Has the Lord's hand grown short? Now you shall see whether my word happens to you or not.”
Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the Tent. The Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders, and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not keep doing it. Two men remained in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were one the list, but had not gone out to the Tent, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, “My lord Moses, forbid them.” Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” Moses went back to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
A wind came forth from the Lord, which brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the earth. The people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. The least anyone gathered was ten homers, and they spread them all out for themselves around the camp. While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great disease. The name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who craved. From Kibroth-hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth, and they dwelt at Hazeroth.
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. They said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only with Moses? Has he not spoken also with us?” The Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the surface of the earth. The Lord spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, “Come out you three to the tent of meeting.” The three came out. The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth. He said, “Hear now my words, if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all my house, with him will I speak face to face, clearly, not in dark speeches, and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” The anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. The cloud removed from over the Tent, and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow, and Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, milord, please do not lay sin on us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned. Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when they come out of their mother's womb.” Moses cried to the Lord, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you.” The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again.” Miriam was shut up outside of the camp seven days, and the people did not travel until Miriam was brought in again.
Afterward the people traveled from Hazeroth, and encamped in the desert of Paran. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel, from every tribe of their fathers send a man, everyone a prince among them.” Moses sent them from the desert of Paran according to the commandment of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. These were their names: [Names]
Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country, and see the land, what it is, and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad, and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds, and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be of good courage, and bring some of the fruit of the land. Now the season was the season of the first-ripe grapes. So they went up, and spied out the land from the desert of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. They went up by the South, and came to Hebron, and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two; they brought] also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there. They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. They went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the desert of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. They spoke to him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very big, and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwells in the land of the South, and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill country, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan. Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it, for we are well able to conquer it.” But the men who went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up the inhabitants of it, and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature.” There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
All the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would that we had died in this desert! Why does the Lord bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey, would it not be better for us to return into Egypt?” They said one to another, “Let us make a captain, and return to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who spied out the land, tore their clothes, and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy it out is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us; their defense is removed from over them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” But all the congregation suggested stoning them with stones.
The glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the children of Israel. The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them? I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought out this people in your might from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you the Lord are in the midst of this people, for you the Lord are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you shall kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the desert.’ Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience, though will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ Pardon, please, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”
The Lord said, “I have pardoned according to your word, but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the desert, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who despised me see it, but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit in him, and has followed me fully, I will bring him to the land he went into, and his seed shall possess it. Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn, and go into the desert by the way to the Red Sea.” The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “How long shall I put up with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Tell them, ‘As I live’, says the Lord, ‘surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you, your dead bodies shall fall in this desert, and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, that you said would be prey, I will bring them in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this desert. Your children shall be wanderers in the desert forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies be consumed in the desert. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, shall you bear your iniquities, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ I, the Lord, have spoken, I will surely do this to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me, in this desert they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”
The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land, those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by disease before the Lord. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. They rose up early in the morning, and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of the Lord, seeing it shall not prosper? Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you shall fall by the sword, because you are turned back from following the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you.” But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain, nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, did not depart out of the camp. Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, to Hormah.
[Various Laws about Offerings]
The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs, when he sins unwittingly, before the Lord, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who lives as an immigrant among them, but the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native-born or an immigrant, the same blasphemes the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.
While the children of Israel were in the desert, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. The Lord said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death, all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.” All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they should make for themselves fringes on the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue, and it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them, so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which tend to play the prostitute, so that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, men of renown, and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone too far! All in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then lift yourselves up above the assembly of the Lord?” When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, “In the morning the Lord will show who are his, and who is holy, and will allow him to come near: him whom he shall choose he will allow to come near to him. Do this, take thuribles, Korah and all his company, and put fire in them, and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and it shall be that the man whom the Lord chooses shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!” Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi, Does it seem but a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tent of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi with you? Do you seek the priesthood also? Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord. What is Aaron that you murmur against him?”
Moses sent and called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the desert, but you need to make yourself also a prince over us? Moreover you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering, I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.” Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company go before the Lord, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow, and every man will take his thurible, and put incense on them. Let every man bring before the Lord a thurible, two hundred fifty thuribles; you also, and Aaron, each with his thurible. Every man took his thurible, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.
The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’” Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.” So they got up from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones. Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of my own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall understand that these men have despised the Lord.” It happened, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they, and all that belonged to them, went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. All Israel that were round about them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up.” Fire came forth from the Lord, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take the thuribles out of the burning, and scatter the fire yonder, for they are holy. The thuribles of these sinners against their own lives: let them be made into beaten plates for a covering of the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, therefore they are holy, and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel. Eleazar the priest took the bronze thuribles, which those who were burnt had offered, and they beat them out for a covering of the altar, to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, comes near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he be as Korah and as his company. He did as the Lord told him through Moses.
