Numbers Chapter 34
The limits of Chanaan; with the names of the men that make the division of it.
34:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
34:2. Command the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you are entered into the land of Chanaan, and it shall be fallen into your possession by lot, it shall be bounded by these limits:
34:3. The south side shall begin from the wilderness of Sin, which is by Edom: and shall have the most salt sea for its furthest limits eastward:
The most salt sea... The lake of Sodom, otherwise called the Dead Sea.
34:4. Which limits shall go round on the south side by the ascent of the Scorpion and so into Senna, and reach toward the south as far as Cadesbarne, from whence the frontiers shall go out to the town called Adar, and shall reach as far as Asemona.
The Scorpion... A mountain so called from having a great number of scorpions.
34:5. And the limits shall fetch a compass from Asemona to the torrent of Egypt, and shall end in the shore of the great sea.
The great sea... The Mediterranean.
34:6. And the west side shall begin from the great sea, and the same shall be the end thereof.
34:7. But toward the north side the borders shall begin from the great sea, reaching to the most high mountain,
The most high mountain... Libanus.
34:8. From which they shall come to Emath, as far as the borders of Sedada:
34:9. And the limits shall go as far as Zephrona, and the village of Enan. These shall be the borders on the north side.
34:10. From thence they shall mark out the grounds towards the east side from the village of Enan unto Sephama.
34:11. And from Sephama the bounds shall go down to Rebla over against the fountain of Daphnis: from thence they shall come eastward to the sea of Cenereth,
Sea of Cenereth... This is the sea of Galilee, illustrated by the miracles of our Lord.
34:12. And shall reach as far as the Jordan, and at the last shall be closed in by the most salt sea. This shall be your land with its borders round about.
34:13. And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: This shall be the land which you shall possess by lot, and which the Lord hath commanded to be given to the nine tribes, and to the half tribe.
34:14. For the tribe of the children of Ruben by their families, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the number of their kindreds, and half of the tribe of Manasses,
34:15. That is, two tribes and a half, have received their portion beyond the Jordan over against Jericho at the east side.
34:16. And the Lord said to Moses:
34:17. These are the names of the men, that shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Josue the son of Nun,
34:18. And one prince of every tribe,
34:19. Whose names are these: Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone.
34:20. Of the tribe of Simeon, Samuel the son of Ammiud.
34:21. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chaselon.
34:22. Of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bocci the son of Jogli.
34:23. Of the children of Joseph of the tribe of Manasses, Hanniel the son of Ephod.
34:24. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Camuel the son of Sephtan.
34:25. Of the tribe of Zabulon, Elisaphan the son of Pharnach.
34:26. Of the tribe of Issachar, Phaltiel the prince, the son of Ozan.
34:27. Of the tribe of Aser, Ahiud the son of Salomi.
34:28. Of the tribe of Nephtali: Phedael the son of Ammiud.
34:29. These are they Whom the Lord hath commanded to divide the land of Chanaan to the children of Israel.
Numbers Chapter 35
Cities are appointed for the Levites. Of which six are to be the cities of refuge.
35:1. And the Lord spoke these things also to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, over against Jericho:
35:2. Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites out of their possessions,
35:3. Cities to dwell in, and their suburbs round about: that they may abide in the towns, and the suburbs may be for them cattle and beasts:
35:4. Which suburbs shall reach from the walls of the cities outward, a thousand paces on every side:
35:5. Toward the east shall be two thousand cubits: and toward the south in like manner shall be two thousand cubits: toward the sea also, which looketh to the west, shall be the same extent: and the north side shall be bounded with the like limits. And the cities shall be in the midst, and the suburbs without.
35:6. And among the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, six shall be separated for refuge to fugitives, that he who hath shed blood may flee to them: and besides these there shall be other forty-two cities,
35:7. That is, in all forty-eight with their suburbs.
35:8. And of these cities which shall be given out of the possessions of the children of Israel, from them that have more, more shall be taken: and from them that have less, fewer. Each shall give towns to the Levites according to the extent of their inheritance.
35:9. The Lord said to Moses:
35:10. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan into the land of Chanaan,
35:11. Determine what cities shall be for the refuge of fugitives, who have shed blood against their will.
35:12. And when the fugitive shall be in them, the kinsman of him that is slain may not have power to kill him, until he stand before the multitude, and his cause be judged.
35:13. And of those cities, that are separated for the refuge of fugitives,
35:14. Three shall be beyond the Jordan, and three in the land of Chanaan,
35:15. As well for the children of Israel as for strangers and sojourners, that he may flee to them, who hath shed blood against his will.
35:16. If any man strike with iron, and he die that was struck: he shall be guilty of murder, and he himself shall die.
35:17. If he throw a stone, and he that is struck die: he shall be punished in the same manner.
35:18. If he that is struck with wood die: he shall be revenged by the blood of him that struck him.
35:19. The kinsman of him that was slain, shall kill the murderer: as soon as he apprehendeth him, he shall kill him.
35:20. If through hatred any one push a man, or fling any thing at him with ill design:
35:21. Or being his enemy, strike him with his hand, and he die: the striker shall be guilty of murder: the kinsman of him that was slain as soon as he findeth him, shall kill him.
35:22. But if by chance medley, and without hatred,
35:23. And enmity, he do any of these things,
35:24. And this be proved in the hearing of the people, and the cause be debated between him that struck, and the next of kin:
35:25. The innocent shall be delivered from the hand of the revenger, and shall be brought back by sentence into the city, to which he had fled, and he shall abide there until the death of the high priest, that is anointed with the holy oil.
Until the death, etc... This mystically signified that our deliverance was to be effected by the death of Christ, the high priest and the anointed of God.
35:26. If the murderer be found without the limits of the cities that are appointed for the banished,
35:27. And be struck by him that is the avenger of blood: he shall not be guilty that killed him.
35:28. For the fugitive ought to have stayed in the city until the death of the high priest: and after he is dead, then shall the manslayer return to his own country.
35:29. These things shall be perpetual, and for an ordinance in all your dwellings.
35:30. The murderer shall be punished by witnesses: none shall be condemned upon the evidence of one man.
35:31. You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith.
35:32. The banished and fugitives before the death of the high priest may by no means return into their own cities.
35:33. Defile not the land of your habitation, which is stained with the blood of the innocent: neither can it otherwise be expiated, but by his blood that hath shed the blood of another.
35:34. And thus shall your possession be cleansed, myself abiding with you. For I am the Lord that dwell among the children of Israel.
Numbers Chapter 36
That the inheritances may not be alienated from one tribe to another, all are to marry within their own tribes.
36:1. And the princes of the families of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, of the stock of the children of Joseph, came and spoke to Moses before the princes of Israel, and said:
36:2. The Lord hath commanded thee, my lord, that thou shouldst divide the land by lot to the children of Israel, and that thou shouldst give to the daughters of Salphaad our brother the possession due to their father:
36:3. Now if men of another tribe take them to wives, their possession will follow them, and being transferred to another tribe, will be a diminishing of our inheritance.
36:4. And so it shall cone to pass, that when the jubilee, the is, the fiftieth year of remission, is come, the distribution made by the lots shall be confounded, and the possession of the one shall pass to the others.
36:5. Moses answered the children of Israel, and said by the command of the Lord: The tribe of the children of Joseph hath spoken rightly.
36:6. And this is the law promulgated by the Lord touching the daughters of Salphaad: Let them marry to whom they will, only so that it be to men of their own tribe.
36:7. Lest the possession of the children of Israel be mingled from tribe to tribe. For all men shall marry wives of their own tribe and kindred:
36:8. And all women shall take husbands of the same tribe: that the inheritance may remain in the families.
36:9. And that the tribes be not mingled one with another, but remain so
36:10. As they were separated by the Lord. And the daughters of Salphaad did as was commanded:
36:11. And Maala, and Thersa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Noa were married to the sons of their uncle by their father
36:12. Of the family of Manasses, who was the son of Joseph: and the possession that had been allotted to them, remained in the tribe and family of their father.
36:13. These are the commandments and judgment, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel, in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho.
This Book is called DEUTERONOMY, which signifies a SECOND LAW, because it repeats and inculcates the ordinances formerly given on mount Sinai, with other precepts not expressed before. The Hebrews, from the first words in the book, call it ELLE HADDEBARIM.