But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” It happened, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” They fell on their faces. Moses said to Aaron, “Take your thurible, and put fire in it from off the altar, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them, for there is wrath gone out from the Lord: the disease has begun.” Aaron took as Moses spoke, and ran into the midst of the assembly, and behold, the disease had begun among the people, and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living, and the disease was stopped. Now those who died by the disease were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died in the matter of Korah. Aaron returned to Moses to the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the disease was stopped.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and take from them rods, one for each house of the fathers, of all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods. Write every man's name on his rod. You shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi, for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers' house. You shall lay them up in the tent of meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you. It shall happen, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud, and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.” Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their princes gave him rods, one for each prince, according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tent of the covenant. It happened on the next day, that Moses went into the tent of the covenant, and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, put forth buds and produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel, and they looked, and every man took his rod. The Lord said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion, that you may make an end of their murmurings against me, that they not die.” Thus did Moses, as the Lord commanded him, so he did.
The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tent of the Lord, dies, shall we perish, all of us?” The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers' house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. Your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you, but you and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the covenant. They shall keep your charge, and the charge of all the Tent, only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, lest they die, they and you. They shall be joined to you and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the Tent, and a stranger shall not come near to you. You shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there be wrath no more on the children of Israel. I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel, to you they are a gift, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. You and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood as concerns everything of the altar and that within the veil, and you shall serve: I give you the priesthood as a service of gift, and the stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”
[The Priests’ Portion of the Sacrifices]
[How to Purify an Unclean Person/Thing]
The children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people dwelt in Kadesh, and Miriam died there and was buried there. There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves together against Moses and Aaron. The people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, “Would that we had died when our brothers died before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this desert, that we should die here, we and our animals? Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink. Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak you to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water, and you shall bring forth for them water out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock water to drink.” Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring you forth water out of this rock?” Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified among them.
Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, “Thus says your brother Israel, ‘You know all the travail that has happened to us, how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers, and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt, and behold, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, nor will we drink of the water of the wells. We will go along the king's highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.’” Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.” The children of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then I will give the price of it, let me just, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.” He said, “You shall not pass through.” Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, and Israel turned away from him.
They traveled from Kadesh, and the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron on Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, “Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor, and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they went up onto Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron died there on top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, all the house of Israel. The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the South, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim, and he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. Israel vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities, and the name of the place was called Hormah.
They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was greatly discouraged because of the way. The people spoke against God, and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul loathes this worthless food.” The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died. The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against you; pray to the Lord, that he will take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole, and it shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the standard, and it happened, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived.
[Various Travels]
From there they traveled to Beer, that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O Well; sing to it, The Well, which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter, and with their poles.” From the desert they traveled to Mattanah, and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert.
Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, “Let me pass through your land, we will not turn aside into field, or into 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.” Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel in the desert, and came to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel. Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, to the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. Israel took all these cities, and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the towns of it. 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, to the Arnon. Therefore the ballad singers say, “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established; 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. 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. We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished to Dibon. We have laid waste to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.” Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took the towns of it, and drove out the Amorites who were there. They turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. The Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people, and his land, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” So they struck him, and his sons and all his people, until there was no one remaining, and they possessed his land.
The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many, and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is by the River in the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they dwell opposite me. Please come now to curse this people for me; for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them and drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”
The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand, and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak. He said to them, “Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak to me, and the princes of Moab dwelt with Balaam.” God came to Balaam, and said, “What men are these with you?” Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ‘Behold, the people that have come out of Egypt. They cover the surface of the earth. Come curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and shall drive them out.’” God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people; for they are blessed.” Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, “Get back to your land, for the Lord refuses to give me leave to go with you.” The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” Balak sent yet again more princes, and more prestigious than the others.” They came to Balaam, and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.’” Balaam answered the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more. Now therefore, please wait also here this night, that I may know what else the Lord will speak to me.” God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, “If the men are come to call you, rise up, go with them, but only the word which I speak to you shall you do.”
Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord placed himself on the road as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing on the road, with his sword drawn in his hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the road, and went into the field, and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her back to the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood on a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall, and he struck her again. The angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord, and she lay down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. The Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have mocked me, I wish that there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you.” The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Did I ever tend to do this to you?” and he said, “No.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I am come forth as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me, and the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times, unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I would have slain you, and saved her alive.” Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the way against me, now therefore, if it displease you, I will go back again.” The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
When Balak heard that Balaam was come, he went out to meet him in the city of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is on the edge of the border. Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to promote you to honor?” Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you. Do I now have any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak.” Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him. It happened in the morning, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal, and he saw from there a few of the people. Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.” Balak did as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go, perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height. God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”
The Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. He took up his discourse, and said,
“From Aram has Balak brought me,
the king of Moab from the mountains of the East.
‘Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.’
How shall I curse them whom God has not cursed?
How shall I defy, whom the Lord has not defied?
For from the top of the rocks I see him.
From the hills I see him.
Behold, it is a people that dwells apart,
who shall not be reckoned among the nations.
Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous. Let my last end be like his!”
Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but blessed them.” He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”
Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you can see them. You shall see only the smallest part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.” He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over yonder.” The Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” He took up his discourse, and said,
“Rise up, Balak, and hear!
Listen to me, you son of Zippor.
God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor the son of man, that he should repent.