Deuteronomy Chapter 1
A repetition of what passed at Sinai and Cadesbarne: and of the people's murmuring and their punishment.
1:1. These are the words, which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the plain wilderness, over against the Red Sea, beetween Pharan and Thophel and Laban and Haseroth, where there is very much gold.
1:2. Eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Cadesbarne.
1:3. In the fortieth year, the eleventh month, the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them:
1:4. After that he had slain Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon: and Og king of Basan who abode in Astaroth, and in Edrai,
1:5. Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab. And Moses began to expound the law, and to say:
1:6. The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: You have stayed long enough in this mountain:
1:7. Turn you, and come to the mountain of the Amorrhites, and to the other places that are next to it, the plains and the hills and the vales towards the south, and by the sea shore, the land of the Chanaanites, and of Libanus, as far as the great river Euphrates.
1:8. Behold, said he, I have delivered it to you: go in and possess it, concerning which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them, and to their seed after them.
1:9. And I said to you at that time:
1:10. I alone am not able to bear you: for the Lord your God hath multiplied you, and you are this day as the stars of heaven, for multitude.
1:11. (The Lord God of your fathers add to this number many thousands, and bless you as he hath spoken.)
1:12. I alone am not able to bear your business, and the charge of you and your differences.
1:13. Let me have from among you wise and understanding men, and such whose conversation is approved among your tribes, that I may appoint them your rulers.
1:14. Then you answered me: The thing is good which thou meanest to do.
1:15. And I took out of your tribes men wise and honourable, and appointed them rulers, tribunes, and centurions, and officers over fifties, and over tens, who might teach you all things.
1:16. And I commanded them, saying: Hear them, and judge that which is just: whether he be one of your country, or a stranger.
1:17. There shall be no difference of persons, you shall hear the little as well as the great: neither shall you respect any man's person, because it is the judgment of God. And if any thing seem hard to you, refer it to me, and I will hear it.
1:18. And I commanded you all things that you were to do.
1:19. And departing from Horeb, we passed through the terrible and vast wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorrhite, as the Lord our God had commanded us. And when we were come into Cadesbarne,
1:20. I said to you: You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite, which the Lord our God will give to us.
1:21. See the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord our God hath spoken to thy fathers: fear not, nor be any way discouraged.
1:22. And you came all to me, and said: Let us send men who may view the land, and bring us word what way we shall go up, and to what cities we shall go.
1:23. And because the saying pleased me, I sent of you twelve men, one of every tribe:
1:24. Who, when they had set forward and had gone up to the mountains, came as far as the valley of the cluster: and having viewed the land,
1:25. Taking of the fruits thereof, to shew its fertility, they brought them to us, and said: The land is good, which the Lord our God will give us.
1:26. And you would not go up, but being incredulous to the word of the Lord our God,
1:27. You murmured in your tents, and said: The Lord hateth us, and therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and destroy us.
1:28. Whither shall we go up? the messengers have terrified our hearts, saying: The multitude is very great, and taller than we: the cities are great, and walled up to the sky, we have seen the sons of the Enacims there.
Walled up to the sky... A figurative expression, signifying the walls to be very high.
1:29. And I said to you: Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them:
1:30. The Lord God, who is your leader, himself will fight for you, as he did in Egypt in the sight of all.
1:31. And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this place.
1:32. And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God,
1:33. Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you should pitch your tents, in the night shewing you the way by fire, and in the day by the pillar of a cloud.
1:34. And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, he was angry and swore, and said:
1:35. Not one of the men of this wicked generation shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers:
1:36. Except Caleb the son of Jephone: for he shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath followed the Lord.
1:37. Neither is his indignation against the people to be wondered at, since the Lord was angry with me also on your account, and said: Neither shalt thou go in thither.
1:38. But Josue the son of Nun, thy minister, he shall go in for thee: exhort and encourage him, and he shall divide the land by lot to Israel.
1:39. Your children, of whom you said that they should be led away captives, and your sons who know not this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in: and to them I will give the land, and they shall possess it.