Has he spoken what he will not do?
Or has he spoken what he will not make good?
Behold, I have received a command to bless.
He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
He has not seen iniquity in Jacob.
Nor has he seen perverseness in Israel.
The Lord his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.
God brings them out of Egypt.
He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob,
nor is there any divination with Israel.
Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God done!’
Behold, the people rises up as a lioness.
As a lion, he lifts himself up.
He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey,
and drinks the blood of the slain.”
Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that the Lord speaks, that I must do?’
Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.” Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at the other times, to search for oracles, but he set his face toward the desert. Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, and the Spirit of God came on him. He took up his discourse, and said,
“Balaam the son of Beor says:
The man whose eye is opened says:
He who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down and having his eyes opened, says:
How lovely are your tents, Jacob, your encampments, Israel!
As valleys they are spread forth,
as gardens by the riverside,
as aloes which the Lord has planted,
as cedar trees beside the waters.
Water shall flow from his buckets.
His seed shall be in many waters.
His king shall be higher than Agag.
His kingdom shall be exalted.
God brings him out of Egypt.
He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.
He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness, who shall rouse him up?
Everyone who blesses you is blessed.
Everyone who curses you is cursed.”
Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together, and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have done nothing but bless them these three times. Therefore now flee you to your place. I planned to promote you to great honor, but, behold, the Lord has kept you back from honor.” Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not even tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own mind; what the Lord speaks, that will I speak?’ Now, behold, I go to my people, come, and I will imform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.” He took up his discourse, and said,
“Balaam the son of Beor says:
The man whose eye is opened says:
He who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down and having his eyes opened, says:
I see him, but not now.
I see him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob.
A scepter will rise out of Israel.
It shall crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth.
Edom shall be dispossessed. Seir, his enemies, also shall be dispossessed.
Israel does valiantly.
Out of Jacob shall one have dominion,
and he shall destroy the remnant from the city.”
He looked at Amalek, and took up his discourse, and said: “Amalek was the first of the nations, But his latter end shall come to destruction.” He looked at the Kenite, and took up his discourse, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock. Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive.” He took up his discourse, and said, “Alas, who shall live when God does this? But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction.” Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way.
Israel dwelt in Shittim, and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab, for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods. Israel yoked himself to Baal-Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you, kill your men who have joined themselves to Baal-Peor.” Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his family a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into his tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. So the disease was stayed from the children of Israel. Those who died by this disease were twenty-four thousand. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’” Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a house of the fathers among the Simeonites. The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a house of the fathers in Midian. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Vex the Midianites, and strike them, for they vex you with their wiles, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the disease in the matter of Peor.”
It happened after the disease, that the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, “Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all who are able to go forth to war in Israel.” Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Take a census of the people, from twenty years old and upward, as the Lord commanded Moses and the children of Israel, that came forth out of the land of Egypt.”
[The Census]
These are the ones numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not a one of them who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the desert of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They shall surely die in the desert.” There was not left a man of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
The daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, drew near, and these are the names of his daughters, Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. They stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the entrance to the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the desert, and he was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father.” Moses brought their cause before the Lord. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “The daughters of Zelophehad speak rightly.”
[Laws concerning Inheritance]
The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered, because you rebelled against my word in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the desert of Zin.) Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord not be as sheep which have no shepherd.” The Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight. You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may obey him. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, all the congregation.” Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and he laid his hands on him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord spoke through Moses.
[Rules for the various Feast Days]
[Laws concerning Vows]
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites, and then you shall be gathered to your people.” Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian. Of every tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, you shall send one thousand to the war.” So there were sent, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male. They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. The children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and all their livestock, and all their flocks, and all their goods. They took these as plunder. All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire. They took all the spoil, and all the plunder, both of man and of animal.
They brought the captives, and the plunder, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho. Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside of the camp. Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive? Behold, it was they who caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and so the disease was among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. Encamp outside of the camp seven days, whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives. As to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood, you shall purify them. Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses: only the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, (everything that can pass through fire), you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water for impurity, and all that does not withstand the fire you shall pass through the water. You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean, and afterward you shall come into the camp.”
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the sum of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of animal, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation, and divide the plunder into two parts, between the men skilled in war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. Levy a tribute to the Lord of the men of war who went out to battle, one soul of five hundred, of the persons and of the oxen, the donkeys, and the flocks, take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for the Lord's wave offering. Of the children of Israel's half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, and of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites, who keep the charge of the tent of the Lord.” Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
[Accounting of the Plunder]
Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very large multitude of livestock, and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, and beheld that the place was a place for livestock, the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the congregation, saying, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, the land which the Lord struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not bring us over the Jordan.” Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? Why discourage the hearts of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? Thus your fathers did, when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them. The Lord's anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, for they have not wholly followed me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, who have wholly followed the Lord.’ The Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the desert for forty years, until all the generation, who had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed. Behold, you have taken your fathers' place, a harvest of sinful men, to yet add to the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel. For if you turn away from following him, he will yet again leave them in the desert, and you will destroy all this people.”