1:40. But return you and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
1:41. And you answered me: We have sinned against the Lord: we will go up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded. And when you went ready armed unto the mountain,
1:42. The Lord said to me: Say to them: Go not up, and fight not, for I am not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.
1:43. I spoke, and you hearkened not: but resisting the commandment of the Lord, and swelling with pride, you went up into the mountain.
1:44. And the Amorrhite that dwelt in the mountains coming out, and meeting you, chased you, as bees do: and made slaughter of you from Seir as far as Horma.
1:45. And when you returned and wept before the Lord, he heard you not, neither would he yield to your voice.
1:46. So you abode in Cadesbarne a long time.
Deuteronomy Chapter 2
They are forbid to fight against the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites. Their victory over Sehon king of Hesebon.
2:1. And departing from thence we came into the wilderness that leadeth to the Red Sea, as the Lord had spoken to me: and we compassed mount Seir a long time.
2:2. And the Lord said to me:
2:3. You have compassed this mountain long enough: go toward the north:
2:4. And command thou the people, saying: You shall pass by the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you.
2:5. Take ye then good heed that you stir not against them. For I will not give you of their land so much as the step of one foot can tread upon, because I have given mount Seir to Esau, for a possession.
2:6. You shall buy meats of them for money and shall eat: you shall draw waters for money, and shall drink.
2:7. The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in every work of thy hands: the Lord thy God dwelling with thee, knoweth thy journey, how thou hast passed through this great wilderness, for forty years, and thou hast wanted nothing.
2:8. And when we had passed by our brethren the children of Esau, that dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath and from Asiongaber, we came to the way that leadeth to the desert of Moab.
2:9. And the Lord said to me: Fight not against the Moabites, neither go to battle against them: for I will not give thee any of their land, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot in possession.
2:10. The Emims first were the inhabitants thereof, a people great, and strong, and so tall, that like the race of the Enacims,
2:11. They were esteemed as giants, and were like the sons of the Enacims. But the Moabites call them Emims.
2:12. The Horrhites also formerly dwelt in Seir: who being driven out and destroyed, the children of Esau dwelt there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave him.
2:13. Then rising up to pass the torrent Zared, we came to it.
2:14. And the time that we journeyed from Cadesbarne till we passed over the torrent Zared, was thirty-eight years: until all the generation of the men that were fit for war was consumed out of the camp, as the Lord had sworn:
2:15. For his hand was against them, that they should perish from the midst of the camp.
2:16. And after all the fighting men were dead,
2:17. The Lord spoke to me, saying:
2:18. Thou shalt pass this day the borders of Moab, the city named Ar:
2:19. And when thou comest nigh the frontiers of the children of Ammon, take heed thou fight not against them, nor once move to battle: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.
2:20. It was accounted a land of giants: and giants formerly dwelt in it, whom the Ammonites call Zomzommims,
2:21. A people great and many, and of tall stature, like the Enacims whom the Lord destroyed before their face: and he made them to dwell in their stead,
2:22. As he had done in favour of the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, destroying the Horrhites, and delivering their land to them, which they possess to this day.
2:23. The Hevites also, that dwelt in Haserim as far as Gaza, were expelled by the Cappadocians: who came out of Cappadocia, and destroyed them and dwelt in their stead.
2:24. Arise ye, and pass the torrent Arnon: Behold I have delivered into thy hand Sehon king of Hesebon the Amorrhite, and begin thou to possess his land and make war against him.
2:25. This day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee upon the nations that dwell under the whole heaven: that when they hear thy name they may fear and tremble, and be in pain like women in travail.
2:26. So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Cademoth to Sehon the king of Hesebon with peaceable words, saying:
2:27. We will pass through thy land, we will go along by the highway: we will not turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left.
2:28. Sell us meat for money, that we may eat: give us water for money and so we will drink. We only ask that thou wilt let us pass through,
2:29. As the children of Esau have done, that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, that abide in Ar: until we come to the Jordan, and pass to the land which the Lord our God will give us.
2:30. And Sehon the king of Hesebon would not let us pass: because the Lord thy God had hardened his spirit, and fixed his heart, that he might be delivered into thy hands, as now thou seest.
Hardened, etc... That is, in punishment of his past sins he left him to his own stubborn and perverse disposition, which drew him to his ruin. See the note on Ex. 7.3.
2:31. And the Lord said to me: Behold I have begun to deliver unto thee Sehon and his land, begin to possess it.
2:32. And Sehon came out to meet us with all his people to fight at Jasa.
2:33. And the Lord our God delivered him to us: and we slew him with his sons and all his people.
2:34. And we took all his cities at that time, killing the inhabitants of them, men and women and children. We left nothing of them:
2:35. Except the cattle which came to the share of them that took them: and the spoils of the cities, which we took:
2:36. From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, a town that is situate in a valley, as far as Galaad. There was not a village or city, that escaped our hands: the Lord our God delivered all unto us:
2:37. Except the land of the children of Ammon, to which we approached not: and all that border upon the torrent Jeboc, and the cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God forbade us.
Deuteronomy Chapter 3
The victory over Og king of Basan. Ruben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasses receive their possession on the other side of Jordan.
3:1. Then we turned and went by the way of Basan: and Og the king of Basan came out to meet us with his people to fight in Edrai.
3:2. And the Lord said to me: Fear him not: because he is delivered into thy hand, with all his people and his land: and thou shalt do to him as thou hast done to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon.
3:3. So the Lord our God delivered into our hands, Og also, the king of Basan, and all his people: and we utterly destroyed them,
3:4. Wasting all his cities at one time, there was not a town that escaped us: sixty cities, all the country of Argob the kingdom of Og in Basan.
3:5. All the cities were fenced with very high walls, and with gates and bars, besides innumerable towns that had no walls.
3:6. And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to Sehon the king of Hesebon, destroying every city, men and women and children:
3:7. But the cattle and the spoils of the cities we took for our prey.
3:8. And we took at that time the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were beyond the Jordan: from the torrent Arnon unto the mount Hermon,
3:9. Which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorrhites Sanir:
3:10. All the cities that are situate in the plain, and all the land of Galaad and Basan as far as Selcha and Edrai, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan.
3:11. For only Og king of Basan remained of the race of the giants. His bed of iron is shewn, which is in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, being nine cubits long, and four broad after the measure of the cubit of a man's hand.
3:12. And we possessed the land at that time from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, unto the half of mount Galaad: and I gave the cities thereof to Ruben and Gad.
3:13. And I delivered the other part of Galaad, and all Basan the kingdom of Og to the half tribe of Manasses, all the country of Argob: and all Basan is called the Land of giants.
3:14. Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the country of Argob unto the borders of Gessuri, and Machati. And he called Basan by his own name, Havoth Jair, that is to say, the towns of Jair, until this present day.
3:15. To Machir also I gave Galaad.
3:16. And to the tribes of Ruben and Gad I gave of the land of Galaad as far as the torrent Arnon, half the torrent, and the confines even unto the torrent Jeboc, which is the border of the children of Ammon:
3:17. And the plain of the wilderness, and the Jordan, and the borders of Cenereth unto the sea of the desert, which is the most salt sea, to the foot of mount Phasga eastward.
3:18. And I commanded you at that time, saying: The Lord your God giveth you this land for an inheritance, go ye well appointed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the strong men of you.
3:19. Leaving your wives and children and cattle. For I know you have much cattle, and they must remain in the cities, which I have delivered to you.
3:20. Until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given to you: and they also possess the land, which he will give them beyond the Jordan: then shall every man return to his possession, which I have given you.
3:21. I commanded Josue also at that time, saying: Thy eyes have seen what the Lord your God hath done to these two kings: so will he do to all the kingdoms to which thou shalt pass.
3:22. Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you.
3:23. And I besought the Lord at that time, saying:
3:24. Lord God, thou hast begun to shew unto thy servant thy greatness, and most mighty hand, for there is no other God either in heaven or earth, that is able to do thy works, or to be compared to thy strength.
3:25. I will pass over therefore, and will see this excellent land beyond the Jordan, and this goodly mountain, and Libanus.
3:26. And the Lord was angry with me on your account and heard me not, but said to me: It is enough: speak no more to me of this matter.