They came near to him, and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have inherited, every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.” Moses said to them, “If you will do this; if you will arm yourselves to go before the Lord to war, and every armed man of you passes over the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you shall return and be guiltless toward the Lord, and toward Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be certain that your sin will find you out. Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep, and do what has proceeded out of your mouth.” The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock, shall be there in the cities of Gilead, but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord says.”
So Moses gave charge concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle, before the Lord, and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession, but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so will we do. We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”
[Division of this land to Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh]
These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. Moses wrote down their points of departure for each journey by the command of the Lord, and these are their journeys according to their departures.
[Specific Itinerary]
The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their carved idols, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places, and you shall take possession of the land, and dwell in it, for to you I have given the land to possess it. You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the more you shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer you shall give the less inheritance, wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall you inherit. If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain shall be as pricks in your eyes, and as thorns in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land in which you dwell. It shall happen that as I thought to do to them, so will I do to you.’”
[Division of the Land]
The Lord spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites, out of the inheritance in their possession, cities to dwell in, and fields for the cities round about them, you shall give to the Levites. The cities they shall have to dwell in, and their fields shall be for their livestock, and for their subsistence, and for all their animals. The fields of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits round about. You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall be for them the fields of the cities. The cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, which you have for the manslayer to flee to, and, besides these, you shall give forty-two cities. All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities; these with their fields. Concerning the cities which you shall give out of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few, everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give of his cities to the Levites.”
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there. The cities shall be for you for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment. The cities which you shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge. You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge. For the children of Israel, and for the stranger and for the foreigner living among them, these six cities will be refuge; that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there. But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. If he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death. If he thrust him of hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died, or in enmity struck him with his hand, so that he died; he who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer, the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him. But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or hurled at him anything without lying in wait, or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it toward him, so that he died, and he was not his enemy, nor sought his harm; then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances, and the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he was fled, and he shall dwell there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he fled, and the avenger of blood find him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer; he shall not be guilty of blood, because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return into the land of his possession. These things shall be a statute and ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the word of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; he shall surely be put to death. You shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. So you shall not pollute the land in which you are, for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it except the blood of him who shed it. You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.
The heads of the fathers' houses of the family of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spoke before Moses, and before the princes, the heads of the fathers' houses of the children of Israel, and they said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. If they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then will their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance from the tribe to which they shall belong, so it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. When the jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then will their inheritance be added to the inheritance from the tribe to which they shall belong, so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.” Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks right. This is the thing which the Lord does command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them be married to whom they think best, but only into a family from the tribe of their father shall they be married. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance from the tribe of his fathers. Every daughter, who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife to one of the family from the tribe of her father, that every man of the children of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers. So shall no inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe, for everyone of the tribes of the children of Israel shall hold on to their own inheritance.” As the Lord commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did, for Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to their father's brothers' sons. They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father. These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded through Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
Deuteronomy
These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the desert, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. It happened in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them; 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. Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying, “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough on this mountain, turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you.’ Go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.
I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to bear you myself alone. The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as numerous as the stars of the sky. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you! How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? Take wise men of understanding, well known among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.’ You answered me, and said, ‘The thing which you have spoken is good for us to do.’ So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, well-known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. I charged your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's, and the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.
We traveled from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible desert which you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us, and we came to Kadesh-barnea. I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God gives to us. Behold, the Lord your God has set the land before you, go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you; be not afraid; be not dismayed.’ You all came near to me, and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring back word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come.’ The thing pleased me well, and I took twelve men from among you, one man for every tribe, and they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. They took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, ‘It is a good land which the Lord our God gives to us.’ Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you murmured in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up to? Our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ Then I said to you, ‘Dread them not, nor be afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you, will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the desert, where you have seen how the Lord your God bore you, as a man bears his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.’
Yet in this matter you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you on the way, to seek out for you a place to pitch your tents: in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day. The Lord heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying, ‘Surely not one of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he has trodden on, and to his children’, because he has wholly followed the Lord. Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘You also shall not go in there, Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover your little ones, whom you said would be a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the desert on the way toward the Red Sea.’ Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us.’ You girded on every man his weapons of war, and presumed to go up into the hill country. The Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, Do not go up, nor fight; for I am not with you, lest you be struck before your enemies.’ So I spoke to you, and you did not listen, but you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill country. The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, to Hormah. You returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord did not listen to your voice, nor gave ear to you.
So you dwelt in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you dwelt there. Then we turned, and took our journey into the desert on the way toward the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled Mount Seir many days. The Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘You have circled this mountain long enough, turn north. Command the people, saying, “You are to pass through the border of your brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you, take good heed to yourselves therefore; do not contend with them; for I will not give you their land. No, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, for I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession. You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink.”’ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; he has known your walking through this great desert, these forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.
So we passed by, away from our brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, away from the road of Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber. We turned and passed by way of the desert of Moab. The Lord said to me, ‘Do not bother Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.’ (The Emim lived there before, a people great, and many, and tall, like the Anakim. They also are counted as Rephaim, like the Anakim; but the Moabites call them ‘Emim’. The Horites also lived in Seir before, but the children of Esau succeeded them, and they destroyed them before them, and lived in their place; as Israel did to the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them.)