3:27. Go up to the top of Phasga, and cast thy eyes round about to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and behold it, for thou shalt not pass this Jordan.
3:28. Command Josue, and encourage and strengthen him: for he shall go before this people, and shall divide unto them the land which thou shalt see.
3:29. And we abode in the valley over against the temple of Phogor.
Deuteronomy Chapter 4
Moses exhorteth the people to keep God's commandments: particularly to fly idolatry. Appointeth three cities of refuge, on that side of the Jordan.
4:1. And now, O Israel, hear the commandments and judgments which I teach thee: that doing them, thou mayst live, and entering in mayst possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers will give you.
4:2. You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it: keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
4:3. Your eyes have seen all that the Lord hath done against Beelphegor, how he hath destroyed all his worshippers from among you.
4:4. But you that adhere to the Lord your God, are all alive until this present day.
4:5. You know that I have taught you statutes and justices, as the Lord my God hath commanded me: so shall you do them in the land which you shall possess:
4:6. And you shall observe, and fulfil them in practice. For this is your wisdom, and understanding in the sight of nations, that hearing all these precepts, they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation.
4:7. Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions.
4:8. For what other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies, and just judgments, and all the law, which I will set forth this day before our eyes?
4:9. Keep thyself therefore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons,
4:10. From the day in which thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Call together the people unto me, that they may hear my words, and may learn to fear me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach their children.
4:11. And you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it.
4:12. And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all.
4:13. And he shewed you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ten words that he wrote in two tables of stone.
4:14. And he commanded me at that time that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you shall do in the land, that you shall possess.
4:15. Keep therefore your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in the day that the Lord God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire:
4:16. Lest perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven similitude, or image of male or female,
4:17. The similitude of any beasts, that are upon the earth, or of birds, that fly under heaven,
4:18. Or of creeping things, that move on the earth, or of fishes, that abide in the waters under the earth:
4:19. Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore and serve them, which the Lord thy God created for the service of all the nations, that are under heaven.
4:20. But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnaces of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it is this present day.
4:21. And the Lord was angry with me for your words, and he swore that I should not pass over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give you.
4:22. Behold I die in this land, I shall not pass over the Jordan: you shall pass, and possess the goodly land.
4:23. Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God, which he hath made with thee: and make to thyself a graven likeness of those things which the Lord hath forbid to be made:
4:24. Because the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
4:25. If you shall beget sons and grandsons, and abide in the land, and being deceived, make to yourselves any similitude, committing evil before the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath:
4:26. I call this day heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish out of the land, which, when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall possess. You shall not dwell therein long, but the Lord will destroy you,
4:27. And scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you.
4:28. And there you shall serve gods, that were framed with men's hands: wood and stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
4:29. And when thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him: yet so, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul.
4:30. After all the things aforesaid shall find thee, in the latter time thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear his voice.
4:31. Because the Lord thy God is a merciful God: he will not leave thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he swore to thy fathers.
4:32. Ask of the days of old, that have been before thy time from the day that God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to the other end thereof, if ever there was done the like thing, or it hath been known at any time,
4:33. That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as thou hast heard, and lived:
4:34. If God ever did so as to go, and take to himself a nation out of the midst of nations by temptations, signs, and wonders, by fight, and a strong hand, and stretched out arm, and horrible visions according to all the things that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before thy eyes.
4:35. That thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and there is no other besides him.
4:36. From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might teach thee. And upon earth he shewed thee his exceeding great fire, and thou didst hear his words out of the midst of the fire,
4:37. Because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he brought thee out of Egypt, going before thee with his great power,
4:38. To destroy at thy coming very great nations, and stronger than thou art, and to bring thee in, and give thee their land for a possession, as thou seest at this present day.
4:39. Know therefore this day, and think in thy heart that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and there is no other.
4:40. Keep his precepts and commandments, which I command thee: that it may be well with thee, and thy children after thee, and thou mayst remain a long time upon the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.
4:41. Then Moses set aside three cities beyond the Jordan at the east side,
4:42. That any one might flee to them who should kill his neighbour unwillingly, and was not his enemy a day or two before, and that he might escape to some one of these cities:
4:43. Bosor in the wilderness, which is situate in the plains of the tribe of Ruben: and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and Golan in Basan, which is in the tribe of Manasses.
4:44. This is the law, that Moses set before the children of Israel,
4:45. And these are the testimonies and ceremonies and judgments, which he spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,
4:46. Beyond the Jordan in the valley over against the temple of Phogor, in the land of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom Moses slew. And the children of Israel coming out of Egypt,
4:47. Possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Basan, of the two kings of the Amorrhites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the rising of the sun:
4:48. From Aroer, which is situate upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, unto mount Sion, which is also called Hermon,
4:49. All the plain beyond the Jordan at the east side, unto the sea of the wilderness, and unto the foot of mount Phasga.
Deuteronomy Chapter 5
The ten commandments are repeated and explained.
5:1. And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the ceremonies and judgments, which I speak in your ears this day: learn them, and fulfil them in work.
5:2. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
5:3. He made not the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and living.
5:4. He spoke to us face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire.
5:5. I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you his words, for you feared the fire, and went not up into the mountain, and he said:
5:6. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
5:7. Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight.
5:8. Thou shalt not make to thy self a graven thing, nor the likeness of any things, that are in heaven above, or that are in the earth beneath, or that abide in the waters under the earth.
5:9. Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me,
5:10. And shewing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love me, and keep my commandments.
5:11. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing.
5:12. Observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.
5:13. Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works.
5:14. The seventh is the day of the sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy beasts, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest, even as thyself.
5:15. Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou shouldst observe the sabbath day.
5:16. Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayst live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.
5:17. Thou shalt not kill.
5:18. Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
5:19. And thou shalt not steal.
5:20. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
5:21. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife: nor his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
5:22. These words the Lord spoke to all the multitude of you in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire and the cloud, and the darkness, with a loud voice, adding nothing more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, which he delivered unto me.
5:23. But you, after you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and saw the mountain burn, came to me, all the princes of the tribes and the elders, and you said:
5:24. Behold the Lord our God hath shewn us his majesty and his greatness, we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire, and have proved this day that God speaking with man, man hath lived.
5:25. Why shall we die therefore, and why shall this exceeding great fire comsume us: for if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.
5:26. What is all flesh, that it should hear the voice of the living God, who speaketh out of the midst of the fire, as we have heard, and be able to live?
5:27. Approach thou rather: and hear all things that the Lord our God shall say to thee, and thou shalt speak to us, and we will hear and will do them.
5:28. And when the Lord had heard this, he said to me: I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they spoke to thee: they have spoken all things well.
5:29. Who shall give them to have such a mind, to fear me, and to keep all my commandments at all times, that it may be well with them and with their children for ever?
5:30. Go and say to them: Return into your tents.
5:31. But stand thou here with me, and I will speak to thee all my commandments, and ceremonies and judgments: which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land, which I will give them for a possession.
5:32. Keep therefore and do the things which the Lord God hath commanded you: you shall not go aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
5:33. But you shall walk in the way that the Lord your God hath commanded, that you may live, and it may be well with you, and your days may be long in the land of your possession.
Deuteronomy Chapter 6
An exhortation to the love of God, and obedience to his law.
6:1. These are the precepts, and ceremonies, and judgments, which the Lord your God commanded that I should teach you, and that you should do them in the land into which you pass over to possess it:
6:2. That thou mayst fear the Lord thy God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged.
6:3. Hear, O Israel, and observe to do the things which the Lord hath commanded thee, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst be greatly multiplied, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey.
6:4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
6:5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.
6:6. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart:
6:7. And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.
6:8. And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes.
6:9. And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house.
6:10. And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, for which he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and shall have given thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build,
6:11. Houses full of riches, which thou didst not set up, cisterns which thou didst not dig, vineyards and oliveyards, which thou didst not plant,
6:12. And thou shalt have eaten and be full:
6:13. Take heed deligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name.
6:14. You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that are round about you:
6:15. Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth.
6:16. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation.
6:17. Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee.
6:18. And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers,
6:19. That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.
6:20. And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us?
6:21. Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.