‘Now rise up, and cross over the brook Zered.’ We crossed over the brook Zered. The days from when we came from Kadesh-barnea until we had crossed over the brook Zered, were thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as the Lord swore to them. Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed. So it happened, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, that the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘You are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab, and when you near the children of Ammon, do not bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you the land of the children of Ammon for a possession, for I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.’ (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim, Rephaim lived therein before, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a people great, and many, and tall, like the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before them, and they succeeded them, and lived in their place; as he did for the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them, and they succeeded them, and lived in their place to this day, and the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and lived in their place.)
‘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. This day I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the nations who are under the whole sky, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.’ I sent messengers out of the desert of Kedemoth to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, ‘Let me pass through your land, I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right nor to the left. You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink, only let me pass through on my feet, as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me, until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God gives us.’ But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as is true this day. The Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.’ Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. The Lord our God delivered him up before us, and we struck him, and his sons, and all his people. We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining, only the livestock we took for plunder to ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The Lord our God delivered up all before us, only to the land of the children of Ammon you did not come near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God forbade us.
Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. The Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ So the Lord our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we struck him until no one was left on his side. We took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides a large number of unwalled towns. We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon, king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. But all the livestock, and the spoil of the cities, we took as plunder for ourselves. 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 (the Sidonians call Hermon, Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir); all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. For only Og, king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was the length of it, and four cubits the width of it, after the cubit of a man.
This land we took possession of at that time, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead, and the cities of it, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites, and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, all Bashan. This is called the land of Rephaim. Jair, the son of Manasseh, took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them (Bashan) after his own name, Havvoth-jair, to this day. I gave Gilead to Machir. To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and the border of it, to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; the Arabah also, and the Jordan and the border of it, from Chinnereth to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward. I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it, you shall pass over armed before your brothers the children of Israel, all the men of valor. But your wives, and your little ones, and your livestock, (I know that you have much livestock), shall abide in your cities which I have given you, until the Lord give rest to your brothers, like he has to you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God gives them beyond the Jordan, then you shall return, every man to his possession, which I have given you.’ I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings, so shall the Lord do to all the kingdoms where you go over. You shall not fear them; for the Lord your God fights for you.’
I begged the Lord at that time, saying, ‘Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can act according to your works, and according to your mighty acts? Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.’ But the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and did not listen to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘Let this suffice you; speak no more to me of this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him, for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see.’ So we abode in the valley over against Beth Peor.
Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, gives you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor; for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from the midst of you. But you who held to the Lord your God are alive, every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land where you go in to possess it. Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as the Lord our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed of yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life, but make them known to your children and your children's children.
The day that you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble before me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ You came near and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. The Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire, you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice. He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, the ten commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it. Take therefore good heed of yourselves, for you saw no manner of form on the day that the Lord spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth, and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky. But the Lord has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day.
Furthermore the Lord 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 the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over, and possess that good land. Take heed of yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make an engraved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God. When you father children, and children's children, and you have been long in the land, and corrupt yourselves, and make an engraved image in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days on it, but shall be utterly destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall lead you away. There you shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which nor see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you shall seek the Lord your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in oppression, and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you shall return to the Lord your God, and listen to his voice, for the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been any such thing as this great thing is, or has been heard like it. Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or has God tried to go and take a nation from the midst of 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 the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God, that there is no one else besides him. Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you, and on earth he made you to see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt: 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 on this day. Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no one else. You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord your God gives you forever.”
[Moses declares 3 cities of refuge]
Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and carefully do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up onto the mountain. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make an engraved image for yourself, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.’ You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your visitor who is within your gates, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm, therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder, nor shall you commit adultery, nor shall you steal, nor shall you bear false witness against your neighbor, nor shall you covet your neighbor's wife, nor shall you desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly on the mountain out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and he added no more. He wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me. It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders, and you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire, we have seen this day that God does speak with man, and he lives. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us, if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore; we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? You go near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and you speak to us all that the Lord our God shall speak to you, and we will hear it, and do it.’ The Lord heard the voice of your words, when you spoke to me, and the Lord 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. Oh that there were such a heart in them always, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them, and with their children forever! Go tell them, “Return to your tents.” But as for you, stand here by me, and I will speak to you all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.’
You shall carefully do therefore as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess. Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it: that you might fear the Lord your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, Israel, and carefully do it; that it may go well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Hear, Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall speak 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be like symbols between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates. It shall be, when the Lord your God shall bring 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 did not build, and houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns dug out, which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant, and you eat and are full, then beware lest you forget the Lord, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God, and him shall you serve, and swear by his name. You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are round about you; for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God, lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
You shall not test the Lord your God, as you tested him in Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you. You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord; that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken. When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances mean, which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ Then you shall tell your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's bondservants in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and the Lord showed great and awesome signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes, and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. The Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as on this day. It shall be righteousness to us, if we carefully do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’
When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you: the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, you shall utterly destroy them, you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them, nor shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall you take to your son. For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods, so that the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them, you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their engraved images with fire. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
The Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers. The Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him; he will repay him to his face. You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them. It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers, and he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples, there shall not be male or female barren among you, nor among your livestock. The Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, will he put on you, but he will lay them on all those who hate you. You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you.
If you shall say in your heart, ‘These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?’ You shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt, the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. You shall not be scared of them; for the Lord your God is in the midst of you, a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will cast out those nations before you, little by little. You will not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you. The Lord your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they be destroyed. He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under the sky. No man will be able to withstand you, until you have destroyed them. The engraved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a thing devoted to destruction.
The entire commandment which I command you this day, you shall carefully do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers. You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the desert, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not grow old on you, nor did your foot swell, these forty years. You shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. You shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the Lord your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs, and underground water flowing into valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey; a land in which you shall eat bread without scarcity, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper. You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you.
Beware lest you forget the Lord your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day, lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; who led you through the great and terrible desert, with its fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought forth water out of the rock of flint, who fed you in the desert with manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you, and that he might test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as on this day. It shall be, if you shall forget the Lord your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.
Hear, Israel, you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ Know therefore this day, that the Lord your God is he who goes before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you. So shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as the Lord has spoken to you. Do not speak in your heart, after that the Lord your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, ‘For my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land.’ In reality it is for the wickedness of these nations the Lord drives them out before you. Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations will the Lord your God drive them out before you, that he may establish the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Know therefore, that the Lord your God does not give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. Remember, do not forget, how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the desert. From the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Also at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was angry with you to destroy you. When I was gone up onto the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. The Lord delivered to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spoke with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, get down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten image.’
Furthermore the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky, and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God: you had made a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you. I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which the Lord was angry against you to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was very angry with Aaron to destroy him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust, and I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain.
At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you provoked the Lord to wrath. When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you’, you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe him, nor listened to his voice. You have been rebellious against the Lord from the first day that I knew you. So I fell down before the Lord; forty days and forty nights I fell down, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. I prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘Lord God, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, lest the land from which you brought us says, ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.’ Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.
At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Hew two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of wood. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. He wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spoke to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them to me. I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are as the Lord commanded me. The children of Israel traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried, and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his place. From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers: the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God spoke to him. I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me that time also; the Lord would not destroy you. The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, take your journey before the people, and they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them.’
Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is there in. Yet the Lord had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, you above all peoples, as on this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stiff-necked. For the Lord your God, is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who neither regards persons nor takes bribes. He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the immigrant, in giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the immigrant, for you were immigrants in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God; him shall you serve, and to him shall you hold fast, and by his name shall you swear. He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy people, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.
Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, always. Know this day, for I do not speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land, and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea to drown them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day, and what he did to you in the desert, until you came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel, but your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which he did.
Therefore shall you keep the entire commandment which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, which you go over to possess, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land, which you go in to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence you came, where you sowed your seed, and watered it with your foot, like an herb garden, but the land, which you go over to possess, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of the sky, a land which the Lord your God cares for, the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the early rain and the late rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil. I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them, and the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord gives you.
Therefore lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be like symbols between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking 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. You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates, that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. For if you shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to hold fast to him; then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours, from the desert, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, to the western sea shall be your border. There shall not be a man able to withstand you. The Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread on, as he has spoken to you.
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse, the blessing, if you shall listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, and the curse, if you shall not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known. It shall happen, when the Lord your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah, across from Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? For you are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell therein. You shall carefully do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.
[Laws concerning Right Worship]
[Laws concerning Meat]
[Laws concerning those who would draw people away from the true worship]
[Various Laws]
[Law of Tithe]
At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. This is the manner of the release, every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. Of an immigrant you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. However there shall be no poor among you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, if only you diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to carefully do all this commandment which I command you this day. For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. If there be among you a poor man, one of your brothers, within any of your gates in your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him what is sufficient for his need which he lacks. Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand’, and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and it be sin for you. You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to. For the poor will never cease out of the land, therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.’
[Laws concerning Slaves and Firstborn Animals]
[Laws concerning Feast Days]
[Laws concerning the Justice System]
[Laws for a Hypothetical King]
[Laws for Levites]
[Laws About Sorcery]
The Lord your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you shall listen; according to all that you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire any longer, lest I die.’ The Lord said to me, ‘They have well said what they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, who shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that very prophet shall die.’ If you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’, when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not follow, nor happen, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him.
[Laws about Manslaughter]
[Various Laws]
[Laws about the Army]
[Laws for Conquered Cities]
[Laws for Unsolved Murders]
[Laws for Captured Wives and Disobedient Children]
[Various Laws]
[Sexual Laws]
[Laws concerning who can enter the Temple]
[Various Laws]
[Divorce Laws]
[Various Laws]
[Laws concerning Firstfruits]
This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances, you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul. You have declared this day that the Lord is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. The Lord has declared this day that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments, he will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he has spoken.” Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandment which I command you this day. It shall be on the day when you pass over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up great stones for yourself, and plaster them with plaster, and you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go into the land which the Lord your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. It shall be, when you have passed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster. There you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones, you shall lift up no iron tool on them. You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, and you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God. You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”
Moses and the Levite priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Keep silence, and listen, Israel, this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day.” Moses charged the people the same day, saying, “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you are passed over the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin. These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. The Levites shall declare, and tell all the men of Israel with a loud voice, ‘Cursed be the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who removes his neighbor's landmark.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who makes the blind to wander off the road.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who perverts justice due to the immigrant, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's skirt.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who lies with any manner of animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law to do them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
If you listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, to carefully do all his commandments which I command you this day, It shall happen that the Lord your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall the fruit of your body be, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. Blessed shall your basket be and your kneading trough. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They shall come out against you one way, and shall flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways. All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you his good storehouse in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hands, and you shall lend to many nations, and you shall not borrow. The Lord will make you the head, and not the tail, and you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, to carefully do them, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to carefully do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall your basket be and your kneading trough. Cursed shall the fruit of your body be, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke, in all that you put your hand to, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly, because of the evil of your doings, by which you have forsaken me. The Lord will make the pestilence cleave to you, until he has consumed you from off the land, where you go in to possess it. The Lord will strike you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish. Your sky that is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be iron. The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from the sky it shall come down on you, until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them, and shall flee seven ways before them, and you shall be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. Your dead body shall be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with the tumors, and with the scabs, and with the itch, of which you cannot be healed. The Lord will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with confusion of heart, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways, and you shall be oppressed and robbed always, and there shall be no one to save you. You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her, you shall build a house, and not dwell therein, you shall plant a vineyard and not use the fruit of it. Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall be violently taken away from before your face and not restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to save you. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day, and there shall be nothing within the power of your hands. The fruit of your ground, and all your labors, a nation which you do not know will eat up, and you shall be oppressed and crushed always, so that you shall be mad for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. The Lord will strike you in the knees, and on the legs, with a serious boil, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
The Lord will bring you, and your king whom you shall set over you, to a nation that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, and there you shall serve other gods: wood and stone. You shall become a monster, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where the Lord shall lead you away. You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olive shall fall off. You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. All your trees and the fruit of your ground shall the locust possess. The immigrant who is in the midst of you shall rise above you higher and higher, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him, he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. All these curses shall come on you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you, and they shall be on you as a sign and wonder, and on your seed forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck, until he has destroyed you.
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand, a hard-faced nation that shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young, and shall eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also shall not leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. They shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land, and they shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you. You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, so that he will not give to any of them some of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not dare to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, for she shall secretly eat her placenta and the children she bears for want of all things in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your gates.
If you will not carefully do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear the glorious and fearful name of the Lord your God, then the Lord will make your diseases awful, and the diseases of your seed, great diseases, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of, and they shall cleave to you. Also every sickness, and every disease, which is not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring them on you, until you are destroyed. You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky for multitude, because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God. It shall happen that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you, and you shall be plucked from the land which you go in to possess. The Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers. Among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul, and your life shall hang in doubt before you, and you shall fear night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, “Would that it were evening!” and in the evening you shall say, “Would that it were morning!”, for the fear of your heart which you shall fear, and for the sights your eyes shall see. The Lord will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way which I said to you, ‘You shall not it ever see it again’, and there you shall sell yourselves to your enemies for bondservants and for bondmaids, and no man shall buy you.”
These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders, but the Lord has not given you to this day a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear. ‘I have led you forty years in the desert, your clothes have not worn old on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” When you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us in battle, and we struck them, and we took their land, and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. You stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and your immigrant who is in the midst of your camps, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water, that you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into his oath, which the Lord your God makes with you this day, that he may establish you this day to himself for a people, and that he may be to you a God, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Nor with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him who stands here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him who is not here with us this day for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed, and you have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them, lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations.
Lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood, and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry’. The Lord will not pardon him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under the sky. The Lord will set him apart as evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law. The generation to come, your children who shall rise up after you, and the immigrant who comes from a far land, shall say, when they see the diseases of that land, and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick, and that the whole land is sulfur, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath, all the nations shall say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ Then men shall say, ‘It is because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods, and worshiped them, gods that they did not know, and that he had not given to them. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book, and the Lord dug them up out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as on this day.’ The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
It shall happen, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul, that then the Lord your God will reverse your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back, and the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and he will do you good, and multiply you more than your fathers. The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts, and the hearts of your offspring, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live. The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, those who persecuted you. You shall return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command you this day. The Lord your God will make you fruitful in all the work of your hands, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice in prospering you, as he rejoiced in your fathers, if you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.
For this commandment with which I command you this day is not too hard for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us hear it, that we may do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us hear it, that we may do it?’ But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it. Behold, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go in to possess. But if your hearts turn away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them, I denounce to you this day; you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse, therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed: to love the Lord your God, to obey his voice, and to hold fast to him, for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old this day. I can no longer go out and come in, and the Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ The Lord your God will go over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them, and Joshua shall go over before you, as the Lord has spoken. The Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, which he destroyed. The Lord will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to the entire commandment which I have commanded you. Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, nor be scared of them, for the Lord your God goes with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you.” Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. The Lord goes before you; he will be with you. He will not fail you, nor forsake you. Be not afraid, nor be dismayed.” Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which he shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and your immigrant who is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land which you go over the Jordan to possess.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach when you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him the charge.” Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. The Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the tent. The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people will rise up, and whore after the strange gods among them of the land where they go, and they will forsake me and break my covenant, which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them, so that they will say on that day, ‘Have not these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’ I will surely hide my face on that day for all the evil which they shall have worked, in that they are turned to other gods. Now therefore write you this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel, put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel, for when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten their fill and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. It shall happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten in the mouths of their seed, for I know their inclinations which they even have this day, before I have brought them into the land about which I swore.” So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. The Lord instructed Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”
It happened, when Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, “Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck, behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the Lord, and how much more after my death? Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will happen to you in the latter days, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”
Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished. “Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak.
Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
My doctrine shall drop as the rain.
My speech shall condense as the dew,
as the small rain on the tender grass,
as the showers on the herb.
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Ascribe greatness to our God!
The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice,
a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
They have dealt corruptly with him,
they are not his children; it is their blemish.
They are a perverse and crooked generation.
Do you thus requite the Lord, foolish people and unwise?
Is he not your father who created you?
He has made you, and established you.
Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations.
Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he separated the children of men,
he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.
For the Lord's portion is his people.
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
He found him in a desert land, in the waste, howling desert.
He surrounded him. He cared for him.
He kept him as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young,
he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers.
The Lord alone led him. There was no foreign god with him.
He made him ride on the high places of the earth.
He ate the increase of the field.
He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock,
butter of the herd, and milk of the flock,
with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan, and goats, with the finest wheat.
From the blood of the grape you drank wine.
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked.
You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek.
Then he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
With strange gods, they moved him to jealousy.
They provoked him to anger with abominations.
They sacrificed to demons, which were no gods,
to gods that they did not know,
to new gods that came up recenty, which your fathers did not fear.
Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful,
and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
The Lord saw it, and abhorred them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
He said, I will hide my face from them.
I will see what their end shall be, for they are a very perverse generation,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.
They have moved me to jealousy with what is not God.
They have provoked me to anger with their vanities.
I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people.
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled in my anger, and burns to the lowest Sheol,
It devours the earth with its increase,
and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.
I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
They shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction.
I will send the teeth of animals on them,
with the venom of crawling things of the dust.
Outside the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers, terror:
on both young man and virgin, the suckling with the gray-haired man.
I said, ‘I will scatter them afar.
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,
were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,’
lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say,
‘Our hand is exalted, the Lord has not done all this.’
For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them.
Oh that they were wise, so that they understood this,
that they would consider their latter end!
How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had delivered them up?
For their rock is not as our Rock, our enemies themselves being judges.
For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poisonous grapes; their clusters are bitter.
Their wine is the venom of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?
Vengeance is mine; I will repay.
At the time when their foot slides, for the day of their calamity is at hand.
The things that have come on them shall make haste.
For the Lord will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone.
There is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
He will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection. See now that I, I, am he.
There is no god with me.
I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal.
There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say,
‘As I live forever, if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand will take hold of judgment.
I will render vengeance to my adversaries and will repay those who hate me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood.
My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the head of the leaders of the enemy.
Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants.
He will repays those who hate him,
and will make expiation for his land, for his people.”
Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel; He said to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you this day, which you shall command your children to carefully do, all the words of this law. For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life, and by this you shall prolong your days in the land, which you go over the Jordan to possess.”
The Lord spoke to Moses that same day, saying, “Go up on this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession, and die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people, because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the desert of Zin, because you did not sanctify me in the midst of the children of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go into the land which I give the children of Israel.”
This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. He said, “The Lord came from Sinai, and rose from Seir on us. He shone forth from Mount Paran. He came from the ten thousands of holy ones. At his right hand was a fiery law for them. Yes, he loves the people. All his holy ones are in your hand. They sat down at your feet. Everyone shall receive your words. Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob. Thus the Lord was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.”
[Blessings for each Tribe]
There is none like God, Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens for your help, in his excellency on the skies. The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy’. Israel dwells in safety; the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens drop down dew. You are happy, Israel. Who is like you? A people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency! Your enemies shall submit themselves to you. You shall tread on their high places.”
Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. The Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, all the way to Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the hinder sea, and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. The Lord said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab across from Beth-peor, but no one knows the location of his tomb to this day. Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor weakened. The children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, then the days of weeping in mourning for Moses were ended. Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him, and the children of Israel listened to him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all the mighty power, and in all the great terror, which Moses worked in the sight of all Israel.