6:22. And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight,
6:23. And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land, concerning which he swore to our fathers.
6:24. And the Lord commanded that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is at this day.
6:25. And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.
Deuteronomy Chapter 7
No league nor fellowship to be made with the Chanaanites: God promiseth his people his blessing and assistance, if they keep his comandments.
7:1. When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which thou art going in to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the Hethite, and the Gergezite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou:
7:2. And the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor shew mercy to them:
7:3. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son:
7:4. For she will turn away thy son from following me, that he may rather serve strange gods, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled, and will quickly destroy thee.
7:5. But thus rather shall you deal with them: Destroy their altars, and break their statues, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven things.
7:6. Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be his peculiar people of all peoples that are upon the earth.
7:7. Not because you surpass all nations in number, is the Lord joined unto you, and hath chosen you, for you are the fewest of any people:
7:8. But because the Lord hath loved you, and hath kept his oath, which he swore to your fathers: and hath brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, out of the hand of Pharao the king of Egypt.
7:9. And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, he is a strong and faithful God, keeping his covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments, unto a thousand generations:
7:10. And repaying forthwith them that hate him, so as to destroy them, without further delay immediately rendering to them what they deserve.
7:11. Keep therefore the precepts and ceremonies and judgments, which I command thee this day to do.
7:12. If after thou hast heard these judgments, thou keep and do them, the Lord thy God will also keep his covenant to thee, and the mercy which he swore to thy fathers:
7:13. And he will love thee and multiply thee, and will bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy vintage, thy oil, and thy herds, and the flocks of thy sheep upon the land, for which he swore to thy fathers that he would give it thee.
7:14. Blessed shalt thou be among all people. No one shall be barren among you of either sex, neither of men nor cattle.
7:15. The Lord will take away from thee all sickness: and the grievous infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, he will not bring upon thee, but upon thy enemies.
7:16. Thou shalt consume all the people, which the Lord thy God will deliver to thee. Thy eye shall not spare them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, lest they be thy ruin.
7:17. If thou say in thy heart: These nations are more than I, how shall I be able to destroy them?
7:18. Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to all the Egyptians,
7:19. The exceeding great plagues, which thy eyes saw, and the signs and wonders, and the strong hand, and the stretched out arm, with which the Lord thy God brought thee out: so will he do to all the people, whom thou fearest.
7:20. Moreover the Lord thy God will send also hornets among them, until he destroy and consume all that have escaped thee, and could hide themselves.
7:21. Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God mighty and terrible:
7:22. He will consume these nations in thy sight by little and little and by degrees. Thou wilt not be able to destroy them altogether: lest perhaps the beasts of the earth should increase upon thee.
7:23. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them in thy sight: and shall slay them until they be utterly destroyed.
7:24. And he shall deliver their kings into thy hands, and thou shalt destroy their names from under Heaven: no man shall be able to resist thee, until thou destroy them.
7:25. Their graven things thou shalt burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver and gold of which they are made, neither shalt thou take to thee any thing thereof, lest thou offend, because it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.
Graven things... Idols, so called by contempt.
7:26. Neither shalt thou bring any thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema.
Deuteronomy Chapter 8
The people is put in mind of God's dealings with them, to the end that they may love him and serve him.
8:1. All the commandments, that I command thee this day, take great care to observe: that you may live, and be multiplied, and going in may possess the land, for which the Lord swore to your fathers.
8:2. And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were known in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.
8:3. He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
Not in bread alone, etc... That is, that God is able to make food of what he pleases for the support of man.
8:4. Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for age, and thy foot is not worn, lo this is the fortieth year,
8:5. That thou mayst consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord thy God hath trained thee up.
8:6. That thou shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and fear him.
8:7. For the Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land, of brooks and of waters, and of fountains: in the plains of which and the hills deep rivers break out:
8:8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, wherein fig trees and pomegranates, and oliveyards grow: a land of oil and honey.
8:9. Where without any want thou shalt eat thy bread, and enjoy abundance of all things: where the stones are iron, and out of its hills are dug mines of brass:
8:10. That when thou hast eaten, and art full, thou mayst bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which he hath given thee.
8:11. Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day: