Introduction to the Pentateuch

The Pentateuch

The Pentateuch, which consists of the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), enjoys particular prestige among the Jews as the "Law," or "Torah," the concrete expression of God's will in their regard. It is more than a body of legal doctrine, even though such material occupies many chapters, for it contains the story of the formation of the People of God: Abraham and the Patriarchs, Moses and the oppressed Hebrews in Egypt, the birth of Israel in the Sinai covenant, the journey to the threshold of the Promised Land, and the "discourses" of Moses.

The grandeur of this historic sweep is the result of a careful and complex joining of several historic traditions, or sources. These are primarily four: the so-called Yahwist, Elohist, Priestly and Deuteronomic strands that run through the Pentateuch. (They are conveniently abbreviated as J, E, P and D.) Each brings to the Torah its own characteristics, its own theological viewpoint--a rich variety of interpretation that the sensitive reader will take pains to appreciate. A superficial difference between two of these sources is responsible for their names: the Yahwist prefers the name Yahweh (represented in translation as Lord) by which God revealed himself to Israel; the Elohist prefers the generic name for God, Elohim. The Yahwist is concrete, imaginative, using many anthropomorphisms in its theological approach, as seen, e.g., in the narrative of creation in Genesis 2, compared with the Priestly version in Genesis 1. The Elohist is more sober, moralistic. The Priestly strand, which emphasizes genealogies, is more severely theological in tone. The Deuteronomic approach is characterized by the intense hortatory style of Deuteronomy 5-11, and by certain principles from which it works, such as the centralization of worship in the Jerusalem temple.

However, even this analysis of the Pentateuch is an over-simplification , for it is not always possible to distinguish with certainty among the various sources. The fact is that each of these individual traditions incorporates much older material. The Yahwist was himself a collector and adapter. His narrative is made up of many disparate stories that have been reoriented, and given a meaning within the context in which they now stand; e.g., the story of Abraham and Isaac in Gen 22. Within the J and P traditions one has to reckon with many individual units; these had their own history and life-setting before they were brought together into the present more or less connected narrative.

This is not to deny the role of Moses in the development of the Pentateuch. It is true we do not conceive of him as the author of the books in the modern sense. But there is no reason to doubt that, in the events described in these traditions, he had a uniquely important role, especially as lawgiver. Even the later laws which have been added in P and D are presented as a Mosaic heritage. Moses is the lawgiver par excellence, and all later legislation is conceived in his spirit, and therefore attributed to him. Hence, the reader is not held to undeviating literalness in interpreting the words, "the LORD said to Moses." One must keep in mind that the Pentateuch is the crystallization of Israel's age-old relationship with God.

In presenting the story of the birth of the People of God, the Pentateuch looks back to the promises made to the patriarchs, and forward to the continuing fulfillment of these promises in later books of the Bible. The promises find their classic expression in Genesis 12:1ff. The "God of the Fathers" challenges Abraham to believe: the patriarch is to receive a people, a land, and through him the nations will somehow be blessed.

The mysterious and tortuous way in which this people is brought into being is described: Despite Sarah's sterility, Isaac is finally born--to be offered in sacrifice! The promises are renewed to him eventually , and also to the devious Jacob, as if to show that the divine design will be effected, with or without human cunning. The magnificent story of Joseph is highlighted by the theme of Providence; the promise of a people is taking shape.

Israel is not formed in a vacuum, but amid the age-old civilization of Mesopotamia and the Nile. Oppression in Egypt provokes a striking intervention of God.

Yahweh reveals himself to Moses as a savior, and the epic story of deliverance is told in Exodus. This book also tells of the Sinai covenant, which is rightfully regarded as the key to the Old Testament. Through the covenant Israel becomes Yahweh's people, and Yahweh becomes Israel's God. This act of grace marks the fulfillment of the first promise; that Abraham will be the father of a great nation, God's special possession. The laws in Exodus and Leviticus (P tradition) are both early and late. They spell out the proper relationship of the federation of the twelve tribes with the Lord. He is a jealous God, demanding exclusive allegiance; he cannot be imaged; he takes vengeance upon the wicked, and shows mercy to the good. Slowly the Lord reveals himself to his people; with remarkable honesty, Israel records the unsteady response--the murmurings and rebellions and infidelities through the desert wanderings up to the plain of Moab.

This sacred history was formed within the bosom of early Israel, guided by the spirit of God. It was sung beside the desert campfires; it was commemorated in the liturgical feasts, such as Passover; it was transmitted by word of mouth from generation to generation--until all was brought together in writing, about the sixth century B.C., when the literary formation of the Pentateuch came to an end.

The Book of Deuteronomy has a history quite peculiar to itself. Its old traditions and law code (12-26) are put forth in the form of "discourses" of Moses before his death. The extraordinarily intense and hortatory tone fits the mood of a discourse. The book contains possibly the preaching of the Levites in the northern kingdom of Israel before its fall in 721 B.C. If this book is situated in its proper historical perspective, its true impact is more vividly appreciated. It is the blueprint of the great "Deuteronomic" reform under King Josiah (640-609 B.C.). This was an attempt to galvanize the people into a wholehearted commitment to the covenant ideals, into an obedience motivated by the great commandment of love (Deut 6:4ff). Israel has yet another chance, if it obeys. The people are poised between life and death; and they are exhorted to choose life--today (Deut 26:16-19; 30:15-20).

Genesis Chapter 1

[1] 1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,

[2] 2 the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.

[3] Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

[4] God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness.

[5] 3 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." Thus evening came, and morning followed--the first day.

[6] Then God said, "Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other." And so it happened:

[7] God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it.

[8] God called the dome "the sky." Evening came, and morning followed--the second day.

[9] Then God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear." And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.

[10] God called the dry land "the earth," and the basin of the water he called "the sea." God saw how good it was.

[11] Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it." And so it happened:

[12] the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw how good it was.

[13] Evening came, and morning followed--the third day.

[14] Then God said: "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,

[15] and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth." And so it happened:

[16] God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars.

[17] God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth,

[18] to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was.

[19] Evening came, and morning followed--the fourth day.

[20] Then God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky." And so it happened:

[21] God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw how good it was,

[22] and God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth."

[23] Evening came, and morning followed--the fifth day.

[24] Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds." And so it happened:

[25] God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. God saw how good it was.

[26] 4 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."

[27] God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.

[28] God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

[29] God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;

[30] and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened.

[31] God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed--the sixth day.

Genesis Chapter 2

[1] Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.

[2] Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.

[3] So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.

[4] 1 Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation. At the time when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens--

[5] while as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for the LORD God had sent no rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil,

[6] but a stream was welling up out of the earth and was watering all the surface of the ground--

[7] 2 the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.

[8] 3 Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed.

[9] Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

[10] 4 A river rises in Eden to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches.

[11] The name of the first is the Pishon; it is the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

[12] The gold of that land is excellent; bdellium and lapis lazuli are also there.

[13] The name of the second river is the Gihon; it is the one that winds all through the land of Cush.

[14] The name of the third river is the Tigris; it is the one that flows east of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

[15] The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.

[16] The LORD God gave man this order: "You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden

[17] except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die."

[18] The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him."

[19] So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name.

[20] The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

[21] So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

[22] The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man,

[23] 5 the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."

[24] 6 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.

[25] The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.

Genesis Chapter 3

[1] Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?"

[2] The woman answered the serpent: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;

[3] it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'"

[4] But the serpent said to the woman: "You certainly will not die!

[5] 1 No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad."

[6] The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

[7] Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

[8] 2 When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

[9] The LORD God then called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?"

[10] He answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself."

[11] Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"

[12] The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it."

[13] The LORD God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."

[14] Then the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life.

[15] 3 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."

[16] To the woman he said: "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master."

[17] To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, "Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life.

[18] Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field.

[19] By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return."

[20] 4 The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

[21] For the man and his wife the LORD God made leather garments, with which he clothed them.

[22] Then the LORD God said: "See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever."

[23] The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken.

[24] 5 When he expelled the man, he settled him east of the garden of Eden; and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis Chapter 4

[1] 1 The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD."

[2] Next she bore his brother Abel. Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.

[3] In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the soil,

[4] while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

[5] but on Cain and his offering he did not. Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.

[6] So the LORD said to Cain: "Why are you so resentful and crestfallen?

[7] 2 If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master."

[8] Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out in the field." When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

[9] Then the LORD asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He answered, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

[10] The LORD then said: "What have you done! Listen: your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil!

[11] Therefore you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

[12] If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce. You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth."

[13] Cain said to the LORD: "My punishment is too great to bear.

[14] Since you have now banished me from the soil, and I must avoid your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, anyone may kill me at sight."

[15] 3 Not so!" the LORD said to him. "If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold." So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.

[16] 4 Cain then left the LORD'S presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

[17] 5 Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain also became the founder of a city, which he named after his son Enoch.

[18] To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael; Mehujael became the father of Methusael, and Methusael became the father of Lamech.

[19] Lamech took two wives; the name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second Zillah.

[20] Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who dwell in tents and keep cattle.

[21] His brother's name was Jubal; he was the ancestor of all who play the lyre and the pipe.

[22] Zillah, on her part, gave birth to Tubalcain, the ancestor of all who forge instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

[23] Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my utterance: I have killed a man for wounding me, a boy for bruising me.

[24] If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."

[25] 6 Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth. "God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel," she said, "because Cain slew him."

[26] To Seth, in turn, a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to invoke the LORD by name.

Genesis Chapter 5

[1] 1 This is the record of the descendants of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God;

[2] he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and named them "man."

[3] Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he begot a son in his likeness, after his image; and he named him Seth.

[4] Adam lived eight hundred years after the birth of Seth, and he had other sons and daughters.

[5] The whole lifetime of Adam was nine hundred and thirty years; then he died.

[6] When Seth was one hundred and five years old, he became the father of Enosh.

[7] Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after the birth of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.

[8] The whole lifetime of Seth was nine hundred and twelve years; then he died.

[9] When Enosh was ninety years old, he became the father of Kenan.

[10] Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after the birth of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters.

[11] The whole lifetime of Enosh was nine hundred and five years; then he died.

[12] When Kenan was seventy years old, he became the father of Mahalalel.

[13] Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after the birth of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters.

[14] The whole lifetime of Kenan was nine hundred and ten years; then he died.

[15] When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Jared.

[16] Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after the birth of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters.

[17] The whole lifetime of Mahalalel was eight hundred and ninety-five years; then he died.

[18] When Jared was one hundred and sixty-two years old, he became the father of Enoch.

[19] Jared lived eight hundred years after the birth of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters.

[20] The whole lifetime of Jared was nine hundred and sixty-two years; then he died.

[21] When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he became the father of Methuselah.

[22] Enoch lived three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.

[23] The whole lifetime of Enoch was three hundred and sixty-five years.

[24] 2 Then Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him.

[25] When Methuselah was one hundred and eighty-seven years old, he became the father of Lamech.

[26] Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after the birth of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters.

[27] The whole lifetime of Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty-nine years; then he died.

[28] When Lamech was one hundred and eighty-two years old, he begot a son

[29] 3 and named him Noah, saying, "Out of the very ground that the LORD has put under a curse, this one shall bring us relief from our work and the toil of our hands."

[30] Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after the birth of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters.

[31] The whole lifetime of Lamech was seven hundred and seventy-seven years; then he died.

[32] When Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis Chapter 6

[1] 1 When men began to multiply on earth and daughters were born to them,

[2] 2 the sons of heaven saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose.

[3] 3 Then the LORD said: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh. His days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years."

[4] 4 At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later), after the sons of heaven had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.

[5] 5 When the LORD saw how great was man's wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil,

[6] he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved.

[7] So the LORD said: "I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created, and not only the men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them."

[8] But Noah found favor with the LORD.

[9] These are the descendants of Noah. Noah, a good man and blameless in that age,

[10] for he walked with God, begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

[11] In the eyes of God the earth was corrupt and full of lawlessness.

[12] When God saw how corrupt the earth had become, since all mortals led depraved lives on earth,

[13] he said to Noah: "I have decided to put an end to all mortals on earth; the earth is full of lawlessness because of them. So I will destroy them and all life on earth.

[14] 6 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood, put various compartments in it, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

[15] 7 This is how you shall build it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

[16] 8 Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and finish the ark a cubit above it. Put an entrance in the side of the ark, which you shall make with bottom, second and third decks.

[17] I, on my part, am about to bring the flood (waters) on the earth, to destroy everywhere all creatures in which there is the breath of life; everything on earth shall perish.

[18] But with you I will establish my covenant; you and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives, shall go into the ark.

[19] Of all other living creatures you shall bring two into the ark, one male and one female, that you may keep them alive with you.

[20] Of all kinds of birds, of all kinds of beasts, and of all kinds of creeping things, two of each shall come into the ark with you, to stay alive.

[21] Moreover, you are to provide yourself with all the food that is to be eaten, and store it away, that it may serve as provisions for you and for them."

[22] This Noah did; he carried out all the commands that God gave him.

Genesis Chapter 7

[1] Then the LORD said to Noah: "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.

[2] Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate;

[3] likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, and of all the unclean birds, one pair, a male and a female. Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth.

[4] Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth every moving creature that I have made."

[5] Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him.

[6] Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters came upon the earth.

[7] Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.

[8] Of the clean animals and the unclean, of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,

[9] (two by two) male and female entered the ark with Noah, just as the LORD had commanded him.

[10] As soon as the seven days were over, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

[11] 1 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month: it was on that day that All the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.

[12] For forty days and forty nights heavy rain poured down on the earth.

[13] On the precise day named, Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of Noah's sons had entered the ark,

[14] together with every kind of wild beast, every kind of domestic animal, every kind of creeping thing of the earth, and every kind of bird.

[15] Pairs of all creatures in which there was the breath of life entered the ark with Noah.

[16] Those that entered were male and female, and of all species they came, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

[17] The flood continued upon the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark, so that it rose above the earth.

[18] The swelling waters increased greatly, but the ark floated on the surface of the waters.

[19] Higher and higher above the earth rose the waters, until all the highest mountains everywhere were submerged,

[20] the crest rising fifteen cubits higher than the submerged mountains.

[21] All creatures that stirred on earth perished: birds, cattle, wild animals, and all that swarmed on the earth, as well as all mankind.

[22] Everything on dry land with the faintest breath of life in its nostrils died out.

[23] The LORD wiped out every living thing on earth: man and cattle, the creeping things and the birds of the air; all were wiped out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.

[24] The waters maintained their crest over the earth for one hundred and fifty days,

Genesis Chapter 8

[1] and then God remembered Noah and all the animals, wild and tame, that were with him in the ark. So God made a wind sweep over the earth, and the waters began to subside.

[2] The fountains of the abyss and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the downpour from the sky was held back.

[3] Gradually the waters receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days, the waters had so diminished

[4] 1 that, in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

[5] The waters continued to diminish until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.

[6] 2 At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark,

[7] and he sent out a raven, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.

[8] Then he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.

[9] But the dove could find no place to alight and perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water all over the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark.

[10] He waited seven days more and again sent the dove out from the ark.

[11] In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth.

[12] He waited still another seven days and then released the dove once more; and this time it did not come back.

[13] In the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up.

[14] In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

[15] Then God said to Noah:

[16] "Go out of the ark, together with your wife and your sons and your sons' wives.

[17] Bring out with you every living thing that is with you--all bodily creatures, be they birds or animals or creeping things of the earth-and let them abound on the earth, breeding and multiplying on it."

[18] So Noah came out, together with his wife and his sons and his sons' wives;

[19] and all the animals, wild and tame, all the birds, and all the creeping creatures of the earth left the ark, one kind after another.

[20] Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered holocausts on the altar.

[21] 3 When the LORD smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself: "Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the desires of man's heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done.

[22] As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

Genesis Chapter 9

[1] God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: "Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.

[2] Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea; into your power they are delivered.

[3] 1 Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat; I give them all to you as I did the green plants.

[4] 2 Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.

[5] For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting: from every animal I will demand it, and from man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life.

[6] If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; For in the image of God has man been made.

[7] Be fertile, then, and multiply; abound on earth and subdue it."

[8] God said to Noah and to his sons with him:

[9] "See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you

[10] and with every living creature that was with you: all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals that were with you and came out of the ark.

[11] I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth."

[12] God added: "This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you:

[13] I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

[14] When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds,

[15] I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you and all living beings, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings.

[16] As the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and recall the everlasting covenant that I have established between God and all living beings--all mortal creatures that are on earth."

[17] God told Noah: "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all mortal creatures that are on earth."

[18] 3 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)

[19] These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was peopled.

[20] Now Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard.

[21] When he drank some of the wine, he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent.

[22] Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness, and he told his two brothers outside about it.

[23] Shem and Japheth, however, took a robe, and holding it on their backs, they walked backward and covered their father's nakedness; since their faces were turned the other way, they did not see their father's nakedness.

[24] When Noah woke up from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

[25] he said: "Cursed be Caanan! The lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers."

[26] 4 He also said: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! Let Canaan be his slave.

[27] 5 May God expand Japheth, so that he dwells among the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave."

[28] Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.

[29] The whole lifetime of Noah was nine hundred and fifty years; then he died.

Genesis Chapter 10

[1] 1 These are the descendants of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, to whom sons were born after the flood.

[2] 2 The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

[3] 3 The descendants of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

[4] 4 The descendants of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Rodanim.

[5] These are the descendants of Japheth, and from them sprang the maritime nations, in their respective lands--each with its own language--by their clans within their nations.

[6] 5 The descendants of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

[7] The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

[8] 6 Cush became the father of Nimrod, who was the first potentate on earth.

[9] He was a mighty hunter by the grace of the LORD; hence the saying, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter by the grace of the LORD."

[10] 7 The chief cities of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar.

[11] 8 From that land he went forth to Asshur, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah,

[12] 9 as well as Resen, between Nineveh and Calah, the latter being the principal city.

[13] Mizraim became the father of the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim,

[14] 10 the Pathrusim, the Casluhim, and the Caphtorim from whom the Philistines sprang.

[15] 11 Canaan became the father of Sidon, his first-born, and of Heth;

[16] also of the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

[17] the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,

[18] the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward, the clans of the Canaanites spread out,

[19] 12 so that the Canaanite borders extended from Sidon all the way to Gerar, near Gaza, and all the way to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, near Lasha.

[20] These are the descendants of Ham, according to their clans and languages, by their lands and nations.

[21] To Shem also, Japheth's oldest brother and the ancestor of all the children of Eber, sons were born.

[22] The descendants of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

[23] The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

[24] Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber.

[25] 13 To Eber two sons were born: the name of the first was Peleg, for in his time the world was divided; and the name of his brother was Joktan.

[26] Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

[27] Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

[28] Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

[29] Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were descendants of Joktan.

[30] Their settlements extended all the way to Sephar, the eastern hill country.

[31] These are the descendants of Shem, according to their clans and languages by their lands and nations.

[32] These are the groupings of Noah's sons, according to their origins and by their nations. From these the other nations of the earth branched out after the flood.

Genesis Chapter 11

[1] 1 The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words.

[2] 2 While men were migrating in the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

[3] They said to one another, "Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire." They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

[4] 3 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth."

[5] LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men had built.

[6] Then the LORD said: "If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do.

[7] Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says."

[8] Thus the LORD scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city.

[9] 4 That is why it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world. It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.

[10] 5 This is the record of the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood.

[11] Shem lived five hundred years after the birth of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.

[12] 6 When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old, he became the father of Shelah.

[13] Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after the birth of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.

[14] When Shelah was thirty years old, he became the father of Eber.

[15] Shelah lived four hundred and three years after the birth of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.

[16] 7 When Eber was thirty-four years old, he became the father of Peleg.

[17] Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after the birth of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.

[18] When Peleg was thirty years old, he became the father of Reu.

[19] Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after the birth of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.

[20] When Reu was thirty-two years old, he became the father of Serug.

[21] Reu lived two hundred and seven years after the birth of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.

[22] When Serug was thirty years old, he became the father of Nahor.

[23] Serug lived two hundred years after the birth of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.

[24] When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he became the father of Terah.

[25] Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after the birth of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.

[26] When Terah was seventy years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

[27] This is the record of the descendants of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran became the father of Lot.

[28] 8 Haran died before his father Terah, in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

[29] Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.

[30] Sarai was barren; she had no child.

[31] 9 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan. But when they reached Haran, they settled there.

[32] 10 The lifetime of Terah was two hundred and five years; then Terah died in Haran.

Genesis Chapter 12

[1] The LORD said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.

[2] "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

[3] 1 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you."

[4] Abram went as the LORD directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

[5] 2 Abram took his wife Sarai, his brother's son Lot, all the possessions that they had accumulated, and the persons they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

[6] Abram passed through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, by the terebinth of Moreh. (The Canaanites were then in the land.)

[7] The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

[8] From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel, pitching his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there to the LORD and invoked the LORD by name.

[9] 3 Then Abram journeyed on by stages to the Negeb.

[10] There was famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, since the famine in the land was severe.

[11] When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: "I know well how beautiful a woman you are.

[12] When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'She is his wife'; then they will kill me, but let you live.

[13] 4 Please say, therefore, that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me on your account and my life may be spared for your sake."

[14] When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw how beautiful the woman was; and when Pharaoh's courtiers saw her,

[15] they praised her to Pharaoh. So she was taken into Pharaoh's palace.

[16] 5 On her account it went very well with Abram, and he received flocks and herds, male and female slaves, male and female asses, and camels.

[17] But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram's wife Sarai.

[18] Then Pharaoh summoned Abram and said to him: "How could you do this to me! Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?

[19] Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her for my wife? Here, then, is your wife. Take her and be gone!"

[20] Then Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Genesis Chapter 13

[1] From Egypt Abram went up to the Negeb with his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot accompanied him.

[2] Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.

[3] From the Negeb he traveled by stages toward Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly stood,

[4] the site where he had first built the altar; and there he invoked the LORD by name.

[5] Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,

[6] so that the land could not support them if they stayed together; their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

[7] There were quarrels between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot's. (At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were occupying the land.)

[8] So Abram said to Lot: "Let there be no strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are kinsmen.

[9] Is not the whole land at your disposal? Please separate from me. If you prefer the left, I will go to the right; if you prefer the right, I will go to the left."

[10] Lot looked about and saw how well watered the whole Jordan Plain was as far as Zoar, like the LORD'S own garden, or like Egypt. (This was before the LORD had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

[11] Lot, therefore, chose for himself the whole Jordan Plain and set out eastward. Thus they separated from each other;

[12] Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain, pitching his tents near Sodom.

[13] Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked in the sins they committed against the LORD.

[14] After Lot had left, the LORD said to Abram: "Look about you, and from where you are, gaze to the north and south, east and west;

[15] all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever.

[16] I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth; if anyone could count the dust of the earth, your descendants too might be counted.

[17] Set forth and walk about in the land, through its length and breadth, for to you I will give it."

[18] Abram moved his tents and went on to settle near the terebinth of Mamre, which is at Hebron. There he built an altar to the LORD.

Genesis Chapter 14

[1] 1 In the days of. . . , Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim

[2] made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

[3] 2 All the latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

[4] For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

[5] 3 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

[6] and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as Elparan, close by the wilderness.

[7] They then turned back and came to Enmishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they subdued the whole country both of the Amalekites and of the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.

[8] Thereupon the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out, and in the Valley of Siddim they went into battle against them:

[9] against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar-four kings against five.

[10] Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into these, while the rest fled to the mountains.

[11] The victors seized all the possessions and food supplies of Sodom and Gomorrah and then went their way,

[12] taking with them Abram's nephew Lot, who had been living in Sodom, as well as his possessions.

[13] 4 A fugitive came and brought the news to Abram the Hebrew, who was camping at the terebinth of Mamre the Amorite, a kinsman of Eshcol and Aner; these were in league with Abram.

[14] When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he mustered three hundred and eighteen of his retainers, born in his house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

[15] He and his party deployed against them at night, defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

[16] He recovered all the possessions, besides bringing back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, along with the women and the other captives.

[17] When Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and the kings who were allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

[18] 5 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words:

[19] 6 Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth;

[20] 7 And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

[21] The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people; the goods you may keep."

[22] 8 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom: "I have sworn to the LORD, God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth,

[23] that I would not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap from anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I made Abram rich.'

[24] Nothing for me except what my servants have used up and the share that is due to the men who joined me--Aner, Eshcol and Mamre; let them take their share."

Genesis Chapter 15

[1] Some time after these events, this word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great."

[2] But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?"

[3] Abram continued, "See, you have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir."

[4] Then the word of the LORD came to him: "No, that one shall not be your heir; your own issue shall be your heir."

[5] He took him outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be."

[6] 1 Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.

[7] He then said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession."

[8] "O Lord GOD," he asked, "How am I to know that I shall possess it?"

[9] 2 He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon."

[10] He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up.

[11] Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them.

[12] As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.

[13] Then the LORD said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

[14] But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.

[15] You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age.

[16] 3 In the fourth time-span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then."

[17] 4 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces.

[18] 5 It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates),

[19] the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

[20] the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

[21] the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

Genesis Chapter 16

[1] 1 Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no children. She had, however, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

[2] Sarai said to Abram: "The LORD has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse, then, with my maid; perhaps I shall have sons through her." Abram heeded Sarai's request.

[3] Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his concubine.

[4] He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. When she became aware of her pregnancy, she looked on her mistress with disdain.

[5] So Sarai said to Abram: "You are responsible for this outrage against me. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she became aware of her pregnancy, she has been looking on me with disdain. May the LORD decide between you and me!"

[6] Abram told Sarai: "Your maid is in your power. Do to her whatever you please." Sarai then abused her so much that Hagar ran away from her.

[7] 2 The LORD'S messenger found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur,

[8] and he asked, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress, Sarai."

[9] But the LORD'S messenger told her: "Go back to your mistress and submit to her abusive treatment.

[10] I will make your descendants so numerous," added the LORD'S messenger, "that they will be too many to count.

[11] 3 Besides," the LORD'S messenger said to her: "You are now pregnant and shall bear a son; you shall name him Ishmael, For the LORD has heard you, God has answered you.

[12] He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; In opposition to all his kin shall he encamp."

[13] 4 To the LORD who spoke to her she gave a name, saying, "You are the God of Vision"; she meant, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after my vision?"

[14] 5 That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

[15] Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael.

[16] Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Genesis Chapter 17

[1] 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.

[2] Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly."

[3] When Abram prostrated himself, God continued to speak to him:

[4] "My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations.

[5] 2 No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations.

[6] I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you.

[7] I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

[8] I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."

[9] God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.

[10] This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.

[11] Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me.

[12] Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your blood.

[13] Yes, both the houseborn slaves and those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting pact.

[14] If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

[15] 3 God further said to Abraham: "As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah.

[16] I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall issue from him."

[17] 4 Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?"

[18] Then Abraham said to God, "Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!"

[19] God replied: "Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.

[20] As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation.

[21] But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year."

[22] When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.

[23] Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his slaves, whether born in his house or acquired with his money--every male among the members of Abraham's household--and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that same day, as God had told him to do.

[24] Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,

[25] and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.

[26] Thus, on that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised;

[27] and all the male members of his household, including the slaves born in his house or acquired with his money from foreigners, were circumcised with him.

Genesis Chapter 18

[1] The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot.

[2] Looking up, he saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground,

[3] 1 he said: "Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant.

[4] Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree.

[5] Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way." "Very well," they replied, "do as you have said."

[6] 2 Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah, "Quick, three seahs of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls."

[7] He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.

[8] 3 Then he got some curds and milk, as well as the steer that had been prepared, and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree while they ate.

[9] "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There in the tent," he replied.

[10] 4 One of them said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son." Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, just behind him.

[11] Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and Sarah had stopped having her womanly periods.

[12] 5 So Sarah laughed to herself and said, "Now that I am so withered and my husband is so old, am I still to have sexual pleasure?"

[13] But the LORD said to Abraham: "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I really bear a child, old as I am?'

[14] Is anything too marvelous for the LORD to do? At the appointed time, about this time next year, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son."

[15] Because she was afraid, Sarah dissembled, saying, "I didn't laugh." But he said, "Yes you did."

[16] The men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom; Abraham was walking with them, to see them on their way.

[17] The LORD reflected: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,

[18] now that he is to become a great and populous nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him?

[19] Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his sons and his posterity to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD may carry into effect for Abraham the promises he made about him."

[20] 6 Then the LORD said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave,

[21] that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out."

[22] While the two men walked on farther toward Sodom, the LORD remained standing before Abraham.

[23] Then Abraham drew nearer to him and said: "Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?

[24] Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?

[25] Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty, so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"

[26] The LORD replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

[27] Abraham spoke up again: "See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!

[28] What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "if I find forty-five there."

[29] But Abraham persisted, saying, "What if only forty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it for the sake of the forty."

[30] Then he said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it if I can find but thirty there."

[31] Still he went on, "Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "for the sake of the twenty."

[32] But he still persisted: "Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?" "For the sake of those ten," he replied, "I will not destroy it."

[33] The LORD departed as soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned home.

Genesis Chapter 19

[1] The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground,

[2] 1 he said, "Please, gentlemen, come aside into your servant's house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey." But they replied, "No, we shall pass the night in the town square."

[3] He urged them so strongly, however, that they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking cakes without leaven, and they dined.

[4] Before they went to bed, all the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old--all the people to the last man--closed in on the house.

[5] They called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them."

[6] Lot went out to meet them at the entrance. When he had shut the door behind him,

[7] he said, "I beg you, my brothers, not to do this wicked thing.

[8] I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please. But don't do anything to these men, for you know they have come under the shelter of my roof."

[9] They replied, "Stand back! This fellow," they sneered, "came here as an immigrant, and now he dares to give orders! We'll treat you worse than them!" With that, they pressed hard against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door.

[10] But his guests put out their hands, pulled Lot inside with them, and closed the door;

[11] 2 at the same time they struck the men at the entrance of the house, one and all, with such a blinding light that they were utterly unable to reach the doorway.

[12] 3 Then the angels said to Lot: "Who else belongs to you here? Your sons (sons-in-law) and your daughters and all who belong to you in the city--take them away from it!

[13] We are about to destroy this place, for the outcry reaching the LORD against those in the city is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."

[14] 4 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters. "Get up and leave this place," he told them; "the LORD is about to destroy the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

[15] As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."

[16] When he hesitated, the men, by the LORD'S mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city.

[17] As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: "Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away."

[18] "Oh, no, my lord!" replied Lot.

[19] "You have already thought enough of your servant to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me, and so I shall die.

[20] 5 Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It's only a small place. Let me flee there--it's a small place, isn't it?--that my life may be saved."

[21] "Well, then," he replied, "I will also grant you the favor you now ask. I will not overthrow the town you speak of.

[22] Hurry, escape there! I cannot do anything until you arrive there." That is why the town is called Zoar.

[23] The sun was just rising over the earth as Lot arrived in Zoar;

[24] at the same time the LORD rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah (from the LORD out of heaven).

[25] 6 He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil.

[26] But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

[27] Early the next morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood in the LORD'S presence.

[28] 7 As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw dense smoke over the land rising like fumes from a furnace.

[29] Thus it came to pass: when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham by sending Lot away from the upheaval by which God overthrew the cities where Lot had been living.

[30] 8 Since Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters went up from Zoar and settled in the hill country, where he lived with his two daughters in a cave.

[31] The older one said to the younger: "Our father is getting old, and there is not a man on earth to unite with us as was the custom everywhere.

[32] Come, let us ply our father with wine and then lie with him, that we may have offspring by our father."

[33] So that night they plied their father with wine, and the older one went in and lay with her father; but he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up.

[34] Next day the older one said to the younger: "Last night it was I who lay with my father. Let us ply him with wine again tonight, and then you go in and lie with him, that we may both have offspring by our father."

[35] So that night, too, they plied their father with wine, and then the younger one went in and lay with him; but again he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up.

[36] Thus both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.

[37] 9 The older one gave birth to a son whom she named Moab, saying, "From my father." He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.

[38] 10 The younger one, too, gave birth to a son, and she named him Ammon, saying, "The son of my kin." He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

Genesis Chapter 20

[1] 1 Abraham journeyed on to the region of the Negeb, where he settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he stayed in Gerar,

[2] he said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.

[3] But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she has a husband."

[4] Abimelech, who had not approached her, said: "O Lord, would you slay a man even though he is innocent?

[5] He himself told me, 'She is my sister,' and she herself also stated, 'He is my brother.' I did it in good faith and with clean hands."

[6] God answered him in the dream: "Yes, I know you did it in good faith. In fact, it was I who kept you from sinning against me; that is why I did not let you touch her.

[7] 2 Therefore, return the man's wife--as a spokesman he will intercede for you--that your life may be saved. If you do not return her, you can be sure that you and all who are yours will certainly die."

[8] Early the next morning Abimelech called all his court officials and informed them of everything that had happened, and the men were horrified.

[9] Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him: "How could you do this to us! What wrong did I do to you that you should have brought such monstrous guilt on me and my kingdom? You have treated me in an intolerable way.

[10] What were you afraid of," he asked him, "that you should have done such a thing?"

[11] "I was afraid," answered Abraham, "because I thought there would surely be no fear of God in this place, and so they would kill me on account of my wife.

[12] Besides, she is in truth my sister, but only my father's daughter, not my mother's; and so she became my wife.

[13] When God sent me wandering from my father's house, I asked her: 'Would you do me this favor? In whatever place we come to, say that I am your brother.'"

[14] Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham; and after he restored his wife Sarah to him,

[15] he said, "Here, my land lies at your disposal; settle wherever you please."

[16] 3 To Sarah he said: "See, I have given your brother a thousand shekels of silver. Let that serve you as a vindication before all who are with you; your honor has been preserved with everyone."

[17] Abraham then interceded with God, and God restored health to Abimelech, that is, to his wife and his maidservants, so that they could bear children;

[18] for God had tightly closed every womb in Abimelech's household on account of Abraham's wife Sarah.

Genesis Chapter 21

[1] The LORD took note of Sarah as he had said he would; he did for her as he had promised.

[2] Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time that God had stated.

[3] Abraham gave the name Isaac to this son of his whom Sarah bore him.

[4] When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded.

[5] Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

[6] Sarah then said, "God has given me cause to laugh, and all who hear of it will laugh with me.

[7] Who would have told Abraham," she added, "that Sarah would nurse children! Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

[8] Isaac grew, and on the day of the child's weaning, Abraham held a great feast.

[9] 1 Sarah noticed the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing with her son Isaac;

[10] so she demanded of Abraham: "Drive out that slave and her son! No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!"

[11] Abraham was greatly distressed, especially on account of his son Ishmael.

[12] But God said to Abraham: "Do not be distressed about the boy or about your slave woman. Heed the demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you; for it is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name.

[13] As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a great nation of him also, since he too is your offspring."

[14] 2 Early the next morning Abraham got some bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. Then, placing the child on her back, he sent her away. As she roamed aimlessly in the wilderness of Beer-sheba,

[15] the water in the skin was used up. So she put the child down under a shrub,

[16] and then went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away; for she said to herself, "Let me not watch to see the child die." As she sat opposite him, he began to cry.

[17] God heard the boy's cry, and God's messenger called to Hagar from heaven: "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid; God has heard the boy's cry in this plight of his.

[18] Arise, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand; for I will make of him a great nation."

[19] Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and then let the boy drink.

[20] God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert bowman,

[21] with his home in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

[22] 3 About that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham: "God is with you in everything you do.

[23] 4 Therefore, swear to me by God at this place that you will not deal falsely with me or with my progeny and posterity, but will act as loyally toward me and the land in which you stay as I have acted toward you."

[24] To this Abraham replied, "I so swear."

[25] Abraham, however, reproached Abimelech about a well that Abimelech's men had seized by force.

[26] "I have no idea who did that," Abimelech replied. "In fact, you never told me about it, nor did I ever hear of it until now."

[27] Then Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech and the two made a pact.

[28] Abraham also set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock,

[29] and Abimelech asked him, "What is the purpose of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?"

[30] Abraham answered, "The seven ewe lambs you shall accept from me that thus I may have your acknowledgment that the well was dug by me."

[31] 5 This is why the place is called Beer-sheba; the two took an oath there.

[32] When they had thus made the pact in Beer-sheba, Abimelech, along with Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

[33] 6 Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and there he invoked by name the LORD, God the Eternal.

[34] Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many years.

Genesis Chapter 22

[1] 1 Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Ready!" he replied.

[2] 2 Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you."

[3] Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him.

[4] On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar.

[5] Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you."

[6] Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.

[7] As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. "Father!" he said. "Yes, son," he replied. Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"

[8] "Son," Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust." Then the two continued going forward.

[9] When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.

[10] Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

[11] But the LORD'S messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" "Yes, Lord," he answered.

[12] "Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."

[13] As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

[14] 3 Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, "On the mountain the LORD will see."

[15] Again the LORD'S messenger called to Abraham from heaven

[16] and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son,

[17] I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies,

[18] and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--all this because you obeyed my command.''

[19] Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his home.

[20] 4 Some time afterward, the news came to Abraham: "Milcah too has borne sons, to your brother Nahor:

[21] Uz, his first-born, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram),

[22] Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."

[23] Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Abraham's brother Nahor.

[24] His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Genesis Chapter 23

[1] The span of Sarah's life was one hundred and twenty-seven years.

[2] She died in Kiriatharba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham performed the customary mourning rites for her.

[3] 1 Then he left the side of his dead one and addressed the Hittites:

[4] 2 "Although I am a resident alien among you, sell me from your holdings a piece of property for a burial ground, that I may bury my dead wife."

[5] The Hittites answered Abraham: "Please, sir,

[6] listen to us! You are an elect of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial sites. None of us would deny you his burial ground for the burial of your dead."

[7] Abraham, however, began to bow low before the local citizens, the Hittites,

[8] while he appealed to them: "If you will allow me room for burial of my dead, listen to me! Intercede for me with Ephron, son of Zohar, asking him

[9] to sell me the cave of Machpelah that he owns; it is at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence, at its full price, for a burial place."

[10] 3 Now Ephron was present with the Hittites. So Ephron the Hittite replied to Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites who sat on his town council:

[11] "Please, sir, listen to me! I give you both the field and the cave in it; in the presence of my kinsmen I make this gift. Bury your dead!"

[12] But Abraham, after bowing low before the local citizens, addressed Ephron in the hearing of these men:

[13] "Ah, if only you would please listen to me! I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there."

[14] Ephron replied to Abraham, "Please,

[15] 4 sir, listen to me! A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver--what is that between you and me, as long as you can bury your dead?"

[16] 5 Abraham accepted Ephron's terms; he weighed out to him the silver that Ephron had stipulated in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver at the current market value.

[17] Thus Ephron's field in Machpelah, facing Mamre, together with its cave and all the trees anywhere within its limits, was conveyed

[18] to Abraham by purchase in the presence of all the Hittites who sat on Ephron's town council.

[19] After this transaction, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

[20] Thus the field with its cave was transferred from the Hittites to Abraham as a burial place.

Genesis Chapter 24

[1] Abraham had now reached a ripe old age, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.

[2] 1 Abraham said to the senior servant of his household, who had charge of all his possessions: "Put your hand under my thigh,

[3] and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not procure a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,

[4] but that you will go to my own land and to my kindred to get a wife for my son Isaac."

[5] The servant asked him: "What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I then take your son back to the land from which you migrated?"

[6] "Never take my son back there for any reason," Abraham told him.

[7] "The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and the land of my kin, and who confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me, 'I will give this land to your descendants'--he will send his messenger before you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there.

[8] If the woman is unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But never take my son back there!"

[9] So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him in this undertaking.

[10] 2 The servant then took ten of his master's camels, and bearing all kinds of gifts from his master, he made his way to the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim.

[11] Near evening, at the time when women go out to draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well outside the city.

[12] 3 Then he prayed: "LORD, God of my master Abraham, let it turn out favorably for me today and thus deal graciously with my master Abraham.

[13] While I stand here at the spring and the daughters of the townsmen are coming out to draw water,

[14] if I say to a girl, 'Please lower your jug, that I may drink,' and she answers, 'Take a drink, and let me give water to your camels, too,' let her be the one whom you have decided upon for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you have dealt graciously with my master."

[15] He had scarcely finished these words when Rebekah (who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor) came out with a jug on her shoulder.

[16] The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, untouched by man. She went down to the spring and filled her jug. As she came up,

[17] the servant ran toward her and said, "Please give me a sip of water from your jug."

[18] "Take a drink, sir," she replied, and quickly lowering the jug onto her hand, she gave him a drink.

[19] When she had let him drink his fill, she said, "I will draw water for your camels, too, until they have drunk their fill."

[20] With that, she quickly emptied her jug into the drinking trough and ran back to the well to draw more water, until she had drawn enough for all the camels.

[21] The man watched her the whole time, silently waiting to learn whether or not the LORD had made his errand successful.

[22] When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold ring weighing half a shekel, which he fastened on her nose, and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels, which he put on her wrists.

[23] Then he asked her: "Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please. And is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

[24] She answered: "I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.

[25] There is plenty of straw and fodder at our place," she added, "and room to spend the night."

[26] The man then bowed down in worship to the LORD,

[27] saying: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not let his constant kindness toward my master fail. As for myself also, the LORD has led me straight to the house of my master's brother."

[28] Then the girl ran off and told her mother's household about it.

[29] Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.

[30] As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister Rebekah and heard her words about what the man had said to her, Laban rushed outside to the man at the spring. When he reached him, he was still standing by the camels at the spring.

[31] So he said to him: "Come, blessed of the LORD! Why are you staying outside when I have made the house ready for you, as well as a place for the camels?"

[32] The man then went inside; and while the camels were being unloaded and provided with straw and fodder, water was brought to bathe his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

[33] But when the table was set for him, he said, "I will not eat until I have told my tale." "Do so," they replied.

[34] "I am Abraham's servant," he began.

[35] "The LORD has blessed my master so abundantly that he has become a wealthy man; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and asses.

[36] My master's wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.

[37] My master put me under oath, saying: 'You shall not procure a wife for my son among the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live;

[38] instead, you shall go to my father's house, to my own relatives, to get a wife for my son.'

[39] When I asked my master, 'What if the woman will not follow me?,'

[40] he replied: 'The LORD, in whose presence I have always walked, will send his messenger with you and make your errand successful, and so you will get a wife for my son from my own kindred of my father's house.

[41] Then you shall be released from my ban. If you visit my kindred and they refuse you, then, too, you shall be released from my ban.'

[42] "When I came to the spring today, I prayed: 'LORD, God of my master Abraham, may it be your will to make successful the errand I am engaged on!

[43] While I stand here at the spring, if I say to a young woman who comes out to draw water, Please give me a little water from your jug,

[44] and she answers, Not only may you have a drink, but I will give water to your camels, too--let her be the woman whom the LORD has decided upon for my master's son.'

[45] "I had scarcely finished saying this prayer to myself when Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder. After she went down to the spring and drew water, I said to her, 'Please let me have a drink.'

[46] She quickly lowered the jug she was carrying and said, 'Take a drink, and let me bring water for your camels, too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.

[47] When I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' she answered, 'The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, borne to Nahor by Milcah.' So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

[48] Then I bowed down in worship to the LORD, blessing the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to obtain the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son.

[49] If, therefore, you have in mind to show true loyalty to my master, let me know; but if not, let me know that, too. I can then proceed accordingly."

[50] Laban and his household said in reply: "This thing comes from the LORD; we can say nothing to you either for or against it.

[51] Here is Rebekah, ready for you; take her with you, that she may become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has said."

[52] When Abraham's servant heard their answer, he bowed to the ground before the LORD.

[53] Then he brought out objects of silver and gold and articles of clothing and presented them to Rebekah; he also gave costly presents to her brother and mother.

[54] After he and the men with him had eaten and drunk, they spent the night there. When they were up the next morning, he said, "Give me leave to return to my master."

[55] Her brother and mother replied, "Let the girl stay with us a short while, say ten days; after that she may go."

[56] But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has made my errand successful; let me go back to my master."

[57] They answered, "Let us call the girl and see what she herself has to say about it."

[58] So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Do you wish to go with this man?" She answered, "I do."

[59] At this they allowed their sister Rebekah and her nurse to take leave, along with Abraham's servant and his men.

[60] Invoking a blessing on Rebekah, they said: "Sister, may you grow into thousands of myriads; And may your descendants gain possession of the gates of their enemies!"

[61] Then Rebekah and her maids started out; they mounted their camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.

[62] Meanwhile Isaac had gone from Beer-lahai-roi and was living in the region of the Negeb.

[63] 4 One day toward evening he went out. . . in the field, and as he looked around, he noticed that camels were approaching.

[64] Rebekah, too, was looking about, and when she saw him, she alighted from her camel

[65] and asked the servant, "Who is the man out there, walking through the fields toward us?" "That is my master," replied the servant. Then she covered herself with her veil.

[66] The servant recounted to Isaac all the things he had done.

[67] Then Isaac took Rebekah into his tent; he married her, and thus she became his wife. In his love for her Isaac found solace after the death of his mother Sarah.

Genesis Chapter 25

[1] 1 Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah.

[2] She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

[3] Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.

[4] The descendants of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were descendants of Keturah.

[5] Abraham deeded everything that he owned to his son Isaac.

[6] 2 To his sons by concubinage, however, he made grants while he was still living, as he sent them away eastward, to the land of Kedem, away from his son Isaac.

[7] The whole span of Abraham's life was one hundred and seventy-five years.

[8] Then he breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, grown old after a full life; and he was taken to his kinsmen.

[9] His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre,

[10] the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there he was buried next to his wife Sarah.

[11] After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, who made his home near Beer-lahai-roi.

[12] These are the descendants of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave, bore to Abraham.

[13] These are the names of Ishmael's sons, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth (Ishmael's firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

[14] Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

[15] Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

[16] These are the sons of Ishmael, their names by their villages and encampments; twelve chieftains of as many tribal groups.

[17] The span of Ishmael's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. After he had breathed his last and died, he was taken to his kinsmen.

[18] 3 The Ishmaelites ranged from Havilah-by-Shur, which is on the border of Egypt, all the way to Asshur; and each of them pitched camp in opposition to his various kinsmen.

[19] This is the family history of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham had begotten Isaac.

[20] Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

[21] Isaac entreated the LORD on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The LORD heard his entreaty, and Rebekah became pregnant.

[22] But the children in her womb jostled each other so much that she exclaimed, "If this is to be so, what good will it do me!" She went to consult the LORD,

[23] and he answered her: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples are quarreling while still within you; But one shall surpass the other, and the older shall serve the younger."

[24] When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.

[25] 4 The first to emerge was reddish, and his whole body was like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.

[26] 5 His brother came out next, gripping Esau's heel; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

[27] As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man who lived in the open; whereas Jacob was a simple man, who kept to his tents.

[28] Isaac preferred Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob.

[29] Once, when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open, famished.

[30] 6 He said to Jacob, "Let me gulp down some of that red stuff; I'm starving." (That is why he was called Edom.)

[31] 7 But Jacob replied, "First give me your birthright in exchange for it."

[32] "Look," said Esau, "I'm on the point of dying. What good will any birthright do me?"

[33] But Jacob insisted, "Swear to me first!" So he sold Jacob his birthright under oath.

[34] Jacob then gave him some bread and the lentil stew; and Esau ate, drank, got up, and went his way. Esau cared little for his birthright.

Genesis Chapter 26

[1] There was a famine in the land (distinct from the earlier one that had occurred in the days of Abraham), and Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.

[2] The LORD appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt, but continue to camp wherever in this land I tell you.

[3] Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

[4] I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--

[5] this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my mandate (my commandments, my ordinances, and my instructions)."

[6] 1 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

[7] When the men of the place asked questions about his wife, he answered, "She is my sister." He was afraid, if he called her his wife, the men of the place would kill him on account of Rebekah, since she was very beautiful.

[8] But when he had been there for a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, happened to look out of a window and was surprised to see Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.

[9] He called for Isaac and said: "She must certainly be your wife! How could you have said, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac replied, "I thought I might lose my life on her account."

[10] "How could you do this to us!" exclaimed Abimelech. "It would have taken very little for one of the men to lie with your wife, and you would have thus brought guilt upon us!"

[11] Abimelech therefore gave this warning to all his men: "Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall forthwith be put to death."

[12] 2 Isaac sowed a crop in that region and reaped a hundredfold the same year. Since the LORD blessed him,

[13] he became richer and richer all the time, until he was very wealthy indeed.

[14] He acquired such flocks and herds, and so many work animals, that the Philistines became envious of him.

[15] (The Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.)

[16] So Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us; you have become far too numerous for us."

[17] Isaac left there and made the Wadi Gerar his regular campsite.

[18] (Isaac reopened the wells which his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death; he gave them the same names that his father had given them.)

[19] But when Isaac's servants dug in the wadi and reached spring water in their well,

[20] 3 the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's servants, saying, "The water belongs to us!" So the well was called Esek, because they had challenged him there.

[21] 4 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one too; so it was called Sitnah.

[22] When he had moved on from there, he dug still another well; but over this one they did not quarrel. It was called Rehoboth, because he said, "The LORD has now given us ample room, and we shall flourish in the land."

[23] From there Isaac went up to Beer-sheba.

[24] The same night the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am the God of your father Abraham. You have no need to fear, since I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

[25] So he built an altar there and invoked the LORD by name. After he had pitched his tent there, his servants began to dig a well nearby.

[26] Abimelech had meanwhile come to him from Gerar, accompanied by Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol, the general of his army.

[27] Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have driven me away from you?"

[28] They answered: "We are convinced that the LORD is with you, so we propose that there be a sworn agreement between our two sides--between you and us. Let us make a pact with you:

[29] you shall not act unkindly toward us, just as we have not molested you, but have always acted kindly toward you and have let you depart in peace. Henceforth, 'The LORD'S blessing be upon you!'"

[30] Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

[31] Early the next morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac bade them farewell, and they departed from him in peace.

[32] That same day Isaac's servants came and brought him news about the well they had been digging; they told him, "We have reached water!"

[33] 5 He called it Shibah; hence the name of the city, Beer-sheba, to this day.

[34] 6 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hivite.

[35] But they became a source of embitterment to Isaac and Rebekah.

Genesis Chapter 27

[1] 1 When Isaac was so old that his eyesight had failed him, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "Son!" "Yes, father!" he replied.

[2] Isaac then said, "As you can see, I am so old that I may now die at any time.

[3] Take your gear, therefore--your quiver and bow--and go out into the country to hunt some game for me.

[4] 2 With your catch prepare an appetizing dish for me, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my special blessing before I die."

[5] Rebekah had been listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. So when Esau went out into the country to hunt some game for his father,

[6] Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen! I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,

[7] 'Bring me some game and with it prepare an appetizing dish for me to eat, that I may give you my blessing with the LORD'S approval before I die.'

[8] Now, son, listen carefully to what I tell you.

[9] Go to the flock and get me two choice kids. With these I will prepare an appetizing dish for your father, such as he likes.

[10] Then bring it to your father to eat, that he may bless you before he dies."

[11] "But my brother Esau is a hairy man," said Jacob to his mother Rebekah, "and I am smooth-skinned!

[12] Suppose my father feels me? He will think I am making sport of him, and I shall bring on myself a curse instead of a blessing."

[13] His mother, however, replied: "Let any curse against you, son, fall on me! Just do as I say. Go and get me the kids."

[14] So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother; and with them she prepared an appetizing dish, such as his father liked.

[15] Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau that she had in the house, and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear;

[16] and with the skins of the kids she covered up his hands and the hairless parts of his neck.

[17] Then she handed her son Jacob the appetizing dish and the bread she had prepared.

[18] Bringing them to his father, Jacob said, "Father!" "Yes?" replied Isaac. "Which of my sons are you?"

[19] Jacob answered his father: "I am Esau, your first-born. I did as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your special blessing."

[20] But Isaac asked, "How did you succeed so quickly, son?" He answered, "The LORD, your God, let things turn out well with me."

[21] Isaac then said to Jacob, "Come closer, son, that I may feel you, to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not."

[22] So Jacob moved up closer to his father. When Isaac felt him, he said, "Although the voice is Jacob's, the hands are Esau's."

[23] (He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy, like those of his brother Esau; so in the end he gave him his blessing.)

[24] Again he asked him, "Are you really my son Esau?" "Certainly," he replied.

[25] Then Isaac said, "Serve me your game, son, that I may eat of it and then give you my blessing." Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.

[26] Finally his father Isaac said to him, "Come closer, son, and kiss me."

[27] As Jacob went up and kissed him, Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes. With that, he blessed him, saying, "Ah, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field that the LORD has blessed!

[28] "May God give to you of the dew of the heavens And of the fertility of the earth abundance of grain and wine.

[29] "Let peoples serve you, and nations pay you homage; Be master of your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you."

[30] Jacob had scarcely left his father, just after Isaac had finished blessing him, when his brother Esau came back from his hunt.

[31] Then he too prepared an appetizing dish with his game, and bringing it to his father, he said, "Please, father, eat some of your son's game, that you may then give me your special blessing."

[32] "Who are you?" his father Isaac asked him. "I am Esau," he replied, "your first-born son."

[33] With that, Isaac was seized with a fit of uncontrollable trembling. "Who was it, then," he asked, "that hunted game and brought it to me? I finished eating it just before you came, and I blessed him. Now he must remain blessed!"

[34] On hearing his father's words, Esau burst into loud, bitter sobbing. "Father, bless me too!" he begged.

[35] When Isaac explained, "Your brother came here by a ruse and carried off your blessing,"

[36] 3 Esau exclaimed, "He has been well named Jacob! He has now supplanted me twice! First he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing." Then he pleaded, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?"

[37] Isaac replied: "I have already appointed him your master, and I have assigned to him all his kinsmen as his slaves; besides, I have enriched him with grain and wine. What then can I do for you, son?"

[38] But Esau urged his father, "Have you only that one blessing, father? Bless me too!" Isaac, however, made no reply; and Esau wept aloud.

[39] Finally Isaac spoke again and said to him: "Ah, far from the fertile earth shall be your dwelling; far from the dew of the heavens above!

[40] "By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve; But when you become restive, you shall throw off his yoke from your neck."

[41] Esau bore Jacob a grudge because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "When the time of mourning for my father comes, I will kill my brother Jacob."

[42] When Rebekah got news of what her older son Esau had in mind, she called her younger son Jacob and said to him: "Listen! Your brother Esau intends to settle accounts with you by killing you.

[43] Therefore, son, do what I tell you: flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,

[44] and stay with him a while until your brother's fury subsides

[45] (until your brother's anger against you subsides) and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back. Must I lose both of you in a single day?"

[46] 4 Rebekah said to Isaac: "I am disgusted with life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob also should marry a Hittite woman, a native of the land, like these women, what good would life be to me?"

Genesis Chapter 28

[1] Isaac therefore called Jacob, greeted him with a blessing, and charged him: "You shall not marry a Canaanite woman!

[2] Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother's father Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the daughters of your uncle Laban.

[3] May God Almighty bless you and make you fertile, multiply you that you may become an assembly of peoples.

[4] May he extend to you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham, so that you may gain possession of the land where you are staying, which he assigned to Abraham."

[5] Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way; he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

[6] Esau noted that Isaac had blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to get himself a wife there, charging him, as he gave him his blessing, not to marry a Canaanite woman,

[7] and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

[8] Esau realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac,

[9] so he went to Ishmael, and in addition to the wives he had, married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

[10] Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran.

[11] 1 When he came upon a certain shrine, as the sun had already set, he stopped there for the night. Taking one of the stones at the shrine, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep at that spot.

[12] 2 Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God's messengers were going up and down on it.

[13] And there was the LORD standing beside him and saying: "I, the LORD, am the God of your forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.

[14] These shall be as plentiful as the dust of the earth, and through them you shall spread out east and west, north and south. In you and your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing.

[15] Know that I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you."

[16] When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he exclaimed, "Truly, the LORD is in this spot, although I did not know it!"

[17] 3 In solemn wonder he cried out: "How awesome is this shrine! This is nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven!"

[18] 4 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a memorial stone, and poured oil on top of it.

[19] 5 He called that site Bethel, whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.

[20] Jacob then made this vow: "If God remains with me, to protect me on this journey I am making and to give me enough bread to eat and clothing to wear,

[21] and I come back safe to my father's house, the LORD shall be my God.

[22] This stone that I have set up as a memorial stone shall be God's abode. Of everything you give me, I will faithfully return a tenth part to you."

Genesis Chapter 29

[1] 1 After Jacob resumed his journey, he came to the land of the Easterners.

[2] Looking about, he saw a well in the open country, with three droves of sheep huddled near it, for droves were watered from that well. A large stone covered the mouth of the well.

[3] Only when all the shepherds were assembled there could they roll the stone away from the mouth of the well and water the flocks. Then they would put the stone back again over the mouth of the well.

[4] Jacob said to them, "Friends, where are you from?" "We are from Haran," they replied.

[5] Then he asked them, "Do you know Laban, son of Nahor?" "We do," they answered.

[6] He inquired further, "Is he well?" "He is," they answered; "and here comes his daughter Rachel with his flock."

[7] Then he said: "There is still much daylight left; it is hardly the time to bring the animals home. Why don't you water the flocks now, and then continue pasturing them?"

[8] "We cannot," they replied, "until all the shepherds are here to roll the stone away from the mouth of the well; only then can we water the flocks."

[9] While he was still talking with them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep; she was the one who tended them.

[10] As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, with the sheep of his uncle Laban, he went up, rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well, and watered his uncle's sheep.

[11] 2 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and burst into tears.

[12] He told her that he was her father's relative, Rebekah's son, and she ran to tell her father.

[13] When Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he hurried out to meet him. After embracing and kissing him, he brought him to his house. Jacob then recounted to Laban all that had happened,

[14] 3 and Laban said to him, "You are indeed my flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him a full month,

[15] Laban said to him: "Should you serve me for nothing just because you are a relative of mine? Tell me what your wages should be."

[16] Now Laban had two daughters; the older was called Leah, the younger Rachel.

[17] 4 Leah had lovely eyes, but Rachel was well formed and beautiful.

[18] 5 Since Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, he answered Laban, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."

[19] Laban replied, "I prefer to give her to you rather than to an outsider. Stay with me."

[20] So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

[21] Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, that I may consummate my marriage with her, for my term is now completed."

[22] So Laban invited all the local inhabitants and gave a feast.

[23] At nightfall he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob consummated the marriage with her.

[24] (Laban assigned his slave girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.)

[25] 6 In the morning Jacob was amazed: it was Leah! So he cried out to Laban: "How could you do this to me! Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why did you dupe me?"

[26] "It is not the custom in our country," Laban replied, "to marry off a younger daughter before an older one.

[27] 7 Finish the bridal week for this one, and then I will give you the other too, in return for another seven years of service with me."

[28] Jacob agreed. He finished the bridal week for Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel in marriage.

[29] (Laban assigned his slave girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.)

[30] Jacob then consummated his marriage with Rachel also, and he loved her more than Leah. Thus he remained in Laban's service another seven years.

[31] When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, he made her fruitful, while Rachel remained barren.

[32] 8 Leah conceived and bore a son, and she named him Reuben; for she said, "It means, 'The LORD saw my misery; now my husband will love me.'"

[33] 9 She conceived again and bore a son, and said, "It means, 'The LORD heard that I was unloved,' and therefore he has given me this one also"; so she named him Simeon.

[34] 10 Again she conceived and bore a son, and she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, since I have now borne him three sons"; that is why she named him Levi.

[35] 11 Once more she conceived and bore a son, and she said, "This time I will give grateful praise to the LORD"; therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing children.

Genesis Chapter 30

[1] When Rachel saw that she failed to bear children to Jacob, she became envious of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children or I shall die!"

[2] In anger Jacob retorted, "Can I take the place of God, who has denied you the fruit of the womb?"

[3] 1 She replied, "Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Have intercourse with her, and let her give birth on my knees, so that I too may have offspring, at least through her."

[4] 2 So she gave him her maidservant Bilhah as a consort, and Jacob had intercourse with her.

[5] When Bilhah conceived and bore a son,

[6] 3 Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; indeed he has heeded my plea and given me a son." Therefore she named him Dan.

[7] Rachel's maidservant Bilhah conceived again and bore a second son,

[8] 4 and Rachel said, "I engaged in a fateful struggle with my sister, and I prevailed." So she named him Naphtali.

[9] When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear children, she gave her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob as a consort.

[10] So Jacob had intercourse with Zilpah, and she conceived and bore a son.

[11] 5 Leah then said, "What good luck!" So she named him Gad.

[12] Then Leah's maidservant Zilpah bore a second son to Jacob;

[13] 6 and Leah said, "What good fortune!"--meaning, "Women call me fortunate." So she named him Asher.

[14] 7 One day, during the wheat harvest, when Reuben was out in the field, he came upon some mandrakes which he brought home to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, "Please let me have some of your son's mandrakes."

[15] Leah replied, "Was it not enough for you to take away my husband, that you must now take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well, then!" Rachel answered. "In exchange for your son's mandrakes, Jacob may lie with you tonight."

[16] That evening, when Jacob came home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. "You are now to come in with me," she told him, "because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes." So that night he slept with her,

[17] and God heard her prayer; she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.

[18] 8 Leah then said, "God has given me my reward for having let my husband have my maidservant"; so she named him Issachar.

[19] Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob;

[20] 9 and she said, "God has brought me a precious gift. This time my husband will offer me presents, now that I have borne him six sons"; so she named him Zebulun.

[21] Finally, she gave birth to a daughter, and she named her Dinah.

[22] Then God remembered Rachel; he heard her prayer and made her fruitful.

[23] She conceived and bore a son, and she said, "God has removed my disgrace."

[24] 10 So she named him Joseph, meaning, "May the LORD add another son to this one for me!"

[25] After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban: "Give me leave to go to my homeland.

[26] Let me have my wives, for whom I served you, and my children, too, that I may depart. You know very well the service that I have rendered you."

[27] Laban answered him: "If you will please. . . . "I have learned through divination that it is because of you that God has blessed me.

[28] So," he continued, "state what wages you want from me, and I will pay them."

[29] Jacob replied: "You know what work I did for you and how well your livestock fared under my care;

[30] the little you had before I came has grown into very much, since the LORD'S blessings came upon you in my company. Therefore I should now do something for my own household as well."

[31] "What should I pay you?" Laban asked. Jacob answered: "You do not have to pay me anything outright. I will again pasture and tend your flock, if you do this one thing for me:

[32] 11 go through your whole flock today and remove from it every dark animal among the sheep and every spotted or speckled one among the goats. Only such animals shall be my wages.

[33] In the future, whenever you check on these wages of mine, let my honesty testify against me: any animal in my possession that is not a speckled or spotted goat, or a dark sheep, got there by theft!"

[34] "Very well," agreed Laban. "Let it be as you say."

[35] 12 That same day Laban removed the streaked and spotted he-goats and all the speckled and spotted she-goats, all those with some white on them, as well as the fully dark-colored sheep; these he left. . . in charge of his sons.

[36] Then he put a three days' journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to pasture the rest of Laban's flock.

[37] Jacob, however, got some fresh shoots of poplar, almond and plane trees, and he made white stripes in them by peeling off the bark down to the white core of the shoots.

[38] The rods that he had thus peeled he then set upright in the watering troughs, so that they would be in front of the animals that drank from the troughs. When the animals were in heat as they came to drink,

[39] 13 the goats mated by the rods, and so they brought forth streaked, speckled and spotted kids.

[40] The sheep, on the other hand, Jacob kept apart, and he set these animals to face the streaked or fully dark-colored animals of Laban. Thus he produced special flocks of his own, which he did not put with Laban's flock.

[41] Moreover, whenever the hardier animals were in heat, Jacob would set the rods in the troughs in full view of these animals, so that they mated by the rods;

[42] but with the weaker animals he would not put the rods there. So the feeble animals would go to Laban, but the sturdy ones to Jacob.

[43] Thus the man grew increasingly prosperous, and he came to own not only large flocks but also male and female servants and camels and asses.

Genesis Chapter 31

[1] Jacob learned that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father, and he has accumulated all this wealth of his by using our father's property."

[2] Jacob perceived, too, that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had previously been.

[3] Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, where you were born, and I will be with you."

[4] So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to meet him where he was in the field with his flock.

[5] There he said to them: "I have noticed that your father's attitude toward me is not as it was in the past; but the God of my father has been with me.

[6] You well know what effort I put into serving your father;

[7] yet your father cheated me and changed my wages time after time. God, however, did not let him do me any harm.

[8] 1 Whenever your father said, 'The speckled animals shall be your wages,' the entire flock would bear speckled young; whenever he said, 'The streaked animals shall be your wages,' the entire flock would bear streaked young.

[9] Thus God reclaimed your father's livestock and gave it to me.

[10] Once, in the breeding season, I had a dream in which I saw mating he-goats that were streaked, speckled and mottled.

[11] In the dream God's messenger called to me, 'Jacob!' 'Here!' I replied.

[12] Then he said: 'Note well. All the he-goats in the flock, as they mate, are streaked, speckled and mottled, for I have seen all the things that Laban has been doing to you.

[13] I am the God who appeared to you in Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone and made a vow to me. Up, then! Leave this land and return to the land of your birth.'"

[14] Rachel and Leah answered him: "Have we still an heir's portion in our father's house?

[15] 2 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us!

[16] All the wealth that God reclaimed from our father really belongs to us and our children. Therefore, do just as God has told you."

[17] Jacob proceeded to put his children and wives on camels,

[18] and he drove off with all his livestock and all the property he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

[19] 3 Now Laban had gone away to shear his sheep, and Rachel had meanwhile appropriated her father's household idols.

[20] 4 Jacob had hoodwinked Laban the Aramean by not telling him of his intended flight.

[21] Thus he made his escape with all that he had. Once he was across the Euphrates, he headed for the highlands of Gilead.

[22] On the third day, word came to Laban that Jacob had fled.

[23] 5 Taking his kinsmen with him, he pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

[24] But that night God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Take care not to threaten Jacob with any harm!"

[25] When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob's tents were pitched in the highlands; Laban also pitched his tents there, on Mount Gilead.

[26] 6 "What do you mean," Laban demanded of Jacob, "by hoodwinking me and carrying off my daughters like war captives?

[27] Why did you dupe me by stealing away secretly? You should have told me, and I would have sent you off with merry singing to the sound of tambourines and harps.

[28] You did not even allow me a parting kiss to my daughters and grandchildren! What you have now done is a senseless thing.

[29] I have it in my power to harm all of you; but last night the God of your father said to me, 'Take care not to threaten Jacob with any harm!'

[30] Granted that you had to leave because you were desperately homesick for your father's house, why did you steal my gods?"

[31] "I was frightened," Jacob replied to Laban, "at the thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force.

[32] But as for your gods, the one you find them with shall not remain alive! If, with my kinsmen looking on, you identify anything here as belonging to you, take it." Jacob, of course, had no idea that Rachel had stolen the idols.

[33] Laban then went in and searched Jacob's tent and Leah's tent, as well as the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find the idols. Leaving Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's.

[34] Now Rachel had taken the idols, put them inside a camel cushion, and seated herself upon them. When Laban had rummaged through the rest of her tent without finding them,

[35] Rachel said to her father, "Let not my lord feel offended that I cannot rise in your presence; a woman's period is upon me." So, despite his search, he did not find his idols.

[36] Jacob, now enraged, upbraided Laban. "What crime or offense have I committed," he demanded, "that you should hound me so fiercely?

[37] Now that you have ransacked all my things, have you found a single object taken from your belongings? If so, produce it here before your kinsmen and mine, and let them decide between us two.

[38] "In the twenty years that I was under you, no ewe or she-goat of yours ever miscarried, and I have never feasted on a ram of your flock.

[39] 7 I never brought you an animal torn by wild beasts; I made good the loss myself. You held me responsible for anything stolen by day or night.

[40] How often the scorching heat ravaged me by day, and the frost by night, while sleep fled from my eyes!

[41] Of the twenty years that I have now spent in your household, I slaved fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, while you changed my wages time after time.

[42] If my ancestral God, the God of Abraham and the Awesome One of Isaac, had not been on my side, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my plight and the fruits of my toil, and last night he gave judgment."

[43] 8 Laban replied to Jacob: "The women are mine, their children are mine, and the flocks are mine; everything you see belongs to me. But since these women are my daughters, I will now do something for them and for the children they have borne.

[44] Come, then, we will make a pact, you and I; the LORD shall be a witness between us."

[45] Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial stone.

[46] Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather some stones." So they got some stones and made a mound; and they had a meal there at the mound.

[47] 9 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed.

[48] "This mound," said Laban, "shall be a witness from now on between you and me." That is why it was named Galeed--

[49] 10 and also Mizpah, for he said: "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight.

[50] If you mistreat my daughters, or take other wives besides my daughters, remember that even though no one else is about, God will be witness between you and me."

[51] Laban said further to Jacob: "Here is this mound, and here is the memorial stone that I have set up between you and me.

[52] This mound shall be witness, and this memorial stone shall be witness, that, with hostile intent, neither may I pass beyond this mound into your territory, nor may you pass beyond it into mine.

[53] May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor (their ancestral deities) maintain justice between us!" Jacob took the oath by the Awesome One of Isaac.

[54] He then offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to share in the meal. When they had eaten, they passed the night on the mountain.

Genesis Chapter 32

[1] Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye; then he set out on his journey back home,

[2] while Jacob continued on his own way. Then God's messengers encountered Jacob.

[3] 1 When he saw them he said, "This is God's encampment." So he named that place Mahanaim.

[4] Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,

[5] with this message: "Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob speaks as follows: I have been staying with Laban and have been detained there until now.

[6] I own cattle, asses and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I am sending my lord this information in the hope of gaining your favor.'"

[7] When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We reached your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, accompanied by four hundred men."

[8] Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps.

[9] "If Esau should attack and overwhelm one camp," he reasoned, "the remaining camp may still survive."

[10] Then he prayed: "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You told me, O LORD, 'Go back to the land of your birth, and I will be good to you.'

[11] I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness that you have loyally performed for your servant: although I crossed the Jordan here with nothing but my staff, I have now grown into two companies.

[12] Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau! Otherwise I fear that when he comes he will strike me down and slay the mothers and children.

[13] You yourself said, 'I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.'"

[14] After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him the following presents for his brother Esau:

[15] two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams;

[16] thirty milch camels and their young; forty cows and ten bulls; twenty she-asses and ten he-asses.

[17] He put these animals in charge of his servants, in separate droves, and he told the servants, "Go on ahead of me, but keep a space between one drove and the next."

[18] To the servant in the lead he gave this instruction: "When my brother Esau meets you, he may ask you, 'Whose man are you? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?'

[19] Then you shall answer, 'They belong to your brother Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau; and Jacob himself is right behind us.'"

[20] He gave similar instructions to the second servant and the third and to all the others who followed behind the droves, namely: "Thus and thus shall you say to Esau, when you reach him;

[21] and be sure to add, 'Your servant Jacob is right behind us.'" For Jacob reasoned, "If I first appease him with gifts that precede me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me."

[22] So the gifts went on ahead of him, while he stayed that night in the camp.

[23] In the course of that night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

[24] After he had taken them across the stream and had brought over all his possessions,

[25] 2 Jacob was left there alone. Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.

[26] When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled.

[27] The man then said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me."

[28] "What is your name?" the man asked. He answered, "Jacob."

[29] 3 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed."

[30] Jacob then asked him, "Do tell me your name, please." He answered, "Why should you want to know my name?" With that, he bade him farewell.

[31] 4 Jacob named the place Peniel, "Because I have seen God face to face," he said, "yet my life has been spared."

[32] At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip.

[33] That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, inasmuch as Jacob's hip socket was struck at the sciatic muscle.

Genesis Chapter 33

[1] Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, accompanied by four hundred men. So he divided his children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants,

[2] putting the maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.

[3] He himself went on ahead of them, bowing to the ground seven times, until he reached his brother.

[4] Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, and flinging himself on his neck, kissed him as he wept.

[5] When Esau looked about, he saw the women and children. "Who are these with you?" he asked. Jacob answered, "They are the children whom God has graciously bestowed on your servant."

[6] Then the maidservants and their children came forward and bowed low;

[7] next, Leah and her children came forward and bowed low; lastly, Rachel and her children came forward and bowed low.

[8] Then Esau asked, "What did you intend with all those droves that I encountered?" Jacob answered, "It was to gain my lord's favor."

[9] "I have plenty," replied Esau; "you should keep what is yours, brother."

[10] "No, I beg you!" said Jacob. "If you will do me the favor, please accept this gift from me, since to come into your presence is for me like coming into the presence of God, now that you have received me so kindly.

[11] Do accept the present I have brought you; God has been generous toward me, and I have an abundance." Since he so urged him, Esau accepted.

[12] Then Esau said, "Let us break camp and be on our way; I will travel alongside you."

[13] But Jacob replied: "As my lord can see, the children are frail. Besides, I am encumbered with the flocks and herds, which now have sucklings; if overdriven for a single day, the whole flock will die.

[14] Let my lord, then, go on ahead of me, while I proceed more slowly at the pace of the livestock before me and at the pace of my children, until I join my lord in Seir."

[15] Esau replied, "Let me at least put at your disposal some of the men who are with me." But Jacob said, "For what reason? Please indulge me in this, my lord."

[16] So on the same day that Esau began his journey back to Seir,

[17] 1 Jacob journeyed to Succoth. There he built a home for himself and made booths for his livestock. That is why the place was called Succoth.

[18] Having thus come from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and he encamped in sight of the city.

[19] 2 The plot of ground on which he had pitched his tent he bought for a hundred pieces of bullion from the descendants of Hamor, the founder of Shechem.

[20] He set up a memorial stone there and invoked "El, the God of Israel."

Genesis Chapter 34

[1] 1 Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit some of the women of the land.

[2] 2 When Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force.

[3] Since he was strongly attracted to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, indeed was really in love with the girl, he endeavored to win her affection.

[4] Shechem also asked his father Hamor, "Get me this girl for a wife."

[5] Meanwhile, Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his sons were out in the fields with his livestock, he held his peace until they came home.

[6] Now Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to discuss the matter with Jacob,

[7] just as Jacob's sons were coming in from the fields. When they heard the news, the men were shocked and seethed with indignation. What Shechem had done was an outrage in Israel; such a thing could not be tolerated.

[8] Hamor appealed to them, saying: "My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage.

[9] Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

[10] Thus you can live among us. The land is open before you; you can settle and move about freely in it, and acquire landed property here."

[11] Then Shechem, too, appealed to Dinah's father and brothers: "Do me this favor, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.

[12] No matter how high you set the bridal price, I will pay you whatever you ask; only give me the maiden in marriage."

[13] Jacob's sons replied to Shechem and his father Hamor with guile, speaking as they did because their sister Dinah had been defiled.

[14] "We could not do such a thing," they said, "as to give our sister to an uncircumcised man; that would be a disgrace for us.

[15] We will agree with you only on this condition, that you become like us by having every male among you circumcised.

[16] Then we will give you our daughters and take yours in marriage; we will settle among you and become one kindred people with you.

[17] But if you do not comply with our terms regarding circumcision, we will take our daughter and go away."

[18] Their proposal seemed fair to Hamor and his son Shechem.

[19] The young man lost no time in acting in the matter, since he was deeply in love with Jacob's daughter. Moreover he was more highly respected than anyone else in his clan.

[20] So Hamor and his son Shechem went to their town council and thus presented the matter to their fellow townsmen:

[21] "These men are friendly toward us. Let them settle in the land and move about in it freely; there is ample room in the country for them. We can marry their daughters and give our daughters to them in marriage.

[22] But the men will agree to live with us and form one kindred people with us only on this condition, that every male among us be circumcised as they themselves are.

[23] Would not the livestock they have acquired--all their animals--then be ours? Let us, therefore, give in to them, so that they may settle among us."

[24] 3 All the able-bodied men of the town agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the males, including every able-bodied man in the community, were circumcised.

[25] On the third day, while they were still in pain, Dinah's full brothers Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob's sons, took their swords, advanced against the city without any trouble, and massacred all the males.

[26] After they had put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword, they took Dinah from Shechem's house and left.

[27] Then the other sons of Jacob followed up the slaughter and sacked the city in reprisal for their sister Dinah's defilement.

[28] They seized their flocks, herds and asses, whatever was in the city and in the country around.

[29] They carried off all their wealth, their women, and their children, and took for loot whatever was in the houses.

[30] Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: "You have brought trouble upon me by making me loathsome to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I have so few men that, if these people unite against me and attack me, I and my family will be wiped out."

[31] But they retorted, "Should our sister have been treated like a harlot?"

Genesis Chapter 35

[1] God said to Jacob: "Go up now to Bethel. Settle there and build an altar there to the God who appeared to you while you were fleeing from your brother Esau."

[2] 1 So Jacob told his family and all the others who were with him: "Get rid of the foreign gods that you have among you; then purify yourselves and put on fresh clothes.

[3] We are now to go up to Bethel, and I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my hour of distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone."

[4] 2 They therefore handed over to Jacob all the foreign gods in their possession and also the rings they had in their ears.

[5] Then, as they set out, a terror from God fell upon the towns round about, so that no one pursued the sons of Jacob.

[6] Thus Jacob and all the people who were with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

[7] There he built an altar and named the place Bethel, for it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

[8] 3 Death came to Rebekah's nurse Deborah; she was buried under the oak below Bethel, and so it was called Allonbacuth.

[9] On Jacob's arrival from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.

[10] God said to him: "You whose name is Jacob shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." Thus he was named Israel.

[11] God also said to him: "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, shall stem from you, and kings shall issue from your loins.

[12] The land I once gave to Abraham and Isaac I now give to you; And to your descendants after you will I give this land."

[13] Then God departed from him.

[14] On the site where God had spoken with him, Jacob set up a memorial stone, and upon it he made a libation and poured out oil.

[15] Jacob named the site Bethel, because God had spoken with him there.

[16] Then they departed from Bethel; but while they still had some distance to go on the way to Ephrath, Rachel began to be in labor and to suffer great distress.

[17] When her pangs were most severe, her midwife said to her, "Have no fear! This time, too, you have a son."

[18] 4 With her last breath--for she was at the point of death-she called him Ben-oni; his father, however, named him Benjamin.

[19] 5 Thus Rachel died; and she was buried on the road to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

[20] Jacob set up a memorial stone on her grave, and the same monument marks Rachel's grave to this day.

[21] Israel moved on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder.

[22] While Israel was encamped in that region, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine. When Israel heard of it, he was greatly offended. The sons of Jacob were now twelve.

[23] The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first-born, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;

[24] 6 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

[25] the sons of Rachel's maid Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali;

[26] the sons of Leah's maid Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

[27] Jacob went home to his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

[28] The lifetime of Isaac was one hundred and eighty years;

[29] then he breathed his last. After a full life, he died as an old man and was taken to his kinsmen. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis Chapter 36

[1] These are the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom).

[2] 1 Esau took his wives from among the Canaanite women: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, granddaughter through Anah of Zibeon the Hivite;

[3] and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

[4] Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau; Basemath bore Reuel;

[5] and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

[6] Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock comprising various animals and all the property he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to the land of Seir, out of the way of his brother Jacob.

[7] Their possessions had become too great for them to dwell together, and the land in which they were staying could not support them because of their livestock.

[8] So Esau settled in the highlands of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)

[9] These are the descendants of Esau, ancestor of the Edomites, in the highlands of Seir.

[10] These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz, son of Esau's wife Adah; and Reuel, son of Esau's wife Basemath.

[11] The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

[12] (Esau's son Eliphaz had a concubine Timna, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the descendants of Esau's wife Adah.

[13] The sons of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the descendants of Esau's wife Basemath.

[14] The descendants of Esau's wife Oholibamah--granddaughter through Anah of Zibeon--whom she bore to Esau were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

[15] The following are the clans of Esau's descendants. The descendants of Eliphaz, Esau's first-born: the clans of Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

[16] Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the clans of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are descended from Adah.

[17] The descendants of Esau's son Reuel: the clans of Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the clans of Reuel in the land of Edom; they are descended from Esau's wife Basemath.

[18] The descendants of Esau's wife Oholibamah: the clans of Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the clans of Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.

[19] Such are the descendants of Esau (that is, Edom) according to their clans.

[20] 2 The following are the descendants of Seir the Horite, the original settlers in the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

[21] Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; they are the Horite clans descended from Seir, in the land of Edom.

[22] Lotan's descendants were Hori and Hemam, and Lotan's sister was Timna.

[23] Shobal's descendants were Alvan, Mahanath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

[24] Zibeon's descendants were Aiah and Anah. (He is the Anah who found water in the desert while he was pasturing the asses of his father Zibeon.)

[25] The descendants of Anah were Dishon and Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.

[26] The descendants of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

[27] The descendants of Ezer were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

[28] The descendants of Dishan were Uz and Aran.

[29] These are the Horite clans: the clans of Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,

[30] Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; they were the clans of the Horites, clan by clan, in the land of Seir.

[31] 3 The following are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites.

[32] Bela, son of Beor, became king in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

[33] When Bela died, Jobab, son of Zerah, from Bozrah, succeeded him as king.

[34] When Jobab died, Husham, from the land of the Temanites, succeeded him as king. He defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab; the name of his city was Avith.

[35] When Husham died, Hadad, son of Bedad, succeeded him as king.

[36] When Hadad died, Samlah, from Masrekah, succeeded him as king.

[37] When Samlah died, Shaul, from Rehoboth-on-the-River, succeeded him as king.

[38] When Shaul died, Baal-hanan, son of Achbor, succeeded him as king.

[39] When Baal-hanan died, Hadar succeeded him as king; the name of his city was Pau. (His wife's name was Mehetabel; she was the daughter of Matred, son of Mezahab.)

[40] The following are the names of the clans of Esau individually according to their subdivisions and localities: the clans of Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,

[41] Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

[42] Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

[43] Magdiel, and Iram. These are the clans of the Edomites, according to their settlements in their territorial holdings. (Esau was the father of the Edomites.)

Genesis Chapter 37

[1] Jacob settled in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

[2] This is his family history. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flocks with his brothers; he was an assistant to the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought his father bad reports about them.

[3] Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic.

[4] When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.

[5] Once Joseph had a dream, which he told to his brothers:

[6] "Listen to this dream I had.

[7] There we were, binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose to an upright position, and your sheaves formed a ring around my sheaf and bowed down to it."

[8] "Are you really going to make yourself king over us?" his brothers asked him. "Or impose your rule on us?" So they hated him all the more because of his talk about his dreams.

[9] Then he had another dream, and this one, too, he told to his brothers. "I had another dream," he said; "this time, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

[10] When he also told it to his father, his father reproved him. "What is the meaning of this dream of yours?" he asked. "Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers are to come and bow to the ground before you?"

[11] So his brothers were wrought up against him but his father pondered the matter.

[12] One day, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem,

[13] Israel said to Joseph, "Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready; I will send you to them." "I am ready," Joseph answered.

[14] "Go then," he replied; "see if all is well with your brothers and the flocks, and bring back word." So he sent him off from the valley of Hebron. When Joseph reached Shechem,

[15] a man met him as he was wandering about in the fields. "What are you looking for?" the man asked him.

[16] "I am looking for my brothers," he answered. "Could you please tell me where they are tending the flocks?"

[17] The man told him, "They have moved on from here; in fact, I heard them say, 'Let us go on to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan.

[18] They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him.

[19] They said to one another: "Here comes that master dreamer!

[20] Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams."

[21] 1 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from their hands, saying: "We must not take his life.

[22] Instead of shedding blood," he continued, "just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but don't kill him outright." His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and restore him to his father.

[23] So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on;

[24] then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry.

[25] They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt.

[26] Judah said to his brothers: "What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood?

[27] Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed.

[28] 2 They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Some Midianite traders passed by, and they pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and took him to Egypt.

[29] When Reuben went back to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not in it, he tore his clothes,

[30] and returning to his brothers, he exclaimed: "The boy is gone! And I--where can I turn?"

[31] They took Joseph's tunic, and after slaughtering a goat, dipped the tunic in its blood.

[32] Then they sent someone to bring the long tunic to their father, with the message: "We found this. See whether it is your son's tunic or not."

[33] He recognized it and exclaimed: "My son's tunic! A wild beast has devoured him! Joseph has been torn to pieces!"

[34] Then Jacob rent his clothes, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned his son many days.

[35] Though his sons and daughters tried to console him, he refused all consolation, saying, "No, I will go down mourning to my son in the nether world." Thus did his father lament him.

[36] The Midianites, meanwhile, sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward.

Genesis Chapter 38

[1] 1 About that time Judah parted from his brothers and pitched his tent near a certain Adullamite named Hirah.

[2] There he met the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua, married her, and had relations with her.

[3] She conceived and bore a son, whom she named Er.

[4] Again she conceived and bore a son, whom she named Onan.

[5] 2 Then she bore still another son, whom she named Shelah. They were in Chezib when he was born.

[6] Judah got a wife named Tamar for his first-born, Er.

[7] But Er, Judah's first-born, greatly offended the LORD; so the LORD took his life.

[8] 3 Then Judah said to Onan, "Unite with your brother's widow, in fulfillment of your duty as brother-in-law, and thus preserve your brother's line."

[9] Onan, however, knew that the descendants would not be counted as his; so whenever he had relations with his brother's widow, he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid contributing offspring for his brother.

[10] What he did greatly offended the LORD, and the LORD took his life too.

[11] Thereupon Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Stay as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up"--for he feared that Shelah also might die like his brothers. So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

[12] Years passed, and Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah completed the period of mourning, he went up to Timnah for the shearing of his sheep, in company with his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

[13] When Tamar was told that her father-in-law was on his way up to Timnah to shear his sheep,

[14] she took off her widow's garb, veiled her face by covering herself with a shawl, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah; for she was aware that, although Shelah was now grown up, she had not been given to him in marriage.

[15] When Judah saw her, he mistook her for a harlot, since she had covered her face.

[16] So he went over to her at the roadside, and not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he said, "Come, let me have intercourse with you." She replied, "What will you pay me for letting you have intercourse with me?"

[17] He answered, "I will send you a kid from the flock." "Very well," she said, "provided you leave a pledge until you send it."

[18] 4 Judah asked, "What pledge am I to give to you?" She answered, "Your seal and cord, and the staff you carry." So he gave them to her and had intercourse with her, and she conceived by him.

[19] When she went away, she took off her shawl and put on her widow's garb again.

[20] Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite to recover the pledge from the woman; but he could not find her.

[21] 5 So he asked the men of the place, "Where is the temple prostitute, the one by the roadside in Enaim?" But they answered, "There has never been a temple prostitute here."

[22] He went back to Judah and told him, "I could not find her; and besides, the men of the place said there was no temple prostitute there."

[23] "Let her keep the things," Judah replied; "otherwise we shall become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her the kid, even though you were unable to find her."

[24] About three months later, Judah was told that his daughter-in-law Tamar had played the harlot and was then with child from her harlotry. "Bring her out," cried Judah; "she shall be burned."

[25] But as they were bringing her out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "It is by the man to whom these things belong that I am with child. Please verify," she added, "whose seal and cord and whose staff these are."

[26] Judah recognized them and said, "She is more in the right than I am, since I did not give her to my son Shelah." But he had no further relations with her.

[27] When the time of her delivery came, she was found to have twins in her womb.

[28] While she was giving birth, one infant put out his hand; and the midwife, taking a crimson thread, tied it on his hand, to note that this one came out first.

[29] 6 But as he withdrew his hand, his brother came out; and she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" So he was called Perez.

[30] 7 Afterward his brother came out; he was called Zerah.

Genesis Chapter 39

[1] 1 When Joseph was taken down to Egypt, a certain Egyptian (Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward) bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

[2] But since the LORD was with him, Joseph got on very well and was assigned to the household of his Egyptian master.

[3] When his master saw that the LORD was with him and brought him success in whatever he did,

[4] he took a liking to Joseph and made him his personal attendant; he put him in charge of his household and entrusted to him all his possessions.

[5] From the moment that he put him in charge of his household and all his possessions, the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; in fact, the LORD'S blessing was on everything he owned, both inside the house and out.

[6] Having left everything he owned in Joseph's charge, he gave no thought, with Joseph there, to anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was strikingly handsome in countenance and body.

[7] After a time, his master's wife began to look fondly at him and said, "Lie with me."

[8] But he refused. "As long as I am here," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, but has entrusted to me all he owns.

[9] He wields no more authority in this house than I do, and he has withheld from me nothing but yourself, since you are his wife. How, then, could I commit so great a wrong and thus stand condemned before God?"

[10] Although she tried to entice him day after day, he would not agree to lie beside her, or even stay near her.

[11] One such day, when Joseph came into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were then in the house,

[12] she laid hold of him by his cloak, saying, "Lie with me!" But leaving the cloak in her hand, he got away from her and ran outside.

[13] When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand as he fled outside,

[14] she screamed for her household servants and told them, "Look! my husband has brought in a Hebrew slave to make sport of us! He came in here to lie with me, but I cried out as loud as I could.

[15] When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran away outside."

[16] She kept the cloak with her until his master came home.

[17] Then she told him the same story: "The Hebrew slave whom you brought here broke in on me, to make sport of me.

[18] But when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and fled outside."

[19] As soon as the master heard his wife's story about how his slave had treated her, he became enraged.

[20] He seized Joseph and threw him into the jail where the royal prisoners were confined. But even while he was in prison,

[21] the LORD remained with Joseph; he showed him kindness by making the chief jailer well-disposed toward him.

[22] The chief jailer put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners in the jail, and everything that had to be done there was done under his management.

[23] The chief jailer did not concern himself with anything at all that was in Joseph's charge, since the LORD was with him and brought success to all he did.

Genesis Chapter 40

[1] Some time afterward, the royal cupbearer and baker gave offense to their lord, the king of Egypt.

[2] Pharaoh was angry with his two courtiers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,

[3] and he put them in custody in the house of the chief steward (the same jail where Joseph was confined).

[4] The chief steward assigned Joseph to them, and he became their attendant. After they had been in custody for some time,

[5] the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the jail both had dreams on the same night, each dream with its own meaning.

[6] When Joseph came to them in the morning, he noticed that they looked disturbed.

[7] So he asked Pharaoh's courtiers who were with him in custody in his master's house, "Why do you look so sad today?"

[8] They answered him, "We have had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them for us." Joseph said to them, "Surely, interpretations come from God. Please tell the dreams to me."

[9] Then the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. "In my dream," he said, "I saw a vine in front of me,

[10] and on the vine were three branches. It had barely budded when its blossoms came out, and its clusters ripened into grapes.

[11] Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes, pressed them out into his cup, and put it in Pharaoh's hand."

[12] Joseph said to him: "This is what it means. The three branches are three days;

[13] 1 within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your post. You will be handing Pharaoh his cup as you formerly used to do when you were his cupbearer.

[14] So if you will still remember, when all is well with you, that I was here with you, please do me the favor of mentioning me to Pharaoh, to get me out of this place.

[15] The truth is that I was kidnaped from the land of the Hebrews, and here I have not done anything for which I should have been put into a dungeon."

[16] When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given this favorable interpretation, he said to him: "I too had a dream. In it I had three wicker baskets on my head;

[17] in the top one were all kinds of bakery products for Pharaoh, but the birds were pecking at them out of the basket on my head."

[18] Joseph said to him in reply: "This is what it means. The three baskets are three days;

[19] within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and have you impaled on a stake, and the birds will be pecking the flesh from your body."

[20] And in fact, on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, when he gave a banquet to all his staff, with his courtiers around him, he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and chief baker.

[21] He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, so that he again handed the cup to Pharaoh;

[22] but the chief baker he impaled-just as Joseph had told them in his interpretation.

[23] Yet the chief cupbearer gave no thought to Joseph; he had forgotten him.

Genesis Chapter 41

[1] After a lapse of two years, Pharaoh had a dream. He saw himself standing by the Nile,

[2] when up out of the Nile came seven cows, handsome and fat; they grazed in the reed grass.

[3] Behind them seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile; and standing on the bank of the Nile beside the others,

[4] the ugly, gaunt cows ate up the seven handsome, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

[5] He fell asleep again and had another dream. He saw seven ears of grain, fat and healthy, growing on a single stalk.

[6] Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, thin and blasted by the east wind;

[7] and the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven fat, healthy ears. Then Pharaoh woke up, to find it was only a dream.

[8] Next morning his spirit was agitated. So he summoned all the magicians and sages of Egypt and recounted his dreams to them; but no one could interpret his dreams for him.

[9] Then the chief cupbearer spoke up and said to Pharaoh: "On this occasion I am reminded of my negligence.

[10] Once, when Pharaoh was angry, he put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the chief steward.

[11] Later, we both had dreams on the same night, and each of our dreams had its own meaning.

[12] There with us was a Hebrew youth, a slave of the chief steward; and when we told him our dreams, he interpreted them for us and explained for each of us the meaning of his dream.

[13] And it turned out just as he had told us: I was restored to my post, but the other man was impaled."

[14] Pharaoh therefore had Joseph summoned, and they hurriedly brought him from the dungeon. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he came into Pharaoh's presence.

[15] Pharaoh then said to him: "I had certain dreams that no one can interpret. But I hear it said of you that the moment you are told a dream you can interpret it."

[16] "It is not I," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God who will give Pharaoh the right answer."

[17] Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: "In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile,

[18] when up from the Nile came seven cows, fat and well-formed; they grazed in the reed grass.

[19] Behind them came seven other cows, scrawny, most ill-formed and gaunt. Never have I seen such ugly specimens as these in all the land of Egypt!

[20] The gaunt, ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows.

[21] But when they had consumed them, no one could tell that they had done so, because they looked as ugly as before. Then I woke up.

[22] In another dream I saw seven ears of grain, fat and healthy, growing on a single stalk.

[23] Behind them sprouted seven ears of grain, shriveled and thin and blasted by the east wind;

[24] and the seven thin ears swallowed up the seven healthy ears. I have spoken to the magicians, but none of them can give me an explanation."

[25] Joseph said to Pharaoh: "Both of Pharaoh's dreams have the same meaning. God has thus foretold to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

[26] The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years--the same in each dream.

[27] So also, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven thin, wind-blasted ears; they are seven years of famine.

[28] It is just as I told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

[29] Seven years of great abundance are now coming throughout the land of Egypt;

[30] but these will be followed by seven years of famine, when all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. When the famine has ravaged the land,

[31] no trace of the abundance will be found in the land because of the famine that follows it--so utterly severe will that famine be.

[32] That Pharaoh had the same dream twice means that the matter has been reaffirmed by God and that God will soon bring it about.

[33] "Therefore, let Pharaoh seek out a wise and discerning man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.

[34] Pharaoh should also take action to appoint overseers, so as to regiment the land during the seven years of abundance.

[35] They should husband all the food of the coming good years, collecting the grain under Pharaoh's authority, to be stored in the towns for food.

[36] This food will serve as a reserve for the country against the seven years of famine that are to follow in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine."

[37] This advice pleased Pharaoh and all his officials.

[38] "Could we find another like him," Pharaoh asked his officials, "a man so endowed with the spirit of God?"

[39] So Pharaoh said to Joseph: "Since God has made all this known to you, no one can be as wise and discerning as you are.

[40] You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people shall dart at your command. Only in respect to the throne shall I outrank you.

[41] Herewith," Pharaoh told Joseph, "I place you in charge of the whole land of Egypt."

[42] 1 With that, Pharaoh took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He had him dressed in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.

[43] 2 He then had him ride in the chariot of his vizier, and they shouted "Abrek!" before him. Thus was Joseph installed over the whole land of Egypt.

[44] "I, Pharaoh, proclaim," he told Joseph, "that without your approval no one shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."

[45] 3 Pharaoh also bestowed the name of Zaphnath-paneah on Joseph, and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.

[46] Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. After Joseph left Pharaoh's presence, he traveled throughout the land of Egypt.

[47] During the seven years of plenty, when the land produced abundant crops,

[48] he husbanded all the food of these years of plenty that the land of Egypt was enjoying and stored it in the towns, placing in each town the crops of the fields around it.

[49] Joseph garnered grain in quantities like the sands of the sea, so vast that at last he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.

[50] Before the famine years set in, Joseph became the father of two sons, borne to him by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.

[51] 4 He named his first-born Manasseh, meaning, "God has made me forget entirely the sufferings I endured at the hands of my family";

[52] 5 and the second he named Ephraim, meaning, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

[53] When the seven years of abundance enjoyed by the land of Egypt came to an end,

[54] the seven years of famine set in, just as Joseph had predicted. Although there was famine in all the other countries, food was available throughout the land of Egypt.

[55] When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph and do whatever he told them.

[56] When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the cities that had grain and rationed it to the Egyptians, since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.

[57] In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.

Genesis Chapter 42

[1] When Jacob learned that grain rations were available in Egypt, he said to his sons: "Why do you keep gaping at one another?

[2] I hear," he went on, "that rations of grain are available in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, that we may stay alive rather than die of hunger."

[3] So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy an emergency supply of grain from Egypt.

[4] It was only Joseph's full brother Benjamin that Jacob did not send with the rest, for he thought some disaster might befall him.

[5] Thus, since there was famine in the land of Canaan also, the sons of Israel were among those who came to procure rations.

[6] It was Joseph, as governor of the country, who dispensed the rations to all the people. When Joseph's brothers came and knelt down before him with their faces to the ground,

[7] he recognized them as soon as he saw them. But he concealed his own identity from them and spoke sternly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked them. They answered, "From the land of Canaan, to procure food."

[8] When Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him,

[9] 1 he was reminded of the dreams he had about them. He said to them: "You are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land."

[10] "No, my lord," they replied. "On the contrary, your servants have come to procure food.

[11] All of us are sons of the same man. We are honest men; your servants have never been spies."

[12] But he answered them: "Not so! You have come to see the nakedness of the land."

[13] "We your servants," they said, "were twelve brothers, sons of a certain man in Canaan; but the youngest one is at present with our father, and the other one is gone."

[14] "It is just as I said," Joseph persisted; "you are spies.

[15] This is how you shall be tested: unless your youngest brother comes here, I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you shall not leave here.

[16] So send one of your number to get your brother, while the rest of you stay here under arrest. Thus shall your words be tested for their truth; if they are untrue, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

[17] With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days.

[18] On the third day Joseph said to them: "Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man.

[19] If you have been honest, only one of your brothers need be confined in this prison, while the rest of you may go and take home provisions for your starving families.

[20] But you must come back to me with your youngest brother. Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die." To this they agreed.

[21] To one another, however, they said: "Alas, we are being punished because of our brother. We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us, yet we paid no heed; that is why this anguish has now come upon us."

[22] "Didn't I tell you," broke in Reuben, "not to do wrong to the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood."

[23] They did not know, of course, that Joseph understood what they said, since he spoke with them through an interpreter.

[24] But turning away from them, he wept. When he was able to speak to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.

[25] Then Joseph gave orders to have their containers filled with grain, their money replaced in each one's sack, and provisions given them for their journey. After this had been done for them,

[26] they loaded their donkeys with the rations and departed.

[27] 2 At the night encampment, when one of them opened his bag to give his donkey some fodder, he was surprised to see his money in the mouth of his bag.

[28] "My money has been returned!" he cried out to his brothers. "Here it is in my bag!" At that their hearts sank. Trembling, they asked one another, "What is this that God has done to us?"

[29] When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them.

[30] "The man who is lord of the country," they said, "spoke to us sternly and put us in custody as if we were spying on the land.

[31] But we said to him: 'We are honest men; we have never been spies.

[32] There were twelve of us brothers, sons of the same father; but one is gone, and the youngest one is at present with our father in the land of Canaan.'

[33] Then the man who is lord of the country said to us: 'This is how I shall know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, while the rest of you go home with rations for your starving families.

[34] When you come back to me with your youngest brother, and I know that you are honest men and not spies, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.'"

[35] When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one's sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were dismayed.

[36] Their father Jacob said to them: "Must you make me childless? Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you would take away Benjamin! Why must such things always happen to me?"

[37] Then Reuben told his father: "Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you. You may kill my own two sons if I do not return him to you."

[38] But Jacob replied: "My son shall not go down with you. Now that his full brother is dead, he is the only one left. If some disaster should befall him on the journey you must make, you would send my white head down to the nether world in grief."

Genesis Chapter 43

[1] 1 Now the famine in the land grew more severe.

[2] So when they had used up all the rations they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and procure us a little more food."

[3] But Judah replied: "The man strictly warned us, 'You shall not appear in my presence unless your brother is with you.'

[4] If you are willing to let our brother go with us, we will go down to procure food for you.

[5] But if you are not willing, we will not go down, because the man told us, 'You shall not appear in my presence unless your brother is with you.'"

[6] Israel demanded, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man that you had another brother?"

[7] They answered: "The man kept asking about ourselves and our family: 'Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?' We had to answer his questions. How could we know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?"

[8] Then Judah urged his father Israel: "Let the boy go with me, that we may be off and on our way if you and we and our children are to keep from starving to death.

[9] I myself will stand surety for him. You can hold me responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back, to set him in your presence, you can hold it against me forever.

[10] Had we not dilly-dallied, we could have been there and back twice by now!"

[11] Their father Israel then told them: "If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the land's best products in your baggage and take them down to the man as gifts: some balm and honey, gum and resin, and pistachios and almonds.

[12] Also take extra money along, for you must return the amount that was put back in the mouths of your bags; it may have been a mistake.

[13] Take your brother, too, and be off on your way back to the man.

[14] May God Almighty dispose the man to be merciful toward you, so that he may let your other brother go, as well as Benjamin. As for me, if I am to suffer bereavement, I shall suffer it."

[15] So the men got the gifts, took double the amount of money with them, and, accompanied by Benjamin, were off on their way down to Egypt to present themselves to Joseph.

[16] When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he told his head steward, "Take these men into the house, and have an animal slaughtered and prepared, for they are to dine with me at noon."

[17] Doing as Joseph had ordered, the steward conducted the men to Joseph's house.

[18] But on being led to his house, they became apprehensive. "It must be," they thought, "on account of the money put back in our bags the first time, that we are taken inside; they want to use it as a pretext to attack us and take our donkeys and seize us as slaves."

[19] So they went up to Joseph's head steward and talked to him at the entrance of the house.

[20] "If you please, sir," they said, "we came down here once before to procure food.

[21] But when we arrived at a night's encampment and opened our bags, there was each man's money in the mouth of his bag--our money in the full amount! We have now brought it back.

[22] We have brought other money to procure food with. We do not know who put the first money in our bags."

[23] "Be at ease," he replied; "you have no need to fear. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasures in your bags for you. As for your money, I received it." With that, he led Simeon out to them.

[24] The steward then brought the men inside Joseph's house. He gave them water to bathe their feet, and got fodder for their donkeys.

[25] Then they set out their gifts to await Joseph's arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were to dine there.

[26] When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought inside, while they bowed down before him to the ground.

[27] After inquiring how they were, he asked them, "And how is your aged father, of whom you spoke? Is he still in good health?"

[28] "Your servant our father is thriving and still in good health," they said, as they bowed respectfully.

[29] When Joseph's eye fell on his full brother Benjamin, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you told me?" Then he said to him, "May God be gracious to you, my boy!"

[30] With that, Joseph had to hurry out, for he was so overcome with affection for his brother that he was on the verge of tears. He went into a private room and wept there.

[31] After washing his face, he reappeared and, now in control of himself, gave the order, "Serve the meal."

[32] 2 It was served separately to him, to the brothers, and to the Egyptians who partook of his board. (Egyptians may not eat with Hebrews; that is abhorrent to them.)

[33] When they were seated by his directions according to their age, from the oldest to the youngest, they looked at one another in amazement;

[34] 3 and as portions were brought to them from Joseph's table, Benjamin's portion was five times as large as anyone else's. So they drank freely and made merry with him.

Genesis Chapter 44

[1] 1 Then Joseph gave his head steward these instructions: "Fill the men's bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his bag.

[2] In the mouth of the youngest one's bag put also my silver goblet, together with the money for his rations." The steward carried out Joseph's instructions.

[3] At daybreak the men and their donkeys were sent off.

[4] They had not gone far out of the city when Joseph said to his head steward: "Go at once after the men! When you overtake them, say to them, 'Why did you repay good with evil? Why did you steal the silver goblet from me?

[5] 2 It is the very one from which my master drinks and which he uses for divination. What you have done is wrong.'"

[6] When the steward overtook them and repeated these words to them,

[7] they remonstrated with him: "How can my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!

[8] We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the mouths of our bags. Why, then, would we steal silver or gold from your master's house?

[9] If any of your servants is found to have the goblet, he shall die, and as for the rest of us, we shall become my lord's slaves."

[10] But he replied, "Even though it ought to be as you propose, only the one who is found to have it shall become my slave, and the rest of you shall be exonerated."

[11] Then each of them eagerly lowered his bag to the ground and opened it;

[12] and when a search was made, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest, the goblet turned up in Benjamin's bag.

[13] At this, they tore their clothes. Then, when each man had reloaded his donkey, they returned to the city.

[14] As Judah and his brothers reentered Joseph's house, he was still there; so they flung themselves on the ground before him.

[15] "How could you do such a thing?" Joseph asked them. "You should have known that such a man as I could discover by divination what happened."

[16] 3 Judah replied: "What can we say to my lord? How can we plead or how try to prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. Here we are, then, the slaves of my lord--the rest of us no less than the one in whose possession the goblet was found."

[17] "Far be it from me to act thus!" said Joseph. "Only the one in whose possession the goblet was found shall become my slave; the rest of you may go back safe and sound to your father."

[18] Judah then stepped up to him and said: "I beg you, my lord, let your servant speak earnestly to my lord, and do not become angry with your servant, for you are the equal of Pharaoh.

[19] 4 My lord asked your servants, 'Have you a father, or another brother?'

[20] So we said to my lord, 'We have an aged father, and a young brother, the child of his old age. This one's full brother is dead, and since he is the only one by that mother who is left, his father dotes on him.'

[21] Then you told your servants, 'Bring him down to me that my eyes may look on him.'

[22] We replied to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; his father would die if he were to leave him.'

[23] But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes back with you, you shall not come into my presence again.'

[24] When we returned to your servant our father, we reported to him the words of my lord.

[25] "Later, our father told us to come back and buy some food for the family.

[26] So we reminded him, 'We cannot go down there; only if our youngest brother is with us can we go, for we may not see the man if our youngest brother is not with us.'

[27] Then your servant our father said to us, 'As you know, my wife bore me two sons.

[28] One of them, however, disappeared, and I had to conclude that he must have been torn to pieces by wild beasts; I have not seen him since.

[29] If you now take this one away from me too, and some disaster befalls him, you will send my white head down to the nether world in grief.'

[30] "If then the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, whose very life is bound up with his, he will die as soon as he sees that the boy is missing;

[31] and your servants will thus send the white head of our father down to the nether world in grief.

[32] Besides, I, your servant, got the boy from his father by going surety for him, saying, 'If I fail to bring him back to you, father, you can hold it against me forever.'

[33] Let me, your servant, therefore, remain in place of the boy as the slave of my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers.

[34] How could I go back to my father if the boy were not with me? I could not bear to see the anguish that would overcome my father."

Genesis Chapter 45

[1] Joseph could no longer control himself in the presence of all his attendants, so he cried out, "Have everyone withdraw from me!" Thus no one else was about when he made himself known to his brothers.

[2] But his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians heard him, and so the news reached Pharaoh's palace.

[3] "I am Joseph," he said to his brothers. "Is my father still in good health?" But his brothers could give him no answer, so dumbfounded were they at him.

[4] "Come closer to me," he told his brothers. When they had done so, he said: "I am your brother Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt.

[5] But now do not be distressed, and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.

[6] For two years now the famine has been in the land, and for five more years tillage will yield no harvest.

[7] God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance.

[8] 1 So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made of me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.

[9] 2 "Hurry back, then, to my father and tell him: 'Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come to me without delay.

[10] 3 You will settle in the region of Goshen, where you will be near me--you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything that you own.

[11] Since five years of famine still lie ahead, I will provide for you there, so that you and your family and all that are yours may not suffer want.'

[12] Surely, you can see for yourselves, and Benjamin can see for himself, that it is I, Joseph, who am speaking to you.

[13] Tell my father all about my high position in Egypt and what you have seen. But hurry and bring my father down here."

[14] Thereupon he flung himself on the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept in his arms.

[15] Joseph then kissed all his brothers, crying over each of them; and only then were his brothers able to talk with him.

[16] When the news reached Pharaoh's palace that Joseph's brothers had come, Pharaoh and his courtiers were pleased.

[17] So Pharaoh told Joseph: "Say to your brothers: 'This is what you shall do: Load up your animals and go without delay to the land of Canaan.

[18] There get your father and your families, and then come back here to me; I will assign you the best land in Egypt, where you will live off the fat of the land.'

[19] Instruct them further: 'Do this. Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your children and your wives and to transport your father on your way back here.

[20] Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best in the whole land of Egypt shall be yours.'"

[21] The sons of Israel acted accordingly. Joseph gave them the wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey.

[22] He also gave to each of them fresh clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of garments.

[23] Moreover, what he sent to his father was ten jackasses loaded with the finest products of Egypt and ten jennies loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey.

[24] As he sent his brothers on their way, he told them, "Let there be no recriminations on the way."

[25] So they left Egypt and made their way to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.

[26] When they told him, "Joseph is still alive--in fact, it is he who is ruler of all the land of Egypt," he was dumbfounded; he could not believe them.

[27] But when they recounted to him all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent for his transport, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

[28] "It is enough," said Israel. "My son Joseph is still alive! I must go and see him before I die."

Genesis Chapter 46

[1] Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

[2] There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am," he answered.

[3] 1 Then he said: "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation.

[4] Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes."

[5] So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father and their wives and children on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport.

[6] They took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt.

[7] His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters--all his descendants--he took with him to Egypt.

[8] These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who migrated to Egypt. Reuben, Jacob's first-born,

[9] 2 and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

[10] The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, son of a Canaanite woman.

[11] The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

[12] The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah--but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

[13] The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.

[14] The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

[15] These were the sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah--thirty-three persons in all, male and female.

[16] The sons of Gad: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli.

[17] The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with their sister Serah; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

[18] These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah; these she bore to Jacob--sixteen persons in all.

[19] The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

[20] In the land of Egypt Joseph became the father of Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore to him.

[21] The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, and Ard.

[22] These were the sons whom Rachel bore to Jacob--fourteen persons in all.

[23] The sons of Dan: Hushim.

[24] The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

[25] These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel; these she bore to Jacob--seven persons in all.

[26] Jacob's people who migrated to Egypt--his direct descendants, not counting the wives of Jacob's sons--numbered sixty-six persons in all.

[27] 3 Together with Joseph's sons who were born to him in Egypt--two persons--all the people comprising Jacob's family who had come to Egypt amounted to seventy persons in all.

[28] Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen,

[29] Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as he saw him, he flung himself on his neck and wept a long time in his arms.

[30] And Israel said to Joseph, "At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive."

[31] Joseph then said to his brothers and his father's household: "I will go and inform Pharaoh, telling him: 'My brothers and my father's household, whose home is in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

[32] The men are shepherds, having long been keepers of livestock; and they have brought with them their flocks and herds, as well as everything else they own.'

[33] So when Pharaoh summons you and asks what your occupation is,

[34] you must answer, 'We your servants, like our ancestors, have been keepers of livestock from the beginning until now,' in order that you may stay in the region of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians."

Genesis Chapter 47

[1] Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan, with their flocks and herds and everything else they own; and they are now in the region of Goshen."

[2] He then presented to Pharaoh five of his brothers whom he had selected from their full number.

[3] When Pharaoh asked them what their occupation was, they answered, "We, your servants, like our ancestors, are shepherds.

[4] We have come," they continued, "in order to stay in this country, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks in the land of Canaan, so severe has the famine been there. Please, therefore, let your servants settle in the region of Goshen."

[5] Pharaoh said to Joseph, "They may settle in the region of Goshen; and if you know any of them to be qualified, you may put them in charge of my own livestock." Thus, when Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, heard about it, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Now that your father and brothers have come to you,

[6] the land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and brothers in the pick of the land."

[7] Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh. After Jacob had paid his respects to Pharaoh,

[8] Pharaoh asked him, "How many years have you lived?"

[9] 1 Jacob replied: "The years I have lived as a wayfarer amount to a hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been these years of my life, and they do not compare with the years that my ancestors lived as wayfarers."

[10] Then Jacob bade Pharaoh farewell and withdrew from his presence.

[11] 2 As Pharaoh had ordered, Joseph settled his father and brothers and gave them holdings in Egypt on the pick of the land, in the region of Rameses.

[12] And Joseph sustained his father and brothers and his father's whole household, down to the youngest, with food.

[13] Since there was no food in any country because of the extreme severity of the famine, and the lands of Egypt and Canaan were languishing from hunger,

[14] Joseph gathered in, as payment for the rations that were being dispensed, all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan, and he put it in Pharaoh's palace.

[15] When all the money in Egypt and Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, pleading, "Give us food or we shall perish under your eyes; for our money is gone."

[16] "Since your money is gone," replied Joseph, "give me your livestock, and I will sell you bread in return for your livestock."

[17] So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he sold them food in return for their horses, their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and their donkeys. Thus he got them through that year with bread in exchange for all their livestock.

[18] When that year ended, they came to him in the following one and said: "We cannot hide from my lord that, with our money spent and our livestock made over to my lord, there is nothing left to put at my lord's disposal except our bodies and our farm land.

[19] Why should we and our land perish before your very eyes? Take us and our land in exchange for food, and we will become Pharaoh's slaves and our land his property; only give us seed, that we may survive and not perish, and that our land may not turn into a waste."

[20] Thus Joseph acquired all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, since with the famine too much for them to bear, every Egyptian sold his field; so the land passed over to Pharaoh,

[21] and the people were reduced to slavery, from one end of Egypt's territory to the other.

[22] Only the priests' lands Joseph did not take over. Since the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived off the allowance Pharaoh had granted them, they did not have to sell their land.

[23] Joseph told the people: "Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is your seed for sowing the land.

[24] But when the harvest is in, you must give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, while you keep four-fifths as seed for your fields and as food for yourselves and your families (and as food for your children)."

[25] "You have saved our lives!" they answered. "We are grateful to my lord that we can be Pharaoh's slaves."

[26] Thus Joseph made it a law for the land in Egypt, which is still in force, that a fifth of its produce should go to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not pass over to Pharaoh.

[27] Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. There they acquired property, were fertile, and increased greatly.

[28] Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; the span of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years.

[29] When the time approached for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him: "If you really wish to please me, put your hand under my thigh as a sign of your constant loyalty to me; do not let me be buried in Egypt.

[30] When I lie down with my ancestors, have me taken out of Egypt and buried in their burial place."

[31] 3 "I will do as you say," he replied. But his father demanded, "Swear it to me!" So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.

Genesis Chapter 48

[1] Some time afterward, Joseph was informed, "Your father is failing." So he took along with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

[2] When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," he rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

[3] 1 Jacob then said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessing me,

[4] he said, 'I will make you fertile and numerous and raise you into an assembly of tribes, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.'

[5] Your two sons, therefore, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I joined you here, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon are mine.

[6] Progeny born to you after them shall remain yours; but their heritage shall be recorded in the names of their two brothers.

[7] 2 I do this because, when I was returning from Paddan, your mother Rachel died, to my sorrow, during the journey in Canaan, while we were still a short distance from Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."

[8] When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he asked, "Who are these?"

[9] "They are my sons," Joseph answered his father, "whom God has given me here." "Bring them to me," said his father, "that I may bless them."

[10] (Now Israel's eyes were dim from age, and he could not see well.) When Joseph brought his sons close to him, he kissed and embraced them.

[11] Then Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your descendants as well!"

[12] Joseph removed them from his father's knees and bowed down before him with his face to the ground.

[13] Then Joseph took the two, Ephraim with his right hand, to Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand, to Israel's right, and led them to him.

[14] But Israel, crossing his hands, put out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, although he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, although he was the first-born.

[15] Then he blessed them with these words: "May the God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day,

[16] The Angel who has delivered me from all harm, bless these boys That in them my name be recalled, and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, And they may become teeming multitudes upon the earth!"

[17] When Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, this seemed wrong to him; so he took hold of his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's,

[18] saying, "That is not right, father; the other one is the first-born; lay your right hand on his head!"

[19] But his father resisted. "I know it, son," he said, "I know. That one too shall become a tribe, and he too shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall surpass him, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."

[20] So when he blessed them that day and said, "By you shall the people of Israel pronounce blessings; may they say, 'God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh,'" he placed Ephraim before Manasseh.

[21] Then Israel said to Joseph: "I am about to die. But God will be with you and will restore you to the land of your fathers.

[22] 3 As for me, I give to you, as to the one above his brothers, Shechem, which I captured from the Amorites with my sword and bow."

Genesis Chapter 49

[1] Jacob called his sons and said: "Gather around, that I may tell you what is to happen to you in days to come.

[2] "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father.

[3] "You, Reuben, my first-born, my strength and the first fruit of my manhood, excelling in rank and excelling in power!

[4] Unruly as water, you shall no longer excel, for you climbed into your father's bed and defiled my couch to my sorrow.

[5] 1 "Simeon and Levi, brothers indeed, weapons of violence are their knives.

[6] Let not my soul enter their council, or my spirit be joined with their company; For in their fury they slew men, in their willfulness they maimed oxen.

[7] Cursed be their fury so fierce, and their rage so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob, disperse them throughout Israel.

[8] "You, Judah, shall your brothers praise --your hand on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down to you.

[9] Judah, like a lion's whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches like a lion recumbent, the king of beasts--who would dare rouse him?

[10] 2 The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, While tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people's homage.

[11] 3 He tethers his donkey to the vine, his purebred ass to the choicest stem. In wine he washes his garments his robe in the blood of grapes.

[12] His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

[13] "Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore (This means a shore for ships), and his flank shall be based on Sidon.

[14] "Issachar is a rawboned ass, crouching between the saddlebags.

[15] When he saw how good a settled life was, and how pleasant the country, He bent his shoulder to the burden and became a toiling serf.

[16] 4 "Dan shall achieve justice for his kindred like any other tribe of Israel.

[17] Let Dan be a serpent by the roadside, a horned viper by the path, That bites the horse's heel, so that the rider tumbles backward.

[18] "(I long for your deliverance, O LORD!)

[19] 5 "Gad shall be raided by raiders, but he shall raid at their heels.

[20] "Asher's produce is rich, and he shall furnish dainties for kings.

[21] "Naphtali is a hind let loose which brings forth lovely fawns.

[22] "Joseph is a wild colt ,a wild colt by a spring, a wild ass on a hillside.

[23] Harrying and attacking, the archers opposed him;

[24] But each one's bow remained stiff, as their arms were unsteady, By the power of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

[25] 6 The God of your father, who helps you, God Almighty, who blesses you, With the blessings of the heavens above, the blessings of the abyss that crouches below, The blessings of breasts and womb,

[26] the blessings of fresh grain and blossoms, The blessings of the everlasting mountains, the delights of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

[27] "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; mornings he devours the prey, and evenings he distributes the spoils."

[28] All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said about them, as he bade them farewell and gave to each of them an appropriate message.

[29] Then he gave them this charge: "Since I am about to be taken to my kindred, bury me with my fathers in the cave that lies in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

[30] the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.

[31] There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there, too, I buried Leah--

[32] the field and the cave in it that had been purchased from the Hittites."

[33] When Jacob had finished giving these instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was taken to his kindred.

Genesis Chapter 50

[1] Joseph threw himself on his father's face and wept over him as he kissed him.

[2] Then he ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father. When they embalmed Israel,

[3] they spent forty days at it, for that is the full period of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days.

[4] When that period of mourning was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's courtiers. "Please do me this favor," he said, "and convey to Pharaoh this request of mine.

[5] Since my father, at the point of death, made me promise on oath to bury him in the tomb that he had prepared for himself in the land of Canaan, may I go up there to bury my father and then come back?"

[6] Pharaoh replied, "Go and bury your father, as he made you promise on oath."

[7] So Joseph left to bury his father; and with him went all of Pharaoh's officials who were senior members of his court and all the other dignitaries of Egypt,

[8] as well as Joseph's whole household, his brothers, and his father's household; only their children and their flocks and herds were left in the region of Goshen.

[9] Chariots, too, and charioteers went up with him; it was a very large retinue.

[10] 1 When they arrived at Goren-ha-atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and solemn memorial service; and Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father.

[11] When the Canaanites who inhabited the land saw the mourning at Goren-ha-atad, they said, "This is a solemn funeral the Egyptians are having." That is why the place was named Abel-mizraim. It is beyond the Jordan.

[12] Thus Jacob's sons did for him as he had instructed them.

[13] They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought for a burial ground from Ephron the Hittite.

[14] After Joseph had buried his father he returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all who had gone up with him for the burial of his father.

[15] Now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers became fearful and thought, "Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us and now plans to pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!"

[16] So they approached Joseph and said: "Before your father died, he gave us these instructions:

[17] 'You shall say to Joseph, Jacob begs you to forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers, who treated you so cruelly.' Please, therefore, forgive the crime that we, the servants of your father's God, committed." When they spoke these words to him, Joseph broke into tears.

[18] Then his brothers proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, "Let us be your slaves!"

[19] But Joseph replied to them: "Have no fear. Can I take the place of God?

[20] Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve his present end, the survival of many people.

[21] Therefore have no fear. I will provide for you and for your children." By thus speaking kindly to them, he reassured them.

[22] Joseph remained in Egypt, together with his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years.

[23] He saw Ephraim's children to the third generation, and the children of Manasseh's son Machir were also born on Joseph's knees.

[24] Joseph said to his brothers: "I am about to die. God will surely take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

[25] Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, "When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up with you from this place."

[26] Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. He was embalmed and laid to rest in a coffin in Egypt.

Introduction to Exodus

Exodus

Introduction

The second book of the Pentateuch is called Exodus from the Greek word for "departure," because the central event narrated in it is the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. It continues the history of the chosen people from the point where the Book of Genesis leaves off. It recounts the oppression by the Egyptians of the ever-increasing descendants of Jacob and their miraculous deliverance by God through Moses, who led them across the Red Sea to Mount Sinai where they entered into a special covenant with the Lord.

These events were of prime importance to the chosen people, for they became thereby an independent nation and enjoyed a unique relationship with God. Through Moses God gave to the Israelites at Mount Sinai the "law": the moral, civil and ritual legislation by which they were to become a holy people, in whom the promise of a Savior for all mankind would be fulfilled.

The principal divisions of Exodus are:

The Israelites in Egypt (Exodus 1:1-12:36)

The Exodus from Egypt and the Journey to Sinai (Exodus 12:37-18:27)

The Covenant at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1-24:18)

The Dwelling and Its Furnishings (Exodus 25:1-40:38)

Exodus Chapter 1

[1] 1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who, accompanied by their households, migrated with Jacob into Egypt:

[2] 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

[3] Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

[4] Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

[5] 3 The total number of the direct descendants of Jacob was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt.

[6] Now Joseph and all his brothers and that whole generation died.

[7] But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them.

[8] Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph 4 , came to power in Egypt.

[9] He said to his subjects, "Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves!

[10] Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase; otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave our country."

[11] 5 Accordingly, taskmasters were set over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. Thus they had to build for Pharaoh the supply cities of Pithom and Raamses.

[12] Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. The Egyptians, then, dreaded the Israelites

[13] and reduced them to cruel slavery,

[14] 6 making life bitter for them with hard work in mortar and brick and all kinds of field work--the whole cruel fate of slaves.

[15] The king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shiphrah and the other Puah,

[16] 7 When you act as midwives for the Hebrew women and see them giving birth, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she may live."

[17] The midwives, however, feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered them, but let the boys live.

[18] So the king summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you acted thus, allowing the boys to live?"

[19] The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are robust and give birth before the midwife arrives."

[20] Therefore God dealt well with the midwives. The people, too, increased and grew strong.

[21] And because the midwives feared God, he built up families for them.

[22] 8 Pharaoh then commanded all his subjects, "Throw into the river every boy that is born to the Hebrews, but you may let all the girls live."

Exodus Chapter 2

[1] Now a certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,

[2] who conceived and bore a son. Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months.

[3] 1 When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the river bank.

[4] His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

[5] Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maids walked along the river bank. Noticing the basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it.

[6] On opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy, crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, "It is one of the Hebrews' children."

[7] Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?"

[8] "Yes, do so," she answered. So the maiden went and called the child's own mother.

[9] Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you." The woman therefore took the child and nursed it.

[10] 2 When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her son and called him Moses; for she said, "I drew him out of the water."

[11] 3 On one occasion, after Moses had grown up, when he visited his kinsmen and witnessed their forced labor, he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own kinsmen.

[12] Looking about and seeing no one, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

[13] The next day he went out again, and now two Hebrews were fighting! So he asked the culprit, "Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?"

[14] But he replied, "Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses became afraid and thought, "The affair must certainly be known."

[15] Pharaoh, too, heard of the affair and sought to put him to death. But Moses fled from him and stayed in the land of Midian. As he was seated there by a well,

[16] seven daughters of a priest of Midian came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock.

[17] But some shepherds came and drove them away. Then Moses got up and defended them and watered their flock.

[18] 4 When they returned to their father Reuel, he said to them, "How is it you have returned so soon today?"

[19] 5 They answered, "An Egyptian saved us from the interference of the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock!"

[20] "Where is the man?" he asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him there? Invite him to have something to eat."

[21] Moses agreed to live with him, and the man gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage.

[22] 6 She bore him a son, whom he named Gershom; for he said, "I am a stranger in a foreign land."

[23] A long time passed, during which the king of Egypt died. Still the Israelites groaned and cried out because of their slavery. As their cry for release went up to God,

[24] he heard their groaning and was mindful of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

[25] He saw the Israelites and knew. . . .

Exodus Chapter 3

[1] 1 Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

[2] 2 There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed.

[3] So Moses decided, "I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned."

[4] When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He answered, "Here I am."

[5] God said, "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

[6] 3 I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

[7] But the LORD said, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.

[8] 4 Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

[9] So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.

[10] Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

[11] 5 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"

[12] He answered, "I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain."

[13] "But," said Moses to God, "when I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?"

[14] 6 God replied, "I am who am." Then he added, "This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you."

[15] God spoke further to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. "This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations.

[16] 7 "Go and assemble the elders of the Israelites, and tell them: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I am concerned about you and about the way you are being treated in Egypt;

[17] so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.

[18] "Thus they will heed your message. Then you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word. Permit us, then, to go a three days' journey in the desert, that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God.

[19] "Yet I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless he is forced.

[20] I will stretch out my hand, therefore, and smite Egypt by doing all kinds of wondrous deeds there. After that he will send you away.

[21] I will even make the Egyptians so well-disposed toward this people that, when you leave, you will not go empty-handed.

[22] 8 Every woman shall ask her neighbor and her house guest for silver and gold articles and for clothing to put on your sons and daughters. Thus you will despoil the Egyptians."

Exodus Chapter 4

[1] "But," objected Moses, "suppose they will not believe me, nor listen to my plea? For they may say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'"

[2] The LORD therefore asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he answered.

[3] The LORD then said, "Throw it on the ground." When he threw it on the ground it was changed into a serpent, and Moses shied away from it.

[4] "Now, put out your hand," the LORD said to him, "and take hold of its tail." So he put out his hand and laid hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand.

[5] "This will take place so that they may believe," he continued, "that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, did appear to you."

[6] Again the LORD said to him, "Put your hand in your bosom." He put it in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise his hand was leprous, like snow.

[7] The LORD then said, "Now, put your hand back in your bosom." Moses put his hand back in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise it was again like the rest of his body.

[8] "If they will not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, they should believe the message of the second.

[9] And if they will not believe even these two signs, nor heed your plea, take some water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water you take from the river will become blood on the dry land."

[10] Moses, however, said to the LORD, "If you please, LORD, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue."

[11] The LORD said to him, "Who gives one man speech and makes another deaf and dumb? Or who gives sight to one and makes another blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

[12] Go, then! It is I who will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say."

[13] 1 Yet he insisted, "If you please, Lord, send someone else!"

[14] Then the LORD became angry with Moses and said, "Have you not your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know that he is an eloquent speaker. Besides, he is now on his way to meet you.

[15] When he sees you, his heart will be glad. You are to speak to him, then, and put the words in his mouth. I will assist both you and him in speaking and will teach the two of you what you are to do.

[16] 2 He shall speak to the people for you: he shall be your spokesman, and you shall be as God to him.

[17] 3 Take this staff in your hand; with it you are to perform the signs."

[18] 4 After this Moses returned to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Let me go back, please, to my kinsmen in Egypt, to see whether they are still living." Jethro replied, "Go in peace."

[19] In Midian the LORD said to Moses, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead."

[20] So Moses took his wife and his sons, and started back to the land of Egypt, with them riding the ass. The staff of God he carried with him.

[21] 5 The LORD said to him, "On your return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put in your power. I will make him obstinate, however, so that he will not let the people go.

[22] So you shall say to Pharaoh: Thus says the LORD: Israel is my son, my first-born.

[23] Hence I tell you: Let my son go, that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, I warn you, I will kill your son, your first-born."

[24] 6 On the journey, at a place where they spent the night, the Lord came upon Moses and would have killed him.

[25] But Zipporah took a piece of flint and cut off her son's foreskin and, touching his person, she said, "You are a spouse of blood to me."

[26] Then God let Moses go. At that time she said, "A spouse of blood," in regard to the circumcision.

[27] The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." So he went, and when they met at the mountain of God, Aaron kissed him.

[28] Moses informed him of all the LORD had said in sending him, and of the various signs he had enjoined upon him.

[29] Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.

[30] Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses, and he performed the signs before the people.

[31] The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their affliction, they bowed down in worship.

Exodus Chapter 5

[1] After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to me in the desert."

[2] Pharaoh answered, "Who is the LORD, that I should heed his plea to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD; even if I did, I would not let Israel go."

[3] They replied, "The God of the Hebrews has sent us word. Let us go a three days' journey in the desert, that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God; otherwise he will punish us with pestilence or the sword."

[4] The king of Egypt answered them, "What do you mean, Moses and Aaron, by taking the people away from their work? Off to your labor!

[5] Look how numerous the people of the land are already," continued Pharaoh, "and yet you would give them rest from their labor!"

[6] 1 That very day Pharaoh gave the taskmasters and foremen of the people this order:

[7] 2 "You shall no longer supply the people with straw for their brickmaking as you have previously done. Let them go and gather straw themselves!

[8] Yet you shall levy upon them the same quota of bricks as they have previously made. Do not reduce it. They are lazy; that is why they are crying, 'Let us go to offer sacrifice to our God.'

[9] Increase the work for the men, so that they keep their mind on it and pay no attention to lying words."

[10] So the taskmasters and foremen of the people went out and told them, "Thus says Pharaoh: I will not provide you with straw.

[11] Go and gather the straw yourselves, wherever you can find it. Yet there must not be the slightest reduction in your work."

[12] The people, then, scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw,

[13] while the taskmasters kept driving them on, saying, "Finish your work, the same daily amount as when your straw was supplied."

[14] The foremen of the Israelites, whom the taskmasters of Pharaoh had placed over them, were beaten, and were asked, "Why have you not completed your prescribed amount of bricks yesterday and today, as before?"

[15] Then the Israelite foremen came and made this appeal to Pharaoh: "Why do you treat your servants in this manner?

[16] No straw is supplied to your servants, and still we are told to make bricks. Look how your servants are beaten! It is you who are at fault."

[17] Pharaoh answered, "It is just because you are lazy that you keep saying, 'Let us go and offer sacrifice to the LORD.'

[18] Off to work, then! Straw shall not be provided for you, but you must still deliver your quota of bricks."

[19] The Israelite foremen knew they were in a sorry plight, having been told not to reduce the daily amount of bricks.

[20] When, therefore, they left Pharaoh and came upon Moses and Aaron, who were waiting to meet them,

[21] they said to them, "The LORD look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hands to slay us."

[22] Moses again had recourse to the LORD and said, "Lord, why do you treat this people so badly? And why did you send me on such a mission?

[23] Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has maltreated this people of yours, and you have done nothing to rescue them."

Exodus Chapter 6

[1] Then the LORD answered Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. Forced by my mighty hand, he will send them away; compelled by my outstretched arm, he will drive them from his land."

[2] God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD.

[3] As God the Almighty I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but my name, LORD, I did not make known to them.

[4] I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they were living as aliens.

[5] And now that I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are treating as slaves, I am mindful of my covenant.

[6] Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the LORD. I will free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and will deliver you from their slavery. I will rescue you by my outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

[7] I will take you as my own people, and you shall have me as your God. You will know that I, the LORD, am your God when I free you from the labor of the Egyptians

[8] and bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will give it to you as your own possession--I, the LORD!"

[9] But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to him because of their dejection and hard slavery.

[10] Then the LORD said to Moses,

[11] "Go and tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the Israelites leave his land."

[12] But Moses protested to the LORD, "If the Israelites would not listen to me, how can it be that Pharaoh will listen to me, poor speaker that I am!"

[13] Still, the LORD, to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them his orders regarding both the Israelites and Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

[14] 1 These are the heads of the ancestral houses. The sons of Reuben, the first-born of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben.

[15] The sons of Simeon were Jenuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar and Shaul, who was the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon.

[16] The names of the sons of Levi, in their genealogical order, are Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.

[17] The sons of Gershon, as heads of clans, were Libni and Shimei.

[18] The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived one hundred and thirty-three years.

[19] The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of Levi in their genealogical order.

[20] 2 Amram married his aunt Jochebed, who bore him Aaron, Moses and Miriam. Amram lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.

[21] The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zichri.

[22] The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

[23] Aaron married Amminadab's daughter, Elisheba, the sister of Nahshon; she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

[24] The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites.

[25] Aaron's son, Eleazar, married one of Putiel's daughters, who bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral clans of the Levites.

[26] This is the Aaron and this the Moses to whom the LORD said, "Lead the Israelites from the land of Egypt, company by company."

[27] These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of Egypt--the same Moses and Aaron.

[28] On the day the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt

[29] he said, "I am the LORD. Repeat to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I tell you."

[30] But Moses protested to the LORD, "Since I am a poor speaker, how can it be that Pharaoh will listen to me?"

Exodus Chapter 7

[1] 1 The LORD answered him, "See! I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall act as your prophet.

[2] You shall tell him all that I command you. In turn, your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave his land.

[3] Yet I will make Pharaoh so obstinate that, despite the many signs and wonders that I will work in the land of Egypt,

[4] he will not listen to you. Therefore I will lay my hand on Egypt and by great acts of judgment I will bring the hosts of my people, the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt,

[5] so that the Egyptians may learn that I am the LORD, as I stretch out my hand against Egypt and lead the Israelites out of their midst."

[6] Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded them.

[7] Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

[8] The LORD told Moses and Aaron,

[9] "If Pharaoh demands that you work a sign or wonder, you shall say to Aaron: Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will be changed into a snake."

[10] Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it was changed into a snake.

[11] Pharaoh, in turn, summoned wise men and sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did likewise by their magic arts.

[12] Each one threw down his staff, and it was changed into a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed their staffs.

[13] Pharaoh, however, was obstinate and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold.

[14] 2 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh is obdurate in refusing to let the people go.

[15] Tomorrow morning, when he sets out for the water, go and present yourself by the river bank, holding in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.

[16] Say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you with the message: Let my people go to worship me in the desert. But as yet you have not listened.

[17] The LORD now says: This is how you shall know that I am the LORD. I will strike the water of the river with the staff I hold, and it shall be changed into blood.

[18] The fish in the river shall die, and the river itself shall become so polluted that the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water."

[19] The LORD then said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt--their streams and canals and pools, all their supplies of water--that they may become blood. Throughout the land of Egypt there shall be blood, even in the wooden pails and stone jars."

[20] Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the waters of the river in full view of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water of the river was changed into blood.

[21] The fish in the river died, and the river itself became so polluted that the Egyptians could not drink its water. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

[22] But the Egyptian magicians did the same by their magic arts. So Pharaoh remained obstinate and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had foretold.

[23] He turned away and went into his house, with no concern even for this.

[24] All the Egyptians had to dig in the neighborhood of the river for drinking water, since they could not drink the river water.

[25] Seven days passed after the LORD had struck the river.

[26] 3 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him: Thus says the LORD: Let my people go to worship me.

[27] If you refuse to let them go, I warn you, I will send a plague of frogs over all your territory.

[28] The river will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and into your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your servants, too, and your subjects, even into your ovens and your kneading bowls.

[29] The frogs will swarm all over you and your subjects and your servants."

Exodus Chapter 8

[1] The LORD then told Moses, "Say to Aaron: Stretch out your hand and your staff over the streams and canals and pools, to make frogs overrun the land of Egypt."

[2] Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

[3] But the magicians did the same by their magic arts. They, too, made frogs overrun the land of Egypt.

[4] Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray the LORD to remove the frogs from me and my subjects, and I will let the people go to offer sacrifice to the LORD."

[5] Moses answered Pharaoh, "Do me the favor of appointing the time when I am to pray for you and your servants and your subjects, that the frogs may be taken away from you and your houses and be left only in the river."

[6] "Tomorrow," said Pharaoh. Then Moses replied, "It shall be as you have said, so that you may learn that there is none like the LORD, our God.

[7] The frogs shall leave you and your houses, your servants and your subjects; only in the river shall they be left."

[8] After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh's presence, Moses implored the LORD to fulfill the promise he had made to Pharaoh about the frogs;

[9] 1 and the LORD did as Moses had asked. The frogs in the houses and courtyards and fields died off.

[10] Heaps and heaps of them were gathered up, and there was a stench in the land.

[11] But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he became obdurate and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold.

[12] 2 Thereupon the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron to stretch out his staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may be turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt."

[13] They did so. Aaron stretched out his hand, and with his staff he struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came upon man and beast. The dust of the earth was turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

[14] Though the magicians tried to bring forth gnats by their magic arts, they could not do so. As the gnats infested man and beast,

[15] 3 the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." Yet Pharaoh remained obstinate and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold.

[16] Again the LORD told Moses, "Early tomorrow morning present yourself to Pharaoh when he goes forth to the water, and say to him: Thus says the LORD: Let my people go to worship me.

[17] If you will not let my people go, I warn you, I will loose swarms of flies upon you and your servants and your subjects and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and the very ground on which they stand shall be filled with swarms of flies.

[18] But on that day I will make an exception of the land of Goshen: there shall be no flies where my people dwell, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.

[19] I will make this distinction between my people and your people. This sign shall take place tomorrow."

[20] This the LORD did. Thick swarms of flies entered the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants; throughout Egypt the land was infested with flies.

[21] Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "Go and offer sacrifice to your God in this land."

[22] 4 But Moses replied, "It is not right to do so, for the sacrifices we offer to the LORD, our God, are an abomination to the Egyptians. If before their very eyes we offer sacrifices which are an abomination to them, will not the Egyptians stone us?

[23] We must go a three days' journey in the desert to offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God, as he commands us."

[24] "Well, then," said Pharaoh, "I will let you go to offer sacrifice to the LORD, your God, in the desert, provided that you do not go too far away and that you pray for me."

[25] Moses answered, "As soon as I leave your presence I will pray to the LORD that the flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh and his servants and his subjects. Pharaoh, however, must not play false again by refusing to let the people go to offer sacrifice to the LORD."

[26] When Moses left Pharaoh's presence, he prayed to the LORD;

[27] and the LORD did as Moses had asked. He removed the flies from Pharaoh and his servants and subjects. Not one remained.

[28] But once more Pharaoh became obdurate and would not let the people go.

Exodus Chapter 9

[1] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him: Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to worship me.

[2] If you refuse to let them go and persist in holding them,

[3] I warn you, the LORD will afflict all your livestock in the field--your horses, asses, camels, herds and flocks--with a very severe pestilence.

[4] But the LORD will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that none belonging to the Israelites will die."

[5] And setting a definite time, the LORD added, "Tomorrow the LORD shall do this in the land."

[6] And on the next day the LORD did so. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one beast belonging to the Israelites.

[7] But though Pharaoh's messengers informed him that not even one beast belonging to the Israelites had died, he still remained obdurate and would not let the people go.

[8] Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take a double handful of soot from a furnace, and in the presence of Pharaoh let Moses scatter it toward the sky.

[9] It will then turn into fine dust over the whole land of Egypt and cause festering boils on man and beast throughout the land."

[10] So they took soot from a furnace and stood in the presence of Pharaoh. Moses scattered it toward the sky, and it caused festering boils on man and beast.

[11] The magicians could not stand in Moses' presence, for there were boils on the magicians no less than on the rest of the Egyptians.

[12] But the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had foretold to Moses.

[13] Then the LORD told Moses, "Early tomorrow morning present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him: Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to worship me,

[14] or this time I will hurl all my blows upon you and your servants and your subjects, that you may know that there is none like me anywhere on earth.

[15] For by now I would have stretched out my hand and struck you and your subjects with such pestilence as would wipe you from the earth.

[16] 1 But this is why I have spared you: to show you my power and to make my name resound throughout the earth!

[17] Will you still block the way for my people by refusing to let them go?

[18] I warn you, then, tomorrow at this hour I will rain down such fierce hail as there has never been in Egypt from the day the nation was founded up to the present.

[19] Therefore, order all your livestock and whatever else you have in the open fields to be brought to a place of safety. Whatever man or beast remains in the fields and is not brought to shelter shall die when the hail comes upon them."

[20] Some of Pharaoh's servants feared the warning of the LORD and hurried their servants and livestock off to shelter.

[21] Others, however, did not take the warning of the LORD to heart and left their servants and livestock in the fields.

[22] The LORD then said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that hail may fall upon the entire land of Egypt, on man and beast and every growing thing in the land of Egypt."

[23] When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent forth hail and peals of thunder. Lightning flashed toward the earth, and the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt;

[24] and lightning constantly flashed through the hail, such fierce hail as had never been seen in the land since Egypt became a nation.

[25] It struck down every man and beast that was in the open throughout the land of Egypt; it beat down every growing thing and splintered every tree in the fields.

[26] Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt, was there no hail.

[27] Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned again! The LORD is just; it is I and my subjects who are at fault.

[28] Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough of God's thunder and hail. Then I will let you go; you need stay no longer."

[29] Moses replied, "As soon as I leave the city I will extend my hands to the LORD; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail. Thus you shall learn that the earth is the LORD'S.

[30] But you and your servants, I know, do not yet fear the LORD God."

[31] Now the flax and the barley were ruined, because the barley was in ear and the flax in bud.

[32] But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they grow later.

[33] When Moses had left Pharaoh's presence and had gone out of the city, he extended his hands to the LORD. Then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down upon the earth.

Exodus Chapter 10

[1] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have made him and his servants obdurate in order that I may perform these signs of mine among them

[2] and that you may recount to your son and grandson how ruthlessly I dealt with the Egyptians and what signs I wrought among them, so that you may know that I am the LORD."

[3] So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go to worship me.

[4] If you refuse to let my people go, I warn you, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.

[5] They shall cover the ground, so that the ground itself will not be visible. They shall eat up the remnant you saved unhurt from the hail, as well as all the foliage that has since sprouted in your fields.

[6] They shall fill your houses and the houses of your servants and of all the Egyptians; such a sight your fathers or grandfathers have not seen from the day they first settled on this soil up to the present day." With that he turned and left Pharaoh.

[7] But Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long must he be a menace to us? Let the men go to worship the LORD, their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is being destroyed?"

[8] So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, who said to them, "You may go and worship the LORD, your God. But how many of you will go?"

[9] "Young and old must go with us," Moses answered, "our sons and daughters as well as our flocks and herds must accompany us. That is what a feast of the LORD means to us."

[10] 1 "The LORD help you," Pharaoh replied, "if I ever let your little ones go with you! Clearly, you have some evil in mind.

[11] 2 No, no! Just you men can go and worship the LORD. After all, that is what you want." With that they were driven from Pharaoh's presence.

[12] The LORD then said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, that locusts may swarm over it and eat up all the vegetation and whatever the hail has left."

[13] 3 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD sent an east wind blowing over the land all that day and all that night. At dawn the east wind brought the locusts.

[14] They swarmed over the whole land of Egypt and settled down on every part of it. Never before had there been such a fierce swarm of locusts, nor will there ever be.

[15] They covered the surface of the whole land, till it was black with them. They ate up all the vegetation in the land and the fruit of whatever trees the hail had spared. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant throughout the land of Egypt.

[16] Hastily Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the LORD, your God, and against you.

[17] But now, do forgive me my sin once more, and pray the LORD, your God, to take at least this deadly pest from me."

[18] When Moses left the presence of Pharaoh, he prayed to the LORD,

[19] 4 and the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts and hurled them into the Red Sea. But though not a single locust remained within the confines of Egypt,

[20] the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the Israelites go.

[21] 5 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that over the land of Egypt there may be such intense darkness that one can feel it."

[22] So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was dense darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.

[23] Men could not see one another, nor could they move from where they were, for three days. But all the Israelites had light where they dwelt.

[24] Pharaoh then summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go and worship the LORD. Your little ones, too, may go with you. But your flocks and herds must remain."

[25] Moses replied, "You must also grant us sacrifices and holocausts to offer up to the LORD, our God.

[26] Hence, our livestock also must go with us. Not an animal must be left behind. Some of them we must sacrifice to the LORD, our God, but we ourselves shall not know which ones we must sacrifice to him until we arrive at the place itself."

[27] But the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let them go.

[28] "Leave my presence," Pharaoh said to him, "and see to it that you do not appear before me again! The day you appear before me you shall die!"

[29] Moses replied, "Well said! I will never appear before you again."

Exodus Chapter 11

[1] Then the LORD told Moses, "One more plague will I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. After that he will let you depart. In fact, he will not merely let you go; he will drive you away.

[2] Instruct your people that every man is to ask his neighbor, and every woman her neighbor, for silver and gold articles and for clothing."

[3] The LORD indeed made the Egyptians well-disposed toward the people; Moses himself was very highly regarded by Pharaoh's servants and the people in the land of Egypt.

[4] Moses then said, "Thus says the LORD: At midnight I will go forth through Egypt.

[5] Every first-born in this land shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh on the throne to the first-born of the slave-girl at the handmill, as well as all the first-born of the animals.

[6] Then there shall be loud wailing throughout the land of Egypt, such as has never been, nor will ever be again.

[7] But among the Israelites and their animals not even a dog shall growl, so that you may know how the LORD distinguishes between the Egyptians and the Israelites.

[8] All these servants of yours shall then come down to me, and prostrate before me, they shall beg me, 'Leave us, you and all your followers!' Only then will I depart." With that he left Pharaoh's presence in hot anger.

[9] The LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh refuses to listen to you that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."

[10] Thus, although Moses and Aaron performed these various wonders in Pharaoh's presence, the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the Israelites leave his land.

Exodus Chapter 12

[1] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

[2] 1 "This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year.

[3] Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.

[4] 2 If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.

[5] The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.

[6] You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.

[7] They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb.

[8] That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

[9] It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs.

[10] None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up.

[11] 3 "This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD.

[12] For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first--born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt-I, the LORD!

[13] But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.

[14] "This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.

[15] For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. From the very first day you shall have your houses clear of all leaven. Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh shall be cut off from Israel.

[16] On the first day you shall hold a sacred assembly, and likewise on the seventh. On these days you shall not do any sort of work, except to prepare the food that everyone needs.

[17] "Keep, then, this custom of the unleavened bread. Since it was on this very day that I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt, you must celebrate this day throughout your generations as a perpetual institution.

[18] From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of this month you shall eat unleavened bread.

[19] For seven days no leaven may be found in your houses. Anyone, be he a resident alien or a native, who eats leavened food shall be cut off from the community of Israel.

[20] Nothing leavened may you eat; wherever you dwell you may eat only unleavened bread."

[21] Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and procure lambs for your families, and slaughter them as Passover victims.

[22] 4 Then take a bunch of hyssop, and dipping it in the blood that is in the basin, sprinkle the lintel and the two doorposts with this blood. But none of you shall go outdoors until morning.

[23] For the LORD will go by, striking down the Egyptians. Seeing the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over that door and not let the destroyer come into your houses to strike you down.

[24] "You shall observe this as a perpetual ordinance for yourselves and your descendants.

[25] Thus, you must also observe this rite when you have entered the land which the LORD will give you as he promised.

[26] When your children ask you, 'What does this rite of yours mean?'

[27] you shall reply, 'This is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt; when he struck down the Egyptians, he spared our houses.'" Then the people bowed down in worship,

[28] and the Israelites went and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

[29] At midnight the LORD slew every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh on the throne to the first-born of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the first-born of the animals.

[30] Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was loud wailing throughout Egypt, for there was not a house without its dead.

[31] During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Leave my people at once, you and the Israelites with you! Go and worship the LORD as you said.

[32] Take your flocks, too, and your herds, as you demanded, and be gone; and you will be doing me a favor."

[33] The Egyptians likewise urged the people on, to hasten their departure from the land; they thought that otherwise they would all die.

[34] The people, therefore, took their dough before it was leavened, in their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks on their shoulders.

[35] The Israelites did as Moses had commanded: they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.

[36] The LORD indeed had made the Egyptians so well-disposed toward the people that they let them have whatever they asked for. Thus did they despoil the Egyptians.

[37] The Israelites set out from Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting the children.

[38] 5 A crowd of mixed ancestry also went up with them, besides their livestock, very numerous flocks and herds.

[39] Since the dough they had brought out of Egypt was not leavened, they baked it into unleavened loaves. They had been rushed out of Egypt and had no opportunity even to prepare food for the journey.

[40] 6 The time the Israelites had stayed in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.

[41] At the end of four hundred and thirty years, all the hosts of the LORD left the land of Egypt on this very date.

[42] This was a night of vigil for the LORD, as he led them out of the land of Egypt; so on this same night all the Israelites must keep a vigil for the LORD throughout their generations.

[43] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the regulations for the Passover. No foreigner may partake of it.

[44] However, any slave who has been bought for money may partake of it, provided you have first circumcised him.

[45] But no transient alien or hired servant may partake of it.

[46] 7 It must be eaten in one and the same house; you may not take any of its flesh outside the house. You shall not break any of its bones.

[47] The whole community of Israel must keep this feast.

[48] If any aliens living among you wish to celebrate the Passover of the LORD, all the males among them must first be circumcised, and then they may join in its observance just like the natives. But no man who is uncircumcised may partake of it.

[49] The law shall be the same for the resident alien as for the native."

[50] All the Israelites did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.

[51] On that same day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt company by company.

Exodus Chapter 13

[1] The LORD spoke to Moses and said,

[2] "Consecrate to me every first-born that opens the womb among the Israelites, both of man and beast, for it belongs to me."

[3] Moses said to the people, "Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, that place of slavery. It was with a strong hand that the LORD brought you away. Nothing made with leaven must be eaten.

[4] This day of your departure is in the month of Abib.

[5] Therefore, it is in this month that you must celebrate this rite, after the LORD, your God, has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey.

[6] For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and the seventh day shall also be a festival to the LORD.

[7] Only unleavened bread may be eaten during the seven days; no leaven and nothing leavened may be found in all your territory.

[8] On this day you shall explain to your son, 'This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'

[9] It shall be as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead; thus the law of the LORD will ever be on your lips, because with a strong hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.

[10] Therefore, you shall keep this prescribed rite at its appointed time from year to year.

[11] "When the LORD, your God, has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, which he swore to you and your fathers he would give you,

[12] you shall dedicate to the LORD every son that opens the womb; and all the male firstlings of your animals shall belong to the LORD.

[13] Every first-born of an ass you shall redeem with a sheep. If you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every first-born son you must redeem.

[14] If your son should ask you later on, 'What does this mean?' you shall tell him, 'With a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, that place of slavery.

[15] When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every first-born in the land of Egypt, every first-born of man and of beast. That is why I sacrifice to the LORD everything of the male sex that opens the womb, and why I redeem every first-born of my sons.'

[16] Let this, then, be as a sign on your hand and as a pendant on your forehead: with a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."

[17] 1 Now, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the Philistines' land, though this was the nearest; for he thought, should the people see that they would have to fight, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.

[18] Instead, he rerouted them toward the Red Sea by way of the desert road. In battle array the Israelites marched out of Egypt.

[19] Moses also took Joseph's bones along, for Joseph had made the Israelites swear solemnly that, when God should come to them, they would carry his bones away with them.

[20] Setting out from Succoth, they camped at Etham near the edge of the desert.

[21] 2 The LORD preceded them, in the daytime by means of a column of cloud to show them the way, and at night by means of a column of fire to give them light. Thus they could travel both day and night.

[22] Neither the column of cloud by day nor the column of fire by night ever left its place in front of the people.

Exodus Chapter 14

[1] Then the LORD said to Moses,

[2] 1 "Tell the Israelites to turn about and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, just opposite, by the sea.

[3] Pharaoh will then say, 'The Israelites are wandering about aimlessly in the land. The desert has closed in on them.'

[4] Thus will I make Pharaoh so obstinate that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." This the Israelites did.

[5] When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them. "What have we done!" they exclaimed. "Why, we have released Israel from our service!"

[6] So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiers--

[7] six hundred first-class chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.

[8] So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaoh that he pursued the Israelites even while they were marching away in triumph.

[9] The Egyptians, then, pursued them; Pharaoh's whole army, his horses, chariots and charioteers, caught up with them as they lay encamped by the sea, at Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

[10] Pharaoh was already near when the Israelites looked up and saw that the Egyptians were on the march in pursuit of them. In great fright they cried out to the LORD.

[11] And they complained to Moses, "Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt?

[12] Did we not tell you this in Egypt, when we said, 'Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians'? Far better for us to be the slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the desert."

[13] But Moses answered the people, "Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today. These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.

[14] The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still."

[15] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.

[16] And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two, that the Israelites may pass through it on dry land.

[17] But I will make the Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them. Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and charioteers.

[18] The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers."

[19] The angel of God, who had been leading Israel's camp, now moved and went around behind them. The column of cloud also, leaving the front, took up its place behind them,

[20] 2 so that it came between the camp of the Egyptians and that of Israel. But the cloud now became dark, and thus the night passed without the rival camps coming any closer together all night long.

[21] Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided,

[22] the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.

[23] The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers went after them right into the midst of the sea.

[24] In the night watch just before dawn the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic;

[25] and he so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians.

[26] Then the LORD told Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and their charioteers."

[27] So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth. The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea, when the LORD hurled them into its midst.

[28] As the water flowed back, it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh's whole army which had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not a single one of them escaped.

[29] But the Israelites had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.

[30] Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians. When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore

[31] and beheld the great power that the LORD had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

Exodus Chapter 15

[1] 1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

[2] My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior. He is my God, I praise him; the God of my father, I extol him.

[3] The LORD is a warrior, LORD is his name!

[4] Pharaoh's chariots and army he hurled into the sea; the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.

[5] The flood waters covered them, they sank into the depths like a stone.

[6] Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power, your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.

[7] In your great majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you loosed your wrath to consume them like stubble.

[8] At a breath of your anger the waters piled up, the flowing waters stood like a mound, the flood waters congealed in the midst of the sea.

[9] The enemy boasted, "I will pursue and overtake them; I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them; I will draw my sword; my hand shall despoil them!"

[10] When your wind blew, the sea covered them; like lead they sank in the mighty waters.

[11] Who is like to you among the gods, O LORD? Who is like to you, magnificent in holiness? O terrible in renown, worker of wonders,

[12] when you stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them!

[13] In your mercy you led the people you redeemed; in your strength you guided them to your holy dwelling.

[14] The nations heard and quaked; anguish gripped the dwellers in Philistia.

[15] Then were the princes of Edom dismayed; trembling seized the chieftains of Moab; All the dwellers in Canaan melted away;

[16] terror and dread fell upon them. By the might of your arm they were frozen like stone, while your people, O LORD, passed over, while the people you had made your own passed over.

[17] And you brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your inheritance-- the place where you made your seat, O LORD, the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands established.

[18] The LORD shall reign forever and ever.

[19] They sang thus because Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers had gone into the sea, and the LORD made the waters of the sea flow back upon them, though the Israelites had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea.

[20] The prophetess Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, while all the women went out after her with tambourines, dancing;

[21] 2 and she led them in the refrain: Sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

[22] Then Moses led Israel forward from the Red Sea, and they marched out to the desert of Shur. After traveling for three days through the desert without finding water,

[23] they arrived at Marah, where they could not drink the water, because it was too bitter. Hence this place was called Marah.

[24] As the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"

[25] he appealed to the LORD, who pointed out to him a certain piece of wood. When he threw this into the water, the water became fresh.It was here that the LORD, in making rules and regulations for them, put them to the test.

[26] "If you really listen to the voice of the LORD, your God," he told them, "and do what is right in his eyes: if you heed his commandments and keep all his precepts, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases with which I afflicted the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer."

[27] Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

Exodus Chapter 16

[1] 1 Having set out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.

[2] Here in the desert the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

[3] The Israelites said to them, "Would that we had died at the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!"

[4] 2 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not.

[5] On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days."

[6] So Moses and Aaron told all the Israelites, "At evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt;

[7] and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, as he heeds your grumbling against him. But what are we that you should grumble against us?

[8] When the LORD gives you flesh to eat in the evening," continued Moses, "and in the morning your fill of bread, as he heeds the grumbling you utter against him, what then are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the LORD."

[9] Then Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole Israelite community: Present yourselves before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling."

[10] When Aaron announced this to the whole Israelite community, they turned toward the desert, and lo, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud!

[11] The LORD spoke to Moses and said,

[12] "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."

[13] In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp,

[14] and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.

[15] 3 On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.

[16] "Now, this is what the LORD has commanded. So gather it that everyone has enough to eat, an omer for each person, as many of you as there are, each man providing for those of his own tent."

[17] The Israelites did so. Some gathered a large and some a small amount.

[18] 4 But when they measured it out by the omer, he who had gathered a large amount did not have too much, and he who had gathered a small amount did not have too little. They so gathered that everyone had enough to eat.

[19] Moses also told them, "Let no one keep any of it over until tomorrow morning."

[20] But they would not listen to him. When some kept a part of it over until the following morning, it became wormy and rotten. Therefore Moses was displeased with them.

[21] Morning after morning they gathered it, till each had enough to eat; but when the sun grew hot, the manna melted away.

[22] On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers for each person. When all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses,

[23] he told them, "That is what the LORD prescribed. Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, the sabbath, sacred to the LORD. You may either bake or boil the manna, as you please; but whatever is left put away and keep for the morrow."

[24] When they put it away for the morrow, as Moses commanded, it did not become rotten or wormy.

[25] Moses then said, "Eat it today, for today is the sabbath of the LORD. On this day you will not find any of it on the ground.

[26] On the other six days you can gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, none of it will be there."

[27] Still, on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, although they did not find any.

[28] Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and laws?

[29] Take note! The LORD has given you the sabbath. That is why on the sixth day he gives you food for two days. On the seventh day everyone is to stay home and no one is to go out."

[30] After that the people rested on the seventh day.

[31] 5 The Israelites called this food manna. It was like coriander seed, but white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey.

[32] Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded. Keep an omerful of manna for your descendants, that they may see what food I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of the land of Egypt."

[33] 6 Moses then told Aaron, "Take an urn and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD in safekeeping for your descendants."

[34] 7 So Aaron placed it in front of the commandments for safekeeping, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[35] The Israelites ate this manna for forty years, until they came to settled land; they ate manna until they reached the borders of Canaan.

[36] (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)

Exodus Chapter 17

[1] From the desert of Sin the whole Israelite community journeyed by stages, as the LORD directed, and encamped at Rephidim. Here there was no water for the people to drink.

[2] They quarreled, therefore, with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to a test?"

[3] Here, then, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?"

[4] So Moses cried out to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!"

[5] The LORD answered Moses, "Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river.

[6] I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink." This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel.

[7] 1 The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD in our midst or not?"

[8] 2 At Rephidim, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.

[9] Moses, therefore, said to Joshua, "Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

[10] So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur.

[11] As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.

[12] Moses' hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

[13] And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

[14] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this down in a document as something to be remembered, and recite it in the ears of Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens."

[15] 3 Moses also built an altar there, which he called Yahweh-nissi;

[16] for he said, "The LORD takes in hand his banner; the LORD will war against Amalek through the centuries."

Exodus Chapter 18

[1] Now Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel: how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

[2] So his father-in-law Jethro took along Zipporah, Moses' wife, whom Moses had sent back to him,

[3] and her two sons. One of these was called Gershom; for he said, "I am a stranger in a foreign land."

[4] The other was called Eliezer; for he said, "My father's God is my helper; he has rescued me from Pharaoh's sword."

[5] Together with Moses' wife and sons, then, his father-in-law Jethro came to him in the desert where he was encamped near the mountain of God,

[6] and he sent word to Moses, "I, Jethro, your father-in-law, am coming to you, along with your wife and her two sons."

[7] Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down before him, and kissed him. Having greeted each other, they went into the tent.

[8] Moses then told his father-in-law of all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and of all the hardships they had had to endure on their journey, and how the LORD had come to their rescue.

[9] Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness that the LORD had shown Israel in rescuing them from the hands of the Egyptians.

[10] "Blessed be the LORD," he said, "who has rescued his people from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

[11] Now I know that the LORD is a deity great beyond any other; for he took occasion of their being dealt with insolently to deliver the people from the power of the Egyptians."

[12] Then Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, brought a holocaust and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to participate with Moses' father-in-law in the meal before God.

[13] The next day Moses sat in judgment for the people, who waited about him from morning until evening.

[14] When his father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he inquired, "What sort of thing is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone while all the people have to stand about you from morning till evening?"

[15] Moses answered his father-in-law, "The people come to me to consult God.

[16] Whenever they have a disagreement, they come to me to have me settle the matter between them and make known to them God's decisions and regulations."

[17] "You are not acting wisely," his father-in-law replied.

[18] "You will surely wear yourself out, and not only yourself but also these people with you. The task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.

[19] Now, listen to me, and I will give you some advice, that God may be with you. Act as the people's representative before God, bringing to him whatever they have to say.

[20] Enlighten them in regard to the decisions and regulations, showing them how they are to live and what they are to do.

[21] But you should also look among all the people for able and God-fearing men, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain, and set them as officers over groups of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

[22] Let these men render decisions for the people in all ordinary cases. More important cases they should refer to you, but all the lesser cases they can settle themselves. Thus, your burden will be lightened, since they will bear it with you.

[23] If you do this, when God gives you orders you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."

[24] Moses followed the advice of his father-in-law and did all that he had suggested.

[25] He picked out able men from all Israel and put them in charge of the people as officers over groups of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

[26] They rendered decisions for the people in all ordinary cases. The more difficult cases they referred to Moses, but all the lesser cases they settled themselves.

[27] Then Moses bade farewell to his father-in-law, who went off to his own country.

Exodus Chapter 19

[1] In the third month after their departure from the land of Egypt, on its first day, the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai.

[2] After the journey from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai, they pitched camp. While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain,

[3] Moses went up the mountain to God. Then the LORD called to him and said, "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob;

[4] tell the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself.

[5] Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine.

[6] 1 You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. That is what you must tell the Israelites."

[7] So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people. When he set before them all that the LORD had ordered him to tell them,

[8] the people all answered together, "Everything the LORD has said, we will do." Then Moses brought back to the LORD the response of the people.

[9] The LORD also told him, "I am coming to you in a dense cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may always have faith in you also." When Moses, then, had reported to the LORD the response of the people,

[10] the LORD added, "Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Make them wash their garments

[11] and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people.

[12] Set limits for the people all around the mountain, and tell them: Take care not to go up the mountain, or even to touch its base. If anyone touches the mountain, he must be put to death.

[13] No hand shall touch him; he must be stoned to death or killed with arrows. Such a one, man or beast, must not be allowed to live. Only when the ram's horn resounds may they go up to the mountain."

[14] Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and had them sanctify themselves and wash their garments.

[15] He warned them, "Be ready for the third day. Have no intercourse with any woman."

[16] On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

[17] But Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stationed themselves at the foot of the mountain.

[18] Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke, for the LORD came down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.

[19] The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speaking and God answering him with thunder.

[20] When the LORD came down to the top of Mount Sinai, he summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up to him.

[21] Then the LORD told Moses, "Go down and warn the people not to break through toward the LORD in order to see him; otherwise many of them will be struck down.

[22] The priests, too, who approach the LORD must sanctify themselves; else he will vent his anger upon them."

[23] Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot go up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us to set limits around the mountain to make it sacred."

[24] The LORD repeated, "Go down now! Then come up again along with Aaron. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD; else he will vent his anger upon them."

[25] So Moses went down to the people and told them this.

Exodus Chapter 20

[1] 1 Then God delivered all these commandments:

[2] "I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.

[3] You shall not have other gods besides me.

[4] You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;

[5] 2 you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation;

[6] but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.

[7] "You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. For the LORD will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.

[8] "Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.

[9] Six days you may labor and do all your work,

[10] but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you.

[11] In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

[12] "Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you.

[13] "You shall not kill.

[14] "You shall not commit adultery.

[15] "You shall not steal.

[16] "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

[17] "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him."

[18] When the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the mountain smoking, they all feared and trembled. So they took up a position much farther away

[19] and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we shall die."

[20] Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid, for God has come to you only to test you and put his fear upon you, lest you should sin."

[21] Still the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the cloud where God was.

[22] The LORD told Moses, "Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.

[23] Do not make anything to rank with me; neither gods of silver nor gods of gold shall you make for yourselves.

[24] 3 "An altar of earth you shall make for me, and upon it you shall sacrifice your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In whatever place I choose for the remembrance of my name I will come to you and bless you.

[25] If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it of cut stone, for by putting a tool to it you desecrate it.

[26] You shall not go up by steps to my altar, on which you must not be indecently uncovered.

Exodus Chapter 21

[1] 1 "These are the rules you shall lay before them.

[2] When you purchase a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he shall be given his freedom without cost.

[3] If he comes into service alone, he shall leave alone; if he comes with a wife, his wife shall leave with him.

[4] But if his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall remain the master's property and the man shall leave alone.

[5] If, however, the slave declares, 'I am devoted to my master and my wife and children; I will not go free,'

[6] 2 his master shall bring him to God and there, at the door or doorpost, he shall pierce his ear with an awl, thus keeping him as his slave forever.

[7] "When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go free as male slaves do.

[8] 3 But if her master, who had destined her for himself, dislikes her, he shall let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreigner, since he has broken faith with her.

[9] If he destines her for his son, he shall treat her like a daughter.

[10] If he takes another wife, he shall not withhold her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.

[11] If he does not grant her these three things, she shall be given her freedom absolutely, without cost to her.

[12] "Whoever strikes a man a mortal blow must be put to death.

[13] He, however, who did not hunt a man down, but caused his death by an act of God, may flee to a place which I will set apart for this purpose.

[14] But when a man kills another after maliciously scheming to do so, you must take him even from my altar and put him to death.

[15] Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death.

[16] "A kidnaper, whether he sells his victim or still has him when caught, shall be put to death.

[17] "Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.

[18] "When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, not mortally, but enough to put him in bed,

[19] the one who struck the blow shall be acquitted, provided the other can get up and walk around with the help of his staff. Still, he must compensate him for his enforced idleness and provide for his complete cure.

[20] "When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished.

[21] If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.

[22] "When men have a fight and hurt a pregnant woman, so that she suffers a miscarriage, but no further injury, the guilty one shall be fined as much as the woman's husband demands of him, and he shall pay in the presence of the judges.

[23] 4 But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life,

[24] eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

[25] burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

[26] "When a man strikes his male or female slave in the eye and destroys the use of the eye, he shall let the slave go free in compensation for the eye.

[27] If he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let the slave go free in compensation for the tooth.

[28] "When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned; its flesh may not be eaten. The owner of the ox, however, shall go unpunished.

[29] But if an ox was previously in the habit of goring people and its owner, though warned, would not keep it in; should it then kill a man or a woman, not only must the ox be stoned, but its owner also must be put to death.

[30] If, however, a fine is imposed on him, he must pay in ransom for his life whatever amount is imposed on him.

[31] This law applies if it is a boy or a girl that the ox gores.

[32] But if it is a male or a female slave that it gores, he must pay the owner of the slave thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.

[33] "When a man uncovers or digs a cistern and does not cover it over again, should an ox or an ass fall into it,

[34] the owner of the cistern must make good by restoring the value of the animal to its owner; the dead animal, however, he may keep.

[35] "When one man's ox hurts another's ox so badly that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide this money as well as the dead animal equally between them.

[36] But if it was known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner would not keep it in, he must make full restitution, an ox for an ox; but the dead animal he may keep. (v 37) 5 "When a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for the one ox, and four sheep for the one sheep.

Exodus Chapter 22

[1] 1 "(If a thief is caught in the act of housebreaking and beaten to death, there is no bloodguilt involved.

[2] But if after sunrise he is thus beaten, there is bloodguilt.) He must make full restitution. If he has nothing, he shall be sold to pay for his theft.

[3] If what he stole is found alive in his possession, be it an ox, an ass or a sheep, he shall restore two animals for each one stolen.

[4] 2 "When a man is burning over a field or a vineyard, if he lets the fire spread so that it burns in another's field, he must make restitution with the best produce of his own field or vineyard.

[5] If the fire spreads further, and catches on to thorn bushes, so that shocked grain or standing grain or the field itself is burned up, the one who started the fire must make full restitution.

[6] "When a man gives money or an article to another for safekeeping and it is stolen from the latter's house, the thief, if caught, must make twofold restitution.

[7] 3 If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house shall be brought to God, to swear that he himself did not lay hands on his neighbor's property.

[8] In every question of dishonest appropriation, whether it be about an ox, or an ass, or a sheep, or a garment, or anything else that has disappeared, where another claims that the thing is his, both parties shall present their case before God; the one whom God convicts must make twofold restitution to the other.

[9] "When a man gives an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any other animal to another for safekeeping, if it dies, or is maimed or snatched away, without anyone witnessing the fact,

[10] the custodian shall swear by the LORD that he did not lay hands on his neighbor's property; the owner must accept the oath, and no restitution is to be made.

[11] But if the custodian is really guilty of theft, he must make restitution to the owner.

[12] If it has been killed by a wild beast, let him bring it as evidence, and he need not make restitution for the mangled animal.

[13] "When a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, if it is maimed or dies while the owner is not present, the man must make restitution.

[14] But if the owner is present, he need not make restitution. If it was hired, this was covered by the price of its hire.

[15] "When a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall pay her marriage price and marry her.

[16] 4 If her father refuses to give her to him, he must still pay him the customary marriage price for virgins.

[17] "You shall not let a sorceress live.

[18] "Anyone who lies with an animal shall be put to death.

[19] "Whoever sacrifices to any god, except to the LORD alone, shall be doomed.

[20] "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

[21] You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.

[22] If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry.

[23] My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.

[24] "If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him.

[25] If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset;

[26] for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.

[27] 5 "You shall not revile God, nor curse a prince of your people.

[28] "You shall not delay the offering of your harvest and your press. You shall give me the first-born of your sons.

[29] You must do the same with your oxen and your sheep; for seven days the firstling may stay with its mother, but on the eighth day you must give it to me.

[30] "You shall be men sacred to me. Flesh torn to pieces in the field you shall not eat; throw it to the dogs.

Exodus Chapter 23

[1] "You shall not repeat a false report. Do not join the wicked in putting your hand, as an unjust witness, upon anyone.

[2] Neither shall you allege the example of the many as an excuse for doing wrong, nor shall you, when testifying in a lawsuit, side with the many in perverting justice.

[3] You shall not favor a poor man in his lawsuit.

[4] "When you come upon your enemy's ox or ass going astray, see to it that it is returned to him.

[5] When you notice the ass of one who hates you lying prostrate under its burden, by no means desert him; help him, rather, to raise it up.

[6] "You shall not deny one of your needy fellow men his rights in his lawsuit.

[7] You shall keep away from anything dishonest. The innocent and the just you shall not put to death, nor shall you acquit the guilty.

[8] Never take a bribe, for a bribe blinds even the most clear-sighted and twists the words even of the just.

[9] You shall not oppress an alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

[10] "For six years you may sow your land and gather in its produce.

[11] But the seventh year you shall let the land lie untilled and unharvested, that the poor among you may eat of it and the beasts of the field may eat what the poor leave. So also shall you do in regard to your vineyard and your olive grove.

[12] "For six days you may do your work, but on the seventh day you must rest, that your ox and your ass may also have rest, and that the son of your maidservant and the alien may be refreshed.

[13] Give heed to all that I have told you. "Never mention the name of any other god; it shall not be heard from your lips.

[14] 1 "Three times a year you shall celebrate a pilgrim feast to me.

[15] 2 You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. As I have commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the prescribed time in the month of Abib, for it was then that you came out of Egypt. No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

[16] You shall also keep the feast of the grain harvest with the first of the crop that you have sown in the field; and finally, the feast at the fruit harvest at the end of the year, when you gather in the produce from the fields.

[17] Thrice a year shall all your men appear before the Lord GOD.

[18] "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of my feast be kept overnight till the next day.

[19] 3 The choicest first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD, your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

[20] "See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.

[21] 4 Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides in him.

[22] If you heed his voice and carry out all I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

[23] "My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out.

[24] 5 Therefore, you shall not bow down in worship before their gods, nor shall you make anything like them; rather, you must demolish them and smash their sacred pillars.

[25] The LORD, your God, you shall worship; then I will bless your food and drink, and I will remove all sickness from your midst;

[26] no woman in your land will be barren or miscarry; and I will give you a full span of life.

[27] "I will have the fear of me precede you, so that I will throw into panic every nation you reach. I will make all your enemies turn from you in flight,

[28] 6 and ahead of you I will send hornets to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

[29] But not in one year will I drive them all out before you; else the land will become so desolate that the wild beasts will multiply against you.

[30] Instead, I will drive them out little by little before you, until you have grown numerous enough to take possession of the land.

[31] 7 I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River; all who dwell in this land I will hand over to you to be driven out of your way.

[32] You shall not make a covenant with them or their gods.

[33] They must not abide in your land, lest they make you sin against me by ensnaring you into worshiping their gods."

Exodus Chapter 24

[1] Moses himself was told, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, with Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You shall all worship at some distance,

[2] but Moses alone is to come close to the LORD; the others shall not come too near, and the people shall not come up at all with Moses."

[3] When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has told us."

[4] 1 Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

[5] Then, having sent certain young men of the Israelites to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD,

[6] Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar.

[7] Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, "All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do."

[8] Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of his."

[9] Moses then went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel,

[10] and they beheld the God of Israel. Under his feet there appeared to be sapphire tilework, as clear as the sky itself.

[11] 2 Yet he did not smite these chosen Israelites. After gazing on God, they could still eat and drink.

[12] The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and, while you are there, I will give you the stone tablets on which I have written the commandments intended for their instruction."

[13] So Moses set out with Joshua, his aide, and went up to the mountain of God.

[14] The elders, however, had been told by him, "Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are staying with you. If anyone has a complaint, let him refer the matter to them."

[15] After Moses had gone up, a cloud covered the mountain.

[16] The glory of the LORD settled upon Mount Sinai. The cloud covered it for six days, and on the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

[17] To the Israelites the glory of the LORD was seen as a consuming fire on the mountaintop.

[18] But Moses passed into the midst of the cloud as he went up on the mountain; and there he stayed for forty days and forty nights.

Exodus Chapter 25

[1] This is what the LORD then said to Moses:

[2] "Tell the Israelites to take up a collection for me. From every man you shall accept the contribution that his heart prompts him to give me.

[3] These are the contributions you shall accept from them: gold, silver and bronze;

[4] violet, purple and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair;

[5] 1 rams' skins dyed red, and tahash skins; acacia wood;

[6] oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;

[7] onyx stones and other gems for mounting on the ephod and the breastpiece.

[8] "They shall make a sanctuary for me, that I may dwell in their midst.

[9] This Dwelling and all its furnishings you shall make exactly according to the pattern that I will now show you.

[10] "You shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high.

[11] Plate it inside and outside with pure gold, and put a molding of gold around the top of it.

[12] Cast four gold rings and fasten them on the four supports of the ark, two rings on one side and two on the opposite side.

[13] Then make poles of acacia wood and plate them with gold.

[14] These poles you are to put through the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying it;

[15] they must remain in the rings of the ark and never be withdrawn.

[16] In the ark you are to put the commandments which I will give you.

[17] 2 "You shall then make a propitiatory of pure gold, two cubits and a half long, and one and a half cubits wide.

[18] 3 Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the propitiatory,

[19] fastening them so that one cherub springs direct from each end.

[20] The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them; they shall be turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory.

[21] This propitiatory you shall then place on top of the ark. In the ark itself you are to put the commandments which I will give you.

[22] There I will meet you and there, from above the propitiatory, between the two cherubim on the ark of the commandments, I will tell you all the commands that I wish you to give the Israelites.

[23] "You shall also make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high.

[24] Plate it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it.

[25] 4 Surround it with a frame, a handbreadth high, with a molding of gold around the frame.

[26] You shall also make four rings of gold for it and fasten them at the four corners, one at each leg,

[27] on two opposite sides of the frame as holders for the poles to carry the table.

[28] These poles for carrying the table you shall make of acacia wood and plate with gold.

[29] 5 Of pure gold you shall make its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations.

[30] On the table you shall always keep showbread set before me.

[31] "You shall make a lampstand of pure beaten gold-its shaft and branches-with its cups and knobs and petals springing directly from it.

[32] Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand, three branches on one side, and three on the other.

[33] 6 On one branch there are to be three cups, shaped like almond blossoms, each with its knob and petals; on the opposite branch there are to be three cups, shaped like almond blossoms, each with its knob and petals; and so for the six branches that extend from the lampstand.

[34] 7 On the shaft there are to be four cups, shaped like almond blossoms, with their knobs and petals,

[35] including a knob below each of the three pairs of branches that extend from the lampstand.

[36] Their knobs and branches shall so spring from it that the whole will form but a single piece of pure beaten gold.

[37] 8 You shall then make seven lamps for it and so set up the lamps that they shed their light on the space in front of the lampstand.

[38] 9 These, as well as the trimming shears and trays, must be of pure gold.

[39] Use a talent of pure gold for the lampstand and all its appurtenances.

[40] See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

Exodus Chapter 26

[1] 1 "The Dwelling itself you shall make out of sheets woven of fine linen twined and of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim embroidered on them.

[2] The length of each shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width four cubits; all the sheets shall be of the same size.

[3] Five of the sheets are to be sewed together, edge to edge; and the same for the other five.

[4] Make loops of violet yarn along the edge of the end sheet in one set, and the same along the edge of the end sheet in the other set.

[5] There are to be fifty loops along the edge of the end sheet in the first set, and fifty loops along the edge of the corresponding sheet in the second set, and so placed that the loops are directly opposite each other.

[6] Then make fifty clasps of gold, with which to join the two sets of sheets, so that the Dwelling forms one whole.

[7] 2 "Also make sheets woven of goat hair, to be used as a tent covering over the Dwelling.

[8] Eleven such sheets are to be made; the length of each shall be thirty cubits, and the width four cubits: all eleven sheets shall be of the same size.

[9] 3 Sew five of the sheets, edge to edge, into one set, and the other six sheets into another set. Use the sixth sheet double at the front of the tent.

[10] Make fifty loops along the edge of the end sheet in one set, and fifty loops along the edge of the end sheet in the second set.

[11] Also make fifty bronze clasps and put them into the loops, to join the tent into one whole.

[12] There will be an extra half sheet of tent covering, which shall be allowed to hang down over the rear of the Dwelling.

[13] Likewise, the sheets of the tent will have an extra cubit's length to be left hanging down on either side of the Dwelling to protect it.

[14] Over the tent itself you shall make a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and above that, a covering of tahash skins.

[15] "You shall make boards of acacia wood as walls for the Dwelling.

[16] The length of each board is to be ten cubits, and its width one and a half cubits.

[17] 4 Each board shall have two arms that shall serve to fasten the boards in line. In this way all the boards of the Dwelling are to be made.

[18] Set up the boards of the Dwelling as follows: twenty boards on the south side,

[19] with forty silver pedestals under the twenty boards, so that there are two pedestals under each board, at its two arms;

[20] twenty boards on the other side of the Dwelling, the north side,

[21] with their forty silver pedestals, two under each board;

[22] six boards for the rear of the Dwelling, to the west;

[23] and two boards for the corners at the rear of the Dwelling.

[24] These two shall be double at the bottom, and likewise double at the top, to the first ring. That is how both boards in the corners are to be made.

[25] Thus, there shall be in the rear eight boards, with their sixteen silver pedestals, two pedestals under each board.

[26] Also make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards on one side of the Dwelling,

[27] five for those on the other side, and five for those at the rear, toward the west.

[28] The center bar, at the middle of the boards, shall reach across from end to end.

[29] Plate the boards with gold, and make gold rings on them as holders for the bars, which are also to be plated with gold.

[30] You shall erect the Dwelling according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

[31] "You shall have a veil woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined, with cherubim embroidered on it.

[32] 5 It is to be hung on four gold-plated columns of acacia wood, which shall have hooks of gold and shall rest on four silver pedestals.

[33] Hang the veil from clasps. The ark of the commandments you shall bring inside, behind this veil which divides the holy place from the holy of holies.

[34] Set the propitiatory on the ark of the commandments in the holy of holies.

[35] "Outside the veil you shall place the table and the lampstand, the latter on the south side of the Dwelling, opposite the table, which is to be put on the north side.

[36] 6 For the entrance of the tent make a variegated curtain of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined.

[37] Make five columns of acacia wood for this curtain; have them plated with gold, with their hooks of gold; and cast five bronze pedestals for them.

Exodus Chapter 27

[1] "You shall make an altar of acacia wood, on a square, five cubits long and five cubits wide; it shall be three cubits high.

[2] At the four corners there are to be horns, so made that they spring directly from the altar. You shall then plate it with bronze.

[3] Make pots for removing the ashes, as well as shovels, basins, forks and fire pans, all of which shall be of bronze.

[4] 1 Make a grating of bronze network for it; this to have four bronze rings, one at each of its four corners.

[5] Put it down around the altar, on the ground. This network is to be half as high as the altar.

[6] You shall also make poles of acacia wood for the altar, and plate them with bronze.

[7] These poles are to be put through the rings, so that they are on either side of the altar when it is carried.

[8] 2 Make the altar itself in the form of a hollow box, just as it was shown you on the mountain.

[9] "You shall also make a court for the Dwelling. On the south side the court shall have hangings a hundred cubits long, woven of fine linen twined,

[10] with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze; the hooks and bands on the columns shall be of silver.

[11] On the north side there shall be similar hangings, a hundred cubits long, with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze; the hooks and bands on the columns shall be of silver.

[12] On the west side, across the width of the court, there shall be hangings, fifty cubits long, with ten columns and ten pedestals.

[13] The width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits.

[14] On one side there shall be hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals;

[15] on the other side there shall be hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals.

[16] "At the entrance of the court there shall be a variegated curtain, twenty cubits long, woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined. It shall have four columns and four pedestals.

[17] "All the columns around the court shall have bands and hooks of silver, and pedestals of bronze.

[18] The enclosure of the court is to be one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and five cubits high. Fine linen twined must be used, and the pedestals must be of bronze.

[19] All the fittings of the Dwelling, whatever be their use, as well as all its tent pegs and all the tent pegs of the court, must be of bronze.

[20] "You shall order the Israelites to bring you clear oil of crushed olives, to be used for the light, so that you may keep lamps burning regularly.

[21] From evening to morning Aaron and his sons shall maintain them before the LORD in the meeting tent, outside the veil which hangs in front of the commandments. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for the Israelites throughout their generations.

Exodus Chapter 28

[1] "From among the Israelites have your brother Aaron, together with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, brought to you, that they may be my priests.

[2] For the glorious adornment of your brother Aaron you shall have sacred vestments made.

[3] Therefore, to the various expert workmen whom I have endowed with skill, you shall give instructions to make such vestments for Aaron as will set him apart for his sacred service as my priest.

[4] These are the vestments they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a brocaded tunic, a miter and a sash. In making these sacred vestments which your brother Aaron and his sons are to wear in serving as my priests,

[5] they shall use gold, violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.

[6] 1 "The ephod they shall make of gold thread and of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, embroidered on cloth of fine linen twined.

[7] It shall have a pair of shoulder straps joined to its two upper ends.

[8] The embroidered belt of the ephod shall extend out from it and, like it, be made of gold thread, of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined.

[9] "Get two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel:

[10] six of their names on one stone, and the other six on the other stone, in the order of their birth.

[11] As a gem-cutter engraves a seal, so shall you have the two stones engraved with the names of the sons of Israel and then mounted in gold filigree work.

[12] Set these two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod as memorial stones of the sons of Israel. Thus Aaron shall bear their names on his shoulders as a reminder before the LORD.

[13] Make filigree rosettes of gold,

[14] as well as two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords, and fasten the cordlike chains to the filigree rosettes.

[15] 2 "The breastpiece of decision you shall also have made, embroidered like the ephod with gold thread and violet, purple and scarlet yarn on cloth of fine linen twined.

[16] It is to be square when folded double, a span high and a span wide.

[17] 3 On it you shall mount four rows of precious stones: in the first row, a carnelian, a topaz and an emerald;

[18] in the second row, a garnet, a sapphire and a beryl;

[19] in the third row, a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst;

[20] in the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. These stones are to be mounted in gold filigree work,

[21] twelve of them to match the names of the sons of Israel, each stone engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

[22] "When the chains of pure gold, twisted like cords, have been made for the breastpiece,

[23] you shall then make two rings of gold for it and fasten them to the two upper ends of the breastpiece.

[24] The gold cords are then to be fastened to the two rings at the upper ends of the breastpiece,

[25] the other two ends of the cords being fastened in front to the two filigree rosettes which are attached to the shoulder straps of the ephod.

[26] Make two other rings of gold and put them on the two lower ends of the breastpiece, on its edge that faces the ephod.

[27] Then make two more rings of gold and fasten them to the bottom of the shoulder straps next to where they join the ephod in front, just above its embroidered belt.

[28] Violet ribbons shall bind the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece will stay right above the embroidered belt of the ephod and not swing loose from it.

[29] "Whenever Aaron enters the sanctuary, he will thus bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastpiece of decision over his heart as a constant reminder before the LORD.

[30] 4 In this breastpiece of decision you shall put the Urim and Thummim, that they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus he shall always bear the decisions for the Israelites over his heart in the LORD'S presence.

[31] "The robe of the ephod you shall make entirely of violet material.

[32] It shall have an opening for the head in the center, and around this opening there shall be a selvage, woven as at the opening of a shirt, to keep it from being torn.

[33] All around the hem at the bottom you shall make pomegranates, woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen twined, with gold bells between them;

[34] first a gold bell, then a pomegranate, and thus alternating all around the hem of the robe.

[35] Aaron shall wear it when ministering, that its tinkling may be heard as he enters and leaves the LORD'S presence in the sanctuary; else he will die.

[36] "You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, as on a seal engraving, 'Sacred to the LORD.'

[37] This plate is to be tied over the miter with a violet ribbon in such a way that it rests on the front of the miter,

[38] over Aaron's forehead. Since Aaron bears whatever guilt the Israelites may incur in consecrating any of their sacred gifts, this plate must always be over his forehead, so that they may find favor with the LORD.

[39] "The tunic of fine linen shall be brocaded. The miter shall be made of fine linen. The sash shall be of variegated work.

[40] "Likewise, for the glorious adornment of Aaron's sons you shall have tunics and sashes and turbans made.

[41] 5 With these you shall clothe your brother Aaron and his sons. Anoint and ordain them, consecrating them as my priests.

[42] You must also make linen drawers for them, to cover their naked flesh from their loins to their thighs.

[43] Aaron and his sons shall wear them whenever they go into the meeting tent or approach the altar to minister in the sanctuary, lest they incur guilt and die. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants.

Exodus Chapter 29

[1] "This is the rite you shall perform in consecrating them as my priests. Procure a young bull and two unblemished rams.

[2] With fine wheat flour make unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil,

[3] and put them in a basket. Take the basket of them along with the bullock and the two rams.

[4] Aaron and his sons you shall also bring to the entrance of the meeting tent, and there wash them with water.

[5] Take the vestments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastpiece, fastening the embroidered belt of the ephod around him.

[6] Put the miter on his head, the sacred diadem on the miter.

[7] Then take the anointing oil and anoint him with it, pouring it on his head.

[8] Bring forward his sons also and clothe them with the tunics,

[9] gird them with the sashes, and tie the turbans on them. Thus shall the priesthood be theirs by perpetual law, and thus shall you ordain Aaron and his sons.

[10] "Now bring forward the bullock in front of the meeting tent. There Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.

[11] Then slaughter the bullock before the LORD, at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[12] Take some of its blood and with your finger put it on the horns of the altar. All the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar.

[13] All the fat that covers its inner organs, as well as the lobe of its liver and its two kidneys, together with the fat that is on them, you shall take and burn on the altar.

[14] But the flesh and hide and offal of the bullock you must burn up outside the camp, since this is a sin offering.

[15] "Then take one of the rams, and after Aaron and his sons have laid their hands on its head,

[16] slaughter it. The blood you shall take and splash on all the sides of the altar.

[17] Cut the ram into pieces; its inner organs and shanks you shall first wash, and then put them with the pieces and with the head.

[18] The entire ram shall then be burned on the altar, since it is a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[19] "After this take the other ram, and when Aaron and his sons have laid their hands on its head,

[20] slaughter it. Some of its blood you shall take and put on the tip of Aaron's right ear and on the tips of his sons' right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and the great toes of their right feet. Splash the rest of the blood on all the sides of the altar.

[21] Then take some of the blood that is on the altar, together with some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle this on Aaron and his vestments, as well as on his sons and their vestments, that his sons and their vestments may be sacred.

[22] 1 "Now, from this ram you shall take its fat: its fatty tail, the fat that covers its inner organs, the lobe of its liver, its two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and its right thigh, since this is the ordination ram;

[23] then, out of the basket of unleavened food that you have set before the LORD, you shall take one of the loaves of bread, one of the cakes made with oil, and one of the wafers.

[24] 2 All these things you shall put into the hands of Aaron and his sons, so that they may wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.

[25] After you have received them back from their hands, you shall burn them on top of the holocaust on the altar as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[26] Finally, take the breast of Aaron's ordination ram and wave it as a wave offering before the LORD; this is to be your own portion.

[27] 3 "Thus shall you set aside the breast of whatever wave offering is waved, as well as the thigh of whatever raised offering is raised up, whether this be the ordination ram or anything else belonging to Aaron or to his sons.

[28] Such things are due to Aaron and his sons from the Israelites by a perpetual ordinance as a contribution. From their peace offerings, too, the Israelites shall make a contribution, their contribution to the LORD.

[29] "The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed down to his descendants, that in them they may be anointed and ordained.

[30] The descendant who succeeds him as priest and who is to enter the meeting tent to minister in the sanctuary shall be clothed with them for seven days.

[31] "You shall take the flesh of the ordination ram and boil it in a holy place.

[32] At the entrance of the meeting tent Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket.

[33] They themselves are to eat of these things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but no layman may eat of them, since they are sacred.

[34] If some of the flesh of the ordination sacrifice or some of the bread remains over on the next day, this remnant must be burned up; it is not to be eaten, since it is sacred.

[35] Carry out all these orders in regard to Aaron and his sons just as I have given them to you. "Seven days you shall spend in ordaining them,

[36] 4 sacrificing a bullock each day as a sin offering, to make atonement. Thus also shall you purge the altar in making atonement for it; you shall anoint it in order to consecrate it.

[37] Seven days you shall spend in making atonement for the altar and in consecrating it. Then the altar will be most sacred, and whatever touches it will become sacred.

[38] 5 "Now, this is what you shall offer on the altar: two yearling lambs as the sacrifice established for each day;

[39] one lamb in the morning and the other lamb at the evening twilight.

[40] With the first lamb there shall be a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil of crushed olives and, as its libation, a fourth of a hin of wine.

[41] The other lamb you shall offer at the evening twilight, with the same cereal offering and libation as in the morning. You shall offer this as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[42] Throughout your generations this established holocaust shall be offered before the LORD at the entrance of the meeting tent, where I will meet you and speak to you.

[43] "There, at the altar, I will meet the Israelites; hence, it will be made sacred by my glory.

[44] Thus I will consecrate the meeting tent and the altar, just as I also consecrate Aaron and his sons to be my priests.

[45] I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites and will be their God.

[46] They shall know that I, the LORD, am their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I, the LORD, their God, might dwell among them.

Exodus Chapter 30

[1] "For burning incense you shall make an altar of acacia wood,

[2] with a square surface, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high, with horns that spring directly from it.

[3] Its grate on top, its walls on all four sides, and its horns you shall plate with pure gold. Put a gold molding around it.

[4] Underneath the molding you shall put gold rings, two on one side and two on the opposite side, as holders for the poles used in carrying it.

[5] Make the poles, too, of acacia wood and plate them with gold.

[6] This altar you are to place in front of the veil that hangs before the ark of the commandments where I will meet you.

[7] "On it Aaron shall burn fragrant incense. Morning after morning, when he prepares the lamps,

[8] and again in the evening twilight, when he lights the lamps, he shall burn incense. Throughout your generations this shall be the established incense offering before the LORD.

[9] On this altar you shall not offer up any profane incense, or any holocaust or cereal offering; nor shall you pour out a libation upon it.

[10] Once a year Aaron shall perform the atonement rite on its horns. Throughout your generations this atonement is to be made once a year with the blood of the atoning sin offering. This altar is most sacred to the LORD."

[11] The LORD also said to Moses,

[12] "When you take a census of the Israelites who are to be registered, each one, as he is enrolled, shall give the LORD a forfeit for his life, so that no plague may come upon them for being registered.

[13] Everyone who enters the registered group must pay a half-shekel, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel. This payment of a half-shekel is a contribution to the LORD.

[14] Everyone of twenty years or more who enters the registered group must give this contribution to the LORD.

[15] The rich need not give more, nor shall the poor give less, than a half-shekel in this contribution to the LORD to pay the forfeit for their lives.

[16] When you receive this forfeit money from the Israelites, you shall donate it to the service of the meeting tent, that there it may be the Israelites' reminder before the LORD, of the forfeit paid for their lives."

[17] The LORD said to Moses,

[18] "For ablutions you shall make a bronze laver with a bronze base. Place it between the meeting tent and the altar, and put water in it.

[19] Aaron and his sons shall use it in washing their hands and feet.

[20] When they are about to enter the meeting tent, they must wash with water, lest they die. Likewise when they approach the altar in their ministry, to offer an oblation to the LORD,

[21] they must wash their hands and feet, lest they die. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for him and his descendants throughout their generations."

[22] The LORD said to Moses,

[23] "Take the finest spices: five hundred shekels of free-flowing myrrh; half that amount, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, of fragrant cinnamon; two hundred and fifty shekels of fragrant cane;

[24] five hundred shekels of cassia-all according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel; together with a hin of olive oil;

[25] and blend them into sacred anointing oil, perfumed ointment expertly prepared.

[26] With this sacred anointing oil you shall anoint the meeting tent and the ark of the commandments,

[27] the table and all its appurtenances, the lampstand and its appurtenances, the altar of incense

[28] and the altar of holocausts with all its appurtenances, and the laver with its base.

[29] When you have consecrated them, they shall be most sacred; whatever touches them shall be sacred.

[30] Aaron and his sons you shall also anoint and consecrate as my priests.

[31] To the Israelites you shall say: As sacred anointing oil this shall belong to me throughout your generations.

[32] It may not be used in any ordinary anointing of the body, nor may you make any other oil of a like mixture. It is sacred, and shall be treated as sacred by you.

[33] Whoever prepares a perfume like this, or whoever puts any of this on a layman, shall be cut off from his kinsmen."

[34] The LORD told Moses, "Take these aromatic substances: storax and onycha and galbanum, these and pure frankincense in equal parts;

[35] and blend them into incense. This fragrant powder, expertly prepared, is to be salted and so kept pure and sacred.

[36] Grind some of it into fine dust and put this before the commandments in the meeting tent where I will meet you. This incense shall be treated as most sacred by you.

[37] You may not make incense of a like mixture for yourselves; you must treat it as sacred to the LORD.

[38] Whoever makes an incense like this for his own enjoyment of its fragrance, shall be cut off from his kinsmen."

Exodus Chapter 31

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "See, I have chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

[3] and I have filled him with a divine spirit of skill and understanding and knowledge in every craft:

[4] in the production of embroidery, in making things of gold, silver or bronze,

[5] in cutting and mounting precious stones, in carving wood, and in every craft.

[6] As his assistant I have appointed Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. I have also endowed all the experts with the necessary skill to make all the things I have ordered you to make:

[7] the meeting tent, the ark of the commandments with the propitiatory on top of it, all the furnishings of the tent,

[8] the table with its appurtenances, the pure gold lampstand with all its appurtenances, the altar of incense,

[9] the altar of holocausts with all its appurtenances, the laver with its base,

[10] 1 the service cloths, the sacred vestments for Aaron the priest, the vestments for his sons in their ministry,

[11] the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. All these things they shall make just as I have commanded you."

[12] The LORD said to Moses,

[13] "You must also tell the Israelites: Take care to keep my sabbaths, for that is to be the token between you and me throughout the generations, to show that it is I, the LORD, who make you holy.

[14] Therefore, you must keep the sabbath as something sacred. Whoever desecrates it shall be put to death. If anyone does work on that day, he must be rooted out of his people.

[15] Six days there are for doing work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of complete rest, sacred to the LORD. Anyone who does work on the sabbath day shall be put to death.

[16] So shall the Israelites observe the sabbath, keeping it throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

[17] Between me and the Israelites it is to be an everlasting token; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested at his ease."

[18] When the LORD had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the commandments, the stone tablets inscribed by God's own finger.

Exodus Chapter 32

[1] When the people became aware of Moses' delay in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will be our leader; as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him."

[2] Aaron replied, "Have your wives and sons and daughters take off the golden earrings they are wearing, and bring them to me."

[3] So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron,

[4] who accepted their offering, and fashioning this gold with a graving tool, made a molten calf. Then they cried out, "This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt."

[5] 1 On seeing this, Aaron built an altar before the calf and proclaimed, "Tomorrow is a feast of the LORD."

[6] Early the next day the people offered holocausts and brought peace offerings. Then they sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

[7] With that, the LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved.

[8] They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!'

[9] I see how stiff-necked this people is," continued the LORD to Moses.

[10] "Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation."

[11] But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, "Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand?

[12] Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth'? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people.

[13] Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.'"

[14] So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.

[15] Moses then turned and came down the mountain with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;

[16] tablets that were made by God, having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.

[17] Now, when Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "That sounds like a battle in the camp."

[18] But Moses answered, "It does not sound like cries of victory, nor does it sound like cries of defeat; the sounds that I hear are cries of revelry."

[19] As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. With that, Moses' wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets down and broke them on the base of the mountain.

[20] 2 Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire and then ground it down to powder, which he scattered on the water and made the Israelites drink.

[21] Moses asked Aaron, "What did this people ever do to you that you should lead them into so grave a sin?" Aaron replied, "Let not my lord be angry.

[22] You know well enough how prone the people are to evil.

[23] They said to me, 'Make us a god to be our leader; as for the man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'

[24] So I told them, 'Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.' They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out."

[25] When Moses realized that, to the scornful joy of their foes, Aaron had let the people run wild,

[26] he stood at the gate of the camp and cried, "Whoever is for the LORD, let him come to me!" All the Levites then rallied to him,

[27] 3 and he told them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Put your sword on your hip, every one of you! Now go up and down the camp, from gate to gate, and slay your own kinsmen, your friends and neighbors!"

[28] The Levites carried out the command of Moses, and that day there fell about three thousand of the people.

[29] 4 Then Moses said, "Today you have been dedicated to the LORD, for you were against your own sons and kinsmen, to bring a blessing upon yourselves this day."

[30] On the next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a grave sin. I will go up to the LORD, then; perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin."

[31] So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin in making a god of gold for themselves!

[32] 5 If you would only forgive their sin! If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written."

[33] The LORD answered, "Him only who has sinned against me will I strike out of my book.

[34] Now, go and lead the people whither I have told you. My angel will go before you. When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin."

[35] Thus the LORD smote the people for having had Aaron make the calf for them.

Exodus Chapter 33

[1] The LORD told Moses, "You and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, are to go up from here to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob I would give to their descendants.

[2] Driving out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, I will send an angel before you

[3] to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I myself will not go up in your company, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise I might exterminate you on the way."

[4] When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning, and no one wore his ornaments.

[5] The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites: You are a stiff-necked people. Were I to go up in your company even for a moment, I would exterminate you. Take off your ornaments, therefore; I will then see what I am to do with you."

[6] So, from Mount Horeb onward, the Israelites laid aside their ornaments.

[7] 1 The tent, which was called the meeting tent, Moses used to pitch at some distance away, outside the camp. Anyone who wished to consult the LORD would go to this meeting tent outside the camp.

[8] Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would all rise and stand at the entrance of their own tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent.

[9] As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at its entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses.

[10] On seeing the column of cloud stand at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and worship at the entrance of their own tents.

[11] The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another. Moses would then return to the camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, would not move out of the tent.

[12] Moses said to the LORD, "You, indeed, are telling me to lead this people on; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'You are my intimate friend,' and also, 'You have found favor with me.'

[13] Now, if I have found favor with you, do let me know your ways so that, in knowing you, I may continue to find favor with you. Then, too, this nation is, after all, your own people."

[14] 2 "I myself," the LORD answered, "will go along, to give you rest."

[15] Moses replied, "If you are not going yourself, do not make us go up from here.

[16] For how can it be known that we, your people and I, have found favor with you, except by your going with us? Then we, your people and I, will be singled out from every other people on the earth."

[17] The LORD said to Moses, "This request, too, which you have just made, I will carry out, because you have found favor with me and you are my intimate friend."

[18] Then Moses said, "Do let me see your glory!"

[19] He answered, "I will make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my name, 'LORD'; I who show favors to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I will.

[20] But my face you cannot see, for no man sees me and still lives.

[21] Here," continued the LORD, "is a place near me where you shall station yourself on the rock.

[22] When my glory passes I will set you in the hollow of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

[23] 3 Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face is not to be seen."

Exodus Chapter 34

[1] The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two stone tablets like the former, that I may write on them the commandments which were on the former tablets that you broke.

[2] Get ready for tomorrow morning, when you are to go up Mount Sinai and there present yourself to me on the top of the mountain.

[3] No one shall come up with you, and no one is even to be seen on any part of the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to go grazing toward this mountain."

[4] Moses then cut two stone tablets like the former, and early the next morning he went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets.

[5] Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with him there and proclaimed his name, "LORD."

[6] Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, "The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity,

[7] continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their fathers' wickedness!"

[8] Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.

[9] Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own."

[10] "Here, then," said the LORD, "is the covenant I will make. Before the eyes of all your people I will work such marvels as have never been wrought in any nation anywhere on earth, so that this people among whom you live may see how awe-inspiring are the deeds which I, the LORD, will do at your side.

[11] But you, on your part, must keep the commandments I am giving you today. "I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

[12] Take care, therefore, not to make a covenant with these inhabitants of the land that you are to enter; else they will become a snare among you.

[13] 1 Tear down their altars; smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their sacred poles.

[14] 2 You shall not worship any other god, for the LORD is 'the Jealous One'; a jealous God is he.

[15] Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of that land; else, when they render their wanton worship to their gods and sacrifice to them, one of them may invite you and you may partake of his sacrifice.

[16] Neither shall you take their daughters as wives for your sons; otherwise, when their daughters render their wanton worship to their gods, they will make your sons do the same.

[17] "You shall not make for yourselves molten gods.

[18] "You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the prescribed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

[19] "To me belongs every first-born male that opens the womb among all your livestock, whether in the herd or in the flock.

[20] The firstling of an ass you shall redeem with one of the flock; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. The first-born among your sons you shall redeem. "No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

[21] "For six days you may work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; on that day you must rest even during the seasons of plowing and harvesting.

[22] 3 "You shall keep the feast of Weeks with the first of the wheat harvest; likewise, the feast at the fruit harvest at the close of the year.

[23] Three times a year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the LORD God of Israel.

[24] Since I will drive out the nations before you to give you a large territory, there will be no one to covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD, your God.

[25] "You shall not offer me the blood of sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the Passover feast be kept overnight for the next day.

[26] "The choicest first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD, your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."

[27] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with them I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."

[28] So Moses stayed there with the LORD for forty days and forty nights, without eating any food or drinking any water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

[29] As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he conversed with the LORD.

[30] When Aaron, then, and the other Israelites saw Moses and noticed how radiant the skin of his face had become, they were afraid to come near him.

[31] Only after Moses called to them did Aaron and all the rulers of the community come back to him. Moses then spoke to them.

[32] Later on, all the Israelites came up to him, and he enjoined on them all that the LORD had told him on Mount Sinai.

[33] 4 When he finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

[34] Whenever Moses entered the presence of the LORD to converse with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the Israelites all that had been commanded.

[35] Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses' face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the LORD.

Exodus Chapter 35

[1] Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, "This is what the LORD has commanded to be done.

[2] On six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be sacred to you as the sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Anyone who does work on that day shall be put to death.

[3] You shall not even light a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day."

[4] Moses told the whole Israelite community, "This is what the LORD has commanded:

[5] Take up among you a collection for the LORD. Everyone, as his heart prompts him, shall bring, as a contribution to the LORD, gold, silver and bronze;

[6] violet, purple and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair;

[7] rams' skins dyed red, and tahash skins; acacia wood;

[8] oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;

[9] onyx stones and other gems for mounting on the ephod and on the breastpiece.

[10] "Let every expert among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded: the Dwelling,

[11] with its tent, its covering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its columns and its pedestals;

[12] the ark, with its poles, the propitiatory, and the curtain veil;

[13] the table, with its poles and all its appurtenances, and the showbread;

[14] the lampstand, with its appurtenances, the lamps, and the oil for the light;

[15] the altar of incense, with its poles; the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense; the entrance curtain for the entrance of the Dwelling;

[16] the altar of holocausts, with its bronze grating, its poles, and all its appurtenances; the laver, with its base;

[17] the hangings of the court, with their columns and pedestals; the curtain for the entrance of the court;

[18] the tent pegs for the Dwelling and for the court, with their ropes;

[19] the service cloths for use in the sanctuary; the sacred vestments for Aaron, the priest, and the vestments worn by his sons in their ministry."

[20] When the whole Israelite community left Moses' presence,

[21] everyone, as his heart suggested and his spirit prompted, brought a contribution to the LORD for the construction of the meeting tent, for all its services, and for the sacred vestments.

[22] Both the men and the women, all as their heart prompted them, brought brooches, earrings, rings, necklaces and various other gold articles. Everyone who could presented an offering of gold to the LORD.

[23] Everyone who happened to have violet, purple or scarlet yarn, fine linen or goat hair, rams' skins dyed red or tahash skins, brought them.

[24] Whoever could make a contribution of silver or bronze offered it to the LORD; and everyone who happened to have acacia wood for any part of the work, brought it.

[25] All the women who were expert spinners brought hand-spun violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen thread.

[26] All the women who possessed the skill, spun goat hair.

[27] The princes brought onyx stones and other gems for mounting on the ephod and on the breastpiece;

[28] as well as spices, and oil for the light, anointing oil, and fragrant incense.

[29] Every Israelite man and woman brought to the LORD such voluntary offerings as they thought best, for the various kinds of work which the LORD had commanded Moses to have done.

[30] Moses said to the Israelites, "See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

[31] and has filled him with a divine spirit of skill and understanding and knowledge in every craft:

[32] in the production of embroidery, in making things of gold, silver or bronze,

[33] in cutting and mounting precious stones, in carving wood, and in every other craft.

[34] He has also given both him and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.

[35] He has endowed them with skill to execute all types of work: engraving, embroidering, the making of variegated cloth of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen thread, weaving, and all other arts and crafts.

Exodus Chapter 36

[1] "Bezalel, therefore, will set to work with Oholiab and with all the experts whom the LORD has endowed with skill and understanding in knowing how to execute all the work for the service of the sanctuary, just as the LORD has commanded."

[2] Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and all the other experts whom the LORD had endowed with skill, men whose hearts moved them to come and take part in the work.

[3] They received from Moses all the contributions which the Israelites had brought for establishing the service of the sanctuary. Still, morning after morning the people continued to bring their voluntary offerings to Moses.

[4] Thereupon the experts who were executing the various kinds of work for the sanctuary, all left the work they were doing,

[5] and told Moses, "The people are bringing much more than is needed to carry out the work which the LORD has commanded us to do."

[6] Moses, therefore, ordered a proclamation to be made throughout the camp: "Let neither man nor woman make any more contributions for the sanctuary." So the people stopped bringing their offerings;

[7] there was already enough at hand, in fact, more than enough, to complete the work to be done.

[8] The various experts who were executing the work, made the Dwelling with its ten sheets woven of fine linen twined, having cherubim embroidered on them with violet, purple and scarlet yarn.

[9] The length of each sheet was twenty-eight cubits, and the width four cubits; all the sheets were of the same size.

[10] Five of the sheets were sewed together, edge to edge; and the same for the other five.

[11] Loops of violet yarn were made along the edge of the end sheet in the first set, and the same along the edge of the end sheet in the second set.

[12] Fifty loops were thus put on one inner sheet, and fifty loops on the inner sheet in the other set, with the loops directly opposite each other.

[13] Then fifty clasps of gold were made, with which the sheets were joined so that the Dwelling formed one whole.

[14] Sheets of goat hair were also woven as a tent over the Dwelling. Eleven such sheets were made.

[15] The length of each sheet was thirty cubits and the width four cubits; all eleven sheets were the same size.

[16] Five of these sheets were sewed edge to edge into one set; and the other six sheets into another set.

[17] Fifty loops were made along the edge of the end sheet in one set, and fifty loops along the edge of the corresponding sheet in the other set.

[18] Fifty bronze clasps were made with which the tent was joined so that it formed one whole.

[19] A covering for the tent was made of rams' skins dyed red, and above that, a covering of tahash skins.

[20] Boards of acacia wood were made as walls for the Dwelling.

[21] The length of each board was ten cubits, and the width one and a half cubits.

[22] Each board had two arms, fastening them in line. In this way all the boards of the Dwelling were made.

[23] They were set up as follows: twenty boards on the south side,

[24] with forty silver pedestals under the twenty boards, so that there were two pedestals under each board, at its two arms;

[25] twenty boards on the other side of the Dwelling, the north side,

[26] with their forty silver pedestals, two under each board;

[27] six boards at the rear of the Dwelling, to the west;

[28] and two boards at the corners in the rear of the Dwelling.

[29] These were double at the bottom, and likewise double at the top, to the first ring. That is how both boards in the corners were made.

[30] Thus, there were in the rear eight boards, with their sixteen silver pedestals, two pedestals under each board.

[31] Bars of acacia wood were also made, five for the boards on one side of the Dwelling,

[32] five for those on the other side, and five for those at the rear, to the west.

[33] The center bar, at the middle of the boards, was made to reach across from end to end.

[34] The boards were plated with gold, and gold rings were made on them as holders for the bars, which were also plated with gold.

[35] The veil was woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined, with cherubim embroidered on it.

[36] Four gold-plated columns of acacia wood, with gold hooks, were made for it, and four silver pedestals were cast for them.

[37] The curtain for the entrance of the tent was made of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined, woven in a variegated manner.

[38] Its five columns, with their hooks as well as their capitals and bands, were plated with gold; their five pedestals were of bronze.

Exodus Chapter 37

[1] Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high.

[2] The inside and outside were plated with gold, and a molding of gold was put around it.

[3] Four gold rings were cast and put on its four supports, two rings for one side and two for the opposite side.

[4] Poles of acacia wood were made and plated with gold;

[5] these were put through the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying it.

[6] The propitiatory was made of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide.

[7] Two cherubim of beaten gold were made for the two ends of the propitiatory,

[8] one cherub fastened at one end, the other at the other end, springing directly from the propitiatory at its two ends.

[9] The cherubim had their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them. They were turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory.

[10] The table was made of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high.

[11] It was plated with pure gold, and a molding of gold was put around it.

[12] A frame a handbreadth high was also put around it, with a molding of gold around the frame.

[13] Four rings of gold were cast for it and fastened, one at each of the four corners.

[14] The rings were alongside the frame as holders for the poles to carry the table.

[15] These poles were made of acacia wood and plated with gold.

[16] The vessels that were set on the table, its plates and cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations, were of pure gold.

[17] The lampstand was made of pure beaten gold--its shaft and branches as well as its cups and knobs and petals springing directly from it.

[18] Six branches extended from its sides, three branches on one side and three on the other.

[19] On one branch there were three cups, shaped like almond blossoms, each with its knob and petals; on the opposite branch there were three cups, shaped like almond blossoms, each with its knob and petals; and so for the six branches that extended from the lampstand.

[20] On the shaft there were four cups, shaped like almond blossoms, with their knobs and petals,

[21] including a knob below each of the three pairs of branches that extended from the lampstand.

[22] The knobs and branches sprang so directly from it that the whole formed but a single piece of pure beaten gold.

[23] Its seven lamps, as well as its trimming shears and trays, were made of pure gold.

[24] A talent of pure gold was used for the lampstand and its various appurtenances.

[25] The altar of incense was made of acacia wood, on a square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high, having horns that sprang directly from it.

[26] Its grate on top, its walls on all four sides, and its horns were plated with pure gold; and a molding of gold was put around it.

[27] Underneath the molding gold rings were placed, two on one side and two on the opposite side, as holders for the poles to carry it.

[28] The poles, too, were made of acacia wood and plated with gold.

[29] The sacred anointing oil and the fragrant incense were prepared in their pure form by a perfumer.

Exodus Chapter 38

[1] The altar of holocausts was made of acacia wood, on a square, five cubits long and five cubits wide; its height was three cubits.

[2] At the four corners horns were made that sprang directly from the altar. The whole was plated with bronze.

[3] All the utensils of the altar, the pots, shovels, basins, forks and fire pans, were likewise made of bronze.

[4] A grating of bronze network was made for the altar and placed round it, on the ground, half as high as the altar itself.

[5] Four rings were cast for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles,

[6] which were made of acacia wood and plated with bronze.

[7] The poles were put through the rings on the sides of the altar for carrying it. The altar was made in the form of a hollow box.

[8] 1 The bronze laver, with its bronze base, was made from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[9] The court was made as follows. On the south side of the court there were hangings, woven of fine linen twined, a hundred cubits long,

[10] with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver.

[11] On the north side there were similar hangings, one hundred cubits long, with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver.

[12] On the west side there were hangings, fifty cubits long, with ten columns and ten pedestals, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver.

[13] On the east side the court was fifty cubits long.

[14] Toward one side there were hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals; toward the other side,

[15] beyond the entrance of the court, there were likewise hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals.

[16] The hangings on all sides of the court were woven of fine linen twined.

[17] The pedestals of the columns were of bronze, while the hooks and bands of the columns were of silver; the capitals were silver-plated, and all the columns of the court were banded with silver.

[18] At the entrance of the court there was a variegated curtain, woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined, twenty cubits long and five cubits wide, in keeping with the hangings of the court.

[19] There were four columns and four pedestals of bronze for it, while their hooks were of silver.

[20] All the tent pegs for the Dwelling and for the court around it were of bronze.

[21] The following is an account of the various amounts used on the Dwelling, the Dwelling of the commandments, drawn up at the command of Moses by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

[22] However, it was Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, who made all that the Lord commanded Moses,

[23] and he was assisted by Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, who was an engraver, an embroiderer, and a weaver of variegated cloth of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen.

[24] All the gold used in the entire construction of the sanctuary, having previously been given as an offering, amounted to twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel.

[25] The amount of the silver received from the community was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel;

[26] one bekah apiece, that is, a half-shekel apiece, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, was received from every man of twenty years or more who entered the registered group; the number of these was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men.

[27] One hundred talents of silver were used for casting the pedestals of the sanctuary and the pedestals of the veil, one talent for each pedestal, or one hundred talents for the one hundred pedestals.

[28] The remaining one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels were used for making the hooks on the columns, for plating the capitals, and for banding them with silver.

[29] The bronze, given as an offering, amounted to seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.

[30] With this were made the pedestals at the entrance of the meeting tent, the bronze altar with its bronze gratings and all the appurtenances of the altar,

[31] the pedestals around the court, the pedestals at the entrance of the court, and all the tent pegs for the Dwelling and for the court around it.

Exodus Chapter 39

[1] With violet, purple and scarlet yarn were woven the service cloths for use in the sanctuary, as well as the sacred vestments for Aaron, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[2] The ephod was woven of gold thread and of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined.

[3] Gold was first hammered into gold leaf and then cut up into threads, which were woven with the violet, purple and scarlet yarn into an embroidered pattern on the fine linen.

[4] Shoulder straps were made for it and joined to its two upper ends.

[5] The embroidered belt on the ephod extended out from it, and like it, was made of gold thread, of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, and of fine linen twined, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[6] The onyx stones were prepared and mounted in gold filigree work; they were engraved like seal engravings with the names of the sons of Israel.

[7] These stones were set on the shoulder straps of the ephod as memorial stones of the sons of Israel, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[8] The breastpiece was embroidered like the ephod, with gold thread and violet, purple and scarlet yarn on cloth of fine linen twined.

[9] It was square and folded double, a span high and a span wide in its folded form.

[10] Four rows of precious stones were mounted on it: in the first row a carnelian, a topaz and an emerald;

[11] in the second row, a garnet, a sapphire and a beryl;

[12] in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst;

[13] in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. They were mounted in gold filigree work.

[14] These stones were twelve, to match the names of the sons of Israel, and each stone was engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

[15] Chains of pure gold, twisted like cords, were made for the breastpiece,

[16] together with two gold filigree rosettes and two gold rings. The two rings were fastened to the two upper ends of the breastpiece.

[17] The two gold chains were then fastened to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece.

[18] The other two ends of the two chains were fastened in front to the two filigree rosettes, which were attached to the shoulder straps of the ephod.

[19] Two other gold rings were made and put on the two lower ends of the breastpiece, on the edge facing the ephod.

[20] Two more gold rings were made and fastened to the bottom of the two shoulder straps next to where they joined the ephod in front, just above its embroidered belt.

[21] Violet ribbons bound the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece stayed right above the embroidered belt of the ephod and did not swing loose from it. All this was just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[22] The robe of the ephod was woven entirely of violet yarn,

[23] with an opening in its center like the opening of a shirt, with selvage around the opening to keep it from being torn.

[24] At the hem of the robe pomegranates were made of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined;

[25] bells of pure gold were also made and put between the pomegranates all around the hem of the robe:

[26] first a bell, then a pomegranate, and thus alternating all around the hem of the robe which was to be worn in performing the ministry--all this, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[27] For Aaron and his sons there were also woven tunics of fine linen;

[28] the miter of fine linen; the ornate turbans of fine linen; drawers of linen (of fine linen twined);

[29] and sashes of variegated work made of fine linen twined and of violet, purple and scarlet yarn, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[30] The plate of the sacred diadem was made of pure gold and inscribed, as on a seal engraving: "Sacred to the LORD."

[31] It was tied over the miter with a violet ribbon, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[32] Thus the entire work of the Dwelling of the meeting tent was completed. The Israelites did the work just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[33] They then brought to Moses the Dwelling, the tent with all its appurtenances, the clasps, the boards, the bars, the columns, the pedestals,

[34] the covering of rams' skins dyed red, the covering of tahash skins, the curtain veil;

[35] the ark of the commandments with its poles, the propitiatory,

[36] the table with all its appurtenances and the showbread,

[37] the pure gold lampstand with its lamps set up on it and with all its appurtenances, the oil for the light,

[38] the golden altar, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense; the curtain for the entrance of the tent,

[39] the altar of bronze with its bronze grating, its poles and all its appurtenances, the laver with its base,

[40] the hangings of the court with their columns and pedestals, the curtain for the entrance of the court with its ropes and tent pegs, all the equipment for the service of the Dwelling of the meeting tent;

[41] the service cloths for use in the sanctuary, the sacred vestments for Aaron the priest, and the vestments to be worn by his sons in their ministry.

[42] The Israelites had carried out all the work just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[43] So when Moses saw that all the work was done just as the LORD had commanded, he blessed them.

Exodus Chapter 40

[1] Then the LORD said to Moses,

[2] 1 "On the first day of the first month you shall erect the Dwelling of the meeting tent.

[3] Put the ark of the commandments in it, and screen off the ark with the veil.

[4] Bring in the table and set it. Then bring in the lampstand and set up the lamps on it.

[5] Put the golden altar of incense in front of the ark of the commandments, and hang the curtain at the entrance of the Dwelling.

[6] Put the altar of holocausts in front of the entrance of the Dwelling of the meeting tent.

[7] Place the laver between the meeting tent and the altar, and put water in it.

[8] Set up the court round about, and put the curtain at the entrance of the court.

[9] "Take the anointing oil and anoint the Dwelling and everything in it, consecrating it and all its furnishings, so that it will be sacred.

[10] Anoint the altar of holocausts and all its appurtenances, consecrating it, so that it will be most sacred.

[11] Likewise, anoint the laver with its base, and thus consecrate it.

[12] "Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the meeting tent, and there wash them with water.

[13] Clothe Aaron with the sacred vestments and anoint him, thus consecrating him as my priest.

[14] Bring forward his sons also, and clothe them with the tunics.

[15] As you have anointed their father, anoint them also as my priests. Thus, by being anointed, shall they receive a perpetual priesthood throughout all future generations."

[16] Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.

[17] On the first day of the first month of the second year the Dwelling was erected.

[18] It was Moses who erected the Dwelling. He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars, and set up its columns.

[19] He spread the tent over the Dwelling and put the covering on top of the tent, as the LORD had commanded him.

[20] He took the commandments and put them in the ark; he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it.

[21] He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil, thus screening off the ark of the commandments, as the LORD had commanded him.

[22] He put the table in the meeting tent, on the north side of the Dwelling, outside the veil,

[23] and arranged the bread on it before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him.

[24] He placed the lampstand in the meeting tent, opposite the table, on the south side of the Dwelling,

[25] and he set up the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him.

[26] He placed the golden altar in the meeting tent, in front of the veil,

[27] and on it he burned fragrant incense, as the LORD had commanded him.

[28] He hung the curtain at the entrance of the Dwelling.

[29] He put the altar of holocausts in front of the entrance of the Dwelling of the meeting tent, and offered holocausts and cereal offerings on it, as the LORD had commanded him.

[30] He placed the laver between the meeting tent and the altar, and put water in it for washing.

[31] Moses and Aaron and his sons used to wash their hands and feet there,

[32] for they washed themselves whenever they went into the meeting tent or approached the altar, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[33] Finally, he set up the court around the Dwelling and the altar and hung the curtain at the entrance of the court. Thus Moses finished all the work.

[34] Then the cloud covered the meeting tent, and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.

[35] Moses could not enter the meeting tent, because the cloud settled down upon it and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.

[36] Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the Israelites would set out on their journey.

[37] But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward; only when it lifted did they go forward.

[38] In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling; whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud by the whole house of Israel in all the stages of their journey.

Introduction to Leviticus

Leviticus

Introduction

The name "Leviticus" was bestowed on the third book of the Pentateuch by the ancient Greek translators because a good part of this book consists of sacrificial and other ritual laws prescribed for the priests of the tribe of Levi.

Continuing the legislation given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, Leviticus is almost entirely legislative in character; the rare narrative portions are subordinate to the main legislative theme. Generally speaking, the laws contained in this book serve to teach the Israelites that they should always keep themselves in a state of legal purity, or external sanctity, as a sign of their intimate union with the Lord. Accordingly, the central idea of Leviticus is contained in its oft-repeated injunction: "You shall be holy, because I, the LORD, am holy."

The main divisions of Leviticus are:

Ritual of Sacrifices (Lev 1-7)

Ceremony of Ordination (Lev 8-10)

Laws regarding Legal Purity (Lev 11-16)

Code of Legal Holiness (Lev 17-26)

Redemption of Offerings (Lev 27)

Leviticus Chapter 1

[1] The LORD called Moses, and from the meeting tent gave him this message:

[2] 1 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any one of you wishes to bring an animal offering to the LORD, such an offering must be from the herd or from the flock.

[3] 2 "If his holocaust offering is from the herd, it must be a male without blemish. To find favor with the LORD, he shall bring it to the entrance of the meeting tent

[4] and there lay his hand on the head of the holocaust, so that it may be acceptable to make atonement for him.

[5] He shall then slaughter the bull before the LORD, but Aaron's sons, the priests, shall offer up its blood by splashing it on the sides of the altar which is at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[6] Then he shall skin the holocaust and cut it up into pieces.

[7] After Aaron's sons, the priests, have put some burning embers on the altar and laid some wood on them,

[8] they shall lay the pieces of meat, together with the head and the suet, on top of the wood and embers on the altar.

[9] The inner organs and the shanks, however, the offerer shall first wash with water. The priest shall then burn the whole offering on the altar as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[10] "If his holocaust offering is from the flock, that is, a sheep or a goat, he must bring a male without blemish.

[11] This he shall slaughter before the LORD at the north side of the altar. Then Aaron's sons, the priests, shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar.

[12] When the offerer has cut it up into pieces, the priest shall lay these, together with the head and suet, on top of the wood and the fire on the altar.

[13] The inner organs and the shanks, however, the offerer shall first wash with water. The priest shall offer them up and then burn the whole offering on the altar as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[14] "If he offers a bird as a holocaust to the LORD, he shall choose a turtledove or a pigeon as his offering.

[15] Having brought it to the altar where it is to be burned, the priest shall snap its head loose and squeeze out its blood against the side of the altar.

[16] Its crop and feathers shall be removed and thrown on the ash heap at the east side of the altar.

[17] Then, having split the bird down the middle without separating the halves, the priest shall burn it on the altar, over the wood on the fire, as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

Leviticus Chapter 2

[1] "When anyone wishes to bring a cereal offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense over it.

[2] 1 When he has brought it to Aaron's sons, the priests, one of them shall take a handful of this fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense, and this he shall burn on the altar as a token offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[3] The rest of the cereal offering belongs to Aaron and his sons. It is a most sacred oblation to the LORD.

[4] "When the cereal offering you present is baked in an oven, it must be in the form of unleavened cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, or of unleavened wafers spread with oil.

[5] If you present a cereal offering that is fried on a griddle, it must be of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened.

[6] Such a cereal offering must be broken into pieces, and oil must be poured over it.

[7] If you present a cereal offering that is prepared in a pot, it must be of fine flour, deep-fried in oil.

[8] A cereal offering that is made in any of these ways you shall bring to the LORD, offering it to the priest, who shall take it to the altar.

[9] Its token offering the priest shall then lift from the cereal offering and burn on the altar as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[10] The rest of the cereal offering belongs to Aaron and his sons. It is a most sacred oblation to the LORD.

[11] "Every cereal offering that you present to the LORD shall be unleavened, for you shall not burn any leaven or honey as an oblation to the LORD.

[12] Such you may indeed present to the LORD in the offering of first fruits, but they are not to be placed on the altar for a pleasing odor.

[13] 2 However, every cereal offering that you present to the LORD shall be seasoned with salt. Do not let the salt of the covenant of your God be lacking from your cereal offering. On every offering you shall offer salt.

[14] "If you present a cereal offering of first fruits to the LORD, you shall offer it in the form of fresh grits of new ears of grain, roasted by fire.

[15] On this cereal offering you shall put oil and frankincense.

[16] For its token offering the priest shall then burn some of the grits and oil, together with all the frankincense, as an oblation to the LORD.

Leviticus Chapter 3

[1] 1 "If someone in presenting a peace offering makes his offering from the herd, he may offer before the LORD either a male or a female animal, but it must be without blemish.

[2] He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and then slaughter it at the entrance of the meeting tent; but Aaron's sons, the priests, shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar.

[3] From the peace offering he shall offer as an oblation to the LORD the fatty membrane over the inner organs, and all the fat that adheres to them,

[4] 2 as well as the two kidneys, with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall sever above the kidneys.

[5] All this Aaron's sons shall then burn on the altar with the holocaust, on the wood over the fire, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[6] "If the peace offering he presents to the LORD is from the flock, he may offer either a male or a female animal, but it must be without blemish.

[7] If he presents a lamb as his offering, he shall bring it before the LORD,

[8] and after laying his hand on the head of his offering, he shall slaughter it before the meeting tent; but Aaron's sons shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar.

[9] 3 As an oblation to the LORD he shall present the fat of the peace offering: the whole fatty tail, which he must sever close to the spine, the fatty membrane over the inner organs, and all the fat that adheres to them,

[10] as well as the two kidneys, with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he must sever above the kidneys.

[11] All this the priest shall burn on the altar as the food of the LORD'S oblation.

[12] "If he presents a goat, he shall bring it before the LORD,

[13] and after laying his hand on its head, he shall slaughter it before the meeting tent; but Aaron's sons shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar.

[14] From it he shall offer as an oblation to the LORD the fatty membrane over the inner organs, and all the fat that adheres to them,

[15] as well as the two kidneys, with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he must sever above the kidneys.

[16] All this the priest shall burn on the altar as the food of the sweet-smelling oblation. All the fat belongs to the LORD.

[17] 4 This shall be a perpetual ordinance for your descendants wherever they may dwell. You shall not partake of any fat or any blood."

Leviticus Chapter 4

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] 1 "Tell the Israelites: When a person inadvertently commits a sin against some command of the LORD by doing one of the forbidden things,

[3] 2 if it is the anointed priest who thus sins and thereby makes the people also become guilty, he shall present to the LORD a young, unblemished bull as a sin offering for the sin he committed.

[4] Bringing the bullock to the entrance of the meeting tent, before the LORD, he shall lay his hand on its head and slaughter it before the LORD.

[5] The anointed priest shall then take some of the bullock's blood and bring it into the meeting tent,

[6] where, dipping his finger in the blood, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, toward the veil of the sanctuary.

[7] The priest shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the LORD in the meeting tent. The rest of the bullock's blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of holocausts which is at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[8] From the sin-offering bullock he shall remove all the fat: the fatty membrane over the inner organs, and all the fat that adheres to them,

[9] as well as the two kidneys, with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he must sever above the kidneys.

[10] This is the same as is removed from the ox of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar of holocausts.

[11] The hide of the bullock and all its flesh, with its head, legs, inner organs and offal,

[12] in short, the whole bullock, shall be brought outside the camp to a clean place where the ashes are deposited and there be burned up in a wood fire. At the place of the ash heap, there it must be burned.

[13] "If the whole community of Israel inadvertently and without even being aware of it does something that the LORD has forbidden and thus makes itself guilty,

[14] should it later on become known that the sin was committed, the community shall present a young bull as a sin offering. They shall bring it before the meeting tent,

[15] and here, before the LORD, the elders of the community shall lay their hands on the bullock's head. When the bullock has been slaughtered before the LORD,

[16] the anointed priest shall bring some of its blood into the meeting tent,

[17] and dipping his finger in the blood, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, toward the veil.

[18] He shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense which is before the LORD in the meeting tent. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of holocausts which is at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[19] All of its fat he shall take from it and burn on the altar,

[20] doing with this bullock just as he did with the other sin-offering bullock. Thus the priest shall make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.

[21] This bullock must also be brought outside the camp and burned, just as has been prescribed for the other one. This is the sin offering for the community.

[22] "Should a prince commit a sin inadvertently by doing one of the things which are forbidden by some commandment of the LORD, his God, and thus become guilty,

[23] if later on he learns of the sin he committed, he shall bring as his offering an unblemished male goat.

[24] Having laid his hands on its head, he shall slaughter the goat as a sin offering before the LORD, in the place where the holocausts are slaughtered.

[25] The priest shall then take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocausts. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of this altar.

[26] All of the fat he shall burn on the altar like the fat of the peace offering. Thus the priest shall make atonement for the prince's sin, and it will be forgiven.

[27] "If a private person commits a sin inadvertently by doing one of the things which are forbidden by the commandments of the LORD, and thus becomes guilty,

[28] should he later on learn of the sin he committed, he shall bring an unblemished she-goat as the offering for his sin.

[29] Having laid his hand on the head of the sin offering, he shall slaughter it at the place of the holocausts.

[30] The priest shall then take some of its blood on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocausts. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar.

[31] All the fat shall be removed, just as the fat is removed from the peace offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for an odor pleasing to the LORD. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

[32] "If, however, for his sin offering he presents a lamb, he shall bring an unblemished female.

[33] Having laid his hand on its head, he shall slaughter this sin offering in the place where the holocausts are slaughtered.

[34] The priest shall then take some of the blood of the sin offering on his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of holocausts. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar.

[35] All the fat shall be removed, just as the fat is removed from the peace-offering lamb, and the priest shall burn it on the altar with the other oblations of the LORD. Thus the priest shall make atonement for the man's sin, and it will be forgiven.

Leviticus Chapter 5

[1] "If any person refuses to give the information which, as a witness of something he has seen or learned, he has been adjured to give, and thus commits a sin and has guilt to bear;

[2] or if someone, without being aware of it, touches any unclean thing, as the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or that of an unclean domestic animal, or that of an unclean swarming creature, and thus becomes unclean and guilty;

[3] or if someone, without being aware of it, touches some human uncleanness, whatever kind of uncleanness this may be, and then recognizes his guilt;

[4] or if someone, without being aware of it, rashly utters an oath to do good or evil, such as men are accustomed to utter rashly, and then recognizes that he is guilty of such an oath;

[5] then whoever is guilty in any of these cases shall confess the sin he has incurred,

[6] and as his sin offering for the sin he has committed he shall bring to the LORD a female animal from the flock, a ewe lamb or a she-goat. The priest shall then make atonement for his sin.

[7] "If, however, he cannot afford an animal of the flock, he shall bring to the LORD as the sin offering for his sin two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a holocaust.

[8] He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer the one for the sin offering first. Snapping its head loose at the neck, yet without breaking it off completely,

[9] he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the altar. The rest of the blood shall be squeezed out against the base of the altar. Such is the offering for sin.

[10] The other bird shall be offered as a holocaust in the usual way. Thus the priest shall make atonement for the sin the man committed, and it will be forgiven.

[11] "If he is unable to afford even two turtledoves or two pigeons, he shall present as a sin offering for his sin one tenth of an ephah of fine flour. He shall not put oil or frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.

[12] When he has brought it to the priest, the latter shall take a handful of this flour as a token offering, and this he shall burn as a sin offering on the altar with the other oblations of the LORD.

[13] Thus the priest shall make atonement for the sin that the man committed in any of the above cases, and it will be forgiven. The rest of the flour, like the cereal offerings, shall belong to the priest."

[14] The LORD said to Moses,

[15] 1 "If someone commits a sin by inadvertently cheating in the LORD'S sacred dues, he shall bring to the LORD as his guilt offering an unblemished ram from the flock, valued at two silver shekels according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel.

[16] He shall also restore what he has sinfully withheld from the sanctuary, adding to it a fifth of its value. This is to be given to the priest, who shall then make atonement for him with the guilt-offering ram, and he will be forgiven.

[17] 2 "If someone, without being aware of it, commits such a sin by doing one of the things which are forbidden by some commandment of the LORD, that he incurs guilt for which he must answer,

[18] he shall bring as a guilt offering to the priest an unblemished ram of the flock of the established value. The priest shall then make atonement for the fault which was unwittingly committed, and it will be forgiven.

[19] Such is the offering for guilt; the penalty of the guilt must be paid to the LORD."

[20] The LORD said to Moses,

[21] "If someone commits a sin of dishonesty against the LORD by denying his neighbor a deposit or a pledge for a stolen article, or by otherwise retaining his neighbor's goods unjustly,

[22] or if, having found a lost article, he denies the fact and swears falsely about it with any of the sinful oaths that men make in such cases,

[23] he shall therefore, since he has incurred guilt by his sin, restore the thing that was stolen or unjustly retained by him or the deposit left with him or the lost article he found

[24] or whatever else he swore falsely about; on the day of his guilt offering he shall make full restitution of the thing itself, and in addition, give the owner one fifth of its value.

[25] As his guilt offering he shall bring to the LORD an unblemished ram of the flock of the established value. When he has presented this as his guilt offering to the priest,

[26] the latter shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven whatever guilt he may have incurred."

Leviticus Chapter 6

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] 1 "Give Aaron and his sons the following command: This is the ritual for holocausts. The holocaust is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night until the next morning, and the fire is to be kept burning on the altar.

[3] The priest, clothed in his linen robe and wearing linen drawers on his body, shall take away the ashes to which the fire has reduced the holocaust on the altar, and lay them at the side of the altar.

[4] Then, having taken off these garments and put on other garments, he shall carry the ashes to a clean place outside the camp.

[5] The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest shall put firewood on it. On this he shall lay out the holocaust and burn the fat of the peace offerings.

[6] The fire is to be kept burning continuously on the altar; it must not go out.

[7] "This is the ritual of the cereal offering. One of Aaron's sons shall first present it before the LORD, in front of the altar.

[8] Then he shall take from it a handful of its fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense that is on it, and this he shall burn on the altar as its token offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[9] The rest of it Aaron and his sons may eat; but it must be eaten in the form of unleavened cakes and in a sacred place: in the court of the meeting tent they shall eat it.

[10] It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it to them as their portion from the oblations of the LORD; it is most sacred, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.

[11] All the male descendants of Aaron may partake of it as their rightful share in the oblations of the LORD perpetually throughout your generations. Whatever touches the oblations becomes sacred."

[12] 2 The LORD said to Moses,

[13] "This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall present to the LORD (on the day he is anointed): one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for the established cereal offering, half in the morning and half in the evening.

[14] It shall be well kneaded and fried in oil on a griddle when you bring it in. Having broken the offering into pieces, you shall present it as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[15] Aaron's descendant who succeeds him as the anointed priest shall do likewise. This is a perpetual ordinance: for the Lord the whole offering shall be burned.

[16] Every cereal offering of a priest shall be a whole burnt offering; it may not be eaten."

[17] The LORD said to Moses,

[18] "Tell Aaron and his sons: This is the ritual for sin offerings. At the place where holocausts are slaughtered, there also, before the LORD, shall the sin offering be slaughtered. It is most sacred.

[19] The priest who presents the sin offering may partake of it; but it must be eaten in a sacred place, in the court of the meeting tent.

[20] Whatever touches its flesh shall become sacred. If any of its blood is spilled on a garment, the stained part must be washed in a sacred place.

[21] A clay vessel in which it has been cooked shall thereafter be broken; if it is cooked in a bronze vessel, this shall be scoured afterward and rinsed with water.

[22] All the males of the priestly line may partake of the sin offering, since it is most sacred.

[23] But no one may partake of any sin offering of which some blood has been brought into the meeting tent to make atonement in the sanctuary; such an offering must be burned up in the fire.

Leviticus Chapter 7

[1] "This is the ritual for guilt offerings, which are most sacred.

[2] At the place where the holocausts are slaughtered, there also shall the guilt offering be slaughtered. Its blood shall be splashed on the sides of the altar.

[3] All of its fat shall be taken from it and offered up: the fatty tail, the fatty membrane over the inner organs,

[4] as well as the two kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which must be severed above the kidneys.

[5] All this the priest shall burn on the altar as an oblation to the LORD. This is the guilt offering.

[6] All the males of the priestly line may partake of it; but it must be eaten in a sacred place, since it is most sacred.

[7] "Because the sin offering and the guilt offering are alike, both having the same ritual, the guilt offering likewise belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it.

[8] Similarly, the priest who offers a holocaust for someone may keep for himself the hide of the holocaust that he has offered.

[9] Also, every cereal offering that is baked in an oven or deep-fried in a pot or fried on a griddle shall belong to the priest who offers it,

[10] whereas all cereal offerings that are offered up dry or mixed with oil shall belong to all of Aaron's sons without distinction.

[11] "This is the ritual for the peace offerings that are presented to the LORD.

[12] When anyone makes a peace offering in thanksgiving, together with his thanksgiving sacrifice he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil and well kneaded.

[13] 1 His offering shall also include loaves of leavened bread along with the victim of his peace offering for thanksgiving.

[14] From each of his offerings he shall present one portion as a contribution to the LORD; this shall belong to the priest who splashes the blood of the peace offering.

[15] "The flesh of the thanksgiving sacrifice shall be eaten on the day it is offered; none of it may be kept till the next day.

[16] However, if the sacrifice is a votive or a free-will offering, it should indeed be eaten on the day the sacrifice is offered, but what is left over may be eaten on the next day.

[17] Should any flesh from the sacrifice be left over on the third day, it must be burned up in the fire.

[18] If, therefore, any of the flesh of the peace offering is eaten on the third day, it shall not win favor for him nor shall it be reckoned to his credit; rather, it shall be considered as refuse, and anyone who eats of it shall have his guilt to bear.

[19] Should the flesh touch anything unclean, it may not be eaten, but shall be burned up in the fire. "All who are clean may partake of this flesh.

[20] If, however, someone while in a state of uncleanness eats any of the flesh of a peace offering belonging to the LORD, that person shall be cut off from his people.

[21] Likewise, if someone touches anything unclean, whether the uncleanness be of human or of animal origin or from some loathsome crawling creature, and then eats of a peace offering belonging to the LORD, that person, too, shall be cut off from his people."

[22] The LORD said to Moses,

[23] 2 "Tell the Israelites: You shall not eat the fat of any ox or sheep or goat.

[24] Although the fat of an animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by wild beasts may be put to any other use, you may not eat it.

[25] If anyone eats the fat of an animal from which an oblation is made to the LORD, such a one shall be cut off from his people.

[26] Wherever you dwell, you shall not partake of any blood, be it of bird or of animal.

[27] Every person who partakes of any blood shall be cut off from his people."

[28] The LORD said to Moses,

[29] "Tell the Israelites: He who presents a peace offering to the LORD shall bring a part of it as his special offering to him,

[30] 3 carrying in with his own hands the oblations to the LORD. The fat is to be brought in, together with the breast, which is to be waved as a wave offering before the LORD.

[31] The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons.

[32] Moreover, from your peace offering you shall give to the priest the right leg as a raised offering.

[33] The descendant of Aaron who offers up the blood and fat of the peace offering shall have the right leg as his portion,

[34] for from the peace offerings of the Israelites I have taken the breast that is waved and the leg that is raised up, and I have given them to Aaron, the priest, and to his sons by a perpetual ordinance as a contribution from the Israelites."

[35] 4 This is the priestly share from the oblations of the LORD, allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day he called them to be the priests of the LORD;

[36] on the day he anointed them the LORD ordered the Israelites to give them this share by a perpetual ordinance throughout their generations.

[37] This is the ritual for holocausts, cereal offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, (ordination offerings) and peace offerings,

[38] which the LORD enjoined on Moses at Mount Sinai at the time when he commanded the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai to bring their offerings to the LORD.

Leviticus Chapter 8

[1] 1 The LORD said to Moses,

[2] 2 "Take Aaron and his sons, together with the vestments, the anointing oil, the bullock for a sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened food.

[3] Then assemble the whole community at the entrance of the meeting tent."

[4] And Moses did as the LORD had commanded. When the community had assembled at the entrance of the meeting tent,

[5] Moses told them what the LORD had ordered to be done.

[6] Bringing forward Aaron and his sons, he first washed them with water.

[7] Then he put the tunic on Aaron, girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, placed the ephod on him, and girded him with the embroidered belt of the ephod, fastening it around him.

[8] 3 He then set the breastpiece on him, with the Urim and Thummim in it,

[9] and put the miter on his head, attaching the gold plate, the sacred diadem, over the front of the miter, at his forehead, as the LORD had commanded him to do.

[10] Taking the anointing oil, Moses anointed and consecrated the Dwelling, with all that was in it.

[11] Then he sprinkled some of this oil seven times on the altar, and anointed the altar, with all its appurtenances, and the laver, with its base, thus consecrating them.

[12] He also poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head, thus consecrating him.

[13] Moses likewise brought forward Aaron's sons, clothed them with tunics, girded them with sashes, and put turbans on them, as the LORD had commanded him to do.

[14] When he had brought forward the bullock for a sin offering, Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.

[15] Then Moses slaughtered it, and taking some of its blood, with his finger he put it on the horns around the altar, thus purifying the altar. He also made atonement for the altar by pouring out the blood at its base when he consecrated it.

[16] Taking all the fat that was over the inner organs, as well as the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, Moses burned them on the altar.

[17] The bullock, however, with its hide and flesh and offal he burned in the fire outside the camp, as the LORD had commanded him to do.

[18] He next brought forward the holocaust ram, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.

[19] When he had slaughtered it, Moses splashed its blood on all sides of the altar.

[20] After cutting up the ram into pieces, he burned the head, the cut-up pieces and the suet;

[21] then, having washed the inner organs and the shanks with water, he also burned these remaining parts of the ram on the altar as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him to do.

[22] Then he brought forward the second ram, the ordination ram, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.

[23] When he had slaughtered it, Moses took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

[24] Moses had the sons of Aaron also come forward, and he put some of the blood on the tips of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. The rest of the blood he splashed on the sides of the altar.

[25] He then took the fat: the fatty tail and all the fat over the inner organs, the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and likewise the right leg;

[26] from the basket of unleavened food that was set before the LORD he took one unleavened cake, one loaf of bread made with oil, and one wafer; these he placed on top of the portions of fat and the right leg.

[27] He then put all these things into the hands of Aaron and his sons, whom he had wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.

[28] When he had received them back, Moses burned them with the holocaust on the altar as the ordination offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[29] He then took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before the LORD; this was Moses' own portion of the ordination ram. All this was in keeping with the LORD'S command to Moses.

[30] Taking some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar, Moses sprinkled with it Aaron and his vestments, as well as his sons and their vestments, thus consecrating both Aaron and his vestments and his sons and their vestments.

[31] Finally, Moses said to Aaron and his sons, "Boil the flesh at the entrance of the meeting tent, and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of the ordination offering, in keeping with the command I have received: 'Aaron and his sons shall eat of it.'

[32] What is left over of the flesh and the bread you shall burn up in the fire.

[33] Moreover, you are not to depart from the entrance of the meeting tent for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed; for your ordination is to last for seven days.

[34] 4 The LORD has commanded that what has been done today be done to make atonement for you.

[35] Hence you must remain at the entrance of the meeting tent day and night for seven days, carrying out the prescriptions of the LORD; otherwise, you shall die; for this is the command I have received."

[36] So Aaron and his sons did all that the LORD had commanded through Moses.

Leviticus Chapter 9

[1] On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons, together with the elders of Israel,

[2] and said to Aaron, "Take a calf for a sin offering and a ram for a holocaust, both without blemish, and offer them before the LORD.

[3] Tell the elders of Israel, too: Take a he-goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb, both unblemished yearlings, for a holocaust,

[4] and an ox and a ram for a peace offering, to sacrifice them before the LORD, along with a cereal offering mixed with oil; for today the LORD will reveal himself to you."

[5] So they brought what Moses had ordered. When the whole community had come forward and stood before the LORD,

[6] Moses said, "This is what the LORD orders you to do, that the glory of the LORD may be revealed to you.

[7] Come up to the altar," Moses then told Aaron, "and offer your sin offering and your holocaust in atonement for yourself and for your family; then present the offering of the people in atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded."

[8] Going up to the altar, Aaron first slaughtered the calf that was his own sin offering.

[9] When his sons presented the blood to him, he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar. The rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar.

[10] He then burned on the altar the fat, the kidneys and the lobe of the liver that were taken from the sin offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses;

[11] but the flesh and the hide he burned up in the fire outside the camp.

[12] Then Aaron slaughtered his holocaust. When his sons brought him the blood, he splashed it on all sides of the altar.

[13] They then brought him the pieces and the head of the holocaust, and he burned them on the altar.

[14] Having washed the inner organs and the shanks, he burned these also with the holocaust on the altar.

[15] Thereupon he had the people's offering brought up. Taking the goat that was for the people's sin offering, he slaughtered it and offered it up for sin as before.

[16] Then he brought forward the holocaust, other than the morning holocaust, and offered it in the usual manner.

[17] He then presented the cereal offering; taking a handful of it, he burned it on the altar.

[18] Finally he slaughtered the ox and the ram, the peace offering of the people. When his sons brought him the blood, Aaron splashed it on all sides of the altar.

[19] The portions of fat from the ox and from the ram, the fatty tail, the fatty membrane over the inner organs, the two kidneys, with the fat that is on them, and the lobe of the liver,

[20] he placed on top of the breasts and burned them on the altar,

[21] having first waved the breasts and the right legs as a wave offering before the LORD, in keeping with the LORD'S command to Moses.

[22] Aaron then raised his hands over the people and blessed them. When he came down from offering the sin offering and holocaust and peace offering,

[23] Moses and Aaron went into the meeting tent. On coming out they again blessed the people. Then the glory of the LORD was revealed to all the people.

[24] Fire came forth from the LORD'S presence and consumed the holocaust and the remnants of the fat on the altar. Seeing this, all the people cried out and fell prostrate.

Leviticus Chapter 10

[1] 1 During this time Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers and, strewing incense on the fire they had put in them, they offered up before the LORD profane fire, such as he had not authorized.

[2] 2 Fire therefore came forth from the LORD'S presence and consumed them, so that they died in his presence.

[3] 3 Moses then said to Aaron, "This is as the LORD said: Through those who approach me I will manifest my sacredness; In the sight of all the people I will reveal my glory." But Aaron said nothing.

[4] Then Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, with the order, "Come, remove your kinsmen from the sanctuary and carry them to a place outside the camp."

[5] 4 So they went in and took them, in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses had commanded.

[6] 5 Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not bare your heads or tear your garments, lest you bring not only death on yourselves but God's wrath also on the whole community. Your kinsmen, the rest of the house of Israel, shall mourn for those whom the LORD'S fire has smitten;

[7] but do not you go beyond the entry of the meeting tent, else you shall die; for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you." So they did as Moses told them.

[8] The LORD said to Aaron,

[9] "When you are to go to the meeting tent, you and your sons are forbidden under pain of death, by a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations, to drink any wine or strong drink.

[10] You must be able to distinguish between what is sacred and what is profane, between what is clean and what is unclean;

[11] you must teach the Israelites all the laws that the LORD has given them through Moses."

[12] Moses said to Aaron and his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, "Take the cereal offering left over from the oblations of the LORD, and eat it beside the altar in the form of unleavened cakes. Since it is most sacred,

[13] you must eat it in a sacred place. This is your due from the oblations of the LORD, and that of your sons; such is the command I have received.

[14] With your sons and daughters you shall also eat the breast of the wave offering and the leg of the raised offering, in a clean place; for these have been assigned to you and your children as your due from the peace offerings of the Israelites.

[15] The leg of the raised offering and the breast of the wave offering shall first be brought in with the oblations, the fatty portions, that are to be waved as a wave offering before the LORD. Then they shall belong to you and your children by a perpetual ordinance, as the LORD has commanded."

[16] 6 When Moses inquired about the goat of the sin offering, he discovered that it had all been burned. So he was angry with the surviving sons of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar, and said,

[17] "Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sacred place, since it is most sacred? It has been given to you that you might bear the guilt of the community and make atonement for them before the LORD.

[18] If its blood was not brought into the inmost part of the sanctuary, you should certainly have eaten the offering in the sanctuary, in keeping with the command I had received."

[19] Aaron answered Moses, "Even though they presented their sin offering and holocaust before the LORD today, yet this misfortune has befallen me. Had I then eaten of the sin offering today, would it have been pleasing to the LORD?"

[20] On hearing this, Moses was satisfied.

Leviticus Chapter 11

[1] 1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

[2] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: Of all land animals these are the ones you may eat:

[3] any animal that has hoofs you may eat, provided it is cloven-footed and chews the cud.

[4] But you shall not eat any of the following that only chew the cud or only have hoofs: the camel, which indeed chews the cud, but does not have hoofs and is therefore unclean for you;

[5] 2 the rock badger, which indeed chews the cud, but does not have hoofs and is therefore unclean for you;

[6] the hare, which indeed chews the cud, but does not have hoofs and is therefore unclean for you; and the pig,

[7] which does indeed have hoofs and is cloven-footed, but does not chew the cud and is therefore unclean for you.

[8] Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall not touch; they are unclean for you.

[9] "Of the various creatures that live in the water, you may eat the following: whatever in the seas or in river waters has both fins and scales you may eat.

[10] But of the various creatures that crawl or swim in the water, whether in the sea or in the rivers, all those that lack either fins or scales are loathsome for you,

[11] and you shall treat them as loathsome. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall loathe.

[12] Every water creature that lacks fins or scales is loathsome for you.

[13] 3 "Of the birds, these you shall loathe and, as loathsome, they shall not be eaten: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

[14] the kite, the various species of falcons,

[15] the various species of crows,

[16] the ostrich, the nightjar, the gull, the various species of hawks,

[17] the owl, the cormorant, the screech owl,

[18] the barn owl, the desert owl, the buzzard,

[19] 4 the stork, the various species of herons, the hoopoe, and the bat.

[20] "The various winged insects that walk on all fours are loathsome for you.

[21] But of the various winged insects that walk on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs for leaping on the ground;

[22] 5 hence of these you may eat the following: the various kinds of locusts, the various kinds of grasshoppers, the various kinds of katydids, and the various kinds of crickets.

[23] All other winged insects that have four legs are loathsome for you.

[24] 6 "Such is the uncleanness that you contract, that everyone who touches their dead bodies shall be unclean until evening,

[25] and everyone who picks up any part of their dead bodies shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening.

[26] 7 All hoofed animals that are not cloven-footed or do not chew the cud are unclean for you; everyone who touches them becomes unclean.

[27] 8 Of the various quadrupeds, all those that walk on paws are unclean for you; everyone who touches their dead bodies shall be unclean until evening,

[28] and everyone who picks up their dead bodies shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening. Such is their uncleanness for you.

[29] "Of the creatures that swarm on the ground, the following are unclean for you: the rat, the mouse, the various kinds of lizards,

[30] the gecko, the chameleon, the agama, the skink, and the mole.

[31] Among the various swarming creatures, these are unclean for you. Everyone who touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.

[32] Everything on which one of them falls when dead becomes unclean. Any such article that men use, whether it be an article of wood, cloth, leather or goat hair, must be put in water and remain unclean until evening, when it again becomes clean.

[33] Should any of these creatures fall into a clay vessel, everything in it becomes unclean, and the vessel itself you must break.

[34] Any solid food that was in contact with water, and any liquid that men drink, in any such vessel become unclean.

[35] Any object on which one of their dead bodies falls, becomes unclean; if it is an oven or a jar-stand, this must be broken to pieces; they are unclean and shall be treated as unclean by you.

[36] 9 However, a spring or a cistern for collecting water remains clean; but whoever touches the dead body becomes unclean.

[37] Any sort of cultivated grain remains clean even though one of their dead bodies falls on it;

[38] but if the grain has become moistened, it becomes unclean when one of these falls on it.

[39] "When one of the animals that you could otherwise eat, dies of itself, anyone who touches its dead body shall be unclean until evening;

[40] and anyone who eats of its dead body shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening; so also, anyone who removes its dead body shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening.

[41] "All the creatures that swarm on the ground are loathsome and shall not be eaten.

[42] Whether it crawls on its belly, goes on all fours, or has many legs, you shall eat no swarming creature: they are loathsome.

[43] Do not make yourselves loathsome or unclean with any swarming creature through being contaminated by them.

[44] For I, the LORD, am your God; and you shall make and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy. You shall not make yourselves unclean, then, by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground.

[45] Since I, the LORD, brought you up from the land of Egypt that I might be your God, you shall be holy, because I am holy.

[46] "This is the law for animals and birds and for all the creatures that move about in the water or swarm on the ground,

[47] that you may distinguish between the clean and the unclean, between creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten."

Leviticus Chapter 12

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] 1 "Tell the Israelites: When a woman has conceived and gives birth to a boy, she shall be unclean for seven days, with the same uncleanness as at her menstrual period.

[3] On the eighth day, the flesh of the boy's foreskin shall be circumcised,

[4] and then she shall spend thirty-three days more in becoming purified of her blood; she shall not touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary till the days of her purification are fulfilled.

[5] If she gives birth to a girl, for fourteen days she shall be as unclean as at her menstruation, after which she shall spend sixty-six days in becoming purified of her blood.

[6] "When the days of her purification for a son or for a daughter are fulfilled, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent a yearling lamb for a holocaust and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.

[7] The priest shall offer them up before the LORD to make atonement for her, and thus she will be clean again after her flow of blood. Such is the law for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl child.

[8] 2 If, however, she cannot afford a lamb, she may take two turtledoves or two pigeons, the one for a holocaust and the other for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, and thus she will again be clean."

Leviticus Chapter 13

[1] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

[2] 1 "If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests among his descendants,

[3] who shall examine the sore on his skin. If the hair on the sore has turned white and the sore itself shows that it has penetrated below the skin, it is indeed the sore of leprosy; the priest, on seeing this, shall declare the man unclean.

[4] If, however, the blotch on the skin is white, but does not seem to have penetrated below the skin, nor has the hair turned white, the priest shall quarantine the stricken man for seven days.

[5] On the seventh day the priest shall again examine him. If he judges that the sore has remained unchanged and has not spread on the skin, the priest shall quarantine him for another seven days,

[6] and once more examine him on the seventh day. If the sore is now dying out and has not spread on the skin, the priest shall declare the man clean; it was merely eczema. The man shall wash his garments and so become clean.

[7] But if, after he has shown himself to the priest to be declared clean, the eczema spreads at all on his skin, he shall once more show himself to the priest.

[8] Should the priest, on examining it, find that the eczema has indeed spread on the skin, he shall declare the man unclean; it is leprosy.

[9] "When someone is stricken with leprosy, he shall be brought to the priest.

[10] Should the priest, on examining him, find that there is a white scab on the skin which has turned the hair white and that there is raw flesh in it,

[11] it is skin leprosy that has long developed. The priest shall declare the man unclean without first quarantining him, since he is certainly unclean.

[12] 2 If leprosy breaks out on the skin and, as far as the priest can see, covers all the skin of the stricken man from head to foot,

[13] should the priest then, on examining him, find that the leprosy does cover his whole body, he shall declare the stricken man clean; since it has all turned white, the man is clean.

[14] But as soon as raw flesh appears on him, he is unclean;

[15] on observing the raw flesh, the priest shall declare him unclean, because raw flesh is unclean; it is leprosy.

[16] If, however, the raw flesh again turns white, he shall return to the priest;

[17] should the latter, on examining him, find that the sore has indeed turned white, he shall declare the stricken man clean, and thus he will be clean.

[18] "If a man who had a boil on his skin which later healed,

[19] should now in the place of the boil have a white scab or a pink blotch, he shall show himself to the priest.

[20] If the latter, on examination, sees that it is deeper than the skin and that the hair has turned white, he shall declare the man unclean; it is the sore of leprosy that has broken out in the boil.

[21] But if the priest, on examining him, finds that there is no white hair in it and that it is not deeper than the skin and is already dying out, the priest shall quarantine him for seven days.

[22] If it has then spread on the skin, the priest shall declare him unclean; the man is stricken.

[23] But if the blotch remains in its place without spreading, it is merely the scar of the boil; the priest shall therefore declare him clean.

[24] "If a man had a burn on his skin, and the proud flesh of the burn now becomes a pink or a white blotch,

[25] the priest shall examine it. If the hair has turned white on the blotch and this seems to have penetrated below the skin, it is leprosy that has broken out in the burn; the priest shall therefore declare him unclean and stricken with leprosy.

[26] But if the priest, on examining it, finds that there is no white hair on the blotch and that this is not deeper than the skin and is already dying out, the priest shall quarantine him for seven days.

[27] Should the priest, when examining it on the seventh day, find that it has spread at all on the skin, he shall declare the man unclean and stricken with leprosy.

[28] But if the blotch remains in its place without spreading on the skin and is already dying out, it is merely the scab of the burn; the priest shall therefore declare the man clean, since it is only the scar of the burn.

[29] "When a man or a woman has a sore on the head or cheek,

[30] 3 should the priest, on examining it, find that the sore has penetrated below the skin and that there is fine yellow hair on it, the priest shall declare the person unclean, for this is scall, a leprous disease of the head or cheek.

[31] But if the priest, on examining the scall sore, finds that it has not penetrated below the skin, though the hair on it may not be black, the priest shall quarantine the person with scall sore for seven days,

[32] and on the seventh day again examine the sore. If the scall has not spread and has no yellow hair on it and does not seem to have penetrated below the skin,

[33] the man shall shave himself, but not on the diseased spot. Then the priest shall quarantine him for another seven days.

[34] If the priest, when examining the scall on the seventh day, finds that it has not spread on the skin and that it has not penetrated below the skin, he shall declare the man clean; the latter shall wash his garments, and thus he will be clean.

[35] But if the scall spreads at all on his skin after he has been declared clean,

[36] the priest shall again examine it. If the scall has indeed spread on the skin, he need not look for yellow hair; the man is surely unclean.

[37] If, however, he judges that the scall has remained in its place and that black hair has grown on it, the disease has been healed; the man is clean, and the priest shall declare him clean.

[38] "When the skin of a man or a woman is spotted with white blotches,

[39] 4 the priest shall make an examination. If the blotches on the skin are white and already dying out, it is only tetter that has broken out on the skin, and the person therefore is clean.

[40] "When a man loses the hair of his head, he is not unclean merely because of his bald crown.

[41] So too, if he loses the hair on the front of his head, he is not unclean merely because of his bald forehead.

[42] But when there is a pink sore on his bald crown or bald forehead, it is leprosy that is breaking out there.

[43] The priest shall examine him; and if the scab on the sore of the bald spot has the same pink appearance as that of skin leprosy of the fleshy part of the body,

[44] the man is leprous and unclean, and the priest shall declare him unclean by reason of the sore on his head.

[45] "The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, 'Unclean, unclean!'

[46] As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.

[47] 5 "When a leprous infection is on a garment of wool or of linen,

[48] or on woven or knitted material of linen or wool, or on a hide or anything made of leather,

[49] if the infection on the garment or hide, or on the woven or knitted material, or on any leather article is greenish or reddish, the thing is indeed infected with leprosy and must be shown to the priest.

[50] Having examined the infection, the priest shall quarantine the infected article for seven days.

[51] "On the seventh day the priest shall again examine the infection. If it has spread on the garment, or on the woven or knitted material, or on the leather, whatever be its use, the infection is malignant leprosy, and the article is unclean.

[52] He shall therefore burn up the garment, or the woven or knitted material of wool or linen, or the leather article, whatever it may be, which is infected; since it has malignant leprosy, it must be destroyed by fire.

[53] But if the priest, on examining the infection, finds that it has not spread on the garment, or on the woven or knitted material, or on the leather article,

[54] he shall give orders to have the infected article washed and then quarantined for another seven days.

[55] "Then the priest shall again examine the infected article after it has been washed. If the infection has not changed its appearance, even though it may not have spread, the article is unclean and shall be destroyed by fire.

[56] But if the priest, on examining the infection, finds that it is dying out after the washing, he shall tear the infected part out of the garment, or the leather, or the woven or knitted material.

[57] If, however, the infection again appears on the garment, or on the woven or knitted material, or on the leather article, it is still virulent and the thing infected shall be destroyed by fire.

[58] But if, after the washing, the infection has left the garment, or the woven or knitted material, or the leather article, the thing shall be washed a second time, and thus it will be clean.

[59] This is the law for leprous infection on a garment of wool or linen, or on woven or knitted material, or on any leather article, to determine whether it is clean or unclean."

Leviticus Chapter 14

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "This is the law for the victim of leprosy at the time of his purification. He shall be brought to the priest,

[3] who is to go outside the camp to examine him. If the priest finds that the sore of leprosy has healed in the leper,

[4] 1 he shall order the man who is to be purified, to get two live, clean birds, as well as some cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.

[5] 2 The priest shall then order him to slay one of the birds over an earthen vessel with spring water in it.

[6] Taking the living bird with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, the priest shall dip them all in the blood of the bird that was slain over the spring water,

[7] and then sprinkle seven times the man to be purified from his leprosy. When he has thus purified him, he shall let the living bird fly away over the countryside.

[8] The man being purified shall then wash his garments and shave off all his hair and bathe in water; only when he is thus made clean may he come inside the camp; but he shall still remain outside his tent for seven days.

[9] On the seventh day he shall again shave off all the hair of his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and any other hair he may have, and also wash his garments and bathe his body in water; and so he will be clean.

[10] "On the eighth day he shall take two unblemished male lambs, one unblemished yearling ewe lamb, three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, and one log of oil.

[11] The priest who performs the purification ceremony shall place the man who is being purified, as well as all these offerings, before the LORD at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[12] Taking one of the male lambs, the priest shall present it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, waving them as a wave offering before the LORD.

[13] (This lamb he shall slaughter in the sacred place where the sin offering and the holocaust are slaughtered; because, like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest and is most sacred.)

[14] Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot.

[15] The priest shall also take the log of oil and pour some of it into the palm of his own left hand;

[16] then, dipping his right forefinger in it, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the LORD.

[17] Of the oil left in his hand the priest shall put some on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot, over the blood of the guilt offering.

[18] The rest of the oil in his hand the priest shall put on the head of the man being purified. Thus shall the priest make atonement for him before the LORD.

[19] Only after he has offered the sin offering in atonement for the man's uncleanness shall the priest slaughter the holocaust

[20] and offer it, together with the cereal offering, on the altar before the LORD. When the priest has thus made atonement for him, the man will be clean.

[21] "If a man is poor and cannot afford so much, he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering, to be used as a wave offering in atonement for himself, one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, a log of oil,

[22] 3 and two turtledoves or pigeons, which he can more easily afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust.

[23] On the eighth day of his purification he shall bring them to the priest, at the entrance of the meeting tent before the LORD.

[24] Taking the guilt-offering lamb, along with the log of oil, the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.

[25] When he has slaughtered the guilt-offering lamb, he shall take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of the man being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

[26] The priest shall then pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand

[27] and with his right forefinger sprinkle it seven times before the LORD.

[28] Some of the oil in his hand the priest shall also put on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot, over the blood of the guilt offering.

[29] The rest of the oil in his hand the priest shall put on the man's head. Thus shall he make atonement for him before the LORD.

[30] Then, of the turtledoves or pigeons, such as the man can afford,

[31] the priest shall offer up one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust, along with the cereal offering. Thus shall the priest make atonement before the LORD for the man who is to be purified.

[32] This is the law for one afflicted with leprosy who has insufficient means for his purification."

[33] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

[34] "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you to possess, if I put a leprous infection on any house of the land you occupy,

[35] the owner of the house shall come and report to the priest, 'It looks to me as if my house were infected.'

[36] The priest shall then order the house to be cleared out before he goes in to examine the infection, lest everything in the house become unclean. Only after this is he to go in to examine the house.

[37] If the priest, on examining it, finds that the infection on the walls of the house consists of greenish or reddish depressions which seem to go deeper than the surface of the wall,

[38] he shall close the door of the house behind him and quarantine the house for seven days.

[39] On the seventh day the priest shall return to examine the house again. If he finds that the infection has spread on the walls,

[40] he shall order the infected stones to be pulled out and cast in an unclean place outside the city.

[41] The whole inside of the house shall then be scraped, and the mortar that has been scraped off shall be dumped in an unclean place outside the city.

[42] Then new stones shall be brought and put in the place of the old stones, and new mortar shall be made and plastered on the house.

[43] "If the infection breaks out once more after the stones have been pulled out and the house has been scraped and replastered,

[44] the priest shall come again; and if he finds that the infection has spread in the house, it is corrosive leprosy, and the house is unclean.

[45] It shall be pulled down, and all its stones, beams and mortar shall be hauled away to an unclean place outside the city.

[46] Whoever enters a house while it is quarantined shall be unclean until evening.

[47] Whoever sleeps or eats in such a house shall also wash his garments.

[48] If the priest finds, when he comes to examine the house, that the infection has in fact not spread after the plastering, he shall declare the house clean, since the infection has been healed.

[49] To purify the house, he shall take two birds, as well as cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.

[50] One of the birds he shall slay over an earthen vessel with spring water in it.

[51] Then, taking the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, together with the living bird, he shall dip them all in the blood of the slain bird and the spring water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

[52] Thus shall he purify the house with the bird's blood and the spring water, along with the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.

[53] He shall then let the living bird fly away over the countryside outside the city. When he has thus made atonement for it, the house will be clean.

[54] "This is the law for every kind of human leprosy and scall,

[55] for leprosy of garments and houses,

[56] as well as for scabs, pustules and blotches,

[57] so that it may be manifest when there is a state of uncleanness and when a state of cleanness. This is the law for leprosy."

Leviticus Chapter 15

[1] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

[2] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: Every man who is afflicted with a chronic flow from his private parts is thereby unclean.

[3] Such is his uncleanness from this flow that it makes no difference whether the flow drains off or is blocked up; his uncleanness remains.

[4] Any bed on which the man afflicted with the flow lies, is unclean, and any piece of furniture on which he sits, is unclean.

[5] Anyone who touches his bed shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[6] Whoever sits on a piece of furniture on which the afflicted man was sitting, shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[7] Whoever touches the body of the afflicted man shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[8] If the afflicted man spits on a clean man, the latter shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[9] Any saddle on which the afflicted man rides, is unclean.

[10] Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening; whoever lifts up any such thing shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[11] Anyone whom the afflicted man touches with unrinsed hands shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[12] Earthenware touched by the afflicted man shall be broken; and every wooden article shall be rinsed with water.

[13] "When a man who has been afflicted with a flow becomes free of his affliction, he shall wait seven days for his purification. Then he shall wash his garments and bathe his body in fresh water, and so he will be clean.

[14] On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, and going before the LORD, to the entrance of the meeting tent, he shall give them to the priest,

[15] who shall offer them up, the one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust. Thus shall the priest make atonement before the LORD for the man's flow.

[16] "When a man has an emission of seed, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until evening.

[17] Any piece of cloth or leather with seed on it shall be washed with water and be unclean until evening.

[18] "If a man lies carnally with a woman, they shall both bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

[19] "When a woman has her menstrual flow, she shall be in a state of impurity for seven days. Anyone who touches her shall be unclean until evening.

[20] Anything on which she lies or sits during her impurity shall be unclean.

[21] Anyone who touches her bed shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[22] Whoever touches any article of furniture on which she was sitting, shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[23] 1 But if she is on the bed or on the seat when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening.

[24] If a man dares to lie with her, he contracts her impurity and shall be unclean for seven days; every bed on which he then lies also becomes unclean.

[25] "When a woman is afflicted with a flow of blood for several days outside her menstrual period, or when her flow continues beyond the ordinary period, as long as she suffers this unclean flow she shall be unclean, just as during her menstrual period.

[26] Any bed on which she lies during such a flow becomes unclean, as it would during her menstruation, and any article of furniture on which she sits becomes unclean just as during her menstruation.

[27] Anyone who touches them becomes unclean; he shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

[28] "If she becomes freed from her affliction, she shall wait seven days, and only then is she to be purified.

[29] On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[30] The priest shall offer up one of them as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust. Thus shall the priest make atonement before the LORD for her unclean flow.

[31] "You shall warn the Israelites of their uncleanness, lest by defiling my Dwelling, which is in their midst, their uncleanness be the cause of their death.

[32] "This is the law for the man who is afflicted with a chronic flow, or who has an emission of seed, and thereby becomes unclean;

[33] as well as for the woman who has her menstrual period, or who is afflicted with a chronic flow; the law for male and female; and also for the man who lies with an unclean woman."

Leviticus Chapter 16

[1] After the death of Aaron's two sons, who died when they approached the LORD'S presence, the LORD spoke to Moses

[2] 1 and said to him, "Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he pleases into the sanctuary, inside the veil, in front of the propitiatory on the ark; otherwise, when I reveal myself in a cloud above the propitiatory, he will die.

[3] Only in this way may Aaron enter the sanctuary. He shall bring a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a holocaust.

[4] He shall wear the sacred linen tunic, with the linen drawers next his flesh, gird himself with the linen sash and put on the linen miter. But since these vestments are sacred, he shall not put them on until he has first bathed his body in water.

[5] From the Israelite community he shall receive two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a holocaust.

[6] "Aaron shall bring in the bullock, his sin offering to atone for himself and for his household.

[7] Taking the two male goats and setting them before the LORD at the entrance of the meeting tent,

[8] 2 he shall cast lots to determine which one is for the LORD and which for Azazel.

[9] The goat that is determined by lot for the LORD, Aaron shall bring in and offer up as a sin offering.

[10] But the goat determined by lot for Azazel he shall set alive before the LORD, so that with it he may make atonement by sending it off to Azazel in the desert.

[11] "Thus shall Aaron offer up the bullock, his sin offering, to atone for himself and for his family. When he has slaughtered it,

[12] he shall take a censer full of glowing embers from the altar before the LORD, as well as a double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, and bringing them inside the veil,

[13] 3 there before the LORD he shall put incense on the fire, so that a cloud of incense may cover the propitiatory over the commandments; else he will die.

[14] Taking some of the bullock's blood, he shall sprinkle it with his finger on the fore part of the propitiatory and likewise sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the propitiatory.

[15] "Then he shall slaughter the people's sin-offering goat, and bringing its blood inside the veil, he shall do with it as he did with the bullock's blood, sprinkling it on the propitiatory and before it.

[16] Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary because of all the sinful defilements and faults of the Israelites. He shall do the same for the meeting tent, which is set up among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

[17] No one else may be in the meeting tent from the time he enters the sanctuary to make atonement until he departs. When he has made atonement for himself and his household, as well as for the whole Israelite community,

[18] he shall come out to the altar before the LORD and make atonement for it also. Taking some of the bullock's and the goat's blood, he shall put it on the horns around the altar,

[19] and with his finger sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times. Thus he shall render it clean and holy, purged of the defilements of the Israelites.

[20] "When he has completed the atonement rite for the sanctuary, the meeting tent and the altar, Aaron shall bring forward the live goat.

[21] Laying both hands on its head, he shall confess over it all the sinful faults and transgressions of the Israelites, and so put them on the goat's head. He shall then have it led into the desert by an attendant.

[22] Since the goat is to carry off their iniquities to an isolated region, it must be sent away into the desert.

[23] 4 "After Aaron has again gone into the meeting tent, he shall strip off and leave in the sanctuary the linen vestments he had put on when he entered there.

[24] After bathing his body with water in a sacred place, he shall put on his vestments, and then come out and offer his own and the people's holocaust, in atonement for himself and for the people,

[25] and also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

[26] "The man who has led away the goat for Azazel shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water; only then may he enter the camp.

[27] The sin-offering bullock and goat whose blood was brought into the sanctuary to make atonement, shall be taken outside the camp, where their hides and flesh and offal shall be burned up in the fire.

[28] The one who burns them shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water; only then may he enter the camp.

[29] 5 "This shall be an everlasting ordinance for you: on the tenth day of the seventh month every one of you, whether a native or a resident alien, shall mortify himself and shall do no work.

[30] Since on this day atonement is made for you to make you clean, so that you may be cleansed of all your sins before the LORD,

[31] by everlasting ordinance it shall be a most solemn sabbath for you, on which you must mortify yourselves.

[32] "This atonement is to be made by the priest who has been anointed and ordained to the priesthood in succession to his father. He shall wear the linen garments, the sacred vestments,

[33] and make atonement for the sacred sanctuary, the meeting tent and the altar, as well as for the priests and all the people of the community.

[34] This, then, shall be an everlasting ordinance for you: once a year atonement shall be made for all the sins of the Israelites." Thus was it done, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Leviticus Chapter 17

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Speak to Aaron and his sons, as well as to all the Israelites, and tell them: This is what the LORD has commanded.

[3] 1 Any Israelite who slaughters an ox or a sheep or a goat, whether in the camp or outside of it,

[4] without first bringing it to the entrance of the meeting tent to present it as an offering to the LORD in front of his Dwelling, shall be judged guilty of bloodshed; and for this, such a man shall be cut off from among his people.

[5] Therefore, such sacrifices as they used to offer up in the open field the Israelites shall henceforth offer to the LORD, bringing them to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent and sacrificing them there as peace offerings to the LORD.

[6] The priest shall splash the blood on the altar of the LORD at the entrance of the meeting tent and there burn the fat for an odor pleasing to the LORD.

[7] No longer shall they offer their sacrifices to the satyrs to whom they used to render their wanton worship. This shall be an everlasting ordinance for them and their descendants.

[8] "Tell them, therefore: Anyone, whether of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, who offers a holocaust or sacrifice

[9] without bringing it to the entrance of the meeting tent to offer it to the LORD, shall be cut off from his kinsmen.

[10] And if anyone, whether of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, partakes of any blood, I will set myself against that one who partakes of blood and will cut him off from among his people.

[11] 2 Since the life of a living body is in its blood, I have made you put it on the altar, so that atonement may thereby be made for your own lives, because it is the blood, as the seat of life, that makes atonement.

[12] That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you, not even a resident alien, may partake of blood.

[13] "Anyone hunting, whether of the Israelites or of the aliens residing among them, who catches an animal or a bird that may be eaten, shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

[14] Since the life of every living body is its blood, I have told the Israelites: You shall not partake of the blood of any meat. Since the life of every living body is its blood, anyone who partakes of it shall be cut off.

[15] "Everyone, whether a native or an alien, who eats of an animal that died of itself or was killed by a wild beast, shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening, and then he will be clean.

[16] If he does not wash or does not bathe his body, he shall have the guilt to bear."

Leviticus Chapter 18

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I, the LORD, am your God.

[3] You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you once lived, nor shall you do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; do not conform to their customs.

[4] My decrees you shall carry out, and my statutes you shall take care to follow. I, the LORD, am your God.

[5] Keep, then, my statutes and decrees, for the man who carries them out will find life through them. I am the LORD.

[6] 1 "None of you shall approach a close relative to have sexual intercourse with her. I am the LORD.

[7] You shall not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother. Besides, since she is your own mother, you shall not have intercourse with her.

[8] You shall not have intercourse with your father's wife, for that would be a disgrace to your father.

[9] You shall not have intercourse with your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in your own household or born elsewhere.

[10] You shall not have intercourse with your son's daughter or with your daughter's daughter, for that would be a disgrace to your own family.

[11] You shall not have intercourse with the daughter whom your father's wife bore to him, since she, too, is your sister.

[12] You shall not have intercourse with your father's sister, since she is your father's relative.

[13] You shall not have intercourse with your mother's sister, since she is your mother's relative.

[14] You shall not disgrace your father's brother by being intimate with his wife, since she, too, is your aunt.

[15] You shall not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife, and therefore you shall not disgrace her.

[16] 2 You shall not have intercourse with your brother's wife, for that would be a disgrace to your brother.

[17] You shall not have intercourse with a woman and also with her daughter, nor shall you marry and have intercourse with her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; this would be shameful, because they are related to her.

[18] While your wife is still living you shall not marry her sister as her rival; for thus you would disgrace your first wife.

[19] "You shall not approach a woman to have intercourse with her while she is unclean from menstruation.

[20] You shall not have carnal relations with your neighbor's wife, defiling yourself with her.

[21] 3 You shall not offer any of your offspring to be immolated to Molech, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.

[22] You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination.

[23] You shall not have carnal relations with an animal, defiling yourself with it; nor shall a woman set herself in front of an animal to mate with it; such things are abhorrent.

[24] "Do not defile yourselves by any of these things by which the nations whom I am driving out of your way have defiled themselves.

[25] Because their land has become defiled, I am punishing it for its wickedness, by making it vomit out its inhabitants.

[26] You, however, whether natives or resident aliens, must keep my statutes and decrees forbidding all such abominations

[27] by which the previous inhabitants defiled the land;

[28] otherwise the land will vomit you out also for having defiled it, just as it vomited out the nations before you.

[29] Everyone who does any of these abominations shall be cut off from among his people.

[30] Heed my charge, then, not to defile yourselves by observing the abominable customs that have been observed before you. I, the LORD, am your God."

Leviticus Chapter 19

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.

[3] Revere your mother and father, and keep my sabbaths. I, the LORD, am your God.

[4] "Do not turn aside to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves. I, the LORD, am your God.

[5] "When you sacrifice your peace offering to the LORD, if you wish it to be acceptable,

[6] it must be eaten on the very day of your sacrifice or on the following day. Whatever is left over until the third day shall be burned up in the fire.

[7] If any of it is eaten on the third day, the sacrifice will be unacceptable as refuse;

[8] whoever eats of it then shall pay the penalty for having profaned what is sacred to the LORD. Such a one shall be cut off from his people.

[9] "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you glean the stray ears of grain.

[10] Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the LORD, am your God.

[11] "You shall not steal. You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another.

[12] You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.

[13] "You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your day laborer.

[14] You shall not curse the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

[15] "You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly.

[16] You shall not go about spreading slander among your kinsmen; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor's life is at stake. I am the LORD.

[17] "You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him.

[18] 1 Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

[19] "Keep my statutes: do not breed any of your domestic animals with others of a different species; do not sow a field of yours with two different kinds of seed; and do not put on a garment woven with two different kinds of thread.

[20] 2 "If a man has carnal relations with a female slave who has already been living with another man but has not yet been redeemed or given her freedom, they shall be punished but not put to death, because she is not free.

[21] The man, moreover, shall bring to the entrance of the meeting tent a ram as his guilt offering to the LORD.

[22] With this ram the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the sin he has committed, and it will be forgiven him.

[23] 3 "When you come into the land and plant any fruit tree there, first look upon its fruit as if it were uncircumcised. For three years, while its fruit remains uncircumcised, it may not be eaten.

[24] In the fourth year, however, all of its fruit shall be sacred to the LORD as a thanksgiving feast to him.

[25] Not until the fifth year may you eat its fruit. Thus it will continue its yield for you. I, the LORD, am your God.

[26] "Do not eat meat with the blood still in it. Do not practice divination or soothsaying.

[27] 4 Do not clip your hair at the temples, nor trim the edges of your beard.

[28] Do not lacerate your bodies for the dead, and do not tattoo yourselves. I am the LORD.

[29] "You shall not degrade your daughter by making a prostitute of her; else the land will become corrupt and full of lewdness.

[30] Keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

[31] "Do not go to mediums or consult fortune-tellers, for you will be defiled by them. I, the LORD, am your God.

[32] "Stand up in the presence of the aged, and show respect for the old; thus shall you fear your God. I am the LORD.

[33] "When an alien resides with you in your land, do not molest him.

[34] You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I, the LORD, am your God.

[35] "Do not act dishonestly in using measures of length or weight or capacity.

[36] You shall have a true scale and true weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

[37] Be careful, then, to observe all my statutes and decrees. I am the LORD."

Leviticus Chapter 20

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Tell the Israelites: Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall be put to death. Let his fellow citizens stone him.

[3] I myself will turn against such a man and cut him off from the body of his people; for in giving his offspring to Molech, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.

[4] Even if his fellow citizens connive at such a man's crime of giving his offspring to Molech, and fail to put him to death,

[5] I myself will set my face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who join him in his wanton worship of Molech.

[6] Should anyone turn to mediums and fortune-tellers and follow their wanton ways, I will turn against such a one and cut him off from his people.

[7] Sanctify yourselves, then, and be holy; for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.

[8] Be careful, therefore, to observe what I, the LORD, who make you holy, have prescribed.

[9] "Anyone who curses his father or mother shall be put to death; since he has cursed his father or mother, he has forfeited his life.

[10] If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.

[11] If a man disgraces his father by lying with his father's wife, both the man and his stepmother shall be put to death; they have forfeited their lives.

[12] If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; since they have committed an abhorrent deed, they have forfeited their lives.

[13] If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.

[14] If a man marries a woman and her mother also, the man and the two women as well shall be burned to death for their shameful conduct, so that such shamefulness may not be found among you.

[15] If a man has carnal relations with an animal, the man shall be put to death, and the animal shall be slain.

[16] If a woman goes up to any animal to mate with it, the woman and the animal shall be slain; let them both be put to death; their lives are forfeit.

[17] If a man consummates marriage with his sister or his half-sister, they shall be publicly cut off from their people for this shameful deed; the man shall pay the penalty of having had intercourse with his own sister.

[18] If a man lies in sexual intercourse with a woman during her menstrual period, both of them shall be cut off from their people, because they have laid bare the flowing fountain of her blood.

[19] You shall not have intercourse with your mother's sister or your father's sister; whoever does so shall pay the penalty of incest.

[20] If a man disgraces his uncle by having intercourse with his uncle's wife, the man and his aunt shall pay the penalty by dying childless.

[21] If a man marries his brother's wife and thus disgraces his brother, they shall be childless because of this incest.

[22] "Be careful to observe all my statutes and all my decrees; otherwise the land where I am bringing you to dwell will vomit you out.

[23] Do not conform, therefore, to the customs of the nations whom I am driving out of your way, because all these things that they have done have filled me with disgust for them.

[24] But to you I have said: Their land shall be your possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am giving it to you as your own, I, the LORD, your God, who have set you apart from the other nations.

[25] You, too, must set apart, then, the clean animals from the unclean, and the clean birds from the unclean, so that you may not be contaminated with the uncleanness of any beast or bird or of any swarming creature in the land that I have set apart for you.

[26] To me, therefore, you shall be sacred; for I, the LORD, am sacred, I, who have set you apart from the other nations to be my own.

[27] 1 "A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortune-teller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death."

Leviticus Chapter 21

[1] 1 The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron's sons, the priests, and tell them: None of you shall make himself unclean for any dead person among his people,

[2] except for his nearest relatives, his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother

[3] or his maiden sister, who is of his own family while she remains unmarried; for these he may make himself unclean.

[4] But for a sister who has married out of his family he shall not make himself unclean; this would be a profanation.

[5] 2 "The priests shall not make bare the crown of the head, nor shave the edges of the beard, nor lacerate the body.

[6] 3 To their God they shall be sacred, and not profane his name; since they offer up the oblations of the LORD, the food of their God, they must be holy.

[7] "A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or has lost her honor, nor a woman who has been divorced by her husband; for the priest is sacred to his God.

[8] Honor him as sacred who offers up the food of your God; treat him as sacred, because I, the LORD, who have consecrated him, am sacred.

[9] "A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death.

[10] 4 "The most exalted of the priests, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the special vestments, shall not bare his head or rend his garments,

[11] nor shall he go near any dead person. Not even for his father or mother may he thus become unclean

[12] or leave the sanctuary; otherwise he will profane the sanctuary of his God, for with the anointing oil upon him, he is dedicated to his God, to me, the LORD.

[13] "The priest shall marry a virgin.

[14] Not a widow or a woman who has been divorced or a woman who has lost her honor as a prostitute, but a virgin, taken from his own people, shall he marry;

[15] otherwise he will have base offspring among his people. I, the LORD, have made him sacred."

[16] The LORD said to Moses,

[17] "Speak to Aaron and tell him: None of your descendants, of whatever generation, who has any defect shall come forward to offer up the food of his God.

[18] Therefore, he who has any of the following defects may not come forward: he who is blind, or lame, or who has any disfigurement or malformation,

[19] or a crippled foot or hand,

[20] or who is hump-backed or weakly or walleyed, or who is afflicted with eczema, ringworm or hernia.

[21] No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any such defect may draw near to offer up the oblations of the LORD; on account of his defect he may not draw near to offer up the food of his God.

[22] He may, however, partake of the food of his God: of what is most sacred as well as of what is sacred.

[23] Only, he may not approach the veil nor go up to the altar on account of his defect; he shall not profane these things that are sacred to me, for it is I, the LORD, who make them sacred."

[24] Moses, therefore, told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Leviticus Chapter 22

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Tell Aaron and his sons to respect the sacred offerings which the Israelites consecrate to me; else they will profane my holy name. I am the LORD.

[3] "Tell them: If any one of you, or of your descendants in any future generation, dares, while he is in a state of uncleanness, to draw near the sacred offerings which the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, such a one shall be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD.

[4] "No descendant of Aaron who is stricken with leprosy, or who suffers from a flow, may eat of these sacred offerings, unless he again becomes clean. Moreover, if anyone touches a person who has become unclean by contact with a corpse, or if anyone has had an emission of seed,

[5] or if anyone touches any swarming creature or any man whose uncleanness, of whatever kind it may be, is contagious,

[6] the one who touches such as these shall be unclean until evening and may not eat of the sacred portions until he has first bathed his body in water,

[7] then, when the sun sets, he again becomes clean. Only then may he eat of the sacred offerings, which are his food.

[8] He shall not make himself unclean by eating of any animal that has died of itself or has been killed by wild beasts. I am the LORD.

[9] "They shall keep my charge and not do wrong in this matter; else they will die for their profanation. I am the LORD who have consecrated them.

[10] "Neither a lay person nor a priest's tenant or hired servant may eat of any sacred offering.

[11] But a slave whom a priest acquires by purchase or who is born in his house may eat of his food.

[12] A priest's daughter who is married to a layman may not eat of the sacred contributions.

[13] But if a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and, having no children, returns to her father's house, she may then eat of her father's food as in her youth. No layman, however, may eat of it.

[14] If such a one eats of a sacred offering through inadvertence, he shall make restitution to the priest for the sacred offering, with an increment of one fifth of the amount.

[15] The sacred offerings which the Israelites contribute to the LORD the priests shall not allow to be profaned

[16] nor in the eating of the sacred offering shall they bring down guilt that must be punished; it is I, the LORD, who make them sacred."

[17] The LORD said to Moses,

[18] "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites, and tell them: When anyone of the house of Israel, or any alien residing in Israel, who wishes to offer a sacrifice, brings a holocaust as a votive offering or as a free-will offering to the LORD,

[19] if it is to be acceptable, the ox or sheep or goat that he offers must be an unblemished male.

[20] You shall not offer one that has any defect, for such a one would not be acceptable for you.

[21] When anyone presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or the flock in fulfillment of a vow, or as a free-will offering, if it is to find acceptance, it must be unblemished; it shall not have any defect.

[22] One that is blind or crippled or maimed, or one that has a running sore or mange or ringworm, you shall not offer to the LORD; do not put such an animal on the altar as an oblation to the LORD.

[23] An ox or a sheep that is in any way ill-proportioned or stunted you may indeed present as a free-will offering, but it will not be acceptable as a votive offering.

[24] One that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn out or cut off you shall not offer to the LORD. You shall neither do this in your own land

[25] nor receive from a foreigner any such animals to offer up as the food of your God; since they are deformed or defective, they will not be acceptable for you."

[26] The LORD said to Moses,

[27] "When an ox or a lamb or a goat is born, it shall remain with its mother for seven days; only from the eighth day onward will it be acceptable, to be offered as an oblation to the LORD.

[28] You shall not slaughter an ox or a sheep on one and the same day with its young.

[29] Whenever you offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to the LORD, so offer it that it may be acceptable for you;

[30] it must, therefore, be eaten on the same day; none of it shall be left over until the next day. I am the LORD.

[31] "Be careful to observe the commandments which I, the LORD, give you,

[32] and do not profane my holy name; in the midst of the Israelites I, the LORD, must be held as sacred. It is I who made you sacred

[33] and led you out of the land of Egypt, that I, the LORD, might be your God."

Leviticus Chapter 23

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: The following are the festivals of the LORD, my feast days, which you shall celebrate with a sacred assembly.

[3] "For six days work may be done; but the seventh day is the sabbath rest, a day for sacred assembly, on which you shall do no work. The sabbath shall belong to the LORD wherever you dwell.

[4] "These, then, are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrate at their proper time with a sacred assembly.

[5] The Passover of the LORD falls on the fourteenth day of the first month, at the evening twilight.

[6] The fifteenth day of this month is the LORD'S feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

[7] On the first of these days you shall hold a sacred assembly and do no sort of work.

[8] On each of the seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD. Then on the seventh day you shall again hold a sacred assembly and do no sort of work."

[9] The LORD said to Moses,

[10] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you come into the land which I am giving you, and reap your harvest, you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest,

[11] 1 who shall wave the sheaf before the LORD that it may be acceptable for you. On the day after the sabbath the priest shall do this.

[12] On this day, when your sheaf is waved, you shall offer to the LORD for a holocaust an unblemished yearling lamb.

[13] Its cereal offering shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD; and its libation shall be a fourth of a hin of wine.

[14] 2 Until this day, when you bring your God this offering, you shall not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels. This shall be a perpetual statute for you and your descendants wherever you dwell.

[15] "Beginning with the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the wave-offering sheaf, you shall count seven full weeks,

[16] 3 and then on the day after the seventh week, the fiftieth day, you shall present the new cereal offering to the LORD.

[17] For the wave offering of your first fruits to the LORD, you shall bring with you from wherever you live two loaves of bread made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour and baked with leaven.

[18] Besides the bread, you shall offer to the LORD a holocaust of seven unblemished yearling lambs, one young bull, and two rams, along with their cereal offering and libations, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[19] One male goat shall be sacrificed as a sin offering, and two yearling lambs as a peace offering.

[20] The priest shall wave the bread of the first fruits and the two lambs as a wave offer ing before the LORD; these shall be sacred to the LORD and belong to the priest.

[21] On this same day you shall by proclamation have a sacred assembly, and no sort of work may be done. This shall be a perpetual statute for you and your descendants wherever you dwell.

[22] "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you glean the stray ears of your grain. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the LORD, am your God."

[23] The LORD said to Moses,

[24] "Tell the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month you shall keep a sabbath rest, with a sacred assembly and with the trumpet blasts as a reminder;

[25] you shall then do no sort of work, and you shall offer an oblation to the LORD."

[26] The LORD said to Moses,

[27] "The tenth of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement, when you shall hold a sacred assembly and mortify yourselves and offer an oblation to the LORD.

[28] On this day you shall not do any work, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD, your God.

[29] Anyone who does not mortify himself on this day shall be cut off from his people,

[30] and if anyone does any work on this day, I will remove him from the midst of his people.

[31] This is a perpetual statute for you and your descendants wherever you dwell: you shall do no work,

[32] but shall keep a sabbath of complete rest and mortify yourselves. Beginning on the evening of the ninth of the month, you shall keep this sabbath of yours from evening to evening."

[33] The LORD said to Moses,

[34] 4 "Tell the Israelites: The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the LORD'S feast of Booths, which shall continue for seven days.

[35] On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly, and you shall do no sort of work.

[36] For seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD, and on the eighth day you shall again hold a sacred assembly and offer an oblation to the LORD. On that solemn closing you shall do no sort of work.

[37] "These, therefore, are the festivals of the LORD on which you shall proclaim a sacred assembly, and offer as an oblation to the LORD holocausts and cereal offerings, sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day,

[38] in addition to those of the LORD'S sabbaths, your donations, your various votive offerings and the free-will offerings that you present to the LORD.

[39] "On the fifteenth day, then, of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate a pilgrim feast of the LORD for a whole week. The first and the eighth day shall be days of complete rest.

[40] 5 On the first day you shall gather foliage from majestic trees, branches of palms and boughs of myrtles and of valley poplars, and then for a week you shall make merry before the LORD, your God.

[41] By perpetual statute for you and your descendants you shall keep this pilgrim feast of the LORD for one whole week in the seventh month of the year.

[42] During this week every native Israelite among you shall dwell in booths,

[43] that your descendants may realize that, when I led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, I made them dwell in booths. I, the LORD, am your God."

[44] Thus did Moses announce to the Israelites the festivals of the LORD.

Leviticus Chapter 24

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Order the Israelites to bring you clear oil of crushed olives for the light, so that you may keep lamps burning regularly.

[3] In the meeting tent, outside the veil that hangs in front of the commandments, Aaron shall set up the lamps to burn before the LORD regularly, from evening till morning. Thus, by a perpetual statute for you and your descendants,

[4] the lamps shall be set up on the pure gold lampstand, to burn regularly before the LORD.

[5] "You shall take fine flour and bake it into twelve cakes, using two tenths of an ephah of flour for each cake.

[6] These you shall place in two piles, six in each pile, on the pure gold table before the LORD.

[7] On each pile put some pure frankincense, which shall serve as an oblation to the LORD, a token offering for the bread.

[8] Regularly on each sabbath day this bread shall be set out afresh before the LORD, offered on the part of the Israelites by an everlasting agreement.

[9] It shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who must eat it in a sacred place, since, as something most sacred among the various oblations to the LORD, it is his by perpetual right."

[10] Among the Israelites there was a man born of an Israelite mother (Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan) and an Egyptian father.

[11] This man quarreled publicly with another Israelite and cursed and blasphemed the LORD'S name. So the people brought him to Moses,

[12] who kept him in custody till a decision from the LORD should settle the case for them.

[13] The LORD then said to Moses,

[14] "Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and when all who heard him have laid their hands on his head, let the whole community stone him.

[15] Tell the Israelites: Anyone who curses his God shall bear the penalty of his sin;

[16] whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death. The whole community shall stone him; alien and native alike must be put to death for blaspheming the LORD'S name.

[17] "Whoever takes the life of any human being shall be put to death;

[18] whoever takes the life of an animal shall make restitution of another animal. A life for a life!

[19] Anyone who inflicts an injury on his neighbor shall receive the same in return.

[20] Limb for limb, eye for eye, tooth for tooth! The same injury that a man gives another shall be inflicted on him in return.

[21] Whoever slays an animal shall make restitution, but whoever slays a man shall be put to death.

[22] You shall have but one rule, for alien and native alike. I, the LORD, am your God."

[23] When Moses told this to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him; they carried out the command that the LORD had given Moses.

Leviticus Chapter 25

[1] The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

[2] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, let the land, too, keep a sabbath for the LORD.

[3] For six years you may sow your field, and for six years prune your vineyard, gathering in their produce.

[4] But during the seventh year the land shall have a complete rest, a sabbath for the LORD, when you may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

[5] 1 The aftergrowth of your harvest you shall not reap, nor shall you pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines in this year of sabbath rest for the land.

[6] While the land has its sabbath, all its produce will be food equally for you yourself and for your male and female slaves, for your hired help and the tenants who live with you,

[7] and likewise for your livestock and for the wild animals on your land.

[8] "Seven weeks of years shall you count--seven times seven years--so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years.

[9] Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month let the trumpet resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echo throughout your land.

[10] 2 This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when every one of you shall return to his own property, every one to his own family estate.

[11] In this fiftieth year, your year of jubilee, you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth or pick the grapes from the untrimmed vines.

[12] Since this is the jubilee, which shall be sacred for you, you may not eat of its produce, except as taken directly from the field.

[13] "In this year of jubilee, then, every one of you shall return to his own property.

[14] Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly.

[15] On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee shall you purchase the land from him; and so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops, shall he sell it to you.

[16] When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more; when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less. For it is really the number of crops that he sells you.

[17] Do not deal unfairly, then; but stand in fear of your God. I, the LORD, am your God.

[18] "Observe my precepts and be careful to keep my regulations, for then you will dwell securely in the land.

[19] The land will yield its fruit and you will have food in abundance, so that you may live there without worry.

[20] Therefore, do not say, 'What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not then sow or reap our crop?'

[21] I will bestow such blessings on you in the sixth year that there will then be crop enough for three years.

[22] When you sow in the eighth year, you will continue to eat from the old crop; and even into the ninth year, when the crop comes in, you will still have the old to eat from.

[23] "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine, and you are but aliens who have become my tenants.

[24] Therefore, in every part of the country that you occupy, you must permit the land to be redeemed.

[25] When one of your countrymen is reduced to poverty and has to sell some of his property, his closest relative, who has the right to redeem it, may go and buy back what his kinsman has sold.

[26] If, however, the man has no relative to redeem his land, but later on acquires sufficient means to buy it back in his own name,

[27] he shall make a deduction from the price in proportion to the number of years since the sale, and then pay back the balance to the one to whom he sold it, so that he may thus regain his own property.

[28] But if he does not acquire sufficient means to buy back his land, what he has sold shall remain in the possession of the purchaser until the jubilee, when it must be released and returned to its original owner.

[29] "When someone sells a dwelling in a walled town, he has the right to buy it back during the time of one full year from its sale.

[30] But if such a house in a walled town has not been redeemed at the end of a full year, it shall belong in perpetuity to the purchaser and his descendants; nor shall it be released in the jubilee.

[31] However, houses in villages that are not encircled by walls shall be considered as belonging to the surrounding farm land; they may be redeemed at any time, and in the jubilee they must be released.

[32] "In levitical cities the Levites shall always have the right to redeem the town houses that are their property.

[33] Any town house of the Levites in their cities that had been sold and not redeemed, shall be released in the jubilee; for the town houses of the Levites are their hereditary property in the midst of the Israelites.

[34] Moreover, the pasture land belonging to their cities shall not be sold at all; it must always remain their hereditary property.

[35] "When one of your fellow countrymen is reduced to poverty and is unable to hold out beside you, extend to him the privileges of an alien or a tenant, so that he may continue to live with you.

[36] Do not exact interest from your countryman either in money or in kind, but out of fear of God let him live with you.

[37] You are to lend him neither money at interest nor food at a profit.

[38] I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

[39] "When, then, your countryman becomes so impoverished beside you that he sells you his services, do not make him work as a slave.

[40] Rather, let him be like a hired servant or like your tenant, working with you until the jubilee year,

[41] when he, together with his children, shall be released from your service and return to his kindred and to the property of his ancestors.

[42] Since those whom I brought out of the land of Egypt are servants of mine, they shall not be sold as slaves to any man.

[43] Do not lord it over them harshly, but stand in fear of your God.

[44] "Slaves, male and female, you may indeed possess, provided you buy them from among the neighboring nations.

[45] You may also buy them from among the aliens who reside with you and from their children who are born and reared in your land. Such slaves you may own as chattels,

[46] and leave to your sons as their hereditary property, making them perpetual slaves. But you shall not lord it harshly over any of the Israelites, your kinsmen.

[47] "When one of your countrymen is reduced to such poverty that he sells himself to a wealthy alien who has a permanent or a temporary residence among you, or to one of the descendants of an immigrant family,

[48] even after he has thus sold his services he still has the right of redemption; he may be redeemed by one of his own brothers,

[49] or by his uncle or cousin, or by some other relative or fellow clansman; or, if he acquires the means, he may redeem himself.

[50] With his purchaser he shall compute the years from the sale to the jubilee, distributing the sale price over these years as though he had been hired as a day laborer.

[51] The more such years there are, the more of the sale price he shall pay back as ransom;

[52] the fewer years there are left before the jubilee year, the more he has to his credit; in proportion to his years of service shall he pay his ransom.

[53] The alien shall treat him as a servant hired on an annual basis, and he shall not lord it over him harshly under your very eyes.

[54] If he is not thus redeemed, he shall nevertheless be released, together with his children, in the jubilee year.

[55] For to me the Israelites belong as servants; they are servants of mine, because I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I, the LORD, your God.

Leviticus Chapter 26

[1] "Do not make false gods for yourselves. You shall not erect an idol or a sacred pillar for yourselves, nor shall you set up a stone figure for worship in your land; for I, the LORD, am your God.

[2] Keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

[3] 1 "If you live in accordance with my precepts and are careful to observe my commandments,

[4] I will give you rain in due season, so that the land will bear its crops, and the trees their fruit;

[5] your threshing will last till vintage time, and your vintage till the time for sowing, and you will have food to eat in abundance, so that you may dwell securely in your land.

[6] I will establish peace in the land, that you may lie down to rest without anxiety. I will rid the country of ravenous beasts, and keep the sword of war from sweeping across your land.

[7] You will rout your enemies and lay them low with your sword.

[8] Five of you will put a hundred of your foes to flight, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand of them, till they are cut down by your sword.

[9] I will look with favor upon you, and make you fruitful and numerous, as I carry out my covenant with you.

[10] So much of the old crops will you have stored up for food that you will have to discard them to make room for the new.

[11] I will set my Dwelling among you, and will not disdain you.

[12] Ever present in your midst, I will be your God, and you will be my people;

[13] for it is I, the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians and freed you from their slavery, breaking the yoke they had laid upon you and letting you walk erect.

[14] "But if you do not heed me and do not keep all these commandments,

[15] if you reject my precepts and spurn my decrees, refusing to obey all my commandments and breaking my covenant,

[16] then I, in turn, will give you your deserts. I will punish you with terrible woes--with wasting and fever to dim the eyes and sap the life. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will consume the crop.

[17] I will turn against you, till you are beaten down before your enemies and lorded over by your foes. You will take to flight though no one pursues you.

[18] "If even after this you do not obey me, I will increase the chastisement for your sins sevenfold,

[19] to break your haughty confidence. I will make the sky above you as hard as iron, and your soil as hard as bronze,

[20] so that your strength will be spent in vain; your land will bear no crops, and its trees no fruit.

[21] "If then you become defiant in your unwillingness to obey me, I will multiply my blows another sevenfold, as your sins deserve.

[22] I will unleash the wild beasts against you, to rob you of your children and wipe out your livestock, till your population dwindles away and your roads become deserted.

[23] "If, with all this, you still refuse to be chastened by me and continue to defy me,

[24] I, too, will defy you and will smite you for your sins seven times harder than before.

[25] I will make the sword, the avenger of my covenant, sweep over you. Though you then huddle together in your walled cities, I will send in pestilence among you, till you are forced to surrender to the enemy.

[26] And as I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will need but one oven for baking all the bread they dole out to you in rations--not enough food to still your hunger.

[27] "If, despite all this, you still persist in disobeying and defying me,

[28] I, also, will meet you with fiery defiance and will chastise you with sevenfold fiercer punishment for your sins,

[29] 2 till you begin to eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.

[30] I will demolish your high places, overthrow your incense stands, and cast your corpses on those of your idols. In my abhorrence of you,

[31] I will lay waste your cities and devastate your sanctuaries, refusing to accept your sweet-smelling offerings.

[32] So devastated will I leave the land that your very enemies who come to live there will stand aghast at the sight of it.

[33] You yourselves I will scatter among the nations at the point of my drawn sword, leaving your countryside desolate and your cities deserted.

[34] Then shall the land retrieve its lost sabbaths during all the time it lies waste, while you are in the land of your enemies; then shall the land have rest and make up for its sabbaths

[35] during all the time that it lies desolate, enjoying the rest that you would not let it have on the sabbaths when you lived there.

[36] "Those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies I will make so fainthearted that, if leaves rustle behind them, they will flee headlong, as if from the sword, though no one pursues them;

[37] stumbling over one another as if to escape a weapon, while no one is after them--so helpless will you be to take a stand against your foes!

[38] You will be lost among the Gentiles, swallowed up in your enemies' country.

[39] Those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies will waste away for their own and their fathers' guilt.

[40] "Thus they will have to confess that they and their fathers were guilty of having rebelled against me and of having defied me,

[41] so that I, too, had to defy them and bring them into their enemies' land. Then, when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they make amends for their guilt,

[42] I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham; and of the land, too, I will be mindful.

[43] But the land must first be rid of them, that in its desolation it may make up its lost sabbaths, and that they, too, may make good the debt of their guilt for having spurned my precepts and abhorred my statutes.

[44] Yet even so, even while they are in their enemies' land, I will not reject or spurn them, lest, by wiping them out, I make void my covenant with them; for I, the LORD, am their God.

[45] I will remember them because of the covenant I made with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt under the very eyes of the Gentiles, that I, the LORD, might be their God."

[46] 3 These are the precepts, decrees and laws which the LORD had Moses promulgate on Mount Sinai in the pact between himself and the Israelites.

Leviticus Chapter 27

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When anyone fulfills a vow of offering one or more persons to the LORD, who are to be ransomed at a fixed sum of money,

[3] for persons between the ages of twenty and sixty, the fixed sum, in sanctuary shekels, shall be fifty silver shekels for a man,

[4] and thirty shekels for a woman;

[5] for persons between the ages of five and twenty, the fixed sum shall be twenty shekels for a youth, and ten for a maiden;

[6] for persons between the ages of one month and five years, the fixed sum shall be five silver shekels for a boy, and three for a girl;

[7] for persons of sixty or more, the fixed sum shall be fifteen shekels for a man, and ten for a woman.

[8] However, if the one who took the vow is too poor to meet the fixed sum, the person must be set before the priest, who shall determine the sum for his ransom in keeping with the means of the one who made the vow.

[9] "If the offering vowed to the LORD is an animal that may be sacrificed, every such animal, when vowed to the LORD, becomes sacred.

[10] The offerer shall not present a substitute for it by exchanging either a better for a worse one or a worse for a better one. If he attempts to offer one animal in place of another, both the original and its substitute shall be treated as sacred.

[11] If the animal vowed to the LORD is unclean and therefore unfit for sacrifice, it must be set before the priest,

[12] 1 who shall determine its value in keeping with its good or bad qualities, and the value set by the priest shall stand.

[13] If the offerer wishes to redeem the animal, he shall pay one fifth more than this valuation.

[14] "When someone dedicates his house as sacred to the LORD, the priest shall determine its value in keeping with its good or bad points, and the value set by the priest shall stand.

[15] If the one who dedicated his house wishes to redeem it, he shall pay one fifth more than the price thus established, and then it will again be his.

[16] "If the object which someone dedicates to the LORD is a piece of his hereditary land, its valuation shall be made according to the amount of seed required to sow it, the acreage sown with a homer of barley seed being valued at fifty silver shekels.

[17] If the dedication of a field is made at the beginning of a jubilee period, the full valuation shall hold;

[18] but if it is some time after this, the priest shall estimate its money value according to the number of years left until the next jubilee year, with a corresponding rebate on the valuation.

[19] If the one who dedicated his field wishes to redeem it, he shall pay one fifth more than the price thus established, and so reclaim it.

[20] If, instead of redeeming such a field, he sells it to someone else, it may no longer be redeemed;

[21] but at the jubilee it shall be released as sacred to the LORD; like a field that is doomed, it shall become priestly property.

[22] "If the field that some man dedicates to the LORD is one he had purchased and not a part of his hereditary property,

[23] the priest shall compute its value in proportion to the number of years until the next jubilee, and on the same day the price thus established shall be given as sacred to the LORD;

[24] at the jubilee, however, the field shall revert to the hereditary owner of this land from whom it had been purchased.

[25] "Every valuation shall be made according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel. There are twenty gerahs to the shekel.

[26] "Note that a first-born animal, which as such already belongs to the LORD, may not be dedicated by vow to him. If it is an ox or a sheep, it shall be ceded to the LORD;

[27] 2 but if it is an unclean animal, it may be redeemed by paying one fifth more than its fixed value. If it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at its fixed value.

[28] "Note, also, that any one of his possessions which a man vows as doomed to the LORD, whether it is a human being or an animal or a hereditary field, shall be neither sold nor ransomed; everything that is thus doomed becomes most sacred to the LORD.

[29] 3 All human beings that are doomed lose the right to be redeemed; they must be put to death.

[30] "All tithes of the land, whether in grain from the fields or in fruit from the trees, belong to the LORD, as sacred to him.

[31] If someone wishes to buy back any of his tithes, he shall pay one fifth more than their value.

[32] The tithes of the herd and the flock shall be determined by ceding to the LORD as sacred every tenth animal as they are counted by the herdsman's rod.

[33] It shall not matter whether good ones or bad ones are thus chosen, and no exchange may be made. If any exchange is attempted, both the original animal and its substitute shall be treated as sacred, without the right of being bought back."

[34] These are the commandments which the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.

Introduction to Numbers

Numbers

Introduction

The Book of Numbers derives its name from the account of the two censuses of the Hebrew people taken, one near the beginning and the other toward the end of the journey in the desert (chapters 1 and 26). It continues the story of that journey, begun in Exodus, and describes briefly the experiences of the Israelites for a period of thirty-eight years, from the end of their encampment at Sinai to their arrival at the border of the Promised Land. Numerous legal ordinances are interspersed in the account, making the book a combination of law and history.

The various events described clearly indicate the action of God, who punishes the murmuring of the people by prolonging their stay in the desert, at the same time preparing them by this discipline to be his witnesses among the nations.

In the New Testament Christ and the Apostles derive useful lessons from such events in the Book of Numbers as the brazen serpent (John 3:14, 15), the sedition of Korah and its consequences (1 Cor 10:10), the prophecies of Balaam (2 Peter 2:15, 16), and the water gushing from the rock (1 Cor 10:4).

The chief divisions of the Book of Numbers are as follows:

Preparation for the Departure from Sinai (Numbers 1:1-10:10)

From Sinai to the Plains of Moab (Numbers 10:11-22:1)

On the Plains of Moab (Numbers 22:2-36:13)

Numbers Chapter 1

[1] In the year following that of the Israelites' departure from the land of Egypt, on the first day of the second month, the LORD said to Moses in the meeting tent in the desert of Sinai:

[2] 1 "Take a census of the whole community of the Israelites, by clans and ancestral houses, registering each male individually.

[3] You and Aaron shall enroll in companies all the men in Israel of twenty years or more who are fit for military service.

[4] "To assist you there shall be a man from each tribe, the head of his ancestral house.

[5] These are the names of those who are to assist you: from Reuben: Elizur, son of Shedeur;

[6] from Simeon: Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai;

[7] from Judah: Nahshon, son of Amminadab;

[8] from Issachar: Nethanel, son of Zuar;

[9] from Zebulun: Eliab, son of Helon;

[10] from Ephraim: Elishama, son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh: Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, for the descendants of Joseph;

[11] from Benjamin: Abidan, son of Gideoni;

[12] from Dan: Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai;

[13] from Asher: Pagiel, son of Ochran;

[14] from Gad: Eliasaph, son of Reuel;

[15] from Naphtali: Ahira, son of Enan."

[16] 2 These were councilors of the community, princes of their ancestral tribes, chiefs of the troops of Israel.

[17] So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated,

[18] and assembled the whole community on the first day of the second month. Every man of twenty years or more then declared his name and lineage according to clan and ancestral house,

[19] as the LORD had commanded Moses. This is their census as taken in the desert of Sinai.

[20] Of the descendants of Reuben, the first-born of Israel, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[21] forty-six thousand five hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Reuben.

[22] Of the descendants of Simeon, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[23] fifty-nine thousand three hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Simeon.

[24] Of the descendants of Gad, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[25] forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty were enrolled in the tribe of Gad.

[26] Of the descendants of Judah, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[27] seventy-four thousand six hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Judah.

[28] Of the descendants of Issachar, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[29] fifty-four thousand four hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Issachar.

[30] Of the descendants of Zebulun, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[31] fifty-seven thousand four hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Zebulun.

[32] Of the descendants of Joseph-Of the descendants of Ephraim, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[33] forty thousand five hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Ephraim.

[34] Of the descendants of Manasseh, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[35] thirty-two thousand two hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Manasseh.

[36] Of the descendants of Benjamin, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[37] thirty-five thousand four hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Benjamin.

[38] Of the descendants of Dan, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[39] sixty-two thousand seven hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Dan.

[40] Of the descendants of Asher, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[41] forty-one thousand five hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Asher.

[42] Of the descendants of Naphtali, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,

[43] fifty-three thousand four hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Naphtali.

[44] It was these who were registered, each according to his ancestral house, in the census taken by Moses and Aaron and the twelve princes of Israel.

[45] The total number of the Israelites of twenty years or more who were fit for military service, registered by ancestral houses,

[46] was six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty.

[47] 3 The Levites, however, were not registered by ancestral tribe with the others.

[48] For the LORD had told Moses,

[49] "The tribe of Levi alone you shall not enroll nor include in the census along with the other Israelites.

[50] You are to give the Levites charge of the Dwelling of the commandments with all its equipment and all that belongs to it. It is they who shall carry the Dwelling with all its equipment and who shall be its ministers. They shall therefore camp around the Dwelling.

[51] When the Dwelling is to move on, the Levites shall take it down; when the Dwelling is to be pitched, it is the Levites who shall set it up. Any layman who comes near it shall be put to death.

[52] While the other Israelites shall camp by companies, each in his own division of the camp,

[53] the Levites shall camp around the Dwelling of the commandments. Otherwise God's wrath will strike the Israelite community. The Levites, then, shall have charge of the Dwelling of the commandments."

[54] All this the Israelites fulfilled as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Numbers Chapter 2

[1] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

[2] "The Israelites shall camp, each in his own division, under the ensigns of their ancestral houses. They shall camp around the meeting tent, but at some distance from it.

[3] 1 "Encamped on the east side, toward the sunrise, shall be the divisional camp of Judah, arranged in companies. (The prince of the Judahites was Nahshon, son of Amminadab,

[4] and his soldiers amounted in the census to seventy-four thousand six hundred.)

[5] With Judah shall camp the tribe of Issachar (Their prince was Nethanel, son of Zuar,

[6] and his soldiers amounted in the census to fifty-four thousand four hundred.)

[7] and the tribe of Zebulun. (Their prince was Eliab, son of Helon,

[8] and his soldiers amounted in the census to fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

[9] The total number of those registered by companies in the camp of Judah was one hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred.) These shall be first on the march.

[10] "On the south side shall be the divisional camp of Reuben, arranged in companies. (Their prince was Elizur, son of Shedeur,

[11] and his soldiers amounted in the census to forty-six thousand five hundred.)

[12] Beside them shall camp the tribe of Simeon (Their prince was Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai,

[13] and his soldiers amounted in the census to fifty-nine thousand three hundred.)

[14] and next the tribe of Gad. (Their prince was Eliasaph, son of Reuel,

[15] and his soldiers amounted in the census to forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.

[16] The total number of those registered by companies in the camp of Reuben was one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty.) These shall be second on the march.

[17] "Then the meeting tent and the camp of the Levites shall set out in the middle of the line. As in camp, so also on the march, every man shall be in his proper place, with his own division.

[18] "On the west side shall be the divisional camp of Ephraim, arranged in companies. (Their prince was Elishama, son of Ammihud,

[19] and his soldiers amounted in the census to forty thousand five hundred.)

[20] Beside them shall camp the tribe of Manasseh (Their prince was Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur,

[21] and his soldiers amounted in the census to thirty-two thousand two hundred.)

[22] and the tribe of Benjamin. (Their prince was Abidan, son of Gideoni,

[23] and his soldiers amounted in the census to thirty-five thousand four hundred.

[24] The total number of those registered by companies in the camp of Ephraim was one hundred and eight thousand one hundred.) These shall be third on the march.

[25] "On the north side shall be the divisional camp of Dan, arranged in companies. (Their prince was Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai,

[26] and his soldiers amounted in the census to sixty-two thousand seven hundred.)

[27] Beside them shall camp the tribe of Asher (Their prince was Pagiel, son of Ochran,

[28] and his soldiers amounted in the census to forty-one thousand five hundred.)

[29] and next the tribe of Naphtali. (Their prince was Ahira, son of Enan,

[30] and his soldiers amounted in the census to fifty-three thousand four hundred.

[31] The total number of those registered by companies in the camp of Dan was one hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred.) These shall be the last of the divisions on the march."

[32] This was the census of the Israelites taken by ancestral houses. The total number of those registered by companies in the camps was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

[33] The Levites, however, were not registered with the other Israelites, for so the LORD had commanded Moses.

[34] The Israelites did just as the LORD had commanded Moses; both in camp and on the march they were in their own divisions, every man according to his clan and his ancestral house.

Numbers Chapter 3

[1] The following were the descendants of Aaron and Moses at the time that the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.

[2] The sons of Aaron were Nadab his first-born, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

[3] These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests who were ordained to exercise the priesthood.

[4] But when Nadab and Abihu offered profane fire before the LORD in the desert of Sinai, they met death in the presence of the LORD, and left no sons. Thereafter only Eleazar and Ithamar performed the priestly functions under the direction of their father Aaron.

[5] Now the LORD said to Moses:

[6] "Summon the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest, as his assistants.

[7] They shall discharge his obligations and those of the whole community before the meeting tent by serving at the Dwelling.

[8] They shall have custody of all the furnishings of the meeting tent and discharge the duties of the Israelites in the service of the Dwelling.

[9] You shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been set aside from among the Israelites as dedicated to me.

[10] But only Aaron and his descendants shall you appoint to have charge of the priestly functions. Any layman who comes near shall be put to death."

[11] The LORD said to Moses,

[12] "It is I who have chosen the Levites from the Israelites in place of every first-born that opens the womb among the Israelites. The Levites, therefore, are mine,

[13] because every first-born is mine. When I slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I made all the first-born in Israel sacred to me, both of man and of beast. They belong to me; I am the LORD."

[14] The LORD said to Moses in the desert of Sinai,

[15] "Take a census of the Levites by ancestral houses and clans, registering every male of a month or more."

[16] Moses, therefore, took their census in accordance with the command the LORD had given him.

[17] The sons of Levi were named Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

[18] The descendants of Gershon, by clans, were named Libni and Shimei.

[19] The descendants of Kohath, by clans, were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

[20] The descendants of Merari, by clans, were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of the Levites by ancestral houses.

[21] To Gershon belonged the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these were the clans of the Gershonites.

[22] When all their males of a month or more were registered, they numbered seven thousand five hundred.

[23] The clans of the Gershonites camped behind the Dwelling, to the west.

[24] The prince of their ancestral house was Eliasaph, son of Lael.

[25] 1 At the meeting tent they had charge of whatever pertained to the Dwelling, the tent and its covering, the curtain at the entrance of the meeting tent,

[26] the hangings of the court, the curtain at the entrance of the court enclosing both the Dwelling and the altar, and the ropes.

[27] To Kohath belonged the clans of the Amramites, the Izharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites; these were the clans of the Kohathites.

[28] When all their males of a month or more were registered, they numbered eight thousand three hundred. They had charge of the sanctuary.

[29] The clans of the Kohathites camped at the south side of the Dwelling.

[30] The prince of their ancestral house was Elizaphan, son of Uzziel.

[31] 2 They had charge of whatever pertained to the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the utensils with which the ministry of the sanctuary was exercised, and the veil.

[32] The chief prince of the Levites, however, was Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest; he was supervisor over those who had charge of the sanctuary.

[33] To Merari belonged the clans of the Mahlites and the Mushites; these were the clans of Merari.

[34] When all their males of a month or more were registered, they numbered six thousand two hundred.

[35] The prince of the ancestral house of the clans of Merari was Zuriel, son of Abihail. They camped at the north side of the Dwelling.

[36] 3 The Merarites were charged with the care of whatever pertained to the boards of the Dwelling, its bars, columns, pedestals, and all its fittings,

[37] as well as the columns of the surrounding court with their pedestals, pegs and ropes.

[38] East of the Dwelling, that is, in front of the meeting tent, toward the sunrise, were camped Moses and Aaron and the latter's sons. They discharged the obligations of the sanctuary for the Israelites. Any layman who came near was to be put to death.

[39] The total number of male Levites a month old or more whom Moses had registered by clans in keeping with the LORD'S command, was twenty-two thousand.

[40] The LORD then said to Moses, "Take a census of all the first-born males of the Israelites a month old or more, and compute their total number.

[41] Then assign the Levites to me, the LORD, in place of all the first-born of the Israelites, as well as their cattle in place of all the first-born among the cattle of the Israelites."

[42] So Moses took a census of all the first-born of the Israelites, as the LORD had commanded him.

[43] When all the first-born males of a month or more were registered, they numbered twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

[44] The LORD said to Moses:

[45] "Take the Levites in place of all the first-born of the Israelites, and the Levites' cattle in place of their cattle, that the Levites may belong to me. I am the LORD.

[46] As ransom for the two hundred and seventy-three first-born of the Israelites who outnumber the Levites,

[47] you shall take five shekels for each individual, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.

[48] Give this silver to Aaron and his sons as ransom for the extra number."

[49] So Moses took the silver as ransom from those who were left when the rest had been redeemed by the Levites.

[50] From the first-born of the Israelites he received in silver one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels according to the sanctuary standard.

[51] He then gave this ransom silver to Aaron and his sons, as the LORD had commanded him.

Numbers Chapter 4

[1] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

[2] "Among the Levites take a total of the Kohathites, by clans and ancestral houses, all the men of the Kohathites

[3] 1 between thirty and fifty years of age; these are to undertake obligatory tasks in the meeting tent.

[4] "The service of the Kohathites in the meeting tent concerns the most sacred objects.

[5] 2 In breaking camp, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the screening curtain and cover the ark of the commandments with it.

[6] Over these they shall put a cover of tahash skin, and on top of this spread an all-violet cloth. They shall then put the poles in place.

[7] On the table of the Presence they shall spread a violet cloth and put on it the plates and cups, as well as the bowls and pitchers for libations; the established bread offering shall remain on the table.

[8] Over these they shall spread a scarlet cloth and cover all this with tahash skin. They shall then put the poles in place.

[9] They shall use a violet cloth to cover the lampstand with its lamps, trimming shears, and trays, as well as the various containers of oil from which it is supplied.

[10] The lampstand with all its utensils they shall then enclose in a covering of tahash skin, and place on a litter.

[11] 3 Over the golden altar they shall spread a violet cloth, and cover this also with a covering of tahash skin. They shall then put the poles in place.

[12] Taking the utensils of the sanctuary service, they shall wrap them all in violet cloth and cover them with tahash skin. They shall then place them on a litter.

[13] 4 After cleansing the altar of its ashes, they shall spread a purple cloth over it.

[14] 5 On this they shall put all the utensils with which it is served: the fire pans, forks, shovels, basins, and all the utensils of the altar. They shall then spread a covering of tahash skin over this, and put the poles in place.

[15] "Only after Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sacred objects and all their utensils on breaking camp, shall the Kohathites enter to carry them. But they shall not touch the sacred objects; if they do they will die. These, then, are the objects in the meeting tent that the Kohathites shall carry.

[16] "Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, shall be in charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the established cereal offering, and the anointing oil. He shall be in charge of the whole Dwelling with all the sacred objects and utensils that are in it."

[17] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

[18] "Do not let the group of Kohathite clans perish from the body of the Levites.

[19] That they may live and not die when they approach the most sacred objects, this is what you shall do for them: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign to each of them his task and what he must carry;

[20] but the Kohathites shall not go in to look upon the sacred objects, even for an instant; if they do, they will die."

[21] The LORD said to Moses,

[22] "Take a total among the Gershonites also, by ancestral houses and clans,

[23] of all the men between thirty and fifty years of age; these are to undertake obligatory tasks in the meeting tent.

[24] This is the task of the clans of the Gershonites, what they must do and what they must carry:

[25] they shall carry the sheets of the Dwelling, the meeting tent with its covering and the outer wrapping of tahash skin, the curtain at the entrance of the meeting tent,

[26] the hangings of the court, the curtain at the entrance of the court that encloses both the Dwelling and the altar, together with their ropes and all other objects necessary in their use. Whatever is to be done with these things shall be their task.

[27] The service of the Gershonites shall be entirely under the direction of Aaron and his sons, with regard to what they must do and what they must carry; you shall make each man of them responsible for what he is to carry.

[28] This, then, is the task of the Gershonites in the meeting tent; and they shall be under the supervision of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

[29] "Among the Merarites, too, you shall enroll by clans and ancestral houses

[30] all their men between thirty and fifty years of age; these are to undertake obligatory tasks in the meeting tent.

[31] This is what they shall be responsible for carrying, all the years of their service in the meeting tent: the boards of the Dwelling with its bars, columns and pedestals,

[32] and the columns of the surrounding court with their pedestals, pegs and ropes. You shall designate for each man of them all the objects connected with his service, which he shall be responsible for carrying.

[33] This, then, is the task of the clans of the Merarites during all their service in the meeting tent under the supervision of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest."

[34] So Moses and Aaron and the princes of the community made a registration among the Kohathites, by clans and ancestral houses,

[35] of all the men between thirty and fifty years of age. These were to undertake obligatory tasks in the meeting tent;

[36] as registered by clans, they numbered two thousand seven hundred and fifty.

[37] Such was the census of all the men of the Kohathite clans who were to serve in the meeting tent, which Moses took, together with Aaron, as the LORD bade him.

[38] The registration was then made among the Gershonites, by clans and ancestral houses,

[39] of all the men between thirty and fifty years of age. These were to undertake obligatory tasks in the meeting tent;

[40] as registered by clans and ancestral houses, they numbered two thousand six hundred and thirty.

[41] Such was the census of all the men of the Gershonite clans who were to serve in the meeting tent, which Moses took, together with Aaron, at the LORD'S bidding.

[42] Then the registration was made among the Merarites, by clans and ancestral houses,

[43] of all the men from thirty up to fifty years of age. These were to undertake obligatory tasks in the meeting tent;

[44] as registered by clans, they numbered three thousand two hundred.

[45] Such was the census of the men of the Merarite clans which Moses took, together with Aaron, as the LORD bade him.

[46] Therefore, when Moses and Aaron and the Israelites princes had completed the registration among the Levites, by clans and ancestral houses,

[47] of all the men between thirty and fifty years of age who were to undertake tasks of service or transport of the meeting tent,

[48] the total number registered was eight thousand five hundred and eighty.

[49] According to the LORD'S bidding to Moses, they gave them their individual assignments for service and for transport; so the LORD had commanded Moses.

Numbers Chapter 5

[1] The LORD said to Moses:

[2] 1 "Order the Israelites to expel from camp every leper, and everyone suffering from a discharge, and everyone who has become unclean by contact with a corpse.

[3] Male and female alike, you shall compel them to go out of the camp; they are not to defile the camp in which I dwell."

[4] The Israelites obeyed the command that the LORD had given Moses; they expelled them from the camp.

[5] 2 The LORD said to Moses,

[6] "Tell the Israelites: If a man (or a woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the LORD,

[7] he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full, and in addition give one fifth of their value to the one he has wronged.

[8] 3 However, if the latter has no next of kin to whom restoration of the ill-gotten goods can be made, the goods to be restored shall be the LORD'S and shall fall to the priest; this is apart from the atonement ram with which the priest makes amends for the guilty man.

[9] Likewise, every sacred contribution that the Israelites are bound to make shall fall to the priest.

[10] Each Israelite man may dispose of his own sacred contributions; they become the property of the priest to whom he gives them."

[11] The LORD said to Moses,

[12] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If a man's wife goes astray and becomes unfaithful to him

[13] by having intercourse with another man, though her husband has not sufficient evidence of the fact, so that her impurity remains unproved for lack of a witness who might have caught her in the act;

[14] or if a man is overcome by a feeling of jealousy that makes him suspect his wife, whether she was actually impure or not:

[15] he shall bring his wife to the priest and shall take along as an offering for her a tenth of an ephah of barley meal. However, he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense over it, since it is a cereal offering of jealousy, a cereal offering for an appeal in a question of guilt.

[16] "The priest shall first have the woman come forward and stand before the LORD.

[17] 4 In an earthen vessel he shall meanwhile put some holy water, as well as some dust that he has taken from the floor of the Dwelling.

[18] 5 Then, as the woman stands before the LORD, the priest shall uncover her head and place in her hands the cereal offering of her appeal, that is, the cereal offering of jealousy, while he himself shall hold the bitter water that brings a curse.

[19] Then he shall adjure the woman, saying to her, 'If no other man has had intercourse with you, and you have not gone astray by impurity while under the authority of your husband, be immune to the curse brought by this bitter water.

[20] But if you have gone astray while under the authority of your husband and have acted impurely by letting a man other than your husband have intercourse with you'--

[21] 6 so shall the priest adjure the woman with this oath of imprecation--'may the LORD make you an example of malediction and imprecation among your people by causing your thighs to waste away and your belly to swell!

[22] 7 May this water, then, that brings a curse, enter your body to make your belly swell and your thighs waste away!' And the woman shall say, 'Amen, amen!'

[23] The priest shall put these imprecations in writing and shall then wash them off into the bitter water,

[24] which he is to have the woman drink, so that it may go into her with all its bitter curse.

[25] But first he shall take the cereal offering of jealousy from the woman's hand, and having waved this offering before the LORD, shall put it near the altar,

[26] where he shall take a handful of the cereal offering as its token offering and burn it on the altar. Only then shall he have the woman drink the water.

[27] Once she has done so, if she has been impure and unfaithful to her husband, this bitter water that brings a curse will go into her, and her belly will swell and her thighs will waste away, so that she will become an example of imprecation among her people.

[28] If, however, the woman has not defiled herself, but is still pure, she will be immune and will still be able to bear children.

[29] "This, then, is the law for jealousy: When a woman goes astray while under the authority of her husband and acts impurely,

[30] or when such a feeling of jealousy comes over a man that he becomes suspicious of his wife, he shall have her stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply this law in full to her.

[31] 8 The man shall be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear such guilt as she may have."

Numbers Chapter 6

[1] 1 The LORD said to Moses:

[2] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man (or a woman) solemnly takes the nazirite vow to dedicate himself to the LORD,

[3] he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he may neither drink wine vinegar, other vinegar, of any kind of grape juice, nor eat either fresh or dried grapes.

[4] As long as he is a nazirite he shall not eat anything of the produce of the vine; not even unripe grapes or grapeskins.

[5] While he is under the nazirite vow, no razor shall touch his hair. Until the period of his dedication to the LORD is over, he shall be sacred, and shall let the hair of his head grow freely.

[6] As long as he is dedicated to the LORD, he shall not enter where a dead person is.

[7] Not even for his father or mother, his sister or brother, should they die, may he become unclean, since his head bears his dedication to God.

[8] As long as he is a nazirite he is sacred to the LORD.

[9] "If someone dies very suddenly in his presence, so that his dedicated head becomes unclean, he shall shave his head on the day of his purification, that is, on the seventh day.

[10] On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[11] The priest shall offer up the one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust, thus making atonement for him for the sin he has committed by reason of the dead person. On the same day he shall reconsecrate his head

[12] and begin anew the period of his dedication to the LORD as a nazirite, bringing a yearling lamb as a guilt offering. The previous period is not valid, because his dedicated head became unclean.

[13] "This is the ritual for the nazirite: On the day he completes the period of his dedication he shall go to the entrance of the meeting tent,

[14] bringing as his offering to the LORD one unblemished yearling lamb for a holocaust, one unblemished yearling ewe lamb for a sin offering, one unblemished ram as a peace offering, along with their cereal offerings and libations,

[15] and a basket of unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and of unleavened wafers spread with oil.

[16] The priest shall present them before the LORD, and shall offer up the sin offering and the holocaust for him.

[17] He shall then offer up the ram as a peace offering to the LORD, with its cereal offering and libation, and the basket of unleavened cakes.

[18] Then at the entrance of the meeting tent the nazirite shall shave his dedicated head, collect the hair, and put it in the fire that is under the peace offering.

[19] After the nazirite has shaved off his dedicated hair, the priest shall take a boiled shoulder of the ram, as well as one unleavened cake and one unleavened wafer from the basket, and shall place them in the hands of the nazirite.

[20] The priest shall then wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. They become sacred and shall belong to the priest, along with the breast of the wave offering and the leg of the raised offering. Only after this may the nazirite drink wine.

[21] "This, then, is the law for the nazirite; this is the offering to the LORD which is included in his vow of dedication apart from anything else which his means may allow. Thus shall he carry out the law of his dedication in keeping with the vow he has taken."

[22] The LORD said to Moses:

[23] "Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them:

[24] The LORD bless you and keep you!

[25] 2 The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

[26] 3 The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!

[27] So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them."

Numbers Chapter 7

[1] Now, when Moses had completed the erection of the Dwelling and had anointed and consecrated it with all its equipment (as well as the altar with all its equipment),

[2] an offering was made by the princes of Israel, who were heads of ancestral houses; the same princes of the tribes who supervised the census.

[3] The offering they brought before the LORD consisted of six baggage wagons and twelve oxen, that is, a wagon for every two princes, and an ox for every prince. These they presented as their offering before the Dwelling.

[4] The LORD then said to Moses,

[5] "Accept their offering, that these things may be put to use in the service of the meeting tent. Assign them to the Levites, to each group in proportion to its duties."

[6] So Moses accepted the wagons and oxen, and assigned them to the Levites.

[7] He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites in proportion to their duties,

[8] and four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites in proportion to their duties, under the supervision of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

[9] He gave none to the Kohathites, because they had to carry on their shoulders the sacred objects which were their charge.

[10] For the dedication of the altar also, the princes brought offerings before the altar on the day it was anointed.

[11] But the LORD said to Moses, "Let one prince a day present his offering for the dedication of the altar."

[12] 1 The one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon, son of Amminadab, prince of the tribe of Judah.

[13] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[14] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[15] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[16] one goat for a sin offering;

[17] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Nahshon, son of Amminadab.

[18] On the second day Nethanel, son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, made his offering.

[19] He presented as his offering one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[20] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[21] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[22] one goat for a sin offering;

[23] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Nethanel, son of Zuar.

[24] On the third day it was the turn of Eliab, son of Helon, prince of the Zebulunites.

[25] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[26] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[27] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[28] one goat for a sin offering;

[29] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Eliab, son of Helon.

[30] On the fourth day it was the turn of Elizur, son of Shedeur, prince of the Reubenites.

[31] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[32] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[33] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[34] one goat for a sin offering;

[35] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Elizur, son of Shedeur.

[36] On the fifth day it was the turn of Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, prince of the Simeonites.

[37] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[38] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[39] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[40] one goat for a sin offering;

[41] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai.

[42] On the sixth day it was the turn of Eliasaph, son of Reuel, prince of the Gadites.

[43] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[44] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[45] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[46] one goat for a sin offering;

[47] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Eliasaph, son of Reuel.

[48] On the seventh day it was the turn of Elishama, son of Ammihud, prince of the Ephraimites.

[49] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[50] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[51] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[52] one goat for a sin offering;

[53] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Elishama, son of Ammihud.

[54] On the eighth day it was the turn of Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, prince of the Manassehites.

[55] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[56] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[57] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[58] one goat for a sin offering;

[59] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur.

[60] On the ninth day it was the turn of Abidan, son of Gideoni, prince of the Benjaminites.

[61] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[62] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[63] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[64] one goat for a sin offering;

[65] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Abidan, son of Gideoni.

[66] On the tenth day it was the turn of Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, prince of the Danites.

[67] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[68] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[69] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust;

[70] one goat for a sin offering;

[71] and two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs for a peace offering. This was the offering of Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai.

[72] On the eleventh day it was the turn of Pagiel, son of Ochran, prince of the Asherites.

[73] His offering consisted of one silver plate weighing one hundred and thirty shekels according to the sanctuary standard and one silver basin weighing seventy shekels, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;

[74] one gold cup of ten shekels' weight filled with incense;

[75] one young bull, one ram, and one yearling lamb for a holocaust; 76

Numbers Chapter 8

[1] The LORD spoke to Moses, and said,

[2] "Give Aaron this command: When you set up the seven lamps, have them throw their light toward the front of the lampstand."

[3] Aaron did so, setting up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[4] The lampstand was made of beaten gold in both its shaft and its branches, according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses.

[5] The LORD said to Moses:

[6] 1 "Take the Levites from among the Israelites and purify them.

[7] 2 This is what you shall do to them to purify them. Sprinkle them with the water of remission; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

[8] They shall take a young bull, along with its cereal offering of fine flour mixed with oil; you shall take another young bull for a sin offering.

[9] Then have the Levites come forward in front of the meeting tent, where you shall assemble also the whole community of the Israelites.

[10] While the Levites are present before the LORD, the Israelites shall lay their hands upon them.

[11] Let Aaron then offer the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the Israelites, thus devoting them to the service of the LORD.

[12] The Levites in turn shall lay their hands on the heads of the bullocks, which shall then be immolated, the one as a sin offering and the other as a holocaust to the LORD, in atonement for the Levites.

[13] Thus, then, shall you have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, to be offered as a wave offering to the LORD;

[14] and thus shall you set aside the Levites from the rest of the Israelites, that they may be mine.

[15] "Only then shall the Levites enter upon their service in the meeting tent. You shall purify them and offer them as a wave offering;

[16] because they, among the Israelites, are strictly dedicated to me; I have taken them for myself in place of every first-born that opens the womb among the Israelites.

[17] Indeed, all the first-born among the Israelites, both of man and of beast, belong to me; I consecrated them to myself on the day I slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt.

[18] But in place of all the first-born Israelites I have taken the Levites;

[19] and I have given these dedicated Israelites to Aaron and his sons to discharge the duties of the Israelites in the meeting tent and to make atonement for them, so that no plague may strike among the Israelites should they come near the sanctuary."

[20] Thus, then, did Moses and Aaron and the whole community of the Israelites deal with the Levites, carrying out exactly the command which the LORD had given Moses concerning them.

[21] 3 When the Levites had cleansed themselves of sin and washed their clothes, Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the LORD, and made atonement for them to purify them.

[22] Only then did they enter upon their service in the meeting tent under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. The command which the LORD had given Moses concerning the Levites was carried out.

[23] The LORD said to Moses:

[24] "This is the rule for the Levites. Each from his twenty-fifth year onward shall perform the required service in the meeting tent.

[25] When he is fifty years old, he shall retire from the required service and work no longer.

[26] His service with his fellow Levites shall consist in sharing their responsibilities in the meeting tent, but he shall not do the work. This, then, is how you are to regulate the duties of the Levites."

Numbers Chapter 9

[1] In the first month of the year following their departure from the land of Egypt, the Lord said to Moses in the desert of Sinai,

[2] "Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the prescribed time.

[3] The evening twilight of the fourteenth day of this month is the prescribed time when you shall celebrate it, observing all its rules and regulations."

[4] Moses, therefore, told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover.

[5] And they did so, celebrating the Passover in the desert of Sinai during the evening twilight of the fourteenth day of the first month, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[6] There were some, however, who were unclean because of a human corpse and so could not keep the Passover that day. These men came up to Moses and Aaron that same day

[7] and said, "Although we are unclean because of a corpse, why should we be deprived of presenting the LORD'S offering at its proper time along with the other Israelites?"

[8] Moses answered them, "Wait until I learn what the LORD will command in your regard."

[9] The LORD then said to Moses:

[10] "Speak to the Israelites and say: If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean because of a corpse, or if he is absent on a journey, he may still keep the LORD'S Passover.

[11] But he shall keep it in the second month, during the evening twilight of the fourteenth day of that month, eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs,

[12] and not leaving any of it over till morning, nor breaking any of its bones, but observing all the rules of the Passover.

[13] However, anyone who is clean and not away on a journey, who yet fails to keep the Passover, shall be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD'S offering at the prescribed time. That man shall bear the consequences of his sin.

[14] 1 "If an alien who lives among you wishes to keep the LORD'S Passover, he too shall observe the rules and regulations for the Passover. You shall have the same law for the resident alien as for the native of the land."

[15] 2 On the day when the Dwelling was erected, the cloud covered the Dwelling, the tent of the commandments; but from evening until morning it took on the appearance of fire over the Dwelling.

[16] It was always so: during the day the Dwelling was covered by the cloud, which at night had the appearance of fire.

[17] Whenever the cloud rose from the tent, the Israelites would break camp; wherever the cloud came to rest, they would pitch camp.

[18] At the bidding of the LORD the Israelites moved on, and at his bidding they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the Dwelling, they remained in camp.

[19] Even when the cloud tarried many days over the Dwelling, the Israelites obeyed the LORD and would not move on;

[20] yet sometimes the cloud was over the Dwelling only for a few days. It was at the bidding of the LORD that they stayed in camp, and it was at his bidding that they departed.

[21] Sometimes the cloud remained there only from evening until morning; and when it rose in the morning, they would depart. Or if the cloud lifted during the day, or even at night, they would then set out.

[22] Whether the cloud tarried over the Dwelling for two days or for a month or longer, the Israelites remained in camp and did not depart; but when it lifted, they moved on.

[23] Thus, it was always at the bidding of the LORD that they encamped, and at his bidding that they set out; ever heeding the charge of the LORD, as he had bidden them through Moses.

Numbers Chapter 10

[1] The LORD said to Moses:

[2] "Make two trumpets of beaten silver, which you shall use in assembling the community and in breaking camp.

[3] When both are blown, the whole community shall gather round you at the entrance of the meeting tent;

[4] but when one of them is blown, only the princes, the chiefs of the troops of Israel, shall gather round you.

[5] When you sound the first alarm, those encamped on the east side shall set out;

[6] when you sound the second alarm, those encamped on the south side shall set out; when you sound the third alarm, those encamped on the west side shall set out; when you sound the fourth alarm, those encamped on the north side shall set out. Thus shall the alarm be sounded for them to depart.

[7] But in calling forth an assembly you are to blow an ordinary blast, without sounding the alarm.

[8] "It is the sons of Aaron, the priests, who shall blow the trumpets; and the use of them is prescribed by perpetual statute for you and your descendants.

[9] When in your own land you go to war against an enemy that is attacking you, you shall sound the alarm on the trumpets, and the LORD, your God, will remember you and save you from your foes.

[10] 1 On your days of celebration, your festivals, and your new-moon feasts, you shall blow the trumpets over your holocausts and your peace offerings; this will serve as a reminder of you before your God. I, the LORD, am your God."

[11] In the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud rose from the Dwelling of the commandments.

[12] The Israelites moved on from the desert of Sinai by stages, until the cloud came to rest in the desert of Paran.

[13] The first time that they broke camp at the bidding of the LORD through Moses,

[14] the camp of the Judahites, under its own standard and arranged in companies, was the first to set out. Nahshon, son of Amminadab, was over their host,

[15] and Nethanel, son of Zuar, over the host of the tribe of Issachar,

[16] and Eliab, son of Helon, over the host of the tribe of Zebulun.

[17] Then, after the Dwelling was dismantled, the clans of Gershon and Merari set out, carrying the Dwelling.

[18] The camp of the Reubenites, under its own standard and arranged in companies, was the next to set out, with Elizur, son of Shedeur, over their host,

[19] and Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, over the host of the tribe of Simeon,

[20] and Eliasaph, son of Reuel, over the host of the tribe of Gad.

[21] The clan of Kohath then set out, carrying the sacred objects for the Dwelling, which was to be erected before their arrival.

[22] The camp of the Ephraimites next set out, under its own standard and arranged in companies, with Elishama, son of Ammihud, over their host,

[23] and Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, over the host of the tribe of Manasseh,

[24] and Abidan, son of Gideoni, over the host of the tribe of Benjamin.

[25] Finally, as rear guard for all the camps, the camp of the Danites set out, under its own standard and arranged in companies, with Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, over their host,

[26] and Pagiel, son of Ochran, over the host of the tribe of Asher,

[27] and Ahira, son of Enan, over the host of the tribe of Naphtali.

[28] This was the order of departure for the Israelites, company by company. As they were setting out,

[29] Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab, son of Reuel the Midianite, "We are setting out for the place which the LORD has promised to give us. Come with us, and we will be generous toward you, for the LORD has promised prosperity to Israel."

[30] 2 But he answered, "No, I will not come. I am going instead to my own country and to my own kindred."

[31] Moses said, "Please, do not leave us; you know where we can camp in the desert, and you will serve as eyes for us.

[32] If you come with us, we will share with you the prosperity the LORD will bestow on us."

[33] 3 They moved on from the mountain of the LORD, a three days' journey, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD which was to seek out their resting place went the three days' journey with them.

[34] And when they set out from camp, the cloud of the LORD was over them by day.

[35] Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, "Arise, O LORD, that your enemies may be scattered, and those who hate you may flee before you."

[36] And when it came to rest, he would say, "Return, O LORD, you who ride upon the clouds, to the troops of Israel."

Numbers Chapter 11

[1] Now the people complained in the hearing of the LORD; and when he heard it his wrath flared up so that the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.

[2] But when the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died out.

[3] 1 Hence that place was called Taberah, because there the fire of the LORD burned among them.

[4] The foreign elements among them were so greedy for meat that even the Israelites lamented again, "Would that we had meat for food!

[5] We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.

[6] But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna."

[7] 2 Manna was like coriander seed and had the appearance of bdellium.

[8] When they had gone about and gathered it up, the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves, which tasted like cakes made with oil.

[9] At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna also fell.

[10] When Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents, so that the LORD became very angry, he was grieved.

[11] "Why do you treat your servant so badly?" Moses asked the LORD. "Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people?

[12] Was it I who conceived all this people? or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them at my bosom, like a foster father carrying an infant, to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers?

[13] Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they are crying to me, 'Give us meat for our food.'

[14] I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me.

[15] If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face this distress."

[16] Then the LORD said to Moses, "Assemble for me seventy of the elders of Israel, men you know for true elders and authorities among the people, and bring them to the meeting tent. When they are in place beside you,

[17] I will come down and speak with you there. I will also take some of the spirit that is on you and will bestow it on them, that they may share the burden of the people with you. You will then not have to bear it by yourself.

[18] "To the people, however, you shall say: Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, when you shall have meat to eat. For in the hearing of the LORD you have cried, 'Would that we had meat for food! Oh, how well off we were in Egypt!' Therefore the LORD will give you meat for food,

[19] and you will eat it, not for one day, or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days,

[20] but for a whole month-until it comes out of your very nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. For you have spurned the LORD who is in your midst, and in his presence you have wailed, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'"

[21] But Moses said, "The people around me include six hundred thousand soldiers; yet you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month.'

[22] Can enough sheep and cattle be slaughtered for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?"

[23] The LORD answered Moses, "Is this beyond the LORD'S reach? You shall see now whether or not what I have promised you takes place."

[24] So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said. Gathering seventy elders of the people, he had them stand around the tent.

[25] 3 The LORD then came down in the cloud and spoke to him. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, he bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.

[26] Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; yet the spirit came to rest on them also, and they prophesied in the camp.

[27] So, when a young man quickly told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,"

[28] Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses' aide, said, "Moses, my lord, stop them."

[29] But Moses answered him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"

[30] Then Moses retired to the camp, along with the elders of Israel.

[31] 4 There arose a wind sent by the LORD, that drove in quail from the sea and brought them down over the camp site at a height of two cubits from the ground for the distance of a day's journey all around the camp.

[32] 5 All that day, all night, and all the next day the people gathered in the quail. Even the one who got the least gathered ten homers of them. Then they spread them out all around the camp.

[33] But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it could be consumed, the LORD'S wrath flared up against the people, and he struck them with a very great plague.

[34] 6 So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah, because it was there that the greedy people were buried.

[35] From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth.

Numbers Chapter 12

[1] 1 While they were in Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on the pretext of the marriage he had contracted with a Cushite woman.

[2] 2 They complained, "Is it through Moses alone that the LORD speaks? Does he not speak through us also?" And the LORD heard this.

[3] Now, Moses himself was by far the meekest man on the face of the earth.

[4] So at once the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, "Come out, you three, to the meeting tent." And the three of them went.

[5] Then the LORD came down in the column of cloud, and standing at the entrance of the tent, called Aaron and Miriam. When both came forward,

[6] he said, "Now listen to the words of the LORD: Should there be a prophet among you, in visions will I reveal myself to him, in dreams will I speak to him;

[7] Not so with my servant Moses! Throughout my house he bears my trust:

[8] face to face I speak to him, plainly and not in riddles. The presence of the LORD he beholds. Why, then, did you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?"

[9] So angry was the LORD against them that when he departed,

[10] 3 and the cloud withdrew from the tent, there was Miriam, a snow-white leper! When Aaron turned and saw her a leper,

[11] "Ah, my lord!" he said to Moses, "please do not charge us with the sin that we have foolishly committed!

[12] Let her not thus be like the stillborn babe that comes forth from its mother's womb with its flesh half consumed."

[13] Then Moses cried to the LORD, "Please, not this! Pray, heal her!"

[14] But the LORD answered Moses, "Suppose her father had spit in her face, would she not hide in shame for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; only then may she be brought back."

[15] So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not start out again until she was brought back.

[16] After that the people set out from Hazeroth and encamped in the desert of Paran.

Numbers Chapter 13

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe, all of them princes."

[3] So Moses dispatched them from the desert of Paran, as the LORD had ordered. All of them were leaders among the Israelites;

[4] by name they were: Shammua, son of Zaccur, of the tribe of Reuben;

[5] Shaphat, son of Hori, of the tribe of Simeon;

[6] Caleb, son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah;

[7] Igal (son of Joseph), of the tribe of Issachar;

[8] Hoshea, son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim;

[9] Palti, son of Raphu, of the tribe of Benjamin;

[10] Gaddiel, son of Sodi, of the tribe of Zebulun;

[11] Gaddi, son of Susi, of the tribe of Manasseh, for the Josephites, with

[12] Ammiel, son of Gemalli, of the tribe of Dan;

[13] Sethur, son of Michael, of the tribe of Asher;

[14] Nahbi, son of Vophsi, of the tribe of Naphtali;

[15] Geuel, son of Machi, of the tribe of Gad.

[16] 1 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent out to reconnoiter the land. But Hoshea, son of Nun, Moses called Joshua.

[17] In sending them to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, Moses said to them, "Go up here in the Negeb, up into the highlands,

[18] and see what kind of land it is. Are the people living there strong or weak, few or many?

[19] Is the country in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they dwell open or fortified?

[20] Is the soil fertile or barren, wooded or clear? And do your best to get some of the fruit of the land." It was then the season for early grapes.

[21] 2 So they went up and reconnoitered the land from the desert of Zin as far as where Rehob adjoins Labo of Hamath.

[22] 3 Going up by way of the Negeb, they reached Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, descendants of the Anakim, were living. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

[23] 4 They also reached the Wadi Eshcol, where they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes on it, which two of them carried on a pole, as well as some pomegranates and figs.

[24] It was because of the cluster the Israelites cut there that they called the place Wadi Eshcol.

[25] After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned,

[26] met Moses and Aaron and the whole community of the Israelites in the desert of Paran at Kadesh, made a report to them all, and showed them the fruit of the country.

[27] They told Moses: "We went into the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit.

[28] However, the people who are living in the land are fierce, and the towns are fortified and very strong. Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there.

[29] Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites dwell in the highlands, and Canaanites along the seacoast and the banks of the Jordan."

[30] Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said, "We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so."

[31] But the men who had gone up with him said, "We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us."

[32] So they spread discouraging reports among the Israelites about the land they had scouted, saying, "The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants. And all the people we saw there are huge men,

[33] 5 veritable giants (the Anakim were a race of giants); we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them."

Numbers Chapter 14

[1] At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries, and even in the night the people wailed.

[2] All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, the whole community saying to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that here in the desert we were dead!

[3] Why is the LORD bringing us into this land only to have us fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be taken as booty. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?"

[4] So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt."

[5] But Moses and Aaron fell prostrate before the whole assembled community of the Israelites;

[6] while Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, who had been in the party that scouted the land, tore their garments

[7] and said to the whole community of the Israelites, "The country which we went through and explored is a fine, rich land.

[8] If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us in and give us that land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

[9] 1 But do not rebel against the LORD! You need not be afraid of the people of that land; they are but food for us! Their defense has left them, but the LORD is with us. Therefore, do not be afraid of them."

[10] In answer, the whole community threatened to stone them. But then the glory of the LORD appeared at the meeting tent to all the Israelites.

[11] And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn me? How long will they refuse to believe in me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?

[12] I will strike them with pestilence and wipe them out. Then I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."

[13] But Moses said to the LORD: "Are the Egyptians to hear of this? For by your power you brought out this people from among them.

[14] And are they to tell of it to the inhabitants of this land? It has been heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people; you, LORD, who plainly reveal yourself! Your cloud stands over them, and you go before them by day in a column of cloud and by night in a column of fire.

[15] If now you slay this whole people, the nations who have heard such reports of you will say,

[16] 'The LORD was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them; that is why he slaughtered them in the desert.'

[17] Now then, let the power of my Lord be displayed in its greatness, even as you have said,

[18] 'The LORD is slow to anger and rich in kindness, forgiving wickedness and crime; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children to the third and fourth generation for their fathers' wickedness.'

[19] Pardon, then, the wickedness of this people in keeping with your great kindness, even as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now."

[20] The LORD answered: "I pardon them as you have asked.

[21] Yet, by my life and the LORD'S glory that fills the whole earth,

[22] of all the men who have seen my glory and the signs I worked in Egypt and in the desert, and who nevertheless have put me to the test ten times already and have failed to heed my voice,

[23] not one shall see the land which I promised on oath to their fathers. None of these who have spurned me shall see it.

[24] But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me unreservedly, I will bring him into the land where he has just been, and his descendants shall possess it.

[25] 2 But now, since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn away tomorrow and set out in the desert on the Red Sea road."

[26] The LORD also said to Moses and Aaron:

[27] "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the Israelites against me.

[28] 3 Tell them: By my life, says the LORD, I will do to you just what I have heard you say.

[29] Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall. Of all your men of twenty years or more, registered in the census, who grumbled against me,

[30] not one shall enter the land where I solemnly swore to settle you, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun.

[31] Your little ones, however, who you said would be taken as booty, I will bring in, and they shall appreciate the land you spurned.

[32] But as for you, your bodies shall fall here in the desert,

[33] here where your children must wander for forty years, suffering for your faithlessness, till the last of you lies dead in the desert.

[34] Forty days you spent in scouting the land; forty years shall you suffer for your crimes: one year for each day. Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.

[35] I, the LORD, have sworn to do this to all this wicked community that conspired against me: here in the desert they shall die to the last man."

[36] And so it happened to the men whom Moses had sent to reconnoiter the land and who on returning had set the whole community grumbling against him by spreading discouraging reports about the land;

[37] these men who had given out the bad report about the land were struck down by the LORD and died.

[38] Of all the men who had gone to reconnoiter the land, only Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, survived.

[39] When Moses repeated these words to all the Israelites, the people felt great remorse.

[40] Early the next morning they started up into the foothills, saying, "Here we are, ready to go up to the place that the LORD spoke of: for we were indeed doing wrong."

[41] But Moses said, "Why are you again disobeying the LORD'S orders? This cannot succeed.

[42] Do not go up, because the LORD is not in your midst; if you go, you will be beaten down before your enemies.

[43] For there the Amalekites and Canaanites face you, and you will fall by the sword. You have turned back from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you."

[44] Yet they dared to go up into the foothills, even though neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses left the camp.

[45] 4 And the Amalekites and Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country came down and defeated them, beating them back as far as Hormah.

Numbers Chapter 15

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] 1 "Give the Israelites these instructions: When you have entered the land that I will give you for your homesteads,

[3] if you make to the LORD a sweet-smelling oblation from the herd or from the flock, in holocaust, in fulfillment of a vow, or as a freewill offering, or for one of your festivals,

[4] whoever does so shall also present to the LORD a cereal offering consisting of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil,

[5] as well as a libation of a fourth of a hin of wine, with each lamb sacrificed in holocaust or otherwise.

[6] With each sacrifice of a ram you shall present a cereal offering of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil,

[7] and a libation of a third of a hin of wine, thus making a sweet-smelling offering to the LORD.

[8] When you sacrifice an ox as a holocaust, or in fulfillment of a vow, or as a peace offering to the LORD,

[9] with it you shall present a cereal offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil,

[10] and a libation of half a hin of wine, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[11] The same is to be done for each ox, ram, lamb or goat.

[12] Whatever the number you offer, do the same for each of them.

[13] "All the native-born shall make these offerings in the same way, whenever they present a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[14] Likewise, in any future generation, any alien residing with you permanently or for a time, who presents a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD, shall do as you do.

[15] There is but one rule for you and for the resident alien, a perpetual rule for all your descendants. Before the LORD you and the alien are alike,

[16] with the same law and the same application of it for the alien residing among you as for yourselves."

[17] The LORD said to Moses,

[18] "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land into which I will bring you

[19] and begin to eat of the food of that land, you shall offer the LORD a contribution

[20] 2 consisting of a cake of your first batch of dough. You shall offer it just as you offer a contribution from the threshing floor.

[21] Throughout your generations you shall give a contribution to the LORD from your first batch of dough.

[22] 3 "When through inadvertence you fail to carry out any of these commandments which the LORD gives to Moses,

[23] and through Moses to you, from the time the LORD first issues the commandment down through your generations:

[24] if the community itself unwittingly becomes guilty of the fault of inadvertence, the whole community shall offer the holocaust of one young bull as a sweet-smelling oblation pleasing to the LORD, along with its prescribed cereal offering and libation, as well as one he-goat as a sin offering.

[25] Then the priest shall make atonement for the whole Israelite community; thus they will be forgiven the inadvertence for which they have brought their holocaust as an oblation to the LORD.

[26] Not only the whole Israelite community, but also the aliens residing among you, shall be forgiven, since the fault of inadvertence affects all the people.

[27] "However, if it is an individual who sins inadvertently, he shall bring a yearling she-goat as a sin offering,

[28] and the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for him who sinned inadvertently; when atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven.

[29] You shall have but one law for him who sins inadvertently, whether he be a native Israelite or an alien residing with you.

[30] "But anyone who sins defiantly, whether he be a native or an alien, insults the LORD, and shall be cut off from among his people.

[31] Since he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, he must be cut off. He has only himself to blame."

[32] While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was discovered gathering wood on the sabbath day.

[33] Those who caught him at it brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly.

[34] 4 But they kept him in custody, for there was no clear decision as to what should be done with him.

[35] Then the LORD said to Moses, "This man shall be put to death; let the whole community stone him outside the camp."

[36] So the whole community led him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[37] The LORD said to Moses,

[38] 5 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them that they and their descendants must put tassels on the corners of their garments, fastening each corner tassel with a violet cord.

[39] When you use these tassels, let the sight of them remind you to keep all the commandments of the LORD, without going wantonly astray after the desires of your hearts and eyes.

[40] Thus you will remember to keep all my commandments and be holy to your God.

[41] I, the LORD, am your God who, as God, brought you out of Egypt that I, the LORD, may be your God."

Numbers Chapter 16

[1] 1 Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, (and Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, son of Pallu, son of Reuben) took

[2] two hundred and fifty Israelites who were leaders in the community, members of the council and men of note. They stood before Moses,

[3] and held an assembly against Moses and Aaron, to whom they said, "Enough from you! The whole community, all of them, are holy; the LORD is in their midst. Why then should you set yourselves over the LORD'S congregation?"

[4] When Moses heard this, he fell prostrate.

[5] Then he said to Korah and to all his band, "May the LORD make known tomorrow morning who belongs to him and who is the holy one and whom he will have draw near to him! Whom he chooses, he will have draw near him.

[6] Do this: take your censers (Korah and all his band)

[7] and put fire in them and place incense in them before the LORD tomorrow. He whom the LORD then chooses is the holy one. Enough from you Levites!"

[8] Moses also said to Korah, "Listen to me, you Levites!

[9] Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has singled you out from the community of Israel, to have you draw near him for the service of the LORD'S Dwelling and to stand before the community to minister for them?

[10] He has allowed you and your kinsmen, the descendants of Levi, to approach him, and yet you now seek the priesthood too.

[11] It is therefore against the LORD that you and all your band are conspiring. For what has Aaron done that you should grumble against him?"

[12] 2 Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, but they answered, "We will not go.

[13] Are you not satisfied with having led us here away from a land flowing with milk and honey, to make us perish in the desert, that you must now lord it over us?

[14] 3 Far from bringing us to a land flowing with milk and honey, or giving us fields and vineyards for our inheritance, will you also gouge out our eyes? No, we will not go."

[15] Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, "Pay no heed to their offering. I have never taken a single ass from them, nor have I wronged any one of them."

[16] Moses said to Korah, "You and all your band shall appear before the LORD tomorrow-you and they and Aaron too.

[17] Then each of your two hundred and fifty followers shall take his own censer, put incense in it, and offer it to the LORD; and you and Aaron, each with his own censer, shall do the same."

[18] So they all took their censers, and laying incense on the fire they had put in them, they took their stand by the entrance of the meeting tent along with Moses and Aaron.

[19] Then, when Korah had assembled all his band against them at the entrance of the meeting tent, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire community,

[20] and the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

[21] "Stand apart from this band, that I may consume them at once."

[22] But they fell prostrate and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will one man's sin make you angry with the whole community?"

[23] The LORD answered Moses,

[24] "Speak to the community and tell them: Withdraw from the space around the Dwelling" (of Korah, Dathan and Abiram).

[25] 4 Moses, followed by the elders of Israel, arose and went to Dathan and Abiram.

[26] Then he warned the community, "Keep away from the tents of these wicked men and do not touch anything that is theirs: otherwise you too will be swept away because of all their sins."

[27] When Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrances of their tents with their wives and sons and little ones,

[28] Moses said, "This is how you shall know that it was the LORD who sent me to do all I have done, and that it was not I who planned it:

[29] if these men die an ordinary death, merely suffering the fate common to all mankind, then it was not the LORD who sent me.

[30] But if the LORD does something entirely new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them alive down into the nether world, with all belonging to them, then you will know that these men have defied the LORD."

[31] No sooner had he finished saying all this than the ground beneath them split open,

[32] and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their families (and all of Korah's men) and all their possessions.

[33] They went down alive to the nether world with all belonging to them; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the community.

[34] But all the Israelites near them fled at their shrieks, saying, "The earth might swallow us too!"

[35] 5 So they withdrew from the space around the Dwelling (of Korah, Dathan and Abiram). And fire from the LORD came forth which consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.

Numbers Chapter 17

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, to remove the censers from the embers; and scatter the fire some distance away,

[3] 1 for these sinners have consecrated the censers at the cost of their lives. Have them hammered into plates to cover the altar, because in being presented before the LORD they have become sacred. In this way they shall serve as a sign to the Israelites."

[4] So Eleazar the priest had the bronze censers of those burned during the offering hammered into a covering for the altar,

[5] in keeping with the orders which the LORD had given him through Moses. This cover was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no layman, no one who was not a descendant of Aaron, should approach the altar to offer incense before the LORD, lest he meet the fate of Korah and his band.

[6] The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, "It is you who have slain the LORD'S people."

[7] But while the community was deliberating against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the meeting tent, and the cloud now covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.

[8] Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the meeting tent,

[9] and the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

[10] "Depart from this community, that I may consume them at once." But they fell prostrate.

[11] Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, and bring it quickly to the community to make atonement for them; for wrath has come forth from the LORD and the blow is falling."

[12] Obeying the orders of Moses, Aaron took his censer and ran in among the community, where the blow was already falling on the people. Then, as he offered the incense and made atonement for the people,

[13] standing there between the living and the dead, the scourge was checked.

[14] Yet fourteen thousand seven hundred died from the scourge, in addition to those who died because of Korah.

[15] When the scourge had been checked, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[16] The LORD now said to Moses,

[17] 2 "Speak to the Israelites and get one staff from them for each ancestral house, twelve staffs in all, one from each of their tribal princes. Mark each man's name on his staff;

[18] 3 and mark Aaron's name on Levi's staff, for the head of Levi's ancestral house shall also have a staff.

[19] Then lay them down in the meeting tent, in front of the commandments, where I meet you.

[20] There the staff of the man of my choice shall sprout. Thus will I suppress from my presence the Israelites' grumbling against you."

[21] So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their princes gave him staffs, twelve in all, one from each tribal prince; and Aaron's staff was with them.

[22] Then Moses laid the staffs down before the LORD in the tent of the commandments.

[23] The next day, when Moses entered the tent, Aaron's staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth not only shoots, but blossoms as well, and even bore ripe almonds!

[24] Moses thereupon brought out all the staffs from the LORD'S presence to the Israelites. After each prince identified his own staff and took it,

[25] the LORD said to Moses, "Put back Aaron's staff in front of the commandments, to be kept there as a warning to the rebellious, so that their grumbling may cease before me; if it does not, they will die."

[26] And Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.

[27] 4 Then the Israelites cried out to Moses, "We are perishing; we are lost, we are all lost!

[28] Every time anyone approaches the Dwelling of the LORD, he dies! Are we to perish to the last man?"

Numbers Chapter 18

[1] 1 The LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons as well as the other members of your ancestral house shall be responsible for the sanctuary; but the responsibility of the priesthood shall rest on you and your sons alone.

[2] 2 Bring with you also your other kinsmen of the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, as your associates and assistants, while you and your sons are in front of the tent of the commandments.

[3] They shall look after your persons and the whole tent; however, they shall not come near the sacred vessels or the altar, lest both they and you die.

[4] 3 As your associates they shall have charge of all the work connected with the meeting tent. But no layman shall come near you.

[5] You shall have charge of the sanctuary and of the altar, that wrath may not fall again upon the Israelites.

[6] "Remember, it is I who have taken your kinsmen, the Levites, from the body of the Israelites; they are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD for the service of the meeting tent.

[7] 4 But only you and your sons are to have charge of performing the priestly functions in whatever concerns the altar and the room within the veil. I give you the priesthood as a gift. Any layman who draws near shall be put to death."

[8] 5 The LORD said to Aaron, "I myself have given you charge of the contributions made to me in the various sacred offerings of the Israelites; by perpetual ordinance I have assigned them to you and to your sons as your priestly share.

[9] You shall have the right to share in the oblations that are most sacred, in whatever they offer me as cereal offerings or sin offerings or guilt offerings; these shares shall accrue to you and to your sons.

[10] In eating them you shall treat them as most sacred; every male among you may partake of them. As sacred, they belong to you.

[11] 6 "You shall also have what is removed from the gift in every wave offering of the Israelites; by perpetual ordinance I have assigned it to you and to your sons and daughters. All in your family who are clean may partake of it.

[12] I have also assigned to you all the best of the new oil and of the new wine and grain that they give to the LORD as their first fruits;

[13] and likewise, of whatever grows on their land, the first products that they bring in to the LORD shall be yours; all of your family who are clean may partake of them.

[14] 7 Whatever is doomed in Israel shall be yours.

[15] Every living thing that opens the womb, whether of man or of beast, such as are to be offered to the LORD, shall be yours; but you must let the first-born of man, as well as of unclean animals, be redeemed.

[16] The ransom for a boy is to be paid when he is a month old; it is fixed at five silver shekels according to the sanctuary standard, twenty gerahs to the shekel.

[17] But the first-born of cattle, sheep or goats shall not be redeemed; they are sacred. Their blood you must splash on the altar and their fat you must burn as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[18] Their meat, however, shall be yours, just as the breast and the right leg of the wave offering belong to you.

[19] 8 By perpetual ordinance I have assigned to you and to your sons and daughters all the contributions from the sacred gifts which the Israelites make to the LORD; this is an inviolable covenant to last forever before the LORD, for you and for your descendants."

[20] 9 Then the LORD said to Aaron, "You shall not have any heritage in the land of the Israelites nor hold any portion among them; I will be your portion and your heritage among them.

[21] "To the Levites, however, I hereby assign all tithes in Israel as their heritage in recompense for the service they perform in the meeting tent.

[22] The Israelites may no longer approach the meeting tent; else they will incur guilt deserving death.

[23] Only the Levites are to perform the service of the meeting tent, and they alone shall be held responsible; this is a perpetual ordinance for all your generations. The Levites, therefore, shall not have any heritage among the Israelites,

[24] for I have assigned to them as their heritage the tithes which the Israelites give as a contribution to the LORD. That is why I have ordered that they are not to have any heritage among the Israelites."

[25] The LORD said to Moses,

[26] "Give the Levites these instructions: When you receive from the Israelites the tithes I have assigned you from them as your heritage, you are to make a contribution from them to the LORD, a tithe of the tithes;

[27] and your contribution will be credited to you as if it were grain from the threshing floor or new wine from the press.

[28] Thus you too shall make a contribution from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites, handing over to Aaron the priest the part to be contributed to the LORD.

[29] From all the gifts that you receive, and from the best parts, you are to consecrate to the LORD your own full contribution.

[30] "Tell them also: Once you have made your contribution from the best part, the rest of the tithes will be credited to you Levites as if it were produce of the threshing floor or of the winepress.

[31] Your families, as well as you, may eat them anywhere, since they are your recompense for service at the meeting tent.

[32] You will incur no guilt so long as you make a contribution of the best part. Do not profane the sacred gifts of the Israelites and so bring death on yourselves."

Numbers Chapter 19

[1] The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

[2] "This is the regulation which the law of the LORD prescribes. Tell the Israelites to procure for you a red heifer that is free from every blemish and defect and on which no yoke has ever been laid.

[3] 1 This is to be given to Eleazar the priest, to be led outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

[4] 2 Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the meeting tent.

[5] Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight, with its hide and flesh, its blood and offal;

[6] and the priest shall take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is being burned.

[7] The priest shall then wash his garments and bathe his body in water. He remains unclean until the evening, and only afterward may he return to the camp.

[8] Likewise, he who burned the heifer shall wash his garments, bathe his body in water, and be unclean until evening.

[9] Finally, a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them in a clean place outside the camp. There they are to be kept for preparing lustral water for the Israelite community. The heifer is a sin offering.

[10] He who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer shall also wash his garments and be unclean until evening. This is a perpetual ordinance, both for the Israelites and for the aliens residing among them.

[11] "Whoever touches the dead body of any human being shall be unclean for seven days;

[12] he shall purify himself with the water on the third and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean again. But if he fails to purify himself on the third and on the seventh day, he will not become clean.

[13] Everyone who fails to purify himself after touching the body of any deceased person, defiles the Dwelling of the LORD and shall be cut off from Israel. Since the lustral water has not been splashed over him, he remains unclean: his uncleanness still clings to him.

[14] "This is the law: When a man dies in a tent, everyone who enters the tent, as well as everyone already in it, shall be unclean for seven days;

[15] likewise, every vessel that is open, or with its lid unfastened, shall be unclean.

[16] Moreover, everyone who in the open country touches a dead person, whether he was slain by the sword or died naturally, or who touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days.

[17] 3 For anyone who is thus unclean, ashes from the sin offering shall be put in a vessel, and spring water shall be poured on them.

[18] Then a man who is clean shall take some hyssop, dip it in this water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the vessels and persons that were in it, or on him who touched a bone, a slain person or other dead body, or a grave.

[19] The clean man shall sprinkle the unclean on the third and on the seventh day; thus purified on the seventh day, he shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water, and in the evening he will be clean again.

[20] 4 Any unclean man who fails to have himself purified shall be cut off from the community, because he defiles the sanctuary of the LORD. As long as the lustral water has not been splashed over him, he remains unclean.

[21] This shall be a perpetual ordinance for you. "One who sprinkles the lustral water shall wash his garments, and anyone who comes in contact with this water shall be unclean until evening.

[22] Moreover, whatever the unclean person touches becomes unclean itself, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean until evening."

Numbers Chapter 20

[1] 1 The whole Israelite community arrived in the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people settled at Kadesh. It was here that Miriam died, and here that she was buried.

[2] As the community had no water, they held a council against Moses and Aaron.

[3] The people contended with Moses, exclaiming, "Would that we too had perished with our kinsmen in the LORD'S presence!

[4] Why have you brought the LORD'S community into this desert where we and our livestock are dying?

[5] Why did you lead us out of Egypt, only to bring us to this wretched place which has neither grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates? Here there is not even water to drink!"

[6] But Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the meeting tent, where they fell prostrate. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them,

[7] and the LORD said to Moses,

[8] "Take the staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters. From the rock you shall bring forth water for the community and their livestock to drink."

[9] So Moses took the staff from its place before the LORD, as he was ordered.

[10] He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock, where he said to them, "Listen to me, you rebels! Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?"

[11] 2 Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out in abundance for the community and their livestock to drink.

[12] 3 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth my sanctity before the Israelites, you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them."

[13] These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites contended against the LORD, and where he revealed his sanctity among them.

[14] 4 From Kadesh Moses sent men to the king of Edom with the message: "Your brother Israel has this to say: You know of all the hardships that have befallen us,

[15] how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we stayed a long time, how the Egyptians maltreated us and our fathers,

[16] and how, when we cried to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel who led us out of Egypt. Now here we are at the town of Kadesh at the edge of your territory.

[17] 5 Kindly let us pass through your country. We will not cross any fields or vineyards, nor drink any well water, but we will go straight along the royal road without turning to the right or to the left, until we have passed through your territory."

[18] But Edom answered him, "You shall not pass through here; if you do, I will advance against you with the sword."

[19] The Israelites insisted, "We want only to go up along the highway. If we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. Surely there is no harm in merely letting us march through."

[20] But Edom still said, "No, you shall not pass through," and advanced against them with a large and heavily armed force.

[21] Therefore, since Edom refused to let them pass through their territory, Israel detoured around them.

[22] 6 Setting out from Kadesh, the whole Israelite community came to Mount Hor.

[23] There at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

[24] "Aaron is about to be taken to his people; he shall not enter the land I am giving to the Israelites, because you both rebelled against my commandment at the waters of Meribah.

[25] Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up on Mount Hor.

[26] Then strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar; for there Aaron shall be taken in death."

[27] Moses did as the LORD commanded. When they had climbed Mount Hor in view of the whole community,

[28] Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Then Aaron died there on top of the mountain. When Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain,

[29] all the community understood that Aaron had passed away; and for thirty days the whole house of Israel mourned him.

Numbers Chapter 21

[1] 1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that the Israelites were coming along the way of Atharim, he engaged them in battle and took some of them captive.

[2] Israel then made this vow to the LORD: "If you deliver this people into my hand, I will doom their cities."

[3] 2 Later, when the LORD heeded Israel's prayer and delivered up the Canaanites, they doomed them and their cities. Hence that place was named Hormah.

[4] From Mount Hor they set out on the Red Sea road, to by-pass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey,

[5] 3 the people complained against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!"

[6] 4 In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died.

[7] Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people,

[8] 5 and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover."

[9] 6 Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered.

[10] The Israelites moved on and encamped in Oboth.

[11] 7 Setting out from Oboth, they encamped in Iye-abarim in the desert fronting Moab on the east.

[12] Setting out from there, they encamped in the Wadi Zered.

[13] Setting out from there, they encamped on the other side of the Arnon, in the desert that extends from the territory of the Amorites; for the Arnon forms Moab's boundary with the Amorites.

[14] 8 Hence it is said in the "Book of the Wars of the LORD": "Waheb in Suphah and the wadies,

[15] Arnon and the wadi gorges That reach back toward the site of Ar and slant to the border of Moab."

[16] 9 From there they went to Beer, where there was the well of which the LORD said to Moses, "Bring the people together, and I will give them water."

[17] Then it was that Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well!--so sing to it--

[18] The well that the princes sank, that the nobles of the people dug, with their scepters and their staffs." From Beer they went to Mattanah,

[19] from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

[20] 10 from Bamoth to the cleft in the plateau of Moab at the headland of Pisgah that overlooks Jeshimon.

[21] Now Israel sent men to Sihon, king of the Amorites, with the message,

[22] "Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, nor will we drink any well water, but we will go straight along the royal road until we have passed through your territory."

[23] Sihon, however, would not let Israel pass through his territory, but mustered all his forces and advanced into the desert against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he engaged Israel in battle.

[24] But Israel defeated him at the point of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and as far as the country of the Ammonites, whose boundary was at Jazer.

[25] Israel seized all the towns here and settled in these towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its dependencies.

[26] Now Heshbon was the capital of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had seized all his land from Jazer to the Arnon.

[27] That is why the poets say: "Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt, let Sihon's capital be firmly constructed.

[28] For fire went forth from Heshbon and a blaze from the city of Sihon; It consumed the cities of Moab and swallowed up the high places of the Arnon.

[29] 11 Woe to you, O Moab! You are ruined, O people of Chemosh! He let his sons become fugitives and his daughters be taken captive by the Amorite king Sihon.

[30] Their plowland is ruined from Heshbon to Dibon; Ar is laid waste; fires blaze as far as Medeba."

[31] When Israel had settled in the land of the Amorites,

[32] Moses sent spies to Jazer; Israel then captured it with its dependencies and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

[33] Then they turned and went up along the road to Bashan. But Og, king of Bashan, advanced against them with all his people to give battle at Edrei.

[34] The LORD, however, said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him; for into your hand I will deliver him with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon."

[35] So they struck him down with his sons and all his people, until not a survivor was left to him, and they took possession of his land.

Numbers Chapter 22

[1] 1 Then the Israelites moved on and encamped in the plains of Moab on the other side of the Jericho stretch of the Jordan.

[2] Now Balak, son of Zippor, saw all that Israel did to the Amorites.

[3] Indeed, Moab feared the Israelites greatly because of their numbers, and detested them.

[4] So Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Soon this horde will devour all the country around us as an ox devours the grass of the field." And Balak, Zippor's son, who was king of Moab at that time,

[5] sent messengers to Balaam, son of Beor, at Pethor on the Euphrates, in the land of the Amawites, summoning him with these words, "A people has come here from Egypt who now cover the face of the earth and are settling down opposite us!

[6] 2 Please come and curse this people for us; they are stronger than we are. We may then be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed and whoever you curse is cursed."

[7] Then the elders of Moab and of Midian left with the divination fee in hand and went to Balaam. When they had given him Balak's message,

[8] he said to them in reply, "Stay here overnight, and I will give you whatever answer the LORD gives me." So the princes of Moab lodged with Balaam.

[9] Then God came to Balaam and said, "Who are these men visiting you?"

[10] Balaam answered God, "Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me the message:

[11] 'This people that came here from Egypt now cover the face of the earth. Please come and lay a curse on them for us; we may then be able to give them battle and drive them out.'"

[12] But God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them and do not curse this people, for they are blessed."

[13] The next morning Balaam arose and told the princes of Balak, "Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you."

[14] So the princes of Moab went back to Balak with the report, "Balaam refused to come with us."

[15] Balak again sent princes, who were more numerous and more distinguished than the others.

[16] On coming to Balaam they told him, "This is what Balak, son of Zippor, has to say: Please do not refuse to come to me.

[17] I will reward you very handsomely and will do anything you ask of me. Please come and lay a curse on this people for me."

[18] But Balaam replied to Balak's officials, "Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD, my God.

[19] But, you too shall stay here overnight, till I learn what else the LORD may tell me."

[20] That night God came to Balaam and said to him, "If these men have come to summon you, you may go with them; yet only on the condition that you do exactly as I tell you."

[21] So the next morning when Balaam arose, he saddled his ass, and went off with the princes of Moab.

[22] 3 But now the anger of God flared up at him for going, and the angel of the LORD stationed himself on the road to hinder him as he was riding along on his ass, accompanied by two of his servants.

[23] When the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing on the road with sword drawn, she turned off the road and went into the field, and Balaam had to beat her to bring her back on the road.

[24] Then the angel of the LORD took his stand in a narrow lane between vineyards with a stone wall on each side.

[25] When the ass saw the angel of the LORD there, she shrank against the wall; and since she squeezed Balaam's leg against it, he beat her again.

[26] The angel of the LORD then went ahead, and stopped next in a passage so narrow that there was no room to move either to the right or to the left.

[27] When the ass saw the angel of the LORD there, she cowered under Balaam. So, in anger, he again beat the ass with his stick.

[28] But now the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she asked Balaam, "What have I done to you that you should beat me these three times?"

[29] "You have acted so willfully against me," said Balaam to the ass, "that if I but had a sword at hand, I would kill you here and now."

[30] But the ass said to Balaam, "Am I not your own beast, and have you not always ridden upon me until now? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way before?" "No," replied Balaam.

[31] Then the LORD removed the veil from Balaam's eyes, so that he too saw the angel of the LORD standing on the road with sword drawn; and he fell on his knees and bowed to the ground.

[32] But the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why have you beaten your ass these three times? It is I who have come armed to hinder you because this rash journey of yours is directly opposed to me.

[33] When the ass saw me, she turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away from me, I would have killed you; her I would have spared."

[34] Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, "I have sinned. Yet I did not know that you stood against me to oppose my journey. Since it has displeased you, I will go back home."

[35] But the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, "Go with the men; but you may say only what I tell you." So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.

[36] When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the boundary city Ir-Moab on the Arnon at the end of the Moabite territory.

[37] And he said to Balaam, "I sent an urgent summons to you! Why did you not come to me? Did you think I could not reward you?"

[38] Balaam answered him, "Well, I have come to you after all. But what power have I to say anything? I can speak only what God puts in my mouth."

[39] Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth.

[40] Here Balak slaughtered oxen and sheep, and sent portions to Balaam and to the princes who were with him.

[41] The next morning Balak took Balaam up on Bamoth-baal, and from there he saw some of the clans.

Numbers Chapter 23

[1] Then Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars, and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams for me here."

[2] So he did as Balaam had ordered, offering a bullock and a ram on each altar. And Balak said to him, "I have erected the seven altars, and have offered a bullock and a ram on each."

[3] Balaam then said to him, "Stand here by your holocaust while I go over there. Perhaps the LORD will meet me, and then I will tell you whatever he lets me see." He went out on the barren height,

[4] and God met him.

[5] When he had put an utterance in Balaam's mouth, the LORD said to him, "Go back to Balak, and speak accordingly."

[6] So he went back to Balak, who was still standing by his holocaust together with all the princes of Moab.

[7] 1 Then Balaam gave voice to his oracle: From Aram has Balak brought me here, Moab's king, from the Eastern Mountains: "Come and lay a curse for me on Jacob, come and denounce Israel."

[8] How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?

[9] 2 For from the top of the crags I see him, from the heights I behold him. Here is a people that lives apart and does not reckon itself among the nations.

[10] 3 Who has ever counted the dust of Jacob, or numbered Israel's wind-borne particles? May I die the death of the just, may my descendants be as many as theirs!

[11] "What have you done to me?" cried Balak to Balaam. "It was to curse my foes that I brought you here; instead, you have even blessed them."

[12] Balaam replied, "Is it not what the LORD puts in my mouth that I must repeat with care?"

[13] 4 Then Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you can see only some and not all of them, and from there curse them for me."

[14] So he brought him to the lookout field on the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bullock and a ram on each of them.

[15] Balaam then said to Balak, "Stand here by your holocaust, while I seek a meeting over there."

[16] Then the LORD met Balaam, and having put an utterance in his mouth, he said to him, "Go back to Balak, and speak accordingly."

[17] So he went back to Balak, who was still standing by his holocaust together with the princes of Moab. When Balak asked him, "What did the LORD say?"

[18] Balaam gave voice to his oracle: Be aroused, O Balak, and hearken; give ear to my testimony, O son of Zippor!

[19] God is not man that he should speak falsely, nor human, that he should change his mind. Is he one to speak and not act, to decree and not fulfill?

[20] It is a blessing I have been given to pronounce; a blessing which I cannot restrain.

[21] 5 Misfortune is not observed in Jacob, nor misery seen in Israel. The LORD, his God, is with him; with him is the triumph of his King.

[22] 6 It is God who brought him out of Egypt, a wild bull of towering might.

[23] No, there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor omen against Israel. It shall yet be said of Jacob, and of Israel, "Behold what God has wrought!"

[24] Here is a people that springs up like a lioness, and stalks forth like a lion; It rests not till it has devoured its prey and has drunk the blood of the slain.

[25] "Even though you cannot curse them," said Balak to Balaam, "at least do not bless them."

[26] But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not warn you that I must do all that the LORD tells me?"

[27] Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me bring you to another place; perhaps God will approve of your cursing them for me from there."

[28] So he took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks Jeshimon.

[29] Balaam then said to him, "Here build me seven altars; and here prepare for me seven bullocks and seven rams."

[30] And Balak did as Balaam had ordered, offering a bullock and a ram on each altar.

Numbers Chapter 24

[1] Balaam, however, perceiving that the LORD was pleased to bless Israel, did not go aside as before to seek omens, but turned his gaze toward the desert.

[2] When he raised his eyes and saw Israel encamped, tribe by tribe, the spirit of God came upon him,

[3] and he gave voice to his oracle: The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor, the utterance of the man whose eye is true,

[4] The utterance of one who hears what God says, and knows what the Most High knows, Of one who sees what the Almighty sees, enraptured, and with eyes unveiled:

[5] How goodly are your tents, O Jacob; your encampments, O Israel!

[6] They are like gardens beside a stream, like the cedars planted by the LORD.

[7] His wells shall yield free-flowing waters, he shall have the sea within reach; His king shall rise higher than. . . . and his royalty shall be exalted.

[8] It is God who brought him out of Egypt, a wild bull of towering might. He shall devour the nations like grass, their bones he shall strip bare.

[9] He lies crouching like a lion, or like a lioness; who shall arouse him? Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you!

[10] 1 Balak beat his palms together in a blaze of anger at Balaam and said to him, "It was to curse my foes that I summoned you here; yet three times now you have even blessed them instead!

[11] Be off at once, then, to your home. I promised to reward you richly, but the LORD has withheld the reward from you!"

[12] Balaam replied to Balak, "Did I not warn the very messengers whom you sent to me,

[13] 'Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not of my own accord to anything, good or evil, contrary to the command of the LORD'? Whatever the LORD says I must repeat.

[14] "But now that I am about to go to my own people, let me first warn you what this people will do to your people in the days to come."

[15] Then Balaam gave voice to his oracle: The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor, the utterance of the man whose eye is true,

[16] The utterance of one who hears what God says, and knows what the Most High knows, Of one who sees what the Almighty sees, enraptured and with eyes unveiled.

[17] 2 I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not near: A star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel, That shall smite the brows of Moab, and the skulls of all the Shuthites,

[18] Till Edom is dispossessed, and no fugitive is left in Seir. Israel shall do valiantly,

[19] and Jacob shall overcome his foes.

[20] 3 Upon seeing Amalek, Balaam gave voice to his oracle: First of the peoples was Amalek, but his end is to perish forever.

[21] 4 Upon seeing the Kenites, he gave voice to his oracle: Your abode is enduring, O smith, and your nest is set on a cliff;

[22] Yet destined for burning-- even as I watch--are your inhabitants.

[23] 5 Upon seeing. . . . he gave voice to his oracle: Alas, who shall survive of Ishmael,

[24] to deliver his people from the hands of the Kittim? When they have conquered Asshur and conquered Eber, He too shall perish forever.

[25] Then Balaam set out on his journey home; and Balak also went his way.

Numbers Chapter 25

[1] 1 While Israel was living at Shittim, the people degraded themselves by having illicit relations with the Moabite women.

[2] These then invited the people to the sacrifices of their god, and the people ate of the sacrifices and worshiped their god.

[3] When Israel thus submitted to the rites of Baal of Peor, the LORD'S anger flared up against Israel,

[4] 2 and he said to Moses, "Gather all the leaders of the people, and hold a public execution of the guilty ones before the LORD, that his blazing wrath may be turned away from Israel."

[5] So Moses told the Israelite judges, "Each of you shall kill those of his men who have submitted to the rites of Baal of Peor."

[6] 3 Yet a certain Israelite came and brought in a Midianite woman to his clansmen in the view of Moses and of the whole Israelite community, while they were weeping at the entrance of the meeting tent.

[7] When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, and taking a lance in hand,

[8] followed the Israelite into his retreat where he pierced the pair of them, the Israelite and the woman. Thus the slaughter of Israelites was checked;

[9] but only after twenty-four thousand had died.

[10] Then the LORD said to Moses,

[11] 4 "Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger from the Israelites by his zeal for my honor among them; that is why I did not put an end to the Israelites for the offense to my honor.

[12] Announce, therefore, that I hereby give him my pledge of friendship,

[13] which shall be for him and for his descendants after him the pledge of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous on behalf of his God and thus made amends for the Israelites."

[14] 5 The Israelite slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri, son of Salu, prince of an ancestral house of the Simeonites.

[15] The slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, daughter of Zur, who was head of a clan, an ancestral house, in Midian.

[16] 6 The LORD then said to Moses,

[17] "Treat the Midianites as enemies and crush them,

[18] for they have been your enemies by their wily dealings with you as regards Peor and as regards their kinswoman Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite prince, who was killed at the time of the slaughter because of Peor."

[19] After the slaughter7

Numbers Chapter 26

[1] the LORD said to Moses and Eleazar; son of Aaron the priest,

[2] "Take a census, by ancestral houses, throughout the community of the Israelites of all those of twenty years or more who are fit for military service in Israel."

[3] So on the plains of Moab along the Jericho stretch of the Jordan, Moses and the priest Eleazar registered

[4] those of twenty years or more, as the LORD had commanded Moses. The Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt were as follows:

[5] Of Reuben, the first-born of Israel, the Reubenites by clans were: through Hanoch the clan of the Hanochites, through Pallu the clan of the Palluites,

[6] through Hezron the clan of the Hezronites, through Carmi the clan of the Carmites.

[7] These were the clans of the Reubenites, of whom forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty men were registered.

[8] From Pallu descended Eliab,

[9] and the descendants of Eliab were Dathan and Abiram-the same Dathan and Abiram, councilors of the community, who revolted against Moses and Aaron (like Korah's band when it rebelled against the LORD).

[10] The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them as a warning (Korah too and the band that died when the fire consumed two hundred and fifty men.

[11] The descendents of Korah, however, did not die out).

[12] 1 The Simeonites by clans were: through Nemuel the clan of the Nemuelites, through Jamin the clan of the Jaminites, through Jachin the clan of the Jachinites,

[13] through Sohar the clan of the Soharites, through Shaul the clan of the Shaulites.

[14] These were the clans of the Simeonites, of whom twenty-two thousand two hundred men were registered.

[15] The Gadites by clans were: through Zephon the clan of the Zephonites, through Haggi the clan of the Haggites, through Shuni the clan of the Shunites,

[16] through Ozni the clan of the Oznites, through Eri the clan of the Erites,

[17] through Arod the clan of the Arodites, through Areli the clan of the Arelites.

[18] These were the clans of the Gadites, of whom forty thousand five hundred men were registered.

[19] The sons of Judah who died in the land of Canaan were Er and Onan.

[20] The Judahites by clans were: through Shelah the clan of the Shelahites, through Perez the clan of the Perezites, through Zerah the clan of the Zerahites.

[21] The Perezites were: through Hezron the clan of the Hezronites, through Hamul the clan of the Hamulites.

[22] These were the clans of Judah, of whom seventy-six thousand five hundred men were registered.

[23] The Issacharites by clans were: through Tola the clan of the Tolaites, through Puvah the clan of the Puvahites,

[24] through Jashub the clan of the Jashubites, through Shimron the clan of the Shimronites.

[25] These were the clans of Issachar, of whom sixty-four thousand three hundred men were registered.

[26] The Zebulunites by clans were: through Sered the clan of the Seredites, through Elon the clan of the Elonites, through Jahleel the clan of the Jahleelites.

[27] These were the clans of the Zebulunites, of whom sixty thousand five hundred men were registered.

[28] The sons of Joseph were Manasseh and Ephraim.

[29] The Manassehites by clans were: through Machir the clan of the Machirites, through Gilead, a descendant of Machir, the clan of the Gileadites.

[30] The Gileadites were: through Abiezer the clan of the Abiezrites, through Helek the clan of the Helekites,

[31] through Asriel the clan of the Asrielites, through Shechem the clan of the Shechemites,

[32] through Shemida the clan of the Shemidaites, through Hepher the clan of the Hepherites.

[33] Zelophehad, son of Hepher, had no sons, but only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

[34] These were the clans of Manasseh, of whom fifty-two thousand seven hundred men were registered.

[35] The Ephraimites by clans were: through Shuthelah the clan of the Shuthelahites, through Becher the clan of the Bechrites, through Tahan the clan of the Tahanites.

[36] The Shuthelahites were: through Eran the clan of the Eranites.

[37] These were the clans of the Ephraimites, of whom thirty-two thousand five hundred men were registered. These were the descendants of Joseph by clans.

[38] The Benjaminites by clans were: through Bela the clan of the Belaites, through Ashbel the clan of the Ashbelites, through Ahiram the clan of the Ahiramites,

[39] through Shupham the clan of the Shuphamites, through Hupham the clan of the Huphamites.

[40] The descendants of Bela were Arad and Naaman: through Arad the clan of the Aradites, through Naaman the clan of the Naamanites.

[41] These were the Benjaminites by clans, of whom forty-five thousand six hundred men were registered.

[42] The Danites by clans were: through Shuham the clan of the Shuhamites. These were the clans of Dan,

[43] of whom sixty-four thousand four hundred men were registered.

[44] The Asherites by clans were: through Imnah the clan of the Imnites, through Ishvi the clan of the Ishvites, through Beriah the clan of the Beriites,

[45] through Heber the clan of the Heberites, through Malchiel the clan of the Malchielites.

[46] The name of Asher's daughter was Serah.

[47] These were the clans of Asher, of whom fifty-three thousand four hundred men were registered.

[48] The Naphtalites by clans were: through Jahzeel the clan of the Jahzeelites, through Guni the clan of the Gunites,

[49] through Jezer the clan of the Jezerites, through Shillem the clan of the Shillemites.

[50] These were the clans of Naphtali, of whom forty-five thousand four hundred men were registered.

[51] These six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty were the Israelites who were registered.

[52] 2 The LORD said to Moses,

[53] "Among these groups the land shall be divided as their heritage in keeping with the number of individuals in each group.

[54] To a large group you shall assign a large heritage, to a small group a small heritage, each group receiving its heritage in proportion to the number of men registered in it.

[55] But the land shall be divided by lot, as the heritage of the various ancestral tribes.

[56] As the lot falls shall each group, large or small, be assigned its heritage."

[57] The Levites registered by clans were: through Gershon the clan of the Gershonites, through Kohath the clan of the Kohathites, through Merari the clan of the Merarites.

[58] These also were clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites. Among the descendants of Kohath was Amram,

[59] whose wife was named Jochebed. She also was of the tribe of Levi, born to the tribe in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.

[60] To Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

[61] But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered profane fire before the LORD.

[62] The total number of male Levites one month or more of age, who were registered, was twenty-three thousand. They were not registered with the other Israelites, however, for no heritage was given them among the Israelites.

[63] These, then, were the men registered by Moses and the priest Eleazar in the census of the Israelites taken on the plains of Moab along the Jericho stretch of the Jordan.

[64] Among them there was not a man of those who had been registered by Moses and the priest Aaron in the census of the Israelites taken in the desert of Sinai.

[65] For the LORD had told them that they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun.

Numbers Chapter 27

[1] Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph, had daughters named Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. They came forward,

[2] and standing in the presence of Moses, the priest Eleazar, the princes, and the whole community at the entrance of the meeting tent, said:

[3] 1 "Our father died in the desert. Although he did not join those who banded together against the LORD (in Korah's band), he died for his own sin without leaving any sons.

[4] But why should our father's name be withdrawn from his clan merely because he had no son? Let us, therefore, have property among our father's kinsmen."

[5] 2 When Moses laid their case before the LORD,

[6] the LORD said to him,

[7] "The plea of Zelophehad's daughters is just; you shall give them hereditary property among their father's kinsmen, letting their father's heritage pass on to them.

[8] Therefore, tell the Israelites: If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall let his heritage pass on to his daughter;

[9] if he has no daughter, you shall give his heritage to his brothers;

[10] if he has no brothers, you shall give his heritage to his father's brothers;

[11] if his father had no brothers, you shall give his heritage to his nearest relative in his clan, who shall then take possession of it." This is the legal norm for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.

[12] 3 The LORD said to Moses, "Go up here into the Abarim Mountains and view the land that I am giving to the Israelites.

[13] When you have viewed it, you too shall be taken to your people, as was your brother Aaron,

[14] because in the rebellion of the community in the desert of Zin you both rebelled against my order to manifest my sanctity to them by means of the water." (This is the water of Meribah of Kadesh in the desert of Zin.)

[15] Then Moses said to the LORD,

[16] 4 "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, set over the community a man

[17] who shall act as their leader in all things, to guide them in all their actions; that the LORD'S community may not be like sheep without a shepherd."

[18] 5 And the LORD replied to Moses, "Take Joshua, son of Nun, a man of spirit, and lay your hand upon him.

[19] Have him stand in the presence of the priest Eleazar and of the whole community, and commission him before their eyes.

[20] Invest him with some of your own dignity, that the whole Israelite community may obey him.

[21] 6 He shall present himself to the priest Eleazar, to have him seek out for him the decisions of the Urim in the LORD'S presence; and as he directs, Joshua, all the Israelites with him, and the community as a whole shall perform all their actions."

[22] Moses did as the LORD had commanded him. Taking Joshua and having him stand in the presence of the priest Eleazar and of the whole community,

[23] he laid his hands on him and gave him his commission, as the LORD had directed through Moses.

Numbers Chapter 28

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Give the Israelites this commandment: At the times I have appointed, you shall be careful to present to me the food offerings that are offered to me as sweet-smelling oblations.

[3] 1 "You shall tell them therefore: This is the oblation which you shall offer to the LORD: two unblemished yearling lambs each day as the established holocaust,

[4] offering one lamb in the morning and the other during the evening twilight,

[5] 2 each with a cereal offering of one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil of crushed olives.

[6] This is the established holocaust that was offered at Mount Sinai as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[7] 3 And as the libation for the first lamb, you shall pour out to the LORD in the sanctuary a fourth of a hin of wine.

[8] The other lamb, to be offered during the evening twilight, you shall offer with the same cereal offering and the same libation as in the morning, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[9] "On the sabbath day you shall offer two unblemished yearling lambs, with their cereal offering, two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and with their libations.

[10] Each sabbath there shall be the sabbath holocaust in addition to the established holocaust and its libation.

[11] 4 "On the first of each month you shall offer as a holocaust to the LORD two bullocks, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs,

[12] with three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as the cereal offering for each bullock, two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as the cereal offering for the ram,

[13] and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as the cereal offering for each lamb, that the holocaust may be a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[14] Their libations shall be half a hin of wine for each bullock, a third of a hin for the ram, and a fourth of a hin for each lamb. This is the new moon holocaust for every new moon of the year.

[15] Moreover, one goat shall be sacrificed as a sin offering to the LORD. These are to be offered in addition to the established holocaust and its libation.

[16] 5 "On the fourteenth day of the first month falls the Passover of the LORD,

[17] and the fifteenth day of this month is the pilgrimage feast. For seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten.

[18] On the first of these days you shall hold a sacred assembly, and do no sort of work.

[19] As an oblation you shall offer a holocaust to the LORD, which shall consist of two bullocks, one ram, and seven yearling lambs that you are sure are unblemished,

[20] with their cereal offerings of fine flour mixed with oil; offering three tenths of an ephah for each bullock, two tenths for the ram,

[21] and one tenth for each of the seven lambs;

[22] and offer one goat as a sin offering in atonement for yourselves.

[23] These offerings you shall make in addition to the established morning holocaust:

[24] you shall make exactly the same offerings each day for seven days as food offerings, in addition to the established holocaust with its libation, for a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[25] On the seventh day you shall hold a sacred assembly, and do no sort of work.

[26] 6 "On the day of first fruits, on your feast of Weeks, when you present to the LORD the new cereal offering, you shall hold a sacred assembly, and do no sort of work.

[27] You shall offer as a sweet-smelling holocaust to the LORD two bullocks, one ram, and seven yearling lambs that you are sure are unblemished,

[28] with their cereal offerings of fine flour mixed with oil; offering three tenths of an ephah for each bullock, two tenths for the ram,

[29] and one tenth for each of the seven lambs.

[30] Moreover, one goat shall be offered as a sin offering in atonement for yourselves.

[31] You shall make these offerings, together with their libations, in addition to the established holocaust with its cereal offering.

Numbers Chapter 29

[1] 1 "On the first day of the seventh month you shall hold a sacred assembly, and do no sort of work; it shall be a day on which you sound the trumpet.

[2] You shall offer as a sweet-smelling holocaust to the LORD one bullock, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs,

[3] with their cereal offerings of fine flour mixed with oil; offering three tenths of an ephah for the bullock, two tenths for the ram,

[4] and one tenth for each of the seven lambs.

[5] Moreover, one goat shall be offered as a sin offering in atonement for yourselves.

[6] These are to be offered in addition to the ordinary new-moon holocaust with its cereal offering, and in addition to the established holocaust with its cereal offering, together with the libations prescribed for them, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD.

[7] 2 "On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall hold a sacred assembly, and mortify yourselves, and do no sort of work.

[8] You shall offer as a sweet-smelling holocaust to the LORD one bullock, one ram, and seven yearling lambs that you are sure are unblemished,

[9] with their cereal offerings of fine flour mixed with oil; offering three tenths of an ephah for the bullock, two tenths for the ram,

[10] and one tenth for each of the seven lambs.

[11] 3 Moreover, one goat shall be sacrificed as a sin offering. These are to be offered in addition to the atonement sin offering, the established holocaust with its cereal offering, and their libations.

[12] 4 "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall hold a sacred assembly, and do no sort of work; then, for seven days following, you shall celebrate a pilgrimage feast to the LORD.

[13] 5 You shall offer as a sweet-smelling holocaust to the LORD thirteen bullocks, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs that are unblemished,

[14] with their cereal offerings of fine flour mixed with oil; offering three tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bullocks, two tenths for each of the two rams,

[15] and one tenth for each of the fourteen lambs.

[16] Moreover, one goat shall be sacrificed as a sin offering. These are to be offered in addition to the established holocaust with its cereal offering and libation.

[17] "On the second day you shall offer twelve bullocks, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

[18] with their cereal offerings and libations as prescribed for the bullocks, rams and lambs in proportion to their number,

[19] as well as one goat for a sin offering, besides the established holocaust with its cereal offering and libation.

[20] "On the third day you shall offer eleven bullocks, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

[21] with their cereal offerings and libations as prescribed for the bullocks, rams and lambs in proportion to their number,

[22] as well as one goat for a sin offering, besides the established holocaust with its cereal offering and libation.

[23] "On the fourth day you shall offer ten bullocks, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

[24] with their cereal offerings and libations as prescribed for the bullocks, rams and lambs in proportion to their number,

[25] as well as one goat for a sin offering, besides the established holocaust with its cereal offering and libation.

[26] "On the fifth day you shall offer nine bullocks, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

[27] with their cereal offerings and libations as prescribed for the bullocks, rams and lambs in proportion to their number,

[28] as well as one goat for a sin offering, besides the established holocaust with its cereal offering and libation.

[29] "On the sixth day you shall offer eight bullocks, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

[30] with their cereal offerings and libations as prescribed for the bullocks, rams and lambs in proportion to their number,

[31] as well as one goat for a sin offering, besides the established holocaust with its cereal offering and libation.

[32] "On the seventh day you shall offer seven bullocks, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

[33] with their cereal offerings and libations as prescribed for the bullocks, rams and lambs in proportion to their number,

[34] as well as one goat for a sin offering, besides the established holocaust with its cereal offering and libation.

[35] 6 "On the eighth day you shall hold a solemn meeting, and do no sort of work.

[36] You shall offer up in holocaust as a sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD one bullock, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs,

[37] with their cereal offerings and libations as prescribed for the bullocks, rams and lambs in proportion to their number,

[38] as well as one goat for a sin offering, besides the established holocaust with its cereal offering and libation.

[39] "These are the offerings you shall make to the LORD on your festivals, besides whatever holocausts, cereal offerings, libations, and peace offerings you present as your votive or freewill offerings."

Numbers Chapter 30

[1] Moses then gave the Israelites these instructions, just as the LORD had ordered him.

[2] Moses said to the heads of the Israelite tribes, "This is what the LORD has commanded:

[3] 1 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or binds himself under oath to a pledge of abstinence, he shall not violate his word, but must fulfill exactly the promise he has uttered.

[4] "When a woman, while still a maiden in her father's house, makes a vow to the LORD, or binds herself to a pledge,

[5] if her father learns of her vow or the pledge to which she bound herself and says nothing to her about it, then any vow or any pledge she has made remains valid.

[6] But if on the day he learns of it her father expresses to her his disapproval, then any vow or any pledge she has made becomes null and void; and the LORD releases her from it, since her father has expressed to her his disapproval.

[7] "If she marries while under a vow or under a rash pledge to which she bound herself,

[8] and her husband learns of it, yet says nothing to her that day about it, then the vow or pledge she had made remains valid.

[9] But if on the day he learns of it her husband expresses to her his disapproval, he thereby annuls the vow she had made or the rash pledge to which she had bound herself, and the LORD releases her from it.

[10] The vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, or any pledge to which such a woman binds herself, is valid.

[11] 2 "If it is in her husband's house that she makes a vow or binds herself under oath to a pledge,

[12] and her husband learns of it yet says nothing to express to her his disapproval, then any vow or any pledge she has made remains valid.

[13] But if on the day he learns of them her husband annuls them, then whatever she has expressly promised in her vow or in her pledge becomes null and void; since her husband has annulled them, the LORD releases her from them.

[14] "Any vow or any pledge that she makes under oath to mortify herself, her husband can either allow to remain valid or render null and void.

[15] But if her husband, day after day, says nothing at all to her about them, he thereby allows as valid any vow or any pledge she has made; he has allowed them to remain valid, because on the day he learned of them he said nothing to her about them.

[16] 3 If, however, he countermands them some time after he first learned of them, he is responsible for her guilt."

[17] These are the statutes which the LORD prescribed through Moses concerning the relationship between a husband and his wife, as well as between a father and his daughter while she is still a maiden in her father's house.

Numbers Chapter 31

[1] 1 The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites, and then you shall be taken to your people."

[3] So Moses told the people, "Select men from your midst and arm them for war, to attack the Midianites and execute the LORD'S vengeance on them.

[4] From each of the tribes of Israel you shall send a band of one thousand men to war."

[5] From the clans of Israel, therefore, a thousand men of each tribe were levied, so that there were twelve thousand men armed for war.

[6] Moses sent them out on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest for the campaign, who had with him the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the alarm.

[7] They waged war against the Midianites, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and killed every male among them.

[8] 2 Besides those slain in battle, they killed the five Midianite kings: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba; and they also executed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword.

[9] But the Israelites kept the women of the Midianites with their little ones as captives, and all their herds and flocks and wealth as spoil,

[10] while they set on fire all the towns where they had settled and all their encampments.

[11] Then they took all the booty, with the people and beasts they had captured, and brought the captives, together with the spoils and booty,

[12] to Moses and the priest Eleazar and to the Israelite community at their camp on the plains of Moab, along the Jericho stretch of the Jordan.

[13] When Moses and the priest Eleazar, with all the princes of the community, went outside the camp to meet them,

[14] Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the clan and company commanders, who were returning from combat.

[15] "So you have spared all the women!" he exclaimed.

[16] "Why, they are the very ones who on Balaam's advice prompted the unfaithfulness of the Israelites toward the LORD in the Peor affair, which began the slaughter of the LORD'S community.

[17] 3 Slay, therefore, every male child and every woman who has had intercourse with a man.

[18] But you may spare and keep for yourselves all girls who had no intercourse with a man.

[19] "Moreover, you shall stay outside the camp for seven days, and those of you who have slain anyone or touched anyone slain in battle shall purify yourselves on the third and on the seventh day. This applies both to you and to your captives.

[20] You shall also purify every article of cloth, leather, goats' hair, or wood."

[21] Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had returned from combat: "This is what the law, as prescribed by the LORD to Moses, ordains:

[22] Whatever can stand fire, such as gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead,

[23] 4 you shall put into the fire, that it may become clean; however, it must also be purified with lustral water. But whatever cannot stand fire you shall put into the water.

[24] On the seventh day you shall wash your clothes, and then you will again be clean. After that you may enter the camp."

[25] The LORD said to Moses:

[26] "With the help of the priest Eleazar and of the heads of the ancestral houses, count up all the human captives and the beasts that have been taken;

[27] 5 then divide them evenly, giving half to those who took active part in the war by going out to combat, and half to the rest of the community.

[28] You shall levy a tax for the LORD on the warriors who went out to combat: one out of every five hundred persons, oxen, asses and sheep

[29] in their half of the spoil you shall turn over to the priest Eleazar as a contribution to the LORD.

[30] From the Israelites' half you shall take one out of every fifty persons, and the same from the different beasts, oxen, asses and sheep, and give them to the Levites, who have charge of the LORD'S Dwelling."

[31] So Moses and the priest Eleazar did this, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[32] This booty, what was left of the loot which the soldiers had taken, amounted to six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,

[33] seventy-two thousand oxen,

[34] sixty-one thousand asses,

[35] and thirty-two thousand girls who were still virgins.

[36] The half that fell to those who had gone out to combat was: three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

[37] of which six hundred and seventy-five fell as tax to the LORD;

[38] thirty-six thousand oxen, of which seventy-two fell as tax to the LORD;

[39] thirty thousand five hundred asses, of which sixty-one fell as tax to the LORD;

[40] and sixteen thousand persons, of whom thirty-two fell as tax to the LORD.

[41] The taxes contributed to the LORD, Moses gave to the priest Eleazar, as the LORD had commanded him.

[42] The half for the other Israelites, which fell to the community when Moses had taken it from the soldiers, was:

[43] three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

[44] thirty-six thousand oxen,

[45] thirty thousand five hundred asses,

[46] and sixteen thousand persons.

[47] From this, the Israelites' share, Moses, as the LORD had ordered, took one out of every fifty, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites, who had charge of the LORD'S Dwelling.

[48] Then the officers who had been clan and company commanders of the army came up to Moses

[49] and said to him, "Your servants have counted up the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.

[50] 6 So, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD, each of us will bring as an offering to the LORD some gold article he has picked up, such as an anklet, a bracelet, a ring, an earring, or a necklace."

[51] Moses and the priest Eleazar accepted this gold from them, all of it in well-wrought articles.

[52] The gold that they gave as a contribution to the LORD amounted in all to sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. This was from the clan and company commanders;

[53] what the common soldiers had looted each one kept for himself.

[54] Moses, then, and the priest Eleazar accepted the gold from the clan and company commanders, and put it in the meeting tent as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.

Numbers Chapter 32

[1] 1 Now the Reubenites and Gadites had a very large number of livestock. Noticing that the land of Jazer and of Gilead was grazing country,

[2] they came to Moses and the priest Eleazar and to the princes of the community and said,

[3] 2 "The region of Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Baal-meon,

[4] which the LORD has laid low before the community of Israel, is grazing country. Now, since your servants have livestock,"

[5] they continued, "if we find favor with you, let this land be given to your servants as their property. Do not make us cross the Jordan."

[6] But Moses answered the Gadites and Reubenites: "Are your kinsmen, then, to engage in war, while you remain here?

[7] Why do you wish to discourage the Israelites from crossing to the land the LORD has given them?

[8] That is just what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to reconnoiter the land.

[9] They went up to the Wadi Eshcol and reconnoitered the land, then so discouraged the Israelites that they would not enter the land the LORD had given them.

[10] At that time the wrath of the LORD flared up, and he swore,

[11] 'Because they have not followed me unreservedly, none of these men of twenty years or more who have come up from Egypt shall ever see this country I promised under oath to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,

[12] 3 except the Kenizzite Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun, who have followed the LORD unreservedly.'

[13] So in his anger with the Israelites the LORD made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD had died out.

[14] And now here you are, a brood of sinners, rising up in your fathers' place to add still more to the LORD'S blazing wrath against the Israelites.

[15] If you turn away from following him, he will make them stay still longer in the desert, and so you will bring about the ruin of this whole nation."

[16] But they were insistent with him: "We wish only to build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and towns for our families;

[17] but we ourselves will march as troops in the van of the Israelites, until we have led them to their destination. Meanwhile our families can remain here in the fortified towns, safe from attack by the natives.

[18] We will not return to our homes until every one of the Israelites has taken possession of his heritage,

[19] and will not claim any heritage with them once we cross the Jordan, so long as we receive a heritage for ourselves on this eastern side of the Jordan."

[20] 4 Moses said to them in reply: "If you keep your word to march as troops in the LORD'S vanguard

[21] and to cross the Jordan in full force before the LORD until he has driven his enemies out of his way

[22] and the land is subdued before him, then you may return here, quit of every obligation to the LORD and to Israel, and this region shall be your possession before the LORD.

[23] But if you do not do this, you will sin against the LORD, and you can be sure that you will not escape the consequences of your sin.

[24] Build the towns, then, for your families, and the folds for your flocks, but also fulfill your express promise."

[25] The Gadites and Reubenites answered Moses, "Your servants will do as you command, my lord.

[26] While our wives and children, our herds and other livestock remain in the towns of Gilead,

[27] all your servants will go across as armed troops to battle before the LORD, just as your lordship says."

[28] Moses, therefore, gave this order in their regard to the priest Eleazar, to Joshua, son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral tribes of the Israelites:

[29] "If all the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you as combat troops before the LORD, you shall give them Gilead as their property when the land has been subdued before you.

[30] But if they will not go across with you as combat troops before the LORD, you shall bring their wives and children and livestock across before you into Canaan, and they shall have their property with you in the land of Canaan."

[31] To this the Gadites and Reubenites replied, "We will do what the LORD has commanded us, your servants.

[32] We ourselves will go across into the land of Canaan as troops before the LORD, but we will retain our hereditary property on this side of the Jordan."

[33] 5 So Moses gave them (the Gadites and Reubenites, as well as half the tribe of Manasseh, son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan,) the land with its towns and the districts that surrounded them.

[34] The Gadites rebuilt the fortified towns of Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

[35] Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

[36] Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran, and they built sheepfolds.

[37] The Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

[38] 6 Nebo, Baal-meon (names to be changed!), and Sibmah. These towns, which they rebuilt, they called by their old names.

[39] The descendants of Machir, son of Manasseh, invaded Gilead and captured it, driving out the Amorites who were there.

[40] (Moses gave Gilead to Machir, son of Manasseh, and he settled there.)

[41] Jair, a Manassehite clan, campaigned against the tent villages, captured them and called them Havvoth-jair.

[42] Nobah also campaigned against Kenath, captured it with its dependencies and called it Nobah after his own name.

Numbers Chapter 33

[1] 1 The following are the stages by which the Israelites journeyed up by companies from the land of Egypt under the guidance of Moses and Aaron.

[2] By the LORD'S command Moses recorded the starting places of the various stages. The starting places of the successive stages were:

[3] 2 They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the Passover morrow the Israelites went forth in triumph, in view of all Egypt,

[4] While the Egyptians buried their first-born all of whom the LORD had struck down; on their gods, too, the LORD executed judgments.

[5] Setting out from Rameses, the Israelites camped at Succoth.

[6] Setting out from Succoth, they camped at Etham near the edge of the desert.

[7] Setting out from Etham, they turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which is opposite Baal-zephon, and they camped opposite Migdol.

[8] Setting out from Pi-hahiroth, they crossed over through the sea into the desert, and after a three days' journey in the desert of Etham, they camped at Marah.

[9] Setting out from Marah, they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

[10] Setting out from Elim, they camped beside the Red Sea.

[11] Setting out from the Red Sea, they camped in the desert of Sin.

[12] Setting out from the desert of Sin, they camped at Dophkah.

[13] Setting out from Dophkah, they camped at Alush.

[14] Setting out from Alush, they camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

[15] Setting out from Rephidim, they camped in the desert of Sinai.

[16] Setting out from the desert of Sinai, they camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.

[17] Setting out from Kibroth-hattaavah, they camped at Hazeroth.

[18] Setting out from Hazeroth, they camped at Rithmah.

[19] Setting out from Rithmah, they camped at Rimmon-perez.

[20] Setting out from Rimmon-perez, they camped at Libnah.

[21] Setting out from Libnah, they camped at Rissah.

[22] Setting out from Rissah, they camped at Kehelathah.

[23] Setting out from Kehelathah, they camped at Mount Shepher.

[24] Setting out from Mount Shepher, they camped at Haradah.

[25] Setting out from Haradah, they camped at Makheloth.

[26] Setting out from Makheloth, they camped at Tahath.

[27] Setting out from Tahath, they camped at Terah.

[28] Setting out from Terah, they camped at Mithkah.

[29] Setting out from Mithkah, they camped at Hashmonah.

[30] 3 Setting out from Hashmonah,-They camped at Moseroth.

[31] Setting out from Moseroth, they camped at Bene-jaakan.

[32] Setting out from Bene-jaakan, they camped at Mount Gidgad.

[33] Setting out from Mount Gidgad, they camped at Jotbathah.

[34] Setting out from Jotbathah, they camped at Abronah.

[35] Setting out from Abronah, they camped at Ezion-geber.

[36] Setting out from Ezion-geber,-They camped in the desert of Zin, at Kadesh.

[37] Setting out from Kadesh, they camped at Mount Hor on the border of the land of Edom.

[38] (Aaron the priest ascended Mount Hor at the LORD'S command, and there he died in the fortieth year from the departure of the Israelites from the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month.

[39] Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

[40] 4 Now, when the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard that the Israelites were coming. . . . )

[41] 5 Setting out from Mount Hor,-They camped at Zalmonah.

[42] Setting out from Zalmonah, they camped at Punon.

[43] Setting out from Punon, they camped at Oboth.

[44] Setting out from Oboth, they camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.

[45] Setting out from Iye-abarim, they camped at Dibon-gad.

[46] Setting out from Dibon-gad, they camped at Almon-diblathaim.

[47] Setting out from Almon-diblathaim, they camped in the Abarim Mountains opposite Nebo.

[48] Setting out from the Abarim Mountains, they camped on the plains of Moab along the Jericho stretch of the Jordan.

[49] Their camp along the Jordan on the plains of Moab extended from Beth-jeshimoth to Abelshittim.

[50] The LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab beside the Jericho stretch of the Jordan and said to him:

[51] "Tell the Israelites: When you go across the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

[52] drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you; destroy all their stone figures and molten images, and demolish all their high places.

[53] "You shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land as your property.

[54] You shall apportion the land among yourselves by lot, clan by clan, assigning a large heritage to a large group and a small heritage to a small group. Wherever anyone's lot falls, there shall his property be within the heritage of his ancestral tribe.

[55] "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those whom you allow to remain will become as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the country where you live,

[56] and I will treat you as I had intended to treat them."

Numbers Chapter 34

[1] The LORD said to Moses,

[2] "Give the Israelites this order: When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the territory that shall fall to you as your heritage--the land of Canaan with its boundaries:

[3] "Your southern boundary shall be at the desert of Zin along the border of Edom; on the east it shall begin at the end of the Salt Sea,

[4] and turning south of the Akrabbim Pass, it shall cross Zin, and extend south of Kadesh-barnea to Hazar-addar; thence it shall cross to Azmon,

[5] and turning from Azmon to the Wadi of Egypt, shall terminate at the Sea.

[6] 1 "For your western boundary you shall have the Great Sea with its coast; this shall be your western boundary.

[7] 2 "The following shall be your boundary on the north: from the Great Sea you shall draw a line to Mount Hor,

[8] and shall continue it from Mount Hor to Labo in the land of Hamath, with the boundary extending through Zedad.

[9] Thence the boundary shall reach to Ziphron and terminate at Hazar-enan. This shall be your northern boundary.

[10] "For your eastern boundary you shall draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham.

[11] From Shepham the boundary shall go down to Ar-Baal, east of Ain, and descending further, shall strike the ridge on the east side of the Sea of Chinnereth;

[12] thence the boundary shall continue along the Jordan and terminate with the Salt Sea. "This is the land that shall be yours, with the boundaries that surround it."

[13] Moses also gave this order to the Israelites: "This is the land, to be apportioned among you by lot, which the LORD has commanded to be given to the nine and one half tribes.

[14] For all the ancestral houses of the tribe of Reuben, and the ancestral houses of the tribe of Gad, as well as half of the tribe of Manasseh, have already received their heritage;

[15] these two and one half tribes have received their heritage on the eastern side of the Jericho stretch of the Jordan, toward the sunrise."

[16] The LORD said to Moses,

[17] "These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land among you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua, son of Nun,

[18] and one prince from each of the tribes whom you shall designate for this task.

[19] These shall be as follows: from the tribe of Judah: Caleb, son of Jephunneh,

[20] from the tribe of Simeon: Samuel, son of Ammihud;

[21] from the tribe of Benjamin: Elidad, son of Chislon;

[22] from the tribe of Dan: Bukki, son of Jogli;

[23] from the tribe of Manasseh: Hanniel, son of Ephod; and

[24] from the tribe of Ephraim: Kemuel, son of Shiphtan, for the descendants of Joseph;

[25] from the tribe of Zebulun: Elizaphan, son of Parnach;

[26] from the tribe of Issachar: Paltiel, son of Azzan;

[27] from the tribe of Asher: Ahihud, son of Shelomi;

[28] from the tribe of Naphtali: Pedahel, son of Ammihud."

[29] These are they whom the LORD commanded to assign the Israelites their heritage in the land of Canaan.

Numbers Chapter 35

[1] The LORD gave these instructions to Moses on the plains of Moab beside the Jericho stretch of the Jordan:

[2] "Tell the Israelites that out of their hereditary property they shall give the Levites cities for homes, as well as pasture lands around the cities.

[3] The cities shall serve them to dwell in, and the pasture lands shall serve their herds and flocks and other animals.

[4] The pasture lands of the cities to be assigned the Levites shall extend a thousand cubits from the city walls in each direction.

[5] Thus you shall measure out two thousand cubits outside the city along each side-east, south, west and north-with the city lying in the center. This shall serve them as the pasture lands of their cities.

[6] "Now these are the cities you shall give to the Levites: the six cities of asylum which you must establish as places where a homicide can take refuge, and in addition forty-two other cities--

[7] a total of forty-eight cities with their pasture lands to be assigned the Levites.

[8] 1 In assigning the cities from the property of the Israelites, take more from a larger group and fewer from a smaller one, so that each group will cede cities to the Levites in proportion to its own heritage."

[9] The LORD said to Moses,

[10] "Tell the Israelites: When you go across the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

[11] select for yourselves cities to serve as cities of asylum, where a homicide who has killed someone unintentionally may take refuge.

[12] 2 These cities shall serve you as places of asylum from the avenger of blood, so that a homicide shall not be put to death unless he is first tried before the community.

[13] Six cities of asylum shall you assign:

[14] three beyond the Jordan, and three in the land of Canaan.

[15] These six cities of asylum shall serve not only the Israelites but all the resident or transient aliens among them, so that anyone who has killed another unintentionally may take refuge there.

[16] 3 "If a man strikes another with an iron instrument and causes his death, he is a murderer and shall be put to death.

[17] If a man strikes another with a death-dealing stone in his hand and causes his death, he is a murderer and shall be put to death.

[18] If a man strikes another with a death-dealing club in his hand and causes his death, he is a murderer and shall be put to death.

[19] The avenger of blood may execute the murderer, putting him to death on sight.

[20] "If a man pushes another out of hatred, or after lying in wait for him throws something at him, and causes his death,

[21] or if he strikes another out of enmity and causes his death, he shall be put to death as a murderer. The avenger of blood may execute the murderer on sight.

[22] "However, if a man pushes another accidentally and not out of enmity, or if without lying in wait for him he throws some object at him,

[23] or without seeing him throws a death-dealing stone which strikes him and causes his death, although he was not his enemy nor seeking to harm him:

[24] then the community, deciding the case between the slayer and the avenger of blood in accordance with these norms,

[25] shall free the homicide from the avenger of blood and shall remand him to the city of asylum where he took refuge; and he shall stay there until the death of the high priest who has been anointed with sacred oil.

[26] If the homicide of his own accord leaves the bounds of the city of asylum where he has taken refuge,

[27] and the avenger of blood finds him beyond these bounds and kills him, the avenger incurs no bloodguilt;

[28] the homicide was bound to stay in his city of asylum until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the homicide return to his own district.

[29] "These shall be norms for you and all your descendants, wherever you live, for rendering judgment.

[30] "Whenever someone kills another, the evidence of witnesses is required for the execution of the murderer. The evidence of a single witness is not sufficient for putting a person to death.

[31] "You shall not accept indemnity in place of the life of a murderer who deserves the death penalty; he must be put to death.

[32] Nor shall you accept indemnity to allow a refugee to leave his city of asylum and again dwell elsewhere in the land before the death of the high priest.

[33] You shall not desecrate the land where you live. Since bloodshed desecrates the land, the land can have no atonement for the blood shed on it except through the blood of him who shed it.

[34] Do not defile the land in which you live and in the midst of which I dwell; for I am the LORD who dwells in the midst of the Israelites."

Numbers Chapter 36

[1] The heads of the ancestral houses in the clan of descendants of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh-one of the Josephite clans-came up and laid this plea before Moses and the priest Eleazar and before the princes who were the heads of the ancestral houses of the other Israelites.

[2] They said: "The LORD commanded you, my lord, to apportion the land by lot among the Israelites; and you, my lord, were also commanded by the LORD to give the heritage of our kinsman Zelophehad to his daughters.

[3] But if they marry into one of the other Israelite tribes, their heritage will be withdrawn from our ancestral heritage and will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry; thus the heritage that fell to us by lot will be diminished.

[4] 1 When the Israelites celebrate the jubilee year, the heritage of these women will be permanently added to that of the tribe into which they marry and will be withdrawn from that of our ancestral tribe."

[5] 2 So Moses gave this regulation to the Israelites according to the instructions of the LORD: "The tribe of the Josephites are right in what they say.

[6] This is what the LORD commands with regard to the daughters of Zelophehad: They may marry anyone they please, provided they marry into a clan of their ancestral tribe,

[7] so that no heritage of the Israelites will pass from one tribe to another, but all the Israelites will retain their own ancestral heritage.

[8] Therefore, every daughter who inherits property in any of the Israelite tribes shall marry someone belonging to a clan of her own ancestral tribe, in order that all the Israelites may remain in possession of their own ancestral heritage.

[9] Thus, no heritage can pass from one tribe to another, but all the Israelite tribes will retain their own ancestral heritage."

[10] The daughters of Zelophehad obeyed the command which the LORD had given to Moses.

[11] Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, Zelophehad's daughters, married relatives on their father's side

[12] within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh, son of Joseph; hence their heritage remained in the tribe of their father's clan.

[13] These are the commandments and decisions which the LORD prescribed for the Israelites through Moses, on the plains of Moab beside the Jericho stretch of the Jordan.

Introduction to Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy

Introduction

The fifth and last book of the Pentateuch is called Deuteronomy, meaning "second law." In reality, what it contains is not a new law but a partial repetition, completion and explanation of the law proclaimed on Mount Sinai. The historical portions of the book are also a resume of what is related elsewhere in the Pentateuch. The chief characteristic of this book is its vigorous oratorical style. In a series of eloquent discourses Moses presents the theme of covenant renewal in a vital liturgical framework. He exhorts, corrects and threatens his people, appealing to their past glory, their historic mission, and the promise of future triumph. His aim is to enforce among the Israelites the Lord's claim to their obedience, loyalty and love. The events contained in the Book of Deuteronomy took place in the plains of Moab (Deut 1:5) between the end of the wanderings in the desert (Deut 1:3) and the crossing of the Jordan River (Joshua 4:19), a period of no more than forty days. The Book of Deuteronomy, written after the Israelites had for centuries been resident in the Land of Promise, takes the form of a testament of Moses, the great leader and legislator, to his people on the eve of his death. At the time of our Lord's coming, it shared with the Psalms a preeminent religious influence among the Old Testament books. The Savior quoted passages of Deuteronomy in overcoming the threefold temptation of Satan in the desert (Mat 4; Deut 6:13, 16; 8:3; 10:20), and in explaining to the lawyer the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:35-39; Deut 6:4).

The book is divided as follows:

Historical Review and Exhortation (Deut 1:1-4:43)

God and His Covenant (Deut 4:44-11:32)

Exposition of the Law (Deut 12:1-26, 19)

Final Words of Moses (Deut 27:1-34:12)

Deuteronomy Chapter 1

[1] These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan ( 1 in the desert, in the Arabah, opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab;

[2] it is a journey of eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of the highlands of Seir).

[3] In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites all the commands that the LORD had given him in their regard.

[4] After he had defeated Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei,

[5] Moses began to explain the law in the land of Moab beyond the Jordan, as follows:

[6] "The LORD, our God, said to us at Horeb, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

[7] 2 Leave here and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the surrounding regions, the land of the Canaanites in the Arabah, the mountains, the foothills, the Negeb and the seacoast; to Lebanon, and as far as the Great River (the Euphrates).

[8] I have given that land over to you. Go now and occupy the land I swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I would give to them and to their descendants.'

[9] 3 "At that time I said to you, 'Alone, I am unable to carry you.

[10] The LORD, your God, has so multiplied you that you are now as numerous as the stars in the sky.

[11] May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over, and bless you as he promised!

[12] But how can I alone bear the crushing burden that you are, along with your bickering?

[13] Choose wise, intelligent and experienced men from each of your tribes, that I may appoint them as your leaders.'

[14] You answered me, 'We agree to do as you have proposed.'

[15] So I took outstanding men of your tribes, wise and experienced, and made them your leaders as officials over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties and over tens, and other tribal officers.

[16] I charged your judges at that time, 'Listen to complaints among your kinsmen, and administer true justice to both parties even if one of them is an alien.

[17] In rendering judgment, do not consider who a person is; give ear to the lowly and to the great alike, fearing no man, for judgment is God's. Refer to me any case that is too hard for you and I will hear it.'

[18] Thereupon I gave you all the commands you were to fulfill.

[19] "Then, in obedience to the command of the LORD, our God, we set out from Horeb and journeyed through the whole desert, vast and fearful as you have seen, in the direction of the hill country of the Amorites. We had reached Kadesh-barnea

[20] when I said to you, 'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD, our God, is giving us.

[21] The LORD, your God, has given this land over to you. Go up and occupy it, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, commands you. Do not fear or lose heart.'

[22] Then all of you came up to me and said, 'Let us send men ahead to reconnoiter the land for us and report to us on the road we must follow and the cities we must take.'

[23] Agreeing with the proposal, I chose twelve men from your number, one from each tribe.

[24] They set out into the hill country as far as the Wadi Eshcol, and explored it.

[25] Then, taking along some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, 'The land which the LORD, our God, gives us is good.'

[26] "But you refused to go up, and after defying the command of the LORD, your God,

[27] 4 you set to murmuring in your tents, 'Out of hatred for us the LORD has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and destroy us.

[28] What shall we meet with up there? Our kinsmen have made us fainthearted by reporting that the people are stronger and taller than we, and their cities are large and fortified to the sky; besides, they saw the Anakim there.'

[29] "But I said to you, 'Have no dread or fear of them.

[30] The LORD, your God, who goes before you, will himself fight for you, just as he took your part before your very eyes in Egypt,

[31] as well as in the desert, where you saw how the LORD, your God, carried you, as a man carries his child, all along your journey until you arrived at this place.'

[32] Despite this, you would not trust the LORD, your God,

[33] who journeys before you to find you a resting place--by day in the cloud, and by night in the fire, to show the way you must go.

[34] When the LORD heard your words, he was angry;

[35] and he swore, 'Not one man of this evil generation shall look upon the good land I swore to give to your fathers,

[36] 5 except Caleb, son of Jephunneh; he shall see it. For to him and to his sons I will give the land he trod upon, because he has followed the LORD unreservedly.'

[37] "The LORD was angered against me also on your account, and said, 'Not even you shall enter there,

[38] but your aide Joshua, son of Nun, shall enter. Encourage him, for he is to give Israel its heritage.

[39] Your little ones, who you said would become booty, and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad--they shall enter; to them I will give it, and they shall occupy it.

[40] But as for yourselves: turn about and proceed into the desert on the Red Sea road.'

[41] "In reply you said to me, 'We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up ourselves and fight, just as the LORD, our God, commanded us.' And each of you girded on his weapons, making light of going up into the hill country.

[42] But the LORD said to me, 'Warn them: Do not go up and fight, lest you be beaten down before your enemies, for I will not be in your midst.'

[43] I gave you this warning but you would not listen. In defiance of the LORD'S command you arrogantly marched off into the hill country.

[44] Then the Amorites living there came out against you and, like bees, chased you, cutting you down in Seir as far as Hormah.

[45] On your return you wept before the LORD, but he did not listen to your cry or give ear to you.

[46] That is why you had to stay as long as you did at Kadesh.

Deuteronomy Chapter 2

[1] "When we did turn and proceed into the desert on the Red Sea road, as the LORD had commanded me, we circled around the highlands of Seir for a long time.

[2] Finally the LORD said to me,

[3] 'You have wandered round these highlands long enough; turn and go north.

[4] Give this order to the people: You are now about to pass through the territory of your kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. Though they are afraid of you, be very careful

[5] not to come in conflict with them, for I will not give you so much as a foot of their land, since I have already given Esau possession of the highlands of Seir.

[6] You shall purchase from them with silver the food you eat and the well water you drink.

[7] The LORD, your God, has blessed you in all your undertakings; he has been concerned about your journey through this vast desert. It is now forty years that he has been with you, and you have never been in want.'

[8] "Then we left behind us the Arabah route, Elath, Ezion-geber, and Seir, where our kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, live; and we went on toward the desert of Moab.

[9] And the LORD said to me, 'Do not show hostility to the Moabites or engage them in battle, for I will not give you possession of any of their land, since I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their own.

[10] (Formerly the Emim lived there, a people strong and numerous and tall like the Anakim;

[11] like them they were considered Rephaim. It was the Moabites who called them Emim.

[12] In Seir, however, the former inhabitants were the Horites; the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, clearing them out of the way and taking their place, just as the Israelites have done in the land of their heritage which the LORD has given them.)

[13] Get ready, then, to cross the Wadi Zered.' So we crossed it.

[14] Thirty-eight years had elapsed between our departure from Kadesh-barnea and that crossing; in the meantime the whole generation of soldiers had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn they should.

[15] For it was the LORD'S hand that was against them, till he wiped them out of the camp completely.

[16] "When at length death had put an end to all the soldiers among the people,

[17] the LORD said to me,

[18] 'You are now about to leave Ar and the territory of Moab behind.

[19] As you come opposite the Ammonites, do not show hostility or come in conflict with them, for I will not give you possession of any land of the Ammonites, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their own.

[20] (This also was considered a country of the Rephaim from its former inhabitants, whom the Ammonites called Zamzummim,

[21] a people strong and numerous and tall like the Anakim. But these, too, the LORD cleared out of the way for the Ammonites, who ousted them and took their place.

[22] He had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who dwell in Seir, by clearing the Horites out of their way, so that the descendants of Esau have taken their place down to the present.

[23] 1 So also the Caphtorim, migrating from Caphtor, cleared away the Avvim, who once dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, and took their place.)

[24] "'Advance now across the Wadi Arnon. I now deliver into your hands Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin the occupation; engage him in battle.

[25] This day I will begin to put a fear and dread of you into every nation under the heavens, so that at the mention of your name they will quake and tremble before you.'

[26] "So I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with this offer of peace:

[27] 'Let me pass through your country by the highway; I will go along it without turning aside to the right or to the left.

[28] For the food I eat which you will supply, and for the water you give me to drink, you shall be paid in silver. Only let me march through,

[29] as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar have done, until I cross the Jordan into the land which the LORD, our God, is about to give us.'

[30] But Sihon, king of Heshbon, refused to let us pass through his land, because the LORD, your God, made him stubborn in mind and obstinate in heart that he might deliver him up to you, as indeed he has now done.

[31] "Then the LORD said to me, 'Now that I have already begun to hand over to you Sihon and his land, begin the actual occupation.'

[32] So Sihon and all his people advanced against us to join battle at Jahaz;

[33] but since the LORD, our God, had delivered him to us, we defeated him and his sons and all his people.

[34] 2 At that time we seized all his cities and doomed them all, with their men, women and children; we left no survivor.

[35] Our only booty was the livestock and the loot of the captured cities.

[36] From Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon and from the city in the wadi itself, as far as Gilead, no city was too well fortified for us to whom the LORD had delivered them up.

[37] However, in obedience to the command of the LORD, our God, you did not encroach upon any of the Ammonite land, neither the region bordering on the Wadi Jabbok, nor the cities of the highlands.

Deuteronomy Chapter 3

[1] "Then we turned and proceeded toward Bashan. But Og, king of Bashan, advanced against us with all his people to give battle at Edrei.

[2] The LORD, however, said to me, 'Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hand with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.'

[3] And thus the LORD, our God, delivered into our hands Og, king of Bashan, with all his people. We defeated him so completely that we left him no survivor.

[4] At that time we captured all his cities, none of them eluding our grasp, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan: sixty cities in all,

[5] to say nothing of the great number of unwalled towns. All the cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars.

[6] As we had done to Sihon, king of Heshbon, so also here we doomed all the cities, with their men, women and children;

[7] but all the livestock and the loot of each city we took as booty for ourselves.

[8] "And so at that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan the territory from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon

[9] (which is called Sirion by the Sidonians and Senir by the Amorites),

[10] comprising all the cities of the plateau and all Gilead and all the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan including Salecah and Edrei.

[11] 1 (Og, king of Bashan, was the last remaining survivor of the Rephaim. He had a bed of iron, nine regular cubits long and four wide, which is still preserved in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

[12] "When we occupied the land at that time, I gave Reuben and Gad the territory from Aroer, on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, halfway up into the highlands of Gilead, with the cities therein.

[13] The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, the whole Argob region, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All this region of Bashan was once called a land of the Rephaim.

[14] Jair, a Manassehite clan, took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and called it after his own name Bashan Havvoth-jair, the name it bears today.)

[15] To Machir I gave Gilead,

[16] and to Reuben and Gad the territory from Gilead to the Wadi Arnon--including the wadi bed and its banks--and to the Wadi Jabbok, which is the border of the Ammonites,

[17] as well as the Arabah with the Jordan and its eastern banks from Chinnereth to the Salt Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

[18] 2 "At that time I charged them as follows 'The LORD, your God, has given you this land as your own. But all you troops equipped for battle must cross over in the vanguard of your brother Israelites.

[19] Only your wives and children, as well as your livestock, of which I know you have a large number, shall remain behind in the towns I have given you,

[20] until the LORD has settled your kinsmen as well, and they too possess the land which the LORD, your God, will give them on the other side of the Jordan. Then you may all return to the possessions I have given you.'

[21] "It was then that I instructed Joshua, 'Your eyes have seen all that the LORD, your God, has done to both these kings; so, too, will the LORD do to all the kingdoms which you will encounter over there.

[22] Fear them not, for the LORD, your God, will fight for you.'

[23] "And it was then that I besought the LORD,

[24] 'O Lord GOD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and might. For what god in heaven or on earth can perform deeds as mighty as yours?

[25] Ah, let me cross over and see this good land beyond the Jordan, this fine hill country, and the Lebanon!'

[26] But the LORD was angry with me on your account and would not hear me. 'Enough!' the LORD said to me. 'Speak to me no more of this.

[27] Go up to the top of Pisgah and look out to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross this Jordan.

[28] Commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall cross at the head of this people and shall put them in possession of the land you are to see.'

[29] This was while we were in the ravine opposite Beth-peor.

Deuteronomy Chapter 4

[1] "Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

[2] In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.

[3] You have seen with your own eyes what the LORD did at Baal-peor: the LORD, your God, destroyed from your midst everyone that followed the Baal of Peor;

[4] but you, who clung to the LORD, your God, are all alive today.

[5] Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the LORD, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.

[6] Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, 'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.'

[7] For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?

[8] Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

[9] "However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children.

[10] 1 There was the day on which you stood before the LORD, your God, at Horeb, and he said to me, 'Assemble the people for me; I will have them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me as long as they live in the land and may so teach their children.'

[11] You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, which blazed to the very sky with fire and was enveloped in a dense black cloud.

[12] Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

[13] He proclaimed to you his covenant, which he commanded you to keep: the ten commandments, which he wrote on two tablets of stone.

[14] The LORD charged me at that time to teach you the statutes and decrees which you are to observe over in the land you will occupy.

[15] "You saw no form at all on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire. Be strictly on your guard, therefore,

[16] not to degrade yourselves by fashioning an idol to represent any figure, whether it be the form of a man or a woman,

[17] of any animal on the earth or of any bird that flies in the sky,

[18] of anything that crawls on the ground or of any fish in the waters under the earth.

[19] And when you look up to the heavens and behold the sun or the moon or any star among the heavenly hosts, do not be led astray into adoring them and serving them. These the LORD, your God, has let fall to the lot of all other nations under the heavens;

[20] 2 but you he has taken and led out of that iron foundry, Egypt, that you might be his very own people, as you are today.

[21] Since the LORD was angered against me on your account and swore that I should not cross the Jordan nor enter the good land which he is giving you as a heritage,

[22] I myself shall die in this country without crossing the Jordan; but you will cross over and take possession of that good land.

[23] Take heed, therefore, lest, forgetting the covenant which the LORD, your God, has made with you, you fashion for yourselves against his command an idol in any form whatsoever.

[24] For the LORD, your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

[25] 3 "When you have children and grandchildren, and have grown old in the land, should you then degrade yourselves by fashioning an idol in any form and by this evil done in his sight provoke the LORD, your God,

[26] I call heaven and earth this day to witness against you, that you shall all quickly perish from the land which you will occupy when you cross the Jordan. You shall not live in it for any length of time but shall be promptly wiped out.

[27] The LORD will scatter you among the nations, and there shall remain but a handful of you among the nations to which the LORD will lead you.

[28] There you shall serve gods fashioned by the hands of man out of wood and stone, gods which can neither see nor hear, neither eat nor smell.

[29] Yet there too you shall seek the LORD, your God; and you shall indeed find him when you search after him with your whole heart and your whole soul.

[30] In your distress, when all these things shall have come upon you, you shall finally return to the LORD, your God, and heed his voice.

[31] Since the LORD, your God, is a merciful God, he will not abandon and destroy you, nor forget the covenant which under oath he made with your fathers.

[32] "Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of?

[33] Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?

[34] 4 Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, with his strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors, all of which the LORD, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

[35] All this you were allowed to see that you might know the LORD is God and there is no other.

[36] Out of the heavens he let you hear his voice to discipline you; on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard him speaking out of the fire.

[37] For love of your fathers he chose their descendants and personally led you out of Egypt by his great power,

[38] driving out of your way nations greater and mightier than you, so as to bring you in and to make their land your heritage, as it is today.

[39] This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.

[40] You must keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever."

[41] Then Moses set apart three cities in the region east of the Jordan,

[42] that a homicide might take refuge there if he unwittingly killed his neighbor to whom he had previously borne no malice, and that he might save his life by fleeing to one of these cities:

[43] Bezer in the desert, in the region of the plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassehites.

[44] This is the law which Moses set before the Israelites.

[45] These are the ordinances, statutes and decrees which he proclaimed to them when they had come out of Egypt

[46] and were beyond the Jordan in the ravine opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon and whom Moses and the Israelites defeated after coming out of Egypt.

[47] They occupied his land and the land of Og, king of Bashan, as well--the land of these two kings of the Amorites in the region east of the Jordan:

[48] 5 from Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon to Mount Sion (that is Hermon)

[49] and all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Arabah Sea under the slopes of Pisgah.

Deuteronomy Chapter 5

[1] Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and decrees which I proclaim in your hearing this day, that you may learn them and take care to observe them.

[2] The LORD, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb;

[3] not with our fathers did he make this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive here this day.

[4] The LORD spoke with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.

[5] Since you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain, I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to announce to you these words of the LORD:

[6] 'I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.

[7] You shall not have other gods besides me.

[8] You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;

[9] 1 you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishments for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation

[10] but bestowing mercy, down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.

[11] 'You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. For the LORD will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.

[12] 'Take care to keep holy the sabbath day as the LORD, your God, commanded you.

[13] Six days you may labor and do all your work;

[14] but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may be done then, whether by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or ass or any of your beasts, or the alien who lives with you. Your male and female slave should rest as you do.

[15] For remember that you too were once slaves in Egypt, and the LORD, your God, brought you from there with his strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why the LORD, your God, has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

[16] 'Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD, your God, has commanded you, that you may have a long life and prosperity in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you.

[17] 'You shall not kill.

[18] 'You shall not commit adultery.

[19] 'You shall not steal.

[20] 'You shall not bear dishonest witness against your neighbor.

[21] 'You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. 'You shall not desire your neighbor's house or field, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything that belongs to him.'

[22] "These words, and nothing more, the LORD spoke with a loud voice to your entire assembly on the mountain from the midst of the fire and the dense cloud. He wrote them upon two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

[23] But when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, you came to me in the person of all your tribal heads and elders,

[24] and said, 'The LORD, our God, has indeed let us see his glory and his majesty! We have heard his voice from the midst of the fire and have found out today that a man can still live after God has spoken with him.

[25] But why should we die now? Surely this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD, our God, any more, we shall die.

[26] For what mortal has heard, as we have, the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of fire, and survived?

[27] Go closer, you, and hear all that the LORD, our God, will say, and then tell us what the LORD, our God, tells you; we will listen and obey.'

[28] "The LORD heard your words as you were speaking to me and said to me, 'I have heard the words these people have spoken to you, which are all well said.

[29] Would that they might always be of such a mind, to fear me and to keep all my commandments! Then they and their descendants would prosper forever.

[30] Go, tell them to return to their tents.

[31] Then you wait here near me and I will give you all the commandments, the statutes and decrees you must teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.'

[32] "Be careful, therefore, to do as the LORD, your God, has commanded you, not turning aside to the right or to the left,

[33] but following exactly the way prescribed for you by the LORD, your God, that you may live and prosper, and may have long life in the land which you are to occupy.

Deuteronomy Chapter 6

[1] "These then are the commandments, the statutes and decrees which the LORD, your God, has ordered that you be taught to observe in the land into which you are crossing for conquest,

[2] so that you and your son and your grandson may fear the LORD, your God, and keep, throughout the days of your lives, all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you, and thus have long life.

[3] Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that you may grow and prosper the more, in keeping with the promise of the LORD, the God of your fathers, to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.

[4] 1 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!

[5] Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

[6] Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.

[7] Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.

[8] 2 Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.

[9] Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

[10] "When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he would give you, a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,

[11] with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner, with cisterns that you did not dig, with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant; and when, therefore, you eat your fill,

[12] take care not to forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.

[13] 3 The LORD, your God, shall you fear; him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear.

[14] You shall not follow other gods, such as those of the surrounding nations,

[15] lest the wrath of the LORD, your God, flare up against you and he destroy you from the face of the land; for the LORD, your God, who is in your midst, is a jealous God.

[16] "You shall not put the LORD, your God, to the test, as you did at Massah.

[17] But keep the commandments of the LORD, your God, and the ordinances and statutes he has enjoined on you.

[18] Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that you may, according to his word, prosper, and may enter in and possess the good land which the LORD promised on oath to your fathers,

[19] thrusting all your enemies out of your way.

[20] "Later on, when your son asks you what these ordinances, statutes and decrees mean which the LORD, our God, has enjoined on you,

[21] you shall say to your son, 'We were once slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand

[22] and wrought before our eyes signs and wonders, great and dire, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and his whole house.

[23] He brought us from there to lead us into the land he promised on oath to our fathers, and to give it to us.

[24] Therefore, the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes in fear of the LORD, our God, that we may always have as prosperous and happy a life as we have today;

[25] and our justice before the LORD, our God, is to consist in carefully observing all these commandments he has enjoined on us.'

Deuteronomy Chapter 7

[1] "When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which you are to enter and occupy, and dislodges great nations before you--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites: seven nations more numerous and powerful than you--

[2] and when the LORD, your God, delivers them up to you and you defeat them, you shall doom them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.

[3] You shall not intermarry with them, neither giving your daughters to their sons nor taking their daughters for your sons.

[4] For they would turn your sons from following me to serving other gods, and then the wrath of the LORD would flare up against you and quickly destroy you.

[5] 1 "But this is how you must deal with them: Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, chop down their sacred poles, and destroy their idols by fire.

[6] For you are a people sacred to the LORD, your God; he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be a people peculiarly his own.

[7] It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations.

[8] It was because the LORD loved you and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn to your fathers, that he brought you out with his strong hand from the place of slavery, and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

[9] Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed, the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant down to the thousandth generation toward those who love him and keep his commandments,

[10] but who repays with destruction the person who hates him; he does not dally with such a one, but makes him personally pay for it.

[11] You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments, the statutes and the decrees which I enjoin on you today.

[12] "As your reward for heeding these decrees and observing them carefully, the LORD, your God, will keep with you the merciful covenant which he promised on oath to your fathers.

[13] He will love and bless and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your soil, your grain and wine and oil, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks, in the land which he swore to your fathers he would give you.

[14] You will be blessed above all peoples; no man or woman among you shall be childless nor shall your livestock be barren.

[15] The LORD will remove all sickness from you; he will not afflict you with any of the malignant diseases that you know from Egypt, but will leave them with all your enemies.

[16] "You shall consume all the nations which the LORD, your God, will deliver up to you. You are not to look on them with pity, lest you be ensnared into serving their gods.

[17] Perhaps you will say to yourselves, 'These nations are greater than we. How can we dispossess them?'

[18] But do not be afraid of them. Rather, call to mind what the LORD, your God, did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:

[19] the great testings which your own eyes have seen, the signs and wonders, his strong hand and outstretched arm with which the LORD, your God, brought you out. The same also will he do to all the nations of whom you are now afraid.

[20] Moreover, the LORD, your God, will send hornets among them, until the survivors who have hidden from you are destroyed.

[21] Therefore, do not be terrified by them, for the LORD, your God, who is in your midst, is a great and awesome God.

[22] He will dislodge these nations before you little by little. You cannot exterminate them all at once, lest the wild beasts become too numerous for you.

[23] The LORD, your God, will deliver them up to you and will rout them utterly until they are annihilated.

[24] He will deliver their kings into your hand, that you may make their names perish from under the heavens. No man will be able to stand up against you, till you have put an end to them.

[25] The images of their gods you shall destroy by fire. Do not covet the silver or gold on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD, your God.

[26] You shall not bring any abominable thing into your house, lest you be doomed with it; loathe and abhor it utterly as a thing that is doomed.

Deuteronomy Chapter 8

[1] "Be careful to observe all the commandments I enjoin on you today, that you may live and increase, and may enter in and possess the land which the LORD promised on oath to your fathers.

[2] Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments.

[3] 1 He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.

[4] The clothing did not fall from you in tatters, nor did your feet swell these forty years.

[5] So you must realize that the LORD, your God, disciplines you even as a man disciplines his son.

[6] "Therefore, keep the commandments of the LORD, your God, by walking in his ways and fearing him.

[7] For the LORD, your God, is bringing you into a good country, a land with streams of water, with springs and fountains welling up in the hills and valleys,

[8] a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, of olive trees and of honey,

[9] a land where you can eat bread without stint and where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones contain iron and in whose hills you can mine copper.

[10] But when you have eaten your fill, you must bless the LORD, your God, for the good country he has given you.

[11] Be careful not to forget the LORD, your God, by neglecting his commandments and decrees and statutes which I enjoin on you today:

[12] lest, when you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses and lived in them,

[13] and have increased your herds and flocks, your silver and gold, and all your property,

[14] you then become haughty of heart and unmindful of the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery;

[15] who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock

[16] and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers, that he might afflict you and test you, but also make you prosperous in the end.

[17] Otherwise, you might say to yourselves, 'It is my own power and the strength of my own hand that has obtained for me this wealth.'

[18] Remember then, it is the LORD, your God, who gives you the power to acquire wealth, by fulfilling, as he has now done, the covenant which he swore to your fathers.

[19] But if you forget the LORD, your God, and follow other gods, serving and worshiping them, I forewarn you this day that you will perish utterly.

[20] Like the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so shall you too perish for not heeding the voice of the LORD, your God.

Deuteronomy Chapter 9

[1] "Hear, O Israel! You are now about to cross the Jordan to enter in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than yourselves, having large cities fortified to the sky,

[2] the Anakim, a people great and tall. You know of them and have heard it said of them, 'Who can stand up against the Anakim?'

[3] Understand, then, today that it is the LORD, your God, who will cross over before you as a consuming fire; he it is who will reduce them to nothing and subdue them before you, so that you can drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD promised you.

[4] After the LORD, your God, has thrust them out of your way, do not say to yourselves, 'It is because of my merits that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'; for it is really because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.

[5] No, it is not because of your merits or the integrity of your heart that you are going in to take possession of their land; but the LORD, your God, is driving these nations out before you on account of their wickedness and in order to keep the promise which he made on oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

[6] Understand this, therefore: it is not because of your merits that the LORD, your God, is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

[7] "Bear in mind and do not forget how you angered the LORD, your God, in the desert. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you arrived in this place, you have been rebellious toward the LORD.

[8] At Horeb you so provoked the LORD that he was angry enough to destroy you,

[9] when I had gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you. Meanwhile I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking,

[10] till the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone inscribed, by God's own finger, with a copy of all the words that the LORD spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

[11] Then, at the end of the forty days and forty nights, when the LORD had given me the two stone tablets of the covenant,

[12] he said to me, 'Go down from here now, quickly, for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have become depraved; they have already turned aside from the way I pointed out to them and have made for themselves a molten idol.

[13] I have seen now how stiff-necked this people is,' the LORD said to me.

[14] 'Let me be, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens. I will then make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'

[15] "When I had come down again from the blazing, fiery mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in both my hands,

[16] I saw how you had sinned against the LORD, your God: you had already turned aside from the way which the LORD had pointed out to you by making for yourselves a molten calf!

[17] Raising the two tablets with both hands I threw them from me and broke them before your eyes.

[18] Then, as before, I lay prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking, because of all the sin you had committed in the sight of the LORD and the evil you had done to provoke him.

[19] For I dreaded the fierce anger of the LORD against you: his wrath would destroy you. Yet once again the LORD listened to me.

[20] With Aaron, too, the LORD was deeply angry, and would have killed him had I not prayed for him also at that time.

[21] Then, taking the calf, the sinful object you had made, and fusing it with fire, I ground it down to powder as fine as dust, which I threw into the wadi that went down the mountainside.

[22] "At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah likewise, you provoked the LORD to anger.

[23] And when he sent you up from Kadesh-barnea to take possession of the land he was giving you, you rebelled against this command of the LORD, your God, and would not trust or obey him.

[24] Ever since I have known you, you have been rebels against the LORD.

[25] "Those forty days, then, and forty nights, I lay prostrate before the LORD, because he had threatened to destroy you.

[26] This was my prayer to him: O Lord GOD, destroy not your people, the heritage which your majesty has ransomed and brought out of Egypt with your strong hand.

[27] Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Look not upon the stubbornness of this people nor upon their wickedness and sin,

[28] lest the people from whose land you have brought us say, 'The LORD was not able to bring them into the land he promised them'; or 'Out of hatred for them, he brought them out to slay them in the desert.'

[29] They are, after all, your people and your heritage, whom you have brought out by your great power and with your outstretched arm.

Deuteronomy Chapter 10

[1] "At that time the LORD said to me, 'Cut two tablets of stone like the former; then come up the mountain to me. Also make an ark of wood.

[2] I will write upon the tablets the commandments that were on the former tablets that you broke, and you shall place them in the ark.'

[3] So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the former, and went up the mountain carrying the two tablets.

[4] The LORD then wrote on them, as he had written before, the ten commandments which he spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. After the LORD had given them to me,

[5] I turned and came down the mountain, and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. There they have remained, in keeping with the command the LORD gave me.

[6] (The Israelites set out from Beeroth Bene-jaakan for Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, his son Eleazar succeeding him in the priestly office.

[7] From there they set out for Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah for Jotbathah, a region where there is water in the wadies.)

[8] "At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to be in attendance before the LORD and minister to him, and to give blessings in his name, as they have done to this day.

[9] For this reason, Levi has no share in the heritage with his brothers; the LORD himself is his heritage, as the LORD, your God, has told him.

[10] "After I had spent these other forty days and forty nights on the mountain, and the LORD had once again heard me and decided not to destroy you,

[11] he said to me, 'Go now and set out at the head of your people, that they may enter in and occupy the land which I swore to their fathers I would give them.'

[12] "And now, Israel, what does the LORD, your God, ask of you but to fear the LORD, your God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul,

[13] to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD which I enjoin on you today for your own good?

[14] 1 Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the LORD, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it.

[15] Yet in his love for your fathers the LORD was so attached to them as to choose you, their descendants, in preference to all other peoples, as indeed he has now done.

[16] 2 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff-necked.

[17] For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods, the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes;

[18] who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.

[19] So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

[20] The LORD, your God, shall you fear, and him shall you serve; hold fast to him and swear by his name.

[21] He is your glory, he, your God, who has done for you those great and terrible things which your own eyes have seen.

[22] Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy strong, and now the LORD, your God, has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

Deuteronomy Chapter 11

[1] "Love the LORD, your God, therefore, and always heed his charge: his statutes, decrees and commandments.

[2] It is not your children, who have not known it from experience, but you yourselves who must now understand the discipline of the LORD, your God; his majesty, his strong hand and outstretched arm;

[3] the signs and deeds he wrought among the Egyptians, on Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and on all his land;

[4] what he did to the Egyptian army and to their horses and chariots, engulfing them in the water of the Red Sea as they pursued you, and bringing ruin upon them even to this day;

[5] what he did for you in the desert until you arrived in this place;

[6] and what he did to the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, when the ground opened its mouth and swallowed them up out of the midst of Israel, with their families and tents and every living thing that belonged to them.

[7] With your own eyes you have seen all these great deeds that the LORD has done.

[8] Keep all the commandments, then, which I enjoin on you today, that you may be strong enough to enter in and take possession of the land into which you are crossing,

[9] and that you may have long life on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers he would give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

[10] "For the land which you are to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you would sow your seed and then water it by hand, as in a vegetable garden.

[11] No, the land into which you are crossing for conquest is a land of hills and valleys that drinks in rain from the heavens,

[12] a land which the LORD, your God, looks after; his eyes are upon it continually from the beginning of the year to the end.

[13] 1 If, then, you truly heed my commandments which I enjoin on you today, loving and serving the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul,

[14] 2 I will give the seasonal rain to your land, the early rain and the late rain, that you may have your grain, wine and oil to gather in;

[15] and I will bring forth grass in your fields for your animals. Thus you may eat your fill.

[16] But be careful lest your heart be so lured away that you serve other gods and worship them.

[17] For then the wrath of the LORD will flare up against you and he will close up the heavens, so that no rain will fall, and the soil will not yield its crops, and you will soon perish from the good land he is giving you.

[18] "Therefore, take these words of mine into your heart and soul. Bind them at your wrist as a sign, and let them be a pendant on your forehead.

[19] Teach them to your children, speaking of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.

[20] And write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,

[21] so that, as long as the heavens are above the earth, you and your children may live on in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers he would give them.

[22] "For if you are careful to observe all these commandments I enjoin on you, loving the LORD, your God, and following his ways exactly, and holding fast to him,

[23] the LORD will drive all these nations out of your way, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

[24] 3 Every place where you set foot shall be yours: from the desert and from Lebanon, from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea, shall be your territory.

[25] None shall stand up against you; the LORD, your God, will spread the fear and dread of you through any land where you set foot, as he promised you.

[26] "I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse:

[27] a blessing for obeying the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today;

[28] a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today, to follow other gods, whom you have not known.

[29] 4 When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which you are to enter and occupy, then you shall pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim, the curse on Mount Ebal.

[30] (Are they not beyond the Jordan, on the other side of the western road in the country of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite the Gilgal beside the terebinth of Moreh?)

[31] For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and occupy the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you. When, therefore, you take possession of it and settle there,

[32] be careful to observe all the statutes and decrees that I set before you today.

Deuteronomy Chapter 12

[1] "These are the statutes and decrees which you must be careful to observe in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to occupy, as long as you live on its soil.

[2] Destroy without fail every place on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree where the nations you are to dispossess worship their gods.

[3] Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, destroy by fire their sacred poles, and shatter the idols of their gods, that you may stamp out the remembrance of them in any such place.

[4] "That is not how you are to worship the LORD, your God.

[5] Instead, you shall resort to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses out of all your tribes and designates as his dwelling

[6] and there you shall bring your holocausts and sacrifices, your tithes and personal contributions, your votive and freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks.

[7] There, too, before the LORD, your God, you and your families shall eat and make merry over all your undertakings, because the LORD, your God, has blessed you.

[8] You shall not do as we are now doing; here, everyone does what seems right to himself,

[9] since you have not yet reached your resting place, the heritage which the LORD, your God, will give you.

[10] But after you have crossed the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage, when he has given you rest from all your enemies round about and you live there in security,

[11] then to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses as the dwelling place for his name you shall bring all the offerings I command you: your holocausts and sacrifices, your tithes and personal contributions, and every special offering you have vowed to the LORD.

[12] You shall make merry before the LORD, your God, with your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as with the Levite who belongs to your community but has no share of his own in your heritage.

[13] Take care not to offer up your holocausts in any place you fancy,

[14] but offer them up in the place which the LORD chooses from among your tribes; there you shall make whatever offerings I enjoin upon you.

[15] "However, in any of your communities you may slaughter and eat to your heart's desire as much meat as the LORD, your God, has blessed you with; and the unclean as well as the clean may eat it, as they do the gazelle or the deer.

[16] Only, you shall not partake of the blood, but must pour it out on the ground like water.

[17] Moreover, you shall not, in your own communities, partake of your tithe of grain or wine or oil, of the first-born of your herd or flock, of any offering you have vowed, of your freewill offerings, or of your personal contributions.

[18] These you must eat before the LORD, your God, in the place he chooses, along with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who belongs to your community; and there, before the LORD, you shall make merry over all your undertakings.

[19] Take care, also, that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in the land.

[20] 1 "After the LORD, your God, has enlarged your territory, as he promised you, when you wish meat for food, you may eat it at will, to your heart's desire;

[21] and if the place which the LORD, your God, chooses for the abode of his name is too far, you may slaughter in the manner I have told you any of your herd or flock that the LORD has given you, and eat it to your heart's desire in your own community.

[22] You may eat it as you would the gazelle or the deer: the unclean and the clean eating it alike.

[23] But make sure that you do not partake of the blood; for blood is life, and you shall not consume this seat of life with the flesh.

[24] Do not partake of the blood, therefore, but pour it out on the ground like water.

[25] Abstain from it, that you and your children after you may prosper for doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.

[26] However, any sacred gifts or votive offerings that you may have, you shall bring with you to the place which the LORD chooses,

[27] and there you must offer both the flesh and the blood of your holocausts on the altar of the LORD, your God; of your other sacrifices the blood indeed must be poured out against the altar of the LORD, your God, but their flesh may be eaten.

[28] Be careful to heed all these commandments I enjoin on you, that you and your descendants may always prosper for doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD, your God.

[29] "When the LORD, your God, removes the nations from your way as you advance to dispossess them, be on your guard! Otherwise, once they have been wiped out before you and you have replaced them and are settled in their land,

[30] you will be lured into following them. Do not inquire regarding their gods, 'How did these nations worship their gods? I, too, would do the same.'

[31] You shall not thus worship the LORD, your God, because they offered to their gods every abomination that the LORD detests, even burning their sons and daughters to their gods.

Deuteronomy Chapter 13

[1] "Every command that I enjoin on you, you shall be careful to observe, neither adding to it nor subtracting from it.

[2] 1 "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer who promises you a sign or wonder,

[3] urging you to follow other gods, whom you have not known, and to serve them: even though the sign or wonder he has foretold you comes to pass,

[4] pay no attention to the words of that prophet or that dreamer; for the LORD, your God, is testing you to learn whether you really love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

[5] The LORD, your God, shall you follow, and him shall you fear; his commandment shall you observe, and his voice shall you heed, serving him and holding fast to him alone.

[6] But that prophet or that dreamer shall be put to death, because, in order to lead you astray from the way which the LORD, your God, has directed you to take, he has preached apostasy from the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and ransomed you from that place of slavery. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

[7] "If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or your intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known,

[8] gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other:

[9] do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him,

[10] but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you.

[11] You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.

[12] And all Israel, hearing of it, shall fear and never again do such evil as this in your midst.

[13] "If, in any of the cities which the LORD, your God, gives you to dwell in, you hear it said

[14] that certain scoundrels have sprung up among you and have led astray the inhabitants of their city to serve other gods whom you have not known,

[15] you must inquire carefully into the matter and investigate it thoroughly. If you find that it is true and an established fact that this abomination has been committed in your midst,

[16] you shall put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, dooming the city and all life that is in it, even its cattle, to the sword.

[17] Having heaped up all its spoils in the middle of its square, you shall burn the city with all its spoils as a whole burnt offering to the LORD, your God. Let it be a heap of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.

[18] You shall not retain anything that is doomed, that the blazing wrath of the LORD may die down and he may show you mercy and in his mercy for you may multiply you as he promised your fathers on oath;

[19] because you have heeded the voice of the LORD, your God, keeping all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, doing what is right in his sight.

Deuteronomy Chapter 14

[1] "You are children of the LORD, your God. You shall not gash yourselves nor shave the hair above your foreheads for the dead.

[2] For you are a people sacred to the LORD, your God, who has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be a people peculiarly his own.

[3] "You shall not eat any abominable thing.

[4] These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

[5] 1 the red deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the ibex, the addax, the oryx, and the mountain sheep.

[6] Any animal that has hoofs you may eat, provided it is cloven-footed and chews the cud.

[7] But you shall not eat any of the following that only chew the cud or only have cloven hoofs: the camel, the hare and the rock badger, which indeed chew the cud, but do not have hoofs and are therefore unclean for you;

[8] and the pig, which indeed has hoofs and is cloven-footed, but does not chew the cud and is therefore unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall not touch.

[9] "Of the various creatures that live in the water, whatever has both fins and scales you may eat,

[10] but all those that lack either fins or scales you shall not eat; they are unclean for you.

[11] "You may eat all clean birds.

[12] But you shall not eat any of the following: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

[13] the various kites and falcons,

[14] all the various species of crows,

[15] the ostrich, the nightjar, the gull, the various species of hawks,

[16] the owl, the screech owl, the ibis,

[17] the desert owl, the buzzard, the cormorant,

[18] the stork, the various species of herons, the hoopoe, and the bat.

[19] 2 All winged insects, too, are unclean for you and shall not be eaten.

[20] But you may eat any clean winged creatures.

[21] 3 "You must not eat any animal that has died of itself, for you are a people sacred to the LORD, your God. But you may give it to an alien who belongs to your community, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

[22] "Each year you shall tithe all the produce that grows in the field you have sown;

[23] then in the place which the LORD, your God, chooses as the dwelling place of his name you shall eat in his presence your tithe of the grain, wine and oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, that you may learn always to fear the LORD, your God.

[24] 4 If, however, the journey is too much for you and you are not able to bring your tithe, because the place which the LORD, your God, chooses for the abode of his name is too far for you, considering how the LORD has blessed you,

[25] you may exchange the tithe for money and, with the purse of money in hand, go to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses.

[26] You may then exchange the money for whatever you desire, oxen or sheep, wine or strong drink, or anything else you would enjoy, and there before the LORD, your God, you shall partake of it and make merry with your family.

[27] But do not neglect the Levite who belongs to your community, for he has no share in the heritage with you.

[28] "At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithes of your produce for that year and deposit them in community stores,

[29] that the Levite who has no share in the heritage with you, and also the alien, the orphan and the widow who belong to your community, may come and eat their fill; so that the LORD, your God, may bless you in all that you undertake.

Deuteronomy Chapter 15

[1] 1 "At the end of every seven-year period you shall have a relaxation of debts,

[2] which shall be observed as follows. Every creditor shall relax his claim on what he has loaned his neighbor; he must not press his neighbor, his kinsman, because a relaxation in honor of the LORD has been proclaimed.

[3] You may press a foreigner, but you shall relax the claim on your kinsman for what is yours.

[4] Nay, more! since the LORD, your God, will bless you abundantly in the land he will give you to occupy as your heritage, there should be no one of you in need.

[5] If you but heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and carefully observe all these commandments which I enjoin on you today,

[6] you will lend to many nations, and borrow from none; you will rule over many nations, and none will rule over you, since the LORD, your God, will bless you as he promised.

[7] If one of your kinsmen in any community is in need in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand to him in his need.

[8] Instead, you shall open your hand to him and freely lend him enough to meet his need.

[9] Be on your guard lest, entertaining the mean thought that the seventh year, the year of relaxation, is near, you grudge help to your needy kinsman and give him nothing; else he will cry to the LORD against you and you will be held guilty.

[10] When you give to him, give freely and not with ill will; for the LORD, your God, will bless you for this in all your works and undertakings.

[11] 2 The needy will never be lacking in the land; that is why I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy kinsman in your country.

[12] "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from your service, a free man.

[13] When you do so, you shall not send him away empty-handed,

[14] but shall weight him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press, in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you.

[15] For remember that you too were once slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you. That is why I am giving you this command today.

[16] If, however, he tells you that he does not wish to leave you, because he is devoted to you and your household, since he fares well with you,

[17] 3 you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear into the door, and he shall then be your slave forever. Your female slave, also, you shall treat in the same way.

[18] You must not be reluctant to let your slave go free, since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man's salary; then also the LORD, your God, will bless you in everything you do.

[19] "You shall consecrate to the LORD, your God, all the male firstlings of your herd and of your flock. You shall not work the firstlings of your cattle, nor shear the firstlings of your flock.

[20] Year after year you and your family shall eat them before the LORD, your God, in the place he chooses.

[21] If, however, a firstling is lame or blind or has any other serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD, your God,

[22] but in your own communities you may eat it, the unclean and the clean eating it alike, as you would a gazelle or a deer.

[23] Only, you shall not partake of its blood, which must be poured out on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy Chapter 16

[1] 1 "Observe the month of Abib by keeping the Passover of the LORD, your God, since it was in the month of Abib that he brought you by night out of Egypt.

[2] You shall offer the Passover sacrifice from your flock or your herd to the LORD, your God, in the place which he chooses as the dwelling place of his name.

[3] You shall not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you shall eat with it only unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, that you may remember as long as you live the day of your departure from the land of Egypt; for in frightened haste you left the land of Egypt.

[4] Nothing leavened may be found in all your territory for seven days, and none of the meat which you sacrificed on the evening of the first day shall be kept overnight for the next day.

[5] "You may not sacrifice the Passover in any of the communities which the LORD, your God, gives you;

[6] only at the place which he chooses as the dwelling place of his name, and in the evening at sunset, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt, shall you sacrifice the Passover.

[7] You shall cook and eat it at the place the LORD, your God, chooses; then in the morning you may return to your tents.

[8] For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh there shall be a solemn meeting in honor of the LORD, your God; on that day you shall not do any sort of work.

[9] "You shall count off seven weeks, computing them from the day when the sickle is first put to the standing grain.

[10] 2 You shall then keep the feast of Weeks in honor of the LORD, your God, and the measure of your own freewill offering shall be in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you.

[11] In the place which the LORD, your God, chooses as the dwelling place of his name, you shall make merry in his presence together with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who belongs to your community, as well as the alien, the orphan and the widow among you.

[12] Remember that you too were once slaves in Egypt, and carry out these statutes carefully.

[13] 3 "You shall celebrate the feast of Booths for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and wine press.

[14] You shall make merry at your feast, together with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and also the Levite, the alien, the orphan and the widow who belong to your community.

[15] For seven days you shall celebrate this pilgrim feast in honor of the LORD, your God, in the place which he chooses; since the LORD, your God, has blessed you in all your crops and in all your undertakings, you shall do nought but make merry.

[16] "Three times a year, then, every male among you shall appear before the LORD, your God, in the place which he chooses: at the feast of Unleavened Bread, at the feast of Weeks, and at the feast of Booths. No one shall appear before the LORD empty-handed,

[17] but each of you with as much as he can give, in proportion to the blessings which the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you.

[18] "You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes to administer true justice for the people in all the communities which the LORD, your God, is giving you.

[19] You shall not distort justice; you must be impartial. You shall not take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes even of the wise and twists the words even of the just.

[20] Justice and justice alone shall be your aim, that you may have life and may possess the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you.

[21] 4 5 "You shall not plant a sacred pole of any kind of wood beside the altar of the LORD, your God, which you will build;

[22] nor shall you erect a sacred pillar, such as the LORD, your God, detests.

Deuteronomy Chapter 17

[1] "You shall not sacrifice to the LORD, your God, from the herd or from the flock an animal with any serious defect; that would be an abomination to the LORD, your God.

[2] "If there is found among you, in any one of the communities which the LORD, your God, gives you, a man or a woman who does evil in the sight of the LORD, your God, and transgresses his covenant,

[3] by serving other gods, or by worshiping the sun or the moon or any of the host of the sky, against my command;

[4] and if, on being informed of it, you find by careful investigation that it is true and an established fact that this abomination has been committed in Israel:

[5] 1 you shall bring the man (or woman) who has done the evil deed out to your city gates and stone him to death.

[6] The testimony of two or three witnesses is required for putting a person to death; no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

[7] At the execution, the witnesses are to be the first to raise their hands against him; afterward all the people are to join in. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

[8] "If in your own community there is a case at issue which proves too complicated for you to decide, in a matter of bloodshed or of civil rights or of personal injury, you shall then go up to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses,

[9] to the levitical priests or to the judge who is in office at that time. They shall study the case and then hand down to you their decision.

[10] According to this decision that they give you in the place which the LORD chooses, you shall act, being careful to do exactly as they direct.

[11] You shall carry out the directions they give you and the verdict they pronounce for you, without turning aside to the right or to the left from the decision they hand down to you.

[12] 2 Any man who has the insolence to refuse to listen to the priest who officiates there in the ministry of the LORD, your God, or to the judge, shall die. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

[13] And all the people, on hearing of it, shall fear, and never again be so insolent.

[14] "When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, and have occupied it and settled in it, should you then decide to have a king over you like all the surrounding nations,

[15] you shall set that man over you as your king whom the LORD, your God, chooses. He whom you set over you as king must be your kinsman; a foreigner, who is no kin of yours, you may not set over you.

[16] 3 But he shall not have a great number of horses; nor shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire them, against the LORD'S warning that you must never go back that way again.

[17] Neither shall he have a great number of wives, lest his heart be estranged, nor shall he accumulate a vast amount of silver and gold.

[18] When he is enthroned in his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law made from the scroll that is in the custody of the levitical priests.

[19] He shall keep it with him and read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the LORD, his God, and to heed and fulfill all the words of this law and these statutes.

[20] Let him not become estranged from his countrymen through pride, nor turn aside to the right or to the left from these commandments. Then he and his descendants will enjoy a long reign in Israel.

Deuteronomy Chapter 18

[1] "The whole priestly tribe of Levi shall have no share in the heritage with Israel; they shall live on the oblations of the LORD and the portions due to him.

[2] Levi shall have no heritage among his brothers; the LORD himself is his heritage, as he has told him.

[3] The priests shall have a right to the following things from the people: from those who are offering a sacrifice, whether the victim is from the herd or from the flock, the priest shall receive the shoulder, the jowls and the stomach.

[4] You shall also give him the first fruits of your grain and wine and oil, as well as the first fruits of the shearing of your flock;

[5] for the LORD, your God, has chosen him and his sons out of all your tribes to be always in attendance to minister in the name of the LORD.

[6] "When a Levite goes from one of your communities anywhere in Israel in which he ordinarily resides, to visit, as his heart may desire, the place which the LORD chooses,

[7] he may minister there in the name of the LORD, his God, like all his fellow Levites who are in attendance there before the LORD.

[8] He shall then receive the same portions to eat as the rest, along with his monetary offerings and heirlooms.

[9] "When you come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of the peoples there.

[10] 1 Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortune-teller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner,

[11] or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead.

[12] Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the LORD, and because of such abominations the LORD, your God, is driving these nations out of your way.

[13] You, however, must be altogether sincere toward the LORD, your God.

[14] Though these nations whom you are to dispossess listen to their soothsayers and fortune-tellers, the LORD, your God, will not permit you to do so.

[15] 2 "A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen.

[16] This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, 'Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.'

[17] And the LORD said to me, 'This was well said.

[18] I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him.

[19] If any man will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it.

[20] But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.'

[21] "If you say to yourselves, 'How can we recognize an oracle which the LORD has spoken?',

[22] know that, even though a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if his oracle is not fulfilled or verified, it is an oracle which the LORD did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, and you shall have no fear of him.

Deuteronomy Chapter 19

[1] "When the LORD, your God, removes the nations whose land he is giving you, and you have taken their place and are settled in their cities and houses,

[2] 1 you shall set apart three cities in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you to occupy.

[3] You shall thereby divide into three regions the land which the LORD, your God, will give you as a heritage, and so arrange the routes that every homicide will be able to find a refuge.

[4] "It is in the following case that a homicide may take refuge in such a place to save his life: when someone unwittingly kills his neighbor to whom he had previously borne no malice.

[5] For example, if he goes with his neighbor to a forest to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, its head flies off the handle and hits his neighbor a mortal blow, he may take refuge in one of these cities to save his life.

[6] 2 Should the distance be too great, the avenger of blood may in the heat of his anger pursue the homicide and overtake him and strike him dead, even though he does not merit death since he had previously borne the slain man no malice.

[7] That is why I order you to set apart three cities.

[8] "But if the LORD, your God, enlarges your territory, as he swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land he promised your fathers he would give

[9] in the event that you carefully observe all these commandments which I enjoin on you today, loving the LORD, your God, and ever walking in his ways: then add three cities to these three.

[10] Thus, in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage, innocent blood will not be shed and you will not become guilty of bloodshed.

[11] "However, if someone lies in wait for his neighbor out of hatred for him, and rising up against him, strikes him mortally, and then takes refuge in one of these cities,

[12] the elders of his own city shall send for him and have him taken from there, and shall hand him over to be slain by the avenger of blood.

[13] Do not look on him with pity, but purge from Israel the stain of shedding innocent blood, that you may prosper.

[14] "You shall not move your neighbor's landmarks erected by your forefathers in the heritage you receive in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you to occupy.

[15] "One witness alone shall not take the stand against a man in regard to any crime or any offense of which he may be guilty; a judicial fact shall be established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

[16] "If an unjust witness takes the stand against a man to accuse him of a defection from the law,

[17] the two parties in the dispute shall appear before the LORD in the presence of the priests or judges in office at that time;

[18] and if after a thorough investigation the judges find that the witness is a false witness and has accused his kinsman falsely,

[19] you shall do to him as he planned to do to his kinsman. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

[20] The rest, on hearing of it, shall fear, and never again do a thing so evil among you.

[21] Do not look on such a man with pity. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot!

Deuteronomy Chapter 20

[1] "When you go out to war against your enemies and you see horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid of them, for the LORD, your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, will be with you.

[2] "When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and say to the soldiers:

[3] 'Hear, O Israel! Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Be not weakhearted or afraid; be neither alarmed nor frightened by them.

[4] For it is the LORD, your God, who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and give you victory.'

[5] "Then the officials shall say to the soldiers, 'Is there anyone who has built a new house and not yet had the housewarming? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another dedicate it.

[6] Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard and never yet enjoyed its fruits? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another enjoy its fruits in his stead.

[7] Is there anyone who has betrothed a woman and not yet taken her as his wife? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another take her to wife.'

[8] In fine, the officials shall say to the soldiers, 'Is there anyone who is afraid and weakhearted? Let him return home, lest he make his fellows as fainthearted as himself.'

[9] "When the officials have finished speaking to the soldiers, military officers shall be appointed over the army.

[10] "When you march up to attack a city, first offer it terms of peace.

[11] If it agrees to your terms of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people to be found in it shall serve you in forced labor.

[12] But if it refuses to make peace with you and instead offers you battle, lay siege to it,

[13] and when the LORD, your God, delivers it into your hand, put every male in it to the sword;

[14] but the women and children and livestock and all else in it that is worth plundering you may take as your booty, and you may use this plunder of your enemies which the LORD, your God, has given you.

[15] "That is how you shall deal with any city at a considerable distance from you, which does not belong to the peoples of this land.

[16] But in the cities of those nations which the LORD, your God, is giving you as your heritage, you shall not leave a single soul alive.

[17] You must doom them all-the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites-as the LORD, your God, has commanded you,

[18] lest they teach you to make any such abominable offerings as they make to their gods, and you thus sin against the LORD, your God.

[19] "When you are at war with a city and have to lay siege to it for a long time before you capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them. You may eat their fruit, but you must not cut down the trees. After all, are the trees of the field men, that they should be included in your siege?

[20] However, those trees which you know are not fruit trees you may destroy, cutting them down to build siegeworks with which to reduce the city that is resisting you.

Deuteronomy Chapter 21

[1] 1 "If the corpse of a slain man is found lying in the open on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you to occupy, and it is not known who killed him,

[2] your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distances to the cities that are in the neighborhood of the corpse.

[3] When it is established which city is nearest the corpse, the elders of that city shall take a heifer that has never been put to work as a draft animal under a yoke,

[4] 2 and bringing it down to a wadi with an everflowing stream at a place that has not been plowed or sown, they shall cut the heifer's throat there in the wadi.

[5] The priests, the descendants of Levi, shall also be present, for the LORD, your God, has chosen them to minister to him and to give blessings in his name, and every case of dispute or violence must be settled by their decision.

[6] 3 Then all the elders of that city nearest the corpse shall wash their hands over the heifer whose throat was cut in the wadi,

[7] 4 and shall declare, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see the deed.

[8] Absolve, O LORD, your people Israel, whom you have ransomed, and let not the guilt of shedding innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.' Thus they shall be absolved from the guilt of bloodshed,

[9] and you shall purge from your midst the guilt of innocent blood, that you may prosper for doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.

[10] "When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives,

[11] if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife,

[12] 5 you may take her home to your house. But before she may live there, she must shave her head and pare her nails

[13] and lay aside her captive's garb. After she has mourned her father and mother for a full month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife.

[14] However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.

[15] "If a man with two wives loves one and dislikes the other; and if both bear him sons, but the first-born is of her whom he dislikes:

[16] when he comes to bequeath his property to his sons he may not consider as his first-born the son of the wife he loves, in preference to his true first-born, the son of the wife whom he dislikes.

[17] On the contrary, he shall recognize as his first-born the son of her whom he dislikes, giving him a double share of whatever he happens to own, since he is the first fruits of his manhood, and to him belong the rights of the first-born.

[18] "If a man has a stubborn and unruly son who will not listen to his father or mother, and will not obey them even though they chastise him,

[19] 6 his father and mother shall have him apprehended and brought out to the elders at the gate of his home city,

[20] where they shall say to those city elders, 'This son of ours is a stubborn and unruly fellow who will not listen to us; he is a glutton and a drunkard.'

[21] Then all his fellow citizens shall stone him to death. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel, on hearing of it, shall fear.

[22] 7 "If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his corpse hung on a tree,

[23] 8 it shall not remain on the tree overnight. You shall bury it the same day; otherwise, since God's curse rests on him who hangs on a tree, you will defile the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy Chapter 22

[1] "You shall not see your kinsman's ox or sheep driven astray without showing concern about it; see to it that it is returned to your kinsman.

[2] If this kinsman does not live near you, or you do not know who he may be, take it to your own place and keep it with you until he claims it; then give it back to him.

[3] You shall do the same with his ass, or his garment, or anything else which your kinsman loses and you happen to find; you may not be unconcerned about them.

[4] You shall not see your kinsman's ass or ox foundering on the road without showing concern about it; see to it that you help him lift it up.

[5] "A woman shall not wear an article proper to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's dress; for anyone who does such things is an abomination to the LORD, your God.

[6] "If, while walking along, you chance upon a bird's nest with young birds or eggs in it, in any tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on them, you shall not take away the mother bird along with her brood;

[7] you shall let her go, although you may take her brood away. It is thus that you shall have prosperity and a long life.

[8] "When you build a new house, put a parapet around the roof; otherwise, if someone falls off, you will bring bloodguilt upon your house.

[9] 1 "You shall not sow your vineyard with two different kinds of seed; if you do, its produce shall become forfeit, both the crop you have sown and the yield of the vineyard.

[10] You shall not plow with an ox and an ass harnessed together.

[11] You shall not wear cloth of two different kinds of thread, wool and linen, woven together.

[12] 2 "You shall put twisted cords on the four corners of the cloak that you wrap around you.

[13] "If a man, after marrying a woman and having relations with her, comes to dislike her,

[14] and makes monstrous charges against her and defames her by saying, 'I married this woman, but when I first had relations with her I did not find her a virgin,'

[15] 3 the father and mother of the girl shall take the evidence of her virginity and bring it to the elders at the city gate.

[16] There the father of the girl shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, but he has come to dislike her,

[17] and now brings monstrous charges against her, saying: I did not find your daughter a virgin. But here is the evidence of my daughter's virginity!' And they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the city.

[18] 4 Then these city elders shall take the man and chastise him,

[19] besides fining him one hundred silver shekels, which they shall give to the girl's father, because the man defamed a virgin in Israel. Moreover, she shall remain his wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

[20] "But if this charge is true, and evidence of the girl's virginity is not found,

[21] they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her father's house and there her townsmen shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

[22] "If a man is discovered having relations with a woman who is married to another, both the man and the woman with whom he has had relations shall die. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

[23] 5 "If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has relations with her,

[24] you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

[25] "If, however, it is in the open fields that a man comes upon such a betrothed maiden, seizes her and has relations with her, the man alone shall die.

[26] You shall do nothing to the maiden, since she is not guilty of a capital offense. This case is like that of a man who rises up against his neighbor and murders him:

[27] it was in the open fields that he came upon her, and though the betrothed maiden may have cried out for help, there was no one to come to her aid.

[28] "If a man comes upon a maiden that is not betrothed, takes her and has relations with her, and their deed is discovered,

[29] the man who had relations with her shall pay the girl's father fifty silver shekels and take her as his wife, because he has deflowered her. Moreover, he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

Deuteronomy Chapter 23

[1] 1 "A man shall not marry his father's wife, nor shall he dishonor his father's bed.

[2] "No one whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may be admitted into the community of the LORD.

[3] No child of an incestuous union may be admitted into the community of the LORD, nor any descendant of his even to the tenth generation.

[4] No Ammonite or Moabite may ever be admitted into the community of the LORD, nor any descendants of theirs even to the tenth generation,

[5] because they would not succor you with food and water on your journey after you left Egypt, and because Moab hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Pethor in Aram Naharaim, to curse you;

[6] though the LORD, your God, would not listen to Balaam and turned his curse into a blessing for you, because he loves you.

[7] Never promote their peace and prosperity as long as you live.

[8] But do not abhor the Edomite, since he is your brother, nor the Egyptian, since you were an alien in his country.

[9] Children born to them may in the third generation be admitted into the community of the LORD.

[10] "When you are in camp during an expedition against your enemies, you shall keep yourselves from everything offensive.

[11] If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he shall go outside the camp, and not return until,

[12] toward evening, he has bathed in water; then, when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp.

[13] Outside the camp you shall have a place set aside to be used as a latrine.

[14] You shall also keep a trowel in your equipment and with it, when you go outside to ease nature, you shall first dig a hole and afterward cover up your excrement.

[15] Since the LORD, your God, journeys along within your camp to defend you and to put your enemies at your mercy, your camp must be holy; otherwise, if he sees anything indecent in your midst, he will leave your company.

[16] "You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has taken refuge from him with you.

[17] 2 Let him live with you wherever he chooses, in any one of your communities that pleases him. Do not molest him.

[18] 3 "There shall be no temple harlot among the Israelite women, nor a temple prostitute among the Israelite men.

[19] You shall not offer a harlot's fee or a dog's price as any kind of votive offering in the house of the LORD, your God; both these things are an abomination to the LORD, your God.

[20] "You shall not demand interest from your countrymen on a loan of money or of food or of anything else on which interest is usually demanded.

[21] You may demand interest from a foreigner, but not from your countryman, so that the LORD, your God, may bless you in all your undertakings on the land you are to enter and occupy.

[22] "When you make a vow to the LORD, your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it; otherwise you will be held guilty, for the LORD, your God, is strict in requiring it of you.

[23] Should you refrain from making a vow, you will not be held guilty.

[24] But you must keep your solemn word and fulfill the votive offering you have freely promised to the LORD.

[25] "When you go through your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat as many of his grapes as you wish, but do not put them in your basket.

[26] When you go through your neighbor's grainfield, you may pluck some of the ears with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor's grain.

Deuteronomy Chapter 24

[1] 1 2 "When a man, after marrying a woman and having relations with her, is later displeased with her because he finds in her something indecent, and therefore he writes out a bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house:

[2] if on leaving his house she goes and becomes the wife of another man,

[3] and the second husband, too, comes to dislike her and dismisses her from his house by handing her a written bill of divorce; or if this second man who has married her, dies;

[4] then her former husband, who dismissed her, may not again take her as his wife after she has become defiled. That would be an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring such guilt upon the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage.

[5] "When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him. He shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to the wife he has married.

[6] 3 "No one shall take a hand mill or even its upper stone as a pledge for debt, for he would be taking the debtor's sustenance as a pledge.

[7] "If any man is caught kidnaping a fellow Israelite in order to enslave him and sell him, the kidnaper shall be put to death. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

[8] "In an attack of leprosy you shall be careful to observe exactly and to carry out all the directions of the levitical priests. Take care to act in accordance with the instructions I have given them.

[9] Remember what the LORD, your God, did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.

[10] 4 "When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, you shall not enter his house to receive a pledge from him,

[11] but shall wait outside until the man to whom you are making the loan brings his pledge outside to you.

[12] If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in the mantle he gives as a pledge,

[13] but shall return it to him at sunset that he himself may sleep in it. Then he will bless you, and it will be a good deed of yours before the LORD, your God.

[14] "You shall not defraud a poor and needy hired servant, whether he be one of your own countrymen or one of the aliens who live in your communities.

[15] You shall pay him each day's wages before sundown on the day itself, since he is poor and looks forward to them. Otherwise he will cry to the LORD against you, and you will be held guilty.

[16] "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; only for his own guilt shall a man be put to death.

[17] "You shall not violate the rights of the alien or of the orphan, nor take the clothing of a widow as a pledge.

[18] For, remember, you were once slaves in Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you from there; that is why I command you to observe this rule.

[19] "When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf there, you shall not go back to get it; let it be for the alien, the orphan or the widow, that the LORD, your God, may bless you in all your undertakings.

[20] When you knock down the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not go over the branches a second time; let what remains be for the alien, the orphan and the widow.

[21] When you pick your grapes, you shall not go over the vineyard a second time; let what remains be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.

[22] For remember that you were once slaves in Egypt; that is why I command you to observe this rule.

Deuteronomy Chapter 25

[1] "When men have a dispute and bring it to court, and a decision is handed down to them acquitting the innocent party and condemning the guilty party,

[2] if the latter deserves stripes, the judge shall have him lie down and in his presence receive the number of stripes his guilt deserves.

[3] 1 Forty stripes may be given him, but no more; lest, if he were beaten with more stripes than these, your kinsman should be looked upon as disgraced because of the severity of the beating.

[4] 2 "You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out grain.

[5] 3 "When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband's brother shall go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her.

[6] The first-born son she bears shall continue the line of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel.

[7] If, however, a man does not care to marry his brother's wife, she shall go up to the elders at the gate and declare, 'My brother-in-law does not intend to perform his duty toward me and refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel.'

[8] Thereupon the elders of his city shall summon him and admonish him. If he persists in saying, 'I am not willing to marry her,'

[9] 4 his sister-in-law, in the presence of the elders, shall go up to him and strip his sandal from his foot and spit in his face, saying publicly, 'This is how one should be treated who will not build up his brother's family!'

[10] And his lineage shall be spoken of in Israel as 'the family of the man stripped of his sandal.'

[11] "When two men are fighting and the wife of one intervenes to save her husband from the blows of his opponent, if she stretches out her hand and seizes the latter by his private parts,

[12] you shall chop off her hand without pity.

[13] "You shall not keep two differing weights in your bag, one large and the other small;

[14] nor shall you keep two different measures in your house, one large and the other small.

[15] But use a true and just weight, and a true and just measure, that you may have a long life on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you.

[16] Everyone who is dishonest in any of these matters is an abomination to the LORD, your God.

[17] 5 "Bear in mind what Amalek did to you on the journey after you left Egypt,

[18] how without fear of any god he harassed you along the way, weak and weary as you were, and cut off at the rear all those who lagged behind.

[19] Therefore, when the LORD, your God, gives you rest from all your enemies round about in the land which he is giving you to occupy as your heritage, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget!

Deuteronomy Chapter 26

[1] "When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage, and have occupied it and settled in it,

[2] you shall take some first fruits of the various products of the soil which you harvest from the land which the LORD, your God, gives you, and putting them in a basket, you shall go to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses for the dwelling place of his name.

[3] There you shall go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, 'Today I acknowledge to the LORD, my God, that I have indeed come into the land which he swore to our fathers he would give us.'

[4] The priest shall then receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God.

[5] 1 Then you shall declare before the LORD, your God, 'My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a nation great, strong and numerous.

[6] When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us,

[7] we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression.

[8] He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders;

[9] and bringing us into this country, he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.

[10] Therefore, I have now brought you the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me.' And having set them before the LORD, your God, you shall bow down in his presence.

[11] Then you and your family, together with the Levite and the aliens who live among you, shall make merry over all these good things which the LORD, your God, has given you.

[12] 2 "When you have finished setting aside all the tithes of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithes, and you have given them to the Levite, the alien, the orphan and the widow, that they may eat their fill in your own community,

[13] you shall declare before the LORD, your God, 'I have purged my house of the sacred portion and I have given it to the Levite, the alien, the orphan and the widow, just as you have commanded me. In this I have not broken or forgotten any of your commandments:

[14] 3 I have not eaten any of the tithe as a mourner; I have not brought any of it out as one unclean; I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have thus hearkened to the voice of the LORD, my God, doing just as you have commanded me.

[15] Look down, then, from heaven, your holy abode, and bless your people Israel and the soil you have given us in the land flowing with milk and honey which you promised on oath to our fathers.'

[16] "This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

[17] Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice.

[18] And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments,

[19] he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised."

Deuteronomy Chapter 27

[1] Then Moses, with the elders of Israel, gave the people this order: "Keep all these commandments which I enjoin on you today.

[2] On the day you cross the Jordan into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster.

[3] Also write on them, at the time you cross, all the words of this law, that you may thus enter into the land flowing with milk and honey, which the LORD, your God, and the God of your fathers, is giving you as he promised you.

[4] When, moreover, you have crossed the Jordan, besides setting up on Mount Ebal these stones concerning which I command you today, and coating them with plaster,

[5] you shall also build to the LORD, your God, an altar made of stones that no iron tool has touched.

[6] You shall make this altar of the LORD, your God, with undressed stones, and shall offer on it holocausts to the LORD, your God.

[7] You shall also sacrifice peace offerings and eat them there, making merry before the LORD, your God.

[8] 1 On the stones you shall inscribe all the words of this law very clearly."

[9] Moses, with the levitical priests, then said to all Israel: "Be silent, O Israel, and listen! This day you have become the people of the LORD, your God.

[10] You shall therefore hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes which I enjoin on you today."

[11] That same day Moses gave the people this order:

[12] "When you cross the Jordan, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin shall stand on Mount Gerizim to pronounce blessings over the people,

[13] while Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses.

[14] "The Levites shall proclaim aloud to all the men of Israel:

[15] 2 'Cursed be the man who makes a carved or molten idol--an abomination to the LORD, the product of a craftsman's hands--and sets it up in secret!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[16] 'Cursed be he who dishonors his father or his mother!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[17] 'Cursed be he who moves his neighbor's landmarks!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[18] 'Cursed be he who misleads a blind man on his way!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[19] 'Cursed be he who violates the rights of the alien, the orphan or the widow!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[20] 'Cursed be he who has relations with his father's wife, for he dishonors his father's bed!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[21] 'Cursed be he who has relations with any animal!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[22] 'Cursed be he who has relations with his sister or his half-sister!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[23] 'Cursed be he who has relations with his mother-in-law!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[24] 'Cursed be he who slays his neighbor in secret!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[25] 'Cursed be he who accepts payment for slaying an innocent man!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

[26] 'Cursed be he who fails to fulfill any of the provisions of this law!' And all the people shall answer, 'Amen!'

Deuteronomy Chapter 28

[1] 1 "Thus, then, shall it be: if you continue to heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and are careful to observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, the LORD, your God, will raise you high above all the nations of the earth.

[2] When you hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you:

[3] "May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country!

[4] "Blessed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks!

[5] "Blessed be your grain bin and your kneading bowl!

[6] 2 "May you be blessed in your coming in, and blessed in your going out!

[7] 3 "The LORD will beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; though they come out against you from but one direction, they will flee before you in seven.

[8] The LORD will affirm his blessing upon you, on your barns and on all your undertakings, blessing you in the land that the LORD, your God, gives you.

[9] Provided that you keep the commandments of the LORD, your God, and walk in his ways, he will establish you as a people sacred to himself, as he swore to you;

[10] 4 so that, when all the nations of the earth see you bearing the name of the LORD, they will stand in awe of you.

[11] The LORD will increase in more than goodly measure the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, in the land which he swore to your fathers he would give you.

[12] The LORD will open up for you his rich treasure house of the heavens, to give your land rain in due season, blessing all your undertakings, so that you will lend to many nations and borrow from none.

[13] 5 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail, and you will always mount higher and not decline, as long as you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I order you today to observe carefully;

[14] not turning aside to the right or to the left from any of the commandments which I now give you, in order to follow other gods and serve them.

[15] "But if you do not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, and are not careful to observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you:

[16] "May you be cursed in the city, and cursed in the country!

[17] "Cursed be your grain bin and your kneading bowl!

[18] "Cursed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks!

[19] "May you be cursed in your coming in, and cursed in your going out!

[20] "The LORD will put a curse on you, defeat and frustration in every enterprise you undertake, until you are speedily destroyed and perish for the evil you have done in forsaking me.

[21] The LORD will bring a pestilence upon you that will persist until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering to occupy.

[22] The LORD will strike you with wasting and fever, with scorching, fiery drought, with blight and searing wind, that will plague you until you perish.

[23] The sky over your heads will be like bronze and the earth under your feet like iron.

[24] For rain the LORD will give your land powdery dust, which will come down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed.

[25] The LORD will let you be beaten down before your enemies; though you advance against them from one direction, you will flee before them in seven, so that you will become a terrifying example to all the kingdoms of the earth.

[26] Your carcasses will become food for all the birds of the air and for the beasts of the field, with no one to frighten them off.

[27] The LORD will strike you with Egyptian boils and with tumors, eczema and the itch, until you cannot be cured.

[28] And the LORD will strike you with madness, blindness and panic,

[29] so that even at midday you will grope like a blind man in the dark, unable to find your way. "You will be oppressed and robbed continually, with no one to come to your aid.

[30] Though you betroth a wife, another man will have her. Though you build a house, you will not live in it. Though you plant a vineyard, you will not enjoy its fruits.

[31] Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, and you will not eat of its flesh. Your ass will be stolen in your presence, but you will not recover it. Your flocks will be given to your enemies, with no one to come to your aid.

[32] Your sons and daughters will be given to a foreign nation while you look on and grieve for them in constant helplessness.

[33] A people whom you do not know will consume the fruit of your soil and of all your labor, and you will be oppressed and crushed at all times without surcease,

[34] until you are driven mad by what your eyes must look upon.

[35] 6 The LORD will strike you with malignant boils of which you cannot be cured, on your knees and legs, and from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head.

[36] "The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you have set over you, to a nation which you and your fathers have not known, and there you will serve strange gods of wood and stone,

[37] and will call forth amazement, reproach and barbed scorn from all the nations to which the LORD will lead you.

[38] "Though you spend much seed on your field, you will harvest but little, for the locusts will devour the crop.

[39] Though you plant and cultivate vineyards, you will not drink or store up the wine, for the grubs will eat the vines clean.

[40] Though you have olive trees throughout your country, you will have no oil for ointment, for your olives will drop off unripe.

[41] Though you beget sons and daughters, they will not remain with you, but will go into captivity.

[42] Buzzing insects will infest all your trees and the crops of your soil.

[43] The alien residing among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower.

[44] He will lend to you, not you to him. He will become the head, you the tail.

[45] "All these curses will come upon you, pursuing you and overwhelming you, until you are destroyed, because you would not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, nor keep the commandments and statutes he gave you.

[46] 7 They will light on you and your descendants as a sign and a wonder for all time.

[47] Since you would not serve the LORD, your God, with joy and gratitude for abundance of every kind,

[48] therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and utter poverty, you will serve the enemies whom the LORD will send against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck, until he destroys you.

[49] "The LORD will raise up against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, that swoops down like an eagle, a nation whose tongue you do not understand,

[50] a nation of stern visage, that shows neither respect for the aged nor pity for the young.

[51] They will consume the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil, until you are destroyed; they will leave you no grain or wine or oil, no issue of your herds or young of your flocks, until they have brought about your ruin.

[52] They will besiege you in each of your communities, until the great, unscalable walls you trust in come tumbling down all over your land. They will so besiege you in every community throughout the land which the LORD, your God, has given you,

[53] that in the distress of the siege to which your enemy subjects you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the LORD, your God, has given you.

[54] The most refined and fastidious man among you will begrudge his brother and his beloved wife and his surviving children,

[55] any share in the flesh of his children that he himself is using for food when nothing else is left him in the straits of the siege to which your enemy will subject you in all your communities.

[56] The most refined and delicate woman among you, so delicate and refined that she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge her beloved husband and her son and daughter

[57] the afterbirth that issues from her womb and the infant she brings forth when she secretly uses them for food for want of anything else, in the straits of the siege to which your enemy will subject you in your communities.

[58] "If you are not careful to observe every word of the law which is written in this book, and to revere the glorious and awesome name of the LORD, your God,

[59] he will smite you and your descendants with severe and constant blows, malignant and lasting maladies.

[60] 8 He will again afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt which you dread, and they will persist among you.

[61] Should there be any kind of sickness or calamity not mentioned in this book of the law, that too the LORD will bring upon you until you are destroyed.

[62] Of you who were numerous as the stars in the sky, only a few will be left, because you would not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God.

[63] "Just as the LORD once took delight in making you grow and prosper, so will he now take delight in ruining and destroying you, and you will be plucked out of the land you are now entering to occupy.

[64] The LORD will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve strange gods of wood and stone, such as you and your fathers have not known.

[65] 9 Among these nations you will find no repose, not a foot of ground to stand upon, for there the LORD will give you an anguished heart and wasted eyes and a dismayed spirit.

[66] You will live in constant suspense and stand in dread both day and night, never sure of your existence.

[67] In the morning you will say, 'Would that it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'Would that it were morning!' for the dread that your heart must feel and the sight that your eyes must see.

[68] 10 The LORD will send you back in galleys to Egypt, to the region I told you that you were never to see again; and there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."

[69] These are the words of the covenant which the LORD ordered Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which he made with them at Horeb.

Deuteronomy Chapter 29

[1] Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "You have seen all that the LORD did in the land of Egypt before your very eyes to Pharaoh and all his servants and to all his land;

[2] the great testings your own eyes have seen, and those great signs and wonders.

[3] 1 But not even at the present day has the LORD yet given you a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear.

[4] 'I led you for forty years in the desert. Your clothes did not fall from you in tatters nor your sandals from your feet;

[5] bread was not your food, nor wine or beer your drink. Thus you should know that I, the LORD, am your God.'

[6] When we came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to engage us in battle, but we defeated them

[7] and took over their land, which we then gave as a heritage to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

[8] Keep the terms of this covenant, therefore, and fulfill them, that you may succeed in whatever you do.

[9] "You are all now standing before the LORD, your God--your chiefs and judges, your elders and officials, and all of the men of Israel,

[10] together with your wives and children and the aliens who live in your camp, down to those who hew wood and draw water for you--

[11] 2 that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD, your God, which he concluded with you today under this sanction of a curse;

[12] so that he may now establish you as his people and he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

[13] But it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant, under this sanction of a curse;

[14] 3 it is just as much with those who are not here among us today as it is with those of us who are now here present before the LORD, our God.

[15] "You know in what surroundings we lived in the land of Egypt and what we passed by in the nations we traversed,

[16] and you saw the loathsome idols of wood and stone, of gold and silver, that they possess.

[17] Let there be, then, no man or woman, no clan or tribe among you, who would now turn away their hearts from the LORD, our God, to go and serve these pagan gods! Let there be no root that would bear such poison and wormwood among you.

[18] 4 If any such person, upon hearing the words of this curse, should beguile himself into thinking that he can safely persist in his stubbornness of heart, as though to sweep away both the watered soil and the parched ground,

[19] the LORD will never consent to pardon him. Instead, the LORD'S wrath and jealousy will flare up against that man, and every curse mentioned in this book will alight on him. The LORD will blot out his name from under the heavens

[20] and will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for doom, in keeping with all the curses of the covenant inscribed in this book of the law.

[21] "Future generations, your own descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigners who will come here from far-off lands, when they see the calamities of this land and the ills with which the LORD has smitten it--

[22] all its soil being nothing but sulphur and salt, a burnt-out waste, unsown and unfruitful, without a blade of grass, destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his furious wrath--

[23] they and all the nations will ask, 'Why has the LORD dealt thus with this land? Why this fierce outburst of wrath?'

[24] And the answer will be, 'Because they forsook the covenant which the LORD, the God of their fathers, had made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,

[25] and they went and served other gods and adored them, gods whom they did not know and whom he had not let fall to their lot:

[26] that is why the LORD was angry with this land and brought on it all the imprecations listed in this book;

[27] in his furious wrath and tremendous anger the LORD uprooted them from their soil and cast them out into a strange land, where they are today.'

[28] 5 (Both what is still hidden and what has already been revealed concern us and our descendants forever, that we may carry out all the words of this law.)

Deuteronomy Chapter 30

[1] "When all these things which I have set before you, the blessings and the curses, are fulfilled in you, and from among whatever nations the LORD, your God, may have dispersed you, you ponder them in your heart:

[2] then, provided that you and your children return to the LORD, your God, and heed his voice with all your heart and all your soul, just as I now command you,

[3] the LORD, your God, will change your lot; and taking pity on you, he will again gather you from all the nations wherein he has scattered you.

[4] Though you may have been driven to the farthest corner of the world, even from there will the LORD, your God, gather you; even from there will he bring you back.

[5] The LORD, your God, will then bring you into the land which your fathers once occupied, that you too may occupy it, and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

[6] 1 The LORD, your God, will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, that you may love the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and so may live.

[7] But all those curses the LORD, your God, will assign to your enemies and the foes who persecuted you.

[8] You, however, must again heed the LORD'S voice and carry out all his commandments which I now enjoin on you.

[9] Then the LORD, your God, will increase in more than goodly measure the returns from all your labors, the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil; for the LORD, your God, will again take delight in your prosperity, even as he took delight in your fathers',

[10] if only you heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law, when you return to the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul.

[11] 2 "For this command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you.

[12] It is not up in the sky, that you should say, 'Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'

[13] Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'

[14] 3 No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.

[15] "Here, then, I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.

[16] If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

[17] If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,

[18] I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.

[19] I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,

[20] by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Deuteronomy Chapter 31

[1] When Moses had finished speaking these words to all Israel,

[2] he said to them, "I am now one hundred and twenty years old and am no longer able to move about freely; besides, the LORD has told me that I shall not cross this Jordan.

[3] It is the LORD, your God, who will cross before you; he will destroy these nations before you, that you may supplant them. (It is Joshua who will cross before you, as the LORD promised.)

[4] The LORD will deal with them just as he dealt with Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites whom he destroyed, and with their country.

[5] When, therefore, the LORD delivers them up to you, you must deal with them exactly as I have ordered you.

[6] Be brave and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you."

[7] Then Moses summoned Joshua and in the presence of all Israel said to him, "Be brave and steadfast, for you must bring this people into the land which the LORD swore to their fathers he would give them; you must put them in possession of their heritage.

[8] It is the LORD who marches before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed."

[9] When Moses had written down this law, he entrusted it to the levitical priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel,

[10] 1 giving them this order: "On the feast of Booths, at the prescribed time in the year of relaxation which comes at the end of every seven-year period,

[11] 2 when all Israel goes to appear before the LORD, your God, in the place which he chooses, you shall read this law aloud in the presence of all Israel.

[12] Assemble the people--men, women and children, as well as the aliens who live in your communities--that they may hear it and learn it, and so fear the LORD, your God, and carefully observe all the words of this law.

[13] Their children also, who do not know it yet, must hear it and learn it, that they too may fear the LORD, your God, as long as you live on the land which you will cross the Jordan to occupy."

[14] 3 The LORD said to Moses, "The time is now approaching for you to die. Summon Joshua, and present yourselves at the meeting tent that I may give him his commission." So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the meeting tent.

[15] And the LORD appeared at the tent in a column of cloud, which stood still at the entrance of the tent.

[16] The LORD said to Moses, "Soon you will be at rest with your fathers, and then this people will take to rendering wanton worship to the strange gods among whom they will live in the land they are about to enter. They will forsake me and break the covenant which I have made with them.

[17] At that time my anger will flare up against them; I will forsake them and hide my face from them, so that they will become a prey to be devoured, and many evils and troubles will befall them. At that time they will indeed say, 'Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have befallen us?'

[18] Yet I will be hiding my face from them at that time only because of all the evil they have done in turning to other gods.

[19] Write out this song, then, for yourselves. Teach it to the Israelites and have them recite it, so that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites.

[20] For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey which I promised on oath to their fathers, and they have eaten their fill and grown fat, if they turn to other gods and serve them, despising me and breaking my covenant;

[21] then, when many evils and troubles befall them, this song, which their descendants will not have forgotten to recite, will bear witness against them. For I know what they are inclined to do even at the present time, before I have brought them into the land which I promised on oath to their fathers."

[22] So Moses wrote this song that same day, and he taught it to the Israelites.

[23] Then the LORD commissioned Joshua, son of Nun, and said to him, "Be brave and steadfast, for it is you who must bring the Israelites into the land which I promised them on oath. I myself will be with you."

[24] When Moses had finished writing out on a scroll the words of the law in their entirety,

[25] he gave the Levites who carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD this order:

[26] "Take this scroll of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD, your God, that there it may be a witness against you.

[27] For I already know how rebellious and stiff-necked you will be. Why, even now, while I am alive among you, you have been rebels against the LORD! How much more, then, after I am dead!

[28] Therefore, assemble all your tribal elders and your officials before me, that I may speak these words for them to hear, and so may call heaven and earth to witness against them.

[29] For I know that after my death you are sure to become corrupt and to turn aside from the way along which I directed you, so that evil will befall you in some future age because you have done evil in the LORD'S sight, and provoked him by your deeds."

[30] Then Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end, for the whole assembly of Israel to hear:

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

[1] 1 Give ear, O heavens, while I speak; let the earth hearken to the words of my mouth!

[2] May my instruction soak in like the rain, and my discourse permeate like the dew, Like a downpour upon the grass, like a shower upon the crops.

[3] For I will sing the LORD'S renown. Oh, proclaim the greatness of our God!

[4] The Rock--how faultless are his deeds, how right all his ways! A faithful God, without deceit, how just and upright he is!

[5] Yet basely has he been treated by his degenerate children, a perverse and crooked race!

[6] Is the LORD to be thus repaid by you, O stupid and foolish people? Is he not your father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?

[7] Think back on the days of old, reflect on the years of age upon age. Ask your father and he will inform you, ask your elders and they will tell you:

[8] 2 When the Most High assigned the nations their heritage, when he parceled out the descendants of Adam, He set up the boundaries of the peoples after the number of the sons of God;

[9] While the LORD'S own portion was Jacob, His hereditary share was Israel.

[10] He found them in a wilderness, a wasteland of howling desert. He shielded them and cared for them, guarding them as the apple of his eye.

[11] As an eagle incites its nestlings forth by hovering over its brood, So he spread his wings to receive them and bore them up on his pinions.

[12] The LORD alone was their leader, no strange god was with him.

[13] 3 He had them ride triumphant over the summits of the land and live off the products of its fields, Giving them honey to suck from its rocks and olive oil from its hard, stony ground;

[14] 4 Butter from its cows and milk from its sheep, with the fat of its lambs and rams; Its Bashan bulls and its goats, with the cream of its finest wheat; and the foaming blood of its grapes you drank.

[15] 5 (So Jacob ate his fill,) the darling grew fat and frisky; you became fat and gross and gorged. They spurned the God who made them and scorned their saving Rock.

[16] They provoked him with strange gods and angered him with abominable idols.

[17] They offered sacrifice to demons, to "no-gods," to gods whom they had not known before, To newcomers just arrived, of whom their fathers had never stood in awe.

[18] You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, You forgot the God who gave you birth.

[19] When the LORD saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons and daughters.

[20] 'I will hide my face from them," he said, "and see what will then become of them. What a fickle race they are, sons with no loyalty in them!

[21] "Since they have provoked me with their 'no-god' and angered me with their vain idols, I will provoke them with a 'no-people'; with a foolish nation I will anger them.

[22] "For by my wrath a fire is enkindled that shall rage to the depths of the nether world, Consuming the earth with its yield, and licking with flames the roots of the mountains.

[23] I will spend on them woe upon woe and exhaust all my arrows against them:

[24] "Emaciating hunger and consuming fever and bitter pestilence, And the teeth of wild beasts I will send among them, with the venom of reptiles gliding in the dust.

[25] "Snatched away by the sword in the street and by sheer terror at home Shall be the youth and the maiden alike, the nursing babe as well as the hoary old man.

[26] "I would have said, 'I will make an end of them and blot out their name from men's memories,'

[27] Had I not feared the insolence of their enemies, feared that these foes would mistakenly boast, 'Our own hand won the victory; the LORD had nothing to do with it.'"

[28] 6 For they are a people devoid of reason, having no understanding.

[29] If they had insight they would realize what happened, they would understand their future and say,

[30] "How could one man rout a thousand, or two men put ten thousand to flight, Unless it was because their Rock sold them and the LORD delivered them up?"

[31] Indeed, their "rock" is not like our Rock, and our foes are under condemnation.

[32] They are a branch of Sodom's vinestock, from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Poisonous are their grapes and bitter their clusters.

[33] Their wine is the venom of dragons and the cruel poison of cobras.

[34] "Is not this preserved in my treasury, sealed up in my storehouse,

[35] Against the day of vengeance and requital, against the time they lose their footing?" Close at hand is the day of their disaster and their doom is rushing upon them!

[36] 7 Surely, the LORD shall do justice for his people; on his servants he shall have pity. When he sees their strength failing, and their protected and unprotected alike disappearing,

[37] He will say, "Where are their gods whom they relied on as their 'rock'?

[38] Let those who ate the fat of your sacrifices and drank the wine of your libations Rise up now and help you! Let them be your protection!

[39] "Learn then that I, I alone, am God, and there is no god besides me. It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them, and from my hand there is no rescue.

[40] "To the heavens I raise my hand and swear: As surely as I live forever,

[41] I will sharpen my flashing sword, and my hand shall lay hold of my quiver. "With vengeance I will repay my foes and requite those who hate me.

[42] I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall gorge itself with flesh-- With the blood of the slain and the captured, Flesh from the heads of the enemy leaders."

[43] Exult with him, you heavens, glorify him, all you angels of God; For he avenges the blood of his servants and purges his people's land.

[44] So Moses, together with Joshua, son of Nun, went and recited all the words of this song for the people to hear.

[45] When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,

[46] he said, "Take to heart all the warning which I have now given you and which you must impress on your children, that you may carry out carefully every word of this law.

[47] For this is no trivial matter for you; rather, it means your very life, since it is by this means that you are to enjoy a long life on the land which you will cross the Jordan to occupy."

[48] On that very day the LORD said to Moses,

[49] "Go up on Mount Nebo, here in the Abarim Mountains (it is in the land of Moab facing Jericho), and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their possession.

[50] Then you shall die on the mountain you have climbed, and shall be taken to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and there was taken to his people;

[51] because both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the desert of Zin by failing to manifest my sanctity among the Israelites.

[52] You may indeed view the land at a distance, but you shall not enter that land which I am giving to the Israelites."

Deuteronomy Chapter 33

[1] This is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, pronounced upon the Israelites before he died.

[2] 1 He said: "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned on his people from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and advanced from Meribath-kadesh, While at his right hand a fire blazed forth and his wrath devastated the nations.

[3] 2 But all his holy ones were in his hand; they followed at his feet and he bore them up on his pinions.

[4] A law he gave to us; he made the community of Jacob his domain,

[5] 3 and he became king of his darling. When the chiefs of the people assembled and the tribes of Israel came together.

[6] 4 "May Reuben live and not die out, but let his men be few."

[7] 5 The following is for Judah. He said: "The LORD hears the cry of Judah; you will bring him to his people. His own hands defend his cause and you will be his help against his foes."

[8] 6 Of Levi he said: "To Levi belong your Thummim, to the man of your favor your Urim; For you put him to the test at Massah and you contended with him at the waters of Meribah.

[9] 7 He said of his father, 'I regard him not'; his brothers he would not acknowledge, and his own children he refused to recognize. Thus the Levites keep your words, and your covenant they uphold.

[10] They promulgate your decisions to Jacob and your law to Israel. They bring the smoke of sacrifice to your nostrils, and burnt offerings to your altar.

[11] Bless, O LORD, his possessions and accept the ministry of his hands. Break the backs of his adversaries and of his foes, that they may not rise."

[12] Of Benjamin he said: "Benjamin is the beloved of the LORD, who shelters him all the day, while he abides securely at his breast."

[13] Of Joseph he said: "Blessed by the LORD is his land with the best of the skies above and of the abyss crouching beneath;

[14] With the best of the produce of the year, and the choicest sheaves of the months;

[15] With the finest gifts of the age-old mountains and the best from the timeless hills;

[16] 8 With the best of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of him who dwells in the bush. These shall come upon the head of Joseph and upon the brow of the prince among his brothers,

[17] The majestic bull, his father's first-born, whose horns are those of the wild ox With which to gore the nations, even those at the ends of the earth." (These are the myriads of Ephraim, and these the thousands of Manasseh.)

[18] Of Zebulun he said: "Rejoice, O Zebulun, in your pursuits, and you, Issachar, in your tents!

[19] 9 You who invite the tribes to the mountains where feasts are duly held, Because you suck up the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand."

[20] Of Gad he said: "Blessed be he who has made Gad so vast! He lies there like a lion that has seized the arm and head of the prey.

[21] 10 He saw that the best should be his when the princely portion was assigned, while the heads of the people were gathered. He carried out the justice of the LORD and his decrees respecting Israel."

[22] 11 Of Dan he said: "Dan is a lion's whelp, that springs forth from Bashan!"

[23] 12 Of Naphtali he said: "Naphtali is enriched with favors and filled with the blessings of the LORD; The lake and south of it are his possession!"

[24] 13 Of Asher he said: "More blessed than the other sons be Asher! May he be the favorite among his brothers, as the oil of his olive trees runs over his feet!

[25] May your bolts be of iron and bronze; may your strength endure through all your days!"

[26] "There is no god like the God of the darling, who rides the heavens in his power, and rides the skies in his majesty;

[27] He spread out the primeval tent; he extended the ancient canopy. He drove the enemy out of your way and the Amorite he destroyed.

[28] Israel has dwelt securely, and the fountain of Jacob has been undisturbed In a land of grain and wine, where the heavens drip with dew.

[29] How fortunate you are, O Israel! Where else is a nation victorious in the LORD? The LORD is your saving shield, and his sword is your glory. Your enemies fawn upon you, as you stride upon their heights."

Deuteronomy Chapter 34

[1] Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the headland of Pisgah which faces Jericho, and the LORD showed him all the land-Gilead, and as far as Dan,

[2] all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea,

[3] the Negeb, the circuit of the Jordan with the lowlands at Jericho, city of palms, and as far as Zoar.

[4] The LORD then said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that I would give to their descendants. I have let you feast your eyes upon it, but you shall not cross over."

[5] So there, in the land of Moab, Moses, the servant of the LORD, died as the LORD had said;

[6] and he was buried in the ravine opposite Beth-peor in the land of Moab, but to this day no one knows the place of his burial.

[7] Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated.

[8] For thirty days the Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab, till they had completed the period of grief and mourning for Moses.

[9] Now Joshua, son of Nun, was filled with the spirit of wisdom, since Moses had laid his hands upon him; and so the Israelites gave him their obedience, thus carrying out the LORD'S command to Moses.

[10] Since then no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.

[11] He had no equal in all the signs and wonders the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh and all his servants and against all his land,

[12] and for the might and the terrifying power that Moses exhibited in the sight of all Israel.

Introduction to Joshua

Joshua

Introduction

The Book of Joshua derives its name from the successor of Moses, with whose deeds it is principally concerned. The purpose of the book is to demonstrate God's fidelity in giving to the Israelites the land he had promised them for an inheritance (Genesis 15:18-20; Joshua 1:2-4; 21:41-43; 23:14-16).

Their occupation of the country is begun with the crossing of the Jordan and the conquest of Jericho (Jos 1-6), in both of which the Lord intervenes on their behalf. This is followed by a first foothold on the Palestinian mountain range, at Ai, Bethel, and Gibeon (Jos 7-9), and two sweeping campaigns against the city states in the south of the country (Jos 10) and in the north (Jos 11), with a summary in Jos 12. The broad claim to total sovereignty thus established is spelled out by a combined list of tribal boundaries and of the towns contained within each area or administrative district (Jos 13-19), including cities of asylum and cities for the Levites (Joshua 20:21). The book closes with a narrative about the tribes east of the Jordan (Jos 22), a warning speech by Joshua (Jos 23), and a renewal at Shechem (Jos 24) of the covenant with the Lord, already affirmed there near the beginning of the conquest (Joshua 8:30-35).

Like the books which precede it, the Book of Joshua was built up by a long and complex process of editing traditional materials. Both Jewish and Christian believers have always regarded it as inspired.

The entire history of the conquest of the Promised Land is a prophecy of the spiritual conquest of the world through the Church under the leadership of Jesus the Messiah.

The Book of Joshua may be divided as follows:

Conquest of Canaan (Joshua 1:1-12:24)

Division of the Land (Joshua 13:1-21:45)

Return of the Transjordan Tribes and Joshua's Farewell (Joshua 22:1-24:33)

Joshua Chapter 1

[1] After Moses, the servant of the LORD, had died, the LORD said to Moses' aide Joshua, son of Nun:

[2] "My servant Moses is dead. So prepare to cross the Jordan here, with all the people into the land I will give the Israelites.

[3] As I promised Moses, I will deliver to you every place where you set foot.

[4] 1 Your domain is to be all the land of the Hittites, from the desert and from Lebanon east to the great river Euphrates and west to the Great Sea.

[5] No one can withstand you while you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses: I will not leave you nor forsake you.

[6] Be firm and steadfast, so that you may give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers I would give them.

[7] Above all, be firm and steadfast, taking care to observe the entire law which my servant Moses enjoined on you. Do not swerve from it either to the right or to the left, that you may succeed wherever you go.

[8] Keep this book of the law on your lips. Recite it by day and by night, that you may observe carefully all that is written in it; then you will successfully attain your goal.

[9] I command you: be firm and steadfast! Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD, your God, is with you wherever you go."

[10] So Joshua commanded the officers of the people:

[11] "Go through the camp and instruct the people, 'Prepare your provisions, for three days from now you shall cross the Jordan here, to march in and take possession of the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you.'"

[12] Joshua reminded the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh:

[13] "Remember what Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you when he said, 'The LORD, your God, will permit you to settle in this land.'

[14] Your wives, your children, and your livestock shall remain in the land Moses gave you here beyond the Jordan. But all the warriors among you must cross over armed ahead of your kinsmen and you must help them

[15] until the LORD has settled your kinsmen, and they like you possess the land which the LORD, your God, is giving them. Afterward you may return and occupy your own land, which Moses, the servant of the LORD, has given you east of the Jordan."

[16] "We will do all you have commanded us," they answered Joshua, "and we will go wherever you send us. We will obey you as completely as we obeyed Moses.

[17] But may the LORD, your God, be with you as he was with Moses.

[18] If anyone rebels against your orders and does not obey every command you give him, he shall be put to death. But be firm and steadfast."

Joshua Chapter 2

[1] 1 Then Joshua, son of Nun, secretly sent out two spies from Shittim, saying, "Go, reconnoiter the land and Jericho." When the two reached Jericho, they went into the house of a harlot named Rahab, where they lodged.

[2] But a report was brought to the king of Jericho that some Israelites had come there that night to spy out the land.

[3] So the king of Jericho sent Rahab the order, "Put out the visitors who have entered your house, for they have come to spy out the entire land."

[4] The woman had taken the two men and hidden them, so she said, "True, the men you speak of came to me, but I did not know where they came from.

[5] At dark, when it was time for the gate to be shut, they left, and I do not know where they went. You will have to pursue them immediately to overtake them."

[6] 2 Now, she had led them to the roof, and hidden them among her stalks of flax spread out there.

[7] But the pursuers set out along the way to the fords of the Jordan, and once they had left, the gate was shut.

[8] 3 Before the spies fell asleep, Rahab came to them on the roof

[9] and said: "I know that the LORD has given you the land, that a dread of you has come upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are overcome with fear of you.

[10] For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and how you dealt with Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, whom you doomed to destruction.

[11] At these reports, we are disheartened; everyone is discouraged because of you, since the LORD, your God, is God in heaven above and on earth below.

[12] Now then, swear to me by the LORD that, since I am showing kindness to you, you in turn will show kindness to my family; and give me an unmistakable token

[13] that you are to spare my father and mother, brothers and sisters, and all their kin, and save us from death."

[14] "We pledge our lives for yours," the men answered her. "If you do not betray this errand of ours, we will be faithful in showing kindness to you when the LORD gives us the land."

[15] 4 Then she let them down through the window with a rope; for she lived in a house built into the city wall.

[16] "Go up into the hill country," she suggested to them, "that your pursuers may not find you. Hide there for three days, until they return; then you may proceed on your way."

[17] The men answered her, "This is how we will fulfill the oath you made us take:

[18] When we come into the land, tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you are letting us down; and gather your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.

[19] Should any of them pass outside the doors of your house, he will be responsible for his own death, and we shall be guiltless. But we shall be responsible if anyone in the house with you is harmed.

[20] If, however, you betray this errand of ours, we shall be quit of the oath you have made us take."

[21] "Let it be as you say," she replied, and bade them farewell. When they were gone, she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

[22] They went up into the hills, where they stayed three days until their pursuers, who had sought them all along the road without finding them, returned.

[23] Then the two came back down from the hills, crossed the Jordan to Joshua, son of Nun, and reported all that had befallen them.

[24] They assured Joshua, "The LORD has delivered all this land into our power; indeed, all the inhabitants of the land are overcome with fear of us."

Joshua Chapter 3

[1] Early the next morning, Joshua moved with all the Israelites from Shittim to the Jordan, where they lodged before crossing over.

[2] Three days later the officers went through the camp

[3] and issued these instructions to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD, your God, which the levitical priests will carry, you must also break camp and follow it,

[4] that you may know the way to take, for you have not gone over this road before. But let there be a space of two thousand cubits between you and the ark. Do not come nearer to it."

[5] Joshua also said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will perform wonders among you."

[6] And he directed the priests to take up the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people; and they did so.

[7] Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know I am with you, as I was with Moses.

[8] Now command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant to come to a halt in the Jordan when they reach the edge of the waters."

[9] So Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD, your God."

[10] He continued: "This is how you will know that there is a living God in your midst, who at your approach will dispossess the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.

[11] The ark of the covenant of the LORD of the whole earth will precede you into the Jordan.

[12] (Now choose twelve men, one from each of the tribes of Israel.)

[13] When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the LORD, the Lord of the whole earth, touch the water of the Jordan, it will cease to flow; for the water flowing down from upstream will halt in a solid bank."

[14] The people struck their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of them.

[15] 1 No sooner had these priestly bearers of the ark waded into the waters at the edge of the Jordan, which overflows all its banks during the entire season of the harvest,

[16] 2 than the waters flowing from upstream halted, backing up in a solid mass for a very great distance indeed, from Adam, a city in the direction of Zarethan; while those flowing downstream toward the Salt Sea of the Arabah disappeared entirely. Thus the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

[17] While all Israel crossed over on dry ground, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD remained motionless on dry ground in the bed of the Jordan until the whole nation had completed the passage.

Joshua Chapter 4

[1] After the entire nation had crossed the Jordan,

[2] the LORD said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from the people, one from each tribe,

[3] and instruct them to take up twelve stones from this spot in the bed of the Jordan where the priests have been standing motionless. Carry them over with you, and place them where you are to stay tonight."

[4] Summoning the twelve men whom he had selected from among the Israelites, one from each tribe,

[5] Joshua said to them: "Go to the bed of the Jordan in front of the ark of the LORD, your God; lift to your shoulders one stone apiece, so that they will equal in number the tribes of the Israelites.

[6] In the future, these are to be a sign among you. When your children ask you what these stones mean to you,

[7] you shall answer them, 'The waters of the Jordan ceased to flow before the ark of the covenant of the LORD when it crossed the Jordan.' Thus these stones are to serve as a perpetual memorial to the Israelites."

[8] The twelve Israelites did as Joshua had commanded: they took up as many stones from the bed of the Jordan as there were tribes of the Israelites, and carried them along to the camp site, where they placed them, according to the LORD'S direction.

[9] Joshua also had twelve stones set up in the bed of the Jordan on the spot where the priests stood who were carrying the ark of the covenant. They are there to this day.

[10] 1 The priests carrying the ark remained in the bed of the Jordan until everything had been done that the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell the people. The people crossed over quickly,

[11] and when all had reached the other side, the ark of the LORD, borne by the priests, also crossed to its place in front of them.

[12] The Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh, armed, marched in the vanguard of the Israelites, as Moses had ordered.

[13] About forty thousand troops equipped for battle passed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho.

[14] That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and thenceforth during his whole life they respected him as they had respected Moses.

[15] Then the LORD said to Joshua,

[16] "Command the priests carrying the ark of the commandments to come up from the Jordan."

[17] Joshua did so,

[18] and when the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up from the bed of the Jordan, as the soles of their feet regained the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan resumed their course and as before overflowed all its banks.

[19] The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and camped in Gilgal on the eastern limits of Jericho.

[20] At Gilgal Joshua set up the twelve stones which had been taken from the Jordan,

[21] saying to the Israelites, "In the future, when the children among you ask their fathers what these stones mean,

[22] you shall inform them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan here on dry ground.'

[23] For the LORD, your God, dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of you until you crossed over, just as the LORD, your God, had done at the Red Sea, which he dried up in front of us until we crossed over;

[24] in order that all the peoples of the earth may learn that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and that you may fear the LORD, your God, forever."

Joshua Chapter 5

[1] When all the kings of the Amorites to the west of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they crossed over, they were disheartened and lost courage at their approach.

[2] On this occasion the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite nation for the second time."

[3] 1 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth,

[4] under these circumstances: Of all the people who came out of Egypt, every man of military age had died in the desert during the journey after they left Egypt.

[5] Though all the men who came out were circumcised, none of those born in the desert during the journey after the departure from Egypt were circumcised.

[6] Now the Israelites had wandered forty years in the desert, until all the warriors among the people that came forth from Egypt died off because they had not obeyed the command of the LORD. For the LORD swore that he would not let them see the land flowing with milk and honey which he had promised their fathers he would give us.

[7] It was the children whom he raised up in their stead whom Joshua circumcised, for these were yet with foreskins, not having been circumcised on the journey.

[8] When the rite had been performed, the whole nation remained in camp where they were, until they recovered.

[9] 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you." Therefore the place is called Gilgal to the present day.

[10] 3 While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth of the month.

[11] On the day after the Passover they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain. On that same day

[12] after the Passover on which they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.

[13] 4 While Joshua was near Jericho, he raised his eyes and saw one who stood facing him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you one of us or of our enemies?"

[14] He replied, "Neither. I am the captain of the host of the LORD and I have just arrived." Then Joshua fell prostrate to the ground in worship, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?"

[15] The captain of the host of the LORD replied to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy." And Joshua obeyed.

Joshua Chapter 6

[1] Now Jericho was in a state of siege because of the presence of the Israelites, so that no one left or entered.

[2] And to Joshua the LORD said, "I have delivered Jericho and its king into your power.

[3] Have all the soldiers circle the city, marching once around it. Do this for six days,

[4] with seven priests carrying ram's horns ahead of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, and have the priests blow the horns.

[5] When they give a long blast on the ram's horns and you hear that signal, all the people shall shout aloud. The wall of the city will collapse, and they will be able to make a frontal attack."

[6] Summoning the priests, Joshua, son of Nun, then ordered them to take up the ark of the covenant with seven of the priests carrying ram's horns in front of the ark of the LORD.

[7] And he ordered the people to proceed in a circle around the city, with the picked troops marching ahead of the ark of the LORD.

[8] At this order they proceeded, with the seven priests who carried the ram's horns before the LORD blowing their horns, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them.

[9] In front of the priests with the horns marched the picked troops; the rear guard followed the ark, and the blowing of horns was kept up continually as they marched.

[10] But the people had been commanded by Joshua not to shout or make any noise or outcry until he gave the word: only then were they to shout.

[11] So he had the ark of the LORD circle the city, going once around it, after which they returned to camp for the night.

[12] Early the next morning, Joshua had the priests take up the ark of the LORD.

[13] The seven priests bearing the ram's horns marched in front of the ark of the LORD, blowing their horns. Ahead of these marched the picked troops, while the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, and the blowing of horns was kept up continually.

[14] On this second day they again marched around the city once before returning to camp; and for six days in all they did the same.

[15] On the seventh day, beginning at daybreak, they marched around the city seven times in the same manner; on that day only did they march around the city seven times.

[16] The seventh time around, the priests blew the horns and Joshua said to the people, "Now shout, for the LORD has given you the city

[17] and everything in it. It is under the LORD'S ban. Only the harlot Rahab and all who are in the house with her are to be spared, because she hid the messengers we sent.

[18] 1 But be careful not to take, in your greed, anything that is under the ban; else you will bring upon the camp of Israel this ban and the misery of it.

[19] All silver and gold, and the articles of bronze or iron, are sacred to the LORD. They shall be put in the treasury of the LORD."

[20] 2 As the horns blew, the people began to shout. When they heard the signal horn, they raised a tremendous shout. The wall collapsed, and the people stormed the city in a frontal attack and took it.

[21] They observed the ban by putting to the sword all living creatures in the city: men and women, young and old, as well as oxen, sheep and asses.

[22] Joshua directed the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the harlot's house and bring out the woman with all her kin, as you swore to her you would do."

[23] The spies entered and brought out Rahab, with her father, mother, brothers, and all her kin. Her entire family they led forth and placed them outside the camp of Israel.

[24] The city itself they burned with all that was in it, except the silver, gold, and articles of bronze and iron, which were placed in the treasury of the house of the LORD.

[25] 3 Because Rahab the harlot had hidden the messengers whom Joshua had sent to reconnoiter Jericho, Joshua spared her with her family and all her kin, who continue in the midst of Israel to this day.

[26] 4 On that occasion Joshua imposed the oath: Cursed before the LORD be the man who attempts to rebuild this city, Jericho. He shall lose his first-born when he lays its foundation, and he shall lose his youngest son when he sets up its gates.

[27] Thus the LORD was with Joshua so that his fame spread throughout the land.

Joshua Chapter 7

[1] But the Israelites violated the ban; Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zerah, son of Zara of the tribe of Judah, took goods that were under the ban, and the anger of the LORD flared up against the Israelites.

[2] Joshua next sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Bethel on its eastern side, with instructions to go up and reconnoiter the land. When they had explored Ai,

[3] they returned to Joshua and advised, "Do not send all the people up; if only about two or three thousand go up, they can overcome Ai. The enemy there are few; you need not call for an effort from all the people."

[4] About three thousand of the people made the attack, but they were defeated by those at Ai,

[5] who killed some thirty-six of them. They pressed them back across the clearing in front of the city gate till they broke ranks, and defeated them finally on the descent, so that the confidence of the people melted away like water.

[6] Joshua, together with the elders of Israel, rent his garments and lay prostrate before the ark of the LORD until evening; and they threw dust on their heads.

[7] "Alas, O Lord GOD," Joshua prayed, "why did you ever allow this people to pass over the Jordan, delivering us into the power of the Amorites, that they might destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell on the other side of the Jordan.

[8] Pray, Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back to its enemies?

[9] When the Canaanites and the other inhabitants of the land hear of it, they will close in around us and efface our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?"

[10] The LORD replied to Joshua: "Stand up. Why are you lying prostrate?

[11] Israel has sinned: they have violated the covenant which I enjoined on them. They have stealthily taken goods subject to the ban, and have deceitfully put them in their baggage.

[12] If the Israelites cannot stand up to their enemies, but must turn their back to them, it is because they are under the ban. I will not remain with you unless you remove from among you whoever has incurred the ban.

[13] Rise, sanctify the people. Tell them to sanctify themselves before tomorrow, for the LORD, the God of Israel, says: You are under the ban, O Israel. You cannot stand up to your enemies until you remove from among you whoever has incurred the ban.

[14] In the morning you must present yourselves by tribes. The tribe which the LORD designates shall come forward by clans; the clan which the LORD designates shall come forward by families; the family which the LORD designates shall come forward one by one.

[15] He who is designated as having incurred the ban shall be destroyed by fire, with all that is his, because he has violated the covenant of the LORD and has committed a shameful crime in Israel."

[16] 1 Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was designated.

[17] Then he had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of Zerah was designated. He had the clan of Zerah come forward by families, and Zabdi was designated.

[18] Finally he had that family come forward one by one, and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, was designated.

[19] Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give to the LORD, the God of Israel, glory and honor by telling me what you have done; do not hide it from me."

[20] Achan answered Joshua, "I have indeed sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done:

[21] Among the spoils, I saw a beautiful Babylonian mantle, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight; in my greed I took them. They are now hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

[22] The messengers whom Joshua sent hastened to the tent and found them hidden there, with the silver underneath.

[23] They took them from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD.

[24] Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan, son of Zerah, with the silver, the mantle, and the bar of gold, and with his sons and daughters, his ox, his ass and his sheep, his tent, and all his possessions, and led them off to the Valley of Achor.

[25] Joshua said, "The LORD bring upon you today the misery with which you have afflicted us!" And all Israel stoned him to death

[26] 2 and piled a great heap of stones over him, which remains to the present day. Then the anger of the LORD relented. That is why the place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

Joshua Chapter 8

[1] The LORD then said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the army with you and prepare to attack Ai. I have delivered the king of Ai into your power, with his people, city, and land.

[2] Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king; except that you may take its spoil and livestock as booty. Set an ambush behind the city."

[3] 1 So Joshua and all the soldiers prepared to attack Ai. Picking out thirty thousand warriors, Joshua sent them off by night

[4] with these orders: "See that you ambush the city from the rear, at no great distance; then all of you be on the watch.

[5] The rest of the people and I will come up to the city, and when they make a sortie against us as they did the last time, we will flee from them.

[6] They will keep coming out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will think we are fleeing from them as we did the last time. When this occurs,

[7] rise from ambush and take possession of the city, which the LORD, your God, will deliver into your power.

[8] When you have taken the city, set it afire in obedience to the LORD'S command. These are my orders to you."

[9] Then Joshua sent them away. They went to the place of ambush, taking up their position to the west of Ai, toward Bethel. Joshua, however, spent that night in the plain.

[10] Early the next morning Joshua mustered the army and went up to Ai at its head, with the elders of Israel.

[11] When all the troops he led were drawn up in position before the city, they pitched camp north of Ai, on the other side of the ravine.

[12] (He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.)

[13] Thus the people took up their stations, with the main body north of the city and the ambush west of it, and Joshua waited overnight among his troops.

[14] The king of Ai saw this, and he and all his army came out very early in the morning to engage Israel in battle at the descent toward the Arabah, not knowing that there was an ambush behind the city.

[15] Joshua and the main body of the Israelites fled in seeming defeat toward the desert,

[16] till the last of the soldiers in the city had been called out to pursue them.

[17] Since they were drawn away from the city, with every man engaged in this pursuit of Joshua and the Israelites, not a soldier remained in Ai (or Bethel), and the city was open and unprotected.

[18] Then the LORD directed Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will deliver it into your power." Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city,

[19] and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose from their post, rushed in, captured the city, and immediately set it on fire.

[20] By the time the men of Ai looked back, the smoke from the city was already sky-high. Escape in any direction was impossible, because the Israelites retreating toward the desert now turned on their pursuers;

[21] for when Joshua and the main body of Israelites saw that the city had been taken from ambush and was going up in smoke, they struck back at the men of Ai.

[22] Since those in the city came out to intercept them, the men of Ai were hemmed in by Israelites on either side, who cut them down without any fugitives or survivors

[23] except the king, whom they took alive and brought to Joshua.

[24] All the inhabitants of Ai who had pursued the Israelites into the desert were slain by the sword there in the open, down to the last man. Then all Israel returned and put to the sword those inside the city.

[25] There fell that day a total of twelve thousand men and women, the entire population of Ai.

[26] Joshua kept the javelin in his hand stretched out until he had fulfilled the doom on all the inhabitants of Ai.

[27] However, the Israelites took for themselves as booty the livestock and the spoil of that city, according to the command of the LORD issued to Joshua.

[28] Then Joshua destroyed the place by fire, reducing it to an everlasting mound of ruins, as it remains today.

[29] He had the king of Ai hanged on a tree until evening; then at sunset Joshua ordered the body removed from the tree and cast at the entrance of the city gate, where a great heap of stones was piled up over it, which remains to the present day.

[30] 2 Later Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

[31] of unhewn stones on which no iron tool had been used, in keeping with the command to the Israelites of Moses, the servant of the LORD, as recorded in the book of the law. On this altar they offered holocausts and peace offerings to the LORD.

[32] There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed upon the stones a copy of the law written by Moses.

[33] And all Israel, stranger and native alike, with their elders, officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark facing the levitical priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. Half of them were facing Mount Gerizim and half Mount Ebal, thus carrying out the instructions of Moses, the servant of the LORD, for the blessing of the people of Israel on this first occasion.

[34] Then were read aloud all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, exactly as written in the book of the law.

[35] Every single word that Moses had commanded, Joshua read aloud to the entire community, including the women and children, and the strangers who had accompanied Israel.

Joshua Chapter 9

[1] When the news reached the kings west of the Jordan, in the mountain regions and in the foothills, and all along the coast of the Great Sea as far as Lebanon: Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites,

[2] they all formed an alliance to launch a common attack against Joshua and Israel.

[3] On learning what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, the inhabitants of Gibeon

[4] put into effect a device of their own. They chose provisions for a journey, making use of old sacks for their asses, and old wineskins, torn and mended.

[5] They wore old, patched sandals and shabby garments; and all the bread they took was dry and crumbly.

[6] Thus they journeyed to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, where they said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant land to propose that you make an alliance with us."

[7] 1 But the men of Israel replied to the Hivites, "You may be living in land that is ours. How, then, can we make an alliance with you?"

[8] But they answered Joshua, "We are your servants." Then Joshua asked them, "Who are you? Where do you come from?"

[9] They answered him, "Your servants have come from a far-off land, because of the fame of the LORD, your God. For we have heard reports of all that he did in Egypt

[10] and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

[11] So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, 'Take along provisions for the journey and go to meet them. Say to them: We are your servants; we propose that you make an alliance with us.'

[12] This bread of ours was still warm when we brought it from home as provisions the day we left to come to you, but now it is dry and crumbled.

[13] Here are our wineskins, which were new when we filled them, but now they are torn. Look at our garments and sandals, which are worn out from the very long journey."

[14] Then the Israelite princes partook of their provisions, without seeking the advice of the LORD.

[15] So Joshua made an alliance with them and entered into an agreement to spare them, which the princes of the community sealed with an oath.

[16] Three days after the agreement was entered into, the Israelites learned that these people were from nearby, and would be living in Israel.

[17] The third day on the road, the Israelites came to their cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim,

[18] but did not attack them, because the princes of the community had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. When the entire community grumbled against the princes,

[19] these all remonstrated with the people, "We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and so we cannot harm them.

[20] Let us therefore spare their lives and so deal with them that we shall not be punished for the oath we have sworn to them."

[21] 2 Thus the princes recommended that they be let live, as hewers of wood and drawers of water for the entire community; and the community did as the princes advised them.

[22] Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, "Why did you lie to us and say that you lived at a great distance from us, when you will be living in our very midst?

[23] For this are you accursed: every one of you shall always be a slave (hewers of wood and drawers of water) for the house of my God."

[24] They answered Joshua, "Your servants were fully informed of how the LORD, your God, commanded his servant Moses that you be given the entire land and that all its inhabitants be destroyed before you. Since, therefore, at your advance, we were in great fear for our lives, we acted as we did.

[25] And now that we are in your power, do with us what you think fit and right."

[26] 3 Joshua did what he had decided: while he saved them from being killed by the Israelites,

[27] at the same time he made them, as they still are, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the community and for the altar of the LORD, in the place of the LORD'S choice.

Joshua Chapter 10

[1] Now Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, heard that, in the capture and destruction of Ai, Joshua had done to that city and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king. He heard also that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made their peace with Israel, remaining among them,

[2] and that there was great fear abroad, because Gibeon was large enough for a royal city, larger even than the city of Ai, and all its men were brave.

[3] So Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, sent for Hoham, king of Hebron, Piram, king of Jarmuth, Japhia, king of Lachish, and Debir, king of Eglon,

[4] to come to his aid for an attack on Gibeon, since it had concluded peace with Joshua and the Israelites.

[5] 1 The five Amorite kings, of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon, united all their forces and marched against Gibeon, where they took up siege positions.

[6] Thereupon, the men of Gibeon sent an appeal to Joshua in his camp at Gilgal: "Do not abandon your servants. Come up here quickly and save us. Help us, because all the Amorite kings of the mountain country have joined forces against us."

[7] So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his picked troops and the rest of his soldiers.

[8] Meanwhile the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your power. Not one of them will be able to withstand you."

[9] And when Joshua made his surprise attack upon them after an all-night march from Gilgal,

[10] the LORD threw them into disorder before him. The Israelites inflicted a great slaughter on them at Gibeon and pursued them down the Beth-horon slope, harrassing them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

[11] 2 While they fled before Israel along the descent from Beth-horon, the LORD hurled great stones from the sky above them all the way to Azekah, killing many. More died from these hailstones than the Israelites slew with the sword.

[12] On this day, when the LORD delivered up the Amorites to the Israelites,

Joshua prayed to the LORD,

and said in the presence of Israel:

Stand still, O sun, at Gibeon,

O moon, in the valley of Aijalon!

[13] 3 And the sun stood still,

and the moon stayed,

while the nation took vengeance on its foes.

Is this not recorded in the Book of Jashar? The sun halted in the middle of the sky; not for a whole day did it resume its swift course.

[14] Never before or since was there a day like this, when the LORD obeyed the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.

[15] (Then Joshua and all Israel returned to the camp at Gilgal.)

[16] Meanwhile the five kings who had fled, hid in a cave at Makkedah.

[17] When Joshua was told that the five kings had been discovered hiding in a cave at Makkedah,

[18] he said, "Roll large stones to the mouth of the cave and post men over it to guard them.

[19] But do not remain there yourselves. Pursue your enemies, and harry them in the rear. Do not allow them to escape to their cities, for the LORD, your God, has delivered them into your power."

[20] Once Joshua and the Israelites had finally inflicted the last blows in this very great slaughter, and the survivors had escaped from them into the fortified cities,

[21] all the army returned safely to Joshua and the camp at Makkedah, no man uttering a sound against the Israelites.

[22] Then Joshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five kings to me."

[23] Obediently, they brought out to him from the cave the five kings, of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon.

[24] When they had done so, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the commanders of the soldiers who had marched with him, "Come forward and put your feet on the necks of these kings." They came forward and put their feet upon their necks.

[25] Then Joshua said to them, "Do not be afraid or dismayed, be firm and steadfast. This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies against whom you fight."

[26] Thereupon Joshua struck and killed them, and hanged them on five trees, where they remained hanging until evening.

[27] At sunset they were removed from the trees at the command of Joshua and cast into the cave where they had hidden; over the mouth of the cave large stones were placed, which remain until this very day.

[28] Makkedah, too, Joshua captured and put to the sword at that time. He fulfilled the doom on the city, on its king, and on every person in it, leaving no survivors. Thus he did to the king of Makkedah what he had done to the king of Jericho.

[29] Joshua then passed on with all Israel from Makkedah to Libnah, which he attacked.

[30] Libnah also, with its king, the LORD delivered into the power of Israel. He put it to the sword with every person there, leaving no survivors. Thus he did to its king what he had done to the king of Jericho.

[31] Joshua next passed on with all Israel from Libnah to Lachish, where they set up a camp during the attack.

[32] The LORD delivered Lachish into the power of Israel, so that on the second day Joshua captured it and put it to the sword with every person in it, just as he had done to Libnah.

[33] At that time Horam, king of Gezer, came up to help Lachish, but Joshua defeated him and his people, leaving him no survivors.

[34] From Lachish, Joshua passed on with all Israel to Eglon; encamping near it, they attacked it

[35] and captured it the same day, putting it to the sword. He fulfilled the doom that day on every person in it, just as he had done at Lachish.

[36] From Eglon, Joshua went up with all Israel to Hebron, which they attacked

[37] and captured. They put it to the sword with its king, all its towns, and every person there, leaving no survivors, just as Joshua had done to Eglon. He fulfilled the doom on it and on every person there.

[38] Then Joshua and all Israel turned back to Debir and attacked it,

[39] capturing it with its king and all its towns. They put them to the sword and fulfilled the doom on every person there, leaving no survivors. Thus was done to Debir and its king what had been done to Hebron, as well as to Libnah and its king.

[40] Joshua conquered the entire country; the mountain regions, the Negeb, the foothills, and the mountain slopes, with all their kings. He left no survivors, but fulfilled the doom on all who lived there, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.

[41] 4 Joshua conquered from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen to Gibeon.

[42] All these kings and their lands Joshua captured in a single campaign, for the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.

[43] Thereupon Joshua with all Israel returned to the camp at Gilgal.

Joshua Chapter 11

[1] 1 When Jabin, king of Hazor, learned of this, he sent a message to Jobab, king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,

[2] and to the northern kings in the mountain regions and in the Arabah near Chinneroth, in the foothills, and in Naphath-dor to the west.

[3] These were Canaanites to the east and west, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the mountain regions, and Hivites at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

[4] They came out with all their troops, an army numerous as the sands on the seashore, and with a multitude of horses and chariots.

[5] 2 All these kings joined forces and marched to the waters of Merom, where they encamped together to fight against Israel.

[6] The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for by this time tomorrow I will stretch them slain before Israel. You must hamstring their horses and burn their chariots."

[7] Joshua with his whole army came upon them at the waters of Merom in a surprise attack.

[8] The LORD delivered them into the power of the Israelites, who defeated them and pursued them to Greater Sidon, to Misrephoth-maim, and eastward to the valley of Mizpeh. They struck them all down, leaving no survivors.

[9] Joshua did to them as the LORD had commanded: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots.

[10] At that time Joshua, turning back, captured Hazor and slew its king with the sword; for Hazor formerly was the chief of all those kingdoms.

[11] He also fulfilled the doom by putting every person there to the sword, till none was left alive. Hazor itself he burned.

[12] Joshua thus captured all those kings with their cities and put them to the sword, fulfilling the doom on them, as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded.

[13] However, Israel did not destroy by fire any of the cities built on raised sites, except Hazor, which Joshua burned.

[14] The Israelites took all the spoil and livestock of these cities as their booty; but the people they put to the sword, until they had exterminated the last of them, leaving none alive.

[15] As the LORD had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua acted accordingly. He left nothing undone that the LORD had commanded Moses should be done.

[16] So Joshua captured all this land: the mountain regions, the entire Negeb, all the land of Goshen, the foothills, the Arabah, as well as the mountain regions and foothills of Israel,

[17] from Mount Halak that rises toward Seir as far as Baal-gad in the Lebanon valley at the foot of Mount Hermon. All their kings he captured and put to death.

[18] Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time.

[19] With the exception of the Hivites who lived in Gibeon, no city made peace with the Israelites; all were taken in battle.

[20] For it was the design of the LORD to encourage them to wage war against Israel, that they might be doomed to destruction and thus receive no mercy, but be exterminated, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

[21] 3 At that time Joshua penetrated the mountain regions and exterminated the Anakim in Hebron, Debir, Anab, the entire mountain region of Judah, and the entire mountain region of Israel. Joshua fulfilled the doom on them and on their cities,

[22] so that no Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites. However, some survived in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod.

[23] 4 Thus Joshua captured the whole country, just as the LORD had foretold to Moses. Joshua gave it to Israel as their heritage, apportioning it among the tribes. And the land enjoyed peace.

Joshua Chapter 12

[1] 1 The kings of the land east of the Jordan, from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon, including all the eastern section of the Arabah, whom the Israelites conquered and whose lands they occupied, were:

[2] First, Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. His domain extended from Aroer, which is on the bank of the Wadi Arnon, to include the wadi itself, and the land northward through half of Gilead to the Wadi Jabbok,

[3] as well as the Arabah from the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth, as far south as the eastern side of the Salt Sea of the Arabah in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, to a point under the slopes of Pisgah.

[4] Secondly, Og, king of Bashan, a survivor of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and Edrei.

[5] He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, and all Bashan as far as the boundary of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and over half of Gilead as far as the territory of Sihon, king of Heshbon.

[6] After Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelites conquered them, he assigned their land to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, as their property.

[7] This is a list of the kings whom Joshua and the Israelites conquered west of the Jordan and whose land, from Baal-gad in the Lebanon valley to Mount Halak which rises toward Seir, Joshua apportioned to the tribes of Israel.

[8] It included the mountain regions and foothills, the Arabah, the slopes, the desert, and the Negeb, belonging to the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

[9] They were the kings of Jericho, Ai (which is near Bethel),

[10] Jerusalem, Hebron,

[11] Jarmuth, Lachish,

[12] Eglon, Gezer,

[13] Debir, Geder,

[14] Hormah, Arad,

[15] Libnah, Adullam,

[16] Makkedah, Bethel,

[17] Tappuah, Hepher,

[18] Aphek, Lasharon,

[19] Madon, Hazor,

[20] Shimron, Achshaph,

[21] Taanach, Megiddo,

[22] Kedesh, Jokneam (at Carmel),

[23] and Dor (in Naphath-dor), the foreign king at Gilgal,

[24] and the king of Tirzah: thirty-one kings in all.

Joshua Chapter 13

[1] When Joshua was old and advanced in years, the LORD said to him: "Though now you are old and advanced in years, a very large part of the land still remains to be conquered.

[2] 1 This additional land includes all Geshur and all the districts of the Philistines

[3] (from the stream adjoining Egypt to the boundary of Ekron in the north is reckoned Canaanite territory, though held by the five lords of the Philistines in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron); also where the Avvim are in the south;

[4] all the land of the Canaanites from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, and the boundaries of the Amorites;

[5] and the Gebalite territory; and all the Lebanon on the east, from Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon to Labo in the land of Hamath.

[6] At the advance of the Israelites I will drive out all the Sidonian inhabitants of the mountain regions between Lebanon and Misrephoth-maim; at least include these areas in the division of the Israelite heritage, just as I have commanded you.

[7] Now, therefore, apportion among the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh the land which is to be their heritage."

[8] Now the other half of the tribe of Manasseh as well as the Reubenites and Gadites, had received their heritage which Moses, the servant of the LORD, had given them east of the Jordan:

[9] from Aroer on the bank of the Wadi Arnon and the city in the wadi itself, through the tableland of Medeba and Dibon,

[10] with the rest of the cities of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the boundary of the Ammonites;

[11] also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah,

[12] the entire kingdom in Bashan of Og, a survivor of the Rephaim, who reigned at Ashtaroth and Edrei. Though Moses conquered and occupied these territories,

[13] the Israelites did not dislodge the Geshurites and Maacathites, so that Geshur and Maacath survive in the midst of Israel to this day.

[14] However, to the tribe of Levi Moses assigned no heritage since, as the LORD had promised them, the LORD, the God of Israel, is their heritage.

[15] What Moses gave to the Reubenite clans:

[16] Their territory reached from Aroer, on the bank of the Wadi Arnon, and the city in the wadi itself, through the tableland about Medeba,

[17] to include Heshbon and all its towns which are on the tableland, Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,

[18] Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,

[19] Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth-shahar on the knoll within the valley,

[20] Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, Beth-jeshimoth,

[21] and the other cities of the tableland and, generally, of the kingdom of Sihon. This Amorite king, who reigned in Heshbon, Moses had killed, with his vassals, the princes of Midian, who were settled in the land: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba;

[22] and among their slain followers the Israelites put to the sword also the soothsayer Balaam, son of Beor.

[23] The boundary of the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan. These cities and their villages were the heritage of the clans of the Reubenites.

[24] What Moses gave to the Gadite clans:

[25] Their territory included Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, toward Rabbah (that is,

[26] from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the boundary of Lodebar);

[27] and in the Jordan valley: Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, Zaphon, the other part of the kingdom of Sihon, king of Heshbon, with the bank of the Jordan to the southeastern tip of the Sea of Chinnereth.

[28] These cities and their villages were the heritage of the clans of the Gadites.

[29] What Moses gave to the clans of the half-tribe of Manasseh:

[30] Their territory included Mahanaim, all of Bashan, the entire kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, and all the villages of Jair, which are sixty cities in Bashan.

[31] Half of Gilead, with Ashtaroth and Edrei, once the royal cities of Og in Bashan, fell to the descendants of Machir, son of Manasseh, for half the clans descended from Machir.

[32] These are the portions which Moses gave when he was in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho.

[33] However, Moses gave no heritage to the tribe of Levi, since the LORD himself, the God of Israel, is their heritage, as he promised.

Joshua Chapter 14

[1] Here follow the portions which the Israelites received in the land of Canaan. Eleazar the priest, Joshua, son of Nun, and the heads of families in the tribes of the Israelites determined

[2] their heritage by lot, in accordance with the instructions the LORD had given through Moses concerning the remaining nine and a half tribes.

[3] For to two and a half tribes Moses had already given a heritage beyond the Jordan; and though the Levites were given no heritage among the tribes,

[4] the descendants of Joseph formed two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites themselves received no share of the land except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for the cattle and flocks.

[5] Thus, in apportioning the land, did the Israelites carry out the instructions of the LORD to Moses.

[6] When the Judahites came up to Joshua in Gilgal, the Kenizzite Caleb, son of Jephunneh, said to him: "You know what the LORD said to the man of God, Moses, about you and me in Kadesh-barnea.

[7] I was forty years old when the servant of the LORD, Moses, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to reconnoiter the land; and I brought back to him a conscientious report.

[8] My fellow scouts who went up with me discouraged the people, but I was completely loyal to the LORD, my God.

[9] On that occasion Moses swore this oath, 'The land where you have set foot shall become your heritage and that of your descendants forever, because you have been completely loyal to the LORD, my God.'

[10] Now, as he promised, the LORD has preserved me while Israel was journeying through the desert, for the forty-five years since the LORD spoke thus to Moses; and although I am now eighty-five years old,

[11] I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me forth, with no less vigor whether for war or for ordinary tasks.

[12] Give me, therefore, this mountain region which the LORD promised me that day, as you yourself heard. True, the Anakim are there, with large fortified cities, but if the LORD is with me I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD promised."

[13] Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and gave him Hebron as his heritage.

[14] Therefore Hebron remains the heritage of the Kenizzite Caleb, son of Jephunneh, to the present day, because he was completely loyal to the LORD, the God of Israel.

[15] Hebron was formerly called Kiriath-arba, for Arba, the greatest among the Anakim. And the land enjoyed peace.

Joshua Chapter 15

[1] The lot for the clans of the Judahite tribe fell in the extreme south toward the boundary of Edom, the desert of Zin in the Negeb.

[2] The boundary there ran from the bay that forms the southern end of the Salt Sea,

[3] southward below the pass of Akrabbim, across through Zin, up to a point south of Kadesh-barnea, across to Hezron, and up to Addar; from there, looping around Karka,

[4] it crossed to Azmon and then joined the Wadi of Egypt before coming out at the sea. (This is your southern boundary.)

[5] The eastern boundary was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan.

[6] The northern boundary climbed from the bay where the Jordan meets the sea, up to Beth-hoglah, and ran north of Beth-arabah, up to Eben-Bohan-ben-Reuben.

[7] Thence it climbed to Debir, north of the vale of Achor, in the direction of the Gilgal that faces the pass of Adummim, on the south side of the wadi; from there it crossed to the waters of En-shemesh and emerged at En-rogel.

[8] 1 Climbing again to the Valley of Ben-hinnom on the southern flank of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem), the boundary rose to the top of the mountain at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim, which bounds the Valley of Hinnom on the west.

[9] From the top of the mountain it ran to the fountain of waters of Nephtoah, extended to the cities of Mount Ephron, and continued to Baalah, or Kiriath-jearim.

[10] From Baalah the boundary curved westward to Mount Seir and passed north of the ridge of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon); thence it descended to Beth-shemesh, and ran across to Timnah.

[11] It then extended along the northern flank of Ekron, continued through Shikkeron, and across to Mount Baalah, thence to include Jabneel, before it came out at the sea.

[12] The western boundary was the Great Sea and its coast. This was the complete boundary of the clans of the Judahites.

[13] As the LORD had commanded, Joshua gave Caleb, son of Jephunneh, a portion among the Judahites, namely, Kiriath-arba (Arba was the father of Anak), that is, Hebron.

[14] And Caleb drove out from there the three Anakim, the descendants of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.

[15] From there he marched up against the inhabitants of Debir, which was formerly called Kiriath-sepher.

[16] Caleb said, "I will give my daughter Achsah in marriage to the one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it."

[17] 2 Othniel, son of Caleb's brother Kenaz, captured it, and so Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah in marriage.

[18] On the day of her marriage to Othniel, she induced him to ask her father for some land. Then, as she alighted from the ass, Caleb asked her, "What is troubling you?"

[19] She answered, "Give me an additional gift! Since you have assigned to me land in the Negeb, give me also pools of water." So he gave her the upper and the lower pools.

[20] 3 This is the heritage of the clans of the tribe of Judahites:

[21] The cities of the tribe of the Judahites in the extreme southern district toward Edom were: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,

[22] Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah,

[23] Kedesh, Hazor and Ithnan;

[24] Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,

[25] Hazor-hadattah, and Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor);

[26] Amam, Shema, Moladah,

[27] Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet,

[28] Hazar-shual, Beer-sheba and Biziothiah;

[29] Baalah, Iim, Ezem,

[30] Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah,

[31] Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,

[32] Lebaoth, Shilhim and En-rimmon; a total of twenty-nine cities with their villages.

[33] 4 In the foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,

[34] Zanoah, Engannim, Tappuah, Enam,

[35] Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,

[36] Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen cities and their villages.

[37] Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad,

[38] Dilean, Mizpeh, Joktheel,

[39] Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,

[40] Cabbon, Lahmam, Chitlish,

[41] Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah and Makkedah; sixteen cities and their villages.

[42] Libnah, Ether, Ashan,

[43] Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib,

[44] Keilah, Achzib and Mareshah; nine cities and their villages.

[45] Ekron and its towns and villages;

[46] from Ekron to the sea, all the towns that lie alongside Ashdod, and their villages;

[47] Ashdod and its towns and villages; Gaza and its towns and villages, as far as the Wadi of Egypt and the coast of the Great Sea.

[48] In the mountain regions: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,

[49] Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir),

[50] Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim,

[51] Goshen, Holon and Giloh; eleven cities and their villages.

[52] Arab, Dumah, Eshan,

[53] Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah,

[54] Humtah, Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior; nine cities and their villages.

[55] Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,

[56] Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah,

[57] Kain, Gibbeah and Timnah; ten cities and their villages.

[58] Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor,

[59] Maarath, Beth-anoth and Eltekon; six cities and their villages. Tekoa, Ephrathah (that is, Bethlehem), Peor, Etam, Kulom, Tatam, Zores, Karim, Gallim, Bether and Manoko; eleven cities and their villages.

[60] Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim) and Rabbah; two cities and their villages.

[61] 5 In the desert: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,

[62] Nibshan, Ir-hamelah and En-gedi; six cities and their villages.

[63] (But the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem the Judahites could not drive out; so the Jebusites dwell in Jerusalem beside the Judahites to the present day.)

Joshua Chapter 16

[1] 1 2 The lot that fell to the Josephites extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho east of the desert; then the boundary went up from Jericho to the heights at Bethel.

[2] Leaving Bethel for Luz, it crossed the ridge to the border of the Archites at Ataroth,

[3] and descended westward to the border of the Japhletites, to that of the Lower Beth-horon, and to Gezer, ending thence at the sea.

[4] Within the heritage of Manasseh and Ephraim, sons of Joseph,

[5] 3 the dividing line for the heritage of the clans of the Ephraimites ran from east of Ataroth-addar to Upper Bethhoron

[6] and thence to the sea. From Michmethath on the north, their boundary curved eastward around Taanath-shiloh, and continued east of it to Janoah;

[7] from there it descended to Ataroth and Naarah, and skirting Jericho, it ended at the Jordan.

[8] From Tappuah the boundary ran westward to the Wadi Kanah and ended at the sea. This was the heritage of the clans of the Ephraimites,

[9] including the villages that belonged to each city set aside for the Ephraimites within the territory of the Manassehites.

[10] But they did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, who live on within Ephraim to the present day, though they have been impressed as laborers.

Joshua Chapter 17

[1] Now as for the lot that fell to the tribe of Manasseh as the first-born of Joseph: since his eldest son, Machir, the father of Gilead, was a warrior, who had already obtained Gilead and Bashan,

[2] the allotment was now made to the other descendants of Manasseh, the clans of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher and Shemida, the other male children of Manasseh, son of Joseph.

[3] Furthermore, Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had had no sons, but only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

[4] These presented themselves to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua, son of Nun, and to the princes, saying, "The LORD commanded Moses to give us a heritage among our kinsmen." So in obedience to the command of the LORD a heritage was given to each of them among their father's kinsmen.

[5] Thus ten shares fell to Manasseh apart from the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond the Jordan,

[6] since these female descendants of Manasseh received each a portion among his sons. The land of Gilead fell to the rest of the Manassehites.

[7] 1 Manasseh bordered on Asher. From Michmethath near Shechem, another boundary ran southward to include the natives of En-Tappuah,

[8] because the district of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, although Tappuah itself was an Ephraimite city on the border of Manasseh.

[9] This same boundary continued down to the Wadi Kanah. The cities that belonged to Ephraim from among the cities in Manasseh were those to the south of that wadi; thus the territory of Manasseh ran north of the wadi and ended at the sea.

[10] The land on the south belonged to Ephraim and that on the north to Manasseh; with the sea as their common boundary, they reached Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.

[11] Moreover, in Issachar and in Asher Manasseh was awarded Beth-shean and its towns, Ibleam and its towns, Dor and its towns and the natives there, Endor and its towns and natives, Taanach and its towns and natives, and Megiddo and its towns and natives (the third is Naphath-dor).

[12] Since the Manassehites could not conquer these cities, the Canaanites persisted in this region.

[13] When the Israelites grew stronger they impressed the Canaanites as laborers, but they did not drive them out.

[14] The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, "Why have you given us only one lot and one share as our heritage? Our people are too many, because of the extent to which the LORD has blessed us."

[15] Joshua answered them, "If you are too many, go up to the forest and clear out a place for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaim, since the mountain regions of Ephraim are so narrow."

[16] For the Josephites said, "Our mountain regions are not enough for us; on the other hand, the Canaanites living in the valley region all have iron chariots, in particular those in Beth-shean and its towns, and those in the valley of Jezreel."

[17] Joshua therefore said to Ephraim and Manasseh, the house of Joseph, "You are a numerous people and very strong. You shall have not merely one share,

[18] for the mountain region which is now forest shall be yours when you clear it. Its adjacent land shall also be yours if, despite their strength and iron chariots, you drive out the Canaanites."

Joshua Chapter 18

[1] After they had subdued the land, the whole community of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh, where they set up the meeting tent.

[2] Seven tribes among the Israelites had not yet received their heritage.

[3] Joshua therefore said to the Israelites, "How much longer will you put off taking steps to possess the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?

[4] Choose three men from each of your tribes; I will commission them to begin a survey of the land, which they shall describe for purposes of inheritance. When they return to me

[5] you shall divide it into seven parts. Judah is to retain its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph its territory in the north.

[6] You shall bring here to me the description of the land in seven sections. I will then cast lots for you here before the LORD, our God.

[7] For the Levites have no share among you, because the priesthood of the LORD is their heritage; while Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received the heritage east of the Jordan which Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave them."

[8] When those who were to map out the land were ready for the journey, Joshua instructed them to survey the land, prepare a description of it, and return to him; then he would cast lots for them there before the LORD in Shiloh.

[9] So they went through the land, listed its cities in writing in seven sections, and returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh.

[10] Joshua then divided up the land for the Israelites into their separate shares, casting lots for them before the LORD in Shiloh.

[11] One lot fell to the clans of the tribe of Benjaminites. The territory allotted them lay between the descendants of Judah and those of Joseph.

[12] 1 Their northern boundary began at the Jordan and went over the northern flank of Jericho, up westward into the mountains, till it reached the desert of Beth-aven.

[13] From there it crossed over to the southern flank of Luz (that is, Bethel). Then it ran down to Ataroth-addar, on the mountaintop south of Lower Beth-horon.

[14] For the western border, the boundary line swung south from the mountaintop opposite Bethhoron till it reached Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), which city belonged to the Judahites. This was the western boundary.

[15] The southern boundary began at the limits of Kiriath-jearim and projected to the spring at Nephtoah.

[16] It went down to the edge of the mountain on the north of the Valley of Rephaim, where it faces the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and continuing down the Valley of Hinnom along the southern flank of the Jebusites, reached En-rogel.

[17] Inclining to the north, it extended to En-shemesh, and thence to Geliloth, opposite the pass of Adummim. Then it dropped to Eben-Bohan-ben-Reuben,

[18] across the northern flank of the Arabah overlook, down into the Aarabah.

[19] From there the boundary continued across the northern flank of Beth-hoglah and extended to the northern tip of the Salt Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan. This was the southern boundary.

[20] The Jordan bounded it on the east. This was how the heritage of the clans of the Benjaminites was bounded on all sides.

[21] Now the cities belonging to the clans of the tribe of the Benjaminites were: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,

[22] Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

[23] Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,

[24] Chephar-ammoni, Ophni and Geba; twelve cities and their villages.

[25] Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,

[26] Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,

[27] Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,

[28] Zela, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah and Kiriath; fourteen cities and their villages. This was the heritage of the clans of Benjaminites.

Joshua Chapter 19

[1] The second lot fell to Simeon. The heritage of the clans of the tribe of Simeonites lay within that of the Judahites.

[2] For their heritage they received Beer-sheba, Shema, Moladah,

[3] Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem,

[4] Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,

[5] Ziklag, Bethmar-caboth, Hazar-susah,

[6] Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages.

[7] Also En-rimmon, Ether and Ashan; four cities and their villages,

[8] besides all the villages around these cities as far as Baalath-beer (that is, Ramoth-negeb). This was the heritage of the clans of the tribe of the Simeonites.

[9] This heritage of the Simeonites was within the confines of the Judahites; for since the portion of the latter was too large for them, the Simeonites obtained their heritage within it.

[10] 1 The third lot fell to the clans of the Zebulunites. The limit of their heritage was at Sarid.

[11] Their boundary went up west. . . and through Mareal, reaching Dabbesheth and the wadi that is near Jokneam.

[12] From Sarid eastward it ran to the district of Chisloth-tabor, on to Daberath, and up to Japhia.

[13] From there it continued eastward to Gath-hepher and to Eth-kazin, extended to Rimmon, and turned to Neah.

[14] Skirting north of Hannathon, the boundary ended at the valley of Iphtahel.

[15] Thus, with Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah and Bethlehem, there were twelve cities and their villages

[16] to comprise the heritage of the clans of the Zebulunites.

[17] 2 The fourth lot fell to Issachar. The territory of the clans of the Issacharites

[18] included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem,

[19] Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,

[20] Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,

[21] Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah and Beth-pazzez.

[22] The boundary reached Tabor, Shahazumah and Beth-shemesh, ending at the Jordan. These sixteen cities and their villages

[23] were the heritage of the clans of the Issacharites.

[24] 3 The fifth lot fell to the clans of the tribe of the Asherites.

[25] Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,

[26] Allammelech, Amad and Mishal, and reached Carmel on the west, and Shihor-libnath.

[27] In the other direction, it ran eastward of Beth-dagon, reached Zebulun and the valley of Iphtahel; then north of Beth-emek and Neiel, it extended to Cabul,

[28] Mishal, Abdon, Rehob, Hammon and Kanah, near Greater Sidon.

[29] Then the boundary turned back to Ramah and to the fortress city of Tyre; thence it cut back to Hosah and ended at the sea. Thus, with Mahalab, Achzib,

[30] Ummah, Acco, Aphek and Rehob, there were twenty-two cities and their villages

[31] to comprise the heritage of the clans of the tribe of the Asherites.

[32] 4 The sixth lot fell to the Naphtalites. The boundary of the clans of the Naphtalites

[33] extended from Heleph, from the oak at Zaanannim to Lakkum, including Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, and ended at the Jordan.

[34] In the opposite direction, westerly, it ran through Aznoth-tabor and from there extended to Hukkok; it touched Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and the Jordan on the east.

[35] The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,

[36] Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,

[37] Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,

[38] Yiron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities and their villages,

[39] to comprise the heritage of the clans of the tribe of the Naphtalites.

[40] 5 The seventh lot fell to the clans of the tribe of Danites.

[41] Their heritage was the territory of Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,

[42] Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,

[43] Elon, Timnah, Ekron,

[44] Eltekoh, Gibbethon, Baalath,

[45] Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon,

[46] Me-jarkon and Rakkon, with the coast at Joppa.

[47] 6 But the territory of the Danites was too small for them; so the Danites marched up and attacked Leshem, which they captured and put to the sword. Once they had taken possession of Leshem, they renamed the settlement after their ancestor Dan.

[48] These cities and their villages were the heritage of the clans of the tribe of the Danites.

[49] When the last of them had received the portions of the land they were to inherit, the Israelites assigned a heritage in their midst to Joshua, son of Nun.

[50] In obedience to the command of the LORD, they gave him the city which he requested, Timnah-serah in the mountain region of Ephraim. He rebuilt the city and made it his home.

[51] These are the final portions into which Eleazar the priest, Joshua, son of Nun, and the heads of families in the tribes of the Israelites divided the land by lot in the presence of the LORD, at the door of the meeting tent in Shiloh.

Joshua Chapter 20

[1] 1 The LORD said to Joshua:

[2] "Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of which I spoke to them through Moses,

[3] to which one guilty of accidental and unintended homicide may flee for asylum from the avenger of blood.

[4] To one of these cities the killer shall flee, and standing at the entrance of the city gate, he shall plead his case before the elders, who must receive him and assign him a place in which to live among them.

[5] Though the avenger of blood pursues him, they are not to deliver up the homicide who slew his fellow man unintentionally and not out of previous hatred.

[6] Once he has stood judgment before the community, he shall live on in that city till the death of the high priest who is in office at the time. Then the killer may go back home to his own city from which he fled."

[7] So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the mountain region of Naphtali, Shechem in the mountain region of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the mountain region of Judah.

[8] And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho they designated Bezer on the open tableland in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh.

[9] These were the designated cities to which any Israelite or stranger living among them who had killed a person accidentally might flee to escape death at the hand of the avenger of blood, until he could appear before the community.

Joshua Chapter 21

[1] 1 The heads of the Levite families came up to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua, son of Nun, and to the heads of families of the other tribes of the Israelites

[2] at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, and said to them, "The LORD commanded, through Moses, that cities be given us to dwell in, with pasture lands for our livestock."

[3] Out of their own heritage, in obedience to this command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites the following cities with their pasture lands.

[4] When the first lot among the Levites fell to the clans of the Kohathites, the descendants of Aaron the priest obtained thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.

[5] The rest of the Kohathites obtained ten cities by lot from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

[6] The Gershonites obtained thirteen cities by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

[7] The clans of the Merarites obtained twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.

[8] These cities with their pasture lands the Israelites allotted to the Levites in obedience to the LORD'S command through Moses.

[9] From the tribes of the Judahites and Simeonites they designated the following cities,

[10] and assigned them to the descendants of Aaron in the Kohathite clan of the Levites, since the first lot fell to them:

[11] first, Kiriath-arba (Arba was the father of Anak), that is, Hebron, in the mountain region of Judah, with the adjacent pasture lands,

[12] although the open country and villages belonging to the city had been given to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, as his property.

[13] Thus to the descendants of Aaron the priest were given the city of asylum for homicides at Hebron, with its pasture lands; also, Libnah with its pasture lands,

[14] Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,

[15] Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands,

[16] Ashan with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands: nine cities from the two tribes mentioned.

[17] From the tribe of Benjamin they obtained the four cities of Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands,

[18] Anathoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands.

[19] These cities which with their pasture lands belonged to the priestly descendants of Aaron, were thirteen in all.

[20] The rest of the Kohathite clans among the Levites obtained by lot, from the tribe of Ephraim, four cities.

[21] They were assigned, with its pasture lands, the city of asylum for homicides at Shechem in the mountain region of Ephraim; also Gezer with its pasture lands,

[22] Kibzaim with its pasture lands, and Beth-horon with its pasture lands.

[23] From the tribe of Dan they obtained the four cities of Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands,

[24] Aijalon with its pasture lands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands;

[25] and from the half-tribe of Manasseh the two cities of Taanach with its pasture lands and Ibleam with its pasture lands.

[26] These cities which with their pasture lands belonged to the rest of the Kohathite clans were ten in all.

[27] The Gershonite clan of the Levites received from the half-tribe of Manasseh two cities: the city of asylum for homicides at Golan, with its pasture lands; and also Beth-ashtaroth with its pasture lands.

[28] From the tribe of Issachar they obtained the four cities of Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands,

[29] Jarmuth with its pasture lands, and En-gannim with its pasture lands; from the tribe of Asher,

[30] the four cities of Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands,

[31] Helkath with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands;

[32] and from the tribe of Naphtali, three cities: the city of asylum for homicides at Kedesh in Galilee, with its pasture lands; also Hammath with its pasture lands, and Rakkath with its pasture lands.

[33] These cities which with their pasture lands belonged to the Gershonite clans were thirteen in all.

[34] The Merarite clans, the last of the Levites, received from the tribe of Zebulun the four cities of Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands,

[35] Rimmon with its pasture lands, and Nahalal with its pasture lands;

[36] also, across the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben, four cities: the city of asylum for homicides at Bezer with its pasture lands, Jahaz with its pasture lands,

[37] Kedemoth with its pasture lands, and Mephaath with its pasture lands;

[38] and from the tribe of Gad a total of four cities: the city of asylum for homicides at Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, also Mahanaim with its pasture lands,

[39] Heshbon with its pasture lands, and Jazer with its pasture lands.

[40] The cities which were allotted to the Merarite clans, the last of the Levites, were therefore twelve in all.

[41] Thus the total number of cities within the territory of the Israelites which, with their pasture lands, belonged to the Levites, was forty-eight.

[42] With each and every one of these cities went the pasture lands round about it.

[43] And so the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to their fathers he would give them. Once they had conquered and occupied it,

[44] the LORD gave them peace on every side, just as he had promised their fathers. Not one of their enemies could withstand them; the LORD brought all their enemies under their power.

[45] Not a single promise that the LORD made to the house of Israel was broken; every one was fulfilled.

Joshua Chapter 22

[1] At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh

[2] and said to them: "You have done all that Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you, and have obeyed every command I gave you.

[3] For many years now you have not once abandoned your kinsmen, but have faithfully carried out the commands of the LORD, your God.

[4] Since, therefore, the LORD, your God, has settled your kinsmen as he promised them, you may now return to your tents beyond the Jordan; to your own land, which Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave you.

[5] But be very careful to observe the precept and law which Moses, the servant of the LORD, enjoined upon you: love the LORD, your God; follow him faithfully; keep his commandments; remain loyal to him; and serve him with your whole heart and soul."

[6] Joshua then blessed them and sent them away to their own tents.

[7] (For, to half the tribe of Manasseh Moses had assigned land in Bashan; and to the other half Joshua had given a portion along with their kinsmen west of the Jordan.) What Joshua said to them when he sent them off to their tents with his blessing was,

[8] "Now that you are returning to your own tents with great wealth, with very numerous livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and with a very large supply of clothing, divide these spoils of your enemies with your kinsmen there."

[9] So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the other Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and returned to the land of Gilead, their own property, which they had received according to the LORD'S command through Moses.

[10] When the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, they built there at the Jordan a conspicuously large altar.

[11] 1 The other Israelites heard the report that the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had built an altar in the region of the Jordan facing the land of Canaan, across from them,

[12] 2 and therefore they assembled their whole community at Shiloh to declare war on them.

[13] First, however, they sent to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead an embassy consisting of Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest,

[14] and ten princes, one from every tribe of Israel, each one being both prince and military leader of his ancestral house.

[15] When these came to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, they said to them:

[16] "The whole community of the LORD sends this message: What act of treachery is this you have committed against the God of Israel? You have seceded from the LORD this day, and rebelled against him by building an altar of your own!

[17] For the sin of Peor, a plague came upon the community of the LORD.

[18] We are still not free of that; must you now add to it? You are rebelling against the LORD today and by tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel!

[19] 3 If you consider the land you now possess unclean, cross over to the land the LORD possesses, where the Dwelling of the LORD stands, and share that with us. But do not rebel against the LORD, nor involve us in rebellion, by building an altar of your own in addition to the altar of the LORD, our God.

[20] 4 When Achan, son of Zerah, violated the ban, did not wrath fall upon the entire community of Israel? Though he was but a single man, he did not perish alone for his guilt!"

[21] The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the military leaders of the Israelites: "The LORD is the God of gods.

[22] 5 The LORD, the God of gods, knows and Israel shall know. If now we have acted out of rebellion or treachery against the LORD, our God,

[23] and if we have built an altar of our own to secede from the LORD, or to offer holocausts, grain offerings or peace offerings upon it, the LORD himself will exact the penalty.

[24] We did it rather out of our anxious concern lest in the future your children should say to our children: 'What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

[25] For the LORD has placed the Jordan as a boundary between you and us. You descendants of Reuben and Gad have no share in the LORD.' Thus your children would prevent ours from revering the LORD.

[26] So we decided to guard our interests by building this altar of our own: not for holocausts or for sacrifices,

[27] but as evidence for you on behalf of ourselves and our descendants, that we have the right to worship the LORD in his presence with our holocausts, sacrifices, and peace offerings. Now in the future your children cannot say to our children, 'You have no share in the LORD.'

[28] 6 Our thought was, that if in the future they should speak thus to us or to our descendants, we could answer: 'Look at the model of the altar of the LORD which our fathers made, not for holocausts or for sacrifices, but to witness between you and us.'

[29] Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD or to secede now from the LORD by building an altar for holocaust, grain offering, or sacrifice in addition to the altar of the LORD, our God, which stands before his Dwelling."

[30] When Phinehas the priest and the princes of the community, the military leaders of the Israelites, heard what the Reubenites, the Gadites and the Manassehites had to say, they were satisfied.

[31] Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, said to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the Manassehites, "Now we know that the LORD is with us. Since you have not committed this act of treachery against the LORD, you have kept the Israelites free from punishment by the LORD."

[32] Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and reported the matter to them.

[33] The report satisfied the Israelites, who blessed God and decided against declaring war on the Reubenites and Gadites or ravaging the land they occupied.

[34] 7 The Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar its name as a witness among them that the LORD is God.

Joshua Chapter 23

[1] Many years later, after the LORD had given the Israelites rest from all their enemies round about them, and when Joshua was old and advanced in years,

[2] he summoned all Israel (including their elders, leaders, judges and officers) and said to them: "I am old and advanced in years.

[3] You have seen all that the LORD, your God, has done for you against all these nations; for it has been the LORD, your God, himself who fought for you.

[4] Bear in mind that I have apportioned among your tribes as their heritage the nations that survive (as well as those I destroyed) between the Jordan and the Great Sea in the west.

[5] The LORD, your God, will drive them out and dislodge them at your approach, so that you will take possession of their land as the LORD, your God, promised you.

[6] Therefore strive hard to observe and carry out all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, not straying from it in any way,

[7] or mingling with these nations while they survive among you. You must not invoke their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or worship them,

[8] but you must remain loyal to the LORD, your God, as you have been to this day.

[9] At your approach the LORD has driven out large and strong nations, and to this day no one has withstood you.

[10] One of you puts to flight a thousand, because it is the LORD, your God, himself who fights for you, as he promised you.

[11] Take great care, however, to love the LORD, your God.

[12] For if you ever abandon him and ally yourselves with the remnant of these nations while they survive among you, by intermarrying and intermingling with them,

[13] know for certain that the LORD, your God, will no longer drive these nations out of your way. Instead they will be a snare and a trap for you, a scourge for your sides and thorns for your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD, your God, has given you.

[14] 1 "Today, as you see, I am going the way of all men. So now acknowledge with your whole heart and soul that not one of all the promises the LORD, your God, made to you has remained unfulfilled. Every promise has been fulfilled for you, with not one single exception.

[15] 2 But just as every promise the LORD, your God, made to you has been fulfilled for you, so will he fulfill every threat, even so far as to exterminate you from this good land which the LORD, your God, has given you.

[16] If you transgress the covenant of the LORD, your God, which he enjoined on you, serve other gods and worship them, the anger of the LORD will flare up against you and you will quickly perish from the good land which he has given you."

Joshua Chapter 24

[1] Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges and their officers. When they stood in ranks before God,

[2] 1 Joshua addressed all the people: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: In times past your fathers, down to Terah, father of Abraham and Nahor, dwelt beyond the River and served other gods.

[3] But I brought your father Abraham from the region beyond the River and led him through the entire land of Canaan. I made his descendants numerous, and gave him Isaac.

[4] To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I assigned the mountain region of Seir in which to settle, while Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.

[5] "Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and smote Egypt with the prodigies which I wrought in her midst.

[6] Afterward I led you out of Egypt, and when you reached the sea, the Egyptians pursued your fathers to the Red Sea with chariots and horsemen.

[7] Because they cried out to the LORD, he put darkness between your people and the Egyptians, upon whom he brought the sea so that it engulfed them. After you witnessed what I did to Egypt, and dwelt a long time in the desert,

[8] I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your power. You took possession of their land, and I destroyed them (the two kings of the Amorites) before you.

[9] Then Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, prepared to war against Israel. He summoned Balaam, son of Beor, to curse you;

[10] but I would not listen to Balaam. On the contrary, he had to bless you, and I saved you from him.

[11] Once you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, the men of Jericho fought against you, but I delivered them also into your power.

[12] 2 And I sent the hornets ahead of you which drove them (the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites) out of your way; it was not your sword or your bow.

[13] "I gave you a land which you had not tilled and cities which you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.

[14] "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely. Cast out the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

[15] 3 If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

[16] But the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods.

[17] For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among all the peoples through whom we passed.

[18] At our approach the LORD drove out (all the peoples, including) the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

[19] 4 Joshua in turn said to the people, "You may not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God who will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

[20] If, after the good he has done for you, you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods, he will do evil to you and destroy you."

[21] But the people answered Joshua, "We will still serve the LORD."

[22] Joshua therefore said to the people, "You are your own witnesses that you have chosen to serve the LORD." They replied, "We are, indeed!"

[23] "Now, therefore, put away the strange gods that are among you and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."

[24] Then the people promised Joshua, "We will serve the LORD, our God, and obey his voice."

[25] So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem,

[26] which he recorded in the book of the law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was in the sanctuary of the LORD.

[27] And Joshua said to all the people, "This stone shall be our witness, for it has heard all the words which the LORD spoke to us. It shall be a witness against you, should you wish to deny your God."

[28] Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his own heritage.

[29] After these events, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.

[30] He was buried within the limits of his heritage at Timnath-serah in the mountain region of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

[31] Israel served the LORD during the entire lifetime of Joshua and that of the elders who outlived Joshua and knew all that the LORD had done for Israel.

[32] 5 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried in Shechem in the plot of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of money. This was a heritage of the descendants of Joseph.

[33] When Eleazar, son of Aaron, also died, he was buried on the hill which had been given to his son Phinehas in the mountain region of Ephraim.

Introduction to Judges

Judges

Introduction

The Book of Judges derives its title from the twelve heroes of Israel whose deeds it records. They were not magistrates, but military leaders sent by God to aid and to relieve his people in time of external danger. They exercised their activities in the interval of time between the death of Joshua and the institution of the monarchy in Israel. Six of them-Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson-are treated in some detail and have accordingly been styled the Major Judges. The other six, of whose activities this book preserves but a summary record, are called the Minor Judges. There were two other judges, whose judgeships are described in 1 Samuel-Eli and Samuel, who seem to have ruled the entire nation of Israel just before the institution of the monarchy. The twelve judges of the present book, however, very probably exercised their authority, sometimes simultaneously, over one or another tribe of Israel, never over the entire nation.

The purpose of the book is to show that the fortunes of Israel depended upon the obedience or disobedience of the people to God's law. Whenever they rebelled against him, they were oppressed by pagan nations; when they repented, he raised up judges to deliver them (cf Judges 2:10-23).

The accounts of various events, whether written shortly after their occurrence or orally transmitted, were later skillfully unified according to the moral purpose of the redactor some time during the Israelite monarchy.

The book is divided as follows:

Palestine after the Death of Joshua (Judges 1:1-3:6)

Stories of the Judges (Judges 3:7-16:31)

The Tribes of Dan and Benjamin in the Days of the Judges (Judges 17:1-21:25)

Judges Chapter 1

[1] 1 After the death of Joshua the Israelites consulted the LORD, asking, "Who shall be first among us to attack the Canaanites and to do battle with them?"

[2] The LORD answered, "Judah shall attack: I have delivered the land into his power."

[3] Judah then said to his brother Simeon, "Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, and let us engage the Canaanites in battle. I will likewise accompany you into the territory allotted to you." So Simeon went with him.

[4] When the forces of Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their power, and they slew ten thousand of them in Bezek.

[5] It was in Bezek that they came upon Adonibezek and fought against him. When they defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites,

[6] Adonibezek fled. They set out in pursuit, and when they caught him, cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

[7] At this Adonibezek said, "Seventy kings, with their thumbs and big toes cut off, used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so has God repaid me." He was brought to Jerusalem, and there he died.

[8] (The Judahites fought against Jerusalem and captured it, putting it to the sword; then they destroyed the city by fire.)

[9] Afterward the Judahites went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the mountain region, in the Negeb, and in the foothills.

[10] Judah also marched against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron, which was formerly called Kiriath-arba, and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.

[11] From there they marched against the inhabitants of Debir, which was formerly called Kiriath-sepher.

[12] And Caleb said, "I will give my daughter Achsah in marriage to the one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it."

[13] Othniel, son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz, captured it; so Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah in marriage.

[14] On the day of her marriage to Othniel she induced him to ask her father for some land. Then, as she alighted from the ass, Caleb asked her, "What is troubling you?"

[15] Give me an additional gift," she answered. "Since you have assigned land in the Negeb to me, give me also pools of water." So Caleb gave her the upper and the lower pool.

[16] 2 The descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, came up with the Judahites from the city of palms to the desert at Arad (which is in the Negeb). But they later left and settled among the Amalekites.

[17] Judah then went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites who dwelt in Zephath. After having doomed the city to destruction, they renamed it Hormah.

[18] Judah, however, did not occupy Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, or Ekron with its territory.

[19] Since the LORD was with Judah, he gained possession of the mountain region. Yet he could not dislodge those who lived on the plain, because they had iron chariots.

[20] As Moses had commanded, Hebron was given to Caleb, who then drove from it the three sons of Anak.

[21] 3 The Benjaminites did not dislodge the Jebusites who dwelt in Jerusalem, with the result that the Jebusites live in Jerusalem beside the Benjaminites to the present day.

[22] The house of Joseph, too, marched up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.

[23] The house of Joseph had a reconnaissance made of Bethel, which formerly was called Luz.

[24] The scouts saw a man coming out of the city and said to him, "Show us a way into the city, and we will spare you."

[25] He showed them a way into the city, which they then put to the sword; but they let the man and his whole clan go free.

[26] He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, as it is still called.

[27] Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean with its towns or of Taanach with its towns. Neither did he dislodge the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, those of Ibleam and its towns, or those of Megiddo and its towns. The Canaanites kept their hold in this district.

[28] When the Israelites grew stronger, they impressed the Canaanites as laborers, but did not drive them out.

[29] Similarly, the Ephraimites did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, and so the Canaanites live in Gezer in their midst.

[30] Zebulun did not dislodge the inhabitants of Kitron or those of Nahalol; the Canaanites live among them, but have become forced laborers.

[31] Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or those of Sidon, or take possession of Mahaleb, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik or Rehob.

[32] The Asherites live among the Canaanite natives of the land, whom they have not dislodged.

[33] Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh or those of Beth-anath, and so they live among the Canaanite natives of the land. However, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath have become forced laborers for them.

[34] The Amorites hemmed in the Danites in the mountain region, not permitting them to go down into the plain.

[35] The Amorites had a firm hold in Harheres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but as the house of Joseph gained the upper hand, they were impressed as laborers.

[36] The territory of the Amorites extended from the Akrabbim pass to Sela and beyond.

Judges Chapter 2

[1] An angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "It was I who brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land which I promised on oath to your fathers. I said that I would never break my covenant with you,

[2] but that you were not to make a pact with the inhabitants of this land, and you were to pull down their altars. Yet you have not obeyed me. What did you mean by this?

[3] For now I tell you, I will not clear them out of your way; they shall oppose you and their gods shall become a snare for you."

[4] When the angel of the LORD had made these threats to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud;

[5] 1 and so that place came to be called Bochim. They offered sacrifice there to the LORD.

[6] When Joshua dismissed the people, each Israelite went to take possession of his own hereditary land.

[7] The people served the LORD during the entire lifetime of Joshua, and of those elders who outlived Joshua and who had seen all the great work which the LORD had done for Israel.

[8] Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, was a hundred and ten years old when he died;

[9] and they buried him within the borders of his heritage at Timnath-heres in the mountain region of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

[10] But once the rest of that generation were gathered to their fathers, and a later generation arose that did not know the LORD, or what he had done for Israel,

[11] 2 the Israelites offended the LORD by serving the Baals.

[12] Abandoning the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had led them out of the land of Egypt, they followed the other gods of the various nations around them, and by their worship of these gods provoked the LORD.

[13] 3 Because they had thus abandoned him and served Baal and the Ashtaroth,

[14] the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel, and he delivered them over to plunderers who despoiled them. He allowed them to fall into the power of their enemies round about whom they were no longer able to withstand.

[15] Whatever they undertook, the LORD turned into disaster for them, as in his warning he had sworn he would do, till they were in great distress.

[16] Even when the LORD raised up judges to deliver them from the power of their despoilers,

[17] they did not listen to their judges, but abandoned themselves to the worship of other gods. They were quick to stray from the way their fathers had taken, and did not follow their example of obedience to the commandments of the LORD.

[18] Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge and save them from the power of their enemies as long as the judge lived; it was thus the LORD took pity on their distressful cries of affliction under their oppressors.

[19] But when the judge died, they would relapse and do worse than their fathers, following other gods in service and worship, relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn conduct.

[20] In his anger toward Israel the LORD said, "Inasmuch as this nation has violated my covenant which I enjoined on their fathers, and has disobeyed me,

[21] I for my part will not clear away for them any more of the nations which Joshua left when he died."

[22] Through these nations the Israelites were to be made to prove whether or not they would keep to the way of the LORD and continue in it as their fathers had done;

[23] therefore the LORD allowed them to remain instead of expelling them immediately, or delivering them into the power of Israel.

Judges Chapter 3

[1] The following are the nations which the LORD allowed to remain, so that through them he might try all those Israelites who had no experience of the battles with Canaan

[2] training them in battle, those generations only of the Israelites who would not have had that previous experience):

[3] 1 the five lords of the Philistines; and all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwell in the mountain region of Lebanon between Baal-hermon and the entrance to Hamath.

[4] These served to put Israel to the test, to determine whether they would obey the commandments the LORD had enjoined on their fathers through Moses.

[5] Besides, the Israelites were living among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

[6] In fact, they took their daughters in marriage, and gave their own daughters to their sons in marriage, and served their gods.

[7] 2 Because the Israelites had offended the LORD by forgetting the LORD, their God, and serving the Baals and the Asherahs,

[8] the anger of the LORD flared up against them, and he allowed them to fall into the power of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Aram Naharaim, whom they served for eight years.

[9] But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a savior, Othniel, son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz, who rescued them.

[10] The spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the LORD delivered Cushan-risha-thaim, king of Aram, into his power, so that he made him subject.

[11] The land then was at rest for forty years, until Othniel, son of Kenaz, died.

[12] Again the Israelites offended the LORD, who because of this offense strengthened Eglon, king of Moab, against Israel.

[13] In alliance with the Ammonites and Amalekites, he attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the city of palms.

[14] The Israelites then served Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years.

[15] But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a savior, the Benjaminite Ehud, son of Gera, who was left-handed. It was by him that the Israelites sent their tribute to Eglon, king of Moab.

[16] Ehud made himself a two-edged dagger a foot long, and wore it under his clothes over his right thigh.

[17] He presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab, who was very fat,

[18] and after the presentation went off with the tribute bearers.

[19] He returned, however, from where the idols are, near Gilgal, and said, "I have a private message for you, O king." And the king said, "Silence!" Then when all his attendants had left his presence,

[20] and Ehud went in to him where he sat alone in his cool upper room, Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." So the king rose from his chair,

[21] and then Ehud with his left hand drew the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into Eglon's belly.

[22] The hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade because he did not withdraw the dagger from his body.

[23] Then Ehud went out into the hall, shutting the doors of the upper room on him and locking them.

[24] When Ehud had left and the servants came, they saw that the doors of the upper room were locked, and thought, "He must be easing himself in the cool chamber."

[25] They waited until they finally grew suspicious. Since he did not open the doors of the upper room, they took the key and opened them. There on the floor, dead, lay their lord!

[26] During their delay Ehud made good his escape and, passing the idols, took refuge in Seirah.

[27] On his arrival he sounded the horn in the mountain region of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down from the mountains with him as their leader.

[28] "Follow me," he said to them, "for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your power." So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, permitting no one to cross.

[29] On that occasion they slew about ten thousand Moabites, all of them strong and valiant men. Not a man escaped.

[30] Thus was Moab brought under the power of Israel at that time; and the land had rest for eighty years.

[31] After him there was Shamgar, son of Anath, who slew six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He, too, rescued Israel.

Judges Chapter 4

[1] After Ehud's death, however, the Israelites again offended the LORD.

[2] So the LORD allowed them to fall into the power of the Canaanite king, Jabin, who reigned in Hazor. The general of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth-ha-goiim.

[3] But the Israelites cried out to the LORD; for with his nine hundred iron chariots he sorely oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

[4] At this time the prophetess Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel.

[5] She used to sit under Deborah's palm tree, situated between Ramah and Bethel in the mountain region of Ephraim, and there the Israelites came up to her for judgment.

[6] She sent and summoned Barak, son of Abinoam, from Kedesh of Naphtali. "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, commands," she said to him; "go, march on Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand Naphtalites and Zebulunites.

[7] I will lead Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, out to you at the Wadi Kishon, together with his chariots and troops, and will deliver them into your power."

[8] But Barak answered her, "If you come with me, I will go; if you do not come with me, I will not go."

[9] "I will certainly go with you," she replied, "but you shall not gain the glory in the expedition on which you are setting out, for the LORD will have Sisera fall into the power of a woman." So Deborah joined Barak and journeyed with him to Kedesh.

[10] Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men followed him. Deborah also went up with him.

[11] 1 Now the Kenite Heber had detached himself from his own people, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law, and had pitched his tent by the tere-binth of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.

[12] It was reported to Sisera that Barak, son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor.

[13] So Sisera assembled from Harosheth-ha-goiim at the Wadi Kishon all nine hundred of his iron chariots and all his forces.

[14] Deborah then said to Barak, "Be off, for this is the day on which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your power. The LORD marches before you." So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by his ten thousand men.

[15] And the LORD put Sisera and all his chariots and all his forces to rout before Barak. Sisera himself dismounted from his chariot and fled on foot.

[16] Barak, however, pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-ha-goiim. The entire army of Sisera fell beneath the sword, not even one man surviving.

[17] 2 Sisera, in the meantime, had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of the Kenite Heber, since Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family of the Kenite Heber were at peace with one another.

[18] Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Come in, my lord, come in with me; do not be afraid." So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a rug.

[19] He said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink. I am thirsty." But she opened a jug of milk for him to drink, and then covered him over.

[20] "Stand at the entrance of the tent," he said to her. "If anyone comes and asks, 'Is there someone here?' say, 'No!'"

[21] Instead Jael, wife of Heber, got a tent peg and took a mallet in her hand. While Sisera was sound asleep, she stealthily approached him and drove the peg through his temple down into the ground, so that he perished in death.

[22] Then when Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, "Come, I will show you the man you seek." So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg through his temple.

[23] Thus on that day God humbled the Canaanite king, Jabin, before the Israelites;

[24] their power weighed ever heavier upon him, till at length they destroyed the Canaanite king, Jabin.

Judges Chapter 5

[1] On that day Deborah (and Barak, son of Abinoam,) sang this song:

[2] 1 Of chiefs who took the lead in Israel, of noble deeds by the people who bless the LORD,

[3] Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes!

I to the LORD will sing my song,

my hymn to the LORD, the God of Israel.

[4] O LORD, when you went out from Seir,

when you marched from the land of Edom,

The earth quaked and the heavens were shaken,

while the clouds sent down showers.

[5] Mountains trembled

in the presence of the LORD, the One of Sinai,

in the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel.

[6] In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath,

in the days of slavery caravans ceased:

Those who traveled the roads

went by roundabout paths.

[7] Gone was freedom beyond the walls,

gone indeed from Israel.

When I, Deborah, rose,

when I rose, a mother in Israel,

[8] 2 New gods were their choice; then the war was at their gates. Not a shield could be seen, nor a lance, among forty thousand in Israel!

[9] My heart is with the leaders of Israel,

nobles of the people who bless the LORD;

[10] They who ride on white asses,

seated on saddlecloths as they go their way;

[11] Sing of them to the strains of the harpers at the wells,

where men recount the just deeds of the LORD,

his just deeds that brought freedom to Israel.

[12] Awake, awake, Deborah!

awake, awake, strike up a song.

Strength! arise, Barak,

make despoilers your spoil, son of Abinoam.

[13] Then down came the fugitives with the mighty,

the people of the LORD came down for me as warriors.

[14] 3 From Ephraim, princes were in the valley;

behind you was Benjamin, among your troops.

From Machir came down commanders,

from Zebulun wielders of the marshal's staff.

[15] With Deborah were the princes of Issachar;

Barak, too, was in the valley, his course unchecked.

Among the clans of Reuben

great were the searchings of heart.

[16] Why do you stay beside your hearths

listening to the lowing of the herds?

Among the clans of Reuben

great were the searchings of heart!

[17] Gilead, beyond the Jordan, rests;

why does Dan spend his time in ships?

Asher, who dwells along the shore,

is resting in his coves.

[18] Zebulun is the people defying death;

Naphtali, too, on the open heights!

[19] The kings came and fought;

then they fought, those kings of Canaan,

At Taanach by the waters of Megiddo;

no silver booty did they take.

[20] 4 From the heavens the stars, too, fought;

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

[21] The Wadi Kishon swept them away;

a wadi. . . , the Kishon.

[22] Then the hoofs of the horses pounded,

with the dashing, dashing of his steeds.

[23] 5 "Curse Meroz," says the LORD,

"hurl a curse at its inhabitants!

For they came not to my help,

as warriors to the help of the LORD."

[24] Blessed among women be Jael,

blessed among tent-dwelling women.

[25] He asked for water, she gave him milk;

in a princely bowl she offered curds.

[26] With her left hand she reached for the peg,

with her right, for the workman's mallet.

She hammered Sisera, crushed his head;

she smashed, stove in his temple.

[27] At her feet he sank down, fell, lay still;

down at her feet he sank and fell;

where he sank down, there he fell, slain.

[28] From the window peered down and wailed

the mother of Sisera, from the lattice:

"Why is his chariot so long in coming?

why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?"

[29] The wisest of her princesses answers her,

and she, too, keeps answering herself:

[30] "They must be dividing the spoil they took:

there must be a damsel or two for each man,

Spoils of dyed cloth as Sisera's spoil,

an ornate shawl or two for me in the spoil."

[31] May all your enemies perish thus, O LORD!

but your friends be as the sun rising in its might!

And the land was at rest for forty years.

Judges Chapter 6

[1] The Israelites offended the LORD, who therefore delivered them into the power of Midian for seven years,

[2] so that Midian held Israel subject. For fear of Midian the Israelites established the fire signals on the mountains, the caves for refuge, and the strongholds.

[3] And it used to be that when the Israelites had completed their sowing, Midian, Amalek and the Kedemites would come up,

[4] encamp opposite them, and destroy the produce of the land as far as the outskirts of Gaza, leaving no sustenance in Israel, nor sheep, oxen or asses.

[5] For they would come up with their livestock, and their tents would become as numerous as locusts; and neither they nor their camels could be numbered, when they came into the land to lay it waste.

[6] Thus was Israel reduced to misery by Midian, and so the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

[7] When Israel cried out to the LORD because of Midian,

[8] he sent a prophet to the Israelites who said to them, "The LORD, the God of Israel, says: I led you up from Egypt; I brought you out of the place of slavery.

[9] I rescued you from the power of Egypt and of all your other oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

[10] And I said to you: I, the LORD, am your God; you shall not venerate the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are dwelling. But you did not obey me."

[11] Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. While his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press to save it from the Midianites,

[12] the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, "The LORD is with you, O champion!"

[13] "My Lord," Gideon said to him, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fathers told us when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' For now the LORD has abandoned us and has delivered us into the power of Midian."

[14] The LORD turned to him and said, "Go with the strength you have and save Israel from the power of Midian. It is I who send you."

[15] But he answered him, "Please, my lord, how can I save Israel? My family is the meanest in Manasseh, and I am the most insignificant in my father's house."

[16] "I shall be with you," the LORD said to him, "and you will cut down Midian to the last man."

[17] He answered him, "If I find favor with you, give me a sign that you are speaking with me.

[18] Do not depart from here, I pray you, until I come back to you and bring out my offering and set it before you." He answered, "I will await your return."

[19] So Gideon went off and prepared a kid and an ephah of flour in the form of unleavened cakes. Putting the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, he brought them out to him under the terebinth and presented them.

[20] The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and unleavened cakes and lay them on this rock; then pour out the broth." When he had done so,

[21] the angel of the LORD stretched out the tip of the staff he held, and touched the meat and unleavened cakes. Thereupon a fire came up from the rock which consumed the meat and unleavened cakes, and the angel of the LORD disappeared from sight.

[22] Gideon, now aware that it had been the angel of the LORD, said, "Alas, Lord GOD, that I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!"

[23] The LORD answered him, "Be calm, do not fear. You shall not die."

[24] 1 So Gideon built there an altar to the LORD and called it Yahweh-shalom. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

[25] 2 That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the seven-year-old spare bullock and destroy your father's altar to Baal and cut down the sacred pole that is by it.

[26] You shall build, instead, the proper kind of altar to the LORD, your God, on top of this stronghold. Then take the spare bullock and offer it as a holocaust on the wood from the sacred pole you have cut down."

[27] So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had commanded him. But through fear of his family and of the townspeople, he would not do it by day, but did it at night.

[28] Early the next morning the townspeople found that the altar of Baal had been destroyed, the sacred pole near it cut down, and the spare bullock offered on the altar that was built.

[29] They asked one another, "Who did this?" Their inquiry led them to the conclusion that Gideon, son of Joash, had done it.

[30] So the townspeople said to Joash, "Bring out your son that he may die, for he has destroyed the altar of Baal and has cut down the sacred pole that was near it."

[31] But Joash replied to all who were standing around him, "Do you intend to act in Baal's stead, or be his champion? If anyone acts for him, he shall be put to death by morning. If he whose altar has been destroyed is a god, let him act for himself!"

[32] 3 So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, because of the words, "Let Baal take action against him, since he destroyed his altar."

[33] Then all Midian and Amalek and the Kedemites mustered and crossed over into the valley of Jezreel, where they encamped.

[34] The spirit of the LORD enveloped Gideon; he blew the horn that summoned Abiezer to follow him.

[35] He sent messengers, too, throughout Manasseh, which also obeyed his summons; through Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, likewise, he sent messengers and these tribes advanced to meet the others.

[36] Gideon said to God, "If indeed you are going to save Israel through me, as you promised,

[37] I am putting this woolen fleece on the threshing floor. If dew comes on the fleece alone, while all the ground is dry, I shall know that you will save Israel through me, as you promised."

[38] That is what took place. Early the next morning he wrung the dew from the fleece, squeezing out of it a bowlful of water.

[39] Gideon then said to God, "Do not be angry with me if I speak once more. Let me make just one more test with the fleece. Let the fleece alone be dry, but let there be dew on all the ground."

[40] That night God did so; the fleece alone was dry, but there was dew on all the ground.

Judges Chapter 7

[1] Early the next morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) encamped by Enharod with all his soldiers. The camp of Midian was in the valley north of Gibeath-hammoreh.

[2] The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many soldiers with you for me to deliver Midian into their power, lest Israel vaunt itself against me and say, 'My own power brought me the victory.'

[3] Now proclaim to all the soldiers, 'If anyone is afraid or fearful, let him leave.'" When Gideon put them to this test on the mountain, twenty-two thousand of the soldiers left, but ten thousand remained.

[4] The LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many soldiers. Lead them down to the water and I will test them for you there. If I tell you that a certain man is to go with you, he must go with you. But no one is to go if I tell you he must not."

[5] 1 When Gideon led the soldiers down to the water, the LORD said to him, "You shall set to one side everyone who laps up the water as a dog does with its tongue; to the other, everyone who kneels down to drink."

[6] Those who lapped up the water raised to their mouths by hand numbered three hundred, but all the rest of the soldiers knelt down to drink the water.

[7] The LORD said to Gideon, "By means of the three hundred who lapped up the water I will save you and will deliver Midian into your power. So let all the other soldiers go home."

[8] Their horns, and such supplies as the soldiers had with them, were taken up, and Gideon ordered the rest of the Israelites to their tents, but kept the three hundred men. Now the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley.

[9] That night the LORD said to Gideon, "Go, descend on the camp, for I have delivered it up to you.

[10] If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your aide Purah.

[11] When you hear what they are saying, you will have the courage to descend on the camp." So he went down with his aide Purah to the outposts of the camp.

[12] The Midianites, Amalekites, and all the Kedemites lay in the valley, as numerous as locusts. Nor could their camels be counted, for these were as many as the sands on the seashore.

[13] 2 When Gideon arrived, one man was telling another about a dream. "I had a dream," he said, "that a round loaf of barley bread was rolling into the camp of Midian. It came to our tent and struck it, and as it fell it turned the tent upside down."

[14] "This can only be the sword of the Israelite Gideon, son of Joash," the other replied. "God has delivered Midian and all the camp into his power."

[15] When Gideon heard the description and explanation of the dream, he prostrated himself. Then returning to the camp of Israel, he said, "Arise, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your power."

[16] He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and provided them all with horns and with empty jars and torches inside the jars.

[17] "Watch me and follow my lead," he told them. "I shall go to the edge of the camp, and as I do, you must do also.

[18] When I and those with me blow horns, you too must blow horns all around the camp and cry out, 'For the LORD and for Gideon!'"

[19] 3 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the posting of the guards. They blew the horns and broke the jars they were holding.

[20] All three companies blew horns and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hands, and in their right the horns they were blowing, and cried out, "A sword for the LORD and Gideon!"

[21] They all remained standing in place around the camp, while the whole camp fell to running and shouting and fleeing.

[22] But the three hundred men kept blowing the horns, and throughout the camp the LORD set the sword of one against another. The army fled as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zarethan, near the border of Abel-meholah at Tabbath.

[23] The Israelites were called to arms from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.

[24] Gideon also sent messengers throughout the mountain region of Ephraim to say, "Go down to confront Midian, and seize the water courses against them as far as Beth-barah, as well as the Jordan." So all the Ephraimites were called to arms, and they seized the water courses as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan as well.

[25] They captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, killing Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian and carried the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

Judges Chapter 8

[1] But the Ephraimites said to him, "What have you done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?" And they quarreled bitterly with him.

[2] "What have I accomplished now in comparison with you?" he answered them. "Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

[3] Into your power God delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?" When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

[4] When Gideon reached the Jordan and crossed it with his three hundred men, they were exhausted and famished.

[5] So he said to the men of Succoth, "Will you give my followers some loaves of bread? They are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian."

[6] 1 But the princes of Succoth replied, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your army?"

[7] Gideon said, "Very well; when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, I will grind your flesh in with the thorns and briers of the desert."

[8] He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request of them, but the men of Penuel answered him as had the men of Succoth.

[9] So to the men of Penuel, too, he said, "When I return in triumph, I will demolish this tower."

[10] Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their force of about fifteen thousand men; these were all who were left of the whole Kedemite army, a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen having fallen.

[11] Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the camp when it felt secure.

[12] Zebah and Zalmunna fled. He pursued them and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, captive, throwing the entire army into panic.

[13] Then Gideon, son of Joash, returned from battle by the pass of Heres.

[14] He captured a young man of Succoth, who upon being questioned listed for him the seventy-seven princes and elders of Succoth.

[15] So he went to the men of Succoth and said, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom you taunted me, 'Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give food to your weary followers?'"

[16] He took the elders of the city, and thorns and briers of the desert, and ground these men of Succoth into them.

[17] He also demolished the tower of Penuel and slew the men of the city.

[18] Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "Where now are the men you killed at Tabor?" "They all resembled you," they replied. "They appeared to be princes."

[19] "They were my brothers, my mother's sons," he said. "As the LORD lives, if you had spared their lives, I should not kill you."

[20] Then he said to his first-born, Jether, "Go, kill them." Since Jether was still a boy, he was afraid and did not draw his sword.

[21] Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Come, kill us yourself, for a man's strength is like the man." So Gideon stepped forward and killed Zebah and Zalmunna. He also took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.

[22] The Israelites then said to Gideon, "Rule over us--you, your son, and your son's son--for you rescued us from the power of Midian."

[23] But Gideon answered them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The LORD must rule over you."

[24] 2 Gideon went on to say, "I should like to make a request of you. Will each of you give me a ring from his booty?" (For being Ishmaelites, the enemy had gold rings.)

[25] "We will gladly give them," they replied, and spread out a cloak into which everyone threw a ring from his booty.

[26] The gold rings that he requested weighed seventeen hundred gold shekels, in addition to the crescents and pendants, the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and the trappings that were on the necks of their camels.

[27] Gideon made an ephod out of the gold and placed it in his city Ophrah. However, all Israel paid idolatrous homage to it there, and caused the ruin of Gideon and his family.

[28] Thus was Midian brought into subjection by the Israelites; no longer did they hold their heads high. And the land had rest for forty years, during the lifetime of Gideon.

[29] Then Jerubbaal, son of Joash, went back home to stay.

[30] Now Gideon had seventy sons, his direct descendants, for he had many wives.

[31] 3 His concubine who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.

[32] At a good old age Gideon, son of Joash, died and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

[33] 4 But after Gideon was dead, the Israelites again abandoned themselves to the Baals, making Baal of Berith their god

[34] and forgetting the LORD, their God, who had delivered them from the power of their enemies all around them.

[35] Nor were they grateful to the family of Jerubbaal (Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.

Judges Chapter 9

[1] Abimelech, son of Jerubbaal, went to his mother's kinsmen in Shechem, and said to them and to the whole clan to which his mother's family belonged,

[2] "Put this question to all the citizens of Shechem: 'Which is better for you: that seventy men, or all Jerubbaal's sons, rule over you, or that one man rule over you?' You must remember that I am your own flesh and bone."

[3] When his mother's kin repeated these words to them on his behalf, all the citizens of Shechem sympathized with Abimelech, thinking, "He is our kinsman."

[4] They also gave him seventy silver shekels from the temple of Baal of Berith, with which Abimelech hired shiftless men and ruffians as his followers.

[5] He then went to his ancestral house in Ophrah, and slew his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on one stone. Only the youngest son of Jerubbaal, Jotham, escaped, for he was hidden.

[6] Then all the citizens of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together and proceeded to make Abimelech king by the terebinth at the memorial pillar in Shechem.

[7] When this was reported to him, Jotham went to the top of Mount Gerizim, and standing there, cried out to them in a loud voice: "Hear me, citizens of Shechem, that God may then hear you!

[8] Once the trees went to anoint a king over themselves. So they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us.'

[9] 1 But the olive tree answered them, 'Must I give up my rich oil, whereby men and gods are honored, and go to wave over the trees?'

[10] Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come; you reign over us!'

[11] But the fig tree answered them, 'Must I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?'

[12] Then the trees said to the vine, 'Come you, and reign over us.'

[13] 2 But the vine answered them, 'Must I give up my wine that cheers gods and men, and go to wave over the trees?'

[14] Then all the trees said to the buckthorn, 'Come; you reign over us!'

[15] But the buckthorn replied to the trees, 'If you wish to anoint me king over you in good faith, come and take refuge in my shadow. Otherwise, let fire come from the buckthorn and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

[16] 3 "Now then, if you have acted in good faith and honorably in appointing Abimelech your king, if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and with his family, and if you have treated him as he deserved--

[17] for my father fought for you at the risk of his life when he saved you from the power of Midian;

[18] but you have risen against his family this day and have killed his seventy sons upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, king over the citizens of Shechem, because he is your kinsman--

[19] if, then, you have acted in good faith and with honor toward Jerubbaal and his family this day, rejoice in Abimelech and may he in turn rejoice in you.

[20] But if not, let fire come forth from Abimelech to devour the citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo, and let fire come forth from the citizens and from Beth-millo to devour Abimelech."

[21] Then Jotham went in flight to Beer, where he remained for fear of his brother Abimelech.

[22] When Abimelech had ruled Israel for three years,

[23] God put bad feelings between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, who rebelled against Abimelech.

[24] This was to repay the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal and to avenge their blood upon their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and upon the citizens of Shechem, who encouraged him to kill his brothers.

[25] The citizens of Shechem then set men in ambush for him on the mountaintops, and these robbed all who passed them on the road. But it was reported to Abimelech.

[26] Now Gaal, son of Ebed, came over to Shechem with his kinsmen. The citizens of Shechem put their trust in him,

[27] and went out into the fields, harvested their grapes and trod them out. Then they held a festival and went to the temple of their god, where they ate and drank and cursed Abimelech.

[28] Gaal, son of Ebed, said, "Who is Abimelech? And why should we of Shechem serve him? Were not the son of Jerubbaal and his lieutenant Zebul once subject to the men of Hamor, father of Shechem? Why should we serve him?

[29] Would that this people were entrusted to my command! I would depose Abimelech. I would say to Abimelech, 'Get a larger army and come out!'"

[30] At the news of what Gaal, son of Ebed, had said, Zebul, the ruler of the city, was angry

[31] and sent messengers to Abimelech in Arumah with the information: "Gaal, son of Ebed, and his kinsmen have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.

[32] Now rouse yourself; set an ambush tonight in the fields, you and the men who are with you.

[33] Promptly at sunrise tomorrow morning, make a raid on the city. When he and his followers come out against you, deal with him as best you can."

[34] During the night Abimelech advanced with all his soldiers and set up an ambush for Shechem in four companies.

[35] Gaal, son of Ebed, went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate. When Abimelech and his soldiers rose from their place of ambush,

[36] Gaal saw them and said to Zebul, "There are men coming down from the hilltops!" But Zebul answered him, "You see the shadow of the hills as men."

[37] But Gaal went on to say, "Men are coming down from the region of Tabbur-Haares, and one company is coming by way of Elon-Meonenim."

[38] Zebul said to him, "Where now is the boast you uttered, 'Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?' Are these not the men for whom you expressed contempt? Go out now and fight with them."

[39] So Gaal went out at the head of the citizens of Shechem and fought against Abimelech.

[40] But Abimelech routed him, and he fled before him; and many fell slain right up to the entrance of the gate.

[41] Abimelech returned to Arumah, but Zebul drove Gaal and his kinsmen from Shechem, which they had occupied.

[42] The next day, when the people were taking the field, it was reported to Abimelech,

[43] who divided the men he had into three companies, and set up an ambush in the fields. He watched till he saw the people leave the city, and then rose against them for the attack.

[44] Abimelech and the company with him dashed in and stood by the entrance of the city gate, while the other two companies rushed upon all who were in the field and attacked them.

[45] 4 That entire day Abimelech fought against the city, and captured it. He then killed its inhabitants and demolished the city, sowing the site with salt.

[46] When they heard of this, all the citizens of Migdal-shechem went into the crypt of the temple of El-berith.

[47] It was reported to Abimelech that all the citizens of Migdal-shechem were gathered together.

[48] So he went up Mount Zalmon with all his soldiers, took his axe in his hand, and cut down some brushwood. This he lifted to his shoulder, then said to the men with him, "Hurry! Do just as you have seen me do."

[49] So all the men likewise cut down brushwood, and following Abimelech, placed it against the crypt. Then they set the crypt on fire over their heads, so that every one of the citizens of Migdal-shechem, about a thousand men and women, perished.

[50] Abimelech proceeded to Thebez, which he invested and captured.

[51] Now there was a strong tower in the middle of the city, and all the men and women, in a word all the citizens of the city, fled there, shutting themselves in and going up to the roof of the tower.

[52] Abimelech came up to the tower and fought against it, advancing to the very entrance of the tower to set it on fire.

[53] But a certain woman cast the upper part of a millstone down on Abimelech's head, and it fractured his skull.

[54] He immediately called his armor-bearer and said to him, "Draw your sword and dispatch me, lest they say of me that a woman killed me." So his attendant ran him through and he died.

[55] When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all left for their homes.

[56] Thus did God requite the evil Abimelech had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers.

[57] God also brought all their wickedness home to the Shechemites, for the curse of Jotham, son of Jerubbaal, overtook them.

Judges Chapter 10

[1] After Abimelech there rose to save Israel the Issacharite Tola, son of Puah, son of Dodo, a resident of Shamir in the mountain region of Ephraim.

[2] When he had judged Israel twenty-three years, he died and was buried in Shamir.

[3] Jair the Gileadite came after him and judged Israel twenty-two years.

[4] 1 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty saddle-asses and possessed thirty cities in the land of Gilead; these are called Havvoth-jair to the present day.

[5] Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

[6] The Israelites again offended the LORD, serving the Baals and Ashtaroths, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. Since they had abandoned the LORD and would not serve him,

[7] the LORD became angry with Israel and allowed them to fall into the power of (the Philistines and) the Ammonites.

[8] For eighteen years they afflicted and oppressed the Israelites in Bashan, and all the Israelites in the Amorite land beyond the Jordan in Gilead.

[9] The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was in great distress.

[10] Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you; we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals."

[11] The LORD answered the Israelites: "Did not the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,

[12] the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Midianites oppress you? Yet when you cried out to me, and I saved you from their grasp,

[13] you still forsook me and worshiped other gods. Therefore I will save you no more.

[14] Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen; let them save you now that you are in distress."

[15] But the Israelites said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do to us whatever you please. Only save us this day."

[16] And they cast out the foreign gods from their midst and served the LORD, so that he grieved over the misery of Israel.

[17] The Ammonites had gathered for war and encamped in Gilead, while the Israelites assembled and encamped in Mizpah.

[18] And among the people the princes of Gilead said to one another, "The one who begins the war against the Ammonites shall be leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead."

Judges Chapter 11

[1] There was a chieftain, the Gileadite Jephthah, born to Gilead of a harlot.

[2] Gilead's wife had also borne him sons, and on growing up the sons of the wife had driven Jephthah away, saying to him, "You shall inherit nothing in our family, for you are the son of another woman."

[3] So Jephthah had fled from his brothers and had taken up residence in the land of Tob. A rabble had joined company with him, and went out with him on raids.

[4] Some time later, the Ammonites warred on Israel.

[5] When this occurred the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.

[6] "Come," they said to Jephthah, "be our commander that we may be able to fight the Ammonites."

[7] "Are you not the ones who hated me and drove me from my father's house?" Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead. "Why do you come to me now, when you are in distress?"

[8] The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "In any case, we have now come back to you; if you go with us to fight against the Ammonites, you shall be the leader of all of us who dwell in Gilead."

[9] Jephthah answered the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me back to fight against the Ammonites and the LORD delivers them up to me, I shall be your leader."

[10] The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD is witness between us that we will do as you say."

[11] So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. In Mizpah, Jephthah settled all his affairs before the LORD.

[12] Then he sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to say, "What have you against me that you come to fight with me in my land?"

[13] He answered the messengers of Jephthah, "Israel took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and the Jordan when they came up from Egypt. Now restore the same peaceably."

[14] Again Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites,

[15] saying to him, "This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.

[16] For when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the desert to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

[17] Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom saying, 'Let me pass through your land.' But the king of Edom did not give consent. They also sent to the king of Moab, but he too was unwilling. So Israel remained in Kadesh.

[18] Then they went through the desert, and by-passing the land of Edom and the land of Moab, went east of the land of Moab and encamped across the Arnon. Thus they did not go through the territory of Moab, for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab.

[19] Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. Israel said to him, 'Let me pass through your land to my own place.'

[20] But Sihon refused to let Israel pass through his territory. On the contrary, he gathered all his soldiers, who encamped at Jahaz and fought Israel.

[21] But the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his men into the power of Israel, who defeated them and occupied all the land of the Amorites dwelling in that region,

[22] the whole territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok, from the desert to the Jordan.

[23] If now the LORD, the God of Israel, has cleared the Amorites out of the way of his people, are you to dislodge Israel?

[24] 1 Should you not possess that which your god Chemosh gave you to possess, and should we not possess all that the LORD, our God, has cleared out for us?

[25] Again, are you any better than Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel, or did he war against them

[26] when Israel occupied Heshbon and its villages, Aroer and its villages, and all the cities on the banks of the Arnon? Three hundred years have passed; why did you not recover them during that time?

[27] I have not sinned against you, but you wrong me by warring against me. Let the LORD, who is judge, decide this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!"

[28] But the king of the Ammonites paid no heed to the message Jephthah sent him.

[29] The spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and through Mizpah-Gilead as well, and from there he went on to the Ammonites.

[30] 2 Jephthah made a vow to the LORD. "If you deliver the Ammonites into my power," he said,

[31] "whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites shall belong to the LORD. I shall offer him up as a holocaust."

[32] Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his power,

[33] so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them, from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all) and as far as Abel-keramin. Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection by the Israelites.

[34] When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his daughter who came forth, playing the tambourines and dancing. She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.

[35] When he saw her, he rent his garments and said, "Alas, daughter, you have struck me down and brought calamity upon me. For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract."

[36] "Father," she replied, "you have made a vow to the LORD. Do with me as you have vowed, because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you on your enemies the Ammonites."

[37] 3 Then she said to her father, "Let me have this favor. Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains to mourn my virginity with my companions."

[38] "Go," he replied, and sent her away for two months. So she departed with her companions and mourned her virginity on the mountains.

[39] At the end of the two months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed. She had not been intimate with man. It then became a custom in Israel

[40] for Israelite women to go yearly to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days of the year.

Judges Chapter 12

[1] The men of Ephraim gathered together and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why do you go on to fight with the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house over you."

[2] Jephthah answered them, "My soldiers and I were engaged in a critical contest with the Ammonites. I summoned you, but you did not rescue me from their power.

[3] When I saw that you would not effect a rescue, I took my life in my own hand and went on to the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my power. Why, then, do you come up against me this day to fight with me?"

[4] Then Jephthah called together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim, whom they defeated; for the Ephraimites had said, "You of Gilead are Ephraimite fugitives in territory belonging to Ephraim and Manasseh."

[5] The Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan toward Ephraim. When any of the fleeing Ephraimites said, "Let me pass," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he answered, "No!"

[6] 1 they would ask him to say "Shibboleth." If he said "Sibboleth," not being able to give the proper pronunciation, they would seize him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. Thus forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell at that time.

[7] After having judged Israel for six years, Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.

[8] After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

[9] He had thirty sons. He also had thirty daughters married outside the family, and he brought in as wives for his sons thirty young women from outside the family. After having judged Israel for seven years,

[10] Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

[11] After him the Zebulunite Elon judged Israel. When he had judged Israel for ten years,

[12] the Zebulunite Elon died and was buried in Elon in the land of Zebulun.

[13] After him the Pirathonite Abdon, son of Hillel, judged Israel.

[14] He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy saddle-asses. After having judged Israel for eight years,

[15] the Pirathonite Abdon, son of Hillel, died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim on the mountain of the Amalekites.

Judges Chapter 13

[1] The Israelites again offended the LORD, who therefore delivered them into the power of the Philistines for forty years.

[2] There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children.

[3] An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Though you are barren and have had no children, yet you will conceive and bear a son.

[4] Now, then, be careful to take no wine or strong drink and to eat nothing unclean.

[5] 1 As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb. It is he who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines."

[6] The woman went and told her husband, "A man of God came to me; he had the appearance of an angel of God, terrible indeed. I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.

[7] But he said to me, 'You will be with child and will bear a son. So take neither wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be consecrated to God from the womb, until the day of his death.'"

[8] Manoah then prayed to the LORD. "O LORD, I beseech you," he said, "may the man of God whom you sent, return to us to teach us what to do for the boy who will be born."

[9] God heard the prayer of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field. Since her husband Manoah was not with her,

[10] the woman ran in haste and told her husband. "The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me," she said to him;

[11] so Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he reached the man, he said to him, "Are you the one who spoke to my wife?" "Yes," he answered.

[12] Then Manoah asked, "Now, when that which you say comes true, what are we expected to do for the boy?"

[13] The angel of the LORD answered Manoah, "Your wife is to abstain from all the things of which I spoke to her.

[14] She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor take wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. Let her observe all that I have commanded her."

[15] Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Can we persuade you to stay, while we prepare a kid for you?"

[16] But the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, "Although you press me, I will not partake of your food. But if you will, you may offer a holocaust to the LORD."Not knowing that it was the angel of the LORD,

[17] Manoah said to him, "What is your name, that we may honor you when your words come true?"

[18] 2 The angel of the LORD answered him, "Why do you ask my name, which is mysterious?"

[19] Then Manoah took the kid with a cereal offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, whose works are mysteries. While Manoah and his wife were looking on,

[20] as the flame rose to the sky from the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell prostrate to the ground;

[21] but the angel of the LORD was seen no more by Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah, realizing that it was the angel of the LORD,

[22] said to his wife, "We will certainly die, for we have seen God."

[23] But his wife pointed out to him, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a holocaust and cereal offering from our hands! Nor would he have let us see all this just now, or hear what we have heard."

[24] The woman bore a son and named him Samson. The boy grew up and the LORD blessed him;

[25] the spirit of the LORD first stirred him in Mahaneh-dan, which is between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges Chapter 14

[1] 1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there one of the Philistine women.

[2] On his return he told his father and mother, "There is a Philistine woman I saw in Timnah whom I wish you to get as a wife for me."

[3] His father and mother said to him, "Can you find no wife among your kinsfolk or among all our people, that you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson answered his father, "Get her for me, for she pleases me."

[4] Now his father and mother did not know that this had been brought about by the LORD, who was providing an opportunity against the Philistines; for at that time they had dominion over Israel.

[5] 2 So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When they had come to the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion came roaring to meet him.

[6] But the spirit of the LORD came upon Samson, and although he had no weapons, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a kid.

[7] However, on the journey to speak for the woman, he did not mention to his father or mother what he had done.

[8] Later, when he returned to marry the woman who pleased him, he stepped aside to look at the remains of the lion and found a swarm of bees and honey in the lion's carcass.

[9] So he scooped the honey out into his palms and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave them some to eat, without telling them that he had scooped the honey from the lion's carcass.

[10] His father also went down to the woman, and Samson gave a banquet there, since it was customary for the young men to do this.

[11] 3 When they met him, they brought thirty men to be his companions.

[12] Samson said to them, "Let me propose a riddle to you. If within the seven days of the feast you solve it for me successfully, I will give you thirty linen tunics and thirty sets of garments.

[13] But if you cannot answer it for me, you must give me thirty tunics and thirty sets of garments." "Propose your riddle," they responded; "we will listen to it."

[14] So he said to them,

"Out of the eater came forth food,

and out of the strong came forth sweetness." After three

days' failure to answer the riddle,

[15] they said on the fourth day to Samson's wife, "Coax your husband to answer the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your family. Did you invite us here to reduce us to poverty?"

[16] At Samson's side, his wife wept and said, "You must hate me; you do not love me, for you have proposed a riddle to my countrymen, but have not told me the answer." He said to her, "If I have not told it even to my father or my mother, must I tell it to you?"

[17] But she wept beside him during the seven days the feast lasted. On the seventh day, since she importuned him, he told her the answer, and she explained the riddle to her countrymen.

[18] On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,

"What is sweeter than honey,

and what is stronger than a lion?"

He replied to them,

"If you had not plowed with my heifer,

you would not have solved my riddle."

[19] The spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, where he killed thirty of their men and despoiled them; he gave their garments to those who had answered the riddle. Then he went off to his own family in anger,

[20] and Samson's wife was married to the one who had been best man at his wedding.

Judges Chapter 15

[1] After some time, in the season of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife, bringing a kid. But when he said, "Let me be with my wife in private," her father would not let him enter,

[2] saying, "I thought it certain you wished to repudiate her; so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more beautiful than she; you may have her instead."

[3] Samson said to them, "This time the Philistines cannot blame me if I harm them."

[4] So Samson left and caught three hundred foxes. Turning them tail to tail, he tied between each pair of tails one of the torches he had at hand.

[5] He then kindled the torches and set the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines, thus burning both the shocks and the standing grain, and the vineyards and olive orchards as well.

[6] When the Philistines asked who had done this, they were told, "Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because his wife was taken and given to his best man." So the Philistines went up and destroyed her and her family by fire.

[7] Samson said to them, "If this is how you act, I will not stop until I have taken revenge on you."

[8] And with repeated blows, he inflicted a great slaughter on them. Then he went down and remained in a cavern of the cliff of Etam.

[9] The Philistines went up and, from a camp in Judah, deployed against Lehi.

[10] When the men of Judah asked, "Why have you come up against us?" they answered, "To take Samson prisoner; to do to him as he has done to us."

[11] Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cavern in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, "Do you not know that the Philistines are our rulers? Why, then, have you done this to us?" He answered them, "As they have done to me, so have I done to them."

[12] They said to him, "We have come to take you prisoner, to deliver you over to the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves."

[13] "No," they replied,"we will certainly not kill you but will only bind you and deliver you over to them." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the cliff.

[14] When he reached Lehi, and the Philistines came shouting to meet him, the spirit of the LORD came upon him: the ropes around his arms became as flax that is consumed by fire and his bonds melted away from his hands.

[15] Near him was the fresh jawbone of an ass; he reached out, grasped it, and with it killed a thousand men.

[16] Then Samson said,

"With the jawbone of an ass

I have piled them in a heap;

With the jawbone of an ass

I have slain a thousand men."

[17] 1 As he finished speaking he threw the jawbone from him; and so that place was named Ramath-lehi.

[18] Being very thirsty, he cried to the LORD and said, "You have granted this great victory by the hand of your servant. Must I now die of thirst or fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"

[19] 2 Then God split the cavity in Lehi, and water issued from it, which Samson drank till his spirit returned and he revived. Hence that spring in Lehi is called En-hakkore to this day.

[20] Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Judges Chapter 16

[1] Once Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a harlot and visited her.

[2] Informed that Samson had come there, the men of Gaza surrounded him with an ambush at the city gate all night long. And all the night they waited, saying, "Tomorrow morning we will kill him."

[3] Samson rested there until midnight. Then he rose, seized the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He hoisted them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the ridge opposite Hebron.

[4] After that he fell in love with a woman in the Wadi Sorek whose name was Delilah.

[5] The lords of the Philistines came to her and said, "Beguile him and find out the secret of his great strength, and how we may overcome and bind him so as to keep him helpless. We will each give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."

[6] So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you may be bound so as to be kept helpless."

[7] "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings which have not dried," Samson answered her, "I shall be as weak as any other man."

[8] So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not dried, and she bound him with them.

[9] She had men lying in wait in the chamber and so she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the strings as a thread of tow is severed by a whiff of flame; and the secret of his strength remained unknown.

[10] Delilah said to Samson, "You have mocked me and told me lies. Now tell me how you may be bound."

[11] "If they bind me tight with new ropes, with which no work has been done," he answered her, "I shall be as weak as any other man."

[12] So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them. Then she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" For there were men lying in wait in the chamber. But he snapped them off his arms like thread.

[13] Delilah said to Samson again, "Up to now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you may be bound." He said to her, "If you weave my seven locks of hair into the web and fasten them with the pin, I shall be as weak as any other man."

[14] So while he slept, Delilah wove his seven locks of hair into the web, and fastened them in with the pin. Then she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" Awakening from his sleep, he pulled out both the weaver's pin and the web.

[15] Then she said to him, "How can you say that you love me when you do not confide in me? Three times already you have mocked me, and not told me the secret of your great strength!"

[16] She importuned him continually and vexed him with her complaints till he was deathly weary of them.

[17] So he took her completely into his confidence and told her, "No razor has touched my head, for I have been consecrated to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I shall be as weak as any other man."

[18] When Delilah saw that he had taken her completely into his confidence, she summoned the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up this time, for he has opened his heart to me." So the lords of the Philistines came and brought up the money with them.

[19] She had him sleep on her lap, and called for a man who shaved off his seven locks of hair. Then she began to mistreat him, for his strength had left him.

[20] When she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!", and he woke from his sleep, he thought he could make good his escape as he had done time and again, for he did not realize that the LORD had left him.

[21] But the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. Then they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze fetters, and he was put to grinding in the prison.

[22] But the hair of his head began to grow as soon as it was shaved off.

[23] 1 The lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to make merry. They said,

"Our god has delivered into our power

Samson our enemy."

[24] When the people saw him, they praised their god.

For they said,

"Our god has delivered into our power

our enemy, the ravager of our land,

the one who has multiplied our slain."

Then they stationed him between the columns.

Judges Chapter 17

[1] There was a man in the mountain region of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

[2] He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver over which you pronounced a curse in my hearing when they were taken from you, are in my possession. It was I who took them; so now I will restore them to you."

[3] 1 When he restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she took two hundred of them and gave them to the silversmith, who made of them a carved idol overlaid with silver.

[4] Then his mother said, "May the LORD bless my son! I have consecrated the silver to the LORD as my gift in favor of my son, by making a carved idol overlaid with silver." It remained in the house of Micah.

[5] Thus the layman Micah had a sanctuary. He also made an ephod and household idols, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

[6] In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what he thought best.

[7] There was a young Levite who had resided within the tribe of Judah at Bethlehem of Judah.

[8] From that city he set out to find another place of residence. On his journey he came to the house of Micah in the mountain region of Ephraim.

[9] Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?" He answered him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and am on my way to find some other place of residence."

[10] "Stay with me," Micah said to him. "Be father and priest to me, and I will give you ten silver shekels a year, a set of garments, and your food."

[11] So the young Levite decided to stay with the man, to whom he became as one of his own sons.

[12] 2 Micah consecrated the young Levite, who became his priest, remaining in his house.

[13] Therefore Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, since the Levite has become my priest."

Judges Chapter 18

[1] 1 At that time there was no king in Israel. Moreover the tribe of Danites were in search of a district to dwell in, for up to that time they had received no heritage among the tribes of Israel.

[2] So the Danites sent from their clan a detail of five valiant men of Zorah and Eshtaol, to reconnoiter the land and scout it. With their instructions to go and scout the land, they traveled as far as the house of Micah in the mountain region of Ephraim, where they passed the night.

[3] 2 Near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite and turned in that direction. "Who brought you here and what are you doing here?" they asked him. "What is your interest here?"

[4] "This is how Micah treats me," he replied to them. "He pays me a salary and I am his priest."

[5] They said to him, "Consult God, that we may know whether the undertaking we are engaged in will succeed."

[6] The priest said to them, "Go and prosper: the LORD is favorable to the undertaking you are engaged in."

[7] So the five men went on and came to Laish. They saw that the people dwelling there lived securely after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and trusting, with no lack of any natural resources. They were distant from the Sidonians and had no contact with other people.

[8] When the five returned to their kinsmen in Zorah and Eshtaol and were asked for a report,

[9] they replied, "Come, let us attack them, for we have seen the land and it is very good. Are you going to hesitate? Do not be slothful about beginning your expedition to possess the land.

[10] Those against whom you go are a trusting people, and the land is ample. God has indeed given it into your power: a place where no natural resource is lacking."

[11] So six hundred men of the clan of the Danites, fully armed with weapons of war, set out from where they were in Zorah and Eshtaol,

[12] and camped in Judah, up near Kiriath-jearim; hence to this day the place, which lies west of Kiriath-jearim, is called Mahaneh-dan.

[13] From there they went on to the mountain region of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

[14] The five men who had gone to reconnoiter the land of Laish said to their kinsmen, "Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household idols, and a carved idol overlaid with silver? Now decide what you must do!"

[15] So turning in that direction, they went to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him.

[16] The six hundred men girt with weapons of war, who were Danites, stood by the entrance of the gate, and the priest stood there also.

[17] Meanwhile the five men who had gone to reconnoiter the land went up and entered the house of Micah.

[18] When they had gone in and taken the ephod, the household idols, and the carved idol overlaid with silver, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

[19] They said to him, "Be still: put your hand over your mouth. Come with us and be our father and priest. Is it better for you to be priest for the family of one man or to be priest for a tribe and a clan in Israel?"

[20] The priest, agreeing, took the ephod, household idols, and carved idol and went off in the midst of the band.

[21] As they turned to depart, they placed their little ones, their livestock, and their goods at the head of the column.

[22] The Danites had already gone some distance, when those in the houses near that of Micah took up arms and overtook them.

[23] They called to the Danites, who turned about and said to Micah, "What do you want, that you have taken up arms?"

[24] "You have taken my god, which I made, and have gone off with my priest as well," he answered. "What is left for me? How, then, can you ask me what I want?"

[25] The Danites said to him, "Let us hear no further sound from you, lest fierce men fall upon you and you and your family lose your lives."

[26] The Danites then went on their way, and Micah, seeing that they were stronger than he, returned home.

[27] Having taken what Micah had made, and the priest he had had, they attacked Laish, a quiet and trusting people; they put them to the sword and destroyed their city by fire.

[28] No one came to their aid, since the city was far from Sidon and they had no contact with other people. The Danites then rebuilt the city, which was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob, and lived there.

[29] They named it Dan after their ancestor Dan, son of Israel. However, the name of the city was formerly Laish.

[30] 3 The Danites set up the carved idol for themselves, and Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his descendants were priests for the tribe of the Danites until the time of the captivity of the land.

[31] They maintained the carved idol Micah had made as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

Judges Chapter 19

[1] At that time, when there was no king in Israel, there was a Levite residing in remote parts of the mountain region of Ephraim who had taken for himself a concubine from Bethlehem of Judah.

[2] His concubine was unfaithful to him and left him for her father's house in Bethlehem of Judah, where she stayed for some four months.

[3] Her husband then set out with his servant and a pair of asses, and went after her to forgive her and take her back. She brought him into her father's house, and on seeing him, the girl's father joyfully made him welcome.

[4] He was detained by the girl's father, and so he spent three days with this father-in-law of his, eating and drinking and passing the night there.

[5] 1 On the fourth day they rose early in the morning and he prepared to go. But the girl's father said to his son-in-law, "Fortify yourself with a little food; you can go later on."

[6] So they stayed and the two men ate and drank together. Then the girl's father said to the husband, "Why not decide to spend the night here and enjoy yourself?"

[7] The man still made a move to go, but when his father-in-law pressed him he went back and spent the night there.

[8] On the fifth morning he rose early to depart, but the girl's father said, "Fortify yourself and tarry until the afternoon." When he and his father-in-law had eaten,

[9] and the husband was ready to go with his concubine and servant, the girl's father said to him, "It is already growing dusk. Stay for the night. See, the day is coming to an end. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow you can start your journey home."

[10] The man, however, refused to stay another night; he and his concubine set out with a pair of saddled asses, and traveled till they came opposite Jebus, which is Jerusalem.

[11] Since they were near Jebus with the day far gone, the servant said to his master, "Come, let us turn off to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it."

[12] But his master said to him, "We will not turn off to a city of foreigners, who are not Israelites, but will go on to Gibeah.

[13] Come," he said to his servant, "let us make for some other place, either Gibeah or Ramah, to spend the night."

[14] So they continued on their way till the sun set on them when they were abreast of Gibeah of Benjamin.

[15] 2 There they turned off to enter Gibeah for the night. The man waited in the public square of the city he had entered, but no one offered them the shelter of his home for the night.

[16] In the evening, however, an old man came from his work in the field; he was from the mountain region of Ephraim, though he lived among the Benjaminite townspeople of Gibeah.

[17] When he noticed the traveler in the public square of the city, the old man asked where he was going, and whence he had come.

[18] He said to him, "We are traveling from Bethlehem of Judah far up into the mountain region of Ephraim, where I belong. I have been to Bethlehem of Judah and am now going back home; but no one has offered us the shelter of his house.

[19] We have straw and fodder for our asses, and bread and wine for the woman and myself and for our servant; there is nothing else we need."

[20] "You are welcome," the old man said to him, "but let me provide for all your needs, and do not spend the night in the public square."

[21] So he led them to his house and provided fodder for the asses. Then they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

[22] 3 While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, who were corrupt, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man whose house it was, "Bring out your guest, that we may abuse him."

[23] The owner of the house went out to them and said, "No, my brothers; do not be so wicked. Since this man is my guest, do not commit this crime.

[24] Rather let me bring out my maiden daughter or his concubine. Ravish them, or do whatever you want with them; but against the man you must not commit this wanton crime."

[25] When the men would not listen to his host, the husband seized his concubine and thrust her outside to them. They had relations with her and abused her all night until the following dawn, when they let her go.

[26] Then at daybreak the woman came and collapsed at the entrance of the house in which her husband was a guest, where she lay until the morning.

[27] When her husband rose that day and opened the door of the house to start out again on his journey, there lay the woman, his concubine, at the entrance of the house with her hands on the threshold.

[28] He said to her, "Come, let us go"; but there was no answer. So the man placed her on an ass and started out again for home.

[29] 4 On reaching home, he took a knife to the body of his concubine, cut her into twelve pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel.

[30] Everyone who saw this said, "Nothing like this has been done or seen from the day the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Take note of it, and state what you propose to do."

Judges Chapter 20

[1] 1 So all the Israelites came out as one man: from Dan to Beer-sheba, and from the land of Gilead, the community was gathered to the LORD at Mizpah.

[2] The leaders of all the people and all the tribesmen of Israel, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who were swordsmen, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God.

[3] Meanwhile, the Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites asked to be told how the crime had taken place,

[4] and the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, testified: "My concubine and I went into Gibeah of Benjamin for the night.

[5] But the citizens of Gibeah rose up against me by night and surrounded the house in which I was. Me they attempted to kill, and my concubine they abused so that she died.

[6] So I took my concubine and cut her up and sent her through every part of the territory of Israel, because of the monstrous crime they had committed in Israel.

[7] 2 Now that you are all here, O Israelites, state what you propose to do."

[8] All the people rose as one man to say, "None of us is to leave for his tent or return to his home.

[9] Now as for Gibeah, this is what we will do: We will proceed against it by lot,

[10] taking from all the tribes of Israel ten men for every hundred, a hundred for every thousand, a thousand for every ten thousand, and procuring supplies for the soldiers who will go to deal fully and suitably with Gibeah of Benjamin for the crime it committed in Israel."

[11] When, therefore, all the men of Israel without exception were leagued together against the city,

[12] 3 the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin to say, "What is this evil which has occurred among you?

[13] Now give up these corrupt men of Gibeah, that we may put them to death and thus purge the evil from Israel." But the Benjaminites refused to accede to the demand of their brothers, the Israelites.

[14] Instead, the Benjaminites assembled from their other cities to Gibeah, to do battle with the Israelites.

[15] The number of the Benjaminite swordsmen from the other cities on that occasion was twenty-six thousand, in addition to the inhabitants of Gibeah.

[16] Included in this total were seven hundred picked men who were left-handed, every one of them able to sling a stone at a hair without missing.

[17] Meanwhile the other Israelites who, without Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen ready for battle,

[18] 4 moved on to Bethel and consulted God. When the Israelites asked who should go first in the attack on the Benjaminites, the LORD said, "Judah shall go first."

[19] The next day the Israelites advanced on Gibeah with their forces.

[20] On the day the Israelites drew up in battle array at Gibeah for the combat with Benjamin,

[21] the Benjaminites came out of the city and felled twenty-two thousand men of Israel.

[22] But though the Israelite soldiers took courage and again drew up for combat in the same place as on the previous day,

Judges Chapter 21

[1] 1 Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah that none of them would give his daughter in marriage to anyone from Benjamin.

[2] So the people went to Bethel and remained there before God until evening, raising their voices in bitter lament.

[3] They said, "LORD, God of Israel, why has it come to pass in Israel that today one tribe of Israel should be lacking?"

[4] Early the next day the people built an altar there and offered holocausts and peace offerings.

[5] Then the Israelites asked, "Are there any among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the LORD for the assembly?" For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who did not go up to the LORD at Mizpah should be put to death without fail.

[6] 2 The Israelites were disconsolate over their brother Benjamin and said, "Today one of the tribes of Israel has been cut off.

[7] What can we do about wives for the survivors, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?"

[8] And when they asked whether anyone among the tribes of Israel had not come up to the LORD in Mizpah, they found that none of the men of Jabesh-gilead had come to the encampment for the assembly.

[9] A roll call of the army established that none of the inhabitants of that city were present.

[10] The community, therefore, sent twelve thousand warriors with orders to go to Jabesh-gilead and put those who lived there to the sword, including the women and children.

[11] 3 They were told to include under the ban all males and every woman who was not still a virgin.

[12] Finding among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, who had had no relations with men, they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

[13] Then the whole community sent a message to the Benjaminites at the rock Rimmon, offering them peace.

[14] When Benjamin returned at that time, they gave them as wives the women of Jabesh-gilead whom they had spared; but these proved to be not enough for them.

[15] 4 The people were still disconsolate over Benjamin because the LORD had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.

[16] And the elders of the community said, "What shall we do for wives for the survivors? For every woman in Benjamin has been put to death."

[17] They said, "Those of Benjamin who survive must have heirs, else one of the Israelite tribes will be wiped out.

[18] 5 Yet we cannot give them any of our daughters in marriage, because the Israelites have sworn, 'Cursed be he who gives a woman to Benjamin!'"

[19] Then they thought of the yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, north of Bethel, east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.

[20] And they instructed the Benjaminites, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards.

[21] When you see the girls of Shiloh come out to do their dancing, leave the vineyards and each of you seize one of the girls of Shiloh for a wife, and go to the land of Benjamin.

[22] When their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we shall say to them, 'Release them to us as a kindness, since we did not take a woman apiece in the war. Had you yourselves given them these wives, you would now be guilty.'"

[23] The Benjaminites did this; they carried off a wife for each of them from their raid on the dancers, and went back to their own territory, where they rebuilt and occupied the cities.

[24] Also at that time the Israelites dispersed; each of them left for his own heritage in his own clan and tribe.

[25] 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what he thought best.

Introduction to Ruth

Ruth

Introduction

The Book of Ruth is named after the Moabite woman who was joined to the Israelite people by her marriage with the influential Boaz of Bethlehem.

The book contains a beautiful example of filial piety, pleasing to the Hebrews especially because of its connection with King David, and useful both to Hebrews and to Gentiles. Its aim is to demonstrate the divine reward for such piety even when practiced by a stranger. Ruth's piety (Ruth 2:11), her spirit of self-sacrifice, and her moral integrity were favored by God with the gift of faith and an illustrious marriage whereby she became the ancestress of David and of Christ. In this, the universality of the messianic salvation is foreshadowed.

In the Greek and Latin canons the Book of Ruth is placed just after Judges, to which it is closely related because of the time of its action, and just before Samuel, for which it is an excellent introduction, since it traces the ancestry of the Davidic dynasty. One might characterize the literary form of this book as dramatic, since about two-thirds of it is in dialogue. Yet there is every indication that, as tradition has always held, it contains true history.

There is no certainty about the author of the book. It was written long after the events had passed (Ruth 4:7), which took place "in the time of the judges" (Ruth 1:1).

Ruth Chapter 1

[1] 1 Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab.

[2] The man was named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his sons Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. Some time after their arrival on the Moabite plateau,

[3] Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons,

[4] who married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years,

[5] both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.

[6] She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.

[7] She and her two daughters-in-law left the place where they had been living. Then as they were on the road back to the land of Judah,

[8] 2 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's house! May the LORD be kind to you as you were to the departed and to me!

[9] May the LORD grant each of you a husband and a home in which you will find rest." She kissed them good-bye, but they wept with loud sobs,

[10] and told her they would return with her to her people.

[11] 3 "Go back, my daughters!" said Naomi. "Why should you come with me? Have I other sons in my womb who may become your husbands?

[12] Go back, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to marry again. And even if I could offer any hopes, or if tonight I had a husband or had borne sons,

[13] would you then wait and deprive yourselves of husbands until those sons grew up? No, my daughters! my lot is too bitter for you, because the LORD has extended his hand against me."

[14] Again they sobbed aloud and wept; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.

[15] "See now!" she said, "your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!"

[16] 4 But Ruth said, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! for wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

[17] Wherever you die I will die, and there be buried. May the LORD do so and so to me, and more besides, if aught but death separates me from you!"

[18] Naomi then ceased to urge her, for she saw she was determined to go with her.

[19] So they went on together till they reached Bethlehem. On their arrival there, the whole city was astir over them, and the women asked, "Can this be Naomi?"

[20] 5 But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has made it very bitter for me.

[21] I went away with an abundance, but the LORD has brought me back destitute. Why should you call me Naomi, since the LORD has pronounced against me and the Almighty has brought evil upon me?"

[22] 6 Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth Chapter 2

[1] Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz, of the clan of her husband Elimelech.

[2] 1 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field of anyone who will allow me that favor." Naomi said to her, "Go, my daughter,"

[3] and she went. The field she entered to glean after the harvesters happened to be the section belonging to Boaz of the clan of Elimelech.

[4] 2 Boaz himself came from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" and they replied, "The LORD bless you!"

[5] Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, "Whose girl is this?"

[6] The overseer of the harvesters answered, "She is the Moabite girl who returned from the plateau of Moab with Naomi.

[7] She asked leave to gather the gleanings into sheaves after the harvesters; and ever since she came this morning she has remained here until now, with scarcely a moment's rest."

[8] Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter! Do not go to glean in anyone else's field; you are not to leave here. Stay here with my women servants.

[9] Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them; I have commanded the young men to do you no harm. When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the vessels the young men have filled."

[10] Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, she said to him, "Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?"

[11] Boaz answered her: "I have had a complete account of what you have done for your mother-in-law after your husband's death; you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know previously.

[12] May the LORD reward what you have done! May you receive a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge."

[13] She said, "May I prove worthy of your kindness, my lord: you have comforted me, your servant, with your consoling words; would indeed that I were a servant of yours!"

[14] At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here and have some food; dip your bread in the sauce." Then as she sat near the reapers, he handed her some roasted grain and she ate her fill and had some left over.

[15] She rose to glean, and Boaz instructed his servants to let her glean among the sheaves themselves without scolding her,

[16] and even to let drop some handfuls and leave them for her to glean without being rebuked.

[17] She gleaned in the field until evening, and when she beat out what she had gleaned it came to about an ephah of barley,

[18] which she took into the city and showed to her mother-in-law. Next she brought out and gave her what she had left over from lunch.

[19] So her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you go to work? May he who took notice of you be blessed!" Then she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. "The man at whose place I worked today is named Boaz," she said.

[20] 3 "May he be blessed by the LORD, who is ever merciful to the living and to the dead," Naomi exclaimed to her daughter-in-law; and she continued, "He is a relative of ours, one of our next of kin."

[21] "He even told me," added Ruth the Moabite, "that I should stay with his servants until they complete his entire harvest."

[22] "You would do well, my dear," Naomi rejoined, "to go out with his servants; for in someone else's field you might be insulted."

[23] So she stayed gleaning with the servants of Boaz until the end of the barley and wheat harvests.

Ruth Chapter 3

[1] When she was back with her mother-in-law, Naomi said to her, "My daughter, I must seek a home for you that will please you.

[2] Now is not Boaz, with whose servants you were, a relative of ours? This evening he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor.

[3] So bathe and anoint yourself; then put on your best attire and go down to the threshing floor. Do not make yourself known to the man before he has finished eating and drinking.

[4] 1 But when he lies down, take note of the place where he does so. Then go, uncover a place at his feet, and lie down. He will tell you what to do."

[5] "I will do whatever you advise," Ruth replied.

[6] So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had instructed her.

[7] Boaz ate and drank to his heart's content. Then when he went and lay down at the edge of the sheaves, she stole up, uncovered a place at his feet, and lay down.

[8] In the middle of the night, however, the man gave a start and turned around to find a woman lying at his feet.

[9] 2 He asked, "Who are you?" And she replied, "I am your servant Ruth. Spread the corner of your cloak over me, for you are my next of kin."

[10] He said, "May the LORD bless you, my daughter! You have been even more loyal now than before in not going after the young men, whether poor or rich.

[11] So be assured, daughter, I will do for you whatever you say; all my townspeople know you for a worthy woman.

[12] 3 Now, though indeed I am closely related to you, you have another relative still closer.

[13] Stay as you are for tonight, and tomorrow, if he wishes to claim you, good! let him do so. But if he does not wish to claim you, as the LORD lives, I will claim you myself. Lie there until morning."

[14] So she lay at his feet until morning, but rose before men could recognize one another. Boaz said, "Let it not be known that this woman came to the threshing floor."

[15] Then he said to her, "Take off your cloak and hold it out." When she did so, he poured out six measures of barley, helped her lift the bundle, and left for the city.

[16] Ruth went home to her mother-in-law, who asked, "How have you fared, my daughter?" So she told her all the man had done for her,

[17] and concluded, "He gave me these six measures of barley because he did not wish me to come back to my mother-in-law emptyhanded!"

[18] Naomi then said, "Wait here, my daughter, until you learn what happens, for the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today."

Ruth Chapter 4

[1] 1 Boaz went and took a seat at the gate; and when he saw the closer relative of whom he had spoken come along, he called to him by name, "Come and sit beside me!" And he did so.

[2] 2 Then Boaz picked out ten of the elders of the city and asked them to sit nearby. When they had done this,

[3] he said to the near relative: "Naomi, who has come back from the Moabite plateau, is putting up for sale the piece of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech.

[4] 3 So I thought I would inform you, bidding you before those here present, including the elders of my people, to put in your claim for it if you wish to acquire it as next of kin. But if you do not wish to claim it, tell me so, that I may be guided accordingly, for no one has a prior claim to yours, and mine is next." He answered, "I will put in my claim."

[5] 4 Boaz continued, "Once you acquire the field from Naomi, you must take also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the late heir, and raise up a family for the departed on his estate."

[6] The near relative replied, "I cannot exercise my claim lest I depreciate my own estate. Put in a claim yourself in my stead, for I cannot exercise my claim."

[7] 5 Now it used to be the custom in Israel that, to make binding a contract of redemption or exchange, one party would take off his sandal and give it to the other. This was the form of attestation in Israel.

[8] So the near relative, in saying to Boaz, "Acquire it for yourself," drew off his sandal.

[9] Boaz then said to the elders and to all the people, "You are witnesses today that I have acquired from Naomi all the holdings of Elimelech, Chilion and Mahlon.

[10] I also take Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, as my wife, in order to raise up a family for her late husband on his estate, so that the name of the departed may not perish among his kinsmen and fellow citizens. Do you witness this today?"

[11] All those at the gate, including the elders, said, "We do so. May the LORD make this wife come into your house like Rachel and Leah, who between them built up the house of Israel. May you do well in Ephrathah and win fame in Bethlehem.

[12] 6 With the offspring the LORD will give you from this girl, may your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."

[13] Boaz took Ruth. When they came together as man and wife, the LORD enabled her to conceive and she bore a son.

[14] Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed is the LORD who has not failed to provide you today with an heir! May he become famous in Israel!

[15] He will be your comfort and the support of your old age, for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you. She is worth more to you than seven sons!"

[16] 7 Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became his nurse.

[17] 8 And the neighbor women gave him his name, at the news that a grandson had been born to Naomi. They called him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

[18] These are the descendants of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron,

[19] Hezron was the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab,

[20] Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, Nahshon was the father of Salmon,

[21] Salmon was the father of Boaz, Boaz was the father of Obed,

[22] Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.

The Historical Books

The Historical Books

The historical books include 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Maccabees. To these are added the special literary group of Tobit, Judith, and Esther.

The Books of Tobit, Judith, and 1 and 2 Maccabees, as well as parts of Esther, are called deuterocanonical: they are not contained in the Hebrew canon but have been accepted by the Catholic Church as canonical and inspired.

By means of a series of episodes involving the persons of Samuel, Saul, and David, a century of history unfolds in 1 and 2 Samuel from the close of the period of Judges to the rise and establishment of the monarchy in Israel. Most important is God's promise to David of a lasting dynasty (2 Sam 7), from which royal messianism in the Bible developed.

In 1 and 2 Kings the religious history of Israel extends another four centuries, from the last days of David to the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem (587 B.C.). The various sources for these books are woven into a uniform pattern based on the principle of fidelity to Yahweh for rulers and people alike. The sequence of regnal chronicles in both books is interrupted by a cycle of traditions surrounding the prophets Elijah (1 Kings) and Elisha (2 Kings).

Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah form a historical work, uniform in style and basic ideas. Chronicles records the long period from the reign of Saul to the return from exile, not so much with exactitude of detail as with concern for the meaning of the facts which demonstrate God's intervention in history. The Ezra-Nehemiah chronicle constitutes the most important source for the formation of the Jewish religious community after the Babylonian exile; the two persons most responsible for the reorganization of Jewish life were Ezra and Nehemiah.

1 and 2 Maccabees contain independent accounts of partially identical events which accompanied the attempted suppression of Judaism in Palestine in the second century B.C. Vigorous reaction to this attempt established for a time the religious and political independence of the Jews. 1 Maccabees portrays God as the eternal benefactor of the Jews and their unfailing source of help. The people are required to be devoted to his exclusive worship and to observe exactly the law he has given them. 2 Maccabees, besides supplementing the former volume, gives a theological interpretation of the history of the period and contains teaching on the resurrection from the dead, intercession of the saints, and suffrages for the dead.

Tobit, Judith, and Esther are examples of free composition-the religious novel used for purposes of edification and instruction. Interest in whatever historical data these books may contain is merely intensified by the addition of vivid details. Judith is a lesson in Providence: a pious reflection on the annual Passover observance to convey the reassurance that God is still the master of history who saves Israel from her enemies. Esther's purpose is the glorification of the Jewish people and the explanation of the origin, significance, and date of the feast of Purim. It is a literary development of the principle of reversal of fortune through punishment of the prosperous rich and reward for the virtuous who are oppressed.

Samuel to Maccabees demonstrates that before as well as during the millennium of history with which it is concerned, Israel was a covenanted people, bound to Yahweh, Lord of the universe, by the ties of faith and obedience. This required observance of the law and worship in his temple, the consequent rewards of which were divine favor and protection. In this way these books anticipate and prepare for the coming of him who would bring type and prophecy to fulfillment, history to term, and holiness to perfection: Christ, the Son of David and the promised Messiah.

The Books of Samuel

Originally but one book, the scroll of Samuel was early divided into two. The Greek translators called these the first and second Books of Kingdoms, a title St. Jerome later modified to "Kings." The Hebrew title, "Samuel" alludes to the leading figure in the first book, who was responsible for the enthronement of David. It is David's history that the second book recounts.

This sacred work thus comprises the history of about a century, describing the close of the age of the Judges and the beginnings of monarchy in Israel under Saul and David. It is not a complete and continuous history, nor a systematic account of the period, but rather a series of episodes centered around the persons of Samuel, Saul and David, the principal figures leading up to the establishment of the royal dynasty of David.

The final editor is unknown, nor are we certain of the time at which the various strands of the narrative were put together, though one may think of the period, perhaps late in the seventh century B.C., when the other volumes of the "Former Prophets" from Joshua through Kings, were built into a more or less continuous historical corpus. The Samuel-Saul-David narratives clearly depend on several written sources: a Samuel cycle, two sets of stories about Saul and David, and a family history of David. This last (2 Sam 9-20; 1 Kings 1-2), one of the most vivid historical narratives surviving from ancient times, probably originated early in the reign of Solomon.

One of the most significant theological contributions of the Old Testament is found in 2 Sam 7 the oracle of Nathan. David is here promised an eternal dynasty, and this becomes the basis for the development of royal messianism throughout the Bible. With this promise to David one should compare 2 Chron 17; Psalm 89:19-37; 132:11-13; Acts 2:30; Hebrews 1:5.

The contents of this work may be divided as follows:

History of the Last Judges, Eli and Samuel (1 Sam 1:1 - 1 Sam 7:17)

Establishment of the Monarchy in Israel (1 Sam 8:1 - 1 Sam 12:25)

Saul and David (1 Sam 13:1 - 2 Sam 2:7)

The Reign of David (2 Sam 2:8 - 2 Sam 20:26)

Appendixes (2 Sam 21:1 - 2 Sam 24:25)

First Samuel Chapter 1

[1] There was a certain man from Rama-thaim, Elkanah by name, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

[2] He had two wives, one named Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.

[3] This man regularly went on pilgrimage from his city to worship the LORD of hosts and to sacrifice to him at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were ministering as priests of the LORD.

[4] When the day came for Elkanah to offer sacrifice, he used to give a portion each to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters,

[5] but a double portion to Hannah because he loved her, though the LORD had made her barren.

[6] Her rival, to upset her, turned it into a constant reproach to her that the LORD had left her barren.

[7] This went on year after year; each time they made their pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the LORD, Peninnah would approach her, and Hannah would weep and refuse to eat.

[8] Her husband Elkanah used to ask her: "Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you refuse to eat? Why do you grieve? Am I not more to you than ten sons?"

[9] Hannah rose after one such meal at Shiloh, and presented herself before the LORD; at the time, Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the doorpost of the LORD'S temple.

[10] In her bitterness she prayed to the LORD, weeping copiously,

[11] 1 and she made a vow, promising: "O LORD of hosts, if you look with pity on the misery of your handmaid, if you remember me and do not forget me, if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to the LORD for as long as he lives; neither wine nor liquor shall he drink, and no razor shall ever touch his head."

[12] As she remained long at prayer before the LORD, Eli watched her mouth,

[13] for Hannah was praying silently; though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli, thinking her drunk,

[14] said to her, "How long will you make a drunken show of yourself? Sober up from your wine!"

[15] "It isn't that, my lord," Hannah answered. "I am an unhappy woman. I have had neither wine nor liquor; I was only pouring out my troubles to the LORD.

[16] Do not think your handmaid a ne'er-do-well; my prayer has been prompted by my deep sorrow and misery."

[17] Eli said, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."

[18] She replied, "Think kindly of your maidservant," and left. She went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and no longer appeared downcast.

[19] Early the next morning they worshiped before the LORD, and then returned to their home in Ramah. When Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, the LORD remembered her.

[20] She conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son whom she called Samuel, since she had asked 2 the LORD for him.

[21] The next time her husband Elkanah was going up with the rest of his household to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows,

[22] Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband, "Once the child is weaned, I will take him to appear before the LORD and to remain there forever; I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite."

[23] Her husband Elkanah answered her: "Do what you think best; wait until you have weaned him. Only, may the LORD bring your resolve to fulfillment!" And so she remained at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

[24] 3 Once he was weaned, she brought him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.

[25] After the boy's father had sacrificed the young bull, Hannah, his mother, approached Eli

[26] and said: "Pardon, my lord! As you live my lord, I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.

[27] I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.

[28] Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD." She left him there;

First Samuel Chapter 2

[1] 1 2 and as she worshiped the LORD, she said:

"My heart exults in the LORD,

my horn is exalted in my God.

I have swallowed up my enemies;

I rejoice in my victory.

[2] There is no Holy One like the LORD;

there in no Rock like our God.

[3] 3 "Speak boastfully no longer,

nor let arrogance issue from your mouths.

For an all-knowing God is the LORD,

a God who judges deeds.

[4] The bows of the mighty are broken,

while the tottering gird on strength.

[5] The well-fed hire themselves out for bread,

while the hungry batten on spoil.

The barren wife bears seven sons, while the mother of many languishes.

[6] "The LORD puts to death and gives life;

he casts down to the nether world; he raises up again.

[7] The LORD makes poor and makes rich,

he humbles, he also exalts.

[8] He raises the needy from the dust;

from the ash heap he lifts up the poor,

To seat them with nobles

and make a glorious throne their heritage.

He gives to the vower his vow,

and blesses the sleep of the just.

"For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S,

and he has set the world upon them.

[9] He will guard the footsteps of his faithful ones,

but the wicked shall perish in the darkness.

For not by strength does man prevail;

[10] the LORD'S foes shall be shattered.

The Most High in heaven thunders;

The LORD judges the ends of the earth,

Now may he give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed!"

[11] When Elkanah returned home to Ramah, the child remained in the service of the LORD under the priest Eli.

[12] Now the sons of Eli were wicked; they had respect neither for the LORD

[13] nor for the priests' duties toward the people. When someone offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged fork, while the meat was still boiling,

[14] and would thrust it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot. Whatever the fork brought up, the priest would keep. That is how all the Israelites were treated who came to the sanctuary at Shiloh.

[15] In fact, even before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man offering the sacrifice, "Give me some meat to roast for the priest. He will not accept boiled meat from you, only raw meat."

[16] And if the man protested to him, "Let the fat be burned first as is the custom, then take whatever you wish," he would reply, "No, give it to me now, or else I will take it by force."

[17] Thus the young men sinned grievously in the presence of the LORD; they treated the offerings to the LORD with disdain.

[18] 4 Meanwhile the boy Samuel, girt with a linen apron, was serving in the presence of the LORD.

[19] His mother used to make a little garment for him, which she would bring him each time she went up with her husband to offer the customary sacrifice.

[20] And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, as they were leaving for home. He would say, "May the LORD repay you with children from this woman for the gift she has made to the LORD!"

[21] The LORD favored Hannah so that she conceived and gave birth to three more sons and two daughters, while young Samuel grew up in the service of the LORD.

[22] 5 When Eli was very old, he heard repeatedly how his sons were treating all Israel (and that they were having relations with the women serving at the entry of the meeting tent).

[23] So he said to them: "Why are you doing such things?

[24] No, my sons, you must not do these things! It is not a good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading about you.

[25] If a man sins against another man, one can intercede for him with the LORD; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they disregarded their father's warning, since the LORD had decided on their death.

[26] Meanwhile, young Samuel was growing in stature and in worth in the estimation of the LORD and of men.

[27] 6 A man of God came to Eli and said to him: "This is what the LORD says: 'I went so far as to reveal myself to your father's family when they were in Egypt as slaves to the house of Pharaoh.

[28] 7 I chose them out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priests, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the ephod before me; and I assigned all the oblations of the Israelites to your father's family.

[29] Why do you keep a greedy eye on my sacrifices and on the offerings which I have prescribed? And why do you honor your sons in preference to me, fattening yourselves with the choicest part of every offering of my people Israel?'

[30] This, therefore, is the oracle of the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I said in the past that your family and your father's family should minister in my presence forever. But now,' the LORD declares, 'away with this! for I will honor those who honor me, but those who spurn me shall be accursed.

[31] Yes, the time is coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's family, so that no man in your family shall reach old age.

[32] You shall witness as a disappointed rival all the benefits enjoyed by Israel, but there shall never be an old man in your family.

[33] I will permit some of your family to remain at my altar, to wear out their eyes in consuming greed; but the rest of the men of your family shall die by the sword.

[34] You shall have a sign in what will happen to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: both shall die on the same day.

[35] I will choose a faithful priest who shall do what I have in heart and mind. I will establish a lasting house for him which shall function in the presence of my anointed forever.

[36] Then whoever is left of your family will come to grovel before him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and will say: Appoint me, I beg you, to a priestly function, that I may have a morsel of bread to eat.'"

First Samuel Chapter 3

[1] 1 During the time young Samuel was minister to the LORD under Eli, a revelation of the LORD was uncommon and vision infrequent.

[2] One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see.

[3] The lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was.

[4] The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am."

[5] He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me." "I did not call you," Eli said. "Go back to sleep." So he went back to sleep.

[6] Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. "Here I am," he said. "You called me." But he answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep."

[7] At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.

[8] The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, "Here I am. You called me." Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.

[9] So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" When Samuel went to sleep in his place,

[10] the LORD came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

[11] The LORD said to Samuel: "I am about to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone who hears it to ring.

[12] On that day I will carry out in full against Eli everything I threatened against his family.

[13] I announce to him that I am condemning his family once and for all, because of this crime: though he knew his sons were blaspheming God, he did not reprove them.

[14] Therefore, I swear to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever expiate its crime."

[15] Samuel then slept until morning, when he got up early and opened the doors of the temple of the LORD. He feared to tell Eli the vision,

[16] but Eli called to him, "Samuel, my son!" He replied, "Here I am."

[17] 2 Then Eli asked, "What did he say to you? Hide nothing from me! May God do thus and so to you if you hide a single thing he told you."

[18] So Samuel told him everything, and held nothing back. Eli answered, "He is the LORD. He will do what he judges best."

[19] Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.

[20] Thus all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba came to know that Samuel was an accredited prophet of the LORD.

[21] The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh; he manifested himself to Samuel at Shiloh through his word,

First Samuel Chapter 4

[1] 1 and Samuel spoke to all Israel.

At that time, the Philistines gathered for an attack on Israel. Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek.

[2] The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel. After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who slew about four thousand men on the battlefield.

[3] When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the LORD from Shiloh that it may go into battle among us and save us from the grasp of our enemies."

[4] 2 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of God.

[5] When the ark of the LORD arrived in the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth resounded.

[6] The Philistines, hearing the noise of shouting, asked, "What can this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" On learning that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,

[7] the Philistines were frightened. They said, "Gods have come to their camp." They said also, "Woe to us! This has never happened before.

[8] 3 Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with various plagues and with pestilence.

[9] Take courage and be manly, Philistines; otherwise you will become slaves to the Hebrews, as they were your slaves. So fight manfully!"

[10] The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; every man fled to his own tent. It was a disastrous defeat, in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.

[11] The ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead.

[12] A Benjaminite fled from the battlefield and reached Shiloh that same day, with his clothes torn and his head covered with dirt.

[13] When he arrived, Eli was sitting in his chair beside the gate, watching the road, for he was troubled at heart about the ark of God. The man, however, went into the city to divulge his news, which put the whole city in an uproar.

[14] Hearing the outcry of the men standing near him, Eli inquired, "What does this commotion mean?"

[15] (Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes would not focus, so that he could not see.)

[16] The man quickly came up to Eli and said, "It is I who have come from the battlefield; I fled from there today." He asked, "What happened, my son?"

[17] And the messenger answered: "Israel fled from the Philistines; in fact, the troops suffered heavy losses. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are among the dead, and the ark of God has been captured."

[18] At this mention of the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his chair into the gateway; since he was an old man and heavy, he died of a broken neck. He had judged Israel for forty years.

[19] His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child and at the point of giving birth. When she heard the news concerning the capture of the ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she was seized with the pangs of labor, and gave birth.

[20] She was about to die when the women standing around her said to her, "Never fear! You have given birth to a son." Yet she neither answered nor paid any attention.

[21] (She named the child Ichabod, saying, "Gone is the glory from Israel," with reference to the capture of the ark of God and to her father-in-law and her husband.)

[22] She said, "Gone is the glory from Israel," because the ark of God had been captured.

First Samuel Chapter 5

[1] The Philistines, having captured the ark of God, transferred it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

[2] They then took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, placing it beside Dagon.

[3] When the people of Ashdod rose early the next morning, Dagon was lying prone on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they picked Dagon up and replaced him.

[4] But the next morning early, when they arose, Dagon lay prone on the ground before the ark of the LORD, his head and hands broken off and lying on the threshold, his trunk alone intact.

[5] For this reason, neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter the temple of Dagon tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this very day; they always step over it.

[6] 1 Now the LORD dealt severely with the people of Ashdod. He ravaged and afflicted the city and its vicinity with hemorrhoids; he brought upon the city a great and deadly plague of mice that swarmed in their ships and overran their fields.

[7] On seeing how matters stood, the men of Ashdod decided, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for he is handling us and our god Dagon severely."

[8] So they summoned all the Philistine lords and inquired of them, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" The men of Gath replied, "Let them move the ark of the God of Israel on to us."

[9] So they moved the ark of the God of Israel to Gath! But after it had been brought there, the LORD threw the city into utter turmoil: he afflicted its inhabitants, young and old, and hemorrhoids broke out on them.

[10] The ark of God was next sent to Ekron; but as it entered that city, the people there cried out, "Why have they brought the ark of the God of Israel here to kill us and our kindred?"

[11] Then they, too, sent a summons to all the Philistine lords and pleaded: "Send away the ark of the God of Israel. Let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our kindred." A deadly panic had seized the whole city, since the hand of God had been very heavy upon it.

[12] Those who escaped death were afflicted with hemorrhoids, and the outcry from the city went up to the heavens.

First Samuel Chapter 6

[1] The ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months

[2] when they summoned priests and fortune-tellers to ask, "What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us what we should send back with it."

[3] 1 They replied: "If you intend to send away the ark of the God of Israel, you must not send it alone, but must, by all means, make amends to him through a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and will learn why he continues to afflict you."

[4] When asked further, "What guilt offering should be our amends to him?", they replied: "Five golden hemorrhoids and five golden mice to correspond to the number of Philistine lords, since the same plague has struck all of you and your lords.

[5] Therefore, make images of the hemorrhoids and of the mice that are infesting your land and give them as a tribute to the God of Israel. Perhaps then he will cease to afflict you, your gods, and your land.

[6] Why should you become stubborn, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh were stubborn? Was it not after he had dealt ruthlessly with them that the Israelites were released and departed?

[7] So now set to work and make a new cart. Then take two milch cows that have not borne the yoke; hitch them to the cart, but drive their calves indoors away from them.

[8] You shall next take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart, putting in a box beside it the golden articles that you are offering, as amends for your guilt. Start it on its way, and let it go.

[9] Then watch! If it goes to Beth-shemesh along the route to his own territory, he has brought this great calamity upon us; if not, we will know it was not he who struck us, but that an accident happened to us."

[10] They acted upon this advice. Taking two milch cows, they hitched them to the cart but shut up their calves indoors.

[11] Then they placed the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the box containing the golden mice and the images of the hemorrhoids.

[12] The cows went straight for the route to Beth-shemesh and continued along this road, mooing as they went, without turning right or left. The Philistine lords followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.

[13] The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting the wheat in the valley. When they looked up and spied the ark, they greeted it with rejoicing.

[14] The cart came to the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stopped there. At a large stone in the field, the wood of the cart was split up and the cows were offered as a holocaust to the LORD.

[15] The Levites, meanwhile, had taken down the ark of God and the box beside it, in which the golden articles were, and had placed them on the great stone. The men of Beth-shemesh also offered other holocausts and sacrifices to the LORD that day.

[16] After witnessing this, the five Philistine lords returned to Ekron the same day.

[17] The golden hemorrhoids the Philistines sent back as a guilt offering to the LORD were as follows: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.

[18] The golden mice, however, corresponded to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, including fortified cities and open villages. The large stone on which the ark of the LORD was placed is still in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite at the present time.

[19] The descendants of Jeconiah did not join in the celebration with the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh when they greeted the ark of the LORD, and seventy of them were struck down. The people went into mourning at this great calamity with which the LORD had afflicted them.

[20] The men of Beth-shemesh asked, "Who can stand in the presence of this Holy One? To whom shall he go from us?"

[21] They then sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD; come down and get it."

First Samuel Chapter 7

[1] So the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the LORD and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, appointing his son Eleazar as guardian of the ark of the LORD.

[2] From the day the ark came to rest in Kiriath-jearim a long time-twenty years-elapsed, and the whole Israelite population turned to the LORD.

[3] Samuel said to them: "If you wish with your whole heart to return to the LORD, put away your foreign gods and your Ashtaroth, devote yourselves to the LORD, and worship him alone. Then he will deliver you from the power of the Philistines."

[4] So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtaroth, and worshiped the LORD alone.

[5] Samuel then gave orders, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, that I may pray to the LORD for you."

[6] 1 When they were gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out on the ground before the LORD, and they fasted that day, confessing, "We have sinned against the LORD." It was at Mizpah that Samuel began to judge the Israelites.

[7] When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, their lords went up against Israel. Hearing this, the Israelites became afraid of the Philistines

[8] and said to Samuel, "Implore the LORD our God unceasingly for us, to save us from the clutches of the Philistines."

[9] Samuel therefore took an unweaned lamb and offered it entire as a holocaust to the LORD. He implored the LORD for Israel, and the LORD heard him.

[10] While Samuel was offering the holocaust, the Philistines advanced to join battle with Israel. That day, however, the LORD thundered loudly against the Philistines, and threw them into such confusion that they were defeated by Israel.

[11] Thereupon the Israelites sallied forth from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, harrying them down beyond Beth-car.

[12] 2 Samuel then took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Jeshanah; he named it Ebenezer, explaining, "To this point the LORD helped us."

[13] Thus were the Philistines subdued, never again to enter the territory of Israel, for the LORD was severe with them as long as Samuel lived.

[14] The cities from Ekron to Gath which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to them. Israel also freed the territory of these cities from the dominion of the Philistines. Moreover there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

[15] Samuel judged Israel as long as he lived.

[16] He made a yearly journey, passing through Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah and judging Israel at each of these sanctuaries.

[17] Then he used to return to Ramah, for that was his home. There, too, he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.

First Samuel Chapter 8

[1] 1 In his old age Samuel appointed his sons judges over Israel.

[2] His first-born was named Joel, his second son, Abijah; they judged at Beer-sheba.

[3] His sons did not follow his example but sought illicit gain and accepted bribes, perverting justice.

[4] Therefore all the elders of Israel came in a body to Samuel at Ramah

[5] and said to him, "Now that you are old, and your sons do not follow your example, appoint a king over us, as other nations have, to judge us."

[6] Samuel was displeased when they asked for a king to judge them. He prayed to the LORD, however,

[7] who said in answer: "Grant the people's every request. It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.

[8] As they have treated me constantly from the day I brought them up from Egypt to this day, deserting me and worshiping strange gods, so do they treat you too.

[9] Now grant their request; but at the same time, warn them solemnly and inform them of the rights of the king who will rule them."

[10] Samuel delivered the message of the LORD in full to those who were asking him for a king.

[11] He told them: "The rights of the king who will rule you will be as follows: He will take your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses, and they will run before his chariot.

[12] He will also appoint from among them his commanders of groups of a thousand and of a hundred soldiers. He will set them to do his plowing and his harvesting, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.

[13] He will use your daughters as ointment-makers, as cooks, and as bakers.

[14] He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials.

[15] He will tithe your crops and your vineyards, and give the revenue to his eunuchs and his slaves.

[16] He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best oxen and your asses, and use them to do his work.

[17] He will tithe your flocks and you yourselves will become his slaves.

[18] When this takes place, you will complain against the king whom you have chosen, but on that day the LORD will not answer you."

[19] The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel's warning and said, "Not so! There must be a king over us.

[20] We too must be like other nations, with a king to rule us and to lead us in warfare and fight our battles."

[21] When Samuel had listened to all the people had to say, he repeated it to the LORD,

[22] who then said to him, "Grant their request and appoint a king to rule them." Samuel thereupon said to the men of Israel, "Each of you go to his own city."

First Samuel Chapter 9

[1] There was a stalwart man from Benjamin named Kish, who was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite.

[2] He had a son named Saul, who was a handsome young man. There was no other Israelite handsomer than Saul; he stood head and shoulders above the people.

[3] Now the asses of Saul's father, Kish, had wandered off. Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you and go out and hunt for the asses."

[4] Accordingly they went through the hill country of Ephraim, and through the land of Shalishah. Not finding them there, they continued through the land of Shaalim without success. They also went through the land of Benjamin, but they failed to find the animals.

[5] When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, "Come, let us turn back, lest my father forget about the asses and become anxious about us."

[6] The servant replied, "Listen! There is a man of God in this city, a man held in high esteem; all that he says is sure to come true. Let us go there now! Perhaps he can tell us how to accomplish our errand."

[7] But Saul said to his servant, "If we go, what can we offer the man? There is no bread in our bags, and we have no present to give the man of God. What have we?"

[8] 1 Again the servant answered Saul, "I have a quarter of a silver shekel. If I give that to the man of God, he will tell us our way."

[9] 2 (In former times in Israel, anyone who went to consult God used to say, "Come, let us go to the seer." For he who is now called prophet was formerly called seer.)

[10] Saul then said to his servant, "Well said! Come on, let us go!" And they went to the city where the man of God lived.

[11] As they were going up the ascent to the city, they met some girls coming out to draw water and inquired of them, "Is the seer in town?"

[12] 3 The girls answered, "Yes, there--straight ahead. Hurry now; just today he came to the city, because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place.

[13] When you enter the city, you may reach him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not eat until he arrives; only after he blesses the sacrifice will the invited guests eat. Go up immediately, for you should find him right now."

[14] So they went up to the city. As they entered it, Samuel was coming toward them on his way to the high place.

[15] The day before Saul's arrival, the LORD had given Samuel the revelation:

[16] "At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin whom you are to anoint as commander of my people Israel. He shall save my people from the clutches of the Philistines, for I have witnessed their misery and accepted their cry for help."

[17] When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD assured him, "This is the man of whom I told you; he is to govern my people."

[18] Saul met Samuel in the gateway and said, "Please tell me where the seer lives."

[19] Samuel answered Saul: "I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the high place and eat with me today. In the morning, before dismissing you, I will tell you whatever you wish.

[20] As for the asses you lost three days ago, do not worry about them, for they have been found. Whom does Israel desire ardently if not you and your father's family?"

[21] Saul replied: "Am I not a Benjaminite, of one of the smallest tribes of Israel, and is not my clan the least among the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why say such things to me?"

[22] Samuel then took Saul and his servant and brought them to the room, where he placed them at the head of the guests, of whom there were about thirty.

[23] He said to the cook, "Bring the portion I gave you and told you to put aside."

[24] 4 So the cook took up the leg and what went with it, and placed it before Saul. Samuel said: "This is a reserved portion that has been set before you. Eat, for it was kept for you until your arrival; I explained that I was inviting some guests." Thus Saul dined with Samuel that day.

[25] When they came down from the high place into the city, a mattress was spread for Saul on the roof,

[26] and he slept there. At daybreak Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "Get up, and I will start you on your journey." Saul rose, and he and Samuel went outside the city together.

[27] As they were approaching the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell the servant to go on ahead of us, but stay here yourself for the moment, that I may give you a message from God."

First Samuel Chapter 10

[1] Then, from a flask he had with him, Samuel poured oil on Saul's head; he also kissed him, saying: "The LORD anoints you commander over his heritage. You are to govern the LORD'S people Israel, and to save them from the grasp of their enemies round about. "This will be the sign for you that the LORD has anointed you commander over his heritage:

[2] 1 When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel's tomb at Zelzah in the territory of Benjamin, who will say to you, 'The asses you went to look for have been found. Your father is no longer worried about the asses, but is anxious about you and says, What shall I do about my son?'

[3] Farther on, when you arrive at the terebinth of Tabor, you will be met by three men going up to God at Bethel; one will be bringing three kids, another three loaves of bread, and the third a skin of wine.

[4] They will greet you and offer you two wave offerings of bread, which you will take from them.

[5] 2 After that you will come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. As you enter that city, you will meet a band of prophets, in a prophetic state, coming down from the high place preceded by lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps.

[6] The spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will join them in their prophetic state and will be changed into another man.

[7] When you see these signs fulfilled, do whatever you judge feasible, because God is with you.

[8] 3 Now go down ahead of me to Gilgal, for I shall come down to you, to offer holocausts and to sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you; I shall then tell you what you must do."

[9] As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. That very day all these signs came to pass. . . .

[10] 4 When they were going from there to Gibeah, a band of prophets met him, and the spirit of God rushed upon him, so that he joined them in their prophetic state.

[11] When all who had known him previously saw him in a prophetic state among the prophets, they said to one another, "What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"

[12] And someone from that district added, "And who is their father?" Thus the proverb arose, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

[13] When he came out of the prophetic state, he went home.

[14] Saul's uncle inquired of him and his servant, "Where have you been?" Saul replied, "To look for the asses. When we could not find them, we went to Samuel."

[15] Then Saul's uncle said, "Tell me, then, what Samuel said to you."

[16] Saul said to his uncle, "He assured us that the asses had been found." But he mentioned nothing to him of what Samuel had said about the kingship.

[17] Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpah

[18] and addressed the Israelites: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'It was I who brought Israel up from Egypt and delivered you from the power of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.'

[19] But today you have rejected your God, who delivers you from all your evils and calamities, by saying to him, 'Not so, but you must appoint a king over us.' Now, therefore, take your stand before the LORD according to tribes and families."

[20] So Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen.

[21] Next he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward in clans, and the clan of Matri was chosen, and finally Saul, son of Kish, was chosen. But they looked for him in vain.

[22] Again they consulted the LORD, "Has he come here?" The LORD answered, "He is hiding among the baggage."

[23] They ran to bring him from there; and when he stood among the people, he was head and shoulders above all the crowd.

[24] Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see the man whom the LORD has chosen? There is none like him among all the people!" Then all the people shouted, "Long live the king!"

[25] 5 Samuel next explained to the people the law of royalty and wrote it in a book, which he placed in the presence of the LORD. This done, Samuel dismissed the people, each to his own place.

[26] Saul also went home to Gibeah, accompanied by warriors whose hearts the LORD had touched.

[27] But certain worthless men said, "How can this fellow save us?" They despised him and brought him no present.

First Samuel Chapter 11

[1] 1 About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh begged Nahash, "Make a treaty with us, and we will be your subjects."

[2] But Nahash the Ammonite replied, "This is my condition for a treaty with you: I must gouge out every man's right eye, that I may thus bring ignominy on all Israel."

[3] The elders of Jabesh said to him: "Give us seven days to send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If no one rescues us, we will surrender to you."

[4] When the messengers arrived at Gibeah of Saul, they related the news to the people, all of whom wept aloud.

[5] Just then Saul came in from the field, behind his oxen. "Why are the people weeping?" he asked. The message of the inhabitants of Jabesh was repeated to him.

[6] As he listened to this report, the spirit of God rushed upon him and he became very angry.

[7] Taking a yoke of oxen, he cut them into pieces, which he sent throughout the territory of Israel by couriers with the message, "If anyone does not come out to follow Saul (and Samuel), the same as this will be done to his oxen!" In dread of the LORD, the people turned out to a man.

[8] When he reviewed them in Bezek, there were three hundred thousand Israelites and seventy thousand Judahites.

[9] To the messengers who had come he said, "Tell the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead that tomorrow, while the sun is hot, they will be rescued." The messengers came and reported this to the inhabitants of Jabesh, who were jubilant,

[10] and said to Nahash, "Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you may do whatever you please with us."

[11] On the appointed day, Saul arranged his troops in three companies and invaded the camp during the dawn watch. They slaughtered Ammonites until the heat of the day; by then the survivors were so scattered that no two were left together.

[12] 2 The people then said to Samuel: "Who questioned whether Saul should rule over us? Hand over the men and we will put them to death."

[13] But Saul broke in to say, "No man is to be put to death this day, for today the LORD has saved Israel."

[14] Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal to inaugurate the kingdom there."

[15] So all the people went to Gilgal, where, in the presence of the LORD, they made Saul king. They also sacrificed peace offerings there before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites celebrated the occasion with great joy.

First Samuel Chapter 12

[1] Samuel addressed all Israel: "I have granted your request in every respect," he said. "I have set a king over you

[2] and now the king is your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and have sons among you. I have lived with you from my youth to the present day.

[3] Here I stand! Answer me in the presence of the LORD and of his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose ass have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whom have I accepted a bribe and overlooked his guilt? I will make restitution to you."

[4] They replied, "You have neither cheated us, nor oppressed us, nor accepted anything from anyone."

[5] So he said to them, "The LORD is witness against you this day, and his anointed as well, that you have found nothing in my possession." "He is witness," they agreed.

[6] Continuing, Samuel said to the people: "The LORD is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt.

[7] Now, therefore, take your stand, and I shall arraign you before the LORD, and shall recount for you all the acts of mercy the LORD has done for you and your fathers.

[8] When Jacob and his sons went to Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them, your fathers appealed to the LORD, who sent Moses and Aaron to bring them out of Egypt, and he gave them this place to live in.

[9] But they forgot the LORD their God; and he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera, the captain of the army of Jabin, king of Hazor, into the grasp of the Philistines, and into the grip of the king of Moab, who made war against them.

[10] Each time they appealed to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned in forsaking the LORD and worshiping Baals and Ashtaroth; but deliver us now from the power of our enemies, and we will worship you.'

[11] Accordingly, the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel; he delivered you from the power of your enemies on every side, so that you were able to live in security.

[12] Yet, when you saw Nahash, king of the Ammonites, advancing against you, you said to me, 'Not so, but a king must rule us,' even though the LORD your God is your king.

[13] "Now you have the king you want, a king the LORD has given you.

[14] If you fear the LORD and worship him, if you are obedient to him and do not rebel against the LORD'S command, if both you and the king who rules you follow the LORD your God--well and good.

[15] But if you do not obey the LORD and if you rebel against his command, the LORD will deal severely with you and your king, and destroy you.

[16] Now then, stand ready to witness the great marvel the LORD is about to accomplish before your eyes.

[17] Are we not in the harvest time for wheat? Yet I shall call to the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Thus you will see and understand how greatly the LORD is displeased that you have asked for a king."

[18] Samuel then called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day. As a result, all the people dreaded the LORD and Samuel.

[19] They said to Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for us, your servants, that we may not die for having added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king."

[20] "Do not fear," Samuel answered them. "It is true you have committed all this evil; still, you must not turn from the LORD, but must worship him with your whole heart.

[21] Do not turn to meaningless idols which can neither profit nor save; they are nothing.

[22] For the sake of his own great name the LORD will not abandon his people, since the LORD himself chose to make you his people.

[23] As for me, far be it from me to sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you and to teach you the good and right way.

[24] But you must fear the LORD and worship him faithfully with your whole heart; keep in mind the great things he has done among you.

[25] If instead you continue to do evil, both you and your king shall perish."

First Samuel Chapter 13

[1] 1 (Saul was. . . years old when he became king and he reigned. . . (two) years over Israel.)

[2] Saul chose three thousand men of Israel, of whom two thousand remained with him in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the people back to their tents.

[3] 2 Now Jonathan overcame the Philistine garrison which was in Gibeah, and the Philistines got word of it. Then Saul sounded the horn throughout the land, with a proclamation, "Let the Hebrews hear!"

[4] Thus all Israel learned that Saul had overcome the garrison of the Philistines and that Israel had brought disgrace upon the Philistines; and the soldiers were called up to Saul in Gilgal.

[5] The Philistines also assembled for battle, with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and foot soldiers as numerous as the sands of the seashore. Moving up against Israel, they encamped in Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

[6] Some Israelites, aware of the danger and of the difficult situation, hid themselves in caves, in thickets, among rocks, in caverns, and in cisterns,

[7] 3 and other Hebrews passed over the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, held out at Gilgal, although all his followers were seized with fear.

[8] He waited seven days--the time Samuel had determined. When Samuel did not arrive at Gilgal, the men began to slip away from Saul.

[9] He then said, "Bring me the holocaust and peace offerings," and he offered up the holocaust.

[10] He had just finished this offering when Samuel arrived. Saul went out to greet him,

[11] and Samuel asked him, "What have you done?" Saul replied: "When I saw that the men were slipping away from me, since you had not come by the specified time, and with the Philistines assembled at Michmash,

[12] I said to myself, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet sought the LORD'S blessing.' So in my anxiety I offered up the holocaust."

[13] Samuel's response was: "You have been foolish! Had you kept the command the LORD your God gave you, the LORD would now establish your kingship in Israel as lasting;

[14] but as things are, your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and has appointed him commander of his people, because you broke the LORD'S command."

[15] Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went his own way; but the rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the soldiers, going from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul then numbered the soldiers he had with him, who were about six hundred.

[16] Saul, his son Jonathan, and the soldiers they had with them were now occupying Geba of Benjamin, and the Philistines were encamped at Michmash.

[17] Meanwhile, raiders left the camp of the Philistines in three bands. One band took the Ophrah road toward the district of Shual;

[18] another turned in the direction of Beth-horon; and the third took the road for Geba that overlooks the Valley of the Hyenas toward the desert.

[19] Not a single smith was to be found in the whole land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, "Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears."

[20] All Israel, therefore, had to go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.

[21] The price for the plowshares and mattocks was two-thirds of a shekel, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the ox-goads.

[22] And so on the day of battle neither sword nor spear could be found in the possession of any of the soldiers with Saul or Jonathan. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.

[23] An outpost of the Philistines had pushed forward to the pass of Michmash.

First Samuel Chapter 14

[1] One day Jonathan, son of Saul, said to his armor-bearer, "Come let us go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side." But he did not inform his father.

[2] (Saul's command post was under the pomegranate tree near the threshing floor on the outskirts of Geba; those with him numbered about six hundred men.

[3] Ahijah, son of Ahitub, brother of Ichabod, who was the son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the LORD at Shiloh, was wearing the ephod.) Nor did the soldiers know that Jonathan had gone.

[4] Flanking the ravine through which Jonathan intended to get over to the Philistine outpost there was a rocky crag on each side, one called Bozez, the other Seneh.

[5] One crag was to the north, toward Michmash, the other to the south, toward Geba.

[6] Jonathan said to his armor-bearer: "Come let us go over to that outpost of the uncircumcised. Perhaps the LORD will help us, because it is no more difficult for the LORD to grant victory through a few than through many."

[7] His armor-bearer replied, "Do whatever you are inclined to do; I will match your resolve."

[8] Jonathan continued: "We shall go over to those men and show ourselves to them.

[9] If they say to us, 'Stay there until we can come to you,' we shall stop where we are; we shall not go up to them.

[10] But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we shall go up, because the LORD has delivered them into our grasp. That will be our sign."

[11] Accordingly, the two of them appeared before the outpost of the Philistines, who said, "Look, some Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding."

[12] The men of the outpost called to Jonathan and his armor-bearer. "Come up here," they said, "and we will teach you a lesson." So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the grasp of Israel."

[13] Jonathan clambered up with his armor-bearer behind him; as the Philistines turned to flee him, he cut them down, and his armor-bearer followed him and finished them off.

[14] In this first exploit Jonathan and his armor-bearer slew about twenty men within half a furlong.

[15] Then panic spread to the army and to the countryside, and all the soldiers, including the outpost and the raiding parties, were terror-stricken. The earth also shook, so that the panic was beyond human endurance.

[16] The lookouts of Saul in Geba of Benjamin saw that the enemy camp had scattered and were running about in all directions.

[17] Saul said to those around him, "Count the troops and find out if any of us are missing." When they had investigated, they found Jonathan and his armor-bearer missing.

[18] 1 Saul then said to Ahijah, "Bring the ephod here." (Ahijah was wearing the ephod in front of the Israelites at that time.)

[19] While Saul was speaking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp kept increasing. So he said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand."

[20] And Saul and all his men shouted and rushed into the fight, where the Philistines, wholly confused, were thrusting swords at one another.

[21] In addition, the Hebrews who had previously sided with the Philistines and had gone up with them to the camp, turned to join the Israelites under Saul and Jonathan.

[22] Likewise, all the Israelites who were hiding in the hill country of Ephraim, on hearing that the Philistines were fleeing, pursued them in the rout.

[23] 2 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day. The battle continued past Beth-horon;

[24] the whole people, about ten thousand combatants, were with Saul, and there was scattered fighting in every town in the hill country of Ephraim. And Saul swore a very rash oath that day, putting the people under this ban: "Cursed be the man who takes food before evening, before I am able to avenge myself on my enemies." So none of the people tasted food.

[25] Indeed, there was a honeycomb lying on the ground,

[26] and when the soldiers came to the comb the swarm had left it; yet no one would raise a hand to his mouth from it, because the people feared the oath.

[27] Jonathan, who had not heard that his father had put the people under oath, thrust out the end of the staff he was holding and dipped in into the honey. Then he raised it to his mouth and his eyes lit up.

[28] At this one of the soldiers spoke up: "Your father put the people under a strict oath, saying, 'Cursed be the man who takes food this day!' As a result the people are weak."

[29] Jonathan replied: "My father brings trouble to the land. Look how bright my eyes are from this small taste of honey I have had.

[30] What is more, if the people had eaten freely today of their enemy's booty when they came across it, would not the slaughter of the Philistines by now have been the greater for it?"

[31] After the Philistines were routed that day from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were completely exhausted.

[32] So they pounced upon the spoil and took sheep, oxen and calves, slaughtering them on the ground and eating the flesh with blood.

[33] Informed that the people were sinning against the LORD by eating the flesh with blood, Saul said: "You have broken faith. Roll a large stone here for me."

[34] He continued: "Mingle with the people and tell each of them to bring his ox or his sheep to me. Slaughter it here and then eat, but you must not sin against the LORD by eating the flesh with blood." So everyone brought to the LORD whatever ox he had seized, and they slaughtered them there;

[35] and Saul built an altar to the LORD--this was the first time he built an altar to the LORD.

[36] Then Saul said, "Let us go down in pursuit of the Philistines by night, to plunder among them until daybreak and to kill them all off." They replied, "Do what you think best." But the priest said, "Let us consult God."

[37] So Saul inquired of God: "Shall I go down in pursuit of the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the power of Israel?" But he received no answer on this occasion.

[38] Saul then said, "Come here, all officers of the army. We must investigate and find out how this sin was committed today.

[39] As the LORD lives who has given victory to Israel, even if my son Jonathan has committed it, he shall surely die!" But none of the people answered him.

[40] So he said to all Israel, "Stand on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will stand on the other." The people responded, "Do what you think best."

[41] 3 And Saul said to the LORD, the God of Israel: "Why did you not answer your servant this time? If the blame for this resides in me or my son Jonathan, LORD, God of Israel, respond with Urim; but if this guilt is in your people Israel, respond with Thummim." Jonathan and Saul were designated, and the people went free.

[42] Saul then said, "Cast lots between me and my son Jonathan." And Jonathan was designated.

[43] Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." Jonathan replied, "I only tasted a little honey from the end of the staff I was holding. Am I to die for this?"

[44] Saul said, "May God do thus and so to me if you do not indeed die, Jonathan!"

[45] 4 But the army said to Saul: "Is Jonathan to die, though it was he who brought Israel this great victory? This must not be! As the LORD lives, not a single hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for God was with him in what he did today!" Thus the soldiers were able to rescue Jonathan from death.

[46] After that Saul gave up the pursuit of the Philistines, who returned to their own territory.

[47] After taking over the kingship of Israel, Saul waged war on all their surrounding enemies--Moab, the Ammonites, Aram, Beth-rehob, the king of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he was successful

[48] and fought bravely. He defeated Amalek and delivered Israel from the hands of those who were plundering them.

[49] 5 The sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua; his two daughters were named, the elder, Merob, and the younger, Michal.

[50] Saul's wife, who was named Ahinoam, was the daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of his general was Abner, son of Saul's uncle, Ner;

[51] Kish, Saul's father, and Ner, Abner's father, were sons of Abiel.

[52] An unremitting war was waged against the Philistines during Saul's lifetime. When Saul saw any strong or brave man, he took him into his service.

First Samuel Chapter 15

[1] Samuel said to Saul: "It was I the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the message of the LORD.

[2] This is what the LORD of hosts has to say: 'I will punish what Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt.

[3] 1 Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.'"

[4] 2 Saul alerted the soldiers, and at Telaim reviewed two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.

[5] Saul went to the city of Amalek, and after setting an ambush in the wadi,

[6] warned the Kenites: "Come! Leave Amalek and withdraw, that I may not have to destroy you with them, for you were kind to the Israelites when they came up from Egypt." After the Kenites left,

[7] Saul routed Amalek from Havilah to the approaches of Shur, on the frontier of Egypt.

[8] He took Agag, king of Amalek, alive, but on the rest of the people he put into effect the ban of destruction by the sword.

[9] He and his troops spared Agag and the best of the fat sheep and oxen, and the lambs. They refused to carry out the doom on anything that was worthwhile, dooming only what was worthless and of no account.

[10] Then the LORD spoke to Samuel:

[11] 3 "I regret having made Saul king, for he has turned from me and has not kept my command." At this Samuel grew angry and cried out to the LORD all night.

[12] Early in the morning he went to meet Saul, but was informed that Saul had gone to Carmel, where he erected a trophy in his own honor, and that on his return he had passed on and gone down to Gilgal.

[13] When Samuel came to him, Saul greeted him: "The LORD bless you! I have kept the command of the LORD."

[14] But Samuel asked, "What, then, is the meaning of this bleating of sheep that comes to my ears, and the lowing of oxen that I hear?"

[15] Saul replied: "They were brought from Amalek. The men spared the best sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the LORD, your God; but we have carried out the ban on the rest."

[16] Samuel said to Saul: "Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." "Speak!" he replied.

[17] Samuel then said: "Though little in your own esteem, are you not leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king of Israel

[18] and sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction. Fight against them until you have exterminated them.'

[19] Why then have you disobeyed the LORD? You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD."

[20] Saul answered Samuel: "I did indeed obey the LORD and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.

[21] But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal."

[22] 4 But Samuel said: "Does the LORD so delight in holocausts and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the LORD? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams.

[23] For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he, too, has rejected you as ruler."

[24] Saul replied to Samuel: "I have sinned, for I have disobeyed the command of the LORD and your instructions. In my fear of the people, I did what they said.

[25] Now forgive my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD."

[26] But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, because you rejected the command of the LORD and the LORD rejects you as king of Israel."

[27] As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized a loose end of his mantle, and it tore off.

[28] So Samuel said to him: "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

[29] The Glory of Israel neither retracts nor repents, for he is not man that he should repent."

[30] But he answered: "I have sinned, yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Return with me that I may worship the LORD your God."

[31] And so Samuel returned with him, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

[32] Afterward Samuel commanded, "Bring Agag, king of Amalek, to me." Agag came to him struggling and saying, "So it is bitter death!"

[33] And Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." Then he cut Agag down before the LORD in Gilgal.

[34] Samuel departed for Ramah, while Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.

[35] Never again, as long as he lived, did Samuel see Saul. Yet he grieved over Saul, because the LORD regretted having made him king of Israel.

First Samuel Chapter 16

[1] 1 The LORD said to Samuel: "How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons."

[2] But Samuel replied: "How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me." To this the LORD answered: "Take a heifer along and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'

[3] Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I myself will tell you what to do; you are to anoint for me the one I point out to you."

[4] Samuel did as the LORD had commanded him. When he entered Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and inquired, "Is your visit peaceful, O seer?"

[5] He replied: "Yes! I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. So cleanse yourselves and join me today for the banquet." He also had Jesse and his sons cleanse themselves and invited them to the sacrifice.

[6] As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is here before him."

[7] But the LORD said to Samuel: "Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart."

[8] Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel, who said, "The Lord has not chosen him."

[9] Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either."

[10] In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any one of these."

[11] Then Samuel asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" Jesse replied, "There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep." Samuel said to Jesse, "Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here."

[12] Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The LORD said, "There-anoint him, for this is he!"

[13] Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David. When Samuel took his leave, he went to Ramah.

[14] 2 The spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and he was tormented by an evil spirit sent by the LORD.

[15] So the servants of Saul said to him: "Please! An evil spirit from God is tormenting you.

[16] If your lordship will order it, we, your servants here in attendance on you, will look for a man skilled in playing the harp. When the evil spirit from God comes over you, he will play and you will feel better."

[17] Saul then told his servants, "Find me a skillful harpist and bring him to me."

[18] 3 A servant spoke up to say: "I have observed that one of the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem is a skillful harpist. He is also a stalwart soldier, besides being an able speaker, and handsome. Moreover, the LORD is with him."

[19] Accordingly, Saul dispatched messengers to ask Jesse to send him his son David, who was with the flock.

[20] Then Jesse took five loaves of bread, a skin of wine, and a kid, and sent them to Saul by his son David.

[21] Thus David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul became very fond of him, made him his armor-bearer,

[22] and sent Jesse the message, "Allow David to remain in my service, for he meets with my approval."

[23] Whenever the spirit from God seized Saul, David would take the harp and play, and Saul would be relieved and feel better, for the evil spirit would leave him.

First Samuel Chapter 17

[1] The Philistines rallied their forces for battle at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes-dammim.

[2] Saul and the Israelites also gathered and camped in the Vale of the Terebinth, drawing up their battle line to meet the Philistines.

[3] The Philistines were stationed on one hill and the Israelites on an opposite hill, with a valley between them.

[4] A champion named Goliath of Gath came out from the Philistine camp; he was six and a half feet tall.

[5] He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a bronze corselet of scale armor weighing five thousand shekels,

[6] 1 and bronze greaves, and had a bronze scimitar slung from a baldric.

[7] 2 The shaft of his javelin was like a weaver's heddle-bar, and its iron head weighed six hundred shekels. His shield-bearer went before him.

[8] He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel: "Why come out in battle formation? I am a Philistine, and you are Saul's servants. Choose one of your men, and have him come down to me.

[9] If he beats me in combat and kills me, we will be your vassals; but if I beat him and kill him, you shall be our vassals and serve us."

[10] The Philistine continued: "I defy the ranks of Israel today. Give me a man and let us fight together."

[11] Saul and all the men of Israel, when they heard this challenge of the Philistine, were dismayed and terror-stricken.

[12] 3 (David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. He had eight sons, and in the days of Saul was old and well on in years.

[13] The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to war; these three sons who had gone off to war were named, the first-born Eliab, the second son Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

[14] David was the youngest. While the three oldest had joined Saul,

[15] David would go and come from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

[16] (Meanwhile the Philistine came forward and took his stand morning and evening for forty days.

[17] (Now Jesse said to his son David: "Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves for your brothers, and bring them quickly to your brothers in the camp.

[18] Also take these ten cheeses for the field officer. Greet your brothers and bring home some token from them.

[19] Saul, and they, and all Israel are fighting against the Philistines in the Vale of the Terebinth."

[20] Early the next morning, having left the flock with a shepherd, David set out on his errand, as Jesse had commanded him. He reached the barricade of the camp just as the army, on their way to the battleground, were shouting their battle cry.

[21] The Israelites and the Philistines drew up opposite each other in battle array.

[22] David entrusted what he had brought to the keeper of the baggage and hastened to the battle line, where he greeted his brothers.

[23] While he was talking with them, the Philistine champion, by name Goliath of Gath, came up from the ranks of the Philistines and spoke as before, and David listened.

[24] When the Israelites saw the man, they all retreated before him, very much afraid.

[25] The Israelites had been saying: "Do you see this man coming up? He comes up to insult Israel. If anyone should kill him, the king would give him great wealth, and his daughter as well, and would grant exemption to his father's family in Israel."

[26] David now said to the men standing by: "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and frees Israel of the disgrace? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine in any case, that he should insult the armies of the living God?"

[27] They repeated the same words to him and said, "That is how the man who kills him will be rewarded."

[28] When Eliab, his oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he grew angry with David and said: "Why did you come down? With whom have you left those sheep in the desert meanwhile? I know your arrogance and your evil intent. You came down to enjoy the battle!"

[29] David replied, "What have I done now?--I was only talking."

[30] Yet he turned from him to another and asked the same question; and everyone gave him the same answer as before.

[31] The words that David had spoken were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.)

[32] Then David spoke to Saul: "Let your majesty not lose courage. I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine."

[33] But Saul answered David, "You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him, for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth."

[34] Then David told Saul: "Your servant used to tend his father's sheep, and whenever a lion or bear came to carry off a sheep from the flock,

[35] I would go after it and attack it and rescue the prey from its mouth. If it attacked me, I would seize it by the jaw, strike it, and kill it.

[36] Your servant has killed both a lion and a bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be as one of them, because he has insulted the armies of the living God."

[37] David continued: "The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine." Saul answered David, "Go! the LORD will be with you."

[38] Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, putting a bronze helmet on his head and arming him with a coat of mail.

[39] David also girded himself with Saul's sword over the tunic. He walked with difficulty, however, since he had never tried armor before. He said to Saul, "I cannot go in these, because I have never tried them before." So he took them off.

[40] Then, staff in hand, David selected five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pocket of his shepherd's bag. With his sling also ready to hand, he approached the Philistine.

[41] With his shield-bearer marching before him, the Philistine also advanced closer and closer to David.

[42] When he had sized David up, and seen that he was youthful, and ruddy, and handsome in appearance, he held him in contempt.

[43] The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog that you come against me with a staff?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods

[44] and said to him, "Come here to me, and I will leave your flesh for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field."

[45] David answered him: "You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted.

[46] Today the LORD shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will leave your corpse and the corpses of the Philistine army for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God.

[47] All this multitude, too, shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves. For the battle is the LORD'S, and he shall deliver you into our hands."

[48] The Philistine then moved to meet David at close quarters, while David ran quickly toward the battle line in the direction of the Philistine.

[49] David put his hand into the bag and took out a stone, hurled it with the sling, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone embedded itself in his brow, and he fell prostrate on the ground.

[50] (Thus David overcame the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck the Philistine mortally, and did it without a sword.)

[51] Then David ran and stood over him; with the Philistine's own sword (which he drew from its sheath) he dispatched him and cut off his head.When they saw that their hero was dead, the Philistines took to flight.

[52] Then the men of Israel and Judah, with loud shouts, went in pursuit of the Philistines to the approaches of Gath and to the gates of Ekron, and Philistines fell wounded along the road from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.

[53] On their return from the pursuit of the Philistines, the Israelites looted their camp.

[54] 4 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he kept Goliath's armor in his own tent.

[55] (When Saul saw David go out to meet the Philistine, he asked his general Abner, "Abner, whose son is that youth?" Abner replied, "As truly as your majesty is alive, I have no idea."

[56] And the king said, "Find out whose son the lad is."

[57] So when David returned from slaying the Philistine, Abner took him and presented him to Saul. David was still holding the Philistine's head.

[58] Saul then asked him, "Whose son are you, young man?" David replied, "I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem."

First Samuel Chapter 18

[1] (By the time David finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan had become as fond of David as if his life depended on him; he loved him as he loved himself.

[2] Saul laid claim to David that day and did not allow him to return to his father's house.

[3] And Jonathan entered into a bond with David, because he loved him as himself.

[4] Jonathan divested himself of the mantle he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military dress, and his sword, his bow and his belt.

[5] David then carried out successfully every mission on which Saul sent him. So Saul put him in charge of his soldiers, and this was agreeable to the whole army, even to Saul's own officers.)

[6] At the approach of Saul and David (on David's return after slaying the Philistine), women came out from each of the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing, with tambourines, joyful songs, and sistrums.

[7] The women played and sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands."

[8] Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought: "They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me. All that remains for him is the kingship."

[9] (And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David.

[10] (The next day an evil spirit from God came over Saul, and he raged in his house. David was in attendance, playing the harp as at other times, while Saul was holding his spear.

[11] Saul poised the spear, thinking to nail David to the wall, but twice David escaped him.)

[12] Saul then began to fear David, (because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul himself.)

[13] Accordingly, Saul removed him from his presence by appointing him a field officer. So David led the people on their military expeditions,

[14] and prospered in all his enterprises, for the LORD was with him.

[15] Seeing how successful he was, Saul conceived a fear of David:

[16] on the other hand, all Israel and Judah loved him, since he led them on their expeditions.

[17] (Saul said to David, "There is my older daughter, Merob, whom I will give you in marriage if you become my champion and fight the battles of the LORD." Saul had in mind, "I shall not touch him; let the Philistines strike him."

[18] But David answered Saul: "Who am I? And who are my kin or my father's clan in Israel that I should become the king's son-in-law?"

[19] However, when it was time for Saul's daughter Merob to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel the Meholathite instead.)

[20] Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, and it was reported to Saul, who was pleased at this,

[21] for he thought, "I will offer her to him to become a snare for him, so that the Philistines may strike him." (Thus for the second time Saul said to David, "You shall become my son-in-law today.")

[22] Saul then ordered his servants to speak to David privately and to say: "The king is fond of you, and all his officers love you. You should become the king's son-in-law."

[23] But when Saul's servants mentioned this to David, he said: "Do you think it easy to become the king's son-in-law? I am poor and insignificant."

[24] When his servants reported to him the nature of David's answer,

[25] Saul commanded them to say this to David: "The king desires no other price for the bride than the foreskins of one hundred Philistines, that he may thus take vengeance on his enemies." Saul intended in this way to bring about David's death through the Philistines.

[26] When the servants reported this offer to David, he was pleased with the prospect of becoming the king's son-in-law. (Before the year was up,)

[27] David made preparations and sallied forth with his men and slew two hundred Philistines. He brought back their foreskins and counted them out before the king, that he might thus become the king's son-in-law. So Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

[28] Saul thus came to recognize that the LORD was with David; besides, his own daughter Michal loved David.

[29] Therefore Saul feared David all the more (and was his enemy ever after).

[30] (The Philistine chiefs continued to make forays, but each time they took the field, David was more successful against them than any other of Saul's officers, and as a result acquired great fame.)

First Samuel Chapter 19

[1] Saul discussed his intention of killing David with his son Jonathan and with all his servants. But Saul's son Jonathan, who was very fond of David,

[2] told him: "My father Saul is trying to kill you. Therefore, please be on your guard tomorrow morning; get out of sight and remain in hiding.

[3] I, however, will go out and stand beside my father in the countryside where you are, and will speak to him about you. If I learn anything, I will let you know."

[4] Jonathan then spoke well of David to his father Saul, saying to him: "Let not your majesty sin against his servant David, for he has committed no offense against you, but has helped you very much by his deeds.

[5] When he took his life in his hands and slew the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great victory for all Israel through him, you were glad to see it. Why, then, should you become guilty of shedding innocent blood by killing David without cause?"

[6] Saul heeded Jonathan's plea and swore, "As the LORD lives, he shall not be killed."

[7] So Jonathan summoned David and repeated the whole conversation to him. Jonathan then brought David to Saul, and David served him as before.

[8] When war broke out again, David went out to fight against the Philistines and inflicted a great defeat upon them, putting them to flight.

[9] Then an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with spear in hand and David was playing the harp nearby.

[10] Saul tried to nail David to the wall with the spear, but David eluded Saul, so that the spear struck only the wall, and David got away safe.

[11] 1 The same night, Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard it, that he might kill him in the morning. David's wife Michal informed him, "Unless you save yourself tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."

[12] Then Michal let David down through a window, and he made his escape in safety.

[13] Michal took the household idol and laid it in the bed, putting a net of goat's hair at its head and covering it with a spread.

[14] When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, "He is sick."

[15] Saul, however, sent the messengers back to see David and commanded them, "Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him."

[16] But when the messengers entered, they found the household idol in the bed, with the net of goat's hair at its head.

[17] Saul therefore asked Michal: "Why did you play this trick on me? You have helped my enemy to get away!" Michal answered Saul: "He threatened me, 'Let me go or I will kill you.'"

[18] Thus David got safely away; he went to Samuel in Ramah, informing him of all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to stay in the sheds.

[19] When Saul was told that David was in the sheds near Ramah,

[20] he sent messengers to arrest David. But when they saw the band of prophets, presided over by Samuel, in a prophetic frenzy, they too fell into the prophetic state.

[21] Informed of this, Saul sent other messengers, who also fell into the prophetic state. For the third time Saul sent messengers, but they too fell into the prophetic state.

[22] Saul then went to Ramah himself. Arriving at the cistern of the threshing floor on the bare hilltop, he inquired, "Where are Samuel and David?", and was told, "At the sheds near Ramah."

[23] As he set out from the hilltop toward the sheds, the spirit of God came upon him also, and he continued on in a prophetic condition until he reached the spot. At the sheds near Ramah

[24] he, too, stripped himself of his garments and he, too, remained in the prophetic state in the presence of Samuel; all that day and night he lay naked. That is why they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

First Samuel Chapter 20

[1] David fled from the sheds near Ramah, and went to Jonathan. "What have I done?" he asked him. "What crime or what offense does your father hold against me that he seeks my life?"

[2] Jonathan answered him: "Heaven forbid that you should die! My father does nothing, great or small, without disclosing it to me. Why, then, should my father conceal this from me? This cannot be so!"

[3] But David replied: "Your father is well aware that I am favored with your friendship, so he has decided, 'Jonathan must not know of this lest he be grieved.' Nevertheless, as the LORD lives and as you live, there is but a step between me and death."

[4] Jonathan then said to David, "I will do whatever you wish."

[5] David answered: "Tomorrow is the new moon, when I should in fact dine with the king. Let me go and hide in the open country until evening.

[6] If it turns out that your father misses me, say, 'David urged me to let him go on short notice to his city Bethlehem, because his whole clan is holding its seasonal sacrifice there.'

[7] If he says, 'Very well,' your servant is safe. But if he becomes quite angry, you can be sure he has planned some harm.

[8] Do this kindness for your servant because of the LORD'S bond between us, into which you brought me: if I am guilty, kill me yourself! Why should you give me up to your father?"

[9] But Jonathan answered: "Not I! If ever I find out that my father is determined to inflict injury upon you, I will certainly let you know."

[10] David then asked Jonathan, "Who will tell me if your father gives you a harsh answer?"

[11] (Jonathan replied to David, "Come, let us go out into the field." When they were out in the open country together,

[12] Jonathan said to David: "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, I will sound out my father about this time tomorrow. Whether he is well disposed toward David or not, I will send you the information.

[13] Should it please my father to bring any injury upon you, may the LORD do thus and so to Jonathan if I do not apprise you of it and send you on your way in peace. May the LORD be with you even as he was with my father.

[14] Only this: if I am still alive, may you show me the kindness of the LORD. But if I die,

[15] never withdraw your kindness from my house. And when the LORD exterminates all the enemies of David from the surface of the earth,

[16] the name of Jonathan must never be allowed by the family of David to die out from among you, or the LORD will make you answer for it."

[17] And in his love for David, Jonathan renewed his oath to him, because he loved him as his very self.)

[18] Jonathan then said to him: "Tomorrow is the new moon; and you will be missed, since your place will be vacant.

[19] On the following day you will be missed all the more. Go to the spot where you hid on the other occasion and wait near the mound there.

[20] On the third day of the month I will shoot arrows, as though aiming at a target.

[21] I will then send my attendant to go and recover the arrows. If in fact I say to him, 'Look, the arrow is this side of you; pick it up,' come, for you are safe. As the LORD lives, there will be nothing to fear.

[22] But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrow is beyond you,' go, for the LORD sends you away.

[23] However, in the matter which you and I have discussed, the LORD shall be between you and me forever."

[24] So David hid in the open country. On the day of the new moon, when the king sat at table to dine,

[25] taking his usual place against the wall, Jonathan sat facing him, while Abner sat at the king's side, and David's place was vacant.

[26] 1 Saul, however, said nothing that day, for he thought, "He must have become unclean by accident, and not yet have been cleansed."

[27] On the next day, the second day of the month, David's place was vacant. Saul inquired of his son Jonathan, "Why has the son of Jesse not come to table yesterday or today?"

[28] Jonathan answered Saul: "David urgently asked me to let him go to his city, Bethlehem.

[29] 'Please let me go,' he begged, 'for we are to have a clan sacrifice in our city, and my brothers insist on my presence. Now, therefore, if you think well of me, give me leave to visit my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table."

[30] But Saul was extremely angry with Jonathan and said to him: "Son of a rebellious woman, do I not know that, to your own shame and to the disclosure of your mother's shame, you are the companion of Jesse's son?

[31] Why, as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, you cannot make good your claim to the kingship! So send for him, and bring him to me, for he is doomed."

[32] But Jonathan asked his father Saul: "Why should he die? What has he done?"

[33] At this Saul brandished his spear to strike him, and thus Jonathan learned that his father was resolved to kill David.

[34] Jonathan sprang up from the table in great anger and took no food that second day of the month, for he was grieved on David's account, since his father had railed against him.

[35] The next morning Jonathan went out into the field with a little boy for his appointment with David.

[36] There he said to the boy, "Run and fetch the arrow." And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him in the direction of the city.

[37] When the boy made for the spot where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called after him, "The arrow is farther on!"

[38] Again he called to his lad, "Hurry, be quick, don't delay!" Jonathan's boy picked up the arrow and brought it to his master.

[39] The boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what was meant.

[40] Then Jonathan gave his weapons to this boy of his and said to him, "Go, take them to the city."

[41] When the boy had left, David rose from beside the mound and prostrated himself on the ground three times before Jonathan in homage. They kissed each other and wept aloud together.

[42] At length Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, in keeping with what we two have sworn by the name of the LORD: 'The LORD shall be between you and me, and between your posterity and mine forever.'"

First Samuel Chapter 21

[1] Then David departed on his way, while Jonathan went back into the city.

[2] David went to Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, who came trembling to meet him and asked, "Why are you alone? Is there no one with you?"

[3] David answered the priest: "The king gave me a commission and told me to let no one know anything about the business on which he sent me or the commission he gave me. For that reason I have arranged a meeting place with my men.

[4] Now what have you on hand? Give me five loaves, or whatever you can find."

[5] 1 But the priest replied to David, "I have no ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread; if the men have abstained from women, you may eat some of that."

[6] David answered the priest: "We have indeed been segregated from women as on previous occasions. Whenever I go on a journey, all the young men are consecrated--even for a secular journey. All the more so today, when they are consecrated at arms!"

[7] So the priest gave him holy bread, for no other bread was on hand except the showbread which had been removed from the LORD'S presence and replaced by fresh bread when it was taken away.

[8] One of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; his name was Doeg the Edomite, and he was Saul's chief henchman.

[9] David then asked Ahimelech: "Do you have a spear or a sword on hand? I brought along neither my sword nor my weapons, because the king's business was urgent."

[10] The priest replied: "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Vale of the Terebinth, is here (wrapped in a mantle) behind an ephod. If you wish to take that, take it; there is no sword here except that one." David said: "There is none to match it. Give it to me!"

[11] That same day David took to flight from Saul, going to Achish, king of Gath.

[12] But the servants of Achish said, "Is this not David, the king of the land? During their dances do they not sing, 'Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?"

[13] David took note of these remarks and became very much afraid of Achish, king of Gath.

[14] So, as they watched, he feigned insanity and acted like a madman in their hands, drumming on the doors of the gate and drooling onto his beard.

[15] Finally Achish said to his servants: "You see the man is mad. Why did you bring him to me?

[16] Do I not have enough madmen, that you bring in this one to carry on in my presence? Should this fellow come into my house?"

First Samuel Chapter 22

[1] David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his family heard about it, they came down to him there.

[2] He was joined by all those who were in difficulties or in debt, or who were embittered, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

[3] From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab and said to the king of Moab, "Let my father and mother stay with you, until I learn what God will do for me."

[4] 1 He left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David remained in the refuge.

[5] But the prophet Gad said to David: "Do not remain in the refuge. Leave, and go to the land of Judah." And so David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

[6] Now Saul heard that David and his men had been located. At the time he was sitting in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree on the high place, holding his spear, while all his servants were standing by.

[7] So he said to them: "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make each of you an officer over a thousand or a hundred men,

[8] that you have all conspired against me and no one tells me that my son has made an agreement with the son of Jesse? None of you shows sympathy for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant to be an enemy against me, as is the case today."

[9] Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with the officers of Saul, spoke up: "I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, in Nob.

[10] He consulted the LORD for him and gave him supplies, and the sword of Goliath the Philistine as well."

[11] At this the king sent a summons to Ahimelech the priest, son of Ahitub, and to all his family who were priests in Nob; and they all came to the king.

[12] Then Saul said, "Listen, son of Ahitub!" He replied, "Yes, my lord."

[13] Saul asked him, "Why did you conspire against me with the son of Jesse by giving him food and a sword and by consulting God for him, that he might rebel against me and become my enemy, as is the case today?"

[14] Ahimelech answered the king: "And who among all your servants is as loyal as David, the king's son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and honored in your own house?

[15] Is this the first time I have consulted God for him? No indeed! Let not the king accuse his servant or anyone in my family of such a thing. Your servant knows nothing at all, great or small, about the whole matter."

[16] But the king said, "You shall die, Ahimelech, with all your family."

[17] The king then commanded his henchmen standing by: "Make the rounds and kill the priests of the LORD, for they assisted David. They knew he was a fugitive and yet failed to inform me." But the king's servants refused to lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.

[18] The king therefore commanded Doeg, "You make the rounds and kill the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite went from one to the next and killed the priests himself, slaying on that day eighty-five who wore the linen ephod.

[19] Saul also put the priestly city of Nob to the sword, including men and women, children and infants, and oxen, asses and sheep.

[20] One son of Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to David.

[21] When Abiathar told David that Saul had slain the priests of the LORD,

[22] David said to him: "I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of all your family.

[23] Stay with me. Fear nothing; he that seeks your life must seek my life also. You are under my protection."

First Samuel Chapter 23

[1] David received information that the Philistines were attacking Keilah and plundering the threshing floors.

[2] So he consulted the LORD, inquiring, "Shall I go and defeat these Philistines?" The LORD answered, "Go, for you will defeat the Philistines and rescue Keilah."

[3] But David's men said to him: "We are afraid here in Judah. How much more so if we go to Keilah against the forces of the Philistines!"

[4] Again David consulted the LORD, who answered, "Go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your power."

[5] David then went with his men to Keilah and fought with the Philistines. He drove off their cattle and inflicted a severe defeat on them, and thus rescued the inhabitants of Keilah.

[6] Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, who had fled to David, went down with David to Keilah, taking the ephod with him.

[7] When Saul was told that David had entered Keilah, he said: "God has put him in my grip. Now he has shut himself in, for he has entered a city with gates and bars."

[8] Saul then called all the people to war, in order to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men.

[9] When David found out that Saul was planning to harm him, he said to the priest Abiathar, "Bring forward the ephod."

[10] David then said: "O LORD God of Israel, your servant has heard a report that Saul plans to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account.

[11] Will they hand me over? And now: will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, tell your servant." The LORD answered, "He will come down."

[12] David then asked, "Will the citizens of Keilah deliver me and my men into the grasp of Saul?" And the LORD answered, "Yes."

[13] So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and wandered from place to place. When Saul was informed that David had escaped from Keilah, he abandoned the expedition.

[14] David now lived in the refuges in the desert, or in the barren hill country near Ziph. Though Saul sought him continually, the LORD did not deliver David into his grasp.

[15] David was apprehensive because Saul had come out to seek his life; but while he was at Horesh in the barrens near Ziph,

[16] Saul's son, Jonathan, came down there to David and strengthened his resolve in the LORD.

[17] He said to him: "Have no fear, my father Saul shall not lay a hand to you. You shall be king of Israel and I shall be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this."

[18] They made a joint agreement before the LORD in Horesh, where David remained, while Jonathan returned to his home.

[19] Some of the Ziphites went up to Saul in Gibeah and said, "David is hiding among us, now in the refuges, and again at Horesh, or on the hill of Hachilah, south of the wasteland.

[20] Therefore, whenever the king wishes to come down, let him do so. It will be our task to deliver him into the king's grasp."

[21] Saul replied: "The LORD bless you for your sympathy toward me.

[22] Go now and make sure once more! Take note of the place where he sets foot" (for he thought, perhaps they are playing some trick on me).

[23] "Look around and learn in which of all the various hiding places he is holding out. Then come back to me with sure information, and I will go with you. If he is in the region, I will search him out among all the families of Judah."

[24] So they went off to Ziph ahead of Saul. At this time David and his men were in the desert below Maon, in the Arabah south of the wasteland.

[25] When Saul and his men came looking for him, David got word of it and went down to the gorge in the desert below Maon. Saul heard of this and pursued David into the desert below Maon.

[26] As Saul moved along one rim of the gorge, David and his men took to the other. David was in anxious flight to escape Saul, and Saul and his men were attempting to outflank David and his men in order to capture them,

[27] when a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Come quickly, because the Philistines have invaded the land."

[28] Saul interrupted his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. This is how that place came to be called the Gorge of Divisions.

First Samuel Chapter 24

[1] David then went up from there and stayed in the refuges behind Engedi.

[2] And when Saul returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, he was told that David was in the desert near Engedi.

[3] So Saul took three thousand picked men from all Israel and went in search of David and his men in the direction of the wild goat crags.

[4] When he came to the sheepfolds along the way, he found a cave, which he entered to ease nature. David and his men were occupying the inmost recesses of the cave.

[5] David's servants said to him, "This is the day of which the LORD said to you, 'I will deliver your enemy into your grasp; do with him as you see fit.'" So David moved up and stealthily cut off an end of Saul's mantle.

[6] Afterward, however, David regretted that he had cut off an end of Saul's mantle.

[7] He said to his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD'S anointed, as to lay a hand on him, for he is the Lord's anointed."

[8] With these words David restrained his men and would not permit them to attack Saul. Saul then left the cave and went on his way.

[9] David also stepped out of the cave, calling to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked back, David bowed to the ground in homage

[10] and asked Saul: "Why do you listen to those who say, 'David is trying to harm you'?

[11] You see for yourself today that the LORD just now delivered you into my grasp in the cave. I had some thought of killing you, but I took pity on you instead. I decided, 'I will not raise a hand against my lord, for he is the LORD'S anointed and a father to me.'

[12] Look here at this end of your mantle which I hold. Since I cut off an end of your mantle and did not kill you, see and be convinced that I plan no harm and no rebellion. I have done you no wrong, though you are hunting me down to take my life.

[13] The LORD will judge between me and you, and the LORD will exact justice from you in my case. I shall not touch you.

[14] The old proverb says, 'From the wicked comes forth wickedness.' So I will take no action against you.

[15] Against whom are you on campaign, O king of Israel? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, or a single flea!

[16] The LORD will be the judge; he will decide between me and you. May he see this, and take my part, and grant me justice beyond your reach!"

[17] When David finished saying these things to Saul, Saul answered, "Is that your voice, my son David?" And he wept aloud.

[18] Saul then said to David: "You are in the right rather than I; you have treated me generously, while I have done you harm.

[19] Great is the generosity you showed me today, when the LORD delivered me into your grasp and you did not kill me.

[20] For if a man meets his enemy, does he send him away unharmed? May the LORD reward you generously for what you have done this day.

[21] And now, since I know that you shall surely be king and that sovereignty over Israel shall come into your possession,

[22] swear to me by the LORD that you will not destroy my descendants and that you will not blot out my name and family."

[23] David gave Saul his oath and Saul returned home, while David and his men went up to the refuge.

First Samuel Chapter 25

[1] Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn him; they buried him at his home in Ramah.Then David went down to the desert of Maon.

[2] There was a man of Maon who had property in Carmel; he was very wealthy, owning three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At this time he was present for the shearing of his flock in Carmel.

[3] The man was named Nabal, his wife, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and attractive, but Nabal himself, a Calebite, was harsh and ungenerous in his behavior.

[4] When David heard in the desert that Nabal was shearing his flock,

[5] he sent ten young men, instructing them: "Go up to Carmel. Pay Nabal a visit and greet him in my name.

[6] Say to him, 'Peace be with you, my brother, and with your family, and with all who belong to you.

[7] I have just heard that shearers are with you. Now, when your shepherds were with us, we did them no injury, neither did they miss anything all the while they were in Carmel.

[8] Ask your servants and they will tell you so. Look kindly on these young men, since we come at a festival time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can manage.'"

[9] When David's young men arrived, they delivered this message fully to Nabal in David's name, and then waited.

[10] But Nabal answered the servants of David: "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? Nowadays there are many servants who run away from their masters.

[11] Must I take my bread, my wine, my meat that I have slaughtered for my own shearers, and give them to men who come from I know not where?"

[12] So David's young men retraced their steps and on their return reported to him all that had been said.

[13] Thereupon David said to his men, "Let everyone gird on his sword." And so everyone, David included, girded on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

[14] But Nabal's wife Abigail was informed of this by one of the servants, who said: "David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he flew at them screaming.

[15] Yet these men were very good to us. We were done no injury, neither did we miss anything all the while we were living among them during our stay in the open country.

[16] For us they were like a rampart night and day the whole time we were pasturing the sheep near them.

[17] Now, see what you can do, for you must realize that otherwise evil is in store for our master and for his whole family. He is so mean that no one can talk to him."

[18] Abigail quickly got together two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of pressed raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on asses.

[19] She then said to her servants, "Go on ahead; I will follow you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

[20] As she came down through a mountain defile riding on an ass, David and his men were also coming down from the opposite direction. When she met them,

[21] David had just been saying: "Indeed, it was in vain that I guarded all this man's possessions in the desert, so that he missed nothing. He has repaid good with evil.

[22] May God do thus and so to David, if by morning I leave a single male alive among all those who belong to him."

[23] As soon as Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the ass and, falling prostrate on the ground before David, did him homage.

[24] As she fell at his feet she said: "My lord, let the blame be mine. Please let your handmaid speak to you, and listen to the words of your handmaid.

[25] 1 Let not my lord pay attention to that worthless man Nabal, for he is just like his name. Fool is his name, and he acts the fool. I, your handmaid, did not see the young men whom my lord sent.

[26] 2 Now, therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as you live, it is the LORD who has kept you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself personally. May your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord become as Nabal!

[27] Accept this present, then, which your maidservant has brought for my lord, and let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

[28] Please forgive the transgression of your handmaid, for the LORD shall certainly establish a lasting dynasty for my lord, because your lordship is fighting the battles of the LORD, and there is no evil to be found in you your whole life long.

[29] 3 If anyone rises to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the LORD your God; but may he hurl out the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling.

[30] And when the LORD carries out for my lord the promise of success he has made concerning you, and appoints you as commander over Israel,

[31] you shall not have this as a qualm or burden on your conscience, my lord, for having shed innocent blood or for having avenged yourself personally. When the LORD confers this benefit on your lordship, remember your handmaid."

[32] David said to Abigail: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today.

[33] Blessed be your good judgment and blessed be you yourself, who this day have prevented me from shedding blood and from avenging myself personally.

[34] Otherwise, as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come so promptly to meet me, by dawn Nabal would not have had a single man or boy left alive."

[35] David then took from her what she had brought him and said to her: "Go up to your home in peace! See, I have granted your request as a personal favor."

[36] When Abigail came to Nabal, there was a drinking party in his house like that of a king, and Nabal was merry because he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all before daybreak the next morning.

[37] But then, when Nabal had become sober, his wife told him what had happened. At this his courage died within him, and he became like a stone.

[38] About ten days later the LORD struck him and he died.

[39] On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said: "Blessed be the LORD, who has requited the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and who restrained his servant from doing evil, but has punished Nabal for his own evil deeds." David then sent a proposal of marriage to Abigail.

[40] When David's servants came to Abigail in Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you that he may take you as his wife."

[41] Rising and bowing to the ground, she answered, "Your handmaid would become a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants."

[42] She got up immediately, mounted an ass, and followed David's messengers, with her five maids following in attendance upon her. She became his wife,

[43] and David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Thus both of them were his wives; but Saul gave David's wife Michal, Saul's own daughter, to Palti, son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

First Samuel Chapter 26

[1] Men from Ziph came to Saul in Gibeah, reporting that David was hiding on the hill of Hachilah at the edge of the wasteland.

[2] So Saul went off down to the desert of Ziph with three thousand picked men of Israel, to search for David in the desert of Ziph.

[3] Saul camped beside the road on the hill of Hachilah, at the edge of the wasteland. David, who was living in the desert, saw that Saul had come into the desert after him

[4] and sent out scouts, who confirmed Saul's arrival.

[5] David himself then went to the place where Saul was encamped and examined the spot where Saul and Abner, son of Ner, the general, had their sleeping quarters. Saul's were within the barricade, and all his soldiers were camped around him.

[6] David asked Ahimelech the Hittite, and Abishai, son of Zeruiah and brother of Joab, "Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?" Abishai replied, "I will."

[7] So David and Abishai went among Saul's soldiers by night and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade, with his spear thrust into the ground at his head and Abner and his men sleeping around him.

[8] Abishai whispered to David: "God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day. Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not need a second thrust!"

[9] But David said to Abishai, "Do not harm him, for who can lay hands on the LORD'S anointed and remain unpunished?

[10] As the LORD lives," David continued, "it must be the LORD himself who will strike him, whether the time comes for him to die, or he goes out and perishes in battle.

[11] But the LORD forbid that I touch his anointed! Now take the spear which is at his head and the water jug, and let us be on our way."

[12] So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul's head, and they got away without anyone's seeing or knowing or awakening. All remained asleep, because the LORD had put them into a deep slumber.

[13] Going across to an opposite slope, David stood on a remote hilltop at a great distance from Abner, son of Ner, and the troops.

[14] He then shouted, "Will you not answer, Abner?" And Abner answered, "Who is it that calls me?"

[15] David said to Abner: "Are you not a man whose like does not exist in Israel? Why, then, have you not guarded your lord the king when one of his subjects went to kill the king, your lord?

[16] This is no creditable service you have performed. As the LORD lives, you people deserve death because you have not guarded your lord, the LORD'S anointed. Go, look: where are the king's spear and the water jug that was at his head?"

[17] Saul recognized David's voice and asked, "Is that your voice, my son David?" David answered, "Yes, my lord the king."

[18] He continued: "Why does my lord pursue his servant? What have I done? What evil do I plan?

[19] 1 Please, now, let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant. If the LORD has incited you against me, let an offering appease him; but if men, may they be cursed before the LORD, because they have exiled me so that this day I have no share in the LORD'S inheritance, but am told: 'Go serve other gods!'

[20] Do not let my blood flow to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea as if he were hunting partridge in the mountains."

[21] Then Saul said: "I have done wrong. Come back, my son David, I will not harm you again, because you have held my life precious today. Indeed, I have been a fool and have made a serious mistake."

[22] But David answered: "Here is the king's spear. Let an attendant come over to get it.

[23] The LORD will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness. Today, though the LORD delivered you into my grasp, I would not harm the LORD'S anointed.

[24] As I valued your life highly today, so may the LORD value my life highly and deliver me from all difficulties."

[25] Then Saul said to David: "Blessed are you, my son David! You shall certainly succeed in whatever you undertake." David went his way, and Saul returned to his home.

First Samuel Chapter 27

[1] But David said to himself: "I shall perish some day at the hand of Saul. I have no choice but to escape to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will give up his continual search for me throughout the land of Israel, and I shall be out of his reach."

[2] Accordingly, David departed with his six hundred men and went over to Achish, son of Maoch, king of Gath.

[3] David and his men lived in Gath with Achish; each one had his family, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel.

[4] When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

[5] David said to Achish: "If I meet with your approval, let me have a place to live in one of the country towns. Why should your servant live with you in the royal city?"

[6] 1 That same day Achish gave him Ziklag, which has, therefore, belonged to the kings of Judah up to the present time.

[7] In all, David lived a year and four months in the country of the Philistines.

[8] David and his men went up and made raids on the Geshurites, Girzites, and Amalekites-peoples living in the land between Telam, on the approach to Shur, and the land of Egypt.

[9] In attacking the land David would not leave a man or woman alive, but would carry off sheep, oxen, asses, camels, and clothes. On his return he brought these to Achish,

[10] who asked, "Whom did you raid this time?" And David answered, "The Negeb of Judah," or "The Negeb of Jerahmeel," or "The Negeb of the Kenites."

[11] But David would not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, fearing that they would betray him by saying, "This is what David did." This was his custom as long as he lived in the country of the Philistines.

[12] And Achish trusted David, thinking, "He must certainly be detested by his people Israel. I shall have him as my vassal forever."

First Samuel Chapter 28

[1] In those days the Philistines mustered their military forces to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, "You realize, of course, that you and your men must go out on campaign with me to Jezreel."

[2] David answered Achish, "Good! Now you shall learn what your servant can do." Then Achish said to David, "I shall appoint you my permanent bodyguard."

[3] Now Samuel had died and, after being mourned by all Israel, was buried in his city, Ramah. Meanwhile Saul had driven mediums and fortune-tellers out of the land.

[4] The Philistine levies advanced to Shunem and encamped. Saul, too, mustered all Israel; they camped on Gilboa.

[5] When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was dismayed and lost heart completely.

[6] He therefore consulted the LORD; but the LORD gave no answer, whether in dreams or by the Urim or through prophets.

[7] Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, to whom I can go to seek counsel through her." His servants answered him, "There is a woman in Endor who is a medium."

[8] So he disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and set out with two companions. They came to the woman by night, and Saul said to her, "Tell my fortune through a ghost; conjure up for me the one I ask you to."

[9] But the woman answered him, "You are surely aware of what Saul has done, in driving the mediums and fortune-tellers out of the land. Why, then, are you laying snares for my life, to have me killed?"

[10] But Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As the LORD lives, you shall incur no blame for this."

[11] Then the woman asked him, "Whom do you want me to conjure up?" and he answered, "Samuel."

[12] 1 When the woman saw Samuel, she shrieked at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"

[13] But the king said to her, "Have no fear. What do you see?" The woman answered Saul, "I see a preternatural being rising from the earth."

[14] "What does he look like?" asked Saul. And she replied, "It is an old man who is rising, clothed in a mantle." Saul knew that it was Samuel, and so he bowed face to the ground in homage.

[15] Samuel then said to Saul, "Why do you disturb me by conjuring me up?" Saul replied: "I am in great straits, for the Philistines are waging war against me and God has abandoned me. Since he no longer answers me through prophets or in dreams, I have called you to tell me what I should do."

[16] To this Samuel said: "But why do you ask me, if the LORD has abandoned you and is with your neighbor?

[17] The LORD has done to you what he foretold through me: he has torn the kingdom from your grasp and has given it to your neighbor David.

[18] "Because you disobeyed the LORD'S directive and would not carry out his fierce anger against Amalek, the LORD has done this to you today.

[19] Moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel, and you as well, into the clutches of the Philistines. By tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, and the LORD will have delivered the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines."

[20] Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, for he was badly shaken by Samuel's message. Moreover, he had no bodily strength left, since he had eaten nothing all that day and night.

[21] Then the woman came to Saul, and seeing that he was quite terror-stricken, said to him: "Remember, your maidservant obeyed you: I took my life in my hands and fulfilled the request you made of me.

[22] Now you, in turn, please listen to your maidservant. Let me set something before you to eat, so that you may have strength when you go on your way."

[23] But he refused, saying, "I will not eat." However, when his servants joined the woman in urging him, he listened to their entreaties, got up from the ground, and sat on a couch.

[24] The woman had a stall-fed calf in the house, which she now quickly slaughtered. Then taking flour, she kneaded it and baked unleavened bread.

[25] She set the meal before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they stood up and left the same night.

First Samuel Chapter 29

[1] Now the Philistines had mustered all their forces in Aphek, and the Israelites were encamped at the spring of Harod near Jezreel.

[2] As the Philistine lords were marching their groups of a hundred and a thousand, David and his men were marching in the rear guard with Achish.

[3] The Philistine chiefs asked, "What are those Hebrews doing here?" And Achish answered them: "Why, that is David, the officer of Saul, king of Israel. He has been with me now for a year or two, and I have no fault to find with him from the day he came over to me until the present."

[4] But the Philistine chiefs were angered at this and said to him: "Send that man back! Let him return to the place you picked out for him. He must not go down into battle with us, lest during the battle he become our enemy. For how else can he win back his master's favor, if not with the heads of these men of ours?

[5] Is this not the David of whom they sing during their dances, 'Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?"

[6] So Achish summoned David and said to him: "As the LORD lives, you are honest, and I should be pleased to have you active with me in the camp, for I have found nothing wrong with you from the day of your arrival to this day. But you are not welcome to the lords.

[7] Withdraw peaceably, now, and do nothing that might displease the Philistine lords."

[8] But David said to Achish: "What have I done? Or what have you against your servant from the first day I have been with you to this day, that I cannot go to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?"

[9] "You know," Achish answered David, "that you are acceptable to me. But the Philistine chiefs have determined you are not to go up with us to battle.

[10] So the first thing tomorrow, you and your lord's servants who came with you, go to the place I picked out for you. Do not decide to take umbrage at this; you are as acceptable to me as an angel of God. But make an early morning start, as soon as it grows light, and be on your way."

[11] So David and his men left early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. The Philistines, however, went on up to Jezreel.

First Samuel Chapter 30

[1] Before David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the Negeb and Ziklag, had stormed the city, and had set it on fire.

[2] They had taken captive the women and all who were in the city, young and old, killing no one; they had carried them off when they left.

[3] David and his men arrived at the city to find it burned to the ground and their wives, sons and daughters taken captive.

[4] Then David and those who were with him wept aloud until they could weep no more.

[5] David's two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, had also been carried off with the rest.

[6] Now David found himself in great difficulty, for the men spoke of stoning him, so bitter were they over the fate of their sons and daughters. But with renewed trust in the LORD his God,

[7] David said to Abiathar, the priest, son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod!" When Abiathar brought him the ephod,

[8] David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue these raiders? Can I overtake them?" The LORD answered him, "Go in pursuit, for you shall surely overtake them and effect a rescue."

[9] So David went off with his six hundred men and came as far as the Wadi Besor, where those who were to remain behind halted.

[10] David continued the pursuit with four hundred men, but two hundred were too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor and remained behind.

[11] An Egyptian was found in the open country and brought to David. He was provided with food, which he ate, and given water to drink;

[12] a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of pressed raisins were also offered to him. When he had eaten, he revived; he had not taken food nor drunk water for three days and three nights.

[13] Then David asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?" He replied: "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me because I fell sick three days ago today.

[14] We raided the Negeb of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negeb of Caleb; and we set Ziklag on fire."

[15] David then asked him, "Will you lead me down to this raiding party?" He answered, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me to my master, and I will lead you to the raiding party."

[16] He did lead them, and there were the Amalekites scattered all over the ground, eating, drinking, and in a festive mood because of all the rich booty they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

[17] From dawn to sundown David attacked them, putting them under the ban so that none escaped except four hundred young men, who mounted their camels and fled.

[18] David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives.

[19] Nothing was missing, small or great, booty or sons or daughters, of all that the Amalekites had taken. David brought back everything.

[20] Moreover, David took all the sheep and oxen, and as they drove these before him, they shouted, "This is David's spoil!"

[21] When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him, and whom he had left behind at the Wadi Besor, they came out to meet David and the men with him. On nearing them David greeted them.

[22] But all the stingy and worthless men among those who had accompanied David spoke up to say, "Since they did not accompany us, we will not give them anything from the booty, except to each man his wife and children. Let them take those along and be on their way."

[23] But David said: "You must not do this, my brothers, after what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our grip the band that came against us.

[24] Who could agree with this proposal of yours? Rather, the share of the one who goes down to battle and that of the one who remains with the baggage shall be the same; they shall share alike."

[25] And from that day forward he made it a law and a custom in Israel, as it still is today.

[26] When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to the elders of Judah, city by city, saying, "This is a gift to you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD":

[27] to those in Bethel, to those in Ramoth-negeb, to those in Jattir,

[28] to those in Aroer, to those in Siphmoth, to those in Eshtemoa,

[29] to those in Racal, to those in the Jerahmeelite cities, to those in the Kenite cities,

[30] to those in Hormah, to those in Borashan, to those in Athach,

[31] to those in Hebron, and to all the places frequented by David and his men.

First Samuel Chapter 31

[1] As they pressed their attack on Israel, with the Israelites fleeing before them and falling mortally wounded on Mount Gilboa,

[2] the Philistines pursued Saul and his sons closely, and slew Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul.

[3] The battle raged around Saul, and the archers hit him; he was pierced through the abdomen.

[4] Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, lest these uncircumcised come and make sport of me." But his armor-bearer, badly frightened, refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.

[5] 1 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell upon his sword and died with him.

[6] Thus Saul, his three sons, and his armor-bearer died together on that same day.

[7] When the Israelites on the slope of the valley and those along the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they too abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and lived in those cities.

[8] The day after the battle the Philistines came to strip the slain, and found Saul and his three sons lying on Mount Gilboa.

[9] They cut off Saul's head and stripped him of his armor, and then sent the good news throughout the land of the Philistines to their idols and to the people.

[10] They put his armor in the temple of Astarte, but impaled his body on the wall of Bethshan.

[11] When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

[12] 2 all their warriors set out, and after marching throughout the night, removed the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and brought them to Jabesh, where they cremated them.

[13] Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.

Second Samuel Chapter 1

[1] After the death of Saul, David returned from his defeat of the Amalekites and spent two days in Ziklag.

[2] On the third day a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. Going to David, he fell to the ground in homage.

[3] David asked him, "Where do you come from?" He replied, "I have escaped from the Israelite camp."

[4] "Tell me what happened," David bade him. He answered that the soldiers had fled the battle and that many of them had fallen and were dead, among them Saul and his son Jonathan.

[5] Then David said to the youth who was reporting to him, "How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?"

[6] The youthful informant replied: "It was by chance that I found myself on Mount Gilboa and saw Saul leaning on his spear, with chariots and horsemen closing in on him.

[7] He turned around and, seeing me, called me to him. When I said, 'Here I am,'

[8] he asked me, 'Who are you?' and I replied, 'An Amalekite.'

[9] Then he said to me, 'Stand up to me, please, and finish me off, for I am in great suffering, yet fully alive.'

[10] So I stood up to him and dispatched him, for I knew that he could not survive his wound. I removed the crown from his head and the armlet from his arm and brought them here to my lord."

[11] David seized his garments and rent them, and all the men who were with him did likewise.

[12] They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the soldiers of the LORD of the clans of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

[13] Then David said to the young man who had brought him the information, "Where are you from?" He replied, "I am the son of an Amalekite immigrant."

[14] David said to him, "How is it that you were not afraid to put forth your hand to desecrate the LORD'S anointed?"

[15] David then called one of the attendants and said to him, "Come, strike him down"; and the youth struck him a mortal blow.

[16] Meanwhile David said to him, "You are responsible for your own death, for you testified against yourself when you said, 'I dispatched the LORD'S anointed.'"

[17] Then David chanted this elegy for Saul and his son Jonathan,

[18] which is recorded in the Book of Jashar to be taught to the Judahites. He sang:

[19] "Alas! the glory of Israel, Saul, slain upon your heights; how can the warriors have fallen!

[20] "Tell it not in Gath, herald it not in the streets of Ashkelon, Lest the Philistine maidens rejoice, lest the daughters of the strangers exult!

[21] 1 Mountains of Gilboa, may there be neither dew nor rain upon you, nor upsurgings of the deeps! Upon you lie begrimed the warriors' shields, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.

[22] "From the blood of the slain, from the bodies of the valiant, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, or the sword of Saul return unstained.

[23] Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished, separated neither in life nor in death, swifter than eagles, stronger than lions!

[24] Women of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and in finery, who decked your attire with ornaments of gold.

[25] "How can the warriors have fallen-- in the thick of the battle, slain upon your heights!

[26] "I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother! most dear have you been to me; More precious have I held love for you than love for women.

[27] "How can the warriors have fallen, the weapons of war have perished!"

Second Samuel Chapter 2

[1] After this David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah?" The LORD replied to him, "Yes." Then David asked, "Where shall I go?" He replied, "To Hebron."

[2] So David went up there accompanied by his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

[3] David also brought up his men with their families, and they dwelt in the cities near Hebron.

[4] Then the men of Judah came there and anointed David king of the Judahites.A report reached David that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul.

[5] So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them: "May you be blessed by the LORD for having done this kindness to your lord Saul in burying him.

[6] And now may the LORD be kind and faithful to you. I, too, will be generous to you for having done this.

[7] Take courage, therefore, and prove yourselves valiant men, for though your lord Saul is dead, the Judahites have anointed me their king."

[8] Abner, son of Ner, Saul's general, took Ishbaal, son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim,

[9] where he made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and the rest of Israel.

[10] Ishbaal, son of Saul, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned for two years. The Judahites alone followed David.

[11] In all, David spent seven years and six months in Hebron as king of the Judahites.

[12] Now Abner, son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbaal, Saul's son, left Mahanaim for Gibeon.

[13] Joab, son of Zeruiah, and David's servants also set out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, one group on one side of the pool and the other on the opposite side.

[14] Then Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men rise and perform for us." Joab replied, "All right!"

[15] So they rose and were counted off: twelve of the Benjaminites of Ishbaal, son of Saul, and twelve of David's servants.

[16] 1 Then each one grasped his opponent's head and thrust his sword into his opponent's side, and all fell down together. And so that place, which is in Gideon, was named the Field of the Sides.

[17] After a very fierce battle that day, Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David's servants.

[18] The three sons of Zeruiah were there-Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel, who was as fleet of foot as a gazelle in the open field,

[19] set out after Abner, turning neither right nor left in his pursuit.

[20] Abner turned around and said, "Is that you, Asahel?" He replied, "Yes."

[21] Abner said to him, "Turn right or left; seize one of the young men and take what you can strip from him." But Asahel would not desist from his pursuit.

[22] Once more Abner said to Asahel: "Stop pursuing me! Why must I strike you to the ground? How could I face your brother Joab?"

[23] Still he refused to stop. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the heel of his javelin, and the weapon protruded from his back. He fell there and died on the spot. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, came to a halt.

[24] Joab and Abishai, however, continued the pursuit of Abner. The sun had gone down when they came to the hill of Ammah which lies east of the valley toward the desert near Geba.

[25] Here the Benjaminites rallied around Abner, forming a single group, and made a stand on the hilltop.

[26] Then Abner called to Joab and said: "Must the sword destroy to the utmost? Do you not know that afterward there will be bitterness? How much longer will you refrain from ordering the people to stop the pursuit of their brothers?"

[27] Joab replied, "As God lives, if you had not spoken, the soldiers would not have been withdrawn from the pursuit of their brothers until morning."

[28] Joab then sounded the horn, and all the soldiers came to a halt, pursuing Israel no farther and fighting no more.

[29] Abner and his men marched all night long through the Arabah, crossed the Jordan, marched all through the morning, and came to Mahanaim.

[30] Joab, after interrupting the pursuit of Abner, assembled all the men. Besides Asahel, nineteen other servants of David were missing.

[31] But David's servants had fatally wounded three hundred and sixty men of Benjamin, followers of Abner.

[32] They took up Asahel and buried him in his father's tomb in Bethlehem. Joab and his men made an all-night march, and dawn found them in Hebron.

Second Samuel Chapter 3

[1] There followed a long war between the house of Saul and that of David, in which David grew stronger, but the house of Saul weaker.

[2] Sons were born to David in Hebron: his first-born, Amnon, of Ahinoam from Jezreel;

[3] the second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third, Absalom, son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur;

[4] the fourth, Adonijah, son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah, son of Abital;

[5] and the sixth, Ithream, of David's wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.

[6] During the war between the house of Saul and that of David, Abner was gaining power in the house of Saul.

[7] Now Saul had had a concubine, Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ishbaal, son of Saul, said to Abner, "Why have you been intimate with my father's concubine?"

[8] Enraged at the words of Ishbaal, Abner said, "Am I a dog's head in Judah? At present I am doing a kindness to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers and his friends, by keeping you out of David's clutches; yet this day you charge me with a crime involving a woman!

[9] May God do thus and so to Abner if I do not carry out for David what the LORD swore to him--

[10] that is, take away the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan to Beersheba."

[11] In his fear of Abner, Ishbaal was no longer able to say a word to him.

[12] Then Abner sent messengers to David in Telam, where he was at the moment, to say, "Make an agreement with me, and I will aid you by bringing all Israel over to you."

[13] He replied, "Very well, I will make an agreement with you. But one thing I require of you. You must not appear before me unless you bring back Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to present yourself to me."

[14] At the same time David sent messengers to Ishbaal, son of Saul, to say, "Give me my wife Michal, whom I espoused by paying a hundred Philistine foreskins."

[15] Ishbaal sent for her and took her away from her husband Paltiel, son of Laish,

[16] who followed her weeping as far as Bahurim. But Abner said to him, "Go back!" And he turned back.

[17] Abner then said in discussion with the elders of Israel: "For a long time you have been seeking David as your king.

[18] Now take action, for the LORD has said of David, 'By my servant David I will save my people Israel from the grasp of the Philistines and from the grasp of all their enemies.'"

[19] Abner also spoke personally to Benjamin, and then went to make his own report to David in Hebron concerning all that would be agreeable to Israel and to the whole house of Benjamin.

[20] When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a feast for Abner and for the men who were with him.

[21] Then Abner said to David, "I will now go to assemble all Israel for my lord the king, that they may make an agreement with you; you will then be king over all whom you wish to rule." So David bade Abner farewell, and he went away in peace.

[22] Just then David's servants and Joab were coming in from an expedition, bringing much plunder with them. Abner, having been dismissed by David, was no longer with him in Hebron but had gone his way in peace.

[23] When Joab and the whole force he had with him arrived, he was informed, "Abner, son of Ner, came to David; he has been sent on his way in peace."

[24] So Joab went to the king and said: "What have you done? Abner came to you. Why did you let him go peacefully on his way?

[25] Are you not aware that Abner came to deceive you and to learn the ins and outs of all that you are doing?"

[26] Joab then left David, and without David's knowledge sent messengers after Abner, who brought him back from the cistern of Sirah.

[27] When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside within the city gate as though to speak with him privately. There he stabbed him in the abdomen, and he died in revenge for the killing of Joab's brother Asahel.

[28] Later David heard of it and said: "Before the LORD; I and my kingdom are forever innocent.

[29] May the full responsibility for the death of Abner, son of Ner, be laid to Joab and to all his family. May the men of Joab's family never be without one suffering from a discharge, or a leper, or one unmanly, one falling by the sword, or one in need of bread!"

[30] (Joab and his brother Abishai had lain in wait for Abner because he killed their brother Asahel in battle at Gibeon.)

[31] Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, "Rend your garments, gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn over Abner." King David himself followed the bier.

[32] When they had buried Abner in Hebron, the king wept aloud at the grave of Abner, and the people also wept.

[33] And the king sang this elegy over Abner: "Would Abner have died like a fool?

[34] Your hands were not bound with chains, nor your feet placed in fetters; As men fall before the wicked, you fell." And all the people continued to weep for him.

[35] Then they went to console David with food while it was still day. But David swore, "May God do thus and so to me if I eat bread or anything else before sunset."

[36] All the people noted this with approval, just as they were pleased with everything that the king did.

[37] So on that day all the people and all Israel came to know that the king had no part in the killing of Abner, son of Ner.

[38] The king then said to his servants: "You must recognize that a great general has fallen today in Israel.

[39] Although I am the anointed king, I am weak this day, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too ruthless for me. May the LORD requite the evildoer in accordance with his evil deed."

Second Samuel Chapter 4

[1] When Ishbaal, son of Saul, heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he ceased to resist and all Israel was alarmed.

[2] Ishbaal, son of Saul, had two company leaders named Baanah and Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the tribe of Benjamin. (Beeroth, too, was ascribed to Benjamin:

[3] the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, where they have been resident aliens to this day.

[4] 1 Jonathan, son of Saul, had a son named Meribbaal with crippled feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. But in their hasty flight, he fell and became lame.)

[5] The sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, came into the house of Ishbaal during the heat of the day, while he was taking his siesta.

[6] The portress of the house had dozed off while sifting wheat, and was asleep. So Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped past

[7] and entered the house while Ishbaal was lying asleep in his bedroom. They struck and killed him, and cut off his head. Then, taking the head, they traveled on the Arabah road all night long.

[8] They brought the head of Ishbaal to David in Hebron and said to the king: "This is the head of Ishbaal, son of your enemy Saul, who sought your life. Thus has the LORD this day avenged my lord the king on Saul and his posterity."

[9] But David replied to Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite: "As the LORD lives, who rescued me from all difficulty,

[10] in Ziklag I seized and put to death the man who informed me of Saul's death, thinking himself the bearer of good news for which I ought to give him a reward.

[11] How much more now, when wicked men have slain an innocent man in bed at home, must I hold you responsible for his death and destroy you from the earth!"

[12] So at a command from David, the young men killed them and cut off their hands and feet, hanging them up near the pool in Hebron. But he took the head of Ishbaal and buried it in Abner's grave in Hebron.

Second Samuel Chapter 5

[1] All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: "Here we are, your bone and your flesh.

[2] In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back. And the LORD said to you, 'You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.'"

[3] When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron, King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD, and they anointed him king of Israel.

[4] David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years:

[5] seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah.

[6] 1 Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the region. David was told, "You cannot enter here: the blind and the lame will drive you away!" which was their way of saying, "David cannot enter here."

[7] But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.

[8] On that day David said: "All who wish to attack the Jebusites must strike at them through the water shaft. The lame and the blind shall be the personal enemies of David." That is why it is said, "The blind and the lame shall not enter the palace."

[9] David then dwelt in the stronghold, which was called the City of David; he built up the area from Millo to the palace.

[10] David grew steadily more powerful, for the LORD of hosts was with him.

[11] Hiram, king of Tyre, sent ambassadors to David; he furnished cedar wood, as well as carpenters and masons, who built a palace for David.

[12] And David knew that the LORD had established him as king of Israel and had exalted his rule for the sake of his people Israel.

[13] David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem after he had come from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to him in Jerusalem.

[14] These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

[15] Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,

[16] Elishama, Baaliada, and Eliphelet.

[17] 2 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of Israel, they all took the field in search of him. On hearing this, David went down to the refuge.

[18] 3 The Philistines came and overran the valley of Rephaim.

[19] David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I attack the Philistines--will you deliver them into my grip?" The LORD replied to David, "Attack, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your grip."

[20] 4 David then went to Baal-perazim, where he defeated them. He said, "The LORD has scattered my enemies before me like waters that have broken free." That is why the place is called Baal-perazim.

[21] They abandoned their gods there, and David and his men carried them away.

[22] But the Philistines came up again and overran the valley of Rephaim.

[23] So David inquired of the LORD, who replied: "You must not attack frontally, but circle their rear and meet them before the mastic trees.

[24] 5 When you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mastic trees, act decisively, for the LORD will have gone forth before you to attack the camp of the Philistines."

[25] David obeyed the LORD'S command and routed the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

Second Samuel Chapter 6

[1] David again assembled all the picked men of Israel, thirty thousand in number.

[2] Then David and all the people who were with him set out for Baala of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which bears the name of the LORD of hosts enthroned above the cherubim.

[3] The ark of God was placed on a new cart and taken away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, guided the cart,

[4] with Ahio walking before it,

[5] while David and all the Israelites made merry before the LORD with all their strength, with singing and with citharas, harps, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.

[6] When they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and steadied it, for the oxen were making it tip.

[7] But the LORD was angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there before God.

[8] David was disturbed because the LORD had vented his anger on Uzzah. (The place has been called Perez-uzzah down to the present day.)

[9] David feared the LORD that day and said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"

[10] So David would not have the ark of the LORD brought to him in the City of David, but diverted it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

[11] The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and his whole house.

[12] When it was reported to King David that the LORD had blessed the family of Obed-edom and all that belonged to him, David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David amid festivities.

[13] As soon as the bearers of the ark of the LORD had advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.

[14] Then David, girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the LORD with abandon,

[15] as he and all the Israelites were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn.

[16] As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.

[17] The ark of the LORD was brought in and set in its place within the tent David had pitched for it. Then David offered holocausts and peace offerings before the LORD.

[18] When he finished making these offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.

[19] He then distributed among all the people, to each man and each woman in the entire multitude of Israel, a loaf of bread, a cut of roast meat, and a raisin cake. With this, all the people left for their homes.

[20] When David returned to bless his own family, Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has honored himself today, exposing himself to the view of the slave girls of his followers, as a commoner might do!"

[21] But David replied to Michal: "I was dancing before the LORD. As the LORD lives, who preferred me to your father and his whole family when he appointed me commander of the LORD'S people, Israel, not only will I make merry before the LORD,

[22] but I will demean myself even more. I will be lowly in your esteem, but in the esteem of the slave girls you spoke of I will be honored."

[23] And so Saul's daughter Michal was childless to the day of her death.

Second Samuel Chapter 7

[1] When King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side,

[2] he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!"

[3] Nathan answered the king, "Go, do whatever you have in mind, for the LORD is with you."

[4] But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:

[5] "Go, tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in?

[6] I have not dwelt in a house from the day on which I led the Israelites out of Egypt to the present, but I have been going about in a tent under cloth.

[7] In all my wanderings everywhere among the Israelites, did I ever utter a word to any one of the judges whom I charged to tend my people Israel, to ask: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'

[8] 1 "Now then, speak thus to my servant David, 'The LORD of hosts has this to say: It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel.

[9] I have been with you wherever you went, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth.

[10] I will fix a place for my people Israel; I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place without further disturbance. Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old,

[11] since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you.

[12] And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.

[13] It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever.

[14] I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. And if he does wrong, I will correct him with the rod of men and with human chastisements;

[15] but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul, whom I removed from my presence.

[16] Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'"

[17] Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.

[18] Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, "Who am I, Lord GOD, and who are the members of my house, that you have brought me to this point?

[19] 2 Yet even this you see as too little, Lord GOD; you have also spoken of the house of your servant for a long time to come: this too you have shown to man, Lord GOD!

[20] What more can David say to you? You know your servant, Lord GOD!

[21] For your servant's sake and as you have had at heart, you have brought about this entire magnificent disclosure to your servant.

[22] And so-- "Great are you, Lord GOD! There is none like you and there is no God but you, just as we have heard it told.

[23] What other nation on earth is there like your people Israel, which God has led, redeeming it as his people; so that you have made yourself renowned by doing this magnificent deed, and by doing awe-inspiring things as you cleared nations and their gods out of the way of your people, which you redeemed for yourself from Egypt?

[24] You have established for yourself your people Israel as yours forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.

[25] And now, LORD God, confirm for all time the prophecy you have made concerning your servant and his house, and do as you have promised.

[26] Your name will be forever great, when men say, 'The LORD of hosts is God of Israel,' and the house of your servant David stands firm before you.

[27] It is you, LORD of hosts, God of Israel, who said in a revelation to your servant, 'I will build a house for you.' Therefore your servant now finds the courage to make this prayer to you.

[28] And now, Lord GOD, you are God and your words are truth; you have made this generous promise to your servant.

[29] Do, then, bless the house of your servant that it may be before you forever; for you, Lord GOD, have promised, and by your blessing the house of your servant shall be blessed forever."

Second Samuel Chapter 8

[1] 1 After this David attacked the Philistines and conquered them, wresting. . . from the Philistines.

[2] 2 He also defeated Moab and then measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. He told off two lengths of line for execution, and a full length to be spared. Thus the Moabites became tributary to David.

[3] Next David defeated Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to reestablish his dominion at the Euphrates River.

[4] David captured from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. And he hamstrung all the chariot horses, preserving only enough for a hundred chariots.

[5] When the Arameans of Damascus came to the aid of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David slew twenty-two thousand of them.

[6] David then placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subjects, tributary to David. The LORD brought David victory in all his undertakings.

[7] David also took away the golden shields used by Hadadezer's servants and brought them to Jerusalem. (These Shishak, king of Egypt, took away when he came to Jerusalem in the days of Rehoboam, son of Solomon.)

[8] From Tebah and Berothai, towns of Hadadezer, King David removed a very large quantity of bronze.

[9] When Toi, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated all the forces of Hadadezer,

[10] he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him for his victory over Hadadezer in battle, because Toi had been in many battles with Hadadezer. Hadoram also brought with him articles of silver, gold, and bronze.

[11] These, too, King David consecrated to the LORD, together with the silver and gold he had taken from every nation he had conquered:

[12] from Edom and Moab, from the Ammonites, from the Philistines, from the Amalekites, and from the plunder of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

[13] 3 On his return, David became famous for having slain eighteen thousand Edomites in the Salt Valley;

[14] after which he placed garrisons in Edom. Thus all the Edomites became David's subjects, and the LORD brought David victory in all his undertakings.

[15] David reigned over all Israel, judging and administering justice to all his people.

[16] Joab, son of Zeruiah, was in command of the army. Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was chancellor.

[17] Zadok, son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, son of Abiathar, were priests. Shawsha was scribe.

[18] Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cherethites and Pelethites. And David's sons were priests.

Second Samuel Chapter 9

[1] David asked, "Is there any survivor of Saul's house to whom I may show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?"

[2] Now there was a servant of the family of Saul named Ziba. He was summoned to David, and the king asked him, "Are you Ziba?" He replied, "Your servant."

[3] Then the king inquired, "Is there any survivor of Saul's house to whom I may show God's kindness?" Ziba answered the king, "There is still Jonathan's son, whose feet are crippled."

[4] The king said to him, "Where is he?" and Ziba answered, "He is in the house of Machir, son of Ammiel, in Lodebar."

[5] So King David sent for him and had him brought from the house of Machir, son of Ammiel, in Lodebar.

[6] When Meribbaal, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David, he fell prostrate in homage. David said, "Meribbaal," and he answered, "Your servant."

[7] "Fear not," David said to him, "I will surely be kind to you for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the lands of your grandfather Saul, and you shall always eat at my table."

[8] Bowing low, he answered, "What is your servant that you should pay attention to a dead dog like me?"

[9] The king then called Ziba, Saul's attendant, and said to him: "I am giving your lord's son all that belonged to Saul and to all his family.

[10] You and your sons and servants must till the land for him. You shall bring in the produce, which shall be food for your lord's family to eat. But Meribbaal, your lord's son, shall always eat at my table." Ziba, who had fifteen sons and twenty servants,

[11] said to the king, "Your servant shall do just as my lord the king has commanded him." And so Meribbaal ate at David's table like one of the king's sons.

[12] Meribbaal had a young son whose name was Mica; and all the tenants of Ziba's family worked for Meribbaal.

[13] But Meribbaal lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king's table. He was lame in both feet.

Second Samuel Chapter 10

[1] 1 Some time later the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king.

[2] David thought, "I will be kind to Hanun, son of Nahash, as his father was kind to me." So David sent his servants with condolences to Hanun for the loss of his father. But when David's servants entered the country of the Ammonites,

[3] the Ammonite princes said to their lord Hanun: "Do you think that David is honoring your father by sending men with condolences? Is it not rather to explore the city, to spy on it, and to overthrow it, that David has sent his messengers to you?"

[4] Hanun, therefore, seized David's servants and, after shaving off half their beards and cutting away the lower halves of their garments at the buttocks, sent them away.

[5] When he was told of it, King David sent out word to them, since the men were quite ashamed. "Stay in Jericho until your beards grow," he said, "and then come back."

[6] 2 In view of the offense they had given to David, the Ammonites sent for and hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and twelve thousand men from Tob.

[7] On learning this, David sent out Joab with the entire levy of trained soldiers.

[8] The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah remained apart in the open country.

[9] When Joab saw the battle lines drawn up against him, both front and rear, he made a selection from all the picked troops of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans.

[10] He placed the rest of the soldiers under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them against the Ammonites.

[11] Joab said, "If the Arameans are stronger than I, you shall help me. But if the Ammonites are stronger than you, I will come to help you.

[12] Be brave; let us prove our valor for the sake of our people and the cities of our God; the LORD will do what he judges best."

[13] When Joab and the soldiers who were with him approached the Arameans for battle, they fled before him.

[14] The Ammonites, seeing that the Arameans had fled, also fled from Abishai and withdrew into the city. Joab then ceased his attack on the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.

[15] Then the Arameans responded to their defeat by Israel with a full mustering of troops;

[16] Hadadezer sent for and enlisted Arameans from beyond the Euphrates. They came to Helam, with Shobach, general of Hadadezer's army, at their head.

[17] On receiving this news, David assembled all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and went to Helam. The Arameans drew up in formation against David and fought with him.

[18] But the Arameans gave way before Israel, and David's men killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand of the Aramean foot soldiers. Shobach, general of the army, was struck down and died on the field.

[19] All of Hadadezer's vassal kings, in view of their defeat by Israel, then made peace with the Israelites and became their subjects. And the Arameans were afraid to give further aid to the Ammonites.

Second Samuel Chapter 11

[1] 1 At the turn of the year, when kings go out on campaign, David sent out Joab along with his officers and the army of Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. David, however, remained in Jerusalem.

[2] One evening David rose from his siesta and strolled about on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful.

[3] David had inquiries made about the woman and was told, "She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, and wife of (Joab's armor-bearer) Uriah the Hittite."

[4] Then David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he had relations with her, at a time when she was just purified after her monthly period. She then returned to her house.

[5] But the woman had conceived, and sent the information to David, "I am with child."

[6] David therefore sent a message to Joab, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David.

[7] When he came, David questioned him about Joab, the soldiers, and how the war was going, and Uriah answered that all was well.

[8] David then said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and bathe your feet." Uriah left the palace, and a portion was sent out after him from the king's table.

[9] But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his own house.

[10] David was told that Uriah had not gone home. So he said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why, then, did you not go down to your house?"

[11] Uriah answered David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are lodged in tents, and my lord Joab and your majesty's servants are encamped in the open field. Can I go home to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? As the LORD lives and as you live, I will do no such thing."

[12] Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, I shall dismiss you tomorrow." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the day following,

[13] David summoned him, and he ate and drank with David, who made him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed among his lord's servants, and did not go down to his home.

[14] The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab which he sent by Uriah.

[15] In it he directed: "Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce. Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead."

[16] So while Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the defenders were strong.

[17] When the men of the city made a sortie against Joab, some officers of David's army fell, and among them Uriah the Hittite died.

[18] Then Joab sent David a report of all the details of the battle,

[19] instructing the messenger, "When you have finished giving the king all the details of the battle,

[20] the king may become angry and say to you: 'Why did you go near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall above?

[21] Who killed Abimelech, son of Jerubbaal? Was it not a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall above, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' Then you in turn shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.'"

[22] 2 The messenger set out, and on his arrival he relayed to David all the details as Joab had instructed him.

[23] He told David: "The men had us at a disadvantage and came out into the open against us, but we pushed them back to the entrance of the city gate.

[24] Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall above, and some of the king's servants died, among them your servant Uriah."

[25] David said to the messenger: "This is what you shall convey to Joab: 'Do not be chagrined at this, for the sword devours now here and now there. Strengthen your attack on the city and destroy it.' Encourage him."

[26] When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband had died, she mourned her lord.

[27] But once the mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her into his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But the LORD was displeased with what David had done.

Second Samuel Chapter 12

[1] 1 The LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he came to him, he said: "Judge this case for me! In a certain town there were two men, one rich, the other poor.

[2] The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers.

[3] But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children. She shared the little food he had and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom. She was like a daughter to him.

[4] Now, the rich man received a visitor, but he would not take from his own flocks and herds to prepare a meal for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man's ewe lamb and made a meal of it for his visitor."

[5] David grew very angry with that man and said to Nathan: "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this merits death!

[6] He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this and has had no pity."

[7] Then Nathan said to David: "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king of Israel. I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

[8] I gave you your lord's house and your lord's wives for your own. I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still more.

[9] Why have you spurned the LORD and done evil in his sight? You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites.

[10] Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.'

[11] Thus says the LORD: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own house. I will take your wives while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor. He shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.

[12] You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down.'"

[13] Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan answered David: "The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die.

[14] But since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed, the child born to you must surely die."

[15] Then Nathan returned to his house. The LORD struck the child that the wife of Uriah had borne to David, and it became desperately ill.

[16] David besought God for the child. He kept a fast, retiring for the night to lie on the ground clothed in sackcloth.

[17] The elders of his house stood beside him urging him to rise from the ground; but he would not, nor would he take food with them.

[18] On the seventh day, the child died. David's servants, however, were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said: "When the child was alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to what we said. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do some harm!"

[19] But David noticed his servants whispering among themselves and realized that the child was dead. He asked his servants, "Is the child dead?" They replied, "Yes, he is."

[20] Rising from the ground, David washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. Then he went to the house of the LORD and worshiped. He returned to his own house, where at his request food was set before him, and he ate.

[21] His servants said to him: "What is this you are doing? While the child was living, you fasted and wept and kept vigil; now that the child is dead, you rise and take food."

[22] He replied: "While the child was living, I fasted and wept, thinking, 'Perhaps the LORD will grant me the child's life.'

[23] But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me."

[24] Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went and slept with her; and she conceived and bore him a son, who was named Solomon. The LORD loved him

[25] and sent the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah, on behalf of the LORD.

[26] Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured this royal city.

[27] He sent messengers to David with the word: "I have fought against Rabbah and have taken the water-city.

[28] Therefore, assemble the rest of the soldiers, join the siege against the city and capture it, lest it be I that capture the city and it be credited to me."

[29] So David assembled the rest of the soldiers and went to Rabbah. When he had fought against it and captured it,

[30] 2 he took the crown from Milcom's head. It weighed a talent, of gold and precious stones; it was placed on David's head. He brought out immense booty from the city,

[31] and also led away the inhabitants, whom he assigned to work with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, or put to work at the brickmold. This is what he did to all the Ammonite cities. David and all the soldiers then returned to Jerusalem.

Second Samuel Chapter 13

[1] Some time later the following incident occurred. David's son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar, and David's son Amnon loved her.

[2] He was in such straits over his sister Tamar that he became sick; since she was a virgin, Amnon thought it impossible to carry out his designs toward her.

[3] Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, son of David's brother Shimeah, who was very clever.

[4] He asked him, "Prince, why are you so dejected morning after morning? Why not tell me?" So Amnon said to him, "I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."

[5] Then Jonadab replied, "Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to visit you, say to him, 'Please let my sister Tamar come and encourage me to take food. If she prepares something appetizing in my presence, for me to see, I will eat it from her hand.'"

[6] So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to visit him, Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and prepare some fried cakes before my eyes, that I may take nourishment from her hand."

[7] David then sent home a message to Tamar, "Please go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some nourishment for him."

[8] Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was in bed. Taking dough and kneading it, she twisted it into cakes before his eyes and fried the cakes.

[9] Then she took the pan and set out the cakes before him. But Amnon would not eat; he said, "Have everyone leave me." When they had all left him,

[10] Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the nourishment into the bedroom, that I may have it from your hand." So Tamar picked up the cakes she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom.

[11] But when she brought them to him to eat, he seized her and said to her, "Come! Lie with me, my sister!"

[12] But she answered him, "No my brother! Do not shame me! That is an intolerable crime in Israel. Do not commit this insensate deed.

[13] Where would I take my shame? And you would be a discredited man in Israel. So please, speak to the king; he will not keep me from you."

[14] Not heeding her plea, he overpowered her; he shamed her and had relations with her.

[15] Then Amnon conceived an intense hatred for her, which far surpassed the love he had had for her. "Get up and leave," he said to her.

[16] She replied, "No, brother, because to drive me out would be far worse than the first injury you have done me." He would not listen to her,

[17] but called the youth who was his attendant and said, "Put her outside, away from me, and bar the door after her."

[18] Now she had on a long tunic, for that is how maiden princesses dressed in olden days. When his attendant put her out and barred the door after her,

[19] Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long tunic in which she was clothed. Then, putting her hands to her head, she went away crying loudly.

[20] Her brother Absalom said to her: "Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be still now, my sister; he is your brother. Do not take this affair to heart." But Tamar remained grief-stricken and forlorn in the house of her brother Absalom.

[21] King David, who got word of the whole affair, became very angry. He did not, however, spark the resentment of his son Amnon, whom he favored because he was his first-born.

[22] Absalom, moreover, said nothing at all to Amnon, although he hated him for having shamed his sister Tamar.

[23] After a period of two years, Absalom had shearers in Baalhazor near Ephraim, and he invited all the princes.

[24] Absalom went to the king and said: "Your servant is having shearers. Please, your majesty, come with all your retainers to your servant."

[25] But the King said to Absalom, "No, my son, all of us should not go lest we be a burden to you." And though Absalom urged him, he refused to go and began to bid him good-bye.

[26] Absalom then said, "If you will not come yourself, please let my brother Amnon come to us." The king asked him, "Why should he go to you?"

[27] At Absalom's urging, however, he sent Amnon and all the other princes with him. Absalom prepared a banquet fit for royalty.

[28] But he had instructed his servants: "Now watch! When Amnon is merry with wine and I say to you, 'Kill Amnon,' put him to death. Do not be afraid, for it is I who order you to do it. Be resolute and act manfully."

[29] When the servants did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded, all the other princes rose, mounted their mules, and fled.

[30] While they were still on the road, a report reached David that Absalom had killed all the princes and that not one of them had survived.

[31] The king stood up, rent his garments, and then lay on the ground. All his servants standing by him also rent their garments.

[32] But Jonadab, son of David's brother Shimeah, spoke up: "Let not my lord think that all the young princes have been killed! Amnon alone is dead, for Absalom was determined on this ever since Amnon shamed his sister Tamar.

[33] So let not my lord the king put faith in the report that all the princes are dead. Amnon alone is dead."

[34] Meanwhile, Absalom had taken flight. Then the servant on watch looked about and saw a large group coming down the slope from the direction of Bahurim. He came in and reported this, telling the king that he had seen some men coming down the mountainside from the direction of Bahurim.

[35] So Jonadab said to the king: "There! The princes have come. It is as your servant said."

[36] No sooner had he finished speaking than the princes came in, weeping aloud. The king, too, and all his servants wept very bitterly.

[37] But Absalom, who had taken flight, went to Talmai, son of Ammihud, king of Geshur,

[38] and stayed in Geshur for three years.

[39] The king continued during all that time to mourn over his son; but his longing reached out for Absalom as he became reconciled to the death of Amnon.

Second Samuel Chapter 14

[1] When Joab, son of Zeruiah, observed how the king felt toward Absalom,

[2] he sent to Tekoa and brought from there a gifted woman, to whom he said: "Pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning apparel and do not anoint yourself with oil, that you may appear to be a woman who has been long in mourning for a departed one.

[3] Then go to the king and speak to him in this manner." And Joab instructed her what to say.

[4] So the woman of Tekoa went to the king and fell prostrate to the ground in homage, saying, "Help, your majesty!"

[5] The king said to her, "What do you want?" She replied: "Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead.

[6] Your servant had two sons, who quarreled in the field. There being no one to part them, one of them struck his brother and killed him.

[7] 1 Then the whole clan confronted your servant and demanded: 'Give up the one who killed his brother. We must put him to death for the life of his brother whom he has slain; we must extinguish the heir also.' Thus they will quench my remaining hope and leave my husband neither name nor posterity upon the earth."

[8] The king then said to the woman: "Go home. I will issue a command on your behalf."

[9] The woman of Tekoa answered him, "Let me and my family be to blame, my lord king; you and your throne are innocent."

[10] Then the king said, "If anyone says a word to you, have him brought to me, and he shall not touch you again."

[11] But she went on to say, "Please, your majesty, keep in mind the LORD your God, that the avenger of blood may not go too far in destruction and that my son may not be done away with." He replied, "As the LORD lives, not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground."

[12] The woman continued, "Please let your servant say still another word to my lord the king." He replied, "Speak."

[13] So the woman said: "Why, then, do you think of this same kind of thing against the people of God? In pronouncing as he has, the king shows himself guilty, for not bringing back his own banished son.

[14] 2 We must indeed die; we are then like water that is poured out on the ground and cannot be gathered up. Yet, though God does not bring back life, he does take thought how not to banish anyone from him.

[15] And now, if I have presumed to speak of this matter to your majesty, it is because the people have given me cause to fear. And so your servant thought: 'Let me speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the petition of his maidservant.

[16] For the king must surely consent to free his servant from the grasp of one who would seek to destroy me and my son as well from God's inheritance.'"

[17] 3 And the woman concluded: "Let the word of my lord the king provide a resting place; indeed, my lord the king is like an angel of God, evaluating good and bad. The LORD your God be with you."

[18] The king answered the woman, "Now do not conceal from me anything I may ask you!" The woman said, "Let my lord the king speak."

[19] So the king asked, "Is Joab involved with you in all this?" And the woman answered: "As you live, my lord the king, it is just as your majesty has said, and not otherwise. It was your servant Joab who instructed me and told your servant all these things she was to say.

[20] Your servant Joab did this to come at the issue in a roundabout way. But my lord is as wise as an angel of God, so that he knows all things on earth."

[21] Then the king said to Joab: "I hereby grant this request. Go, therefore, and bring back young Absalom."

[22] Falling prostrate to the ground in homage and blessing the king, Joab said, "This day I know that I am in good favor with you, my lord the king, since the king has granted the request of his servant."

[23] Joab then went off to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

[24] But the king said, "Let him go to his own house; he shall not appear before me." So Absalom went off to his house and did not appear before the king.

[25] In all Israel there was not a man who could so be praised for his beauty as Absalom, who was without blemish from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

[26] When he shaved his head--which he used to do at the end of every year, because his hair became too heavy for him--the hair weighed two hundred shekels according to the royal standard.

[27] Absalom had three sons born to him, besides a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.

[28] Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years without appearing before the king.

[29] Then he summoned Joab to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. Although he summoned him a second time, Joab refused to come.

[30] He therefore instructed his servants: "You see Joab's field that borders mine, on which he has barley. Go, set it on fire." And so Absalom's servants set the field on fire. Joab's farmhands came to him with torn garments and reported to him what had been done.

[31] At this, Joab went to Absalom in his house and asked him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?"

[32] Absalom answered Joab: "I was summoning you to come here, that I may send you to the king to say: 'Why did I come back from Geshur? I would be better off if I were still there!' Now, let me appear before the king. If I am guilty, let him put me to death."

[33] Joab went to the king and reported this. The king then called Absalom, who came to him and in homage fell on his face to the ground before the king. Then the king kissed him.

Second Samuel Chapter 15

[1] After this Absalom provided himself with chariots, horses, and fifty henchmen.

[2] Moreover, Absalom used to rise early and stand alongside the road leading to the gate. If someone had a lawsuit to be decided by the king, Absalom would call to him and say, "From what city are you?" And when he replied, "Your servant is of such and such a tribe of Israel,"

[3] Absalom would say to him, "Your suit is good and just, but there is no one to hear you in the king's name."

[4] And he would continue: "If only I could be appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a lawsuit to be decided might come to me and I would render him justice."

[5] Whenever a man approached him to show homage, he would extend his hand, hold him, and kiss him.

[6] By behaving in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king for judgment, Absalom was stealing away the loyalties of the men of Israel.

[7] After a period of four years, Absalom said to the king: "Allow me to go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the LORD.

[8] For while living in Geshur in Aram, your servant made this vow: 'If the LORD ever brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship him in Hebron.'"

[9] The king wished him a safe journey, and he went off to Hebron.

[10] Then Absalom sent spies throughout the tribes of Israel to say, "When you hear the sound of the horn, declare Absalom king in Hebron."

[11] Two hundred men had accompanied Absalom from Jerusalem. They had been invited and went in good faith, knowing nothing of the plan.

[12] Absalom also sent to Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, an invitation to come from his town, Giloh, for the sacrifices he was about to offer. So the conspiracy gained strength, and the people with Absalom increased in numbers.

[13] An informant came to David with the report, "The Israelites have transferred their loyalty to Absalom."

[14] At this, David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem: "Up! Let us take flight, or none of us will escape from Absalom. Leave quickly, lest he hurry and overtake us, then visit disaster upon us and put the city to the sword."

[15] The king's officers answered him, "Your servants are ready, whatever our lord the king chooses to do."

[16] Then the king set out, accompanied by his entire household, except for ten concubines whom he left behind to take care of the palace.

[17] As the king left the city, with all his officers accompanying him, they halted opposite the ascent of the Mount of Olives, at a distance,

[18] while the whole army marched past him.As all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and the six hundred men of Gath who had accompanied him from that city, were passing in review before the king,

[19] he said to Ittai the Gittite: "Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and you, too, are an exile from your own country.

[20] You came only yesterday, and shall I have you wander about with us today, wherever I have to go? Return and take your brothers with you, and may the LORD be kind and faithful to you."

[21] But Ittai answered the king, "As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, your servant shall be wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life."

[22] So the king said to Ittai, "Go, then, march on." And Ittai the Gittite, with all his men and all the dependents that were with him, marched on.

[23] Everyone in the countryside wept aloud as the last of the soldiers went by, and the king crossed the Kidron Valley with all the soldiers moving on ahead of him by way of the Mount of Olives, toward the desert.

[24] Zadok, too (with all the Levite bearers of the ark of the covenant of God), and Abiathar brought the ark of God to a halt until the soldiers had marched out of the city.

[25] Then the king said to Zadok: "Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor with the LORD, he will bring me back and permit me to see it and its lodging.

[26] But if he should say, 'I am not pleased with you,' I am ready; let him do to me as he sees fit."

[27] The king also said to the priest Zadok: "See to it that you and Abiathar return to the city in peace, and both your sons with you, your own son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar's son Jonathan.

[28] Remember, I shall be waiting at the fords near the desert until I receive information from you."

[29] So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and remained there.

[30] As David went up the Mount of Olives, he wept without ceasing. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. All those who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went.

[31] When David was informed that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom, he said, "O LORD, turn the counsel of Ahithophel to folly!"

[32] When David reached the top, where men used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him, with rent garments and dirt upon his head.

[33] David said to him: "If you come with me, you will be a burden to me.

[34] But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, 'Let me be your servant, O king; I was formerly your father's servant, but now I will be yours,' you will undo for me the counsel of Ahithophel.

[35] You will have the priests Zadok and Abiathar there with you. If you hear anything from the royal palace, you shall report it to the priests Zadok and Abiathar,

[36] who have there with them both Zadok's son Ahimaaz and Abiathar's son Jonathan. Through them you shall send on to me whatever you hear."

[37] So David's friend Hushai went into the city of Jerusalem as Absalom was about to enter it.

Second Samuel Chapter 16

[1] David had gone a little beyond the top when Ziba, the servant of Meribbaal, met him with saddled asses laden with two hundred loaves of bread, an ephah of cakes of pressed raisins, an ephah of summer fruits, and a skin of wine.

[2] The king said to Ziba, "What do you plan to do with these?" Ziba replied: "The asses are for the king's household to ride on. The bread and summer fruits are for your servants to eat, and the wine for those to drink who are weary in the desert."

[3] Then the king said, "And where is your lord's son?" Ziba answered the king, "He is staying in Jerusalem, for he said, 'Now the Israelites will restore to me my father's kingdom.'"

[4] The king therefore said to Ziba, "So! Everything Meribbaal had is yours." Then Ziba said: "I pay you homage, my lord the king. May I find favor with you!"

[5] As David was approaching Bahurim, a man named Shimei, the son of Gera of the same clan as Saul's family, was coming out of the place, cursing as he came.

[6] He threw stones at David and at all the king's officers, even though all the soldiers, including the royal guard, were on David's right and on his left.

[7] Shimei was saying as he cursed: "Away, away, you murderous and wicked man!

[8] 1 The LORD has requited you for all the bloodshed in the family of Saul, in whose stead you became king, and the LORD has given over the kingdom to your son Absalom. And now you suffer ruin because you are a murderer."

[9] Abishai, son of Zeruiah, said to the king: "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, please, and lop off his head."

[10] But the king replied: "What business is it of mine or of yours, sons of Zeruiah, that he curses? Suppose the LORD has told him to curse David; who then will dare to say, 'Why are you doing this?'"

[11] Then the king said to Abishai and to all his servants: "If my own son, who came forth from my loins, is seeking my life, how much more might this Benjaminite do so! Let him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to.

[12] Perhaps the LORD will look upon my affliction and make it up to me with benefits for the curses he is uttering this day."

[13] David and his men continued on the road, while Shimei kept abreast of them on the hillside, all the while cursing and throwing stones and dirt as he went.

[14] The king and all the soldiers with him arrived at the Jordan tired out, and stopped there for a rest.

[15] In the meantime Absalom, accompanied by Ahithophel, entered Jerusalem with all the Israelites.

[16] When David's friend Hushai the Archite came to Absalom, he said to him: "Long live the king! Long live the king!"

[17] But Absalom asked Hushai: "Is this your devotion to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?"

[18] Hushai replied to Absalom: "On the contrary, I am his whom the LORD and all this people and all Israel have chosen, and with him I will stay.

[19] Furthermore, as I was in attendance upon your father, so will I be before you. Whom should I serve, if not his son?"

[20] Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Offer your counsel on what we should do."

[21] Ahithophel replied to Absalom: "Have relations with your father's concubines, whom he left behind to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears how odious you have made yourself to your father, all your partisans will take courage."

[22] So a tent was pitched on the roof for Absalom, and he visited his father's concubines in view of all Israel.

[23] Now the counsel given by Ahithophel at that time was as though one had sought divine revelation. Such was all his counsel both to David and to Absalom.

Second Samuel Chapter 17

[1] Ahithophel went on to say to Absalom: "Please let me choose twelve thousand men, and be off in pursuit of David tonight.

[2] If I come upon him when he is weary and discouraged, I shall cause him panic. When all the people with him flee, I shall strike down the king alone.

[3] Then I can bring back the rest of the people to you, as a bride returns to her husband. It is the death of only one man you are seeking; then all the people will be at peace."

[4] This plan was agreeable to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.

[5] Then Absalom said, "Now call Hushai the Archite also; let us hear what he too has to say."

[6] When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him: "This is what Ahithophel proposed. Shall we follow his proposal? If not, speak up."

[7] Hushai replied to Absalom, "This time Ahithophel has not given good counsel."

[8] And he went on to say: "You know that your father and his men are warriors, and that they are as fierce as a bear in the wild robbed of her cubs. Moreover, since your father is skilled in warfare, he will not spend the night with the people.

[9] Even now he lies hidden in one of the caves or in some other place. And if some of our soldiers should fall at the first attack, whoever hears of it will say, 'Absalom's followers have been slaughtered.'

[10] Then even the brave man with the heart of a lion will lose courage. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave.

[11] "This is what I counsel: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba, who are as numerous as the sands by the sea, be called up for combat; and go with them yourself.

[12] We can then attack him wherever we find him, settling down upon him as dew alights on the ground. None shall survive--neither he nor any of his followers.

[13] And if he retires into a city, all Israel shall bring ropes to that city and we can drag it into the gorge, so that not even a pebble of it can be found."

[14] Then Absalom and all the Israelites pronounced the counsel of Hushai the Archite better than that of Ahithophel. For the LORD had decided to undo Ahithophel's good counsel, in order thus to bring Absalom to ruin.

[15] Then Hushai said to the priests Zadok and Abiathar: "This is the counsel Ahithophel gave Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I counseled.

[16] So send a warning to David immediately, not to spend the night at the fords near the desert, but to cross over without fail. Otherwise the king and all the people with him will be destroyed."

[17] Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, since they could not risk being seen entering the city. A maidservant was to come with information for them, and they in turn were to go and report to King David.

[18] But an attendant saw them and informed Absalom. They sped on their way and reached the house of a man in Bahurim who had a cistern in his courtyard. They let themselves down into this,

[19] and the housewife took the cover and spread it over the cistern, strewing ground grain on the cover so that nothing could be noticed.

[20] When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman replied, "They went by a short while ago toward the water." They searched, but found no one, and so returned to Jerusalem.

[21] As soon as they left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan came up out of the cistern and went on to inform King David. They said to him: "Leave! Cross the water at once, for Ahithophel has given the following counsel in regard to you."

[22] So David and all his people moved on and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, there was no one left who had not crossed.

[23] When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not acted upon, he saddled his ass and departed, going to his home in his own city. Then, having left orders concerning his family, he hanged himself. And so he died and was buried in his father's tomb.

[24] Now David had gone to Mahanaim when Absalom crossed the Jordan accompanied by all the Israelites.

[25] Absalom had put Amasa in command of the army in Joab's place. Amasa was the son of an Ishmaelite named Ithra, who had married Abigail, daughter of Jesse and sister of Joab's mother Zeruiah.

[26] Israel and Absalom encamped in the territory of Gilead.

[27] When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi, son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir, son of Ammiel from Lodebar, and Barzillai, the Gileadite from Rogelim,

[28] brought couches, coverlets, basins and earthenware, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils,

[29] honey, butter and cheese from the flocks and herds, for David and those who were with him to eat; for they said, "The people have been hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert."

Second Samuel Chapter 18

[1] After mustering the troops he had with him, David placed officers in command of groups of a thousand and groups of a hundred.

[2] David then put a third part of the soldiers under Joab's command, a third under command of Abishai, son of Zeruiah and brother of Joab, and a third under command of Ittai the Gittite. The king then said to the soldiers, "I intend to go out with you myself."

[3] But they replied: "You must not come out with us. For if we should flee, we shall not count; even if half of us should die, we shall not count. You are equal to ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that we have you to help us from the city."

[4] So the king said to them, "I will do what you think best"; and he stood by the gate as all the soldiers marched out in units of a hundred and of a thousand.

[5] But the king gave this command to Joab, Abishai and Ittai: "Be gentle with young Absalom for my sake." All the soldiers heard the king instruct the various leaders with regard to Absalom.

[6] David's army then took the field against Israel, and a battle was fought in the forest near Mahanaim.

[7] The forces of Israel were defeated by David's servants, and the casualties there that day were heavy--twenty thousand men.

[8] The battle spread out over that entire region, and the thickets consumed more combatants that day than did the sword.

[9] Absalom unexpectedly came up against David's servants. He was mounted on a mule, and, as the mule passed under the branches of a large terebinth, his hair caught fast in the tree. He hung between heaven and earth while the mule he had been riding ran off.

[10] Someone saw this and reported to Joab that he had seen Absalom hanging from a terebinth.

[11] Joab said to his informant: "If you saw him, why did you not strike him to the ground on the spot? Then it would have been my duty to give you fifty pieces of silver and a belt."

[12] But the man replied to Joab: "Even if I already held a thousand pieces of silver in my two hands, I would not harm the king's son, for the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai in our hearing to protect the youth Absalom for his sake.

[13] Had I been disloyal and killed him, the whole matter would have come to the attention of the king, and you would stand aloof."

[14] Joab replied, "I will not waste time with you in this way." And taking three pikes in hand, he thrust for the heart of Absalom, still hanging from the tree alive.

[15] Next, ten of Joab's young armor-bearers closed in on Absalom, and killed him with further blows.

[16] Joab then sounded the horn, and the soldiers turned back from the pursuit of the Israelites, because Joab called on them to halt.

[17] Absalom was taken up and cast into a deep pit in the forest, and a very large mound of stones was erected over him. And all the Israelites fled to their own tents.

[18] During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it for himself in the King's Valley, for he said, "I have no son to perpetuate my name." The pillar which he named for himself is called Yadabshalom to the present day.

[19] Then Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, said, "Let me run to take the good news to the king that the LORD has set him free from the grasp of his enemies."

[20] But Joab said to him: "You are not the man to bring the news today. On some other day you may take the good news, but today you would not be bringing good news, for in fact the king's son is dead."

[21] Then Joab said to a Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed to Joab and sped away.

[22] But Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, said to Joab again, "Come what may, permit me also to run after the Cushite." Joab replied: "Why do you want to run, my son? You will receive no reward."

[23] But he insisted, "Come what may, I want to run." Joab said to him, "Very well." Ahimaaz sped off by way of the Jordan plain and outran the Cushite.

[24] Now David was sitting between the two gates, and a lookout mounted to the roof of the gate above the city wall, where he looked about and saw a man running all alone.

[25] The lookout shouted to inform the king, who said, "If he is alone, he has good news to report." As he kept coming nearer,

[26] the lookout spied another runner. From his place atop the gate he cried out, "There is another man running by himself." And the king responded, "He, too, is bringing good news."

[27] Then the lookout said, "I notice that the first one runs like Ahimaaz, son of Zadok." The king replied, "He is a good man; he comes with good news."

[28] Then Ahimaaz called out and greeted the king. With face to the ground he paid homage to the king and said, "Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men who rebelled against my lord the king."

[29] But the king asked, "Is the youth Absalom safe?" And Ahimaaz replied, "I saw a great disturbance when the king's servant Joab sent your servant on, but I do not know what it was."

[30] The king said, "Step aside and remain in attendance here." So he stepped aside and remained there.

[31] When the Cushite came in, he said, "Let my lord the king receive the good news that this day the LORD has taken your part, freeing you from the grasp of all who rebelled against you."

[32] But the king asked the Cushite, "Is young Absalom safe?" The Cushite replied, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rebel against you with evil intent be as that young man!"

Second Samuel Chapter 19

[1] The king was shaken, and went up to the room over the city gate to weep. He said as he wept, "My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!"

[2] Joab was told that the king was weeping and mourning for Absalom;

[3] and that day's victory was turned into mourning for the whole army when they heard that the king was grieving for his son.

[4] The soldiers stole into the city that day like men shamed by flight in battle.

[5] Meanwhile the king covered his face and cried out in a loud voice, "My son Absalom! Absalom! My son, my son!"

[6] Then Joab went to his residence and said: "Though they saved your life and your sons' and daughters' lives, also the lives of your wives and those of your concubines, you have put all your servants to shame today

[7] by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. For you have shown today that officers and servants mean nothing to you. Indeed I am now certain that if Absalom were alive today and all of us dead, you would think that more suitable.

[8] Now then, get up! Go out and speak kindly to your servants. I swear by the LORD that if you do not go out, not a single man will remain with you overnight, and this will be a far greater disaster for you than any that has afflicted you from your youth until now."

[9] So the king stepped out and sat at the gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the gate, they came into his presence. Now the Israelites had fled to their separate tents,

[10] but throughout the tribes of Israel all the people were arguing among themselves, saying to one another: "The king delivered us from the clutches of our enemies, and it was he who rescued us from the grip of the Philistines. But now he has fled from the country before Absalom,

[11] and Absalom, whom we anointed over us, died in battle. Why, then, should you remain silent about restoring the king to his palace?" When the talk of all Israel reached the king,

[12] David sent word to the priests Zadok and Abiathar: "Say to the elders of Judah: 'Why should you be last to restore the king to his palace?

[13] You are my brothers, you are my bone and flesh. Why should you be last to restore the king?'

[14] Also say to Amasa: 'Are you not my bone and flesh? May God do thus and so to me, if you do not become my general permanently in place of Joab.'"

[15] He won over all the Judahites as one man, and so they summoned the king to return, with all his servants.

[16] When the king, on his return, reached the Jordan, Judah had come to Gilgal to meet him and to escort him across the Jordan.

[17] Shimei, son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the Judahites to meet King David,

[18] accompanied by a thousand men from Benjamin. Ziba, too, the servant of the house of Saul, accompanied by his fifteen sons and twenty servants, hastened to the Jordan before the king.

[19] They crossed over the ford to bring the king's household over and to do whatever he wished. When Shimei, son of Gera, crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king

[20] and said to him: "May my lord not hold me guilty, and may he not remember and take to heart the wrong that your servant did the day my lord the king left Jerusalem.

[21] For your servant knows that he has done wrong. Yet realize that I have been the first of the whole house of Joseph to come down today to meet my lord the king."

[22] But Abishai, son of Zeruiah, countered: "Shimei must be put to death for this. He cursed the LORD'S anointed."

[23] David replied: "What has come between you and me, sons of Zeruiah, that you would create enmity for me this day? Should anyone die today in Israel? Am I not aware that today I am king of Israel?"

[24] Then the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." And the king gave him his oath.

[25] Meribbaal, son of Saul, also went down to meet the king. He had not washed his feet nor trimmed his mustache nor washed his clothes from the day the king left until he returned safely.

[26] When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, "Why did you not go with me, Meribbaal?"

[27] He replied: "My lord the king, my servant betrayed me. For your servant, who is lame, said to him, 'Saddle the ass for me, that I may ride on it and go with the king.'

[28] But he slandered your servant before my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do what you judge best.

[29] For though my father's entire house deserved only death from my lord the king, yet you placed your servant among the guests at your table. What right do I still have to make further appeal to the king?"

[30] But the king said to him: "Why do you go on talking? I say, 'You and Ziba shall divide the property.'"

[31] Meribbaal answered the king, "Indeed let him have it all, now that my lord the king has returned safely to his palace."

[32] Barzillai the Gileadite also came down from Rogelim and escorted the king to the Jordan for his crossing, taking leave of him there.

[33] It was Barzillai, a very old man of eighty and very wealthy besides, who had provisioned the king during his stay in Mahanaim.

[34] The king said to Barzillai, "Cross over with me, and I will provide for your old age as my guest in Jerusalem."

[35] But Barzillai answered the king: "How much longer have I to live, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?

[36] I am now eighty years old. Can I distinguish between good and bad? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks, or still appreciate the voices of singers and songstresses? Why should your servant be any further burden to my lord the king?

[37] In escorting the king across the Jordan, your servant is doing little enough! Why should the king give me this reward?

[38] Please let your servant go back to die in his own city by the tomb of his father and mother. Here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever you will."

[39] Then the king said to him, "Chimham shall come over with me, and I will do for him as you would wish. And anything else you would like me to do for you, I will do."

[40] Then all the people crossed over the Jordan but the king remained; he kissed Barzillai and bade him Godspeed as he returned to his own district.

[41] Finally the king crossed over to Gilgal, accompanied by Chimham. All the people of Judah and half of the people of Israel had escorted the king across.

[42] But all these Israelites began coming to the king and saying, "Why did our brothers the Judahites steal you away and escort the king and his household across the Jordan, along with all David's men?"

[43] All the Judahites replied to the men of Israel: "Because the king is our relative. Why are you angry over this affair? Have we had anything to eat at the king's expense? Or have portions from his table been given to us?"

[44] The Israelites answered the Judahites: "We have ten shares in the king. Also, we are the first-born rather than you. Why do you slight us? Were we not first to speak of restoring the king?" Then the Judahites in turn spoke even more fiercely than the Israelites.

Second Samuel Chapter 20

[1] Now a rebellious individual from Benjamin named Sheba, the son of Bichri, happened to be there. He sounded the horn and cried out, "We have no portion in David, nor any share in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tent, O Israel!"

[2] So all the Israelites left David for Sheba, son of Bichri. But from the Jordan to Jerusalem the Judahites remained loyal to their king.

[3] When King David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines whom he had left behind to take care of the palace and placed them in confinement. He provided for them, but had no further relations with them. And so they remained in confinement to the day of their death, lifelong widows.

[4] Then the king said to Amasa: "Summon the Judahites for me within three days. Then present yourself here."

[5] Accordingly Amasa set out to summon Judah, but delayed beyond the time set for him by David.

[6] Then David said to Abishai: "Sheba, son of Bichri, may now do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he find fortified cities and take shelter while we look on."

[7] So Joab and the Cherethites and Pelethites and all the warriors marched out behind Abishai from Jerusalem to campaign in pursuit of Sheba, son of Bichri.

[8] 1 They were at the great stone in Gibeon when Amasa met them. Now Joab had a belt over his tunic, from which was slung, in its sheath near his thigh, a sword that could be drawn with a downward movement.

[9] And Joab asked Amasa, "How are you, my brother?" With his right hand Joab held Amasa's beard as if to kiss him.

[10] And since Amasa was not on his guard against the sword in Joab's other hand, Joab stabbed him in the abdomen with it, so that his entrails burst forth to the ground, and he died without receiving a second thrust. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba, son of Bichri.

[11] One of Joab's attendants stood by Amasa and said, "Let him who favors Joab and is for David follow Joab."

[12] Amasa lay covered with blood in the middle of the highroad, and the man noticed that all the soldiers were stopping. So he removed Amasa from the road to the field and placed a garment over him, because all who came up to him were stopping.

[13] When he had been removed from the road, everyone went on after Joab in pursuit of Sheba, son of Bichri.

[14] Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth-maacah. Then all the Bichrites assembled and they too entered the city after him.

[15] So David's servants came and besieged him in Abel Beth-maacah. They threw up a mound against the city, and all the soldiers who were with Joab began battering the wall to throw it down.

[16] Then a wise woman from the city stood on the outworks and called out, "Listen, listen! Tell Joab to come here, that I may speak with him."

[17] When Joab had come near her, the woman said, "Are you Joab?" And he replied, "Yes." She said to him, "Listen to what your maidservant has to say." He replied. "I am listening."

[18] 2 Then she went on to say: "There is an ancient saying, 'Let them ask if they will in Abel

[19] or in Dan whether loyalty is finished or ended in Israel.' You are seeking to beat down a city that is a mother in Israel. Why do you wish to destroy the inheritance of the LORD?"

[20] Joab answered, "Not at all, not at all! I do not wish to destroy or to ruin anything.

[21] That is not the case at all. A man named Sheba, son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim has rebelled against King David. Surrender him alone, and I will withdraw from the city." Then the woman said to Joab, "His head shall be thrown to you across the wall."

[22] She went to all the people with her advice, and they cut off the head of Sheba, son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. He then sounded the horn, and they scattered from the city to their own tents, while Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

[23] Joab was in command of the whole army of Israel. Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cherethites and Pelethites.

[24] Adoram was in charge of the forced labor. Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was the chancellor.

[25] Shawsha was the scribe. Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

[26] Ira the Jairite was also David's priest.

Second Samuel Chapter 21

[1] During David's reign there was a famine for three successive years. David had recourse to the LORD, who said, "There is bloodguilt on Saul and his family because he put the Gibeonites to death."

[2] So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but survivors of the Amorites; and although the Israelites had given them their oath, Saul had attempted to kill them off in his zeal for the men of Israel and Judah.)

[3] David said to the Gibeonites, "What must I do for you and how must I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

[4] The Gibeonites answered him, "We have no claim against Saul and his house for silver or gold, nor is it our place to put any man to death in Israel." Then he said, "I will do for you whatever you propose."

[5] They said to the king, "As for the man who was exterminating us and who intended to destroy us that we might have no place in all the territory of Israel,

[6] let seven men from among his descendants be given to us, that we may dismember them before the LORD in Gibeon, on the LORD'S mountain." The king replied, "I will give them up."

[7] The king, however, spared Meribbaal, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the LORD'S oath that formed a bond between David and Saul's son Jonathan.

[8] But the king took Armoni and Meribbaal, the two sons that Aiah's daughter Rizpah had borne to Saul, and the five sons of Saul's daughter Merob that she had borne to Adriel, son of Barzillai the Meholathite,

[9] and surrendered them to the Gibeonites. They then dismembered them on the mountain before the LORD. The seven fell at the one time; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest--that is, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

[10] Then Rizpah, Aiah's daughter, took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvest until rain came down on them from the sky, fending off the birds of the sky from settling on them by day, and the wild animals by night.

[11] When David was informed of what Rizpah, Aiah's daughter, the concubine of Saul, had done,

[12] he went and obtained the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had carried them off secretly from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them at the time they killed Saul on Gilboa.

[13] When he had brought up from there the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan, the bones of those who had been dismembered were also gathered up.

[14] Then the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan were buried in the tomb of his father Kish at Zela in the territory of Benjamin. After all that the king commanded had been carried out, God granted relief to the land.

[15] There was another battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his servants and fought the Philistines, but David grew tired.

[16] Dadu, one of the Rephaim, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels, was about to take him captive. Dadu was girt with a new sword and planned to kill David,

[17] but Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to his assistance and struck and killed the Philistine. Then David's men swore to him, "You must not go out to battle with us again, lest you quench the lamp of Israel."

[18] After this there was another battle with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Sibbecai, from Husha, killed Saph, one of the Rephaim.

[19] There was another battle with the Philistines in Gob, in which Elhanan, son of Jair from Bethlehem, killed Goliath of Gath, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver's heddle-bar.

[20] There was another battle at Gath in which there was a man of large stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot--twenty-four in all. He too was one of the Rephaim.

[21] And when he insulted Israel, Jonathan, son of David's brother Shimei, killed him.

[22] These four were Rephaim in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his servants.

Second Samuel Chapter 22

[1] 1 David sang the words of this song to the LORD when the LORD had rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

[2] This is what he sang: I "O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer,

[3] 2 my God, my rock of refuge! My shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, my refuge, my savior, from violence you keep me safe.

[4] 'Praised be the LORD,' I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies.

II

[5] 3 "The breakers of death surged round about me, the floods of perdition overwhelmed me;

[6] The cords of the nether world enmeshed me, the snares of death overtook me.

[7] 4 In my distress I called upon the LORD and cried out to my God; From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry reached his ears.

III

[8] 5 "The earth swayed and quaked; the foundations of the heavens trembled and shook when his wrath flared up.

[9] Smoke rose from his nostrils, and a devouring fire from his mouth; he kindled coals into flame.

[10] He inclined the heavens and came down, with dark clouds under his feet.

[11] 6 He mounted a cherub and flew, borne on the wings of the wind.

[12] He made darkness the shelter about him, with spattering rain and thickening clouds.

[13] From the brightness of his presence coals were kindled to flame.

[14] "The LORD thundered from heaven; the Most High gave forth his voice.

[15] He sent forth arrows to put them to flight; he flashed lightning and routed them.

[16] Then the wellsprings of the sea appeared, the foundations of the earth were laid bare, At the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the wind of his wrath.

[17] "He reached out from on high and grasped me; he drew me out of the deep waters.

[18] He rescued me from my mighty enemy, from my foes, who were too powerful for me.

[19] They attacked me on my day of calamity, but the LORD came to my support.

[20] He set me free in the open, and rescued me, because he loves me.

IV

[21] "The LORD rewarded me according to my justice; according to the cleanness of my hands he requited me.

[22] For I kept the ways of the LORD and was not disloyal to my God.

[23] For his ordinances were all present to me, and his statutes I put not from me;

[24] But I was wholehearted toward him, and I was on my guard against guilt.

[25] And the LORD requited me according to my justice, according to my innocence in his sight.

[26] 7 "Toward the faithful you are faithful; toward the wholehearted you are wholehearted;

[27] Toward the sincere you are sincere; but toward the crooked you are astute.

[28] You save lowly people, though on the lofty your eyes look down.

[29] 8 You are my lamp, O LORD! O my God, you brighten the darkness about me.

[30] For with your aid I run against an armed band, and by the help of my God I leap over a wall.

[31] God's way is unerring; the promise of the LORD is fire-tried; he is a shield to all who take refuge in him."

V

[32] "For who is God except the LORD? Who is a rock save our God?

[33] The God who girded me with strength and kept my way unerring;

[34] 9 Who made my feet swift as those of hinds and set me on the heights;

[35] Who trained my hands for war till my arms could bend a bow of brass.

VI

[36] "You have given me your saving shield, and your help has made me great.

[37] You made room for my steps; unwavering was my stride.

[38] I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, nor did I turn again till I made an end of them.

[39] I smote them and they did not rise; they fell beneath my feet.

VII

[40] "You girded me with strength for war; you subdued my adversaries beneath me.

[41] My enemies you put to flight before me and those who hated me I destroyed.

[42] They cried for help-but no one saved them; to the LORD--but he answered them not.

[43] I ground them fine as the dust of the earth; like the mud in the streets I trampled them down.

VIII

[44] "You rescued me from the strife of my people; you made me head over nations. A people I had not known became my slaves;

[45] as soon as they heard me, they obeyed.

[46] The foreigners fawned and cringed before me; they staggered forth from their fortresses."

[47] "The LORD live! And blessed be my Rock! Extolled be my God, rock of my salvation.

[48] O God, who granted me vengeance, who made peoples subject to me

[49] and helped me escape from my enemies, Above my adversaries you exalt me and from the violent man you rescue me.

[50] Therefore will I proclaim you, O LORD, among the nations, and I will sing praise to your name,

[51] You who gave great victories to your king and showed kindness to your anointed, to David and his posterity forever."

Second Samuel Chapter 23

[1] 1 These are the last words of David: "The utterance of David, son of Jesse; the utterance of the man God raised up, Anointed of the God of Jacob, favorite of the Mighty One of Israel.

[2] The spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.

[3] The God of Israel spoke; of me the Rock of Israel said, 'He that rules over men in justice, that rules in the fear of God,

[4] Is like the morning light at sunrise on a cloudless morning, making the greensward sparkle after rain.'

[5] Is not my house firm before God? He has made an eternal covenant with me, set forth in detail and secured. Will he not bring to fruition all my salvation and my every desire?

[6] But the wicked are all like thorns to be cast away; they cannot be taken up by hand.

[7] He who wishes to touch them must arm himself with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they must be consumed by fire."

[8] 2 These are the names of David's warriors. Ishbaal, son of Hachamoni, was the first of the Three. It was he who brandished his battle-ax over eight hundred slain in a single encounter.

[9] Next to him, among the Three warriors, was Eleazar, son of Dodo the Ahohite. He was with David at Ephes-dammim when the Philistines assembled there for battle. The Israelites had retreated,

[10] but he stood his ground and fought the Philistines until his hand grew tired and became cramped, holding fast to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory on that day; the soldiers turned back after Eleazar, but only to strip the slain.

[11] Next to him was Shammah, son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had assembled at Lehi, where there was a plot of land full of lentils. When the soldiers fled from the Philistines,

[12] he took his stand in the middle of the plot and defended it. He slew the Philistines, and the LORD brought about a great victory. Such were the deeds of the Three warriors.

[13] During the harvest three of the Thirty went down to David in the cave of Adullam, while a Philistine clan was encamped in the Vale of Rephaim.

[14] At that time David was in the refuge, and there was a garrison of Philistines in Bethlehem.

[15] Now David had a strong craving and said, "Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the cistern that is by the gate of Bethlehem!"

[16] So the Three warriors broke through the Philistine camp and drew water from the cistern that is by the gate of Bethlehem. But when they brought it to David he refused to drink it, and instead poured it out to the LORD,

[17] saying: "The LORD forbid that I do this! Can I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives?" So he refused to drink it.

[18] Abishai, brother of Joab, son of Zeruiah, was at the head of the Thirty. It was he who brandished his spear over three hundred slain. He was listed among the Thirty

[19] and commanded greater respect than the Thirty, becoming their leader. However, he did not attain to the Three.

[20] Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a stalwart from Kabzeel, was a man of great achievements. It was he who slew the two lions in Moab. He also went down and killed the lion in the cistern at the time of the snow.

[21] It was he, too, who slew an Egyptian of large stature. Although the Egyptian was armed with a spear, he went against him with a club and wrested the spear from the Egyptian's hand, then killed him with his own spear.

[22] Such were the deeds performed by Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. He was listed among the Thirty warriors

[23] and commanded greater respect than the Thirty. However, he did not attain to the Three. David put him in command of his bodyguard.

[24] 3 Asahel, brother of Joab. . . .Among the Thirty were: Elhanan, son of Dodo, from Bethlehem;

[25] Shammah from En-harod; Elika from En-harod;

[26] Helez from Beth-pelet; Ira, son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa;

[27] Abiezer from Anathoth; Sibbecai from Hushah;

[28] Zalmon from Ahoh; Maharai from Netophah;

[29] Heled, son of Baanah, from Netophah; Ittai, son of Ribai, from Gibeah of the Benjaminites;

[30] Benaiah from Pirathon; Hiddai from Nahale-gaash;

[31] Abibaal from Beth-arabah; Azmaveth from Bahurim;

[32] Eliahba from Shaalbon; Jashen the Gunite; Jonathan,

[33] son of Shammah the Hararite; Ahiam, son of Sharar the Hararite;

[34] Eliphelet, son of Ahasbai, from Beth-maacah; Eliam, son of Ahithophel, from Gilo;

[35] Hezrai from Carmel; Paarai the Arbite;

[36] Igal, son of Nathan, from Zobah; Bani the Gadite;

[37] Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai from Beeroth, armor-bearer of Joab, son of Zeruiah;

[38] Ira from Jattir; Gareb from Jattir;

[39] Uriah the Hittite-thirty-seven in all.

Second Samuel Chapter 24

[1] 1 The LORD'S anger against Israel flared again, and he incited David against the Israelites by prompting him to number Israel and Judah.

[2] Accordingly the king said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him, "Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the people, that I may know their number."

[3] But Joab said to the king: "May the LORD your God increase the number of people a hundredfold for your royal majesty to see it with his own eyes. But why does it please my lord the king to order a thing of this kind?"

[4] The king, however, overruled Joab and the leaders of the army, so they left the king's presence in order to register the people of Israel.

[5] Crossing the Jordan, they began near Aroer, south of the city in the wadi, and went in the direction of Gad toward Jazer.

[6] They continued on to Gilead and to the district below Mount Hermon. Then they proceeded to Dan; from there they turned toward Sidon,

[7] going to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and ending up at Beer-sheba in the Negeb of Judah.

[8] Thus they toured the whole country, reaching Jerusalem again after nine months and twenty days.

[9] Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered: in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service; in Judah, five hundred thousand.

[10] 2 Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people, and said to the LORD: "I have sinned grievously in what I have done. But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant, for I have been very foolish."

[11] When David rose in the morning, the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying:

[12] "Go and say to David, 'This is what the LORD says: I offer you three alternatives; choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.'"

[13] Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: "Do you want a three years' famine to come upon your land, or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you, or to have a three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me."

[14] David answered Gad: "I am in very serious difficulty. Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful; but let me not fall by the hand of man."

[15] Thus David chose the pestilence. Now it was the time of the wheat harvest when the plague broke out among the people. (The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel from morning until the time appointed, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.)

[16] But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD regretted the calamity and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people, "Enough now! Stay your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

[17] 3 When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he said to the LORD: "It is I who have sinned; it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they done? Punish me and my kindred."

[18] On the same day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

[19] Following Gad's bidding, David went up as the LORD had commanded.

[20] Now Araunah looked down and noticed the king and his servants coming toward him while he was threshing wheat. So he went out and paid homage to the king, with face to the ground.

[21] Then Araunah asked, "Why does my lord the king come to his servant?" David replied, "To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be checked among the people."

[22] But Araunah said to David: "Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever he may wish. Here are oxen for holocausts, and threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

[23] All this does Araunah give to the king." Araunah then said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept your offering."

[24] The king, however, replied to Araunah, "No, I must pay you for it, for I cannot offer to the LORD my God holocausts that cost nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty silver shekels.

[25] Then David built an altar there to the LORD, and offered holocausts and peace offerings. The LORD granted relief to the country, and the plague was checked in Israel.

Introduction to Kings

1 Kings

Introduction

The two Books of Kings were originally, like 1 Sam; 2 Sam - a single historical work. In conjunction with the Books of Samuel, they extend the consecutive history of Israel from the birth of Samuel to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. This combined work is designed as a religious history; hence in Kings the temple, which is the chosen site for the worship of Yahweh, occupies the center of attention.

The Books of Kings show clearly the theological bent of a Deuteronomic editor. In them, as already in Judges, material from various sources, such as the "book of the acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41) and the "book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel" (1 Kings 14:19), is forged into structural unity by an editor whose principal interest is in the fidelity to Yahweh of rulers and people. The reigns of individual kings are adapted to an editorial framework consisting of a presentation and an obituary notice for each, in stereotyped formulas. In between, the achievements of the king are reported-above all, his fidelity or lack of fidelity to Yahweh. The faithful prosper; the unfaithful pay for their defections. Since this is basically a narrative of sin and retribution, it would not be inappropriate to entitle the Books of Kings "The Rise and Fall of the Israelite Monarchy."

Without minimizing the complexity of the process by which this material was transmitted for many centuries, one may speak of two editions of the Books: the first at some time between 621 B.C. and 597 B.C., and the second, final edition during the Exile; probably shortly after Jehoiachin was released from his Babylonian prison (561 B.C.).

1 Kings carries the history of Israel from the last days and death of David to the accession in Samaria of Ahaziah, son of Ahab, near the end of the reign of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Judgment is passed on Ahaziah's reign but the details are given only later, in 2 Kings. We should note the two large cycles of traditions which grew up around the great prophetic figures of Elijah and Elisha, the former in 1 Kings and the latter chiefly in 2 Kings. These cycles, which interrupt the sequence of regnal chronicles, were very probably preserved and transmitted by the prophetic communities to which there are references in the same traditions. The Elijah cycle is the more important since it dramatically underscores Israel's critical struggle with the religion of Canaan.

The principal divisions of the Books of Kings are:

The Reign of Solomon (1 Kings 1:1-11:43)

Judah and Israel to the Time of Ahab (1 Kings 12:1-16:34)

Stories of the Prophets (1 Kings 17:1-22:54)

The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah (2 Kings 1:1-17:41)

The Kingdom of Judah after 721 B.C. (2 Kings 18:1-25:30)

First Kings Chapter 1

[1] When King David was old and advanced in years, though they spread covers over him he could not keep warm.

[2] His servants therefore said to him, "Let a young virgin be sought to attend you, lord king, and to nurse you. If she sleeps with your royal majesty, you will be kept warm."

[3] So they sought for a beautiful girl throughout the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunamite, whom they brought to the king.

[4] The maiden, who was very beautiful, nursed the king and cared for him, but the king did not have relations with her.

[5] Adonijah, son of Haggith, began to display his ambition to be king. He acquired chariots, drivers, and fifty henchmen.

[6] Yet his father never rebuked him or asked why he was doing this. Adonijah was also very handsome, and next in age to Absalom by the same mother.

[7] He conferred with Joab, son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest, and they supported him.

[8] However, Zadok the priest, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, and Shimei and his companions, the pick of David's army, did not side with Adonijah.

[9] When he slaughtered sheep, oxen, and fatlings at the stone Zoheleth, near En-rogel, 1 Adonijah invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah.

[10] But he did not invite the prophet Nathan, or Benaiah, or the pick of the army, or his brother Solomon.

[11] Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother: "Have you not heard that Adonijah, son of Haggith, has become king without the knowledge of our lord David?

[12] Come now, let me advise you so that you may save your life and that of your son Solomon.

[13] Go, visit King David, and say to him, 'Did you not, lord king, swear to your handmaid: Your son Solomon shall be king after me and shall sit upon my throne? Why, then, has Adonijah become king?'

[14] And while you are still there speaking to the king, I will come in after you and confirm what you have said."

[15] So Bathsheba visited the king in his room, while Abishag the Shunamite was attending him because of his advanced age.

[16] Bathsheba bowed in homage to the king, who said to her, "What do you wish?"

[17] She answered him: "My lord, you swore to me your handmaid by the LORD, your God, that my son Solomon should reign after you and sit upon your throne.

[18] But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord king, do not know it.

[19] He has slaughtered oxen, fatlings, and sheep in great numbers; he has invited all the king's sons, Abiathar the priest, and Joab, the general of the army, but not your servant Solomon.

[20] 2 Now, my lord king, all Israel is waiting for you to make known to them who is to sit on the throne after your royal majesty.

[21] If this is not done, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be considered criminals."

[22] While she was still speaking to the king, the prophet Nathan came in.

[23] When he had been announced, the prophet entered the king's presence and, bowing to the floor, did him homage.

[24] Then Nathan said: "Have you decided, my lord king, that Adonijah is to reign after you and sit on your throne?

[25] He went down today and slaughtered oxen, fatlings, and sheep in great numbers; he invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest, and they are eating and drinking in his company and saying, 'Long live King Adonijah!'

[26] But me, your servant, he did not invite; nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, nor your servant Solomon.

[27] Was this done by my royal master's order without my being told who was to succeed to your majesty's kingly throne?"

[28] King David answered, "Call Bathsheba here." When she re-entered the king's presence and stood before him,

[29] the king swore, "As the LORD lives, who has delivered me from all distress,

[30] this very day I will fulfill the oath I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, that your son Solomon should reign after me and should sit upon my throne in my place."

[31] Bowing to the floor in homage to the king, Bathsheba said, "May my lord, King David, live forever!"

[32] Then King David summoned Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. When they had entered the king's presence,

[33] he said to them: "Take with you the royal attendants. Mount my son Solomon upon my own mule and escort him down to Gihon.

[34] There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are to anoint him king of Israel, and you shall blow the horn and cry, 'Long live King Solomon!'

[35] When you come back in his train, he is to go in and sit upon my throne and reign in my place. I designate him ruler of Israel and of Judah."

[36] In answer to the king, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, said: "So be it! May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, so decree!

[37] As the LORD has been with your royal majesty, so may he be with Solomon, and exalt his throne even more than that of my lord, King David!"

[38] 3 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and Pelethites went down, and mounting Solomon on King David's mule, escorted him to Gihon.

[39] Then Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. They blew the horn and all the people shouted, "Long live King Solomon!"

[40] Then all the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing so much as to split open the earth with their shouting.

[41] Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it, just as they ended their banquet. When Joab heard the sound of the horn, he asked, "What does this uproar in the city mean?"

[42] As he was speaking, Jonathan, son of Abiathar the priest, arrived. "Come," said Adonijah, "you are a man of worth and must bring good news."

[43] "On the contrary!" Jonathan answered him. "Our lord, King David, has made Solomon king.

[44] The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and Pelethites, and they mounted him upon the king's own mule.

[45] Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him king at Gihon, and they went up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. That is the noise you heard.

[46] Besides, Solomon took his seat on the royal throne,

[47] and the king's servants went in and paid their respects to our lord, King David, saying, 'May God make Solomon more famous than you and exalt his throne more than your own!' And the king in his bed worshiped God,

[48] and this is what he said: 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has this day seated one of my sons upon my throne, so that I see it with my own eyes.'"

[49] All the guests of Adonijah left in terror, each going his own way.

[50] 4 Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, also left; he went and seized the horns of the altar.

[51] It was reported to Solomon that Adonijah, in his fear of King Solomon, had seized the horns of the altar and said, "Let King Solomon first swear that he will not kill me, his servant, with the sword."

[52] Solomon answered, "If he proves himself worthy, not a hair shall fall from his head. But if he is found guilty of crime, he shall die."

[53] King Solomon sent to have him brought down from the altar, and he came and paid homage to the king. Solomon then said to him, "Go to your home."

First Kings Chapter 2

[1] 1 When the time of David's death drew near, he gave these instructions to his son Solomon:

[2] "I am going the way of all mankind. Take courage and be a man.

[3] Keep the mandate of the LORD, your God, following his ways and observing his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do, wherever you turn,

[4] and the LORD may fulfill the promise he made on my behalf when he said, 'If your sons so conduct themselves that they remain faithful to me with their whole heart and with their whole soul, you shall always have someone of your line on the throne of Israel.'

[5] You yourself know what Joab, son of Zeruiah, did to me when he slew the two generals of Israel's armies, Abner, son of Ner, and Amasa, son of Jether. He took revenge for the blood of war in a time of peace, and put bloodshed without provocation on the belt about my waist and the sandal on my foot.

[6] Act with the wisdom you possess; you must not allow him to go down to the grave in peaceful old age.

[7] "But be kind to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and have them eat at your table. For they received me kindly when I was fleeing your brother Absalom.

[8] "You also have with you Shimei, son of Gera, the Benjaminite of Bahurim, who cursed me balefully when I was going to Mahanaim. Because he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD that I would not put him to the sword.

[9] But you must not let him go unpunished. You are a prudent man and will know how to deal with him to send down his hoary head in blood to the grave."

[10] David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David.

[11] The length of David's reign over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

[12] When Solomon was seated on the throne of his father David, with his sovereignty firmly established,

[13] Adonijah, son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. "Do you come as a friend?" she asked. "Yes," he answered,

[14] and added, "I have something to say to you." She replied, "Say it."

[15] So he said: "You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel expected me to be king. But the kingdom escaped me and became my brother's, for the LORD gave it to him.

[16] But now there is one favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me." And she said, "Speak on."

[17] 2 He said, "Please ask King Solomon, who will not refuse you, to give me Abishag the Shunamite for my wife."

[18] "Very well," replied Bathsheba, "I will speak to the king for you."

[19] Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king's mother, who sat at his right.

[20] "There is one small favor I would ask of you," she said. "Do not refuse me." "Ask it, my mother," the king said to her, "for I will not refuse you."

[21] So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunamite be given to your brother Adonijah for his wife."

[22] "And why do you ask Abishag the Shunamite for Adonijah?" King Solomon answered his mother. "Ask the kingdom for him as well, for he is my elder brother and has with him Abiathar the priest and Joab, son of Zeruiah."

[23] And King Solomon swore by the LORD: "May God do thus and so to me, and more besides, if Adonijah has not proposed this at the cost of his life.

[24] And now, as the LORD lives, who has seated me firmly on the throne of my father David and made of me a dynasty as he promised, this day shall Adonijah be put to death."

[25] Then King Solomon sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who struck him dead.

[26] The king said to Abiathar the priest: "Go to your land in Anathoth. Though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David and shared in all the hardships my father endured."

[27] So Solomon deposed Abiathar from his office of priest of the LORD, thus fulfilling the prophecy which the LORD had made in Shiloh about the house of Eli.

[28] When the news came to Joab, who had sided with Adonijah, though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and seized the horns of the altar.

[29] King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD and was at the altar. He sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, with the order, "Go, strike him down."

[30] Benaiah went to the tent of the LORD and said to him, "The king says, 'Come out.'" But he answered, "No! I will die here." Benaiah reported to the king, "This is what Joab said to me in reply."

[31] The king answered him: "Do as he has said, Strike him down and bury him, and you will remove from me and from my family the blood which Joab shed without provocation.

[32] The LORD will hold him responsible for his own blood, because he struck down two men better and more just than himself, and slew them with the sword without my father David's knowledge: Abner, son of Ner, general of Israel's army, and Amasa, son of Jether, general of Judah's army.

[33] Joab and his descendants shall be responsible forever for their blood. But there shall be the peace of the LORD forever for David, and his descendants, and his house, and his throne."

[34] Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, went back, struck him down and killed him; he was buried in his house in the desert.

[35] The king appointed Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, over the army in his place, and put Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar.

[36] Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him: "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there. Do not go anywhere else.

[37] For if you leave, and cross the Kidron Valley, be certain you shall die without fail. You shall be responsible for your own blood."

[38] Shimei answered the king: "I accept. Your servant will do just as the king's majesty has said." So Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.

[39] But three years later, two of Shimei's servants ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was informed that his servants were in Gath.

[40] So Shimei rose, saddled his ass, and went to Achish in Gath in search of his servants, whom he brought back.

[41] When Solomon was informed that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned,

[42] the king summoned Shimei and said to him: "Did I not have you swear by the LORD to your clear understanding of my warning that, if you left and went anywhere else, you should die without fail? And you answered, 'I accept and obey.'

[43] Why, then, have you not kept the oath of the LORD and the command that I gave you?"

[44] And the king said to Shimei: "You know in your heart the evil that you did to my father David. Now the LORD requites you for your own wickedness.

[45] But King Solomon shall be blessed, and David's throne shall endure before the LORD forever."

[46] The king then gave the order to Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who struck him dead as he left.

First Kings Chapter 3

[1] With the royal power firmly in his grasp, Solomon allied himself by marriage with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The daughter of Pharaoh, whom he married, he brought to the City of David, until he should finish building his palace, and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.

[2] However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, for up to that time no temple had been built to the name of the LORD.

[3] Solomon loved the LORD, and obeyed the statutes of his father David; yet he offered sacrifice and burned incense on the high places.

[4] The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, because that was the most renowned high place. Upon its altar Solomon offered a thousand holocausts.

[5] In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, "Ask something of me and I will give it to you."

[6] Solomon answered: "You have shown great favor to your servant, my father David, because he behaved faithfully toward you, with justice and an upright heart; and you have continued this great favor toward him, even today, seating a son of his on his throne.

[7] O LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act.

[8] I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted.

[9] Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?"

[10] The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request.

[11] So God said to him: "Because you have asked for this--not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right--

[12] I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.

[13] In addition, I give you what you have not asked for, such riches and glory that among kings there is not your like.

[14] And if you follow me by keeping my statutes and commandments, as your father David did, I will give you a long life."

[15] When Solomon awoke from his dream, he went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, offered holocausts and peace offerings, and gave a banquet for all his servants.

[16] Later, two harlots came to the king and stood before him.

[17] One woman said: "By your leave, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth in the house while she was present.

[18] On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were alone in the house; there was no one there but us two.

[19] This woman's son died during the night; she smothered him by lying on him.

[20] Later that night she got up and took my son from my side, as I, your handmaid, was sleeping. Then she laid him in her bosom, after she had laid her dead child in my bosom.

[21] I rose in the morning to nurse my child, and I found him dead. But when I examined him in the morning light, I saw it was not the son whom I had borne."

[22] The other woman answered, "It is not so! The living one is my son, the dead one is yours." But the first kept saying, "No, the dead one is your child, the living one is mine!" Thus they argued before the king.

[23] Then the king said: "One woman claims, 'This, the living one, is my child, and the dead one is yours.' The other answers, 'No! The dead one is your child; the living one is mine.'"

[24] The king continued, "Get me a sword." When they brought the sword before him,

[25] he said, "Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other."

[26] The woman whose son it was, in the anguish she felt for it, said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living child--please do not kill it!" The other, however, said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide it!"

[27] The king then answered, "Give the first one the living child! By no means kill it, for she is the mother."

[28] When all Israel heard the judgment the king had given, they were in awe of him, because they saw that the king had in him the wisdom of God for giving judgment.

First Kings Chapter 4

[1] Solomon was king over all Israel,

[2] and these were the officials he had in his service: Azariah, son of Zadok, priest;

[3] Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, chancellor;

[4] (Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, commander of the army; Zadok and Abiathar, priests;)

[5] Azariah, son of Nathan, chief of the commissaries; Zabud, son of Nathan, companion to the king;

[6] Ahishar, major-domo of the palace; and Adoniram, son of Abda, superintendent of the forced labor.

[7] 1 Solomon had twelve commissaries for all Israel who supplied food for the king and his household, each having to provide for one month in the year.

[8] Their names were: the son of Hur in the hill country of Ephraim;

[9] the son of Deker in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, Elon and Beth-hanan;

[10] the son of Hesed in Arubboth, as well as in Socoh and the whole region of Hepher;

[11] the son of Abinadab, who was married to Solomon's daughter Taphath, in all the Naphath-dor;

[12] Baana, son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and beyond Jokmeam, and in all Beth-shean, and in the country around Zarethan below Jezreel from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah;

[13] the son of Geber in Ramoth-gilead, having charge of the villages of Jair, son of Manasseh, in Gilead; and of the district of Argob in Bashan--sixty large walled cities with gates barred with bronze;

[14] Ahinadab, son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

[15] Ahimaaz, who was married to Basemath, another daughter of Solomon, in Naphtali;

[16] Baana, son of Hushai, in Asher and along the rocky coast;

[17] Jehoshaphat, son of Paruah, in Issachar;

[18] Shimei, son of Ela, in Benjamin;

[19] 2 Geber, son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and of Og, king of Bashan. There was one prefect besides, in the king's own land.

[20] Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sands by the sea; they ate and drank and made merry.

First Kings Chapter 5

[1] Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, down to the border of Egypt; they paid Solomon tribute and were his vassals as long as he lived.

[2] Solomon's supplies for each day were thirty kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal,

[3] ten fatted oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, not counting harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.

[4] He ruled over all the land west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and over all its kings, and he had peace on all his borders round about.

[5] Thus Judah and Israel lived in security, every man under his vine or under his fig tree from Dan to Beer-sheba, as long as Solomon lived.

[6] Solomon had four thousand stalls for his twelve thousand chariot horses.

[7] These commissaries, one for each month, provided food for King Solomon and for all the guests at the royal table. They left nothing unprovided.

[8] For the chariot horses and draft animals also, each brought his quota of barley and straw to the required place.

[9] Moreover, God gave Solomon wisdom and exceptional understanding and knowledge, as vast as the sand on the seashore.

[10] Solomon surpassed all the Cedemites and all the Egyptians in wisdom.

[11] He was wiser than all other men--than Ethan the Ezrahite, or Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the musicians--and his fame spread throughout the neighboring nations.

[12] Solomon also uttered three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

[13] He discussed plants, from the cedar on Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall, and he spoke about beasts, birds, reptiles, and fishes.

[14] Men came to hear Solomon's wisdom from all nations, sent by all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

[15] When Hiram, king of Tyre, heard that Solomon had been anointed king in place of his father, he sent an embassy to him; for Hiram had always been David's friend.

[16] Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:

[17] "You know that my father David, because of the enemies surrounding him on all sides, could not build a temple in honor of the LORD, his God, until such a time as the LORD should put these enemies under the soles of his feet.

[18] But now the LORD, my God, has given me peace on all sides. There is no enemy or threat of danger.

[19] So I purpose to build a temple in honor of the LORD, my God, as the LORD predicted to my father David when he said: 'It is your son whom I will put upon your throne in your place who shall build the temple in my honor.'

[20] Give orders, then, to have cedars from the Lebanon cut down for me. My servants shall accompany yours, since you know that there is no one among us who is skilled in cutting timber like the Sidonians, and I will pay you whatever you say for your servants' salary."

[21] When he had heard the words of Solomon, Hiram was pleased and said, "Blessed be the LORD this day, who has given David a wise son to rule this numerous people."

[22] Hiram then sent word to Solomon, "I agree to the proposal you sent me, and I will provide all the cedars and fir trees you wish.

[23] My servants shall bring them down from the Lebanon to the sea, and I will arrange them into rafts in the sea and bring them wherever you say. There I will break up the rafts, and you shall take the lumber. You, for your part, shall furnish the provisions I desire for my household."

[24] So Hiram continued to provide Solomon with all the cedars and fir trees he wished;

[25] while Solomon every year gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat to provide for his household, and twenty thousand measures of pure oil.

[26] The LORD, moreover, gave Solomon wisdom as he promised him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, since they were parties to a treaty.

[27] King Solomon conscripted thirty thousand workmen from all Israel.

[28] He sent them to the Lebanon each month in relays of ten thousand, so that they spent one month in the Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the draft.

[29] Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain,

[30] in addition to three thousand three hundred overseers, answerable to Solomon's prefects for the work, directing the people engaged in the work.

[31] By order of the king, fine, large blocks were quarried to give the temple a foundation of hewn stone.

[32] Solomon's and Hiram's builders, along with the Gebalites, hewed them out, and prepared the wood and stones for building the temple.

First Kings Chapter 6

[1] 1 In the four hundred and eightieth year from the departure of the Israelites from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, the construction of the temple of the LORD was begun.

[2] The temple which King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty wide, and twenty-five high.

[3] The porch in front of the temple was twenty cubits from side to side, along the width of the nave, and ten cubits deep in front of the temple.

[4] Splayed windows with trellises were made for the temple,

[5] and adjoining the wall of the temple, which enclosed the nave and the sanctuary, an annex of several stories was built.

[6] Its lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle one six cubits wide, the third seven cubits wide, because there were offsets along the outside of the temple so that the beams would not be fastened into the walls of the temple.

[7] (The temple was built of stone dressed at the quarry, so that no hammer, axe, or iron tool was to be heard in the temple during its construction.)

[8] The entrance to the lowest floor of the annex was at the right side of the temple, and stairs with intermediate landings led up to the middle story and from the middle story to the third.

[9] When the temple was built to its full height, it was roofed in with rafters and boards of cedar.

[10] The annex, with its lowest story five cubits high, was built all along the outside of the temple, to which it was joined by cedar beams.

[11] 2 This word of the LORD came to Solomon:

[12] "As to this temple you are building--if you observe my statutes, carry out my ordinances, keep and obey all my commands, I will fulfill toward you the promise I made to your father David.

[13] I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel."

[14] When Solomon finished building the temple,

[15] its walls were lined from floor to ceiling beams with cedar paneling, and its floor was laid with fir planking.

[16] At the rear of the temple a space of twenty cubits was set off by cedar partitions from the floor to the rafters, enclosing the sanctuary, the holy of holies.

[17] The nave, or part of the temple in front of the sanctuary, was forty cubits long.

[18] The cedar in the interior of the temple was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers; all was of cedar, and no stone was to be seen.

[19] 3 In the innermost part of the temple was located the sanctuary to house the ark of the LORD'S covenant,

[20] 4 twenty cubits long, twenty wide, and twenty high.

[21] Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold. He made in front of the sanctuary a cedar altar, overlaid it with gold, and looped it with golden chains.

[22] The entire temple was overlaid with gold so that it was completely covered with it; the whole altar before the sanctuary was also overlaid with gold.

[23] In the sanctuary were two cherubim, each ten cubits high, made of olive wood.

[24] Each wing of a cherub measured five cubits so that the space from wing tip to wing tip of each was ten cubits.

[25] The cherubim were identical in size and shape,

[26] and each was exactly ten cubits high.

[27] The cherubim were placed in the inmost part of the temple, with their wings spread wide, so that one wing of each cherub touched a side wall while the other wing, pointing toward the middle of the room, touched the corresponding wing of the second cherub.

[28] The cherubim, too, were overlaid with gold.

[29] The walls on all sides of both the inner and the outer rooms had carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

[30] The floor of both the inner and the outer rooms was overlaid with gold.

[31] At the entrance of the sanctuary, doors of olive wood were made; the doorframes had beveled posts.

[32] The two doors were of olive wood, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. The doors were overlaid with gold, which was also molded to the cherubim and the palm trees.

[33] The same was done at the entrance to the nave, where the doorposts of olive wood were rectangular.

[34] The two doors were of fir wood; each door was banded by a metal strap, front and back,

[35] and had carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, over which gold was evenly applied.

[36] The inner court was walled off by means of three courses of hewn stones and one course of cedar beams.

[37] The foundations of the LORD'S temple were laid in the month of Ziv

[38] in the fourth year, and it was completed in all particulars, exactly according to plan, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, in the eleventh year. Thus it took Solomon seven years to build it.

First Kings Chapter 7

[1] His own palace Solomon completed after thirteen years of construction.

[2] He built the hall called the Forest of Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty wide, and thirty high; it was supported by four rows of cedar columns, with cedar capitals upon the columns.

[3] Moreover, it had a ceiling of cedar above the beams resting on the columns; these beams numbered forty-five, fifteen to a row.

[4] There were three window frames at either end, with windows in strict alignment.

[5] The posts of all the doorways were rectangular, and the doorways faced each other, three at either end.

[6] The porch of the columned hall he made fifty cubits long and thirty wide. The porch extended the width of the columned hall, and there was a canopy in front.

[7] He also built the vestibule of the throne where he gave judgment--that is, the tribunal; it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling beams.

[8] His living quarters were in another court, set in deeper than the tribunal and of the same construction. A palace like this tribunal was built for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had married.

[9] All these buildings were of fine stones, hewn to size and trimmed front and back with a saw, from the foundation to the bonding course.

[10] (The foundation was made of fine, large blocks, some ten cubits and some eight cubits.

[11] Above were fine stones hewn to size, and cedar wood.)

[12] The great court was enclosed by three courses of hewn stones and a bonding course of cedar beams. So also were the inner court of the temple of the LORD and the temple porch.

[13] King Solomon had Hiram brought from Tyre.

[14] He was a bronze worker, the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali; his father had been from Tyre. He was endowed with skill, understanding, and knowledge of how to produce any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his metal work.

[15] 1 Two hollow bronze columns were cast, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; their metal was of four fingers' thickness.

[16] There were also two capitals cast in bronze, to place on top of the columns, each of them five cubits high.

[17] Two pieces of network with a chainlike mesh were made to cover the (nodes of the) capitals on top of the columns, one for each capital.

[18] Four hundred pomegranates were also cast; two hundred of them in a double row encircled the piece of network on each of the two capitals.

[19] The capitals on top of the columns were finished wholly in a lotus pattern

[20] above the level of the nodes and their enveloping network.

[21] The columns were then erected adjacent to the porch of the temple, one to the right, called Jachin, and the other to the left, called Boaz.

[22] Thus the work on the columns was completed.

[23] 2 The sea was then cast; it was made with a circular rim, and measured ten cubits across, five in height, and thirty in circumference.

[24] Under the brim, gourds encircled it, ten to the cubit all the way around; the gourds were in two rows and were cast in one mold with the sea.

[25] This rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with their haunches all toward the center, where the sea was set upon them.

[26] It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim resembled that of a cup, being lily-shaped. Its capacity was two thousand measures.

[27] Ten stands were also made of bronze, each four cubits long, four wide, and three high.

[28] When these stands were constructed, panels were set within the framework.

[29] On the panels between the frames there were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the frames likewise, above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths in relief.

[30] Each stand had four bronze wheels and bronze axles.

[31] This was surmounted by a crown one cubit high within which was a rounded opening to provide a receptacle a cubit and a half in depth. There was carved work at the opening, on panels that were angular, not curved.

[32] The four wheels were below the paneling, and the axletrees of the wheels and the stand were of one piece. Each wheel was a cubit and a half high.

[33] The wheels were constructed like chariot wheels; their axles, fellies, spokes, and hubs were all cast. The four legs of each stand had cast braces, which were under the basin; they had wreaths on each side.

[34] These four braces, extending to the corners of each stand, were of one piece with the stand.

[35] On top of the stand there was a raised collar half a cubit high, with supports and panels which were of one piece with the top of the stand.

[36] On the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, wherever there was a clear space, cherubim, lions, and palm trees were carved, as well as wreaths all around.

[37] This was how the ten stands were made, all of the same casting, the same size, the same shape.

[38] Ten bronze basins were then made, each four cubits in diameter with a capacity of forty measures, one basin for the top of each of the ten stands.

[39] The stands were placed, five on the south side of the temple and five on the north. The sea was placed off to the southeast from the south side of the temple.

[40] When Hiram made the pots, shovels, and bowls, he therewith completed all his work for King Solomon in the temple of the LORD:

[41] two columns, two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns, two pieces of network covering the nodes for the capitals on top of the columns,

[42] four hundred pomegranates in double rows on both pieces of network that covered the two nodes of the capitals where they met the columns,

[43] ten stands, ten basins on the stands,

[44] one sea, twelve oxen supporting the sea,

[45] pots, shovels, and bowls. All these articles which Hiram made for King Solomon in the temple of the LORD were of burnished bronze.

[46] The king had them cast in the neighborhood of the Jordan, in the clayey ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

[47] Solomon did not weigh all the articles because they were so numerous; the weight of the bronze, therefore, was not determined.

[48] Solomon had all the articles made for the interior of the temple of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which the showbread lay;

[49] the lampstands of pure gold, five to the right and five to the left before the sanctuary, with their flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold;

[50] basins, snuffers, bowls, cups, and fire pans of pure gold; and hinges of gold for the doors of the inner room, or holy of holies, and for the doors of the outer room, the nave.

[51] When all the work undertaken by King Solomon in the temple of the LORD was completed, he brought in the dedicated offerings of his father David, putting the silver, gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the temple of the LORD.

First Kings Chapter 8

[1] At the order of Solomon, the elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites, came to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD'S covenant from the city of David (which is Zion).

[2] All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month).

[3] When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark;

[4] they carried the ark of the LORD and the meeting tent with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. (The priests and Levites carried them.)

[5] King Solomon and the entire community of Israel present for the occasion sacrificed before the ark sheep and oxen too many to number or count.

[6] 1 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of holies of the temple.

[7] The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above.

[8] The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from that part of the holy place adjoining the sanctuary; however, they could not be seen beyond. (They have remained there to this day.)

[9] There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites at their departure from the land of Egypt.

[10] When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD

[11] so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the LORD'S glory had filled the temple of the LORD.

[12] Then Solomon said, "The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud;

[13] I have truly built you a princely house, a dwelling where you may abide forever."

[14] The king turned and greeted the whole community of Israel as they stood.

[15] He said to them: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth made a promise to my father David and by his hand has brought it to fulfillment. It was he who said,

[16] 'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of any tribe of Israel for the building of a temple to my honor; but I choose David to rule my people Israel.'

[17] When my father David wished to build a temple to the honor of the LORD, the God of Israel,

[18] the LORD said to him, 'In wishing to build a temple to my honor, you do well.

[19] It will not be you, however, who will build the temple; but the son who will spring from you, he shall build the temple to my honor.'

[20] And now the LORD has fulfilled the promise that he made: I have succeeded my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD foretold, and I have built this temple to honor the LORD, the God of Israel.

[21] I have provided in it a place for the ark in which is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt."

[22] Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole community of Israel, and stretching forth his hands toward heaven,

[23] he said, "LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep your covenant of kindness with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart.

[24] You have kept the promise you made to my father David, your servant. You who spoke that promise, have this day, by your own power, brought it to fulfillment.

[25] Now, therefore, LORD, God of Israel, keep the further promise you made to my father David, your servant, saying, 'You shall always have someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided only that your descendants look to their conduct so that they live in my presence, as you have lived in my presence.'

[26] Now, LORD, God of Israel, may this promise which you made to my father David, your servant, be confirmed.

[27] "Can it indeed be that God dwells among men on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built!

[28] Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O LORD, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication which I, your servant, utter before you this day.

[29] May your eyes watch night and day over this temple, the place where you have decreed you shall be honored; may you heed the prayer which I, your servant, offer in this place.

[30] Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel which they offer in this place. Listen from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon.

[31] "If a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath sanctioned by a curse, when he comes and takes the oath before your altar in this temple,

[32] listen in heaven; take action and pass judgment on your servants. Condemn the wicked and punish him for his conduct, but acquit the just and establish his innocence.

[33] 2 "If your people Israel sin against you and are defeated by an enemy, and if then they return to you, praise your name, pray to you, and entreat you in this temple,

[34] listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave their fathers.

[35] "If the sky is closed, so that there is no rain, because they have sinned against you and you afflict them, and if then they repent of their sin, and pray, and praise your name in this place,

[36] listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servant and of your people Israel, teaching them the right way to live and sending rain upon this land of yours which you have given to your people as their heritage.

[37] "If there is famine in the land or pestilence; or if blight comes, or mildew, or a locust swarm, or devouring insects; if an enemy of your people besieges them in one of their cities; whatever plague or sickness there may be,

[38] if then any one (of your entire people Israel) has remorse of conscience and offers some prayer or petition, stretching out his hands toward this temple,

[39] listen from your heavenly dwelling place and forgive. You who alone know the hearts of all men, render to each one of them according to his conduct; knowing their hearts, so treat them

[40] that they may fear you as long as they live on the land you gave our fathers.

[41] "To the foreigner, likewise, who is not of your people Israel, but comes from a distant land to honor you

[42] (since men will learn of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple,

[43] listen from your heavenly dwelling. Do all that the foreigner asks of you, that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, may fear you as do your people Israel, and may acknowledge that this temple which I have built is dedicated to your honor.

[44] "Whatever the direction in which you may send your people forth to war against their enemies, if they pray to you, O LORD, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built in your honor,

[45] listen in heaven to their prayer and petition, and defend their cause.

[46] "When they sin against you (for there is no man who does not sin), and in your anger against them you deliver them to the enemy, so that their captors deport them to a hostile land, far or near,

[47] may they repent in the land of their captivity and be converted. If then they entreat you in the land of their captors and say, 'We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked';

[48] if with their whole heart and soul they turn back to you in the land of the enemies who took them captive, pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, the city you have chosen, and the temple I have built in your honor,

[49] listen from your heavenly dwelling.

[50] Forgive your people their sins and all the offenses they have committed against you, and grant them mercy before their captors, so that these will be merciful to them.

[51] For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of an iron furnace.

[52] "Thus may your eyes be open to the petition of your servant and to the petition of your people Israel. Hear them whenever they call upon you,

[53] because you have set them apart among all the peoples of the earth for your inheritance, as you declared through your servant Moses when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD."

[54] When Solomon finished offering this entire prayer of petition to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands outstretched toward heaven.

[55] He stood and blessed the whole community of Israel, saying in a loud voice:

[56] "Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not a single word has gone unfulfilled of the entire generous promise he made through his servant Moses.

[57] May the LORD, our God, be with us as he was with our fathers and may he not forsake us nor cast us off.

[58] May he draw our hearts to himself, that we may follow him in everything and keep the commands, statutes, and ordinances which he enjoined on our fathers.

[59] May this prayer I have offered to the LORD, our God, be present to him day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and of his people Israel as each day requires,

[60] that all the peoples of the earth may know the LORD is God and there is no other.

[61] You must be wholly devoted to the LORD, our God, observing his statutes and keeping his commandments, as on this day."

[62] The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.

[63] Solomon offered as peace offerings to the LORD twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. Thus the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD.

[64] On that day the king consecrated the middle of the court facing the temple of the LORD; he offered there the holocausts, the cereal offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold these offerings.

[65] On this occasion Solomon and all the Israelites, who had assembled in large numbers from Labo of Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, celebrated the festival before the LORD, our God, for seven days.

[66] On the eighth day he dismissed the people, who bade the king farewell and went to their homes, rejoicing and happy over all the blessings the LORD had given to his servant David and to his people Israel.

First Kings Chapter 9

[1] After Solomon finished building the temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and everything else that he had planned,

[2] the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him in Gibeon.

[3] The LORD said to him: "I have heard the prayer of petition which you offered in my presence. I have consecrated this temple which you have built; I confer my name upon it forever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there always.

[4] As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, sincerely and uprightly, doing just as I have commanded you, keeping my statutes and decrees,

[5] I will establish your throne of sovereignty over Israel forever, as I promised your father David when I said, 'You shall always have someone from your line on the throne of Israel.'

[6] But if you and your descendants ever withdraw from me, fail to keep the commandments and statutes which I set before you, and proceed to venerate and worship strange gods,

[7] I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them and repudiate the temple I have consecrated to my honor. Israel shall become a proverb and a byword among all nations,

[8] and this temple shall become a heap of ruins. Every passerby shall catch his breath in amazement, and ask, 'Why has the LORD done this to the land and to this temple?'

[9] Men will answer: 'They forsook the LORD, their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt; they adopted strange gods which they worshiped and served. That is why the LORD has brought down upon them all this evil.'"

[10] After the twenty years during which Solomon built the two houses, the temple of the LORD and the palace of the king--

[11] Hiram, king of Tyre, supplying Solomon with all the cedar wood, fir wood, and gold he wished--King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

[12] Hiram left Tyre to see the cities Solomon had given him, but was not satisfied with them.

[13] So he said, "What are these cities you have given me, my brother?" And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.

[14] 1 Hiram, however, had sent king Solomon one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

[15] 2 This is an account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied in order to build the temple of the LORD, his palace, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer

[16] (Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had come up and taken Gezer and, after destroying it by fire and slaying all the Canaanites living in the city, had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife;

[17] Solomon then rebuilt Gezer), Lower Beth-horon,

[18] Baalath, Tamar in the desert of Judah,

[19] all his cities for supplies, cities for chariots and for horses, and whatever else Solomon decided should be built in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in the entire land under his dominion.

[20] All the non-Israelite people who remained in the land, descendants of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites

[21] whose doom the Israelites had been unable to accomplish, Solomon conscripted as forced laborers, as they are to this day.

[22] But Solomon enslaved none of the Israelites, for they were his fighting force, his ministers, commanders, adjutants, chariot officers, and charioteers.

[23] The supervisors of Solomon's works who policed the people engaged in the work numbered five hundred and fifty.

[24] As soon as Pharaoh's daughter went up from the City of David to her palace, which he had built for her, Solomon built Millo.

[25] Three times a year Solomon used to offer holocausts and peace offerings on the altar which he had built to the LORD, and to burn incense before the LORD; and he kept the temple in repair.

[26] 3 King Solomon also built a fleet at Ezion-geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.

[27] In this fleet Hiram placed his own expert seamen with the servants of Solomon.

[28] They went to Ophir, and brought back four hundred and twenty talents of gold to King Solomon.

First Kings Chapter 10

[1] 1 The queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon's fame, came to test him with subtle questions.

[2] She arrived in Jerusalem with a very numerous retinue, and with camels bearing spices, a large amount of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and questioned him on every subject in which she was interested.

[3] King Solomon explained everything she asked about, and there remained nothing hidden from him that he could not explain to her.

[4] When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon's great wisdom, the palace he had built,

[5] the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance and garb of his waiters, his banquet service, and the holocausts he offered in the temple of the LORD, she was breathless.

[6] "The report I heard in my country about your deeds and your wisdom is true," she told the king.

[7] "Though I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own eyes, I have discovered that they were not telling me the half. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard.

[8] Happy are your men, happy these servants of yours, who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom.

[9] Blessed be the LORD, your God, whom it has pleased to place you on the throne of Israel. In his enduring love for Israel, the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice."

[10] Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did anyone bring such an abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

[11] 2 Hiram's fleet, which used to bring gold from Ophir, also brought from there a large quantity of cabinet wood and precious stones.

[12] With the wood the king made supports for the temple of the LORD and for the palace of the king, and harps and lyres for the chanters. No more such wood was brought or seen to the present day.

[13] King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, besides such presents as were given her from Solomon's royal bounty. Then she returned with her servants to her own country.

[14] The gold that Solomon received every year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents,

[15] in addition to what came from the Tarshish fleet, from the traffic of merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country.

[16] Moreover, King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold (six hundred gold shekels went into each shield)

[17] and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold (three minas of gold went into each buckler); and he put them in the hall of the Forest of Lebanon.

[18] The king also had a large ivory throne made, and overlaid it with refined gold.

[19] The throne had six steps, a back with a round top, and an arm on each side of the seat. Next to each arm stood a lion;

[20] and twelve other lions stood on the steps, two to a step, one on either side of each step. Nothing like this was produced in any other kingdom.

[21] In addition, all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the utensils in the hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. There was no silver, for in Solomon's time it was considered worthless.

[22] 3 The king had a fleet of Tarshish ships at sea with Hiram's fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish ships would come with a cargo of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.

[23] Thus King Solomon surpassed in riches and wisdom all the kings of the earth.

[24] And the whole world sought audience with Solomon, to hear from him the wisdom which God had put in his heart.

[25] Each one brought his yearly tribute: silver or gold articles, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules.

[26] Solomon collected chariots and drivers; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand drivers; these he allocated among the chariot cities and to the king's service in Jerusalem.

[27] The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as numerous as the sycamores of the foothills.

[28] Solomon's horses were imported from Cilicia, where the king's agents purchased them.

[29] A chariot imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels, a horse one hundred and fifty shekels; they were exported at these rates to all the Hittite and Aramean kings.

First Kings Chapter 11

[1] 1 King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh (Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites),

[2] from nations with which the LORD had forbidden the Israelites to intermarry, "because," he said, "they will turn your hearts to their gods." But Solomon fell in love with them.

[3] He had seven hundred wives of princely rank and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.

[4] When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the heart of his father David had been.

[5] By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites,

[6] Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done.

[7] Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites, on the hill opposite Jerusalem.

[8] He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

[9] The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice

[10] (for though the LORD had forbidden him this very act of following strange gods, Solomon had not obeyed him).

[11] So the LORD said to Solomon: "Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I enjoined on you, I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant.

[12] I will not do this during your lifetime, however, for the sake of your father David; it is your son whom I will deprive.

[13] Nor will I take away the whole kingdom. I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

[14] The LORD then raised up an adversary to Solomon: Hadad the Edomite, who was of the royal line in Edom.

[15] Earlier, when David had conquered Edom, Joab, the general of the army, while going to bury the slain, put to death every male in Edom.

[16] Joab and all Israel remained there six months until they had killed off every male in Edom.

[17] Meanwhile, Hadad, who was only a boy, fled toward Egypt with some Edomite servants of his father.

[18] They left Midian and passing through Paran, where they picked up additional men, they went into Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, appointed him rations, and assigned him land.

[19] Hadad won great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave him in marriage the sister of Queen Tahpenes, his own wife.

[20] Tahpenes' sister bore Hadad a son, Genubath. After his weaning, the queen kept him in Pharaoh's palace, where he then lived with Pharaoh's own sons.

[21] When Hadad in Egypt heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab, the general of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, "Give me leave to return to my own country."

[22] Pharaoh said to him, "What do you lack with me, that you are seeking to return to your own country?" "Nothing," he said, "but please let me go!"

[23] God raised up against Solomon another adversary, in Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah,

[24] when David defeated them with slaughter. Rezon gathered men about him and became leader of a band, went to Damascus, settled there, and became king in Damascus.

[25] He was an enemy of Israel as long as Solomon lived; this added to the harm done by Hadad, who made a rift in Israel by becoming king over Edom.

[26] Solomon's servant Jeroboam, son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah with a widowed mother, Zeruah, also rebelled against the king.

[27] This is why he rebelled. King Solomon was building Millo, closing up the breach of his father's City of David.

[28] Jeroboam was a man of means, and when Solomon saw that he was also an industrious young man, he put him in charge of the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.

[29] At that time Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. The two were alone in the area, and the prophet was wearing a new cloak.

[30] Ahijah took off his new cloak, tore it into twelve pieces,

[31] and said to Jeroboam: "Take ten pieces for yourself; the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon's grasp and will give you ten of the tribes.

[32] One tribe shall remain to him for the sake of David my servant, and of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

[33] The ten I will give you because he has forsaken me and has worshiped Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, god of Moab, and Milcom, god of the Ammonites; he has not followed my ways or done what is pleasing to me according to my statutes and my decrees, as his father David did.

[34] Yet I will not take any of the kingdom from Solomon himself, but will keep him a prince as long as he lives for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose, who kept my commandments and statutes.

[35] But I will take the kingdom from his son and will give it to you--that is, the ten tribes.

[36] I will give his son one tribe, that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city in which I choose to be honored.

[37] I will take you; you shall reign over all that you desire and shall become king of Israel.

[38] If, then, you heed all that I command you, follow my ways, and please me by keeping my statutes and my commandments like my servant David, I will be with you. I will establish for you, as I did for David, a lasting dynasty; I will give Israel to you.

[39] I will punish David's line for this, but not forever.'"

[40] When Solomon tried to have Jeroboam killed for his rebellion, he escapedto King Shishak, in Egypt, where he remained until Solomon's death.

[41] The rest of the acts of Solomon, with all his deeds and his wisdom, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of Solomon.

[42] The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

[43] Solomon rested with his ancestors; he was buried in his father's City of David, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

First Kings Chapter 12

[1] 1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had come to proclaim him king.

[2] Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, returned from Egypt as soon as he learned this.

[3] They said to Rehoboam:

[4] "Your father put on us a heavy yoke. If you now lighten the harsh service and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, we will serve you."

[5] "Come back to me in three days," he answered them. When the people had departed,

[6] King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had been in his father's service while he was alive, and asked, "What answer do you advise me to give this people?"

[7] They replied, "If today you will be the servant of this people and submit to them, giving them a favorable answer, they will be your servants forever."

[8] But he ignored the advice the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were in his service.

[9] He said to them, "What answer do you advise me to give this people, who have asked me to lighten the yoke my father imposed on them?"

[10] The young men who had grown up with him replied, "This is what you must say to this people who have asked you to lighten the yoke your father put on them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's body.

[11] Whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.'"

[12] On the third day all Israel came back to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them to do.

[13] Ignoring the advice the elders had given him, the king gave the people a harsh answer.

[14] He said to them, as the young men had advised: "My father put on you a heavy yoke, but I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions."

[15] The king did not listen to the people, for the LORD brought this about to fulfill the prophecy he had uttered to Jeroboam, son of Nebat, through Ahijah the Shilonite.

[16] 2 When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king: "What share have we in David? We have no heritage in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David."So Israel went off to their tents,

[17] but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.

[18] King Rehoboam then sent out Adoram, superintendent of the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. Rehoboam managed to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem,

[19] and Israel went into rebellion against David's house to this day.

[20] When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to an assembly and made him king over all Israel. None remained loyal to David's house except the tribe of Judah alone.

[21] On his arrival in Jersusalem, Rehoboam gathered together all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin--one hundred and eighty thousand seasoned warriors--to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, son of Solomon.

[22] However, the LORD spoke to Shemaiah, a man of God:

[23] "Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to the house of Judah and to Benjamin, and to the rest of the people:

[24] 'Thus says the LORD: You must not march out to fight against your brother Israelites. Let every man return home, for I have brought this about.'" They accepted this message of the LORD and gave up the expedition accordingly.

[25] Jeroboam built up Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left it and built up Penuel.

[26] 3 Jeroboam thought to himself: "The kingdom will return to David's house.

[27] If now this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me."

[28] After taking counsel, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people: "You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

[29] 4 And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan.

[30] This led to sin, because the people frequented these calves in Bethel and in Dan.

[31] He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the people who were not Levites.

[32] Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month to duplicate in Bethel the pilgrimage feast of Judah, with sacrifices to the calves he had made; and he stationed in Bethel priests of the high places he had built.

[33] Jeroboam ascended the altar he built in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month in which he arbitrarily chose to establish a feast for the Israelites; he was going to offer sacrifice.

First Kings Chapter 13

[1] A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer sacrifice.

[2] He cried out against the altar the word of the LORD: "O altar, altar, the LORD says, 'A child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, who shall slaughter upon you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifice upon you, and he shall burn human bones upon you.'"

[3] He gave a sign that same day and said: "This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: The altar shall break up and the ashes on it shall be strewn about.

[4] When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God was crying out against the altar, he stretched forth his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched forth against him withered, so that he could not draw it back.

[5] Moreover, the altar broke up and the ashes from it were strewn about--the sign the man of God had given as the word of the LORD.

[6] Then the king appealed to the man of God. "Entreat the LORD, your God," he said, "and intercede for me that I may be able to withdraw my hand." So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king recovered the normal use of his hand.

[7] "Come home with me for some refreshment," the king invited the man of God, "and I will give you a present."

[8] "If you gave me half your kingdom," the man of God said to the king, "I would not go with you, nor eat bread or drink water in this place.

[9] For I was instructed by the word of the LORD not to eat bread or drink water and not to return by the way I came."

[10] So he departed by another road and did not go back the way he had come to Bethel.

[11] There was an old prophet living in the city, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. When they repeated to their father the words he had spoken to the king,

[12] the father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons pointed out to him the road taken by the man of God who had come from Judah.

[13] Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the ass for me." When they had saddled it, he mounted

[14] and followed the man of God, whom he found seated under a terebinth. When he asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" he answered, "Yes."

[15] Then he said, "Come home with me and have some bread."

[16] "I cannot go back with you, and I cannot eat bread or drink water with you in this place," he answered,

[17] "for I was told by the word of the LORD neither to eat bread nor drink water here, and not to go back the way I came."

[18] But he said to him, "I, too, am a prophet like you, and an angel told me in the word of the LORD to bring you back with me to my house and to have you eat bread and drink water." He was lying to him, however.

[19] So he went back with him, and ate bread and drank water in his house.

[20] But while they were sitting at table, the LORD spoke to the prophet who had brought him back,

[21] and he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah: "The LORD says, 'Because you rebelled against the command of the LORD and did not keep the command which the LORD, your God, gave you,

[22] but returned and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you to do neither, your corpse shall not be brought to the grave of your ancestors.'"

[23] After he had eaten bread and drunk water, the ass was saddled for him, and he again

[24] set out. But a lion met him on the road, and killed him. His corpse lay sprawled on the road, and the ass remained standing by it, and so did the lion.

[25] Some passers-by saw the body lying in the road, with the lion standing beside it, and carried the news to the city where the old prophet lived.

[26] On hearing it, the prophet who had brought him back from his journey said: "It is the man of God who rebelled against the command of the LORD. He has delivered him to a lion, which mangled and killed him, as the LORD predicted to him."

[27] Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the ass for me." When they had saddled it,

[28] he went off and found the body lying in the road with the ass and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body nor had it harmed the ass.

[29] The prophet lifted up the body of the man of God and put it on the ass, and brought it back to the city to mourn over it and to bury it.

[30] He laid the man's body in his own grave, and they mourned over it: "Alas, my brother!"

[31] After he had buried him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my remains beside his.

[32] For the word of the LORD which he proclaimed against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria shall certainly come to pass."

[33] Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this event, but again made priests for the high places from among the common people. Whoever desired it was consecrated and became a priest of the high places.

[34] This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.

First Kings Chapter 14

[1] At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, took sick.

[2] So Jeroboam said to his wife, "Get ready and disguise yourself so that none will recognize you as Jeroboam's wife. Then go to Shiloh, where you will find the prophet Ahijah. It was he who predicted my reign over this people.

[3] Take along ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of preserves, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the child."

[4] The wife of Jeroboam obeyed. She made the journey to Shiloh and entered the house of Ahijah who could not see because age had dimmed his sight.

[5] The LORD had said to Ahijah: "Jeroboam's wife is coming to consult you about her son, for he is sick. This is what you must tell her. When she comes, she will be in disguise."

[6] So Ahijah, hearing the sound of her footsteps as she entered the door, said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you in disguise? I have been commissioned to give you bitter news.

[7] Go, tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I exalted you from among the people and made you ruler of my people Israel.

[8] I deprived the house of David of the kingdom and gave it to you. Yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with his whole heart, doing only what pleased me.

[9] You have done worse than all who preceded you: you have gone and made for yourself strange gods and molten images to provoke me; but me you have cast behind your back.

[10] Therefore, I am bringing evil upon the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off every male in Jeroboam's line, whether slave or freeman in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam completely, as though dung were being burned.

[11] When one of Jeroboam's line dies in the city, dogs will devour him; when one of them dies in the field, he will be devoured by the birds of the sky. For the LORD has spoken!'

[12] So leave; go home! As you step inside the city, the child will die,

[13] and all Israel will mourn him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's line will be laid in the grave, since in him alone of Jeroboam's house has something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, been found.

[14] Today, at this very moment, the LORD will raise up for himself a king of Israel who will destroy the house of Jeroboam.

[15] The LORD will strike Israel like a reed tossed about in the water and will pluck out Israel from this good land which he gave their fathers, scattering them beyond the River, because they made sacred poles for themselves and thus provoked the LORD.

[16] He will give up Israel because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and caused Israel to commit."

[17] So Jeroboam's wife started back; when she reached Tirzah and crossed the threshold of her house, the child died.

[18] He was buried with all Israel mourning him, as the LORD had prophesied through his servant the prophet Ahijah.

[19] The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, with his warfare and his reign, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[20] The length of Jeroboam's reign was twenty-two years. He rested with his ancestors, and his son Nadab succeeded him as king.

[21] Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which, out of all the tribes of Israel, the LORD chose to be honored. His mother was the Ammonite named Naamah.

[22] Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and by their sins angered him even more than their fathers had done.

[23] They, too, built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles, upon every high hill and under every green tree.

[24] There were also cult prostitutes in the land. Judah imitated all the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the Israelites' way.

[25] 1 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem.

[26] He took everything, including the treasures of the temple of the LORD and those of the royal palace, as well as all the gold shields made under Solomon.

[27] To replace them, King Rehoboam had bronze shields made, which he entrusted to the officers of the guard on duty at the entrance of the royal palace.

[28] Whenever the king visited the temple of the LORD, those on duty would carry the shields, and then return them to the guardroom.

[29] The rest of the acts of Rehoboam, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[30] There was constant warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

[31] Rehoboam rested with his ancestors; he was buried with them in the City of David. His mother was the Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijam succeeded him as king.

First Kings Chapter 15

[1] In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, son of Nebat, Abijam became king of Judah;

[2] he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.

[3] He imitated all the sins his father had committed before him, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, like the heart of his grandfather David.

[4] Yet for David's sake the LORD, his God, gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him and permitting Jerusalem to endure;

[5] because David had pleased the LORD and did not disobey any of his commands as long as he lived, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

[6] There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

[7] The rest of Abijam's acts, with all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[8] Abijam rested with his ancestors; he was buried in the City of David, and his son Asa succeeded him as king.

[9] In the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa, king of Judah, began to reign;

[10] he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother's name was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom.

[11] Asa pleased the LORD like his forefather David,

[12] banishing the temple prostitutes from the land and removing all the idols his father had made.

[13] He also deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an outrageous object for Asherah. Asa cut down this object and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

[14] The high places did not disappear; yet Asa's heart was entirely with the LORD as long as he lived.

[15] He brought into the temple of the LORD his father's and his own votive offerings of silver, gold, and various utensils.

[16] There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, as long as they both reigned.

[17] Baasha, king of Israel, attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent communication with Asa, king of Judah.

[18] 1 Asa then took all the silver and gold remaining in the treasuries of the temple of the LORD and of the royal palace. Entrusting them to his ministers, King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion, king of Aram, resident in Damascus. He said:

[19] "There is a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. I am sending you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me."

[20] Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the leaders of his troops against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinnereth, besides all the land of Naphtali.

[21] When Baasha heard of it, he left off fortifying Ramah, and stayed in Tirzah.

[22] Then King Asa summoned all Judah without exception, and they carried away the stones and beams with which Baasha was fortifying Ramah. With them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpeh.

[23] The rest of the acts of Asa, with all his valor and accomplishments, and the cities he built, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. In his old age, Asa had an infirmity in his feet.

[24] He rested with his ancestors; he was buried in his forefather's City of David, and his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

[25] In the second year of Asa, king of Judah, Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel; he reigned over Israel two years.

[26] He did evil in the LORD'S sight, imitating his father's conduct and the sin which he had caused Israel to commit.

[27] Baasha, son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, plotted against him and struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines, which Nadab and all Israel were besieging.

[28] Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.

[29] Once he was king, he killed off the entire house of Jeroboam, not leaving a single soul to Jeroboam but destroying him utterly, according to the warning which the LORD had pronounced through his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite,

[30] because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused Israel to commit, by which he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.

[31] The rest of the acts of Nadab, with all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[32] (There was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, as long as they lived.)

[33] In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha, son of Ahijah, began his twenty-four-year reign over Israel in Tirzah.

[34] He did evil in the LORD'S sight, imitating the conduct of Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

First Kings Chapter 16

[1] The LORD spoke against Baasha to Jehu, son of Hanani, and said:

[2] "Inasmuch as I lifted you up from the dust and made you ruler of my people Israel, but you have imitated the conduct of Jeroboam and have caused my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger by their sins,

[3] I will destroy you, Baasha, and your house;

[4] I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. If anyone of Baasha's line dies in the city, dogs shall devour him; if he dies in the field, he shall be devoured by the birds of the sky."

[5] The rest of the acts of Baasha, with all his valor and accomplishments, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[6] Baasha rested with his ancestors; he was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah succeeded him as king.

[7] (Through the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, the LORD had threatened Baasha and his house, because of all the evil Baasha did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger by his evil deeds, so that he became like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed Nadab.)

[8] In the twenty-sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, Elah, son of Baasha, began his two-year reign over Israel in Tirzah.

[9] His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, plotted against him. As he was in Tirzah, drinking to excess in the house of Arza, superintendent of his palace in Tirzah,

[10] Zimri entered; he struck and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

[11] Once he was seated on the royal throne, he killed off the whole house of Baasha, not sparing a single male relative or friend of his.

[12] Zimri destroyed the entire house of Baasha, as the LORD had prophesied to Baasha through the prophet Jehu,

[13] because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.

[14] The rest of the acts of Elah, with all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[15] In the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. The army was besieging Gibbethon of the Philistines

[16] when they heard that Zimri had formed a conspiracy and had killed the king. So that day in the camp all Israel proclaimed Omri, general of the army, king of Israel.

[17] Omri marched up from Gibbethon, accompanied by all Israel, and laid siege to Tirzah.

[18] When Zimri saw the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned down the palace over him. He died

[19] because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD by imitating the sinful conduct of Jeroboam, thus causing Israel to sin.

[20] The rest of the acts of Zimri, with the conspiracy he carried out, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[21] At that time the people of Israel were divided, half following Tibni, son of Ginath, to make him king, and half for Omri.

[22] The partisans of Omri prevailed over those of Tibni, son of Ginath. Tibni died and Omri became king.

[23] In the thirty-first year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri became king; he reigned over Israel twelve years, the first six of them in Tirzah.

[24] He then bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two silver talents and built upon the hill, naming the city he built Samaria after Shemer, the former owner.

[25] But Omri did evil in the LORD'S sight beyond any of his predecessors.

[26] He closely imitated the sinful conduct of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, causing Israel to sin and to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.

[27] The rest of the acts of Omri, with all his valor and accomplishments, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[28] Omri rested with his ancestors; he was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab succeeded him as king.

[29] In the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, son of Omri, became king of Israel; he reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years.

[30] Ahab, son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the LORD more than any of his predecessors.

[31] It was not enough for him to imitate the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. He even married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went over to the veneration and worship of Baal.

[32] Ahab erected an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal which he built in Samaria,

[33] and also made a sacred pole. He did more to anger the LORD, the God of Israel, than any of the kings of Israel before him.

[34] During his reign, Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He lost his first-born son, Abiram, when he laid the foundation, and his youngest son, Segub, when he set up the gates, as the LORD had foretold through Joshua, son of Nun.

First Kings Chapter 17

[1] 1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab: "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word."

[2] The LORD then said to Elijah:

[3] "Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.

[4] You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there."

[5] So he left and did as the LORD had commanded. He went and remained by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.

[6] Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the stream.

[7] After some time, however, the brook ran dry, because no rain had fallen in the land.

[8] So the LORD said to him:

[9] "Move on to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you."

[10] He left and went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, "Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink."

[11] She left to get it, and he called out after her, "Please bring along a bit of bread."

[12] "As the LORD, your God, lives," she answered, "I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die."

[13] "Do not be afraid," Elijah said to her. "Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son.

[14] For the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'"

[15] She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well;

[16] The jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.

[17] Some time later the son of the mistress of the house fell sick, and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing.

[18] So she said to Elijah, "Why have you done this to me, O man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?"

[19] "Give me your son," Elijah said to her. Taking him from her lap, he carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.

[20] He called out to the LORD: "O LORD, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?"

[21] Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and called out to the LORD: "O LORD, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child."

[22] The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child's body and he revived.

[23] Taking the child, Elijah brought him down into the house from the upper room and gave him to his mother. "See!" Elijah said to her, "your son is alive."

[24] "Now indeed I know that you are a man of God," the woman replied to Elijah. "The word of the LORD comes truly from your mouth."

First Kings Chapter 18

[1] Long afterward, in the third year, the LORD spoke to Elijah, "Go, present yourself to Ahab," he said, "that I may send rain upon the earth."

[2] So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.

[3] Now the famine in Samaria was bitter,

[4] and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his vizier, who was a zealous follower of the LORD. When Jezebel was murdering the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets, hid them away fifty each in two caves, and supplied them with food and drink.

[5] Ahab said to Obadiah, "Come, let us go through the land to all sources of water and to all the streams. We may find grass and save the horses and mules, so that we shall not have to slaughter any of the beasts."

[6] Dividing the land to explore between them, Ahab went one way by himself, Obadiah another way by himself.

[7] As Obadiah was on his way, Elijah met him. Recognizing him, Obadiah fell prostrate and asked, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"

[8] "Yes," he answered. "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here!'"

[9] But Obadiah said, "What sin have I committed, that you are handing me over to Ahab to have me killed?

[10] As the LORD, your God, lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent in search of you. When they replied, 'He is not here,' he made each kingdom and nation swear they could not find you.

[11] And now you say, 'Go tell your master: Elijah is here!'

[12] After I leave you, the spirit of the LORD will carry you to some place I do not know, and when I go to inform Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill me. Your servant has revered the LORD from his youth.

[13] Have you not been told, my lord, what I did when Jezebel was murdering the prophets of the LORD--that I hid a hundred of the prophets of the LORD, fifty each in two caves, and supplied them with food and drink?

[14] And now you say, 'Go tell your master: Elijah is here!' He will kill me!"

[15] Elijah answered, "As the LORD of hosts lives, whom I serve, I will present myself to him today."

[16] So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and informed him. Ahab came to meet Elijah,

[17] and when he saw Elijah, said to him, "Is it you, you disturber of Israel?"

[18] "It is not I who disturb Israel," he answered, "but you and your family, by forsaking the commands of the LORD and following the Baals.

[19] Now summon all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, as well as the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table."

[20] So Ahab sent to all the Israelites and had the prophets assemble on Mount Carmel.

[21] Elijah appealed to all the people and said, "How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him." The people, however, did not answer him.

[22] So Elijah said to the people, "I am the only surviving prophet of the LORD, and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.

[23] Give us two young bulls. Let them choose one, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood, but start no fire. I shall prepare the other and place it on the wood, but shall start no fire.

[24] You shall call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The God who answers with fire is God." All the people answered, "Agreed!"

[25] Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one young bull and prepare it first, for there are more of you. Call upon your gods, but do not start the fire."

[26] Taking the young bull that was turned over to them, they prepared it and called on Baal from morning to noon, saying, "Answer us, Baal!" But there was no sound, and no one answering. And they hopped around the altar they had prepared.

[27] When it was noon, Elijah taunted them: "Call louder, for he is a god and may be meditating, or may have retired, or may be on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened."

[28] They called out louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until blood gushed over them.

[29] Noon passed and they remained in a prophetic state until the time for offering sacrifice. But there was not a sound; no one answered, and no one was listening.

[30] Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." When they had done so, he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been destroyed.

[31] He took twelve stones, for the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the LORD had said, "Your name shall be Israel."

[32] He built an altar in honor of the LORD with the stones, and made a trench around the altar large enough for two seahs of grain.

[33] When he had arranged the wood, he cut up the young bull and laid it on the wood.

[34] "Fill four jars with water," he said, "and pour it over the holocaust and over the wood." "Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he said, and they did it a third time.

[35] The water flowed around the altar, and the trench was filled with the water.

[36] At the time for offering sacrifice, the prophet Elijah came forward and said, "LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things by your command.

[37] Answer me, LORD! Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to their senses."

[38] The LORD'S fire came down and consumed the holocaust, wood, stones, and dust, and it lapped up the water in the trench.

[39] Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said, "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!"

[40] Then Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Let none of them escape!" They were seized, and Elijah had them brought down to the brook Kishon and there he slit their throats.

[41] Elijah then said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain."

[42] So Ahab went up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, crouched down to the earth, and put his head between his knees.

[43] "Climb up and look out to sea," he directed his servant, who went up and looked, but reported, "There is nothing." Seven times he said, "Go look again!"

[44] And the seventh time the youth reported, "There is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising from the sea." Elijah said, "Go and say to Ahab, 'Harness up and leave the mountain before the rain stops you.'"

[45] In a trice, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell. Ahab mounted his chariot and made for Jezreel.

[46] But the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, who girded up his clothing and ran before Ahab as far as the approaches to Jezreel.

First Kings Chapter 19

[1] Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done--that he had put all the prophets to the sword.

[2] Jezebel then sent a messenger to Elijah and said, "May the gods do thus and so to me if by this time tomorrow I have not done with your life what was done to each of them."

[3] Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there

[4] and went a day's journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: "This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."

[5] He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.

[6] He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again,

[7] but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, "Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!"

[8] He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

[9] There he came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him, "Why are you here, Elijah?"

[10] He answered: "I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life."

[11] 1 Then the LORD said, "Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by." A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD--but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake--but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

[12] After the earthquake there was fire--but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.

[13] When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, "Elijah, why are you here?"

[14] He replied, "I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. But the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life."

[15] 2 "Go, take the road back to the desert near Damascus," the LORD said to him. "When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king of Aram.

[16] Then you shall anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel, and Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, as prophet to succeed you.

[17] If anyone escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill him. If he escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill him.

[18] Yet I will leave seven thousand men in Israel--all those who have not knelt to Baal or kissed him."

[19] 3 Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat, as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen; he was following the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.

[20] Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, "Please, let me kiss my father and mother good-bye, and I will follow you." "Go back!" Elijah answered. "Have I done anything to you?"

[21] Elisha left him and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them; he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh, and gave it to his people to eat. Then he left and followed Elijah as his attendant.

First Kings Chapter 20

[1] Ben-hadad, king of Aram, gathered all his forces, and accompanied by thirty-two kings with horses and chariotry, proceeded to invest and attack Samaria.

[2] He sent couriers to Ahab, king of Israel, within the city,

[3] and said to him, "This is Ben-hadad's message: 'Your silver and gold are mine, and your wives and your promising sons are mine.'"

[4] The king of Israel answered, "As you say, my lord king, I and all I have are yours."

[5] But the couriers came again and said, "This is Ben-hadad's message: 'I sent you word to give me your silver and gold, your wives and your sons.

[6] Now, however, at this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they shall ransack your house and the houses of your servants. They shall seize and take away whatever they consider valuable.'"

[7] The king of Israel then summoned all the elders of the land and said: "Understand clearly that this man wants to ruin us. When he sent to me for my wives and sons, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him."

[8] All the elders and all the people said to him, "Do not listen. Do not give in."

[9] Accordingly he directed the couriers of Ben-hadad, "Say to my lord the king, 'I will do all that you demanded of your servant the first time. But this I cannot do.'" The couriers left and reported this.

[10] Ben-hadad then sent him the message, "May the gods do thus and so to me if there is enough dust in Samaria to make handfuls for all my followers."

[11] The king of Israel replied, "Tell him, 'It is not for the man who is buckling his armor to boast as though he were taking it off.'"

[12] Ben-hadad was drinking in the pavilions with the kings when he heard this reply. "Prepare the assault," he commanded his servants; and they made ready to storm the city.

[13] Then a prophet came up to Ahab, king of Israel and said: "The LORD says, 'Do you see all this huge army? When I deliver it up to you today, you will know that I am the LORD.'"

[14] But Ahab asked, "Through whom will it be delivered up?" He answered, "The LORD says, 'Through the retainers of the governors of the provinces.'" Then Ahab asked, "Who is to attack?" He replied, "You are."

[15] So Ahab called up the retainers of the governors of the provinces, two hundred thirty-two of them. Behind them he mustered all the Israelite soldiery, who numbered seven thousand.

[16] They marched out at noon, while Ben-hadad was drinking heavily in the pavilions with the thirty-two kings who were his allies.

[17] When the retainers of the governors of the provinces marched out first, Ben-hadad received word that some men had marched out of Samaria.

[18] He answered, "Whether they have come out for peace or for war, in any case take them alive."

[19] But when these had come out of the city-the soldiers of the governors of the provinces with the army following them--

[20] each of them struck down his man. The Arameans fled with Israel pursuing them, while Ben-hadad, king of Aram, escaped on a chariot steed.

[21] The king of Israel went out, took the horses and chariots, and inflicted a severe defeat on Aram.

[22] 1 Then the prophet went up to the king of Israel and said to him: "Go, regroup your forces. Mark well what you do, for at the beginning of the year the king of Aram will attack you."

[23] On the other hand, the servants of the king of Aram said to him: "Their gods are gods of mountains. That is why they defeated us. But if we fight them on level ground, we shall be sure to defeat them.

[24] This is what you must do: Take the kings from their posts and put prefects in their places.

[25] Mobilize an army as large as the army that has deserted you, horse for horse, chariot for chariot. Let us fight them on level ground, and we shall surely defeat them." He took their advice and did this.

[26] At the beginning of the year, Ben-hadad mobilized Aram and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

[27] The Israelites, too, were called to arms and supplied with provisions; then they went out to engage the foe. The Israelites, encamped opposite them, seemed like a couple of small flocks of goats, while Aram covered the countryside.

[28] A man of God came up and said to the king of Israel: "The LORD says, 'Because Aram has said the LORD is a god of mountains, not a god of plains, I will deliver up to you all this large army, that you may know I am the LORD.'"

[29] They were encamped opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day battle was joined, and the Israelites struck down one hundred thousand foot soldiers of Aram in one day.

[30] The survivors, twenty-seven thousand of them, fled into the city of Aphek, and there the wall collapsed. Ben-hadad, too, fled, and took refuge within the city, in an inside room.

[31] His servants said to him: "We have heard that the kings of the land of Israel are merciful kings. Allow us, therefore, to garb ourselves in sackcloth, with cords around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life."

[32] So they dressed in sackcloth girded at the waist, and wearing cords around their heads, they went to the king of Israel. "Your servant Ben-hadad pleads for his life," they said. "Is he still alive?" the king asked. "He is my brother."

[33] Hearing this as a good omen, the men quickly took him at his word and said, "Ben-hadad is your brother." He answered, "Go and get him." When Ben-hadad came out to him, the king had him mount his chariot.

[34] Ben-hadad said to him, "I will restore the cities which my father took from your father, and you may make yourself bazaars in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." "On these terms," Ahab replied, "I will set you free." So he made an agreement with him and then set him free.

[35] One of the guild prophets was prompted by the LORD to say to his companion, "Strike me." But he refused to strike him.

[36] Then he said to him, "Since you did not obey the voice of the LORD, a lion will kill you when you leave me." When they parted company, a lion came upon him and killed him.

[37] The prophet met another man and said, "Strike me." The man struck him a blow and wounded him.

[38] The prophet went on and waited for the king on the road, having disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes.

[39] As the king was passing, he called out to the king and said: "Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and suddenly someone turned and brought me a man and said, 'Guard this man. If he is missing, you shall have to pay for his life with your life or pay out a talent of silver.'

[40] But while your servant was looking here and there, the man disappeared." The king of Israel said to him, "That is your sentence. You have decided it yourself."

[41] He immediately removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

[42] He said to him: "The LORD says, 'Because you have set free the man I doomed to destruction, your life shall pay for his life, your people for his people.'"

[43] Disturbed and angry, the king of Israel went off homeward and entered Samaria.

First Kings Chapter 21

[1] Some time after this, as Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria,

[2] Ahab said to Naboth, "Give me your vineyard to be my vegetable garden, since it is close by, next to my house. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange, or, if you prefer, I will give you its value in money."

[3] "The LORD forbid," Naboth answered him, "that I should give you my ancestral heritage."

[4] Ahab went home disturbed and angry at the answer Naboth the Jezreelite had made to him: "I will not give you my ancestral heritage." Lying down on his bed, he turned away from food and would not eat.

[5] His wife Jezebel came to him and said to him, "Why are you so angry that you will not eat?"

[6] He answered her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, 'Sell me your vineyard, or, if you prefer, I will give you a vineyard in exchange.' But he refused to let me have his vineyard."

[7] "A fine ruler over Israel you are indeed!" his wife Jezebel said to him. "Get up. Eat and be cheerful. I will obtain the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you."

[8] So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and, having sealed them with his seal, sent them to the elders and to the nobles who lived in the same city with Naboth.

[9] This is what she wrote in the letters: "Proclaim a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people.

[10] Next, get two scoundrels to face him and accuse him of having cursed God and king. Then take him out and stone him to death."

[11] His fellow citizens--the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city--did as Jezebel had ordered them in writing, through the letters she had sent them.

[12] They proclaimed a fast and placed Naboth at the head of the people.

[13] Two scoundrels came in and confronted him with the accusation, "Naboth has cursed God and king." And they led him out of the city and stoned him to death.

[14] Then they sent the information to Jezebel that Naboth had been stoned to death.

[15] When Jezebel learned that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, "Go on, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he refused to sell you, because Naboth is not alive, but dead."

[16] On hearing that Naboth was dead, Ahab started off on his way down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

[17] But the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite:

[18] "Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be in the vineyard of Naboth, of which he has come to take possession.

[19] 1 This is what you shall tell him, 'The LORD says: After murdering, do you also take possession? For this, the LORD says: In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.'"

[20] 2 "Have you found me out, my enemy?" Ahab said to Elijah. "Yes," he answered. "Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the LORD'S sight,

[21] I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahab's line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel.

[22] I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and like that of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because of how you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin."

[23] (Against Jezebel, too, the LORD declared, "The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.")

[24] "When one of Ahab's line dies in the city, dogs will devour him; when one of them dies in the field, the birds of the sky will devour him."

[25] Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil in the sight of the LORD as did Ahab, urged on by his wife Jezebel.

[26] He became completely abominable by following idols, just as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD drove out before the Israelites.

[27] When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh. He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued.

[28] Then the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite,

[29] "Have you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his time. I will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son."

First Kings Chapter 22

[1] Three years passed without war between Aram and Israel.

[2] In the third year, however, King Jehoshaphat of Judah came down to the king of Israel,

[3] who said to his servants, "Do you not know that Ramoth-gilead is ours and we are doing nothing to take it from the king of Aram?"

[4] He asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you come with me to fight against Ramoth-gilead?" Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, "You and I are as one, and your people and my people, your horses and my horses as well."

[5] Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "Seek the word of the LORD at once."

[6] The king of Israel gathered together the prophets, about four hundred of them, and asked, "Shall I go to attack Ramoth-gilead or shall I refrain?" "Go up," they answered. "The LORD will deliver it over to the king."

[7] But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no other prophet of the LORD here whom we may consult?"

[8] The king of Israel answered, "There is one other through whom we might consult the LORD, Micaiah, son of Imlah; but I hate him because he prophesies not good but evil about me." Jehoshaphat said, "Let not your majesty speak of evil against you."

[9] So the king of Israel called an official and said to him, "Get Micaiah, son of Imlah, at once."

[10] The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were seated, each on his throne, clothed in their robes of state on a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

[11] Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made himself horns of iron and said, "The LORD says, 'With these you shall gore Aram until you have destroyed them.'"

[12] The other prophets prophesied in a similar vein, saying: "Go up to Ramoth-gilead; you shall succeed. The LORD will deliver it over to the king."

[13] The messenger who had gone to call Micaiah said to him, "Look now, the prophets are unanimously predicting good for the king. Let your word be the same as any of theirs; predict good."

[14] "As the LORD lives," Micaiah answered, "I shall say whatever the LORD tells me."

[15] When he came to the king, the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to fight against Ramoth-gilead, or shall we refrain?" "Go up," he answered, "you shall succeed! The LORD will deliver it over to the king."

[16] But the king answered him, "How many times must I adjure you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?"

[17] So Micaiah said: "I see all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD saying, 'These have no master! Let each of them go back home in peace.'"

[18] The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you he prophesies not good but evil about me?"

[19] 1 Micaiah continued: "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD seated on his throne, with the whole host of heaven standing by to his right and to his left.

[20] The LORD asked, 'Who will deceive Ahab, so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said this, another that,

[21] until one of the spirits came forth and presented himself to the LORD, saying, 'I will deceive him.' The LORD asked, 'How?'

[22] He answered, 'I will go forth and become a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.' The LORD replied, 'You shall succeed in deceiving him. Go forth and do this.'

[23] So now, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, but the LORD himself has decreed evil against you."

[24] Thereupon Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, came up and slapped Micaiah on the cheek, saying, "Has the spirit of the LORD, then, left me to speak with you?"

[25] "You shall find out," Micaiah replied, "on that day when you retreat into an inside room to hide."

[26] The king of Israel then said, "Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon, prefect of the city, and to Joash, the king's son,

[27] and say, 'This is the king's order: Put this man in prison and feed him scanty rations of bread and water until I return in safety.'"

[28] 2 But Micaiah said, "If ever you return in safety, the LORD has not spoken through me."

[29] The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead,

[30] and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you put on your own clothes." So the king of Israel disguised himself and entered the fray.

[31] In the meantime the king of Aram had given his thirty-two chariot commanders the order, "Do not fight with anyone at all except the king of Israel."

[32] When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they cried out, "That must be the king of Israel!" and shifted to fight him. But Jehoshaphat shouted his battle cry,

[33] and the chariot commanders, aware that he was not the king of Israel, gave up pursuit of him.

[34] Someone, however, drew his bow at random, and hit the king of Israel between the joints of his breastplate. He ordered his charioteer, "Rein about and take me out of the ranks, for I am disabled."

[35] The battle grew fierce during the day, and the king, who was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans, died in the evening. The blood from his wound flowed to the bottom of the chariot.

[36] At sunset a cry went through the army, "Every man to his city, every man to his land,

[37] for the king is dead!" So they went to Samaria, where they buried the king.

[38] When the chariot was washed at the pool of Samaria, the dogs licked up his blood and harlots bathed there, as the LORD had prophesied.

[39] The rest of the acts of Ahab, with all that he did, including the ivory palace and all the cities he built, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[40] Ahab rested with his ancestors, and his son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.

[41] Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.

[42] Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi.

[43] He followed all the ways of his father Asa unswervingly, doing what was right in the LORD'S sight.

[44] Nevertheless, the high places did not disappear, and the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on the high places.

[45] Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

[46] The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, with his prowess, what he did and how he fought, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[47] He removed from the land the rest of the cult prostitutes who had remained in the reign of his father Asa.

[48] There was no king in Edom, but an appointed regent.

[49] Jehoshaphat made Tarshish ships to go to Ophir for gold; but in fact the ships did not go, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.

[50] Then Ahaziah, son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my servants accompany your servants in the ships." But Jehoshaphat would not agree.

[51] Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors; he was buried in his forefathers' City of David. His son Jehoram succeeded him as king.

[52] 3 Ahaziah, son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; he reigned two years over Israel.

[53] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, behaving like his father, his mother, and Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

[54] He served and worshiped Baal, thus provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, just as his father had done.

Second Kings Chapter 1

[1] After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel.

[2] 1 Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his roof terrace at Samaria and had been injured. So he sent out messengers with the instructions: "Go and inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury."

[3] Meanwhile, the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite: "Go, intercept the messengers of Samaria's king, and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron?'

[4] For this, the LORD says: 'You shall not leave the bed upon which you lie; instead, you shall die.'" And with that, Elijah departed.

[5] The messengers then returned to Ahaziah, who asked them. "Why have you returned?"

[6] "A man came up to us," they answered, "who said to us, 'Go back to the king who sent you and tell him: The LORD says, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? For this you shall not leave the bed upon which you lie; instead, you shall die.'"

[7] The king asked them, "What was the man like who came up to you and said these things to you?"

[8] 2 "Wearing a hairy garment," they replied, "with a leather girdle about his loins." "It is Elijah the Tishbite!" he exclaimed.

[9] Then the king sent a captain with his company of fifty men after Elijah. The prophet was seated on a hilltop when he found him. "Man of God," he ordered, "the king commands you to come down."

[10] "If I am a man of God," Elijah answered the captain, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men." And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

[11] Ahaziah sent another captain with his company of fifty men after Elijah. "Man of God," he called out to Elijah, "the king commands you to come down immediately."

[12] 3 "If I am a man of God," Elijah answered him, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men." And divine fire came down from heaven, consuming him and his fifty men.

[13] Again, for the third time, Ahaziah sent a captain with his company of fifty men. When the third captain arrived, he fell to his knees before Elijah, pleading with him. "Man of God," he implored him, "let my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants, count for something in your sight!

[14] Already fire has come down from heaven, consuming two captains with their companies of fifty men. But now, let my life mean something to you!"

[15] Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; you need not be afraid of him."

[16] So Elijah left and went down with him and stated to the king: "Thus says the LORD: 'Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, you shall not leave the bed upon which you lie; instead you shall die.'"

[17] 4 Ahaziah died in fulfillment of the prophecy of the LORD spoken by Elijah. Since he had no son, his brother Joram succeeded him as king, in the second year of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.

[18] The rest of the acts of Ahaziah are recorded in the book of chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Second Kings Chapter 2

[1] 1 When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, he and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.

[2] "Stay here, please," Elijah said to Elisha. "The LORD has sent me on to Bethel." "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live," Elisha replied, "I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel,

[3] where the guild prophets went out to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the LORD will take your master from over you today?" "Yes, I know it," he replied. "Keep still."

[4] Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, please, Elisha, for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho." "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live," Elisha replied, "I will not leave you."

[5] They went on to Jericho, where the guild prophets approached Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the LORD will take your master from over you today?" "Yes, I know it," he replied. "Keep still."

[6] Elijah said to Elisha, "Please stay here; the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan." "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live," Elisha replied, "I will not leave you." And so the two went on together.

[7] Fifty of the guild prophets followed, and when the two stopped at the Jordan, stood facing them at a distance.

[8] Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up and struck the water, which divided, and both crossed over on dry ground.

[9] 2 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask for whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha answered, "May I receive a double portion of your spirit."

[10] "You have asked something that is not easy," he replied. "Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not."

[11] As they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

[12] 3 When Elisha saw it happen he cried out, "My father! my father! Israel's chariots and drivers!" But when he could no longer see him, Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two.

[13] Then he picked up Elijah's mantle which had fallen from him, and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan.

[14] Wielding the mantle which had fallen from Elijah, he struck the water in his turn and said, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" When Elisha struck the water it divided and he crossed over.

[15] The guild prophets in Jericho, who were on the other side, saw him and said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." They went to meet him, bowing to the ground before him.

[16] "Among your servants are fifty brave men," they said. "Let them go in search of your master. Perhaps the spirit of the LORD has carried him away to some mountain or some valley." "Do not send them," he answered.

[17] However, they kept urging him, until he was embarrassed and said, "Send them." So they sent the fifty men, who searched for three days without finding him.

[18] When they returned to Elisha in Jericho, where he was staying, he said to them, "Did I not tell you not to go?"

[19] Once the inhabitants of the city complained to Elisha, "The site of the city is fine indeed, as my lord can see, but the water is bad and the land unfruitful."

[20] "Bring me a new bowl," Elisha said, "and put salt into it." When they had brought it to him,

[21] he went out to the spring and threw salt into it, saying, "Thus says the LORD, 'I have purified this water. Never again shall death or miscarriage spring from it.'"

[22] And the water has stayed pure even to this day, just as Elisha prophesied.

[23] 4 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. "Go up, baldhead," they shouted, "go up, baldhead!"

[24] The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the children to pieces.

[25] From there he went to Mount Carmel, and thence he returned to Samaria.

Second Kings Chapter 3

[1] 1 2 Joram, son of Ahab, became king of Israel in Samaria (in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years).

[2] He did evil in the LORD'S sight, though not as much as his father and mother. He did away with the pillar of Baal, which his father had made,

[3] but he still clung to the sin to which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had lured Israel; this he did not give up.

[4] Now Mesha, king of Moab, who raised sheep, used to pay the king of Israel as tribute a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.

[5] But when Ahab died, the king of Moab had rebelled against the king of Israel.

[6] Joram as king mustered all Israel, and when he set out on a campaign from Samaria,

[7] he sent the king of Judah the message: "The king of Moab is in rebellion against me. Will you join me in battle against Moab?" "I will," he replied. "You and I shall be as one, your people and mine, and your horses and mine as well."

[8] They discussed the route for their attack, and settled upon the route through the desert of Edom.

[9] So the king of Israel set out, accompanied by the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After their roundabout journey of seven days the water gave out for the army and for the animals with them.

[10] "Alas!" exclaimed the king of Israel. "The LORD has called together these three kings to put them in the grasp of Moab."

[11] But the king of Judah asked, "Is there no prophet of the LORD here through whom we may inquire of the LORD?" One of the officers of the king of Israel replied, "Elisha, son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here."

[12] "He has the word of the LORD," the king of Judah agreed. So the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom went down to Elisha.

[13] "What do you want with me?" Elisha asked the king of Israel. "Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." "No," the king of Israel replied. "The LORD has called these three kings together to put them in the grasp of Moab."

[14] Then Elisha said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, whom I serve, were it not that I respect the king of Judah, I should neither look at you nor notice you at all.

[15] Now get me a minstrel." When the minstrel played, the power of the LORD came upon Elisha

[16] and he announced: "Thus says the LORD, 'Provide many catch basins in this wadi.'

[17] For the LORD says, 'Though you will see neither wind nor rain, yet this wadi will be filled with water for you, your livestock, and your pack animals to drink.'

[18] And since the LORD does not consider this enough, he will also deliver Moab into your grasp.

[19] You shall destroy every fortified city, fell every fruit tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every fertile field with stones."

[20] In the morning, at the time of the sacrifice, water came from the direction of Edom and filled the land.

[21] Meanwhile, all Moab heard that the kings had come to give them battle; every man capable of bearing arms was called up and stationed at the border.

[22] 2 Early that morning, when the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water at a distance as red as blood.

[23] "This is blood!" they exclaimed. "The kings have fought among themselves and killed one another. Quick! To the spoils, Moabites!"

[24] But when they reached the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked the Moabites, who fled from them. They ranged through the countryside striking down the Moabites, and

[25] 3 destroying the cities; each of them cast stones onto every fertile field till they had loaded it down; all the springs they stopped up and every useful tree they felled. Finally only Kir-hareseth was left behind its stone walls, and the slingers had surrounded it and were attacking it.

[26] When he saw that he was losing the battle, the king of Moab took seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Aram, but he failed.

[27] 4 So he took his first-born, his heir apparent, and offered him as a holocaust upon the wall. The wrath against Israel was so great that they gave up the siege and returned to their own land.

Second Kings Chapter 4

[1] 1 A certain woman, the widow of one of the guild prophets, complained to Elisha: "My husband, your servant, is dead. You know that he was a God-fearing man, yet now his creditor has come to take my two children as his slaves."

[2] "How can I help you?" Elisha answered her. "Tell me what you have in the house." "This servant of yours has nothing in the house but a jug of oil," she replied.

[3] "Go out," he said, "borrow vessels from all your neighbors--as many empty vessels as you can.

[4] Then come back and close the door on yourself and your children; pour the oil into all the vessels, and as each is filled, set it aside."

[5] She went and did so, closing the door on herself and her children. As they handed her the vessels, she would pour in oil.

[6] When all the vessels were filled, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." "There is none left," he answered her. And then the oil stopped.

[7] She went and told the man of God, who said, "Go and sell the oil to pay off your creditor; with what remains, you and your children can live."

[8] One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.

[9] So she said to her husband, "I know that he is a holy man of God. Since he visits us often,

[10] let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when he comes to us he can stay there."

[11] Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.

[12] Then he said to his servant Gehazi, "Call this Shunammite woman." He did so, and when she stood before Elisha,

[13] he told Gehazi, "Say to her, 'You have lavished all this care on us; what can we do for you? Can we say a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?'" She replied, "I am living among my own people."

[14] Later Elisha asked, "Can something be done for her?" "Yes!" Gehazi answered. "She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years."

[15] "Call her," said Elisha. When she had been called, and stood at the door,

[16] Elisha promised, "This time next year you will be fondling a baby son." "Please, my lord," she protested, "you are a man of God; do not deceive your servant."

[17] Yet the woman conceived, and by the same time the following year she had given birth to a son, as Elisha had promised.

[18] The day came when the child was old enough to go out to his father among the reapers.

[19] "My head hurts!" he complained to his father. "Carry him to his mother," the father said to a servant.

[20] The servant picked him up and carried him to his mother; he stayed with her until noon, when he died in her lap.

[21] The mother took him upstairs and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Closing the door on him, she went out

[22] and called to her husband, "Let me have a servant and a donkey. I must go quickly to the man of God, and I will be back."

[23] "Why are you going to him today?" he asked. "It is neither the new moon nor the sabbath." But she bade him good-bye,

[24] and when the donkey was saddled, said to her servant: "Lead on! Do not stop my donkey unless I tell you to."

[25] She kept going till she reached the man of God on Mount Carmel. When he spied her at a distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi: "There is the Shunammite!

[26] 2 Hurry to meet her, and ask if all is well with her, with her husband, and with the boy." "Greetings," she replied.

[27] But when she reached the man of God on the mountain, she clasped his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the man of God said: "Let her alone, she is in bitter anguish; the LORD hid it from me and did not let me know."

[28] "Did I ask my lord for a son?" she cried out. "Did I not beg you not to deceive me?"

[29] 3 "Gird your loins," Elisha said to Gehazi, "take my staff with you and be off; if you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff upon the boy."

[30] But the boy's mother cried out: "As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not release you." So he started to go back with her.

[31] Meanwhile, Gehazi had gone on ahead and had laid the staff upon the boy, but there was no sound or sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and informed him that the boy had not awakened.

[32] When Elisha reached the house, he found the boy lying dead.

[33] He went in, closed the door on them both, and prayed to the LORD.

[34] Then he lay upon the child on the bed, placing his mouth upon the child's mouth, his eyes upon the eyes, and his hands upon the hands. As Elisha stretched himself over the child, the body became warm.

[35] He arose, paced up and down the room, and then once more lay down upon the boy, who now sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

[36] Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." She came at his call, and Elisha said to her, "Take your son."

[37] She came in and fell at his feet in gratitude; then she took her son and left the room.

[38] When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. Once, when the guild prophets were seated before him, he said to his servant, "Put the large pot on, and make some vegetable stew for the guild prophets."

[39] Someone went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine, from which he picked a clothful of wild gourds. On his return he cut them up into the pot of vegetable stew without anybody's knowing it.

[40] The stew was poured out for the men to eat, but when they began to eat it, they exclaimed, "Man of God, there is poison in the pot!" And they could not eat it.

[41] "Bring some meal," Elisha said. He threw it into the pot and said, "Serve it to the people to eat." And there was no longer anything harmful in the pot.

[42] A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing the man of God twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear. "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha said.

[43] But his servant objected, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha insisted. "For thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'"

[44] And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the LORD had said.

Second Kings Chapter 5

[1] Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram. But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.

[2] Now the Arameans had captured from the land of Israel in a raid a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman's wife.

[3] "If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria," she said to her mistress, "he would cure him of his leprosy."

[4] Naaman went and told his lord just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said.

[5] "Go," said the king of Aram. "I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.

[6] To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy."

[7] When he read the letter, the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed: "Am I a god with power over life and death, that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy? Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!"

[8] When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: "Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel."

[9] Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.

[10] The prophet sent him the message: "Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean."

[11] But Naaman went away angry, saying, "I thought that he would surely come out and stand there to invoke the LORD his God, and would move his hand over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy.

[12] 1 Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?" With this, he turned about in anger and left.

[13] But his servants came up and reasoned with him. "My father," they said, "if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, 'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."

[14] So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

[15] He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant."

[16] "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it," Elisha replied; and despite Naaman's urging, he still refused.

[17] 2 Naaman said: "If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD.

[18] But I trust the LORD will forgive your servant this: when my master enters the temple of Rimmon to worship there, then I, too, as his adjutant, must bow down in the temple of Rimmon. May the LORD forgive your servant this."

[19] 3 "Go in peace," Elisha said to him.

[20] Naaman had gone some distance when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought to himself: "My master was too easy with this Aramean Naaman, not accepting what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something out of him."

[21] So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. Aware that someone was running after him, Naaman alighted from his chariot to wait for him. "Is everything all right?" he asked.

[22] "Yes," Gehazi replied, "but my master sent me to say, 'Two young men have just come to me, guild prophets from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two festal garments.'"

[23] "Please take two talents," Naaman said, and pressed them upon him. He tied up these silver talents in bags and gave them, with the two festal garments, to two of his servants, who carried them before Gehazi.

[24] When they reached the hill, Gehazi took what they had, carried it into the house, and sent the men on their way.

[25] He went in and stood before Elisha his master, who asked him, "Where have you been, Gehazi?" He answered, "Your servant has not gone anywhere."

[26] But Elisha said to him: "Was I not present in spirit when the man alighted from his chariot to wait for you? Is this a time to take money or to take garments, olive orchards or vineyards, sheep or cattle, male or female servants?

[27] The leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever." And Gehazi left Elisha, a leper white as snow.

Second Kings Chapter 6

[1] The guild prophets once said to Elisha: "There is not enough room for us to continue to live here with you.

[2] Let us go to the Jordan, where by getting one beam apiece we can build ourselves a place to live." "Go," Elisha said.

[3] "Please agree to accompany your servants," one of them requested. "Yes, I will come," he replied.

[4] So he went with them, and when they arrived at the Jordan they began to fell trees.

[5] While one of them was felling a tree trunk, the iron axhead slipped into the water. "O master," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

[6] "Where did it fall?" asked the man of God. When he pointed out the spot, Elisha cut off a stick, threw it into the water, and brought the iron to the surface.

[7] "Pick it up," he said. And the man reached down and grasped it.

[8] When the king of Aram was waging war on Israel, he would make plans with his servants to attack a particular place.

[9] But the man of God would send word to the king of Israel, "Be careful! Do not pass by this place, for Aram will attack there."

[10] So the king of Israel would send word to the place which the man of God had indicated, and alert it; then they would be on guard. This happened several times.

[11] Greatly disturbed over this, the king of Aram called together his officers. "Will you not tell me," he asked them, "who among us is for the king of Israel?"

[12] "No one, my lord king," answered one of the officers. "The Israelite prophet Elisha can tell the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."

[13] "Go, find out where he is," he said, "so that I may take him captive." Informed that Elisha was in Dothan,

[14] he sent there a strong force with horses and chariots. They arrived by night and surrounded the city.

[15] Early the next morning, when the attendant of the man of God arose and went out, he saw the force with its horses and chariots surrounding the city. "Alas!" he said to Elisha. "What shall we do, my lord?"

[16] "Do not be afraid," Elisha answered. "Our side outnumbers theirs."

[17] Then he prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes, that he may see." And the LORD opened the eyes of the servant, so that he saw the mountainside filled with horses and fiery chariots around Elisha.

[18] When the Arameans came down to get him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike this people blind, I pray you." And in answer to the prophet's prayer the LORD struck them blind.

[19] Then Elisha said to them: "This is the wrong road, and this is the wrong city. Follow me! I will take you to the man you want." And he led them to Samaria.

[20] When they entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open their eyes that they may see." The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria.

[21] When the king of Israel saw them, he asked, "Shall I kill them, my father?"

[22] 1 "You must not kill them," replied Elisha. "Do you slay those whom you have taken captive with your sword or bow? Serve them bread and water. Let them eat and drink, and then go back to their master."

[23] The king spread a great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went back to their master. No more Aramean raiders came into the land of Israel.

[24] After this, Ben-hadad, king of Aram, mustered his whole army and laid siege to Samaria.

[25] Because of the siege the famine in Samaria was so severe that an ass's head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a fourth of a kab of wild onion for five pieces of silver.

[26] One day, as the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, "Help, my lord king!"

[27] "No," he replied, "the LORD help you! Where could I find help for you: from the threshing floor or the winepress?"

[28] Then the king asked her, "What is your trouble?" She replied: "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son that we may eat him today; then tomorrow we will eat my son.'

[29] So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Now give up your son that we may eat him.' But she hid her son."

[30] When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his garments. And as he was walking on the wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth underneath, next to his skin.

[31] "May God do thus and so to me," the king exclaimed, "if the head of Elisha, son of Shaphat, stays on him today!"

[32] Meanwhile, Elisha was sitting in his house in conference with the elders. The king had sent a man ahead before he himself should come to him. Elisha had said to the elders: "Do you know that this son of a murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? When the messenger comes, see that you close the door and hold it fast against him. His master's footsteps are echoing behind him."

[33] While Elisha was still speaking, the king came down to him and said, "This evil is from the LORD. Why should I trust in the LORD any longer?"

Second Kings Chapter 7

[1] 1 Elisha said: "Hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD, 'At this time tomorrow a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the market of Samaria.'"

[2] But the adjutant on whose arm the king leaned, answered the man of God, "Even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, how could this happen?" "You shall see it with your own eyes," Elisha said, "but you shall not eat of it."

[3] At the city gate were four lepers who were deliberating, "Why should we sit here until we die?

[4] If we decide to go into the city, we shall die there, for there is famine in the city. If we remain here, we shall die too. Come, let us desert to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, we die."

[5] At twilight they left for the Arameans; but when they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there.

[6] 2 The LORD had caused the army of the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses, the din of a large army, and they had reasoned among themselves, "The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the borderlands to fight us."

[7] Then in the twilight they fled, abandoning their tents, their horses, and their asses, the whole camp just as it was, and fleeing for their lives.

[8] After the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went first into one tent, ate and drank, and took silver, gold, and clothing from it, and went out and hid them. Back they came into another tent, took things from it, and again went out and hid them.

[9] Then they said to one another: "We are not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until morning breaks, we shall be blamed. Come, let us go and inform the palace."

[10] They came and summoned the city gatekeepers. "We went to the camp of the Arameans," they said, "but no one was there--not a human voice, only the horses and asses tethered, and the tents just as they were left."

[11] The gatekeepers announced this and it was reported within the palace.

[12] Though it was night, the king got up; he said to his servants: "Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. Knowing that we are in famine, they have left their camp to hide in the field, hoping to take us alive and enter our city when we leave it."

[13] One of his servants, however, suggested: "Since those who are left in the city are no better off than all the throng that has perished, let some of us take five of the abandoned horses and send scouts to investigate."

[14] They took two chariots, and horses, and the king sent them to reconnoiter the Aramean army. "Go and find out," he ordered.

[15] They followed the Arameans as far as the Jordan, and the whole route was strewn with garments and other objects that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

[16] The people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans; and then a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, as the LORD had said.

[17] The king put in charge of the gate the officer who was his adjutant; but the people trampled him to death at the gate, just as the man of God had predicted when the king visited him.

[18] Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of the man of God to the king, "Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and one seah of fine flour for a shekel at this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria."

[19] The adjutant had answered the man of God, "Even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, how could this happen?" And Elisha had replied, "You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it."

[20] And that is what happened to him, for the people trampled him to death at the gate.

Second Kings Chapter 8

[1] Elisha once said to the woman whose son he had restored to life: "Get ready! Leave with your family and settle wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine which is coming upon the land."

[2] The woman got ready and did as the man of God said, setting out with her family and settling in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

[3] At the end of the seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went out to the king to claim her house and her field.

[4] The king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. "Tell me," he said, "all the great things that Elisha has done."

[5] Just as he was relating to the king how his master had restored a dead person to life, the very woman whose son Elisha had restored to life came to the king to claim her house and field. "My lord king," Gehazi said, "this is the woman, and this is that son of hers whom Elisha restored to life."

[6] 1 The king questioned the woman, and she told him her story. With that the king placed an official at her disposal, saying, "Restore all her property to her, with all that the field produced from the day she left the land until now."

[7] Elisha came to Damascus at a time when Ben-hadad, king of Aram, lay sick. When he was told that the man of God had come there,

[8] the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go call on the man of God. Have him consult the LORD as to whether I shall recover from this sickness."

[9] Hazael went to visit him, carrying a present, and with forty camel loads of the best goods of Damascus. On his arrival, he stood before the prophet and said, "Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to ask you whether he will recover from his sickness."

[10] "Go and tell him," Elisha answered, "that he will surely recover. However, the LORD has showed me that he will in fact die."

[11] Then he stared him down until Hazael became ill at ease. The man of God wept,

[12] and Hazael asked, "Why are you weeping, my lord?" Elisha replied, "Because I know the evil that you will inflict upon the Israelites. You will burn their fortresses, you will slay their youth with the sword, you will dash their little children to pieces, you will rip open their pregnant women."

[13] 2 Hazael exclaimed, "How can a dog like me, your servant, do anything so important?" "The LORD has showed you to me as king over Aram," replied Elisha.

[14] Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. "What did Elisha tell you?" asked Ben-hadad. "He told me that you would surely recover," replied Hazael.

[15] The next day, however, Hazael took a cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king's face, so that he died. And Hazael reigned in his stead.

[16] 3 In the fifth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king.

[17] He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

[18] He conducted himself like the kings of Israel of the line of Ahab, since the sister of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the LORD'S sight.

[19] Even so, the LORD was unwilling to destroy Judah, because of his servant David. For he had promised David that he would leave him a lamp in the LORD'S presence for all time.

[20] During Jehoram's reign, Edom revolted against the sovereignty of Judah and chose a king of its own.

[21] Thereupon Jehoram with all his chariots crossed over to Zair. He arose by night and broke through the Edomites when they had surrounded him and the commanders of his chariots. Then his army fled homeward.

[22] To this day Edom has been in revolt against the rule of Judah. Libnah also revolted at that time.

[23] The rest of the acts of Jehoram, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[24] Jehoram rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.

[25] 4 Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, became king in the twelfth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel.

[26] He was twenty-two years old when he began his reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah; she was daughter of Omri, king of Israel.

[27] He conducted himself like the house of Ahab, doing evil in the LORD'S sight as they did, since he was related to them by marriage.

[28] He joined Joram, son of Ahab, in battle against Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead, where the Arameans wounded Joram.

[29] King Joram returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah in his battle against Hazael, king of Aram. Then Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to Jezreel to visit him there in his illness.

Second Kings Chapter 9

[1] The prophet Elisha called one of the guild prophets and said to him: "Gird your loins, take this flask of oil with you, and go to Ramoth-gilead.

[2] When you get there, look for Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Enter and take him away from his companions into an inner chamber.

[3] From the flask you have, pour oil on his head, and say, 'Thus says the LORD: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and flee without delay."

[4] The young man (the guild prophet) went to Ramoth-gilead.

[5] When he arrived, the commanders of the army were in session. "I have a message for you, commander," he said. "For which one of us?" asked Jehu. "For you, commander," he answered.

[6] Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the young man poured the oil on his head and said, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I anoint you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel.

[7] 1 You shall destroy the house of Ahab your master; thus will I avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the other servants of the LORD shed by Jezebel,

[8] and by all the rest of the family of Ahab. I will cut off every male in Ahab's line, whether slave or freeman in Israel.

[9] I will deal with the house of Ahab as I dealt with the house of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and with the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah.

[10] Dogs shall devour Jezebel at the confines of Jezreel, so that no one can bury her.'" Then he opened the door and fled.

[11] When Jehu rejoined his master's servants, they asked him, "Is all well? Why did that madman come to you?" You know that kind of man and his talk, he replied.

[12] But they said, "Not at all! Come, tell us." So he told them what the young man had said to him, and finally, "Thus says the LORD: 'I anoint you king over Israel.'"

[13] At once each took his garment, spread it under Jehu on the bare steps, blew the trumpet, and cried out, "Jehu is king!"

[14] Thus Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, formed a conspiracy against Joram. Joram, with all Israel, had been besieging Ramoth-gilead against Hazael, king of Aram,

[15] but had returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him in the battle against Hazael, king of Aram. "If you are truly with me," Jehu said, "see that no one escapes from the city to report in Jezreel."

[16] Then Jehu mounted his chariot and drove to Jezreel, where Joram lay ill and Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come to visit him.

[17] The watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel saw the troop of Jehu coming and reported, "I see chariots." "Get a driver," Joram said, "and send him to meet them and to ask whether all is well."

[18] So a driver went out to meet him and said, "The king asks whether all is well." "What does it matter to you how things are?" Jehu said. "Get behind me." The watchman reported to the king, "The messenger has reached them, but is not returning."

[19] Joram sent a second driver, who went to them and said, "The king asks whether all is well." "What does it matter to you how things are?" Jehu replied. "Get behind me."

[20] The watchman reported, "The messenger has reached them, but is not returning. The driving is like that of Jehu, son of Nimshi, in its fury."

[21] "Prepare my chariot," said Joram. When they had done so, Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, set out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They reached him near the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.

[22] 2 When Joram recognized Jehu, he asked, "Is all well, Jehu?" "How can all be well," Jehu replied, "as long as the many fornications and witchcrafts of your mother Jezebel continue?"

[23] Joram reined about and fled, crying to Ahaziah, "Treason, Ahaziah!"

[24] But Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow went through his heart and he collapsed in his chariot.

[25] Then Jehu said to his adjutant Bidkar, "Take him and throw him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For I remember that when we were driving teams behind his father Ahab, the LORD delivered this oracle against him:

[26] 'As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,' says the LORD, 'I will repay you for it in that very plot of ground, says the LORD.' So now take him into this plot of ground, in keeping with the word of the LORD."

[27] Seeing what was happening, Ahaziah, king of Judah, fled toward Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, shouting, "Kill him too!" And they pierced him as he rode through the pass of Gur near Ibleam. He continued his flight as far as Megiddo and died there.

[28] His servants brought him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in the tomb of his ancestors in the City of David.

[29] Ahaziah had become king of Judah in the eleventh year of Joram, son of Ahab.

[30] When Jezebel learned that Jehu had arrived in Jezreel, she shadowed her eyes, adorned her hair, and looked down from her window.

[31] As Jehu came through the gate, she cried out, "Is all well, Zimri, murderer of your master?"

[32] Jehu looked up to the window and shouted, "Who is on my side? Anyone?" At this, two or three eunuchs looked down toward him.

[33] "Throw her down," he ordered. They threw her down, and some of her blood spurted against the wall and against the horses. Jehu rode in over her body

[34] and, after eating and drinking, he said: "Attend to that accursed woman and bury her; after all, she was a king's daughter."

[35] But when they went to bury her, they found nothing of her but the skull, the feet, and the hands.

[36] They returned to Jehu, and when they told him, he said, "This is the sentence which the LORD pronounced through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: 'In the confines of Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.

[37] The corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung in the field in the confines of Jezreel, so that no one can say: This was Jezebel.'"

Second Kings Chapter 10

[1] Ahab had seventy descendants in Samaria. Jehu prepared letters and sent them to the city rulers, to the elders, and to the guardians of Ahab's descendants in Samaria.

[2] "Since your master's sons are with you," he wrote, "and you have the chariots, the horses, a fortified city, and the weapons, when this letter reaches you

[3] decide which is the best and the fittest of your master's offspring, place him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house."

[4] They were overcome with fright and said, "If two kings could not withstand him, how can we?"

[5] So the vizier and the ruler of the city, along with the elders and the guardians, sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants, and we will do everything you tell us. We will proclaim no one king; do whatever you think best."

[6] So Jehu wrote them a second letter: "If you are on my side and will obey me, count the heads of your master's sons and come to me in Jezreel at this time tomorrow." (The seventy princes were in the care of prominent men of the city, who were rearing them.)

[7] When the letter arrived, they took the princes and slew all seventy of them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel.

[8] "They have brought the heads of the princes," a messenger came in and told him. "Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the city until morning," he ordered.

[9] Going out in the morning, he stopped and said to all the people: "You are not responsible, and although I conspired against my lord and slew him, yet who killed all these?

[10] Know that not a single word which the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab shall go unfulfilled. The LORD has accomplished all that he foretold through his servant Elijah."

[11] Thereupon Jehu slew all who were left of the family of Ahab in Jezreel, as well as all his powerful supporters, intimates, and priests, leaving him no survivor.

[12] Then he set out for Samaria, and at Beth-eked-haroim on the way,

[13] he came across kinsmen of Ahaziah, king of Judah. "Who are you?" he asked. "We are kinsmen of Ahaziah," they replied. "We are going down to visit the princes and the family of the queen mother."

[14] "Take them alive," Jehu ordered. They were taken alive, forty-two in number, then slain at the pit of Beth-eked. Not one of them was spared.

[15] When he had left there, Jehu met Jehonadab, son of Rechab, on the road. He greeted him and asked, "Are you sincerely disposed toward me, as I am toward you?" "Yes," replied Jehonadab. "If you are," continued Jehu, "give me your hand." Jehonadab gave him his hand, and Jehu drew him up into his chariot.

[16] "Come with me," he said, "and see my zeal for the LORD." And he took him along in his own chariot.

[17] When he arrived in Samaria, Jehu slew all who remained there of Ahab's line, doing away with them completely and thus fulfilling the prophecy which the LORD had spoken to Elijah.

[18] Jehu gathered all the people together and said to them: "Ahab served Baal to some extent, but Jehu will serve him yet more.

[19] Now summon for me all Baal's prophets, all his worshipers, and all his priests. See that no one is absent, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is absent shall not live." This Jehu did as a ruse, so that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal.

[20] Jehu said further, "Proclaim a solemn assembly in honor of Baal." They did so,

[21] and Jehu sent word of it throughout the land of Israel. All the worshipers of Baal without exception came into the temple of Baal, which was filled to capacity.

[22] Then Jehu said to the custodian of the wardrobe, "Bring out the garments for all the worshipers of Baal." When he had brought out the garments for them,

[23] Jehu, with Jehonadab, son of Rechab, entered the temple of Baal and said to the worshipers of Baal, "Search and be sure that there is no worshiper of the LORD here with you, but only worshipers of Baal."

[24] Then they proceeded to offer sacrifices and holocausts. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside with this warning, "If one of you lets anyone escape of those whom I shall deliver into your hands, he shall pay life for life."

[25] As soon as he finished offering the holocaust, Jehu said to the guards and officers, "Go in and slay them. Let no one escape." So the guards and officers put them to the sword and cast them out. Afterward they went into the inner shrine of the temple of Baal,

[26] took out the stele of Baal, and burned the shrine.

[27] Then they smashed the stele of Baal, tore down the building, and turned it into a latrine, as it remains today.

[28] Thus Jehu rooted out the worship of Baal from Israel.

[29] However, he did not desist from the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit, as regards the golden calves at Bethel and at Dan.

[30] The LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well what I deem right, and have treated the house of Ahab as I desire, your sons to the fourth generation shall sit upon the throne of Israel."

[31] But Jehu was not careful to observe wholeheartedly the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, since he did not desist from the sins which Jeroboam caused Israel to commit.

[32] At that time the LORD began to dismember Israel. Hazael defeated the Israelites throughout their territory

[33] east of the Jordan (all the land of Gilead, of the Gadites, Reubenites and Manassehites), from Aroer on the river Arnon up through Gilead and Bashan.

[34] The rest of the acts of Jehu, his valor and all his accomplishments, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[35] Jehu rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz succeeded him as king.

[36] The length of Jehu's reign over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Second Kings Chapter 11

[1] When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she began to kill off the whole royal family.

[2] 1 But Jehosheba, daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, his son, and spirited him away, along with his nurse, from the bedroom where the princes were about to be slain. She concealed him from Athaliah, and so he did not die.

[3] For six years he remained hidden in the temple of the LORD, while Athaliah ruled the land.

[4] But in the seventh year, Jehoiada summoned the captains of the Carians and of the guards. He had them come to him in the temple of the LORD, exacted from them a sworn commitment, and then showed them the king's son.

[5] He gave them these orders: "This is what you must do: the third of you who come on duty on the sabbath shall guard the king's palace;

[6] another third shall be at the gate Sur; and the last third shall be at the gate behind the guards.

[7] The two of your divisions who are going off duty that week shall keep guard over the temple of the LORD for the king.

[8] You shall surround the king, each with drawn weapons, and if anyone tries to approach the cordon, kill him; stay with the king, whatever he may do."

[9] The captains did just as Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each one with his men, both those going on duty for the sabbath and those going off duty that week, came to Jehoiada the priest.

[10] He gave the captains King David's spears and shields, which were in the temple of the LORD.

[11] And the guards, with drawn weapons, lined up from the southern to the northern limit of the enclosure, surrounding the altar and the temple on the king's behalf.

[12] Then Jehoiada led out the king's son and put the crown and the insignia upon him. They proclaimed him king and anointed him, clapping their hands and shouting, "Long live the king!"

[13] Athaliah heard the noise made by the people, and appeared before them in the temple of the LORD.

[14] 2 When she saw the king standing by the pillar, as was the custom, and the captains and trumpeters near him, with all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, she tore her garments and cried out, "Treason, treason!"

[15] Then Jehoiada the priest instructed the captains in command of the force: "Bring her outside through the ranks. If anyone follows her," he added, "let him die by the sword." He had given orders that she should not be slain in the temple of the LORD.

[16] She was led out forcibly to the horse gate of the royal palace, where she was put to death.

[17] Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD as one party and the king and the people as the other, by which they would be the LORD'S people; and another covenant, between the king and the people.

[18] Thereupon all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and demolished it. They shattered its altars and images completely, and slew Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars. After appointing a detachment for the temple of the LORD, Jehoiada

[19] with the captains, the Carians, the guards, and all the people of the land, led the king down from the temple of the LORD through the guards' gate to the palace, where Joash took his seat on the royal throne.

[20] All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet, now that Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the royal palace.

Second Kings Chapter 12

[1] Joash was seven years old when he became king.

[2] Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother, who was named Zibiah, was from Beer-sheba.

[3] Joash did what was pleasing to the LORD as long as he lived, because the priest Jehoiada guided him.

[4] Still, the high places did not disappear; the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense there.

[5] For the priests Joash made this rule: "All the funds for sacred purposes that are brought to the temple of the LORD--the census tax, personal redemption money, and whatever funds are freely brought to the temple of the LORD--

[6] the priests may take for themselves, each from his own clients. However, they must make whatever repairs on the temple may prove necessary."

[7] Nevertheless, as late as the twenty-third year of the reign of King Joash, the priests had not made needed repairs on the temple.

[8] Accordingly, King Joash summoned the priest Jehoiada and the other priests. "Why do you not repair the temple?" he asked them. "You must no longer take funds from your clients, but you shall turn them over for the repairs."

[9] So the priests agreed that they would neither take funds from the people nor make the repairs on the temple.

[10] The priest Jehoiada then took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the stele, on the right as one entered the temple of the LORD. The priests who guarded the entry would put into it all the funds that were brought to the temple of the LORD.

[11] When they noticed that there was a large amount of silver in the chest, the royal scribe (and the priest) would come up, and they would melt down all the funds that were in the temple of the LORD, and weigh them.

[12] The amount thus realized they turned over to the master workmen in the temple of the LORD. They in turn would give it to the carpenters and builders working in the temple of the LORD,

[13] and to the lumbermen and stone cutters, and for the purchase of the wood and hewn stone used in repairing the breaches, and for any other expenses that were necessary to repair the temple.

[14] None of the funds brought to the temple of the LORD were used there to make silver cups, snuffers, basins, trumpets, or any gold or silver article.

[15] Instead, they were given to the workmen, and with them they repaired the temple of the LORD.

[16] Moreover, no reckoning was asked of the men who were provided with the funds to give to the workmen, because they held positions of trust.

[17] The funds from guilt-offerings and from sin-offerings, however, were not brought to the temple of the LORD; they belonged to the priests.

[18] Then King Hazael of Aram mounted a siege against Gath. When he had taken it, Hazael decided to go on to attack Jerusalem.

[19] But King Jehoash of Judah took all the dedicated offerings presented by his forebears, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, as well as his own, and all the gold there was in the treasuries of the temple and the palace, and sent them to King Hazael of Aram, who then led his forces away from Jerusalem.

[20] The rest of the acts of Joash, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[21] Certain of his officials entered into a plot against him and killed him at Beth-millo.

[22] Jozacar, son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, son of Shomer, were the officials who killed him. He was buried in his forefathers' City of David, and his son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

Second Kings Chapter 13

[1] In the twenty-third year of Joash, son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, began his seventeen-year reign over Israel in Samaria.

[2] He did evil in the LORD'S sight, conducting himself like Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and not renouncing the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

[3] The LORD was angry with Israel and for a long time left them in the power of Hazael, king of Aram, and of Ben-hadad, son of Hazael.

[4] Then Jehoahaz entreated the LORD, who heard him, since he saw the oppression to which the king of Aram had subjected Israel.

[5] 1 So the LORD gave Israel a savior, and the Israelites, freed from the power of Aram, dwelt in their own homes as formerly.

[6] 2 Nevertheless, they did not desist from the sins which the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, but persisted in them. The sacred pole also remained standing in Samaria.

[7] No soldiers were left to Jehoahaz, except fifty horsemen with ten chariots and ten thousand foot soldiers, since the king of Aram had destroyed them and trampled them like dust.

[8] The rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, with all his valor and accomplishments, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[9] Jehoahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Joash succeeded him as king.

[10] In the thirty-seventh year of Joash, king of Judah, Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, began his sixteen-year reign over Israel in Samaria.

[11] He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not desist from any of the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit, but persisted in them.

[12] 3 (The rest of the acts of Joash, the valor with which he fought against Amaziah, king of Judah, and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[13] Joash rested with his ancestors, and Jeroboam occupied the throne. Joash was buried with the kings of Israel in Samaria.)

[14] 4 When Elisha was suffering from the sickness of which he was to die, King Joash of Israel went down to visit him. "My father, my father!" he exclaimed, weeping over him. "Israel's chariots and horsemen!"

[15] "Take a bow and some arrows," Elisha said to him. When he had done so,

[16] 5 Elisha said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." As the king held the bow, Elisha placed his hands over the king's hands

[17] and said, "Open the window toward the east." He opened it. Elisha said, "Shoot," and he shot. The prophet exclaimed, "The LORD'S arrow of victory! The arrow of victory over Aram! You will completely conquer Aram at Aphec."

[18] Then he said to the king of Israel, "Take the arrows," which he did. Elisha said to him, "Strike the ground!" He struck the ground three times and stopped.

[19] Angry with him, the man of God said: "You should have struck five or six times; you would have defeated Aram completely. Now, you will defeat Aram only three times."

[20] Elisha died and was buried. At the time, bands of Moabites used to raid the land each year.

[21] Once some people were burying a man, when suddenly they spied such a raiding band. So they cast the dead man into the grave of Elisha, and everyone went off. But when the man came in contact with the bones of Elisha, he came back to life and rose to his feet.

[22] King Hazael of Aram oppressed Israel during the entire reign of Jehoahaz.

[23] But the LORD was merciful with Israel and looked on them with compassion because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was unwilling to destroy them or to cast them out from his presence.

[24] So when King Hazael of Aram died and his son Ben-hadad succeeded him as king,

[25] Joash, son of Jehoahaz, took back from Ben-hadad, son of Hazael, the cities which Hazael had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Joash defeated Ben-hadad three times, and thus recovered the cities of Israel.

Second Kings Chapter 14

[1] 1 In the second year of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign.

[2] He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother, whose name was Jehoaddin, was from Jerusalem.

[3] He pleased the LORD, yet not like his forefather David, since he did just as his father Joash had done.

[4] Thus the high places did not disappear, but the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on them.

[5] When Amaziah had the kingdom firmly in hand, he slew the officials who had murdered the king, his father.

[6] But the children of the murderers he did not put to death, obeying the LORD'S command written in the book of the law of Moses, "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; each one shall die for his own sin."

[7] Amaziah slew ten thousand Edomites in the Salt Valley, and took Sela in battle. He renamed it Joktheel, the name it has to this day.

[8] Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, with this challenge, "Come, let us meet face to face."

[9] King Jehoash of Israel sent this reply to the king of Judah: "The thistle of Lebanon sent word to the cedar of Lebanon, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage,' but an animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle underfoot.

[10] You have indeed conquered Edom, and you have become ambitious. Enjoy your glory, but stay at home! Why involve yourself and Judah with you in misfortune and failure?"

[11] But Amaziah would not listen. King Jehoash of Israel then advanced, and he and King Amaziah of Judah met in battle at Beth-shemesh of Judah.

[12] Judah was defeated by Israel, and all the Judean soldiery fled homeward.

[13] King Jehoash of Israel captured Amaziah, son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh. He went on to Jerusalem where he tore down four hundred cubits of the city wall, from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate.

[14] He took all the gold and silver and all the utensils there were in the temple of the LORD and the treasuries of the palace, and hostages as well. Then he returned to Samaria.

[15] The rest of the acts of Jehoash, his valor, and how he fought Amaziah, king of Judah, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[16] Jehoash rested with his ancestors; he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam succeeded him as king.

[17] 2 Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, survived Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, by fifteen years.

[18] The rest of the acts of Amaziah are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[19] When a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, he fled to Lachish. But he was pursued to Lachish and killed there.

[20] He was brought back on horses and buried with his ancestors in the City of David in Jerusalem.

[21] 3 Thereupon all the people of Judah took the sixteen-year-old Azariah and proclaimed him king to succeed his father Amaziah.

[22] It was Azariah who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah, after King Amaziah rested with his ancestors.

[23] In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, began his forty-one-year reign in Samaria.

[24] He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not desist from any of the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.

[25] 4 He restored the boundaries of Israel from Labo-of-Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had prophesied through his servant, the prophet Jonah, son of Amittai, from Gath-hepher.

[26] For the LORD saw the very bitter affliction of Israel, where there was neither slave nor freeman, no one at all to help Israel.

[27] Since the LORD had not determined to blot out the name of Israel from under the heavens, he saved them through Jeroboam, son of Joash.

[28] The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, his valor and all his accomplishments, how he fought with Damascus and turned back Hamath from Israel, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[29] Jeroboam rested with his ancestors, the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah succeeded him as king.

Second Kings Chapter 15

[1] 1 Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah, became king in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, king of Israel.

[2] He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother, whose name was Jecholiah, was from Jerusalem.

[3] He pleased the LORD just as his father Amaziah had done.

[4] Yet the high places did not disappear; the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on them.

[5] The LORD afflicted the king, and he was a leper to the day of his death. He lived in a house apart, while Jotham, the king's son, was vizier and regent for the people of the land.

[6] The rest of the acts of Azariah, and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[7] Azariah rested with his ancestors, and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

[8] In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Zechariah, son of Jeroboam, was king of Israel in Samaria for six months.

[9] He did evil in the sight of the LORD as his fathers had done, and did not desist from the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.

[10] Shallum, son of Jabesh, conspired against Zechariah, attacked and killed him at Ibleam, and reigned in his place.

[11] The rest of the acts of Zechariah are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[12] Thus the LORD'S promise to Jehu, "Your descendants to the fourth generation shall sit upon the throne of Israel," was fulfilled.

[13] Shallum, son of Jabesh, became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah, king of Judah; he reigned one month in Samaria.

[14] Menahem, son of Gadi, came up from Tirzah to Samaria, where he attacked and killed Shallum, son of Jabesh, and reigned in his place.

[15] The rest of the acts of Shallum, and the fact of his conspiracy, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[16] At that time, Menahem punished Tappuah, all the inhabitants of the town and of its whole district, because on his way from Tirzah they did not let him in. He punished them even to ripping open all the pregnant women.

[17] In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, son of Gadi, began his ten-year reign over Samaria.

[18] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, not desisting from the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. During his reign,

[19] 2 Pul, king of Assyria, invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver to have his assistance in strengthening his hold on the kingdom.

[20] Menahem secured the money to give to the king of Assyria by exacting it from all the men of substance in the country, fifty silver shekels from each. The king of Assyria did not remain in the country but withdrew.

[21] The rest of the acts of Menahem, and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[22] Menahem rested with his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah succeeded him as king.

[23] In the fiftieth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekahiah, son of Menahem, began his two-year reign over Israel in Samaria.

[24] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, not desisting from the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.

[25] His adjutant Pekah, son of Remaliah, who had with him fifty men from Gilead, conspired against him, killed him within the palace stronghold in Samaria, and reigned in his place.

[26] The rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[27] 3 In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, son of Remaliah, began his twenty-year reign over Israel in Samaria.

[28] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, not desisting from the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.

[29] During the reign of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, all the territory of Naphtali, Gilead, and Galilee, deporting the inhabitants to Assyria.

[30] Hoshea, son of Elah, conspired against Pekah, son of Remaliah; he attacked and killed him, and reigned in his place (in the twentieth year of Jotham, son of Uzziah).

[31] The rest of the acts of Pekah, and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[32] In the second year of Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign.

[33] He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok.

[34] He pleased the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done.

[35] 4 Nevertheless the high places did not disappear and the people continued to sacrifice and to burn incense on them. It was he who built the Upper Gate of the temple of the LORD.

[36] The rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[37] It was at that time that the LORD first loosed Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, against Judah.

[38] Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in his forefather's City of David. His son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

Second Kings Chapter 16

[1] In the seventeenth year of Pekah, son of Remaliah, Ahaz, son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign.

[2] Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not please the LORD, his God, like his forefather David,

[3] but conducted himself like the kings of Israel, and even immolated his son by fire, in accordance with the abominable practice of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the Israelites.

[4] Further, he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on hills, and under every leafy tree.

[5] Then Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to attack it. Although they besieged Ahaz, they were unable to conquer him.

[6] At the same time the king of Edom recovered Elath for Edom, driving the Judeans out of it. The Edomites then entered Elath, which they have occupied until the present.

[7] Meanwhile, Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, with the plea: "I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the clutches of the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me."

[8] Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the temple of the LORD and in the palace treasuries and sent them as a present to the king of Assyria,

[9] 1 who listened to him and moved against Damascus, which he captured. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.

[10] King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria. When he saw the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar and a detailed design of its construction.

[11] Uriah the priest built an altar according to the plans which King Ahaz sent him from Damascus, and had it completed by the time the king returned home.

[12] On his arrival from Damascus, the king inspected this altar, then went up to it and offered sacrifice on it,

[13] burning his holocaust and cereal-offering, pouring out his libation, and sprinkling the blood of his peace-offerings on the altar.

[14] The bronze altar that stood before the LORD he brought from the front of the temple--that is, from the space between the new altar and the temple of the LORD--and set it on the north side of his altar.

[15] 2 "Upon the large altar," King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, "burn the morning holocaust and the evening cereal offering, the royal holocaust and cereal offering, as well as the holocausts, cereal offerings, and libations of the people. You must also sprinkle on it all the blood of holocausts and sacrifices. But the old bronze altar shall be mine for consultation."

[16] Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had commanded.

[17] King Ahaz detached the frames from the bases and removed the lavers from them; he also took down the bronze sea from the bronze oxen that supported it, and set it on a stone pavement.

[18] 3 In deference to the king of Assyria he removed from the temple of the LORD the emplacement which had been built in the temple for a throne, and the outer entrance for the king.

[19] The rest of the acts of Ahaz are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[20] Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

Second Kings Chapter 17

[1] In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, son of Elah, began his nine-year reign over Israel in Samaria.

[2] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not to the extent of the kings of Israel before him.

[3] 1 Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, advanced against him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.

[4] But the king of Assyria found Hoshea guilty of conspiracy for sending envoys to the king of Egypt at Sais, and for failure to pay the annual tribute to his Assyrian overlord.

[5] For this, the king of Assyria arrested and imprisoned Hoshea; he then occupied the whole land and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years.

[6] 2 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and deported the Israelites to Assyria, settling them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

[7] This came about because the Israelites sinned against the LORD, their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and because they venerated other gods.

[8] They followed the rites of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the Israelites (and the kings of Israel whom they set up).

[9] They adopted unlawful practices toward the LORD, their God. They built high places in all their settlements, the watchtowers as well as the walled cities.

[10] They set up pillars and sacred poles for themselves on every high hill and under every leafy tree.

[11] There, on all the high places, they burned incense like the nations whom the LORD had sent into exile at their coming. They did evil things that provoked the LORD,

[12] and served idols, although the LORD had told them, "You must not do this."

[13] And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer, "Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,"

[14] they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the LORD, their God.

[15] They rejected his statutes, the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and the warnings which he had given them. The vanity they pursued, they themselves became: they followed the surrounding nations whom the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

[16] They disregarded all the commandments of the LORD, their God, and made for themselves two molten calves; they also made a sacred pole and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

[17] They immolated their sons and daughters by fire, practiced fortune-telling and divination, and sold themselves into evil doing in the LORD'S sight, provoking him

[18] till, in his great anger against Israel, the LORD put them away out of his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

[19] Even the people of Judah, however, did not keep the commandments of the LORD, their God, but followed the rites practiced by Israel.

[20] So the LORD rejected the whole race of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them over to plunderers, finally casting them out from before him.

[21] When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam, son of Nebat, king; he drove the Israelites away from the LORD, causing them to commit a great sin.

[22] The Israelites imitated Jeroboam in all the sins he committed, nor would they desist from them.

[23] Finally, the LORD put Israel away out of his sight as he had foretold through all his servants, the prophets; and Israel went into exile from their native soil to Assyria, an exile lasting to the present.

[24] The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.

[25] When they first settled there, they did not venerate the LORD, so he sent lions among them that killed some of their number.

[26] A report reached the king of Assyria: "The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know how to worship the God of the land, and he has sent lions among them that are killing them, since they do not know how to worship the God of the land."

[27] The king of Assyria gave the order, "Send back one of the priests whom I deported, to go there and settle, to teach them how to worship the God of the land."

[28] So one of the priests who had been deported from Samaria returned and settled in Bethel, and taught them how to venerate the LORD.

[29] But these peoples began to make their own gods in the various cities in which they were living; in the shrines on the high places which the Samarians had made, each people set up gods.

[30] Thus the Babylonians made Marduk and his consort; the men of Cuth made Nergal; the men of Hamath made Ashima;

[31] the men of Avva made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the men of Sepharvaim immolated their children by fire to their city gods, King Hadad and his consort Anath.

[32] They also venerated the LORD, choosing from their number priests for the high places, who officiated for them in the shrines on the high places.

[33] But, while venerating the LORD, they served their own gods, following the worship of the nations from among whom they had been deported.

[34] 3 To this day they worship according to their ancient rites. (They did not venerate the LORD nor observe the statutes and regulations, the law and commandments, which the LORD enjoined on the descendants of Jacob, whom he had named Israel.

[35] When he made a covenant with them, he commanded them: "You must not venerate other gods, nor worship them, nor serve them, nor offer sacrifice to them.

[36] The LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and outstretched arm: him shall you venerate, him shall you worship, and to him shall you sacrifice.

[37] You must be careful to observe forever the statutes and regulations, the law and commandment, which he wrote for you, and you must not venerate other gods.

[38] The covenant which I made with you, you must not forget; you must not venerate other gods.

[39] But the LORD, your God, you must venerate; it is he who will deliver you from the power of all your enemies."

[40] They did not listen, however, but continued in their earlier manner.)

[41] Thus these nations venerated the LORD, but also served their idols. And their sons and grandsons, to this day, are doing as their fathers did.

Second Kings Chapter 18

[1] In the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

[2] He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi, daughter of Zechariah.

[3] He pleased the LORD, just as his forefather David had done.

[4] It was he who removed the high places, shattered the pillars, and cut down the sacred poles. He smashed the bronze serpent called Nehushtan which Moses had made, because up to that time the Israelites were burning incense to it.

[5] He put his trust in the LORD, the God of Israel; and neither before him nor after him was there anyone like him among all the kings of Judah.

[6] Loyal to the LORD, Hezekiah never turned away from him, but observed the commandments which the LORD had given Moses.

[7] The LORD was with him, and he prospered in all that he set out to do. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

[8] He also subjugated the watchtowers and walled cities of the Philistines, all the way to Gaza and its territory.

[9] 1 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, attacked Samaria, laid siege to it,

[10] and after three years captured it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

[11] The king of Assyria then deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

[12] This came about because they had not heeded the warning of the LORD, their God, but violated his covenant, not heeding and not fulfilling the commandments of Moses, the servant of the LORD.

[13] 2 3 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went on an expedition against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

[14] Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. Leave me, and I will pay whatever tribute you impose on me." The king of Assyria exacted three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold from Hezekiah, king of Judah.

[15] Hezekiah paid him all the funds there were in the temple of the LORD and in the palace treasuries.

[16] He broke up the door panels and the uprights of the temple of the LORD which he himself had ordered to be overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria.

[17] 4 The king of Assyria sent the general, the lord chamberlain, and the commander from Lachish with a great army to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up, and on their arrival in Jerusalem, stopped at the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller's field.

[18] They called for the king, who sent out to them Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the master of the palace; Shebnah the scribe; and the herald Joah, son of Asaph.

[19] The commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours?

[20] Do you think mere words substitute for strategy and might in war? On whom, then, do you rely, that you rebel against me?

[21] This Egypt, the staff on which you rely, is in fact a broken reed which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it. That is what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is to all who rely on him.

[22] But if you say to me, We rely on the LORD, our God, is not he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, commanding Judah and Jerusalem to worship before this altar in Jerusalem?'

[23] "Now, make a wager with my lord, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them.

[24] How then can you repulse even one of the least servants of my lord, relying as you do on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

[25] Was it without the LORD'S will that I have come up to destroy this place? The LORD said to me, 'Go up and destroy that land!'"

[26] Then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah said to the commander: "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic; we understand it. Do not speak to us in Judean within earshot of the people who are on the wall."

[27] But the commander replied: "Was it to your master and to you that my lord sent me to speak these words? Was it not rather to the men sitting on the wall, who, with you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their urine?"

[28] Then the commander stepped forward and cried out in a loud voice in Judean, "Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

[29] Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, since he cannot deliver you out of my hand.

[30] Let not Hezekiah induce you to rely on the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely save us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.

[31] Do not listen to Hezekiah, for the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and surrender! Then each of you will eat of his own vine and of his own fig-tree, and drink the water of his own cistern,

[32] until I come to take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and wine, of bread and orchards, of olives, oil and fruit syrup. Choose life, not death. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he would seduce you by saying, The LORD will rescue us.

[33] Has any of the gods of the nations ever rescued his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

[34] Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Avva? Where are the gods of the land of Samaria?

[35] Which of the gods for all these lands ever rescued his land from my hand? Will the LORD then rescue Jerusalem from my hand?'"

[36] But the people remained silent and did not answer him one word, for the king had ordered them not to answer him.

[37] Then the master of the palace, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, Shebnah the scribe, and the herald Joah, son of Asaph, came to Hezekiah with their garments torn, and reported to him what the commander had

Second Kings Chapter 19

[1] When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his garments, wrapped himself in sackcloth, and went into the temple of the LORD.

[2] He sent Eliakim, the master of the palace, Shebnah the scribe, and the elders of the priests, wrapped in sackcloth, to tell the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz,

[3] 1 "Thus says Hezekiah: 'This is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace. Children are at the point of birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.

[4] Perhaps the LORD, your God, will hear all the words of the commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke him for the words which the LORD, your God, has heard. So send up a prayer for the remnant that is here.'"

[5] When the servants of King Hezekiah had come to Isaiah,

[6] he said to them, "Tell this to your master: 'Thus says the LORD: Do not be frightened by the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

[7] I am about to put in him such a spirit that, when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own land, and there I will cause him to fall by the sword.'"

[8] When the commander, on his return, heard that the king of Assyria had withdrawn from Lachish, he found him besieging Libnah.

[9] The king of Assyria heard a report that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had come out to fight against him. Again he sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message:

[10] "Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.

[11] You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all other countries: they doomed them! Will you, then, be saved?

[12] Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed save them? Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the Edenites in Telassar?

[13] Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, or the kings of the cities Sepharvaim, Hena and Avva?'"

[14] Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then he went up to the temple of the LORD, and spreading it out before him,

[15] he prayed in the LORD'S presence: "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

[16] Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, O LORD, and see! Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.

[17] Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,

[18] and cast their gods into the fire; they destroyed them because they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone.

[19] Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from the power of this man, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."

[20] Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, in answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria: I have listened!

[21] 2 This is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him: " 'She despises you, laughs you to scorn, the virgin daughter Zion! Behind you she wags her head, daughter Jerusalem.

[22] Whom have you insulted and blasphemed, against whom have you raised your voice'And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!

[23] Through your servants you have insulted the LORD. You said: With my many chariots I climbed the mountain heights, the recesses of Lebanon; I cut down its lofty cedars, its choice cypresses; I reached the remotest heights, its forest park.

[24] I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands; I dried up with the soles of my feet all the rivers of Egypt.

[25] " 'Have you not heard? Long ago I prepared it, From days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass: That you should reduce fortified cities into heaps of ruins,

[26] While their inhabitants, shorn of power, are dismayed and ashamed, Becoming like the plants of the field, like the green growth, like the scorched grass on the housetops.

[27] I am aware whether you stand or sit; I know whether you come or go,

[28] and also your rage against me. Because of your rage against me and your fury which has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and make you return the way you came.

[29] " 'This shall be a sign for you: this year you shall eat the aftergrowth, next year, what grows of itself; But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit!

[30] The remaining survivors of the house of Judah shall again strike root below and bear fruit above.

[31] For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant, and from Mount Zion, survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.'

[32] "Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up siege-works against it.

[33] He shall return by the same way he came, without entering the city, says the LORD.

[34] I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.'"

[35] That night the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all the corpses of the dead.

[36] So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp, and went back home to Nineveh.

[37] When he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him with the sword and fled into the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon reigned in his stead.

Second Kings Chapter 20

[1] In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: "Thus says the LORD: 'Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover.'"

[2] He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:

[3] "O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!" And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

[4] Before Isaiah had left the central courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him:

[5] "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your forefather David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. In three days you shall go up to the LORD'S temple;

[6] I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.'"

[7] Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be brought and applied to the boil, that he might recover.

[8] Then Hezekiah asked Isaiah, "What is the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD on the third day?"

[9] Isaiah replied, "This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward or back ten steps?"

[10] "It is easy for the shadow to advance ten steps," Hezekiah answered. "Rather, let it go back ten steps."

[11] So the prophet Isaiah invoked the LORD, who made the shadow retreat the ten steps it had descended on the staircase to the terrace of Ahaz.

[12] 1 At that time, when Merodachbaladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, heard that Hezekiah had been ill, he sent letters and gifts to him.

[13] Hezekiah was pleased at this, and therefore showed the messengers his whole treasury, his silver, gold, spices and fine oil, his armory, and all that was in his storerooms; there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

[14] Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him: "What did these men say to you? Where did they come from?" "They came from a distant land, from Babylon," replied Hezekiah.

[15] "What did they see in your house?" the prophet asked. "They saw everything in my house," answered Hezekiah. "There is nothing in my storerooms that I did not show them."

[16] Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah: "Hear the word of the LORD:

[17] The time is coming when all that is in your house, and everything that your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried off to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD.

[18] Some of your own bodily descendants shall be taken and made servants in the palace of the king of Babylon."

[19] Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is favorable." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my lifetime."

[20] 2 The rest of the acts of Hezekiah, all his valor, and his construction of the pool and conduit by which water was brought into the city, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[21] Hezekiah rested with his ancestors and his son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

Second Kings Chapter 21

[1] Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.

[2] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, following the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the Israelites.

[3] He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars to Baal, and also set up a sacred pole, as Ahab, king of Israel, had done. He worshiped and served the whole host of heaven.

[4] He built altars in the temple of the LORD, about which the LORD had said, "I will establish my name in Jerusalem"--

[5] altars for the whole host of heaven, in the two courts of the temple.

[6] He immolated his son by fire. He practiced soothsaying and divination, and reintroduced the consulting of ghosts and spirits. He did much evil in the LORD'S sight and provoked him to anger.

[7] The Asherah idol he had made, he set up in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon: "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I shall place my name forever.

[8] I will not in future allow Israel to be driven off the land I gave their fathers, provided that they are careful to observe all I have commanded them, the entire law which my servant Moses enjoined upon them."

[9] But they did not listen, and Manasseh misled them into doing even greater evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed at the coming of the Israelites.

[10] Then the LORD spoke through his servants the prophets:

[11] "Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has practiced these abominations and has done greater evil than all that was done by the Amorites before him, and has led Judah into sin by his idols,

[12] therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I will bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that, whenever anyone hears of it, his ears shall ring.

[13] I will measure Jerusalem with the same cord as I did Samaria, and with the plummet I used for the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a dish, wiping it inside and out.

[14] I will cast off the survivors of my inheritance and deliver them into enemy hands, to become a prey and a booty for all their enemies,

[15] because they have done evil in my sight and provoked me from the day their fathers came forth from Egypt until today.'"

[16] In addition to the sin which he caused Judah to commit, Manasseh did evil in the sight of the LORD, shedding so much innocent blood as to fill the length and breadth of Jerusalem.

[17] The rest of the acts of Manasseh, the sin he committed and all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[18] Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon succeeded him as king.

[19] Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

[20] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.

[21] He followed exactly the path his father had trod, serving and worshiping the idols his father had served.

[22] He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not follow the path of the LORD.

[23] Subjects of Amon conspired against him and slew the king in his palace,

[24] but the people of the land then slew all who had conspired against King Amon, and proclaimed his son Josiah king in his stead.

[25] The rest of the acts that Amon did are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[26] He was buried in his own grave in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah succeeded him as king.

Second Kings Chapter 22

[1] Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

[2] He pleased the LORD and conducted himself unswervingly just as his ancestor David had done.

[3] 1 In his eighteenth year, King Josiah sent the scribe Shaphan, son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD with orders to

[4] go to the high priest Hilkiah and have him smelt down the precious metals that had been donated to the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers had collected from the people.

[5] They were to be consigned to the master workmen in the temple of the LORD, who should then pay them out to the carpenters, builders, and lumbermen making repairs on the temple,

[6] and for the purchase of wood and hewn stone for the temple repairs.

[7] No reckoning was asked of them regarding the funds consigned to them, because they held positions of trust.

[8] The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan, "I have found the book of the law in the temple of the LORD." Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.

[9] Then the scribe Shaphan went to the king and reported, "Your servants have smelted down the metals available in the temple and have consigned them to the master workmen in the temple of the LORD."

[10] The scribe Shaphan also informed the king that the priest Hilkiah had given him a book, and then read it aloud to the king.

[11] When the king had heard the contents of the book of the law, he tore his garments

[12] and issued this command to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, son of Shaphan, Achbor, son of Micaiah, the scribe Shaphan, and the king's servant Asaiah:

[13] "Go, consult the LORD for me, for the people, for all Judah, about the stipulations of this book that has been found, for the anger of the LORD has been set furiously ablaze against us, because our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book, nor fulfill our written obligations."

[14] So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah betook themselves to the Second Quarter in Jerusalem, where the prophetess Huldah resided. She was the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. When they had spoken to her,

[15] she said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Say to the man who sent you to me,

[16] Thus says the LORD: I will bring upon this place and upon its inhabitants all the evil that is threatened in the book which the king of Judah has read.

[17] Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, provoking me by everything to which they turn their hands, my anger is ablaze against this place and it cannot be extinguished.'

[18] "But to the king of Judah who sent you to consult the LORD, give this response: 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: As for the threats you have heard,

[19] because you were heartsick and have humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard my threats that this place and its inhabitants would become a desolation and a curse; because you tore your garments and wept before me; I in turn have listened, says the LORD.

[20] I will therefore gather you to your ancestors; you shall go to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil I will bring upon this place.'" This they reported to the king.

Second Kings Chapter 23

[1] The king then had all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem summoned together before him.

[2] The king went up to the temple of the LORD with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: priests, prophets, and all the people, small and great. He had the entire contents of the book of the covenant that had been found in the temple of the LORD, read out to them.

[3] Standing by the column, the king made a covenant before the LORD that they would follow him and observe his ordinances, statutes and decrees with their whole hearts and souls, thus reviving the terms of the covenant which were written in this book. And all the people stood as participants in the covenant.

[4] Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiah, his vicar, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the objects that had been made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole host of heaven. He had these burned outside Jerusalem on the slopes of the Kidron and their ashes carried to Bethel.

[5] He also put an end to the pseudo-priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the vicinity of Jerusalem, as well as those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, moon, and signs of the Zodiac, and to the whole host of heaven.

[6] From the temple of the LORD he also removed the sacred pole, to the Kidron Valley, outside Jerusalem; there he had it burned and beaten to dust, which was then scattered over the common graveyard.

[7] 1 He tore down the apartments of the cult prostitutes which were in the temple of the LORD, and in which the women wove garments for the Asherah.

[8] He brought in all the priests from the cities of Judah, and then defiled, from Geba to Beer-sheba, the high places where they had offered incense. He also tore down the high place of the satyrs, which was at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, governor of the city, to the left as one enters the city gate.

[9] The priests of the high places could not function at the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem; but they, along with their relatives, ate the unleavened bread.

[10] 2 The king also defiled Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, so that there would no longer be an immolation of sons or daughters by fire in honor of Molech.

[11] 3 He did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun; these were at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, near the chamber of Nathan-melech the eunuch, which was in the large building. The chariots of the sun he destroyed by fire.

[12] He also demolished the altars made by the kings of Judah on the roof (the roof terrace of Ahaz), and the altars made by Manasseh in the two courts of the temple of the LORD. He pulverized them and threw the dust into the Kidron Valley.

[13] 4 The king defiled the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Misconduct, which Solomon, king of Israel, had built in honor of Astarte, the Sidonian horror, of Chemosh, the Moabite horror, and of Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites.

[14] He broke to pieces the pillars, cut down the sacred poles, and filled the places where they had been with human bones.

[15] Likewise the altar which was at Bethel, the high place built by Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin--this same altar and high place he tore down, breaking up the stones and grinding them to powder, and burning the Asherah.

[16] When Josiah turned and saw the graves there on the mountainside, he ordered the bones taken from the graves and burned on the altar, and thus defiled it in fulfillment of the word of the LORD which the man of God had proclaimed as Jeroboam was standing by the altar on the feast day. When the king looked up and saw the grave of the man of God who had proclaimed these words,

[17] he asked, "What is that tombstone I see?" The men of the city replied, "It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted the very things you have done to the altar of Bethel."

[18] 5 "Let him be," he said, "let no one move his bones." So they left his bones undisturbed together with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

[19] Josiah also removed all the shrines on the high places near the cities of Samaria which the kings of Israel had erected, thereby provoking the LORD; he did the very same to them as he had done in Bethel.

[20] He slaughtered upon the altars all the priests of the high places that were at the shrines, and burned human bones upon them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

[21] The king issued a command to all the people to observe the Passover of the LORD, their God, as it was prescribed in that book of the covenant.

[22] No Passover such as this had been observed during the period when the Judges ruled Israel, or during the entire period of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah,

[23] until the eighteenth year of king Josiah, when this Passover of the LORD was kept in Jerusalem.

[24] 6 Further, Josiah did away with the consultation of ghosts and spirits, with the household gods, idols, and all the other horrors to be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he might carry out the stipulations of the law written in the book that the priest Hilkiah had found in the temple of the LORD.

[25] Before him there had been no king who turned to the LORD as he did, with his whole heart, his whole soul, and his whole strength, in accord with the entire law of Moses; nor could any after him compare with him.

[26] Yet, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had given, the LORD did not desist from his fiercely burning anger against Judah.

[27] The LORD said: "Even Judah will I put out of my sight as I did Israel. I will reject this city, Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, 'There shall my name be.'"

[28] The rest of the acts of Josiah, with all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[29] In his time Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up toward the river Euphrates to the king of Assyria. King Josiah set out to confront him, but was slain at Megiddo at the first encounter.

[30] 7 His servants brought his body on a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his own grave. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, anointed him, and proclaimed him king to succeed his father.

[31] Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother, whose name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah, was from Libnah.

[32] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his forebears had done.

[33] 8 Pharaoh Neco took him prisoner at Riblah in the land of Hamath, thus ending his reign in Jerusalem. He imposed a fine upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

[34] Pharaoh Neco then appointed Eliakim, son of Josiah, king in place of his father Josiah; he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz he took away with him to Egypt, where he died.

[35] Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but taxed the land to raise the amount Pharaoh demanded. He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from each proportionately, to pay Pharaoh Neco.

[36] Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah, daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah.

[37] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his forebears had done.

Second Kings Chapter 24

[1] During his reign Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, moved against him, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned and rebelled against him.

[2] The LORD loosed against him bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites; he loosed them against Judah to destroy it, as the LORD had threatened through his servants the prophets.

[3] This befell Judah because the LORD had stated that he would inexorably put them out of his sight for the sins Manasseh had committed in all that he did;

[4] and especially because of the innocent blood he shed, with which he filled Jerusalem, the LORD would not forgive.

[5] The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, with all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.

[6] Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king.

[7] The king of Egypt did not again leave his own land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

[8] 1 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

[9] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his forebears had done.

[10] At that time the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

[11] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, himself arrived at the city while his servants were besieging it.

[12] Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother, his ministers, officers, and functionaries, surrendered to the king of Babylon, who, in the eighth year of his reign, took him captive.

[13] He carried off all the treasures of the temple of the LORD and those of the palace, and broke up all the gold utensils that Solomon, king of Israel, had provided in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had foretold.

[14] He deported all Jerusalem: all the officers and men of the army, ten thousand in number, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None were left among the people of the land except the poor.

[15] He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon, and also led captive from Jerusalem to Babylon the king's mother and wives, his functionaries, and the chief men of the land.

[16] The king of Babylon also led captive to Babylon all seven thousand men of the army, and a thousand craftsmen and smiths, all of them trained soldiers.

[17] In place of Jehoiachin, the king of Babylon appointed his uncle Mattaniah king, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

[18] Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

[19] He also did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.

[20] The LORD'S anger befell Jerusalem and Judah till he cast them out from his presence. Thus Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Second Kings Chapter 25

[1] 1 In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole army advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it, and built siege walls on every side.

[2] The siege of the city continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah.

[3] On the ninth day of the fourth month, when famine had gripped the city, and the people had no more bread,

[4] the city walls were breached. Then the king and all the soldiers left the city by night through the gate between the two walls which was near the king's garden. Since the Chaldeans had the city surrounded, they went in the direction of the Arabah.

[5] But the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the desert near Jericho, abandoned by his whole army.

[6] The king was therefore arrested and brought to Riblah to the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him.

[7] He had Zedekiah's sons slain before his eyes. Then he blinded Zedekiah, bound him with fetters, and had him brought to Babylon.

[8] On the seventh day of the fifth month (this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, came to Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon.

[9] He burned the house of the LORD, the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every large building was destroyed by fire.

[10] Then the Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

[11] 2 Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, led into exile the last of the people remaining in the city, and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the last of the artisans.

[12] But some of the country's poor, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, left behind as vinedressers and farmers.

[13] The bronze pillars that belonged to the house of the LORD, and the wheeled carts and the bronze sea in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke into pieces; they carried away the bronze to Babylon.

[14] They took also the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the bowls, the pans and all the bronze vessels used for service.

[15] The fire-holders and the bowls which were of gold or silver the captain of the guard also carried off.

[16] The weight in bronze of the two pillars, the bronze sea, and the wheeled carts, all of them furnishings which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, was never calculated.

[17] Each of the pillars was eighteen cubits high; a bronze capital five cubits high surmounted each pillar, and a network with pomegranates encircled the capital, all of bronze; and so for the other pillar, as regards the network.

[18] The captain of the guard also took Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the entry.

[19] And from the city he took one courtier, a commander of soldiers, five men in the personal service of the king who were still in the city, the scribe of the army commander, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty of the common people still remaining in the city.

[20] The captain of the guard, Nebuzaradan, arrested these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah;

[21] the king had them struck down and put to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath. Thus was Judah exiled from her land.

[22] As for the people whom he had allowed to remain in the land of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, appointed as their governor Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.

[23] Hearing that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, all the army commanders with their men came to him at Mizpah: Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, Johanan, son of Kareah, Seraiah, son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, from Beth-maacah.

[24] Gedaliah gave the commanders and their men his oath. "Do not be afraid of the Chaldean officials," he said to them. "Remain in the country and serve the king of Babylon, and all will be well with you."

[25] But in the seventh month Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of royal descent, came with ten men, attacked Gedaliah and killed him, along with the Jews and Chaldeans who were in Mizpah with him.

[26] Then all the people, great and small, left with the army commanders and went to Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans.

[27] In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the inaugural year of his own reign, raised up Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from prison.

[28] He spoke kindly to him and gave him a throne higher than that of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

[29] Jehoiachin took off his prison garb and ate at the king's table as long as he lived.

[30] The allowance granted him by the king was a perpetual allowance, in fixed daily amounts, for as long as he lived.

Introduction to First Chronicles

1 Chronicles

Introduction

Originally the two books of Chronicles formed, with the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, a single historical work, uniform in style and basic ideas. The Greek title, paraleipomena, means "things omitted, or passed over (in Samuel and Kings)." The Books of Chronicles, however, are more than a supplement to Samuel and Kings; a comparison of the two histories discloses striking differences in scope and purpose. The Books of Chronicles record in some detail the lengthy span from the reign of Saul to the return from the Exile. Unlike the exact science of history today, wherein factual accuracy and impartiality of judgment are the standards for estimating what is of permanent worth, ancient biblical history, with rare exceptions, was less concerned with reporting in precise detail all the facts of a situation than with explaining the meaning of those facts. Such history was primarily interpretative and, in the Old Testament, its purpose was to disclose the action of the living God in the affairs of men. For this reason we speak of it as "sacred history"; its writer's first concern was to bring out the divine or supernatural dimension in history.

This is apparent when we examine the primary objective of the Chronicler in compiling his work. In view of the situation which confronted the Jewish people at this time (the end of the fifth century B.C.), the Chronicler realized that Israel's political greatness was a thing of the past. It would be a people under God, or nothing. Yet Israel's past held the key to her future. The Chronicler proposed to establish and defend the legitimate claims of the Davidic monarchy in Israel's history, and to underscore the place of Jerusalem and its divinely established temple worship as the center of religious life for the Jewish community of his day. If Judaism was to survive and prosper, it would have to heed the lessons of the past and devoutly serve Yahweh in the place where he had chosen to dwell, the temple of Jerusalem. From the Chronicler's point of view, David's reign was the ideal to which all subsequent rule in Judah must aspire.

The Chronicler was much more interested in David's religious and cultic influence than in his political power. There is little of royal messianism in his book. He apparently regarded as something of the distant past the prophet Zechariah's abortive attempt to have the Davidic kingdom reestablished in the time of Zerubbabel at the end of the sixth century B.C. (Zechariah 6:9-15). He saw David's primary importance as deriving from the establishment of Jerusalem and its temple as the center of the true worship of the Lord. Furthermore, he presented David as the one who had authorized the elaborate ritual (which, in point of fact, only gradually evolved in the temple built by Zerubbabel) and who had also appointed Levites to supervise the liturgical services there.

There are good reasons for believing that originally the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah formed the last part of a single literary work that began with 1 and 2 Chronicles. Some authors even regard Ezra himself as having been the anonymous Chronicler. In any case, the Chronicler's Hebrew as well as his religious and political outlook points to c. 400 B.C. as the time of composition of this work.

The Chronicler used sources in writing his history. Besides the canonical Books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua and Ruth, and especially the Books of Samuel and Kings, he cites the titles of many other works no longer extant. "The books of the kings of Israel," or "the books of the kings of Israel and Judah," "the history of Samuel the seer," "the history of Nathan the prophet," "the history of Gad the seer," "the commentary on the Books of Kings," are some of the documents mentioned as historical sources.

In addition, the Chronicler's work contains early preexilic material not found in the Books of Kings. At one time scholars discounted the value of this material, but modern research has shown that, even though the Chronicler may have at times treated the material rather freely, he derived it from authentic and reliable sources.

The principal divisions of 1 Chronicles are as follows:

Genealogical Tables (1 Chron 1:1-9:34)

The History of David (1 Chron 9:35-29:30)

First Chronicles Chapter 1

[1] 1 Adam, Seth, Enosh,

[2] Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,

[3] Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,

[4] Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

[5] The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

[6] The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

[7] The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim, and the Rodanim.

[8] The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mesraim, Put, and Canaan.

[9] The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raama were Sheba and Dedan.

[10] Cush became the father of Nimrod, who was the first to be a conqueror on the earth.

[11] Mesraim became the father of the Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,

[12] Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim, from whom the Philistines sprang.

[13] Canaan became the father of Sidon, his first-born, and Heth,

[14] and the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite,

[15] the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite,

[16] the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite.

[17] The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

[18] Arpachshad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber.

[19] Two sons were born to Eber; the first was named Peleg (for in his time the world was divided), and his brother was Joktan.

[20] Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

[21] Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

[22] Ebal, Abimael, Sheba,

[23] Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

[24] Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah,

[25] Eber, Peleg, Reu,

[26] Serug, Nahor, Terah,

[27] Abram, who was Abraham.

[28] The sons of Abraham were Isaac and Ishmael.

[29] These were their descendants:Nebaioth, the first-born of Ishmael, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

[30] Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema,

[31] Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the descendants of Ishmael.

[32] The descendants of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan were Sheba and Dedan.

[33] The descendants of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the descendants of Keturah.

[34] Abraham became the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac were Esau and Israel.

[35] The sons of Esau were Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

[36] The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, (Timna,) and Amalek.

[37] The sons of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

[38] 2 The descendants of Seir were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

[39] The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam; Timna was the sister of Lotan.

[40] The sons of Shobal were Alian, Manahath, Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. The sons of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah.

[41] The sons of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

[42] The sons of Ezer were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Jaakan. The sons of Dishan were Uz and Aran.

[43] The kings who reigned in the land of Edom before they had Israelite kings were the following: Bela, son of Beor, the name of whose city was Dinhabah.

[44] When Bela died, Jobab, son of Zerah, from Bozrah, succeeded him.

[45] When Jobab died, Husham, from the land of the Temanites, succeeded him.

[46] Husham died and Hadad, son of Bedad, succeeded him. He overthrew the Midianites on the Moabite plateau, and the name of his city was Avith.

[47] Hadad died and Samlah of Masrekah succeeded him.

[48] Samlah died and Shaul from Rehoboth-han-nahar succeeded him.

[49] When Shaul died, Baal-hanan, son of Achbor, succeeded him.

[50] Baalhanan died and Hadad succeeded him. The name of his city was Pai, and his wife's name was Mehetabel. She was the daughter of Matred, who was the daughter of Mezahab.

[51] After Hadad died. . . .These were the chiefs of Edom: the chiefs of Timna, Aliah, Jetheth,

[52] Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,

[53] Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,

[54] Magdiel, and Iram were the chiefs of Edom.

First Chronicles Chapter 2

[1] These were the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

[2] Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

[3] 1 The sons of Judah were: Er, Onan, and Shelah; these three were born to him of Bathshua, a Canaanite woman. But Judah's first-born, Er, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so he killed him.

[4] Judah's daughter-in-law Tamar bore him Perez and Zerah, so that he had five sons in all.

[5] The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

[6] The sons of Zerah were Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Darda--five in all.

[7] The sons of Zimri: Carmi. The sons of Carmi: Achar, who brought trouble upon Israel by violating the ban.

[8] The sons of Ethan: Azariah.

[9] 2 The sons born to Hezron were Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai.

[10] 3 Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, a prince of the Judahites.

[11] Nahshon became the father of Salmah. Salmah became the father of Boaz.

[12] Boaz became the father of Obed. Obed became the father of Jesse.

[13] Jesse became the father of Eliab, his first-born, of Abinadab, the second son, Shimea, the third,

[14] Nethanel, the fourth, Raddai, the fifth,

[15] Ozem, the sixth, and David, the seventh.

[16] Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah had three sons: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.

[17] Abigail bore Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.

[18] 4 By his wife Azubah, Caleb, son of Hezron, became the father of a daughter, Jerioth. Her sons were Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.

[19] When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.

[20] Hur became the father of Uri, and Uri became the father of Bezalel.

[21] Then Hezron had relations with the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, having married her when he was sixty years old. She bore him Segub.

[22] Segub became the father of Jair, who possessed twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.

[23] Geshur and Aram took from them the villages of Jair, that is, Kenath and its towns, sixty cities in all, which had belonged to the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead.

[24] After the death of Hezron, Caleb had relations with Ephrathah, the widow of his father Hezron, and she bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.

[25] 5 The sons of Jerahmeel, the first-born of Hezron, were Ram, the first-born, then Bunah, Oren, and Ozem, his brothers.

[26] Jerahmeel also had another wife, Atarah by name, who was the mother of Onam.

[27] The sons of Ram, the first-born of Jerahmeel, were Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.

[28] The sons of Onam were Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai were Nadab and Abishur.

[29] Abishur's wife, who was named Abihail, bore him Ahban and Molid.

[30] The sons of Nadab were Seled and Appaim. Seled died without sons.

[31] The sons of Appaim: Ishi. The sons of Ishi: Sheshan. The sons of Sheshan: Ahlai.

[32] The sons of Jada, the brother of Shammai, were Jether and Jonathan. Jether died without sons.

[33] The sons of Jonathan were Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.

[34] Sheshan, who had no sons, only daughters, had an Egyptian slave named Jarha.

[35] Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his slave Jarha, and she bore him Attai.

[36] Attai became the father of Nathan. Nathan became the father of Zabad.

[37] Zabad became the father of Ephlal. Ephlal became the father of Obed.

[38] Obed became the father of Jehu. Jehu became the father of Azariah.

[39] Azariah became the father of Helez. Helez became the father of Eleasah.

[40] Eleasah became the father of Sismai. Sismai became the father of Shallum.

[41] Shallum became the father of Jekamiah. Jekamiah became the father of Elishama.

[42] 6 The descendants of Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel: (Mesha) his first-born, who was the father of Ziph. Then the sons of Mareshah, who was the father of Hebron.

[43] The sons of Hebron were Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.

[44] Shema became the father of Raham, who was the father of Jorkeam. Rekem became the father of Shammai.

[45] The son of Shammai: Maon, who was the father of Beth-zur.

[46] Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran became the father of Gazez.

[47] The sons of Jahdai were Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.

[48] Maacah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah.

[49] She also bore Shaaph, the father of Madmannah, Sheva, the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea. Achsah was Caleb's daughter.

[50] 7 These were descendants of Caleb, sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephrathah: Shobal, the father of Kiriath-jearim,

[51] Salma, the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph, the father of Bethgader.

[52] The sons of Shobal, the father of Kiriath-jearim, were Reaiah, half the Manahathites,

[53] and the clans of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites. From these the people of Zorah and the Eshtaolites derived.

[54] The descendants of Salma were Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-Joab, half the Manahathites, and the Zorites.

[55] The clans of the Sopherim dwelling in Jabez were the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Sucathites. They were the Kenites, who came from Hammath of the ancestor of the Rechabites.

First Chronicles Chapter 3

[1] 1 2 The following were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the first-born, Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second, Daniel, by Abigail of Carmel;

[2] the third, Absalom, son of Maacah, who was the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, son of Haggith;

[3] the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah.

[4] Six in all were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and six months. Then he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem,

[5] 3 where the following were born to him: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon--four by Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel;

[6] Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet,

[7] Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

[8] Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet--nine.

[9] All these were sons of David, in addition to other sons by concubines; and Tamar was their sister.

[10] 4 The son of Solomon was Rehoboam, whose son was Abijah, whose son was Asa, whose son was Jehoshaphat,

[11] whose son was Joram, whose son was Ahaziah, whose son was Joash,

[12] whose son was Amaziah, whose son was Azariah, whose son was Jotham,

[13] whose son was Ahaz, whose son was Hezekiah, whose son was Manasseh,

[14] whose son was Amon, whose son was Josiah.

[15] 5 The sons of Josiah were: the first-born Johanan; the second, Jehoiakim; the third, Zedekiah; the fourth, Shallum.

[16] The sons of Jehoiakim were: Jeconiah, his son; Zedekiah, his son.

[17] 6 The sons of Jeconiah the captive were: Shealtiel,

[18] 7 Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Shama, and Nedabiah.

[19] 8 The sons of Pedaiah were Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel were Meshullam and Hananiah; Shelomith was their sister.

[20] The sons of Meshullam were Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, Jushabhesed--five.

[21] The sons of Hananiah were Pelatiah, Jeshaiah, Rephaiah, Arnan, Obadiah, and Shecaniah.

[22] The sons of Shecaniah were Shemiah, Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, Shaphat--six.

[23] The sons of Neariah were Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam--three.

[24] The sons of Elioenai were Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani--seven.

First Chronicles Chapter 4

[1] 1 The descendants of Judah were: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.

[2] Reaiah, the son of Shobal, became the father of Jahath, and Jahath became the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites.

[3] These were the descendants of Hareph, the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; their sister was named Hazzelelponi.

[4] Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These were the descendants of Hur, the first-born of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem.

[5] Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

[6] Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, the Temenites and the Ahashtarites. These were the descendants of Naarah.

[7] The sons of Helah were Zereth, Izhar, Ethnan, and Koz.

[8] Koz became the father of Anub and Zobebah, as well as of the clans of Aharhel, son of Harum.

[9] Jabez was the most distinguished of the brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I bore him with pain."

[10] Jabez prayed to the God of Israel: "Oh, that you may truly bless me and extend my boundaries! Help me and make me free of misfortune, without pain!" And God granted his prayer.

[11] Chelub, the brother of Shuhah, became the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.

[12] Eshton became the father of Bethrapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of the city of Nahash. These were the men of Recah.

[13] The sons of Kenaz were Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel were Hathath and Meonothai;

[14] Meonothai became the father of Ophrah. Seraiah became the father of Joab, the father of Geharashim, so called because they were craftsmen.

[15] The sons of Caleb, son of Jephunneh, were Ir, Elah, and Naam. The sons of Elah were. . . and Kenaz.

[16] The sons of Jehallelel were Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

[17] The sons of Ezrah were Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. Jether became the father of Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa. (. . . . . .)

[18] His (Mered's) Egyptian wife bore Jered, the father of Gedor, Heber, the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel, the father of Zanoah. These were the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married.

[19] The sons of his Jewish wife, the sister of Naham, the father of Keilah, were Shimon the Garmite and Ishi the Maacathite.

[20] The sons of Shimon were Amnon, Rinnah, Benhanan, and Tilon. The son of Ishi was Zoheth and the son of Zoheth. . . .

[21] The descendants of Shelah, son of Judah, were: Er, the father of Lecah; Laadah, the father of Mareshah; the clans of the linen weavers' guild in Bethashbea;

[22] Jokim; the men of Cozeba; and Joash and Saraph, who held property in Moab, but returned to Bethlehem. (These are events of old.)

[23] They were potters and inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah, where they lived in the king's service.

[24] The sons of Simeon were Nemuel, Jamin, Jachin, Zerah, and Shaul,

[25] whose son was Shallum, whose son was Mibsam, whose son was Mishma.

[26] The descendants of Mishma were his son Hammuel, whose son was Zaccur, whose son was Shimei.

[27] Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters. His brothers, however, did not have many sons, and as a result all their clans did not equal the number of the Judahites.

[28] They dwelt in Beer-sheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,

[29] Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,

[30] Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,

[31] Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Bethbiri, and Shaaraim. Until David came to reign, these were their cities

[32] and their villages. Etam, also, and Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan--five cities,

[33] together with all their outlying villages as far as Baal. Here is where they dwelt, and so it was inscribed of them in their family records.

[34] Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah, son of Amaziah,

[35] Joel, Jehu, son of Joshibiah, son of Seraiah, son of Asiel,

[36] Elioenai, Jaakobath, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,

[37] Ziza, son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah--

[38] these just named were princes in their clans, and their ancestral houses spread out to such an extent

[39] 2 that they went to the approaches of Gedor, east of the valley, seeking pasture for their flocks.

[40] They found abundant and good pastures, and the land was spacious, quiet, and peaceful.

[41] They who have just been listed by name set out during the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and attacked the tents of Ham (for Hamites dwelt there formerly) and also the Meunites who were there. They pronounced against them the ban that is still in force and dwelt in their place because they found pasture there for their flocks.

[42] Five hundred of them (the Simeonites) went to Mount Seir under the leadership of Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, sons of Ishi.

[43] They attacked the surviving Amalekites who had escaped, and have resided there to the present day.

First Chronicles Chapter 5

[1] 1 The sons of Reuben, the first-born of Israel. (He was indeed the first-born, but because he disgraced the couch of his father his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, son of Israel, so that he is not listed in the family records according to birthright.

[2] Judah, in fact, became powerful among his brothers, so that the ruler came from him, though the birthright had been Joseph's.)

[3] The sons of Reuben, the first-born of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

[4] His son was Joel, whose son was Shemaiah, whose son was Gog, whose son was Shimei,

[5] whose son was Micah, whose son was Reaiah, whose son was Baal,

[6] whose son was Beerah, whom Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, took into exile; he was a prince of the Reubenites.

[7] His brothers who belonged to his clans, when they were listed in the family records according to their descendants, were: Jeiel, the chief, and Zechariah,

[8] and Bela, son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel. The Reubenites lived in Aroer and as far as Nebo and Baal-meon;

[9] toward the east they dwelt as far as the desert which extends from the Euphrates River, for they had much livestock in the land of Gilead.

[10] During the reign of Saul they waged war with the Hagrites, and when they had defeated them they occupied their tents throughout the region east of Gilead.

[11] The Gadites lived alongside them in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah.

[12] Joel was chief, Shapham was second in command, and Janai was judge in Bashan.

[13] Their brothers, corresponding to their ancestral houses, were: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber--seven.

[14] These were the sons of Abihail, son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz.

[15] Ahi, son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was the head of their ancestral houses.

[16] They dwelt in Gilead, in Bashan and its towns, and in all the pasture lands of Sirion to the borders.

[17] All were listed in the family records in the time of Jotham, king of Judah, and of Jeroboam, king of Israel.

[18] The Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh were warriors, men who bore shield and sword and who drew the bow, trained in warfare--forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty men fit for military service.

[19] When they waged war against the Hagrites and against Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab,

[20] they received help so that they mastered the Hagrites and all who were with them. For during the battle they called on God, and he heard them because they had put their trust in him.

[21] Along with one hundred thousand men they also captured their livestock: fifty thousand camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand asses.

[22] Many had fallen in battle, for victory is from God; and they took over their dwelling place until the time of the exile.

[23] The numerous members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land of Bashan as far as Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon.

[24] The following were the heads of their ancestral houses: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel--men who were warriors, famous men, and heads over their ancestral houses.

[25] However, they offended the God of their fathers by lusting after the gods of the natives of the land, whom God had cleared out of their way.

[26] 2 Therefore the God of Israel incited against them the anger of Pul, king of Assyria, and of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who deported the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and brought them to Halah, Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, where they have remained to this day.

[27] 3 The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

[28] The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

[29] The children of Amram were Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

[30] 4 Eleazar became the father of Phinehas. Phinehas became the father of Abishua.

[31] Abishua became the father of Bukki. Bukki became the father of Uzzi.

[32] Uzzi became the father of Zerahiah. Zerahiah became the father of Meraioth.

[33] Meraioth became the father of Amariah. Amariah became the father of Ahitub.

[34] Ahitub became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Ahimaaz.

[35] Ahimaaz became the father of Azariah. Azariah became the father of Johanan.

[36] Johanan became the father of Azariah, who served as priest in the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem.

[37] Azariah became the father of Amariah. Amariah became the father of Ahitub.

[38] Ahitub became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Shallum.

[39] Shallum became the father of Hilkiah. Hilkiah became the father of Azariah.

[40] Azariah became the father of Seraiah. Seraiah became the father of Jehozadak.

[41] Jehozadak was one of those who went into the exile which the LORD inflicted on Judah and Jerusalem through Nebuchadnezzar.

First Chronicles Chapter 6

[1] The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

[2] The sons of Gershon were named Libni and Shimei.

[3] The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

[4] The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.The following were the clans of Levi, distributed according to their ancestors:

[5] of Gershon: his son Libni, whose son was Jahath, whose son was Zimmah,

[6] whose son was Joah, whose son was Iddo, whose son was Zerah, whose son was Jetherai.

[7] The descendants of Kohath were: his son Amminadab, whose son was Korah, whose son was Assir,

[8] whose son was Elkanah, whose son was Ebiasaph, whose son was Assir,

[9] whose son was Tahath, whose son was Uriel, whose son was Uzziah, whose son was Shaul.

[10] The sons of Elkanah were Amasai and Ahimoth,

[11] whose son was Elkanah, whose son was Zophai, whose son was Nahath,

[12] whose son was Eliab, whose son was Jeroham, whose son was Elkanah, whose son was Samuel.

[13] The sons of Samuel were Joel, the first-born, and Abijah, the second.

[14] The descendants of Merari were Mahli, whose son was Libni, whose son was Shimei, whose son was Uzzah,

[15] whose son was Shimea, whose son was Haggiah, whose son was Asaiah.

[16] 1 The following were entrusted by David with the choir services in the LORD'S house from the time when the ark had obtained a permanent resting place.

[17] They served as singers before the Dwelling of the meeting tent until Solomon built the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they performed their services in an order prescribed for them.

[18] Those who so performed are the following, together with their descendants. Among the Kohathites: Heman, the chanter, son of Joel, son of Samuel,

[19] son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah,

[20] son of Zuth, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasi,

[21] son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zaphaniah,

[22] son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah,

[23] son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, son of Israel.

[24] His brother Asaph stood at his right hand. Asaph was the son of Berechiah, son of Shimea,

[25] son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malchijah,

[26] son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah,

[27] son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei,

[28] son of Jahath, son of Gershon, son of Levi.

[29] Their brothers, the Merarites, stood at the left: Ethan, son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch,

[30] son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah,

[31] son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shemer,

[32] son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi.

[33] Their brother Levites were appointed to all the other services of the Dwelling of the house of God.

[34] However, it was Aaron and his descendants who burnt the offerings on the altar of holocausts and on the altar of incense; they alone had charge of the holy of holies and of making atonement for Israel, as Moses, the servant of God, had ordained.

[35] These were the descendants of Aaron: his son Eleazar, whose son was Phinehas, whose son was Abishua,

[36] whose son was Bukki, whose son was Uzzi, whose son was Zerahiah,

[37] whose son was Meraioth, whose son was Amariah, whose son was Ahitub,

[38] whose son was Zadok, whose son was Ahimaaz.

[39] 2 The following were their dwelling places to which their encampment was limited. To the descendants of Aaron who belonged to clan of the Kohathites, since the first lot fell to them,

[40] was assigned Hebron with its adjacent pasture lands in the land of Judah,

[41] although the open country and the villages belonging to the city had been given to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.

[42] There were assigned to the descendants of Aaron: Hebron a city of asylum, Libnah with its pasture lands, Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,

[43] Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands,

[44] Ashan with its pasture lands, Jetta with its pasture lands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands.

[45] Also from the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands, Almon with its pasture lands, Anathoth with its pasture lands. In all, they had thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

[46] The other Kohathites obtained ten cities by lot for their clans from the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

[47] The clans of the Gershonites obtained thirteen cities from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

[48] The clans of the Merarites obtained twelve cities by lot from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

First Chronicles Chapter 7

[1] 1 The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron: four.

[2] The sons of Tola were Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, warrior heads of the ancestral houses of Tola. Their kindred numbered twenty-two thousand six hundred in the time of David.

[3] The sons of Uzzi: Izarahiah. The sons of Izarahiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah. All five of these were chiefs.

[4] Their kindred, by ancestral houses, numbered thirty-six thousand men in organized military troops, since they had more wives and sons

[5] than their fellow tribesmen. In all the clans of Issachar there was a total of eighty-seven thousand warriors in their family records.

[6] The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Becher, and Jediael--three.

[7] The sons of Bela were Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri--five. They were heads of their ancestral houses and warriors. Their family records listed twenty-two thousand and thirty-four.

[8] The sons of Becher were Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth--all these were sons of Becher.

[9] Their family records listed twenty thousand two hundred of their kindred who were heads of their ancestral houses and warriors.

[10] The sons of Jediael: Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan were Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar.

[11] All these were descendants of Jediael, heads of ancestral houses and warriors. They numbered seventeen thousand two hundred men fit for military service. . . Shupham and Hupham.

[12] The sons of Dan: Hushim.

[13] The sons of Naphtali were Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum. These were descendants of Bilhah.

[14] The sons of Manasseh, whom his Aramean concubine bore: she bore Machir, the father of Gilead.

[15] Machir took a wife whose name was Maacah; his sister's name was Molecheth. Manasseh's second son was named Zelophehad, but to Zelophehad only daughters were born.

[16] Maacah, Machir's wife, bore a son whom she named Peresh. He had a brother named Sheresh, whose sons were Ulam and Rakem.

[17] The sons of Ulam: Bedan. These were the descendants of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.

[18] His sister Molecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah.

[19] The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

[20] The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, whose son was Bered, whose son was Tahath, whose son was Eleadah, whose son was Tahath,

[21] whose son was Zabad. Ephraim's son Shuthelah, and Ezer and Elead, who were born in the land, were slain by the inhabitants of Gath because they had gone down to take away their livestock.

[22] Their father Ephraim mourned a long time, but after his kinsmen had come and comforted him,

[23] he visited his wife, who conceived and bore a son whom he named Beriah, since evil had befallen his house.

[24] He had a daughter, Sheerah, who built lower and upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah.

[25] Zabad's son was Rephah, whose son was Resheph, whose son was Telah, whose son was Tahan,

[26] whose son was Ladan, whose son was Ammihud, whose son was Elishama,

[27] whose son was Nun, whose son was Joshua.

[28] Their property and their dwellings were in Bethel and its towns, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its towns to the west, and also Shechem and its towns as far as Ayyah and its towns.

[29] Manasseh, however, had possession of Beth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, and Dor and its towns. In these dwelt the descendants of Joseph, the son of Israel.

[30] The sons of Asher were Imnah, Iishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah; their sister was Serah.

[31] Beriah's sons were Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith.

[32] Heber became the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua.

[33] The sons of Japhlet were Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath; these were the sons of Japhlet.

[34] The sons of Shomer were Ahi, Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram.

[35] The sons of his brother Hotham were Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal.

[36] The sons of Zophah were Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah,

[37] Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera.

[38] The sons of Jether were Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara.

[39] The sons of Ulla were Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.

[40] All these were descendants of Asher, heads of ancestral houses, distinguished men, warriors, and chiefs among the princes. Their family records numbered twenty-six thousand men fit for military service.

First Chronicles Chapter 8

[1] 1 Benjamin became the father of Bela, his first-born, Ashbel, the second son, Aharah, the third,

[2] Nohah, the fourth, and Rapha, the fifth.

[3] The sons of Bela were Addar and Gera, the father of Ehud.

[4] The sons of Ehud were Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah,

[5] Gera, Shephuphan, and Huram.

[6] These were the sons of Ehud, family heads over those who dwelt in Geba and were deported to Manahath.

[7] Also Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera. The last, who led them into exile, became the father of Uzza and Ahihud.

[8] Shaharaim became a father on the Moabite plateau after he had put away his wives Hushim and Baara.

[9] By his wife Hodesh he became the father of Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam,

[10] Jeuz, Sachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons, family heads.

[11] By Hushim he became the father of Abitub and Elpaal.

[12] The sons of Elpaal were Eber, Misham, Shemed, who built Ono and Lod with its nearby towns,

[13] Beriah, and Shema. They were family heads of those who dwelt in Aijalon, and they put the inhabitants of Gath to flight.

[14] Their brethren were Elpaal, Shashak, and Jeremoth.

[15] Zebadiah, Arad, Eder,

[16] Michael, Ishpah, and Joha were the sons of Beriah.

[17] Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Heber,

[18] Ishmerai, Izliah, and Jobab were the sons of Elpaal.

[19] Jakim, Zichri, Zabdi,

[20] Elienai, Zillethai, Eliel,

[21] Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath were the sons of Shimei.

[22] Ishpan, Eber, Eliel,

[23] Abdon, Zichri, Hanan,

[24] Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah,

[25] Iphdeiah, and Penuel were the sons of Shashak.

[26] Shamsherai, Shehariah, Athaliah,

[27] Jaareshiah, Elijah, and Zichri were the sons of Jeroham.

[28] These were family heads over their kindred, chiefs who dwelt in Jerusalem.

[29] In Gibeon dwelt Jeiel, the founder of Gibeon, whose wife's name was Maacah;

[30] also his first-born son, Abdon, and Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab,

[31] Gedor, Ahio, Zecher, and Mikloth.

[32] Mikloth became the father of Shimeah. These, too, dwelt with their relatives in Jerusalem, opposite their fellow tribesmen.

[33] Ner became the father of Kish, and Kish became the father of Saul. Saul became the father of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

[34] The son of Jonathan was Meribbaal, and Meribbaal became the father of Micah.

[35] The sons of Micah were Pithon, Melech, Tarea, and Ahaz.

[36] Ahaz became the father of Jehoaddah, and Jehoaddah became the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri became the father of Moza.

[37] Moza became the father of Binea, whose son was Raphah, whose son was Eleasah, whose son was Azel.

[38] Azel had six sons, whose names were Azrikam, his first-born, Ishmael, Sheariah, Azariah, Obadiah, and Hanan; all these were the sons of Azel.

[39] The sons of Eshek, his brother, were Ulam, his first-born, Jeush, the second son, and Eliphelet, the third.

[40] The sons of Ulam were combat archers, and many were their sons and grandsons: one hundred and fifty. All these were the descendants of Benjamin.

First Chronicles Chapter 9

[1] Thus all Israel was inscribed in its family records which are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel.Now Judah had been carried in captivity to Babylon because of its rebellion.

[2] 1 The first to settle again in their cities and dwell there were certain lay Israelites, the priests, the Levites, and the temple slaves.

[3] In Jerusalem lived Judahites and Benjaminites; also Ephraimites and Manassehites.

[4] Among the Judahites was Uthai, son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, one of the descendants of Perez, son of Judah.

[5] Among the Shelanites were Asaiah, the first-born, and his sons.

[6] Among the Zerahites were Jeuel and six hundred and ninety of their brethren.

[7] Among the Benjaminites were Sallu, son of Meshullam, son of Hodaviah, son of Hassenuah;

[8] Ibneiah, son of Jeroham; Elah, son of Uzzi, son of Michri; Meshullam, son of Shephatiah, son of Reuel, son of Ibnijah.

[9] Their kindred of various families were nine hundred and fifty-six. All those named were heads of their ancestral houses.

[10] Among the priests were Jedaiah; Jehoiarib; Jachin;

[11] Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God;

[12] Adaiah, son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah; Maasai, son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer.

[13] Their brethren, heads of their ancestral houses, were one thousand seven hundred and sixty, valiant for the work of the service of the house of God.

[14] Among the Levites were Shemaiah, son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, one of the descendants of Merari;

[15] Bakbakkar; Heresh; Galal; Mattaniah, son of Mica, son of Zichri, a descendant of Asaph;

[16] Obadiah, son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, a descendant of Jeduthun; and Berechiah, son of Asa, son of Elkanah, whose family lived in the villages of the Netophathites.

[17] The gatekeepers were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their brethren; Shallum was the chief.

[18] Previously they had stood guard at the king's gate on the east side; now they became gatekeepers for the encampments of the Levites.

[19] Shallum, son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, a descendant of Korah, and his brethren of the same ancestral house of the Korahites had as their assigned task the guarding of the threshold of the tent, just as their fathers had guarded the entrance to the encampment of the LORD.

[20] Phinehas, son of Eleazar, had been their chief in times past--the LORD be with him!

[21] Zechariah, son of Meshelemiah, guarded the gate of the meeting tent.

[22] In all, those who were chosen for gatekeepers at the threshold were two hundred and twelve. They were inscribed in the family records of their villages. David and Samuel the seer had established them in their position of trust.

[23] Thus they and their sons kept guard over the gates of the house of the LORD, the house which was then a tent.

[24] The gatekeepers were stationed at the four sides, to the east, the west, the north, and the south.

[25] Their kinsmen who lived in their own villages took turns in assisting them for seven-day periods,

[26] while the four chief gatekeepers were on constant duty. These were the Levites who also had charge of the chambers and treasures of the house of God.

[27] At night they lodged about the house of God, for it was in their charge and they had the duty of opening it each morning.

[28] Some of them had charge of the liturgical equipment, tallying it as it was brought in and taken out.

[29] Others were appointed to take care of the utensils and all the sacred vessels, as well as the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the frankincense, and the spices.

[30] It was the sons of priests, however, who mixed the spiced ointments.

[31] Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the first-born of Shallum the Koreite, was entrusted with preparing the cakes.

[32] Benaiah the Kohathite, one of their brethren, was in charge of setting out the showbread each sabbath.

[33] These were the chanters and the gatekeepers, family heads over the Levites. They stayed in the chambers when free of duty, for day and night they had to be ready for service.

[34] These were the levitical family heads over their kindred, chiefs who dwelt in Jerusalem.

[35] In Gibeon dwelt Jeiel, the founder of Gibeon, whose wife's name was Maacah.

[36] His first-born son was Abdon; then came Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab,

[37] Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth.

[38] Mikloth became the father of Shimeam. These, too, with their brethren, dwelt opposite their brethren in Jerusalem.

[39] Ner became the father of Kish, and Kish became the father of Saul. Saul became the father of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

[40] The son of Jonathan was Meribbaal, and Meribbaal became the father of Micah.

[41] The sons of Micah were Pithon, Melech, Tahrea, and Ahaz.

[42] Ahaz became the father of Jehoaddah, and Jehoaddah became the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri became the father of Moza.

[43] Moza became the father of Binea, whose son was Rephaiah, whose son was Eleasah, whose son was Azel.

[44] Azel had six sons, whose names were Azrikam, his first-born, Ishmael, Sheariah, Azariah, Obadiah, and Hanan; these were the sons of Azel.

First Chronicles Chapter 10

[1] Now the Philistines were at war with Israel; the Israelites fled before the Philistines, and a number of them fell, slain on Mount Gilboa.

[2] The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons. When the Philistines had killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul,

[3] the whole fury of the battle descended upon Saul. Then the archers found him, and wounded him with their arrows.

[4] Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, that these uncircumcised may not come and maltreat me." But the armor-bearer, in great fear, refused. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it;

[5] and seeing him dead, the armor-bearer also fell on his sword and died.

[6] Thus, with Saul and his three sons, his whole house died at one time.

[7] When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that Saul and his sons had died in the rout, they left their cities and fled; thereupon the Philistines came and occupied them.

[8] On the following day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons where they had fallen on Mount Gilboa.

[9] They stripped him, cut off his head, and took his armor; these they sent throughout the land of the Philistines to convey the good news to their idols and their people.

[10] His armor they put in the house of their gods, but his skull they impaled on the temple of Dagon.

[11] When all the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead had heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

[12] its warriors rose to a man, recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons, and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak of Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

[13] 1 Thus Saul died because of his rebellion against the LORD in disobeying his command, and also because he had sought counsel of a necromancer,

[14] and had not rather inquired of the LORD. Therefore the LORD slew him, and transferred his kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.

First Chronicles Chapter 11

[1] Then all Israel gathered about David in Hebron, and they said: "Surely, we are of the same bone and flesh as you.

[2] Even formerly, when Saul was still the king, it was you who led Israel in all its battles. And now the LORD, your God, has said to you, 'You shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over them.'"

[3] Then all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and there David made a covenant with them in the presence of the LORD; and they anointed him king over Israel, in accordance with the word of the LORD as revealed through Samuel.

[4] Then David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where the natives of the land were called Jebusites.

[5] The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, "You shall not enter here." David nevertheless captured the fortress of Zion, which is the City of David.

[6] David said, "Whoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be made the chief commander." Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was the first to go up; and so he became chief.

[7] David took up his residence in the fortress, which thenceforth was called the City of David.

[8] He rebuilt the city on all sides, from the Millo all the way around, while Joab restored the rest of the city.

[9] David became more and more powerful, for the LORD of hosts was with him.

[10] These were David's chief warriors who, together with all Israel, supported him in his reign in order to make him true king, even as the LORD had commanded concerning Israel.

[11] 1 Here is the list of David's warriors: Ishbaal, the son of Hachamoni, chief of the Three. He brandished his spear against three hundred, whom he slew in a single encounter.

[12] Next to him Eleazar, the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the Three warriors.

[13] He was with David at Pas-dammim, where the Philistines had massed for battle. The plow-land was fully planted with barley, but its defenders were retreating before the Philistines.

[14] He made a stand on the sown ground, kept it safe, and cut down the Philistines. Thus the LORD brought about a great victory.

[15] Three of the Thirty chiefs went down to the rock, to David, who was in the cave of Adullam while the Philistines were encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

[16] David was then in the stronghold, and a Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.

[17] David expressed a desire: "Oh, that someone would give me a drink from the cistern that is by the gate at Bethlehem!"

[18] Thereupon the Three broke through the encampment of the Philistines, drew water from the cistern by the gate at Bethlehem, and carried it back to David. But David refused to drink it. Instead, he poured it out as a libation to the LORD,

[19] saying, "God forbid that I should do such a thing! Could I drink the blood of these men who risked their lives?" For at the risk of their lives they brought it; and so he refused to drink it. Such deeds as these the Three warriors performed.

[20] 2 Abishai, the brother of Joab. He was the chief of the Thirty; he brandished his spear against three hundred, and slew them. Thus he had a reputation like that of the Three.

[21] He was twice as famous as any of the Thirty and became their commander, but he did not attain to the Three.

[22] Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a valiant man of mighty deeds, from Kabzeel. He killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab, and also, on a snowy day, he went down and killed the lion in the cistern.

[23] He likewise slew the Egyptian, a huge man five cubits tall. The Egyptian carried a spear that was like a weaver's heddle-bar, but he came against him with a staff, wrested the spear from the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with his own spear.

[24] Such deeds as these of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, gave him a reputation like that of the Three.

[25] He was more famous than any of the Thirty, but he did not attain to the Three. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

[26] Also these warriors: Asahel, the brother of Joab; Elhanan, son of Dodo, from Bethlehem;

[27] Shammoth, from En-harod; Helez, from Palti;

[28] Ira, son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa; Abiezer, from Anathoth;

[29] Sibbecai, from Husha; Ilai, from Ahoh;

[30] Maharai, from Netophah; Heled, son of Baanah, from Netophah;

[31] Ithai, son of Ribai, from Gibeah of Benjamin; Benaiah, from Pirathon;

[32] Hurai, from the valley of Gaash; Abiel, from Beth-arabah;

[33] Azmaveth, from Bahurim; Eliahba, from Shaalbon;

[34] Jashen the Gunite; Jonathan, son of Shagee, from En-harod;

[35] Ahiam, son of Sachar, from En-harod; Elipheleth, son of

[36] Ahasabi, from Beth-maacah; Ahijah, from Gilo;

[37] Hezro, from Carmel; Naarai, the son of Ezbai;

[38] Joel, brother of Nathan, from Rehob, the Gadite;

[39] Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai, from Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab, son of Zeruiah;

[40] Ira, from Jattir; Gareb, from Jattir;

[41] Uriah the Hittite; Zabad, son of Ahlai,

[42] and, in addition to the Thirty, Adina, son of Shiza, the Reubenite, chief of the tribe of Reuben;

[43] Hanan, from Beth-maacah; Joshaphat the Mithnite;

[44] Uzzia, from Ashterath; Shama and Jeiel, sons of Hotham, from Aroer;

[45] Jediael, son of Shimri, and Joha, his brother, the Tizite;

[46] Eliel the Mahavite; Jeribai and Joshaviah, sons of Elnaam; Ithmah, from Moab;

[47] Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobian.

First Chronicles Chapter 12

[1] The following men came to David in Ziklag while he was still under banishment from Saul, son of Kish; they, too, were among the warriors who helped him in his battles.

[2] They were archers who could use either the right or the left hand, both in slinging stones and in shooting arrows with the bow. They were some of Saul's kinsmen, from Benjamin.

[3] Ahiezer was their chief, along with Joash, both sons of Shemaah of Gibeah; also Jeziel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu, from Anathoth;

[4] Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a warrior on the level of the Thirty, and in addition to their number;

[5] Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad from Gederah;

[6] Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah the Haruphite;

[7] Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Ishbaal, who were Korahites;

[8] Joelah, finally, and Zebadiah, sons of Jeroham, from Gedor.

[9] Some of the Gadites also went over to David when he was at the stronghold in the wilderness. They were valiant warriors, experienced soldiers equipped with shield and spear, who bore themselves like lions, and were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains.

[10] Ezer was their chief, Obadiah was second, Eliab third,

[11] Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth,

[12] Attai sixth, Eliel seventh,

[13] Johanan eighth, Elzabad ninth,

[14] Jeremiah tenth, and Machbannai eleventh.

[15] These Gadites were army commanders, the lesser placed over hundreds and the greater over thousands.

[16] It was they who crossed over the Jordan when it was overflowing both its banks in the first month, and dispersed all who were in the valleys to the east and to the west.

[17] Some Benjaminites and Judahites also came to David at the stronghold.

[18] David went out to meet them and addressed them in these words: "If you come peacefully, to help me, I am of a mind to have you join me. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies though my hands have done no wrong, may the God of our fathers see and punish you."

[19] Then spirit enveloped Amasai, the chief of the Thirty, who spoke: "We are yours, O David, we are with you, O son of Jesse. Peace, peace to you, and peace to him who helps you; your God it is who helps you." So David received them and placed them among the leaders of his troops.

[20] Men from Manasseh also deserted to David when he came with the Philistines to battle against Saul. However, he did not help the Philistines, for their lords took counsel and sent him home, saying, "At the cost of our heads he will desert to his master Saul."

[21] As he was returning to Ziklag, therefore, these deserted to him from Manasseh: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands of Manasseh.

[22] They helped David by taking charge of his troops, for they were all warriors and became commanders of his army.

[23] And from day to day men kept coming to David's help until there was a vast encampment, like an encampment of angels.

[24] This is the muster of the detachments of armed troops that came to David at Hebron to transfer to him Saul's kingdom, as the LORD had ordained.

[25] 1 Judahites bearing shields and spears: six thousand eight hundred armed troops.

[26] Of the Simeonites, warriors fit for battle: seven thousand one hundred.

[27] Of the Levites: four thousand six hundred,

[28] along with Jehoiada, leader of the line of Aaron, with another three thousand seven hundred,

[29] and Zadok, a young warrior, with twenty-two princes of his father's house.

[30] Of the Benjaminites, the brethren of Saul: three thousand--until this time, most of them had held their allegiance to the house of Saul.

[31] Of the Ephraimites: twenty thousand eight hundred warriors, men renowned in their ancestral houses.

[32] Of the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand, designated by name to come and make David king.

[33] Of the Issacharites, their chiefs who were endowed with an understanding of the times and who knew what Israel had to do: two hundred chiefs, together with all their brethren under their command.

[34] From Zebulun, men fit for military service, set in battle array with every kind of weapon for war: fifty thousand men rallying with a single purpose.

[35] From Naphtali: one thousand captains, and with them, armed with shield and lance, thirty-seven thousand men.

[36] Of the Danites, set in battle array: twenty-eight thousand six hundred.

[37] From Asher, fit for military service and set in battle array: forty thousand.

[38] From the other side of the Jordan, of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, men equipped with every kind of weapon of war: one hundred and twenty thousand.

[39] All these soldiers, drawn up in battle order, came to Hebron with the resolute intention of making David king over all Israel. The rest of Israel was likewise of one mind to make David king.

[40] They remained with David for three days, feasting and drinking, for their brethren had prepared for them.

[41] Moreover, their neighbors from as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali came bringing food on asses, camels, mules, and oxen--provisions in great quantity of meal, pressed figs, raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep. For there was rejoicing in Israel.

First Chronicles Chapter 13

[1] After David had taken counsel with his commanders of thousands and of hundreds, that is to say, with every one of his leaders,

[2] he said to the whole assembly of Israel: "If it seems good to you, and is so decreed by the LORD our God, let us summon the rest of our brethren from all the districts of Israel, and also the priests and the Levites from their cities with pasture lands, that they may join us;

[3] and let us bring the ark of our God here among us, for in the days of Saul we did not visit it."

[4] And the whole assembly agreed to do this, for the idea was pleasing to all the people.

[5] 1 Then David assembled all Israel, from Shihor of Egypt to Labo of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.

[6] David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, of Judah, to bring back the ark of God, which was known by the name "LORD enthroned upon the cherubim."

[7] They transported the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab; Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the cart,

[8] while David and all Israel danced before God with great enthusiasm, amid songs and music on lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

[9] 2 As they reached the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah stretched out his hand to steady the ark, for the oxen were upsetting it.

[10] Then the LORD became angry with Uzzah and struck him; he died there in God's presence, because he had laid his hand on the ark.

[11] 3 David was disturbed because the LORD'S anger had broken out against Uzzah. Therefore that place has been called Perez-uzza even to this day.

[12] David was now afraid of God, and he said, "How can I bring the ark of God with me?"

[13] Therefore he did not take the ark back with him to the City of David, but he took it instead to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

[14] The ark of God remained in the house of Obed-edom with his family for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom's household and all that he possessed.

First Chronicles Chapter 14

[1] Hiram, king of Tyre, sent envoys to David along with masons and carpenters, and cedar wood to build him a house.

[2] David now understood that the LORD had truly confirmed him as king over Israel, for his kingdom was greatly exalted for the sake of his people Israel.

[3] David took other wives in Jerusalem and became the father of more sons and daughters.

[4] These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

[5] Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet,

[6] Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

[7] Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.

[8] When the Philistines had heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, they went up in unison to seek him out. But when David heard of this, he marched out against them.

[9] Meanwhile the Philistines had come and raided the valley of Rephaim.

[10] David inquired of God, "Shall I advance against the Philistines, and will you deliver them into my power?" The LORD answered him, "Advance, for I will deliver them into your power."

[11] They advanced, therefore, to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. Then David said, "God has used me to break through my enemies just as water breaks through a dam." Therefore that place was called Baal-perazim.

[12] The Philistines had left their gods there, and David ordered them to be burnt.

[13] Once again the Philistines raided the valley,

[14] and again David inquired of God. But God answered him: "Do not try to pursue them, but go around them and come upon them from the direction of the mastic trees.

[15] When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mastic trees, then go forth to battle, for God has already gone before you to strike the army of the Philistines."

[16] David did as God commanded him, and they routed the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer.

[17] Thus David's fame was spread abroad through every land, and the LORD made all the nations fear him.

First Chronicles Chapter 15

[1] David built houses for himself in the City of David and prepared a place for the ark of God, pitching a tent for it there.

[2] At that time he said, "No one may carry the ark of God except the Levites, for the LORD chose them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister to him forever."

[3] Then David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring the ark of the LORD to the place which he had prepared for it.

[4] David also called together the sons of Aaron and the Levites:

[5] of the sons of Kohath, Uriel, their chief, and one hundred and twenty of his brethren;

[6] of the sons of Merari, Asaiah, their chief, and two hundred and twenty of his brethren;

[7] of the sons of Gershon, Joel, their chief, and one hundred and thirty of his brethren;

[8] of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah, their chief, and two hundred of his brethren;

[9] of the sons of Hebron, Eliel, their chief, and eighty of his brethren;

[10] of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab, their chief, and one hundred and twelve of his brethren.

[11] David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab,

[12] and said to them: "You, the heads of the levitical families, must sanctify yourselves along with your brethren and bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place which I have prepared for it.

[13] Because you were not with us the first time, the wrath of the LORD our God burst upon us, for we did not seek him aright."

[14] Accordingly, the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.

[15] The Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders with poles, as Moses had ordained according to the word of the LORD.

[16] David commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brethren as chanters, to play on musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals, to make a loud sound of rejoicing.

[17] Therefore the Levites appointed Heman, son of Joel, and, among his brethren, Asaph, son of Berechiah; and among the sons of Merari, their brethren, Ethan, son of Kushaiah;

[18] and, together with these, their brethren of the second rank: the gatekeepers Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel.

[19] The chanters, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, sounded brass cymbals.

[20] 1 Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah played on harps set to "Alamoth."

[21] But Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel led the chant on lyres set to "the eighth."

[22] Chenaniah was the chief of the Levites in the chanting; he directed the chanting, for he was skillful.

[23] Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers before the ark.

[24] The priests, Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, sounded the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jeiel were also gatekeepers before the ark.

[25] Thus David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with joy from the house of Obed-edom.

[26] While the Levites, with God's help, were bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed.

[27] David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who carried the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah, the leader of the chant; David was also wearing a linen ephod.

[28] Thus all Israel brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD with joyful shouting, to the sound of horns, trumpets, and cymbals, and the music of harps and lyres.

[29] But as the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, looked down from her window, and when she saw King David leaping and dancing, she despised him in her heart.

First Chronicles Chapter 16

[1] They brought in the ark of God and set it within the tent which David had pitched for it. Then they offered up holocausts and peace offerings to God.

[2] When David had finished offering up the holocausts and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD,

[3] and distributed to every Israelite, to every man and every woman, a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a raisin cake.

[4] He now appointed certain Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to celebrate, thank, and praise the LORD, the God of Israel.

[5] Asaph was their chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. These were to play on harps and lyres, while Asaph was to sound the cymbals,

[6] and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel were to be the regular trumpeters before the ark of the covenant of God.

[7] Then, on that same day, David appointed Asaph and his brethren to sing for the first time these praises of the LORD:

[8] 1 Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the nations his deeds.

[9] Sing to him, sing his praise, proclaim all his wondrous deeds.

[10] Glory in his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!

[11] Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly.

[12] Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, his portents, and the judgments he has uttered,

[13] You descendants of Israel, his servants, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!

[14] He, the LORD, is our God; throughout the earth his judgments prevail.

[15] He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations--

[16] Which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac;

[17] Which he established for Jacob by statute, for Israel as an everlasting covenant,

[18] Saying, "To you will I give the land of Canaan as your allotted inheritance."

[19] When they were few in number, a handful, and strangers there,

[20] Wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people,

[21] He let no one oppress them, and for their sake he rebuked kings:

[22] "Touch not my anointed, and to my prophets do no harm."

[23] Sing to the LORD, all the earth, announce his salvation, day after day

[24] Tell his glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.

[25] For great is the LORD and highly to be praised; and awesome is he, beyond all gods.

[26] For all the gods of the nations are things of nought, but the LORD made the heavens.

[27] Splendor and majesty go before him; praise and joy are in his holy place.

[28] Give to the LORD, you families of nations, give to the LORD glory and praise;

[29] Give to the LORD the glory due his name! Bring gifts, and enter his presence; worship the LORD in holy attire.

[30] Tremble before him, all the earth; he has made the world firm, not to be moved.

[31] Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let them say among the nations: The LORD is king.

[32] Let the sea and what fills it resound; let the plains rejoice and all that is in them!

[33] Then shall all the trees of the forest exult before the LORD, for he comes: he comes to rule the earth.

[34] Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his kindness endures forever;

[35] And say, "Save us, O God, our savior, gather us and deliver us from the nations, That we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in praising you."

[36] Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, through all eternity! Let all the people say, Amen! Alleluia.

[37] Then David left Asaph and his brethren there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD to minister before the ark regularly according to the daily ritual;

[38] he also left there Obed-edom and sixty-eight of his brethren, including Obed-edom, son of Jeduthun, and Hosah, to be gatekeepers.

[39] But the priest Zadok and his priestly brethren he left before the Dwelling of the LORD on the high place at Gibeon,

[40] to offer holocausts to the LORD on the altar of holocausts regularly, morning and evening, and to do all that is written in the law of the LORD which he has decreed for Israel.

[41] With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the others who were chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the LORD, "because his kindness endures forever,"

[42] with trumpets and cymbals for accompaniment, and instruments for the sacred chant. The sons of Jeduthun kept the gate.

[43] Then all the people departed, each to his own home, and David returned to bless his household.

First Chronicles Chapter 17

[1] After David had taken up residence in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, "See, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD dwells under tentcloth."

[2] Nathan replied to David, "Do, therefore, whatever you desire, for God is with you."

[3] But that same night the word of God came to Nathan:

[4] "Go and tell my servant David, Thus says the LORD: It is not you who are to build a house for me to dwell in.

[5] For I have never dwelt in a house, from the time when I led Israel onward, even to this day, but I have been lodging in tent or pavilion

[6] as long as I have wandered about with all of Israel. Did I ever say a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to guide my people, such as, 'Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'

[7] Therefore, tell my servant David, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you might become ruler over my people Israel.

[8] I was with you wherever you went, and I cut down all your enemies before you. I will make your name great like that of the greatest on the earth.

[9] I will assign a place for my people Israel and I will plant them in it to dwell there henceforth undisturbed; nor shall wicked men ever again oppress them, as they did at first,

[10] and during all the time when I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that I, the LORD, will build you a house;

[11] so that when your days have been completed and you must join your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who will be one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

[12] He it is who shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

[13] I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me, and I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from him who preceded you;

[14] but I will maintain him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be firmly established forever."

[15] All these words and this whole vision Nathan related exactly to David.

[16] Then David came in and sat in the LORD'S presence, saying: "Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my family, that you should have brought me as far as I have come?

[17] And yet, even this you now consider too little, O God! For you have made a promise regarding your servant's family reaching into the distant future, and you have looked on me as henceforth the most notable of men, O LORD God.

[18] What more can David say to you? You know your servant.

[19] O LORD, for your servant's sake and in keeping with your purpose, you have done this great thing.

[20] O LORD, there is no one like you and there is no God but you, just as we have always understood.

[21] "Is there, like your people Israel, whom you redeemed from Egypt, another nation on earth whom a god went to redeem as his people? You won for yourself a name for great and awesome deeds by driving out the nations before your people.

[22] You made your people Israel your own forever, and you, O LORD, became their God.

[23] Therefore, O LORD, may the promise that you have uttered concerning your servant and his house remain firm forever. Bring about what you have promised,

[24] that your renown as LORD of hosts, God of Israel, may be great and abide forever, while the house of David, your servant, is established in your presence.

[25] "Because you, O my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build him a house, your servant has made bold to pray before you.

[26] Since you, O LORD, are truly God and have promised this good thing to your servant,

[27] and since you have deigned to bless the house of your servant, so that it will remain forever--since it is you, O LORD, who blessed it, it is blessed forever."

First Chronicles Chapter 18

[1] After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them; and he took Gath and its towns away from the control of the Philistines.

[2] He also defeated Moab, and the Moabites became his subjects, paying tribute.

[3] David then defeated Hadadezer, king of Zobah toward Hamath, when the latter was on his way to set up his victory stele at the river Euphrates.

[4] David took from him twenty thousand foot soldiers, one thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen. Of the chariot horses, David hamstrung all but one hundred.

[5] The Arameans of Damascus came to the aid of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, but David also slew twenty-two thousand of their men.

[6] Then David set up garrisons in the Damascus region of Aram, and the Arameans became his subjects, paying tribute. Thus the LORD made David victorious in all his campaigns.

[7] David took the golden shields that were carried by Hadadezer's attendants and brought them to Jerusalem.

[8] He likewise took away from Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, large quantities of bronze, which Solomon later used to make the bronze sea and the pillars and the vessels of bronze.

[9] When Tou, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, king of Zobah,

[10] he sent his son Hadoram to wish King David well and to congratulate him on having waged a victorious war against Hadadezer; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. He also sent David gold, silver and bronze utensils of every sort.

[11] These also King David consecrated to the LORD along with all the silver and gold that he had taken from the nations: from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

[12] Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, also slew eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

[13] He set up garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's subjects. Thus the LORD made David victorious in all his campaigns.

[14] David reigned over all Israel and dispensed justice and right to all his people.

[15] Joab, son of Zeruiah, was in command of the army; Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was herald;

[16] 1 Zadok, son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, son of Abiathar, were priests; Shavsha was scribe;

[17] 2 Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were the chief assistants to the king.

First Chronicles Chapter 19

[1] Afterward Nahash, king of the Ammonites, died and his son succeeded him as king.

[2] David said, "I will show kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash, for his father treated me with kindness." Therefore he sent envoys to him to comfort him over the death of his father. But when David's servants had entered the land of the Ammonites to comfort Hanun,

[3] the Ammonite princes said to Hanun, "Do you think David is doing this--sending you these consolers--to honor your father? Have not his servants rather come to you to explore the land, spying it out for its overthrow?"

[4] Thereupon Hanun seized David's servants and had them shaved and their garments cut off half-way at the hips. Then he sent them away.

[5] When David was informed of what had happened to his men, he sent messengers to meet them, for the men had been greatly disgraced. "Remain at Jericho," the king told them, "until your beards have grown again; and then you may come back here."

[6] When the Ammonites realized that they had put themselves in bad odor with David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire chariots and horsemen from Aram Naharaim, from Aram-maacah, and from Zobah.

[7] They hired thirty-two thousand chariots along with the king of Maacah and his army, who came and encamped before Medeba. The Ammonites also assembled from their cities and came out for war.

[8] When David heard of this, he sent Joab and his whole army of warriors against them.

[9] The Ammonites marched out and lined up for a battle at the gate of the city, while the kings who had come to their help remained apart in the open field.

[10] When Joab saw that there was a battle line both in front of and behind him, he chose some of the best fighters among the Israelites and set them in array against the Arameans;

[11] the rest of the army, which he placed under the command of his brother Abishai, then lined up to oppose the Ammonites.

[12] And he said: "If the Arameans prove too strong for me, you must come to my help; and if the Ammonites prove too strong for you, I will save you.

[13] Hold steadfast and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and the cities of our God; then may the LORD do what seems best to him."

[14] Joab therefore advanced with his men to engage the Arameans in battle; but they fled before him.

[15] And when the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they also took to flight before his brother Abishai, and reentered the city. Joab then returned to Jerusalem.

[16] Seeing themselves vanquished by Israel, the Arameans sent messengers to bring out the Arameans from the other side of the River, with Shophach, the general of Hadadezer's army, at their head.

[17] When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel together, crossed the Jordan, and met them. With the army of David drawn up to fight the Arameans, they gave battle.

[18] But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David slew seven thousand of their chariot fighters and forty thousand of their foot soldiers; he also killed Shophach, the general of the army.

[19] When the vassals of Hadadezer saw themselves vanquished by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. After this, the Arameans refused to come to the aid of the Ammonites.

First Chronicles Chapter 20

[1] At the beginning of the following year, the time when kings go to war, Joab led the army out in force, laid waste the land of the Ammonites, and went on to besiege Rabbah, while David himself remained in Jerusalem. When Joab had attacked Rabbah and destroyed it,

[2] David took the crown of Milcom from the idol's head. It was found to weigh a talent of gold; and it contained precious stones, which David wore on his own head. He also brought out a great amount of booty from the city.

[3] He deported the people of the city and set them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. Thus David dealt with all the cities of the Ammonites. Then he and his whole army returned to Jerusalem.

[4] Afterward there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time, Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Sippai, one of the descendants of the Raphaim, and the Philistines were subdued.

[5] 1 Once again there was war with the Philistines, and Elhanan, the son of Jair, slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath of Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's heddle-bar.

[6] In still another battle, at Gath, they encountered a giant, also a descendant of the Raphaim, who had six fingers to each hand and six toes to each foot; twenty-four in all.

[7] He defied Israel, and Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David's brother, slew him.

[8] These were the descendants of the Raphaim of Gath who died at the hands of David and his servants.

First Chronicles Chapter 21

[1] 1 A satan rose up against Israel, and he enticed David into taking a census of Israel.

[2] David therefore said to Joab and to the other generals of the army, "Go, find out the number of the Israelites from Beer-sheba to Dan, and report back to me that I may know their number."

[3] But Joab replied: "May the LORD increase his people a hundredfold! My lord king, are not all of them my lord's subjects? Why does my lord seek to do this thing? Why will he bring guilt upon Israel?"

[4] However, the king's command prevailed over Joab, who departed and traversed all of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem.

[5] Joab reported the result of the census to David: of men capable of wielding a sword, there were in all Israel one million one hundred thousand, and in Judah four hundred and seventy thousand.

[6] Levi and Benjamin, however, he did not include in the census, for the king's command was repugnant to Joab.

[7] This command displeased God, who began to punish Israel.

[8] Then David said to God, "I have sinned greatly in doing this thing. Take away your servant's guilt, for I have acted very foolishly."

[9] Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David's seer, in these words:

[10] "Go, tell David: Thus says the LORD: I offer you three alternatives; choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you."

[11] Accordingly, Gad went to David and said to him; "Thus says the LORD: Decide now--

[12] will it be three years of famine; or three months of fleeing your enemies, with the sword of your foes ever at your back; or three days of the LORD'S own sword, a pestilence in the land, with the LORD'S destroying angel in every part of Israel? Therefore choose: What answer am I to give him who sent me?"

[13] Then David said to Gad: "I am in dire straits. But I prefer to fall into the hand of the LORD, whose mercy is very great, than into the hands of men."

[14] Therefore the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel died.

[15] God also sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem; but as he was on the point of destroying it, the LORD saw and decided against the calamity, and said to the destroying angel, "Enough now! Stay your hand!"The angel of the LORD was then standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

[16] When David raised his eyes, he saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with a naked sword in his hand stretched out against Jerusalem. David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, prostrated themselves face to the ground,

[17] and David prayed to God: "Was it not I who ordered the census of the people? I am the one who sinned, I did this wicked thing. But these sheep, what have they done? O LORD, my God, strike me and my father's family, but do not afflict your people with this plague!"

[18] Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to tell David to go up and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

[19] David went up at Gad's command, given in the name of the LORD.

[20] While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned around and saw the king, and his four sons who were with him, without recognizing them.

[21] But as David came on toward him, he looked up and saw that it was David. Then he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David, his face to the ground.

[22] David said to Ornan: "Sell me the ground of this threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me at its full price, that the plague may be stayed from the people."

[23] But Ornan said to David: "Take it as your own, and let my lord the king do what seems best to him. See, I also give you the oxen for the holocausts, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the cereal offering. I give it all to you."

[24] But King David replied to Ornan: "No! I will buy it from you properly, at its full price. I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer up holocausts that cost me nothing."

[25] 2 So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the place.

[26] David then built an altar there to the LORD, and offered up holocausts and peace offerings. When he called upon the LORD, he answered him by sending down fire from heaven upon the altar of holocausts.

[27] Then the LORD gave orders to the angel to return his sword to its sheath.

[28] Once David saw that the LORD had heard him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he continued to offer sacrifices there.

[29] The Dwelling of the LORD, which Moses had built in the desert, and the altar of holocausts were at that time on the high place at Gibeon.

[30] But David could not go there to worship God, for he was fearful of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

First Chronicles Chapter 22

[1] Therefore David said, "This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of holocausts for Israel."

[2] 1 David then ordered that all the aliens who lived in the land of Israel be brought together, and he appointed them stonecutters to hew out stone blocks for building the house of God.

[3] He also laid up large stores of iron to make nails for the doors of the gates, and clamps, together with so much bronze that it could not be weighed,

[4] and cedar trees without number. The Sidonians and Tyrians brought great stores of cedar logs to David,

[5] who said: "My son Solomon is young and immature; but the house that is to be built for the LORD must be made so magnificent that it will be renowned and glorious in all countries. Therefore I will make preparations for it." Thus before his death David laid up materials in abundance.

[6] Then he called for his son Solomon and commanded him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel.

[7] David said to Solomon: "My son, it was my purpose to build a house myself for the honor of the LORD, my God.

[8] But this word of the LORD came to me: 'You have shed much blood, and you have waged great wars. You may not build a house in my honor, because you have shed too much blood upon the earth in my sight.

[9] 2 However, a son is to be born to you. He will be a peaceful man, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. For Solomon shall be his name, and in his time I will bestow peace and tranquillity on Israel.

[10] It is he who shall build a house in my honor; he shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him, and I will establish the throne of his kingship over Israel forever.'

[11] Now, my son, the LORD be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as he has said you shall.

[12] May the LORD give you prudence and discernment when he brings you to rule over Israel, so that you keep the law of the LORD, your God.

[13] Only then shall you succeed, if you are careful to observe the precepts and decrees which the LORD gave Moses for Israel. Be brave and steadfast; do not fear or lose heart.

[14] 3 See, with great effort I have laid up for the house of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron in such great quantities that they cannot be weighed. I have also stored up wood and stones, to which you must add.

[15] Moreover, you have available an unlimited supply of workmen, stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and every kind of craftsman

[16] skilled in gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Set to work, therefore, and the LORD be with you!"

[17] David also commanded all of Israel's leaders to help his son Solomon:

[18] "Is not the LORD your God with you? Has he not given you rest on every side? Indeed, he has delivered the occupants of the land into my power, and the land is subdued before the LORD and his people.

[19] Therefore, devote your hearts and souls to seeking the LORD your God. Proceed to build the sanctuary of the LORD God, that the ark of the covenant of the LORD and God's sacred vessels may be brought into the house built in honor of the LORD."

First Chronicles Chapter 23

[1] When David had grown old and was near the end of his days, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

[2] He then gathered together all the leaders of Israel, together with the priests and the Levites.

[3] The Levites thirty years old and above were counted, and their total number was found to be thirty-eight thousand men.

[4] Of these, twenty-four thousand were to direct the service of the house of the LORD, six thousand were to be officials and judges,

[5] four thousand were to be gatekeepers, and four thousand were to praise the LORD with the instruments which David had devised for praise.

[6] David divided them into classes according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

[7] To the Gershonites belonged Ladan and Shimei.

[8] The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, then Zetham and Joel; three in all.

[9] The sons of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran; three. These were the heads of the families of Ladan.

[10] The sons of Shimei were Jahath, Zizah, Jeush, and Beriah; these were the sons of Shimei, four in all.

[11] Jahath was the chief and Zizah was second to him; but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons, and therefore they were classed as a single family, fulfilling a single office.

[12] The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel; four in all.

[13] The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to be consecrated as most holy, he and his sons forever, to offer sacrifice before the LORD, to minister to him, and to bless his name forever.

[14] As for Moses, however, the man of God, his sons were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.

[15] The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

[16] The sons of Gershom: Shubael the chief.

[17] The sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah the chief--Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.

[18] The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief.

[19] The sons of Hebron: Jeriah, the chief, Amariah, the second, Jahaziel, the third, and Jekameam, the fourth.

[20] The sons of Uzziel: Micah, the chief, and Isshiah, the second.

[21] The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.

[22] Eleazar died leaving no sons, only daughters; the sons of Kish, their kinsmen, married them.

[23] The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth; three in all.

[24] These were the sons of Levi according to their ancestral houses, the family heads as they were enrolled one by one according to their names. They performed the work of the service of the house of the LORD from twenty years of age upward,

[25] David said: "The LORD, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people, and has taken up his dwelling in Jerusalem.

[26] Henceforth the Levites need not carry the Dwelling or any of its furnishings or equipment.

[27] for David's final orders were to enlist the Levites from the time they were twenty years old.

[28] Rather, their duty shall be to assist the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the LORD, having charge of the courts, the chambers, and the preservation of everything holy: they shall take part in the service of the house of God.

[29] They shall also have charge of the showbread, of the fine flour for the cereal offering, of the wafers of unleavened bread, and of the baking and mixing, and of all measures of quantity and size.

[30] They must be present every morning to offer thanks and to praise the LORD, and likewise in the evening;

[31] and at every offering of holocausts to the LORD on sabbaths, new moons, and feast days, in such numbers as are prescribed, they must always be present before the LORD.

[32] They shall observe what is prescribed for them concerning the meeting tent, the sanctuary, and the sons of Aaron, their brethren, in the service of the house of the LORD."

First Chronicles Chapter 24

[1] The descendants of Aaron also were divided into classes. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

[2] Nadab and Abihu died before their father, leaving no sons; therefore only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

[3] David, with Zadok, a descendant of Eleazar, and Ahimelech, a descendant of Ithamar, assigned the functions for the priestly service.

[4] But since the descendants of Eleazar were found to be more numerous than those of Ithamar, the former were divided into sixteen groups, and the latter into eight groups, each under its family head.

[5] Their functions were assigned impartially by lot, for there were officers of the holy place, and officers of the divine presence, descended both from Eleazar and from Ithamar.

[6] 1 The scribe Shemaiah, son of Nethanel, a Levite, made a record of it in the presence of the king, and of the leaders, of Zadok the priest, and of Ahimelech, son of Abiathar, and of the heads of the ancestral houses of the priests and of the Levites, listing two successive family groups from Eleazar before each one from Ithamar.

[7] The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,

[8] the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,

[9] the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin,

[10] the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,

[11] the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah,

[12] the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,

[13] the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Ishbaal,

[14] the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,

[15] the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez,

[16] the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel,

[17] the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul,

[18] the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

[19] This was the appointed order of their service when they functioned in the house of the LORD in keeping with the precepts given them by Aaron, their father, as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

[20] Of the remaining Levites, there were Shubael, of the descendants of Amram, and Jehdeiah, of the descendants of Shubael;

[21] Isshiah, the chief, of the descendants of Rehabiah;

[22] Shelomith of the Izharites, and Jahath of the descendants of Shelomith.

[23] The descendants of Hebron were Jeriah, the chief, Amariah, the second, Jahaziel, the third, Jekameam, the fourth.

[24] The descendants of Uzziel were Micah; Shamir, of the descendants of Micah;

[25] Isshiah, the brother of Micah; and Zechariah, a descendant of Isshiah.

[26] The descendants of Merari were Mahli, Mushi, and the descendants of his son Uzziah.

[27] The descendants of Merari through his son Uzziah: Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.

[28] Descendants of Mahli were Eleazar, who had no sons,

[29] and Jerahmeel, of the descendants of Kish.

[30] The descendants of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the descendants of the Levites according to their ancestral houses.

[31] They too, in the same manner as their relatives, the descendants of Aaron, cast lots in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the priestly and levitical families; the more important family did so in the same way as the less important one.

First Chronicles Chapter 25

[1] David and the leaders of the liturgical cult set apart for service the descendants of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, as singers of inspired songs to the accompaniment of lyres and harps and cymbals.This is the list of those who performed this service:

[2] 1 Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, sons of Asaph, under the direction of Asaph, who sang inspired songs under the guidance of the king.

[3] Of Jeduthun, these sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah; six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who sang inspired songs to the accompaniment of a lyre, to give thanks and praise to the LORD.

[4] Of Heman, these sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael, and Jerimoth; Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth.

[5] All these were the sons of Heman, the king's seer in divine matters; to enhance his prestige, God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

[6] All these, whether of Asaph, Jeduthun, or Heman, were under their fathers' direction in the singing in the house of the LORD to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps and lyres, serving in the house of God, under the guidance of the king.

[7] Their number, together with that of their brethren who were trained in singing to the LORD, all of them skilled men, was two hundred and eighty-eight.

[8] They cast lots for their functions equally, young and old, master and pupil alike.

[9] The first lot fell to Asaph, the family of Joseph; he and his sons and his brethren were twelve. Gedaliah was the second; he and his brethren and his sons were twelve.

[10] The third was Zaccur, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[11] The fourth fell to Izri, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[12] The fifth was Nethaniah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[13] The sixth was Bukkiah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[14] The seventh was Jesarelah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[15] The eighth was Jeshaiah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[16] The ninth was Mattaniah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[17] The tenth was Shimei, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[18] The eleventh was Uzziel, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[19] The twelfth fell to Hashabiah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[20] The thirteenth was Shubael, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[21] The fourteenth was Mattithiah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[22] The fifteenth fell to Jeremoth, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[23] The sixteenth fell to Hananiah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[24] The seventeenth fell to Joshbekashah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[25] The eighteenth fell to Hanani, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[26] The nineteenth fell to Mallothi, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[27] The twentieth fell to Eliathah, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[28] The twenty-first fell to Hothir, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[29] The twenty-second fell to Giddalti, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[30] The twenty-third fell to Mahazioth, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

[31] The twenty-fourth fell to Romamti-ezer, his sons, and his brethren: twelve.

First Chronicles Chapter 26

[1] As for the classes of gatekeepers. Of the Korahites was Meshelemiah, the son of Kore, one of the sons of Abiasaph.

[2] Meshelemiah's sons: Zechariah, the first-born, Jediael, the second son, Zebadiah, the third, Jathniel, the fourth,

[3] Elam, the fifth, Jehohanan, the sixth, Eliehoenai, the seventh.

[4] Obed-edom's sons: Shemaiah, the first-born, Jehozabad, a second son, Joah, the third, Sachar, the fourth, Nethanel, the fifth,

[5] Ammiel, the sixth, Issachar, the seventh, Peullethai, the eighth, for God blessed him.

[6] To his son Shemaiah were born sons who ruled over their family, for they were warriors.

[7] The sons of Shemaiah were Othni, Rephael, Obed, and Elzabad; also his brethren who were men of might, Elihu and Semachiah.

[8] All these were the sons of Obed-edom, who, together with their sons and their brethren, were mighty men, fit for the service. Of Obed-edom, sixty-two.

[9] Of Meshelemiah, eighteen sons and brethren, mighty men.

[10] Hosah, a descendant of Merari, had these sons: Shimri, the chief (for though he was not the first-born, his father made him chief),

[11] Hilkiah, the second son, Tebaliah, the third, Zechariah, the fourth. All the sons and brethren of Hosah were thirteen.

[12] To these classes of gatekeepers, under their chief men, were assigned watches in the service of the house of the LORD, for each group in the same way.

[13] They cast lots for each gate, the small and the large families alike.

[14] When the lot was cast for the east side, it fell to Meshelemiah. Then they cast lots for his son Zechariah, a prudent counselor, and the north side fell to his lot.

[15] To Obed-edom fell the south side, and to his sons the storehouse.

[16] To Hosah fell the west side with the Shallecheth gate at the ascending highway. For each family, watches were established.

[17] On the east, six watched each day, on the north, four each day, on the south, four each day, and at the storehouse they were two and two;

[18] 1 as for the large building on the west, there were four at the highway and two at the large building.

[19] These were the classes of the gatekeepers, descendants of Kore and Merari.

[20] Their brother Levites superintended the stores for the house of God and the stores of votive offerings.

[21] Among the descendants of Ladan the Gershonite, the family heads were descendants of Jehiel: the descendants of Jehiel,

[22] Zetham and his brother Joel, who superintended the treasures of the house of the LORD.

[23] From the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites,

[24] Shubael, son of Gershon, son of Moses, was chief superintendent over the treasures.

[25] His associate pertained to Eliezer, whose son was Rehabiah, whose son was Jeshaiah, whose son was Joram, whose son was Zichri, whose son was Shelomith.

[26] This Shelomith and his brethren superintended all the stores of the votive offerings dedicated by King David, the heads of the families, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the commanders of the army,

[27] from the booty they had taken in the wars, for the enhancement of the house of the LORD.

[28] Also, whatever Samuel the seer, Saul, son of Kish, Abner, son of Ner, Joab, son of Zeruiah, and all others had consecrated, was under the charge of Shelomith and his brethren.

[29] Among the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were in charge of Israel's civil affairs as officials and judges.

[30] Among the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brethren, one thousand seven hundred police officers, had the administration of Israel on the western side of the Jordan in all the work of the LORD and in the service of the king.

[31] Among the Hebronites, Jerijah was their chief according to their family records. In the fortieth year of David's reign search was made, and there were found among them outstanding officers at Jazer of Gilead.

[32] His brethren were also police officers, two thousand seven hundred heads of families. King David appointed them to the administration of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in everything pertaining to God and to the king.

First Chronicles Chapter 27

[1] 1 This is the list of the Israelite family heads, commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and other officers who served the king in all that pertained to the divisions, of twenty-four thousand men each, that came and went month by month throughout the year.

[2] Over the first division for the first month was Ishbaal, son of Zabdiel, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men;

[3] a descendant of Perez, he was chief over all the commanders of the army for the first month.

[4] Over the division of the second month was Eleazar, son of Dodo, from Ahoh, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[5] The third army commander, chief for the third month, was Benaiah, son of Jehoiada the priest, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[6] This Benaiah was a warrior among the Thirty and over the Thirty. His son Ammizabad was over his division.

[7] Fourth, for the fourth month, was Asahel, brother of Joab, and after him his son Zebadiah, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[8] Fifth, for the fifth month, was the commander Shamhuth, a descendant of Zerah, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[9] Sixth, for the sixth month, was Ira, son of Ikkesh, from Tekoa, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[10] Seventh, for the seventh month, was Hellez, from Beth-phelet, of the sons of Ephraim, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[11] Eighth, for the eighth month, was Sibbecai the Hushathite, a descendant of Zerah, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[12] Ninth, for the ninth month, was Abiezer from Anathoth, of Benjamin, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[13] Tenth, for the tenth month, was Maharai from Netophah, a descendant of Zerah, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[14] Eleventh, for the eleventh month, was Benaiah the Pirathonite, of Ephraim, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[15] Twelfth, for the twelfth month, was Heldai the Netophathite, of the family of Othniel, and in his division were twenty-four thousand men.

[16] Over the tribes of Israel, for the Reubenites the leader was Eliezer, son of Zichri; for the Simeonites, Shephatiah, son of Maacah;

[17] for Levi, Hashabiah, son of Kemuel; for Aaron, Zadok;

[18] for Judah, Eliab, one of David's brothers; for Issachar, Omri, son of Michael;

[19] for Zebulun, Ishmaiah, son of Obadiah; for Naphtali, Jeremoth, son of Azriel;

[20] for the sons of Ephraim, Hoshea, son of Azaziah; for the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel, son of Pedaiah;

[21] for the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo, son of Zechariah; for Benjamin, Jaasiel, son of Abner;

[22] for Dan, Azarel, son of Jeroham. These were the commanders of the tribes of Israel.

[23] David did not count those who were twenty years of age or younger, for the LORD had promised to multiply Israel like the stars of the heavens.

[24] Joab, son of Zeruiah, began to take the census, but he did not complete it, for because of it wrath fell upon Israel. Therefore the number did not enter into the book of chronicles of King David.

[25] Over the treasures of the king was Azmaveth, the son of Adiel. Over the stores in the country, the cities, the villages, and the towers was Jonathan, son of Uzziah.

[26] Over the farm workers who tilled the soil was Ezri, son of Chelub.

[27] Over the vineyards was Shimei from Ramah, and over their produce for the wine cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite.

[28] Over the olive trees and sycamores of the foothills was Baalhanan the Gederite, and over the stores of oil was Joash.

[29] Over the cattle that grazed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite, and over the cattle in the valleys was Shaphat, the son of Adlai;

[30] over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite; over the she-asses was Jehdeiah the Meronothite;

[31] and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagrite. All these were the overseers of King David's possessions.

[32] Jonathan, David's uncle and a man of intelligence, was counselor and scribe; he and Jehiel, the son of Hachmoni, were tutors of the king's sons.

[33] Ahithophel was also the king's counselor, and Hushai the Archite was the king's confidant.

[34] 2 After Ahithophel came Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar. The commander of the king's army was Joab.

First Chronicles Chapter 28

[1] David assembled at Jerusalem all the leaders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, the commanders of the divisions who were in the service of the king, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, the overseers of all the king's estates and possessions, and his sons, together with the courtiers, the warriors, and every important man.

[2] 1 King David rose to his feet and said: "Hear me, my brethren and my people. It was my purpose to build a house of repose myself for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the footstool for the feet of our God; and I was preparing to build it.

[3] But God said to me, 'You may not build a house in my honor, for you are a man who fought wars and shed blood.'

[4] However, the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me from all my father's family to be king over Israel forever. For he chose Judah as leader, then one family of Judah, that of my father; and finally, among all the sons of my father, it pleased him to make me king over all Israel.

[5] And of all my sons--for the LORD has given me many sons--he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the LORD'S royal throne over Israel.

[6] For he said to me: 'It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him for my son, and I will be a father to him.

[7] I will establish his kingdom forever, if he perseveres in keeping my commandments and decrees as he keeps them now.'

[8] Therefore, in the presence of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, I exhort you to keep and to carry out all the commandments of the LORD, your God, that you may continue to possess this good land and afterward leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.

[9] "As for you, Solomon, my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing soul, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the mind's thoughts. If you seek him, he will let himself be found by you; but if you abandon him, he will cast you off forever.

[10] See, then! The LORD has chosen you to build a house as his sanctuary. Take courage and set to work."

[11] Then David gave to his son Solomon the pattern of the portico and of the building itself, with its storerooms, its upper rooms and inner chambers, and the room with the propitiatory.

[12] He provided also the pattern for all else that he had in mind by way of courts for the house of the LORD, with the surrounding compartments for the stores for the house of God and the stores of the votive offerings,

[13] as well as for the divisions of the priests and Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the liturgical vessels of the house of the LORD.

[14] He specified the weight of gold to be used in the golden vessels for the various services and the weight of silver to be used in the silver vessels for the various services;

[15] likewise for the golden lampstands and their lamps he specified the weight of gold for each lampstand and its lamps, and for the silver lampstands he specified the weight of silver for each lampstand and its lamps, depending on the use to which each lampstand was to be put.

[16] He specified the weight of gold for each table to hold the showbread, and the silver for the silver tables;

[17] the pure gold to be used for the forks and pitchers; the amount of gold for each golden bowl and the silver for each silver bowl;

[18] 2 the refined gold, and its weight, to be used for the altar of incense; and, finally, gold for what would suggest a chariot throne: the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

[19] He had successfully committed to writing the exact specifications of the pattern, because the hand of the LORD was upon him.

[20] Then David said to his son Solomon: "Be firm and steadfast; go to work without fear or discouragement, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or abandon you before you have completed all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.

[21] The classes of the priests and Levites are ready for all the service of the house of God; they will help you in all your work with all those who are eager to show their skill in every kind of craftsmanship. Also the leaders and all the people will do everything that you command."

First Chronicles Chapter 29

[1] King David then said to the whole assembly: "My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is still young and immature; the work, however, is great, for this castle is not intended for man, but for the LORD God.

[2] For this reason I have stored up for the house of my God, as far as I was able, gold for what will be made of gold, silver for what will be made of silver, bronze for what will be made of bronze, iron for what will be made of iron, wood for what will be made of wood, onyx stones and settings for them, carnelian and mosaic stones, every other kind of precious stone, and great quantities of marble.

[3] But now, because of the delight I take in the house of my God, in addition to all that I stored up for the holy house, I give to the house of my God my personal fortune in gold and silver:

[4] three thousand talents of Ophir gold, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the rooms,

[5] for the various utensils to be made of gold and silver, and for every work that is to be done by artisans. Now, who else is willing to contribute generously this day to the LORD?"

[6] Then the heads of the families, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the overseers of the king's affairs came forward willingly

[7] and contributed for the service of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron.

[8] Those who had precious stones gave them into the keeping of Jehiel the Gershonite for the treasury of the house of the LORD.

[9] The people rejoiced over these free-will offerings, which had been contributed to the LORD wholeheartedly. King David also rejoiced greatly.

[10] Then David blessed the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, praying in these words: "Blessed may you be, O LORD, God of Israel our father, from eternity to eternity.

[11] "Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours; yours, O LORD, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all.

[12] "Riches and honor are from you, and you have dominion over all. In your hand are power and might; it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.

[13] Therefore, our God, we give you thanks and we praise the majesty of your name."

[14] "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should have the means to contribute so freely? For everything is from you, and we only give you what we have received from you.

[15] For we stand before you as aliens: we are only your guests, like all our fathers. Our life on earth is like a shadow that does not abide.

[16] O LORD our God, all this wealth that we have brought together to build you a house in honor of your holy name comes from you and is entirely yours.

[17] I know, O my God, that you put hearts to the test and that you take pleasure in uprightness. With a sincere heart I have willingly given all these things, and now with joy I have seen your people here present also giving to you generously.

[18] O LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep such thoughts in the hearts and minds of your people forever, and direct their hearts toward you.

[19] Give to my son Solomon a wholehearted desire to keep your commandments, precepts, and statutes, that he may carry out all these plans and build the castle for which I have made preparation."

[20] Then David besought the whole assembly, "Now bless the LORD your God!" And the whole assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, bowing down and prostrating themselves before the LORD and before the king.

[21] On the following day they offered sacrifices and holocausts to the LORD, a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, together with their libations and many other sacrifices for all Israel;

[22] 1 and on that day they ate and drank in the LORD'S presence with great rejoicing. Then for a second time they proclaimed David's son Solomon king, and they anointed him as the LORD'S prince, and Zadok as priest.

[23] Thereafter Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king in place of his father David; he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.

[24] All the leaders and warriors, and also all the other sons of King David, swore allegiance to King Solomon.

[25] And the LORD exalted Solomon greatly in the eyes of all Israel, giving him a glorious reign such as had not been enjoyed by any king over Israel before him.

[26] Thus David, the son of Jesse, had reigned over all Israel.

[27] The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem thirty-three.

[28] He died at a ripe old age, rich in years and wealth and glory, and his son Solomon succeeded him as king.

[29] Now the deeds of King David, first and last, can be found written in the history of Samuel the seer, the history of Nathan the prophet, and the history of Gad the seer,

[30] together with the particulars of his reign and valor, and of the events that affected him and all Israel and all the kingdoms of the surrounding lands.

Introduction to Second Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Introduction

The Second Book of Chronicles takes up the history of the monarchy where the First Book breaks off. It begins with the account of the reign of Solomon from the special viewpoint of the Chronicler. The portrait of Solomon is an idealized one; he appears as second only to David. The great achievement of the building of the temple and the magnificence of Solomon's court are described in detail while the serious defects of his reign are passed over without comment. All this is in keeping with the Chronicler's purpose of stressing the supreme importance of the temple and its worship. He wishes to impress on his readers the splendor of God's dwelling and the magnificence of the liturgy of sacrifice, prayer and praise offered there. Judah's kings are judged by their attitude toward the temple and its cult. To this ideal of one people, united in the worship of the one true God at the temple of Jerusalem founded by David and Solomon, the restored community would have to conform.

In treating the period of divided monarchy, the Chronicler gives practically all his attention to the kingdom of Judah. His omission of the northern Israelite kings is significant. In his view, the northern tribes of Israel were in religious schism as long as they worshiped Yahweh in a place other than the temple of Jerusalem. The Chronicler makes no mention of the important sanctuaries of Yahweh at Dan and Bethel-as though they had never existed. Nevertheless he retains the ancient ideal of "all Israel" (a phrase occuring forty-one times in Chronicles) as the people of God. The condition he places for a united people is that "the whole congregation of Israel" worship the Lord only in his temple at Jerusalem. This explains his praise of Kings Hezekiah and Josiah for striving, after the fall of Samaria, to unite the remnants of the northern tribes of Israel into the kingdom of Judah.

At the end of the fifth century B.C., during the Chronicler's own time, "the people of the land" were the descendants of the people of all the tribes (including Judah) who had not gone into exile. These had become intermingled with aliens and had evolved a religion of Yahweh very different from the Judaism that developed during the Babylonian exile. Thus, religious and political cooperation between the returned exiles and these "people of the land" was out of the question for the Chronicler. This he clearly shows in the last part of his work, the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The Second Book of Chronicles is divided as follows:

The Reign of Solomon (2 Chron 1:1-9:31)

The Monarchy before Hezekiah (2 Chron 10:1-27:9)

Reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah (2 Chron 28:1-36:1)

End of the Kingdom (2 Chron 36:2-23)

Second Chronicles Chapter 1

[1] Solomon, son of David, strengthened his hold on the kingdom, for the LORD, his God, was with him, constantly making him more renowned.

[2] He sent a summons to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, the judges, the princes of all Israel, and the family heads;

[3] and, accompanied by the whole assembly, he went to the high place at Gibeon, because the meeting tent of God, made in the desert by Moses, the LORD'S servant, was there.

[4] (The ark of God, however, David had brought up from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem, where he had provided a place and pitched a tent for it.)

[5] The bronze altar made by Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, he put in front of the LORD'S Dwelling 1 on the high place. There Solomon and the assembly consulted the LORD,

[6] and Solomon offered sacrifice in the LORD'S presence on the bronze altar at the meeting tent; he offered a thousand holocausts upon it.

[7] That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Make a request of me, and I will grant it to you."

[8] Solomon answered God: "You have shown great favor to my father David, and you have allowed me to succeed him as king.

[9] Now, LORD God, may your promise to my father David be fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

[10] Give me, therefore, wisdom and knowledge to lead this people, for otherwise who could rule this great people of yours?"

[11] God then replied to Solomon: "Since this has been your wish and you have not asked for riches, treasures and glory, nor for the life of those who hate you, nor even for a long life for yourself, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge in order to rule my people over whom I have made you king,

[12] wisdom and knowledge are given you; but I will also give you riches, treasures and glory, such as kings before you never had, nor will those have them who come after you."

[13] Solomon returned to Jerusalem from the high place at Gibeon, from the meeting tent, and became king over Israel.

[14] He gathered together chariots and drivers, so that he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand drivers he could station in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

[15] The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, while cedars became as numerous as the sycamores of the foothills.

[16] 2 Solomon also imported horses from Egypt and Cilicia. The king's agents would acquire them by purchase from Cilicia,

[17] and would then bring up chariots from Egypt and export them at six hundred silver shekels, with the horses going for a hundred and fifty shekels. At these rates they served as middlemen for all the Hittite and Aramean kings.

[18] Solomon gave orders for the building of a house to honor the LORD and also of a house for his own royal estate.

Second Chronicles Chapter 2

[1] He conscripted seventy thousand men to carry stone and eighty thousand to cut the stone in the mountains, and over these he placed three thousand six hundred overseers.

[2] Moreover, Solomon sent this message to Huram, king of Tyre: "As you dealt with my father David, sending him cedars to build a house for his dwelling, so deal with me.

[3] I intend to build a house for the honor of the LORD, my God, and to consecrate it to him, for the burning of fragrant incense in his presence, for the perpetual display of the showbread, for holocausts morning and evening, and for the sabbaths, new moons, and festivals of the LORD, our God: such is Israel's perpetual obligation.

[4] And the house I intend to build must be large, for our God is greater than all other gods.

[5] Yet who is really able to build him a house, since the heavens and even the highest heavens cannot contain him? And who am I that I should build him a house, unless it be to offer incense in his presence?

[6] Now, send me men skilled at work in gold, silver, bronze and iron, in purple, crimson, and violet fabrics, and who know how to do engraved work, to join the craftsmen who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David appointed.

[7] Also send me boards of cedar, cypress and cabinet wood from Lebanon, for I realize that your servants know how to cut the wood of the Lebanon. My servants will labor with yours

[8] in order to prepare for me a great quantity of wood, since the house I intend to build must be lofty and wonderful.

[9] I will furnish as food for your servants, the hewers who cut the wood, twenty thousand kors of wheat, twenty thousand kors of barley, twenty thousand measures of wine, and twenty thousand measures of oil."

[10] Huram, king of Tyre, wrote an answer which he sent to Solomon: "Because the LORD loves his people, he has placed you over them as king."

[11] He added: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, for having given King David a wise son of intelligence and understanding, who will build a house for the LORD and also a house for his royal estate.

[12] I am now sending you a craftsman of great skill, Huram-abi,

[13] 1 son of a Danite woman and of a father from Tyre; he knows how to work with gold, silver, bronze and iron, with stone and wood, with purple, violet, fine linen and crimson, and also how to do all kinds of engraved work and to devise every type of artistic work that may be given him and your craftsmen and the craftsmen of my lord David your father.

[14] And now, let my lord send to his servants the wheat, barley, oil and wine which he has promised.

[15] For our part, we will cut trees on Lebanon, as many as you need, and float them down to you at the port of Joppa, whence you may take them up to Jerusalem."

[16] Thereupon Solomon took a census of all the alien men who were in the land of Israel (following the census David his father had taken of them), who were found to number one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.

[17] Of these he made seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to keep the people working.

Second Chronicles Chapter 3

[1] 1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, which had been pointed out to his father David, on the spot which David had selected, the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

[2] He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.

[3] These were the specifications laid down by Solomon for building the house of God: the length was sixty cubits according to the old measure, and the width was twenty cubits;

[4] 2 the porch which lay before the nave along the width of the house was also twenty cubits, and it was twenty cubits high. He overlaid its interior with pure gold.

[5] The nave he overlaid with cypress wood which he covered with fine gold, embossing on it palms and chains.

[6] He also decorated the building with precious stones.

[7] The house, its beams and thresholds, as well as its walls and its doors, he overlaid with gold, and he engraved cherubim upon the walls. (The gold was from Parvaim.)

[8] He also made the room of the holy of holies. Its length corresponded to the width of the house, twenty cubits, and its width was also twenty cubits. He overlaid it with fine gold to the amount of six hundred talents.

[9] The weight of the nails was fifty gold shekels. The upper chambers he likewise covered with gold.

[10] For the room of the holy of holies he made two cherubim of carved workmanship, which were then overlaid with gold.

[11] The wings of the cherubim spanned twenty cubits:

[12] one wing of each cherub, five cubits in length, extended to a wall of the building, while the other wing, also five cubits in length, touched the corresponding wing of the second cherub.

[13] The combined wingspread of the two cherubim was thus twenty cubits. They stood upon their own feet, facing toward the nave.

[14] 3 He made the veil of violet, purple, crimson and fine linen, and had cherubim embroidered upon it.

[15] In front of the building he set two columns thirty-five cubits high; the capital topping each was of five cubits.

[16] He worked out chains in the form of a collar with which he encircled the capitals of the columns, and he made a hundred pomegranates which he set on the chains.

[17] He set up the columns to correspond with the nave, one for the right side and the other for the left, and he called the one to the right Jachin and the one to the left Boaz.

Second Chronicles Chapter 4

[1] Then he made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.

[2] He also made the molten sea. It was perfectly round, ten cubits in diameter, five in depth, and thirty in circumference;

[3] 1 below the rim a ring of figures of oxen encircled the sea, ten to the cubit, all the way around; there were two rows of these cast in the same mold with the sea.

[4] It rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east, with their haunches all toward the center; the sea rested on their backs.

[5] 2 It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like that of a cup, being lily-shaped. It had a capacity of three thousand measures.

[6] Then he made ten basins for washing, placing five of them to the right and five to the left. Here were cleansed the victims for the holocausts; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

[7] He made the lampstands of gold, ten of them as was prescribed, and placed them in the nave, five to the right and five to the left.

[8] He made ten tables and had them set in the nave, five to the right and five to the left; and he made a hundred golden bowls.

[9] He made the court of the priests and the great courtyard and the gates of the courtyard; the gates he overlaid with bronze.

[10] The sea was placed off to the southeast from the right side of the temple.

[11] Huram also made the pots, the shovels and the bowls. Huram thus completed the work he had to do for King Solomon in the house of God:

[12] two columns, two nodes for the capitals topping these two columns, and two networks covering the nodes of the capitals topping the columns;

[13] also four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, with two rows of pomegranates to each network, to cover the two nodes of the capitals topping the columns.

[14] He made the stands, and the basins on the stands;

[15] one sea, and the twelve oxen under it;

[16] likewise the pots, the shovels and the forks. Huram-abi made all these articles for King Solomon from polished bronze for the house of the LORD.

[17] The king had them cast in the Jordan region, in the clayey ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

[18] Solomon made all these vessels, so many in number that the weight of the bronze was not ascertained.

[19] Solomon had all these articles made for the house of God: the golden altar, the tables on which the showbread lay,

[20] the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold which were to burn according to prescription before the sanctuary,

[21] flowers, lamps and gold tongs (this was the purest gold),

[22] snuffers, bowls, cups and firepans of pure gold. As for the entry to the house, its inner doors to the holy of holies, as well as the doors to the nave, were of gold.

Second Chronicles Chapter 5

[1] When all the work undertaken by Solomon for the temple of the LORD had been completed, he brought in the dedicated offerings of his father David, putting the silver, the gold and all the other articles in the treasuries of the house of God.

[2] At Solomon's order the elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes, the princes of the Israelite ancestral houses, came to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD'S covenant from the City of David (which is Zion).

[3] All the men of Israel assembled before the king during the festival of the seventh month.

[4] 1 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark,

[5] and they carried the ark and the meeting tent with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent; it was the levitical priests who carried them.

[6] King Solomon and the entire community of Israel gathered about him before the ark were sacrificing sheep and oxen so numerous that they could not be counted or numbered.

[7] The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of holies of the temple.

[8] The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above.

[9] 2 The poles were long enough so that their ends could be seen from that part of the holy place nearest the sanctuary; however, they could not be seen beyond. The ark has remained there to this day.

[10] There was nothing in it but the two tablets which Moses put there on Horeb, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with the Israelites at their departure from Egypt.

[11] When the priests came out of the holy place (all the priests who were present had purified themselves without reference to the rotation of their various classes),

[12] the Levites who were singers, all who belonged to Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and brothers, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, stood east of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets.

[13] When the trumpeters and singers were heard as a single voice praising and giving thanks to the LORD, and when they raised the sound of the trumpets, cymbals and other musical instruments to "give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever," the building of the LORD'S temple was filled with a cloud.

[14] The priests could not continue to minister because of the cloud, since the LORD'S glory filled the house of God.

Second Chronicles Chapter 6

[1] Then Solomon said: "The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud.

[2] I have truly built you a princely house and dwelling, where you may abide forever."

[3] Turning about, the king greeted the whole community of Israel as they stood.

[4] He said: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth made a promise to my father David and by his own hands brought it to fulfillment. He said:

[5] 'Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen any city from among all the tribes of Israel for the building of a temple to my honor, nor have I chosen any man to be commander of my people Israel;

[6] but now I choose Jerusalem, where I shall be honored, and I choose David to rule my people Israel.'

[7] My father David wished to build a temple to the honor of the LORD, the God of Israel,

[8] but the LORD said to him: 'In wishing to build a temple to my honor, you do well.

[9] However, you shall not build the temple; rather, your son whom you will beget shall build the temple to my honor.'

[10] "Now the LORD has fulfilled the promise that he made. I have succeeded my father David and have taken my seat on the throne of Israel, as the LORD foretold, and I have built the temple to the honor of the LORD, the God of Israel.

[11] And I have placed there the ark, in which abides the covenant of the LORD which he made with the Israelites."

[12] Solomon then took his place before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole community of Israel and stretched forth his hands.

[13] 1 He had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, which he had placed in the middle of the courtyard. Having ascended it, Solomon knelt in the presence of the whole of Israel and stretched forth his hands toward heaven.

[14] Thus he prayed: "LORD, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven or on earth; you keep your covenant and show kindness to your servants who are wholeheartedly faithful to you.

[15] You have kept the promise you made to my father David, your servant. With your own mouth you spoke it, and by your own hand you have brought it to fulfillment this day.

[16] Now, therefore, LORD, God of Israel, keep the further promise you made to my father David, your servant, when you said, 'You shall always have someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided only that your descendants look to their conduct so as always to live according to my law, even as you have lived in my presence.'

[17] Now, LORD, God of Israel, may this promise which you made to your servant David be confirmed.

[18] "Can it indeed be that God dwells with mankind on earth? If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built!

[19] Look kindly on the prayer and petition of your servant, O LORD, my God, and listen to the cry of supplication your servant makes before you.

[20] May your eyes watch day and night over this temple, the place where you have decreed you shall be honored; may you heed the prayer which I your servant offer toward this place.

[21] Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel which they direct toward this place. Listen from your heavenly dwelling, and when you have heard, pardon.

[22] "When any man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath of execration against himself, and when he comes for the oath before your altar in this temple,

[23] listen from heaven: take action and pass judgment on your servants, requiting the wicked man and holding him responsible for his conduct, but absolving the innocent and rewarding him according to his virtue.

[24] When your people Israel have sinned against you and are defeated by the enemy, but afterward they return and praise your name, and they pray to you and entreat you in this temple,

[25] listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which you gave them and their fathers.

[26] When the sky is closed so that there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, but then they pray toward this place and praise your name, and they withdraw from sin because you afflict them,

[27] listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and of your people Israel. But teach them the right way to live, and send rain upon your land which you gave your people as their heritage.

[28] When there is famine in the land, when there is pestilence, or blight, or mildew, or locusts, or caterpillars; when their enemies besiege them at any of their gates; whenever there is a plague or sickness of any kind;

[29] when any Israelite of all your people offers a prayer or petition of any kind, and in awareness of his affliction and pain, stretches out his hands toward this temple,

[30] listen from your heavenly dwelling place, and forgive. Knowing his heart, render to everyone according to his conduct, for you alone know the hearts of men.

[31] So may they fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live on the land you gave our fathers.

[32] "For the foreigner, too, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes from a distant land to honor your great name, your mighty power, and your outstretched arm, when they come in prayer to this temple,

[33] listen from your heavenly dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner entreats you, that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, fearing you as do your people Israel, and knowing that this house which I have built is dedicated to your honor.

[34] "When your people go forth to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and pray to you in the direction of this city and of the house I have built to your honor,

[35] listen from heaven to their prayer and petition, and defend their cause.

[36] When they sin against you (for there is no man who does not sin), and in your anger against them you deliver them to the enemy, so that their captors deport them to another land, far or near,

[37] when they repent in the land where they are captive and are converted, when they entreat you in the land of their captivity and say, 'We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,'

[38] and with their whole heart and with their whole soul they turn back to you in the land of those who hold them captive, when they pray in the direction of their land which you gave their fathers, and of the city you have chosen, and of the house which I have built to your honor,

[39] listen from your heavenly dwelling place, hear their prayer and petitions, and uphold their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you.

[40] My God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

[41] And now, "Advance, LORD God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your majesty. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful ones rejoice in good things.

[42] LORD God, reject not the plea of your anointed, remember the devotion of David, your servant."

Second Chronicles Chapter 7

[1] When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the holocaust and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

[2] But the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.

[3] All the Israelites looked on while the fire came down and the glory of the LORD was upon the house, and they fell down upon the pavement with their faces to the earth and adored, praising the LORD, "for he is good, for his mercy endures forever."

[4] The king and all the people were offering sacrifices before the LORD.

[5] King Solomon offered as sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred twenty thousand sheep.

[6] Thus the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. The priests were standing at their stations, as were the Levites, with the musical instruments of the LORD which King David had made for "praising the LORD, for his mercy endures forever," when David used them to accompany the hymns. Across from them the priests blew the trumpets and all Israel stood.

[7] Then Solomon consecrated the middle part of the court which lay before the house of the LORD; there he offered the holocausts and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar which Solomon had made could not hold the holocausts, the cereal offerings and the fat.

[8] On this occasion Solomon and with him all Israel, who had assembled in very large numbers from Labo of Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, celebrated the festival for seven days.

[9] 1 On the eighth day they held a special meeting, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the feast for seven days.

[10] On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people back to their tents, rejoicing and glad at heart at the good things the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for his people Israel.

[11] Solomon completed the house of the LORD and the royal palace; he successfully accomplished everything he had planned to do in regard to the house of the LORD and his own house.

[12] The LORD appeared to Solomon during the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for my house of sacrifice.

[13] If I close heaven so that there is no rain, if I command the locust to devour the land, if I send pestilence among my people,

[14] and if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land.

[15] Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

[16] And now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart also shall be there always.

[17] "As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David did, doing all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances,

[18] I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David when I said, 'There shall never be lacking someone of yours as ruler in Israel.'

[19] But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and commands which I placed before you, if you proceed to venerate and worship strange gods,

[20] then I will uproot the people from the land I gave them; I will cast from my sight this house which I have consecrated to my honor, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

[21] This temple which is so exalted--everyone passing by it will be amazed and ask: 'Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?'

[22] And men will answer: 'They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted strange gods and worshiped them and served them. That is why he has brought down upon them all this evil.'"

Second Chronicles Chapter 8

[1] After the twenty years during which Solomon built the house of the LORD and his own house,

[2] 1 he built up the cities which Huram had given him, and settled Israelites there.

[3] Then Solomon went to Hamath of Zoba and conquered it.

[4] 2 He built Tadmor in the desert region and all the supply cities, which he built in Hamath.

[5] He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates and bars;

[6] also Baalath, all the supply cities belonging to Solomon, and all the cities for the chariots, the cities for the horsemen, and whatever else Solomon decided should be built in Jerusalem, in the Lebanon, and in the entire land under his dominion.

[7] All the people that remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel--

[8] that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed--Solomon subjected to forced labor, as they continue to this day.

[9] But Solomon did not enslave the Israelites for his works. They became soldiers, commanders of his warriors, and commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.

[10] They were also King Solomon's two hundred and fifty overseers who had charge of the people.

[11] Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the palace which he had built for her, for he said, "No wife of mine shall dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, for the places where the ark of the LORD has come are holy."

[12] In those times Solomon offered holocausts to the LORD upon the altar of the LORD which he had built in front of the porch,

[13] as was required day by day according to the command of Moses, and in particular on the sabbaths, at the new moons, and on the fixed festivals three times a year: on the feast of the Unleavened Bread, the feast of Weeks and the feast of Booths.

[14] And according to the ordinance of his father David he appointed the various classes of the priests for their service, and the Levites according to their functions of praise and ministry alongside the priests, as the daily duty required. The gatekeepers of the various classes stood guard at each gate, since such was the command of David, the man of God.

[15] There was no deviation from the king's command in any respect relating to the priests and Levites or the treasuries.

[16] All of Solomon's work was carried out successfully from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until the house of the LORD had been completed in every detail.

[17] In those times Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Elath on the seashore of the land of Edom.

[18] Huram, through his servants, sent him ships and crewmen acquainted with the sea, who accompanied Solomon's servants to Ophir and brought back from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold to King Solomon.

Second Chronicles Chapter 9

[1] When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with subtle questions, accompanied by a very numerous retinue and by camels bearing spices, much gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and questioned him on every subject in which she was interested.

[2] Solomon explained to her everything she asked about, and there remained nothing hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her.

[3] When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon's wisdom, the palace he had built,

[4] the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance of his servants and their dress, his cupbearers and their dress, and the holocausts he offered in the house of the LORD, it took her breath away.

[5] "The account I heard in my country about your deeds and your wisdom is true," she told the king.

[6] "Yet I did not believe the report until I came and saw with my own eyes. I have discovered that they did not tell me the half of your great wisdom; you have surpassed the stories I heard.

[7] Happy are your men, happy these servants of yours, who stand before you always and listen to your wisdom.

[8] Blessed be the LORD, your God, who has been so pleased with you as to place you on his throne as king for the LORD, your God. Because your God has so loved Israel as to will to make it last forever, he has appointed you over them as king to administer right and justice."

[9] Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty gold talents and a very large quantity of spices, as well as precious stones. There was no other spice like that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

[10] The servants of Huram and of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought cabinet wood and precious stones.

[11] With the cabinet wood the king made stairs for the temple of the LORD and the palace of the king; also lyres and harps for the chanters. The like of these had not been seen before in the land of Judah.

[12] King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked him for, more than she had brought to the king. Then she returned to her own country with her servants.

[13] The gold that Solomon received each year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents,

[14] in addition to what was collected from travelers and what the merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia also, and the governors of the country, brought gold and silver to Solomon.

[15] Moreover, King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold, six hundred shekels of beaten gold going into each shield,

[16] and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold, three hundred shekels of gold going into each buckler; these the king put in the hall of the Forest of Lebanon.

[17] King Solomon also made a large ivory throne which he overlaid with fine gold.

[18] The throne had six steps; a footstool of gold was fastened to it, and there was an arm on each side of the seat, with two lions standing beside the arms.

[19] Twelve other lions also stood there, one on either side of each step. Nothing like this had ever been produced in any other kingdom.

[20] Furthermore, all of King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the utensils in the hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered of value in Solomon's time.

[21] For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish would return with a cargo of gold and silver, ivory, apes and monkeys.

[22] Thus King Solomon surpassed all the other kings of the earth in riches as well as in wisdom.

[23] All the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon, to hear from him the wisdom which God had put in his heart.

[24] Year in and year out, each one would bring his tribute-silver and gold articles, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules.

[25] Solomon also had four thousand stalls of horses, chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he assigned to the chariot cities and to the king in Jerusalem.

[26] He was ruler over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines and down to the border of Egypt.

[27] The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, while cedars became as numerous as the sycamores of the foothills.

[28] 1 Horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all the lands.

[29] The rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are written, as is well known, in the acts of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer which concern Jeroboam, son of Nebat.

[30] Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.

[31] He rested with his ancestors; he was buried in his father's City of David, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

Second Chronicles Chapter 10

[1] 1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to proclaim him king.

[2] When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard of this in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon, he returned from Egypt.

[3] Jeroboam was summoned to the assembly, and he and all Israel said to Rehoboam:

[4] "Your father laid a heavy yoke upon us. If you now lighten the harsh service and the heavy yoke that your father imposed on us, we will serve you."

[5] "In three days," he answered them, "come back to me." When the people had departed,

[6] King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had been in the service of his father during Solomon's lifetime, asking, "What answer do you advise me to give this people?"

[7] They replied, "If you will deal kindly with this people and give in to them, acceding to their request, they will be your servants forever."

[8] But he ignored the advice the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were in his service.

[9] He said to them, "What answer do you advise me to give this people, who have asked me to lighten the yoke my father imposed on them?"

[10] The young men who had grown up with him replied: "This is the answer you should give to this people who have said to you, 'Your father laid a heavy yoke upon us, but do you lighten our yoke'; this you should say to them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's body.

[11] Whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will make it heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!'"

[12] On the third day, Jeroboam and all the people came back to King Rehoboam as he had instructed them to do.

[13] Ignoring the advice the elders had given him, the king gave them a harsh answer,

[14] speaking to them according to the advice of the young men: "My father laid a heavy yoke on you, but I will make it heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions."

[15] The king would not listen to the people, for this turn of events was divinely ordained to fulfill the prophecy the LORD had uttered to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, through Ahijah the Shilonite.

[16] When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king. "What share have we in David? We have no heritage in the son of Jesse. Everyone to your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David!" So all Israel went off to their tents.

[17] Rehoboam, therefore, reigned over only those Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.

[18] King Rehoboam then sent out Hadoram, who was superintendent of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. Rehoboam himself managed to mount his chariot and flee to Jerusalem.

[19] Thus Israel has been in rebellion against David's house to this day.

Second Chronicles Chapter 11

[1] On his arrival in Jerusalem Rehoboam gathered together the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand seasoned warriors, to have them fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to him.

[2] However, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, a man of God:

[3] "Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin:

[4] 'Thus says the LORD: You must not march out to fight against your brothers. Let every man return home, for what has occurred I have brought about.'" They obeyed this message of the LORD and gave up the expedition against Jeroboam.

[5] 1 Rehoboam took up residence in Jerusalem and built fortified cities in Judah.

[6] He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

[7] Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,

[8] Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

[9] Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,

[10] Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron; these were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.

[11] Then he strengthened the fortifications and put commanders in them, with supplies of food, oil and wine.

[12] In every city were shields and spears, and he made them very strong. Thus Judah and Benjamin remained his.

[13] Now the priests and Levites throughout Israel presented themselves to him from all parts of their land,

[14] for the Levites left their assigned pasture lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons repudiated them as priests of the LORD.

[15] In their place, he himself appointed priests for the high places and satyrs and calves he had made.

[16] After them, all those of the Israelite tribes who firmly desired to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

[17] Thus they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam, son of Solomon, prevail for three years; for they walked in the way of David and Solomon three years.

[18] Rehoboam took to himself as wife Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth, son of David and of Abihail, daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse.

[19] She bore him sons: Jehush, Shemariah and Zaham.

[20] After her, he married Maacah, daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith.

[21] Rehoboam loved Maacah, daughter of Absalom, more than all his other wives and concubines; he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

[22] Rehoboam constituted Abijah, son of Maacah, commander among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.

[23] He acted prudently, distributing various of his sons throughout all the districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities; and he furnished them with copious provisions and sought an abundance of wives for them.

Second Chronicles Chapter 12

[1] After Rehoboam had consolidated his rule and had become powerful, he abandoned the law of the LORD, he and all Israel with him.

[2] Thus it happened that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem, for they had been unfaithful to the LORD.

[3] 1 He came up with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen, and there was no counting the army that came with him from Egypt--Libyans, Sukkites and Ethiopians.

[4] They captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

[5] Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the commanders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them: "Thus says the LORD: 'You have abandoned me, and therefore I have abandoned you to the power of Shishak.'"

[6] However, the commanders of Israel and the king humbled themselves saying, "The LORD is just."

[7] When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: "Because they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them; I will give them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem through Shishak.

[8] But they shall be his servants, that they may know what it is to serve me and what it is to serve earthly kingdoms."

[9] Therefore Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and of the king's palace. He took everything, including the gold bucklers that Solomon had made.

[10] (To replace them, King Rehoboam made bronze bucklers, which he entrusted to the officers of the guard on duty at the entrance of the royal palace.

[11] Whenever the king visited the temple of the LORD, the troops would come bearing them, and then they would return them to the guardroom.)

[12] Because he had humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned from him so that it did not destroy him completely; and in Judah, moreover, good deeds were found.

[13] King Rehoboam consolidated his power in Jerusalem and continued to rule; he was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city in which, out of all the tribes of Israel, the LORD chose to be honored. Rehoboam's mother was named Naamah, an Ammonite.

[14] He did evil, for he had not truly resolved to seek the LORD.

[15] The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are written, as is well known, in the history of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer (his family record). There was war continually between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

[16] Rehoboam rested with his ancestors; he was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah succeeded him as king.

Second Chronicles Chapter 13

[1] In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king of Judah;

[2] he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Michaiah, daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

[3] Abijah joined battle with a force of four hundred thousand picked warriors, while Jeroboam lined up against him in battle with eight hundred thousand picked and valiant warriors.

[4] 1 Abijah stood on Mount Zemariam, which is in the highlands of Ephraim, and said: "Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel!

[5] Do you not know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingdom of Israel to David forever, to him and to his sons, by a covenant made in salt?

[6] Yet Jeroboam, son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, son of David, has stood up and rebelled against his lord!

[7] Worthless men, scoundrels, joined him and overcame Rehoboam, son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and unthinking, and no match for them.

[8] But now, do you think you are a match for the kingdom of the LORD commanded by the sons of David, simply because you are a huge multitude and have with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods?

[9] "Have you not expelled the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of foreign lands? Everyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams becomes a priest of no-gods.

[10] But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests ministering to the LORD are sons of Aaron, and the Levites also have their offices.

[11] They burn holocausts to the LORD and fragrant incense morning after morning and evening after evening; they display the showbread on the pure table, and the lamps of the golden lampstand burn evening after evening; for we observe our duties to the LORD, our God, but you have abandoned him.

[12] See, God is with us, at our head, and his priests are here with trumpets to sound the attack against you. Do not battle against the LORD, the God of your fathers, O Israelites, for you will not succeed!"

[13] But Jeroboam had an ambush go around them to come at them from the rear; so that while his army faced Judah, his ambush lay behind them.

[14] When Judah turned and saw that they had to battle on both fronts, they cried out to the LORD and the priests sounded the trumpets.

[15] Then the men of Judah shouted; and when they did so, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

[16] The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.

[17] Abijah and his people inflicted a severe defeat upon them; five hundred thousand picked men of Israel fell slain.

[18] The Israelites were subdued on that occasion and the Judahites were victorious because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.

[19] Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel and its dependencies, Jeshanah and its dependencies, and Ephron and its dependencies.

[20] Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah; the LORD struck him down and he died,

[21] while Abijah continued to grow stronger. He took to himself fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

[22] The rest of Abijah's acts, his deeds and his words, are written in the midrash of the prophet Iddo.

[23] Abijah rested with his ancestors; they buried him in the City of David. His son Asa succeeded him as king. During his time, ten years of peace began in the land.

Second Chronicles Chapter 14

[1] Asa did what was good and pleasing to the LORD, his God,

[2] removing the heathen altars and the high places, breaking to pieces the sacred pillars, and cutting down the sacred poles.

[3] He commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to observe the law and its commands.

[4] He removed the high places and incense stands from all the cities of Judah, and under him the kingdom had peace.

[5] He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had peace and no war was waged against him during these years, because the LORD had given him peace.

[6] He said to Judah: "Let us build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, for we have sought the LORD, our God; we sought him, and he has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered.

[7] 1 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand shield-and lance-bearers from Judah, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin who carried bucklers and were archers, all of them valiant warriors.

[8] Zerah the Ethiopian moved against them with a force of one million men and three hundred chariots, and he came as far as Mareshah.

[9] Asa went out to meet him and set himself in battle array in the valley of Zephathah, near Mareshah.

[10] Asa called upon the LORD, his God, praying: "O LORD, there is none like you to help the powerless against the strong. Help us, O LORD, our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. You are the LORD, our God; let no man prevail against you."

[11] And so the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and they fled.

[12] Asa and those with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until there were no survivors, for they were crushed before the LORD and his army, which carried away enormous spoils.

[13] Then the Judahites conquered all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD was upon them; they despoiled all the cities, for there was much booty in them.

[14] They attacked also the tents of the cattle-herders and carried off a great number of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Second Chronicles Chapter 15

[1] Upon Azariah, son of Oded, came the spirit of God.

[2] He went forth to meet Asa and said to him: "Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you when you are with him, and if you seek him he will be present to you; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.

[3] For a long time Israel had no true God, no priest-teacher and no law,

[4] but when in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was present to them.

[5] In that former time there was no peace for anyone to go or come, but there were many terrors upon the inhabitants of the lands.

[6] Nation crushed nation and city crushed city, for God destroyed them by every kind of adversity.

[7] But as for you, be strong and do not relax, for your work shall be rewarded."

[8] When Asa heard these words and the prophecy (Oded the prophet), he was encouraged to remove the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the highlands of Ephraim, and to restore the altar of the LORD which was before the vestibule of the LORD.

[9] Then he convened all Judah and Benjamin, together with those of Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who sojourned with them; for many had fled to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD, his God, was with him.

[10] 1 They gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign,

[11] and sacrificed to the LORD at that time seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep of the booty they had brought.

[12] They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul;

[13] and everyone who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

[14] They swore to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting and with trumpets and horns.

[15] All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart and sought him with complete desire, so that he was present to them. And the LORD gave them rest on every side.

[16] Maacah, the mother of King Asa, he deposed as queen mother because she had made an outrageous object for Asherah; Asa cut this down, smashed it, and burnt it in the Kidron Valley.

[17] Although the high places did not disappear from Israel, yet Asa's heart was undivided as long as he lived.

[18] He brought into the house of God his father's votive offerings and his own: silver, gold, and various utensils.

[19] There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.

Second Chronicles Chapter 16

[1] In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha, king of Israel, attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent any communication with Asa, king of Judah.

[2] Asa then brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the temple of the LORD and of the royal palace and sent them to Ben-hadad, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, with this message:

[3] "There is a treaty between you and me, as there was between your father and my father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me."

[4] Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa's request and sent the leaders of his troops against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.

[5] When Baasha heard of it, he left off fortifying Ramah; he stopped his work.

[6] Then King Asa commandeered all of Judah to carry away the stone and wood with which Baasha had been fortifying Ramah, and with them he fortified Geba and Mizpah.

[7] 1 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him: "Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the LORD, your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped your hand.

[8] Were not the Ethiopians and Libyans a vast army, with great numbers of chariots and drivers? And yet, because you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your power.

[9] The eyes of the LORD roam over the whole earth, to encourage those who are devoted to him wholeheartedly. You have acted foolishly in this matter, for from now on you will have wars."

[10] But Asa became angry with the seer and imprisoned him in the stocks, so greatly was he enraged at him over this. Asa also oppressed some of his people at this time.

[11] Now the acts of Asa, first and last, can be found recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

[12] In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa contracted a serious disease in his feet. But even in his sickness he did not seek the LORD, but only the physicians.

[13] Asa rested with his ancestors; he died in the forty-first year of his reign.

[14] They buried him in the tomb he had hewn for himself in the City of David, having laid him upon a couch which was filled with spices and various kinds of aromatics compounded into an ointment. They also burned a very great funeral pyre for him.

Second Chronicles Chapter 17

[1] His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king and strengthened his hold against Israel.

[2] He placed armed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which his father Asa had taken.

[3] 1 The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, for he walked in the ways his father had pursued in the beginning, and he did not consult the Baals.

[4] Rather, he sought the God of his father and observed his commands, and not the practices of Israel.

[5] As a result, the LORD made his kingdom secure, and all Judah gave Jehoshaphat gifts, so that he enjoyed great wealth and glory.

[6] Thus he was encouraged to follow the LORD'S ways, and again he removed the high places and the sacred poles from Judah.

[7] In the third year of his reign he sent his leading men, Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.

[8] With them he sent the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah and Tobijah, together with the priests Elishama and Jehoram.

[9] They taught in Judah, having with them the book containing the law of the LORD; they traveled through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

[10] Now the fear of the LORD was upon all the kingdoms of the countries surrounding Judah, so that they did not war against Jehoshaphat.

[11] Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and a tribute of silver; and the Arabs also brought him a flock of seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred he-goats.

[12] Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built strongholds and store cities in Judah.

[13] He carried out many works in the cities of Judah, and he had soldiers, valiant warriors, in Jerusalem.

[14] This was their mustering according to their ancestral houses. Of Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, and with him three hundred thousand valiant warriors.

[15] Next to him, Jehohanan the commander, and with him two hundred eighty thousand.

[16] Next to him, Amasiah, son of Zichri, who offered himself to the LORD, and with him two hundred thousand valiant warriors.

[17] From Benjamin: Eliada, a valiant warrior, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and buckler.

[18] Next to him, Jozabad, and with him one hundred and eighty thousand equipped for war.

[19] These were at the service of the king; in addition were those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

Second Chronicles Chapter 18

[1] Jehoshaphat therefore had wealth and glory in abundance; but he became related to Ahab by marriage.

[2] After some years he went down to Ahab at Samaria; Ahab offered numerous sheep and oxen for him and the people with him, and persuaded him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.

[3] Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, "Will you come with me to Ramoth-gilead?" "You and I are as one," was his answer; "your people and my people as well. We will be with you in the battle."

[4] But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "Seek the word of the LORD at once."

[5] The king of Israel gathered his prophets, four hundred in number, and asked them, "Shall we go to attack Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?" "Go up," they answered. "God will deliver it over to the king."

[6] But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no other prophet of the LORD here whom we may consult?"

[7] The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still another through whom we may consult the LORD, but I hate him, for he prophesies not good but always evil about me. That is Micaiah, son of Imlah." Jeshoshaphat said, "Let not your Majesty speak of evil against you."

[8] So the king of Israel called an official, to whom he said, "Get Micaiah, son of Imlah, at once."

[9] The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were seated each on his throne, clothed in their robes of state on a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

[10] Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made iron horns for himself and said: "The LORD says, 'With these you shall gore Aram until you have destroyed them.'"

[11] The other prophets prophesied in the same vein, saying: "Go up to Ramoth-gilead. You shall succeed; the LORD will deliver it over to the king."

[12] 1 The messenger who had gone to call Micaiah said to him: "Look now, the prophets unanimously predict good for the king. Let your word, like each of theirs, predict good."

[13] "As the LORD lives," Micaiah answered, "I will say what my God tells me."

[14] When he came to the king, the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to fight against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?" "Go up," he answered, "and succeed; they will be delivered into your power."

[15] But the king said to him, "How many times must I adjure you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?"

[16] Then Micaiah answered: "I see all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD saying, 'These have no master!' Let each of them go back home in peace.'"

[17] The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he prophesies no good about me, but only evil?"

[18] But Micaiah continued: "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD seated on his throne, with the whole host of heaven standing by to his right and to his left.

[19] The LORD asked, 'Who will deceive Ahab, king of Israel, so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said this, another that,

[20] until a spirit came forward and presented himself to the LORD, saying, 'I will deceive him.' The LORD asked, 'How?'

[21] He answered, 'I will go forth and become a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.' The LORD agreed: 'You shall succeed in deceiving him. Go forth and do this.'

[22] So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these your prophets, but the LORD himself has decreed evil against you."

[23] Thereupon Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, came up and slapped Micaiah on the cheek, saying, "Which way did the spirit of the LORD go when he left me to speak to you?"

[24] "You shall find out," Micaiah replied, "on that day when you enter an innermost chamber to hide."

[25] The king of Israel then said: "Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon, prefect of the city, and to Joash the king's son,

[26] and say, 'This is the king's order: Put this man in prison and feed him scanty rations of bread and water until I return in safety!'"

[27] 2 But Micaiah said, "If ever you return in safety, the LORD has not spoken through me." And he said, "Hear, O peoples, all of you!"

[28] The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead

[29] and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will go into battle disguised, but you put on your own clothes." So the king of Israel disguised himself and they entered the fray.

[30] Meanwhile, the king of Aram had given his chariot commanders the order, "Fight with no one, small or great, except the king of Israel."

[31] When the commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they exclaimed, "That must be the king of Israel!" and shifted to fight him. But Jehoshaphat cried out and the LORD helped him; God induced them to leave him.

[32] The chariot commanders became aware that he was not the king of Israel and gave up their pursuit of him.

[33] Someone, however, drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the joints of his breastplate. He ordered his charioteer, "Rein about and take me out of the ranks, for I am disabled."

[34] The battle grew fierce during the day, and the king of Israel braced himself up on his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. He died as the sun was setting.

Second Chronicles Chapter 19

[1] King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem.

[2] 1 Jehu the seer, son of Hanani, met King Jehoshaphat and said to him: "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? For this reason, wrath is upon you from the LORD.

[3] Yet some good things are to be found in you, since you have removed the sacred poles from the land and have been determined to seek God."

[4] Jehoshaphat dwelt in Jerusalem; but he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to the highlands of Ephraim and brought them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

[5] He appointed judges in the land, in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city,

[6] and he said to them: "Take care what you do, for you are judging, not on behalf of man, but on behalf of the LORD; he judges with you.

[7] And now, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Act carefully, for with the LORD, our God there is no injustice, no partiality, no bribe-taking."

[8] In Jerusalem also, Jehoshaphat appointed some Levites and priests and some of the family heads of Israel to judge in the name of the LORD and to settle quarrels among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

[9] He gave them this command: "You shall act faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the LORD.

[10] And in every dispute that your brethren living in their cities bring to you, whether it concerns bloodguilt or questions of law, command, statutes, or judgments, warn them lest they become guilty before the LORD and his wrath come upon you and your brethren. Do that and you shall be guiltless.

[11] See now, Amariah is high priest over you in everything that pertains to the LORD, and Zebadiah, son of Ishmael, is leader of the house of Judah in all that pertains to the king; and the Levites will be your officials. Act firmly, and the LORD will be with the good."

Second Chronicles Chapter 20

[1] 1 After this the Moabites, the Ammonites, and with them some Meunites came to fight against Jehoshaphat.

[2] The message was brought to Jehoshaphat: "A great multitude is coming against you from across the sea, from Edom; they are already in Hazazon-tamar" (which is En-gedi).

[3] Jehoshaphat was frightened, and he hastened to consult the LORD. He proclaimed a fast for all Judah.

[4] Then Judah gathered to seek help from the LORD; from every one of the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

[5] Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the LORD before the new court,

[6] and he said: "LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God in heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand is power and might, and no one can withstand you.

[7] Was it not you, our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend?

[8] They have dwelt in it and they built in it a sanctuary to your honor, saying,

[9] 'When evil comes upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house, and we will cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save!'

[10] And now, see the Ammonites, Moabites, and those of Mount Seir whom you did not allow Israel to invade when they came from the land of Egypt, but instead they passed them by and did not destroy them.

[11] See how they are now repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you have given us.

[12] O our God, will you not pass judgment on them? We are powerless before this vast multitude that comes against us. We are at a loss what to do, hence our eyes are turned toward you."

[13] All Judah was standing before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their young sons.

[14] And the spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the clan of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly,

[15] and he said: "Listen, all of Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! The LORD says to you: 'Do not fear or lose heart at the sight of this vast multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's.

[16] Go down against them tomorrow. You will see them coming up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will come upon them at the end of the wadi which opens on the wilderness of Jeruel.

[17] You will not have to fight in this encounter. Take your places, stand firm, and see how the LORD will be with you to deliver you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or lose heart. Tomorrow go out to meet them, and the LORD will be with you.'"

[18] Then Jehoshaphat knelt down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD in worship.

[19] Levites from among the Kohathites and Korahites rose to sing the praises of the LORD, the God of Israel, in a resounding chorus.

[20] In the early morning they hastened out to the wilderness of Tekoa. As they were going out, Jehoshaphat halted and said: "Listen to me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Trust in the LORD, your God, and you will be found firm. Trust in his prophets and you will succeed."

[21] 2 After consulting with the people, he appointed some to sing to the LORD and some to praise the holy Appearance as it went forth at the head of the army. They sang: "Give thanks to the LORD, for his mercy endures forever."

[22] At the moment they began their jubilant hymn, the LORD laid an ambush against the Ammonites, Moabites, and those of Mount Seir who were coming against Judah, so that they were vanquished.

[23] For the Ammonites and Moabites set upon the inhabitants of Mount Seir and completely exterminated them. And when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they began to destroy each other.

[24] When Judah came to the watchtower of the desert and looked toward the throng, they saw only corpses fallen on the ground, with no survivors.

[25] Jehoshaphat and his people came to take plunder, and they found an abundance of cattle and personal property, garments and precious vessels. They took so much that they were unable to carry it all; they were three days taking the spoil, so great was it.

[26] 3 On the fourth day they held an assembly in the Valley of Beracah--for there they blessed the LORD; therefore that place has ever since been called the Valley of Beracah.

[27] Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, turned back toward Jerusalem celebrating the joyful victory the LORD had given them over their enemies.

[28] They came to Jerusalem, to the house of the LORD, with harps, lyres and trumpets.

[29] And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the surrounding lands when they heard how the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel.

[30] Thereafter Jehoshaphat's kingdom enjoyed peace, for his God gave him rest on every side.

[31] Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Azubah, daughter of Shilhi.

[32] He followed the path of his father Asa unswervingly, doing what was right in the LORD'S sight.

[33] But the high places were not removed, nor as yet had the people fixed their hearts on the God of their fathers.

[34] The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, can be found written in the chronicle of Jehu, son of Hanani, which is inserted in the book of the kings of Israel.

[35] After this, King Jehoshaphat of Judah allied himself with King Ahaziah of Israel, who did evil.

[36] He joined with him in building ships to sail to Tarshish; the fleet was built at Ezion-geber.

[37] But Eliezer, son of Dodavahu from Mareshah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, "Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the LORD will shatter your work." And the ships were wrecked and were unable to sail to Tarshish.

Second Chronicles Chapter 21

[1] Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors; he was buried with them in the City of David. Jehoram, his son, succeeded him as king.

[2] His brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael and Shephatiah; all these were sons of King Jehoshaphat of Judah.

[3] Their father gave them numerous gifts of silver, gold and precious objects, together with fortified cities in Judah, but the kingship he gave to Jehoram because he was the first-born.

[4] When Jehoram had come into his father's kingdom and had consolidated his power, he put to the sword all his brothers and also some of the princes of Israel.

[5] Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

[6] 1 He conducted himself like the kings of Israel of the line of Ahab, because one of Ahab's daughters was his wife. He did evil in the sight of the LORD,

[7] but the LORD would not destroy the house of David because of the covenant he had made with David and because of his promise to give him and his sons a lamp for all time.

[8] During his time Edom revolted against the sovereignty of Judah; they chose a king of their own.

[9] Thereupon Jehoram crossed over with his officers and all the chariots he had. He arose by night and broke through the Edomites when they had surrounded him and the commanders of his chariots.

[10] However, Edom has continued in revolt against the sovereignty of Judah down to the present time. Libnah also revolted at that time against Jehoram's sovereignty because he had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers.

[11] He also set up high places in the mountains of Judah; he led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into idolatry and seduced Judah.

[12] 2 He received a letter from the prophet Elijah with this message: "Thus says the LORD, the God of your ancestor David: 'Because you have not followed the path of your father Jehoshaphat, nor of Asa, king of Judah,

[13] but instead have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into idolatry, as did the house of Ahab, and also because you have murdered your brothers of your father's house who were better than you,

[14] the LORD will strike your people, your children, your wives, and all that is yours with a great plague;

[15] and you shall have severe pains from a disease in your bowels, while your bowels issue forth because of the disease, day after day.'"

[16] Then the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the animosity of the Philistines and of the Arabs who bordered on the Ethiopians.

[17] They came up against Judah, invaded it, and carried away all the wealth found in the king's palace, along with his sons and his wives; there was left to him only one son, Jehoahaz, his youngest.

[18] After these events, the LORD afflicted him with an incurable disease of the bowels.

[19] As time went on until a period of two years had elapsed, his bowels issued forth because of the disease and he died in great pain. His people did not make a pyre for him like that of his fathers.

[20] He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He departed unloved and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Second Chronicles Chapter 22

[1] Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead, since all the older sons had been slain by the band that had come into the fort with the Arabs. Thus Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, reigned as the king of Judah.

[2] He was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother was named Athaliah, daughter of Omri.

[3] He, too, followed the ways of the house of Ahab, because his mother counseled him to act sinfully.

[4] To his own destruction, he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab, since they were his counselors after the death of his father.

[5] He was also following their counsel when he accompanied Jehoram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, to battle against Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead. There Jehoram was wounded by the Arameans.

[6] He returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds he had received at Rama in his battle against Hazael, king of Aram. Because of this illness, Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to visit Jehoram, son of Ahab, in Jezreel.

[7] Now it was willed by God for Ahaziah's downfall that he should join Jehoram, for after his arrival he rode out with Jehoram to Jehu, son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut down the house of Ahab.

[8] While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he also encountered the princes of Judah and the nephews of Ahaziah who were his attendants, and he slew them.

[9] 1 Then he looked for Ahaziah himself. They caught him where he was hiding in Samaria and brought him to Jehu, who put him to death. They buried him, for they said, "He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with his whole heart." There remained in Ahaziah's house no one powerful enough to wield the kingship.

[10] When Athaliah, mother of Ahaziah, learned that her son was dead, she proceeded to kill off all the royal offspring of the house of Judah.

[11] But Jehosheba, a royal princess, secretly took Ahaziah's son Joash from among the king's sons who were about to be slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. In this way Jehosheba, who was the daughter of King Jehoram, a sister of Ahaziah, and wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid the child from Athaliah's sight, so that she did not put him to death.

[12] For six years he remained hidden with them in the house of God, while Athaliah ruled over the land.

Second Chronicles Chapter 23

[1] In the seventh year, Jehoiada took courage and entered a conspiracy with certain captains: Azariah, son of Jehoram; Ishmael, son of Jehohanan; Azariah, son of Obed; Masseiah, son of Adaiah; and Elishaphat, son of Zichri.

[2] They journeyed about Judah, gathering the Levites from all the cities of Judah and also the heads of the Israelite families. When they had come to Jerusalem,

[3] the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. Jehoiada said to them: "Here is the king's son who must reign, as the LORD promised concerning the sons of David.

[4] This is what you must do: a third of your number, both priests and Levites, who come in on the sabbath must guard the thresholds,

[5] another third must be at the king's palace, and the final third at the Foundation Gate, when all the people will be in the courts of the LORD'S temple.

[6] Let no one enter the LORD'S house except the priests and those Levites who are ministering. They may enter because they are holy; but all the other people must observe the prescriptions of the LORD.

[7] The Levites shall surround the king on all sides, each with his weapon drawn. Whoever tries to enter the house must be slain. Stay with the king wherever he goes."

[8] The Levites and all Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each brought his men, those who were to come in on the sabbath as well as those who were to depart on the sabbath, since Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed any of the divisions.

[9] Jehoiada the priest gave the captains the spears, shields and bucklers of King David which were in the house of God.

[10] He stationed all the people, each with his spear in hand, from the southern to the northern extremity of the enclosure, around the altar and the temple on the king's behalf.

[11] Then they brought out the king's son, set the crown and the insignia upon him, and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and they cried, "Long live the king!"

[12] When Athaliah heard the din of the people running and acclaiming the king, she went to the people in the temple of the LORD.

[13] 1 She looked, and there was the king standing beside his pillar at the entrance, the officers and the trumpeters around him, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, while the singers with their musical instruments were leading the acclaim. Athaliah tore her garments and cried out, "Treason! treason!"

[14] Then Jehoiada the priest sent out the captains who were in command of the army; he said to them: "Take her outside through the ranks, and if anyone tries to follow her, let him die by the sword. For," the priest continued, "you must not put her to death in the LORD'S temple."

[15] So they seized her, and when she arrived at the entrance to the Horse Gate of the palace, they put her to death there.

[16] Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king, that they should be the LORD'S people.

[17] And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed its altars and images, and they slew Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars.

[18] Then Jehoiada gave the charge of the LORD'S temple into the hands of the levitical priests, to whom David had assigned turns in the temple for offering the holocausts of the LORD, as is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and song, as David had provided.

[19] Moreover, he stationed guards at the gates of the LORD'S temple so that no one unclean in any respect might enter.

[20] Then he took the captains, the nobles, the rulers among the people, and all the people of the land, and led the king out of the LORD'S house. When they had come within the upper gate of the king's house, they seated the king upon the royal throne.

[21] All the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet, now that Athaliah had been put to death by the sword.

Second Chronicles Chapter 24

[1] Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother, named Zibiah, was from Beer-sheba.

[2] Joash did what was pleasing to the LORD as long as Jehoiada the priest lived.

[3] Jehoiada provided him with two wives, and he became the father of sons and daughters.

[4] After some time, Joash decided to restore the LORD'S temple.

[5] 1 He called together the priests and Levites and said to them: "Go out to all the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel that you may repair the house of your God over the years. You must hasten this affair." But the Levites did not hasten.

[6] Then the king summoned Jehoiada, who was in charge, and said to him: "Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the LORD, and by the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?"

[7] For the wicked Athaliah and her sons had damaged the house of God and had even turned over to the Baals the dedicated resources of the LORD'S temple.

[8] At the king's command, therefore, they made a chest, which they put outside the gate of the LORD'S temple.

[9] They had it proclaimed throughout Judah and Jerusalem that the tax which Moses, the servant of God, had imposed on Israel in the desert should be brought to the LORD.

[10] All the princes and the people rejoiced; they brought what was asked and cast it into the chest until it was filled.

[11] Whenever the chest was brought to the royal officials by the Levites and they saw that it contained much money, the royal scribe and an overseer for the high priest came, emptied the chest, then took it back and returned it to its place. This they did day after day until they had collected a large sum of money.

[12] Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to the workmen in charge of the labor on the LORD'S temple, who hired masons and carpenters to restore the temple, and also iron-and bronze-smiths to repair it.

[13] The workmen labored, and the task of restoration progressed under their hands. They restored the house of God according to its original form, and reinforced it.

[14] After they had finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and to Jehoiada, who had it made into utensils for the LORD'S temple, utensils for the service and the holocausts, and basins and other gold and silver utensils. They offered holocausts in the LORD'S temple continually throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada.

[15] Jehoiada lived to a ripe old age; he was a hundred and thirty years old when he died.

[16] He was buried in the City of David with the kings, because he had done good in Israel, in particular with respect to God and his temple.

[17] After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and the king then listened to them.

[18] They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols; and because of this crime of theirs, wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem.

[19] Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD, the people would not listen to their warnings.

[20] Then the spirit of God possessed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He took his stand above the people and said to them: "God says, 'Why are you transgressing the LORD'S commands, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.'"

[21] But they conspired against him, and at the king's order they stoned him to death in the court of the LORD'S temple.

[22] Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him by Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, and slew his son. And as he was dying, he said, "May the LORD see and avenge."

[23] At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, did away with all the princes of the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

[24] Though the Aramean force came with few men, the LORD surrendered a very large force into their power, because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers. So punishment was meted out to Joash.

[25] After the Arameans had departed from him, leaving him in grievous suffering, his servants conspired against him because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. They killed him on his sickbed. He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

[26] These conspired against him: Zabad, son of Shimeath from Ammon, and Jehozabad, son of Shimrith from Moab.

[27] Of his sons, and the great tribute imposed on him, and of his rebuilding of the house of God, there is a written account in the midrash of the book of the kings. His son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

Second Chronicles Chapter 25

[1] Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother, named Jehoaddan, was from Jerusalem.

[2] He did what was pleasing in the sight of the LORD, though not wholeheartedly.

[3] After he had strengthened his hold on the kingdom, he slew those of his servants who had killed the king, his father;

[4] but he did not put their children to death, for he acted according to what is written in the law, in the Book of Moses, as the LORD commanded: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; but only for his own guilt shall a man be put to death."

[5] Amaziah mustered Judah and placed them, out of all Judah and Benjamin according to their ancestral houses, under leaders of thousands and of hundreds. When he had counted those of twenty years and over, he found them to be three hundred thousand picked men fit for war, capable of handling lance and shield.

[6] He also hired a hundred thousand valiant warriors from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

[7] But a man of God came to him and said: "O king, let not the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, with any Ephraimite.

[8] Instead, go on your own, strongly prepared for the conflict; otherwise the LORD will defeat you in the face of the enemy. It is God who has the power to reinforce or to defeat."

[9] Amaziah answered the man of God, "But what is to be done about the hundred talents that I paid for the troops of Israel?" The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you much more than that."

[10] Amaziah then disbanded the troops that had come to him from Ephraim, and sent them home. They, however, became furiously angry with Judah, and returned home blazing with resentment.

[11] Amaziah now assumed command of his army. They proceeded to the Valley of Salt, and there they killed ten thousand men of Seir.

[12] The Judahites also brought back another ten thousand alive, whom they led to the summit of the Rock and then cast down, so that they were all crushed.

[13] Meanwhile, the mercenaries whom Amaziah had dismissed from battle service with him raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon. They killed three thousand of the inhabitants and took away much booty.

[14] When Amaziah returned from his conquest of the Edomites he brought back with him the gods of the people of Seir, which he set up as his own gods; he bowed down before them and offered sacrifice to them.

[15] Then the anger of the LORD blazed out against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him who said: "Why have you had recourse to this people's gods that could not save their own people from your hand?"

[16] While he was still speaking, however, the king said to him: "Have you been made the king's counselor? Be silent! Why should it be necessary to kill you?" Therefore the prophet desisted. "I know, however," he said, "that God has let you take counsel to your own destruction, because you have done this thing and have refused to hear my counsel."

[17] Having taken counsel, King Amaziah of Judah sent messengers to Joash, son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, the king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us meet each other face to face."

[18] King Joash of Israel sent this reply to King Amaziah of Judah: "The thistle of the Lebanon sent a message to the cedar of the Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for his wife.' But the wild beasts of the Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle down.

[19] You are thinking, 'See, I have beaten Edom!', and thus ambition makes you proud. Remain at home. Why involve yourself, and Judah with you, in misfortune and failure?"

[20] But Amaziah would not listen, for God had determined to hand them over because they had had recourse to the gods of Edom.

[21] Therefore King Joash of Israel advanced and he and King Amaziah met in battle at Beth-shemesh of Judah.

[22] There Judah was defeated by Israel, and all the Judean soldiers fled homeward.

[23] King Joash of Israel captured Amaziah, king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. Then he tore down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate, a distance of four hundred cubits.

[24] 1 He took away all the gold and silver and all the vessels he found in the house of God with Obed-edom, together with the treasures of the palace, and hostages as well. Then he returned to Samaria.

[25] Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, survived Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, by fifteen years.

[26] The rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, can be found written, as is well known, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

[27] Now from the time that Amaziah ceased to follow the LORD, a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem; hence he fled to Lachish. But they pursued him to Lachish and put him to death there.

[28] 2 They brought him back on horses and buried him with his ancestors in the City of Judah.

Second Chronicles Chapter 26

[1] All the people of Judah chose Uzziah, though he was but sixteen years of age, and proclaimed him king to succeed his father Amaziah.

[2] He rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah; this was after King Amaziah had gone to rest with his ancestors.

[3] Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother, named Jecoliah, was from Jerusalem.

[4] He pleased the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done.

[5] 1 He was prepared to seek God as long as Zechariah lived, who taught him to fear God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.

[6] He went out and fought the Philistines and razed the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod (and built cities in the district of Ashdod and in Philistia).

[7] God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs who dwelt in Gurbaal, and against the Meunites.

[8] The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah and his fame spread as far as Egypt, for he grew stronger and stronger.

[9] Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle, and he fortified them.

[10] He built towers in the desert and dug numerous cisterns, for he had many cattle. He had plowmen in the foothills and the plains, and vinedressers in the highlands and the garden land. He was a lover of the soil.

[11] Uzziah also had a standing army of fit soldiers divided into bands according to the number in which they were mustered by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the recorder, under the command of Hananiah, one of the king's officials.

[12] The entire number of family heads over these valiant warriors was two thousand six hundred,

[13] and at their disposal was a mighty army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred fighting men of great valor to help the king against his enemies.

[14] Uzziah provided for them--for the entire army--bucklers, lances, helmets, breastplates, bows and slingstones.

[15] He also built machines in Jerusalem, devices contrived to stand on the towers and at the angles of the walls to shoot arrows and cast large stones. His fame spread far and wide, and his power was ascribed to the marvelous help he had received.

[16] But after he had become strong, he became proud to his own destruction and broke faith with the LORD, his God. He entered the temple of the LORD to make an offering on the altar of incense.

[17] But Azariah the priest, and with him eighty other priests of the LORD, courageous men, followed him.

[18] They opposed King Uzziah, saying to him: "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been consecrated for this purpose. Leave the sanctuary, for you have broken faith and no longer have a part in the glory that comes from the LORD God."

[19] Uzziah, who was holding a censer for burning the incense, became angry, but at the moment he showed his anger to the priests, while they were looking at him in the house of the LORD beside the altar of incense, leprosy broke out on his forehead.

[20] Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests examined him, and when they saw that his forehead was leprous, they expelled him from the temple. He himself fled willingly, for the LORD had afflicted him.

[21] King Uzziah remained a leper to the day of his death. As a leper he dwelt in a segregated house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. Therefore his son Jotham was regent of the palace and ruled the people of the land.

[22] The prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, wrote the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last.

[23] Uzziah rested with his ancestors; he was buried with them in the field adjoining the royal cemetery, for they said, "He was a leper." His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

Second Chronicles Chapter 27

[1] Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Jerusa, daughter of Zadok.

[2] He pleased the LORD just as his father Uzziah had done, though he did not enter the temple of the LORD; the people, however, continued to act sinfully.

[3] He built the upper gate of the LORD'S house and had much construction done on the wall of Ophel.

[4] Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the forest land he set up fortresses and towers.

[5] He fought with the king of the Ammonites and conquered them. That year the Ammonites paid him one hundred talents of silver, together with ten thousand kors of wheat and ten thousand of barley. They brought the same to him also in the second and in the third year.

[6] Thus Jotham continued to grow strong because he lived resolutely in the presence of the LORD, his God.

[7] The rest of the acts of Jotham, his wars and his activities, can be found written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

[8] He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

[9] Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

Second Chronicles Chapter 28

[1] Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not please the LORD as his forefather David had done,

[2] but conducted himself like the kings of Israel and even made molten idols of the Baals.

[3] Moreover, he offered sacrifice in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and immolated his sons by fire according to the abominable practice of the nations which the LORD had cleared out before the Israelites.

[4] He offered sacrifice and incense on the high places, on hills, and under every leafy tree.

[5] Therefore the LORD, his God, delivered him into the power of the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and carried away captive a large number of his people, whom they brought to Damascus. He was also delivered into the power of the king of Israel, who defeated him with great slaughter.

[6] For Pekah, son of Remaliah, slew one hundred and twenty thousand of Judah in a single day, all of them valiant men, because they had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers.

[7] Zichri, an Ephraimite warrior, killed Maaseiah, the king's son, and Azrikam, the master of the palace, and also Elkanah, who was second to the king.

[8] The Israelites took away as captives two hundred thousand of their brethren's wives, sons and daughters; they also took from them much plunder, which they brought to Samaria.

[9] In Samaria there was a prophet of the LORD by the name of Oded. He went out to meet the army returning to Samaria and said to them: "It was because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah that he delivered them into your hands. You, however, have slaughtered them with a fury that has reached up to heaven.

[10] And now you are planning to make the children of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves and bondwomen. Are not you yourselves, therefore, guilty of a crime against the LORD, your God?

[11] Now listen to me: send back the captives you have carried off from among your brethren, for the burning anger of the LORD is upon you."

[12] At this, some of the Ephraimite leaders, Azariah, son of Johanan, Berechiah, son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah, son of Shallum, and Amasa, son of Hadlai, themselves stood up in opposition to those who had returned from the war.

[13] They said to them: "Do not bring the captives here, for what you propose will make us guilty before the LORD and increase our sins and our guilt. Our guilt is already great, and there is a burning anger upon Israel."

[14] Therefore the soldiers left their captives and the plunder before the princes and the whole assembly.

[15] Then the men just named proceeded to help the captives. All of them who were naked they clothed from the booty; they clothed them, put sandals on their feet, gave them food and drink, anointed them, and all who were weak they set on asses. They brought them to Jericho, the city of palms, to their brethren. Then they returned to Samaria.

[16] At that time King Ahaz sent an appeal for help to the kings of Assyria.

[17] The Edomites had returned, attacked Judah, and carried off captives.

[18] The Philistines too had raided the cities of the foothills and the Negeb of Judah; they captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its dependencies, Timnah and its dependencies, and Gimzo and its dependencies, and occupied them.

[19] 1 For the LORD had brought Judah low because of Ahaz, king of Israel, who let Judah go its own way and proved utterly faithless to the LORD.

[20] Tilgath-pilneser, king of Assyria, did indeed come to him, but to oppress him rather than to help him.

[21] Though Ahaz plundered the LORD'S house and the houses of the king and the princes to make payment to the king of Assyria, it availed him nothing.

[22] While he was already in distress, the same King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.

[23] He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, saying, "Since it was the gods of the kings of Aram who helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me also." However, they only caused further disaster to him and to all Israel.

[24] Ahaz gathered up the utensils of God's house and broke them in pieces. He closed the doors of the LORD'S house and had altars made for himself in every corner of Jerusalem.

[25] In every city throughout Judah he set up high places to offer sacrifice to other gods. Thus he angered the LORD, the God of his fathers.

[26] The rest of his deeds and his activities, first and last, can be found written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

[27] Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried in Jerusalem--in the city, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

Second Chronicles Chapter 29

[1] Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Abia, daughter of Zechariah.

[2] He pleased the LORD just as his forefather David had done.

[3] It was he who, in the first month of the first year of his reign, opened the doors of the LORD'S house and repaired them.

[4] He summoned the priests and Levites, gathered them in the open space to the east,

[5] and said to them: "Listen to me, you Levites! Sanctify yourselves now and sanctify the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and clean out the filth from the sanctuary.

[6] Our fathers acted faithlessly and did evil in the eyes of the LORD, our God. They abandoned him, turned away their faces from the LORD'S dwelling, and turned their backs on him.

[7] They also closed the doors of the vestibule, extinguished the lamps, and refused to burn incense and offer holocausts in the sanctuary to the honor of the God of Israel.

[8] Therefore the anger of the LORD has come upon Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of terror, astonishment and mockery, as you see with your own eyes.

[9] For our fathers, as you know, fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters and our wives have been taken captive because of this.

[10] Now, I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, that his burning anger may withdraw from us.

[11] My sons, be not negligent any longer, for it is you whom the LORD has chosen to stand before him, to minister to him, to be his ministers and to offer incense."

[12] Then the Levites arose: Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah, descendants of the Kohathites; of the sons of Merari: Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallel; of the Gershonites: Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah;

[13] of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeuel; of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah;

[14] of the sons of Heman: Jehuel and Shimei; of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemiah and Uzziel.

[15] They gathered their brethren together and sanctified themselves; then they came as the king had ordered, to cleanse the LORD'S house in keeping with his words.

[16] The priests entered the interior of the LORD'S house to cleanse it; and whatever they found in the LORD'S temple that was unclean they brought out to the court of the LORD'S house, where the Levites took it from them and carried it out to the Kidron Valley.

[17] They began the work of consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they arrived at the vestibule of the LORD; they consecrated the LORD'S house during eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month, they had finished.

[18] Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said: "We have cleansed the entire house of the LORD, the altar of holocausts with all its utensils, and the table for the showbread with all its utensils.

[19] All the articles which King Ahaz during his reign had thrown away because of his apostasy, we have restored and consecrated, and they are now before the LORD'S altar."

[20] Then King Hezekiah hastened to convoke the princes of the city and went up to the LORD'S house.

[21] Seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven he-goats were brought for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah, and he ordered the sons of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.

[22] They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests collected the blood and cast it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and cast the blood on the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and cast the blood on the altar.

[23] Then the he-goats for the sin offering were led before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands upon them.

[24] The priests then slaughtered them and offered their blood on the altar to atone for the sin of all Israel; for "The holocaust and the sin offering," the king had said, "is for all Israel."

[25] He stationed the Levites in the LORD'S house with cymbals, harps and lyres according to the prescriptions of David, of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the prescriptions were from the LORD through his prophets.

[26] The Levites were stationed with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

[27] Then Hezekiah ordered the holocaust to be sacrificed on the altar, and in the same instant that the holocaust began, they also began the song of the LORD, to the accompaniment of the trumpets and the instruments of David, king of Israel.

[28] The entire assembly prostrated itself, and they continued to sing the song and to sound the trumpets until the holocaust had been completed.

[29] As the holocaust was completed, the king and all who were with him knelt and prostrated themselves.

[30] King Hezekiah and the princes then commanded the Levites to sing the praises of the LORD in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises till their joy was full, then fell down and prostrated themselves.

[31] Hezekiah now spoke out this command: "You have undertaken a work for the LORD. Approach, and bring forward the sacrifices and thank offerings for the house of the LORD." Then the assembly brought forward the sacrifices and thank offerings and all the holocausts which were free-will offerings.

[32] The number of holocausts that the assembly brought forward was seventy oxen, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all of these as a holocaust to the LORD.

[33] As consecrated gifts there were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.

[34] Since the priests were too few in number to be able to skin all the victims for the holocausts, their brethren the Levites assisted them until the task was completed and the priests had sanctified themselves; the Levites, in fact, were more willing than the priests to sanctify themselves.

[35] Also, the holocausts were many, along with the fat of the peace offerings and the libations for the holocausts. Thus the service of the house of the LORD was reestablished.

[36] Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had reestablished for the people, and at how suddenly this had been done.

Second Chronicles Chapter 30

[1] Hezekiah sent a message to all Israel and Judah, and even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh saying that they should come to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the LORD, the God of Israel.

[2] The king, his princes, and the entire assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to celebrate the Passover during the second month,

[3] for they could not celebrate it at the time of the restoration: the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient numbers, and the people were not gathered at Jerusalem.

[4] When this proposal had been approved by the king and the entire assembly,

[5] they issued a decree to be proclaimed throughout all Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan, that everyone should come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the LORD, the God of Israel; for not many had kept it in the manner prescribed.

[6] Accordingly the couriers, with the letters written by the king and his princes, traversed all Israel and Judah, and at the king's command they said: "Israelites, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you, the remnant left from the hands of the Assyrian kings.

[7] Be not like your fathers and your brethren who proved faithless to the LORD, the God of their fathers, so that he delivered them over to desolation, as you yourselves now see.

[8] Be not obstinate, as your fathers were; extend your hands to the LORD and come to his sanctuary that he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD, your God, that he may turn away his burning anger from you.

[9] For when you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will find mercy with their captors and return to this land; for merciful and compassionate is the LORD, your God, and he will not turn away his face from you if you return to him."

[10] So the couriers passed from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and as far as Zebulun, but they were derided and scoffed at.

[11] Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

[12] In Judah, however, the power of God brought it about that the people were of one mind to carry out the command of the king and the princes in accordance with the word of the LORD.

[13] Thus many people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month; it was a very great assembly.

[14] They proceeded to take down the altars that were in Jerusalem; also they removed all the altars of incense and cast them into the Kidron Valley.

[15] They slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites, touched with shame, sanctified themselves and brought holocausts into the house of the LORD.

[16] They stood in the places prescribed for them according to the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood given them by the Levites;

[17] for many in the assembly had not sanctified themselves, and the Levites were in charge of slaughtering the Passover victims for all who were unclean and therefore could not consecrate them to the LORD.

[18] The greater part of the people, in fact, chiefly from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves. Nevertheless they ate the Passover, contrary to the prescription; for Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the LORD, who is good, grant pardon to

[19] everyone who has resolved to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, though he be not clean as holiness requires."

[20] The LORD heard Hezekiah and spared the people.

[21] Thus the Israelites who were in Jerusalem celebrated the feast of Unleavened Bread with great rejoicing for seven days, and the Levites and the priests sang the praises of the LORD day after day with all their strength.

[22] Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had shown themselves well skilled in the service of the LORD. And when they had completed the seven days of festival, slaying peace offerings and singing praises to the LORD, the God of their fathers,

[23] the whole assembly agreed to celebrate another seven days. With joy, therefore, they continued the festivity seven days longer.

[24] King Hezekiah of Judah had contributed a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep to the assembly, and the princes had contributed to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. The priests sanctified themselves in great numbers,

[25] and the whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, together with the priests and Levites and the rest of the assembly that had come from Israel, as well as the sojourners from the land of Israel and those that lived in Judah.

[26] There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, there had not been the like in the city.

[27] Then the levitical priests rose and blessed the people; their voice was heard and their prayer reached heaven, God's holy dwelling.

Second Chronicles Chapter 31

[1] After all this was over, those Israelites who had been present went forth to the cities of Judah and smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the sacred poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh, until all were destroyed. Then the Israelites returned to their various cities, each to his own possession.

[2] Hezekiah reestablished the classes of the priests and the Levites according to their former classification, assigning to each priest and Levite his proper service, whether in regard to holocausts or peace offerings, thanksgiving or praise, or ministering in the gates of the encampment of the LORD.

[3] From his own wealth the king allotted a portion for holocausts, those of morning and evening and those on sabbaths, new moons and festivals, as prescribed in the law of the LORD.

[4] He also commanded the people living in Jerusalem to provide the support of the priests and Levites, that they might devote themselves entirely to the law of the LORD.

[5] As soon as the order was promulgated, the Israelites brought, in great quantities, the best of their grain, wine, oil and honey, and all the produce of the fields; they gave a generous tithe of everything.

[6] Israelites and Judahites living in other cities of Judah also brought in tithes of oxen, sheep, and things that had been consecrated to the LORD, their God; these they brought in and set out in heaps.

[7] 1 It was in the third month that they began to establish these heaps, and they completed them in the seventh month.

[8] When Hezekiah and the princes had come and seen the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel.

[9] Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps,

[10] and the priest Azariah, head of the house of Zadoc, answered him, "Since they began to bring the offerings to the house of the LORD, we have eaten to the full and have had much left over, for the LORD has blessed his people. This great supply is what was left over."

[11] Hezekiah then gave orders that chambers be constructed in the house of the LORD. When this had been done,

[12] the offerings, tithes and consecrated things were deposited there in safekeeping. The overseer of these things was Conaniah the Levite, and his brother Shimei was second in charge.

[13] Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath and Benaiah were supervisors subject to Conaniah and his brother Shimei by appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah, the prefect of the house of God.

[14] Kore, the son of Imnah, a Levite and the keeper of the eastern gate, was in charge of the free-will gifts made to God; he distributed the offerings made to the LORD and the most holy of the consecrated things.

[15] Under him in the priestly cities were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah, who faithfully made the distribution to their brethren, great and small alike, according to their classes.

[16] There was also a register by ancestral houses of males thirty years of age and over, for all priests who were eligible to enter the house of the LORD according to the daily rule to fulfill their service in the order of their classes.

[17] The priests were inscribed in their family records according to their ancestral houses, and the Levites of twenty years and over according to their various offices and classes.

[18] A distribution was also made to all who were inscribed in the family records, for their little ones, wives, sons and daughters--thus for the entire assembly, since they were to sanctify themselves by sharing faithfully in the consecrated things.

[19] The sons of Aaron, the priests who lived on the lands attached to their cities, had in every city men designated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to every Levite listed in the family records.

[20] This Hezekiah did in all Judah. He did what was good, upright and faithful before the LORD, his God.

[21] Everything that he undertook, for the service of the house of God or for the law and the commandments, was to do the will of his God. He did this wholeheartedly, and he prospered.

Second Chronicles Chapter 32

[1] But after he had proved his fidelity by such deeds, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came. He invaded Judah, besieged the fortified cities, and proposed to take them by storm.

[2] When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was coming with the intention of attacking Jerusalem,

[3] he decided in counsel with his princes and warriors to stop the waters of the springs outside the city. When they had pledged him their support,

[4] a large crowd was gathered which stopped all the springs and also the running stream in the valley nearby. For they said, "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find an abundance of water?"

[5] He then looked to his defenses: he rebuilt the wall where it was broken down, raised towers upon it, and built another wall outside. He strengthened the Millo of the City of David and had a great number of spears and shields prepared.

[6] Then he appointed army commanders over the people. He gathered them together in his presence in the open space at the gate of the city and encouraged them with these words:

[7] "Be brave and steadfast; do not be afraid or dismayed because of the king of Assyria and all the throng that is coming with him, for there is more with us than with him.

[8] For he has only an arm of flesh, but we have the LORD, our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people took confidence from the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

[9] After this, while Sennacherib, king of Assyria, himself remained at Lachish with all his forces, he sent his officials to Jerusalem with this message for King Hezekiah of Judah, and all the Judahites who were in Jerusalem:

[10] "King Sennacherib of Assyria has this to say: On what are you relying, while you remain under siege in Jerusalem?

[11] Has not Hezekiah deceived you, delivering you over to a death of famine and thirst, by his claim that 'the LORD, our God, will save us from the grasp of the king of Assyria'?

[12] Has not this same Hezekiah removed his high places and altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall prostrate yourselves before one altar only, and on it alone you shall offer incense'?

[13] Do you not know what my fathers and I have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations in those lands able to save their lands from my hand?

[14] Who among all the gods of those nations which my fathers put under the ban was able to save his people from my hand? Will your god, then, be able to save you from my hand?

[15] Let not Hezekiah mislead you further and deceive you in any such way. Do not believe him! Since no other god of any other nation or kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand or the hands of my fathers, how much the less shall your god save you from my hand!"

[16] His officials said still more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah,

[17] for he had written letters to deride the LORD, the God of Israel, speaking of him in these terms: "As the gods of the nations in other lands have not saved their people from my hand, neither shall Hezekiah's god save his people from my hand."

[18] In a loud voice they shouted in the Judean language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them so that they might capture their city.

[19] They spoke of the God of Israel as though he were one of the gods of the other peoples of the earth, a work of human hands.

[20] But because of this, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, prayed and called out to heaven.

[21] Then the LORD sent an angel, who destroyed every valiant warrior, leader and commander in the camp of the Assyrian king, so that he had to return shamefaced to his own country. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down there with the sword.

[22] Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, as from every other power; he gave them rest on every side.

[23] Many brought gifts for the LORD to Jerusalem and costly objects for King Hezekiah of Judah, who thereafter was exalted in the eyes of all the nations.

[24] In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him by giving him a sign.

[25] Hezekiah, however, did not then discharge his debt of gratitude, for he had become proud. Therefore anger descended upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

[26] But then Hezekiah humbled himself for his pride--both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and therefore the LORD did not vent his anger on them during the time of Hezekiah.

[27] Hezekiah possessed very great wealth and glory. He had treasuries made for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, jewels, and other precious things of all kinds;

[28] also storehouses for the harvest of grain, for wine and oil, and barns for the various kinds of cattle and for the flocks.

[29] He built cities for himself, and he acquired sheep and oxen in great numbers, for God gave him very great riches.

[30] This same Hezekiah stopped the upper outflow of water from Gihon and led it underground westward to the City of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his undertakings.

[31] Nevertheless, in respect to the ambassadors (princes) sent to him from Babylon to investigate the sign that had occurred in the land, God forsook him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

[32] The rest of Hezekiah's acts, including his pious works, can be found written in the Vision of the Prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

[33] 1 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors; he was buried at the approach to the tombs of the descendants of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

Second Chronicles Chapter 33

[1] Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

[2] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, following the abominable practices of the nations whom the LORD had cleared out of the way of the Israelites.

[3] He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down, erected altars for the Baals, made sacred poles, and prostrated himself before the whole host of heaven and worshiped them.

[4] He even built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem shall my name be forever":

[5] he built altars to the whole host of heaven in the two courts of the LORD'S house.

[6] It was he, too, who immolated his sons by fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He practiced augury, divination and magic, and appointed necromancers and diviners of spirits, so that he provoked the LORD with the great evil that he did in his sight.

[7] He placed an idol that he had carved in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon: "In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel I shall place my name forever.

[8] I will not again allow Israel's feet to leave the land which I assigned to your fathers, provided they are careful to observe all that I commanded them, keeping the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances given by Moses."

[9] Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into doing even greater evil than the nations which the LORD had destroyed at the coming of the Israelites.

[10] The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.

[11] 1 Therefore the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the Assyrian king; they took Manasseh with hooks, shackled him with chains, and transported him to Babylon.

[12] In this distress, he began to appease the LORD, his God. He humbled himself abjectly before the God of his fathers

[13] 2 and prayed to him. The LORD let himself be won over: he heard his prayer and restored him to his kingdom in Jerusalem. Then Manasseh understood that the LORD is indeed God.

[14] Afterward he built an outer wall for the City of David to the west of Gihon in the valley, extending to the Fish Gate and encircling Ophel; he built it very high. He stationed army officers in all the fortified cities of Judah.

[15] He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the LORD'S house and all the altars he had built on the mount of the LORD'S house and in Jerusalem, and he cast them outside the city.

[16] He restored the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed on it peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.

[17] Though the people continued to sacrifice on the high places, they now did so to the LORD, their God.

[18] The rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, can be found written in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

[19] His prayer and how his supplication was heard, all his sins and his infidelity, the sites where he built high places and erected sacred poles and carved images before he humbled himself, all can be found written down in the history of his seers.

[20] Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his own palace. His son Amon succeeded him as king.

[21] Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

[22] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon offered sacrifice to all the idols which his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped them.

[23] Moreover, he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; on the contrary, Amon only increased his guilt.

[24] His servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.

[25] But the people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon, and then they, the people of the land, made his son Josiah king in his stead.

Second Chronicles Chapter 34

[1] Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

[2] He pleased the LORD, following the path of his ancestor David.

[3] 1 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, he began to seek after the God of his forefather David, and in his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles and the carved and molten images.

[4] In his presence, the altars of the Baals were destroyed; the incense stands erected above them were torn down; the sacred poles and the carved and molten images were shattered and beaten into dust, which was strewn over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them;

[5] and the bones of the priests he burned upon their altars. Thus he purged Judah and Jerusalem.

[6] He did likewise in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and in the ruined villages of the surrounding country as far as Naphtali;

[7] he destroyed the altars, broke up the sacred poles and carved images and beat them into dust, and tore down the incense stands throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

[8] In the eighteenth year of his reign, in order to cleanse the temple as well as the land, he sent Shaphan, son of Azaliah, Maaseiah, the ruler of the city, and Joah, son of Joahaz, the chamberlain, to restore the house of the LORD, his God.

[9] They came to Hilkiah the high priest and turned over the money brought to the house of God which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, and all the remnant of Israel, as well as from all of Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

[10] They turned it over to the master workmen in the house of the LORD, and these in turn used it to pay the workmen in the LORD'S house who were restoring and repairing the temple.

[11] They also gave it to the carpenters and the masons to buy hewn stone and timber for the tie beams and rafters of the buildings which the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.

[12] The men worked faithfully at their task; their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the line of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the Kohathites, who directed them. All those Levites who were skillful with musical instruments

[13] were in charge of the men who carried the burdens, and they directed all the workers in every kind of labor. Some of the other Levites were scribes, officials and gatekeepers.

[14] When they brought out the money that had been deposited in the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the LORD given through Moses.

[15] He reported this to Shaphan the scribe, saying, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD." Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan,

[16] who brought it to the king at the same time that he was making his report to him. He said, "Your servants are doing everything that has been entrusted to them;

[17] they have turned into bullion the metals deposited in the LORD'S house and have handed it over to the overseers and the workmen."

[18] Then Shaphan the scribe announced to the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it before the king.

[19] When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments

[20] and issued this command to Hilkiah, to Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to Abdon, son of Michah, to Shaphan the scribe, and to Asaiah, the king's servant:

[21] "On behalf of myself and those who are left in Israel and Judah, go, consult the LORD concerning the words of the book that has been found. For the anger of the LORD has been set furiously ablaze against us, since our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD and have not done all that is written in this book."

[22] Then Hilkiah and the other men from the king went to the prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum, son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, the guardian of the wardrobe; she dwelt in Jerusalem, in the new quarter. They spoke to her as they had been instructed,

[23] and she said to them: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Tell the one who sent you to me,

[24] The LORD says: I am prepared to bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses written in the book that has been read before the king of Judah.

[25] Because they have abandoned me and have offered incense to other gods, provoking me by every deed that they have performed, my anger is ablaze against this place and cannot be extinguished.'

[26] "But to the king of Judah who sent you to consult the LORD, give this response: 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the threats you have heard:

[27] Because you were heartsick and have humbled yourself before God on hearing his words spoken against this place and its inhabitants; because you have humbled yourself before me, have torn your garments, and have wept before me, I in turn have listened--so declares the LORD.

[28] I will gather you to your ancestors and you shall be taken to your grave in peace. Your eyes shall not see all the evil I will bring upon this place and upon its inhabitants.'" They brought back this message to the king.

[29] The king now convened all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

[30] He went up to the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, great and small; and he had read aloud to them the entire text of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.

[31] 2 Standing at his post, the king made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep his commandments, decrees, and statutes with his whole heart and soul, thus observing the terms of the covenant written in this book.

[32] He thereby committed all who were of Jerusalem and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem conformed themselves to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

[33] Josiah removed every abominable thing from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he obliged all who were in Israel to serve the LORD, their God. During his lifetime they did not desert the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Second Chronicles Chapter 35

[1] Josiah celebrated in Jerusalem a Passover to honor the LORD; the Passover sacrifice was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.

[2] He reappointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the LORD'S house.

[3] He said to the Levites who were to instruct all Israel, and who were consecrated to the LORD: "Put the holy ark in the house built by Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Serve now the LORD, your God, and his people Israel.

[4] Prepare yourselves in your ancestral houses and your classes according to the prescriptions of King David of Israel and his son Solomon.

[5] Stand in the sanctuary according to the divisions of the ancestral houses of your brethren, the common people, so that the distribution of the Levites and the families may be the same.

[6] Slay the Passover sacrifice, sanctify yourselves, and be at the disposition of your brethren, that all may be carried out according to the word of the LORD given through Moses."

[7] Josiah contributed to the common people a flock of lambs and kids, thirty thousand in number, each to serve as a Passover victim for any who were present, and also three thousand oxen; these were from the king's property.

[8] His princes also gave a free-will gift to the people, the priests and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, prefects of the house of God, gave to the priests two thousand six hundred Passover victims together with three hundred oxen.

[9] Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah, Nethanel, Hashabiah, Jehiel and Jozabad, the rulers of the Levites, contributed to the Levites five thousand Passover victims, together with five hundred oxen.

[10] When the service had been arranged, the priests took their places, as did the Levites in their classes according to the king's command.

[11] The Passover sacrifice was slaughtered, whereupon the priests sprinkled some of the blood and the Levites proceeded to the skinning.

[12] They separated what was destined for the holocaust and gave it to various groups of the ancestral houses of the common people to offer to the LORD, as is prescribed in the book of Moses. They did the same with the oxen.

[13] They cooked the Passover on the fire as prescribed, and also cooked the sacred meals in pots, caldrons and pans, then brought them quickly to all the common people.

[14] Afterward they prepared the Passover for themselves and for the priests. Indeed the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy offering holocausts and the fatty portions until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

[15] The singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their posts as prescribed by David: Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, the king's seer. The gatekeepers were at every gate; there was no need for them to leave their stations, for their brethren, the Levites, prepared for them.

[16] Thus the entire service of the LORD was arranged that day so that the Passover could be celebrated and the holocausts offered on the altar of the LORD, as King Josiah had commanded.

[17] The Israelites who were present on that occasion kept the Passover and the feast of the Unleavened Bread for seven days.

[18] No such Passover had been observed in Israel since the time of the prophet Samuel, nor had any king of Israel kept a Passover like that of Josiah, the priests and Levites, all of Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

[19] It was in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign that this Passover was observed.

[20] After Josiah had done all this to restore the temple, Neco, king of Egypt, came up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to intercept him.

[21] Neco sent messengers to him, saying: "What quarrel is between us, king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, for my war is with another kingdom, and God has told me to hasten. Do not interfere with God who is with me, as otherwise he will destroy you."

[22] But Josiah would not withdraw from him, for he had sought a pretext for fighting with him. Therefore he would not listen to the words of Neco that came from the mouth of God, but went out to fight in the plain of Megiddo.

[23] Then the archers shot King Josiah, who said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am seriously wounded."

[24] His servants removed him from his own chariot, placed him in another he had in reserve, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned him.

[25] 1 Jeremiah also composed a lamentation over Josiah, which is recited to this day by all the male and female singers in their lamentations over Josiah. These have been made obligatory for Israel, and can be found written in the Lamentations.

[26] The rest of the chronicle of Josiah, his pious deeds in regard to what is written in the law of the LORD, and his acts, first and last, can be found written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Second Chronicles Chapter 36

[1] The people of the land took Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, and made him king in Jerusalem in his father's stead.

[2] Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

[3] The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and fined the land one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

[4] Then the king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Neco took his brother Jehoahaz away and brought him to Egypt.

[5] Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, his God.

[6] 1 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against him and bound him with chains to take him to Babylon.

[7] Nebuchadnezzar also carried away to Babylon some of the vessels of the house of the LORD and put them in his palace in Babylon.

[8] The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominable things that he did, and what therefore happened to him, can be found written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king.

[9] Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months (and ten days) in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD.

[10] 2 At the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and had him brought to Babylon, along with precious vessels from the temple of the LORD. He made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

[11] Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

[12] He did evil in the sight of the LORD, his God, and he did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke the word of the LORD.

[13] He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart rather than return to the LORD, the God of Israel.

[14] Likewise all the princes of Judah, the priests and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD'S temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

[15] Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.

[16] But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy.

[17] Then he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men in their own sanctuary building, sparing neither young man nor maiden, neither the aged nor the decrepit; he delivered all of them over into his grip.

[18] All the utensils of the house of God, the large and the small, and the treasures of the LORD'S house and of the king and his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.

[19] They burnt the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all its palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects.

[20] Those who escaped the sword he carried captive to Babylon, where they became his and his sons' servants until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.

[21] All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: "Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled."

[22] 3 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing:

[23] "Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: 'All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!'"

Introduction to Ezra

Ezra

Introduction

The last four books of the Hebrew canon are Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles, in that order. Originally, however, Ezra and Nehemiah followed the Books of Chronicles, and formed with them a unified historical work so homogeneous in spirit that one usually speaks of a single author for the four books. He is called "the Chronicler." The treatment of Ezra-Nehemiah as a single book by the earliest chroniclers was undoubtedly due to the fact that in ancient times the two books were put under the one name-Ezra. The combined work Ezra-Nehemiah is our most important literary source for the formation of the Jewish religious community after the Babylonian exile. This is known as the period of the Restoration, and the two men most responsible for the reorganization of Jewish life at this time were Ezra and Nehemiah.

In the present state of the Ezra-Nehemiah text, there are several dislocations of large sections so that the chronological or logical sequence is disrupted. The major instances are pointed out in the footnotes. Although Ezra appears before Nehemiah in this work, it seems probable that Nehemiah's activity preceded his.

What is known of Ezra and his work is due almost exclusively to Ezr 7-10 (the "Ezra Memoirs") and to Neh 8-9. Strictly speaking, the term "Ezra Memoirs" should be used only of that section in which Ezra speaks in the first person, i.e., Ezra 7:27-9:15. Compare the ""Nehemiah Memoirs'' in Nehemiah 1:1-7:72a; 11:1, 2; 12:27-43; 13:4-31. The Chronicler combined this material with other sources at his disposal. The personality of Ezra is less known than that of Nehemiah. Ben Sirach, in his praise of the fathers, makes no mention of Ezra. The genealogy of Ezra (Ezra 7:1-5) traces his priesthood back to Aaron, brother of Moses. This was the accepted way of establishing the legality of one's priestly office. He is also called a scribe, well-versed in the law of Moses (Ezra 7:6), indicating Ezra's dedication to the study of the Torah, which he sought to make the basic rule of life in the restored community. It was in religious and cultic reform rather than in political affairs that Ezra made his mark as a postexilic leader. Jewish tradition holds him in great honor; the Talmud even regards him as a second Moses, claiming that the Torah would have been given to Israel through Ezra had not Moses preceded him.

Ezra is sometimes accused of having been a mere legalist who gave excessive attention to the letter of the law. His work, however, should be seen and judged within a specific historical context. He gave to his people a cohesion and spiritual unity which prevented the disintegration of the small Jewish community. Had it not been for the intransigence of Ezra and of those who adopted his ideal, it is doubtful that Judaism would have so effectively resisted Hellenism, then or in later centuries. Ezra set the tone of the postexilic community, and it was characterized by fidelity to the Torah, Judaism's authentic way of life. It is in this light that we can judge most fairly the work of Ezra during the Restoration.

The Book of Ezra is divided as follows:

The Return from Exile (Ezra 1:1-6:22)

The Deeds of Ezra (Ezra 7:1-10:44)

The following list of the kings of Persia, with the dates of their reigns, will be useful for dating the events mentioned in Ezra-Nehemiah:

Cyrus -- 538-529 B.C.

Cambyses -- 529-521 B.C.

Darius I -- 521-485 B.C.

Xerxes -- 485-464 B.C.

Artaxerxes I -- 464-423 B.C.

Darius II -- 423-404 B.C.

Artaxerxes II -- 404-358 B.C.

Artaxerxes III -- 358-337 B.C.

End of the Persian Empire -- 331 B.C.

(Defeat of Darius III)

Ezra Chapter 1

[1] In the first year of Cyrus, 1 king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing:

[2] "Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: 'All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

[3] Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!

[4] Let everyone who has survived, in whatever place he may have dwelt, be assisted by the people of that place with silver, gold, goods, and cattle, together with free-will offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.'"

[5] Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites--everyone, that is, whom God had inspired to do so--prepared to go up to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

[6] All their neighbors gave them help in every way, with silver, gold, goods, and cattle, and with many precious gifts besides all their free-will offerings.

[7] King Cyrus, too, had the utensils of the house of the LORD brought forth which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his god.

[8] 2 Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought forth by the treasurer Mithredath, and counted out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

[9] This was the inventory: sacks of goldware, thirty; sacks of silverware, one thousand and twenty-nine;

[10] golden bowls, thirty; silver bowls, four hundred and ten; other ware, one thousand pieces.

[11] 3 Total of the gold-and silver ware: five thousand four hundred pieces. All these Sheshbazzar took with him when the exiles were brought back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra Chapter 2

[1] 1 These are the inhabitants of the province who returned from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away to Babylon, and who came back to Jerusalem and Judah, each man in his own city

[2] (those who returned with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah): The census of the men of Israel:

[3] sons of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two;

[4] sons of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two;

[5] sons of Arah, seven hundred and seventy-five;

[6] sons of Pahath-moab, who were sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve;

[7] sons of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four;

[8] sons of Zattu, nine hundred and forty-five;

[9] sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty;

[10] sons of Bani, six hundred and forty-two;

[11] sons of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-three;

[12] sons of Azgad, one thousand two hundred and twenty-two;

[13] sons of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six;

[14] sons of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six;

[15] sons of Adin, four hundred and fifty-four;

[16] sons of Ater, who were sons of Hezekiah, ninety-eight;

[17] sons of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-three;

[18] sons of Jorah, one hundred and twelve;

[19] sons of Hashum, two hundred and twenty-three;

[20] sons of Gibeon, ninety-five;

[21] sons of Bethlehem, one hundred and twenty-three;

[22] men of Netophah, fifty-six;

[23] men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight;

[24] men of Beth-azmaveth, forty-two;

[25] men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three;

[26] men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one;

[27] men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two;

[28] men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred and twenty-three;

[29] sons of Nebo, fifty-two;

[30] sons of Magbish, one hundred and fifty-six;

[31] sons of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four;

[32] sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty;

[33] sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-five;

[34] sons of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five;

[35] sons of Senaah, three thousand six hundred and thirty.

[36] The priests: sons of Jedaiah, who were of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three;

[37] sons of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two;

[38] sons of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven;

[39] sons of Harim, one thousand and seventeen.

[40] The Levites: sons of Jeshua, Kadmiel, Binnui, and Hodaviah, seventy-four.

[41] The singers: sons of Asaph, one hundred and twenty-eight.

[42] The gatekeepers: sons of Shallum, sons of Ater, sons of Talmon, sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita, sons of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-nine in all.

[43] The temple slaves: sons of Ziha, sons of Hasupha, sons of Tabbaoth,

[44] sons of Keros, sons of Siaha, sons of Padon,

[45] sons of Lebanah, sons of Hagabah, sons of Akkub,

[46] sons of Hagab, sons of Shamlai, sons of Hanan,

[47] sons of Giddel, sons of Gahar, sons of Reaiah,

[48] sons of Rezin, sons of Nekoda, sons of Gazzam,

[49] sons of Uzza, sons of Paseah, sons of Besai,

[50] sons of Asnah, sons of the Meunites, sons of the Nephusites,

[51] sons of Bakbuk, sons of Hakupha, sons of Harhur,

[52] sons of Bazluth, sons of Mehida, sons of Harsha,

[53] sons of Barkos, sons of Sisera, sons of Temah,

[54] sons of Neziah, sons of Hatipha.

[55] Descendants of the slaves of Solomon: sons of Sotai, sons of Hassophereth, sons of Peruda,

[56] sons of Jaalah, sons of Darkon, sons of Giddel,

[57] sons of Shephatiah, sons of Hattil, sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, sons of Ami.

[58] The total of the temple slaves and the descendants of the slaves of Solomon was three hundred and ninety-two.

[59] The following who returned from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer were unable to prove that their ancestral houses and their descent were Israelite:

[60] sons of Delaiah, sons of Tobiah, sons of Nekoda, six hundred and fifty-two.

[61] Also, of the priests: sons of Habaiah, sons of Hakkoz, sons of Barzillai (he had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and became known by his name).

[62] These men searched their family records, but their names could not be found written there; hence they were degraded from the priesthood,

[63] 2 and His Excellency ordered them not to partake of the most holy foods until there should be a priest bearing the Urim and Thummim.

[64] The entire assembly taken together came to forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty,

[65] not counting their male and female slaves, who were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. They also had two hundred male and female singers.

[66] Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six, their mules two hundred and forty-five,

[67] their camels four hundred and thirty-five, their asses six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

[68] When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the family heads made free-will offerings for the house of God, to rebuild it in its place.

[69] According to their means they contributed to the treasury for the temple service: sixty-one thousand drachmas of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred garments for the priests.

[70] The priests, the Levites, and some of the common people took up residence in Jerusalem; but the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple slaves dwelt in their cities. Thus all the Israelites dwelt in their cities.

Ezra Chapter 3

[1] 1 Now when the seventh month came, after the Israelites had settled in their cities, the people gathered at Jerusalem as one man.

[2] Then Jeshua, son of Jozadak, together with his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, together with his brethren, set about rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel in order to offer on it the holocausts prescribed in the law of Moses, the man of God.

[3] Despite their fear of the peoples of the land, they replaced the altar on its foundations and offered holocausts to the LORD on it, both morning and evening.

[4] They also kept the feast of Booths in the manner prescribed, and they offered the daily holocausts in the proper number required for each day.

[5] Thereafter they offered the established holocaust, the sacrifices prescribed for the new moons and all the festivals sacred to the LORD, and those which anyone might offer as a free-will gift to the LORD.

[6] From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer holocausts to the LORD, though the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not yet been laid.

[7] Then they hired stonecutters and carpenters, and sent food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians that they might ship cedar trees from the Lebanon to the port of Joppa, as Cyrus, king of Persia, had authorized.

[8] In the year after their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, son of Jozadak, together with the rest of their brethren, the priests and Levites and all who had come from the captivity to Jerusalem, began by appointing the Levites twenty years of age and over to supervise the work on the house of the LORD.

[9] Jeshua and his sons and brethren, with Kadmiel and Binnui, son of Henadad, and their sons and their brethren, the Levites, stood as one man to supervise those who were engaged in the work on the house of God.

[10] When the builders had laid the foundation of the LORD'S temple, the vested priests with the trumpets and the Levites, sons of Asaph, were stationed there with the cymbals to praise the LORD in the manner laid down by David, king of Israel.

[11] They alternated in songs of praise and thanksgiving to the LORD, "for he is good, for his kindness to Israel endures forever"; and all the people raised a great shout of joy, praising the LORD because the foundation of the LORD'S house had been laid.

[12] Many of the priests, Levites, and family heads, the old men who had seen the former house, cried out in sorrow as they watched the foundation of the present house being laid. Many others, however, lifted up their voices in shouts of joy,

[13] and no one could distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from the sound of those who were weeping; for the people raised a mighty clamor which was heard afar off.

Ezra Chapter 4

[1] When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel,

[2] they approached Zerubbabel and the family heads and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we seek your God just as you do, and we have sacrificed to him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who had us brought here."

[3] But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the family heads of Israel answered them, "It is not your responsibility to build with us a house for our God, but we alone must build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus of Persia has commanded us."

[4] Thereupon the people of the land set out to intimidate and dishearten the people of Judah so as to keep them from building.

[5] 1 They also suborned counselors to work against them and thwart their plans during the remaining years of Cyrus, king of Persia, and until the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

[6] Also at the beginning of the reign of Ahashuerus they prepared a written accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

[7] 2 Again, in the time of Artaxerxes, Mithredath wrote in concert with Tabeel and the rest of his fellow officials to Artaxerxes, king of Persia. The document was written in Aramaic and was accompanied by a translation. (Aramaic:)

[8] 3 Then Rehum, the governor, and Shimshai, the scribe, wrote the following letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes:

[9] "Rehum, the governor, Shimshai, the scribe, and their fellow judges, officials, and agents from among the Persian, Urukian, Babylonian, Susian (that is Elamite),

[10] and the other peoples whom the great and illustrious Assurbanipal transported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in the province West-of-Euphrates, as follows. . . ."

[11] This is a copy of the letter that they sent to him: "To King Artaxerxes, your servants, the men of West-of-Euphrates, as follows:

[12] Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have arrived at Jerusalem and are now rebuilding this rebellious and evil city. They are raising up its walls, and the foundations have already been laid.

[13] Now let it be known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are raised up again, they will no longer pay taxes, tributes, or tolls; thus it can only result in harm to the throne.

[14] Now, since we partake of the salt of the palace, we ought not simply to look on while the king is being dishonored. Therefore we have sent this message to inform you, O king,

[15] so that inquiry may be made in the historical records of your fathers. In the historical records you can discover and verify that this city is a rebellious city which has proved fatal to kings and provinces, and that sedition has been fostered there since ancient times. For that reason this city was destroyed.

[16] We inform you, O king, that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are raised up again, by that very fact you will no longer own any part of West-of-Euphrates."

[17] The king sent this answer: "To Rehum, the governor, Shimshai, the scribe, and their fellow officials living in Samaria and elsewhere in the province West-of-Euphrates, greetings and the following:

[18] The communication which you sent us has been read plainly in my presence.

[19] When at my command inquiry was made, it was verified that from ancient times this city has risen up against kings and that rebellion and sedition have been fostered there.

[20] Powerful kings were once in Jerusalem who ruled over all West-of-Euphrates, and taxes, tributes, and tolls were paid to them.

[21] Give orders, therefore, that will stop the work of these men. This city may not be rebuilt until a further decree has been issued by me.

[22] Take care that you do not neglect this matter, lest the evil grow to the detriment of the throne."

[23] As soon as a copy of King Artaxerxes' letter had been read before Rehum, the governor, Shimshai, the scribe, and their fellow officials, they went in all haste to the Jews in Jerusalem and stopped their work by force of arms.

[24] 4 Thus it was that the work on the house of God in Jerusalem was halted. This inaction lasted until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

Ezra Chapter 5

[1] 1 Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, son of Iddo, began to prophesy to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel.

[2] Thereupon Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, son of Jozadak, began again to build the house of God in Jerusalem, with the prophets of God giving them support.

[3] At that time there came to them Tattenai, governor of West-of-Euphrates, and Shethar-bozenai, and their fellow officials, who asked of them: "Who issued the decree for you to build this house and raise this edifice?

[4] What are the names of the men who are building this structure?"

[5] But their God watched over the elders of the Jews so that they were not hindered, until a report could go to Darius and then a written order be sent back concerning this matter.

[6] A copy of the letter sent to King Darius by Tattenai, governor of West-of-Euphrates, and Shethar-bozenai, and their fellow officials from West-of-Euphrates;

[7] they sent him a report in which was written the following: "To King Darius, all good wishes!

[8] Let it be known to the king that we have visited the province of Judah and the house of the great God: it is being rebuilt of cut stone and the walls are being reinforced with timber; the work is being carried on diligently and is making good progress under their hands.

[9] We then questioned the elders, addressing to them the following words: 'Who issued the decree for you to build this house and raise this edifice?'

[10] We also asked them their names, to report them to you in a list of the men who are their leaders.

[11] This was their answer to us: 'We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house built here long years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

[12] But because our fathers provoked the wrath of the God of heaven, he delivered them into the power of the Chaldean, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who destroyed this house and led the people captive to Babylon.

[13] However, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree for the rebuilding of this house of God.

[14] Moreover, the gold and silver utensils of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and carried off to the temple in Babylon, King Cyrus ordered to be removed from the temple in Babylon and consigned to a certain Sheshbazzar, whom he named governor.

[15] And he commanded him: Take these utensils and deposit them in the temple of Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its former site.

[16] Then this same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. Since that time the building has been going on, and it is not yet completed.'

[17] Now, if it please the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to discover whether a decree really was issued by King Cyrus for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And may the king's pleasure in this matter be communicated to us."

Ezra Chapter 6

[1] Thereupon King Darius issued an order to search the archives in which the Babylonian records were stored away;

[2] and in Ecbatana, the stronghold in the province of Media, a scroll was found containing the following text: "Memorandum.

[3] In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree: The house of God in Jerusalem. The house is to be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices and bringing burnt offerings. Its height is to be sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits.

[4] It shall have three courses of cut stone for each one of timber. The costs are to be borne by the royal palace.

[5] Also, the gold and silver utensils of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple of Jerusalem and brought to Babylon are to be sent back: to be returned to their place in the temple of Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God.

[6] "Now, therefore, Tattenai, governor of West-of-Euphrates, and Shethar-bozenai, and you, their fellow officials in West-of-Euphrates, do not interfere in that place.

[7] Let the governor and the elders of the Jews continue the work on that house of God; they are to rebuild it on its former site.

[8] I also issue this decree concerning your dealing with these elders of the Jews in the rebuilding of that house of God: From the royal revenue, the taxes of West-of-Euphrates, let these men be repaid for their expenses, in full and without delay.

[9] Whatever else is required--young bulls, rams, and lambs for holocausts to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the requirements of the priests who are in Jerusalem--is to be delivered to them day by day without fail,

[10] that they may continue to offer sacrifices of pleasing odor to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

[11] I also issue this decree: If any man violates this edict, a beam is to be taken from his house, and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it; and his house is to be reduced to rubble for this offense.

[12] And may the God who causes his name to dwell there overthrow every king or people who may undertake to alter this or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree; let it be carefully executed."

[13] Then Tattenai, the governor of West-of-Euphrates, and Shethar-bozenai, and their fellow officials carried out fully the instructions King Darius had sent them.

[14] The elders of the Jews continued to make progress in the building, supported by the message of the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, son of Iddo. They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus and Darius (and of Artaxerxes, king of Persia).

[15] They completed this house on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

[16] The Israelites--priests, Levites, and the other returned exiles--celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

[17] For the dedication of this house of God, they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, together with twelve he-goats as a sin-offering for all Israel, in keeping with the number of the tribes of Israel.

[18] Finally, they set up the priests in their classes and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God in Jerusalem, as is prescribed in the book of Moses.

[19] The exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

[20] The Levites, every one of whom had purified himself for the occasion, sacrificed the Passover for the rest of the exiles, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.

[21] The Israelites who had returned from the exile partook of it together with all those who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to join them in seeking the LORD, the God of Israel.

[22] 1 They joyfully kept the feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, for the LORD had filled them with joy by making the king of Assyria favorable to them, so that he gave them help in their work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Ezra Chapter 7

[1] 1 After these events, during the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,

[2] son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,

[3] son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,

[4] son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,

[5] son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of the high priest Aaron--

[6] this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe, well-versed in the law of Moses which was given by the LORD, the God of Israel. Because the hand of the LORD, his God, was upon him, the king granted him all that he requested.

[7] Some of the Israelites and some priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple slaves also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

[8] Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month of that seventh year of the king.

[9] On the first day of the first month he resolved on the journey up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem, for the favoring hand of his God was upon him.

[10] Ezra had set his heart on the study and practice of the law of the LORD and on teaching statutes and ordinances in Israel.

[11] This is a copy of the rescript which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest-scribe, the scribe of the text of the LORD'S commandments and statutes for Israel:

[12] "Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven (then, after greetings):

[13] I have issued this decree, that anyone in my kingdom belonging to the people of Israel, its priests or Levites, who is minded to go up to Jerusalem with you, may do so.

[14] You are the envoy from the king and his seven counselors to supervise Judah and Jerusalem in respect of the law of your God which is in your possession,

[15] and to bring with you the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely contributed to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

[16] as well as all the silver and gold which you may receive throughout the province of Babylon, together with the free-will offerings which the people and priests freely contribute for the house of their God in Jerusalem.

[17] You must take care, therefore, to use this money to buy bulls, rams, lambs, and the cereal offerings and libations proper to these, and to offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.

[18] You and your brethren may do whatever seems best to you with the remainder of the silver and gold, conformably to the will of your God.

[19] The utensils consigned to you for the service of the house of your God you are to deposit before the God of Jerusalem.

[20] Whatever else you may be required to supply for the needs of the house of your God, you may draw from the royal treasury.

[21] I, Artaxerxes the king, issue this decree to all the treasurers of West-of-Euphrates: Whatever Ezra the priest, scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requests of you, dispense to him accurately,

[22] within these limits: silver, one hundred talents; wheat, one hundred kors; wine, one hundred baths; oil, one hundred baths; salt, without limit.

[23] Let everything that is ordered by the God of heaven be carried out exactly for the house of the God of heaven, that wrath may not come upon the realm of the king and his sons.

[24] We also inform you that it is not permitted to impose taxes, tributes, or tolls on any priest, Levite, singer, gatekeeper, temple slave, or any other servant of that house of God.

[25] 2 "As for you, Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God which is in your possession, appoint magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people in West-of-Euphrates, to all, that is, who know the laws of your God. Instruct those who do not know these laws.

[26] Whoever does not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let strict judgment be executed upon him, whether death, or corporal punishment, or a fine on his goods, or imprisonment."

[27] Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who thus disposed the mind of the king to glorify the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,

[28] and who let me find favor with the king, with his counselors, and with all the most influential royal officials. I therefore took courage and, with the hand of the LORD, my God, upon me, I gathered together Israelite family heads to make the return journey with me.

Ezra Chapter 8

[1] This is the list of the family heads who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

[2] Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershon; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush,

[3] son of Shecaniah; of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him one hundred and fifty males were enrolled;

[4] of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai, son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males;

[5] of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah, son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males;

[6] of the sons of Adin, Ebed, son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males;

[7] of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah, son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males;

[8] of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah, son of Michael, and with him eighty males;

[9] of the sons of Joab, Obadiah, son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males;

[10] of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, son of Josiphiah, and with him one hundred and sixty males;

[11] of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males;

[12] of the sons of Azgad, Johanan, son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten males;

[13] of the sons of Adonikam, younger sons, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males;

[14] of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai, son of Zakkur, and with him seventy males.

[15] 1 I had them assemble by the river that flows toward Ahava, where we made camp for three days. There I perceived that both laymen and priests were present, but I could not discover a single Levite.

[16] Therefore I sent Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, wise leaders,

[17] with a command for Iddo, the leader in the place Casiphia, instructing them what to say to Iddo and his brethren, and to the temple slaves in Casiphia, in order to procure for us ministers for the house of our God.

[18] They sent to us--for the favoring hand of our God was upon us--a well-instructed man, one of the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brethren, eighteen men.

[19] They also sent us Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah, sons of Merari, and their brethren and their sons, twenty men.

[20] Of the temple slaves (those whom David and the princes appointed to serve the Levites) there were two hundred and twenty. All these men were enrolled by name.

[21] Then I proclaimed a fast, there by the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to petition from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions.

[22] For I would have been ashamed to ask the king for troops and horsemen to protect us against enemies along the way, since we had said to the king, "The favoring hand of our God is upon all who seek him, but his mighty wrath is against all who forsake him."

[23] So we fasted, and prayed to our God for this, and our petition was granted.

[24] Next I selected twelve of the priestly leaders along with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren,

[25] and I weighed out before them the silver and the gold and the utensils offered for the house of our God by the king, his counselors, his officials, and all the Israelites of that region.

[26] I consigned it to them in these amounts: silver, six hundred and fifty talents; silver utensils, one hundred; gold, one hundred talents;

[27] twenty golden bowls valued at a thousand darics; two vases of excellent polished bronze, as precious as gold.

[28] I addressed them in these words: "You are consecrated to the LORD, and the utensils are also consecrated; the silver and the gold are a free-will offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.

[29] Keep good watch over them till you weigh them out in Jerusalem in the presence of the chief priests and Levites and the family leaders of Israel, in the chambers of the house of the LORD."

[30] The priests and the Levites then took over the silver, the gold, and the utensils that had been weighed out, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

[31] We set out for Jerusalem from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month. The hand of our God remained upon us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way.

[32] Thus we arrived in Jerusalem, where we first rested for three days.

[33] On the fourth day, the silver, the gold, and the utensils were weighed out in the house of our God and consigned to the priest Meremoth, son of Uriah, who was assisted by Eleazar, son of Phinehas; they were assisted by the Levites Jozabad, son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, son of Binnui.

[34] Everything was in order as to number and weight, and the total weight was registered. At that same time,

[35] those who had returned from the captivity, the exiles, offered as holocausts to the God of Israel twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve goats as sin-offerings: all these as a holocaust to the LORD.

[36] 2 Finally, the orders of the king were presented to the king's satraps and to the governors in West-of-Euphrates, who gave their support to the people and to the house of God.

Ezra Chapter 9

[1] When these matters had been concluded, the leaders approached me with this report: "Neither the Israelite laymen nor the priests nor the Levites have kept themselves aloof from the peoples of the land and their abominations (Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites);

[2] for they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and thus they have desecrated the holy race with the peoples of the land. Furthermore, the leaders and rulers have taken a leading part in this apostasy!"

[3] When I had heard this thing, I tore my cloak and my mantle, plucked hair from my head and beard, and sat there stupefied.

[4] Around me gathered all who were in dread of the sentence of the God of Israel on this apostasy of the exiles, while I remained motionless until the evening sacrifice.

[5] Then, at the time of the evening sacrifice, I rose in my wretchedness, and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees, stretching out my hands to the LORD, my God.

[6] I said: "My God, I am too ashamed and confounded to raise my face to you, O my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our heads and our guilt reaches up to heaven.

[7] 1 From the time of our fathers even to this day great has been our guilt, and for our wicked deeds we have been delivered over, we and our kings and our priests, to the will of the kings of foreign lands, to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, and to disgrace, as is the case today.

[8] "And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the LORD, our God, who left us a remnant and gave us a stake in his holy place; thus our God has brightened our eyes and given us relief in our servitude.

[9] For slaves we are, but in our servitude our God has not abandoned us; rather, he has turned the good will of the kings of Persia toward us. Thus he has given us new life to raise again the house of our God and restore its ruins, and has granted us a fence in Judah and Jerusalem.

[10] But now, O our God, what can we say after all this? For we have abandoned your commandments,

[11] which you gave through your servants the prophets: the land which you are entering to take as your possession is a land unclean with the filth of the peoples of the land, with the abominations with which they have filled it from one end to the other in their uncleanness.

[12] Do not, then, give your daughters to their sons in marriage, and do not take their daughters for your sons. Never promote their peace and prosperity; thus you will grow strong, enjoy the produce of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.

[13] "After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt-though you, our God, have made less of our sinfulness than it deserved and have allowed us to survive as we do--

[14] shall we again violate your commandments by intermarrying with these abominable peoples? Would you not become so angered with us as to destroy us without remnant or survivor?

[15] O LORD, God of Israel, you are just; yet we have been spared, the remnant we are today. Here we are before you in our sins. Because of all this, we can no longer stand in your presence."

Ezra Chapter 10

[1] While Ezra prayed and acknowledged their guilt, weeping and prostrate before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites gathered about him, men, women, and children; and the people wept profusely.

[2] Then Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, made this appeal to Ezra: "We have indeed betrayed our God by taking as wives foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet even now there remains a hope for Israel.

[3] Let us therefore enter into a covenant before our God to dismiss all our foreign wives and the children born of them, in keeping with what you, my lord, advise, and those who fear the commandments of our God. Let the law be observed!

[4] Rise, then, for this is your duty! We will stand by you, so have courage and take action!"

[5] Ezra rose to his feet and demanded an oath from the chiefs of the priests, from the Levites and from all Israel that they would do as had been proposed; and they swore it.

[6] 1 Then Ezra retired from his place before the house of God and entered the chamber of Johanan, son of Eliashib, where he spent the night neither eating food nor drinking water, for he was in mourning over the betrayal by the exiles.

[7] A proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles should gather together in Jerusalem,

[8] and that whoever failed to appear within three days would, according to the judgment of the leaders and elders, suffer the confiscation of all his possessions, and himself be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

[9] 2 All the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together in Jerusalem within the three-day period: it was in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. All the people, standing in the open place before the house of God, were trembling both over the matter at hand and because it was raining.

[10] Then Ezra, the priest, stood up and said to them: "Your unfaithfulness in taking foreign women as wives has added to Israel's guilt.

[11] But now, give praise to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do his will: separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from these foreign women."

[12] In answer, the whole assembly cried out with a loud voice: "Yes, it is our duty to do as you say!

[13] But the people are numerous and it is the rainy season, so that we cannot remain out-of-doors; besides, this is not a task that can be performed in a single day or even two, for those of us who have sinned in this regard are many.

[14] Let our leaders represent the whole assembly; then let all those in our cities who have taken foreign women for wives appear at appointed times, accompanied by the elders and magistrates of each city in question, till we have turned away from us our God's burning anger over this affair."

[15] Only Jonathan, son of Asahel, and Jahzeiah, son of Tikvah, were against this proposal, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

[16] 3 The exiles did as agreed. Ezra appointed as his assistants men who were family heads, one for each family, all of them designated by name. They held sessions to examine the matter, beginning with the first day of the tenth month.

[17] By the first day of the first month they had passed judgment on all the men who had taken foreign women for wives.

[18] Among the priests, the following were found to have taken foreign women for wives: Of the sons of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and his brethren: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

[19] They pledged themselves to dismiss their wives, and as a guilt-offering for their guilt they gave a ram from the flock.

[20] Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah;

[21] of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah;

[22] of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

[23] Of the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer.

[24] Of the singers: Eliashib and Zakkur; of the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.

[25] Among the other Israelites: Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah;

[26] of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah;

[27] of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza;

[28] of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai;

[29] of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth;

[30] of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh;

[31] of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

[32] Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah;

[33] of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei;

[34] of the sons of Begui: Maadai, Amram, Uel,

[35] Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,

[36] Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

[37] Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu;

[38] of the sons of Binnui: Shimei,

[39] Shelemiah, Nathan, and Adaiah;

[40] of the sons of Zachai: Shashai, Sharai,

[41] Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,

[42] Shallum, Amariah, Joseph;

[43] of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, Benaiah.

[44] 4 All these had taken foreign wives; but they sent them away, both the women and their children.

Introduction to Nehemiah

Nehemiah

Introduction

Problems common to the combined Books Ezra-Nehemiah have been pointed out in the Introduction to the Book of Ezra. The achievements of the two men were complementary; each helped to make it possible for Judaism to maintain its identity during the difficult days of the Restoration. Nehemiah was the man of action who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and introduced necessary administrative reforms. Ezra in turn was the great religious reformer who succeeded in establishing the Torah as the constitution of the returned community.

The biblical sources for Nehemiah's life and work are the autobiographical portions scattered through the book. They are called the "Memoirs of Nehemiah," and have been used more extensively and effectively by "the Chronicler" than the "Memoirs of Ezra." No competent scholar questions the authenticity of Nehemiah's memoirs. From these and other sources, the picture emerges of a man dedicated to the single purpose of the welfare of his people. Despite temperamental shortcomings, Nehemiah was a man of good practical sense combined with deep faith in God. In view of his selfless service to a community capable of severely testing any leader, we can be indulgent toward his numerous appeals to God to credit him with the work he had done. Nehemiah was a layman, and his generous dedication of talents to the service of God and of God's people remains an example of undiminished force for laymen today.

The Book of Nehemiah is divided as follows:

The Deeds of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:1-7:72)

Promulgation of the Law (Nehemiah 8:1-13:31)

Nehemiah Chapter 1

[1] The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah. 1 In the month Chislev of the twentieth year, I was in the citadel of Susa

[2] when Hanani, one of my brothers, came with other men from Judah. I asked them about the Jews, the remnant preserved after the captivity, and about Jerusalem,

[3] and they answered me: "The survivors of the captivity there in the province are in great distress and under reproach. Also, the wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been gutted with fire."

[4] When I heard this report, I began to weep and continued mourning for several days; I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

[5] I prayed: "O LORD, God of heaven, great and awesome God, you who preserve your covenant of mercy toward those who love you and keep your commandments,

[6] may your ear be attentive, and your eyes open, to heed the prayer which I, your servant, now offer in your presence day and night for your servants the Israelites, confessing the sins which we of Israel have committed against you, I and my father's house included.

[7] Grievously have we offended you, not keeping the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which you committed to your servant Moses.

[8] But remember, I pray, the promise which you gave through Moses, your servant, when you said: 'Should you prove faithless, I will scatter you among the nations;

[9] but should you return to me and carefully keep my commandments, even though your outcasts have been driven to the farthest corner of the world, I will gather them from there, and bring them back to the place which I have chosen as the dwelling place for my name.'

[10] They are your servants, your people, whom you freed by your great might and your strong hand.

[11] 2 O Lord, may your ear be attentive to my prayer and that of all your willing servants who revere your name. Grant success to your servant this day, and let him find favor with this man"-for I was cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah Chapter 2

[1] In the month Nisan of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when the wine was in my charge, I took some and offered it to the king. As I had never before been sad in his presence,

[2] the king asked me, "Why do you look sad? If you are not sick, you must be sad at heart." Though I was seized with great fear,

[3] I answered the king: "May the king live forever! How could I not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been eaten out by fire?"

[4] The king asked me, "What is it, then, that you wish?" I prayed to the God of heaven

[5] and then answered the king: "If it please the king, and if your servant is deserving of your favor, send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors' graves, to rebuild it."

[6] Then the king, and the queen seated beside him, asked me how long my journey would take and when I would return. I set a date that was acceptable to him, and the king agreed that I might go.

[7] I asked the king further: "If it please the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of West-of-Euphrates, that they may afford me safe-conduct till I arrive in Judah;

[8] also a letter for Asaph, the keeper of the royal park, that he may give me wood for timbering the gates of the temple-citadel and for the city wall and the house that I shall occupy." The king granted my requests, for the favoring hand of my God was upon me.

[9] Thus I proceeded to the governors of West-of-Euphrates and presented the king's letters to them. The king also sent with me army officers and cavalry.

[10] 1 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite slave had heard of this, they were very much displeased that someone had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites.

[11] When I had arrived in Jerusalem, I first rested there for three days.

[12] Then I set out by night with only a few other men (for I had not told anyone what my God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem) and with no other animals but my own mount.

[13] 2 I rode out at night by the Valley Gate, passed by the Dragon Spring, and came to the Dung Gate, observing how the walls of Jerusalem lay in ruins and its gates had been eaten out by fire.

[14] Then I passed over to the Spring Gate and to the King's Pool. Since there was no room here for my mount to pass with me astride,

[15] I continued on foot up the wadi by night, inspecting the wall all the while till I once more reached the Valley Gate, by which I went back in.

[16] The magistrates knew nothing of where I had gone or what I was doing, for as yet I had disclosed nothing to the Jews, neither to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the magistrates, nor to the others who would be concerned about the matter.

[17] Afterward I said to them: "You see the evil plight in which we stand: how Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been gutted by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer be an object of derision!"

[18] Then I explained to them how the favoring hand of my God had rested upon me, and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us be up and building!" And they undertook the good work with vigor.

[19] On hearing of this, Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite slave, and Geshem the Arab mocked us and ridiculed us. "What is this that you are about?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?"

[20] 3 My answer to them was this: "It is the God of heaven who will grant us success. We, his servants, shall set about the rebuilding; but for you there is to be neither share nor claim nor memorial in Jerusalem."

Nehemiah Chapter 3

[1] 1 Eliashib the high priest and his priestly brethren took up the task of rebuilding the Sheep Gate. They timbered it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, then continued the rebuilding to the Tower of Hananel.

[2] At their side the men of Jericho were rebuilding, and next to them was Zaccur, son of Imri.

[3] The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah; they timbered it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

[4] At their side Meremoth, son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, carried out the work of repair; next to him was Meshullam, son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel; and next to him was Zadok, son of Baana.

[5] Next to him the Tekoites carried out the work of repair; however, some of their outstanding men would not submit to the labor asked by their lords.

[6] The New City Gate was repaired by Joiada, son of Paseah; and Meshullam, son of Besodeiah; they timbered it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

[7] At their side were Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, and the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, who were under the jurisdiction of the governor of West-of-Euphrates.

[8] 2 Next to them the work of repair was carried out by Uzziel, son of Harhaiah, a member of the goldsmiths' guild, and at his side was Hananiah, one of the perfumers' guild. They restored Jerusalem as far as the wall of the public square.

[9] Next to them the work of repair was carried out by Rephaiah, son of Hur, leader of half the district of Jerusalem,

[10] and at his side was Jedaiah, son of Harumaph, who repaired opposite his own house. Next to him Hattush, son of Hashabneiah, carried out the work of repair.

[11] The adjoining sector, as far as the Oven Tower, was repaired by Malchijah, son of Harim, and Hasshub, of Pahath-moab.

[12] At their side the work of repair was carried out by Shallum, son of Hallohesh, leader of half the district of Jerusalem, by himself and his daughters.

[13] The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. They also repaired a thousand cubits of the wall up to the Dung Gate.

[14] The Dung Gate was repaired by Malchijah, son of Rechab, leader of the district of Beth-haccherem; he rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

[15] The Spring Gate was repaired by Shallum, son of Colhozeh, leader of the district of Mizpah; he rebuilt it, roofed it over, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. He also repaired the wall of the Aqueduct Pool near the king's garden as far as the steps that lead down from the City of David.

[16] After him, the work of repair was carried out by Nehemiah, son of Azbuk, leader of half the district of Beth-zur, to a place opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool and the barracks.

[17] After him, the Levites carried out the work of repair: Rehum, son of Bani. Next to him, for his own district, was Hashabiah, leader of half the district of Keilah.

[18] After him, their brethren carried out the work of repair: Binnui, son of Henadad, leader of half the district of Keilah;

[19] next to him Ezer, son of Jeshua, leader of Mizpah, who repaired the adjoining sector, the Corner, opposite the ascent to the arsenal.

[20] After him, Baruch, son of Zabbai, repaired the adjoining sector from the Corner to the entrance of the house of Eliashib, the high priest.

[21] After him, Meremoth, son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, repaired the adjoining sector from the entrance of Eliashib's house to the end of the house.

[22] After him, the work of repair was carried out by the priests, men of the surrounding country.

[23] After them, Benjamin and Hasshub carried out the repair in front of their houses; after them, Azariah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, made the repairs alongside his house.

[24] After him, Binnui, son of Henadad, repaired the adjoining sector from the house of Azariah to the Corner (that is, to the Angle).

[25] After him, Palal, son of Uzai, carried out the work of repair opposite the Corner and the tower projecting from the Upper Palace at the quarters of the guard. After him, Pedaiah, son of Parosh, carried out the work of repair

[26] to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east, and the projecting tower.

[27] After him, the Tekoites repaired the adjoining sector opposite the great projecting tower, to the wall of Ophel (the temple slaves were dwelling on Ophel).

[28] Above the Horse Gate the priests carried out the work of repair, each before his own house.

[29] After them Zadok, son of Immer, carried out the repair before his house, and after him the repair was carried out by Shemaiah, son of Shecaniah, keeper of the East Gate.

[30] After him, Hananiah, son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired the adjoining sector; after them, Meshullam, son of Berechiah, repaired the place opposite his own lodging.

[31] After him, Malchijah, a member of the goldsmiths' guild, carried out the work of repair as far as the quarters of the temple slaves and the merchants, before the Gate of Inspection and as far as the upper chamber of the Angle.

[32] Between the upper chamber of the Angle and the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants carried out the work of repair.

[33] When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, it roused his anger and he became very much incensed. He ridiculed the Jews,

[34] saying in the presence of his brethren and the troops of Samaria: "What are these miserable Jews trying to do? Will they complete their restoration in a single day? Will they recover these stones, burnt as they are, from the heaps of dust?"

[35] Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said: "It is a rubble heap they are building. Any fox that attacked it would breach their wall of stones!"

[36] Take note, O our God, how we were mocked! Turn back their derision upon their own heads and let them be carried away to a land of captivity!

[37] Hide not their crime and let not their sin be blotted out in your sight, for they insulted the builders to their face!

[38] We, however, continued to build the wall, which was soon filled in and completed up to half its height. The people worked with a will.

Nehemiah Chapter 4

[1] When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing--for the gaps were beginning to be closed up--they became extremely angry.

[2] Thereupon they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and thus to throw us into confusion.

[3] We prayed to our God and posted a watch against them day and night for fear of what they might do.

[4] Meanwhile the Judahites were saying: "Slackened is the bearers' strength, there is no end to the rubbish; Never shall we be able the wall to rebuild."

[5] Our enemies thought, "Before they are aware of it or see us, we shall come into their midst, kill them, and put an end to the work."

[6] When the Jews who lived near them had come to us from one place after another, and had told us ten times over that they were about to attack us,

[7] I stationed guards down below, behind the wall, near the exposed points, assigning them by family groups with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

[8] I made an inspection, then addressed these words to the nobles, the magistrates, and the rest of the people: "Have no fear of them! Keep in mind the LORD, who is great and to be feared, and fight for your brethren, your sons and daughters, your wives and your homes."

[9] When our enemies became aware that we had been warned and that God had upset their plan, we all went back, each to his own task at the wall.

[10] From that time on, however, only half my able men took a hand in the work, while the other half, armed with spears, bucklers, bows, and breastplates, stood guard behind the whole house of Judah

[11] as they rebuilt the wall. The load carriers, too, were armed; each did his work with one hand and held a weapon with the other.

[12] Every builder, while he worked, had his sword girt at his side. Also, a trumpeter stood beside me,

[13] for I had said to the nobles, the magistrates, and the rest of the people: "Our work is scattered and extensive, and we are widely separated from one another along the wall;

[14] wherever you hear the trumpet sound, join us there; our God will fight with us."

[15] Thus we went on with the work, half of the men with spears at the ready, from daybreak till the stars came out.

[16] At the same time I told the people to spend the nights inside Jerusalem, each man with his own attendant, so that they might serve as a guard by night and a working force by day.

[17] Neither I, nor my kinsmen, nor any of my attendants, nor any of the bodyguard that accompanied me took off his clothes; everyone kept his weapon at his right hand.

Nehemiah Chapter 5

[1] Then there rose a great outcry of the common people and their wives against certain of their fellow Jews.

[2] Some said: "We are forced to pawn our sons and daughters in order to get grain to eat that we may live."

[3] Others said: "We are forced to pawn our fields, our vineyards, and our houses, that we may have grain during the famine."

[4] Still others said: "To pay the king's tax we have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards.

[5] And though these are our own kinsmen and our children are as good as theirs, we have had to reduce our sons and daughters to slavery, and violence has been done to some of our daughters! Yet we can do nothing about it, for our fields and our vineyards belong to others."

[6] I was extremely angry when I heard the reasons they had for complaint.

[7] 1 After some deliberation, I called the nobles and magistrates to account, saying to them, "You are exacting interest from your own kinsmen!" I then rebuked them severely,

[8] saying to them: "As far as we were able, we bought back our fellow Jews who had been sold to Gentiles; you, however, are selling your own brothers, to have them bought back by us." They remained silent, for they could find no answer.

[9] I continued: "What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God, and put an end to the derision of our Gentile enemies?

[10] I myself, my kinsmen, and my attendants have lent the people money and grain without charge. Let us put an end to this usury!

[11] I ask that you return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, together with the interest on the money, the grain, the wine, and the oil that you have lent them."

[12] They answered: "We will return everything and exact nothing further from them. We will do just what you ask." Then I called for the priests and had them administer an oath to these men that they would do as they had promised.

[13] I also shook out the folds of my garment, saying, "Thus may God shake from his home and his fortune every man who fails to keep this promise, and may he thus be shaken out and emptied!" And the whole assembly answered, "Amen," and praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised.

[14] Moreover, from the time that King Artaxerxes appointed me governor in the land of Judah, from his twentieth to his thirty-second year--during these twelve years neither I nor my brethren lived from the governor's allowance.

[15] The earlier governors, my predecessors, had laid a heavy burden on the people, taking from them each day forty silver shekels for their food; then too, their men oppressed the people. But I, because I feared God, did not act thus.

[16] Moreover, though I had acquired no land of my own, I did my part in this work on the wall, and all my men were gathered there for the work.

[17] Though I set my table for a hundred and fifty persons, Jews and magistrates, as well as those who came to us from the nations round about,

[18] and though the daily preparations were made at my expense--one beef, six choice muttons, poultry--besides all kinds of wine in abundance every ten days, despite this I did not claim the governor's allowance, for the labor lay heavy upon this people.

[19] Keep in mind, O my God, in my favor all that I did for this people.

Nehemiah Chapter 6

[1] When it had been reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and our other enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and that there was no breach left in it (though up to that time I had not yet set up the doors in the gates),

[2] Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: "Come, let us hold council together at Caphirim in the plain of Ono." They were planning to do me harm.

[3] However, I sent messengers to them with this reply: "I am engaged in a great enterprise and am unable to come down; why should the work stop, while I leave it to come down to you?"

[4] Four times they sent me this same proposal, and each time I gave the same reply.

[5] Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent me the same message by one of his servants, who bore an unsealed letter

[6] containing this text: "Among the nations it has been reported--Geshem is witness to this--that you and the Jews are planning a rebellion; that for this reason you are rebuilding the wall; and that you are to be their king"--and so on.

[7] "Also, that you have set up prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim you king of Judah. Now, since matters like these must reach the ear of the king, come, let us hold council together."

[8] I sent him this answer: "Nothing of what you report has taken place; rather, it is the invention of your own mind."

[9] They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will slacken in the work, and it will never be completed." But instead, I now redoubled my efforts.

[10] I went to the house of Shemaiah, son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was unable to go about, and he said: "Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple building; let us lock the doors of the temple. For men are coming to kill you; by night they are coming to kill you."

[11] My answer was: "A man like me take flight? Can a man like me enter the temple to save his life? I will not go!"

[12] For on consideration it was plain to me that God had not sent him; rather, because Tobiah and Sanballat had bribed him, he voiced this prophecy concerning me

[13] that I might act on it out of fear and commit this sin. Then they would have had a shameful story with which to discredit me.

[14] Keep in mind Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of these things they did; keep in mind as well Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who were trying to frighten me.

[15] 1 The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul; it had taken fifty-two days.

[16] When all our enemies had heard of this, and all the nations round about had taken note of it, our enemies lost much face in the eyes of the nations, for they knew that it was with our God's help that this work had been completed.

[17] 2 At that same time, however, many letters were going to Tobiah from the nobles of Judah, and Tobiah's letters were reaching them,

[18] for many in Judah were in league with him, since he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah, son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam, son of Berechiah.

[19] Thus they would praise his good deeds in my presence and relate to him whatever I said; and Tobiah sent letters trying to frighten me.

Nehemiah Chapter 7

[1] When the wall had been rebuilt, I had the doors set up, and the gatekeepers (and the singers and the Levites) were put in charge of them.

[2] Over Jerusalem I placed Hanani, my brother, and Hananiah, the commander of the citadel, who was a more trustworthy and God-fearing man than most.

[3] I said to them: "The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot, and while the sun is still shining they shall shut and bar the doors. Appoint as watchmen the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their watch posts, and others before their own houses."

[4] Now the city was quite wide and spacious, but its population was small, and none of the houses had been rebuilt.

[5] When my God had put it into my mind to gather together the nobles, the magistrates, and the common people, and to examine their family records, I came upon the family list of those who had returned in the earliest period. There I found the following written:

[6] 1 These are the inhabitants of the province who returned from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away, and who came back to Jerusalem and Judah, each man to his own city

[7] (those who returned with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah). The census of the men of Israel:

[8] sons of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two;

[9] sons of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two;

[10] sons of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two;

[11] sons of Pahath-moab who were sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen;

[12] sons of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four;

[13] sons of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five;

[14] sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty;

[15] sons of Binnui, six hundred and forty-eight;

[16] sons of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-eight;

[17] sons of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two;

[18] sons of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-seven;

[19] sons of Bigvai, two thousand and sixty-seven;

[20] sons of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five;

[21] sons of Ater who were sons of Hezekiah, ninety-eight;

[22] sons of Hashum, three hundred and twenty-eight;

[23] sons of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-four;

[24] sons of Hariph, one hundred and twelve;

[25] sons of Gibeon, ninety-five;

[26] men of Bethlehem and Netophah, one hundred and eighty-eight;

[27] men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight;

[28] men of Beth-azmaveth, forty-two;

[29] men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three;

[30] men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one;

[31] men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two;

[32] men of Bethel and Ai, one hundred and twenty-three;

[33] men of Nebo, fifty-two;

[34] sons of another Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four;

[35] sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty;

[36] sons of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five;

[37] sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one;

[38] sons of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.

[39] The priests: sons of Jedaiah who were of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three;

[40] sons of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two;

[41] sons of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven;

[42] sons of Harim, one thousand and seventeen.

[43] The Levites: sons of Jeshua, Kadmiel, Binnui, Hodeviah, seventy-four.

[44] The singers: sons of Asaph, one hundred and forty-eight.

[45] The gatekeepers: sons of Shallum, sons of Ater, sons of Talmon, sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita, sons of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-eight.

[46] The temple slaves: sons of Ziha, sons of Hasupha, sons of Tabbaoth,

[47] sons of Keros, sons of Sia, sons of Padon,

[48] sons of Lebana, sons of Hagaba, sons of Shalmai,

[49] sons of Hanan, sons of Giddel, sons of Gahar,

[50] sons of Reaiah, sons of Rezin, sons of Nekoda,

[51] sons of Gazzam, sons of Uzza, sons of Paseah,

[52] sons of Besai, sons of the Meunites, sons of the Nephusites,

[53] sons of Bakbuk, sons of Hakupha, sons of Harhur,

[54] sons of Bazlith, sons of Mehida, sons of Harsha,

[55] sons of Barkos, sons of Sisera, sons of Temah,

[56] sons of Neziah, sons of Hatipha.

[57] Descendants of the slaves of Solomon: sons of Sotai, sons of Sophereth, sons of Perida,

[58] sons of Jaala, sons of Darkon, sons of Giddel,

[59] sons of Shephatiah, sons of Hattil, sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, sons of Amon.

[60] The total of the temple slaves and the descendants of the slaves of Solomon was three hundred and ninety-two.

[61] The following who returned from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer were unable to prove that their ancestral houses and their descent were Israelite:

[62] sons of Delaiah, sons of Tobiah, sons of Nekoda, six hundred and forty-two.

[63] Also, of the priests: sons of Hobaiah, sons of Hakkoz, sons of Barzillai (he had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and became known by his name).

[64] These men searched their family records, but their names could not be found written there; hence they were degraded from the priesthood,

[65] 2 and His Excellency ordered them not to partake of the most holy foods until there should be a priest bearing the Urim and Thummim.

[66] The entire assembly taken together came to forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty,

[67] not counting their male and female slaves, who were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. They also had two hundred male and female singers. Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six, their mules two hundred and forty-five,

[68] their camels four hundred and thirty-five, their asses six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

[69] Certain of the family heads contributed to the service. His Excellency put into the treasury one thousand drachmas of gold, fifty basins, thirty garments for priests, and five hundred minas of silver.

[70] Some of the family heads contributed to the treasury for the temple service: twenty thousand drachmas of gold and two thousand two hundred minas of silver.

[71] The contributions of the rest of the people amounted to twenty thousand drachmas of gold, two thousand minas of silver, and sixty-seven garments for priests.

[72] 3 The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple slaves, and all Israel took up residence in their cities.

Nehemiah Chapter 8

[1] Now when the seventh month came, the whole people gathered as one man in the open space before the Water Gate, and they called upon Ezra the scribe to bring forth the book of the law of Moses which the LORD prescribed for Israel.

[2] On the first day of the seventh month, therefore, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, which consisted of men, women, and those children old enough to understand.

[3] Standing at one end of the open place that was before the Water Gate, he read out of the book from daybreak till midday, in the presence of the men, the women, and those children old enough to understand; and all the people listened attentively to the book of the law.

[4] Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the occasion; at his right side stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, and on his left Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, Meshullam.

[5] Ezra opened the scroll so that all the people might see it (for he was standing higher up than any of the people); and, as he opened it, all the people rose.

[6] Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people, their hands raised high, answered, "Amen, amen!" Then they bowed down and prostrated themselves before the LORD, their faces to the ground.

[7] (The Levites Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah explained the law to the people, who remained in their places.)

[8] Ezra read plainly from the book of the law of God, interpreting it so that all could understand what was read.

[9] Then (Nehemiah, that is, His Excellency, and) Ezra the priest-scribe (and the Levites who were instructing the people) said to all the people: "Today is holy to the LORD your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep"-for all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.

[10] He said further: "Go, eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks, and allot portions to those who had nothing prepared; for today is holy to our LORD. Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!"

[11] (And the Levites quieted all the people, saying, "Hush, for today is holy, and you must not be saddened.")

[12] Then all the people went to eat and drink, to distribute portions, and to celebrate with great joy, for they understood the words that had been expounded to them.

[13] On the second day, the family heads of the whole people and also the priests and the Levites gathered around Ezra the scribe and examined the words of the law more closely.

[14] They found it written in the law prescribed by the LORD through Moses that the Israelites must dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month;

[15] and that they should have this proclamation made throughout their cities and in Jerusalem: "Go out into the hill country and bring in branches of olive trees, oleasters, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths, as the law prescribes."

[16] The people went out and brought in branches with which they made booths for themselves, on the roof of their houses, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God, and in the open spaces of the Water Gate and the Gate of Ephraim.

[17] Thus the entire assembly of the returned exiles made booths and dwelt in them. Now the Israelites had done nothing of this sort from the days of Jeshua, son of Nun, until this occasion; therefore there was very great joy.

[18] Ezra read from the book of the law of God day after day, from the first day to the last. They kept the feast for seven days, and the solemn assembly on the eighth day, as was required.

Nehemiah Chapter 9

[1] 1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the Israelites gathered together fasting and in sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.

[2] Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all who were of foreign extraction, then stood forward and confessed their sins and the guilty deeds of their fathers.

[3] When they had taken their places, they read from the book of the law of the LORD their God, for a fourth part of the day, and during another fourth part they made their confession and prostrated themselves before the LORD their God.

[4] Standing on the platform of the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, who cried out to the LORD their God, with a loud voice.

[5] The Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, "Arise, bless the LORD, your God, from eternity to eternity!" The Israelites answered with the blessing, "Blessed is your glorious name, and exalted above all blessing and praise."

[6] 2 Then Ezra said: "It is you, O LORD, you are the only one; you made the heavens, the highest heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is upon it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the heavenly hosts bow down before you.

[7] "You, O LORD, are the God who chose Abram, who brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, and named him Abraham.

[8] When you had found his heart faithful in your sight, you made the covenant with him to give to him and his posterity the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites. These promises of yours you fulfilled, for you are just.

[9] "You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, you heard their cry by the Red Sea;

[10] You worked signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants and the people of his land, Because you knew of their insolence toward them; thus you made for yourself a name even to this day.

[11] The sea you divided before them, on dry ground they passed through the midst of the sea; Their pursuers you hurled into the depths, like a stone into the mighty waters.

[12] With a column of cloud you led them by day, and by night with a column of fire, To light the way of their journey, the way in which they must travel.

[13] On Mount Sinai you came down, you spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances, firm laws, good statutes, and commandments;

[14] Your holy sabbath you made known to them, commandments, statutes, and law you prescribed for them, by the hand of Moses your servant.

[15] Food from heaven you gave them in their hunger, water from a rock you sent them in their thirst. You bade them enter and occupy the land which you had sworn with upraised hand to give them.

[16] "But they, our fathers, proved to be insolent; they held their necks stiff and would not obey your commandments.

[17] They refused to obey and no longer remembered the miracles you had worked for them. They stiffened their necks and turned their heads to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God of pardons, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in mercy; you did not forsake them.

[18] Though they made for themselves a molten calf, and proclaimed, 'Here is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and were guilty of great effronteries,

[19] yet in your great mercy you did not forsake them in the desert. The column of cloud did not cease to lead them by day on their journey, nor did the column of fire by night cease to light for them the way by which they were to travel.

[20] "Your good spirit you bestowed on them, to give them understanding; your manna you did not withhold from their mouths, and you gave them water in their thirst.

[21] Forty years in the desert you sustained them: they did not want; their garments did not become worn, and their feet did not become swollen.

[22] You gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you divided up among them as border lands. They possessed the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan.

[23] "You made their children as numerous as the stars of the heavens, and you brought them into the land which you had commanded their fathers to enter and possess.

[24] The sons went in to take possession of the land, and you humbled before them the Canaanite inhabitants of the land and delivered them over into their power, their kings as well as the peoples of the land, to do with them as they would.

[25] They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all good things, cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. They could eat and have their fill, fatten and feast themselves on your immense good gifts.

[26] "But they were contemptuous and rebellious: they cast your law behind their backs, they slew your prophets who bore witness against them in order to bring them back to you, and they were guilty of great effronteries.

[27] Therefore you delivered them into the power of their enemies, who oppressed them. But in the time of their oppression they would cry out to you, and you would hear them from heaven, and according to your great mercy give them saviors to deliver them from the power of their enemies.

[28] "As soon as they had relief, they would go back to doing evil in your sight. Then again you abandoned them to the power of their enemies, who crushed them. Then they cried out to you, and you heard them from heaven and delivered them according to your mercy, many times over.

[29] You bore witness against them, in order to bring them back to your law. But they were insolent and would not obey your commandments; they sinned against your ordinances, from which men draw life when they practice them. They turned stubborn backs, stiffened their necks, and would not obey.

[30] You were patient with them for many years, bearing witness against them through your spirit, by means of your prophets; still they would not listen. Thus you delivered them over into the power of the peoples of the lands.

[31] Yet in your great mercy you did not completely destroy them and you did not forsake them, for you are a kind and merciful God.

[32] "Now, therefore, O our God, great, mighty, and awesome God, you who in your mercy preserve the covenant, take into account all the disasters that have befallen us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and your entire people, from the time of the kings of Assyria until this day!

[33] In all that has come upon us you have been just, for you kept faith while we have done evil.

[34] Yes, our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law; they paid no attention to your commandments and the obligations of which you reminded them.

[35] While they were yet in their kingdom, in the midst of the many good things that you had given them and in the wide and fertile land that you had spread out before them, they did not serve you nor did they turn away from their evil deeds.

[36] But, see, we today are slaves; and as for the land which you gave our fathers that they might eat its fruits and good things--see, we have become slaves upon it!

[37] Its rich produce goes to the kings whom you set over us because of our sins, who rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress!"

Nehemiah Chapter 10

[1] 1 In view of all this, we are entering into a firm pact, which we are putting into writing. On the sealed document appear the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

[2] On the sealed document: His Excellency Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah.

[3] Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,

[4] Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah,

[5] Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,

[6] Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,

[7] Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

[8] Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,

[9] Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah: these are the priests.

[10] The Levites: Jeshua, son of Azaniah; Binnui, of the sons of Henadad; Kadmiel;

[11] and their brethren Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,

[12] Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,

[13] Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

[14] Hodiah, Bani, Beninu.

[15] The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

[16] Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,

[17] Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,

[18] Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,

[19] Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai,

[20] Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,

[21] Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,

[22] Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,

[23] Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,

[24] Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub,

[25] Halhohesh, Pilha, Shobek,

[26] Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,

[27] Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,

[28] Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

[29] The rest of the people, priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple slaves, and all others who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands in favor of the law of God, with their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who are of the age of discretion,

[30] join with their brethren who are their princes, and with the sanction of a curse take this oath to follow the law of God which was given through Moses, the servant of God, and to observe carefully all the commandments of the LORD, our LORD, his ordinances and his statutes.

[31] Agreed, that we will not marry our daughters to the peoples of the land, and that we will not take their daughters for our sons.

[32] When the peoples of the land bring in merchandise or any kind of grain for sale on the sabbath day, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or on any other holyday. We will forgo the seventh year, as well as every kind of debt.

[33] We impose these commandments on ourselves: to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God,

[34] for the showbread, for the daily cereal offering, for the daily holocaust, for the sabbaths, new moons, and festivals, for the holy offerings, for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for every service of the house of our God.

[35] We, priests, Levites, and people, have determined by lot concerning the procurement of wood: it is to be brought to the house of our God by each of our family houses at stated times each year, to be burnt on the altar of the LORD, our God, as the law prescribes.

[36] We have agreed to bring each year to the house of the LORD the first fruits of our fields and of our fruit trees, of whatever kind;

[37] also, as is prescribed in the law, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who serve in the house of our God, the first-born of our children and our animals, including the first-born of our flocks and herds.

[38] The first batch of our dough, and our offerings of the fruit of every tree, of wine and of oil, we will bring to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God. The tithe of our fields we will bring to the Levites; they, the Levites, shall take the tithe in all the cities of our service.

[39] An Aaronite priest shall be with the Levites when they take the tithe, and the Levites shall bring the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the treasury.

[40] For to these chambers the Israelites and Levites bring the offerings of grain, wine, and oil; there also are housed the utensils of the sanctuary, and the ministering priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.

Nehemiah Chapter 11

[1] 1 The leaders of the people took up residence in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one man in ten to reside in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine would remain in the other cities.

[2] The people applauded all those men who willingly agreed to take up residence in Jerusalem.

[3] These are the heads of the province who took up residence in Jerusalem. (In the cities of Judah dwelt lay Israelites, priests, Levites, temple slaves, and the descendants of the slaves of Solomon, each man on the property he owned in his own city.)

[4] In Jerusalem dwelt both Judahites and Benjaminites. Of the Judahites: Athaiah, son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mehallalel, of the sons of Perez;

[5] Maaseiah, son of Baruch, son of Colhozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, a son of the Shelanites.

[6] The total of the sons of Perez who dwelt in Jerusalem was four hundred and sixty-eight valiant men.

[7] These were the Benjaminites: Sallu, son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah,

[8] and his brethren, warriors, nine hundred and twenty-eight in number.

[9] Joel, son of Zichri, was their commander, and Judah, son of Hassenuah, was second in charge of the city.

[10] Among the priests were: Jedaiah; Joiarib; Jachin;

[11] Seraiah, son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God,

[12] and their brethren who carried out the temple service, eight hundred and twenty-two; Adaiah, son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah,

[13] and his brethren, family heads, two hundred and forty-two; and Amasai, son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer,

[14] and his brethren, warriors, one hundred and twenty-eight. Their commander was Zabdiel, son of Haggadol.

[15] Among the Levites were Shemaiah, son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni;

[16] Shabbethai and Jozabad, levitical chiefs who were placed over the external affairs of the house of God;

[17] Mattaniah, son of Micah, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, director of the psalms, who led the thanksgiving at prayer; Bakbukiah, second in rank among his brethren; and Abda, son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun.

[18] The total of the Levites in the holy city was two hundred and eighty-four.

[19] The gatekeepers were Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren, who kept watch over the gates; one hundred and seventy-two in number.

[20] The rest of Israel, including priests and Levites, were in all the other cities of Judah, each man in his inheritance.

[21] The temple slaves lived on Ophel. Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of the temple slaves.

[22] The prefect of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi, son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micah; he was one of the sons of Asaph, the singers appointed to the service of the house of God--

[23] for they had been appointed by royal decree, and there was a fixed schedule for the singers assigning them their daily duties.

[24] Pethahiah, son of Meshezabel, a descendant of Zerah, son of Judah, was royal deputy in all affairs that concerned the people.

[25] As concerns their villages in the country: Judahites lived in Kiriath-arba and its dependencies, in Dibon and its dependencies, in Jekabzeel and its villages,

[26] in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-pelet,

[27] in Hazarshual, in Beer-sheba and its dependencies,

[28] in Ziklag, in Meconah and its dependencies,

[29] in En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,

[30] Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its countryside, Azekah and its dependencies. They were settled from Beer-sheba to Ge-hinnom.

[31] Benjaminites were in Geba, Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its dependencies,

[32] Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,

[33] Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,

[34] Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,

[35] Lod, Ono, and the Valley of the Artisans.

[36] Some sections of the Levites from Judah settled in Benjamin.

Nehemiah Chapter 12

[1] The following are the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

[2] Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

[3] Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

[4] Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,

[5] Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

[6] Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah,

[7] Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the priestly heads and their brethren in the days of Jeshua.

[8] The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, Mattaniah; the last-mentioned, together with his brethren, was in charge of the hymns,

[9] while Bakbukiah and Unno and their brethren ministered opposite them by turns.

[10] 1 Jeshua became the father of Joiakim, Joiakim became the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib became the father of Joiada.

[11] Joiada became the father of Johanan, and Johanan became the father of Jaddua.

[12] In the days of Joiakim these were the priestly family heads: for Seraiah, Meraiah; for Jeremiah, Hananiah;

[13] for Ezra, Meshullam; for Amariah, Jehohanan;

[14] for Malluchi, Jonathan; for Shebaniah, Joseph;

[15] for Harim, Adna; for Meremoth, Helkai;

[16] for Iddo, Zechariah; for Ginnethon, Meshullam;

[17] for Abijah, Zichri; for Miamin, . . . ; for Maadiah, Piltai;

[18] for Bilgah, Shammua; for Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

[19] and for Joiarib, Mattenai; for Jedaiah, Uzzi;

[20] for Sallu, Kallai; for Amok, Eber;

[21] for Hilkiah, Hashabiah; for Jedaiah, Nethanel.

[22] In the time of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the family heads of the priests were written down in the Book of Chronicles, up until the reign of Darius the Persian.

[23] The sons of Levi: the family heads were written down in the Book of Chronicles, up until the time of Johanan, the son of Eliashib.

[24] The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel. Their brethren who stood opposite them to sing praises and thanksgiving in fulfillment of the command of David, the man of God, one section opposite the other,

[25] were Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah.Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers. They kept watch over the storerooms at the gates.

[26] All these lived in the time of Joiakim, son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak (and in the time of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priest-scribe).

[27] 2 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out wherever they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate a joyful dedication with thanksgiving hymns and the music of cymbals, harps, and lyres.

[28] The levitical singers gathered together from the region about Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites,

[29] from Beth-gilgal, and from the plains of Geba and Azmaveth (for the singers had built themselves settlements about Jerusalem).

[30] The priests and Levites first purified themselves, then they purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

[31] I had the princes of Judah mount the wall, and I arranged two great choirs. The first of these proceeded to the right, along the top of the wall, in the direction of the Dung Gate,

[32] followed by Hoshaiah and half the princes of Judah,

[33] along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,

[34] Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,

[35] priests with the trumpets, and also Zechariah, son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph,

[36] and his brethren Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. (Ezra the scribe was at their head.)

[37] At the Spring Gate they went straight up by the steps of the City of David and continued along the top of the wall above the house of David until they came to the Water Gate on the east.

[38] The second choir proceeded to the left, followed by myself and the other half of the princes of the people, along the top of the wall past the Oven Tower as far as the Broad Wall,

[39] then past the Ephraim Gate (the New City Gate), the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Hundred Tower, as far as the Sheep Gate (and they came to a halt at the Prison Gate).

[40] The two choirs took up a position in the house of God; I, too, who had with me half the magistrates,

[41] the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Minjamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, Hananiah, with the trumpets,

[42] and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers were heard under the leadership of Jezrahiah.

[43] Great sacrifices were offered on that day, and there was rejoicing over the great feast of the LORD in which they shared. The women and the children joined in, and the rejoicing at Jerusalem could be heard from afar off.

[44] 3 At that time men were appointed over the chambers set aside for stores, offerings, first fruits, and tithes; in them they were to collect from the fields of the various cities the portions legally assigned to the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced in its appointed priests and Levites

[45] who carried out the ministry of their God and the ministry of purification (as did the singers and the gatekeepers) in accordance with the prescriptions of David and of Solomon, his son.

[46] For the heads of the families of the singers and the hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God came down from the days of David and Asaph in times of old.

[47] Thus all Israel, in the days of Zerubbabel (and in the days of Nehemiah), gave the singers and the gatekeepers their portions, according to their daily needs. They made their consecrated offering to the Levites, and the Levites made theirs to the sons of Aaron.

Nehemiah Chapter 13

[1] 1 At that time, when there was reading from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people, it was found written there that "no Ammonite or Moabite may ever be admitted into the assembly of God;

[2] for they would not succor the Israelites with food and water, but they hired Balaam to curse them, though our God turned the curse into a blessing."

[3] When they had heard the law, they separated from Israel every foreign element.

[4] 2 Before this, the priest Eliashib, who had been placed in charge of the chambers of the house of our God and who was an associate of Tobiah,

[5] had set aside for the latter's use a large chamber in which had previously been stored the cereal offerings, incense and utensils, the tithes in grain, wine, and oil allotted to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the offerings due the priests.

[6] 3 During all this time I had not been in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After due time, however, I asked leave of the king

[7] and returned to Jerusalem, where I discovered the evil thing that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in setting aside for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

[8] This displeased me very much, and I had all of Tobiah's household goods thrown outside the chamber.

[9] Then I gave orders to purify the chambers, and I had them replace there the utensils of the house of God, the cereal offerings, and the incense.

[10] I learned, too, that the portions due the Levites were no longer being given, so that the Levites and the singers who should have been carrying out the services had deserted, each man to his own field.

[11] I took the magistrates to task, demanding, "Why is the house of God abandoned?" Then I brought the Levites together and had them resume their stations.

[12] All Judah once more brought in the tithes of grain, wine, and oil to the storerooms;

[13] and in charge of the storerooms I appointed the priest Shelemiah, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah, one of the Levites, together with Hanan, son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, as their assistant; for these men were held to be trustworthy. It was their duty to make the distribution to their brethren.

[14] Remember this to my credit, O my God! Let not the devotion which I showed for the house of my God and its services be forgotten!

[15] In those days I perceived that men in Judah were treading the winepresses on the sabbath; that they were bringing in sheaves of grain, loading them on their asses, together with wine, grapes, figs, and every other kind of burden, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the sabbath day. I warned them to sell none of these victuals.

[16] In Jerusalem itself the Tyrians who were resident there were importing fish and every other kind of merchandise and selling it to the Judahites on the sabbath.

[17] I took the nobles of Judah to task, demanding of them: "What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the sabbath day?

[18] Did not your fathers act in this same way, with the result that our God has brought all this evil upon us and upon this city? Would you add to the wrath against Israel by once more profaning the sabbath?"

[19] When the shadows were falling on the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I ordered the doors to be closed and forbade them to be reopened till after the sabbath. I posted some of my own men at the gates so that no burden might enter on the sabbath day.

[20] The merchants and sellers of various kinds of merchandise spent the night once or twice outside Jerusalem,

[21] but then I warned them, saying to them: "Why do you spend the night alongside the wall? If you keep this up, I will lay hands on you!" From that time on, they did not return on the sabbath.

[22] Then I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to go and watch the gates, so that the sabbath day might be kept holy. This, too, remember in my favor, O my God, and have mercy on me in accordance with your great mercy!

[23] Also in those days I saw Jews who had married Ashdodite, Ammonite, or Moabite wives.

[24] 4 Of their children, half spoke Ashdodite, and none of them knew how to speak Jewish; and so it was in regard to the languages of the various other peoples.

[25] I took them to task and cursed them; I had some of them beaten and their hair pulled out; and I adjured them by God: "You shall not marry your daughters to their sons nor take any of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves!

[26] Did not Solomon, the king of Israel, sin because of them? Though among the many nations there was no king like him, and though he was beloved of his God and God had made him king over all Israel, yet even he was made to sin by foreign women.

[27] Must it also be heard of you that you have done this same very great evil, betraying our God by marrying foreign women?"

[28] One of the sons of Joiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite! I drove him from my presence.

[29] Remember against them, O my God, how they defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites!

[30] Thus I cleansed them of all foreign contamination. I established the various functions for the priests and Levites, so that each had his appointed task.

[31] I also provided for the procurement of wood at stated times and for the first fruits. Remember this in my favor, O my God!

Introduction to Tobit

Tobit

Introduction

The Book of Tobit, named after its principal hero, combines specifically Jewish piety and morality with oriental folklore in a fascinating story that has enjoyed wide popularity in both Jewish and Christian circles. Prayers, psalms, and words of wisdom, as well as the skillfully constructed story itself, provide valuable insights into the faith and the religious milieu of its unknown author. The book was probably written early in the second century B.C.; it is not known where.

Tobit, a devout and wealthy Israelite living among the captives deported to Nineveh from the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C., suffers severe reverses and is finally blinded. Because of his misfortunes he begs the Lord to let him die. But recalling the large sum he had formerly deposited in far-off Media, he sends his son Tobiah there to bring back the money. In Media, at this same time, a young woman, Sarah, also prays for death, because she has lost seven husbands, each killed in turn on his wedding night by the demon Asmodeus. God hears the prayers of Tobit and Sarah, and sends the angel Raphael in disguise to aid them both.

Raphael makes the trip to Media with Tobiah. When Tobiah is attacked by a large fish as he bathes, Raphael orders him to seize it and to remove its gall, heart, and liver because they make "useful medicines." Later, at Raphael's urging, Tobiah marries Sarah, and uses the the fish's heart and liver to drive Asmodeus from the bridal chamber. Returning to Nineveh with his wife and his father's money, Tobiah rubs the fish's gall into his father's eyes and cures them. Finally, Raphael reveals his true identity and returns to heaven. Tobit then utters his beautiful hymn of praise. Before dying, Tobit tells his son to leave Nineveh because God will destroy that wicked city. After Tobiah buries his father and mother, he and his family depart for Media, where he later learns that the destruction of Nineveh has taken place.

The inspired author of the book used the literary form of religious novel (as in Jonah and Judith) for the purpose of instruction and edification. There may have been a historical nucleus around which the story was composed, but this possibility has nothing to do with the teaching of the book. The seemingly historical data-names of kings, cities, etc.-are used merely as vivid details to create interest and charm.

Although the Book of Tobit is usually listed with the historical books, it more correctly stands midway between them and the wisdom literature. It contains numerous maxims like those found in the wisdom books (cf Tobit 4:3-19, 21; 12:6-10; 14:7, 9) as well as the customary sapiential themes: fidelity to the law, the intercessory function of angels, piety toward parents, the purity of marriage, reverence for the dead, and the value of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. The book makes Tobit a relative of Ahiqar, a hero of ancient Near Eastern folklore.

Written in Aramaic, the original of the book was lost for centuries. The Greek translation, existing in three different recensions, is our primary source. In 1955, fragments of the book in Aramaic and in Hebrew were recovered from Cave IV at Qumran. These texts are in substantial agreement with the Greek recension that has served as the basis for the present translation.

The divisions of the Book of Tobit are:

Tobit's Ordeals (Tobit 1:3-3:6)

Sarah's Plight (Tobit 3:7-17)

Tobiah's Journey and Marriage to Sarah (Tobit 4:1-9:6)

Tobiah's Return; Cure of Tobit's Blindness (Tobit 10:1-11:18)

Raphael Reveals His Identity (Tobit 12:1-22)

Tobit's Song of Praise (Tobit 13:1-18)

Epilogue (Tobit 14:1-15)

Tobit Chapter 1

[1] 1 This book tells the story of Tobit, son of Tobiel, son of Hananiel, son of Aduel, son of Gabael of the family of Asiel, of the tribe of Naphtali,

[2] who during the reign of Shalmaneser, 2 king of Assyria, was taken captive from Thisbe, which is south of Kedesh Naphtali in upper Galilee, above and to the west of Asser, north of Phogor.

[3] I, Tobit, have walked all the days of my life on the paths of truth and righteousness. I performed many charitable works for my kinsmen and my people who had been deported with me to Nineveh, in Assyria.

[4] When I lived as a young man in my own country, Israel, the entire tribe of my forefather Naphtali had broken away from the house of David and from Jerusalem. This city had been singled out of all Israel's tribes, so that they all might offer sacrifice in the place where the temple, God's dwelling, had been built and consecrated for all generations to come.

[5] 3 All my kinsmen, like the rest of the tribe of my forefather Naphtali, used to offer sacrifice on all the mountains of Galilee as well as to the young bull which Jeroboam, king of Israel, had made in Dan.

[6] 4 I, for my part, would often make the pilgrimage alone to Jerusalem for the festivals, as is prescribed for all Israel by perpetual decree. Bringing with me the first fruits of the field and the firstlings of the flock, together with a tenth of my income and the first shearings of the sheep, I would hasten to Jerusalem

[7] and present them to the priests, Aaron's sons, at the altar. To the Levites who were doing service in Jeusalem I would give the tithe of grain, wine, olive oil, pomegranates, figs, and other fruits. And except for sabbatical years, I used to give a second tithe in money, which each year I would go and disburse in Jerusalem.

[8] The third tithe I gave to orphans and widows, and to converts who were living with the Israelites. Every third year I would bring them this offering, and we ate it in keeping with the decree of the Mosaic law and the commands of Deborah, the mother of my father Tobiel; for when my father died, he left me an orphan.

[9] When I reached manhood, I married Anna, a woman of our own lineage. By her I had a son whom I named Tobiah.

[10] Now, after I had been deported to Nineveh, all my brothers and relatives ate the food of heathens,

[11] but I refrained from eating that kind of food.

[12] Because of this wholehearted service of God,

[13] the Most High granted me favor and status with Shalmaneser, so that I became purchasing agent for all his needs.

[14] 5 Every now and then until his death I would go to Media to buy goods for him. I also deposited several pouches containing a great sum of money with my kinsman Gabael, son of Gabri, who lived at Rages, in Media.

[15] 6 But when Shalmaneser died and his son Sennacherib succeeded him as king, the roads to Media became unsafe, so I could no longer go there.

[16] During Shalmaneser's reign I performed many charitable works for my kinsmen and my people.

[17] 7 I would give my bread to the hungry and my clothing to the naked. If I saw one of my people who had died and been thrown outside the walls of Nineveh, I would bury him.

[18] I also buried anyone whom Sennacherib slew when he returned as a fugitive from Judea during the days of judgment decreed against him by the heavenly King because of the blasphemies he had uttered. In his rage he killed many Israelites, but I used to take their bodies by stealth and bury them; so when Sennacherib looked for them, he could not find them.

[19] But a certain citizen of Nineveh informed the king that it was I who buried the dead. When I found out that the king knew all about me and wanted to put me to death, I went into hiding; then in my fear I took to flight.

[20] Afterward, all my property was confiscated; I was left with nothing. All that I had was taken to the king's palace, except for my wife Anna and my son Tobiah.

[21] 8 But less than forty days later the king was assassinated by two of his sons, who then escaped into the mountains of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon, who succeeded him as king, placed Ahiqar, my brother Anael's son, in charge of all the accounts of his kingdom, so that he took control over the entire administration.

[22] Then Ahiqar interceded on my behalf, and I was able to return to Nineveh. For under Sennacherib, king of Assyria, Ahiqar had been chief cupbearer, keeper of the seal, administrator, and treasurer; and Esarhaddon reappointed him. He was a close relative-in fact, my nephew.

Tobit Chapter 2

[1] 1 Thus under King Esarhaddon I returned to my home, and my wife Anna and my son Tobiah were restored to me. Then on our festival of Pentecost, the feast of Weeks, a fine dinner was prepared for me, and I reclined to eat.

[2] 2 The table was set for me, and when many different dishes were placed before me, I said to my son Tobiah: "My son, go out and try to find a poor man from among our kinsmen exiled here in Nineveh. If he is a sincere worshiper of God, bring him back with you, so that he can share this meal with me. Indeed, son, I shall wait for you to come back."

[3] Tobiah went out to look for some poor kinsman of ours. When he returned he exclaimed, "Father!" I said to him, "What is it, son?" He answered, "Father, one of our people has been murdered! His body lies in the market place where he was just strangled!"

[4] I sprang to my feet, leaving the dinner untouched; and I carried the dead man from the street and put him in one of the rooms, so that I might bury him after sunset.

[5] 3 Returning to my own quarters, I washed myself and ate my food in sorrow.

[6] I was reminded of the oracle pronounced by the prophet Amos against Bethel: "Your festivals shall be turned into mourning, And all your songs into lamentation."

[7] And I wept. Then at sunset I went out, dug a grave, and buried him.

[8] The neighbors mocked me, saying to one another: "Will this man never learn! Once before he was hunted down for execution because of this very thing; yet now that he has escaped, here he is again burying the dead!"

[9] That same night I bathed, and went to sleep next to the wall of my courtyard. Because of the heat I left my face uncovered.

[10] 4 I did not know there were birds perched on the wall above me, till their warm droppings settled in my eyes, causing cataracts. I went to see some doctors for a cure, but the more they anointed my eyes with various salves, the worse the cataracts became, until I could see no more. For four years I was deprived of eyesight, and all my kinsmen were grieved at my condition. Ahiqar, however, took care of me for two years, until he left for Elymais.

[11] At that time my wife Anna worked for hire at weaving cloth, the kind of work women do.

[12] 5 When she sent back the goods to their owners, they would pay her. Late in winter she finished the cloth and sent it back to the owners. They paid her the full salary, and also gave her a young goat for the table.

[13] On entering my house the goat began to bleat. I called to my wife and said: "Where did this goat come from? Perhaps it was stolen! Give it back to its owners; we have no right to eat stolen food!"

[14] 6 But she said to me, "It was given to me as a bonus over and above my wages." Yet I would not believe her, and told her to give it back to its owners. I became very angry with her over this. So she retorted: "Where are your charitable deeds now? Where are your virtuous acts? See! Your true character is finally showing itself!"

Tobit Chapter 3

[1] Grief-stricken in spirit, I groaned and wept aloud. Then with sobs I began to pray:

[2] "You are righteous, O Lord, and all your deeds are just; All your ways are mercy and truth; you are the judge of the world.

[3] And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me, and look with favor upon me. Punish me not for my sins, nor for my inadvertent offenses, nor for those of my fathers. "They sinned against you,

[4] and disobeyed your commandments. So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death, till we were an object lesson, a byword, a reproach in all the nations among whom you scattered us.

[5] "Yes, your judgments are many and true in dealing with me as my sins and those of my fathers deserve. For we have not kept your commandments, nor have we trodden the paths of truth before you.

[6] 1 "So now, deal with me as you please, and command my life breath to be taken from me, that I may go from the face of the earth into dust. It is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard insulting calumnies, and I am overwhelmed with grief. "Lord, command me to be delivered from such anguish; let me go to the everlasting abode; Lord, refuse me not. For it is better for me to die than to endure so much misery in life, and to hear these insults!"

[7] 2 On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it so happened that Raguel's daughter Sarah also had to listen to abuse, from one of her father's maids.

[8] 3 For she had been married to seven husbands, but the wicked demon Asmodeus killed them off before they could have intercourse with her, as it is prescribed for wives. So the maid said to her: "You are the one who strangles your husbands! Look at you! You have already been married seven times, but you have had no joy with any one of your husbands.

[9] Why do you beat us? Because your husbands are dead? Then why not join them! May we never see a son or daughter of yours!"

[10] That day she was deeply grieved in spirit. She went in tears to an upstairs room in her father's house with the intention of hanging herself. But she reconsidered, saying to herself: "No! People would level this insult against my father: 'You had only one beloved daughter, but she hanged herself because of ill fortune!' And thus would I cause my father in his old age to go down to the nether world laden with sorrow. It is far better for me not to hang myself, but to beg the Lord to have me die, so that I need no longer live to hear such insults."

[11] 4 At that time, then, she spread out her hands, and facing the window, poured out this prayer: "Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God! Forever blessed and honored is your holy name; may all your works forever bless you.

[12] And now, O Lord, to you I turn my face and raise my eyes.

[13] Bid me to depart from the earth, never again to hear such insults.

[14] "You know, O Master, that I am innocent of any impure act with a man,

[15] And that I have never defiled my own name or my father's name in the land of my exile. "I am my father's only daughter, and he has no other child to make his heir, Nor does he have a close kinsman or other relative whom I might bide my time to marry. I have already lost seven husbands; why then should I live any longer? But if it please you, Lord, not to slay me, look favorably upon me and have pity on me; never again let me hear these insults!"

[16] At that very time, the prayer of these two suppliants was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.

[17] 5 So Raphael was sent to heal them both: to remove the cataracts from Tobit's eyes, so that he might again see God's sunlight; and to marry Raguel's daughter Sarah to Tobit's son Tobiah, and then drive the wicked demon Asmodeus from her. For Tobiah had the right to claim her before any other who might wish to marry her.In the very moment that Tobit returned from the courtyard to his house, Raguel's daughter Sarah came downstairs from her room.

Tobit Chapter 4

[1] That same day Tobit remembered the money he had deposited with Gabael at Rages in Media, and he thought,

[2] "Now that I have asked for death, why should I not call my son Tobiah and let him know about this money before I die?"

[3] 1 So he called his son Tobiah; and when he came, he said to him: "My son, when I die, give me a decent burial. Honor your mother, and do not abandon her as long as she lives. Do whatever pleases her, and do not grieve her spirit in any way.

[4] Remember, my son, that she went through many trials for your sake while you were in her womb. And when she dies, bury her in the same grave with me.

[5] "Through all your days, my son, keep the Lord in mind, and suppress every desire to sin or to break his commandments. Perform good works all the days of your life, and do not tread the paths of wrongdoing.

[6] 2 For if you are steadfast in your service, your good works will bring success, not only to you, but also to all those who live uprightly.

[7] "Give alms from your possessions. Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, and God's face will not be turned away from you.

[8] Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that. But do not hesitate to give alms;

[9] you will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity.

[10] Almsgiving frees one from death, and keeps one from going into the dark abode.

[11] Alms are a worthy offering in the sight of the Most High for all who give them.

[12] "Be on your guard, son, against every form of immorality, and above all, marry a woman of the lineage of your forefathers. Do not marry a stranger who is not of your father's tribe, because we are sons of the prophets. My boy, keep in mind Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers from of old: all of them took wives from among their own kinsmen and were blessed in their children. Remember that their posterity shall inherit the land.

[13] Therefore, my son, love your kinsmen. Do not be so proudhearted toward your kinsmen, the sons and daughters of your people, as to refuse to take a wife for yourself from among them. For in such arrogance there is ruin and great disorder. Likewise, in worthlessness there is decay and dire poverty, for worthlessness is the mother of famine.

[14] "Do not keep with you overnight the wages of any man who works for you, but pay him immediately. If you thus behave as God's servant, you will receive your reward. Keep a close watch on yourself, my son, in everything you do, and discipline yourself in all your conduct.

[15] Do to no one what you yourself dislike. Do not drink wine till you become drunk, nor let drunkenness accompany you on your way.

[16] "Give to the hungry some of your bread, and to the naked some of your clothing. Whatever you have left over, give away as alms; and do not begrudge the alms you give.

[17] 3 Be lavish with your bread and wine at the burial of the virtuous, but do not share them with sinners.

[18] "Seek counsel from every wise man, and do not think lightly of any advice that can be useful.

[19] 4 At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him to make all your paths straight and to grant success to all your endeavors and plans. For no pagan nation possesses good counsel, but the Lord himself gives all good things. If the Lord chooses, he raises a man up; but if he should decide otherwise, he casts him down to the deepest recesses of the nether world. So now, my son, keep in mind my commandments, and never let them be erased from your heart.

[20] "And now, son, I wish to inform you that I have deposited a great sum of money with Gabri's son Gabael at Rages in Media.

[21] Do not be discouraged, my child, because of our poverty. You will be a rich man if you fear God, avoid all sin, and do what is right before the Lord your God."

Tobit Chapter 5

[1] Then Tobiah replied to his father Tobit: "Everything that you have commanded me, father, I will do.

[2] But how shall I be able to obtain the money from him, since he does not know me nor do I know him? What can I show him to make him recognize me and trust me, so that he will give me the money? I do not even know which roads to take for the journey into Media!"

[3] 1 Tobit answered his son Tobiah: "We exchanged signatures on a document written in duplicate; I divided it into two parts, and each of us kept one; his copy I put with the money. Think of it, twenty years have already passed since I deposited that money! So now, my son, find yourself a trustworthy man who will make the journey with you. We will, of course, give him a salary when you return; but get back that money from Gabael."

[4] 2 Tobiah went to look for someone acquainted with the roads who would travel with him to Media. As soon as he went out, he found the angel Raphael standing before him, though he did not know that this was an angel of God.

[5] Tobiah said to him, "Who are you, young man?" He replied "I am an Israelite, one of your kinsmen. I have come here to work." Tobiah said, "Do you know the way to Media?"

[6] 3 The other replied: "Yes, I have been there many times. I know the place well and I know all the routes. I have often traveled to Media; I used to stay with our kinsman Gabael, who lives at Rages in Media. It is a good two days' travel from Ecbatana to Rages, for Rages is situated at the mountains, Ecbatana out on the plateau."

[7] Tobiah said to him, "Wait for me, young man, till I go back and tell my father; for I need you to make the journey with me. I will, of course, pay you."

[8] Raphael replied, "Very well, I will wait for you; but do not be long."

[9] Tobiah went back to tell his father Tobit what had happened. He said to him, "I have just found a man who is one of our own Israelite kinsmen!" Tobit said, "Call the man, so that I may find out what family and tribe he comes from, and whether he is trustworthy enough to travel with you, son." Tobiah went out to summon the man, saying, "Young man, my father would like to see you."

[10] 4 When Raphael entered the house, Tobit greeted him first. Raphael said, "Hearty greetings to you!" Tobit replied: "What joy is left for me any more? Here I am, a blind man who cannot see God's sunlight, but must remain in darkness, like the dead who no longer see the light! Though alive, I am among the dead. I can hear a man's voice, but I cannot see him." Raphael said, "Take courage! God has healing in store for you; so take courage!" Tobit then said: "My son Tobiah wants to go to Media. Can you go with him to show him the way? I will of course pay you, brother." Raphael answered: "Yes, I can go with him, for I know all the routes. I have often traveled to Media and crossed all its plains and mountains; so I know every road well."

[11] Tobit asked, "Brother, tell me, please, what family and tribe are you from?"

[12] Raphael said: "Why? Do you need a tribe and a family? Or are you looking for a hired man to travel with your son?" Tobit replied, "I wish to know truthfully whose son you are, brother, and what your name is."

[13] 5 Raphael answered, "I am Azariah, son of Hananiah the elder, one of your own kinsmen."

[14] Tobit exclaimed: "Welcome! God save you, brother! Do not be provoked with me, brother, for wanting to learn the truth about your family. So it turns out that you are a kinsman, and from a noble and good line! I knew Hananiah and Nathaniah, the two sons of Shemaiah the elder; with me they used to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where we would worship together. No, they did not stray from the right path; your kinsmen are good men. You are certainly of good lineage, and welcome!"

[15] 6 Then he added: "For each day you are away I will give you the normal wages, plus expenses for you and for my son. If you go with my son,

[16] I will even add a bonus to your wages!" Raphael replied: "I will go with him; have no fear. In good health we shall leave you, and in good health we shall return to you, for the way is safe."

[17] Tobit said, "God bless you, brother." Then he called his son and said to him: "My son, prepare whatever you need for the journey, and set out with your kinsman. May God in heaven protect you on the way and bring you back to me safe and sound; and may his angel accompany you for safety, my son." Before setting out on his journey, Tobiah kissed his father and mother. Tobit said to him, "Have a safe journey."

[18] But his mother began to weep. She said to Tobit: "Why have you decided to send my child away? Is he not the staff to which we cling, ever there with us in all that we do?

[19] I hope more money is not your chief concern! Rather let it be a ransom for our son!

[20] What the Lord has given us to live on is certainly enough for us."

[21] Tobit reassured her: "Have no such thought. Our son will leave in good health and come back to us in good health. Your own eyes will see the day when he returns to you safe and sound.

[22] 7 So, no such thought; do not worry about them, my love. For a good angel will go with him, his journey will be successful, and he will return unharmed."

Tobit Chapter 6

[1] Then she stopped weeping.

[2] When the boy left home, accompanied by the angel, the dog followed Tobiah out of the house and went with them. The travelers walked till nightfall, and made camp beside the Tigris River.

[3] Now when the boy went down to wash his feet in the river, a large fish suddenly leaped out of the water and tried to swallow his foot. He shouted in alarm.

[4] But the angel said to him, "Take hold of the fish and don't let it get away!" The boy seized the fish and hauled it up on the shore.

[5] 1 The angel then told him: "Cut the fish open and take out its gall, heart, and liver, and keep them with you; but throw away the entrails. Its gall, heart, and liver make useful medicines."

[6] After the lad had cut the fish open, he put aside the gall, heart, and liver. Then he broiled and ate part of the fish; the rest he salted and kept for the journey.

[7] Afterward they traveled on together till they were near Media. The boy asked the angel this question: "Brother Azariah, what medicinal value is there in the fish's heart, liver, and gall?"

[8] He answered: "As regards the fish's heart and liver, if you burn them so that the smoke surrounds a man or a woman who is afflicted by a demon or evil spirit, the affliction will leave him completely, and no demons will ever return to him again.

[9] And as for the gall, if you rub it on the eyes of a man who has cataracts, blowing into his eyes right on the cataracts, his sight will be restored."

[10] When they had entered Media and were getting close to Ecbatana,

[11] Raphael said to the boy, "Brother Tobiah!" He answered, "Yes, what is it?" Raphael continued: "Tonight we must stay with Raguel, who is a relative of yours. He has a daughter named Sarah,

[12] but no other child. Since you are Sarah's closest relative, you before all other men have the right to marry her. Also, her father's estate is rightfully yours to inherit. Now the girl is sensible, courageous, and very beautiful; and her father loves her dearly."

[13] 2 He continued: "Since you have the right to marry her, listen to me, brother. Tonight I will ask the girl's father to let us have her as your bride. When we return from Rages, we will hold the wedding feast for her. I know that Raguel cannot keep her from you or let her become engaged to another man; that would be a capital crime according to the decree in the Book of Moses, and he knows that it is your right, before all other men, to marry his daughter. So heed my words, brother; tonight we must speak for the girl, so that we may have her engaged to you. And when we return from Rages, we will take her and bring her back with us to your house."

[14] Tobiah objected, however: "Brother Azariah, I have heard that this woman has already been married seven times, and that her husbands died in their bridal chambers. On the very night they approached her, they dropped dead. And I have heard it said that it was a demon who killed them.

[15] So now I too am afraid of this demon. Because he loves her, he does not harm her; but he does slay any man who wishes to come close to her. I am my father's only child. If I should die, I would bring my father and mother down to their grave in sorrow over me. And they have no other son to bury them!"

[16] Raphael said to him: "Do you not remember your father's orders? He commanded you to marry a woman from your own family. So now listen to me, brother; do not give another thought to this demon, but marry Sarah. I know that tonight you shall have her for your wife!

[17] When you go into the bridal chamber, take the fish's liver and heart, and place them on the embers for the incense.

[18] 3 As soon as the demon smells the odor they give off, he will flee and never again show himself near her. Then when you are about to have intercourse with her, both of you first rise up to pray. Beg the Lord of heaven to show you mercy and grant you deliverance. But do not be afraid, for she was set apart for you before the world existed. You will save her, and she will go with you. And I suppose that you will have children by her, who will take the place of brothers for you. So do not worry." When Tobiah heard Raphael say that she was his kinswoman, of his own family's lineage, he fell deeply in love with her, and his heart became set on her.

Tobit Chapter 7

[1] When they entered Ecbatana, Tobiah said, "Brother Azariah, lead me straight to our kinsman Raguel." So he brought him to the house of Raguel, whom they found seated by his courtyard gate. They greeted him first. He said to them, "Greetings to you too, brothers! Good health to you, and welcome!" When he brought them into his home,

[2] he said to his wife Edna, "This young man looks just like my kinsman Tobit!"

[3] So Edna asked them, "Who are you, brothers?" They answered, "We are of the exiles from Naphtali at Nineveh."

[4] She said, "Do you know our kinsman Tobit?" They answered, "Indeed we do!" She asked, "Is he well?"

[5] They answered, "Yes, he is alive and well." Then Tobiah exclaimed, "He is my father!"

[6] Raguel sprang up and kissed him, shedding tears of joy.

[7] But when he heard that Tobit had lost his eyesight, he was grieved and wept aloud. He said to Tobiah: "My child, God bless you! You are the son of a noble and good father. But what a terrible misfortune that such a righteous and charitable man should be afflicted with blindness!" He continued to weep in the arms of his kinsman Tobiah.

[8] His wife Edna also wept for Tobit; and even their daughter Sarah began to weep.

[9] Afterward, Raguel slaughtered a ram from the flock and gave them a cordial reception. When they had bathed and reclined to eat, Tobiah said to Raphael, "Brother Azariah, ask Raguel to let me marry my kinswoman Sarah."

[10] Raguel overheard the words; so he said to the boy: "Eat and drink and be merry tonight, for no man is more entitled to marry my daughter Sarah than you, brother. Besides, not even I have the right to give her to anyone but you, because you are my closest relative. But I will explain the situation to you very frankly.

[11] I have given her in marriage to seven men, all of whom were kinsmen of ours, and all died on the very night they approached her. But now, son, eat and drink. I am sure the Lord will look after you both." Tobiah answered, "I will eat or drink nothing until you set aside what belongs to me." Raguel said to him: "I will do it. She is yours according to the decree of the Book of Moses. Your marriage to her has been decided in heaven! Take your kinswoman; from now on you are her love, and she is your beloved. She is yours today and ever after. And tonight, son, may the Lord of heaven prosper you both. May he grant you mercy and peace."

[12] Then Raguel called his daughter Sarah, and she came to him. He took her by the hand and gave her to Tobiah with the words: "Take her according to the law. According to the decree written in the Book of Moses she is your wife. Take her and bring her back safely to your father. And may the God of heaven grant both of you peace and prosperity."

[13] He then called her mother and told her to bring a scroll, so that he might draw up a marriage contract stating that he gave Sarah to Tobiah as his wife according to the decree of the Mosaic law. Her mother brought the scroll, and he drew up the contract, to which they affixed their seals.

[14] Afterward they began to eat and drink.

[15] Later Raguel called his wife Edna and said, "My love, prepare the other bedroom and bring the girl there."

[16] She went and made the bed in the room, as she was told, and brought the girl there. After she had cried over her, she wiped away the tears and said:

[17] "Be brave, my daughter. May the Lord of heaven grant you joy in place of your grief. Courage, my daughter." Then she left.

Tobit Chapter 8

[1] When they had finished eating and drinking, the girl's parents wanted to retire. They brought the young man out of the dining room and led him into the bedroom.

[2] 1 At this point Tobiah, mindful of Raphael's instructions, took the fish's liver and heart from the bag which he had with him, and placed them on the embers for the incense.

[3] 2 The demon, repelled by the odor of the fish, fled into Upper Egypt; Raphael pursued him there and bound him hand and foot. Then Raphael returned immediately.

[4] When the girl's parents left the bedroom and closed the door behind them, Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife, "My love, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance."

[5] She got up, and they started to pray and beg that deliverance might be theirs. He began with these words: "Blessed are you, O God of our fathers; praised be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens and all your creation praise you forever.

[6] You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two the human race descended. You said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.'

[7] Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age."

[8] They said together, "Amen, amen,"

[9] and went to bed for the night. But Raguel got up and summoned his servants. With him they went out to dig a grave,

[10] for he said, "I must do this, because if Tobiah should die, we would be subjected to ridicule and insult."

[11] When they had finished digging the grave, Raguel went back into the house and called his wife,

[12] saying, "Send one of the maids in to see whether Tobiah is alive or dead, so that if necessary we may bury him without anyone's knowing about it."

[13] She sent the maid, who lit a lamp, opened the bedroom door, went in, and found them sound asleep together.

[14] The maid went out and told the girl's parents that Tobiah was alive, and that there was nothing wrong.

[15] Then Raguel praised the God of heaven in these words: "Blessed are you, O God, with every holy and pure blessing! Let all your chosen ones praise you; let them bless you forever!

[16] Blessed are you, who have made me glad; what I feared did not happen. Rather you have dealt with us according to your great mercy.

[17] Blessed are you, for you were merciful toward two only children. Grant them, Master, mercy and deliverance, and bring their lives to fulfillment with happiness and mercy."

[18] Then he told his servants to fill in the grave before dawn.

[19] He asked his wife to bake many loaves of bread; he himself went out to the herd and picked out two steers and four rams which he ordered to be slaughtered. So the servants began to prepare the feast.

[20] 3 He summoned Tobiah and made an oath in his presence, saying: "For fourteen days you shall not stir from here, but shall remain here eating and drinking with me; and you shall bring joy to my daughter's sorrowing spirit.

[21] Take, to begin with, half of whatever I own when you go back in good health to your father; the other half will be yours when I and my wife die. Be of good cheer, my son! I am your father, and Edna is your mother; and we belong to you and to your beloved now and forever. So be happy, son!"

Tobit Chapter 9

[1] Then Tobiah called Raphael and said to him:

[2] "Brother Azariah, take along with you four servants and two camels and travel to Rages. Go to Gabael's house and give him this bond. Get the money and then bring him along with you to the wedding celebration.

[3] You witnessed the oath that Raguel has sworn; I cannot violate his oath."

[4] For you know that my father is counting the days. If I should delay my return by a single day, I would cause him intense grief.

[5] So Raphael, together with the four servants and two camels, traveled to Rages in Media, where they stayed at Gabael's house. Raphael gave Gabael his bond and told him about Tobit's son Tobiah, and that he had married and was inviting him to the wedding celebration. Gabael promptly checked over the sealed moneybags, and they placed them on the camels.

[6] The following morning they got an early start and traveled to the wedding celebration. When they entered Raguel's house, they found Tobiah reclining at table. He sprang up and greeted Gabael, who wept and blessed him, exclaiming: "O noble and good child, son of a noble and good, upright and charitable man, may the Lord grant heavenly blessing to you and to your wife, and to your wife's father and mother. Blessed be God, because I have seen the very image of my cousin Tobit!"

Tobit Chapter 10

[1] Meanwhile, day by day, Tobit was keeping track of the time Tobiah would need to go and to return. When the number of days was reached and his son did not appear,

[2] he said, "I wonder what has happened. Perhaps he has been detained there; or perhaps Gabael is dead, and there is no one to give him the money."

[3] And he began to worry.

[4] His wife Anna said, "My son has perished and is no longer among the living!" And she began to weep aloud and to wail over her son:

[5] "Alas, my child, light of my eyes, that I let you make this journey!"

[6] But Tobit kept telling her: "Hush, do not think about it, my love; he is safe! Probably they have to take care of some unexpected business there. The man who is traveling with him is trustworthy, and is one of our own kinsmen. So do not worry over him, my love. He will be here soon."

[7] But she retorted, "Stop it, and do not lie to me! My child has perished!" She would go out and keep watch all day at the road her son had taken, and she ate nothing. At sunset she would go back home to wail and cry the whole night through, getting no sleep at all.Now at the end of the fourteen-day wedding celebration which Raguel had sworn to hold for his daughter, Tobiah went to him and said: "Please let me go, for I know that my father and mother do not believe they will ever see me again. So I beg you, father, let me go back to my father. I have already told you how I left him."

[8] Raguel said to Tobiah: "Stay, my child, stay with me. I am sending messengers to your father Tobit, and they will give him news of you."

[9] But Tobiah insisted, "No, I beg you to let me go back to my father."

[10] Raguel then promptly handed over to Tobiah Sarah his wife, together with half of all his property: male and female slaves, oxen and sheep, asses and camels, clothing, money, and household goods.

[11] Bidding them farewell, he let them go. He embraced Tobiah and said to him: "Good-bye, my son. Have a safe journey. May the Lord of heaven grant prosperity to you and to your wife Sarah. And may I see children of yours before I die!"

[12] Then he kissed his daughter Sarah and said to her: "My daughter, honor your father-in-law and your mother-in-law, because from now on they are as much your parents as the ones who brought you into the world. Go in peace, my daughter; let me hear good reports about you as long as I live." Finally he said good-bye to them and sent them away.

[13] Then Edna said to Tobiah: "My child and beloved kinsman, may the Lord bring you back safely, and may I live long enough to see children of you and of my daughter Sarah before I die. Before the Lord, I entrust my daughter to your care. Never cause her grief at any time in your life. Go in peace, my child. From now on I am your mother, and Sarah is your beloved. May all of us be prosperous all the days of our lives." She kissed them both and sent them away in peace.

[14] When Tobiah left Raguel, he was full of happiness and joy, and he blessed the Lord of heaven and earth, the King of all, for making his journey so successful. Finally he said good-bye to Raguel and his wife Edna, and added, "May I honor you all the days of my life!"

Tobit Chapter 11

[1] Then they left and began their return journey. When they were near Kaserin, just before Nineveh,

[2] Raphael said: "You know how we left your father.

[3] Let us hurry on ahead of your wife to prepare the house while the rest of the party are still on the way."

[4] So they both went on ahead and Raphael said to Tobiah, "Have the gall in your hand!" And the dog ran along behind them.

[5] Meanwhile, Anna sat watching the road by which her son was to come.

[6] When she saw him coming, she exclaimed to his father, "Tobit, your son is coming, and the man who traveled with him!"

[7] Raphael said to Tobiah before he reached his father: "I am certain that his eyes will be opened.

[8] Smear the fish gall on them. This medicine will make the cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes; then your father will again be able to see the light of day."

[9] Then Anna ran up to her son, threw her arms around him, and said to him, "Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!" And she sobbed aloud.

[10] Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate. Tobiah went up to him

[11] with the fish gall in his hand, and holding him firmly, blew into his eyes. "Courage, father," he said.

[12] Next he smeared the medicine on his eyes,

[13] and it made them smart. Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit's eyes, Tobiah used both hands to peel off the cataracts. When Tobit saw his son, he threw his arms around him

[14] and wept. He exclaimed, "I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!" Then he said: "Blessed be God, and praised be his great name, and blessed be all his holy angels. May his holy name be praised throughout all the ages,

[15] Because it was he who scourged me, and it is he who has had mercy on me. Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!" Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice. Tobiah told his father that his journey had been a success; that he had brought back the money; and that he had married Raguel's daughter Sarah, who would arrive shortly, for she was approaching the gate of Nineveh. '

[16] Rejoicing and praising God, Tobit went out to the gate of Nineveh to meet his daughter-in-law. When the people of Nineveh saw him walking along briskly, with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed.

[17] Before them all Tobit proclaimed how God had mercifully restored sight to his eyes. When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah, he greeted her: "Welcome, my daughter! Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter! Blessed are your father and your mother. Blessed is my son Tobiah, and blessed are you, daughter! Welcome to your home with blessing and joy. Come in, daughter!" That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh.

[18] Ahiqar and his nephew Nadab also came to rejoice with Tobit. They celebrated Tobiah's wedding feast for seven happy days, and he received many gifts.

Tobit Chapter 12

[1] 1 When the wedding celebration came to an end, Tobit called his son Tobiah and said to him, "Son, see to it that you give what is due to the man who made the journey with you; give him a bonus too."

[2] Tobiah said: "Father, how much shall I pay him? It would not hurt me at all to give him half of all the wealth he brought back with me.

[3] He led me back safe and sound; he cured my wife; he brought the money back with me; and he cured you. How much of a bonus should I give him?"

[4] Tobit answered, "It is only fair, son, that he should receive half of all that he brought back."

[5] So Tobiah called Raphael and said, "Take as your wages half of all that you have brought back, and go in peace."

[6] 2 3 Raphael called the two men aside privately and said to them: "Thank God! Give him the praise and the glory. Before all the living, acknowledge the many good things he has done for you, by blessing and extolling his name in song. Before all men, honor and proclaim God's deeds, and do not be slack in praising him.

[7] A king's secret it is prudent to keep, but the works of God are to be declared and made known. Praise them with due honor. Do good, and evil will not find its way to you.

[8] 4 Prayer and fasting are good, but better than either is almsgiving accompanied by righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than abundance with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold;

[9] for almsgiving saves one from death and expiates every sin. Those who regularly give alms shall enjoy a full life;

[10] but those habitually guilty of sin are their own worst enemies.

[11] "I will now tell you the whole truth; I will conceal nothing at all from you. I have already said to you, 'A king's secret it is prudent to keep, but the works of God are to be made known with due honor.'

[12] 5 I can now tell you that when you, Tobit, and Sarah prayed, it was I who presented and read the record of your prayer before the Glory of the Lord; and I did the same thing when you used to bury the dead.

[13] When you did not hesitate to get up and leave your dinner in order to go and bury the dead,

[14] 6 I was sent to put you to the test. At the same time, however, God commissioned me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah.

[15] I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord."

[16] Stricken with fear, the two men fell to the ground.

[17] But Raphael said to them: "No need to fear; you are safe. Thank God now and forever.

[18] As for me, when I came to you it was not out of any favor on my part, but because it was God's will. So continue to thank him every day; praise him with song.

[19] Even though you watched me eat and drink, I did not really do so; what you were seeing was a vision.

[20] So now get up from the ground and praise God. Behold, I am about to ascend to him who sent me; write down all these things that have happened to you."

[21] When Raphael ascended they rose to their feet and could no longer see him.

[22] They kept thanking God and singing his praises; and they continued to acknowledge these marvelous deeds which he had done when the angel of God appeared to them.

Tobit Chapter 13

[1] 1 Then Tobit composed this joyful prayer: Blessed be God who lives forever, because his kingdom lasts for all ages.

[2] For he scourges and then has mercy; he casts down to the depths of the nether world, and he brings up from the great abyss. No one can escape his hand.

[3] Praise him, you Israelites, before the Gentiles, for though he has scattered you among them,

[4] he has shown you his greatness even there. Exalt him before every living being, because he is the Lord our God, our Father and God forever.

[5] He scourged you for your iniquities, but will again have mercy on you all. He will gather you from all the Gentiles among whom you have been scattered.

[6] When you turn back to him with all your heart, to do what is right before him, Then he will turn back to you, and no longer hide his face from you. So now consider what he has done for you, and praise him with full voice. Bless the Lord of righteousness, and exalt the King of the ages. In the land of my exile I praise him, and show his power and majesty to a sinful nation. "Turn back, you sinners! do the right before him: perhaps he may look with favor upon you and show you mercy.

[7] "As for me, I exalt my God, and my spirit rejoices in the King of heaven.

[8] Let all men speak of his majesty, and sing his praises in Jerusalem."

[9] 2 O Jerusalem, holy city, he scourged you for the works of your hands, but will again pity the children of the righteous.

[10] Praise the Lord for his goodness, and bless the King of the ages, so that his tent may be rebuilt in you with joy. May he gladden within you all who were captives; all who were ravaged may he cherish within you for all generations to come.

[11] A bright light will shine to all parts of the earth; many nations shall come to you from afar, And the inhabitants of all the limits of the earth, drawn to you by the name of the Lord God, Bearing in their hands their gifts for the King of heaven. Every generation shall give joyful praise in you, and shall call you the chosen one, through all ages forever.

[12] Accursed are all who speak a harsh word against you; accursed are all who destroy you and pull down your walls, And all who overthrow your towers and set fire to your homes; but forever blessed are all those who build you up.

[13] Go, then, rejoice over the children of the righteous, who shall all be gathered together and shall bless the Lord of the ages.

[14] Happy are those who love you, and happy those who rejoice in your prosperity. Happy are all the men who shall grieve over you, over all your chastisements, For they shall rejoice in you as they behold all your joy forever.

[15] My spirit blesses the Lord, the great King;

[16] Jerusalem shall be rebuilt as his home forever. Happy for me if a remnant of my offspring survive to see your glory and to praise the King of heaven! The gates of Jerusalem shall be built with sapphire and emerald, and all your walls with precious stones. The towers of Jerusalem shall be built with gold, and their battlements with pure gold.

[17] The streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with rubies and stones of Ophir;

[18] The gates of Jerusalem shall sing hymns of gladness, and all her houses shall cry out, "Alleluia! "Blessed be God who has raised you up! may he be blessed for all ages!" For in you they shall praise his holy name forever. The end of Tobit's hymn of praise.

Tobit Chapter 14

[1] Tobit died peacefully at the age of a hundred and twelve, and received an honorable burial in Nineveh.

[2] He was sixty-two years old when he lost his eyesight, and after he recovered it he lived in prosperity, giving alms and continually blessing God and praising the divine Majesty.

[3] Just before he died, he called his son Tobiah and Tobiah's seven sons, and gave him this command: "Son, take your children

[4] 1 and flee into Media, for I believe God's word which was spoken by Nahum against Nineveh. It shall all happen, and shall overtake Assyria and Nineveh; indeed, whatever was said by Israel's prophets, whom God commissioned, shall occur. Not one of all the oracles shall remain unfulfilled, but everything shall take place in the time appointed for it. So it will be safer in Media than in Assyria or Babylon. For I know and believe that whatever God has spoken will be accomplished. It shall happen, and not a single word of the prophecies shall prove false. "As for our kinsmen who dwell in Israel, they shall all be scattered and led away into exile from the Good Land. The entire country of Israel shall become desolate; even Samaria and Jerusalem shall become desolate! God's temple there shall be burnt to the ground and shall be desolate for a while.

[5] 2 But God will again have mercy on them and bring them back to the land of Israel. They shall rebuild the temple, but it will not be like the first one, until the era when the appointed times shall be completed. Afterward all of them shall return from their exile, and they shall rebuild Jerusalem with splendor. In her the temple of God shall also be rebuilt; yes, it will be rebuilt for all generations to come, just as the prophets of Israel said of her.

[6] 3 All the nations of the world shall be converted and shall offer God true worship; all shall abandon their idols which have deceitfully led them into error,

[7] and shall bless the God of the ages in righteousness. Because all the Israelites who are to be saved in those days will truly be mindful of God, they shall be gathered together and go to Jerusalem; in security shall they dwell forever in the land of Abraham, which will be given over to them. Those who sincerely love God shall rejoice, but those who become guilty of sin shall completely disappear from the land.

[8] "Now, as for you, my son, depart from Nineveh; do not remain here.

[9] "Now, children, I give you this command: serve God faithfully and do what is right before him; you must tell your children to do what is upright and to give alms, to be mindful of God and at all times to bless his name sincerely and with all their strength.

[10] 4 The day you bury your mother next to me, do not even stay overnight within the confines of the city. For I see that people here shamelessly commit all sorts of wickedness and treachery. Think, my son, of all that Nadab did to Ahiqar, the very one who brought him up: Ahiqar went down alive into the earth! Yet God made Nadab's disgraceful crime rebound against him. Ahiqar came out again into the light, but Nadab went into the everlasting darkness, for he had tried to kill Ahiqar. Because Ahiqar had given alms to me, he escaped from the deadly trap Nadab had set for him. But Nadab himself fell into the deadly trap, and it destroyed him.

[11] So, my children, note well what almsgiving does, and also what wickedness does--it kills! But now my spirit is about to leave me."

[12] They placed him on his bed and he died; and he received an honorable burial. When Tobiah's mother died, he buried her next to his father. He then departed with his wife and children for Media, where he settled in Ecbatana with his father-in-law Raguel.

[13] He took respectful care of his aging father-in-law and mother-in-law; and he buried them at Ecbatana in Media. Then he inherited Raguel's estate as well as that of his father Tobit.

[14] He died at the venerable age of a hundred and seventeen.

[15] 5 But before he died, he heard of the destruction of Nineveh and saw its effects. He witnessed the exile of the city's inhabitants when Cyaxares, king of Media, led them captive into Media. Tobiah praised God for all that he had done against the citizens of Nineveh and Assyria. Before dying he rejoiced over Nineveh's destruction, and he blessed the Lord God forever and ever. Amen.

Introduction to Judith

Judith

Introduction

The Book of Judith is a vivid story relating how, in a grave crisis, God delivered the Jewish people through the instrumentality of a woman. The unknown author composed this edifying narrative of divine providence at the end of the second or the beginning of the first century B.C. The original was almost certainly written in Hebrew, but the Greek text shows so much freedom in adapting from the Septuagint the language of older biblical books that it must be regarded as having a literary character of its own. It is this Greek form of the book, accepted as canonical by the Catholic Church, which is translated here. St. Jerome, who prepared (with some reluctance) a Latin text of Judith, based his work on a secondary Aramaic text available to him in Palestine, combined with an older Latin rendering from the Greek. The long hymn of Jdt 16 he took in its entirety from that earlier Latin text.

Since it is no longer possible to determine with any precision the underlying events which may have given rise to this narrative, it is enough to note that the author sought to strengthen the faith of his people in God's abiding presence among them. The Book of Judith is a tract for difficult times; the reader, it was hoped, would take to heart the lesson that God was still the Master of history, who could save Israel from her enemies. Note the parallel with the time of the Exodus: as God had delivered his people by the hand of Moses, so he could deliver them by the hand of the pious widow Judith (see note on Judith 2:12).

The story can be divided into two parts. In the first (Jdt 1-7), Holofernes, commander-in-chief of the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, leads an overwhelming Assyrian force in a punitive campaign against the vassals who refused to help in the Assyrian war against the Medes. The Jewish people stubbornly resist the enemy at Bethulia, guarding the route of access to Jerusalem. Despite the warning of Achior that the Jews cannot be conquered unless they sin against God, the proud general lays siege to the town and cuts off its water supply. After asiege of thirty-four days, the exhausted defenders are desperate and ready to surrender.

At this point, the climax of the story, Judith (the name means "Jewess") appears and promises to defeat the Assyrians. The rest of the story is too well known to repeat in detail. Having fasted and prayed, Judith dresses in her finest garments and proceeds to the Assyrian camp, where she succeeds in killing Holofernes while he lies in a drunken stupor. The Assyrians panic when they discover this, and the Jews are able to rout and slaughter them. The beautiful hymn of the people honoring Judith (Judith 15:9-10) is often applied to Mary in the liturgy.

Any attempt to read the book directly against the backdrop of Jewish history in relation to the empires of the ancient world is bound to fail. The story was written as a pious reflection on the meaning of the yearly Passover observance. It draws its inspiration from the Exodus narrative (especially Exodus 14:31) and from the texts of Isaiah and the Psalms portraying the special intervention of God for the preservation of Jerusalem. The theme of God's hand as the agent of this providential activity, reflected of old in the hand of Moses and now in the hand of Judith, is again exemplified at a later time in Jewish synagogue art. God's hand reaching down from heaven appears as part of the scene at Dura-Europos (before A.D. 256) in paintings of the Exodus, of the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22), and of Ezekiel's valley of dry bones (Eze 37).

The Book of Judith is divided as follows:

Peril of the Jews (Judith 1:1-7:32)

Deliverance of the Jews (Judith 8:1-14:10)

Victory (Judith 14:11-16:25)

Judith Chapter 1

[1] It was the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyriansin the great city of Nineveh. At that time Arphaxad ruled over the Medes in Ecbatana.

[2] Around this city he built a wall of blocks of stone, each three cubits inheight and six in length. He made the wall seventy cubits high and fifty thick.

[3] At the gates he raised towers of a hundred cubits, with a thickness of sixty cubits at the base.

[4] The gateway he built to a height of seventy cubits, with an opening forty cubits wide for the passage of his chariot forces and the marshaling of his infantry.

[5] Then King Nebuchadnezzar waged war against King Arphaxad in the vast plain, in the district of Ragae.

[6] 1 To him there rallied all the inhabitants of the mountain region, all who dwelt along the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Hydaspes, and King Arioch of the Elamites, in the plain. Thus many nations came together to resist the people of Cheleoud.

[7] Now Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, sent messengers to all the inhabitants of Persia, and to all those who dwelt in the West: to the inhabitants of Cilicia and Damascus, Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, to all who dwelt along the seacoast,

[8] to the peoples of Carmel, Gilead, Upper Galilee, and the vast plain of Esdraelon,

[9] to all those in Samaria and its cities, and west of the Jordan as far as Jerusalem, Bethany, Chelous, Kadesh, and the River of Egypt; to Tahpanhes, Raamses, all the land of Goshen,

[10] Tanis, Memphis and beyond, and to all the inhabitants of Egypt as far as the borders of Ethiopia.

[11] But the inhabitants of all that land disregarded the summons of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, and would not go with him to the war. They were not afraid of him but regarded him as a lone individual opposed to them, and turned away his envoys empty-handed, in disgrace.

[12] 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar fell into a violent rage against all that land, and swore by his throne and his kingdom that he would avenge himself on all the territories of Cilicia and Damascus and Syria, and also destroy with his sword all the inhabitants of Moab, Ammon, the whole of Judea, and those living anywhere in Egypt as far as the borders of the two seas.

[13] In the seventeenth year he proceeded with his army against King Arphaxad, and was victorious in his campaign. He routed the whole force of Arphaxad, his entire cavalry and all his chariots,

[14] and took possession of his cities. He pressed on to Ecbatana and took its towers, sacked its marketplaces, and turned its glory into shame.

[15] Arphaxad himself he overtook in the mountains of Ragae, ran him through with spears, and utterly destroyed him.

[16] Then he returned home with all his numerous, motley horde of warriors; and there he and his army relaxed and feasted for a hundred and twenty days.

Judith Chapter 2

[1] In the eighteenth year, on the twenty-second day of the first month, there was a discussion in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, about taking revenge on the whole world, as he had threatened.

[2] He summoned all his ministers and nobles, laid before them his secret plan, and urged the total destruction of those countries.

[3] They decided to do away with all those who had refused to comply with the order he had issued.

[4] When he had completed his plan, Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, summoned Holofernes, general in chief of his forces, second to himself in command, and said to him:

[5] "Thus says the great king, the lord of all the earth: Go forth from my presence, take with you men of proven valor, a hundred and twenty thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry,

[6] and proceed against all the land of the West, because they did not comply with the order I issued.

[7] 1 Tell them to have earth and water ready, for I will come against them in my wrath; I will cover all the land with the feet of my soldiers, to whom I will deliver them as spoils.

[8] Their slain shall fill their ravines and wadies, the swelling torrent shall be choked with their dead; 9 and I will deport them as exiles to the very ends of the earth.

Judith Chapter 3

[1] They therefore sent messengers to him to sue for peace in these words:

[2] "We, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the great king, lie prostrate before you; do with us as you will.

[3] Our dwellings and all our wheat fields, our flocks and herds, and all our encampments are at your disposal; make use of them as you please.

[4] Our cities and their inhabitants are also at your service; come and deal with them as you see fit."

[5] After the spokesmen had reached Holofernes and given him this message,

[6] he went down with his army to the seacoast, and stationed garrisons in the fortified cities; from them he impressed picked troops as auxiliaries.

[7] The people of these cities and all the inhabitants of the countryside received him with garlands and dancing to the sound of timbrels.

[8] Nevertheless, he devastated their whole territory and cut down their sacred groves, for he had been commissioned to destroy all the gods of the earth, so that every nation might worship Nebuchadnezzar alone, and every people and tribe invoke him as a god.

[9] At length Holofernes reached Esdraelon in the neighborhood of Dothan, the approach to the main ridge of the Judean mountains;

[10] 1 he set up his camp between Geba and Scythopolis, and stayed there a whole month to refurbish all the equipment of his army.

Judith Chapter 4

[1] When the Israelites who dwelt in Judea heard of all that Holofernes, commander-in-chief of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, had done to the nations, and how he had despoiled all their temples and destroyed them,

[2] they were in extreme dread of him, and greatly alarmed for Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord, their God.

[3] 1 Now, they had lately returned from exile, and only recently had all the people of Judea been gathered together, and the vessels, the altar, and the temple been purified from profanation.

[4] So they sent word to the whole region of Samaria, to Kona, Beth-horon, Belmain, and Jericho, to Choba and Aesora, and to the valley of Salem.

[5] The people there posted guards on all the summits of the high mountains, fortified their villages, and since their fields had recently been harvested, stored up provisions in preparation for war.

[6] 2 Joakim, who was high priest in Jerusalem in those days, wrote to the inhabitants of Bethulia (and Betomesthaim), which is on the way to Esdraelon, facing the plain near Dothan,

[7] and instructed them to keep firm hold of the mountain passes, since these offered access to Judea. It would be easy to ward off the attacking forces, as the defile was only wide enough for two abreast.

[8] 3 The Israelites carried out the orders given them by Joakim, the high priest, and the senate of the whole people of Israel, which met in Jerusalem.

[9] All the men of Israel cried to God with great fervor and did penance--

[10] 4 they, along with their wives, and children, and domestic animals. All their resident aliens, hired laborers, and slaves also girded themselves with sackcloth.

[11] 5 And all the Israelite men, women and children who lived in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple building, with ashes strewn on their heads, displaying their sackcloth covering before the Lord.

[12] The altar, too, they draped in sackcloth; and with one accord they cried out fervently to the God of Israel not to allow their children to be seized, their wives to be taken captive, the cities of their inheritance to be ruined, or the sanctuary to be profaned and mocked for the nations to gloat over.

[13] The Lord heard their cry and had regard for their distress. For the people observed a fast of many days' duration throughout Judea, and before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem.

[14] The high priest Joakim, and all the priests in attendance on the Lord who served his altar, were also girded with sackcloth as they offered the daily holocaust, the votive offerings, and the freewill offerings of the people.

[15] With ashes upon their turbans, they cried to the Lord with all their strength to look with favor on the whole house of Israel.

Judith Chapter 5

[1] It was reported to Holofernes, commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army, that the Israelites were ready for battle, and had blocked the mountain passes, fortified the summits of all the higher peaks, and placed roadblocks in the plains.

[2] In great anger he summoned all the rulers of the Moabites, the generals of the Ammonites, and all the satraps of the seacoast

[3] and said to them: "Now tell me, you Canaanites, what sort of people is this that dwells in the mountains? Which cities do they inhabit? How large is their army? In what does their power and strength consist? Who has set himself up as their king and the leader of their army?

[4] Why have they refused to come out to meet me along with all the other inhabitants of the West?"

[5] Then Achior, the leader of all the Ammonites said to him: "My lord, hear this account from your servant; I will tell you the truth about this people that lives near you (that inhabits this mountain region); no lie shall escape your servant's lips.

[6] 1 "These people are descendants of the Chaldeans.

[7] They formerly dwelt in Mesopotamia, for they did not wish to follow the gods of their forefathers who were born in the land of the Chaldeans.

[8] Since they abandoned the way of their ancestors, and acknowledged with divine worship the God of heaven, their forefathers expelled them from the presence of their gods. So they fled to Mesopotamia and dwelt there a long time.

[9] Their God bade them leave their abode and proceed to the land of Canaan. Here they settled, and grew very rich in gold, silver, and a great abundance of livestock.

[10] Later, when famine had gripped the whole land of Canaan, they went down into Egypt. They stayed there as long as they found sustenance, and grew into such a great multitude that the number of their race could not be counted.

[11] The king of Egypt, however, rose up against them, shrewdly forced them to labor at brickmaking, oppressed and enslaved them.

[12] But they cried to their God, and he struck the land of Egypt with plagues for which there was no remedy. When the Egyptians expelled them,

[13] God dried up the Red Sea before them,

[14] and led them along the route to Sinai and Kadesh-barnea. First they drove out all the inhabitants of the desert;

[15] then they settled in the land of the Amorites, destroyed all the Heshbonites by main force, crossed the Jordan, and took possession of the whole mountain region.

[16] They expelled the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Shechemites, and all the Gergesites; and they lived in these mountains a long time.

[17] "As long as the Israelites did not sin in the sight of their God, they prospered, for their God, who hates wickedness, was with them.

[18] But when they deviated from the way he prescribed for them, they were ground down steadily, more and more, by frequent wars, and finally taken as captives into foreign lands. The temple of their God was razed to the ground, and their cities were occupied by their enemies.

[19] But now that they have returned to their God, they have come back from the Dispersion wherein they were scattered, and have repossessed Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is, and have settled again in the mountain region which was unoccupied.

[20] "So now, my lord and master, if these people are at fault, and are sinning against their God, and if we verify this offense of theirs, then we shall be able to go up and conquer them.

[21] But if they are not a guilty nation, then your lordship should keep his distance; otherwise their Lord and God will shield them, and we shall become the laughing stock of the whole world."

[22] Now when Achior had concluded his recommendation, all the people standing round about the tent murmured; and the officers of Holofernes and all the inhabitants of the seacoast and of Moab alike said he should be cut to pieces.

[23] "We are not afraid of the Israelites," they said, "for they are a powerless people, incapable of a strong defense.

[24] Let us therefore attack them; your great army, Lord Holofernes, will swallow them up."

Judith Chapter 6

[1] When the noise of the crowd surrounding the council had subsided, Holofernes, commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army, said to Achior, in the presence of the whole throng of coastland peoples, of the Moabites, and of the Ammonite mercenaries:

[2] "Who are you, Achior, to prophesy among us as you have done today, and to tell us not to fight against the Israelites because their God protects them? What god is there beside Nebuchadnezzar? He will send his force and destroy them from the face of the earth. Their God will not save them;

[3] but we, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, will strike them down as one man, for they will be unable to withstand the force of our cavalry.

[4] We will overwhelm them with it, and the mountains shall be drunk with their blood, and their plains filled with their corpses. Not a trace of them shall survive our attack: they shall utterly perish, says King Nebuchadnezzar, lord of all the earth; for he has spoken, and his words shall not remain unfulfilled.

[5] As for you, Achior, you Ammonite mercenary, for saying these things in a moment of perversity you shall not see my face after today, until I have taken revenge on this race of people from Egypt.

[6] Then at my return, the sword of my army or the spear of my servants will pierce your sides, and you shall fall among their slain.

[7] My servants will now conduct you to the mountain region, and leave you at one of the towns along the ascent.

[8] You shall not die till you are destroyed together with them.

[9] If you still cherish the hope that they will not be taken, then there is no need for you to be downcast. I have spoken, and my words shall not prove false in any respect."

[10] Then Holofernes ordered the servants who were standing by in his tent to seize Achior, conduct him to Bethulia, and hand him over to the Israelites.

[11] So the servants took him in custody and brought him out of the camp into the plain. From there they led him into the mountain region till they reached the springs below Bethulia.

[12] When the men of the city saw them, they seized their weapons and ran out of the city to the crest of the ridge; and all the slingers blocked the ascent of Holofernes' servants by hurling stones upon them.

[13] So they took cover below the mountain, where they bound Achior and left him lying at the foot of the mountain; then they returned to their lord.

[14] The Israelites came down to him from their city, loosed him, and brought him into Bethulia. They haled him before the rulers of the city,

[15] who in those days were Uzziah, son of Micah of the tribe of Simeon, Chabris, son of Gothoniel, and Charmis, son of Melchiel.

[16] They then convened all the elders of the city; and all their young men, as well as the women, gathered in haste at the place of assembly. They placed Achior in the center of the throng, and Uzziah questioned him about what had happened.

[17] He replied by giving them an account of what was said in the council of Holofernes, and of all his own words among the Assyrian officers, and of all the boasting threats of Holofernes against the house of Israel.

[18] At this the people fell prostrate and worshiped God; and they cried out:

[19] 1 "Lord, God of heaven, behold their arrogance! Have pity on the lowliness of our people, and look with favor this day on those who are consecrated to you."

[20] Then they reassured Achior and praised him highly.

[21] Uzziah brought him from the assembly to his home, where he gave a banquet for the elders. That whole night they called upon the God of Israel for help.

Judith Chapter 7

[1] The following day Holofernes ordered his whole army, and all the allied troops that had come to his support, to move against Bethulia, seize the mountain passes, and engage the Israelites in battle.

[2] That same day all their fighting men went into action. Their forces numbered a hundred and seventy thousand infantry and twelve thousand horsemen, not counting the baggage train or the men who accompanied it on foot-a very great army.

[3] They encamped at the spring in the valley near Bethulia, and spread out in breadth toward Dothan as far as Balbaim, and in length from Bethulia to Cyamon, which faces Esdraelon.

[4] When the Israelites saw how many there were, they said to one another in great dismay: "Soon they will devour the whole country. Neither the high mountains nor the valleys and hills can support the mass of them."

[5] 1 Yet they all seized their weapons, lighted fires on their bastions, and kept watch throughout the night.

[6] On the second day Holofernes led out all his cavalry in the sight of the Israelites who were in Bethulia.

[7] He reconnoitered the approaches to their city and located their sources of water; these he seized, stationing armed detachments around them, while he himself returned to his troops.

[8] All the commanders of the Edomites and all the leaders of the Ammonites, together with the generals of the seacoast, came to Holofernes and said:

[9] "Sir, listen to what we have to say, that there may be no losses among your troops.

[10] These Israelites do not rely on their spears, but on the height of the mountains where they dwell; it is not easy to reach the summit of their mountains.

[11] Therefore, sir, do not attack them in regular formation; thus not a single one of your troops will fall.

[12] Stay in your camp, and spare all your soldiers. Have some of your servants keep control of the source of water that flows out at the base of the mountain,

[13] for that is where the inhabitants of Bethulia get their water. Then thirst will begin to carry them off, and they will surrender their city. Meanwhile, we and our men will go up to the summits of the nearby mountains, and encamp there to guard against anyone's leaving the city.

[14] They and their wives and children will languish with hunger, and even before the sword strikes them they will be laid low in the streets of their city.

[15] Thus you will render them dire punishment for their rebellion and their refusal to meet you peacefully."

[16] Their words pleased Holofernes and all his ministers, and he ordered their proposal to be carried out.

[17] Thereupon the Moabites moved camp, together with five thousand Assyrians. They encamped in the valley, and held the water supply and the springs of the Israelites.

[18] The Edomites and the Ammonites went up and encamped in the mountain region opposite Dothan; and they sent some of their men to the south and to the east opposite Egrebel, near Chusi, which is on Wadi Mochmur. The rest of the Assyrian army was encamped in the plain, covering the whole countryside. Their enormous store of tents and equipment was spread out in profusion everywhere.

[19] The Israelites cried to the Lord, their God, for they were disheartened, since all their enemies had them surrounded, and there was no way of slipping through their lines.

[20] The whole Assyrian camp, infantry, chariots, and cavalry, kept them thus surrounded for thirty-four days. All the reservoirs of water failed the inhabitants of Bethulia,

[21] and the cisterns ran dry, so that on no day did they have enough to drink, but their drinking water was rationed.

[22] Their children fainted away, and the women and youths were consumed with thirst and were collapsing in the streets and gateways of the city, with no strength left in them.

[23] All the people, therefore, including youths, women, and children, went in a crowd to Uzziah and the rulers of the city. They set up a great clamor and said before the elders:

[24] "God judge between you and us! You have done us grave injustice in not making peace with the Assyrians.

[25] There is no help for us now! Instead, God has sold us into their power by laying us prostrate before them in thirst and utter exhaustion.

[26] Therefore, summon them and deliver the whole city as booty to the troops of Holofernes and to all his forces;

[27] we would be better off to become their prey. We should indeed be made slaves, but at least we should live, and not have to behold our little ones dying before our eyes and our wives and children breathing out their souls.

[28] We adjure you by heaven and earth, and by our God, the Lord of our forefathers, who is punishing us for our sins and those of our forefathers, to do as we have proposed, this very day."

[29] All in the assembly with one accord broke into shrill wailing and loud cries to the Lord their God.

[30] But Uzziah said to them, "Courage, my brothers! Let us wait five days more for the Lord our God, to show his mercy toward us; he will not utterly forsake us.

[31] But if those days pass without help coming to us, I will do as you say."

[32] Then he dispersed the men to their posts, and they returned to the walls and towers of the city; the women and children he sent to their homes. Throughout the city they were in great misery.

Judith Chapter 8

[1] 1 Now in those days Judith, daughter of Merari, son of Joseph, son of Oziel, son of Elkiah, son of Ananias, son of Gideon, son of Raphain, son of Ahitob, son of Elijah, son of Hilkiah, son of Eliab, son of Nathanael, son of Salamiel, son of Sarasadai, son of Simeon, son of Israel, heard of this.

[2] Her husband, Manasseh, of her own tribe and clan, had died at the time of the barley harvest.

[3] While he was in the field supervising those who bound the sheaves, he suffered sunstroke; and he died of this illness in Bethulia, his native city. He was buried with his forefathers in the field between Dothan and Balamon.

[4] The widowed Judith remained three years and four months at home,

[5] 2 where she set up a tent for herself on the roof of her house. She put sackcloth about her loins and wore widow's weeds.

[6] She fasted all the days of her widowhood, except sabbath eves and sabbaths, new moon eves and new moons, feastdays and holidays of the house of Israel.

[7] She was beautifully formed and lovely to behold. Her husband, Manasseh, had left her gold and silver, servants and maids, livestock and fields, which she was maintaining.

[8] No one had a bad word to say about her, for she was a very God-fearing woman.

[9] When Judith, therefore, heard of the harsh words which the people, discouraged by their lack of water, had spoken against their ruler, and of all that Uzziah had said to them in reply, swearing that he would hand over the city to the Assyrians at the end of five days,

[10] she sent the maid who was in charge of all her things to ask Uzziah, Chabris, and Charmis, the elders of the city, to visit her.

[11] When they came, she said to them: "Listen to me, you rulers of the people of Bethulia. What you said to the people today is not proper. When you promised to hand over the city to our enemies at the end of five days unless within that time the Lord comes to our aid, you interposed between God and yourselves this oath which you took.

[12] Who are you, then, that you should have put God to the test this day, setting yourselves in the place of God in human affairs?

[13] It is the Lord Almighty for whom you are laying down conditions; will you never understand anything?

[14] You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or grasp the workings of the human mind; how then can you fathom God, who has made all these things, discern his mind, and understand his plan? "No, my brothers, do not anger the Lord our God.

[15] For if he does not wish to come to our aid within the five days, he has it equally within his power to protect us at such time as he pleases, or to destroy us in the face of our enemies.

[16] It is not for you to make the Lord our God give surety for his plans. "God is not man that he should be moved by threats, nor human, that he may be given an ultimatum.

[17] "So while we wait for the salvation that comes from him, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our cry if it is his good pleasure.

[18] For there has not risen among us in recent generations, nor does there exist today, any tribe, or clan, or town, or city of ours that worships gods made by hands, as happened in former days.

[19] It was for such conduct that our forefathers were handed over to the sword and to pillage, and fell with great destruction before our enemies.

[20] But since we acknowledge no other god but the Lord, we hope that he will not disdain us or any of our people.

[21] If we are taken, all Judea will fall, our sanctuary will be plundered, and God will make us pay for its profanation with our life's blood.

[22] For the slaughter of our kinsmen, for the taking of exiles from the land, and for the devastation of our inheritance, he will lay the guilt on our heads. Wherever we shall be enslaved among the nations, we shall be a mockery and a reproach in the eyes of our masters.

[23] Our enslavement will not be turned to our benefit, but the Lord our God, will maintain it to our disgrace.

[24] "Therefore, my brothers, let us set an example for our kinsmen. Their lives depend on us, and the defense of the sanctuary, the temple, and the altar rests with us.

[25] Besides all this, we should be grateful to the Lord our God, for putting us to the test, as he did our forefathers.

[26] Recall how he dealt with Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and all that happened to Jacob in Syrian Mesopotamia while he was tending the flocks of Laban, his mother's brother.

[27] Not for vengeance did the Lord put them in the crucible to try their hearts, nor has he done so with us. It is by way of admonition that he chastises those who are close to him."

[28] Then Uzziah said to her: "All that you have said was spoken with good sense, and no one can gainsay your words.

[29] Not today only is your wisdom made evident, but from your earliest years all the people have recognized your prudence, which corresponds to the worthy dispositions of your heart.

[30] The people, however, were so tortured with thirst that they forced us to speak to them as we did, and to bind ourselves by an oath that we cannot break.

[31] But now, God-fearing woman that you are, pray for us that the Lord may send rain to fill up our cisterns, lest we be weakened still further."

[32] Then Judith said to them: "Listen to me! I will do something that will go down from generation to generation among the descendants of our race.

[33] Stand at the gate tonight to let me pass through with my maid; and within the days you have specified before you will surrender the city to our enemies, the Lord will rescue Israel by my hand.

[34] You must not inquire into what I am doing, for I will not tell you until my plan has been accomplished."

[35] Uzziah and the rulers said to her, "Go in peace, and may the Lord God go before you to take vengeance upon our enemies!"

[36] Then they withdrew from the tent and returned to their posts.

Judith Chapter 9

[1] Judith threw herself down prostrate, with ashes strewn upon her head, and wearing nothing over her sackcloth. While the incense was being offered in the temple of God in Jerusalem that evening, Judith prayed to the Lord with a loud voice:

[2] 1 "Lord, God of my forefather Simeon! You put a sword into his hand to take revenge upon the foreigners who had immodestly loosened the maiden's girdle, shamefully exposed her thighs, and disgracefully violated her body. This they did, though you forbade it.

[3] 2 Therefore you had their rulers slaughtered; and you covered with their blood the bed in which they lay deceived, the same bed that had felt the shame of their own deceiving. You smote the slaves together with their princes, and the princes together with their servants.

[4] Their wives you handed over to plunder, and their daughters to captivity; and all the spoils you divided among your favored sons, who burned with zeal for you, and in their abhorrence of the defilement of their kinswoman, called on you for help.

[5] "O God, my God, hear me also, a widow. It is you who were the author of those events and of what preceded and followed them. The present, also, and the future you have planned. Whatever you devise comes into being;

[6] the things you decide on come forward and say, 'Here we are!' All your ways are in readiness, and your judgment is made with foreknowledge.

[7] "Here are the Assyrians, a vast force, priding themselves on horse and rider, boasting of the power of their infantry, trusting in shield and spear, bow and sling. They do not know that

[8] " 'You, the Lord, crush warfare; Lord is your name. Shatter their strength in your might, and crush their force in your wrath; for they have resolved to profane your sanctuary, to defile the tent where your glorious name resides, and to overthrow with iron the horns of your altar.

[9] See their pride, and send forth your wrath upon their heads. Give me, a widow, the strong hand to execute my plan.

[10] With the guile of my lips, smite the slave together with the ruler, the ruler together with his servant; crush their pride by the hand of a woman.

[11] "Your strength is not in numbers, nor does your power depend upon stalwart men; but you are the God of the lowly, the helper of the oppressed, the supporter of the weak, the protector of the forsaken, the savior of those without hope.

[12] "Please, please, God of my forefather, God of the heritage of Israel, Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of the waters, King of all you have created, hear my prayer!

[13] Let my guileful speech bring wound and wale on those who have planned dire things against your covenant, your holy temple, Mount Zion, and the homes your children have inherited.

[14] Let your whole nation and all the tribes know clearly that you are the god of all power and might, and that there is no other who protects the people of Israel but you alone."

Judith Chapter 10

[1] As soon as Judith had thus concluded, and ceased her invocation to the God of Israel,

[2] she rose from the ground. She called her maid and they went down into the house, which she used only on sabbaths and feast days.

[3] She took off the sackcloth she had on, laid aside the garments of her widowhood, washed her body with water, and anointed it with rich ointment. She arranged her hair and bound it with a fillet, and put on the festive attire she had worn while her husband, Manasseh, was living.

[4] She chose sandals for her feet, and put on her anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and all her other jewelry. Thus she made herself very beautiful, to captivate the eyes of all the men who should see her.

[5] She gave her maid a leather flask of wine and a cruse of oil. She filled a bag with roasted grain, fig cakes, bread and cheese; all these provisions she wrapped up and gave to the maid to carry.

[6] Then they went out to the gate of the city of Bethulia and found Uzziah and the elders of the city, Chabri and Charmis, standing there.

[7] When these men saw Judith transformed in looks and differently dressed, they were very much astounded at her beauty and said to her,

[8] "May the God of our fathers bring you to favor, and make your undertaking a success, for the glory of the Israelites and the exaltation of Jerusalem." Judith bowed down to God. Then she said to them,

[9] "Order the gate of the city opened for me, that I may go to carry out the business we discussed." So they ordered the youths to open the gate for her as she requested.

[10] When they did so, Judith and her maid went out. The men of the city kept her in view as she went down the mountain and crossed the valley; then they lost sight of her.

[11] As Judith and her maid walked directly across the valley, they encountered the Assyrian outpost.

[12] 1 The men took her in custody and asked her, "To what people do you belong? Where do you come from, and where are you going?" She replied: "I am a daughter of the Hebrews, and I am fleeing from them, because they are about to be delivered up to you as prey.

[13] I have come to see Holofernes, the general in chief of your forces, to give him a trustworthy report; I will show him the route by which he can ascend and take possession of the whole mountain district without a single one of his men suffering injury or loss of life."

[14] When the men heard her words and gazed upon her face, which appeared wondrously beautiful to them, they said to her,

[15] "By coming down thus promptly to see our master, you have saved your life. Now go to his tent; some of our men will accompany you to present you to him.

[16] When you stand before him, have no fear in your heart; give him the report you speak of, and he will treat you well."

[17] So they detailed a hundred of their men as an escort for her and her maid, and these conducted them to the tent of Holofernes.

[18] When the news of her arrival spread among the tents, a crowd gathered in the camp. They came and stood around her as she waited outside the tent of Holofernes, while he was being informed about her.

[19] They marveled at her beauty, regarding the Israelites with wonder because of her, and they said to one another, "Who can despise this people that has such women among them? It is not wise to leave one man of them alive, for if any were to be spared they could beguile the whole world."

[20] The guard of Holofernes and all his servants came out and ushered her into the tent.

[21] Now Holofernes was reclining on his bed under a canopy with a netting of crimson and gold, emeralds and other precious stones.

[22] When they announced her to him, he came out to the antechamber, preceded by silver lamps;

[23] and when Holofernes and his servants beheld Judith, they all marveled at the beauty of her face. She threw herself down prostrate before him, but his servants raised her up.

Judith Chapter 11

[1] Then Holofernes said to her: "Take courage, lady; have no fear in your heart! Never have I harmed anyone who chose to serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of all the earth.

[2] Nor would I have raised my spear against your people who dwell in the mountain region, had they not despised me and brought this upon themselves.

[3] But now tell me why you fled from them and came to us. In any case, you have come to safety. Take courage! Your life is spared tonight and for the future.

[4] No one at all will harm you. Rather, you will be well treated, as are all the servants of my lord, King Nebuchadnezzar."

[5] Judith answered him: "Listen to the words of your servant, and let your handmaid speak in your presence! I will tell no lie to my lord this night,

[6] and if you follow out the words of your handmaid, God will give you complete success, and my lord will not fail in any of his undertakings.

[7] By the life of Nebuchadnezzar, king of all the earth, and by the power of him who has sent you to set all creatures aright! not only do men serve him through you; but even the wild beasts and the cattle and the birds of the air, because of your strength, will live for Nebuchadnezzar and his whole house.

[8] Indeed, we have heard of your wisdom and sagacity, and all the world is aware that throughout the kingdom you alone are competent, rich in experience, and distinguished in military strategy.

[9] "As for Achior's speech in your council, we have heard of it. When the men of Bethulia spared him, he told them all he had said to you.

[10] So then, my lord and master, do not disregard his word, but bear it in mind, for it is true. For our people are not punished, nor does the sword prevail against them, except when they sin against their God.

[11] But now their guilt has caught up with them, by which they bring the wrath of their God upon them whenever they do wrong; so that my lord will not be repulsed and fail, but death will overtake them.

[12] Since their food gave out and all their water ran low, they decided to kill their animals, and determined to consume all the things which God in his laws forbade them to eat.

[13] They decreed that they would use up the first fruits of grain and the tithes of wine and oil which they had sanctified and reserved for the priests who minister in the presence of our God in Jerusalem: things which no layman should even touch with his hands.

[14] They have sent messengers to Jerusalem to bring back to them authorization from the council of the elders; for the inhabitants there have also done these things.

[15] On the very day when the response reaches them and they act upon it, they will be handed over to you for destruction.

[16] "As soon as I, your handmaid, learned all this, I fled from them. God has sent me to perform with you such deeds that people throughout the world will be astonished on hearing of them.

[17] Your handmaid is, indeed, a God-fearing woman, serving the God of heaven night and day. Now I will remain with you, my lord; but each night your handmaid will go out to the ravine and pray to God. He will tell me when the Israelites have committed their crimes.

[18] Then I will come and let you know, so that you may go out with your whole force, and not one of them will be able to withstand you.

[19] I will lead you through Judea, till you come to Jerusalem, and there I will set up your judgment seat. You will drive them like sheep that have no shepherd, and not even a dog will growl at you. This was told me, and announced to me in advance, and I in turn have been sent to tell you."

[20] Her words pleased Holofernes and all his servants; they marveled at her wisdom and exclaimed,

[21] "No other woman from one end of the world to the other looks so beautiful and speaks so wisely!"

[22] Then Holofernes said to her: "God has done well in sending you ahead of your people, to bring victory to our arms, and destruction to those who have despised my lord.

[23] You are fair to behold, and your words are well spoken. If you do as you have said, your God will be my God; you shall dwell in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar, and shall be renowned throughout the earth."

Judith Chapter 12

[1] Then he ordered them to lead her into the room where his silverware was kept, and bade them set a table for her with his own delicacies to eat and his own wine to drink.

[2] But Judith said, "I will not partake of them, lest it be an occasion of sin; but I shall be amply supplied from the things I brought with me."

[3] Holofernes asked her: "But if your provisions give out, where shall we get more of the same to provide for you? None of your people are with us."

[4] Judith answered him, "As surely as you, my lord, live, your handmaid will not use up her supplies till the Lord accomplishes by my hand what he has determined."

[5] Then the servants of Holofernes led her into the tent, where she slept till midnight. In the night watch just before dawn, she rose

[6] and sent this message to Holofernes, "Give orders, my lord, to let your handmaid go out for prayer."

[7] So Holofernes ordered his bodyguard not to hinder her. Thus she stayed in the camp three days. Each night she went out to the ravine of Bethulia, where she washed herself at the spring of the camp.

[8] After bathing, she besought the Lord, the God of Israel, to direct her way for the triumph of his people.

[9] Then she returned purified to the tent, and remained there until her food was brought to her toward evening.

[10] 1 On the fourth day Holofernes gave a banquet for his servants alone, to which he did not invite any of the officers.

[11] And he said to Bagoas, the eunuch in charge of his household: "Go and persuade this Hebrew woman in your care to come and to eat and drink with us.

[12] It would be a disgrace for us to have such a woman with us without enjoying her company. If we do not entice her, she will laugh us to scorn."

[13] So Bagoas left the presence of Holofernes, and came to Judith and said, "So fair a maiden should not be reluctant to come to my lord to be honored by him, to enjoy drinking wine with us, and to be like one of the Assyrian women who live in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar."

[14] She replied, "Who am I to refuse my lord? Whatever is pleasing to him I will promptly do. This will be a joy for me till the day of my death."

[15] Thereupon she proceeded to put on her festive garments and all her feminine adornments. Meanwhile her maid went ahead and spread out on the ground for her in front of Holofernes the fleece Bagoas had furnished for her daily use in reclining at her dinner.

[16] Then Judith came in and reclined on it. The heart of Holofernes was in rapture over her, and his spirit was shaken. He was burning with the desire to possess her, for he had been biding his time to seduce her from the day he saw her.

[17] Holofernes said to her, "Drink and be merry with us!"

[18] Judith replied, "I will gladly drink, my lord, for at no time since I was born have I ever enjoyed life as much as I do today."

[19] She then took the things her maid had prepared, and ate and drank in his presence.

[20] Holofernes, charmed by her, drank a great quantity of wine, more than he had ever drunk on one single day in his life.

Judith Chapter 13

[1] When it grew late, his servants quickly withdrew. Bagoas closed the tent from the outside and excluded the attendants from their master's presence. They went off to their beds, for they were all tired from the prolonged banquet.

[2] Judith was left alone in the tent with Holofernes, who lay prostrate on his bed, for he was sodden with wine.

[3] She had ordered her maid to stand outside the bedroom and wait, as on the other days, for her to come out; she said she would be going out for her prayer. To Bagoas she had said this also.

[4] When all had departed, and no one, small or great, was left in the bedroom, Judith stood by Holofernes' bed and said within herself: "O Lord, God of all might, in this hour look graciously on my undertaking for the exaltation of Jerusalem;

[5] now is the time for aiding your heritage and for carrying out my design to shatter the enemies who have risen against us."

[6] She went to the bedpost near the head of Holofernes, and taking his sword from it,

[7] drew close to the bed, grasped the hair of his head, and said, "Strengthen me this day, O God of Israel!"

[8] Then with all her might she struck him twice in the neck and cut off his head.

[9] She rolled his body off the bed and took the canopy from its supports. Soon afterward, she came out and handed over the head of Holofernes to her maid,

[10] who put it into her food pouch; and the two went off together as they were accustomed to do for prayer. They passed through the camp, and skirting the ravine, reached Bethulia on the mountain. As they approached its gates,

[11] Judith shouted to the guards from a distance: "Open! Open the gate! God, our God, is with us. Once more he has made manifest his strength in Israel and his power against our enemies; he has done it this very day."

[12] When the citizens heard her voice, they quickly descended to their city gate and summoned the city elders.

[13] All the people, from the least to the greatest, hurriedly assembled, for her return seemed unbelievable. They opened the gate and welcomed the two women. They made a fire for light; and when they gathered around the two,

[14] Judith urged them with a loud voice: "Praise God, praise him! Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has shattered our enemies by my hand this very night."

[15] Then she took the head out of the pouch, showed it to them, and said: "Here is the head of Holofernes, general in charge of the Assyrian army, and here is the canopy under which he lay in his drunkenness. The Lord struck him down by the hand of a woman.

[16] As the Lord lives, who has protected me in the path I have followed, I swear that it was my face that seduced Holofernes to his ruin, and that he did not sin with me to my defilement or disgrace."

[17] All the people were greatly astonished. They bowed down and worshiped God, saying with one accord, "Blessed are you, our God, who today have brought to nought the enemies of your people."

[18] Then Uzziah said to her: "Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who guided your blow at the head of the chief of our enemies.

[19] Your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those who tell of the might of God.

[20] May God make this redound to your everlasting honor, rewarding you with blessings, because you risked your life when your people were being oppressed, and you averted our disaster, walking uprightly before our God." And all the people answered, "Amen! Amen!"

Judith Chapter 14

[1] Then Judith said to them: "Listen to me, my brothers. Take this head and hang it on the parapet of your wall.

[2] At daybreak, when the sun rises on the earth, let each of you seize his weapons, and let all the able-bodied men rush out of the city under command of a captain, as if about to go down into the plain against the advance guard of the Assyrians, but without going down.

[3] They will seize their armor and hurry to their camp to awaken the generals of the Assyrian army. When they run to the tent of Holofernes and do not find him, panic will seize them, and they will flee before you.

[4] Then you and all the other inhabitants of the whole territory of Israel will pursue them and strike them down in their tracks.

[5] But before doing this, summon for me Achior the Ammonite, that he may see and recognize the one who despised the house of Israel and sent him here to meet his death."

[6] 1 So they called Achior from the house of Uzziah. When he came and saw the head of Holofernes in the hand of one of the men in the assembly of the people, he fell forward in a faint.

[7] Then, after they lifted him up, he threw himself at the feet of Judith in homage, saying: "Blessed are you in every tent of Judah; and in every foreign nation, all who hear of you will be struck with terror.

[8] But now, tell me all that you did during these days." So Judith told him, in the presence of the people, all that she had been doing from the day she left till the time she began speaking to them.

[9] When she finished her account, the people cheered loudly, and their city resounded with shouts of joy.

[10] Now Achior, seeing all that the God of Israel had done, believed firmly in him. He had the flesh of his foreskin circumcised, and he has been united with the house of Israel to the present day.

[11] At daybreak they hung the head of Holofernes on the wall. Then all the Israelite men took up their arms and went to the slopes of the mountain.

[12] When the Assyrians saw them, they notified their captains; these, in turn, went to the generals and division leaders and all their other commanders.

[13] They came to the tent of Holofernes and said to the one in charge of all his things, "Waken our master, for the slaves have dared come down to give us battle, to their utter destruction."

[14] Bagoas went in, and knocked at the entry of the tent, presuming that he was sleeping with Judith.

[15] As no one answered, he parted the curtains, entered the bedroom, and found him lying on the floor, a headless corpse.

[16] He broke into a loud clamor of weeping, groaning, and howling, and rent his garments.

[17] Then he entered the tent where Judith had her quarters; and, not finding her, he rushed out to the troops and cried:

[18] "The slaves have duped us! A single Hebrew woman has brought disgrace on the house of King Nebuchadnezzar. Here is Holofernes headless on the ground!"

[19] When the commanders of the Assyrian army heard these words, they rent their tunics and were seized with consternation. Loud screaming and howling arose in the camp.

Judith Chapter 15

[1] On hearing what had happened, those still in their tents were amazed,

[2] and overcome with fear and trembling. No one kept ranks any longer; they scattered in all directions, and fled along every road, both through the valley and in the mountains.

[3] Those also who were stationed in the mountain district around Bethulia took to flight. Then all the Israelite warriors overwhelmed them.

[4] Uzziah sent messengers to Betomasthaim, to Choba and Kona, and to the whole country of Israel to report what had happened, that all might fall upon the enemy and destroy them.

[5] On hearing this, all the Israelites, with one accord, attacked them and cut them down as far as Choba. Even those from Jerusalem and the rest of the mountain region took part in this, for they too had been notified of the happenings in the camp of their enemies. The Gileadites and the Galileans struck the enemy's flanks with great slaughter, even beyond Damascus and its territory.

[6] The remaining inhabitants of Bethulia swept down on the camp of the Assyrians, plundered it, and acquired great riches.

[7] The Israelites who returned from the slaughter took possession of what was left, till the towns and villages in the mountains and on the plain were crammed with the enormous quantity of booty they had seized.

[8] The high priest Joakim and the elders of the Israelites, who dwelt in Jerusalem, came to see for themselves the good things that the Lord had done for Israel, and to meet and congratulate Judith.

[9] 1 When they had visited her, all with one accord blessed her, saying: "You are the glory of Jerusalem, the surpassing joy of Israel; You are the splendid boast of our people.

[10] With your own hand you have done all this; You have done good to Israel, and God is pleased with what you have wrought. May you be blessed by the Lord Almighty forever and ever!" And all the people answered, "Amen!"

[11] For thirty days the whole populace plundered the camp, giving Judith the tent of Holofernes, with all his silver, his couches, his dishes, and all his furniture, which she accepted. She harnessed her mules, hitched her wagons to them, and loaded these things on them.

[12] All the women of Israel gathered to see her; and they blessed her and performed a dance in her honor. She took branches in her hands and distributed them to the women around her,

[13] and she and the other women crowned themselves with garlands of olive leaves. At the head of all the people, she led the women in the dance, while the men of Israel followed in their armor, wearing garlands and singing hymns.

[14] Judith led all Israel in this song of thanksgiving, and the people swelled this hymn of praise:

Judith Chapter 16

[1] "Strike up the instruments, a song to my God with timbrels, chant to the Lord with cymbals; Sing to him a new song, exalt and acclaim his name.

[2] For the Lord is God; he crushes warfare, and sets his encampment among his people; he snatched me from the hands of my presecutors.

[3] "The Assyrian came from the mountains of the north, with the myriads of his forces he came; Their numbers blocked the torrents, their horses covered the hills.

[4] He threatened to burn my land, put my youths to the sword, Dash my babes to the ground, make my children a prey, and seize my virgins as spoil.

[5] "But the Lord Almighty thwarted them, by a woman's hand he confounded them.

[6] Not by youths was their mighty one struck down, nor did titans bring him low, nor huge giants attack him; But Judith, the daughter of Merari, by the beauty of her countenance disabled him.

[7] She took off her widow's garb to raise up the afflicted in Israel. She anointed her face with fragrant oil;

[8] with a fillet she fastened her tresses, and put on a linen robe to beguile him.

[9] Her sandals caught his eyes, and her beauty captivated his mind. The sword cut through his neck.

[10] "The Persians were dismayed at her daring, the Medes appalled at her boldness.

[11] When my lowly ones shouted, they were terrified; when my weaklings cried out, they trembled; at the sound of their war cry, they took to flight.

[12] Sons of slave girls pierced them through; the supposed sons of rebel mothers cut them down; they perished before the ranks of my Lord.

[13] "A new hymn I will sing to my God. O Lord, great are you and glorious, wonderful in power and unsurpassable.

[14] Let your every creature serve you; for you spoke, and they were made, You sent forth your spirit, and they were created; no one can resist your word.

[15] The mountains to their bases, and the seas, are shaken; the rocks, like wax, melt before your glance. "But to those who fear you, you are very merciful.

[16] Though the sweet odor of every sacrifice is a trifle, and the fat of all holocausts but little in your sight, one who fears the Lord is forever great.

[17] 1 "Woe to the nations that rise against my people! the Lord Almighty will requite them; in the day of judgment he will punish them: He will send fire and worms into their flesh, and they shall burn and suffer forever."

[18] The people then went to Jerusalem to worship God; when they were purified, they offered their holocausts, freewill offerings, and gifts.

[19] Judith dedicated, as a votive offering to God, all the things of Holofernes that the people had given her, as well as the canopy that she herself had taken from his bedroom.

[20] For three months the people continued their celebration in Jerusalem before the sanctuary, and Judith remained with them.

[21] When those days were over, each one returned to his inheritance. Judith went back to Bethulia and remained on her estate. For the rest of her life she was renowned throughout the land.

[22] Many wished to marry her, but she gave herself to no man all the days of her life from the time of the death and burial of her husband, Manasseh.

[23] She lived to be very old in the house of her husband, reaching the advanced age of a hundred and five. She died in Bethulia, where they buried her in the tomb of her husband, Manasseh;

[24] and the house of Israel mourned her for seven days. Before she died, she distributed her goods to the relatives of her husband, Manasseh, and to her own relatives; and to the maid she gave her freedom.

[25] 2 During the life of Judith and for a long time after her death, no one again disturbed the Israelites.

Introduction to Esther

Esther

Introduction

The Book of Esther is named after its Jewish heroine. It tells the story of the plot of Haman the Agagite, jealous and powerful vizier of King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) of Persia (485-464 B.C.), to destroy in a single day all the Jews living in the Persian Empire. He is moved to this out of hatred for the Jewish servant Mordecai, who for religious motives refuses to render him homage. The day of the proposed massacre is determined by lot. Meanwhile Esther, niece and adopted daughter of Mordecai, is chosen queen by King Xerxes in place of Vashti. She averts the pogrom planned against her people and has the royal decree of extermination reversed against Haman and the enemies of the Jews. Mordecai replaces Haman, and together with Esther, works for the welfare of their people. The event is celebrated with feasting and great joy, and the memory of it is to be perpetuated by the annual observance of the feast of Purim (lots), when the lot of destruction for the Jews was reversed for one of deliverance and triumph by Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai.

The purpose of the book is didactic: the glorification of the Jewish people and the explanation of the origin, significance and date of the feast of Purim on the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar (February-March). The book was intended as a consolation for Israel, a reminder that God's providence continually watches over them, never abandoning them when they serve him faithfully or turn to him in sincere repentance. There is no justification for interpreting the story in mythological or cultic terms, as though Mordecai and Esther represented Marduk and Ishtar in their mythological triumph over two Elamite deities.

The Hebrew text of Esther is found in the Hebrew Bible, where it is the last of the five megilloth (scrolls) read on special feasts of the Jewish liturgical year.

The book is a free composition-not a historical document, despite the Achaemenian coloring of the narrative. Its time of composition may well have been at the end of the Persian Empire, toward the close of the fourth century B.C. The author shows skill in developing his story and in using the art of contrast for instruction and edification. The solution to the difficulties of the book is to be found in its literary presentation rather than in a forced attempt to square detailed data of the narrative with facts. The evident literary motif of the reversal of fortune of the prosperous wicked and the oppressed virtuous through eventual punishment of the former and triumph of the latter, finds parallels in the story of Joseph (Gn 37; 39-45) and of Judith (8-16). The book is vindictive, but it should be remembered that the precept of love of enemies had not yet been taught by the word and example of Christ.

The text of Esther, written originally in Hebrew, was transmitted in two forms: a short Hebrew form and a longer Greek version. The latter contains 107 additional verses, inserted at appropriate places within the Hebrew form of the text. A few of these seem to have a Hebrew origin while the rest are Greek in original composition. It is possible that the Hebrew form of the text is original throughout. If it systematically omits reference to God and his Providence over Israel, this is perhaps due to fear of irreverent response (see note on 4, 14). The Greek text with the above-mentioned additions is probably a later literary paraphrase in which the author seeks to have the reader share his sentiments. This standard Greek text is pre-Christian in origin. The church has accepted the additions as equally inspired with the rest of the book.

In the present translation, the portions preceded by the letters A through F indicate the underlying Greek additions referred to above. The regular chapter numbers apply to the Hebrew text.

The book may be divided as follows:

Prologue (A, 1-17)

Elevation of Esther (1, 1-2, 23)

Haman's Plot against the Jews (3, 1-13; B, 1-7; 3, 14-4, 8; B, 8; 4, 9-16; C, 1-D, 16; 5, 1-14)

Vindication of the Jews (6, 1-8, 12; E, 1-24; 8, 13-10, 3)

Epilogue (F, 1-11)

The order of the Vulgate text in relation to the order of the Greek text is as follows:

Vulg. 11, 2-12, 6 == A, 1-17 at the beginning of the book.

13, 1-7 == B, 1-7 after 3, 13.

13, 8-15, 3-19 == C, 1-D, 16 after 4, 16.

15, 1-2 == B, 8.9 after 4, 8.

16, 1-24 == E, 1-24 after 8, 12.

10, 4-10, 13 == F, 1-10 after 10, 3.

Esther Chapter 1

[1] 1 During the reign of Ahasuerus-this was the Ahasuerus who ruled over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia-

[2] 2 while he was occupying the royal throne in the stronghold of Susa,

[3] in the third year of his reign, he presided over a feast for all his officers and ministers: the Persian and Median aristocracy, the nobles, and the governors of the provinces.

[4] For as many as a hundred and eighty days, he displayed the glorious riches of his kingdom and the resplendent wealth of his royal estate.

[5] At the end of this time the king gave a feast of seven days in the garden court of the royal palace for all the people, great and small, who were in the stronghold of Susa.

[6] There were white cotton draperies and violet hangings, held by cords of crimson byssus from silver rings on marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were on the pavement, which was of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and colored stones.

[7] Liquor was served in a variety of golden cups, and the royal wine flowed freely, as befitted the king's munificence.

[8] By ordinance of the king the drinking was unstinted, for he had instructed all the stewards of his household to comply with the good pleasure of everyone.

[9] 3 Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women inside the royal palace of King Ahasuerus.

[10] On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he instructed Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who attended King Ahasuerus,

[11] to bring Queen Vashti into his presence wearing the royal crown, that he might display her beauty to the populace and the officials, for she was lovely to behold.

[12] But Queen Vashti refused to come at the royal order issued through the eunuchs. At this the king's wrath flared up, and he burned with fury.

[13] He conferred with the wise men versed in the law, because the king's business was conducted in general consultation with lawyers and jurists.

[14] He summoned Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven Persian and Median officials who were in the king's personal service and held first rank in the realm,

[15] and asked them, "What is to be done by law with Queen Vashti for disobeying the order of King Ahasuerus issued through the eunuchs?"

[16] In the presence of the king and of the officials, Memucan answered: "Queen Vashti has not wronged the king alone, but all the officials and the populace throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

[17] For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women, and they will look with disdain upon their husbands when it is reported, "King Ahasuerus commanded that Queen Vashti be ushered into his presence, but she would not come.'

[18] This very day the Persian and Median ladies who hear of the queen's conduct will rebel against all the royal officials, with corresponding disdain and rancor.

[19] 4 If it please the king, let an irrevocable royal decree be issued by him and inscribed among the laws of the Persians and Medes, forbidding Vashti to come into the presence of King Ahasuerus and authorizing the king to give her royal dignity to one more worthy than she.

[20] Thus, when the decree which the king will issue is published throughout his realm, vast as it is, all wives will honor their husbands, from the greatest to the least."

[21] This proposal found acceptance with the king and the officials, and the king acted on the advice of Memucan.

[22] 5 He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, to the effect that every man should be lord in his own home.

Esther Chapter 2

[1] After this, when King Ahasuerus' wrath had cooled, he thought over what Vashti had done and what had been decreed against her.

[2] Then the king's personal attendants suggested: "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

[3] Let the king appoint commissaries in all the provinces of his realm to bring together all beautiful young virgins to the harem in the stronghold of Susa. Under the care of the royal eunuch Hegai, custodian of the women, let cosmetics be given them.

[4] Then the girl who pleases the king shall reign in place of Vashti." This suggestion pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.

[5] There was in the stronghold of Susa a certain Jew named Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,

[6] who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the captives taken with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had deported.

[7] 1 He was foster father to Hadassah, that is, Esther, his cousin; for she had lost both father and mother. The girl was beautifully formed and lovely to behold. On the death of her father and mother, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.

[8] When the king's order and decree had been obeyed and many maidens brought together to the stronghold of Susa under the care of Hegai, Esther also was brought in to the royal palace under the care of Hegai, custodian of the women.

[9] The girl pleased him and won his favor. So he promptly furnished her with cosmetics and provisions. Then picking out seven maids for her from the royal palace, he transferred both her and her maids to the best place in the harem.

[10] Esther did not reveal her nationality or family, for Mordecai had commanded her not to do so.

[11] Day by day Mordecai would walk about in front of the court of the harem, to learn how Esther was faring and what was to become of her.

[12] Each girl went in turn to visit King Ahasuerus after the twelve months' preparation decreed for the women. Of this period of beautifying treatment, six months were spent with oil of myrrh, and the other six months with perfumes and cosmetics.

[13] Then, when the girl was to visit the king, she was allowed to take with her from the harem to the royal palace whatever she chose.

[14] She would go in the evening and return in the morning to a second harem under the care of the royal eunuch Shaashgaz, custodian of the concubines. She could not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and had her summoned by name.

[15] As for Esther, daughter of Abihail and adopted daughter of his nephew Mordecai, when her turn came to visit the king, she did not ask for anything but what the royal eunuch Hegai, custodian of the women, suggested. Yet she won the admiration of all who saw her.

[16] Esther was led to King Ahasuerus in his palace in the tenth month, Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

[17] The king loved Esther more than all other women, and of all the virgins she won his favor and benevolence. So he placed the royal diadem on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

[18] 2 Then the king gave a great feast in honor of Esther to all his officials and ministers, granting a holiday to the provinces and bestowing gifts with royal bounty.

[19] 3 [To resume: From the time the virgins had been brought together, and while Mordecai was passing his time at the king's gate,

[20] Esther had not revealed her family or nationality, because Mordecai had told her not to; and Esther continued to follow Mordecai's instructions, just as she had when she was being brought up by him.

[21] 4 And during the time that Mordecai spent at the king's gate, Bagathan and Thares, two of the royal eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had plotted in anger to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

[22] When the plot became known to Mordecai, he told Queen Esther, who in turn informed the king for Mordecai.

[23] 5 The matter was investigated and verified, and both of them were hanged on a gibbet. This was written in the annals for the king's use.]

Esther Chapter 3

[1] After these events King Ahasuerus raised Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, to high rank, seating him above all his fellow officials.

[2] 1 All the king's servants who were at the royal gate would kneel and bow down to Haman, for that is what the king had ordered in his regard. Mordecai, however, would not kneel and bow down.

[3] The king's servants who were at the royal gate said to Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's order?"

[4] When they had reminded him day after day and he would not listen to them, they informed Haman, to see whether Mordecai's explanation was acceptable, since he had told them that he was a Jew.

[5] When Haman observed that Mordecai would not kneel and bow down to him, he was filled with anger.

[6] Moreover, he thought it was not enough to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Since they had told Haman of Mordecai's nationality, he sought to destroy all the Jews, Mordecai's people, throughout the realm of King Ahasuerus.

[7] 2 In the first month, Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, the pur, or lot, was cast in Haman's presence to determine the day and the month for the destruction of Mordecai's people on a single day, and the lot fell on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar.

[8] Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus: "Dispersed among the nations throughout the provinces of your kingdom, there is a certain people living apart, with laws differing from those of every other people. They do not obey the laws of the king, and so it is not proper for the king to tolerate them.

[9] If it please the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them; and I will deliver to the procurators ten thousand silver talents for deposit in the royal treasury."

[10] 3 The king took the signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

[11] "The silver you may keep," the king said to Haman, "but as for this people, do with them whatever you please."

[12] So the royal scribes were summoned; and on the thirteenth day of the first month they wrote, at the dictation of Haman, an order to the royal satraps, the governors of every province, and the officials of every people, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the royal signet ring.

[13] Letters were sent by couriers to all the royal provinces, that all the Jews, young and old, including women and children, should be killed, destroyed, wiped out in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, and that their goods should be seized as spoil.

Esther Chapter 4

[1] When Mordecai learned all that was happening, he tore his garments, put on sackcloth and ashes, and walked through the city crying out loudly and bitterly,

[2] till he came before the royal gate, which no one clothed in sackcloth might enter.

[3] (Likewise in each of the provinces, wherever the king's legal enactment reached, the Jews went into deep mourning, with fasting, weeping, and lament; they all slept on sackcloth and ashes.)

[4] Queen Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her. Overwhelmed with anguish, she sent garments for Mordecai to put on, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he refused.

[5] Esther then summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs whom he had placed at her service, and commanded him to find out what this action of Mordecai meant and the reason for it.

[6] So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the public square in front of the royal gate,

[7] and Mordecai told him all that had happened, as well as the exact amount of silver Haman had promised to pay to the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.

[8] He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction which had been promulgated in Susa, to show and explain to Esther. He was to instruct her to go to the king; she was to plead and intercede with him in behalf of her people.

[9] Invoke the Lord and speak to the king for us: save us from death." Hathach returned to Esther and told her what Mordecai had said.

[10] Then Esther replied to Hathach and gave him this message for Mordecai:

[11] "All the servants of the king and the people of his provinces know that any man or woman who goes to the king in the inner court without being summoned, suffers the automatic penalty of death, unless the king extends to him the golden scepter, thus sparing his life. Now as for me, I have not been summoned to the king for thirty days."

[12] When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai,

[13] he had this reply brought to her: "Do not imagine that because you are in the king's palace, you alone of all the Jews will escape.

[14] 1 Even if you now remain silent, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another source; but you and your father's house will perish. Who knows but that it was for a time like this that you obtained the royal dignity?"

[15] Esther sent back to Mordecai the response:

[16] "Go and assemble all the Jews who are in Susa; fast on my behalf, all of you, not eating or drinking, night or day, for three days. I and my maids will also fast in the same way. Thus prepared, I will go to the king, contrary to the law. If I perish, I perish!"

Esther Chapter 5

[1] 1 [Now on the third day, Esther put on her royal garments and stood in the inner courtyard, looking toward the royal palace, while the king was seated on his royal throne in the audience chamber, facing the palace doorway.

[2] He saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, and made her welcome by extending toward her the golden staff which he held. She came up to him, and touched the top of the staff.]

[3] Then the king said to her, "What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even if it is half of my kingdom, it shall be granted you."

[4] "If it please your majesty," Esther replied, "come today with Haman to a banquet I have prepared."

[5] And the king ordered, "Have Haman make haste to fulfill the wish of Esther." So the king went with Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.

[6] During the drinking of the wine, the king said to Esther, "Whatever you ask for shall be granted, and whatever request you make shall be honored, even if it is for half my kingdom."

[7] Esther replied: "This is my petition and request:

[8] if I have found favor with the king and if it pleases your majesty to grant my petition and honor my request, come with Haman tomorrow to a banquet which I shall prepare for you; and then I will do as you ask."

[9] That day Haman left happy and in good spirits. But when he saw that Mordecai at the royal gate did not rise, and showed no fear of him, he was filled with anger toward him.

[10] Haman restrained himself, however, and went home, where he summoned his friends and his wife Zeresh.

[11] He recounted the greatness of his riches, the large number of his sons, and just how the king had promoted him and placed him above the officials and royal servants.

[12] "Moreover," Haman added, "Queen Esther invited no one but me to the banquet with the king; again tomorrow I am to be her guest, with the king.

[13] Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I continue to see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the royal gate."

[14] His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Have a gibbet set up, fifty cubits in height, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king in good cheer." This suggestion pleased Haman, and he had the gibbet erected.

Esther Chapter 6

[1] That night the king, unable to sleep, asked that the chronicle of notable events be brought in. While this was being read to him,

[2] the passage occurred in which Mordecai reported Bagathan and Teresh, two of the royal eunuchs who guarded the entrance, for seeking to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

[3] The king asked, "What was done to reward and honor Mordecai for this?" The king's attendants replied, "Nothing was done for him."

[4] "Who is in the court?" the king asked. Now Haman had entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest to the king that Mordecai should be hanged on the gibbet he had raised for him.

[5] The king's servants answered him, "Haman is waiting in the court." "Let him come in," the king said.

[6] When Haman entered, the king said to him, "What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to reward?" Now Haman thought to himself, "Whom would the king more probably wish to reward than me?"

[7] So he replied to the king: "For the man whom the king wishes to reward

[8] there should be brought the royal robe which the king wore and the horse on which the king rode when the royal crown was placed on his head.

[9] The robe and the horse should be consigned to one of the noblest of the king's officials, who must clothe the man the king wishes to reward, have him ride on the horse in the public square of the city, and cry out before him, "This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to reward!' "

[10] Then the king said to Haman: "Hurry! Take the robe and horse as you have proposed, and do this for the Jew Mordecai, who is sitting at the royal gate. Do not omit anything you proposed."

[11] So Haman took the robe and horse, clothed Mordecai, had him ride in the public square of the city, and cried out before him, "This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to reward!"

[12] Mordecai then returned to the royal gate, while Haman hurried home, his head covered in grief.

[13] When he told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you are beginning to decline, is of the Jewish race, you will not prevail against him, but will surely be defeated by him."

[14] While they were speaking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Esther Chapter 7

[1] So the king and Haman went to the banquet with Queen Esther.

[2] Again, on this second day, during the drinking of the wine, the king said to Esther, "Whatever you ask, Queen Esther, shall be granted you. Whatever request you make shall be honored, even for half the kingdom."

[3] Queen Esther replied: "If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, I ask that my life be spared, and I beg that you spare the lives of my people.

[4] For my people and I have been delivered to destruction, slaughter, and extinction. If we were to be sold into slavery I would remain silent, but as it is, the enemy will be unable to compensate for the harm done to the king."

[5] "Who and where," said King Ahasuerus to Queen Esther, "is the man who has dared to do this?"

[6] Esther replied, "The enemy oppressing us is this wicked Haman." At this, Haman was seized with dread of the king and queen.

[7] The king left the banquet in anger and went into the garden of the palace, but Haman stayed to beg Queen Esther for his life, since he saw that the king had decided on his doom.

[8] When the king returned from the garden of the palace to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch on which Esther was reclining; and the king exclaimed, "Will he also violate the queen while she is with me in my own house!" Scarcely had the king spoken when the face of Haman was covered over.

[9] Harbona, one of the eunuchs who attended the king, said, "At the house of Haman stands a gibbet fifty cubits high. Haman prepared it for Mordecai, who gave the report that benefited the king." The king answered, "Hang him on it."

[10] So they hanged Haman on the gibbet which he had made ready for Mordecai, and the anger of the king abated.

Esther Chapter 8

[1] That day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai was admitted to the king's presence, for Esther had revealed his relationship to her.

[2] The king removed his signet ring from Haman, and transferred it into the keeping of Mordecai; and Esther put Mordecai in charge of the house of Haman.

[3] In another audience with the king, Esther fell at his feet and tearfully implored him to revoke the harm done by Haman the Agagite, and the plan he had devised against the Jews.

[4] The king stretched forth the golden scepter to Esther. So she rose and, standing in his presence,

[5] said: "If it pleases your majesty and seems proper to you, and if I have found favor with you and you love me, let a document be issued to revoke the letters which that schemer Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, wrote for the destruction of the Jews in all the royal provinces.

[6] For how can I witness the evil that is to befall my people, and how can I behold the destruction of my race?"

[7] King Ahasuerus then said to Queen Esther and to the Jew Mordecai: "Now that I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gibbet because he attacked the Jews,

[8] 1 you in turn may write in the king's name what you see fit concerning the Jews and seal the letter with the royal signet ring." For whatever is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.

[9] At that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, Sivan, the royal scribes were summoned. Exactly as Mordecai dictated, they wrote to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and officials of the hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia: to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

[10] These letters, which he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the royal signet ring, he sent by mounted couriers riding thoroughbred royal steeds.

[11] In these letters the king authorized the Jews in each and every city to group together and defend their lives, and to kill, destroy, wipe out, along with their wives and children, every armed group of any nation or province which should attack them, and to seize their goods as spoil

[12] throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on a single day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month, Adar.

[13] 2 A copy of the letter to be promulgated as law in each and every province was published among all the peoples, so that the Jews might be prepared on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

[14] Couriers mounted on royal steeds sped forth in haste at the king's order, and the decree was promulgated in the stronghold of Susa.

[15] Mordecai left the king's presence clothed in a royal robe of violet and of white cotton, with a large crown of gold and a cloak of crimson byssus. The city of Susa shouted with joy,

[16] and there was splendor and merriment for the Jews, exultation and triumph.

[17] In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king's order arrived, there was merriment and exultation, banqueting and feasting for the Jews. And many of the peoples of the land embraced Judaism, for they were seized with a fear of the Jews.

Esther Chapter 9

[1] When the day arrived on which the order decreed by the king was to be carried out, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to become masters of them, the situation was reversed: the Jews became masters of their enemies.

[2] The Jews mustered in their cities throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus to attack those who sought to do them harm, and no one could withstand them, but all peoples were seized with a fear of them.

[3] Moreover, all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, governors, and royal procurators supported the Jews from fear of Mordecai;

[4] for Mordecai was powerful in the royal palace, and the report was spreading through all the provinces that he was continually growing in power.

[5] The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them; they did to their enemies as they pleased.

[6] In the stronghold of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

[7] They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

[8] Porathai, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha,

Esther Chapter 10

[1] King Ahasuerus laid tribute on the land and on the islands of the sea.

[2] All the acts of his power and valor, as well as a detailed account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are recorded in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia.

[3] The Jew Mordecai was next in rank to King Ahasuerus, in high standing among the Jews, and was regarded with favor by his many brethren, as the promoter of his people's welfare and the herald of peace for his whole race.

Esther Chapter F

[1] Then Mordecai said: "This is the work of God.

[2] I recall the dream I had about these very things, and not a single detail has been left unfulfilled-

[3] the tiny spring that grew into a river, the light of the sun, the many waters. The river is Esther, whom the king married and made queen.

[4] The two dragons are myself and Haman.

[5] The nations are those who assembled to destroy the name of the Jews,

[6] but my people is Israel, who cried to God and was saved. "The LORD saved his people and delivered us from all these evils. God worked signs and great wonders, such as have not occurred among the nations.

[7] 1 For this purpose he arranged two lots: one for the people of God, the second for all the other nations.

[8] These two lots were fulfilled in the hour, the time, and the day of judgment before God and among all the nations.

[9] God remembered his people and rendered justice to his inheritance.

[10] 2 "Gathering together with joy and happiness before God, they shall celebrate these days on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month Adar throughout all future generations of his people Israel."

Introduction to First Maccabees

1 Maccabees

Introduction

The name Maccabee, probably meaning "hammer," is actually applied in the Books of Maccabees to only one man, Judas, third son of the priest Mattathias and first leader of the revolt against the Seleucid kings who persecuted the Jews (1 Macc 2:4, 66; 2 Macc 8:5, 16; 10:1, 16). Traditionally the name has come to be applied to the brothers of Judas, his supporters, and even to other Jewish heroes of the period, such as the seven brothers (2 Macc 7).

The two Books of Maccabees, placed last in the Douai version of the Old Testament, contain independent accounts of events in part identical which accompanied the attempted suppression of Judaism in Palestine in the second century B.C. The vigorous reaction to this attempt established for a time the religious and political independence of the Jews.

1 Maccabees was written about 100 B.C., in Hebrew, but the original has not come down to us. Instead, we have an early, pre-Christian, Greek translation full of Hebrew idioms. The author, probably a Palestinian Jew, is unknown. He was familiar with the traditions and sacred books of his people and had access to much reliable information on their recent history (from 175 to 134 B.C.). He may well have played some part in it himself in his youth. His purpose in writing is to record the salvation of Israel which God worked through the family of Mattathias (1 Macc 5:62)-especially through his three sons, Judas, Jonathan, and Simon, and his grandson, John Hyrcanus. Implicitly the writer compares their virtues and their exploits with those of the ancient heroes, the Judges, Samuel, and David.

There are seven poetic sections in the book which imitate the style of classical Hebrew poetry: four laments (1 Macc 1:25-28, 36-40; 2:8-13; 3:45), and three hymns of praise of "our fathers" (1 Macc 2:51-64), of Judas (1 Macc 3:3-9), and of Simon (1 Macc 14:4-15). The doctrine expressed in the book is the customary belief of Israel, without the new developments which appear in 2 Maccabees and Daniel. The people of Israel have been specially chosen by the one true God as his covenant-partner, and they alone are privileged to know him and worship him. He is their eternal benefactor and their unfailing source of help. The people, in turn, must be loyal to his exclusive worship and must observe exactly the precepts of the law he has given them.

There is no doctrine of individual immortality except in the survival of one's name and fame, nor does the book express any messianic expectation, though messianic images are applied historically to "the days of Simon" (2 Macc 14:4-17). In true deuteronomic tradition, the author insists on fidelity to the law as the expression of Israel's love for God. The contest which he describes is a struggle, not simply between Jew and Gentile, but between those who would uphold the law and those, Jews or Gentiles, who would destroy it. His severest condemnation goes, not to the Seleucid politicians, but to the lawless apostates among his own people, adversaries of Judas and his brothers, who are models of faith and loyalty.

1 Maccabees has importance also for the New Testament. Salvation is paralleled with Jewish national aspirations (1 Macc 4:46-14:41), in contrast to the universal reign of God taught by Christ in the Gospel (Matthew 13:47-50; 22:1-14). Also, destruction of the wall of the temple separating Jew from Gentile is an act of desecration in 1 Macc 9:54 but in Eph 2:14, an act of redemption and unification of both through Christ. On the other hand, association, in 1 Macc 2:52, of Abraham's offering up of Isaac (Gen 22) with his justification by God (Genesis 15:6) is reflected in John 2:21, 22 just as the Scriptures are regarded as a source of consolation in 1 Macc 12:9 and in Romans 15:4.

The Books of Maccabees, though regarded by Jews and Protestants as apocryphal, i.e., not inspired Scripture, because not contained in the Palestinian Canon or list of books drawn up at the end of the first century A.D., have nevertheless always been accepted by the Catholic Church as inspired, on the basis of apostolic tradition.

1 Maccabees is divided as follows:

Introduction: Hellenism in Asia Minor (1 Macc 1:1-9)

The Maccabean Revolt (1 Macc 1:10-2:70)

Leadership of Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc 3:1-9:22)

Leadership of Jonathan (1 Macc 9:23-12:54)

Simon, High Priest and Ethnarch (1 Macc 13:1-16:24)

First Maccabees Chapter 1

[1] 1 After Alexander the Macedonian, Philip's son, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the Persians and Medes, he became king in his place, having first ruled in Greece.

[2] He fought many campaigns, captured fortresses, and put kings to death.

[3] He advanced to the ends of the earth, gathering plunder from many nations; the earth fell silent before him, and his heart became proud and arrogant.

[4] He collected a very strong army and conquered provinces, nations, and rulers, and they became his tributaries.

[5] But after all this he took to his bed, realizing that he was going to die.

[6] He therefore summoned his officers, the nobles, who had been brought up with him from his youth, to divide his kingdom among them while he was still alive.

[7] 2 Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died.

[8] So his officers took over his kingdom, each in his own territory,

[9] and after his death they all put on royal crowns, and so did their sons after them for many years, causing much distress over the earth.

[10] 3 There sprang from these a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome. He became king in the year one hundred and thirty-seven of the kingdom of the Greeks.

[11] In those days there appeared in Israel men who were breakers of the law, and they seduced many people, saying: "Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles all around us; since we separated from them, many evils have come upon us."

[12] The proposal was agreeable;

[13] some from among the people promptly went to the king, and he authorized them to introduce the way of living of the Gentiles.

[14] 4 Thereupon they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem according to the Gentile custom.

[15] They covered over the mark of their circumcision and abandoned the holy covenant; they allied themselves with the Gentiles and sold themselves to wrongdoing.

[16] When his kingdom seemed secure, Antiochus proposed to become king of Egypt, so as to rule over both kingdoms.

[17] 5 He invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and elephants, and with a large fleet,

[18] to make war on Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Ptolemy was frightened at his presence and fled, leaving many casualties.

[19] The fortified cities in the land of Egypt were captured, and Antiochus plundered the land of Egypt.

[20] 6 After Antiochus had defeated Egypt in the year one hundred and forty-three, he returned and went up to Israel and to Jerusalem with a strong force.

[21] He insolently invaded the sanctuary and took away the golden altar, the lampstand for the light with all its fixtures,

[22] the offering table, the cups and the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the golden ornament on the facade of the temple. He stripped off everything,

[23] and took away the gold and silver and the precious vessels; he also took all the hidden treasures he could find.

[24] Taking all this, he went back to his own country, after he had spoken with great arrogance and shed much blood.

[25] And there was great mourning for Israel, in every place where they dwelt,

[26] and the rulers and the elders groaned. Virgins and young men languished, and the beauty of the women was disfigured.

[27] Every bridegroom took up lamentation, she who sat in the bridal chamber mourned,

[28] And the land was shaken on account of its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was covered with shame.

[29] Two years later, the king sent the Mysian commander to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a strong force.

[30] He spoke to them deceitfully in peaceful terms, and won their trust. Then he attacked the city suddenly, in a great onslaught, and destroyed many of the people in Israel.

[31] He plundered the city and set fire to it, demolished its houses and its surrounding walls,

[32] took captive the women and children, and seized the cattle.

[33] 7 Then they built up the City of David with a high, massive wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.

[34] There they installed a sinful race, perverse men, who fortified themselves inside it,

[35] storing up weapons and provisions, and depositing there the plunder they had collected from Jerusalem. And they became a great threat.

[36] The citadel became an ambush against the sanctuary, and a wicked adversary to Israel at all times.

[37] And they shed innocent blood around the sanctuary; they defiled the sanctuary.

[38] Because of them the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away, and she became the abode of strangers. She became a stranger to her own offspring, and her children forsook her.

[39] Her sanctuary was as desolate as a wilderness; her feasts were turned into mourning, Her sabbaths to shame, her honor to contempt.

[40] Her dishonor was as great as her glory had been, and her exalation was turned into mourning.

[41] Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people,

[42] each abandoning his particular customs. All the Gentiles conformed to the command of the king,

[43] and many Israelites were in favor of his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.

[44] The king sent messengers with letters to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, ordering them to follow customs foreign to their land;

[45] to prohibit holocausts, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the sabbaths and feast days,

[46] to desecrate the sanctuary and the sacred ministers,

[47] to build pagan altars and temples and shrines, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals,

[48] to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to let themselves be defiled with every kind of impurity and abomination,

[49] so that they might forget the law and change all their observances.

[50] Whoever refused to act according to the command of the king should be put to death.

[51] Such were the orders he published throughout his kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and he ordered the cities of Judah to offer sacrifices, each city in turn.

[52] Many of the people, those who abandoned the law, joined them and committed evil in the land.

[53] Israel was driven into hiding, wherever places of refuge could be found.

[54] 8 On the fifteenth day of the month Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, the king erected the horrible abomination upon the altar of holocausts, and in the surrounding cities of Judah they built pagan altars.

[55] They also burnt incense at the doors of houses and in the streets.

[56] 9 Any scrolls of the law which they found they tore up and burnt.

[57] Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant, and whoever observed the law, was condemned to death by royal decree.

[58] So they used their power against Israel, against those who were caught, each month, in the cities.

[59] On the twenty-fifth day of each month they sacrificed on the altar erected over the altar of holocausts.

[60] Women who had had their children circumcised were put to death, in keeping with the decree,

[61] with the babies hung from their necks; their families also and those who had circumcised them were killed.

[62] But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean;

[63] they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Terrible affliction was upon Israel.&auml;&raquo;&hellip;

First Maccabees Chapter 2

[1] 1 In those days Mattathias, son of John, son of Simeon, a priest of the family of Joarib, left Jerusalem and settled in Modein.

[2] He had five sons: John, who was called Gaddi;

[3] Simon, who was called Thassi;

[4] Judas, who was called Maccabeus;

[5] Eleazar, who was called Avaran; and Jonathan, who was called Apphus.

[6] When he saw the sacrileges that were being committed in Judah and in Jerusalem,

[7] he said: "Woe is me! Why was I born to see the ruin of my people and the ruin of the holy city, and to sit idle while it is given into the hands of enemies, and the sanctuary into the hands of strangers?

[8] "Her temple has become like a man disgraced,

[9] her glorious ornaments have been carried off as spoils, Her infants have been murdered in her streets, her young men by the sword of the enemy.

[10] What nation has not taken its share of her realm, and laid its hand on her possessions?

[11] All her adornment has been taken away. From being free, she has become a slave.

[12] We see our sanctuary and our beauty and our glory laid waste, And the Gentiles have defiled them!

[13] Why are we still alive?"

[14] Then Mattathias and his sons tore their garments, put on sackcloth, and mourned bitterly.

[15] The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices.

[16] Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.

[17] Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias: "You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city, supported by sons and kinsmen.

[18] 2 3 Come now, be the first to obey the king's command, as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah and those who are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King's Friends, and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts."

[19] But Mattathias answered in a loud voice: "Although all the Gentiles in the king's realm obey him, so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers and consents to the king's orders,

[20] yet I and my sons and my kinsmen will keep to the covenant of our fathers.

[21] God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.

[22] We will not obey the words of the king nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree."

[23] As he finished saying these words, a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein according to the king's order.

[24] When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused; he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.

[25] At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.

[26] Thus he showed his zeal for the law, just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.

[27] Then Mattathias went through the city shouting, "Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow after me!"

[28] Thereupon he fled to the mountains with his sons, leaving behind in the city all their possessions.

[29] 4 Many who sought to live according to righteousness and religious custom went out into the desert to settle there,

[30] they and their sons, their wives and their cattle, because misfortunes pressed so hard on them.

[31] It was reported to the officers and soldiers of the king who were in the City of David, in Jerusalem, that certain men who had flouted the king's order had gone out to the hiding places in the desert.

[32] Many hurried out after them, and having caught up with them, camped opposite and prepared to attack them on the sabbath.

[33] "Enough of this!" the pursuers said to them. "Come out and obey the king's command, and your lives will be spared."

[34] But they replied, "We will not come out, nor will we obey the king's command to profane the sabbath."

[35] Then the enemy attacked them at once;

[36] but they did not retaliate; they neither threw stones, nor blocked up their own hiding places.

[37] They said, "Let us all die without reproach; heaven and earth are our witnesses that you destroy us unjustly."

[38] So the officers and soldiers attacked them on the sabbath, and they died with their wives, their children and their cattle, to the number of a thousand persons.

[39] When Mattathias and his friends heard of it, they mourned deeply for them.

[40] "If we all do as our kinsmen have done," they said to one another, "and do not fight against the Gentiles for our lives and our traditions, they will soon destroy us from the earth."

[41] On that day they came to this decision: "Let us fight against anyone who attacks us on the sabbath, so that we may not all die as our kinsmen died in the hiding places."

[42] 5 Then they were joined by a group of Hasideans, valiant Israelites, all of them devout followers of the law.

[43] And all those who were fleeing from the disaster joined them and supported them.

[44] They gathered an army and struck down sinners in their anger and lawbreakers in their wrath, and the survivors fled to the Gentiles for safety.

[45] Mattathias and his friends went about and tore down the pagan altars;

[46] they also enforced circumcision for any uncircumcised boys whom they found in the territory of Israel.

[47] They put to flight the arrogant, and the work prospered in their hands.

[48] They saved the law from the hands of the Gentiles and of the kings and did not let the sinner triumph.

[49] When the time came for Mattathias to die, he said to his sons: "Arrogance and scorn have now grown strong; it is a time of disaster and violent anger.

[50] Therefore, my sons, be zealous for the law and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers.

[51] "Remember the deeds that our fathers did in their times, and you shall win great glory and an everlasting name.

[52] Was not Abraham found faithful in trial, and it was reputed to him as uprightness?

[53] Joseph, when in distress, kept the commandment, and he became master of Egypt.

[54] Phinehas our father, for his burning zeal, received the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.

[55] Joshua, for executing his commission, became a judge in Israel.

[56] Caleb, for bearing witness before the assembly, received an inheritance in the land.

[57] David, for his piety, received as a heritage a throne of everlasting royalty.

[58] Elijah, for his burning zeal for the law, was taken up to heaven.

[59] Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, for their faith, were saved from the fire.

[60] Daniel, for his innocence, was delivered from the jaws of lions.

[61] And so, consider this from generation to generation, that none who hope in him shall fail in strength.

[62] Do not fear the words of a sinful man, for his glory ends in corruption and worms.

[63] Today he is exalted, and tomorrow he is not to be found, because he has returned to his dust, and his schemes have perished.

[64] Children! be courageous and strong in keeping the law, for by it you shall be glorified.

[65] "Here is your brother Simeon who I know is a wise man; listen to him always, and he will be a father to you.

[66] And Judas Maccabeus, a warrior from his youth, shall be the leader of your army and direct the war against the nations.

[67] You shall also gather about you all who observe the law, and you shall avenge the wrongs of your people.

[68] Pay back the Gentiles what they deserve, and observe the precepts of the law."

[69] Then he blessed them, and he was united with his fathers.

[70] 6 He died in the year one hundred and forty-six, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers in Modein, and all Israel mourned him greatly.

First Maccabees Chapter 3

[1] Then his son Judas, who was called Maccabeus, took his place.

[2] All his brothers and all who had joined his father supported him, and they carried on Israel's war joyfully.

[3] He spread abroad the glory of his people, and put on his breastplate like a giant. He armed himself with weapons of war; he planned battles and protected the camp with his sword.

[4] In his actions he was like a lion, like a young lion roaring for prey.

[5] He pursued the wicked, hunting them out, and those who troubled his people he destroyed by fire.

[6] The lawbreakers were cowed by fear of him, and all evildoers were dismayed. By his hand redemption was happily achieved,

[7] and he afflicted many kings; He made Jacob glad by his deeds, and his memory is blessed forever.

[8] He went about the cities of Judah destroying the impious there. He turned away wrath from Israel

[9] and was renowned to the ends of the earth; he gathered together those who were perishing.

[10] 1 Then Apollonius gathered the Gentiles, together with a large army from Samaria, to fight against Israel.

[11] When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him and defeated and killed him. Many fell wounded, and the rest fled.

[12] Their possessions were seized and the sword of Apollonius was taken by Judas, who fought with it the rest of his life.

[13] But Seron, commander of the Syrian army, heard that Judas had gathered many about him, an assembly of faithful men ready for war.

[14] So he said, "I will make a name for myself and win glory in the kingdom by defeating Judas and his followers, who have despised the king's command."

[15] And again a large company of renegades advanced with him to help him take revenge on the Israelites.

[16] 2 When he reached the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a few men.

[17] But when they saw the army coming against them, they said to Judas: "How can we, few as we are, fight such a mighty host as this? Besides, we are weak today from fasting."

[18] But Judas said: "It is easy for many to be overcome by a few; in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between deliverance by many or by few;

[19] for victory in war does not depend upon the size of the army, but on strength that comes from Heaven.

[20] With great presumption and lawlessness they come against us to destroy us and our wives and children and to despoil us;

[21] but we are fighting for our lives and our laws.

[22] 3 He himself will crush them before us; so do not be afraid of them."

[23] When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly upon Seron and his army, who were crushed before him.

[24] 4 He pursued Seron down the descent of Beth-horon into the plain. About eight hundred of their men fell, and the rest fled to the country of the Philistines.

[25] Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and dread fell upon the Gentiles about them.

[26] His fame reached the king, and all the Gentiles talked about the battles of Judas.

[27] When Antiochus heard about these events, he was angry; so he ordered a muster of all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army.

[28] He opened his treasure chests, gave his soldiers a year's pay, and commanded them to be prepared for anything.

[29] He then found that this exhausted the money in his treasury; moreover the income from the province was small, because of the dissension and distress he had brought upon the land by abolishing the laws which had been in effect from of old.

[30] He feared that, as had happened more than once, he would not have enough for his expenses and for the gifts that he had previously given with a more liberal hand than the preceding kings.

[31] Greatly perplexed, he decided to go to Persia and levy tribute on those provinces, and so raise a large sum of money.

[32] He left Lysias, a nobleman of royal blood, in charge of the king's affairs from the Euphrates River to the frontier of Egypt,

[33] and commissioned him to take care of his son Antiochus until his own return.

[34] He entrusted to him half of the army, and the elephants, and gave him instructions concerning everything he wanted done. As for the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem,

[35] Lysias was to send an army against them to crush and destroy the power of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem and efface their memory from the land.

[36] He was to settle foreigners in all their territory and distribute their land by lot.

[37] 5 The king took the remaining half of the army and set out from Antioch, his capital, in the year one hundred and forty-seven; he crossed the Euphrates River and advanced inland.

[38] 6 Lysias chose Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, capable men among the King's Friends,

[39] and with them he sent forty thousand men and seven thousand cavalry to invade the land of Judah and ravage it according to the king's orders.

[40] 7 Setting out with all their forces, they came and pitched their camp near Emmaus in the plain.

[41] When the merchants of the country heard of their fame, they came to the camp, bringing fetters and a large sum of silver and gold, to buy the Israelites as slaves. A force from Idumea and from Philistia joined with them.

[42] Judas and his brothers saw that the situation had become critical now that armies were encamped within their territory; they knew of the orders which the king had given to destroy and utterly wipe out the people.

[43] So they said to one another, "Let us restore our people from their ruined estate, and fight for our people and our sanctuary!"

[44] The assembly gathered together to prepare for battle and to pray and implore mercy and compassion.

[45] Jerusalem was uninhabited, like a desert; not one of her children entered or came out. The sanctuary was trampled on, and foreigners were in the citadel; it was a habitation of Gentiles. Joy had disappeared from Jacob, and the flute and the harp were silent.

[46] 8 Thus they assembled and went to Mizpah near Jerusalem, because there was formerly at Mizpah a place of prayer for Israel.

[47] That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes.

[48] 9 They unrolled the scroll of the law, to learn about the things for which the Gentiles consulted the images of their idols.

[49] 10 They brought with them the priestly vestments, the first fruits, and the tithes; and they brought forward the nazirites who had completed the time of their vows.

[50] And they cried aloud to Heaven: "What shall we do with these men, and where shall we take them?

[51] For your sanctuary has been trampled on and profaned, and your priests are in mourning and humiliation.

[52] Now the Gentiles are gathered together against us to destroy us. You know what they plot against us.

[53] How shall we be able to resist them unless you help us?"

[54] Then they blew the trumpets and cried out loudly.

[55] After this Judas appointed officers among the people, over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens.

[56] He proclaimed that those who were building houses, or were just married, or were planting vineyards, and those who were afraid, could each return to his home, according to the law.

[57] Then the army moved off, and they camped to the south of Emmaus.

[58] Judas said: "Arm yourselves and be brave; in the morning be ready to fight these Gentiles who have assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.

[59] It is better for us to die in battle than to witness the ruin of our nation and our sanctuary. Whatever Heaven wills, he will do."

First Maccabees Chapter 4

[1] Now Gorgias took five thousand infantry and a thousand picked cavalry, and this detachment set out at night

[2] in order to attack the camp of the Jews and take them by surprise. Some men from the citadel were their guides.

[3] Judas heard of it, and himself set out with his soldiers to attack the king's army at Emmaus,

[4] while the latter's forces were still scattered away from the camp.

[5] During the night Gorgias came into the camp of Judas, and found no one there; so he began to hunt for them in the mountains, saying, "They are fleeing from us."

[6] But at daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, who lacked such armor and swords as they would have wished.

[7] They saw the army of the Gentiles, strong and breastplated, flanked with cavalry, and made up of expert soldiers.

[8] Judas said to the men with him: "Do not be afraid of their numbers or dread their attack.

[9] Remember how our fathers were saved in the Red Sea, when Pharaoh pursued them with an army.

[10] So now let us cry to Heaven in the hope that he will favor us, remember his covenant with our fathers, and destroy this army before us today.

[11] All the Gentiles shall know that there is One who redeems and delivers Israel."

[12] When the foreigners looked up and saw them marching toward them,

[13] they came out of their camp for battle, and the men with Judas blew the trumpet.

[14] The battle was joined and the Gentiles were defeated and fled toward the plain.

[15] 1 Their whole rearguard fell by the sword, and they were pursued as far as Gazara and the plains of Judea, to Azotus and Jamnia. About three thousand of their men fell.

[16] When Judas and the army returned from the pursuit,

[17] he said to the people: "Do not be greedy for the plunder, for there is a fight ahead of us,

[18] and Gorgias and his army are near us on the mountain. But now stand firm against our enemies and overthrow them. Afterward you can freely take the plunder."

[19] As Judas was finishing this speech, a detachment appeared, looking down from the mountain.

[20] They saw that their army had been put to flight and their camp was being burned. The smoke that could be seen indicated what had happened.

[21] When they realized this, they were terrified; and when they also saw the army of Judas in the plain ready to attack,

[22] 2 they all fled to Philistine territory.

[23] Then Judas went back to plunder the camp, and his men collected much gold and silver, violet and crimson cloth, and great treasure.

[24] As they returned, they were singing hymns and glorifying Heaven, "for he is good, for his mercy endures forever."

[25] Thus Israel had a great deliverance that day.

[26] But those of the foreigners who had escaped went and told Lysias all that had occurred.

[27] When he heard it he was disturbed and discouraged, because things in Israel had not turned out as he intended and as the king had ordered.

[28] So the following year he gathered together sixty thousand picked men and five thousand cavalry, to subdue them.

[29] 3 They came into Idumea and camped at Beth-zur, and Judas met them with ten thousand men.

[30] Seeing that the army was strong, he prayed thus: "Blessed are you, O Savior of Israel, who broke the rush of the mighty one by the hand of your servant David and delivered the camp of the Philistines into the hand of Jonathan, the son of Saul, and his armor-bearer.

[31] Give this army into the hands of your people Israel; make them ashamed of their troops and their cavalry.

[32] Strike them with fear, weaken the boldness of their strength, and let them tremble at their own destruction.

[33] Strike them down by the sword of those who love you, that all who know your name may hymn your praise."

[34] Then they engaged in battle, and about five thousand of Lysias' men fell in hand-to-hand fighting.

[35] 4 When Lysias saw his ranks beginning to give way, and the increased boldness of Judas, whose men were ready either to live or to die bravely, he withdrew to Antioch and began to recruit mercenaries so as to return to Judea with greater numbers.

[36] 5 Then Judas and his brothers said, "Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it."

[37] So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion.

[38] They found the sanctuary desolate, the altar desecrated, the gates burnt, weeds growing in the courts as in a forest or on some mountain, and the priests' chambers demolished.

[39] Then they tore their clothes and made great lamentation; they sprinkled their heads with ashes

[40] and fell with their faces to the ground. And when the signal was given with trumpets, they cried out to Heaven.

[41] Judas appointed men to attack those in the citadel, while he purified the sanctuary.

[42] He chose blameless priests, devoted to the law;

[43] these purified the sanctuary and carried away the stones of the Abomination to an unclean place.

[44] They deliberated what ought to be done with the altar of holocausts that had been desecrated.

[45] The happy thought came to them to tear it down, lest it be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it; so they tore down the altar.

[46] They stored the stones in a suitable place on the temple hill, until a prophet should come and decide what to do with them.

[47] Then they took uncut stones, according to the law, and built a new altar like the former one.

[48] They also repaired the sanctuary and the interior of the temple and purified the courts.

[49] They made new sacred vessels and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.

[50] Then they burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the lampstand, and these illuminated the temple.

[51] They also put loaves on the table and hung up curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.

[52] 6 Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight,

[53] they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of holocausts that they had made.

[54] On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it, on that very day it was reconsecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals.

[55] All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success.

[56] For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered holocausts and sacrifices of deliverance and praise.

[57] They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the priests' chambers and furnished them with doors.

[58] There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed.

[59] 7 Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev.

[60] At that time they built high walls and strong towers around Mount Zion, to prevent the Gentiles from coming and trampling over it as they had done before.

[61] Judas also placed a garrison there to protect it, and likewise fortified Beth-zur, that the people might have a stronghold facing Idumea.

First Maccabees Chapter 5

[1] 1 When the Gentiles round about heard that the altar had been rebuilt and the sanctuary consecrated as before, they were very angry.

[2] So they decided to destroy the descendants of Jacob who were among them, and they began to massacre and persecute the people.

[3] 2 Then Judas attacked the sons of Esau at Akrabattene in Idumea, because they were blockading Israel; he defeated them heavily, overcame and despoiled them.

[4] 3 He also remembered the malice of the sons of Baean, who had become a snare and a stumbling block to the people by ambushing them along the roads.

[5] He forced them to take refuge in towers, which he besieged; he vowed their annihilation and burned down the towers along with all the persons in them.

[6] 4 Then he crossed over to the Ammonites, where he found a strong army and a large body of people with Timothy as their leader.

[7] He fought many battles with them, routed them, and struck them down.

[8] After seizing Jazer and its villages, he returned to Judea.

[9] The Gentiles in Gilead assembled to attack and destroy the Israelites who were in their territory; these then fled to the stronghold of Dathema.

[10] They sent a letter to Judas and his brothers saying: "The Gentiles around us have combined against us to destroy us,

[11] and they are preparing to come and seize this stronghold to which we have fled. Timothy is the leader of their army.

[12] Come at once and rescue us from them, for many of us have fallen.

[13] All our kinsmen who were among the Tobiads have been killed; the Gentiles have carried away their wives and children and their goods, and they have slain there about a thousand men."

[14] While they were reading this letter, suddenly other messengers, in torn clothes, arrived from Galilee to deliver a similar message:

[15] 5 that the inhabitants of Ptolemais, Tyre, and Sidon, and the whole of Gentile Galilee had joined forces to destroy them.

[16] When Judas and the people heard this, a great assembly convened to consider what they should do for their unfortunate kinsmen who were being attacked by enemies.

[17] Judas said to his brother Simon: "Choose men for yourself, and go, rescue your kinsmen in Galilee; I and my brother Jonathan will go to Gilead."

[18] In Judea he left Joseph, son of Zechariah, and Azariah, leader of the people, with the rest of the army to guard it.

[19] "Take charge of these people," he commanded them, "but do not fight against the Gentiles until we return."

[20] Three thousand men were allotted to Simon, to go into Galilee, and eight thousand men to Judas, for Gilead.

[21] Simon went into Galilee and fought many battles with the Gentiles. They were crushed before him,

[22] and he pursued them to the very gate of Ptolemais. About three thousand men of the Gentiles fell, and he gathered their spoils.

[23] He took with him the Jews who were in Galilee and in Arbatta, with their wives and children and all that they had, and brought them to Judea with great rejoicing.

[24] Judas Maccabeus and his brother Jonathan crossed the Jordan and marched for three days through the desert.

[25] 6 There they met some Nabateans, who received them peacefully and told them all that had happened to the Jews in Gilead:

[26] "Many of them have been imprisoned in Bozrah, in Bosor near Alema, in Chaspho, Maked, and Carnaim"--all of these are large, fortified cities--

[27] "and some have been imprisoned in other cities of Gilead. Tomorrow their enemies plan to attack the strongholds and to seize and destroy all these people in one day."

[28] Thereupon Judas suddenly changed direction with his army, marched across the desert to Bozrah, and captured the city. He slaughtered all the male population, took all their possessions, and set fire to the city.

[29] He led his army from that place by night, and they marched toward the stronghold of Dathema.

[30] When morning came, they looked ahead and saw a countless multitude of people, with ladders and devices for capturing the stronghold, and beginning to attack the people within.

[31] When Judas perceived that the struggle had begun and that the noise of the battle was resounding to heaven with trumpet blasts and loud shouting,

[32] he said to the men of his army, "Fight for our kinsmen today."

[33] He came up behind them with three columns blowing their trumpets and shouting in prayer.

[34] When the army of Timothy realized that it was Maccabeus, they fell back before him, and he inflicted on them a crushing defeat. About eight thousand of their men fell that day.

[35] Then he turned toward Alema and attacked and captured it; he killed all the male population, plundered the place, and burned it down.

[36] From there he moved on and took Chaspho, Maked, Bosor, and the other cities of Gilead.

[37] After these events Timothy assembled another army and camped opposite Raphon, on the other side of the stream.

[38] Judas sent men to spy on the camp, and they reported to him: "All the Gentiles around us have rallied to him, making a very large force;

[39] they have also hired Arabs to help them, and have camped beyond the stream, ready to attack you." So Judas went forward to attack them.

[40] As Judas and his army were approaching the running stream, Timothy said to the officers of his army: "If he crosses over to us first, we shall not be able to resist him; he will certainly defeat us.

[41] But if he is afraid and camps on the other side of the river, we will cross over to him and defeat him."

[42] But when Judas reached the running stream, he stationed the officers of the people beside the stream and gave them this order: "Do not allow any man to pitch a tent; all must go into battle."

[43] He was the first to cross to the attack, with all the people behind him, and the Gentiles were crushed before them; they threw away their arms and fled to the temple enclosure at Carnaim.

[44] The Jews captured that city and burnt the enclosure with all who were in it. So Carnaim was subdued, and Judas met with no more resistance.

[45] Then he assembled all the Israelites, great and small, who were in Gilead, with their wives and children and their goods, a great crowd of people, to go into the land of Judah.

[46] 7 When they reached Ephron, a large and strongly fortified city along the way, they found it impossible to encircle it on either the right or the left; they would have to march right through it.

[47] But the men in the city shut them out and blocked up the gates with stones.

[48] Then Judas sent them this peaceful message: "We wish to cross your territory in order to reach our own; no one will harm you; we will only march through." But they would not open to him.

[49] So Judas ordered a proclamation to be made in the camp that everyone make an attack from the place where he was.

[50] When the men of the army took up their positions, he assaulted the city all that day and night, and it was delivered to him.

[51] He slaughtered every male, razed and plundered the city, and passed through it over the slain.

[52] Then they crossed the Jordan to the great plain in front of Beth-shan;

[53] and Judas kept rounding up the stragglers and encouraging the people the whole way, until he reached the land of Judah.

[54] They ascended Mount Zion in joy and gladness and offered holocausts, because not one of them had fallen; they had returned in safety.

[55] During the time that Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, and Simon his brother was in Galilee opposite Ptolemais,

[56] Joseph, son of Zechariah, and Azariah, the leaders of the army, heard about the brave deeds and the fighting that they were doing.

[57] They said, "Let us also make a name for ourselves by going out and fighting against the Gentiles around us."

[58] They gave orders to the men of their army who were with them, and marched toward Jamnia.

[59] But Gorgias and his men came out of the city to meet them in battle.

[60] Joseph and Azariah were beaten, and were pursued to the frontiers of Judea, and about two thousand Israelites fell that day.

[61] It was a bad defeat for the people, because they had not obeyed Judas and his brothers, thinking that they would do brave deeds.

[62] But they did not belong to the family of those men to whom it was granted to achieve Israel's salvation.

[63] The valiant Judas and his brothers were greatly renowned in all Israel and among all the Gentiles, wherever their name was heard;

[64] and men gathered about them and praised them.

[65] 8 Then Judas and his brothers went out and attacked the sons of Esau in the country toward the south; he took Hebron and its villages, and he destroyed its strongholds and burned the towers around it.

[66] He then set out for the land of the Philistines and passed through Marisa.

[67] At that time some priests fell in battle who had gone out rashly to fight in their desire to distinguish themselves.

[68] Judas then turned toward Azotus in the land of the Philistines. He destroyed their altars and burned the statues of their gods; and after plundering their cities he returned to the land of Judah.

First Maccabees Chapter 6

[1] 1 As King Antiochus was traversing the inland provinces, he heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais, famous for its wealth in silver and gold,

[2] and that its temple was very rich, containing gold helmets, breastplates, and weapons left there by Alexander, son of Philip, king of Macedon, the first king of the Greeks.

[3] He went therefore and tried to capture and pillage the city. But he could not do so, because his plan became known to the people of the city

[4] who rose up in battle against him. So he retreated and in great dismay withdrew from there to return to Babylon.

[5] While he was in Persia, a messenger brought him news that the armies sent into the land of Judah had been put to flight;

[6] that Lysias had gone at first with a strong army and been driven back by the Israelites; that they had grown strong by reason of the arms, men, and abundant possessions taken from the armies they had destroyed;

[7] that they had pulled down the Abomination which he had built upon the altar in Jerusalem; and that they had surrounded with high walls both the sanctuary, as it had been before, and his city of Beth-zur.

[8] When the king heard this news, he was struck with fear and very much shaken. Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed.

[9] There he remained many days, overwhelmed with sorrow, for he knew he was going to die.

[10] So he called in all his Friends and said to them: "Sleep has departed from my eyes, for my heart is sinking with anxiety.

[11] I said to myself: 'Into what tribulation have I come, and in what floods of sorrow am I now!

[12] Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule.' But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it, and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed.

[13] I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me; and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land."

[14] Then he summoned Philip, one of his Friends, and put him in charge of his whole kingdom.

[15] He gave him his crown, his robe, and his signet ring, so that he might guide the king's son Antiochus and bring him up to be king.

[16] 2 King Antiochus died in Persia in the year one hundred and forty-nine.

[17] 3 When Lysias learned that the king was dead, he set up the king's son Antiochus, whom he had reared as a child, to be king in his place; and he gave him the title Eupator.

[18] The men in the citadel were hemming in Israel around the sanctuary, continually trying to harm them and to strengthen the Gentiles.

[19] But Judas planned to destroy them, and called all the people together to besiege them.

[20] 4 So in the year one hundred and fifty they assembled and stormed the citadel, for which purpose he constructed catapults and other devices.

[21] Some of the besieged escaped, joined by impious Israelites;

[22] they went to the king and said: "How long will you fail to do justice and avenge our kinsmen?

[23] We agreed to serve your father and to follow his orders and obey his edicts.

[24] And for this the sons of our people have become our enemies; they have put to death as many of us as they could find and have plundered our estates.

[25] They have acted aggressively not only against us, but throughout their whole territory.

[26] Look! They have now besieged the citadel in Jerusalem in order to capture it, and they have fortified the sanctuary and Beth-zur.

[27] Unless you quickly forestall them, they will do even worse things than these, and you will not be able to stop them."

[28] When the king heard this he was angry, and he called together all his Friends, the officers of his army, and the commanders of the cavalry.

[29] Mercenary forces also came to him from other kingdoms and from the islands of the seas.

[30] His army numbered a hundred thousand foot-soldiers, twenty thousand cavalry, and thirty-two elephants trained for war.

[31] They passed through Idumea and camped before Beth-zur. For many days they attacked it; they constructed siege-devices, but the besieged made a sortie and burned these, and they fought bravely.

[32] Then Judas marched away from the citadel and moved his camp to Beth-zechariah, on the way to the king's camp.

[33] The king, rising before dawn, moved his force hastily along the road to Beth-zechariah; and the armies prepared for battle, while the trumpets sounded.

[34] They showed the elephants the juice of grapes and mulberries to provoke them to fight.

[35] The beasts were distributed along the phalanxes, each elephant having assigned to it a thousand men in coats of mail, with bronze helmets, and five hundred picked cavalry.

[36] These anticipated the beast wherever it was; and wherever it moved, they moved too and never left it.

[37] A strong wooden tower covering each elephant, and fastened to it by a harness, held, besides the Indian mahout, three soldiers who fought from it.

[38] The remaining cavalry were stationed on one or the other of the two flanks of the army, to harass the enemy and to be protected from the phalanxes.

[39] When the sun shone on the gold and bronze shields, the mountains gleamed with their brightness and blazed like flaming torches.

[40] Part of the king's army extended over the heights, while some were on low ground, but they marched forward steadily and in good order.

[41] All who heard the noise of their numbers, the tramp of their marching, and the clashing of the arms, trembled; for the army was very great and strong.

[42] Judas with his army advanced to fight, and six hundred men of the king's army fell.

[43] Eleazar, called Avaran, saw one of the beasts bigger than any of the others and covered with royal armor, and he thought the king must be on it.

[44] So he gave up his life to save his people and win an everlasting name for himself.

[45] He dashed up to it in the middle of the phalanx, killing men right and left, so that they fell back from him on both sides.

[46] He ran right under the elephant and stabbed it in the belly, killing it. The beast fell to the ground on top of him, and he died there.

[47] When the Jews saw the strength of the royal army and the ardor of its forces, they retreated from them.

[48] A part of the king's army went up to Jerusalem to attack them, and the king established camps in Judea and at Mount Zion.

[49] 5 He made peace with the men of Beth-zur, and they evacuated the city, because they had no food there to enable them to stand a siege, for that was a sabbath year in the land.

[50] The king took Beth-zur and stationed a garrison there to hold it.

[51] For many days he besieged the sanctuary, setting up artillery and machines, fire-throwers, catapults and mechanical bows for shooting arrows and slingstones.

[52] The Jews countered by setting up machines of their own, and kept up the fight a long time.

[53] But there were no provisions in the storerooms, because it was the seventh year, and the tide-over provisions had been eaten up by those who had been rescued from the Gentiles and brought to Judea.

[54] Few men remained in the sanctuary; the rest scattered, each to his own home, for the famine was too much for them.

[55] Lysias heard that Philip, whom King Antiochus, before his death, had appointed to train his son Antiochus to be king,

[56] had returned from Persia and Media with the army that accompanied the king, and that he was seeking to take over the government.

[57] So he hastily resolved to withdraw. He said to the king, the leaders of the army, and the soldiers: "We are grow-ing weaker every day, our provisions are scanty, the place we are besieging is strong, and it is our duty to take care of the affairs of the kingdom.

[58] Therefore let us now come to terms with these men, and make peace with them and all their nation.

[59] Let us grant them freedom to live according to their own laws as formerly; it was on account of their laws, which we abolished, that they became angry and did all these things."

[60] The proposal found favor with the king and the leaders;

[61] he sent peace terms to the Jews, and they accepted. So the king and the leaders swore an oath to them, and on these terms they evacuated the fortification.

[62] But when the king entered Mount Zion and saw how the place was fortified, he broke the oath he had sworn and gave orders for the encircling wall to be destroyed.

[63] Then he departed in haste and returned to Antioch, where he found Philip in possession of the city. He fought against him and took the city by force.

First Maccabees Chapter 7

[1] 1 In the year one hundred and fifty-one, Demetrius, son of Seleucus, set out from Rome, arrived with a few men in a city on the seacoast, and began to rule there.

[2] As he was preparing to enter the royal palace of his ancestors, the soldiers seized Antiochus and Lysias to bring them to him.

[3] When he was informed of this, he said, "Do not show me their faces."

[4] So the soldiers killed them, and Demetrius sat on the royal throne.

[5] 2 Then all the lawless and impious men of Israel came to him. They were led by Alcimus, who desired to be high priest.

[6] They made this accusation to the king against the people: "Judas and his brothers have destroyed all your friends and have driven us out of our country.

[7] So now, send a man whom you trust to go and see all the havoc Judas has done to us and to the king's land, and let him punish them and all their supporters."

[8] Then the king chose Bacchides, one of the King's Friends, governor of West-of-Euphrates, a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to the king.

[9] He sent him and the impious Alcimus, to whom he granted the high priesthood, with orders to take revenge on the Israelites.

[10] They set out and, on arriving in the land of Judah with a great army, sent messengers who spoke deceitfully to Judas and his brothers in peaceful terms.

[11] But these paid no attention to their words, seeing that they had come with a great army.

[12] A group of scribes, however, gathered about Alcimus and Bacchides to ask for a just agreement.

[13] The Hasideans were the first among the Israelites to seek peace with them,

[14] for they said, "A priest of the line of Aaron has come with the army, and he will not do us any wrong."

[15] He spoke with them peacefully and swore to them, "We will not try to injure you or your friends."

[16] So they trusted him. But he arrested sixty of them and killed them in one day, according to the text of Scripture:

[17] "The flesh of your saints they have strewn, and their blood they have shed round about Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them."

[18] Then fear and dread of them came upon all the people, who said: "There is no truth or justice among them; they violated the agreement and the oath that they swore."

[19] 3 Bacchides withdrew from Jerusalem and pitched his camp in Beth-zaith. He had many of the men arrested who deserted to him, throwing them into the great pit.

[20] He handed the province over to Alcimus, leaving troops to help him, while he himself returned to the king.

[21] Alcimus spared no pains to maintain his high priesthood,

[22] and all those who were disturbing their people gathered about him. They took possession of the land of Judah and caused great distress in Israel.

[23] When Judas saw all the evils that Alcimus and his men were bringing upon the Israelites, more than even the Gentiles had done,

[24] he went about all the borders of Judea and took revenge on the men who had deserted, preventing them from going out into the country.

[25] But when Alcimus saw that Judas and his followers were gaining strength and realized that he could not oppose them, he returned to the king and accused them of grave crimes.

[26] Then the king sent Nicanor, one of his famous officers, who was a bitter enemy of Israel, with orders to destroy the people.

[27] 4 Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a large force and deceitfully sent to Judas and his brothers this peaceable message:

[28] "Let there be no fight between me and you. I will come with a few men to meet you peaceably."

[29] So he came to Judas, and they greeted one another peaceably. But Judas' enemies were prepared to seize him.

[30] When he became aware that Nicanor had come to him with treachery in mind, Judas was afraid and would not meet him again.

[31] 5 When Nicanor saw that his plan had been discovered, he went out to fight Judas near Capharsalama.

[32] About five hundred men of Nicanor's army fell; the rest fled to the City of David.

[33] After this, Nicanor went up to Mount Zion. Some of the priests from the sanctuary and some of the elders of the people came out to greet him peaceably and to show him the holocaust that was being offered for the king.

[34] 6 But he mocked and ridiculed them, defiled them, and spoke disdainfully.

[35] In a rage he swore: "If Judas and his army are not delivered to me at once, when I return victorious I will burn this temple down." He went away in great anger.

[36] The priests, however, went in and stood before the altar and the sanctuary. They wept and said:

[37] "You have chosen this house to bear your name, to be a house of prayer and petition for your people.

[38] Take revenge on this man and his army, and let them fall by the sword. Remember their blasphemies, and do not let them continue."

[39] Nicanor left Jerusalem and pitched his camp at Beth-horon, where the Syrian army joined him.

[40] 7 But Judas camped in Adasa with three thousand men. Here Judas uttered this prayer:

[41] "When they who were sent by the king blasphemed, your angel went out and killed a hundred and eighty-five thousand of them.

[42] In the same way, crush this army before us today, and let the rest know that Nicanor spoke wickedly against your sanctuary; judge him according to his wickedness."

[43] The armies met in battle on the thirteenth day of the month Adar. Nicanor's army was crushed, and he himself was the first to fall in the battle.

[44] When his army saw that Nicanor was dead, they threw down their arms and fled.

[45] The Jews pursued them a day's journey, from Adasa to near Gazara, blowing the trumpets behind them as signals.

[46] From all the surrounding villages of Judea people came out and closed in on them. They hemmed them in, and all the enemies fell by the sword; not a single one escaped.

[47] Then the Jews collected the spoils and the booty; they cut off Nicanor's head and his right arm, which he had lifted up so arrogantly. These they brought to Jerusalem and displayed there.

[48] The people rejoiced greatly, and observed that day as a great festival.

[49] 8 They decreed that it should be observed every year on the thirteenth of Adar.

[50] 9 And for a short time the land of Judah was quiet.

First Maccabees Chapter 8

[1] 1 2 Judas had heard of the reputation of the Romans. They were valiant fighters and acted amiably to all who took their side. They established a friendly alliance with all who applied to them.

[2] 3 He was also told of their battles and the brave deeds that they had performed against the Gauls, conquering them and forcing them to pay tribute.

[3] They had gotten possession of the silver and gold mines in Spain,

[4] and by planning and persistence had conquered the whole country, although it was very remote from their own. They had crushed the kings who had come against them from the far corners of the earth and had inflicted on them severe defeat, and the rest paid tribute to them every year.

[5] 4 Philip and Perseus, king of the Macedonians, and the others who opposed them in battle had been overwhelmed and subjugated.

[6] 5 Antiochus the Great, king of Asia, who had fought against them with a hundred and twenty elephants and with cavalry and chariots and a very great army, had been defeated by them.

[7] They had taken him alive and obliged him and the kings who succeeded him to pay a heavy tribute, to give hostages and a section of

[8] 6 Lycia, Mysia, and Lydia from among their best provinces. The Romans took these from him and gave them to King Eumenes.

[9] 7 When the men of Greece had planned to come and destroy them,

[10] the Romans discovered it, and sent against the Greeks a single general who made war on them. Many were wounded and fell, and the Romans took their wives and children captive. They plundered them, took possession of their land, tore down their strongholds and reduced them to slavery even to this day.

[11] All the other kingdoms and islands that had ever opposed them they destroyed and enslaved;

[12] with their friends, however, and those who relied on them, they maintained friendship. They had conquered kings both far and near, and all who heard of their fame were afraid of them.

[13] In truth, those whom they desired to help to a kingdom became kings, and those whom they wished to depose they deposed; and they were greatly exalted.

[14] Yet with all this, none of them put on a crown or wore purple as a display of grandeur.

[15] They had made for themselves a senate house, and every day three hundred and twenty men took counsel, deliberating on all that concerned the people and their well-being.

[16] 8 They entrusted their government to one man every year, to rule over their entire country, and they all obeyed that one, and there was no envy or jealousy among them.

[17] So Judas chose Eupolemus, son of John, son of Accos, and Jason, son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome to establish an alliance of friendship with them.

[18] He did this to get rid of the yoke, for it was obvious that the kingdom of the Greeks was subjecting Israel to slavery.

[19] After making a very long journey to Rome, the envoys entered the senate and spoke as follows:

[20] "Judas, called Maccabeus, and his brothers, with the Jewish people, have sent us to you to make a peaceful alliance with you, and to enroll ourselves among your allies and friends."

[21] The proposal pleased the Romans,

[22] 9 and this is a copy of the reply they inscribed on bronze tablets and sent to Jerusalem, to remain there with the Jews as a record of peace and alliance:

[23] "May it be well with the Romans and the Jewish nation at sea and on land forever; may sword and enemy be far from them.

[24] But if war is first made on Rome, or any of its allies in any of their dominions,

[25] the Jewish nation will help them wholeheartedly, as the occasion shall demand;

[26] and to those who wage war they shall not give nor provide grain, arms, money, or ships; this is Rome's decision. They shall fulfill their obligations without receiving any recompense.

[27] In the same way, if war is made first on the Jewish nation, the Romans will help them willingly, as the occasion shall demand,

[28] and to those who are attacking them there shall not be given grain, arms, money, or ships; this is Rome's decision. They shall fulfill their obligations without deception.

[29] On these terms the Romans have made an agreement with the Jewish people.

[30] But if both parties hereafter decide to add or take away anything, they shall do as they choose, and whatever they shall add or take away shall be valid.

[31] "Moreover, concerning the wrongs that King Demetrius has done to them, we have written to him thus: 'Why have you made your yoke heavy upon our friends and allies the Jews?

[32] If they complain about you again, we will do them justice and make war on you by land and sea.'"

First Maccabees Chapter 9

[1] When Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, he again sent Bacchides and Alcimus into the land of Judah, along with the right wing of his army.

[2] 1 They took the road to Galilee, and camping opposite the ascent at Arbela, they captured it and killed many people.

[3] 2 In the first month of the year one hundred and fifty-two, they encamped against Jerusalem.

[4] Then they set out for Berea with twenty thousand men and two thousand cavalry.

[5] Judas, with three thousand picked men, had camped at Elasa.

[6] When his men saw the great number of the troops, they were very much afraid, and many slipped away from the camp, until only eight hundred men remained.

[7] As Judas saw that his army was melting away just when the battle was imminent, he was panic-stricken, because he had no time to gather them together.

[8] But in spite of his discouragement, he said to those who remained: "Let us go forward to meet our enemies; perhaps we can put up a good fight against them."

[9] They tried to dissuade him, saying: "We certainly cannot. Let us save our lives now, and come back with our kinsmen, and then fight against them. Now we are too few."

[10] But Judas said: "Far be it from me to do such a thing as to flee from them! If our time has come, let us die bravely for our kinsmen and not leave a stain upon our glory!"

[11] Then the army of Bacchides moved out of camp and took its position for combat. The cavalry were divided into two squadrons, and the slingers and the archers came on ahead of the army, and all the valiant men were in the front line.

[12] Bacchides was on the right wing. Flanked by the two squadrons, the phalanx attacked as they blew their trumpets. Those who were on Judas' side also blew their trumpets.

[13] The earth shook with the noise of the armies, and the battle raged from morning until evening.

[14] Seeing that Bacchides was on the right, with the main force of his army, Judas, with all the most stouthearted rallying to him,

[15] 3 drove back the right wing and pursued them as far as the mountain slopes.

[16] But when the men on the left wing saw that the right wing was driven back, they turned and followed Judas and his men, taking them in the rear.

[17] The battle was fought desperately, and many on both sides fell wounded.

[18] Then Judas fell, and the rest fled.

[19] Jonathan and Simon took their brother Judas and buried him in the tomb of their fathers at Modein.

[20] All Israel bewailed him in great grief. They mourned for him many days, and they said,

[21] "How the mighty one has fallen, the savior of Israel!"

[22] The other acts of Judas, his battles, the brave deeds he performed, and his greatness have not been recorded; but they were very many.

[23] After the death of Judas, the transgressors of the law raised their heads in every part of Israel, and all kinds of evildoers appeared.

[24] In those days there was a very great famine, and the country deserted to them.

[25] Bacchides chose impious men and made them masters of the country.

[26] These sought out and hunted down the friends of Judas and brought them to Bacchides, who punished and derided them.

[27] There had not been such great distress in Israel since the time prophets ceased to appear among the people.

[28] Then all the friends of Judas came together and said to Jonathan:

[29] "Since your brother Judas died, there has been no one like him to oppose our enemies, Bacchides and those who are hostile to our nation.

[30] Now therefore we have chosen you today to be our ruler and leader in his place, and to fight our battle."

[31] From that moment Jonathan accepted the leadership, and took the place of Judas his brother.

[32] When Bacchides learned of it, he sought to kill him.

[33] 4 But Jonathan and his brother Simon and all the men with him discovered this, and they fled to the desert of Tekoa and camped by the waters of the pool of Asphar.

[34] 5

[35] 6 Jonathan sent his brother as leader of the convoy to ask permission of his friends, the Nabateans, to deposit with them their great quantity of baggage.

[36] 7 But the sons of Jambri from Medaba made a raid and seized and carried off John and everything he had.

[37] After this, word was brought to Jonathan and his brother Simon: "The sons of Jambri are celebrating a great wedding, and with a large escort they are bringing the bride, the daughter of one of the great princes of Canaan, from Nadabath."

[38] Remembering the blood of John their brother, they went up and hid themselves under cover of the mountain.

[39] They watched, and suddenly saw a noisy crowd with baggage; the bridegroom and his friends and kinsmen had come out to meet the bride's party with tambourines and musicians and much equipment.

[40] The Jews rose up against them from their ambush and killed them. Many fell wounded, and after the survivors fled toward the mountain, all their spoils were taken.

[41] Thus the wedding was turned into mourning, and the sound of music into lamentation.

[42] Having taken their revenge for the blood of their brother, the Jews returned to the marshes of the Jordan.

[43] When Bacchides heard of it, he came on the sabbath to the banks of the Jordan with a large force.

[44] Then Jonathan said to his companions, "Let us get up now and fight for our lives, for today is not like yesterday and the day before.

[45] 8 The battle is before us, and behind us are the waters of the Jordan on one side, marsh and thickets on the other, and there is no way of escape.

[46] Cry out now to Heaven for deliverance from our enemies."

[47] When they joined battle, Jonathan raised his arm to strike Bacchides, but Bacchides backed away from him.

[48] Jonathan and his men jumped into the Jordan and swam across to the other side, but the enemy did not pursue them across the Jordan.

[49] A thousand men on Bacchides' side fell that day.

[50] 9 On returning to Jerusalem, Bacchides built strongholds in Judea: the Jericho fortress, as well as Emmaus, Beth-horon, Bethel, Timnath, Pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls and gates and bars.

[51] In each he put a garrison to oppose Israel.

[52] He fortified the city of Beth-zur, Gazara and the citadel, and put soldiers in them and stores of provisions.

[53] He took as hostages the sons of the leaders of the country and put them in custody in the citadel at Jerusalem.

[54] 10 In the year one hundred and fifty-three, in the second month, Alcimus ordered the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary to be torn down, thus destroying the work of the prophets. But he only began to tear it down.

[55] Just at that time he had a stroke, and his work was interrupted; his mouth was closed and he was paralyzed, so that he could no longer utter a word to give orders concerning his house.

[56] Finally he died in great agony.

[57] Seeing that Alcimus was dead, Bacchides returned to the king, and the land of Judah was quiet for two years. Bacchides and Jonathan

[58] Then all the transgressors of the law held a council and said: "Jonathan and his companions are living in peace and security. Now then, let us have Bacchides return, and he will capture all of them in a single night."

[59] So they went and took counsel with him.

[60] When Bacchides was setting out with a large force, he sent letters secretly to all his allies in Judea, telling them to seize Jonathan and his companions. They were not able to do this, however, because their plot became known.

[61] In fact, Jonathan's men seized about fifty of the men of the country who were ringleaders in the mischief and put them to death.

[62] 11 Then Jonathan and Simon and their companions withdrew to Bethbasi in the desert; they rebuilt and strengthened its fortifications that had been demolished.

[63] When Bacchides learned of this, he gathered together his whole force and sent word to those who were in Judea.

[64] He came and pitched his camp before Bethbasi, and constructing siege-machines, he fought against it for many days.

[65] Leaving his brother Simon in the city, Jonathan, accompanied by a small group of men, went out into the field.

[66] He struck down Odomera and his kinsmen and the sons of Phasiron in their encampment; these men had set out to go up to the siege with their forces.

[67] Simon and his men then sallied forth from the city and set fire to the machines.

[68] They fought against Bacchides, and he was beaten. This caused him great distress. Because the enterprise he had planned came to nought,

[69] he was angry with the lawless men who had advised him to invade the province. He killed many of them and resolved to return to his own country.

[70] Jonathan learned of this and sent ambassadors to make peace with him and to obtain the release of the prisoners.

[71] He agreed to do as Jonathan had asked. He swore an oath to him that he would never try to injure him for the rest of his life;

[72] and he released the prisoners he had previously taken from the land of Judah. He returned to his own country and never came into their territory again.

[73] 12 Then the sword ceased in Israel. Jonathan settled in Michmash; he began to judge the people and he destroyed the impious in Israel.

First Maccabees Chapter 10

[1] 1 In the year one hundred and sixty, Alexander, who was called Epiphanes, son of Antiochus, came up and took Ptolemais. He was accepted and began to reign there.

[2] When King Demetrius heard of it, he mustered a very large army and marched out to engage him in combat.

[3] Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan written in peaceful terms, to pay him honor;

[4] for he said: "Let us be the first to make peace with him, before he makes peace with Alexander against us,

[5] since he will remember all the wrongs we have done to him, his brothers, and his nation."

[6] So Demetrius authorized him to gather an army and procure arms as his ally; and he ordered that the hostages in the citadel be released to him.

[7] Accordingly Jonathan went up to Jerusalem and read the letter to all the people. The men in the citadel

[8] were struck with fear when they heard that the king had given him authority to gather an army.

[9] They released the hostages to Jonathan, and he gave them back to their parents.

[10] Thereafter Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began to build and restore the city.

[11] He ordered the workmen to build the walls and encircle Mount Zion with square stones for its fortification, which they did.

[12] The foreigners in the strongholds that Bacchides had built, took flight;

[13] each one of them left his place and returned to his own country.

[14] Only in Beth-zur did some remain of those who had abandoned the law and the commandments, for they used it as a place of refuge.

[15] King Alexander heard of the promises that Demetrius had made to Jonathan; he was also told of the battles and valiant deeds of Jonathan and his brothers and the troubles that they had endured.

[16] He said, "Shall we ever find another man like him? Let us now make him our friend and ally."

[17] So he sent Jonathan a letter written in these terms:

[18] "King Alexander sends greetings to his brother Jonathan.

[19] We have heard of you, that you are a mighty warrior and worthy to be our friend.

[20] We have therefore appointed you today to be high priest of your nation; you are to be called the King's Friend, and you are to look after our interests and preserve amity with us." He also sent him a purple robe and a crown of gold.

[21] 2 Jonathan put on the sacred vestments in the seventh month of the year one hundred and sixty at the feast of Booths, and he gathered an army and procured many arms.

[22] When Demetrius heard of these things, he was distressed and said:

[23] "Why have we allowed Alexander to get ahead of us by gaining the friendship of the Jews and thus strengthening himself?

[24] I too will write them conciliatory words and offer dignities and gifts, so that they may be an aid to me."

[25] So he sent them this message: "King Demetrius sends greetings to the Jewish nation.

[26] We have heard how you have kept the treaty with us and continued in our friendship and not gone over to our enemies, and we are glad.

[27] Continue, therefore, to keep faith with us, and we will reward you with favors in return for what you do in our behalf.

[28] We will grant you many exemptions and will bestow gifts on you.

[29] "I now free you, as I also exempt all the Jews, from the tribute, the salt tax, and the crown levies.

[30] 3 Instead of collecting the third of the grain and the half of the fruit of the trees that should be my share, I renounce the right from this day forward: Neither now nor in the future will I collect them from the land of Judah or from the three districts annexed from Samaria.

[31] Let Jerusalem and her territory, her tithes and her tolls, be sacred and free from tax.

[32] I also yield my authority over the citadel in Jerusalem, and I transfer it to the high priest, that he may put in it such men as he shall choose to guard it.

[33] Every one of the Jews who has been carried into captivity from the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom I set at liberty without ransom; and let all their taxes, even those on their cattle, be canceled.

[34] Let all feast days, sabbaths, new moon festivals, appointed days, and the three days that precede each feast day, and the three days that follow, be days of immunity and exemption for every Jew in my kingdom.

[35] Let no man have authority to exact payment from them or to molest any of them in any matter.

[36] "Let thirty thousand Jews be enrolled in the king's army and allowances be given them, as is due to all the king's soldiers.

[37] Let some of them be stationed in the king's principal strongholds, and of these let some be given positions of trust in the affairs of the kingdom. Let their superiors and their rulers be taken from among them, and let them follow their own laws, as the king has commanded in the land of Judah.

[38] "Let the three districts that have been added to Judea from the province of Samaria be incorporated with Judea so that they may be under one man and obey no other authority than the high priest.

[39] Ptolemais and its confines I give as a present to the sanctuary in Jerusalem for the necessary expenses of the sanctuary.

[40] I make a yearly personal grant of fifteen thousand silver shekels out of the royal revenues, from appropriate places.

[41] All the additional funds that the officials did not hand over as they had done in the first years, shall henceforth be handed over for the services of the temple.

[42] Moreover, the dues of five thousand silver shekels that used to be taken from the revenue of the sanctuary every year shall be canceled, since these funds belong to the priests who perform the services.

[43] Whoever takes refuge in the temple of Jerusalem or in any of its precincts, because of money he owes the king, or because of any other debt, shall be released, together with all the goods he possesses in my kingdom.

[44] The cost of rebuilding and restoring the structures of the sanctuary shall be covered out of the royal revenue.

[45] Likewise the cost of building the walls of Jerusalem and fortifying it all around, and of building walls in Judea, shall be donated from the royal revenue."

[46] When Jonathan and the people heard these words, they neither believed nor accepted them, for they remembered the great evil that Demetrius had done in Israel, and how sorely he had afflicted them.

[47] They therefore decided in favor of Alexander, for he had been the first to address them peaceably, and they remained his allies for the rest of his life.

[48] King Alexander gathered together a large army and encamped opposite Demetrius.

[49] The two kings joined battle, and when the army of Demetrius fled, Alexander pursued him, and overpowered his soldiers.

[50] He pressed the battle hard until sunset, and Demetrius fell that day.

[51] Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, with this message:

[52] "Now that I have returned to my realm, taken my seat on the throne of my fathers, and established my rule by crushing Demetrius and gaining control of my country--

[53] for I engaged him in battle, defeated him and his army, and recovered the royal throne--

[54] let us now establish friendship with each other. Give me your daughter for my wife; and as your son-in-law, I will give to you and to her gifts worthy of you."

[55] King Ptolemy answered in these words: "Happy the day on which you returned to the land of your fathers and took your seat on their royal throne!

[56] I will do for you what you have written; but meet me in Ptolemais, so that we may see each other, and I will become your father-in-law as you have proposed."

[57] 4 So Ptolemy with his daughter Cleopatra set out from Egypt and came to Ptolemais in the year one hundred and sixty-two.

[58] There King Alexander met him, and Ptolemy gave him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage. Their wedding was celebrated at Ptolemais with great splendor according to the custom of kings.

[59] King Alexander also wrote to Jonathan to come and meet him.

[60] So he went with pomp to Ptolemais, where he met the two kings and gave them and their friends silver and gold and many gifts and thus won their favor.

[61] Some pestilent Israelites, transgressors of the law, united against him to accuse him, but the king paid no heed to them.

[62] He ordered Jonathan to be divested of his ordinary garments and to be clothed in royal purple; and so it was done.

[63] The king also had him seated at his side. He said to his magistrates: "Go with him to the center of the city and make a proclamation that no one is to bring charges against him on any grounds or be troublesome to him in any way."

[64] When his accusers saw the honor paid to him in the proclamation, and the purple with which he was clothed, they all fled.

[65] The king also honored him by numbering him among his Chief Friends and made him military commander and governor of the province.

[66] So Jonathan returned in peace and happiness to Jerusalem.

[67] 5 In the year one hundred and sixty-five, Demetrius, son of Demetrius, came from Crete to the land of his fathers.

[68] When King Alexander heard of it he was greatly troubled, and returned to Antioch.

[69] Demetrius appointed Apollonius governor of Coelesyria. Having gathered a large army, Appollonius pitched his camp at Jamnia. From there he sent this message to Jonathan the high priest:

[70] "You are the only one who resists us. I am laughed at and put to shame on your account. Why are you displaying power against us in the mountains?

[71] If you have confidence in your forces, come down now to us in the plain, and let us test each other's strength there; the city forces are on my side.

[72] Inquire and learn who I am and who the others are who are helping me. Men say that you cannot make a stand against us because your fathers were twice put to flight in their own land.

[73] Now you too will be unable to withstand our cavalry and such a force as this in the plain, where there is not a stone or a pebble or a place to flee."

[74] When Jonathan heard the message of Apollonius, he was roused. Choosing ten thousand men, he set out from Jerusalem, and Simon his brother joined him to help him.

[75] He pitched camp near Joppa, but the men in the city shut him out because Apollonius had a garrison there. When the Jews besieged it,

[76] 6 the men of the city became afraid and opened the gates, and so Jonathan took possession of Joppa.

[77] When Apollonius heard of it, he drew up three thousand horsemen and an innumerable infantry. He marched on Azotus as though he were going on through the country, but at the same time he advanced into the plain, because he had such a large number of horsemen to rely on.

[78] Jonathan followed him to Azotus, and they engaged in battle.

[79] Apollonius, however, had left a thousand cavalry in hiding behind them.

[80] When Jonathan discovered that there was an ambush behind him, his army was surrounded. From morning until evening they showered his men with arrows.

[81] But his men held their ground, as Jonathan had commanded, whereas the enemy's horses became tired out.

[82] When the horsemen were exhausted, Simon attacked the phalanx, overwhelmed it and put it to flight.

[83] The horsemen too were scattered over the plain. The enemy fled to Azotus and entered Beth-dagon, the temple of their idol, to save themselves.

[84] But Jonathan burned and plundered Azotus with its neighboring towns, and destroyed by fire both the temple of Dagon and the men who had taken refuge in it.

[85] Those who fell by the sword, together with those who were burned alive, came to about eight thousand men.

[86] Then Jonathan left there and pitched his camp at Ashkalon, and the people of that city came out to meet him with great pomp.

[87] He and his men then returned to Jerusalem, laden with much booty.

[88] When King Alexander heard of these events, he accorded new honors to Jonathan.

[89] 7 He sent him a gold buckle, such as is usually given to King's Kinsmen; he also gave him Ekron and all its territory as a possession.

First Maccabees Chapter 11

[1] The king of Egypt gathered his forces, as numerous as the sands of the seashore, and many ships; and he sought by deceit to take Alexander's kingdom and add it to his own.

[2] He entered Syria with peaceful words, and the people in the cities opened their gates to welcome him, as King Alexander had ordered them to do, since Ptolemy was his father-in-law.

[3] But when Ptolemy entered the cities, he stationed garrison troops in each one.

[4] When he reached Azotus, he was shown the temple of Dagon destroyed by fire, Azotus and its suburbs demolished, corpses lying about, and the charred bodies of those burned by Jonathan in the war and stacked up along his route.

[5] To prejudice the king against Jonathan, he was told what the latter had done; but the king said nothing.

[6] Jonathan met the king with pomp at Joppa, and they greeted each other and spent the night there.

[7] 1 Jonathan accompanied the king as far as the river called Eleutherus and then returned to Jerusalem.

[8] 2 Plotting evil against Alexander, King Ptolemy took possession of the cities along the seacoast as far as Seleucia-by-the-Sea.

[9] He sent ambassadors to King Demetrius, saying: "Come, let us make a pact with each other; I will give you my daughter whom Alexander has married, and you shall reign over your father's kingdom.

[10] 3 I regret that I gave him my daughter, for he has sought to kill me."

[11] His real reason for accusing Alexander, however, was that he coveted Alexander's kingdom.

[12] After taking his daughter away and giving her to Demetrius, Ptolemy broke with Alexander; their enmity became open.

[13] Then Ptolemy entered Antioch and assumed the crown of Asia; he thus wore two crowns on his head, that of Egypt and that of Asia.

[14] King Alexander was in Cilicia at that time, because the people of that region had revolted.

[15] When Alexander heard the news, he came to challenge Ptolemy in battle. Ptolemy marched out and met him with a strong force and put him to flight.

[16] Alexander fled to Arabia to seek protection. King Ptolemy's triumph was complete

[17] when the Arab Zabdiel cut off Alexander's head and sent it to Ptolemy.

[18] But three days later King Ptolemy himself died, and his men in the fortified cities were killed by the inhabitants of the strongholds.

[19] 4 Thus Demetrius became king in the year one hundred and sixty-seven.

[20] At that time Jonathan gathered together the men of Judea to attack the citadel in Jerusalem, and they set up many machines against it.

[21] Some transgressors of the law, enemies of their own nation, went to the king and informed him that Jonathan was besieging the citadel.

[22] When Demetrius heard this, he was furious, and set out immediately for Ptolemais. He wrote to Jonathan to discontinue the siege and to meet him for a conference at Ptolemais as soon as possible.

[23] On hearing this, Jonathan ordered the siege to continue. He selected some elders and priests of Israel and exposed himself to danger

[24] by going to the king at Ptolemais. He brought with him silver, gold apparel, and many other presents, and found favor with the king.

[25] Although some impious men of his own nation brought charges against him,

[26] the king treated him just as his predecessors had done and showed him great honor in the presence of all his Friends.

[27] He confirmed him in the high priesthood and in all the honors he had previously held, and had him enrolled among his Chief Friends.

[28] Jonathan asked the king to exempt Judea and the three districts of Samaria from tribute, promising him in return three hundred talents.

[29] The king agreed and wrote the following letter to Jonathan about all these matters: Pact with Demetrius

[30] 5 "King Demetrius sends greetings to his brother Jonathan and to the Jewish nation.

[31] 6 We are sending you, for your information, a copy of the letter that we wrote to Lasthenes our kinsman concerning you.

[32] "'King Demetrius sends greetings to his father Lasthenes.

[33] Because of the good will they show us, we have decided to bestow benefits on the Jewish nation, who are our friends and who observe their obligations to us.

[34] 7 Therefore we confirm their possession, not only of the territory of Judea, but also of the three districts of Aphairema, Lydda, and Ramathaim. These districts, together with all their dependencies, were transferred from Samaria to Judea in favor of all those who offer sacrifices for us in Jerusalem instead of paying the royal taxes that formerly the king received from them each year from the produce of the soil and the fruit of the trees.

[35] From this day on we grant them release from payment of all other things that would henceforth be due to us, that is, of tithes and tribute and of the tax on the salt pans and the crown tax.

[36] Henceforth none of these provisions shall ever be revoked.

[37] Be sure, therefore, to have a copy of these instructions made and given to Jonathan, that it may be displayed in a conspicuous place on the holy hill.'"

[38] When King Demetrius saw that the land was peaceful under his rule and that he had no opposition, he dismissed his entire army, every man to his home, except the foreign troops which he had hired from the islands of the nations. So all the soldiers who had served under his predecessors hated him.

[39] When a certain Trypho, who had previously belonged to Alexander's party, saw that all the troops were grumbling at Demetrius, he went to Imalkue the Arab, who was bringing up Alexander's young son Antiochus.

[40] Trypho kept urging Imalkue to hand over the boy to him, that he might make him king in his father's place. During his stay there of many days, he told him of all that Demetrius had done and of the hatred that his soldiers had for him.

[41] Meanwhile Jonathan sent the request to King Demetrius to withdraw his troops from the citadel of Jerusalem and from the other strongholds, for they were constantly hostile to Israel.

[42] Demetrius, in turn, sent this word to Jonathan: "I will not only do this for you and your nation, but I will greatly honor you and your nation when I find the opportunity.

[43] Do me the favor, therefore, of sending men to fight for me, because all my troops have revolted."

[44] So Jonathan sent three thousand good fighting men to him at Antioch. When they came to the king, he was delighted over their arrival,

[45] for the populace, one hundred and twenty thousand strong, had massed in the center of the city in an attempt to kill him.

[46] But he took refuge in the palace, while the populace gained control of the main streets and began to fight.

[47] So the king called the Jews to his aid. They all rallied around him and spread out through the city. On that day they killed about a hundred thousand men in the city,

[48] which, at the same time, they set on fire and plundered on a large scale. Thus they saved the king's life.

[49] When the populace saw that the Jews held the city at their mercy, they lost courage and cried out to the king in supplication,

[50] "Give us your terms and let the Jews stop attacking us and our city." So they threw down their arms and made peace.

[51] The Jews thus gained glory in the eyes of the king and all his subjects, and they became renowned throughout his kingdom. Finally they returned to Jerusalem with much spoil.

[52] But when King Demetrius was sure of his royal throne, and the land was peaceful under his rule,

[53] he broke all his promises and became estranged from Jonathan. Instead of rewarding Jonathan for all the favors he had received from him, he caused him much trouble.

[54] After this, Trypho returned and brought with him the young boy Antiochus, who became king and wore the royal crown.

[55] All the soldiers whom Demetrius had discharged rallied around Antiochus and fought against Demetrius, who was routed and fled.

[56] Trypho captured the elephants and occupied Antioch.

[57] Then young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan: "I confirm you in the high priesthood and appoint you ruler over the four districts and wish you to be one of the King's Friends."

[58] He also sent him gold dishes and a dinner service, gave him the right to drink from gold cups, to dress in royal purple, and to wear a gold buckle.

[59] 8 Likewise, he made Jonathan's brother Simon governor of the region from the Ladder of Tyre to the frontier of Egypt.

[60] 9 Jonathan set out and traveled through West-of-Euphrates and its cities, and all the forces of Syria espoused his cause as allies. When he arrived at Ashkalon, the citizens welcomed him with pomp.

[61] But when he set out for Gaza, the people of Gaza locked their gates against him. So he besieged it and burned and plundered its suburbs.

[62] Then the people of Gaza appealed to him for mercy, and he granted them peace. He took the sons of their chief men as hostages and sent them to Jerusalem. He then traveled on through the province as far as Damascus.

[63] Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius had come with a strong force to Kadesh in Galilee, intending to remove him from office.

[64] So he went to meet them, leaving his brother Simon in the province.

[65] Simon besieged Beth-zur, attacked it for many days, and blockaded the inhabitants.

[66] When they sued for peace, he granted it to them. He expelled them from the city, took possession of it, and put a garrison there.

[67] 10 Meanwhile, Jonathan and his army pitched their camp near the waters of Gennesaret, and at daybreak they went to the plain of Hazor.

[68] There, in front of him on the plain, was the army of the foreigners. This army attacked him in the open, having first detached an ambush against him in the mountains.

[69] Then the men in ambush rose out of their places and joined in the battle.

[70] All of Jonathan's men fled; no one stayed except the army commanders Mattathias, son of Absalom, and Judas, son of Chalphi.

[71] Jonathan tore his clothes, threw earth on his head, and prayed.

[72] Then he went back to the combat and so overwhelmed the enemy that they took to flight.

[73] Those of his men who were running away saw it and returned to him; and with him they pursued the enemy as far as their camp in Kadesh, where they pitched their own camp.

[74] Three thousand of the foreign troops fell on that day. Then Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.

First Maccabees Chapter 12

[1] When Jonathan saw that the times favored him, he sent selected men to Rome to confirm and renew his friendship with the Romans.

[2] He also sent letters to Sparta and other places for the same purpose.

[3] After reaching Rome, the men entered the senate chamber and said, "The high priest Jonathan and the Jewish people have sent us to renew the earlier friendship and alliance between you and them."

[4] The Romans gave them letters addressed to the authorities in the various places, requesting them to provide the envoys with safe conduct to the land of Judah.

[5] This is a copy of the letter that Jonathan wrote to the Spartans:

[6] "Jonathan the high priest, the senate of the nation, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people send greetings to their brothers the Spartans.

[7] 1 Long ago a letter was sent to the high priest Onias from Arius, who then reigned over you, stating that you are our brothers, as the attached copy shows.

[8] Onias welcomed the envoy with honor and received the letter, which clearly referred to alliance and friendship.

[9] 2 Though we have no need of these things, since we have for our encouragement the sacred books that are in our possession,

[10] we have ventured to send word to you for the renewal of brotherhood and friendship, so as not to become strangers to you altogether; a long time has passed since your mission to us.

[11] We, on our part, have never ceased to remember you in the sacrifices and prayers that we offer on our feasts and other appropriate days, as it is right and proper to remember brothers.

[12] We likewise rejoice in your renown.

[13] But many hardships and wars have beset us, and the kings around us have attacked us.

[14] We did not wish to be troublesome to you and to the rest of our allies and friends in these wars;

[15] with the help of Heaven for our support, we have been saved from our enemies, and they have been humbled.

[16] So we have chosen Numenius, son of Antiochus, and Antipater, son of Jason, and we have sent them to the Romans to renew our former friendship and alliance with them.

[17] We have also ordered them to come to you and greet you, and to deliver to you our letter about the renewal of our brotherhood.

[18] Therefore kindly send us an answer on this matter."

[19] This is a copy of the letter that was sent to Onias:

[20] "Arius, king of the Spartans, sends greetings to Onias the high priest.

[21] A document has been found stating that the Spartans and the Jews are brothers; both nations descended from Abraham.

[22] Now that we have learned this, kindly write to us about your welfare.

[23] We, on our part, are informing you that your cattle and your possessions are ours, and ours are yours. We have, therefore, given orders that you should be told of this."

[24] Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius had returned to attack him with a stronger army than before.

[25] 3 He set out from Jerusalem and went into the country of Hamath to meet them, giving them no time to enter his province.

[26] The spies he had sent into their camp came back and reported that the enemy had made ready to attack the Jews that very night.

[27] Therefore, when the sun set, Jonathan ordered his men to be on guard and to remain armed, ready for combat, throughout the night. He also set outposts all around the camp.

[28] When the enemy heard that Jonathan and his men were ready for battle, their hearts sank with fear and dread. They lighted fires and then withdrew.

[29] But because Jonathan and his men were watching the lights burning, they did not know what had happened until morning.

[30] Then Jonathan pursued them, but he could not overtake them, for they had crossed the river Eleutherus.

[31] So Jonathan turned aside against the Arabs who are called Zabadeans, overwhelming and plundering them.

[32] Then he marched on to Damascus and traversed that whole region.

[33] Simon also set out and went as far as Ashkalon and its neighboring strongholds. He then turned to Joppa and occupied it,

[34] for he heard that its men had intended to hand over this stronghold to the supporters of Demetrius. He left a garrison there to guard it.

[35] When Jonathan returned, he assembled the elders of the people, and with them he made plans for building strongholds in Judea,

[36] for making the walls of Jerusalem still higher, and for erecting a high barrier between the citadel and the city, that would isolate the citadel and so prevent its garrison from commerce with the city.

[37] The people therefore worked together on building up the city, for part of the east wall above the ravine had collapsed. The quarter called Chaphenatha was also repaired.

[38] Simon likewise built up Adida in the Shephelah, and strengthened its fortifications by providing them with gates and bars.

[39] Trypho was determined to become king of Asia, assume the crown, and do away with King Antiochus.

[40] But he was afraid that Jonathan would not permit him, but would fight against him. Looking for a way to seize and kill him, he set out and reached Beth-shan.

[41] Jonathan marched out against him with forty thousand picked fighting men and came to Beth-shan.

[42] But when Trypho saw that Jonathan had arrived with a large army he was afraid to offer him violence.

[43] Instead, he received him with honor, introduced him to all his friends, and gave him presents. He also ordered his friends and soldiers to obey him as they would himself.

[44] Then he said to Jonathan: "Why have you put all your soldiers to so much trouble when we are not at war?

[45] Pick out a few men to stay with you, send the rest back home, and then come with me to Ptolemais. I will hand it over to you together with other strongholds and their garrisons, as well as the officials, then I will leave and go home. That is why I came here."

[46] Jonathan believed him and did as he said. He dismissed his troops, and they returned to the land of Judah.

[47] But he kept with him three thousand men, of whom he sent two thousand to Galilee while one thousand accompanied him.

[48] Then as soon as Jonathan had entered Ptolemais, the men of the city closed the gates and seized him; all who had entered with him, they killed with the sword.

[49] 4 Trypho sent soldiers and cavalry to Galilee and the Great Plain to destroy all Jonathan's men.

[50] These, upon learning that Jonathan had been captured and his companions killed, encouraged one another and went out in compact body ready to fight.

[51] As their pursuers saw that they were ready to fight for their lives, they turned back.

[52] Thus all these men of Jonathan came safely into the land of Judah. They mourned over Jonathan and his men, and were in great fear, and all Israel fell into deep mourning.

[53] All the nations round about sought to destroy them. They said, "Now that they have no leader to help them, let us make war on them and wipe out their memory from among men."

First Maccabees Chapter 13

[1] When Simon heard that Trypho was gathering a large army to invade and ravage the land of Judah,

[2] and saw that the people were in dread and terror, he went up to Jerusalem. There he assembled the people

[3] and exhorted them in these words: "You know what I, my brothers, and my father's house have done for the laws and the sanctuary; what battles and disasters we have been through.

[4] It was for the sake of these, for the sake of Israel, that all my brothers have perished, and I alone am left.

[5] Far be it from me, then, to save my own life in any time of distress, for I am not better than my brothers.

[6] Rather will I avenge my nation and the sanctuary, as well as your wives and children, for all the nations out of hatred have united to destroy us."

[7] As the people heard these words, their spirit was rekindled.

[8] They shouted in reply: "You are our leader in place of your brothers Judas and Jonathan.

[9] Fight our battles, and we will do everything that you tell us."

[10] So Simon mustered all the men able to fight, and quickly completing the walls of Jerusalem, fortified it on every side.

[11] He sent Jonathan, son of Absalom, to Joppa with a large force; Jonathan drove out the occupants and remained there.

[12] Then Trypho moved from Ptolemais with a large army to invade the land of Judah, bringing Jonathan with him as a prisoner.

[13] But Simon pitched his camp at Adida, facing the plain.

[14] When Trypho learned that Simon had succeeded his brother Jonathan, and that he intended to fight him, he sent envoys to him with this message:

[15] "We have detained your brother Jonathan on account of the money that he owed the royal treasury in connection with the offices that he held.

[16] Therefore, if you send us a hundred talents of silver, and two of his sons as hostages to guarantee that when he is set free he will not revolt against us, we will release him."

[17] Although Simon knew that they were speaking deceitfully to him, he gave orders to get the money and the boys, for fear of provoking much hostility among the people, who might say

[18] that Jonathan perished because Simon would not send Trypho the money and the boys.

[19] So he sent the boys and the hundred talents; but Trypho broke his promise and would not let Jonathan go.

[20] 1 Next he began to invade and ravage the country. His troops went around by the road that leads to Adora, but Simon and his army moved along opposite him everywhere he went.

[21] The men in the citadel sent messengers to Trypho, urging him to come to them by way of the desert, and to send them provisions.

[22] Although Trypho got all his cavalry ready to go, there was a heavy fall of snow that night, and he could not go. So he left for Gilead.

[23] 2 When he was approaching Baskama, he had Jonathan killed and buried there.

[24] Then Trypho returned to his own country.

[25] Simon sent for the remains of his brother Jonathan, and buried him in Modein, the city of his fathers.

[26] All Israel bewailed him with solemn lamentation, mourning over him for many days.

[27] Then Simon erected over the tomb of his father and his brothers a monument of stones, polished front and back, and raised high enough to be seen at a distance.

[28] He set up seven pyramids facing one another for his father and his mother and his four brothers.

[29] For the pyramids he devised a setting of big columns, on which he carved suits of armor as a perpetual memorial, and next to the armor he placed carved ships, which could be seen by all who sailed the sea.

[30] This tomb which he built at Modein is there to the present day.

[31] Trypho dealt treacherously with the young King Antiochus. He killed him

[32] and assumed the kingship in his place, putting on the crown of Asia. Thus he brought much evil on the land.

[33] Simon, on his part, built up the strongholds of Judea, strengthening their fortifications with high towers, thick walls, and gates with bars, and he stored up provisions in the fortresses.

[34] Simon also sent chosen men to King Demetrius with the request that he grant the land a release from taxation, for all that Trypho did was to plunder the land.

[35] In reply, King Demetrius sent him the following letter:

[36] "King Demetrius sends greetings to Simon the high priest, the friend of kings, and to the elders and the Jewish people.

[37] We have received the gold crown and the palm branch that you sent. We are willing to be on most peaceful terms with you and to write to our official to grant you release from tribute.

[38] Whatever we have guaranteed to you remains in force, and the strongholds that you have built shall remain yours.

[39] We remit any oversights and defaults incurred up to now, as well as the crown tax that you owe. Any other tax that may have been collected in Jerusalem shall no longer be collected there.

[40] If any of you are qualified for enrollment in our service, let them be enrolled. Let there be peace between us."

[41] 3 Thus in the year one hundred and seventy, the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel,

[42] and the people began to write in their records and contracts, "In the first year of Simon, high priest, governor, and leader of the Jews."

[43] 4 In those days Simon besieged Gazara and surrounded it with troops. He made a siege machine, pushed it up against the city, and attacked and captured one of the towers.

[44] The men who had been on the siege machine jumped down into the city and caused a great tumult there.

[45] The men of the city, joined by their wives and children, went up on the wall, with their garments rent, and cried out in loud voices, begging Simon to grant them peace.

[46] "Do not treat us according to our evil deeds," they said, "but according to your mercy."

[47] So Simon came to terms with them and did not destroy them. He made them leave the city, however, and he purified the houses in which there were idols. Then he entered the city with hymns and songs of praise.

[48] After removing from it everything that was impure, he settled there men who observed the law. He improved its fortifications and built himself a residence.

[49] The men in the citadel in Jerusalem were prevented from going out into the country and back for the purchase of food; they suffered greatly from hunger, and many of them died of starvation.

[50] They finally cried out to Simon for peace, and he gave them peace. He expelled them from the citadel and cleansed it of impurities.

[51] 5 On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the year one hundred and seventy-one, the Jews entered the citadel with shouts of jubilation, waving of palm branches, the music of harps and cymbals and lyres, and the singing of hymns and canticles, because a great enemy of Israel had been destroyed.

[52] Simon decreed that this day should be celebrated every year with rejoicing. He also strengthened the fortifications of the temple hill alongside the citadel, and he and his companions dwelt there.

[53] 6 Seeing that his son John was now a grown man, Simon made him commander of all his soldiers, with his residence in Gazara.

First Maccabees Chapter 14

[1] 1 In the year one hundred and seventy-two, King Demetrius assembled his army and marched into Media to obtain help so that he could fight Trypho.

[2] 2 When Arsaces, king of Persia and Media, heard that Demetrius had invaded his territory, he sent one of his generals to take him alive.

[3] The general went forth and defeated the army of Demetrius; he captured him and brought him to Arsaces, who put him in prison.

[4] The land was at rest all the days of Simon, who sought the good of his nation. His people were delighted with his power and his magnificence throughout his reign.

[5] As his crowning glory he captured the port of Joppa and made it a gateway to the isles of the sea.

[6] He enlarged the borders of his nation and gained control of the country.

[7] He took many enemies prisoners of war and made himself master of Gazara, Beth-zur, and the citadel. He cleansed the citadel of its impurities; there was no one to withstand him.

[8] The people cultivated their land in peace; the land yielded its produce and the trees of the field their fruit.

[9] Old men sat in the squares, all talking about the good times, while the young men wore the glorious apparel of war.

[10] He supplied the cities with food and equipped them with means of defense, till his glorious name reached the ends of the earth.

[11] He brought peace to the land, and Israel was filled with happiness.

[12] Every man sat under his vine and his fig tree, with no one to disturb him.

[13] No one was left to attack them in their land; the kings in those days were crushed.

[14] He strengthened all the lowly among his people and was zealous for the law; he suppressed all the lawless and the wicked.

[15] He made the temple splendid and enriched its equipment.

[16] 3 When people heard in Rome and even in Sparta that Jonathan had died, they were deeply grieved.

[17] But when the Romans heard that his brother Simon had been made high priest in his place and was master of the country and the cities,

[18] they sent him inscribed tablets of bronze to renew with him the friendship and alliance that they had established with his brothers Judas and Jonathan.

[19] These were read before the assembly in Jerusalem.

[20] This is a copy of the letter that the Spartans sent: "The rulers and the citizens of Sparta send greetings to Simon the high priest, the elders, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people, our brothers.

[21] The envoys you sent to our people have informed us of your glory and fame, and we were happy that they came.

[22] In accordance with what they said we have recorded the following in the public decrees: Since Numenius, son of Antiochus, and Antipater, son of Jason, envoys of the Jews, have come to us to renew their friendship with us,

[23] the people have voted to receive the men with honor, and to deposit a copy of their words in the public archives, so that the people of Sparta may have a record of them. A copy of this decree has been made for Simon the high priest."

[24] After this, Simon sent Numenius to Rome with a great gold shield weighing a thousand minas, to confirm the alliance with the Romans.

[25] When the people heard of these things, they said, "How can we thank Simon and his sons?

[26] He and his brothers and his father's house have stood firm and repulsed Israel's enemies. They have thus preserved its liberty." So they made an inscription on bronze tablets, which they affixed to pillars on Mount Zion.

[27] 4 The following is a copy of the inscription: "On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the year one hundred and seventy-two, that is, the third year under Simon the high priest in Asaramel,

[28] in a great assembly of priests, people, rulers of the nation, and elders of the country, the following proclamation was made:

[29] "'Since there have often been wars in our country, Simon, son of the priest Mattathias, descendant of Joarib, and his brothers have put themselves in danger and resisted the enemies of their nation, so that their sanctuary and law might be maintained, and they have thus brought great glory to their nation.

[30] After Jonathan had rallied his nation and become their high priest, he was gathered to his kinsmen.

[31] When the enemies of the Jews sought to invade and devastate their country and to lay hands on their temple,

[32] Simon rose up and fought for his nation, spending large sums of his own money to equip the men of his nation's armed forces and giving them their pay.

[33] He fortified the cities of Judea, especially the frontier city of Beth-zur, where he stationed a garrison of Jewish soldiers, and where previously the enemy's arms had been stored.

[34] He also fortified Joppa by the sea and Gazara on the border of Azotus, a place previously occupied by the enemy; these cities he resettled with Jews, and furnished them with all that was necessary for their restoration.

[35] When the Jewish people saw Simon's loyalty and the glory he planned to bring to his nation, they made him their leader and high priest because of all he had accomplished and the loyalty and justice he had shown his nation. In every way he sought to exalt his people.

[36] "'In his time and under his guidance they succeeded in driving the Gentiles out of their country, especially those in the City of David in Jerusalem, who had built for themselves a citadel from which they used to sally forth to defile the environs of the temple and inflict grave injury on its purity.

[37] In this citadel he stationed Jewish soldiers, and he strengthened its fortifications for the defense of the land and the city, while he also raised the wall of Jerusalem to a greater height.

[38] Consequently, King Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood,

[39] made him one of his Friends, and conferred the highest honors on him.

[40] He had indeed heard that the Romans had addressed the Jews as friends, allies, and brothers and that they had received Simon's envoys with honor.

[41] "'The Jewish people and their priest have, therefore, made the following decisions. Simon shall be their permanent leader and high priest until a true prophet arises.

[42] He shall act as governor general over them, and shall have charge of the temple, to make regulations concerning its functions and concerning the country, its weapons and strongholds,

[43] he shall be obeyed by all. All contracts made in the country shall be dated by his name. He shall have the right to wear royal purple and gold ornaments.

[44] It shall not be lawful for any of the people or priests to nullify any of these decisions, or to contradict the orders given by him, or to convene an assembly in the country without his consent, to be clothed in royal purple or wear an official gold brooch.

[45] Whoever acts otherwise or violates any of these prescriptions shall be liable to punishment.

[46] "'All the people approved of granting Simon the right to act in accord with these decisions,

[47] 5 and Simon accepted and agreed to act as high priest, governor general, and ethnarch of the Jewish people and priests and to exercise supreme authority over all.'"

[48] It was decreed that this inscription should be engraved on bronze tablets, to be set up in a conspicuous place in the precincts of the temple,

[49] and that copies of it should be deposited in the treasury, where they would be available to Simon and his sons.

First Maccabees Chapter 15

[1] 1 Antiochus, son of King Demetrius, sent a letter from the islands of the sea to Simon, the priest and ethnarch of the Jews, and to all the nation,

[2] which read as follows: "King Antiochus sends greetings to Simon, the priest and ethnarch, and to the Jewish nation.

[3] Whereas certain villains have gained control of the kingdom of my ancestors, I intend to reclaim it, that I may restore it to its former state. I have recruited a large number of mercenary troops and equipped warships

[4] to make a landing in my country and take revenge on those who have ruined it and laid waste many cities in my realm.

[5] "Now, therefore, I confirm to you all the tax exemptions that the kings before me granted you and whatever other privileges they conferred on you.

[6] I authorize you to coin your own money, as legal tender in your country.

[7] Jerusalem and its temple shall be free. All the weapons you have prepared and all the strongholds you have built and now occupy shall remain in your possession.

[8] All debts, present or future, due to the royal treasury shall be canceled for you, now and for all time.

[9] When we recover our kingdom, we will greatly honor you and your nation and the temple, so that your glory will be manifest in all the earth."

[10] 2 In the year one hundred and seventy-four Antiochus invaded the land of his ancestors, and all the troops rallied to him, so that few were left with Trypho.

[11] 3 Pursued by Antiochus, Trypho fled to Dor, by the sea,

[12] realizing what a mass of troubles had come upon him now that his soldiers had deserted him.

[13] Antiochus encamped before Dor with a hundred and twenty thousand infantry and eight thousand horsemen.

[14] While he invested the city, his ships closed in along the coast, so that he blockaded it by land and sea and let no one go in or out.

[15] Meanwhile, Numenius and his companions left Rome with letters such as this addressed to various kings and countries:

[16] 4 "Lucius, Consul of the Romans, sends greetings to King Ptolemy.

[17] Certain envoys of the Jews, our friends and allies, have come to us to renew their earlier alliance of friendship. They had been sent by Simon the high priest and the Jewish people,

[18] and they brought with them a gold shield worth a thousand minas.

[19] Therefore we have decided to write to various kings and countries, that they are not to harm them, or wage war against them or their cities or their country, and are not to assist those who fight against them.

[20] We have also decided to accept the shield from them.

[21] If, then, any troublemakers from their country take refuge with you, hand them over to Simon the high priest, so that he may punish them according to their law."

[22] 5 The consul sent similar letters to Kings Demetrius, Attalus, Ariarthes and Arsaces;

[23] to all the countries--Sampsames, Sparta, Delos, Myndos, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus, Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Side, Aradus, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus, and Cyrene.

[24] A copy of the letter was also sent to Simon the high priest.

[25] When King Antiochus was encamped before Dor, he assaulted it continuously both with troops and with the siege machines he had made. He blockaded Trypho by preventing anyone from going in or out.

[26] Simon sent to Antiochus' support two thousand elite troops, together with gold and silver and much equipment.

[27] But he refused to accept the aid; in fact, he broke all the agreements he had previously made with Simon and became hostile toward him.

[28] He sent Athenobius, one of his Friends, to confer with Simon and say: "You are occupying Joppa and Gazara and the citadel of Jerusalem; these are cities of my kingdom.

[29] You have laid waste their territories, done great harm to the land, and taken possession of many districts in my realm.

[30] Therefore, give up the cities you have seized and the tribute money of the districts outside the territory of Judea of which you have taken possession;

[31] or instead, pay me five hundred talents of silver for the devastation you have caused and five hundred talents more for the tribute money of the cities. If you do not do this, we will come and make war on you."

[32] So Athenobius, the king's Friend, came to Jerusalem and on seeing the splendor of Simon's court, the gold and silver plate on the sideboard, and the rest of his rich display, he was amazed. When he gave him the king's message,

[33] Simon said to him in reply: "We have not seized any foreign land; what we took is not the property of others, but our ancestral heritage which for a time had been unjustly held by our enemies.

[34] Now that we have the opportunity, we are holding on to the heritage of our ancestors.

[35] As for Joppa and Gazara, which you demand, the men of these cities were doing great harm to our people and laying waste our country; however, we are willing to pay you a hundred talents for these cities."

[36] Athenobius made no reply, but returned to the king in anger. When he told him of Simon's words, of his splendor, and of all he had seen, the king fell into a violent rage.

[37] 6 Trypho had gotten aboard a ship and escaped to Orthosia.

[38] Then the king appointed Cendebeus commander-in-chief of the seacoast, and gave him infantry and cavalry forces.

[39] 7 He ordered him to move his troops against Judea and to fortify Kedron and strengthen its gates, so that he could launch attacks against the Jewish people. Meanwhile the king went in pursuit of Trypho.

[40] When Cendebeus came to Jamnia, he began to harass the people and to make incursions into Judea, where he took people captive or massacred them.

[41] As the king ordered, he fortified Kedron and stationed horsemen and infantry there, so that they could go out and patrol the roads of Judea.

First Maccabees Chapter 16

[1] John then went up from Gazara and told his father Simon what Cendebeus was doing.

[2] Simon called his two oldest sons, Judas and John, and said to them: "I and my brothers and my father's house have fought the battles of Israel from our youth until today, and many times we succeeded in saving Israel.

[3] I have now grown old, but you, by the mercy of Heaven, have come to man's estate. Take my place and my brother's, and go out and fight for our nation; and may the help of Heaven be with you!"

[4] John then mustered in the land twenty thousand warriors and horsemen. Setting out against Cendebeus, they spent the night at Modein,

[5] rose early, and marched into the plain. There, facing them, was an immense army of foot soldiers and horsemen, and between the two armies was a stream.

[6] John and his men took their position against the enemy. Seeing that his men were afraid to cross the stream, John crossed first. When his men saw this, they crossed over after him.

[7] Then he divided his infantry into two corps and put his cavalry between them, for the enemy's horsemen were very numerous.

[8] They blew the trumpets, and Cendebeus and his army were put to flight; many of them fell wounded, and the rest fled toward the stronghold.

[9] It was then that John's brother Judas fell wounded; but John pursued them until Cendebeus reached Kedron, which he had fortified.

[10] Some took refuge in the towers on the plain of Azotus, but John set fire to these, and about two thousand of the enemy perished. He then returned to Judea in peace.

[11] Ptolemy, son of Abubus, had been appointed governor of the plain of Jericho, and he had much silver and gold,

[12] being the son-in-law of the high priest.

[13] But he became ambitious and sought to get control of the country. So he made treacherous plans to do away with Simon and his sons.

[14] 1 As Simon was inspecting the cities of the country and providing for their needs, he and his sons Mattathias and Judas went down to Jericho in the year one hundred and seventy-seven, in the eleventh month (that is, the month Shebat).

[15] 2 The son of Abubus gave them a deceitful welcome in the little stronghold called Dok which he had built. While serving them a sumptuous banquet, he had his men hidden there.

[16] Then, when Simon and his sons had drunk freely, Ptolemy and his men sprang up, weapons in hand, rushed upon Simon in the banquet hall, and killed him, his two sons, and some of his servants.

[17] By this vicious act of treason he repaid good with evil.

[18] Then Ptolemy wrote an account of this and sent it to the king, asking that troops be sent to help him and that the country be turned over to him.

[19] He sent other men to Gazara to do away with John. To the army officers he sent letters inviting them to come to him so that he might present them with silver, gold, and gifts.

[20] He also sent others to seize Jerusalem and the mount of the temple.

[21] But someone ran ahead and brought word to John at Gazara that his father and his brothers had perished, and that Ptolemy had sent men to kill him also.

[22] On hearing this, John was utterly astounded. When the men came to kill him, he had them arrested and put to death, for he knew what they meant to do.

[23] 3 Now the rest of the history of John, his wars and the brave deeds he performed, his rebuilding of the walls, and his other achievements-

[24] these things are recorded in the chronicle of his pontificate, from the time that he succeeded his father as high priest.

Introduction to Second Maccabees

2 Maccabees

Introduction

5lthough this book, like the preceding one, receives its title from its protagonist, Judas Maccabee (or Maccabeus), it is not a sequel to 1 Maccabees. The two differ in many respects. Whereas the first covers the period from the beginning of the reign of Antiochus IV (175 B.C.) to the accession of John Hyrcanus I (134 B.C.), this present book treats of the events in Jewish history from the time of the high priest Onias III and King Seleucus IV (c. 180 B.C.) to the defeat of Nicanor's army (161 B.C.).

The author of 2 Maccabees states (2 Macc 2:23) that his one-volume work is an abridgment of a certain five-volume work by Jason of Cyrene; but since this latter has not survived, it is difficult to determine its relationship to the present epitome. One does not know how freely the anonymous epitomizer may have rewritten his shorter composition, or how closely he may have followed the wording of the original in the excerpts he made. Some parts of the text here, clearly not derived from Jason's work, are the Preface (2 Macc 2:19-32), the Epilogue (2 Macc 15:37-39), and probably also certain moralizing reflections (e. g., 2 Macc 5:17-20; 6:12-17). It is certain, however, that both works were written in Greek, which explains why the Second Book of Maccabees was not included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible.

The book is not without genuine historical value in supplementing I Maccabees, and it contains some apparently authentic documents (2 Macc 11:16-38). Its purpose, whether intended by Jason himself or read into it by the compiler, is to give a theological interpretation to the history of the period. There is less interest, therefore, in the actual exploits of Judas Maccabeus than in God's marvelous interventions. These direct the course of events, both to punish the sacriligeous and blashphemous pagans, and to purify God's holy temple and restore it to his faithful people. The author sometimes effects his purpose by transferring events from their proper chronological order, and giving exaggerated figures for the size of armies and the numbers killed in battle; he also places long, edifying discourses and prayers in the mouths of his heroes, and inclines to elaborate descriptions of celestial apparitions (2 Macc 3:24-34; 5:2-4; 10:29, 30; 15:11-16). He is the earliest known composer of stories that glorify God's holy martyrs (2 Macc 6:18-7:42; 14:37-46).

Of theological importance are the author's teachings on the resurrection of the just on the last day (2 Macc 7:9, 11, 14, 23; 14:46), the intercession of the saints in heaven for people living on earth (15:11-16), and the power of the living to offer prayers and sacrifices for the dead (12:39-46).

The beginning of 2 Maccabees consists of two letters sent by the Jews of Jerusalem to their coreligionists in Egypt. They deal with the observance of the feast commemorating the central event of the book, the purification of the temple. It is uncertain whether the author or a later scribe prefixed these letters to the narrative proper. If the author is responsible for their insertion, he must have written his book some time after 124 B.C., the date of the more recent of the two letters. In any case, Jason's five-volume work very likely continued the history of the Jews well into the Hasmonean period, so that 2 Maccabees would probably not have been produced much before the end of the second century B.C.

The main divisions of 2 Maccabees are:

Letters to the Jews in Egypt (2 Macc 1:1-2:18)

Author's Preface (2 Macc 2:19-32)

Heliodorus' Attempt To Profane the Temple (2 Macc 3:1-40)

Profanation and Persecution (2 Macc 4:1-7:42)

Victories of Judas and Purification of the Temple (2 Macc 8:1-10:8)

Renewed Persecution (2 Macc 10:9-15:36)

Epilogue (2 Macc 15:37-39)

Second Maccabees Chapter 1

[1] The Jews in Jerusalem and in the land of Judea send greetings to their brethren, the Jews in Egypt, and wish them true peace!

[2] May God bless you and remember his covenant with his faithful servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

[3] May he give to all of you a heart to worship him and to do his will readily and generously.

[4] May he open your heart to his law and his commandments and grant you peace.

[5] May he hear your prayers, and be reconciled to you, and never forsake you in time of adversity.

[6] Even now we are praying for you here.

[7] 1 In the reign of Demetrius, the year one hundred and sixty-nine, we Jews wrote to you during the trouble and violence that overtook us in those years after Jason and his followers had revolted against the holy land and the kingdom,

[8] 2 setting fire to the gatehouse and shedding innocent blood. But we prayed to the Lord, and our prayer was heard; we offered sacrifices and fine flour; we lighted the lamps and set out the loaves of bread.

[9] 3 We are now reminding you to celebrate the feast of Booths in the month of Chislev.

[10] 4 Dated in the year one hundred and eighty-eight. The people of Jerusalem and Judea, the senate, and Judas send greetings and good wishes to Aristobulus, counselor of King Ptolemy and member of the family of the anointed priests, and to the Jews in Egypt.

[11] 5 Since we have been saved by God from grave dangers, we give him great thanks for having fought on our side against the king;

[12] it was he who drove out those who fought against the holy city.

[13] 6 When their leader arrived in Persia with his seemingly irresistible army, they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea through a deceitful stratagem employed by Nanea's priests.

[14] 7 On the pretext of marrying the goddess, Antiochus with his Friends had come to the place to get its great treasures by way of dowry.

[15] When the priests of the Nanaeon had displayed the treasures, Antiochus with a few attendants came to the temple precincts. As soon as he entered the temple, the priests locked the doors.

[16] Then they opened a hidden trapdoor in the ceiling, hurled stones at the leader and his companions and struck them down. They dismembered the bodies, cut off their heads and tossed them to the people outside.

[17] Forever blessed be our God, who has thus punished the wicked!

[18] 8 9 We shall be celebrating the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev, so we thought it right to inform you, that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths and of the fire that appeared when Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.

[19] 10 When our fathers were being exiled to Persia, devout priests of the time took some of the fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry cistern, making sure that the place would be unknown to anyone.

[20] Many years later, when it so pleased God, Nehemiah, commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to look for it.

[21] When they informed us that they could not find any fire, but only muddy water, he ordered them to scoop some out and bring it. After the material for the sacrifices had been prepared, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle with the water the wood and what lay on it.

[22] When this was done and in time the sun, which had been clouded over, began to shine, a great fire blazed up, so that everyone marveled.

[23] While the sacrifice was being burned, the priests recited a prayer, and all present joined in with them, Jonathan leading and the rest responding with Nehemiah.

[24] The prayer was as follows: "Lord, Lord God, creator of all things, awesome and strong, just and merciful, the only king and benefactor,

[25] who alone are gracious, just, almighty, and eternal, Israel's savior from all evil, who chose our forefathers and sanctified them:

[26] accept this sacrifice on behalf of all your people Israel and guard and sanctify your heritage.

[27] Gather together our scattered people, free those who are the slaves of the Gentiles, look kindly on those who are despised and detested, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God.

[28] Punish those who tyrannize over us and arrogantly mistreat us.

[29] Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses promised."

[30] Then the priests began to sing hymns.

[31] After the sacrifice was burned, Nehemiah ordered the rest of the liquid to be poured upon large stones.

[32] As soon as this was done, a flame blazed up, but its light was lost in the brilliance cast from a light on the altar.

[33] When the event became known and the king of the Persians was told that, in the very place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, a liquid was found with which Nehemiah and his people had burned the sacrifices,

[34] the king, after verifying the fact, fenced the place off and declared it sacred.

[35] To those on whom the king wished to bestow favors he distributed the large revenues he received there.

[36] 11 Nehemiah and his companions called the liquid nephthar, meaning purification, but most people named it naphtha.

Second Maccabees Chapter 2

[1] 1 You will find in the records, not only that Jeremiah the prophet ordered the deportees to take some of the aforementioned fire with them,

[2] but also that the prophet, in giving them the law, admonished them not to forget the commandments of the Lord or be led astray in their thoughts, when seeing the gold and silver idols and their ornaments.

[3] With other similar words he urged them not to let the law depart from their hearts.

[4] 2 The same document also tells how the prophet, following a divine revelation, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him and how he went off to the mountain which Moses climbed to see God's inheritance.

[5] When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance.

[6] Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it.

[7] When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: "The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.

[8] 3 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in the cloud, just as it appeared in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Place might be gloriously sanctified."

[9] It is also related how Solomon in his wisdom offered a sacrifice at the dedication and the completion of the temple.

[10] Just as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire descended from the sky and consumed the sacrifices, so Solomon also prayed and fire came down and burned up the holocausts.

[11] 4 Moses had said, "Because it had not been eaten, the sin offering was burned up."

[12] Solomon also celebrated the feast in the same way for eight days.

[13] 5 Besides these things, it is also told in the records and in Nehemiah's Memoirs how he collected the books about the kings, the writings of the prophets and of David, and the royal letters about sacred offerings.

[14] In like manner Judas also collected for us the books that had been scattered because of the war, and we now have them in our possession.

[15] If you need them, send messengers to get them for you.

[16] As we are about to celebrate the feast of the purification of the temple, we are writing to you requesting you also to please celebrate the feast.

[17] It is God who has saved all his people and has restored to all of them their heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sacred rites,

[18] as he promised through the law. We trust in God, that he will soon have mercy on us and gather us together from everywhere under the heavens to his holy Place, for he has rescued us from great perils and has purified his Place.

[19] This is the story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, of the purification of the great temple, the dedication of the altar,

[20] 6 the campaigns against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator,

[21] and of the heavenly manifestations accorded to the heroes who fought bravely for Judaism, so that, few as they were, they seized the whole land, put to flight the barbarian hordes,

[22] regained possession of the world-famous temple, liberated the city, and reestablished the laws that were in danger of being abolished, while the Lord favored them with all his generous assistance.

[23] All this, which Jason of Cyrene set forth in detail in five volumes, we will try to condense into a single book.

[24] In view of the flood of statistics, and the difficulties encountered by those who wish to plunge into historical narratives where the material is abundant,

[25] we have aimed to please those who prefer simple reading, as well as to make it easy for the studious who wish to commit things to memory, and to be helpful to all.

[26] For us who have taken upon ourselves the labor of making this digest, the task, far from being easy, is one of sweat and of sleepless nights,

[27] just as the preparation of a festive banquet is no light matter for one who thus seeks to give enjoyment to others. Similarly, to win the gratitude of many we will gladly endure these inconveniences,

[28] while we leave the responsibility for exact details to the original author, and confine our efforts to giving only a summary outline.

[29] As the architect of a new house must give his attention to the whole structure, while the man who undertakes the decoration and the frescoes has only to concern himself with what is needed for ornamentation, so I think it is with us.

[30] To enter into questions and examine them thoroughly from all sides is the task of the professional historian;

[31] but the man who is making an adaptation should be allowed to aim at brevity of expression and to omit detailed treatment of the matter.

[32] Here, then, we shall begin our account without further ado; it would be nonsense to write a long preface to a story and then abbreviate the story itself.

Second Maccabees Chapter 3

[1] 1 2 While the holy city lived in perfect peace and the laws were strictly observed because of the piety of the high priest Onias and his hatred of evil,

[2] the kings themselves honored the Place and glorified the temple with the most magnificent gifts.

[3] 3 Thus Seleucus, king of Asia, defrayed from his own revenues all the expenses necessary for the sacrificial services.

[4] 4 But a certain Simon, of the priestly course of Bilgah, who had been appointed superintendent of the temple, had a quarrel with the high priest about the supervision of the city market.

[5] Since he could not prevail against Onias, he went to Apollonius of Tarsus, who at that time was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia,

[6] and reported to him that the treasury in Jerusalem was so full of untold riches that the total sum of money was incalculable and out of all proportion to the cost of the sacrifices, and that it would be possible to bring it all under the control of the king.

[7] When Apollonius had an audience with the king, he informed him about the riches that had been reported to him. The king chose his minister Heliodorus and sent him with instructions to expropriate the aforesaid wealth.

[8] So Heliodorus immediately set out on his journey, ostensibly to visit the cities of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, but in reality to carry out the king's purpose.

[9] When he arrived in Jerusalem and had been graciously received by the high priest of the city, he told him about the information that had been given, and explained the reason for his presence, and he asked if these things were really true.

[10] The high priest explained that part of the money was a care fund for widows and orphans,

[11] 5 and a part was the property of Hyrcanus, son of Tobias, a man who occupied a very high position. Contrary to the calumnies of the impious Simon, the total amounted to four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold.

[12] He added that it was utterly unthinkable to defraud those who had placed their trust in the sanctity of the Place and in the sacred inviolability of a temple venerated all over the world.

[13] But because of the orders he had from the king, Heliodorus said that in any case the money must be confiscated for the royal treasury.

[14] So on the day he had set he went in to take an inventory of the funds. There was great distress throughout the city.

[15] Priests prostrated themselves in their priestly robes before the altar, and loudly begged him in heaven who had given the law about deposits to keep the deposits safe for those who had made them.

[16] Whoever saw the appearance of the high priest was pierced to the heart, for the changed color of his face manifested the anguish of his soul.

[17] The terror and bodily trembling that had come over the man clearly showed those who saw him the pain that lodged in his heart.

[18] People rushed out of their houses in crowds to make public supplication, because the Place was in danger of being profaned.

[19] Women, girded with sackcloth below their breasts, filled the streets; maidens secluded indoors ran together, some to the gates, some to the walls, others peered through the windows,

[20] all of them with hands raised toward heaven, making supplication.

[21] It was pitiful to see the populace variously prostrated in prayer and the high priest full of dread and anguish.

[22] While they were imploring the almighty Lord to keep the deposits safe and secure for those who had placed them in trust,

[23] Heliodorus went on with his plan.

[24] But just as he was approaching the treasury with his bodyguards, the Lord of spirits who holds all power manifested himself in so striking a way that those who had been bold enough to follow Heliodorus were panic-stricken at God's power and fainted away in terror.

[25] There appeared to them a richly caparisoned horse, mounted by a dreadful rider. Charging furiously, the horse attacked Heliodorus with its front hoofs. The rider was seen to be wearing golden armor.

[26] Then two other young men, remarkably strong, strikingly beautiful, and splendidly attired, appeared before him. Standing on each side of him, they flogged him unceasingly until they had given him innumerable blows.

[27] Suddenly he fell to the ground, enveloped in great darkness. Men picked him up and laid him on a stretcher.

[28] The man who a moment before had entered that treasury with a great retinue and his whole bodyguard was carried away helpless, having clearly experienced the sovereign power of God.

[29] While he lay speechless and deprived of all hope of aid, due to an act of God's power,

[30] the Jews praised the Lord who had marvelously glorified his holy Place; and the temple, charged so shortly before with fear and commotion, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the almighty Lord had manifested himself.

[31] Soon some of the companions of Heliodorus begged Onias to invoke the Most High, praying that the life of the man who was about to expire might be spared.

[32] Fearing that the king might think that Heliodorus had suffered some foul play at the hands of the Jews, the high priest offered a sacrifice for the man's recovery.

[33] While the high priest was offering the sacrifice of atonement, the same young men in the same clothing again appeared and stood before Heliodorus. "Be very grateful to the high priest Onias," they told him. "It is for his sake that the Lord has spared your life.

[34] Since you have been scourged by Heaven, proclaim to all men the majesty of God's power." When they had said this, they disappeared.

[35] After Heliodorus had offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made most solemn vows to him who had spared his life, he bade Onias farewell, and returned with his soldiers to the king.

[36] Before all men he gave witness to the deeds of the most high God that he had seen with his own eyes.

[37] When the king asked Heliodorus who would be a suitable man to be sent to Jerusalem next, he answered:

[38] "If you have an enemy or a plotter against the government, send him there, and you will receive him back well-flogged, if indeed he survives at all; for there is certainly some special divine power about the Place.

[39] He who has his dwelling in heaven watches over that Place and protects it, and he strikes down and destroys those who come to harm it."

[40] This was how the matter concerning Heliodorus and the preservation of the treasury turned out.

Second Maccabees Chapter 4

[1] The Simon mentioned above as the informer about the funds against his own country, made false accusation that it was Onias who threatened Heliodorus and instigated the whole miserable affair.

[2] He dared to brand as a plotter against the government the man who was a benefactor of the city, a protector of his compatriots, and a zealous defender of the laws.

[3] When Simon's hostility reached such a point that murders were being committed by one of his henchmen,

[4] Onias saw that the opposition was serious and that Apollonius, son of Menestheus, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, was abetting Simon's wickedness.

[5] So he had recourse to the king, not as an accuser of his countrymen, but as a man looking to the general and particular good of all the people.

[6] He saw that, unless the king intervened, it would be impossible to have a peaceful government, and that Simon would not desist from his folly.

[7] 1 But Seleucus died, and when Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes succeeded him on the throne, Onias' brother Jason obtained the high priesthood by corrupt means:

[8] in an interview, he promised the king three hundred and sixty talents of silver, as well as eighty talents from another source of income.

[9] 2 Besides this he agreed to pay a hundred and fifty more, if he were given authority to establish a gymnasium and a youth club for it and to enroll men in Jerusalem as Antiochians.

[10] When Jason received the king's approval and came into office, he immediately initiated his countrymen into the Greek way of life.

[11] 3 He set aside the royal concessions granted to the Jews through the mediation of John, father of Eupolemus (that Eupolemus who would later go on an embassy to the Romans to establish a treaty of friendship with them); he abrogated the lawful institutions and introduced customs contrary to the law.

[12] 4 He quickly established a gymnasium at the very foot of the acropolis, where he induced the noblest young men to wear the Greek hat.

[13] The craze for Hellenism and foreign customs reached such a pitch, through the outrageous wickedness of the ungodly pseudo-high-priest Jason,

[14] that the priests no longer cared about the service of the altar. Disdaining the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened, at the signal for the discus-throwing, to take part in the unlawful exercises on the athletic field.

[15] They despised what their ancestors had regarded as honors, while they highly prized what the Greeks esteemed as glory.

[16] Precisely because of this, they found themselves in serious trouble: the very people whose manner of life they emulated, and whom they desired to imitate in everything, became their enemies and oppressors.

[17] It is no light matter to flout the laws of God, as the following period will show.

[18] When the quinquennial games were held at Tyre in the presence of the king,

[19] the vile Jason sent envoys as representatives of the Antiochians of Jerusalem, to bring there three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Hercules. But the bearers themselves decided that the money should not be spent on a sacrifice, as that was not right, but should be used for some other purpose.

[20] 5 So the contribution destined by the sender for the sacrifice to Hercules was in fact applied, by those who brought it, to the construction of triremes.

[21] 6 When Apollonius, son of Menestheus, was sent to Egypt for the coronation of King Philometor, Antiochus learned that the king was opposed to his policies; so he took measures for his own security.

[22] After going to Joppa, he proceeded to Jerusalem. There he was received with great pomp by Jason and the people of the city, who escorted him with torchlights and acclamations; following this, he led his army into Phoenicia.

[23] 7 Three years later Jason sent Menelaus, brother of the aforementioned Simon, to deliver the money to the king, and to obtain decisions on some important matters.

[24] When he had been introduced to the king, he flattered him with such an air of authority that he secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.

[25] He returned with the royal commission, but with nothing that made him worthy of the high priesthood; he had the temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast.

[26] Then Jason, who had cheated his own brother and now saw himself cheated by another man, was driven out as a fugitive to the country of the Ammonites.

[27] Although Menelaus had obtained the office, he did not make any payments of the money he had promised to the king,

[28] in spite of the demand of Sostratus, the commandant of the citadel, whose duty it was to collect the taxes. For this reason, both were summoned before the king.

[29] Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus as his substitute in the high priesthood, while Sostratus left Crates, commander of the Cypriots, as his substitute.

[30] 8 While these things were taking place, the people of Tarsus and Mallus rose in revolt, because their cities had been given as a gift to Antiochis, the king's mistress.

[31] The king, therefore, went off in haste to settle the affair, leaving Andronicus, one of his nobles, as his deputy.

[32] Then Menelaus, thinking this a good opportunity, stole some gold vessels from the temple and presented them to Andronicus; he had already sold some other vessels in Tyre and in the neighboring cities.

[33] When Onias had clear evidence of the facts, he made a public protest, after withdrawing to the inviolable sanctuary at Daphne, near Antioch.

[34] Thereupon Menelaus approached Andronicus privately and asked him to lay hands on Onias. So Andronicus went to Onias, and by treacherously reassuring him through sworn pledges with right hands joined, persuaded him, in spite of his suspicions, to leave the sanctuary. Then, without any regard for justice, he immediately put him to death.

[35] As a result, not only the Jews, but many people of other nations as well, were indignant and angry over the unjust murder of the man.

[36] 9 When the king returned from the region of Cilicia, the Jews of the city, together with the Greeks who detested the crime, went to see him about the murder of Onias.

[37] Antiochus was deeply grieved and full of pity; he wept as he recalled the prudence and noble conduct of the deceased.

[38] Inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped Andronicus of his purple robe, tore off his other garments, and had him led through the whole city to the very place where he had committed the outrage against Onias; and there he put the murderer to death. Thus the Lord rendered him the punishment he deserved.

[39] 10 Many sacrilegious thefts had been committed by Lysimachus in the city with the connivance of Menelaus. When word was spread that a large number of gold vessels had been stolen, the people assembled in protest against Lysimachus.

[40] As the crowds, now thoroughly enraged, began to riot, Lysimachus launched an unjustified attack against them with about three thousand armed men under the leadership of Auranus, a man as advanced in folly as he was in years.

[41] Reacting against Lysimachus' attack, the people picked up stones or pieces of wood or handfuls of the ashes lying there and threw them in wild confusion at Lysimachus and his men.

[42] As a result, they wounded many of them and even killed a few, while they put all the rest to flight. The sacrilegious thief himself they slew near the treasury.

[43] Charges about this affair were brought against Menelaus.

[44] 11 When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate presented to him the justice of their cause.

[45] But Menelaus, seeing himself on the losing side, promised Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, a substantial sum of money if he would win the king over.

[46] So Ptolemy retired with the king under a colonnade, as if to get some fresh air, and persuaded him to change his mind.

[47] Menelaus, who was the cause of all the trouble, the king acquitted of the charges, while he condemned to death those poor men who would have been declared innocent even if they had pleaded their case before Scythians.

[48] Thus, those who had prosecuted the case for the city, for the people, and for the sacred vessels, quickly suffered unjust punishment.

[49] For this reason, even some Tyrians were indignant over the crime and provided sumptuously for their burial.

[50] But Menelaus, thanks to the covetousness of the men in power, remained in office, where he grew in wickedness and became the chief plotter against his fellow citizens.

Second Maccabees Chapter 5

[1] 1 About this time Antiochus sent his second expedition into Egypt.

[2] It then happened that all over the city, for nearly forty days, there appeared horsemen charging in midair, clad in garments interwoven with gold--companies fully armed with lances

[3] and drawn swords; squadrons of cavalry in battle array, charges and countercharges on this side and that, with brandished shields and bristling spears, flights of arrows and flashes of gold ornaments, together with armor of every sort.

[4] Therefore all prayed that this vision might be a good omen.

[5] 2 But when a false rumor circulated that Antiochus was dead, Jason gathered fully a thousand men and suddenly attacked the city. As the defenders on the walls were forced back and the city was finally being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.

[6] Jason then slaughtered his fellow citizens without mercy, not realizing that triumph over one's own kindred was the greatest failure, but imagining that he was winning a victory over his enemies, not his fellow countrymen.

[7] Even so, he did not gain control of the government, but in the end received only disgrace for his treachery, and once again took refuge in the country of the Ammonites.

[8] 3 At length he met a miserable end. Called to account before Aretas, king of the Arabs, he fled from city to city, hunted by all men, hated as a transgressor of the laws, abhorred as the butcher of his country and his countrymen. After being driven into Egypt,

[9] he crossed the sea to the Spartans, among whom he hoped to find protection because of his relations with them. There he who had exiled so many from their country perished in exile;

[10] and he who had cast out so many to lie unburied went unmourned himself with no funeral of any kind or any place in the tomb of his ancestors.

[11] When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm.

[12] He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses.

[13] There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants.

[14] In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.

[15] Not satisfied with this, the king dared to enter the holiest temple in the world; Menelaus, that traitor both to the laws and to his country, served as guide.

[16] He laid his impure hands on the sacred vessels and gathered up with profane hands the votive offerings made by other kings for the advancement, the glory, and the honor of the Place.

[17] Puffed up in spirit, Antiochus did not realize that it was because of the sins of the city's inhabitants that the Lord was angry for a little while and hence disregarded the holy Place.

[18] If they had not become entangled in so many sins, this man, like Heliodorus, who was sent by King Seleucus to inspect the treasury, would have been flogged and turned back from his presumptuous action as soon as he approached.

[19] 4 The Lord, however, had not chosen the people for the sake of the Place, but the Place for the sake of the people.

[20] Therefore, the Place itself, having shared in the people's misfortunes, afterward participated in their good fortune; and what the Almighty had forsaken in his anger was restored in all its glory, once the great Sovereign became reconciled.

[21] Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried back to Antioch. In his arrogance he planned to make the land navigable and the sea passable on foot, so carried away was he with pride.

[22] 5 But he left governors to harass the nation: at Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by birth, and in character more cruel than the man who appointed him;

[23] 6 at Mount Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who lorded it over his fellow citizens worse than the others did. Out of hatred for the Jewish citizens,

[24] 7 the king sent Appollonius, commander of the Mysians, at the head of an army of twenty-two thousand men, with orders to kill all the grown men and sell the women and young men into slavery.

[25] When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peacefully disposed and waited until the holy day of the sabbath; then, finding the Jews refraining from work, he ordered his men to parade fully armed.

[26] All those who came out to watch, he massacred, and running through the city with armed men, he cut down a large number of people.

[27] But Judas Maccabeus and about nine others withdrew to the wilderness, where he and his companions lived like wild animals in the hills, continuing to eat what grew wild to avoid sharing the defilement.

Second Maccabees Chapter 6

[1] Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God;

[2] 1 also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and that on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Hospitable, as the inhabitants of the place requested.

[3] This intensified the evil in an intolerable and utterly disgusting way.

[4] 2 The Gentiles filled the temple with debauchery and revelry; they amused themselves with prostitutes and had intercourse with women even in the sacred court. They also brought into the temple things that were forbidden,

[5] so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the laws.

[6] A man could not keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit that he was a Jew.

[7] 3 Moreover, at the monthly celebration of the king's birthday the Jews had, from bitter necessity, to partake of the sacrifices, and when the festival of Dionysus was celebrated, they were compelled to march in his procession, wearing wreaths of ivy.

[8] At the suggestion of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to act in the same way against the Jews: oblige them to partake of the sacrifices,

[9] and put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks. It was obvious, therefore, that disaster impended.

[10] Thus, two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall.

[11] Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the sabbath in secret, were betrayed to Philip and all burned to death. In their respect for the holiness of that day, they had scruples about defending themselves.

[12] Now I beg those who read this book not to be disheartened by these misfortunes, but to consider that these chastisements were meant not for the ruin but for the correction of our nation.

[13] It is, in fact, a sign of great kindness to punish sinners promptly instead of letting them go for long.

[14] Thus, in dealing with other nations, the Lord patiently waits until they reach the full measure of their sins before he punishes them; but with us he has decided to deal differently,

[15] in order that he may not have to punish us more severely later, when our sins have reached their fullness.

[16] He never withdraws his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us with misfortunes, he does not abandon his own people.

[17] Let these words suffice for recalling this truth. Without further ado we must go on with our story.

[18] 4 Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork.

[19] But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he spat out the meat, and went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture,

[20] as men ought to do who have the courage to reject the food which it is unlawful to taste even for love of life.

[21] Those in charge of that unlawful ritual meal took the man aside privately, because of their long acquaintance with him, and urged him to bring meat of his own providing, such as he could legitimately eat, and to pretend to be eating some of the meat of the sacrifice prescribed by the king;

[22] in this way he would escape the death penalty, and be treated kindly because of their old friendship with him.

[23] But he made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he had lived from childhood; and so he declared that above all he would be loyal to the holy laws given by God. He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining:

[24] "At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense; many young men would think the ninety-year-old Eleazar had gone over to an alien religion.

[25] Should I thus dissimulate for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age.

[26] Even if, for the time being, I avoid the punishment of men, I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hands of the Almighty.

[27] Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will prove myself worthy of my old age,

[28] and I will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and generously for the revered and holy laws." He spoke thus, and went immediately to the instrument of torture.

[29] Those who shortly before had been kindly disposed, now became hostile toward him because what he had said seemed to them utter madness.

[30] When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned and said: "The Lord in his holy knowledge knows full well that, although I could have escaped death, I am not only enduring terrible pain in my body from this scourging, but also suffering it with joy in my soul because of my devotion to him."

[31] This is how he died, leaving in his death a model of courage and an unforgettable example of virtue not only for the young but for the whole nation.

Second Maccabees Chapter 7

[1] It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law.

[2] One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: "What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors."

[3] At that the king, in a fury, gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated.

[4] While they were being quickly heated, he commanded his executioners to cut out the tongue of the one who had spoken for the others, to scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of his brothers and his mother looked on.

[5] When he was completely maimed but still breathing, the king ordered them to carry him to the fire and fry him. As a cloud of smoke spread from the pan, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely, saying such words as these:

[6] "The Lord God is looking on, and he truly has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his canticle, when he protested openly with the words, 'And he will have pity on his servants.'"

[7] When the first brother had died in this manner, they brought the second to be made sport of. After tearing off the skin and hair of his head, they asked him, "Will you eat the pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb?"

[8] Answering in the language of his forefathers, he said, "Never!" So he too in turn suffered the same tortures as the first.

[9] 1 At the point of death he said: "You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying."

[10] After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands,

[11] as he spoke these noble words: "It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again."

[12] Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

[13] After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way.

[14] When he was near death, he said, "It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life."

[15] They next brought forward the fifth brother and maltreated him. Looking at the king,

[16] he said: "Since you have power among men, mortal though you are, do what you please. But do not think that our nation is forsaken by God.

[17] Only wait, and you will see how his great power will torment you and your descendants."

[18] After him they brought the sixth brother. When he was about to die, he said: "Have no vain illusions. We suffer these things on our own account, because we have sinned against our God; that is why such astonishing things have happened to us.

[19] Do not think, then, that you will go unpunished for having dared to fight against God."

[20] Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.

[21] Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers with these words:

[22] "I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed.

[23] Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man's beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law." Martyrdom of Mother and Sons

[24] Antiochus, suspecting insult in her words, thought he was being ridiculed. As the youngest brother was still alive, the king appealed to him, not with mere words, but with promises on oath, to make him rich and happy if he would abandon his ancestral customs: he would make him his Friend and entrust him with high office.

[25] When the youth paid no attention to him at all, the king appealed to the mother, urging her to advise her boy to save his life.

[26] After he had urged her for a long time, she went through the motions of persuading her son.

[27] In derision of the cruel tyrant, she leaned over close to her son and said in their native language: "Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age.

[28] 2 I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence.

[29] Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them."

[30] She had scarcely finished speaking when the youth said: "What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king's command. I obey the command of the law given to our forefathers through Moses.

[31] But you, who have contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God.

[32] We, indeed, are suffering because of our sins.

[33] Though our living Lord treats us harshly for a little while to correct us with chastisements, he will again be reconciled with his servants.

[34] But you, wretch, vilest of all men! do not, in your insolence, concern yourself with unfounded hopes, as you raise your hand against the children of Heaven.

[35] You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty and all-seeing God.

[36] My brothers, after enduring brief pain, have drunk of never-failing life, under God's covenant, but you, by the judgment of God, shall receive just punishments for your arrogance.

[37] Like my brothers, I offer up my body and my life for our ancestral laws, imploring God to show mercy soon to our nation, and by afflictions and blows to make you confess that he alone is God.

[38] Through me and my brothers, may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation."

[39] At that, the king became enraged and treated him even worse than the others, since he bitterly resented the boy's contempt.

[40] Thus he too died undefiled, putting all his trust in the Lord.

[41] The mother was last to die, after her sons.

[42] Enough has been said about the sacrificial meals and the excessive cruelties.

Second Maccabees Chapter 8

[1] Judas Maccabeus and his companions entered the villages, secretly, summoned their kinsmen, and by also enlisting others who remained faithful to Judaism, assembled about six thousand men.

[2] They implored the Lord to look kindly upon his people, who were being oppressed on all sides; to have pity on the temple, which was profaned by godless men;

[3] to have mercy on the city, which was being destroyed and about to be leveled to the ground; to hearken to the blood that cried out to him;

[4] to remember the criminal slaughter of innocent children and the blasphemies uttered against his name; and to manifest his hatred of evil.

[5] Once Maccabeus got his men organized, the Gentiles could not withstand him, for the Lord's wrath had now changed to mercy.

[6] Coming unexpectedly upon towns and villages, he would set them on fire. He captured strategic positions, and put to flight a large number of the enemy.

[7] He preferred the nights as being especially helpful for such attacks. Soon the fame of his valor spread everywhere.

[8] 1 When Philip saw that Judas was gaining ground little by little and that his successful advances were becoming more frequent, he wrote to Ptolemy, governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to come to the aid of the king's government.

[9] Ptolemy promptly selected Nicanor, son of Patroclus, one of the Chief Friends, and sent him at the head of at least twenty thousand armed men of various nations to wipe out the entire Jewish race. With him he associated Gorgias, a professional military commander, well-versed in the art of war.

[10] Nicanor planned to raise the two thousand talents of tribute owed by the king to the Romans by selling captured Jews into slavery.

[11] So he immediately sent word to the coastal cities, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to deliver ninety slaves for a talent--little did he dream of the punishment that was to fall upon him from the Almighty.

[12] When Judas learned of Nicanor's advance and informed his companions about the approach of the army,

[13] the cowardly and those who lacked faith in God's justice deserted and got away.

[14] But the others sold everything they had left, and at the same time besought the Lord to deliver those whom the ungodly Nicanor had sold before even meeting them.

[15] They begged the Lord to do this, if not for their sake, at least for the sake of the covenants made with their forefathers, and because they themselves bore his holy, glorious name.

[16] Maccabeus assembled his men, six thousand strong, and exhorted them not to be panic-stricken before the enemy, nor to fear the large number of the Gentiles attacking them unjustly, but to fight courageously,

[17] keeping before their eyes the lawless outrage perpetrated by the Gentiles against the holy Place and the affliction of the humiliated city, as well as the subversion of their ancestral way of life.

[18] "They trust in weapons and acts of daring," he said, "but we trust in almighty God, who can by a mere nod destroy not only those who attack us, but the whole world."

[19] He went on to tell them of the times when help had been given their ancestors: both the time of Sennacherib, when a hundred and eighty-five thousand of his men were destroyed,

[20] and the time of the battle in Babylonia against the Galatians, when only eight thousand Jews fought along with four thousand Macedonians; yet when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand routed one hundred and twenty thousand and took a great quantity of booty, because of the help they received from Heaven.

[21] With such words he encouraged them and made them ready to die for their laws and their country. Then Judas divided his army into four,

[22] 2 placing his brothers, Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan, each over a division, assigning to each fifteen hundred men.

[23] (There was also Eleazar.) After reading to them from the holy book and giving them the watchword, "The Help of God," he himself took charge of the first division and joined in battle with Nicanor.

[24] With the Almighty as their ally, they killed more than nine thousand of the enemy, wounded and disabled the greater part of Nicanor's army, and put all of them to flight.

[25] They also seized the money of those who had come to buy them as slaves. When they had pursued the enemy for some time,

[26] they were obliged to return by reason of the late hour, it was the day before the sabbath, and for that reason they could not continue the pursuit.

[27] They collected the enemy's arms and stripped them of their spoils, and then observed the sabbath with fervent praise and thanks to the Lord who kept them safe for that day on which he let descend on them the first dew of his mercy.

[28] After the sabbath, they gave a share of the booty to the persecuted and to widows and orphans; the rest they divided among themselves and their children.

[29] When this was done, they made supplication in common, imploring the merciful Lord to be completely reconciled with his servants.

[30] They also challenged the forces of Timothy and Bacchides, killed more than twenty thousand of them, and captured some very high fortresses. They divided the enormous plunder, allotting half to themselves and the rest to the persecuted, to orphans, widows, and the aged.

[31] They collected the enemies' weapons and carefully stored them in suitable places; the rest of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem.

[32] They also killed the commander of Timothy's forces, a most wicked man, who had done great harm to the Jews.

[33] While celebrating the victory in their ancestral city, they burned both those who had set fire to the sacred gates and Callisthenes, who had taken refuge in a little house; so he received the reward his wicked deeds deserved.

[34] The accursed Nicanor, who had brought the thousand slave dealers to buy the Jews,

[35] after being humbled through the Lord's help by those whom he had thought of no account, laid aside his fine clothes and fled alone across country like a runaway slave, until he reached Antioch. He was eminently successful in destroying his own army.

[36] So he who had promised to provide tribute for the Romans by the capture of the people of Jerusalem testified that the Jews had a champion, and that they were invulnerable for the very reason that they followed the laws laid down by him. Death of Antiochus

Second Maccabees Chapter 9

[1] 1 About that time Antiochus retreated in disgrace from the region of Persia.

[2] He had entered the city called Persepolis and attempted to rob the temple and gain control of the city. Thereupon the people had swift recourse to arms, and Antiochus' men were routed, so that in the end Antiochus was put to flight by the natives and forced to beat a shameful retreat.

[3] On his arrival in Ecbatana, he learned what had happened to Nicanor and to Timothy's forces.

[4] Overcome with anger, he planned to make the Jews suffer for the injury done by those who had put him to flight. Therefore he ordered his charioteer to drive without stopping until he finished the journey. Yet the condemnation of Heaven rode with him, since he said in his arrogance, "I will make Jerusalem the common graveyard of the Jews as soon as I arrive there."

[5] So the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him down with an unseen but incurable blow; for scarcely had he uttered those words when he was seized with excruciating pains in his bowels and sharp internal torment,

[6] a fit punishment for him who had tortured the bowels of others with many barbarous torments.

[7] Far from giving up his insolence, he was all the more filled with arrogance. Breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, he gave orders to drive even faster. As a result he hurtled from the dashing chariot, and every part of his body was racked by the violent fall.

[8] Thus he who previously, in his superhuman presumption, thought he could command the waves of the sea, and imagined he could weigh the mountaintops in his scales, was now thrown to the ground and had to be carried on a litter, clearly manifesting to all the power of God.

[9] The body of this impious man swarmed with worms, and while he was still alive in hideous torments, his flesh rotted off, so that the entire army was sickened by the stench of his corruption.

[10] Shortly before, he had thought that he could reach the stars of heaven, and now, no one could endure to transport the man because of this intolerable stench.

[11] At last, broken in spirit, he began to give up his excessive arrogance, and to gain some understanding, under the scourge of God, for he was racked with pain unceasingly.

[12] When he could no longer bear his own stench, he said, "It is right to be subject to God, and not to think one's mortal self divine."

[13] Then this vile man vowed to the Lord, who would no longer have mercy on him,

[14] that he would set free the holy city, toward which he had been hurrying with the intention of leveling it to the ground and making it a common graveyard;

[15] he would put on perfect equality with the Athenians all the Jews, whom he had judged not even worthy of burial, but fit only to be thrown out with their children to be eaten by vultures and wild animals;

[16] he would adorn with the finest offerings the holy temple which he had previously despoiled; he would restore all the sacred vessels many times over; and would provide from his own revenues the expenses required for the sacrifices.

[17] Besides all this, he would become a Jew himself and visit every inhabited place to proclaim there the power of God.

[18] But since God's punishment had justly come upon him, his sufferings were not lessened, so he lost hope for himself and wrote the following letter to the Jews in the form of a supplication. It read thus: Death of Antiochus

[19] 2 "To my esteemed Jewish citizens, Antiochus, their king and general, sends hearty greetings and best wishes for their health and happiness.

[20] If you and your children are well and your affairs are going as you wish, I thank God very much, for my hopes are in heaven.

[21] Now that I am ill, I recall with affection the esteem and good will you bear me. On returning from the regions of Persia, I fell victim to a troublesome illness; so I thought it necessary to form plans for the general welfare of all.

[22] Actually, I do not despair about my health, since I have great hopes of recovering from my illness.

[23] Nevertheless, I know that my father, whenever he went on campaigns in the hinterland, would name his successor,

[24] so that, if anything unexpected happened or any unwelcome news came, the people throughout the realm would know to whom the government had been entrusted, and so not be disturbed.

[25] 3 I am also bearing in mind that the neighboring rulers, especially those on the borders of our kingdom, are on the watch for opportunities and waiting to see what will happen. I have therefore appointed as king my son Antiochus, whom I have often before entrusted and commended to most of you, when I made hurried visits to the outlying provinces. I have written to him the letter copied below.

[26] Therefore I beg and entreat each of you to remember the general and individual benefits you have received, and to continue to show good will toward me and my son.

[27] I am confident that, following my policy, he will treat you with mildness and kindness in his relations with you."

[28] So this murderer and blasphemer, after extreme sufferings, such as he had inflicted on others, died a miserable death in the mountains of a foreign land.

[29] His foster brother Philip brought the body home; but fearing Antiochus' son, he later withdrew into Egypt, to Ptolemy Philometor.

Second Maccabees Chapter 10

[1] When Maccabeus and his companions, under the Lord's leadership, had recovered the temple and the city,

[2] they destroyed the altars erected by the Gentiles in the marketplace and the sacred enclosures.

[3] 1 After purifying the temple, they made a new altar. Then, with fire struck from flint, they offered sacrifice for the first time in two years, burned incense, and lighted lamps. They also set out the showbread.

[4] When they had done this, they prostrated themselves and begged the Lord that they might never again fall into such misfortunes, and that if they should sin at any time, he might chastise them with moderation and not hand them over to blasphemous and barbarous Gentiles.

[5] On the anniversary of the day on which the temple had been profaned by the Gentiles, that is, the twenty-fifth of the same month Chislev, the purification of the temple took place.

[6] The Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths, remembering how, a little while before, they had spent the feast of Booths living like wild animals in caves on the mountains.

[7] Carrying rods entwined with leaves, green branches and palms, they sang hymns of grateful praise to him who had brought about the purification of his own Place.

[8] By public edict and decree they prescribed that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate these days every year.

[9] Such was the end of Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes.

[10] Now we shall relate what happened under Antiochus Eupator, the son of that godless man, and shall give a summary of the chief evils caused by the wars.

[11] When Eupator succeeded to the kingdom, he put a certain Lysias in charge of the government as commander-in-chief of Coelesyria and Phoenicia.

[12] 2 Ptolemy, surnamed Macron, had taken the lead in treating the Jews fairly because of the previous injustice that had been done them, and he endeavored to have peaceful relations with them.

[13] As a result, he was accused before Eupator by the King's Friends. In fact, on all sides he heard himself called a traitor for having abandoned Cyprus, which Philometor had entrusted to him, and for having gone over to Antiochus Epiphanes. Since he could not command the respect due to his high office, he ended his life by taking poison.

[14] 3 When Gorgias became governor of the region, he employed foreign troops and used every opportunity to attack the Jews.

[15] At the same time the Idumeans, who held some important strongholds, were harassing the Jews; they welcomed fugitives from Jerusalem and endeavored to continue the war.

[16] Maccabeus and his companions, after public prayers asking God to be their ally, moved quickly against the strongholds of the Idumeans.

[17] Attacking vigorously, they gained control of the places, drove back all who manned the walls, and cut down those who opposed them, killing as many as twenty thousand men.

[18] When at least nine thousand took refuge in two very strong towers, containing everything necessary to sustain a siege,

[19] Maccabeus left Simon and Joseph, along with Zacchaeus and his men, in sufficient numbers to besiege them, while he himself went off to places where he was more urgently needed.

[20] But some of the men in Simon's force who were money lovers let themselves be bribed by some of the men in the towers; on receiving seventy thousand drachmas, they allowed a number of them to escape.

[21] When Maccabeus was told what had happened, he assembled the rulers of the people and accused those men of having sold their kinsmen for money by setting their enemies free to fight against them.

[22] So he put them to death as traitors, and without delay captured the two towers.

[23] As he was successful at arms in all his undertakings, he destroyed more than twenty thousand men in the two strongholds.

[24] 4 Timothy, who had previously been defeated by the Jews, gathered a tremendous force of foreign troops and collected a large number of cavalry from Asia; then he appeared in Judea, ready to conquer it by force.

[25] At his approach, Maccabeus and his men made supplication to God, sprinkling earth upon their heads and girding their loins in sackcloth.

[26] Lying prostrate at the foot of the altar, they begged him to be gracious to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and a foe to their foes, as the law declares.

[27] After the prayer, they took up their arms and advanced a considerable distance from the city, halting when they were close to the enemy.

[28] 5 As soon as dawn broke, the armies joined battle, the one having as pledge of success and victory not only their valor but also their reliance on the Lord, and the other taking fury as their leader in the fight.

[29] In the midst of the fierce battle, there appeared to the enemy from the heavens five majestic men riding on golden-bridled horses, who led the Jews on.

[30] They surrounded Maccabeus, and shielding him with their own armor, kept him from being wounded. They shot arrows and hurled thunderbolts at the enemy, who were bewildered and blinded, thrown into confusion and routed.

[31] Twenty-five hundred of their foot soldiers and six hundred of their horsemen were slain.

[32] Timothy, however, fled to a well-fortified stronghold called Gazara, where Chaereas was in command.

[33] For four days Maccabeus and his men eagerly besieged the fortress.

[34] Those inside, relying on the strength of the place, kept repeating outrageous blasphemies and uttering abominable words.

[35] When the fifth day dawned, twenty young men in the army of Maccabeus, angered over such blasphemies, bravely stormed the wall and with savage fury cut down everyone they encountered.

[36] Others who climbed up the same way swung around on the defenders, taking the besieged in the rear; they put the towers to the torch, spread the fire and burned the blasphemers alive. Still others broke down the gates and let in the rest of the troops, who took possession of the city.

[37] 6 Timothy had hidden in a cistern, but they killed him, along with his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes.

[38] On completing these exploits, they blessed, with hymns of grateful praise, the Lord who shows great kindness to Israel and grants them victory.

Second Maccabees Chapter 11

[1] 1 Very soon afterward, Lysias, guardian and kinsman of the king and head of the government, being greatly displeased at what had happened,

[2] mustered about eighty thousand infantry and all his cavalry and marched against the Jews. His plan was to make Jerusalem a Greek settlement;

[3] to levy tribute on the temple, as he did on the sanctuaries of the other nations; and to put the high priesthood up for sale every year.

[4] He did not take God's power into account at all, but felt exultant confidence in his myriads of foot soldiers, his thousands of horsemen, and his eighty elephants.

[5] So he invaded Judea, and when he reached Beth-zur, a fortified place about twenty miles from Jerusalem, launched a strong attack against it.

[6] When Maccabeus and his men learned that Lysias was besieging the strongholds, they and all the people begged the Lord with lamentations and tears to send a good angel to save Israel.

[7] Maccabeus himself was the first to take up arms, and he exhorted the others to join him in risking their lives to help their kinsmen. Then they resolutely set out together.

[8] Suddenly, while they were still near Jerusalem, a horseman appeared at their head, clothed in white garments and brandishing gold weapons.

[9] Then all of them together thanked God for his mercy, and their hearts were filled with such courage that they were ready to assault not only men, but the most savage beasts, yes, even walls of iron.

[10] Now that the Lord had shown his mercy toward them, they advanced in battle order with the aid of their heavenly ally.

[11] Hurling themselves upon the enemy like lions, they laid low eleven thousand foot soldiers and sixteen hundred horsemen, and put all the rest to flight.

[12] Most of those who got away were wounded and stripped of their arms, while Lysias himself escaped only by shameful flight.

[13] But Lysias was not a stupid man. He reflected on the defeat he had suffered, and came to realize that the Hebrews were invincible because the mighty God was their ally. He therefore sent a message

[14] persuading them to settle everything on just terms, and promising to persuade the king also, and to induce him to become their friend.

[15] Maccabeus, solicitous for the common good, agreed to all that Lysias proposed; and the king, on his part, granted in behalf of the Jews all the written requests of Maccabeus to Lysias.

[16] These are the terms of the letter which Lysias wrote to the Jews: "Lysias sends greetings to the Jewish people.

[17] John and Absalom, your envoys, have presented your signed communication and asked about the matters contained in it.

[18] Whatever had to be referred to the king I called to his attention, and the things that were acceptable he has granted.

[19] If you maintain your loyalty to the government, I will endeavor to further your interests in the future.

[20] On the details of these matters I have authorized my representatives, as well as your envoys, to confer with you.

[21] 2 Farewell." The year one hundred and forty-eight, the twenty-fourth of Dioscorinthius.

[22] The king's letter read thus: "King Antiochus sends greetings to his brother Lysias.

[23] Now that our father has taken his place among the gods, we wish the subjects of our kingdom to be undisturbed in conducting their own affairs.

[24] We understand that the Jews do not agree with our father's policy concerning Greek customs but prefer their own way of life. They are petitioning us to let them retain their own customs.

[25] Since we desire that this people too should be undisturbed, our decision is that their temple be restored to them and that they live in keeping with the customs of their ancestors.

[26] Accordingly, please send them messengers to give them our assurances of friendship, so that, when they learn of our decision, they may have nothing to worry about but may contentedly go about their own business."

[27] The king's letter to the people was as follows: "King Antiochus sends greetings to the Jewish senate and to the rest of the Jews.

[28] If you are well, it is what we desire. We too are in good health.

[29] Menelaus has told us of your wish to return home and attend to your own affairs.

[30] Therefore, those who return by the thirtieth of Xanthicus will have our assurance of full permission

[31] to observe their dietary laws and other laws, just as before, and none of the Jews shall be molested in any way for faults committed through ignorance.

[32] I have also sent Menelaus to reassure you.

[33] 3 Farewell." In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth of Xanthicus.

[34] The Romans also sent them a letter as follows: "Quintus Memmius and Titus Manius, legates of the Romans, send greetings to the Jewish people.

[35] Whatever Lysias, kinsman of the king, has granted you, we also approve.

[36] But the matters on which he passed judgment should be submitted to the king. As soon as you have considered them, send someone to us with your decisions so that we may present them to your advantage, for we are on our way to Antioch.

[37] Make haste, then, to send us those who can inform us of your intentions.

[38] 4 Farewell." In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth of Xanthicus.

Second Maccabees Chapter 12

[1] After these agreements were made, Lysias returned to the king, and the Jews went about their farming.

[2] 1 But some of the local governors, Timothy and Apollonius, son of Gennaeus, as also Hieronymus and Demophon, to say nothing of Nicanor, the commander of the Cyprians, would not allow them to live in peace.

[3] Some people of Joppa also committed this outrage: they invited the Jews who lived among them, together with their wives and children, to embark on boats which they had provided. There was no hint of enmity toward them;

[4] this was done by public vote of the city. When the Jews, not suspecting treachery and wishing to live on friendly terms, accepted the invitation, the people of Joppa took them out to sea and drowned at least two hundred of them.

[5] As soon as Judas heard of the barbarous deed perpetrated against his countrymen, he summoned his men;

[6] and after calling upon God, the just judge, he marched against the murderers of his kinsmen. In a night attack he set the harbor on fire, burnt the boats, and put to the sword those who had taken refuge there.

[7] When the gates of the town were shut, he withdrew, intending to come back later and wipe out the entire population of Joppa.

[8] On hearing that the men of Jamnia planned to give like treatment to the Jews who lived among them,

[9] he attacked the Jamnian populace by night, setting fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the flames was visible as far as Jerusalem, thirty miles away.

[10] 2 When the Jews had gone about a mile from there in the campaign against Timothy, they were attacked by Arabs numbering at least five thousand foot soldiers, and five hundred horsemen.

[11] After a hard fight, Judas and his companions, with God's help, were victorious. The defeated nomads begged Judas to make friends with them and promised to supply the Jews with cattle and to help them in every other way.

[12] Realizing that they could indeed be useful in many respects, Judas agreed to make peace with them. After the pledge of friendship had been exchanged, the Arabs withdrew to their tents.

[13] He also attacked a certain city called Caspin, fortified with earthworks and ramparts and inhabited by a mixed population of Gentiles.

[14] Relying on the strength of their walls and their supply of provisions, the besieged treated Judas and his men with contempt, insulting them and even uttering blasphemies and profanity.

[15] But Judas and his men invoked the aid of the great Sovereign of the world, who, in the day of Joshua, overthrew Jericho without battering-ram or siege machine; then they furiously stormed the ramparts.

[16] Capturing the city by the will of God, they inflicted such indescribable slaughter on it that the adjacent pool, which was about a quarter of a mile wide, seemed to be filled with the blood that flowed into it.

[17] 3 When they had gone on some ninety miles, they reached Charax, where there were certain Jews known as Toubiani.

[18] But they did not find Timothy in that region, for he had already departed from there without having done anything except to leave behind in one place a very strong garrison.

[19] But Dositheus and Sosipater, two of Maccabeus' captains, marched out and destroyed the force of more than ten thousand men that Timothy had left in the stronghold.

[20] Meanwhile, Maccabeus divided his army into cohorts, with a commander over each cohort, and went in pursuit of Timothy, who had a force of a hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and twenty-five hundred horsemen.

[21] When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent on ahead of him the women and children, as well as the baggage, to a place called Karnion, which was hard to besiege and even hard to reach because of the difficult terrain of that region.

[22] But when Judas' first cohort appeared, the enemy was overwhelmed with fear and terror at the manifestation of the All-seeing. Scattering in every direction, they rushed away in such headlong flight that in many cases they wounded one another, pierced by the swords of their own men.

[23] Judas pressed the pursuit vigorously, putting the sinners to the sword and destroying as many as thirty thousand men.

[24] Timothy himself fell into the hands of the men under Dositheus and Sosipater; but with great cunning, he asked them to spare his life and let him go, because he had in his power the parents and relatives of many of them, and could make these suffer.

[25] When he had fully confirmed his solemn pledge to restore them unharmed, they let him go for the sake of saving their brethren.

[26] 4 Judas then marched to Karnion and the shrine of Atargatis, where he killed twenty-five thousand people.

[27] After the defeat and destruction of these, he moved his army to Ephron, a fortified city inhabited by people of many nationalities. Robust young men took up their posts in defense of the walls, from which they fought valiantly; inside were large supplies of machines and missiles.

[28] But the Jews, invoking the Sovereign who forcibly shatters the might of his enemies, got possession of the city and slaughtered twenty-five thousand of the people in it.

[29] 5 Then they set out from there and hastened on to Scythopolis, seventy-five miles from Jerusalem.

[30] But when the Jews who lived there testified to the good will shown by the Scythopolitans and to their kind treatment even in times of adversity,

[31] Judas and his men thanked them and exhorted them to be well disposed to their race in the future also. Finally they arrived in Jerusalem, shortly before the feast of Weeks.

[32] After this feast called Pentecost, they lost no time in marching against Gorgias, governor of Idumea,

[33] who opposed them with three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen.

[34] In the ensuing battle, a few of the Jews were slain.

[35] 6 A man called Dositheus, a powerful horseman and one of Bacenor's men, caught hold of Gorgias, grasped his military cloak and dragged him along by main strength, intending to capture the vile wretch alive, when a Thracian horseman attacked Dositheus and cut off his arm at the shoulder. Then Gorgias fled to Marisa.

[36] After Esdris and his men had been fighting for a long time and were weary, Judas called upon the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in the battle.

[37] Then, raising a battle cry in his ancestral language, and with songs, he charged Gorgias' men when they were not expecting it and put them to flight.

[38] Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the week was ending, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the sabbath there.

[39] On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs.

[40] But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain.

[41] They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden.

[42] 7 Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.

[43] He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view;

[44] for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.

[45] But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.

[46] Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.

Second Maccabees Chapter 13

[1] 1 In the year one hundred and forty-nine, Judas and his men learned that Antiochus Eupator was invading Judea with a large force,

[2] 2 and that with him was Lysias, his guardian, who was in charge of the government. They led a Greek army of one hundred and ten thousand foot soldiers, fifty-three hundred horsemen, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes.

[3] Menelaus also joined them, and with great duplicity kept urging Antiochus on, not for the welfare of his country, but in the hope of being established in office.

[4] 3 But the King of kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the scoundrel. When the king was shown by Lysias that Menelaus was to blame for all the trouble, he ordered him to be taken to Beroea and executed there in the customary local method.

[5] 4 There is at that place a tower seventy-five feet high, full of ashes, with a circular rim sloping down steeply on all sides toward the ashes.

[6] A man guilty of sacrilege or notorious for certain other crimes is brought up there and then hurled down to destruction.

[7] In such a manner was Menelaus, the transgressor of the law, fated to die; he was deprived even of decent burial.

[8] It was altogether just that he who had committed so many sins against the altar with its pure fire and ashes should meet his death in ashes.

[9] The king was advancing, his mind full of savage plans for inflicting on the Jews worse things than those they suffered in his father's time.

[10] When Judas learned of this, he urged the people to call upon the LORD night and day, to help them now, if ever,

[11] when they were about to be deprived of their law, their country, and their holy temple; and not to allow this nation, which had just begun to revive, to be subjected again to blasphemous Gentiles.

[12] When they had all joined in doing this, and had implored the merciful LORD continuously with weeping and fasting and prostrations for three days, Judas encouraged them and told them to stand ready.

[13] After a private meeting with the elders, he decided that, before the king's army could invade Judea and take possession of the city, the Jews should march out and settle the matter with God's help.

[14] Leaving the outcome to the Creator of the world, and exhorting his followers to fight nobly to death for the laws, the temple, the city, the country, and the government, he pitched his camp near Modein.

[15] 5 Giving his men the battle cry "God's Victory," he made a night attack on the king's pavilion with a picked force of the bravest young men and killed about two thousand in the camp. They also slew the lead elephant and its rider.

[16] 6 Finally they withdrew in triumph, having filled the camp with terror and confusion.

[17] Day was just breaking when this was accomplished with the help and protection of the LORD.

[18] The king, having had a taste of the Jews' daring, tried to take their positions by a stratagem.

[19] So he marched against Beth-zur, a strong fortress of the Jews; but he was driven back, checked, and defeated.

[20] Judas then sent supplies to the men inside,

[21] 7 but Rhodocus, of the Jewish army, betrayed military secrets to the enemy. He was found out, arrested, and imprisoned.

[22] The king made a second attempt by negotiating with the men of Beth-zur. After giving them his pledge and receiving theirs, he withdrew

[23] and attacked Judas and his men. But he was defeated. Next he heard that Philip, who was left in charge of the government in Antioch had rebelled. Dismayed, he parleyed with the Jews, submitted to their terms, and swore to observe their rights. Having come to this agreement, he offered a sacrifice, and honored the temple with a generous donation.

[24] 8 He approved of Maccabeus and left him as military and civil governor of the territory from Ptolemais to the region of the Gerrenes.

[25] When he came to Ptolemais, the people of that city were angered by the peace treaty; in fact they were so indignant that they wanted to annul its provisions.

[26] But Lysias took the platform, defended the treaty as well as he could and won them over by persuasion. After calming them and gaining their good will, he returned to Antioch. That is how the king's attack and withdrawal went.

Second Maccabees Chapter 14

[1] 1 Three years later, Judas and his men learned that Demetrius, son of Seleucus, had sailed into the port of Tripolis with a powerful army and a fleet,

[2] and that he had occupied the country, after doing away with Antiochus and his guardian Lysias.

[3] A certain Alcimus, a former high priest, who had willfully incurred defilement at the time of the revolt, realized that there was no way for him to salvage his position and regain access to the holy altar.

[4] So he went to King Demetrius in the year one hundred and fifty-one and presented him with a gold crown and a palm branch, as well as some of the customary olive branches from the temple. On that occasion he kept quiet.

[5] But he found an opportunity to further his mad scheme when he was invited to the council by Demetrius and questioned about the dispositions and intentions of the Jews. He replied:

[6] "Those Jews called Hasideans, led by Judas Maccabeus, are warmongers, who stir up sedition and keep the kingdom from enjoying peace and quiet.

[7] For this reason, now that I am deprived of my ancestral dignity, that is to say, the high priesthood, I have come here--

[8] first, out of my genuine concern for the king's interests, and secondly, out of consideration for my own countrymen, since our entire nation is suffering great affliction from the unreasonable conduct of the people just mentioned.

[9] When you have informed yourself in detail on these matters, O king, act in the interest of our country and its hard-pressed people with the same gracious consideration that you show toward all.

[10] As long as Judas is around, it is impossible for the state to enjoy peace."

[11] When he had said this, the other Friends who were hostile to Judas quickly added fuel to Demetrius' indignation.

[12] The king immediately chose Nicanor, who had been in command of the elephants, and appointed him governor of Judea. He sent him off

[13] with orders to put Judas to death, to disperse his followers, and to set up Alcimus as high priest of the great temple.

[14] 2 The Gentiles from Judea, who would have banished Judas, came flocking to Nicanor, thinking that the misfortunes and calamities of the Jews would mean prosperity for themselves.

[15] When the Jews heard of Nicanor's coming, and that the Gentiles were rallying to him, they sprinkled themselves with earth and prayed to him who established his people forever, and who always comes to the aid of his heritage.

[16] At their leader's command, they set out at once and came upon the enemy at the village of Adasa.

[17] Judas' brother Simon had engaged Nicanor, but because of the sudden appearance of the enemy suffered a slight repulse.

[18] However, when Nicanor heard of the valor of Judas and his men, and the great courage with which they fought for their country, he shrank from deciding the issue by bloodshed.

[19] So he sent Posidonius, Theodotus and Mattathias to arrange an agreement.

[20] After a long discussion of the terms, each leader communicated them to his troops; and when general agreement was expressed, they assented to the treaty.

[21] A day was set on which the leaders would meet by themselves. From each side a chariot came forward and thrones were set in place.

[22] Judas had posted armed men in readiness at suitable points for fear that the enemy might suddenly carry out some treacherous plan. But the conference was held in the proper way.

[23] Nicanor stayed on in Jerusalem, where he did nothing out of place. He got rid of the throngs of ordinary people who gathered around him;

[24] but he always kept Judas in his company, for he had a cordial affection for the man.

[25] He urged him to marry and have children; so Judas married, settled down, and shared the common life.

[26] When Alcimus saw their friendship for each other, he took the treaty that had been made, went to Demetrius, and said that Nicanor was plotting against the state, and that he had appointed Judas, the conspirator against the kingdom, to be his successor.

[27] Stirred up by the villain's calumnies, the king became enraged. He wrote to Nicanor, stating that he was displeased with the treaty, and ordering him to send Maccabeus as a prisoner to Antioch without delay.

[28] When this message reached Nicanor he was dismayed, for he hated to break his agreement with a man who had done no wrong.

[29] However, there was no way of opposing the king, so he watched for an opportunity to carry out this order by a stratagem.

[30] But Maccabeus noticed that Nicanor was becoming cool in his dealings with him, and acting with unaccustomed rudeness when they met; he concluded that this coldness betokened no good. So he gathered together a large number of his men, and went into hiding from Nicanor.

[31] When Nicanor realized that he had been disgracefully outwitted by the man, he went to the great and holy temple, at a time when the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and ordered them to surrender Judas.

[32] As they declared under oath that they did not know where the wanted man was,

[33] he raised his right hand toward the temple and swore this oath: "If you do not hand Judas over to me as prisoner, I will level this shrine of God to the ground; I will tear down the altar, and erect here a splendid temple to Dionysus."

[34] With these words he went away. The priests stretched out their hands toward heaven, calling upon the unfailing defender of our nation in these words:

[35] "Lord of all, though you are in need of nothing, you have approved of a temple for your dwelling place among us.

[36] Therefore, O holy One, Lord of all holiness, preserve forever undefiled this house, which has been so recently purified."

[37] 3 A certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor as a patriot. A man highly regarded, he was called a father of the Jews because of his love for them.

[38] In the early days of the revolt, he had been convicted of Judaism, and had risked body and life in his ardent zeal for it.

[39] Nicanor, to show his detestation of the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to arrest him.

[40] He thought that by arresting such a man he would deal the Jews a hard blow.

[41] But when these troops, on the point of capturing the tower, were forcing the outer gate and calling for fire to set the door ablaze, Razis, now caught on all sides, turned his sword against himself,

[42] preferring to die nobly rather than fall into the hands of vile men and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth.

[43] In the excitement of the struggle he failed to strike exactly. So while the troops rushed in through the doors, he gallantly ran up to the top of the wall and with manly courage threw himself down into the crowd.

[44] But as they quickly drew back and left an opening, he fell into the middle of the empty space.

[45] Still breathing, and inflamed with anger, he got up and ran through the crowd, with blood gushing from his frightful wounds.

[46] Then, standing on a steep rock, as he lost the last of his blood, he tore out his entrails and flung them with both hands into the crowd, calling upon the Lord of life and of spirit to give these back to him again. Such was the manner of his death.

Second Maccabees Chapter 15

[1] When Nicanor learned that Judas and his companions were in the territory of Samaria, he decided to attack them in all safety on the day of rest.

[2] The Jews who were forced to follow him pleaded, "Do not massacre them in that way, like a savage barbarian, but show respect for the day which the All-seeing has exalted with holiness above all other days."

[3] At this the thrice-sinful wretch asked if there was a ruler in heaven who prescribed the keeping of the sabbath day.

[4] When they replied that there was indeed such a ruler in heaven, the living LORD himself, who commanded the observance of the sabbath day,

[5] he said, "I, on my part, am ruler on earth, and my orders are that you take up arms and carry out the king's business." Nevertheless he did not succeed in carrying out his cruel plan.

[6] 1 In his utter boastfulness and arrogance Nicanor had determined to erect a public monument of victory over Judas and his men.

[7] But Maccabeus remained confident, fully convinced that he would receive help from the LORD.

[8] He urged his men not to fear the enemy, but mindful of the help they had received from Heaven in the past, to expect that now, too, victory would be given them by the Almighty.

[9] 2 By encouraging them with words from the law and the prophets, and by reminding them of the battles they had already won, he filled them with fresh enthusiasm.

[10] Having stirred up their courage, he gave his orders and pointed out at the same time the perfidy of the Gentiles and their violation of oaths.

[11] When he had armed each of them, not so much with the safety of shield and spear as with the encouragement of noble words, he cheered them all by relating a dream, a kind of vision, worthy of belief.

[12] 3 What he saw was this: Onias, the former high priest, a good and virtuous man, modest in appearance, gentle in manners, distinguished in speech, and trained from childhood in every virtuous practice, was praying with outstretched arms for the whole Jewish community.

[13] Then in the same way another man appeared, distinguished by his white hair and dignity, and with an air about him of extraordinary, majestic authority.

[14] 4 Onias then said of him, "This is God's prophet Jeremiah, who loves his brethren and fervently prays for his people and their holy city."

[15] Stretching out his right hand, Jeremiah presented a gold sword to Judas. As he gave it to him he said,

[16] "Accept this holy sword as a gift from God; with it you shall crush your adversaries."

[17] Encouraged by Judas' noble words, which had power to instill valor and stir young hearts to courage, the Jews determined not to delay, but to charge gallantly and decide the issue by hand-to-hand combat with the utmost courage, since their city and its temple with the sacred vessels were in danger.

[18] They were not so much concerned about their wives and children or their brothers and kinsmen; their first and foremost fear was for the consecrated sanctuary.

[19] Those who remained in the city suffered a like agony, anxious as they were about the battle in the open country.

[20] Everyone now awaited the decisive moment. The enemy were already drawing near with their troops drawn up in battle line, their elephants placed in strategic positions, and their cavalry stationed on the flanks.

[21] Maccabeus, contemplating the hosts before him, their elaborate equipment, and the fierceness of their elephants, stretched out his hands toward heaven and called upon the LORD who works miracles; for he knew that it is not through arms but through the LORD'S decision that victory is won by those who deserve it.

[22] He prayed to him thus: "You, O LORD, sent your angel in the days of King Hezekiah of Judea, and he slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand men of Sennacherib's army.

[23] Sovereign of the heavens, send a good angel now to spread fear and dread before us.

[24] By the might of your arm may those be struck down who have blasphemously come against your holy people!" With this he ended his prayer.

[25] Nicanor and his men advanced to the sound of trumpets and battle songs.

[26] But Judas and his men met the army with supplication and prayers.

[27] Fighting with their hands and praying to God with their hearts, they laid low at least thirty-five thousand, and rejoiced greatly over this manifestation of God's power.

[28] When the battle was over and they were joyfully departing, they discovered Nicanor lying there in all his armor;

[29] so they raised tumultuous shouts in their native tongue in praise of the divine Sovereign.

[30] Then Judas, who was ever in body and soul the chief defender of his fellow citizens, and had maintained from youth his affection for his countrymen, ordered Nicanor's head and whole right arm to be cut off and taken to Jerusalem.

[31] 5 When he arrived there, he assembled his countrymen, stationed the priests before the altar, and sent for those in the citadel.

[32] He showed them the vile Nicanor's head and the wretched blasphemer's arm that had been boastfully stretched out against the holy dwelling of the Almighty.

[33] He cut out the tongue of the godless Nicanor, saying he would feed it piecemeal to the birds and would hang up the other wages of his folly opposite the temple.

[34] At this, everyone looked toward heaven and praised the Lord who manifests his divine power, saying, "Blessed be he who has kept his own Place undefiled!"

[35] Judas hung up Nicanor's head on the wall of the citadel, a clear and evident proof to all of the Lord's help.

[36] 6 By public vote it was unanimously decreed never to let this day pass unobserved, but to celebrate it on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, called Adar in Aramaic, the eve of Mordecai's Day.

[37] Since Nicanor's doings ended in this way, with the city remaining in possession of the Hebrews from that time on, I will bring my own story to an end here too.

[38] If it is well written and to the point, that is what I wanted; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that is the best I could do.

[39] Just as it is harmful to drink wine alone or water alone, whereas mixing wine with water makes a more pleasant drink that increases delight, so a skillfully composed story delights the ears of those who read the work. Let this, then, be the end.

The Wisdom Books

The Wisdom Books

The Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Wisdom, and Sirach, are all versified by the skillful use of parallelism, that is, of the balanced and symmetrical phrases peculiar to Hebrew poetry. With the exception of the Psalms, the majority of which are devotional lyrics, and the Song of Songs, a nuptial hymn, these books belong to the general class of wisdom or didactic literature, strictly so called because their chief purpose is instruction.

The wisdom literature of the Bible is the fruit of a movement among ancient oriental people to gather, preserve and express, usually in aphoristic style, the results of human experience as an aid toward understanding and solving the problems of life. In Israel especially, the movement concerned itself with such basic and vital problems as man's origin and destiny, his quest for happiness, the problem of suffering, of good and evil in human conduct, of death, and the state beyond the grave. Originating with oral tradition, these formulations found their way into the historical books of the Old Testament in the shape of proverbs, odes, chants, epigrams, and also into those psalms intended for instruction.

The developed compositions of this literature form the sapiential books. The Book of Proverbs is a collection of sentences or practical norms for moral conduct. The Book of Job is an artistic dialogue skillfully handling the problem of suffering though only from the standpoint of temporal life. Ecclesiastes examines a wide range of human experience only to conclude that all things are vanity except the fear of the Lord and observance of his commandments, and that God requites man in his own good time. Sirach gathers and presents the fruits of past experience, thus preparing for the Book of Wisdom, which sees for the just man seeking happiness the full hope of immortality (Wisdom 3:4).

Those who cultivated wisdom were called sages. Men of letters, scribes, skilled in the affairs of government, and counselors to rulers, they were instructors of the people, especially of youth (Sirach 51:13-30). In times of crisis they guided the people by revaluating tradition, thus helping to preserve unity, peace and good will. The most illustrious of the sages, and the originator of wisdom literature in Israel, was Solomon. Because of his fame, some of the wisdom books of which he was not the author bear his name.

Despite numerous resemblances, sometimes exaggerated, between the sapiential literature of pagan nations and the wisdom books of the Bible, the former are often replete with vagaries and abound in polytheistic conceptions; the latter remained profoundly human, universal, fundamentally moral, and essentially religious and monotheistic. Under the influence of the Law and the Prophets, wisdom became piety and virtue; impiety and vice were folly. The teachers of wisdom were regarded as men of God, and their books were placed beside the Law and the Prophets. The highest wisdom became identified with the spirit of God through which the world was created and preserved (Proverb 8:22-31), and mankind was enlightened.

The limitations of Old Testament wisdom served to crystalize the problems of human life and destiny, thus preparing for their solution through New Testament revelation. Ecclesiastes' vain search for success and happiness on earth ends when the Savior assures these things to his followers, not in this world but in the bliss of heaven. The anxiety in the Book of Job over reconciling God's justice and wisdom with the suffering of the innocent is relieved by the account of the Crucified and Risen Redeemer in the Gospel. By fulfilling all that the Psalms foretold concerning him, Jesus makes the Psalter his prayer book and that of the Church for all time. The love of God for the chosen people which underlies the Song of Songs is perfected in the union of Christ with his Church. The personification of the wisdom of Proverbs, Wisdom and Sirach shines forth in resplendent reality in the Word who was with God, and who was God, and who became incarnate to dwell among us; cf John 1:2, 14.

Introduction to Job

Job

Introduction

The Book of Job, named after its protagonist, is an exquisite dramatic poem which treats of the problem of the suffering of the innocent, and of retribution. The contents of the book, together with its artistic structure and elegant style, place it among the literary masterpieces of all time.

Job, an oriental chieftain, pious and upright, richly endowed in his own person and in domestic prosperity, suffers a sudden and complete reversal of fortune. He loses his property and his children; a loathsome disease afflicts his body; and sorrow oppresses his soul. Nevertheless, Job does not complain against God. When some friends visit him to condole with him, Job protests his innocence and does not understand why he is afflicted. He curses the day of his birth and longs for death to bring an end to his sufferings. The debate which ensues consists of three cycles of speeches. Job's friends insist that his plight can only be a punishment for personal wrongdoing and an invitation from God to repentance. Job rejects their inadequate explanation and calls for a response from God himself. At this point the speeches of a youth named Elihu (Job 32-37) interrupt the development.

In response to Job's plea that he be allowed to see God and hear from him the cause of his suffering, God answers, not by justifying his action before men, but by referring to his own omniscience and almighty power. Job is content with this. He recovers his attitude of humility and trust in God, which is deepened now and strengthened by his experience of suffering.

The author of the book is not known; it was composed some time between the seventh and fifth centuries B.C. Its literary form, with speeches, prologue and epilogue disposed according to a studied plan, indicates that the purpose of the writing is didactic. The lesson is that even the just may suffer here, and their sufferings are a test of their fidelity. They shall be rewarded in the end. Man's finite mind cannot probe the depths of the divine omniscience that governs the world. The problems we encounter can be solved by a broader and deeper awareness of God's power, presence (Job 42:5) and wisdom.

The divisions of the Book of Job are as follows:

Prologue (Job 1:1-2:13)

First Cycle of Speeches (Job 3:1-14:22)

Second Cycle of Speeches (Job 15:1-21:34)

Third Cycle of Speeches (Job 22:1-28:28)

Job's Final Summary of His Cause (Job 29:1-31:37)

Elihu's Speeches (Job 32:1-37:24)

The Lord's Speech (Job 38:1-42:6)

Epilogue (Job 42:7-17)

Job Chapter 1

[1] In the land of Uz 1 there was a blameless and upright man named Job, who feared God and avoided evil.

[2] 2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him;

[3] 3 and he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses, and a great number of work animals, so that he was greater than any of the men of the East.

[4] His sons used to take turns giving feasts, sending invitations to their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

[5] And when each feast had run its course, Job would send for them and sanctify them, rising early and offering holocausts for every one of them. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts." This Job did habitually.

[6] 4 One day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, Satan also came among them.

[7] And the LORD said to Satan, "Whence do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming the earth and patrolling it."

[8] And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?"

[9] But Satan answered the LORD and said, "Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing?

[10] Have you not surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land.

[11] But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face."

[12] And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand upon his person." So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

[13] And so one day, while his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother,

[14] a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the asses grazing beside them,

[15] 5 and the Sabeans carried them off in a raid. They put the herdsmen to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

[16] 6 While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "Lightning has fallen from heaven and struck the sheep and their shepherds and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you."

[17] While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three columns, seized the camels, carried them off, and put those tending them to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

[18] While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother,

[19] when suddenly a great wind came across the desert and smote the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you."

[20] Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair. He cast himself prostrate upon the ground,

[21] 7 and said, "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!"

[22] In all this Job did not sin, nor did he say anything disrespectful of God.

Job Chapter 2

[1] Once again the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.

[2] And the LORD said to Satan, "Whence do you come?" And Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming the earth and patrolling it."

[3] And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, faultless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil? He still holds fast to his innocence although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause."

[4] 1 And Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has will he give for his life.

[5] But now put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face."

[6] And the LORD said to Satan, "He is in your power; only spare his life."

[7] So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with severe boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

[8] And he took a potsherd to scrape himself, as he sat among the ashes.

[9] 2 Then his wife said to him, "Are you still holding to your innocence? Curse God and die."

[10] But he said to her, "Are even you going to speak as senseless women do? We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil?" Through all this, Job said nothing sinful.

[11] 3 Now when three of Job's friends heard of all the misfortune that had come upon him, they set out each one from his own place: Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuh, and Zophar from Naamath. They met and journeyed together to give him sympathy and comfort.

[12] But when, at a distance, they lifted up their eyes and did not recognize him, they began to weep aloud; they tore their cloaks and threw dust upon their heads.

[13] Then they sat down upon the ground with him seven days and seven nights, but none of them spoke a word to him; for they saw how great was his suffering.

Job Chapter 3

[1] After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.

[2] Job spoke out and said:

[3] Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, "The child is a boy!"

[4] May that day be darkness: let not God above call for it, nor light shine upon it!

[5] May darkness and gloom claim it, clouds settle upon it, the blackness of night affright it!

[6] May obscurity seize that day; let it not occur among the days of the year, nor enter into the count of the months!

[7] May that night be barren; let no joyful outcry greet it!

[8] 1 Let them curse it who curse the sea, the appointed disturbers of Leviathan!

[9] May the stars of its twilight be darkened; may it look for daylight, but have none, nor gaze on the eyes of the dawn,

[10] Because it kept not shut the doors of the womb to shield my eyes from trouble!

[11] Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?

[12] Wherefore did the knees receive me? or why did I suck at the breasts?

[13] For then I should have lain down and been tranquil; had I slept, I should then have been at rest

[14] With kings and counselors of the earth who built where now there are ruins

[15] Or with princes who had gold and filled their houses with silver.

Job Chapter 4

[1] Then spoke Eliphaz the Temanite, who said:

[2] If someone attempts a word with you, will you mind? For how can anyone refrain from speaking?

[3] Behold, you have instructed many, and have made firm their feeble hands.

[4] Your words have upheld the stumbler; you have strengthened his faltering knees.

[5] But now that it comes to you, you are impatient; when it touches yourself, you are dismayed.

[6] Is not your piety a source of confidence, and your integrity of life your hope?

[7] Reflect now, what innocent person perishes? Since when are the upright destroyed?

[8] As I see it, those who plow for mischief and sow trouble, reap the same.

[9] By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his wrath they are consumed.

[10] 1 Though the lion roars, though the king of beasts cries out, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken;

[11] The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

[12] 2 For a word was stealthily brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it.

[13] In my thoughts during visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

[14] Fear came upon me, and shuddering, that terrified me to the bones.

[15] Then a spirit passed before me, and the hair of my flesh stood up.

[16] It paused, but its likeness I could not discern; a figure was before my eyes, and I heard a still voice:

[17] "Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against his Maker?

[18] Lo, he puts no trust in his servants, and with his angels he can find fault.

[19] How much more with those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed more easily than the moth!

[20] Morning or evening they may be shattered; with no heed paid to it, they perish forever.

[21] The pegs of their tent are plucked up; they die without knowing wisdom."

Job Chapter 5

[1] Call now! Will anyone respond to you? To which of the holy ones will you appeal?

[2] Nay, impatience kills the fool and indignation slays the simpleton.

[3] I have seen a fool spreading his roots, but his household suddenly decayed.

[4] 1 His children shall be far from safety; they shall be crushed at the gate without a rescuer.

[5] What they have reaped the hungry shall eat up; (or God shall take it away by blight;) and the thirsty shall swallow their substance.

[6] For mischief comes not out of the earth, nor does trouble spring out of the ground;

[7] 2 But man himself begets mischief, as sparks fly upward.

[8] In your place, I would appeal to God, and to God I would state my plea.

[9] 3

[10] He gives rain upon the earth and sends water upon the fields;

[11] He sets up on high the lowly, and those who mourn he exalts to safety.

[12] He frustrates the plans of the cunning, so that their hands achieve no success;

[13] He catches the wise in their own ruses, and the designs of the crafty are routed.

[14] They meet with darkness in the daytime, and at noonday they grope as though it were night.

[15] But the poor from the edge of the sword and from the hand of the mighty, he saves.

[16] Thus the unfortunate have hope, and iniquity closes her mouth.

[17] Happy is the man whom God reproves! The Almighty's chastening do not reject.

[18] For he wounds, but he binds up; he smites, but his hands give healing.

[19] 4 Out of six troubles he will deliver you, and at the seventh no evil shall touch you.

[20] In famine he will deliver you from death, and in war from the threat of the sword;

[21] From the scourge of the tongue you shall be hidden, and shall not fear approaching ruin.

[22] At destruction and want you shall laugh; the beasts of the earth you need not dread.

[23] You shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild beasts shall be at peace with you.

[24] And you shall know that your tent is secure; taking stock of your household, you shall miss nothing.

[25] You shall know that your descendants are many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.

[26] You shall approach the grave in full vigor, as a shock of grain comes in at its season.

[27] Lo, this we have searched out; so it is! This we have heard, and you should know.

Job Chapter 6

[1] Then Job answered and said:

[2] Ah, could my anguish but be measured and my calamity laid with it in the scales,

[3] They would now outweigh the sands of the sea! Because of this I speak without restraint.

[4] For the arrows of the Almighty pierce me, and my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

[5] 1 Does the wild ass bray when he has grass? Does the ox low over his fodder?

[6] Can a thing insipid be eaten without salt? Is there flavor in the white of an egg?

[7] I refuse to touch them; they are loathsome food to me.

[8] Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant what I long for:

[9] Even that God would decide to crush me, that he would put forth his hand and cut me off!

[10] Then I should still have consolation and could exult through unremitting pain, because I have not transgressed the commands of the Holy One.

[11] What strength have I that I should endure, and what is my limit that I should be patient?

[12] Have I the strength of stones, or is my flesh of bronze?

[13] Have I no helper, and has advice deserted me?

[14] A friend owes kindness to one in despair, though he have forsaken the fear of the Almighty.

[15] My brethren are undependable as a brook, as watercourses that run dry in the wadies;

[16] Though they may be black with ice, and with snow heaped upon them,

[17] Yet once they flow, they cease to be; in the heat, they disappear from their place.

[18] Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the desert and perish.

[19] 2 The caravans of Tema search, the companies of Sheba have hopes;

[20] They are disappointed, though they were confident; they come there and are frustrated.

[21] It is thus that you have now become for me; you see a terrifying thing and are afraid.

[22] Have I asked you to give me anything, to offer a gift for me from your possessions,

[23] Or to deliver me from the enemy, or to redeem me from oppressors?

[24] Teach me, and I will be silent; prove to me wherein I have erred.

[25] How agreeable are honest words; yet how unconvincing is your argument!

[26] Do you consider your words as proof, but the sayings of a desperate man as wind?

[27] You would even cast lots for the orphan, and would barter away your friend!

[28] Come, now, give me your attention; surely I will not lie to your face.

[29] Think it over; let there be no injustice. Think it over; I still am right.

[30] Is there insincerity on my tongue, or cannot my taste discern falsehood?

Job Chapter 7

[1] 1 Is not man's life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of a hireling?

[2] He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages.

[3] So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been told off for me.

[4] If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?" then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.

[5] My flesh is clothed with worms and scabs; my skin cracks and festers;

[6] My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

[7] Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.

[8] The eye that now sees me shall no more behold me; as you look at me, I shall be gone.

[9] As a cloud dissolves and vanishes, so he who goes down to the nether world shall come up no more.

[10] He shall not again return to his house; his place shall know him no more.

[11] My own utterance I will not restrain; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

[12] 2 3 Am I the sea, or a monster of the deep, that you place a watch over me? Why have you set me up as an object of attack; or why should I be a target for you?

[13] When I say, "My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint,"

[14] Then you affright me with dreams and with visions terrify me,

[15] So that I should prefer choking and death rather than my pains.

[16] I waste away: I cannot live forever; let me alone, for my days are but a breath.

[17] What is man, that you make much of him, or pay him any heed?

[18] You observe him with each new day and try him at every moment!

[19] How long will it be before you look away from me, and let me alone long enough to swallow my spittle?

[20] Though I have sinned, what can I do to you, O watcher of men?

[21] Why do you not pardon my offense, or take away my guilt? For soon I shall lie down in the dust; and should you seek me I shall then be gone.

Job Chapter 8

[1] Bildad the Shuhite spoke out and said:

[2] How long will you utter such things? The words from your mouth are like a mighty wind!

[3] Does God pervert judgment, and does the Almighty distort justice?

[4] If your children have sinned against him and he has left them in the grip of their guilt,

[5] Still, if you yourself have recourse to God and make supplication to the Almighty,

[6] Should you be blameless and upright, surely now he will awake for you and restore your rightful domain;

[7] Your former state will be of little moment, for in time to come you will flourish indeed.

[8] If you inquire of the former generations, and give heed to the experience of the fathers

[9] (As we are but of yesterday and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are but a shadow),

[10] Will they not teach you and tell you and utter their words of understanding?

[11] 1 Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the reed grass flourish without water?

[12] While it is yet green and uncut, it withers quicker than any grass.

[13] So is the end of everyone who forgets God, and so shall the hope of the godless man perish.

[14] His confidence is but a gossamer thread and his trust is a spider's web.

[15] He shall rely upon his family, but it shall not last; he shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.

[16] He is full of sap before sunrise, and beyond his garden his shoots go forth;

[17] About a heap of stones are his roots entwined; among the rocks he takes hold.

[18] Yet if one tears him from his place, it will disown him: "I have never seen you!"

[19] There he lies rotting beside the road, and out of the soil another sprouts.

[20] Behold, God will not cast away the upright; neither will he take the hand of the wicked.

[21] Once more will he fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with rejoicing.

[22] They that hate you shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.

Job Chapter 9

[1] Then Job answered and said:

[2] I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God?

[3] Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times.

[4] God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed?

[5] He removes the mountains before they know it; he overturns them in his anger.

[6] He shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars beneath it tremble.

[7] He commands the sun, and it rises not; he seals up the stars.

[8] He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea.

[9] He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;

[10] He does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning.

[11] Should he come near me, I see him not; should he pass by, I am not aware of him;

[12] Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay? Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"

[13] 1 He is God and he does not relent; the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.

[14] How much less shall I give him any answer, or choose out arguments against him!

[15] Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me.

[16] If I appealed to him and he answered my call, I could not believe that he would hearken to my words;

[17] With a tempest he might overwhelm me, and multiply my wounds without cause;

[18] He need not suffer me to draw breath, but might fill me with bitter griefs.

[19] If it be a question of strength, he is mighty; and if of judgment, who will call him to account?

[20] Though I were right, my own mouth might condemn me; were I innocent, he might put me in the wrong.

[21] Though I am innocent, I myself cannot know it; I despise my life.

[22] It is all one! therefore I say: Both the innocent and the wicked he destroys.

[23] When the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs at the despair of the innocent.

[24] The earth is given into the hands of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, who then is it?

[25] My days are swifter than a runner, they flee away; they see no happiness;

[26] They shoot by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping upon its prey.

[27] If I say: I will forget my complaining, I will lay aside my sadness and be of good cheer,

[28] 2 Then I am in dread of all my pains; I know that you will not hold me innocent.

[29] If I must be accounted guilty, why then should I strive in vain?

[30] If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,

[31] Yet you would plunge me in the ditch, so that my garments would abhor me.

[32] For he is not a man like myself, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.

[33] Would that there were an arbiter between us, who could lay his hand upon us both

[34] and withdraw his rod from me. Would that his terrors did not frighten me;

[35] that I might speak without being afraid of him. Since this is not the case with me,

Job Chapter 10

[1] 1 I loathe my life. I will give myself up to complaint; I will speak from the bitterness of my soul.

[2] I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong! Let me know why you oppose me.

[3] Is it a pleasure for you to oppress, to spurn the work of your hands, and smile on the plan of the wicked?

[4] Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees?

[5] Are your days as the days of a mortal, and are your years as a man's lifetime,

[6] That you seek for guilt in me and search after my sins,

[7] Even though you know that I am not wicked, and that none can deliver me out of your hand?

[8] Your hands have formed me and fashioned me; will you then turn and destroy me?

[9] Oh, remember that you fashioned me from clay! Will you then bring me down to dust again?

[10] Did you not pour me out as milk, and thicken me like cheese?

[11] With skin and flesh you clothed me, with bones and sinews knit me together.

[12] Grace and favor you granted me, and your providence has preserved my spirit.

[13] Yet these things you have hidden in your heart; I know that they are your purpose:

[14] If I should sin, you would keep a watch against me, and from my guilt you would not absolve me.

[15] If I should be wicked, alas for me! if righteous, I dare not hold up my head, filled with ignominy and sodden with affliction!

[16] Should it lift up, you hunt me like a lion: repeatedly you show your wondrous power against me,

[17] You renew your attack upon me and multiply your harassment of me; in waves your troops come against me.

[18] Why then did you bring me forth from the womb? I should have died and no eye have seen me.

[19] I should be as though I had never lived; I should have been taken from the womb to the grave.

[20] Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may recover a little

[21] Before I go whence I shall not return, to the land of darkness and of gloom,

[22] The black, disordered land where darkness is the only light.

Job Chapter 11

[1] And Zophar the Naamathite spoke out and said:

[2] Should not the man of many words be answered, or must the garrulous man necessarily be right?

[3] Shall your babblings keep men silent, and shall you deride and no one give rebuke?

[4] Shall you say: "My teaching is pure, and I am clean in your sight"?

[5] But oh, that God would speak, and open his lips against you,

[6] And tell you that the secrets of wisdom are twice as effective: So you might learn that God will make you answer for your guilt.

[7] Can you penetrate the designs of God? Dare you vie with the perfection of the Almighty?

[8] It is higher than the heavens; what can you do? It is deeper than the nether world; what can you know?

[9] It is longer than the earth in measure, and broader than the sea.

[10] If he seize and imprison or call to judgment, who then can say him nay?

[11] For he knows the worthlessness of men and sees iniquity; will he then ignore it?

[12] Will empty man then gain understanding, and the wild jackass be made docile?

[13] If you set your heart aright and stretch out your hands toward him,

[14] If you remove all iniquity from your conduct, and let not injustice dwell in your tent,

[15] Surely then you may lift up your face in innocence; you may stand firm and unafraid.

[16] For then you shall forget your misery, or recall it like waters that have ebbed away.

[17] Then your life shall be brighter than the noonday; its gloom shall become as the morning,

[18] And you shall be secure, because there is hope; you shall look round you and lie down in safety,

[19] and you shall take your rest with none to disturb. Many shall entreat your favor,

[20] but the wicked, looking on, shall be consumed with envy. Escape shall be cut off from them, they shall wait to expire.

Job Chapter 12

[1] Then Job replied and said:

[2] No doubt you are the intelligent folk, and with you wisdom shall die!

[3] But I have intelligence as well as you; for who does not know such things as these?

[4] 1 I have become the sport of my neighbors: "The one whom God answers when he calls upon him, The just, the perfect man," is a laughing-stock;

[5] The undisturbed esteem my downfall a disgrace such as awaits unsteady feet;

[6] Yet the tents of robbers are prosperous, and those who provoke God are secure.

[7] But now ask the beasts to teach you, and the birds of the air to tell you;

[8] Or the reptiles on earth to instruct you, and the fish of the sea to inform you.

[9] Which of all these does not know that the hand of God has done this?

[10] In his hand is the soul of every living thing, and the life breath of all mankind.

[11] Does not the ear judge words as the mouth tastes food?

[12] So with old age is wisdom, and with length of days understanding.

[13] With him are wisdom and might; his are counsel and understanding.

[14] If he breaks a thing down, there is no rebuilding; if he imprisons a man, there is no release.

[15] He holds back the waters and there is drought; he sends them forth and they overwhelm the land.

[16] With him are strength and prudence; the misled and the misleaders are his.

[17] He sends counselors away barefoot, and of judges he makes fools.

[18] 2 He loosens the bonds imposed by kings and leaves but a waistcloth to bind the king's own loins.

[19] and lets their never-failing waters flow away.

[20] He silences the trusted adviser, and takes discretion from the aged.

[21] He breaks down the barriers of the streams

[22] The recesses of the darkness he discloses, and brings the gloom forth to the light.

[23] He makes nations great and he destroys them; he spreads peoples abroad and he abandons them.

[24] He takes understanding from the leaders of the land,

[25] till they grope in the darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunken men.

Job Chapter 13

[1] Lo, all this my eye has seen; my ear has heard and perceived it.

[2] What you know, I also know; I fall not short of you.

[3] But I would speak with the Almighty; I wish to reason with God.

[4] You are glossing over falsehoods and offering vain remedies, every one of you!

[5] Oh, that you would be altogether silent! This for you would be wisdom.

[6] Hear now the rebuke I shall utter and listen to the reproof from my lips.

[7] Is it for God that you speak falsehood? Is it for him that you utter deceit?

[8] Is it for him that you show partiality? Do you play advocate on behalf of God?

[9] Will it be well when he shall search you out? Would you impose on him as one does on men?

[10] He will openly rebuke you if even in secret you show partiality.

[11] Surely will his majesty affright you and the dread of him fall upon you.

[12] Your reminders are ashy maxims, your fabrications are mounds of clay.

[13] Be silent, let me alone! that I may speak and give vent to my feelings.

[14] 1 I will carry my flesh between my teeth, and take my life in my hand.

[15] Slay me though he might, I will wait for him; I will defend my conduct before him.

[16] And this shall be my salvation, that no impious man can come into his presence.

[17] Pay careful heed to my speech, and give my statement a hearing.

[18] Behold, I have prepared my case, I know that I am in the right.

[19] If anyone can make a case against me, then I shall be silent and die.

[20] 2 These things only do not use against me, then from your presence I need not hide:

[21] Withdraw your hand far from me, and let not the terror of you frighten me.

[22] Then call me, and I will respond; or let me speak first, and answer me.

[23] What are my faults and my sins? My misdeeds and my sins make known to me!

[24] Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?

[25] Will you harass a wind-driven leaf, or pursue a withered straw?

[26] For you draw up bitter indictments against me, and punish in me the faults of my youth.

[27] You put my feet in the stocks; you watch all my paths and trace out all my footsteps.

[28] 3 Though he wears out like a leather bottle, like a garment that the moth has consumed?

Job Chapter 14

[1] Man born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble,

[2] Like a flower that springs up and fades, swift as a shadow that does not abide.

[3] Upon such a one will you cast your eyes so as to bring him into judgment before you,

[4] Can a man be found who is clean of defilement? There is none,

[5] however short his days. You know the number of his months; you have fixed the limit which he cannot pass.

[6] Look away from him and let him be, while, like a hireling, he completes his day.

[7] For a tree there is hope, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again and that its tender shoots will not cease.

[8] Even though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the dust,

[9] Yet at the first whiff of water it may flourish again and put forth branches like a young plant.

[10] But when a man dies, all vigor leaves him; when man expires, where then is he?

[11] As when the waters of a lake fail, or a stream grows dry and parches,

[12] So men lie down and rise not again. Till the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.

[13] Oh, that you would hide me in the nether world and keep me sheltered till your wrath is past; would fix a time for me, and then remember me!

[14] When a man has died, were he to live again, all the days of my drudgery I would wait, until my relief should come.

[15] You would call, and I would answer you; you would esteem the work of your hands.

[16] Surely then you would count my steps, and not keep watch for sin in me.

[17] 1 My misdeeds would be sealed up in a pouch, and you would cover over my guilt.

[18] But as a mountain falls at last and its rock is moved from its place,

[19] As waters wear away the stones and floods wash away the soil of the land, so you destroy the hope of man.

[20] You prevail once for all against him and he passes on; with changed appearance you send him away.

[21] If his sons are honored, he is not aware of it; if they are in disgrace, he does not know about them.

[22] Only his own flesh pains him, and his soul grieves for him.

Job Chapter 15

[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite spoke and said:

[2] Should a wise man answer with airy opinions, or puff himself up with wind?

[3] Should he argue in speech which does not avail, and in words which are to no profit?

[4] You in fact do away with piety, and you lessen devotion toward God,

[5] Because your wickedness instructs your mouth, and you choose to speak like the crafty.

[6] Your own mouth condemns you, not I; you own lips refute you.

[7] Are you indeed the first-born of mankind, or were you brought forth before the hills?

[8] Are you privy to the counsels of God, and do you restrict wisdom to yourself?

[9] What do you know that we do not know? What intelligence have you which we have not?

[10] There are gray-haired old men among us more advanced in years than your father.

[11] Are the consolations of God not enough for you, and speech that deals gently with you?

[12] Why do your notions carry you away, and why do your eyes blink,

[13] So that you turn your anger against God and let such words escape your mouth!

[14] What is a man that he should be blameless, one born of woman that he should be righteous?

[15] If in his holy ones God places no confidence, and if the heavens are not clean in his sight,

[16] How much less so is the abominable, the corrupt: man, who drinks in iniquity like water!

[17] I will show you, if you listen to me; what I have seen I will tell--

[18] What wise men relate and have not contradicted since the days of their fathers,

[19] To whom alone the land was given, when no foreigner moved among them.

[20] The wicked man is in torment all his days, and limited years are in store for the tyrant;

[21] The sound of terrors is in his ears; when all is prosperous, the spoiler comes upon him.

[22] He despairs of escaping the darkness, and looks ever for the sword;

[23] A wanderer, food for the vultures, he knows that his destruction is imminent.

[24] By day the darkness fills him with dread; distress and anguish overpower him.

[25] Because he has stretched out his hand against God and bade defiance to the Almighty,

[26] One shall rush sternly upon him with the stout bosses of his shield, like a king prepared for the charge.

[27] Because he has blinded himself with his crassness, padding his loins with fat,

[28] He shall dwell in ruinous cities, in houses that are deserted, That are crumbling into clay

[29] with no shadow to lengthen over the ground. He shall not be rich, and his possessions shall not endure;

[30] A flame shall wither him up in his early growth, and with the wind his blossoms shall disappear.

Job Chapter 16

[1] Then Job answered and said:

[2] I have heard this sort of thing many times. Wearisome comforters are you all!

[3] Is there no end to windy words? Or what sickness have you that you speak on?

[4] I also could talk as you do, were you in my place. I could declaim over you, or wag my head at you;

[5] I could strengthen you with talk, or shake my head with silent lips.

[6] If I speak, this pain I have will not be checked; if I leave off, it will not depart from me.

[7] But now that I am exhausted and stunned, all my company has closed in on me.

[8] As a witness there rises up my traducer, speaking openly against me;

[9] I am the prey his wrath assails, he gnashes his teeth against me. My enemies lord it over me;

[10] their mouths are agape to bite me. They smite me on the cheek insultingly; they are all enlisted against me.

[11] God has given me over to the impious; into the clutches of the wicked he has cast me.

[12] I was in peace, but he dislodged me; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces. He has set me up for a target;

[13] his arrows strike me from all directions, He pierces my sides without mercy, he pours out my gall upon the ground.

[14] He pierces me with thrust upon thrust; he attacks me like a warrior.

[15] I have fastened sackcloth over my skin, and have laid my brow in the dust.

[16] My face is inflamed with weeping and there is darkness over my eyes,

[17] Although my hands are free from violence, and my prayer is sincere.

[18] 1 O earth, cover not my blood, nor let my outcry come to rest!

[19] 2 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my spokesman is on high.

[20] My friends it is who wrong me; before God my eyes drop tears,

[21] That he may do justice for a mortal in his presence and decide between a man and his neighbor.

[22] For my years are numbered now, and I am on a journey from which I shall not return.

Job Chapter 17

[1] My spirit is broken, my lamp of life extinguished; my burial is at hand.

[2] I am indeed mocked, and, as their provocation mounts, my eyes grow dim.

[3] 1 Grant me one to offer you a pledge on my behalf: who is there that will give surety for me?

[4] You darken their minds to knowledge; therefore they do not understand.

[5] My lot is described as evil,

[6] and I am made a byword of the people; their object lesson I have become.

[7] My eye has grown blind with anguish, and all my frame is shrunken to a shadow.

[8] Upright men are astonished at this, and the innocent aroused against the wicked.

[9] Yet the righteous shall hold to his way, and he who has clean hands increase in strength.

[10] But turn now, and come on again; for I shall not find a wise man among you!

[11] My days are passed away, my plans are at an end, the cherished purposes of my heart.

[12] Such men change the night into day; where there is darkness they talk of approaching light.

[13] If I look for the nether world as my dwelling, if I spread my couch in the darkness,

[14] If I must call corruption "my father," and the maggot "my mother" and "my sister,"

[15] Where then is my hope, and my prosperity, who shall see?

[16] Will they descend with me into the nether world? Shall we go down together into the dust?

Job Chapter 18

[1] Then Bildad the Shuhite replied and said:

[2] When will you put an end to words? Reflect, and then we can have discussion.

[3] Why are we accounted like the beasts, their equals in your sight?

[4] 1 You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be neglected on your account (or the rock be moved out of its place)?

[5] Truly, the light of the wicked is extinguished; no flame brightens his hearth.

[6] The light is darkened in his tent; in spite of him, his lamp goes out.

[7] His vigorous steps are hemmed in, and his own counsel casts him down.

[8] For he rushes headlong into a net, and he wanders into a pitfall.

[9] A trap seizes him by the heel, and a snare lays hold of him.

[10] A noose for him is hid on the ground, and the toils for him on the way.

[11] On every side terrors affright him; they harry him at each step.

[12] Disaster is ready at his side,

[13] 2 the first-born of death consumes his limbs.

[14] 3 Fiery destruction lodges in his tent, and marches him off to the king of terrors. He is plucked from the security of his tent;

[15] over his abode brimstone is scattered.

[16] Below, his roots dry up, and above, his branches wither.

[17] His memory perishes from the land, and he has no name on the earth.

[18] He is driven from light into darkness, and banished out of the world.

[19] He has neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any survior where once he dwelt.

[20] They who come after shall be appalled at his fate; they who went before are struck with horror.

[21] So is it then with the dwelling of the impious man, and such is the place of him who knows not God!

Job Chapter 19

[1] Then Job answered and said:

[2] How long will you vex my soul, grind me down with words?

[3] These ten times you have reviled me, have assailed me without shame!

[4] Be it indeed that I am at fault and that my fault remains with me,

[5] Even so, if you would vaunt yourselves against me and cast up to me any reproach,

[6] Know then that God has dealt unfairly with me, and compassed me round with his net.

[7] If I cry out "Injustice!" I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no redress.

[8] He has barred my way and I cannot pass; he has veiled my path in darkness;

[9] He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the diadem from my brow.

[10] He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope he has uprooted like a tree.

[11] His wrath he has kindled against me; he counts me among his enemies.

[12] His troops advance as one man; they build up their road to attack me, and they encamp around my tent.

[13] My brethren have withdrawn from me, and my friends are wholly estranged.

[14] My kinsfolk and companions neglect me, and my guests have forgotten me.

[15] Even my handmaids treat me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

[16] I call my servant, but he gives no answer, though in my speech I plead with him.

[17] My breath is abhorred by my wife; I am loathsome to the men of my family.

[18] The young children, too, despise me; when I appear, they speak against me.

[19] All my intimate friends hold me in horror; those whom I loved have turned against me!

[20] 1 My bones cleave to my skin, and I have escaped with my flesh between my teeth.

[21] Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me!

[22] 2 Why do you hound me as though you were divine, and insatiably prey upon me?

[23] 3 Oh, would that my words were written down! Would that they were inscribed in a record:

[24] That with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut in the rock forever!

[25] 4 But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;

[26] And from my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing.

[27] Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another's, shall behold him,

[28] But you who say, "How shall we persecute him, seeing that the root of the matter is found in him?"

[29] Be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for these crimes deserve the sword; that you may know that there is a judgment.

Job Chapter 20

[1] Then Zophar the Naamathite spoke and said:

[2] and because of this I am disturbed. So now my thoughts provide me with an answer, and from my understanding a spirit gives me a reply.

[3] A rebuke which puts me to shame I hear,

[4] Do you not know this from olden time, since man was placed upon the earth,

[5] That the triumph of the wicked is short and the joy of the impious but for a moment?

[6] Though his pride mount up to the heavens and his head reach to the clouds,

[7] Yet he perishes forever like the fuel of his fire, and the onlookers say, "Where is he?"

[8] Like a dream he takes flight and is not found again; he fades away like a vision of the night.

[9] The eye which saw him does so no more; nor shall his dwelling again behold him.

[10] and his hands shall yield up his riches.

Job Chapter 21

[1] Then Job said in reply:

[2] At least listen to my words, and let that be the consolation you offer.

[3] Bear with me while I speak; and after I have spoken, you can mock!

[4] Is my complaint toward man? And why should I not be impatient?

[5] Look at me and be astonished, put your hands over your mouths.

[6] When I think of it, I am dismayed, and horror takes hold on my flesh.

[7] Why do the wicked survive, grow old, become mighty in power?

[8] Their progeny is secure in their sight; they see before them their kinsfolk and their offspring.

[9] Their homes are safe and without fear, nor is the scourge of God upon them.

[10] Their bulls gender without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry.

[11] These folk have infants numerous as lambs, and their children dance.

[12] They sing to the timbrel and harp, and make merry to the sound of the flute.

[13] They live out their days in prosperity, and tranquilly go down to the nether world.

[14] Yet they say to God, "Depart from us, for we have no wish to learn your ways!

[15] What is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what gain shall we have if we pray to him?"

[16] If their happiness is not in their own hands and if the counsel of the wicked is repulsive to God,

[17] How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does destruction come upon them, the portion he allots in his anger?

[18] Let them be like straw before the wind, and like chaff which the storm snatches away!

[19] May God not store up the man's misery for his children; let him requite the man himself so that he feels it,

[20] Let his own eyes see the calamity, and the wrath of the Almighty let him drink!

[21] For what interest has he in his family after him, when the number of his months is finished?

[22] 1 Can anyone teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those on high?

[23] One dies in his full vigor, wholly at ease and content;

[24] His figure is full and nourished, and his bones are rich in marrow.

[25] Another dies in bitterness of soul, having never tasted happiness.

[26] Alike they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.

[27] Behold, I know your thoughts, and the arguments you rehearse against me.

[28] For you say, "Where is the house of the magnate, and where the dwelling place of the wicked?"

[29] Have you not asked the wayfarers and do you not recognize their monuments?

[30] Nay, the evil man is spared calamity when it comes;

[31] Who will charge him with his conduct to his face, and for what he has done who will repay him?

Job Chapter 22

[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

[2] Can a man be profitable to God? Though to himself a wise man be profitable!

[3] Is it of advantage to the Almighty if you are just? Or is it a gain to him if you make your ways perfect?

[4] Is it because of your piety that he reproves you-- that he enters with you into judgment?

[5] Is not your wickedness manifold? Are not your iniquities endless?

[6] 1 You have unjustly kept your kinsmen's goods in pawn, left them stripped naked of their clothing.

[7] To the thirsty you have given no water to drink, and from the hungry you have withheld bread;

[8] As if the land belonged to the man of might, and only the privileged were to dwell in it.

[9] You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the resources of orphans you have destroyed.

[10] Therefore snares are round about you, and a sudden terror causes you dismay,

[11] Or darkness, in which you cannot see; a deluge of waters covers you.

[12] Does not God, in the heights of the heavens, behold the stars, high though they are?

[13] Yet you say, "What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?

[14] Clouds hide him so that he cannot see; he walks upon the vault of the heavens!"

[15] Do you indeed keep to the ancient way trodden by worthless men,

[16] Who were snatched away before their time; whose foundations a flood swept away?

[17] These men said to God, "Depart from us!" and, "What can the Almighty do to us?"

[18] 2 (Yet he had filled their houses with good things! But far be from me the mind of the impious!)

[19] The just look on and are gladdened, and the innocent deride them:

[20] "Truly these have been destroyed where they stood, and such as were left, fire has consumed!"

[21] Come to terms with him to be at peace. In this shall good come to you:

[22] Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

[23] If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you put iniquity far from your tent,

[24] 3 And treat raw gold like dust, and the fine gold of Ophir as pebbles from the brook,

[25] Then the Almighty himself shall be your gold and your sparkling silver.

[26] For then you shall delight in the Almighty and you shall lift up your face toward God.

[27] You shall entreat him and he will hear you, and your vows you shall fulfill.

[28] When you make a decision, it shall succeed for you, and upon your ways the light shall shine.

[29] For he brings down the pride of the haughty, but the man of humble mien he saves.

[30] God delivers him who is innocent; you shall be delivered through cleanness of hands.

Job Chapter 23

[1] Again Job answered and said:

[2] Though I know my complaint is bitter, his hand is heavy upon me in my groanings.

[3] Oh, that today I might find him, that I might come to his judgment seat!

[4] I would set out my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments;

[5] I would learn the words with which he would answer, and understand what he would reply to me.

[6] Even should he contend against me with his great power, yet, would that he himself might heed me!

[7] There the upright man might reason with him, and I should once and for all preserve my rights.

[8] But if I go to the east, he is not there; or to the west, I cannot perceive him;

[9] Where the north enfolds him, I behold him not; by the south he is veiled, and I see him not.

[10] Yet he knows my way; if he proved me, I should come forth as gold.

[11] My foot has always walked in his steps; his way I have kept and have not turned aside.

[12] From the commands of his lips I have not departed; the words of his mouth I have treasured in my heart.

[13] But he had decided, and who can say him nay? What he desires, that he does.

[14] For he will carry out what is appointed for me; and many such things may yet be in his mind.

[15] Therefore am I dismayed before him; when I take thought, I fear him.

[16] Indeed God has made my courage fail; the Almighty has put me in dismay.

[17] Yes, would that I had vanished in darkness, and that thick gloom were before me to conceal me.

Job Chapter 24

[1] 1 Why are not times set by the Almighty, and why do his friends not see his days?

[2] The wicked remove landmarks; they steal away herds and pasture them.

[3] The asses of orphans they drive away; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

[4] They force the needy off the road; all the poor of the land are driven into hiding.

[5] Like wild asses in the desert, these go forth to their task of seeking food; The steppe provides food for the young among them;

[6] they harvest at night in the untilled land.

[7] They pass the night naked, without clothing, for they have no covering against the cold;

[8] They are drenched with the rain of the mountains, and for want of shelter they cling to the rock.

Job Chapter 25

[1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

[2] Dominion and awesomeness are his who brings about harmony in his heavens.

[3] 1 Is there any numbering of his troops? Yet to which of them does not his light extend?

[4] How can a man be just in God's sight, or how can any woman's child be innocent?

[5] Behold, even the moon is not bright and the stars are not clear in his sight.

[6] How much less man, who is but a maggot, the son of man, who is only a worm?

Job Chapter 26

[1] 1 Then Job spoke again and said:

[2] What help you give to the powerless, what strength to the feeble arm!

[3] How you counsel, as though he had no wisdom; how profuse is the advice you offer!

[4] With whose help have you uttered those words, and whose is the breath that comes forth from you?

[5] 2 The shades beneath writhe in terror, the waters, and their inhabitants.

[6] 3 Naked before him is the nether world, and Abaddon has no covering.

[7] 4 He stretches out the North over empty space, and suspends the earth over nothing at all;

[8] He binds up the waters in his clouds, yet the cloud is not rent by their weight;

[9] He holds back the appearance of the full moon by spreading his clouds before it.

[10] 5 He has marked out a circle on the surface of the deep as the boundary of light and darkness.

[11] The pillars of the heavens tremble and are stunned at his thunderous rebuke;

[12] 6 By his power he stirs up the sea, and by his might he crushes Rahab;

[13] 7 With his angry breath he scatters the waters, and he hurls the lightning against them relentlessly; His hand pierces the fugitive dragon as from his hand it strives to flee.

[14] Lo, these are but the outlines of his ways, and how faint is the word we hear!

Job Chapter 27

Job Chapter 28

[1] 1 There is indeed a mine for silver, and a place for gold which men refine.

[2] Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is melted out of stone.

[3] He has set a boundary for the darkness; to the farthest confines he penetrates.

Job Chapter 29

[1] Job took up his theme anew and said;

[2] Oh, that I were as in the months past! as in the days when God watched over me,

[3] While he kept his lamp shining above my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;

[4] As I was in my flourishing days, when God sheltered my tent;

[5] When the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were round about me;

[6] 1 When my footsteps were bathed in milk, and the rock flowed with streams of oil;

[7] When I went forth to the gate of the city and set up my seat in the square-

[8] Then the young men saw me and withdrew, while the elders rose up and stood;

[9] The chief men refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands;

[10] The voice of the princes was silenced, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

[11] Whoever heard of me blessed me; those who saw me commended me.

[12] For I rescued the poor who cried out for help, the orphans, and the unassisted;

[13] The blessing of those in extremity came upon me, and the heart of the widow I made joyful.

[14] I wore my honesty like a garment; justice was my robe and my turban.

[15] I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame was I;

[16] I was a father to the needy; the rights of the stranger I studied,

[17] And I broke the jaws of the wicked man; from his teeth I forced the prey.

[18] 2 Then I said: "In my own nest I shall grow old; I shall multiply years like the phoenix.

[19] My root is spread out to the waters; the dew rests by night on my branches.

[20] My glory is fresh within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand!"

Job Chapter 30

[1] But now they hold me in derision who are younger in years than I; Whose fathers I should have disdained to rank with the dogs of my flock.

[2] Such strength as they had, to me meant nought; they were utterly destitute.

[3] In want and hunger was their lot, they who fled to the parched wastelands:

[4] 1 They plucked saltwort and shrubs; the roots of the broom plant were their food.

[5] They were banished from among men, with an outcry like that against a thief--

[6] To dwell on the slopes of the wadies, in caves of sand and stone;

[7] Among the bushes they raised their raucous cry; under the nettles they huddled together.

[8] Irresponsible, nameless men, they were driven out of the land.

[9] Yet now they sing of me in mockery; I am become a byword among them.

[10] They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, they do not hesitate to spit in my face!

[11] Indeed, they have loosed their bonds; they lord it over me, and have thrown off restraint in my presence.

[12] To subvert my paths they rise up; they build their approaches for my ruin.

[13] To destroy me, they attack with none to stay them;

[14] as through a wide breach they advance. Amid the uproar they come on in waves;

[15] over me rolls the terror. My dignity is borne off on the wind, and my welfare vanishes like a cloud.

[16] My soul ebbs away from me;

Job Chapter 31

[1] 2 If I have made an agreement with my eyes and entertained any thoughts against a maiden;

Job Chapter 32

[1] Then the three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

[2] 1 But the anger of Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled. He was angry with Job for considering himself rather than God to be in the right.

[3] He was angry also with the three friends because they had not found a good answer and had not condemned Job.

[4] But since these men were older than he, Elihu bided his time before addressing Job.

[5] When, however, Elihu saw that there was no reply in the mouths of the three men, his wrath was inflamed.

[6] So Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, spoke out and said: I am young and you are very old; therefore I held back and was afraid to declare to you my knowledge.

[7] Days should speak, I thought, and many years teach wisdom!

[8] But it is a spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

[9] It is not those of many days who are wise, nor the aged who understand the right.

[10] Therefore I say, hearken to me; let me too set forth my knowledge!

[11] Behold, I have waited for your discourses, and have given ear to your arguments.

[12] Yes, I followed you attentively as you searched out what to say; And behold, there is none who has convicted Job, not one of you who could refute his statements.

[13] 2 Yet do not say, "We have met wisdom. God may vanquish him but not man!"

[14] For had he addressed his words to me, I should not then have answered him as you have done.

[15] They are dismayed, they make no more reply; words fail them.

[16] Must I wait? Now that they speak no more, and have ceased to make reply,

[17] I too will speak my part; I also will show my knowledge!

[18] For I am full of matters to utter; the spirit within me compels me.

[19] Like a new wineskin with wine under pressure, my bosom is ready to burst.

[20] Let me speak and obtain relief; let me open my lips, and make reply.

[21] I would not be partial to anyone, nor give flattering titles to any.

[22] For I know nought of flattery; if I did, my Maker would soon take me away.

Job Chapter 33

[1] Therefore, O Job, hear my discourse, and hearken to all my words.

[2] Behold, now I open my mouth; my tongue and my voice form words.

[3] I will state directly what is in my mind, my lips shall utter knowledge sincerely;

[4] For the spirit of God has made me, the breath of the Almighty keeps me alive.

[5] If you are able, refute me; draw up your arguments and stand forth.

[6] Behold I, like yourself, have been taken from the same clay by God.

[7] Therefore no fear of me should dismay you, nor should my presence weigh heavily upon you.

[8] But you have said in my hearing, as I listened to the sound of your words:

[9] "I am clean and without transgression; I am innocent; there is no guilt in me.

[10] Yet he invents pretexts against me and reckons me as his enemy.

[11] He puts my feet in the stocks; he watches all my ways!"

[12] In this you are not just, let me tell you; for God is greater than man.

[13] Why, then, do you make complaint against him that he gives no account of his doings?

[14] For God does speak, perhaps once, or even twice, though one perceive it not.

[15] In a dream, in a vision of the night, (when deep sleep falls upon men) as they slumber in their beds,

[16] It is then he opens the ears of men and as a warning to them, terrifies them;

[17] By turning man from evil and keeping pride away from him,

[18] He withholds his soul from the pit and his life from passing to the grave.

[19] Or a man is chastened on his bed by pain and unceasing suffering within his frame,

[20] So that to his appetite food becomes repulsive, and his senses reject the choicest nourishment.

[21] His flesh is wasted so that it cannot be seen, and his bones, once invisible, appear;

[22] His soul draws near to the pit, his life to the place of the dead.

[23] 1 If then there be for him an angel, one out of a thousand, a mediator, To show him what is right for him and bring the man back to justice,

[24] He will take pity on him and say, "Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found him a ransom."

[25] Then his flesh shall become soft as a boy's; he shall be again as in the days of his youth.

[26] He shall pray and God will favor him; he shall see God's face with rejoicing.

[27] He shall sing before men and say, "I sinned and did wrong, yet he has not punished me accordingly.

[28] He delivered my soul from passing to the pit, and I behold the light of life."

[29] Lo, all these things God does, twice, or thrice, for a man,

[30] Bringing back his soul from the pit to the light, in the land of the living.

[31] Be attentive, O Job; listen to me! Be silent and I will speak.

[32] If you have aught to say, then answer me. Speak out! I should like to see you justified.

[33] If not, then do you listen to me; be silent while I teach you wisdom.

Job Chapter 34

[1] Then Elihu continued and said:

[2] Hear, O wise men, my discourse, and you that have knowledge, hear me!

[3] For the ear tests words, as the taste does food.

[4] Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn between us what is good.

[5] For Job has said, "I am innocent, but God has taken what is my due.

[6] Notwithstanding my right I am set at nought; in my wound the arrow rankles, sinless though I am."

[7] What man is like Job? He drinks in blasphemies like water,

[8] Keeps company with evildoers and goes along with wicked men,

[9] When he says, "It profits a man nought that he is pleasing to God."

[10] Therefore, men of understanding, hearken to me: far be it from God to do wickedness; far from the Almighty to do wrong!

[11] Rather, he requites men for their conduct, and brings home to a man his way of life.

[12] Surely, God cannot act wickedly, the Almighty cannot violate justice.

[13] Who gave him government over the earth, or who else set all the land in its place?

[14] If he were to take back his spirit to himself, withdraw to himself his breath,

[15] All flesh would perish together, and man would return to the dust.

[16] Now, do you, O Job, hear this! Hearken to the words I speak!

[17] Can an enemy of justice indeed be in control, or will you condemn the supreme Just One,

[18] Who says to a king, "You are worthless!" and to nobles, "You are wicked!"

[19] Who neither favors the person of princes, nor respects the rich more than the poor? For they are all the work of his hands;

[20] in a moment they die, even at midnight. He brings on nobles, and takes them away, removing the powerful without lifting a hand;

[21] For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he beholds all his steps.

[22] There is no darkness so dense that evildoers can hide in it.

[23] For he forewarns no man of his time to come before God in judgment.

[24] Without a trial he breaks the mighty, and sets others in their stead,

Job Chapter 35

[1] Then Elihu proceeded and said:

[2] Do you think it right to say, "I am just rather than God?"

[3] To say, "What does it profit me; what advantage have I more than if I had sinned?"

[4] 1 I have words for a reply to you and your three companions as well.

[5] Look up to the skies and behold; regard the heavens high above you.

[6] If you sin, what injury do you do to God? Even if your offenses are many, how do you hurt him?

[7] If you are righteous, what do you give him, or what does he receive from your hand?

[8] Your wickedness can affect only a man like yourself; and your justice only a fellow human being.

[9] In great oppression men cry out; they call for help because of the power of the mighty,

[10] Saying, "Where is God, my Maker, who has given visions in the night,

[11] Taught us rather than the beasts of the earth, and made us wise rather than the birds of the heavens?"

[12] Though thus they cry out, he answers not against the pride of the wicked.

[13] But it is idle to say God does not hear or that the Almighty does not take notice.

[14] 2 Even though you say that you see him not, the case is before him; with trembling should you wait upon him.

[15] But now that you have done otherwise, God's anger punishes, nor does he show concern that a man will die.

[16] Yet Job to no purpose opens his mouth, and without knowledge multiplies words.

Job Chapter 36

[1] Elihu proceeded further and said:

[2] Wait yet a little and I will instruct you, for there are still words to be said on God's behalf.

[3] I will bring my knowledge from afar, and to my Maker I will accord the right.

[4] For indeed, my theme cannot fail me: the one perfect in knowledge I set before you.

[5] 1 Behold, God rejects the obstinate in heart; he preserves not the life of the wicked.

[6] He withholds not the just man's rights, but grants vindication to the oppressed,

[7] And with kings upon thrones he sets them, exalted forever.

[8] Or if they are bound with fetters and held fast by bonds of affliction,

[9] Then he makes known to them what they have done and their sins of boastful pride.

[10] He opens their ears to correction and exhorts them to turn back from evil.

[11] If they obey and serve him, they spend their days in prosperity, their years in happiness.

[12] 2 But if they obey not, they perish; they die for lack of knowledge.

[13] The impious in heart lay up anger for themselves; they cry not for help when he enchains them;

[14] 3 Therefore they expire in youth, and perish among the reprobate.

[15] But he saves the unfortunate through their affliction, and instructs them through distress.

Job Chapter 37

[1] At this my heart trembles and leaps out of its place,

[2] 1 To hear his angry voice as it rumbles forth from his mouth!

[3] Everywhere under the heavens he sends it, with his lightning, to the ends of the earth.

[4] Again his voice roars-- the majestic sound of his thunder.

[5] He does great things beyond our knowing; wonders past our searching out.

[6] For he says to the snow, "Fall to the earth"; likewise to his heavy, drenching rain.

[7] He shuts up all mankind indoors;

[8] the wild beasts take to cover and remain quietly in their dens.

[9] 2 Out of its chamber comes forth the tempest; from the north winds, the cold.

[10] With his breath God brings the frost, and the broad waters become congealed.

[11] With hail, also, the clouds are laden, as they scatter their flashes of light.

[12] 3 He it is who changes their rounds, according to his plans, in their task upon the surface of the earth,

[13] whether for punishment or mercy, as he commands.

[14] Hearken to this, O Job! Stand and consider the wondrous works of God!

[15] Do you know how God lays his commands upon them, and makes the light shine forth from his clouds?

[16] Do you know how the clouds are banked, the wondrous work of him who is perfect in knowledge?

[17] You, whom the streams of water fail when a calm from the south comes over the land,

[18] 4 Do you spread out with him the firmament of the skies, hard as a brazen mirror?

[19] Teach us then what we shall say to him; we cannot, for the darkness, make our plea.

[20] 5 Will he be told about it when I speak, or when a man says he is being destroyed?

[21] 6 Nay, rather, it is as the light which men see not while it is obscured among the clouds, till the wind comes by and sweeps the clouds away.

[22] 7 From the North the splendor comes, surrounding God's awesome majesty!

[23] The Almighty! we cannot discover him, pre-eminent in power and judgment; his great justice owes no one an accounting.

[24] Therefore men revere him, though none can see him, however wise their hearts.

Job Chapter 38

[1] 1 Then the LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said:

[2] Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance?

[3] 2 Gird up your loins now, like a man; I will question you, and you tell me the answers!

[4] Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

[5] Who determined its size; do you know? Who stretched out the measuring line for it?

[6] Into what were its pedestals sunk, and who laid the cornerstone,

[7] 3 While the morning stars sang in chorus and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

[8] And who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb;

[9] When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands?

[10] When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door,

[11] And said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!

[12] Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place

[13] For taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface?

[14] The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment;

[15] But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered.

[16] Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss?

[17] Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness?

[18] Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all:

[19] Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness,

[20] That you may take them to their boundaries and set them on their homeward paths?

[21] 4 You know, because you were born before them, and the number of your years is great!

[22] 5 Have you entered the storehouse of the snow, and seen the treasury of the hail

[23] Which I have reserved for times of stress, for the days of war and of battle?

[24] Which way to the parting of the winds, whence the east wind spreads over the earth?

[25] Who has laid out a channel for the downpour and for the thunderstorm a path

[26] To bring rain to no man's land, the unpeopled wilderness;

[27] To enrich the waste and desolate ground till the desert blooms with verdure?

[28] Has the rain a father; or who has begotten the drops of dew?

[29] Out of whose womb comes the ice, and who gives the hoarfrost its birth in the skies,

[30] When the waters lie covered as though with stone that holds captive the surface of the deep?

[31] 6 Have you fitted a curb to the Pleiades, or loosened the bonds of Orion?

[32] Can you bring forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or guide the Bear with its train?

[33] Do you know the ordinances of the heavens; can you put into effect their plan on the earth?

[34] 7 Can you raise your voice among the clouds, or veil yourself in the waters of the storm?

[35] 8 Can you send forth the lightnings on their way, or will they say to you, "Here we are"?

[36] 9 Who puts wisdom in the heart, and gives the cock its understanding?

Job Chapter 39

[1] Do you know about the birth of the mountain goats, watch for the birth pangs of the hinds,

[2] Number the months that they must fulfill, and fix the time of their bringing forth?

[3] They crouch down and bear their young; they deliver their progeny in the desert.

[4] When their offspring thrive and grow, they leave and do not return.

[5] Who has given the wild ass his freedom, and who has loosed him from bonds?

[6] I have made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling.

[7] He scoffs at the uproar of the city, and hears no shouts of a driver.

[8] He ranges the mountains for pasture, and seeks out every patch of green.

[9] Will the wild ox consent to serve you, and to pass the nights by your manger?

[10] Will a rope bind him in the furrow, and will he harrow the valleys after you?

[11] Will you trust him for his great strength and leave to him the fruits of your toil?

[12] Can you rely on him to thresh out your grain and gather in the yield of your threshing floor?

[13] 1 The wings of the ostrich beat idly; her plumage is lacking in pinions.

[14] 2 When she leaves her eggs on the ground and deposits them in the sand,

[15] Unmindful that a foot may crush them, that the wild beasts may trample them,

[16] She cruelly disowns her young and ruthlessly makes nought of her brood;

[17] For God has withheld wisdom from her and has given her no share in understanding.

[18] Yet in her swiftness of foot she makes sport of the horse and his rider.

[19] 3 Do you give the horse his strength, and endow his neck with splendor?

[20] Do you make the steed to quiver while his thunderous snorting spreads terror?

[21] He jubilantly paws the plain and rushes in his might against the weapons.

[22] He laughs at fear and cannot be deterred; he turns not back from the sword.

[23] Around him rattles the quiver, flashes the spear and the javelin.

[24] Frenzied and trembling he devours the ground; he holds not back at the sound of the trumpet,

[25] but at each blast he cries, "Aha!" Even from afar he scents the battle, the roar of the chiefs and the shouting.

[26] Is it by your discernment that the hawk soars, that he spreads his wings toward the south?

[27] Does the eagle fly up at your command to build his nest aloft?

[28] On the cliff he dwells and spends the night, on the spur of the cliff or the fortress.

[29] From thence he watches for his prey; his eyes behold it afar off.

[30] His young ones greedily drink blood; where the slain are, there is he.

Job Chapter 40

[1] The LORD then said to Job:

[2] Will we have arguing with the Almighty by the critic? Let him who would correct God give answer!

[3] Then Job answered the LORD and said:

[4] Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth.

[5] Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more.

[6] Then the LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said:

[7] Gird up your loins now, like a man. I will question you, and you tell me the answers!

[8] Would you refuse to acknowledge my right? Would you condemn me that you may be justified?

[9] Have you an arm like that of God, or can you thunder with a voice like his?

[10] Adorn yourself with grandeur and majesty, and array yourself with glory and splendor.

[11] Let loose the fury of your wrath;

[12] tear down the wicked and shatter them. Bring down the haughty with a glance;

[13] bury them in the dust together; in the hidden world imprison them.

[14] Then will I too acknowledge that your own right hand can save you.

[15] 1 See, besides you I made Behemoth, that feeds on grass like an ox.

[16] Behold the strength in his loins, and his vigor in the sinews of his belly.

[17] He carries his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are like cables.

[18] His bones are like tubes of bronze; his frame is like iron rods.

[19] He came at the beginning of God's ways, and was made the taskmaster of his fellows;

[20] For the produce of the mountains is brought to him, and of all wild animals he makes sport.

[21] Under the lotus trees he lies, in coverts of the reedy swamp.

[22] The lotus trees cover him with their shade; all about him are the poplars on the bank.

[23] If the river grows violent, he is not disturbed; he is tranquil though the torrent surges about his mouth.

[24] 2 Who can capture him by his eyes, or pierce his nose with a trap?

[25] 3 Can you lead about Leviathan with a hook, or curb his tongue with a bit?

[26] Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce through his cheek with a gaff?

[27] Will he then plead with you, time after time, or address you with tender words?

[28] Will he make an agreement with you that you may have him as a slave forever?

[29] Can you play with him, as with a bird? Can you put him in leash for your maidens?

[30] 4 Will the traders bargain for him? Will the merchants divide him up?

[31] Can you fill his hide with barbs, or his head with fish spears?

[32] Once you but lay a hand upon him, no need to recall any other conflict!

Job Chapter 41

[1] Whoever might vainly hope to do so need only see him to be overthrown.

Job Chapter 42

[1] Then Job answered the LORD and said:

[2] 1 I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.

[3] I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.

Introduction to The Psalms

Psalms

Introduction

The Hebrew Psalter numbers 150 songs. The corresponding number in the LXX differs because of a different division of certain psalms. Hence the numbering in the Greek Psalter (which was followed by the Latin Vulgate) is usually one digit behind the Hebrew. In the New American Bible the numbering of the verses follows the Hebrew numbering; many of the traditional English translations are often a verse number behind the Hebrew because they do not count the superscriptions as a verse.

The superscriptions derive from pre-Christian Jewish tradition, and they contain technical terms, many of them apparently liturgical, which are no longer known to us. Seventy-three psalms are attributed to David, but there is no sure way of dating any psalm. Some are pre-exilic (before 587), and others are post-exilic (after 539), but not as late as the Maccabean period (ca. 165). The psalms are the product of many individual collections (e.g., Songs of Ascents, Psa 120-134), which were eventually combined into the present work in which one can detect five "books," because of the doxologies which occur at 41:14; 72:18-19; 89:53; 106:48.

Two important features of the psalms deserve special notice. First, the majority were composed originally precisely for liturgical worship. This is shown by the frequent indication of liturgical leaders interacting with the community (e.g., Psalm 118:1-4). Secondly, they follow certain distinct patterns or literary forms. Thus, the hymn is a song of praise, in which a community is urged joyfully to sing out the praise of God. Various reasons are given for this praise (often introduced by "for" or "because"): the divine work of creation and sustenance (Psalm 135:1-12; 136). Some of the hymns have received a more specific classification, based on content. The "Songs of Zion" are so called because the exalt Zion, the city in which God dwells among the people (Psalm 47:96-99). Characteristic of the songs of praise is the joyful summons to get involved in the activity; Psa 104 is an exception to this, although it remains universal in its thrust.

Another type of psalm is similar to the hymn: the thanksgiving psalm. This too is a song of praise acknowledging the Lord as the rescuer of the psalmist from a desperate situation. Very often the psalmist will give a flash-back, recounting the past distress, and the plea that was uttered (Psa 30; 116). The setting for such prayers seems to have been the offering of a todah (a "praise" sacrifice) with friends in the Temple.

There are more psalms of lament than of any other type. They may be individual (e.g., Psa 3-7; 22) or communal (e.g., Psa 44). Although they usually begin with a cry for help, they develop in various ways. The description of the distress is couched in the broad imagery typical of the Bible (one is in Sheol, the Pit, or is afflicted by enemies or wild beasts, etc.)--in such a way that one cannot pinpoint the exact nature of the psalmist's plight. However, Psa 51 (cf also Psa 130) seems to refer clearly to deliverance from sin. Several laments end on a note of certainty that the Lord has heard the prayer (cf. Psa 7, but contrast Psa 88), and the Psalter has been characterized as a movement from lament to praise. If this is somewhat of an exaggeration, it serves at least to emphasize the frequent expressions of trust which characterize the lament. In some cases it would seem as if the theme of trust has been lifted out to form a literary type all its own; cf. Psa 23, 62, 91. Among the communal laments can be counted Psa 74 and 79. They complain to the Lord about some national disaster, and try to motivate God to intervene in favor of the suffering people.

Other psalms are clearly classified on account of content, and they may be in themselves laments or psalms of thanksgiving. Among the "royal: psalms, that deal directly with the currently reigning king, are Psa 20, 21, and 72. Many of the royal psalms were given a messianic interpretation by Christians. In Jewish tradition they were preserved, even after kingship had disappeared, because they were read in the light of the Davidic covenant reported in 2 Samuel 7. Certain psalms are called wisdom psalms because they seem to betray the influence of the concerns of the ages (cf. Psa 37,49), but there is no general agreement as to the number of these prayers. Somewhat related to the wisdom psalms are the "torah" psalms, in which the torah (instruction or law) of the Lord is glorified (Psa 1; 19:8-14; 119). Psa 78, 105, 106 can be considered as "historical" psalms. Although the majority of the psalms have a liturgical setting, there are certain prayers that may be termed "liturgies," so clearly does their structure reflect a liturgical incident (e.g., Psa 15, 24).

It is obvious that not all of the psalms can be pigeon-holed into neat classifications, but even a brief sketch of these types help us to catch the structure and spirit of the psalms we read. It has been rightly said that the psalms are "a school of prayer." They not only provide us with models to follow, but inspire us to voice our own deepest feelings and aspirations.

Psalms Chapter 1

[1] 1 2 Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.

[2] 3 Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God's law they study day and night.

[3] They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.

[4] 4 But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind.

[5] Therefore the wicked will not survive judgment, nor will sinners in the assembly of the just.

[6] The LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Psalms Chapter 2

[1] 1 Why do the nations protest and the peoples grumble in vain?

[2] 2 Kings on earth rise up and princes plot together against the LORD and his anointed:

[3] "Let us break their shackles and cast off their chains!"

[4] The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord derides them,

[5] Then speaks to them in anger, terrifies them in wrath:

[6] "I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain."

[7] I will proclaim the decree of the LORD, who said to me, "You are my son; today I am your father.

[8] Only ask it of me, and I will make your inheritance the nations, your possession the ends of the earth.

[9] With an iron rod you shall shepherd them, like a clay pot you will shatter them."

[10] And now, kings, give heed; take warning, rulers on earth.

[11] Serve the LORD with fear; with trembling bow down in homage, Lest God be angry and you perish from the way in a sudden blaze of anger. Happy are all who take refuge in God!

Psalms Chapter 3

[1] 1 2 A psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.

[2] How many are my foes, LORD! How many rise against me!

[3] 3 How many say of me, "God will not save that one." Selah

[4] But you, LORD, are a shield around me; my glory, you keep my head high.

[5] Whenever I cried out to the LORD, I was answered from the holy mountain. Selah

[6] Whenever I lay down and slept, the LORD preserved me to rise again.

[7] I do not fear, then, thousands of people arrayed against me on every side.

[8] Arise, LORD! Save me, my God! You will shatter the jaws of all my foes; you will break the teeth of the wicked.

[9] Safety comes from the LORD! Your blessing for your people! Selah

Psalms Chapter 4

[1] 1 2 For the leader; with stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

[2] Answer when I call, my saving God. In my troubles, you cleared a way; show me favor; hear my prayer.

[3] How long will you people mock my honor, love what is worthless, chase after lies? Selah

[4] Know that the LORD works wonders for the faithful; the LORD hears when I call out.

[5] 3 Tremble and do not sin; upon your beds ponder in silence.

[6] Offer fitting sacrifice and trust in the LORD.

[7] Many say, "May we see better times! LORD, show us the light of your face!" Selah

[8] But you have given my heart more joy than they have when grain and wine abound.

[9] In peace I shall both lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me secure.

Psalms Chapter 5

[1] 1 For the leader; with wind instruments. A psalm of David.

[2] Hear my words, O LORD; listen to my sighing.

[3] Hear my cry for help, my king, my God! To you I pray, O LORD;

[4] at dawn you will hear my cry; at dawn I will plead before you and wait.

[5] You are not a god who delights in evil; no wicked person finds refuge with you;

[6] the arrogant cannot stand before you. You hate all who do evil;

[7] you destroy all who speak falsely. Murderers and deceivers the LORD abhors.

[8] But I can enter your house because of your great love. I can worship in your holy temple because of my reverence for you, LORD.

[9] Guide me in your justice because of my foes; make straight your way before me.

[10] 2 For there is no sincerity in their mouths; their hearts are corrupt. Their throats are open graves; on their tongues are subtle lies.

[11] Declare them guilty, God; make them fall by their own devices. Drive them out for their many sins; they have rebelled against you.

[12] Then all who take refuge in you will be glad and forever shout for joy. Protect them that you may be the joy of those who love your name.

[13] For you, LORD, bless the just; you surround them with favor like a shield.

Psalms Chapter 6

[1] 1 2 For the leader; with stringed instruments, "upon the eighth." A psalm of David.

[2] Do not reprove me in your anger, LORD, nor punish me in your wrath.

[3] Have pity on me, LORD, for I am weak; heal me, LORD, for my bones are trembling.

[4] 3 In utter terror is my soul-- and you, LORD, how long...?

[5] 4 Turn, LORD, save my life; in your mercy rescue me.

[6] 5 For who among the dead remembers you? Who praises you in Sheol?

[7] I am wearied with sighing; all night long tears drench my bed; my couch is soaked with weeping.

[8] My eyes are dimmed with sorrow, worn out because of all my foes.

[9] Away from me, all who do evil! The LORD has heard my weeping.

[10] The LORD has heard my prayer; the LORD takes up my plea.

[11] My foes will be terrified and disgraced; all will fall back in sudden shame.

Psalms Chapter 7

[1] 1 A plaintive song of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning Cush, the Benjaminite.

[2] LORD my God, in you I take refuge; rescue me; save me from all who pursue me,

[3] Lest they maul me like lions, tear me to pieces with none to save.

[4] 2 LORD my God, if I am at fault in this, if there is guilt on my hands,

[5] If I have repaid my friend with evil-- I spared even those who hated me without cause--

[6] Then let my enemy pursue and overtake me, trample my life to the ground, and leave me dishonored in the dust.Selah

[7] Rise up, LORD, in your anger; rise against the fury of my foes. Wake to judge as you have decreed.

[8] Have the assembly of the peoples gather about you; sit on your throne high above them,

[9] O LORD, judge of the nations. Grant me justice, LORD, for I am blameless, free of any guilt.

[10] Bring the malice of the wicked to an end; uphold the innocent, O God of justice, who tries hearts and minds.

[11] A shield before me is God who saves the honest heart.

[12] God is a just judge, who rebukes in anger every day.

[13] If sinners do not repent, God sharpens his sword, strings and readies the bow,

[14] Prepares his deadly shafts, makes arrows blazing thunderbolts.

[15] Sinners conceive iniquity; pregnant with mischief, they give birth to failure.

[16] They open a hole and dig it deep, but fall into the pit they have dug.

[17] Their mischief comes back upon themselves; their violence falls on their own heads.

[18] I praise the justice of the LORD; I celebrate the name of the LORD Most High.

Psalms Chapter 8

[1] 1 2 For the leader; "upon the gittith." A psalm of David.

[2] O LORD, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth! You have set your majesty above the heavens!

[3] 3 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have drawn a defense against your foes, to silence enemy and avenger.

[4] When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place--

[5] 4 What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?

[6] 5 Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor.

[7] You have given them rule over the works of your hands, put all things at their feet:

[8] All sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field,

[9] The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the seas.

[10] O LORD, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!

Psalms Chapter 9

[1] 1 2 For the leader; according to Muth Labben. A psalm of David.

[2] I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous deeds.

[3] I will delight and rejoice in you; I will sing hymns to your name, Most High.

[4] For my enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you.

[5] You upheld my right and my cause, seated on your throne, judging justly.

[6] You rebuked the nations, you destroyed the wicked; their name you blotted out for all time

[7] The enemies have been ruined forever; you destroyed their cities; their memory has perished.

[8] The LORD rules forever, has set up a throne for judgment.

[9] It is God who governs the world with justice, who judges the peoples with fairness.

[10] The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, stronghold in times of trouble.

[11] Those who honor your name trust in you; you never forsake those who seek you, LORD.

[12] Sing hymns to the LORD enthroned on Zion; proclaim God's deeds among the nations!

[13] For the avenger of bloodshed remembers, does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

[14] Have mercy on me, LORD; see how my foes afflict me! You alone can raise me from the gates of death.

[15] 3 Then I will declare all your praises, sing joyously of your salvation in the gates of daughter Zion.

[16] The nations fall into the pit they dig; in the snare they hide, their own foot is caught.

[17] 4 The LORD is revealed in this divine rule: by the deeds they do the wicked are trapped. Higgaion. Selah

[18] To Sheol the wicked will depart, all the nations that forget God.

[19] The needy will never be forgotten, nor will the hope of the afflicted ever fade.

[20] Arise, LORD, let no mortal prevail; let the nations be judged in your presence.

[21] Strike them with terror, LORD; show the nations they are mere mortals. Selah

Psalms Chapter 10

[1] Why, LORD, do you stand at a distance and pay no heed to these troubled times?

[2] Arrogant scoundrels pursue the poor; they trap them by their cunning schemes.

[3] The wicked even boast of their greed; these robbers curse and scorn the LORD.

[4] In their insolence the wicked boast: "God doesn't care, doesn't even exist."

[5] Yet their affairs always succeed; they ignore your judgment on high; they sneer at all who oppose them.

[6] They say in their hearts, "We will never fall; never will we see misfortune."

[7] Their mouths are full of oaths, violence, and lies; discord and evil are under their tongues.

[8] They wait in ambush near towns; their eyes watch for the helpless. to murder the innocent in secret.

[9] They lurk in ambush like lions in a thicket, hide there to trap the poor, snare them and close the net.

[10] The helpless are crushed, laid low; they fall into the power of the wicked,

[11] Who say in their hearts, "God pays no attention, shows no concern, never bothers to look."

[12] Rise up, LORD God! Raise your arm! Do not forget the poor!

[13] Why should the wicked scorn God, say in their hearts, "God doesn't care"?

[14] But you do see; you do observe this misery and sorrow; you take the matter in hand. To you the helpless can entrust their cause; you are the defender of orphans.

[15] Break the arms of the wicked and depraved; make them account for their crimes; let none of them survive.

[16] The LORD is king forever; the nations have vanished from God's land.

[17] You listen, LORD, to the needs of the poor; you encourage them and hear their prayers.

[18] You win justice for the orphaned and oppressed; no one on earth will cause terror again.

Psalms Chapter 11

[1] 1 For the leader. Of David. In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to me, "Flee like a bird to the mountains!

[2] See how the wicked string their bows, fit their arrows to the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright.

[3] 2 When foundations are being destroyed, what can the upright do?"

[4] The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven. God's eyes keep careful watch; they test all peoples.

[5] The LORD tests the good and the bad, hates those who love violence,

[6] 3 And rains upon the wicked fiery coals and brimstone, a scorching wind their allotted cup.

[7] The LORD is just and loves just deeds; the upright shall see his face.

Psalms Chapter 12

[1] 1 For the leader; "upon the eighth." A psalm of David.

[2] Help, LORD, for no one loyal remains; the faithful have vanished from the human race

[3] Those who tell lies to one another speak with deceiving lips and a double heart.

[4] May the LORD cut off all deceiving lips, and every boastful tongue,

[5] Those who say, "By our tongues we prevail; when our lips speak, who can lord it over us?"

[6] "Because they rob the weak, and the needy groan, I will now arise," says the LORD; "I will grant safety to whoever longs for it."

[7] 2 The promises of the LORD are sure, silver refined in a crucible, silver purified seven times.

[8] LORD, protect us always; preserve us from this generation.

[9] On every side the wicked strut; the shameless are extolled by all.

Psalms Chapter 13

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] How long, LORD? Will you utterly forget me? How long will you hide your face from me?

[3] How long must I carry sorrow in my soul, grief in my heart day after day? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

[4] Look upon me, answer me, LORD, my God! Give light to my eyes lest I sleep in death,

[5] Lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed," lest my foes rejoice at my downfall.

[6] I trust in your faithfulness. Grant my heart joy in your help, That I may sing of the LORD, "How good our God has been to me!"

Psalms Chapter 14

[1] 1 For the leader. Of David. 2 Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." Their deeds are loathsome and corrupt; not one does what is right.

[2] The LORD looks down from heaven upon the human race, To see if even one is wise, if even one seeks God.

[3] All have gone astray; all alike are perverse. Not one does what is right, not even one.

[4] Will these evildoers never learn? They devour my people as they devour bread; they do not call upon the LORD.

[5] They have good reason, then, to fear; God is with the company of the just.

[6] They would crush the hopes of the poor, but the poor have the LORD as their refuge.

[7] 3 Oh, that from Zion might come the deliverance of Israel, That Jacob may rejoice, and Israel be glad when the LORD restores his people!

Psalms Chapter 15

[1] 1 2 A psalm of David. LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain?

[2] IWhoever walks without blame, doing what is right, speaking truth from the heart;

[3] Who does not slander a neighbor, does no harm to another, never defames a friend;

[4] Who disdains the wicked, but honors those who fear the LORD; Who keeps an oath despite the cost,

[5] 3 lends no money at interest, accepts no bribe against the innocent. III Whoever acts like this shall never be shaken.

Psalms Chapter 16

[1] 1 A miktam of David. 2 Keep me safe, O God; in you I take refuge

[2] I say to the Lord, you are my Lord, you are my only good.

[3] Worthless are all the false gods of the land. Accursed are all who delight in them.

[4] 3 They multiply their sorrows who court other gods. Blood libations to them I will not pour out, nor will I take their names upon my lips.

[5] LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you have made my destiny secure.

[6] 4 Pleasant places were measured out for me; fair to me indeed is my inheritance.

[7] I bless the LORD who counsels me; even at night my heart exhorts me.

[8] I keep the LORD always before me; with the Lord at my right, I shall never be shaken.

[9] Therefore my heart is glad, my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure,

[10] 5 For you will not abandon me to Sheol, nor let your faithful servant see the pit.

[11] You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.

Psalms Chapter 17

[1] A prayer of David. 1 Hear, LORD, my plea for justice; pay heed to my cry; Listen to my prayer spoken without guile.

[2] From you let my vindication come; your eyes see what is right.

[3] You have tested my heart, searched it in the night. You have tried me by fire, but find no malice in me. My mouth has not transgressed

[4] as humans often do. As your lips have instructed me, I have kept the way of the law.

[5] My steps have kept to your paths; my feet have not faltered.

[6] I call upon you; answer me, O God. Turn your ear to me; hear my prayer.

[7] Show your wonderful love, you who deliver with your right arm those who seek refuge from their foes.

[8] 2 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings

[9] from the violence of the wicked.

[10] 3 My ravenous enemies press upon me; they close their hearts, they fill their mouths with proud roaring.

[11] Their steps even now encircle me; they watch closely, keeping low to the ground,

[12] Like lions eager for prey, like young lions lurking in ambush.

[13] Rise, O LORD, confront and cast them down; rescue me so from the wicked.

[14] Slay them with your sword; with your hand, LORD, slay them; snatch them from the world in their prime. Their bellies are being filled with your friends; their children are satisfied too, for they share what is left with their young.

[15] 4 I am just--let me see your face; when I awake, let me be filled with your presence.

Psalms Chapter 18

[1] 1 For the leader. Of David, the servant of the LORD, who sang to the LORD the words of this song after the LORD had rescued him from the clutches of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

[2] He said: I love you, LORD, my strength,

[3] 2 LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, my saving horn, my stronghold!

[4] Praised be the LORD, I exclaim! I have been delivered from my enemies.

[5] The breakers of death surged round about me; the menacing floods terrified me.

[6] 3 The cords of Sheol tightened; the snares of death lay in wait for me.

[7] 4 In my distress I called out: LORD! I cried out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry to him reached his ears.

[8] 5 The earth rocked and shook; the foundations of the mountains trembled; they shook as his wrath flared up.

[9] Smoke rose in his nostrils, a devouring fire poured from his mouth; it kindled coals into flame.

[10] He parted the heavens and came down, a dark cloud under his feet.

[11] 6 Mounted on a cherub he flew, borne along on the wings of the wind.

[12] He made darkness the cover about him; his canopy, heavy thunderheads.

[13] Before him scudded his clouds, hail and lightning too.

[14] The LORD thundered from heaven; the Most High made his voice resound.

[15] 7 He let fly his arrows and scattered them; shot his lightning bolts and dispersed them.

[16] Then the bed of the sea appeared; the world's foundations lay bare, At the roar of the LORD, at the storming breath of his nostrils.

[17] He reached down from on high and seized me; drew me out of the deep waters.

[18] He rescued me from my mighty enemy, from foes too powerful for me.

[19] They attacked me on a day of distress, but the LORD came to my support.

[20] He set me free in the open; he rescued me because he loves me.

[21] The LORD acknowledged my righteousness, rewarded my clean hands.

[22] For I kept the ways of the LORD; I was not disloyal to my God.

[23] His laws were all before me, his decrees I did not cast aside.

[24] I was honest toward him; I was on guard against sin.

[25] So the LORD rewarded my righteousness, the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

[26] Toward the faithful you are faithful; to the honest you are honest;

[27] Toward the sincere, sincere; but to the perverse you are devious.

[28] Humble people you save; haughty eyes you bring low.

[29] You, LORD, give light to my lamp; my God brightens the darkness about me.

[30] With you I can rush an armed band, with my God to help I can leap a wall.

[31] God's way is unerring; the LORD'S promise is tried and true; he is a shield for all who trust in him.

[32] Truly, who is God except the LORD? Who but our God is the rock?

[33] This God who girded me with might, kept my way unerring,

[34] Who made my feet swift as a deer's, set me safe on the heights,

[35] 8 Who trained my hands for war, my arms to bend even a bow of bronze.

[36] You have given me your protecting shield; your right hand has upheld me; you stooped to make me great.

[37] You gave me room to stride; my feet never stumbled.

[38] I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till I destroyed them.

[39] I struck them down; they could not rise; they fell dead at my feet.

[40] You girded me with strength for war, subdued adversaries at my feet.

[41] My foes you put to flight before me; those who hated me I destroyed.

[42] They cried for help, but no one saved them; cried to the LORD but got no answer.

[43] I ground them fine as dust in the wind; like mud in the streets I trampled them down.

[44] You rescued me from the strife of peoples; you made me head over nations. A people I had not known became my slaves;

[45] as soon as they heard of me they obeyed. Foreigners cringed before me;

[46] their courage failed; they came trembling from their fortresses.

[47] The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, my savior!

[48] O God who granted me vindication, made peoples subject to me,

[49] and preserved me from my enemies, Truly you have exalted me above my adversaries, from the violent you have rescued me.

[50] Thus I will proclaim you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.

[51] You have given great victories to your king, and shown kindness to your anointed, to David and his posterity forever.

Psalms Chapter 19

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft.

[3] One day to the next conveys that message; one night to the next imparts that knowledge.

[4] 2 There is no word or sound; no voice is heard;

[5] 3 Yet their report goes forth through all the earth, their message, to the ends of the world. God has pitched there a tent for the sun;

[6] it comes forth like a bridegroom from his chamber, and like an athlete joyfully runs its course.

[7] From one end of the heavens it comes forth; its course runs through to the other; nothing escapes its heat.

[8] The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple.

[9] The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart. The command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye.

[10] The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The statutes of the LORD are true, all of them just;

[11] More desirable than gold, than a hoard of purest gold, Sweeter also than honey or drippings from the comb.

[12] 4 By them your servant is instructed; obeying them brings much reward.

[13] Who can detect heedless failings? Cleanse me from my unknown faults.

[14] But from willful sins keep your servant; let them never control me. Then shall I be blameless, innocent of grave sin.

[15] Let the words of my mouth meet with your favor, keep the thoughts of my heart before you, LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalms Chapter 20

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] The LORD answer you in time of distress; the name of the God of Jacob defend you!

[3] May God send you help from the temple, from Zion be your support.

[4] 2 May God remember your every offering, graciously accept your holocaust, Selah

[5] Grant what is in your heart, fulfill your every plan.

[6] 3 May we shout for joy at your victory, raise the banners in the name of our God. The LORD grant your every prayer!

[7] Now I know victory is given to the anointed of the LORD. God will answer him from the holy heavens with a strong arm that brings victory.

[8] Some rely on chariots, others on horses, but we on the name of the LORD our God.

[9] They collapse and fall, but we stand strong and firm.

[10] LORD, grant victory to the king; answer when we call upon you.

Psalms Chapter 21

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] LORD, the king finds joy in your power; in your victory how greatly he rejoices!

[3] You have granted him his heart's desire; you did not refuse the prayer of his lips. Selah

[4] For you welcomed him with goodly blessings; you placed on his head a crown of pure gold.

[5] He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever.

[6] Great is his glory in your victory; majesty and splendor you confer upon him.

[7] You make him the pattern of blessings forever, you gladden him with the joy of your presence.

[8] For the king trusts in the LORD, stands firm through the love of the Most High.

[9] Your hand will reach all your enemies; your right hand will reach your foes!

[10] At the time of your coming you will drive them into a furnace. Then the LORD'S anger will consume them, devour them with fire.

[11] Even their descendants you will wipe out from the earth, their offspring from the human race.

[12] Though they intend evil against you, devising plots, they will not succeed,

[13] For you will put them to flight; you will aim at them with your bow.

[14] Arise, LORD, in your power! We will sing and chant the praise of your might.

Psalms Chapter 22

[1] 1 2 For the leader; according to "The deer of the dawn." A psalm of David.

[2] My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish?

[3] My God, I call by day, but you do not answer; by night, but I have no relief.

[4] Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the glory of Israel.

[5] In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted and you rescued them.

[6] To you they cried out and they escaped; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

[7] 3 But I am a worm, hardly human, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

[8] All who see me mock me; they curl their lips and jeer; they shake their heads at me:

[9] "You relied on the LORD--let him deliver you; if he loves you, let him rescue you."

[10] Yet you drew me forth from the womb, made me safe at my mother's breast.

[11] Upon you I was thrust from the womb; since birth you are my God.

[12] Do not stay far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to help.

[13] 4 Many bulls surround me; fierce bulls of Bashan encircle me.

[14] They open their mouths against me, lions that rend and roar.

[15] Like water my life drains away; all my bones grow soft. My heart has become like wax, it melts away within me.

[16] 5 As dry as a potsherd is my throat; my tongue sticks to my palate; you lay me in the dust of death.

[17] Many dogs surround me; a pack of evildoers closes in on me. So wasted are my hands and feet

[18] that I can count all my bones. They stare at me and gloat;

[19] they divide my garments among them; for my clothing they cast lots.

[20] But you, LORD, do not stay far off; my strength, come quickly to help me.

[21] Deliver me from the sword, my forlorn life from the teeth of the dog.

[22] Save me from the lion's mouth, my poor life from the horns of wild bulls.

[23] 6 Then I will proclaim your name to the assembly; in the community I will praise you:

[24] "You who fear the LORD, give praise! All descendants of Jacob, give honor; show reverence, all descendants of Israel!

[25] 7 For God has not spurned or disdained the misery of this poor wretch, Did not turn away from me, but heard me when I cried out.

[26] I will offer praise in the great assembly; my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.

[27] 8 The poor will eat their fill; those who seek the LORD will offer praise. May your hearts enjoy life forever!"

[28] All the ends of the earth will worship and turn to the LORD; All the families of nations will bow low before you.

[29] For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations.

[30] 9 All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage.

[31] And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you.

[32] The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.

Psalms Chapter 23

[1] 1 A psalm of David. 2 The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.

[2] In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me;

[3] 3 you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name.

[4] 4 Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage.

[5] 5 You set a table before me as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

[6] 6 Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.

Psalms Chapter 24

[1] 1 A psalm of David. The earth is the LORD'S and all it holds, the world and those who live there.

[2] For God founded it on the seas, established it over the rivers.

[3] Who may go up the mountain of the LORD? Who can stand in his holy place?

[4] 2 "The clean of hand and pure of heart, who are not devoted to idols, who have not sworn falsely.

[5] They will receive blessings from the LORD, and justice from their saving God.

[6] Such are the people that love the LORD, that seek the face of the God of Jacob." Selah

[7] 3 Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.

[8] Who is this king of glory? The LORD, a mighty warrior, the LORD, mighty in battle.

[9] Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.

[10] Who is this king of glory? The LORD of hosts is the king of glory. Selah

Psalms Chapter 25

[1] Of David. 1 I wait for you, O LORD; I lift up my soul

[2] to my God. In you I trust; do not let me be disgraced; do not let my enemies gloat over me.

[3] No one is disgraced who waits for you, but only those who lightly break faith.

[4] Make known to me your ways, LORD; teach me your paths.

[5] 2 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior. For you I wait all the long day, because of your goodness, LORD.

[6] Remember your compassion and love, O LORD; for they are ages old.

[7] Remember no more the sins of my youth; remember me only in light of your love.

[8] Good and upright is the LORD, who shows sinners the way,

[9] Guides the humble rightly, and teaches the humble the way.

[10] All the paths of the LORD are faithful love toward those who honor the covenant demands.

[11] For the sake of your name, LORD, pardon my guilt, though it is great.

[12] Who are those who fear the LORD? God shows them the way to choose.

[13] They live well and prosper, and their descendants inherit the land.

[14] The counsel of the LORD belongs to the faithful; the covenant instructs them.

[15] My eyes are ever upon the LORD, who frees my feet from the snare.

[16] Look upon me, have pity on me, for I am alone and afflicted.

[17] Relieve the troubles of my heart; bring me out of my distress.

[18] Put an end to my affliction and suffering; take away all my sins.

[19] See how many are my enemies, see how fiercely they hate me.

[20] Preserve my life and rescue me; do not let me be disgraced, for I trust in you.

[21] Let honesty and virtue preserve me; I wait for you, O LORD.

[22] 3 Redeem Israel, God, from all its distress!

Psalms Chapter 26

[1] Of David. 1 Grant me justice, LORD! I have walked without blame. In the LORD I have trusted; I have not faltered.

[2] Test me, LORD, and try me; search my heart and mind.

[3] Your love is before my eyes; I walk guided by your faithfulness.

[4] I do not sit with deceivers, nor with hypocrites do I mingle.

[5] I hate the company of evildoers; with the wicked I do not sit.

[6] 2 I will wash my hands in innocence and walk round your altar, LORD,

[7] Lifting my voice in thanks, recounting all your wondrous deeds.

[8] LORD, I love the house where you dwell, the tenting-place of your glory.

[9] Do not take me away with sinners, nor my life with the violent.

[10] Their hands carry out their schemes; their right hands are full of bribes.

[11] But I walk without blame; redeem me, be gracious to me!

Psalms Chapter 27

[1] Of David 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear? The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom am I afraid?

[2] 2 When evildoers come at me to devour my flesh, These my enemies and foes themselves stumble and fall.

[3] Though an army encamp against me, my heart does not fear; Though war be waged against me, even then do I trust.

[4] One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: To dwell in the LORD'S house all the days of my life, To gaze on the LORD'S beauty, to visit his temple.

[5] For God will hide me in his shelter in time of trouble, Will conceal me in the cover of his tent; and set me high upon a rock.

[6] Even now my head is held high above my enemies on every side! I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and chant praise to the LORD.

[7] I Hear my voice, LORD, when I call; have mercy on me and answer me.

[8] 3 "Come," says my heart, "seek God's face"; your face, LORD, do I seek!

[9] Do not hide your face from me; do not repel your servant in anger. You are my help; do not cast me off; do not forsake me, God my savior!

[10] Even if my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me in.

[11] LORD, show me your way; lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

[12] Do not abandon me to the will of my foes; malicious and lying witnesses have risen against me.

[13] 4 But I believe I shall enjoy the LORD'S goodness in the land of the living.

[14] Wait for the LORD, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the LORD!

Psalms Chapter 28

[1] Of David. To you, LORD, I call; my Rock, do not be deaf to me. If you fail to answer me, I will join those who go down to the pit.

[2] 1 Hear the sound of my pleading when I cry to you, lifting my hands toward your holy place.

[3] Do not drag me off with the wicked, with those who do wrong, Who speak peace to their neighbors though evil is in their hearts.

[4] Repay them for their deeds, for the evil that they do. For the work of their hands repay them; give them what they deserve.

[5] They pay no heed to the LORD'S works, to the deeds of God's hands. God will tear them down, never to be rebuilt.

[6] 2 Blessed be the LORD, who has heard the sound of my pleading.

[7] The LORD is my strength and my shield, in whom my heart trusted and found help. So my heart rejoices; with my song I praise my God.

[8] 3 LORD, you are the strength of your people, the saving refuge of your anointed king.

[9] Save your people, bless your inheritance; feed and sustain them forever!

Psalms Chapter 29

[1] 1 A psalm of David. 2 Give to the LORD, you heavenly beings, give to the LORD glory and might;

[2] Give to the LORD the glory due God's name. Bow down before the LORD'S holy splendor!

[3] 3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over the mighty waters.

[4] The voice of the LORD is power; the voice of the LORD is splendor.

[5] The voice of the LORD cracks the cedars; the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon,

[6] 4 Makes Lebanon leap like a calf, and Sirion like a young bull.

[7] The voice of the LORD strikes with fiery flame;

[8] 5 the voice of the LORD rocks the desert; the LORD rocks the desert of Kadesh.

[9] 6 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. All in his palace say, "Glory!"

[10] 7 The LORD sits enthroned above the flood! The LORD reigns as king forever!

[11] 8 May the LORD give might to his people; may the LORD bless his people with peace!

Psalms Chapter 30

[1] 1 2 A psalm. A song for the dedication of the temple. Of David.

[2] I praise you, LORD, for you raised me up and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

[3] 3 O LORD, my God, I cried out to you and you healed me.

[4] 4 LORD, you brought me up from Sheol; you kept me from going down to the pit.

[5] Sing praise to the LORD, you faithful; give thanks to God's holy name.

[6] For divine anger lasts but a moment; divine favor lasts a lifetime. At dusk weeping comes for the night; but at dawn there is rejoicing.

[7] 5 Complacent, I once said, "I shall never be shaken."

[8] LORD, when you showed me favor I stood like the mighty mountains. But when you hid your face I was struck with terror.

[9] To you, LORD, I cried out; with the Lord I pleaded for mercy:

[10] 6 "What gain is there from my lifeblood, from my going down to the grave? Does dust give you thanks or declare your faithfulness?

[11] Hear, O LORD, have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper."

[12] You changed my mourning into dancing; you took off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.

[13] With my whole being I sing endless praise to you. O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

Psalms Chapter 31

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] In you, LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your justice deliver me;

[3] incline your ear to me; make haste to rescue me! Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to save me.

[4] You are my rock and my fortress; for your name's sake lead and guide me.

[5] Free me from the net they have set for me, for you are my refuge.

[6] 2 Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, LORD, faithful God.

[7] You hate those who serve worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.

[8] I will rejoice and be glad in your love, once you have seen my misery, observed my distress.

[9] You will not abandon me into enemy hands, but will set my feet in a free and open space.

[10] Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress; with grief my eyes are wasted, my soul and body spent.

[11] My life is worn out by sorrow, my years by sighing. My strength fails in affliction; my bones are consumed.

[12] To all my foes I am a thing of scorn, to my neighbors, a dreaded sight, a horror to my friends. When they see me in the street, they quickly shy away.

[13] 3 I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead; I am like a shattered dish.

[14] 4 I hear the whispers of the crowd; terrors are all around me. They conspire against me; they plot to take my life.

[15] But I trust in you, LORD; I say, "You are my God."

[16] My times are in your hands; rescue me from my enemies, from the hands of my pursuers.

[17] Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your kindness.

[18] Do not let me be put to shame, for I have called to you, LORD. Put the wicked to shame; reduce them to silence in Sheol.

[19] Strike dumb their lying lips, proud lips that attack the just in contempt and scorn.

[20] How great is your goodness, Lord, stored up for those who fear you. You display it for those who trust you, in the sight of all the people.

[21] You hide them in the shelter of your presence, safe from scheming enemies. You keep them in your abode, safe from plotting tongues.

[22] Blessed be the LORD, who has shown me wondrous love, and been for me a city most secure.

[23] Once I said in my anguish, "I am shut out from your sight." Yet you heard my plea, when I cried out to you.

[24] Love the LORD, all you faithful. The LORD protects the loyal, but repays the arrogant in full.

[25] Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

Psalms Chapter 32

[1] Of David. A maskil. 1 Happy the sinner whose fault is removed, whose sin is forgiven.

[2] Happy those to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no deceit.

[3] 2 As long as I kept silent, my bones wasted away; I groaned all the day.

[4] For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength withered as in dry summer heat. Selah

[5] Then I declared my sin to you; my guilt I did not hide. I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD," and you took away the guilt of my sin. Selah

[6] 3 Thus should all your faithful pray in time of distress. Though flood waters threaten, they will never reach them.

[7] You are my shelter; from distress you keep me; with safety you ring me round. Selah

[8] I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk, give you counsel and watch over you.

[9] Do not be senseless like horses or mules; with bit and bridle their temper is curbed, else they will not come to you.

[10] Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.

[11] Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you just; exult, all you upright of heart.

Psalms Chapter 33

[1] 1 Rejoice, you just, in the LORD; praise from the upright is fitting.

[2] Give thanks to the LORD on the harp; on the ten-stringed lyre offer praise.

[3] Sing to God a new song; skillfully play with joyful chant.

[4] For the LORD'S word is true; all his works are trustworthy.

[5] The LORD loves justice and right and fills the earth with goodness.

[6] 2 By the LORD'S word the heavens were made; by the breath of his mouth all their host.

[7] 3 The waters of the sea were gathered as in a bowl; in cellars the deep was confined.

[8] Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all who dwell in the world show reverence.

[9] For he spoke, and it came to be, commanded, and it stood in place.

[10] The LORD foils the plan of nations, frustrates the designs of peoples.

[11] But the plan of the LORD stands forever, wise designs through all generations.

[12] Happy the nation whose God is the LORD, the people chosen as his very own.

[13] From heaven the LORD looks down and observes the whole human race,

[14] Surveying from the royal throne all who dwell on earth.

[15] The one who fashioned the hearts of them all knows all their works.

[16] A king is not saved by a mighty army, nor a warrior delivered by great strength.

[17] Useless is the horse for safety; its great strength, no sure escape.

[18] But the LORD'S eyes are upon the reverent, upon those who hope for his gracious help,

[19] Delivering them from death, keeping them alive in times of famine.

[20] Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and shield.

[21] For in God our hearts rejoice; in your holy name we trust.

[22] May your kindness, LORD, be upon us; we have put our hope in you.

Psalms Chapter 34

[1] 1 2 Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who forced him to depart.

[2] I will bless the LORD at all times; praise shall be always in my mouth.

[3] My soul will glory in the LORD that the poor may hear and be glad.

[4] Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

[5] I sought the LORD, who answered me, delivered me from all my fears.

[6] Look to God that you may be radiant with joy and your faces may not blush for shame.

[7] In my misfortune I called, the LORD heard and saved me from all distress.

[8] The angel of the LORD, who encamps with them, delivers all who fear God.

[9] Learn to savor how good the LORD is; happy are those who take refuge in him.

[10] Fear the LORD, you holy ones; nothing is lacking to those who fear him.

[11] 3 The powerful grow poor and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

[12] 4 Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

[13] Who among you loves life, takes delight in prosperous days?

[14] Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking lies.

[15] Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

[16] The LORD has eyes for the just and ears for their cry.

[17] The LORD'S face is against evildoers to wipe out their memory from the earth.

[18] When the just cry out, the LORD hears and rescues them from all distress.

[19] The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed.

[20] Many are the troubles of the just, but the LORD delivers from them all.

[21] God watches over all their bones; not a one shall be broken.

[22] Evil will slay the wicked; those who hate the just are condemned.

[23] The LORD redeems loyal servants; no one is condemned whose refuge is God.

Psalms Chapter 35

[1] 1 Of David. 2 Oppose, LORD, those who oppose me; war upon those who make war upon me.

[2] Take up the shield and buckler; rise up in my defense.

[3] Brandish lance and battle-ax against my pursuers. Say to my heart, "I am your salvation."

[4] Let those who seek my life be put to shame and disgrace. Let those who plot evil against me be turned back and confounded.

[5] Make them like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them on.

[6] Make their way slippery and dark, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

[7] Without cause they set their snare for me; without cause they dug a pit for me.

[8] Let ruin overtake them unawares; let the snare they have set catch them; let them fall into the pit they have dug.

[9] Then I will rejoice in the LORD, exult in God's salvation.

[10] My very bones shall say, "O LORD, who is like you, Who rescue the afflicted from the powerful, the afflicted and needy from the despoiler?"

[11] Malicious witnesses come forward, accuse me of things I do not know.

[12] They repay me evil for good and I am all alone.

[13] 3 Yet I, when they were ill, put on sackcloth, afflicted myself with fasting, sobbed my prayers upon my bosom.

[14] I went about in grief as for my brother, bent in mourning as for my mother.

[15] Yet when I stumbled they gathered with glee, gathered against me like strangers. They slandered me without ceasing;

[16] without respect they mocked me, gnashed their teeth against me.

[17] Lord, how long will you look on? Save me from roaring beasts, my precious life from lions!

[18] Then I will thank you in the great assembly; I will praise you before the mighty throng.

[19] Do not let lying foes smirk at me, my undeserved enemies wink knowingly.

[20] They speak no words of peace, but against the quiet in the land they fashion deceitful speech.

[21] They open wide their mouths against me. They say, "Aha! Good! Our eyes relish the sight!"

[22] You see this, LORD; do not be silent; Lord, do not withdraw from me.

[23] Awake, be vigilant in my defense, in my cause, my God and my Lord.

[24] Defend me because you are just, LORD; my God, do not let them gloat over me.

[25] Do not let them say in their hearts, "Aha! Just what we wanted!" Do not let them say, "We have devoured that one!"

[26] Put to shame and confound all who relish my misfortune. Clothe with shame and disgrace those who lord it over me.

[27] But let those who favor my just cause shout for joy and be glad. May they ever say, "Exalted be the LORD who delights in the peace of his loyal servant."

[28] Then my tongue shall recount your justice, declare your praise, all the day long.

Psalms Chapter 36

[1] 1 For the leader. Of David, the servant of the LORD.

[2] Sin directs the heart of the wicked; their eyes are closed to the fear of God.

[3] 2 For they live with the delusion: their guilt will not be known and hated.

[4] Empty and false are the words of their mouth; they have ceased to be wise and do good.

[5] In their beds they hatch plots; they set out on a wicked way; they do not reject evil.

[6] 3 LORD, your love reaches to heaven; your fidelity, to the clouds.

[7] Your justice is like the highest mountains; your judgments, like the mighty deep; all living creatures you sustain, LORD.

[8] 4 How precious is your love, O God! We take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

[9] We feast on the rich food of your house; from your delightful stream you give us drink.

[10] For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light.

[11] Continue your kindness toward your friends, your just defense of the honest heart.

[12] Do not let the foot of the proud overtake me, nor the hand of the wicked disturb me.

[13] There make the evildoers fall; thrust them down, never to rise.

Psalms Chapter 37

[1] Of David. 1 Do not be provoked by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong.

[2] Like grass they wither quickly; like green plants they wilt away.

[3] 2 Trust in the LORD and do good that you may dwell in the land and live secure.

[4] Find your delight in the LORD who will give you your heart's desire.

[5] Commit your way to the LORD; trust that God will act

[6] And make your integrity shine like the dawn, your vindication like noonday.

[7] Be still before the LORD; wait for God. Do not be provoked by the prosperous, nor by malicious schemers.

[8] Give up your anger, abandon your wrath; do not be provoked; it brings only harm.

[9] Those who do evil will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD will possess the land.

[10] Wait a little, and the wicked will be no more; look for them and they will not be there.

[11] But the poor will possess the land, will delight in great prosperity.

[12] The wicked plot against the just and grind their teeth at them;

[13] But the LORD laughs at them, knowing their day is coming.

[14] The wicked draw their swords; they string their bows To fell the poor and oppressed, to slaughter those whose way is honest.

[15] Their swords will pierce their own hearts; their bows will be broken.

[16] Better the poverty of the just than the great wealth of the wicked.

[17] The arms of the wicked will be broken; the LORD will sustain the just.

[18] The LORD watches over the days of the blameless; their heritage lasts forever.

[19] They will not be disgraced when times are hard; in days of famine they will have plenty.

[20] The wicked perish, the enemies of the LORD; Like the beauty of meadows they vanish; like smoke they disappear.

[21] The wicked borrow but do not repay; the just are generous in giving.

[22] For those blessed by the Lord will possess the land, but those accursed will be cut off.

[23] Those whose steps are guided by the LORD; whose way God approves,

[24] May stumble, but they will never fall, for the LORD holds their hand.

[25] Neither in my youth, nor now in old age have I ever seen the just abandoned or their children begging bread.

[26] The just always lend generously, and their children become a blessing.

[27] Turn from evil and do good, that you may inhabit the land forever.

[28] For the LORD loves justice and does not abandon the faithful. When the unjust are destroyed, and the children of the wicked cut off,

[29] The just will possess the land and live in it forever.

[30] The mouths of the just utter wisdom; their tongues speak what is right.

[31] God's teaching is in their hearts; their steps do not falter.

[32] The wicked spy on the just and seek to kill them.

[33] But the LORD does not leave the just in their power, nor let them be condemned when tried.

[34] Wait eagerly for the LORD, and keep to the way; God will raise you to possess the land; you will gloat when the wicked are cut off.

[35] I have seen ruthless scoundrels, strong as flourishing cedars.

[36] When I passed by again, they were gone; though I searched, they could not be found.

[37] Observe the honest, mark the upright; those at peace with God have a future.

[38] But all sinners will be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.

[39] The salvation of the just is from the LORD, their refuge in time of distress.

[40] The LORD helps and rescues them, rescues and saves them from the wicked, because in God they take refuge.

Psalms Chapter 38

[1] 1 A psalm of David. For remembrance.

[2] LORD, punish me no more in your anger; in your wrath do not chastise me!

[3] Your arrows have sunk deep in me; your hand has come down upon me.

[4] My flesh is afflicted because of your anger; my frame aches because of my sin.

[5] My iniquities overwhelm me, a burden beyond my strength.

[6] Foul and festering are my sores because of my folly.

[7] I am stooped and deeply bowed; all day I go about mourning.

[8] My loins burn with fever; my flesh is afflicted.

[9] I am numb and utterly crushed; I wail with anguish of heart.

[10] My Lord, my deepest yearning is before you; my groaning is not hidden from you.

[11] My heart shudders, my strength forsakes me; the very light of my eyes has failed.

[12] Friends and companions shun my pain; my neighbors stand far off.

[13] Those who seek my life lay snares for me; they seek my misfortune, they speak of ruin; they plot treachery all the day.

[14] But I am like the deaf, hearing nothing, like the dumb, saying nothing,

[15] Like someone who does not hear, who has no answer ready.

[16] LORD, I wait for you; O Lord, my God, answer me.

[17] For I fear they will gloat, exult over me if I stumble.

[18] I am very near to falling; my pain is with me always.

[19] I acknowledge my guilt and grieve over my sin.

[20] But many are my foes without cause, a multitude of enemies without reason,

[21] Repaying me evil for good, harassing me for pursuing good.

[22] Forsake me not, O LORD; my God, be not far from me!

[23] Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my salvation!

Psalms Chapter 39

[1] 1 For the leader, for Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

[2] I said, "I will watch my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will set a curb on my mouth."

[3] Dumb and silent before the wicked, I refrained from any speech. But my sorrow increased;

[4] my heart smoldered within me. In my thoughts a fire blazed up, and I broke into speech:

[5] LORD, let me know my end, the number of my days, that I may learn how frail I am.

[6] You have given my days a very short span; my life is as nothing before you. All mortals are but a breath. Selah

[7] Mere phantoms, we go our way; mere vapor, our restless pursuits; we heap up stores without knowing for whom.

[8] And now, Lord, what future do I have? You are my only hope.

[9] From all my sins deliver me; let me not be the taunt of fools.

[10] I was silent and did not open my mouth because you were the one who did this.

[11] Take your plague away from me; I am ravaged by the touch of your hand.

[12] You rebuke our guilt and chasten us; you dissolve all we prize like a cobweb. All mortals are but a breath. Selah

[13] Listen to my prayer, LORD, hear my cry; do not be deaf to my weeping! I sojourn with you like a passing stranger, a guest, like all my ancestors.

[14] Turn your gaze from me, that I may find peace before I depart to be no more.

Psalms Chapter 40

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] I waited, waited for the LORD; who bent down and heard my cry,

[3] Drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud of the swamp, Set my feet upon rock, steadied my steps,

[4] 2 And put a new song in my mouth, a hymn to our God. Many shall look on in awe and they shall trust in the LORD.

[5] Happy those whose trust is the LORD, who turn not to idolatry or to those who stray after falsehood.

[6] How numerous, O LORD, my God, you have made your wondrous deeds! And in your plans for us there is none to equal you. Should I wish to declare or tell them, too many are they to recount.

[7] 3 sacrifice and offering you do not want; but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts and sin-offerings you do not require;

[8] so I said, "Here I am; your commands for me are written in the scroll.

[9] To do your will is my delight; my God, your law is in my heart!"

[10] I announced your deed to a great assembly; I did not restrain my lips; you, LORD, are my witness.

[11] Your deed I did not hide within my heart; your loyal deliverance I have proclaimed. I made no secret of your enduring kindness to a great assembly.

[12] LORD, do not withhold your compassion from me; may your enduring kindness ever preserve me.

[13] For all about me are evils beyond count; my sins so overcome me I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head; my courage fails me.

[14] LORD, graciously rescue me! Come quickly to help me, LORD!

[15] Put to shame and confound all who seek to take my life. Turn back in disgrace those who desire my ruin.

[16] Let those who say "Aha!" know dismay and shame.

[17] But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who long for your help always say, "The LORD be glorified."

[18] Though I am afflicted and poor, the Lord keeps me in mind. You are my help and deliverer; my God, do not delay!

Psalms Chapter 41

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] 2 Happy those concerned for the lowly and poor; when misfortune strikes, the LORD delivers them.

[3] The LORD keeps and preserves them, makes them happy in the land, and does not betray them to their enemies.

[4] The LORD sustains them on their sickbed, allays the malady when they are ill.

[5] Once I prayed, "LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, I have sinned against you.

[6] My enemies say the worst of me: 'When will that one die and be forgotten?'

[7] When people come to visit me, they speak without sincerity. Their hearts store up malice; they leave and spread their vicious lies.

[8] My foes all whisper against me; they imagine the worst about me:

[9] I have a deadly disease, they say; I will never rise from my sickbed.

[10] 3 Even the friend who had my trust, who shared my table, has scorned me.

[11] 4 But you, LORD, have mercy and raise me up that I may repay them as they deserve."

[12] By this I know you are pleased with me, that my enemy no longer jeers at me.

[13] For my integrity you have supported me and let me stand in your presence forever.

[14] 5 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from all eternity and forever. Amen. Amen.

Psalms Chapter 42

[1] 1 2 For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites.

[2] As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

[3] 3 My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God?

[4] My tears have been my food day and night, as they ask daily,"Where is your God?"

[5] Those times I recall as I pour out my soul, When I went in procession with the crowd, I went with them to the house of God, Amid loud cries of thanksgiving, with the multitude keeping festival.

[6] Why are you downcast, my soul; why do you groan within me? Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God.

[7] 4 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you From the land of the Jordan and Hermon, from the land of Mount Mizar.

[8] 5 Here deep calls to deep in the roar of your torrents. All your waves and breakers sweep over me.

[9] At dawn may the LORD bestow faithful love that I may sing praise through the night, praise to the God of my life.

[10] I say to God, "My rock, why do you forget me? Why must I go about mourning with the enemy oppressing me?"

[11] It shatters my bones, when my adversaries reproach me. They say to me daily: "Where is your God?"

[12] Why are you downcast, my soul, why do you groan within me? Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God.

Psalms Chapter 43

[1] Grant me justice, God; defend me from a faithless people; from the deceitful and unjust rescue me.

[2] You, God, are my strength. Why then do you spurn me? Why must I go about mourning, with the enemy oppressing me?

[3] 1 Send your light and fidelity, that they may be my guide And bring me to your holy mountain, to the place of your dwelling,

[4] That I may come to the altar of God, to God, my joy, my delight. Then I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.

[5] Why are you downcast, my soul? Why do you groan within me? Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God.

Psalms Chapter 44

[1] 1 For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites.

[2] O God, we have heard with our own ears; our ancestors have told us The deeds you did in their days, with your own hand in days of old:

[3] You rooted out nations to plant them, crushed peoples to make room for them.

[4] Not with their own swords did they conquer the land, nor did their own arms bring victory; It was your right hand, your own arm, the light of your face for you favored them.

[5] You are my king and my God, who bestows victories on Jacob.

[6] Through you we batter our foes; through your name, trample our adversaries.

[7] Not in my bow do I trust, nor does my sword bring me victory.

[8] You have brought us victory over our enemies, shamed those who hate us.

[9] In God we have boasted all the day long; your name we will praise forever. Selah

[10] But now you have rejected and disgraced us; you do not march out with our armies.

[11] 2 You make us retreat before the foe; those who hate us plunder us at will.

[12] You hand us over like sheep to be slaughtered, scatter us among the nations.

[13] You sell your people for nothing; you make no profit from their sale.

[14] You make us the reproach of our neighbors, the mockery and scorn of those around us.

[15] You make us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.

[16] All day long my disgrace is before me; shame has covered my face

[17] At the sound of those who taunt and revile, at the sight of the spiteful enemy.

[18] All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, nor been disloyal to your covenant.

[19] 3 Our hearts have not turned back, nor have our steps strayed from your path.

[20] 4 Yet you have left us crushed, desolate in a place of jackals; you have covered us with darkness.

[21] If we had forgotten the name of our God, stretched out our hands to another god,

[22] Would not God have discovered this, God who knows the secrets of the heart?

[23] For you we are slain all the day long, considered only as sheep to be slaughtered.

[24] Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Rise up! Do not reject us forever!

[25] Why do you hide your face; why forget our pain and misery?

[26] We are bowed down to the ground; our bodies are pressed to the earth.

[27] Rise up, help us! Redeem us as your love demands.

Psalms Chapter 45

[1] 1 For the leader; according to "Lilies." A maskil of the Korahites. A love song.

[2] My heart is stirred by a noble theme, as I sing my ode to the king. My tongue is the pen of a nimble scribe.

[3] You are the most handsome of men; fair speech has graced your lips, for God has blessed you forever.

[4] Gird your sword upon your hip, mighty warrior! In splendor and majesty ride on triumphant!

[5] In the cause of truth and justice may your right hand show you wondrous deeds.

[6] Your arrows are sharp; peoples will cower at your feet; the king's enemies will lose heart.

[7] 2 Your throne, O god, stands forever; your royal scepter is a scepter for justice.

[8] You love justice and hate wrongdoing; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellow kings.

[9] 3 With myrrh, aloes, and cassia your robes are fragrant. From ivory-paneled palaces stringed instruments bring you joy.

[10] 4 Daughters of kings are your lovely wives; a princess arrayed in Ophir's gold comes to stand at your right hand.

[11] 5 Listen, my daughter, and understand; pay me careful heed. Forget your people and your father's house,

[12] that the king might desire your beauty. He is your lord;

[13] honor him, daughter of Tyre. Then the richest of the people will seek your favor with gifts.

[14] All glorious is the king's daughter as she enters, her raiment threaded with gold;

[15] In embroidered apparel she is led to the king. The maids of her train are presented to the king.

[16] They are led in with glad and joyous acclaim; they enter the palace of the king.

[17] The throne of your fathers your sons will have; you shall make them princes through all the land.

[18] I will make your name renowned through all generations; thus nations shall praise you forever.

Psalms Chapter 46

[1] 1 2 For the leader. A song of the Korahites. According to alamoth.

[2] God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress.

[3] 3 Thus we do not fear, though earth be shaken and mountains quake to the depths of the sea,

[4] Though its waters rage and foam and mountains totter at its surging. 4 The LORD of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. Selah

[5] 5 Streams of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High.

[6] God is in its midst; it shall not be shaken; God will help it at break of day.

[7] Though nations rage and kingdoms totter, God's voice thunders and the earth trembles.

[8] The LORD of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. Selah

[9] Come and see the works of the LORD, who has done fearsome deeds on earth;

[10] Who stops wars to the ends of the earth, breaks the bow, splinters the spear, and burns the shields with fire;

[11] Who says: "Be still and confess that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth."

[12] The LORD of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. Selah

Psalms Chapter 47

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of the Korahites.

[2] All you peoples, clap your hands; shout to God with joyful cries.

[3] For the LORD, the Most High, inspires awe, the great king overall the earth,

[4] Who made people subject to us, brought nations under our feet,

[5] 2 Who chose a land for our heritage, the glory of Jacob, the beloved. Selah

[6] 3 God mounts the throne amid shouts of joy; the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.

[7] Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our king, sing praise.

[8] God is king over all the earth; sing hymns of praise.

[9] God rules over the nations; God sits upon his holy throne.

[10] The princes of the peoples assemble with the people of the God of Abraham. For the rulers of the earth belong to God, who is enthroned on high.

Psalms Chapter 48

[1] 1 2 A psalm of the Korahites. A song.

[2] Great is the LORD and highly praised in the city of our God: The holy mountain,

[3] 3 fairest of heights, the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, the heights of Zaphon, the city of the great king.

[4] God is its citadel, renowned as a stronghold.

[5] See! The kings assembled, together they invaded.

[6] 4 When they looked they were astounded; terrified, they were put to flight!

[7] Trembling seized them there, anguish, like a woman's labor,

[8] 5 As when the east wind wrecks the ships of Tarshish!

[9] 6 What we had heard we now see in the city of the LORD of hosts, In the city of our God, founded to last forever. Selah

[10] O God, within your temple we ponder your steadfast love.

[11] Like your name, O God, your praise reaches the ends of the earth. Your right hand is fully victorious.

[12] Mount Zion is glad! The cities of Judah rejoice because of your saving deeds!

[13] Go about Zion, walk all around it, note the number of its towers.

[14] Consider the ramparts, examine its citadels, that you may tell future generations:

[15] 7 "Yes, so mighty is God, our God who leads us always!"

Psalms Chapter 49

[1] 1 2 For the leader. A psalm of the Korahites.

[2] Hear this, all you peoples! Give ear, all who inhabit the world,

[3] You of lowly birth or high estate, rich and poor alike.

[4] My mouth shall speak wisdom, my heart shall offer insight.

[5] 3 I will turn my attention to a problem, expound my question to the music of a lyre.

[6] Why should I fear in evil days, when my wicked pursuers ring me round,

[7] Those who trust in their wealth and boast of their abundant riches?

[8] 4 One cannot redeem oneself, pay to God a ransom.

[9] Too high the price to redeem a life; one would never have enough

[10] To stay alive forever and never see the pit.

[11] Anyone can see that the wisest die, the fool and the senseless pass away too, and must leave their wealth to others.

[12] Tombs are their homes forever, their dwellings through all generations, though they gave their names to their lands.

[13] For all their riches mortals do not abide; they perish like the beasts.

[14] This is the destiny of those who trust in folly, the end of those so pleased with their wealth. Selah

[15] Like sheep they are herded into Sheol, where death will be their shepherd. Straight to the grave they descend, where their form will waste away, Sheol will be their palace.

[16] 5 But God will redeem my life, will take me from the power of Sheol. Selah

[17] Do not fear when others become rich, when the wealth of their houses grows great.

[18] When they die they will take nothing with them, their wealth will not follow them down.

[19] When living, they congratulate themselves and say: "All praise you, you do so well."

[20] But they will join the company of their forebears, never again to see the light.

[21] For all their riches, if mortals do not have wisdom, they perish like the beasts.

Psalms Chapter 50

[1] A psalm of Asaph. 1 The LORD, the God of gods, has spoken and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

[2] From Zion God shines forth. perfect in beauty.

[3] Our God comes and will not be silent! Devouring fire precedes, storming fiercely round about.

[4] God summons the heavens above and the earth to the judgment of his people:

[5] "Gather my faithful ones before me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

[6] The heavens proclaim divine justice, for God alone is the judge. Selah

[7] "Listen, my people, I will speak; Israel, I will testify against you; God, your God, am I.

[8] Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, nor for your holocausts, set before me daily.

[9] I need no bullock from your house, no goats from your fold.

[10] For every animal of the forest is mine, beasts by the thousands on my mountains.

[11] I know every bird of the heavens; the creatures of the field belong to me.

[12] Were I hungry, I would not tell you, for mine is the world and all that fills it.

[13] Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

[14] Offer praise as your sacrifice to God; fulfill your vows to the Most High.

[15] Then call on me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall honor me."

[16] But to the wicked God says: "Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your lips?

[17] You hate discipline; you cast my words behind you!

[18] When you see thieves, you befriend them; with adulterers you throw in your lot.

[19] You give your mouth free rein for evil; you harness your tongue to deceit.

[20] You sit maligning your own kin, slandering the child of your own mother.

[21] When you do these things should I be silent? Or do you think that I am like you? I accuse you, I lay the charge before you.

[22] "Understand this, you who forget God, lest I attack you with no one to rescue.

[23] Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me; to the obedient I will show the salvation of God."

Psalms Chapter 51

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David,

[2] when Nathan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bathsheba.

[3] Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense.

[4] Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me.

[5] For I know my offense; my sin is always before me.

[6] Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight That you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn.

[7] 2 True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.

[8] Still, you insist on sincerity of heart; in my inmost being teach me wisdom.

[9] 3 Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow.

[10] Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

[11] Turn away your face from my sins; blot out all my guilt.

[12] A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit.

[13] Do not drive me from your presence, nor take from me your holy spirit.

[14] Restore my joy in your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit.

[15] I will teach the wicked your ways, that sinners may return to you.

[16] Rescue me from death, God, my saving God, that my tongue may praise your healing power.

[17] Lord, open my lips; my mouth will proclaim your praise.

[18] 4 For you do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering you would not accept.

[19] My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart.

[20] 5 Make Zion prosper in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

[21] Then you will be pleased with proper sacrifice, burnt offerings and holocausts; then bullocks will be offered on your altar.

Psalms Chapter 52

[1] 1 For the leader. A maskil of David,

[2] when Doeg the Edomite went and told Saul, "David went to the house of Ahimelech."

[3] Why do you glory in evil, you scandalous liar? All day long

[4] you plot destruction; your tongue is like a sharpened razor, you skillful deceiver.

[5] You love evil rather than good, lies rather than honest speech. Selah

[6] You love any word that destroys, you deceitful tongue.

[7] Now God will strike you down, leave you crushed forever, Pluck you from your tent, uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

[8] The righteous will look on with awe; they will jeer and say:

[9] "That one did not take God as a refuge, but trusted in great wealth, relied on devious plots."

[10] 2 But I, like an olive tree in the house of God, trust in God's faithful love forever.

[11] I will praise you always for what you have done. I will proclaim before the faithful that your name is good.

Psalms Chapter 53

[1] 1 For the leader; according to Mahalath. A maskil of David.

[2] Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." Their deeds are loathsome and corrupt; not one does what is right.

[3] God looks down from heaven upon the human race, To see if even one is wise, if even one seeks God.

[4] All have gone astray; all alike are perverse. Not one does what is right, not even one.

[5] Will these evildoers never learn? They devour my people as they devour bread; they do not call upon God.

[6] They have good reason to fear, though now they do not fear. For God will certainly scatter the bones of the godless. They will surely be put to shame, for God has rejected them.

[7] Oh, that from Zion might come the deliverance of Israel, That Jacob may rejoice and Israel be glad when God restores the people!

Psalms Chapter 54

[1] 1 For the leader. On stringed instruments. A maskil of David,

[2] when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, "David is hiding among us."

[3] 2 O God, by your name save me. By your strength defend my cause.

[4] O God, hear my prayer. Listen to the words of my mouth.

[5] The arrogant have risen against me; the ruthless seek my life; they do not keep God before them. Selah

[6] God is present as my helper; the Lord sustains my life.

[7] Turn back the evil upon my foes; in your faithfulness, destroy them.

[8] Then I will offer you generous sacrifice and praise your gracious name, LORD,

[9] Because it has rescued me from every trouble, and my eyes look down on my foes.

Psalms Chapter 55

[1] 1 For the leader. On stringed instruments. A maskil of David.

[2] Listen, God, to my prayer; do not hide from my pleading;

[3] hear me and give answer. I rock with grief; I groan

[4] at the uproar of the enemy, the clamor of the wicked. They heap trouble upon me, savagely accuse me.

[5] My heart pounds within me; death's terrors fall upon me.

[6] Fear and trembling overwhelm me; shuddering sweeps over me.

[7] I say, "If only I had wings like a dove that I might fly away and find rest.

[8] Far away I would flee; I would stay in the desert. Selah

[9] I would soon find a shelter from the raging wind and storm."

[10] Lord, check and confuse their scheming. I see violence and strife in the city

[11] making rounds on its walls day and night. Within are mischief and evil;

[12] treachery is there as well; oppression and fraud never leave its streets.

[13] If an enemy had reviled me, that I could bear; If my foe had viewed me with contempt, from that I could hide.

[14] But it was you, my other self, my comrade and friend,

[15] You, whose company I enjoyed, at whose side I walked in procession in the house of God.

[16] Let death take them by surprise; let them go down alive to Sheol, for evil is in their homes and hearts.

[17] But I will call upon God, and the LORD will save me.

[18] At dusk, dawn, and noon I will grieve and complain, and my prayer will be heard.

[19] God will give me freedom and peace from those who war against me, though there are many who oppose me.

[20] God, who sits enthroned forever, will hear me and humble them. For they will not mend their ways; they have no fear of God.

[21] They strike out at friends and go back on their promises.

[22] Softer than butter is their speech, but war is in their hearts. Smoother than oil are their words, but they are unsheathed swords.

[23] Cast your care upon the LORD, who will give you support. God will never allow the righteous to stumble.

[24] But you, God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction. These bloodthirsty liars will not live half their days, but I put my trust in you.

Psalms Chapter 56

[1] 1 2 For the director. According to Yonath elem rehoqim. A miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him at Gath.

[2] Have mercy on me, God, for I am treated harshly; attackers press me all the day.

[3] My foes treat me harshly all the day; yes, many are my attackers. O Most High,

[4] when I am afraid, in you I place my trust.

[5] God, I praise your promise; in you I trust, I do not fear. What can mere flesh do to me?

[6] All the day they foil my plans; their every thought is of evil against me.

[7] They hide together in ambush; they watch my every step; they lie in wait for my life.

[8] They are evil; watch them, God! Cast the nations down in your anger!

[9] 3 My wanderings you have noted; are my tears not stored in your vial, recorded in your book?

[10] My foes turn back when I call on you. This I know: God is on my side.

[11] God, I praise your promise;

[12] in you I trust, I do not fear. What can mere mortals do to me?

[13] I have made vows to you, God; with offerings I will fulfill them,

[14] Once you have snatched me from death, kept my feet from stumbling, That I may walk before God in the light of the living.

Psalms Chapter 57

[1] 1 2 For the director. Do not destroy. A miktam of David, when he fled from Saul into a cave.

[2] Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me. In you I seek shelter. In the shadow of your wings 3 I seek shelter till harm pass by.

[3] I call to God Most High, to God who provides for me.

[4] May God send help from heaven to save me, shame those who trample upon me. May God send fidelity and love. Selah

[5] I must lie down in the midst of lions hungry for human prey. Their teeth are spears and arrows; their tongue, a sharpened sword.

[6] Show yourself over the heavens, God; may your glory appear above all the earth.

[7] They have set a trap for my feet; my soul is bowed down; They have dug a pit before me. May they fall into it themselves! Selah

[8] My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and chant praise.

[9] 4 Awake, my soul; awake, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn.

[10] I will praise you among the peoples, Lord; I will chant your praise among the nations.

[11] For your love towers to the heavens; your faithfulness, to the skies.

[12] Show yourself over the heavens, God; may your glory appear above all the earth.

Psalms Chapter 58

[1] 1 2 For the leader. Do not destroy. A miktam of David.

[2] 3 Do you indeed pronounce justice, O gods; do you judge mortals fairly?

[3] No, you freely engage in crime; your hands dispense violence to the earth.

[4] The wicked have been corrupt since birth; liars from the womb, they have gone astray.

[5] 4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake, like that of a serpent stopping its ears,

[6] So as not to hear the voice of the charmer who casts such cunning spells.

[7] O God, smash the teeth in their mouths; break the jaw-teeth of these lions, LORD!

[8] Make them vanish like water flowing away; trodden down, let them wither like grass.

[9] 5 Let them dissolve like a snail that oozes away, like an untimely birth that never sees the sun.

[10] Suddenly, like brambles or thistles, have the whirlwind snatch them away.

[11] Then the just shall rejoice to see the vengeance and bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

[12] Then it will be said: "Truly there is a reward for the just; there is a God who is judge on earth!"

Psalms Chapter 59

[1] 1 2 For the director. Do not destroy. A miktam of David, when Saul sent people to watch his house and kill him.

[2] Rescue me from my enemies, my God; lift me out of reach of my foes.

[3] Deliver me from evildoers; from the bloodthirsty save me.

[4] They have set an ambush for my life; the powerful conspire against me. For no offense or misdeed of mine, LORD,

[5] for no fault they hurry to take up arms. Come near and see my plight!

[6] You, LORD of hosts, are the God of Israel! Awake! Punish all the nations. Have no mercy on these worthless traitors. Selah

[7] Each evening they return, growling like dogs, prowling the city.

[8] 3 Their mouths pour out insult; sharp words are on their lips. They say: "Who is there to hear?"

[9] You, LORD, laugh at them; you deride all the nations.

[10] My strength, for you I watch; you, God, are my fortress,

[11] my loving God.

[12] May God go before me, and show me my fallen foes. Slay them, God, lest they deceive my people. Shake them by your power; Lord, our shield, bring them down.

[13] For the sinful words of their mouths and lips let them be caught in their pride. For the lies they have told under oath

[14] destroy them in anger, destroy till they are no more. Then people will know God rules over Jacob, yes, even to the ends of the earth. Selah

[15] Each evening they return, growling like dogs, prowling the city.

[16] They roam about as scavengers; if they are not filled, they howl.

[17] But I shall sing of your strength, extol your love at dawn, For you are my fortress, my refuge in time of trouble.

[18] My strength, your praise I will sing; you, God, are my fortress, my loving God.

Psalms Chapter 60

[1] 1 For the leader; according to "The Lily of...." A miktam of David (for teaching),

[2] when he fought against Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah; and Joab, coming back, killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

[3] O God, you rejected us, broke our defenses; you were angry but now revive us.

[4] You rocked the earth, split it open; repair the cracks for it totters.

[5] You made your people go through hardship, made us stagger from the wine you gave us.

[6] Raise up a flag for those who revere you, a refuge for them out of bow shot. Selah

[7] 2 Help with your right hand and answer us that your loved ones may escape.

[8] 3 In the sanctuary God promised: "I will exult, will apportion Shechem; the valley of Succoth I will measure out.

[9] 4 Gilead is mine, mine is Manasseh; Ephraim is the helmet for my head, Judah, my own scepter.

[10] 5 Moab is my washbowl; upon Edom I cast my sandal. I will triumph over Philistia."

[11] 6 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me into Edom?

[12] Was it not you who rejected us, God? Do you no longer march with our armies?

[13] Give us aid against the foe; worthless is human help.

[14] We will triumph with the help of God, who will trample down our foes.

Psalms Chapter 61

[1] 1 For the leader; with stringed instruments. Of David.

[2] Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer!

[3] 2 From the brink of Sheol I call; my heart grows faint. Raise me up, set me on a rock,

[4] for you are my refuge, a tower of strength against the foe.

[5] Then I will ever dwell in your tent, take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah

[6] 3 O God, when you accept my vows and hear the plea of those who revere your name in prayer:

[7] "Add to the days of the king's life; may his years be many generations;

[8] May he reign before God forever; may your love and fidelity preserve him"--

[9] 4 Then I will sing your name forever, fulfill my vows day after day.

Psalms Chapter 62

[1] 1 2 For the leader; al Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

[2] My soul rests in God alone, from whom comes my salvation.

[3] God alone is my rock and salvation, my secure height; I shall never fall.

[4] How long will you set upon people, all of you beating them down, As though they were a sagging fence or a battered wall?

[5] Even from my place on high they plot to dislodge me. They delight in lies; they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

[6] My soul, be at rest in God alone, from whom comes my hope.

[7] God alone is my rock and my salvation, my secure height; I shall not fall.

[8] My safety and glory are with God, my strong rock and refuge.

[9] Trust God at all times, my people! Pour out your hearts to God our refuge! Selah

[10] 3 Mortals are a mere breath, the powerful but an illusion; On a balance they rise; together they are lighter than air.

[11] Do not trust in extortion; in plunder put no empty hope. Though wealth increase, do not set your heart upon it.

[12] 4 One thing God has said; two things I have heard: Power belongs to God;

[13] 3) so too, Lord, does kindness, And you render to each of us according to our deeds.

Psalms Chapter 63

[1] 1 A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

[2] O God, you are my God-- for you I long! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, Like a land parched, lifeless, and without water.

[3] So I look to you in the sanctuary to see your power and glory.

[4] 2 For your love is better than life; my lips offer you worship!

[5] I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands, calling on your name.

[6] My soul shall savor the rich banquet of praise, with joyous lips my mouth shall honor you!

[7] When I think of you upon my bed, through the night watches I will recall

[8] That you indeed are my help, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.

[9] My soul clings fast to you; your right hand upholds me.

[10] But those who seek my life will come to ruin; they shall go down to the depths of the earth!

[11] They shall be handed over to the sword and become the prey of jackals!

[12] 3 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by the Lord shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be shut!

Psalms Chapter 64

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] O God, hear my anguished voice; from the foes I dread protect my life.

[3] Hide me from the malicious crowd, the mob of evildoers.

[4] They sharpen their tongues like swords, ready their bows for arrows of poison words.

[5] 2 They shoot at the innocent from ambush, shoot without risk, catch them unawares.

[6] They resolve on their wicked plan; they conspire to set snares; they say: "Who will see us?"

[7] They devise wicked schemes, conceal the schemes they devise; the designs of their hearts are hidden.

[8] But God will shoot arrows at them and strike them unawares.

[9] They will be brought down by their own tongues; all who see them will shake their heads.

[10] Then all will fear and proclaim God's deed, pondering what has been done.

[11] The just will rejoice and take refuge in the LORD; all the upright will glory in their God.

Psalms Chapter 65

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David. A song.

[2] 2 To you we owe our hymn of praise, O God on Zion; To you our vows must be fulfilled,

[3] 3 you who hear our prayers. To you all flesh must come

[4] with its burden of wicked deeds. We are overcome by our sins; only you can pardon them.

[5] Happy the chosen ones you bring to dwell in your courts. May we be filled with the good things of your house, the blessings of your holy temple!

[6] 4 You answer us with awesome deeds of justice, O God our savior, The hope of all the ends of the earth and of far distant islands.

[7] You are robed in power, you set up the mountains by your might.

[8] You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples.

[9] Distant peoples stand in awe of your marvels; east and west you make resound with joy.

[10] 5 6 You visit the earth and water it, make it abundantly fertile. God's stream is filled with water; with it you supply the world with grain. Thus do you prepare the earth:

[11] you drench plowed furrows, and level their ridges. With showers you keep the ground soft, blessing its young sprouts.

[12] 7 You adorn the year with your bounty; your paths drip with fruitful rain.

[13] The untilled meadows also drip; the hills are robed with joy.

[14] The pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys blanketed with grain; they cheer and sing for joy.

Psalms Chapter 66

[1] 1 For the leader. A song; a psalm.

[2] Shout joyfully to God, all you on earth; sing of his glorious name; give him glorious praise.

[3] Say to God: "How awesome your deeds! Before your great strength your enemies cringe.

[4] All on earth fall in worship before you; they sing of you, sing of your name!" Selah

[5] 2 Come and see the works of God, awesome in the deeds done for us.

[6] He changed the sea to dry land; through the river they passed on foot. Therefore let us rejoice in him,

[7] who rules by might forever, Whose eyes are fixed upon the nations. Let no rebel rise to challenge! Selah

[8] Bless our God, you peoples; loudly sound his praise,

[9] Who has kept us alive and not allowed our feet to slip.

[10] You tested us, O God, tried us as silver tried by fire.

[11] You led us into a snare; you bound us at the waist as captives.

[12] 3 You let captors set foot on our neck; we went through fire and water; then you led us out to freedom.

[13] 4 I will bring holocausts to your house; to you I will fulfill my vows,

[14] The vows my lips pronounced and my mouth spoke in distress.

[15] Holocausts of fatlings I will offer you and burnt offerings of rams; I will sacrifice oxen and goats. Selah

[16] Come and hear, all you who fear God, while I recount what has been done for me.

[17] I called to the Lord with my mouth; praise was upon my tongue.

[18] Had I cherished evil in my heart, the Lord would not have heard.

[19] But God did hear and listened to my voice in prayer.

[20] Blessed be God, who did not refuse me the kindness I sought in prayer.

Psalms Chapter 67

[1] 1 For the leader; with stringed instruments. A psalm; a song.

[2] 2 May God be gracious to us and bless us; may God's face shine upon us. Selah

[3] So shall your rule be known upon the earth, your saving power among all the nations.

[4] May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you!

[5] May the nations be glad and shout for joy; for you govern the peoples justly, you guide the nations upon the earth. Selah

[6] May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you!

[7] The earth has yielded its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.

[8] May God bless us still; that the ends of the earth may revere our God.

Psalms Chapter 68

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David; a song.

[2] 2 God will arise for battle; the enemy will be scattered; those who hate God will flee.

[3] The wind will disperse them like smoke; as wax is melted by fire, so the wicked will perish before God.

[4] Then the just will be glad; they will rejoice before God; they will celebrate with great joy.

[5] 3 Sing to God, praise the divine name; exalt the rider of the clouds. Rejoice before this God whose name is the LORD.

[6] Father of the fatherless, defender of widows-- this is the God whose abode is holy,

[7] 4 Who gives a home to the forsaken, who leads prisoners out to prosperity, while rebels live in the desert.

[8] God, when you went forth before your people, when you marched through the desert, Selah

[9] The earth quaked, the heavens shook, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

[10] You claimed a land as your own, O God;

[11] your people settled there. There you poured abundant rains, God, graciously given to the poor in their need.

[12] 5 The Lord announced the news of victory:

[13] "The kings and their armies are in desperate flight.

[14] will you stay by the sheepfolds?

[15] 6 When the Almighty routed the kings there, the spoils were scattered like snow on Zalmon.

[16] You high mountains of Bashan, you rugged mountains of Bashan,

[17] 7 You rugged mountains, why look with envy at the mountain where God has chosen to dwell, where the LORD resides forever?

[18] God's chariots were myriad, thousands upon thousands; from Sinai the Lord entered the holy place.

[19] You went up to its lofty height; you took captives, received slaves as tribute. No rebels can live in the presence of God.

[20] Blessed be the Lord day by day, God, our salvation, who carries us. Selah

[21] Our God is a God who saves; escape from death is in the LORD God's hands.

[22] God will crush the skulls of the enemy, the hairy heads of those who walk in sin.

[23] 8 The Lord has said: "Even from Bashan I will fetch them, fetch them even from the depths of the sea.

[24] You will wash your feet in your enemy's blood; the tongues of your dogs will lap it up."

[25] 9 Your procession comes into view, O God, your procession into the holy place, my God and king.

[26] The singers go first, the harpists follow; in their midst girls sound the timbrels.

[27] In your choirs, bless God; bless the LORD, you from Israel's assemblies.

[28] In the lead is Benjamin, few in number; there the princes of Judah, a large throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali, too.

[29] Summon again, O God, your power, the divine power you once showed for us.

[30] Show it from your temple on behalf of Jerusalem, that kings may bring you tribute.

[31] 10 11 Roar at the wild beast of the reeds, the herd of mighty bulls, the lords of nations; scatter the nations that delight in war.

[32] Exact rich tribute from lower Egypt, from upper Egypt, gold and silver; make Ethiopia extend its hands to God.

[33] You kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; chant the praises of the Lord, Selah

[34] Who rides the heights of the ancient heavens, whose voice is thunder, mighty thunder.

[35] Confess the power of God, whose majesty protects Israel, whose power is in the sky.

[36] Awesome is God in his holy place, the God of Israel, who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!

Psalms Chapter 69

[1] 1 2 For the leader; according to "Lilies." Of David.

[2] 3 Save me, God, for the waters have reached my neck.

[3] I have sunk into the mire of the deep, where there is no foothold. I have gone down to the watery depths; the flood overwhelms me.

[4] I am weary with crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes have failed, looking for my God.

[5] 4 More numerous than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause. Too many for my strength are my treacherous enemies. Must I now restore what I did not steal?

[6] God, you know my folly; my faults are not hidden from you.

[7] Let those who wait for you, LORD of hosts, not be shamed through me. Let those who seek you, God of Israel, not be disgraced through me

[8] For your sake I bear insult, shame covers my face.

[9] I have become an outcast to my kin, a stranger to my mother's children.

[10] 5 Because zeal for your house consumes me, I am scorned by those who scorn you.

[11] I have wept and fasted, but this led only to scorn.

[12] I clothed myself in sackcloth; I became a byword for them.

[13] They who sit at the gate gossip about me; drunkards make me the butt of their songs.

[14] But I pray to you, LORD, for the time of your favor. God, in your great kindness answer me with your constant help.

[15] Rescue me from the mire; do not let me sink. Rescue me from my enemies and from the watery depths.

[16] Do not let the floodwaters overwhelm me, nor the deep swallow me, nor the mouth of the pit close over me.

[17] Answer me, LORD, in your generous love; in your great mercy turn to me.

[18] Do not hide your face from your servant; in my distress hasten to answer me.

[19] Come and ransom my life; because of my enemies redeem me.

[20] You know my reproach, my shame, my disgrace; before you stand all my foes.

[21] Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak; I looked for compassion, but there was none, for comforters, but found none.

[22] Instead they put gall in my food; for my thirst they gave me vinegar.

[23] Make their own table a snare for them, a trap for their friends.

[24] Make their eyes so dim they cannot see; keep their backs ever feeble.

[25] Pour out your wrath upon them; let the fury of your anger overtake them.

[26] Make their camp desolate, with none to dwell in their tents.

[27] For they pursued the one you struck, added to the pain of the one you wounded.

[28] Add that to their crimes; let them not attain to your reward.

[29] Strike them from the book of the living; do not count them among the just!

[30] But I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help protect me, God,

[31] 6 That I may praise God's name in song and glorify it with thanksgiving.

[32] My song will please the LORD more than oxen, more than bullocks with horns and hooves:

[33] "See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, take heart!

[34] For the LORD hears the poor, does not spurn those in bondage.

[35] Let the heavens and the earth sing praise, the seas and whatever moves in them!"

[36] God will rescue Zion, rebuild the cities of Judah. God's servants shall dwell in the land and possess it;

[37] 7) it shall be the heritage of their descendants; those who love God's name shall dwell there.

Psalms Chapter 70

[1] 1 For the leader; of David. For remembrance.

[2] Graciously rescue me, God! Come quickly to help me, LORD!

[3] Confound and put to shame those who seek my life. Turn back in disgrace those who desire my ruin.

[4] Let those who say "Aha!" turn back in their shame.

[5] But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who long for your help always say, "God be glorified!"

[6] Here I am, afflicted and poor. God, come quickly! You are my help and deliverer. LORD, do not delay!

Psalms Chapter 71

[1] 1 In you, LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.

[2] In your justice rescue and deliver me; listen to me and save me!

[3] Be my rock and refuge, my secure stronghold; for you are my rock and fortress.

[4] My God, rescue me from the power of the wicked, from the clutches of the violent.

[5] You are my hope, Lord; my trust, GOD, from my youth.

[6] On you I depend since birth; from my mother's womb you are my strength; my hope in you never wavers.

[7] 2 I have become a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge!

[8] My mouth shall be filled with your praise, shall sing your glory every day.

[9] Do not cast me aside in my old age; as my strength fails, do not forsake me.

[10] For my enemies speak against me; they watch and plot against me.

[11] They say, "God has abandoned that one Pursue, seize the wretch! No one will come to the rescue!"

[12] God, do not stand far from me; my God, hasten to help me.

[13] Bring to a shameful end those who attack me; Cover with contempt and scorn those who seek my ruin.

[14] I will always hope in you and add to all your praise.

[15] My mouth shall proclaim your just deeds, day after day your acts of deliverance, though I cannot number them all.

[16] I will speak of the mighty works of the Lord; O GOD, I will tell of your singular justice.

[17] God, you have taught me from my youth; to this day I proclaim your wondrous deeds.

[18] Now that I am old and gray, do not forsake me, God, That I may proclaim your might to all generations yet to come, Your power

[19] and justice, God, to the highest heaven. You have done great things; O God, who is your equal?

[20] You have sent me many bitter afflictions, but once more revive me. From the watery depths of the earth once more raise me up.

[21] Restore my honor; turn and comfort me,

[22] That I may praise you with the lyre for your faithfulness, my God, And sing to you with the harp, O Holy One of Israel!

[23] My lips will shout for joy as I sing your praise; my soul, too, which you have redeemed.

[24] Yes, my tongue shall recount your justice day by day. For those who sought my ruin will have been shamed and disgraced.

Psalms Chapter 72

[1] Of Solomon.

[2] 1 2 O God, give your judgment to the king; your justice to the son of kings; That he may govern your people with justice, your oppressed with right judgment,

[3] That the mountains may yield their bounty for the people, and the hills great abundance,

[4] That he may defend the oppressed among the people, save the poor and crush the oppressor.

[5] May he live as long as the sun endures, like the moon, through all generations.

[6] May he be like rain coming down upon the fields, like showers watering the earth,

[7] That abundance may flourish in his days, great bounty, till the moon be no more.

[8] 3 May he rule from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.

[9] May his foes kneel before him, his enemies lick the dust.

[10] 4 May the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute, the kings of Arabia and Seba offer gifts.

[11] May all kings bow before him, all nations serve him.

[12] For he rescues the poor when they cry out, the oppressed who have no one to help.

[13] He shows pity to the needy and the poor and saves the lives of the poor.

[14] 5 From extortion and violence he frees them, for precious is their blood in his sight.

[15] Long may he live, receiving gold from Arabia, prayed for without cease, blessed day by day.

[16] 6 May wheat abound in the land, flourish even on the mountain heights. May his fruit increase like Lebanon's, his wheat like the grasses of the land.

[17] 7 May his name be blessed forever; as long as the sun, may his name endure. May the tribes of the earth give blessings with his name; may all the nations regard him as favored.

[18] 8 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful deeds.

[19] Blessed be his glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with the LORD'S glory. Amen and amen.

[20] The end of the psalms of David, son of Jesse.

Psalms Chapter 73

[1] 1 A psalm of Asaph. How good God is to the upright, the Lord, to those who are clean of heart!

[2] I But, as for me, I lost my balance; my feet all but slipped,

[3] Because I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

[4] For they suffer no pain; their bodies are healthy and sleek.

[5] They are free of the burdens of life; they are not afflicted like others.

[6] Thus pride adorns them as a necklace; violence clothes them as a robe.

[7] Out of their stupidity comes sin; evil thoughts flood their hearts.

[8] They scoff and spout their malice; from on high they utter threats.

[9] 2 They set their mouths against the heavens, their tongues roam the earth.

[10] 3 So my people turn to them and drink deeply of their words.

[11] They say, "Does God really know?" "Does the Most High have any knowledge?"

[12] Such, then, are the wicked, always carefree, increasing their wealth.

[13] Is it in vain that I have kept my heart clean, washed my hands in innocence?

[14] For I am afflicted day after day, chastised every morning.

[15] Had I thought, "I will speak as they do," I would have betrayed your people.

[16] Though I tried to understand all this, it was too difficult for me,

[17] 4 Till I entered the sanctuary of God and came to understand their end.

[18] You set them, indeed, on a slippery road; you hurl them down to ruin.

[19] How suddenly they are devastated; undone by disasters forever!

[20] They are like a dream after waking, Lord, dismissed like shadows when you arise.

[21] Since my heart was embittered and my soul deeply wounded,

[22] I was stupid and could not understand; I was like a brute beast in your presence.

[23] Yet I am always with you; you take hold of my right hand.

[24] 5 With your counsel you guide me, and at the end receive me with honor.

[25] Whom else have I in the heavens? None beside you delights me on earth.

[26] Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever.

[27] But those who are far from you perish; you destroy those unfaithful to you.

[28] As for me, to be near God is my good, to make the Lord GOD my refuge. I shall declare all your works in the gates of daughter Zion.

Psalms Chapter 74

[1] 1 2 A maskil of Asaph. I Why, God, have you cast us off forever? Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?

[2] Remember your flock that you gathered of old, the tribe you redeemed as your very own. Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.

[3] Turn your steps toward the utter ruins, toward the sanctuary devastated by the enemy.

[4] Your foes roared triumphantly in your shrine; they set up their own tokens of victory.

[5] They hacked away like foresters gathering boughs, swinging their axes in a thicket of trees.

[6] They smashed all your engraved work, pounded it with hammer and pick.

[7] They set your sanctuary on fire; the abode of your name they razed and profaned.

[8] They said in their hearts, "Destroy them all! Burn all the shrines of God in the land!"

[9] 3 Now we see no signs, we have no prophets, no one who knows how long.

[10] How long, O God, shall the enemy jeer? Shall the foe revile your name forever?

[11] Why draw back your right hand, why keep it idle beneath your cloak?

[12] 4 Yet you, God, are my king from of old, winning victories throughout the earth.

[13] You stirred up the sea in your might; you smashed the heads of the dragons on the waters.

[14] You crushed the heads of Leviathan, tossed him for food to the sharks.

[15] You opened up springs and torrents, brought dry land out of the primeval waters.

[16] Yours the day and yours the night; you set the moon and sun in place.

[17] You fixed all the limits of the earth; summer and winter you made.

[18] Remember how the enemy has jeered, O LORD, how a foolish people has reviled your name.

[19] Do not surrender to beasts those who praise you; do not forget forever the life of your afflicted.

[20] Look to your covenant, for the land is filled with gloom; the pastures, with violence.

[21] Let not the oppressed turn back in shame; may the poor and needy praise your name.

[22] Arise, God, defend your cause; remember the constant jeers of the fools.

[23] Do not ignore the clamor of your foes, the unceasing uproar of your enemies.

Psalms Chapter 75

[1] 1 For the leader. Do not destroy! A psalm of Asaph; a song.

[2] 2 We thank you, God, we give thanks; we call upon your name, declare your wonderful deeds. You said:

[3] "I will choose the time; I will judge fairly.

[4] The earth and all its inhabitants will quake, but I have firmly set its pillars." Selah

[5] 3 So I say to the boastful: "Do not boast!" to the wicked: "Do not raise your horns!

[6] Do not raise your horns against heaven! Do not speak arrogantly against the Rock!"

[7] For judgment comes not from east or from west, not from the desert or from the mountains,

[8] But from God who decides, who brings some low and raises others high.

[9] 4 Yes, a cup is in the LORD'S hand, foaming wine, fully spiced. When God pours it out, they will drain it even to the dregs; all the wicked of the earth must drink.

[10] But I will rejoice forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,

[11] Who has said: "I will break off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the just shall be lifted up."

Psalms Chapter 76

[1] For the leader; a psalm with stringed instruments. A song of Asaph.

[2] 1 Renowned in Judah is God, whose name is great in Israel.

[3] 2 On Salem is God's tent, a shelter on Zion.

[4] There the flashing arrows were shattered, shield, sword, and weapons of war. Selah

[5] 3 Terrible and awesome are you, stronger than the ancient mountains.

[6] Despoiled are the bold warriors; they sleep their final sleep; the hands of all the mighty have failed.

[7] At your roar, O God of Jacob, chariots and steeds lay still.

[8] So terrible and awesome are you; who can stand before you and your great anger?

[9] From the heavens you pronounced sentence; the earth was terrified and reduced to silence,

[10] When you arose, O God, for judgment to deliver the afflicted of the land. Selah

[11] 4 Even wrathful Edom praises you; the remnant of Hamath keeps your feast.

[12] Make and keep vows to the LORD your God. May all present bring gifts to this awesome God,

[13] Who checks the pride of princes, inspires awe among the kings of earth.

Psalms Chapter 77

[1] 1 For the leader; al Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.

[2] I cry aloud to God, cry to God to hear me.

[3] On the day of my distress I seek the Lord; by night my hands are raised unceasingly; I refuse to be consoled.

[4] When I think of God, I groan; as I ponder, my spirit grows faint. Selah

[5] My eyes cannot close in sleep; I am troubled and cannot speak.

[6] I consider the days of old; the years long past

[7] I remember. In the night I meditate in my heart; I ponder and my spirit broods:

[8] "Will the Lord reject us forever, never again show favor?

[9] Has God's love ceased forever? Has the promise failed for all ages?

[10] Has God forgotten mercy, in anger withheld compassion?" Selah

[11] 2 I conclude: "My sorrow is this, the right hand of the Most High has left us."

[12] 3 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, your wonders of old I will remember.

[13] I will recite all your works; your exploits I will tell.

[14] Your way, O God, is holy; what god is as great as our God?

[15] You alone are the God who did wonders; among the peoples you revealed your might.

[16] With your arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

[17] The waters saw you, God; the waters saw you and lashed about, trembled even to their depths.

[18] The clouds poured down their rains; the thunderheads rumbled; your arrows flashed back and forth.

[19] The thunder of your chariot wheels resounded; your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.

[20] Through the sea was your path; your way, through the mighty waters, though your footsteps were unseen.

[21] You led your people like a flock under the care of Moses and Aaron.

Psalms Chapter 78

[1] A maskil of Asaph. 1 Attend, my people, to my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.

[2] 2 I will open my mouth in story, drawing lessons from of old.

[3] We have heard them, we know them; our ancestors have recited them to us.

[4] We do not keep them from our children; we recite them to the next generation, The praiseworthy and mighty deeds of the LORD, the wonders that he performed.

[5] God set up a decree in Jacob, established a law in Israel: What he commanded our ancestors, they were to teach their children;

[6] That the next generation might come to know, children yet to be born. In turn they were to recite them to their children,

[7] that they too might put their trust in God, And not forget the works of God, keeping his commandments.

[8] They were not to be like their ancestors, a rebellious and defiant generation, A generation whose heart was not constant, whose spirit was not faithful to God,

[9] 3 Like the ranks of Ephraimite archers, who retreated on the day of battle.

[10] They did not keep God's covenant; they refused to walk by his law.

[11] They forgot his works, the wondrous deeds he had shown them.

[12] 4 In the sight of their ancestors God did wonders, in the land of Egypt, the plain of Zoan.

[13] He split the sea and led them across, piling up the waters rigid as walls.

[14] God led them with a cloud by day, all night with the light of fire.

[15] He split rock in the desert, gave water to drink, abounding as the deep.

[16] He made streams flow from crags, drew out rivers of water.

[17] But they went on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

[18] They tested God in their hearts, demanding the food they craved.

[19] They spoke against God, and said, "Can God spread a table in the desert?

[20] True, when he struck the rock, water gushed forth, the wadis flooded. But can he also provide bread, give meat to his people?"

[21] The LORD heard and grew angry; fire blazed up against Jacob; anger flared up against Israel.

[22] For they did not believe in God, did not trust in his saving power.

[23] 5 So he commanded the skies above; the doors of heaven he opened.

[24] God rained manna upon them for food; bread from heaven he gave them.

[25] All ate a meal fit for heroes; food he sent in abundance.

[26] He stirred up the east wind in the heavens; by his power God brought on the south wind.

[27] He rained meat upon them like dust, winged fowl like the sands of the sea,

[28] Brought them down in the midst of the camp, round about their tents.

[29] They ate and were well filled; he gave them what they had craved.

[30] But while they still wanted more, and the food was still in their mouths,

[31] God's anger attacked them, killed their best warriors, laid low the youth of Israel.

[32] In spite of all this they went on sinning, they did not believe in his wonders.

[33] God ended their days abruptly, their years in sudden death.

[34] When he slew them, they began to seek him; they again inquired of their God.

[35] 6 They remembered that God was their rock, God Most High, their redeemer.

[36] But they deceived him with their mouths, lied to him with their tongues.

[37] Their hearts were not constant toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.

[38] 7 But God is merciful and forgave their sin; he did not utterly destroy them. Time and again he turned back his anger, unwilling to unleash all his rage.

[39] He was mindful that they were flesh, a breath that passes and does not return.

[40] How often they rebelled against God in the desert, grieved him in the wasteland.

[41] Again and again they tested God, provoked the Holy One of Israel.

[42] They did not remember his power, the day he redeemed them from the foe,

[43] 8 When he displayed his wonders in Egypt, his marvels in the plain of Zoan.

[44] God changed their rivers to blood; their streams they could not drink.

[45] He sent insects that devoured them, frogs that destroyed them.

[46] He gave their harvest to the caterpillar, the fruits of their labor to the locust.

[47] He killed their vines with hail, their sycamores with frost.

[48] He exposed their flocks to deadly hail, their cattle to lightning.

[49] He unleashed against them his fiery breath, roar, fury, and distress, storming messengers of death.

[50] He cleared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death; he delivered their beasts to the plague.

[51] He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, love's first child in the tents of Ham.

[52] God led forth his people like sheep; he guided them through the desert like a flock.

[53] He led them on secure and unafraid, but the sea enveloped their enemies.

[54] He brought them to his holy land, the mountain his right hand had won.

[55] God drove out the nations before them, apportioned them a heritage by lot, settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

[56] But they tested, rebelled against God Most High, his decrees they did not observe.

[57] They turned back, deceitful like their ancestors; they proved false like a bow with no tension.

[58] They enraged him with their high places; with their idols they goaded him.

[59] God heard and grew angry; he rejected Israel completely.

[60] 9 He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt with humans.

[61] He gave up his might into captivity, his glorious ark into the hands of the foe.

[62] God abandoned his people to the sword; he was enraged against his heritage.

[63] Fire consumed their young men; their young women heard no wedding songs.

[64] Their priests fell by the sword; their widows made no lamentation.

[65] Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior from the effects of wine.

[66] He put his enemies to flight; everlasting shame he dealt them.

[67] He rejected the tent of Joseph, chose not the tribe of Ephraim.

[68] 10 God chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he favored.

[69] He built his shrine like the heavens, like the earth which he founded forever.

[70] He chose David his servant, took him from the sheepfold.

[71] From tending sheep God brought him, to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his heritage.

[72] He shepherded them with a pure heart; with skilled hands he guided them.

Psalms Chapter 79

[1] A psalm of Asaph. 1 O God, the nations have invaded your heritage; they have defiled your holy temple, have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

[2] They have left the corpses of your servants as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of your faithful for the beasts of the earth.

[3] They have spilled their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and no one is left to bury them.

[4] We have become the reproach of our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.

[5] How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your rage keep burning like fire?

[6] Pour out your wrath on nations that reject you, on kingdoms that do not call on your name,

[7] For they have devoured Jacob, laid waste his home.

[8] Do not hold past iniquities against us; may your compassion come quickly, for we have been brought very low.

[9] Help us, God our savior, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, pardon our sins for your name's sake.

[10] Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Before our eyes make clear to the nations that you avenge the blood of your servants.

[11] Let the groans of prisoners come before you; by your great power free those doomed to death.

[12] Lord, inflict on our neighbors seven fold the disgrace they inflicted on you.

[13] Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; through all ages we will declare your praise.

Psalms Chapter 80

[1] 1 2 For the leader; according to "Lilies." Eduth. A psalm of Asaph.

[2] Shepherd of Israel, listen, guide of the flock of Joseph! From your throne upon the cherubim reveal yourself

[3] to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Stir up your power, come to save us.

[4] O LORD of hosts, restore us; Let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

[5] LORD of hosts, how long will you burn with anger while your people pray?

[6] You have fed them the bread of tears, made them drink tears in abundance.

[7] You have left us to be fought over by our neighbors; our enemies deride us.

[8] O LORD of hosts, restore us; let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

[9] 3 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove away the nations and planted it.

[10] You cleared the ground; it took root and filled the land.

[11] The mountains were covered by its shadow, the cedars of God by its branches.

[12] 4 It sent out boughs as far as the sea, shoots as far as the river.

[13] Why have you broken down the walls, so that all who pass by pluck its fruit?

[14] The boar from the forest strips the vine; the beast of the field feeds upon it.

[15] Turn again, LORD of hosts; look down from heaven and see; Attend to this vine,

[16] the shoot your right hand has planted.

[17] Those who would burn or cut it down-- may they perish at your rebuke.

[18] 5 May your help be with the man at your right hand, with the one whom you once made strong.

[19] Then we will not withdraw from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.

[20] LORD of hosts, restore us; let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Psalms Chapter 81

[1] 1 2 For the leader; "upon the gittith." Of Asaph.

[2] Sing joyfully to God our strength; shout in triumph to the God of Jacob!

[3] Take up a melody, sound the timbrel, the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

[4] 3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast.

[5] For this is a law in Israel, an edict of the God of Jacob,

[6] 4 Who made it a decree for Joseph when he came out of the land of Egypt. II I hear a new oracle:

[7] 5 "I relieved their shoulders of the burden; their hands put down the basket.

[8] 6 In distress you called and I rescued you; unseen, I spoke to you in thunder; At the waters of Meribah I tested you and said: Selah

[9] 'Listen, my people, I give you warning! If only you will obey me, Israel!

[10] 7 There must be no foreign god among you; you must not worship an alien god.

[11] I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.'

[12] But my people did not listen to my words; Israel did not obey me.

[13] So I gave them over to hardness of heart; they followed their own designs.

[14] But even now if my people would listen, if Israel would walk in my paths,

[15] In a moment I would subdue their foes, against their enemies unleash my hand.

[16] Those who hate the LORD would tremble, their doom sealed forever.

[17] But Israel I would feed with the finest wheat, satisfy them with honey from the rock."

Psalms Chapter 82

[1] A psalm of Asaph. 1 God rises in the divine council, gives judgment in the midst of the gods.

[2] "How long will you judge unjustly and favor the cause of the wicked? Selah

[3] Defend the lowly and fatherless; render justice to the afflicted and needy.

[4] Rescue the lowly and poor; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

[5] 2 The gods neither know nor understand, wandering about in darkness, and all the world's foundations shake.

[6] 3 I declare: "Gods though you be, offspring of the Most High all of you,

[7] Yet like any mortal you shall die; like any prince you shall fall."

[8] 4 Arise, O God, judge the earth, for yours are all the nations.

Psalms Chapter 83

[1] 1 A song; a psalm of Asaph.

[2] God, do not be silent; God, be not still and unmoved!

[3] See how your enemies rage; your foes proudly raise their heads.

[4] They conspire against your people, plot against those you protect.

[5] They say, "Come, let us wipe out their nation; let Israel's name be mentioned no more!"

[6] They scheme with one mind, in league against you:

[7] 2 The tents of Ishmael and Edom, the people of Moab and Hagar,

[8] Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre.

[9] Assyria, too, in league with them gives aid to the descendants of Lot. Selah

[10] 3 Deal with them as with Midian; as with Sisera and Jabin at the torrent Kishon,

[11] Those destroyed at Endor, who became dung for the ground.

[12] Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

[13] Who made a plan together, "Let us seize the pastures of God."

[14] My God, turn them into withered grass, into chaff flying before the wind.

[15] As a fire raging through a forest, a flame setting mountains ablaze,

[16] Pursue them with your tempest; terrify them with your storm.

[17] Cover their faces with shame, till they pay you homage, LORD.

[18] Let them be dismayed and shamed forever; let them perish in disgrace.

[19] Show them you alone are the LORD, the Most High over all the earth.

Psalms Chapter 84

[1] 1 For the leader; "upon the gittith." A psalm of the Korahites.

[2] How lovely your dwelling, O LORD of hosts!

[3] My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God.

[4] 2 As the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest to settle her young, My home is by your altars, LORD of hosts, my king and my God!

[5] Happy are those who dwell in your house! They never cease to praise you. Selah

[6] Happy are those who find refuge in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrim roads.

[7] 3 As they pass through the Baca valley, they find spring water to drink. Also from pools the Lord provides water for those who lose their way.

[8] They pass through outer and inner wall and see the God of gods on Zion.

[9] LORD of hosts, hear my prayer; listen, God of Jacob. Selah

[10] 4 O God, look kindly on our shield; look upon the face of your anointed.

[11] Better one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. Better the threshold of the house of my God than a home in the tents of the wicked.

[12] For a sun and shield is the LORD God, bestowing all grace and glory. The LORD withholds no good thing from those who walk without reproach.

[13] O LORD of hosts, happy are those who trust in you!

Psalms Chapter 85

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of the Korahites.

[2] You once favored, LORD, your land, restored the good fortune of Jacob.

[3] You forgave the guilt of your people, pardoned all their sins. Selah

[4] You withdrew all your wrath, turned back your burning anger.

[5] Restore us once more, God our savior; abandon your wrath against us.

[6] Will you be angry with us forever, drag out your anger for all generations?

[7] Please give us life again, that your people may rejoice in you.

[8] Show us, LORD, your love; grant us your salvation.

[9] 2 I will listen for the word of God; surely the LORD will proclaim peace To his people, to the faithful, to those who trust in him.

[10] Near indeed is salvation for the loyal; prosperity will fill our land.

[11] 3 Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.

[12] Truth will spring from the earth; justice will look down from heaven.

[13] The LORD will surely grant abundance; our land will yield its increase.

[14] Prosperity will march before the Lord, and good fortune will follow behind.

Psalms Chapter 86

[1] A prayer of David. 1 Hear me, LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and oppressed.

[2] Preserve my life, for I am loyal; save your servant who trusts in you.

[3] You are my God; pity me, Lord; to you I call all the day.

[4] Gladden the soul of your servant; to you, Lord, I lift up my soul.

[5] Lord, you are kind and forgiving, most loving to all who call on you.

[6] LORD, hear my prayer; listen to my cry for help.

[7] In this time of trouble I call, for you will answer me.

[8] None among the gods can equal you, O Lord; nor can their deeds compare to yours.

[9] All the nations you have made shall come to bow before you, Lord, and give honor to your name.

[10] For you are great and do wondrous deeds; and you alone are God.

[11] Teach me, LORD, your way that I may walk in your truth, single-hearted and revering your name.

[12] I will praise you with all my heart, glorify your name forever, Lord my God.

[13] Your love for me is great; you have rescued me from the depths of Sheol.

[14] O God, the arrogant have risen against me; a ruthless band has sought my life; to you they pay no heed.

[15] But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, most loving and true.

[16] Turn to me, have pity on me; give your strength to your servant; save this child of your handmaid.

[17] Give me a sign of your favor: make my enemies see, to their confusion, that you, LORD, help and comfort me.

Psalms Chapter 87

[1] 1 A psalm of the Korahites. A song. The LORD loves the city founded on holy mountains,

[2] 2 Loves the gates of Zion more than any dwelling in Jacob.

[3] Glorious things are said of you, O city of God! Selah

[4] From Babylon and Egypt I count those who acknowledge the LORD. Philistia, Ethiopia, Tyre, of them it can be said: "This one was born there."

[5] 3 But of Zion it must be said: "They all were born here." The Most High confirms this;

[6] the Lord notes in the register of the peoples: "This one was born here." Selah

[7] So all sing in their festive dance: "Within you is my true home."

Psalms Chapter 88

[1] 1 A song; a psalm of the Korahites. For the leader; according to Mahalath. For singing; a maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

[2] LORD, my God, I call out by day; at night I cry aloud in your presence.

[3] Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.

[4] 2 For my soul is filled with troubles; my life draws near to Sheol.

[5] I am reckoned with those who go down to the pit; I am weak, without strength.

[6] My couch is among the dead, with the slain who lie in the grave. You remember them no more; they are cut off from your care.

[7] You plunged me into the bottom of the pit, into the darkness of the abyss.

[8] Your wrath lies heavy upon me; all your waves crash over me. Selah

[9] Because of you my friends shun me; you make me loathsome to them; Caged in, I cannot escape;

[10] my eyes grow dim from trouble. All day I call on you, LORD; I stretch out my hands to you.

[11] 3 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades arise and praise you? Selah

[12] Is your love proclaimed in the grave, your fidelity in the tomb?

[13] Are your marvels declared in the darkness, your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

[14] But I cry out to you, LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

[15] Why do you reject me, LORD? Why hide your face from me?

[16] I am mortally afflicted since youth; lifeless, I suffer your terrible blows.

[17] Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have reduced me to silence.

[18] All the day they surge round like a flood; from every side they close in on me.

[19] Because of you companions shun me; my only friend is darkness.

Psalms Chapter 89

[1] 1 A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

[2] The promises of the LORD I will sing forever, proclaim your loyalty through all ages.

[3] 2 For you said, "My love is established forever; my loyalty will stand as long as the heavens.

[4] I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:

[5] I will make your dynasty stand forever and establish your throne through all ages." Selah

[6] The heavens praise your marvels, LORD, your loyalty in the assembly of the holy ones.

[7] 3 Who in the skies ranks with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the gods?

[8] A God dreaded in the council of the holy ones, greater and more awesome than all who sit there!

[9] LORD, God of hosts, who is like you? Mighty LORD, your loyalty is always present.

[10] You rule the raging sea; you still its swelling waves.

[11] 4 You crushed Rahab with a mortal blow; your strong arm scattered your foes.

[12] Yours are the heavens, yours the earth; you founded the world and everything in it.

[13] 5 Zaphon and Amanus you created; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.

[14] Mighty your arm, strong your hand, your right hand is ever exalted.

[15] Justice and judgment are the foundation of your throne; love and loyalty march before you.

[16] Happy the people who know you, LORD, who walk in the radiance of your face.

[17] In your name they sing joyfully all the day; at your victory they raise the festal shout.

[18] 6 You are their majestic strength; by your favor our horn is exalted.

[19] Truly the LORD is our shield, the Holy One of Israel, our king!

[20] Once you spoke in vision; to your faithful ones you said: "I have set a leader over the warriors; I have raised up a hero from the army.

[21] I have chosen David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him.

[22] My hand will be with him; my arm will make him strong.

[23] No enemy shall outwit him, nor shall the wicked defeat him.

[24] I will crush his foes before him, strike down those who hate him.

[25] My loyalty and love will be with him; through my name his horn will be exalted.

[26] 7 I will set his hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers.

[27] He shall cry to me,'You are my father, my God, the Rock that brings me victory!'

[28] 8 I myself make him firstborn, Most High over the kings of the earth.

[29] Forever I will maintain my love for him; my covenant with him stands firm.

[30] I will establish his dynasty forever, his throne as the days of the heavens.

[31] If his descendants forsake my law, do not follow my decrees,

[32] If they fail to observe my statutes, do not keep my commandments,

[33] I will punish their crime with a rod and their guilt with lashes.

[34] But I will not take my love from him, nor will I betray my bond of loyalty.

[35] I will not violate my covenant; the promise of my lips I will not alter.

[36] By my holiness I swore once for all: I will never be false to David.

[37] 9 His dynasty will continue forever, his throne, like the sun before me.

[38] Like the moon it will stand eternal, forever firm like the sky!" Selah

[39] But now you have rejected and spurned, been enraged at your anointed.

[40] You renounced the covenant with your servant, defiled his crown in the dust.

[41] You broke down all his defenses, left his strongholds in ruins.

[42] All who pass through seize plunder; his neighbors deride him.

[43] You have exalted the right hand of his foes, have gladdened all his enemies.

[44] You turned back his sharp sword, did not support him in battle.

[45] You brought to an end his splendor, hurled his throne to the ground.

[46] You cut short the days of his youth, covered him with shame. Selah

[47] How long, LORD? Will you stay hidden forever? Must your wrath smolder like fire?

[48] Remember how brief is my life, how frail the race you created!

[49] What mortal can live and not see death? Who can escape the power of Sheol? Selah

[50] Where are your promises of old, Lord, the loyalty sworn to David?

[51] Remember, Lord, the insults to your servants, how I bear all the slanders of the nations.

[52] Your enemies, LORD, insult your anointed; they insult my every endeavor.

[53] 10 Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and amen!

Psalms Chapter 90

[1] 1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our refuge through all generations.

[2] Before the mountains were born, the earth and the world brought forth, from eternity to eternity you are God.

[3] 3 But humans you return to dust, saying, "Return, you mortals!"

Psalms Chapter 91

[1] 1 2 You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

[2] Say to the LORD, "My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust."

[3] God will rescue you from the fowler's snare, from the destroying plague,

[4] Will shelter you with pinions, spread wings that you may take refuge; God's faithfulness is a protecting shield.

[5] You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day,

[6] Nor the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that ravages at noon.

[7] Though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, near you it shall not come.

[8] You need simply watch; the punishment of the wicked you will see.

[9] You have the LORD for your refuge; you have made the Most High your stronghold.

[10] No evil shall befall you, no affliction come near your tent.

[11] 3 For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways.

[12] With their hands they shall support you, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

[13] You shall tread upon the asp and the viper, trample the lion and the dragon.

[14] Whoever clings to me I will deliver; whoever knows my name I will set on high.

[15] All who call upon me I will answer; I will be with them in distress; I will deliver them and give them honor.

[16] With length of days I will satisfy them and show them my saving power.

Psalms Chapter 92

[1] 1 A psalm. A sabbath song.

[2] It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praise to your name, Most High,

[3] To proclaim your love in the morning, your faithfulness in the night,

[4] With the ten-stringed harp, with melody upon the lyre.

[5] For you make me jubilant, LORD, by your deeds; at the works of your hands I shout for joy.

[6] How great are your works, LORD! How profound your purpose!

[7] A senseless person cannot know this; a fool cannot comprehend.

[8] Though the wicked flourish like grass and all sinners thrive, They are destined for eternal destruction;

[9] for you, LORD, are forever on high.

[10] Indeed your enemies, LORD, indeed your enemies shall perish; all sinners shall be scattered.

[11] You have given me the strength of a wild bull; you have poured rich oil upon me.

[12] My eyes look with glee on my wicked enemies; my ears delight in the fall of my foes.

[13] The just shall flourish like the palm tree, shall grow like a cedar of Lebanon.

[14] 2 Planted in the house of the LORD, they shall flourish in the courts of our God.

[15] They shall bear fruit even in old age, always vigorous and sturdy,

[16] As they proclaim: "The LORD is just; our rock, in whom there is no wrong."

Psalms Chapter 93

[1] 1 2 The LORD is king, robed with majesty; the LORD is robed, girded with might. The world will surely stand in place, never to be moved.

[2] Your throne stands firm from of old; you are from everlasting, LORD.

[3] 3 The flood has raised up, LORD; the flood has raised up its roar; the flood has raised its pounding waves.

[4] More powerful than the roar of many waters, more powerful than the breakers of the sea, powerful in the heavens is the LORD.

[5] Your decrees are firmly established; holiness belongs to your house, LORD, for all the length of days.

Psalms Chapter 94

[1] 1 LORD, avenging God, avenging God, shine forth!

[2] Rise up, judge of the earth; give the proud what they deserve.

[3] How long, LORD, shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked glory?

[4] How long will they mouth haughty speeches, go on boasting, all these evildoers?

[5] They crush your people, LORD, torment your very own.

[6] They kill the widow and alien; the fatherless they murder.

[7] They say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice."

[8] Understand, you stupid people! You fools, when will you be wise?

[9] Does the one who shaped the ear not hear? The one who formed the eye not see?

[10] Does the one who guides nations not rebuke? The one who teaches humans not have knowledge?

[11] The LORD does know human plans; they are only puffs of air.

[12] Happy those whom you guide, LORD, whom you teach by your instruction.

[13] You give them rest from evil days, while a pit is being dug for the wicked.

[14] You, LORD, will not forsake your people, nor abandon your very own.

[15] Judgment shall again be just, and all the upright of heart will follow it.

[16] Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against evildoers?

[17] If the LORD were not my help, I would long have been silent in the grave.

[18] When I say, "My foot is slipping," your love, LORD, holds me up.

[19] When cares increase within me, your comfort gives me joy.

[20] Can unjust judges be your allies, those who create burdens in the name of law,

[21] Those who conspire against the just and condemn the innocent to death?

[22] No, the LORD is my secure height, my God, the rock where I find refuge,

[23] Who will turn back their evil upon them and destroy them for their wickedness. Surely the LORD our God will destroy them!

Psalms Chapter 95

[1] 1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; cry out to the rock of our salvation.

[2] Let us greet him with a song of praise, joyfully sing out our psalms.

[3] For the LORD is the great God, the great king over all gods,

[4] Whose hand holds the depths of the earth; who owns the tops of the mountains.

[5] The sea and dry land belong to God, who made them, formed them by hand.

[6] Enter, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us.

[7] For this is our God, whose people we are, God's well-tended flock. Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

[8] 2 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the desert.

[9] There your ancestors tested me; they tried me though they had seen my works.

[10] Forty years I loathed that generation; I said: "This people's heart goes astray; they do not know my ways."

[11] 3 Therefore I swore in my anger: "They shall never enter my rest."

Psalms Chapter 96

[1] 1 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.

[2] Sing to the LORD, bless his name; announce his salvation day after day.

[3] Tell God's glory among the nations; among all peoples, God's marvelous deeds.

[4] 2 For great is the LORD and highly to be praised, to be feared above all gods.

[5] For the gods of the nations all do nothing, but the LORD made the heavens.

[6] Splendor and power go before him; power and grandeur are in his holy place.

[7] Give to the LORD, you families of nations, give to the LORD glory and might;

[8] give to the LORD the glory due his name! Bring gifts and enter his courts;

[9] bow down to the LORD, splendid in holiness. Tremble before God, all the earth;

[10] say among the nations: The LORD is king. The world will surely stand fast, never to be moved. God rules the peoples with fairness.

[11] Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound;

[12] let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice

[13] before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth, To govern the world with justice and the peoples with faithfulness.

Psalms Chapter 97

[1] 1 The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad.

[2] Cloud and darkness surround the Lord; justice and right are the foundation of his throne.

[3] Fire goes before him; everywhere it consumes the foes.

[4] Lightning illumines the world; the earth sees and trembles.

[5] The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

[6] The heavens proclaim God's justice; all peoples see his glory.

[7] 2 All who serve idols are put to shame, who glory in worthless things; all gods bow down before you.

[8] Zion hears and is glad, and the cities of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, O LORD.

[9] You, LORD, are the Most High over all the earth, exalted far above all gods.

[10] The LORD loves those who hate evil, protects the lives of the faithful, rescues them from the hand of the wicked.

[11] Light dawns for the just; gladness, for the honest of heart.

[12] Rejoice in the LORD, you just, and praise his holy name.

Psalms Chapter 98

[1] 1 A psalm. 2 Sing a new song to the LORD, who has done marvelous deeds, Whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory.

[2] The LORD has made his victory known; has revealed his triumph for the nations to see,

[3] Has remembered faithful love toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

[4] Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth; break into song; sing praise.

[5] Sing praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song.

[6] With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout with joy to the King, the LORD.

[7] Let the sea and what fills it resound, the world and those who dwell there.

[8] Let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy,

[9] Before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth, To govern the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

Psalms Chapter 99

[1] 1 2 The LORD is king, the peoples tremble; God is enthroned on the cherubim, the earth quakes.

[2] The LORD is great on Zion, exalted above all the peoples.

[3] Let them praise your great and awesome name: Holy is God!

[4] O mighty king, lover of justice, you alone have established fairness; you have created just rule in Jacob.

[5] 3 Exalt the LORD, our God; bow down before his footstool; holy is God!

[6] Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel among those who called on God's name; they called on the LORD, who answered them.

[7] From the pillar of cloud God spoke to them; they kept the decrees, the law they received.

[8] O LORD, our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God, though you punished their offenses.

[9] Exalt the LORD, our God; bow down before his holy mountain; holy is the LORD, our God.

Psalms Chapter 100

[1] 1 A psalm of thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;

[2] worship the LORD with cries of gladness; come before him with joyful song.

[3] 2 Know that the LORD is God, our maker to whom we belong, whosepeople we are, God's well-tended flock.

[4] Enter the temple gates with praise, its courts with thanksgiving. Give thanks to God, bless his name;

[5] good indeed is the LORD, Whose love endures forever, whose faithfulness lasts through every age.

Psalms Chapter 101

[1] A psalm of David. 1 I sing of love and justice; to you, LORD, I sing praise.

[2] 2 I follow the way of integrity; when will you come to me? I act with integrity of heart within my royal court.

[3] I do not allow into my presence anyone who speaks perversely. Whoever acts shamefully I hate; no such person can be my friend.

[4] I shun the devious of heart; the wicked I do not tolerate.

[5] Whoever slanders another in secret I reduce to silence. Haughty eyes and arrogant hearts I cannot endure.

[6] 3 I look to the faithful of the land; they alone can be my companions. Those who follow the way of integrity, they alone can enter my service.

[7] No one who practices deceit can hold a post in my court. No one who speaks falsely can be among my advisors.

[8] 4 Each morning I clear the wicked from the land, and rid the LORD'S city of all evildoers.

Psalms Chapter 102

[1] 1 The prayer of one afflicted and wasting away whose anguish is poured out before the LORD.

[2] LORD, hear my prayer; let my cry come to you.

[3] Do not hide your face from me now that I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.

[4] For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn away as in a furnace.

[5] I am withered, dried up like grass, too wasted to eat my food.

[6] From my loud groaning I become just skin and bones.

[7] I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

[8] I lie awake and moan, like a lone sparrow on the roof.

[9] 2 All day long my enemies taunt me; in their rage, they make my name a curse.

[10] I eat ashes like bread, mingle my drink with tears.

[11] Because of your furious wrath, you lifted me up just to cast me down.

[12] My days are like a lengthening shadow; I wither like the grass.

[13] But you, LORD, are enthroned forever; your renown is for all generations.

[14] You will again show mercy to Zion; now is the time for pity; the appointed time has come.

[15] Its stones are dear to your servants; its dust moves them to pity.

[16] The nations shall revere your name, LORD, all the kings of the earth, your glory,

[17] Once the LORD has rebuilt Zion and appeared in glory,

[18] Heeding the plea of the lowly, not scorning their prayer.

[19] Let this be written for the next generation, for a people not yet born, that they may praise the LORD:

[20] 3 "The LORD looked down from the holy heights, viewed the earth from heaven,

[21] To attend to the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die."

[22] Then the LORD'S name will be declared on Zion, the praise of God in Jerusalem,

[23] When all peoples and kingdoms gather to worship the LORD.

[24] God has shattered my strength in mid-course, has cut short my days.

[25] 4 I plead, O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days. Your years last through all generations.

[26] Of old you laid the earth's foundations; the heavens are the work of your hands.

[27] They perish, but you remain; they all wear out like a garment; Like clothing you change them and they are changed,

[28] but you are the same, your years have no end.

[29] May the children of your servants live on; may their descendants live in your presence.

Psalms Chapter 103

[1] Of David. 1 Bless the LORD, my soul; all my being, bless his holy name!

[2] Bless the LORD, my soul; do not forget all the gifts of God,

[3] Who pardons all your sins, heals all your ills,

[4] Delivers your life from the pit, surrounds you with love and compassion,

[5] 2 Fills your days with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

[6] The LORD does righteous deeds, brings justice to all the oppressed.

[7] His ways were revealed to Moses, mighty deeds to the people of Israel.

[8] Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger, abounding in kindness.

[9] God does not always rebuke, nurses no lasting anger,

[10] Has not dealt with us as our sins merit, nor requited us as our deeds deserve.

[11] As the heavens tower over the earth, so God's love towers over the faithful.

[12] As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us.

[13] As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on the faithful.

[14] For he knows how we are formed, remembers that we are dust.

[15] Our days are like the grass; like flowers of the field we blossom.

[16] The wind sweeps over us and we are gone; our place knows us no more.

[17] But the LORD'S kindness is forever, toward the faithful from age to age. He favors the children's children

[18] of those who keep his covenant, who take care to fulfill its precepts.

[19] The LORD'S throne is established in heaven; God's royal power rules over all.

[20] Bless the LORD, all you angels, mighty in strength and attentive, obedient to every command.

[21] Bless the LORD, all you hosts, ministers who do God's will.

[22] Bless the LORD, all creatures, everywhere in God's domain. Bless the LORD, my soul!

Psalms Chapter 104

[1] 1 Bless the LORD, my soul! LORD, my God, you are great indeed! You are clothed with majesty and glory,

[2] robed in light as with a cloak. You spread out the heavens like a tent;

[3] 2 you raised your palace upon the waters. You make the clouds your chariot; you travel on the wings of the wind.

[4] You make the winds your messengers; flaming fire, your ministers.

[5] 3 You fixed the earth on its foundation, never to be moved.

[6] The ocean covered it like a garment; above the mountains stood the waters.

[7] At your roar they took flight; at the sound of your thunder they fled.

[8] They rushed up the mountains, down the valleys to the place you had fixed for them.

[9] You set a limit they cannot pass; never again will they cover the earth.

[10] You made springs flow into channels that wind among the mountains.

[11] They give drink to every beast of the field; here wild asses quench their thirst.

[12] Beside them the birds of heaven nest; among the branches they sing.

[13] You water the mountains from your palace; by your labor the earth abounds.

[14] You raise grass for the cattle and plants for our beasts of burden. You bring bread from the earth,

[15] and wine to gladden our hearts, Oil to make our faces gleam, food to build our strength.

[16] 4 The trees of the LORD drink their fill, the cedars of Lebanon, which you planted.

[17] There the birds build their nests; junipers are the home of the stork.

[18] The high mountains are for wild goats; the rocky cliffs, a refuge for badgers.

[19] You made the moon to mark the seasons, the sun that knows the hour of its setting.

[20] You bring darkness and night falls, then all the beasts of the forest roam abroad.

[21] Young lions roar for prey; they seek their food from God.

[22] When the sun rises, they steal away and rest in their dens.

[23] People go forth to their work, to their labor till evening falls.

[24] How varied are your works, LORD! In wisdom you have wrought them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

[25] Look at the sea, great and wide! It teems with countless beings, living things both large and small.

[26] 5 Here ships ply their course; here Leviathan, your creature, plays.

[27] All of these look to you to give them food in due time.

[28] When you give to them, they gather; when you open your hand, they are well filled.

[29] 6 When you hide your face, they are lost. When you take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust from which they came.

[30] When you send forth your breath, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

[31] May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD be glad in these works!

[32] If God glares at the earth, it trembles; if God touches the mountains, they smoke!

[33] I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live.

[34] May my theme be pleasing to God; I will rejoice in the LORD.

[35] 7 May sinners vanish from the earth, and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, my soul! Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 105

[1] 1 Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the peoples his deeds!

[2] Sing praise, play music; proclaim all his wondrous deeds!

[3] Glory in his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!

[4] Rely on the mighty LORD; constantly seek his face.

[5] Recall the wondrous deeds he has done, his signs and his words of judgment,

[6] You descendants of Abraham his servant, offspring of Jacob the chosen one!

[7] The LORD is our God who rules the whole earth.

[8] He remembers forever his covenant, the pact imposed for a thousand generations,

[9] Which was made with Abraham, confirmed by oath to Isaac,

[10] And ratified as binding for Jacob, an everlasting covenant for Israel:

[11] "To you I give the land of Canaan, your own allotted heritage."

[12] When they were few in number, a handful, and strangers there,

[13] Wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another,

[14] 2 He let no one oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings:

[15] " 3 Do not touch my anointed, to my prophets do no harm."

[16] Then he called down a famine on the land, destroyed the grain that sustained them.

[17] He had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, sold as a slave.

[18] They shackled his feet with chains; collared his neck in iron,

[19] Till his prediction came to pass, and the word of the LORD proved him true.

[20] The king sent and released him; the ruler of peoples set him free.

[21] He made him lord over his palace, ruler over all his possessions,

[22] To instruct his princes by his word, to teach his elders wisdom.

[23] 4 Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob lived in the land of Ham.

[24] God greatly increased his people, made them too many for their foes.

[25] He turned their hearts to hate his people, to treat his servants unfairly.

[26] He sent his servant Moses, Aaron whom he had chosen.

[27] 5 They worked his signs in Egypt and wonders in the land of Ham.

[28] He sent darkness and it grew dark, but they rebelled against his word.

[29] He turned their waters into blood and killed all their fish.

[30] Their land swarmed with frogs, even the chambers of their kings.

[31] He spoke and there came swarms of flies, gnats through all their country.

[32] For rain he gave them hail, flashes of lightning throughout their land.

[33] He struck down their vines and fig trees, shattered the trees of their country.

[34] He spoke and the locusts came, grass hoppers without number.

[35] They devoured every plant in the land; they ravaged the crops of their fields.

[36] He struck down every firstborn in the land, the first fruits of all their vigor.

[37] He brought his people out, laden with silver and gold; no stragglers among the tribes.

[38] Egypt rejoiced when they left, for panic had seized them.

[39] He spread a cloud as a cover, and made a fire to light up the night.

[40] They asked and he brought them quail; with bread from heaven he filled them.

[41] He split the rock and water gushed forth; it flowed through the desert like a river.

[42] For he remembered his sacred word to Abraham his servant.

[43] He brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

[44] He gave them the lands of the nations, the wealth of the peoples to own,

[45] That they might keep his laws and observe his teachings. Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 106

[1] 1 Hallelujah! Give thanks to the LORD, who is good, whose love endures forever.

[2] Who can tell the mighty deeds of the LORD, proclaim in full God's praise?

[3] Happy those who do what is right, whose deeds are always just.

[4] Remember me, LORD, as you favor your people; come to me with your saving help,

[5] That I may see the prosperity of your chosen, rejoice in the joy of your people, and glory with your heritage.

[6] We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and are guilty.

[7] Our ancestors in Egypt did not attend to your wonders. They did not remember your great love; they defied the Most High at the Red Sea.

[8] Yet he saved them for his name's sake to make his power known.

[9] He roared at the Red Sea and it dried up. He led them through the deep as through a desert.

[10] He rescued them from hostile hands, freed them from the power of the enemy.

[11] The waters covered their oppressors; not one of them survived.

[12] Then they believed his words and sang songs of praise.

[13] But they soon forgot all he had done; they had no patience for his plan.

[14] In the desert they gave way to their cravings, tempted God in the wasteland.

[15] So he gave them what they asked and sent among them a wasting disease.

[16] In the camp they challenged Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.

[17] The earth opened and swallowed Dathan, it closed on the followers of Abiram.

[18] Against that company the fire blazed; flames consumed the wicked.

[19] At Horeb they fashioned a calf, worshiped a metal statue.

[20] They exchanged their glorious God for the image of a grass-eating bull.

[21] They forgot the God who saved them, who did great deeds in Egypt,

[22] Amazing deeds in the land of Ham, fearsome deeds at the Red Sea.

[23] 2 He would have decreed their destruction, had not Moses, the chosen leader, Withstood him in the breach to turn back his destroying anger.

[24] Next they despised the beautiful land; they did not believe the promise.

[25] In their tents they complained; they did not obey the LORD.

[26] So with raised hand he swore to destroy them in the desert,

[27] To scatter their descendants among the nations, disperse them in foreign lands.

[28] They joined in the rites of Baal of Peor, ate food sacrificed to dead gods.

[29] They provoked him by their actions, and a plague broke out among them.

[30] Then Phinehas rose to intervene, and the plague was brought to a halt.

[31] This was counted for him as a righteous deed for all generations to come.

[32] 3 At the waters of Meribah they angered God, and Moses suffered because of them.

[33] They so embittered his spirit that rash words crossed his lips.

[34] They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them,

[35] But mingled with the nations and imitated their ways.

[36] They worshiped their idols and were ensnared by them.

[37] 4 They sacrificed to the gods their own sons and daughters,

[38] Shedding innocent blood, the blood of their own sons and daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, desecrating the land with bloodshed.

[39] They defiled themselves by their actions, became adulterers by their conduct.

[40] So the LORD grew angry with his people, abhorred his own heritage.

[41] He handed them over to the nations, and their adversaries ruled them.

[42] Their enemies oppressed them, kept them under subjection.

[43] Many times did he rescue them, but they kept rebelling and scheming and were brought low by their own guilt.

[44] Still God had regard for their affliction when he heard their wailing.

[45] For their sake he remembered his covenant and relented in his abundant love,

[46] Winning for them compassion from all who held them captive.

[47] Save us, LORD, our God; gather us from among the nations That we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in praising you.

[48] 5 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Let all the people say, Amen! Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 107

[1] 1 "Give thanks to the LORD who is good, whose love endures forever!"

[2] Let that be the prayer of the LORD'S redeemed, those redeemed from the hand of the foe,

[3] Those gathered from foreign lands, from east and west, from north and south.

[4] Some had lost their way in a barren desert; found no path toward a city to live in.

[5] They were hungry and thirsty; their life was ebbing away.

[6] In their distress they cried to the LORD, who rescued them in their peril,

[7] Guided them by a direct path so they reached a city to live in.

[8] Let them thank the LORD for such kindness, such wondrous deeds for mere mortals.

[9] For he satisfied the thirsty, filled the hungry with good things.

[10] Some lived in darkness and gloom, in prison, bound with chains,

[11] Because they rebelled against God's word, scorned the counsel of the Most High,

[12] Who humbled their hearts through hardship; they stumbled with no one to help.

[13] In their distress they cried to the LORD, who saved them in their peril,

[14] Led them forth from darkness and gloom and broke their chains asunder.

[15] Let them thank the LORD for such kindness, such wondrous deeds for mere mortals.

[16] For he broke down the gates of bronze and snapped the bars of iron.

[17] Some fell sick from their wicked ways, afflicted because of their sins.

[18] They loathed all manner of food; they were at the gates of death.

[19] In their distress they cried to the LORD, who saved them in their peril,

[20] Sent forth the word to heal them, snatched them from the grave.

[21] Let them thank the LORD for such kindness, such wondrous deeds for mere mortals.

[22] Let them offer a sacrifice in thanks, declare his works with shouts of joy.

[23] Some went off to sea in ships, plied their trade on the deep waters.

[24] They saw the works of the LORD, the wonders of God in the deep.

[25] He spoke and roused a storm wind; it tossed the waves on high.

[26] They rose up to the heavens, sank to the depths; their hearts trembled at the danger.

[27] They reeled, staggered like drunkards; their skill was of no avail.

[28] In their distress they cried to the LORD, who brought them out of their peril,

[29] Hushed the storm to a murmur; the waves of the sea were stilled.

[30] They rejoiced that the sea grew calm, that God brought them to the harbor they longed for.

[31] Let them thank the LORD for such kindness, such wondrous deeds for mere mortals.

[32] Let them praise him in the assembly of the people, give thanks in the council of the elders.

[33] 2 God changed rivers into desert, springs of water into thirsty ground,

[34] Fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the wickedness of its people.

[35] He changed the desert into pools of water, arid land into springs of water,

[36] And settled the hungry there; they built a city to live in.

[37] They sowed fields and planted vineyards, brought in an abundant harvest.

[38] God blessed them, they became very many, and their livestock did not decrease.

[39] Where they were diminished and brought low through misery and cruel oppression,

Psalms Chapter 108

[1] 1 A song; a psalm of David

[2] My heart is steadfast, God; my heart is steadfast. I will sing and chant praise.

[3] Awake, my soul; awake, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn.

[4] I will praise you among the peoples, LORD; I will chant your praise among the nations.

[5] For your love towers to the heavens; your faithfulness, to the skies.

[6] Appear on high over the heavens, God; may your glory appear above all the earth.

[7] Help with your right hand and answer us that your loved ones may escape.

[8] God promised in the sanctuary: "I will exult, I will apportion Shechem; the valley of Succoth I will measure out.

[9] Gilead is mine, mine is Manasseh; Ephraim is the helmet for my head, Judah, my own scepter.

[10] Moab is my washbowl; upon Edom I cast my sandal; I will triumph over Philistia."

[11] Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me into Edom?

[12] Was it not you who rejected us, God? Do you no longer march with our armies?

[13] Give us aid against the foe; worthless is human help.

[14] We will triumph with the help of God, who will trample down our foes.

Psalms Chapter 109

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] O God, whom I praise, do not be silent, for wicked and treacherous mouths attack me. They speak against me with lying tongues;

[3] with hateful words they surround me, attacking me without cause.

[4] In return for my love they slander me, even though I prayed for them.

[5] They repay me evil for good, hatred for my love. My enemies say of me:

[6] 2 "Find a lying witness, an accuser to stand by his right hand,

[7] That he may be judged and found guilty, that his plea may be in vain.

[8] May his days be few; may another take his office.

[9] May his children be fatherless, his wife, a widow.

[10] May his children be vagrant beggars, driven from their hovels.

[11] May the usurer snare all he owns, strangers plunder all he earns.

[12] May no one treat him kindly or pity his fatherless children.

[13] May his posterity be destroyed, his name cease in the next generation.

[14] May the LORD remember his fathers' guilt; his mother's sin not be canceled.

[15] May their guilt be always before the LORD, till their memory is banished from the earth,

[16] For he did not remember to show kindness, but hounded the wretched poor and brought death to the brokenhearted.

[17] He loved cursing; may it come upon him; he hated blessing; may none come to him.

[18] May cursing clothe him like a robe; may it enter his belly like water, seep into his bones like oil.

[19] May it be near as the clothes he wears, as the belt always around him."

[20] 3 May the LORD bring all this upon my accusers, upon those who speak evil against me.

[21] But you, LORD, my God, deal kindly with me for your name's sake; in your great mercy rescue me.

[22] For I am sorely in need; my heart is pierced within me.

[23] Like a lengthening shadow I near my end, all but swept away like the locust.

[24] My knees totter from fasting; my flesh has wasted away.

[25] I have become a mockery to them; when they see me, they shake their heads.

[26] Help me, LORD, my God; save me in your kindness.

[27] Make them know this is your hand, that you, LORD, have acted.

[28] Though they curse, may you bless; shame my foes, that your servant may rejoice.

[29] Clothe my accusers with disgrace; make them wear shame like a mantle.

[30] I will give fervent thanks to the LORD; before all I will praise my God.

[31] For God stands at the right hand of the poor to defend them against unjust accusers.

Psalms Chapter 110

[1] 1 A psalm of David. 2 The LORD says to you, my lord: "Take your throne at my righthand, while I make your enemies your footstool."

[2] The scepter of your sovereign might the LORD will extend from Zion. The LORD says: "Rule over your enemies!

[3] 3 Yours is princely power from the day of your birth. In holy splendor before the daystar, like the dew I begot you."

[4] 4 The LORD has sworn and will not waver: "Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever."

[5] At your right hand is the Lord, who crushes kings on the day of wrath,

[6] Who, robed in splendor, judges nations, crushes heads across the wide earth,

[7] 5 Who drinks from the brook by the wayside and thus holds high the head.

Psalms Chapter 111

[1] 1 Hallelujah. 2 I will praise the LORD with all my heart in the assembled congregation of the upright.

[2] Great are the works of the LORD, to be treasured for all their delights.

[3] 3 Majestic and glorious is your work, your wise design endures forever.

[4] You won renown for your wondrous deeds; gracious and merciful is the LORD.

[5] 4 You gave food to those who fear you, mindful of your covenant forever.

[6] 5 You showed powerful deeds to your people, giving them the lands of the nations.

[7] The works of your hands are right and true, reliable all your decrees,

[8] Established forever and ever, to be observed with loyalty and care.

[9] You sent deliverance to your people, ratified your covenant forever; holy and awesome is your name.

[10] 6 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; prudent are all who live by it. Your praise endures forever.

Psalms Chapter 112

[1] 1 Hallelujah! 2 Happy are those who fear the LORD, who greatly delight in God's commands.

[2] Their descendants shall be mighty in the land, generation upright and blessed.

[3] 3 Wealth and riches shall be in their homes; their prosperity shall endure forever.

[4] They shine through the darkness, a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and just.

[5] All goes well for those gracious in lending, who conduct their affairs with justice.

[6] They shall never be shaken; the just shall be remembered forever.

[7] They shall not fear an ill report; their hearts are steadfast, trusting the LORD.

[8] Their hearts are tranquil, without fear, till at last they look down on their foes.

[9] 4 Lavishly they give to the poor; their prosperity shall endure forever; their horn shall be exalted in honor.

[10] The wicked shall be angry to see this; they will gnash their teeth and waste away; the desires of the wicked come to nothing.

Psalms Chapter 113

[1] Hallelujah! 1 Praise, you servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.

[2] Blessed be the name of the LORD both now and forever.

[3] From the rising of the sun to its setting let the name of the LORD be praised.

[4] High above all nations is the LORD; above the heavens God's glory.

[5] Who is like the LORD, our God enthroned on high,

[6] looking down on heaven and earth?

[7] The LORD raises the needy from the dust, lifts the poor from the ash heap,

[8] Seats them with princes, the princes of the people,

[9] Gives the childless wife a home, the joyful mother of children. Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 114

[1] 1 When Israel came forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from an alien people,

[2] Judah became God's holy place, Israel, God's domain.

[3] 2 The sea beheld and fled; the Jordan turned back.

[4] The mountains skipped like rams; the hills, like lambs of the flock.

[5] Why was it, sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you turned back?

[6] You mountains, that you skipped like rams? You hills, like lambs of the flock?

[7] Tremble, earth, before the Lord, before the God of Jacob,

[8] 3 Who turned rock into pools of water, stone into flowing springs.

Psalms Chapter 115

[1] 1 Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name give glory because of your faithfulness and love.

[2] 2 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?"

[3] Our God is in heaven; whatever God wills is done.

[4] Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

[5] They have mouths but do not speak, eyes but do not see.

[6] They have ears but do not hear, noses but do not smell.

[7] They have hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk, and no sound rises from their throats.

[8] Their makers shall be like them, all who trust in them.

[9] 3 The house of Israel trusts in the LORD, who is their help and shield.

[10] The house of Aaron trusts in the LORD, who is their help and shield.

[11] Those who fear the LORD trust in the LORD, who is their help and shield.

[12] The LORD remembers us and will bless us, will bless the house of Israel, will bless the house of Aaron,

[13] Will bless those who fear the LORD, small and great alike.

[14] May the LORD increase your number, you and your descendants.

[15] May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

[16] 4 The heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth is given to us.

[17] 5 The dead do not praise the LORD, all those gone down into silence.

[18] It is we who bless the LORD, both now and forever. Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 116

[1] 1 I love the LORD, who listened to my voice in supplication,

[2] Who turned an ear to me on the day I called.

[3] 2 I was caught by the cords of death; the snares of Sheol had seized me; I felt agony and dread.

[4] Then I called on the name of the LORD, "O LORD, save my life!"

[5] Gracious is the LORD and just; yes, our God is merciful.

[6] The LORD protects the simple; I was helpless, but God saved me.

[7] Return, my soul, to your rest; the LORD has been good to you.

[8] For my soul has been freed from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

[9] 3 I shall walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

[10] 4 I kept faith, even when I said, "I am greatly afflicted!"

[11] I said in my alarm, "No one can be trusted!"

[12] How can I repay the LORD for all the good done for me?

[13] 5 I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

[14] I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

[15] 6 Too costly in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful.

[16] LORD, I am your servant, your servant, the child of your maidservant; you have loosed my bonds.

[17] I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.

[18] I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,

[19] In the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 117

[1] 1 Praise the LORD, all you nations! Give glory, all you peoples!

[2] The LORD'S love for us is strong; the LORD is faithful forever. Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 118

[1] 1 Give thanks to the LORD, who is good, whose love endures forever.

[2] Let the house of Israel say: God's love endures forever.

[3] Let the house of Aaron say, God's love endures forever.

[4] Let those who fear the LORD say, God's love endures forever.

[5] In danger I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free.

[6] The LORD is with me; I am not afraid; what can mortals do against me?

[7] The LORD is with me as my helper; I shall look in triumph on my foes.

[8] Better to take refuge in the LORD than to put one's trust in mortals.

[9] Better to take refuge in the LORD than to put one's trust in princes.

[10] All the nations surrounded me; in the LORD'S name I crushed them.

[11] They surrounded me on every side; in the LORD'S name I crushed them.

[12] They surrounded me like bees; they blazed like fire among thorns; in the LORD'S name I crushed them.

[13] I was hard pressed and falling, but the LORD came to my help.

[14] The LORD, my strength and might, came to me as savior.

[15] The joyful shout of deliverance is heard in the tents of the victors: "The LORD'S right hand strikes with power;

[16] the LORD'S right hand is raised; the LORD'S right hand strikes with power."

[17] I shall not die but live and declare the deeds of the LORD.

[18] The LORD chastised me harshly, but did not hand me over to death.

[19] Open the gates of victory; I will enter and thank the LORD.

[20] 2 This is the LORD'S own gate, where the victors enter.

[21] I thank you for you answered me; you have been my savior.

[22] 3 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

[23] By the LORD has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes.

[24] This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad.

[25] 4 LORD, grant salvation! LORD, grant good fortune!

[26] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless you from the LORD'S house.

[27] The LORD is God and has given us light. Join in procession with leafy branches up to the horns of the altar.

[28] You are my God, I give you thanks; my God, I offer you praise.

[29] Give thanks to the LORD, who is good, whose love endures forever.

Psalms Chapter 119

[1] 1 Happy those whose way is blameless, who walk by the teaching of the LORD.

[2] Happy those who observe God's decrees, who seek the LORD with all their heart.

[3] They do no wrong; they walk in God's ways.

[4] You have given them the command to keep your precepts with care.

[5] May my ways be firm in the observance of your laws!

[6] Then I will not be ashamed to ponder all your commands.

[7] I will praise you with sincere heart as I study your just edicts.

[8] I will keep your laws; do not leave me all alone.

[9] How can the young walk without fault? Only by keeping your words.

[10] With all my heart I seek you; do not let me stray from your commands.

[11] In my heart I treasure your promise, that I may not sin against you.

[12] Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your laws.

[13] With my lips I recite all the edicts you have spoken.

[14] I find joy in the way of your decrees more than in all riches.

[15] I will ponder your precepts and consider your paths.

[16] In your laws I take delight; I will never forget your word.

[17] Be kind to your servant that I may live, that I may keep your word.

[18] Open my eyes to see clearly the wonders of your teachings.

[19] 2 I am a sojourner in the land; do not hide your commands from me.

[20] At all times my soul is stirred with longing for your edicts.

[21] With a curse you rebuke the proud who stray from your commands.

[22] Free me from disgrace and contempt, for I observe your decrees.

[23] Though princes meet and talk against me, your servant studies your laws.

[24] Your decrees are my delight; they are my counselors.

[25] I lie prostrate in the dust; give me life in accord with your word.

[26] I disclosed my ways and you answered me; teach me your laws.

[27] Make me understand the way of your precepts; I will ponder your wondrous deeds.

[28] I weep in bitter pain; in accord with your word to strengthen me.

[29] Lead me from the way of deceit; favor me with your teaching.

[30] The way of loyalty I have chosen; I have set your edicts before me.

[31] I cling to your decrees, LORD; do not let me come to shame.

[32] 3 I will run the way of your commands, for you open my docile heart.

[33] LORD, teach me the way of your laws; I shall observe them with care.

[34] Give me insight to observe your teaching, to keep it with all my heart.

[35] Lead me in the path of your commands, for that is my delight.

[36] Direct my heart toward your decrees and away from unjust gain.

[37] Avert my eyes from what is worthless; by your way give me life.

[38] For your servant fulfill your promise made to those who fear you.

[39] Turn away from me the taunts I dread, for your edicts bring good.

[40] See how I long for your precepts; in your justice give me life.

[41] Let your love come to me, LORD, salvation in accord with your promise.

[42] Let me answer my taunters with a word, for I trust in your word.

[43] Do not take the word of truth from my mouth, for in your edicts is my hope.

[44] I will keep your teachings always, for all time and forever.

[45] I will walk freely in an open space because I cherish your precepts.

[46] I will speak openly of your decrees without fear even before kings.

[47] I delight in your commands, which I dearly love.

[48] 4 I lift up my hands to your commands; I study your laws, which I love.

[49] Remember your word to your servant by which you give me hope.

[50] This is my comfort in affliction, your promise that gives me life.

[51] Though the arrogant utterly scorn me, I do not turn from your teaching.

[52] When I recite your edicts of old I am comforted, LORD.

[53] Rage seizes me because of the wicked; they forsake your teaching.

[54] Your laws become my songs wherever I make my home.

[55] Even at night I remember your name in observance of your teaching, LORD.

[56] This is my good fortune, for I have observed your precepts.

[57] My portion is the LORD; I promise to keep your words.

[58] I entreat you with all my heart: have mercy on me in accord with your promise.

[59] I have examined my ways and turned my steps to your decrees.

[60] I am prompt, I do not hesitate in keeping your commands.

[61] Though the snares of the wicked surround me, your teaching I do not forget.

[62] At midnight I rise to praise you because your edicts are just.

[63] I am the friend of all who fear you, of all who keep your precepts.

[64] The earth, LORD, is filled with your love; teach me your laws.

[65] You have treated your servant well, according to your word, O LORD.

[66] Teach me wisdom and knowledge, for in your commands I trust.

[67] Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I hold to your promise.

[68] You are good and do what is good; teach me your laws.

[69] The arrogant smear me with lies, but I observe your precepts with all my heart.

[70] Their hearts are gross and fat; as for me, your teaching is my delight.

[71] It was good for me to be afflicted, in order to learn your laws.

[72] Teaching from your lips is more precious to me than heaps of silver and gold.

[73] Your hands made me and fashioned me; give me insight to learn your commands.

[74] Those who fear you rejoice to see me, because I hope in your word.

[75] I know, LORD, that your edicts are just; though you afflict me, you are faithful.

[76] May your love comfort me in accord with your promise to your servant.

[77] Show me compassion that I may live, for your teaching is my delight.

[78] Shame the proud for oppressing me unjustly, that I may study your precepts.

[79] Let those who fear you turn to me, those who acknowledge your decrees.

[80] May I be wholehearted toward your laws, that I may not be put to shame.

[81] My soul longs for your salvation; I put my hope in your word.

[82] My eyes long to see your promise. When will you comfort me?

[83] I am like a wineskin shriveled by smoke, but I have not forgotten your laws.

[84] How long can your servant survive? When will your edict doom my foes?

[85] The arrogant have dug pits for me; defying your teaching.

[86] All your commands are steadfast. Help me! I am pursued without cause.

[87] They have almost ended my life on earth, but I do not forsake your precepts.

[88] In your kindness give me life, to keep the decrees you have spoken.

[89] 5 Your word, LORD, stands forever; it is firm as the heavens.

[90] Through all generations your truth endures; fixed to stand firm like the earth.

[91] By your edicts they stand firm to this day, for all things are your servants.

[92] Had your teaching not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

[93] I will never forget your precepts; through them you give me life.

[94] I am yours; save me, for I cherish your precepts.

[95] The wicked hope to destroy me, but I pay heed to your decrees.

[96] I have seen the limits of all perfection, but your command is without bounds.

[97] How I love your teaching, Lord! I study it all day long.

[98] Your command makes me wiser than my foes, for it is always with me.

[99] I have more understanding than all my teachers, because I ponder your decrees.

[100] I have more insight than my elders, because I observe your precepts.

[101] I keep my steps from every evil path, that I may obey your word.

[102] From your edicts I do not turn, for you have taught them to me.

[103] How sweet to my tongue is your promise, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

[104] Through your precepts I gain insight; therefore I hate all false ways.

[105] Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.

[106] I make a solemn vow to keep your just edicts.

[107] I am very much afflicted, LORD; give me life in accord with your word.

[108] Accept my freely offered praise; LORD, teach me your decrees.

[109] My life is always at risk, but I do not forget your teaching.

[110] The wicked have set snares for me, but from your precepts I do not stray.

[111] Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.

[112] My heart is set on fulfilling your laws; they are my reward forever.

[113] I hate every hypocrite; your teaching I love.

[114] You are my refuge and shield; in your word I hope.

[115] Depart from me, you wicked, that I may observe the commands of my God.

[116] Sustain me by your promise that I may live; do not disappoint me in my hope.

[117] Strengthen me that I may be safe, ever to contemplate your laws.

[118] You reject all who stray from your laws, for vain is their deceit.

[119] Like dross you regard all the wicked on earth; therefore I love your decrees.

[120] My flesh shudders with dread of you; I hold your edicts in awe.

[121] I have fulfilled your just edict; do not abandon me to my oppressors.

[122] Guarantee your servant's welfare; do not let the arrogant oppress me.

[123] My eyes long to see your salvation and the justice of your promise.

[124] Act with kindness toward your servant; teach me your laws.

[125] I am your servant; give me discernment that I may know your decrees.

[126] It is time for the LORD to act; they have disobeyed your teaching.

[127] Truly I love your commands more than the finest gold.

[128] Thus I follow all your precepts; every wrong way I hate.

[129] Wonderful are your decrees; therefore I observe them.

[130] The revelation of your words sheds light, gives understanding to the simple.

[131] I sigh with open mouth, yearning for your commands.

[132] Turn to me and be gracious, your edict for lovers of your name.

[133] Steady my feet in accord with your promise; do not let iniquity lead me.

[134] Free me from human oppression, that I may keep your precepts.

[135] Let your face shine upon your servant; teach me your laws.

[136] My eyes shed streams of tears because your teaching is not followed.

[137] You are righteous, LORD, and just are your edicts.

[138] You have issued your decrees in justice and in surpassing faithfulness.

[139] I am consumed with rage, because my foes forget your words.

[140] Your servant loves your promise; it has been proved by fire.

[141] Though belittled and despised, I do not forget your precepts.

[142] Your justice is forever right, your teaching forever true.

[143] Though distress and anguish come upon me, your commands are my delight.

[144] Your decrees are forever just; give me discernment that I may live.

[145] I call with all my heart, O LORD; answer me that I may observe your laws.

[146] I call to you to save me that I may keep your decrees.

[147] I rise before dawn and cry out; I put my hope in your words.

[148] My eyes greet the night watches as I meditate on your promise.

[149] Hear my voice in your love, O LORD; by your edict give me life.

[150] Malicious persecutors draw near me; they are far from your teaching.

[151] You are near, O LORD; reliable are all your commands.

[152] Long have I known from your decrees that you have established them forever.

[153] Look at my affliction and rescue me, for I have not forgotten your teaching.

[154] Take up my cause and redeem me; for the sake of your promise give me life.

[155] Salvation is far from sinners because they do not cherish your laws.

[156] Your compassion is great, O LORD; in accord with your edicts give me life.

[157] Though my persecutors and foes are many I do not turn from your decrees.

[158] I view the faithless with loathing, because they do not heed your promise.

[159] See how I love your precepts, LORD; in your kindness give me life.

[160] Your every word is enduring; all your just edicts are forever.

[161] Princes persecute me without reason, but my heart reveres only your word.

[162] I rejoice at your promise, as one who has found rich spoil.

[163] Falsehood I hate and abhor; your teaching I love.

[164] Seven times a day I praise you because your edicts are just.

[165] Lovers of your teaching have much peace; for them there is no stumbling block.

[166] I look for your salvation, LORD, and I fulfill your commands.

[167] I observe your decrees; I love them very much.

[168] I observe your precepts and decrees; all my ways are before you.

[169] Let my cry come before you, LORD; in keeping with your word give me discernment.

[170] Let my prayer come before you; rescue me according to your promise.

[171] May my lips pour forth your praise, because you teach me your laws.

[172] May my tongue sing of your promise, for all your commands are just.

[173] Keep your hand ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.

[174] I long for your salvation, LORD; your teaching is my delight.

[175] Let me live to praise you; may your edicts give me help.

[176] I have wandered like a lost sheep; seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commands.

Psalms Chapter 120

[1] 1 A song of ascents. 2 The LORD answered me when I called in my distress:

[2] LORD, deliver me from lying lips, from treacherous tongues.

[3] 3 What will the Lord inflict on you, O treacherous tongue, and what more besides?

[4] 4 A warrior's sharpened arrows and fiery coals of brush wood!

[5] 5 Alas, I was an alien in Meshech, I lived near the tents of Kedar!

[6] Too long did I live among those who hated peace.

[7] When I spoke of peace, they were for war.

Psalms Chapter 121

[1] 1 A song of ascents. 2 I raise my eyes toward the mountains. From where will my help come?

[2] My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.

[3] God will not allow your foot to slip; your guardian does not sleep.

[4] Truly, the guardian of Israel never slumbers nor sleeps.

[5] 3 The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade at your righthand.

[6] By day the sun cannot harm you, nor the moon by night.

[7] The LORD will guard you from all evil, will always guard your life.

[8] The LORD will guard your coming and going both now and forever.

Psalms Chapter 122

[1] A song of ascents. Of David. 1 I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."

[2] And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem.

[3] 2 Jerusalem, built as a city, walled round about.

[4] Here the tribes have come, the tribes of the LORD, As it was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

[5] Here are the thrones of justice, the thrones of the house of David.

[6] For the peace of Jerusalem pray: "May those who love you prosper!

[7] May peace be within your ramparts, prosperity within your towers."

[8] For family and friends I say, "May peace be yours."

[9] For the house of the LORD, our God, I pray, "May blessings be yours."

Psalms Chapter 123

[1] A song of ascents. 1 To you I raise my eyes, to you enthroned in heaven.

[2] Yes, like the eyes of a servant on the hand of his master, Like the eyes of a maid on the hand of her mistress, So our eyes are on the LORD our God, till we are shown favor.

[3] Show us favor, LORD, show us favor, for we have our fill of contempt.

[4] We have our fill of insult from the insolent, of disdain from the arrogant.

Psalms Chapter 124

[1] 1 A song of ascents. Of David. I Had not the LORD been with us, let Israel say,

[2] Had not the LORD been with us, when people rose against us,

[3] They would have swallowed us alive, for their fury blazed against us.

[4] The waters would have engulfed us, the torrent overwhelmed us;

[5] seething waters would have drowned us.

[6] Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us to be torn by their fangs.

[7] We escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare was broken and we escaped.

[8] 2 Our help is the name of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.

Psalms Chapter 125

[1] A song of ascents. 1 Like Mount Zion are they who trust in the LORD, unshakable, forever enduring.

[2] As mountains surround Jerusalem, the LORD surrounds his people both now and forever.

[3] 2 The scepter of the wicked will not prevail in the land given to the just, Lest the just themselves turn their hands to evil.

[4] Do good, LORD, to the good, to those who are upright of heart.

[5] But those who turn aside to crooked ways may the LORD send down with the wicked. Peace upon Israel!

Psalms Chapter 126

[1] A song of ascents. 1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, then we thought we were dreaming.

[2] Our mouths were filled with laughter; our tongues sang for joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD had done great things for them."

[3] The LORD has done great things for us; Oh, how happy we were!

[4] 2 Restore again our fortunes, LORD, like the dry stream beds of the Negeb.

[5] Those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy.

[6] Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, Will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves.

Psalms Chapter 127

[1] 1 A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build. Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch.

[2] It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night, To eat bread earned by hard toil-- all this God gives to his beloved in sleep.

[3] Children too are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward.

[4] Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children born in one's youth.

[5] 2 Blessed are they whose quivers are full. They will never be shamed contending with foes at the gate.

Psalms Chapter 128

[1] 1 A song of ascents. 2 Happy are all who fear the LORD, who walk in the ways of God.

[2] What your hands provide you will enjoy; you will be happy and prosper:

[3] Like a fruitful vine your wife within your home, Like olive plants your children around your table.

[4] Just so will they be blessed who fear the LORD.

[5] May the LORD bless you from Zion, all the days of your life That you may share Jerusalem's joy

[6] and live to see your children's children. Peace upon Israel!

Psalms Chapter 129

[1] A song of ascents. 1 Much have they oppressed me from my youth, now let Israel say.

[2] Much have they oppressed me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed.

[3] Upon my back the plowers plowed, as they traced their long furrows.

[4] 2 But the just LORD cut me free from the ropes of the yoke of the wicked.

[5] May they be scattered in disgrace, all who hate Zion.

[6] 3 May they be like grass on the rooftops withered in early growth,

[7] Never to fill the reaper's hands, nor the arms of the binders of sheaves,

[8] 4 With none passing by to call out: "The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD!"

Psalms Chapter 130

[1] 1 A song of ascents. 2 Out of the depths I call to you, LORD;

[2] Lord, hear my cry! May your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

[3] If you, LORD, mark our sins, Lord, who can stand?

[4] 3 But with you is forgiveness and so you are revered.

[5] I wait with longing for the LORD, my soul waits for his word.

[6] My soul looks for the Lord more than sentinels for daybreak. More than sentinels for daybreak,

[7] let Israel look for the LORD, For with the LORD is kindness, with him is full redemption,

[8] And God will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Psalms Chapter 131

[1] 1 A song of ascents. Of David. LORD, my heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. I do not busy myself with great matters, with things too sublime for me.

[2] Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me.

[3] Israel, hope in the LORD, now and forever.

Psalms Chapter 132

[1] 1 A song of ascents. 2 LORD, remember David and all his anxious care;

[2] 3 How he swore an oath to the LORD, vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

[3] "I will not enter the house where I live, nor lie on the couch where I sleep;

[4] I will give my eyes no sleep, my eyelids no rest,

[5] Till I find a home for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

[6] 4 "We have heard of it in Ephrathah; we have found it in the fields of Jaar.

[7] Let us enter God's dwelling; let us worship at God's footstool."

[8] "Arise, LORD, come to your resting place, you and your majestic ark.

[9] Your priests will be clothed with justice; your faithful will shout for joy."

[10] For the sake of David your servant, do not reject your anointed.

[11] The LORD swore an oath to David, a pledge never to be broken: "Your own offspring I will set upon your throne.

[12] If your sons observe my covenant, the laws I shall teach them, Their sons, in turn, shall sit forever on your throne."

[13] Yes, the LORD has chosen Zion, desired it for a dwelling:

[14] "This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I desire it.

[15] I will bless Zion with meat; its poor I will fill with bread.

[16] I will clothe its priests with blessing; its faithful shall shout for joy.

[17] 5 There I will make a horn sprout for David's line; I will set a lamp for my anointed.

[18] His foes I will clothe with shame, but on him my crown shall gleam."

Psalms Chapter 133

[1] 1 2 A song of ascents. Of David. How good it is, how pleasant, where the people dwell as one!

[2] 3 Like precious ointment on the head, running down upon the beard, Upon the beard of Aaron, upon the collar of his robe.

[3] 4 Like dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion. There the LORD has lavished blessings, life for evermore!

Psalms Chapter 134

[1] 1 A song of ascents. 2 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD Who stand in the house of the LORD through the long hours of night.

[2] Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.

[3] May the LORD who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion.

Psalms Chapter 135

[1] Hallelujah! 1 Praise the name of the LORD! Praise, you servants of the LORD,

[2] Who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God!

[3] Praise the LORD; the LORD is good! Sing to God's name; it is gracious!

[4] 2 For the LORD has chosen Jacob, Israel as a treasured possession.

[5] I know that the LORD is great, our Lord is greater than all gods.

[6] Whatever the LORD wishes he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all the deeps.

[7] He raises storm clouds from the end of the earth, makes lightning and rain, brings forth wind from the storehouse.

[8] He struck down Egypt's firstborn, human and beast alike,

[9] And sent signs and portents against you, Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.

[10] The Lord struck down many nations, slew mighty kings--

[11] Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, all the kings of Canaan--

[12] And made their land a heritage, a heritage for Israel his people.

[13] O LORD, your name is forever, your renown, from age to age!

[14] For the LORD defends his people, shows mercy to his servants.

[15] The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

[16] They have mouths but speak not; they have eyes but see not;

[17] They have ears but hear not; no breath is in their mouths.

[18] Their makers shall be like them, all who trust in them.

[19] House of Israel, bless the LORD! House of Aaron, bless the LORD!

[20] House of Levi, bless the LORD! You who fear the LORD, bless the LORD!

[21] Blessed from Zion be the LORD, who dwells in Jerusalem! Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 136

[1] 1 Praise the LORD, who is so good; God's love endures forever;

[2] Praise the God of gods; God's love endures forever;

[3] Praise the Lord of lords; God's love endures forever;

[4] Who alone has done great wonders, God's love endures forever;

[5] Who skillfully made the heavens, God's love endures forever;

[6] Who spread the earth upon the waters, God's love endures forever;

[7] Who made the great lights, God's love endures forever;

[8] The sun to rule the day, God's love endures forever;

[9] The moon and stars to rule the night, God's love endures forever;

[10] Who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, God's love endures forever;

[11] And led Israel from their midst, God's love endures forever;

[12] With mighty hand and outstretched arm, God's love endures forever;

[13] Who split in two the Red Sea, God's love endures forever;

[14] And led Israel through, God's love endures forever;

[15] But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea, God's love endures forever;

[16] Who led the people through the desert, God's love endures forever;

[17] Who struck down great kings, God's love endures forever;

[18] Slew powerful kings, God's love endures forever;

[19] Sihon, king of the Amorites, God's love endures forever;

[20] Og, king of Bashan, God's love endures forever;

[21] And made their lands a heritage, God's love endures forever;

[22] 2 A heritage for Israel, God's servant, God's love endures forever.

[23] The LORD remembered us in our misery, God's love endures forever;

[24] Freed us from our foes, God's love endures forever;

[25] And gives food to all flesh, God's love endures forever.

[26] Praise the God of heaven, God's love endures forever.

Psalms Chapter 137

[1] 1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat mourning and weeping when we remembered Zion.

[2] 2 On the poplars of that land we hung up our harps.

[3] There our captors asked us for the words of a song; Our tormentors, for a joyful song: "Sing for us a song of Zion!"

[4] But how could we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?

[5] If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither.

[6] May my tongue stick to my palate if I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem beyond all my delights.

[7] Remember, LORD, against Edom that day at Jerusalem. They said: "Level it, level it down to its foundations!"

[8] Fair Babylon, you destroyer, happy those who pay you back the evil you have done us!

[9] 3 Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock.

Psalms Chapter 138

[1] 1 Of David. 2 I thank you, LORD, with all my heart; before the gods to you I sing.

[2] I bow low toward your holy temple; I praise your name for your fidelity and love. For you have exalted over all your name and your promise.

[3] When I cried out, you answered; you strengthened my spirit.

[4] All the kings of earth will praise you, LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth.

[5] They will sing of the ways of the LORD: "How great is the glory of the LORD!"

[6] The LORD is on high, but cares for the lowly and knows the proud from afar.

[7] Though I walk in the midst of dangers, you guard my life when my enemies rage. You stretch out your hand; your right hand saves me.

[8] The LORD is with me to the end. LORD, your love endures forever. Never forsake the work of your hands!

Psalms Chapter 139

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David. O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:

[2] 2 you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.

[3] My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar.

[4] Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all.

[5] Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me.

[6] Such knowledge is beyond me, far too lofty for me to reach.

[7] Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee?

[8] If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too.

[9] 3 If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea,

[10] Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast.

[11] 4 If I say, "Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light" --

[12] Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one.

[13] You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.

[14] I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew;

[15] 5 my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth.

[16] Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.

[17] How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them!

[18] Were I to count, they would outnumber the sands; to finish, I would need eternity.

[19] If only you would destroy the wicked, O God, and the bloodthirsty would depart from me!

[20] Deceitfully they invoke your name; your foes swear faithless oaths.

[21] Do I not hate, LORD, those who hate you? Those who rise against you, do I not loathe?

[22] With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own.

[23] Probe me, God, know my heart; try me, know my concerns.

[24] 6 See if my way is crooked, then lead me in the ancient paths.

Psalms Chapter 140

[1] 1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

[2] Deliver me, LORD, from the wicked; preserve me from the violent,

[3] From those who plan evil in their hearts, who stir up conflicts every day,

[4] 2 Who sharpen their tongues like serpents, venom of asps upon their lips. Selah

[5] Keep me, LORD, from the clutches of the wicked; preserve me from the violent, who plot to trip me up.

[6] 3 The arrogant have set a trap for me; villains have spread a net, laid snares for me by the wayside. Selah

[7] I say to the LORD: You are my God; listen, LORD, to the words of my prayer.

[8] My revered LORD, my strong helper, my helmet on the day of battle.

[9] LORD, do not grant the desires of the wicked; do not let their plots succeed. Selah

[10] Around me they raise their proud heads; may the mischief they threaten overwhelm them.

[11] May God rain burning coals upon them, cast them into the grave never more to rise.

[12] Slanderers will not survive on earth; evil will quickly entrap the violent.

[13] For I know the LORD will secure justice for the needy, their rights for the poor.

[14] Then the just will give thanks to your name; the upright will dwell in your presence.

Psalms Chapter 141

[1] 1 A psalm of David. LORD, I call to you; come quickly to help me; listen to my plea when I call.

[2] 2 Let my prayer be incense before you; my uplifted hands an evening sacrifice.

[3] Set a guard, LORD, before my mouth, a gatekeeper at my lips.

[4] Do not let my heart incline to evil, or yield to any sin. I will never feast upon the fine food of evildoers.

[5] 3 Let the just strike me; that is kindness; let them rebuke me; that is oil for my head. All this I shall not refuse, but will pray despite these trials.

[6] When their leaders are cast over the cliff, all will learn that my prayers were heard.

[7] As when a farmer plows a field into broken clods, so their bones will be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.

[8] My eyes are upon you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I take refuge; do not strip me of life.

[9] Guard me from the trap they have set for me, from the snares of evildoers.

[10] Into their own nets let all the wicked fall, while I make good my own escape.

Psalms Chapter 142

[1] 1 2 A maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer.

[2] With full voice I cry to the LORD; with full voice I beseech the LORD.

[3] Before God I pour out my complaint, lay bare my distress.

[4] My spirit is faint within me, but you know my path. Along the way I walk they have hidden a trap for me.

[5] I look to my right hand, but no friend is there. There is no escape for me; no one cares for me.

[6] I cry out to you, LORD, I say, You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

[7] Listen to my cry for help, for I am brought very low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me.

[8] 3 Lead me out of my prison, that I may give thanks to your name. Then the just shall gather around me because you have been good to me.

Psalms Chapter 143

[1] 1 A psalm of David. LORD, hear my prayer; in your faithfulness listen to my pleading; answer me in your justice.

[2] Do not enter into judgment with your servant; before you no living being can be just.

[3] 2 The enemy has pursued me; they have crushed my life to the ground. They have left me in darkness like those long dead.

[4] My spirit is faint within me; my heart is dismayed.

[5] I remember the days of old; I ponder all your deeds; the works of your hands I recall.

[6] I stretch out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land. Selah

[7] Hasten to answer me, LORD; for my spirit fails me. Do not hide your face from me, lest I become like those descending to the pit.

[8] At dawn let me hear of your kindness, for in you I trust. Show me the path I should walk, for to you I entrust my life.

[9] Rescue me, LORD, from my foes, for in you I hope.

[10] Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your kind spirit guide me on ground that is level.

[11] For your name's sake, LORD, give me life; in your justice lead me out of distress.

[12] In your kindness put an end to my foes; destroy all who attack me, for I am your servant. Psalm

Psalms Chapter 144

[1] 1 Of David. 2 Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war;

[2] My safe guard and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, My shield, in whom I trust, who subdues peoples under me.

[3] 3 LORD, what are mortals that you notice them; human beings, that you take thought of them?

[4] 4 They are but a breath; their days are like a passing shadow.

[5] 5 LORD, incline your heavens and come; touch the mountains and make them smoke.

[6] Flash forth lightning and scatter my foes; shoot your arrows and rout them.

[7] Reach out your hand from on high; deliver me from the many waters; rescue me from the hands of foreign foes.

[8] 6 Their mouths speak untruth; their right hands are raised in lying oaths.

[9] O God, a new song I will sing to you; on a ten-stringed lyre I will play for you.

[10] You give victory to kings; you delivered David your servant. From the menacing sword

[11] deliver me; rescue me from the hands of foreign foes. Their mouths speak untruth; their right hands are raised in lying oaths.

[12] May our sons be like plants well nurtured from their youth, Our daughters, like carved columns, shapely as those of the temple.

[13] May our barns be full with every kind of store. May our sheep increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; may our oxen be well fattened.

[14] May there be no breach in the walls, no exile, no outcry in our streets.

[15] Happy the people so blessed; happy the people whose God is the LORD.

Psalms Chapter 145

[1] 1 Praise. Of David. I will extol you, my God and king; I will bless your name forever.

[2] Every day I will bless you; I will praise your name forever.

[3] Great is the LORD and worthy of high praise; God's grandeur is beyond understanding.

[4] One generation praises your deeds to the next and proclaims your mighty works.

[5] They speak of the splendor of your majestic glory, tell of your wonderful deeds.

[6] They speak of your fearsome power and attest to your great deeds.

[7] They publish the renown of your abounding goodness and joyfully sing of your justice.

[8] The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love.

[9] The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature.

[10] All your works give you thanks, O LORD and your faithful bless you.

[11] They speak of the glory of your reign and tell of your great works,

[12] Making known to all your power, the glorious splendor of your rule.

[13] Your reign is a reign for all ages, your dominion for all generations. The LORD is trustworthy in every word, and faithful in every work.

[14] The LORD supports all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

[15] The eyes of all look hopefully to you; you give them their food in due season.

[16] You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

[17] You, LORD, are just in all your ways, faithful in all your works.

[18] You, LORD, are near to all who call upon you, to all who call upon you in truth.

[19] You satisfy the desire of those who fear you; you hear their cry and save them.

[20] You, LORD, watch over all who love you, but all the wicked you destroy.

[21] My mouth will speak your praises, LORD; all flesh will bless your holy name forever.

Psalms Chapter 146

[1] 1 Hallelujah!

[2] Praise the LORD, my soul; I shall praise the LORD all my life, sing praise to my God while I live.

[3] I Put no trust in princes, in mere mortals powerless to save.

[4] When they breathe their last, they return to the earth; that day all their planning comes to nothing.

[5] Happy those whose help is Jacob's God, whose hope is in the LORD, their God,

[6] The maker of heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, Who keeps faith forever,

[7] secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free;

[8] the LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.

[9] The LORD protects the stranger, sustains the orphan and the widow, but thwarts the way of the wicked.

[10] The LORD shall reign forever, your God, Zion, through all generations! Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 147

[1] Hallelujah! 1 How good to celebrate our God in song; how sweet to give fitting praise.

[2] The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem, gathers the dispersed of Israel,

[3] Heals the brokenhearted, binds up their wounds,

[4] Numbers all the stars, calls each of them by name.

[5] Great is our Lord, vast in power, with wisdom beyond measure.

[6] The LORD sustains the poor, but casts the wicked to the ground.

[7] Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; with the lyre celebrate our God,

[8] 2 Who covers the heavens with clouds, provides rain for the earth, makes grass sprout on the mountains,

[9] Who gives animals their food and ravens what they cry for.

[10] 3 God takes no delight in the strength of horses, no pleasure in the runner's stride.

[11] Rather the LORD takes pleasure in the devout, those who await his faithful care.

[12] Glorify the LORD, Jerusalem; Zion, offer praise to your God,

[13] Who has strengthened the bars of your gates, blessed your children within you,

[14] Brought peace to your borders, and filled you with finest wheat.

[15] 4 The LORD sends a command to earth; his word runs swiftly!

[16] Thus snow is spread like wool, frost is scattered like ash,

[17] Hail is dispersed like crumbs; before such cold the waters freeze.

[18] Again he sends his word and they melt; the wind is unleashed and the waters flow.

[19] The LORD also proclaims his word to Jacob, decrees and laws to Israel.

[20] God has not done this for other nations; of such laws they know nothing. Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 148

[1] Hallelujah! 1 Praise the LORD from the heavens; give praise in the heights.

[2] Praise him, all you angels; give praise, all you hosts.

[3] Praise him, sun and moon; give praise, all shining stars.

[4] 2 Praise him, highest heavens, you waters above the heavens.

[5] Let them all praise the LORD'S name; for the LORD commanded and they were created,

[6] Assigned them duties forever, gave them tasks that will never change.

[7] Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deep waters;

[8] You lightning and hail, snow and clouds, storm winds that fulfill his command;

[9] You mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars;

[10] You animals wild and tame, you creatures that crawl and fly;

[11] You kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all who govern on earth;

[12] Young men and women too, old and young alike.

[13] Let them all praise the LORD'S name, for his name alone is exalted, majestic above earth and heaven.

[14] 3 The LORD has lifted high the horn of his people; to the glory of all the faithful, of Israel, the people near to their God. Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 149

[1] 1 Hallelujah! Sing to the LORD a new song, a hymn in the assembly of the faithful.

[2] Let Israel be glad in their maker, the people of Zion rejoice in their king.

[3] 2 Let them praise his name in festive dance, make music with tambourine and lyre.

[4] For the LORD takes delight in his people, honors the poor with victory.

[5] 3 Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, cry out for joy at their banquet,

[6] With the praise of God in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hands,

[7] To bring retribution on the nations, punishment on the peoples,

[8] To bind their kings with chains, shackle their nobles with irons,

[9] 4 To execute the judgments decreed for them-- such is the glory of all God's faithful. Hallelujah!

Psalms Chapter 150

[1] 1 Hallelujah! 2 Praise God in his holy sanctuary; give praise in the mighty dome of heaven.

[2] Give praise for his mighty deeds, praise him for his great majesty.

[3] Give praise with blasts upon the horn, praise him with harp and lyre.

[4] Give praise with tambourines and dance, praise him with flutes and strings.

[5] Give praise with crashing cymbals, praise him with sounding cymbals.

[6] Let everything that has breath give praise to the LORD! Hallelujah!

Introduction to Proverbs

Proverbs

Introduction

The first word of this book, MISHLE, has provided the title by which it is generally designated in Jewish and Christian circles. The name "Proverbs," while not an exact equivalent of MISHLE, describes the main contents satisfactorily, even though it is hardly an adequate designation for such parts as Proverb 1:1-9:18 or Proverb 31:10-31. Among some early Christian writers the book was also known by the name of "Wisdom," and in the Roman Missal it was referred to as a "Book of Wisdom."

The Book of Proverbs is an anthology of didactic poetry forming part of the sapiential literature of the Old Testament. Its primary purpose, indicated in the first sentence (Proverb 1:2, 3), is to teach wisdom. It is thus directed particularly to the young and inexperienced (Proverb 1:4); but also to those who desire advanced training in wisdom (Proverb 1:5, 6). The wisdom which the book teaches, covers a wide field of human and divine activity, ranging from matters purely secular to most lofty moral and religious truths, such as God's omniscience (Proverb 5:21; 15:3-11), power (Proverb 19:21; 21:30), providence (Proverb 20:1-24), goodness (Proverb 15:29), and the joy and strength resulting from abandonment to him (Proverb 3:5; 16:20; 18:10). The teaching of the entire book is placed on a firm religious foundation by the principle that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverb 1:7; cf Proverb 9:10).

To Solomon are explicitly ascribed parts II and V of the book; he is the patron of Hebrew wisdom. Of Agur (part VI) and Lemuel (part VIII), nothing further is known. Parts III and IV are attributed to "the wise." The remaining parts are anonymous.

The manner of compilation is conjectural. Parts II and V may have circulated first as independent collections, compiled before the fall of Jerusalem, as the references to Solomon (Proverb 10:1) and Hezekiah (Proverb 25:1) suggest. Parts III, IV and VII would seem to belong together as a third collection of a similar kind. The author of the first nine chapters, a religious sage familiar with the earlier sacred books, was the editor of the whole as we have it, probably in the early part of the fifth century B.C.

Christ and the Apostles often expressly quoted the Proverbs (John 7:38; Romans 12:20; James 4:6) or repeated their teaching; compare Luke 10:14, and Proverb 25:7; 1 Peter 4:8; James 5:20 and Proverb 10:12. The book has an important place in the Latin and Greek liturgies.

On the basis of titles, subject matter, and poetic structure the Book of Proverbs may be divided as follows:

Introduction: The Value of Wisdom (Proverb 1:1-9:18)

First Collection of the Proverbs of Solomon (Proverb 10:1-22:16)

Sayings of the Wise (Proverb 22:17-24:22)

Other Sayings of the Wise (Proverb 24:23-34)

Second Collection of the Proverbs of Solomon (Proverb 25:1-29:27)

The Words of Agur (Proverb 30:1-6)

Numerical Proverbs (Proverb 30:7-33)

The Words of Lemuel (Proverb 31:1-9)

The Ideal Wife (Proverb 31:10-31)

Proverbs Chapter 1

[1] 1 The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:

[2] 2 That men may appreciate wisdom and discipline, may understand words of intelligence;

[3] May receive training in wise conduct, in what is right, just and honest;

[4] 3 That resourcefulness may be imparted to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

[5] A wise man by hearing them will advance in learning, an intelligent man will gain sound guidance,

[6] That he may comprehend proverb and parable, the words of the wise and their riddles.

[7] 4 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction fools despise.

[8] 5 Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and reject not your mother's teaching;

[9] A graceful diadem will they be for your head; a torque for your neck.

[10] My son, should sinners entice you,

[11] and say, "Come along with us! Let us lie in wait for the honest man, let us, unprovoked, set a trap for the innocent;

[12] Let us swallow them up, as the nether world does, alive, in the prime of life, like those who go down to the pit!

[13] All kinds of precious wealth shall we gain, we shall fill our houses with booty;

[14] Cast in your lot with us, we shall all have one purse!"--

[15] My son, walk not in the way with them, hold back your foot from their path!

[16] (For their feet run to evil, they hasten to shed blood.)

[17] 6 It is in vain that a net is spread before the eyes of any bird--

[18] These men lie in wait for their own blood, they set a trap for their own lives.

[19] This is the fate of everyone greedy of loot: unlawful gain takes away the life of him who acquires it.

[20] 7 Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the open squares she raises her voice;

[21] Down the crowded ways she calls out, at the city gates she utters her words:

[22] "How long, you simple ones, will you love inanity,

[23] how long will you turn away at my reproof? Lo! I will pour out to you my spirit, I will acquaint you with my words.

[24] "Because I called and you refused, I extended my hand and no one took notice;

[25] Because you disdained all my counsel, and my reproof you ignored--

[26] I, in my turn, will laugh at your doom; I will mock when terror overtakes you;

[27] When terror comes upon you like a storm, and your doom approaches like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish befall you.

[28] 8 "Then they call me, but I answer not; they seek me, but find me not;

[29] Because they hated knowledge, and chose not the fear of the LORD;

[30] They ignored my counsel, they spurned all my reproof; And in their arrogance they preferred arrogance, and like fools they hated knowledge:

[31] 9 "Now they must eat the fruit of their own way, and with their own devices be glutted.

[32] For the self-will of the simple kills them, the smugness of fools destroys them.

[33] But he who obeys me dwells in security, in peace, without fear of harm."

Proverbs Chapter 2

[1] 1 2 My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands,

[2] 3 Turning your ear to wisdom, inclining your heart to understanding;

[3] Yes, if you call to intelligence, and to understanding raise your voice;

[4] If you seek her like silver, and like hidden treasures search her out:

[5] Then will you understand the fear of the LORD; the knowledge of God you will find;

[6] For the LORD gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

[7] He has counsel in store for the upright, he is the shield of those who walk honestly,

[8] Guarding the paths of justice, protecting the way of his pious ones.

[9] Then you will understand rectitude and justice, honesty, every good path;

[10] For wisdom will enter your heart, knowledge will please your soul,

[11] Discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you;

[12] Saving you from the way of evil men, from men of perverse speech,

[13] Who leave the straight paths to walk in the way of darkness,

[14] Who delight in doing evil, rejoice in perversity;

[15] Whose ways are crooked, and devious their paths;

[16] Saving you from the wife of another, from the adulteress with her smooth words,

[17] Who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the pact with her God;

[18] For her path sinks down to death, and her footsteps lead to the shades;

[19] None who enter thereon come back again, or gain the paths of life.

[20] Thus you may walk in the way of good men, and keep to the paths of the just.

[21] For the upright will dwell in the land, the honest will remain in it;

[22] But the wicked will be cut off from the land, the faithless will be rooted out of it.

Proverbs Chapter 3

[1] 1 My son, forget not my teaching, keep in mind my commands;

[2] For many days, and years of life, and peace, will they bring you.

[3] Let not kindness and fidelity leave you; bind them around your neck;

[4] Then will you win favor and good esteem before God and man.

[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not;

[6] In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths.

[7] Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and turn away from evil;

[8] This will mean health for your flesh and vigor for your bones.

[9] Honor the LORD with your wealth, with first fruits of all your produce;

[10] Then will your barns be filled with grain, with new wine your vats will overflow.

[11] The discipline of the LORD, my son, disdain not; spurn not his reproof;

[12] For whom the LORD loves he reproves, and he chastises the son he favors.

[13] 2 Happy the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding!

[14] For her profit is better than profit in silver, and better than gold is her revenue;

[15] 3 She is more precious than corals, and none of your choice possessions can compare with her.

[16] Long life is in her right hand, in her left are riches and honor;

[17] Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace;

[18] 4 She is a tree of life to those who grasp her, and he is happy who holds her fast.

[19] The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, established the heavens by understanding;

[20] 5 By his knowledge the depths break open, and the clouds drop down dew.

[21] My son, let not these slip out of your sight: keep advice and counsel in view;

[22] So will they be life to your soul, and an adornment for your neck.

[23] Then you may securely go your way; your foot will never stumble;

[24] When you lie down, you need not be afraid, when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.

[25] 6 7 Be not afraid of sudden terror, of the ruin of the wicked when it comes;

[26] For the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from the snare.

[27] Refuse no one the good on which he has a claim when it is in your power to do it for him.

[28] Say not to your neighbor, "Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give," when you can give at once.

[29] Plot no evil against your neighbor, against him who lives at peace with you.

[30] Quarrel not with a man without cause, with one who has done you no harm.

[31] Envy not the lawless man and choose none of his ways:

[32] To the LORD the perverse man is an abomination, but with the upright is his friendship.

[33] The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but the dwelling of the just he blesses;

[34] When he is dealing with the arrogant, he is stern, but to the humble he shows kindness.

Proverbs Chapter 4

[1] 1 Hear, O children, a father's instruction, be attentive, that you may gain understanding!

[2] Yes, excellent advice I give you; my teaching do not forsake.

[3] When I was my father's child, frail, yet the darling of my mother,

[4] He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart hold fast my words: keep my commands, that you may live!

[5] "Get wisdom, get understanding! Do not forget or turn aside from the words I utter.

[6] Forsake her not, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will safeguard you;

[7] The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom; at the cost of all you have, get understanding.

[8] Extol her, and she will exalt you; she will bring you honors if you embrace her;

[9] She will put on your head a graceful diadem; a glorious crown will she bestow on you."

[10] 2 Hear, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life shall be many.

[11] On the way of wisdom I direct you, I lead you on straightforward paths.

[12] When you walk, your step will not be impeded, and should you run, you will not stumble.

[13] Hold fast to instruction, never let her go; keep her, for she is your life.

[14] The path of the wicked enter not, walk not on the way of evil men;

[15] Shun it, cross it not, turn aside from it, and pass on.

[16] For they cannot rest unless they have done evil; to have made no one stumble steals away their sleep.

[17] For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

[18] 3 But the path of the just is like shining light, that grows in brilliance till perfect day.

Proverbs Chapter 5

[1] 1 My son, to my wisdom be attentive, to my knowledge incline your ear,

[2] That discretion may watch over you, and understanding may guard you.

[3] The lips of an adulteress drip with honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;

[4] But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, as sharp as a two-edged sword.

[5] Her feet go down to death, to the nether world her steps attain;

[6] Lest you see before you the road to life, her paths will ramble, you know not where.

[7] So now, O children, listen to me, go not astray from the words of my mouth.

[8] Keep your way far from her, approach not the door of her house,

[9] 2 Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to a merciless one;

[10] Lest strangers have their fill of your wealth, your hard-won earnings go to an alien's house;

[11] And you groan in the end, when your flesh and your body are consumed;

[12] And you say, "Oh, why did I hate instruction, and my heart spurn reproof!

[13] Why did I not listen to the voice of my teachers, nor to my instructors incline my ear!

[14] I have all but come to utter ruin, condemned by the public assembly!"

[15] Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.

[16] How may your water sources be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?

[17] Let your fountain be yours alone, not one shared with strangers;

[18] And have joy of the wife of your youth,

[19] 3 your lovely hind, your graceful doe. Her love will invigorate you always, through her love you will flourish continually,

[20] Why then, my son, should you go astray for another's wife and accept the embraces of an adulteress?

[21] 4 For each man's ways are plain to the LORD'S sight; all their paths he surveys;

[22] By his own iniquities the wicked man will be caught, in the meshes of his own sin he will be held fast;

[23] He will die from lack of discipline, through the greatness of his folly he will be lost.

Proverbs Chapter 6

[1] 1 2 My son, if you have become surety to your neighbor, given your hand in pledge to another,

[2] You have been snared by the utterance of your lips, caught by the words of your mouth;

[3] So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's power: Go, hurry, stir up your neighbor!

[4] Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids;

[5] Free yourself as a gazelle from the snare, or as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

[6] Go to the ant, O sluggard, study her ways and learn wisdom;

[7] For though she has no chief, no commander or ruler,

[8] She procures her food in the summer, stores up her provisions in the harvest.

[9] How long, O sluggard, will you rest? when will you rise from your sleep?

[10] 3 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest--

[11] Then will poverty come upon you like a highway man, and want like an armed man.

[12] A scoundrel, a villain, is he who deals in crooked talk.

[13] He winks his eyes, shuffles his feet, makes signs with his fingers;

[14] He has perversity in his heart, is always plotting evil, sows discord.

[15] Therefore suddenly ruin comes upon him; in an instant he is crushed beyond cure.

[16] 4 There are six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him;

[17] Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood;

[18] A heart that plots wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,

[19] The false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

[20] 5 Observe, my son, your father's bidding, and reject not your mother's teaching;

[21] Keep them fastened over your heart always, put them around your neck;

Proverbs Chapter 7

[1] My son, keep my words, and treasure my commands.

[2] Keep my commands and live, my teaching as the apple of your eye;

[3] Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.

[4] Say to Wisdom, "You are my sister!" call Understanding, "Friend!"

[5] That they may keep you from another's wife, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

[6] For at the window of my house, through my lattice I looked out--

[7] And I saw among the simple ones, I observed among the young men, a youth with no sense,

[8] Going along the street near the corner, then walking in the direction of her house--

[9] In the twilight, at dusk of day, at the time of the dark of night.

[10] And lo! the woman comes to meet him, robed like a harlot, with secret designs--

[11] She is fickle and unruly, in her home her feet cannot rest;

[12] Now she is in the streets, now in the open squares, and at every corner she lurks in ambush--

[13] When she seizes him, she kisses him, and with an impudent look says to him:

[14] 1 "I owed peace offerings, and today I have fulfilled my vows;

[15] So I came out to meet you, to look for you, and I have found you!

[16] With coverlets I have spread my couch, with brocaded cloths of Egyptian linen;

[17] I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon.

[18] "Come, let us drink our fill of love, until morning, let us feast on love!

[19] For my husband is not at home, he has gone on a long journey;

[20] A bag of money he took with him, not till the full moon will he return home."

[21] She wins him over by her repeated urging, with her smooth lips she leads him astray;

[22] He follows her stupidly, like an ox that is led to slaughter; Like a stag that minces toward the net,

[23] till an arrow pierces its liver; Like a bird that rushes into a snare, unaware that its life is at stake.

[24] So now, O children, listen to me, be attentive to the words of my mouth!

[25] Let not your heart turn to her ways, go not astray in her paths;

[26] For many are those she has struck down dead, numerous, those she has slain.

[27] Her house is made up of ways to the nether world, leading down into the chambers of death.

Proverbs Chapter 8

[1] 1 Does not Wisdom call, and Understanding raise her voice?

[2] On the top of the heights along the road, at the crossroads she takes her stand;

[3] By the gates at the approaches of the city, in the entryways she cries aloud:

[4] "To you, O men, I call; my appeal is to the children of men.

[5] 2 You simple ones, gain resource, you fools, gain sense.

[6] "Give heed! for noble things I speak; honesty opens my lips.

[7] 3 Yes, the truth my mouth recounts, but the wickedness my lips abhor.

[8] Sincere are all the words of my mouth, no one of them is wily or crooked;

[9] All of them are plain to the man of intelligence, and right to those who attain knowledge.

[10] Receive my instruction in preference to silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.

[11] (For Wisdom is better than corals, and no choice possessions can compare with her.)

[12] "I, Wisdom, dwell with experience, and judicious knowledge I attain.

[13] (The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;) Pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate.

[14] 4 Mine are counsel and advice; Mine is strength; I am understanding.

[15] By me kings reign, and lawgivers establish justice;

[16] By me princes govern, and nobles; all the rulers of earth.

[17] "Those who love me I also love, and those who seek me find me.

[18] With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.

[19] My fruit is better than gold, yes, than pure gold, and my revenue than choice silver.

[20] On the way of duty I walk, along the paths of justice,

[21] Granting wealth to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

[22] 5 "The LORD begot me, the first-born of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;

[23] 6 From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth.

[24] 7 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water;

[25] Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth;

[26] While as yet the earth and the fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world.

[27] "When he established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep;

[28] When he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth;

[29] When he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command;

[30] 8 Then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, Playing before him all the while,

[31] playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the sons of men.

[32] "So now, O children, listen to me;

[33] instruction and wisdom do not reject! Happy the man who obeys me, and happy those who keep my ways,

[34] Happy the man watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts;

[35] For he who finds me finds life, and wins favor from the LORD;

[36] But he who misses me harms himself; all who hate me love death."

Proverbs Chapter 9

[1] 1 Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns;

[2] She has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table.

[3] 2 She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city:

[4] "Let whoever is simple turn in here; to him who lacks understanding, I say,

[5] Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed!

[6] Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.

[7] He who corrects an arrogant man earns insult; and he who reproves a wicked man incurs opprobrium.

[8] Reprove not an arrogant man, lest he hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

[9] Instruct a wise man, and he becomes still wiser; teach a just man, and he advances in learning.

[10] The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs Chapter 10

[1] 1 The Proverbs of Solomon: A wise son makes his father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother.

[2] Ill-gotten treasures profit nothing, but virtue saves from death.

[3] The LORD permits not the just to hunger, but the craving of the wicked he thwarts.

[4] The slack hand impoverishes, but the hand of the diligent enriches.

[5] A son who fills the granaries in summer is a credit; a son who slumbers during harvest, a disgrace.

[6] Blessings are for the head of the just, but a rod for the back of the fool.

[7] The memory of the just will be blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.

[8] A wise man heeds commands, but a prating fool will be overthrown.

[9] He who walks honestly walks securely, but he whose ways are crooked will fare badly.

[10] He who winks at a fault causes trouble, but he who frankly reproves promotes peace.

[11] A fountain of life is the mouth of the just, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

[12] 2 Hatred stirs up disputes, but love covers all offenses.

[13] On the lips of the intelligent is found wisdom, (but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence).

[14] Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool is imminent ruin.

[15] 3 The rich man's wealth is his strong city; the ruination of the lowly is their poverty.

[16] The just man's recompense leads to life, the gains of the wicked, to sin.

[17] A path to life is his who heeds admonition, but he who disregards reproof goes astray.

[18] It is the lips of the liar that conceal hostility; but he who spreads accusations is a fool.

[19] Where words are many, sin is not wanting; but he who restrains his lips does well.

[20] Like choice silver is the just man's tongue; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

[21] The just man's lips nourish many, but fools die for want of sense.

[22] 4 It is the LORD'S blessing that brings wealth, and no effort can substitute for it.

[23] Crime is the entertainment of the fool; so is wisdom for the man of sense.

[24] What the wicked man fears will befall him, but the desire of the just will be granted.

[25] When the tempest passes, the wicked man is no more; but the just man is established forever.

[26] As vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, is the sluggard to those who use him as a messenger.

[27] The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked are brief.

[28] The hope of the just brings them joy, but the expectation of the wicked comes to nought.

[29] The LORD is a stronghold to him who walks honestly, but to evildoers, their downfall.

[30] The just man will never be disturbed, but the wicked will not abide in the land.

[31] The mouth of the just yields wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

[32] The lips of the just know how to please, but the mouth of the wicked, how to pervert.

Proverbs Chapter 11

[1] False scales are an abomination to the LORD, but a full weight is his delight.

[2] When pride comes, disgrace comes; but with the humble is wisdom.

[3] The honesty of the upright guides them; the faithless are ruined by their duplicity.

[4] 1 Wealth is useless on the day of wrath, but virtue saves from death.

[5] The honest man's virtue makes his way straight, but by his wickedness the wicked man falls.

[6] The virtue of the upright saves them, but the faithless are caught in their own intrigue.

[7] When a wicked man dies his hope perishes, and what is expected from strength comes to nought.

[8] The just man escapes trouble, and the wicked man falls into it in his stead.

[9] With his mouth the impious man would ruin his neighbor, but through their knowledge the just make their escape.

[10] When the just prosper, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

[11] Through the blessing of the righteous the city is exalted, but through the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.

[12] He who reviles his neighbor has no sense, but the intelligent man keeps silent.

[13] A newsmonger reveals secrets, but a trustworthy man keeps a confidence.

[14] For lack of guidance a people falls; security lies in many counselors.

[15] He is in a bad way who becomes surety for another, but he who hates giving pledges is safe.

[16] A gracious woman wins esteem, but she who hates virtue is covered with shame. (The slothful become impoverished, but the diligent gain wealth.)

[17] A kindly man benefits himself, but a merciless man harms himself.

[18] The wicked man makes empty profits, but he who sows virture has a sure reward.

[19] Virtue directs toward life, but he who pursues evil does so to his death.

[20] The depraved in heart are an abomination to the LORD, but those who walk blamelessly are his delight.

[21] Truly the evil man shall not go unpunished, but those who are just shall escape.

[22] Like a golden ring in a swine's snout is a beautiful woman with a rebellious disposition.

[23] The desire of the just ends only in good; the expectation of the wicked is wrath.

[24] One man is lavish yet grows still richer; another is too sparing, yet is the poorer.

[25] He who confers benefits will be amply enriched, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

[26] Him who monopolizes grain, the people curse-- but blessings upon the head of him who distributes it!

[27] He who seeks the good commands favor, but he who pursues evil will have evil befall him.

[28] He who trusts in his riches will fall, but like green leaves the just flourish.

[29] He who upsets his household has empty air for a heritage; and the fool will become slave to the wise man.

[30] The fruit of virtue is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.

[31] If the just man is punished on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

Proverbs Chapter 12

[1] He who loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

[2] The good man wins favor from the LORD, but the schemer is condemned by him.

[3] No man is built up by wickedness, but the root of the just will never be disturbed.

[4] A worthy wife is the crown of her husband, but a disgraceful one is like rot in his bones.

[5] The plans of the just are legitimate; the designs of the wicked are deceitful.

[6] The words of the wicked are a deadly ambush, but the speech of the upright saves them.

[7] The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the just stands firm.

[8] According to his good sense a man is praised, but one with a warped mind is despised.

[9] Better a lowly man who supports himself than one of assumed importance who lacks bread.

[10] The just man takes care of his beast, but the heart of the wicked is merciless.

[11] He who tills his own land has food in plenty, but he who follows idle pursuits is a fool.

[12] The stronghold of evil men will be demolished, but the root of the just is enduring.

[13] In the sin of his lips the evil man is ensnared, but the just comes free of trouble.

[14] 1 From the fruit of his words a man has his fill of good things, and the work of his hands comes back to reward him.

[15] The way of the fool seems right in his own eyes, but he who listens to advice is wise.

[16] The fool immediately shows his anger, but the shrewd man passes over an insult.

[17] He tells the truth who states what he is sure of, but a lying witness speaks deceitfully.

[18] The prating of some men is like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise is healing.

[19] Truthful lips endure forever, the lying tongue, for only a moment.

[20] Deceit is in the hands of those who plot evil, but those who counsel peace have joy.

[21] No harm befalls the just, but the wicked are overwhelmed with misfortune.

[22] Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who are truthful are his delight.

[23] A shrewd man conceals his knowledge, but the hearts of fools gush forth folly.

[24] The diligent hand will govern, but the slothful will be enslaved.

[25] Anxiety in a man's heart depresses it, but a kindly word makes it glad.

[26] The just man surpasses his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

[27] The slothful man catches not his prey, but the wealth of the diligent man is great.

[28] In the path of justice there is life, but the abominable way leads to death.

Proverbs Chapter 13

[1] A wise son loves correction, but the senseless one heeds no rebuke.

[2] From the fruit of his words a man eats good things, but the treacherous one craves violence.

[3] He who guards his mouth protects his life; to open wide one's lips brings downfall.

[4] The soul of the sluggard craves in vain, but the diligent soul is amply satisfied.

[5] Anything deceitful the just man hates, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.

[6] Virtue guards one who walks honestly, but the downfall of the wicked is sin.

[7] One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

[8] A man's riches serve as ransom for his life, but the poor man heeds no rebuke.

[9] 1 The light of the just shines gaily, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.

[10] The stupid man sows discord by his insolence, but with those who take counsel is wisdom.

[11] Wealth quickly gotten dwindles away, but amassed little by little, it grows.

[12] Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a wish fulfilled is a tree of life.

[13] 2 He who despises the word must pay for it, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.

[14] The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that a man may avoid the snares of death.

[15] Good sense brings favor, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.

[16] The shrewd man does everything with prudence, but the fool peddles folly.

[17] A wicked messenger brings on disaster, but a trustworthy envoy is a healing remedy.

[18] Poverty and shame befall the man who disregards correction, but he who heeds reproof is honored.

[19] Lust indulged starves the soul, but fools hate to turn from evil.

[20] Walk with wise men and you will become wise, but the companion of fools will fare badly.

[21] Misfortune pursues sinners, but the just shall be recompensed with good.

[22] The good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the just.

[23] A lawsuit devours the tillage of the poor, but some men perish for lack of a law court.

[24] He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him takes care to chastise him.

[25] When the just man eats, his hunger is appeased; but the belly of the wicked suffers want.

Proverbs Chapter 14

[1] Wisdom builds her house, but Folly tears hers down with her own hands.

[2] He who walks uprightly fears the LORD, but he who is devious in his ways spurns him.

[3] In the mouth of the fool is a rod for his back, but the lips of the wise preserve them.

[4] Where there are no oxen, the crib remains empty; but large crops come through the strength of the bull.

[5] A truthful witness does not lie, but a false witness utters lies.

[6] The senseless man seeks in vain for wisdom, but knowledge is easy to the man of intelligence.

[7] To avoid the foolish man, take steps! But knowing lips one meets with by surprise.

[8] The shrewd man's wisdom gives him knowledge of his way, but the folly of fools is their deception.

[9] Guilt lodges in the tents of the arrogant, but favor in the house of the just.

[10] The heart knows its own bitterness, and in its joy no one else shares.

[11] The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

[12] Sometimes a way seems right to a man, but the end of it leads to death!

[13] Even in laughter the heart may be sad, and the end of joy may be sorrow.

[14] The scoundrel suffers the consequences of his ways, and the good man reaps the fruit of his paths.

[15] The simpleton believes everything, but the shrewd man measures his steps.

[16] The wise man is cautious and shuns evil; the fool is reckless and sure of himself.

[17] The quick-tempered man makes a fool of himself, but the prudent man is at peace.

[18] The adornment of simpletons is folly, but shrewd men gain the crown of knowledge.

[19] Evil men must bow down before the good, and the wicked, at the gates of the just.

[20] Even by his neighbor the poor man is hated, but the friends of the rich are many.

[21] He sins who despises the hungry; but happy is he who is kind to the poor!

[22] Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those intent on good gain kindness and constancy.

[23] In all labor there is profit, but mere talk tends only to penury.

[24] The crown of the wise is resourcefulness; the diadem of fools is folly.

[25] The truthful witness saves lives, but he who utters lies is a betrayer.

[26] In the fear of the LORD is a strong defense; even for one's children he will be a refuge.

[27] The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that a man may avoid the snares of death.

[28] In many subjects lies the glory of the king; but if his people are few, it is the prince's ruin.

[29] The patient man shows much good sense, but the quick-tempered man displays folly at its height.

[30] A tranquil mind gives life to the body, but jealousy rots the bones.

[31] He who oppresses the poor blasphemes his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy glorifies him.

[32] The wicked man is overthrown by his wickedness, but the just man finds a refuge in his honesty.

[33] In the heart of the intelligent wisdom abides, but in the bosom of fools it is unknown.

[34] Virtue exalts a nation, but sin is a people's disgrace.

[35] The king favors the intelligent servant, but the worthless one incurs his wrath.

Proverbs Chapter 15

[1] A mild answer calms wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

[2] The tongue of the wise pours out knowledge, but the mouth of fools spurts forth folly.

[3] The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

[4] A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse one crushes the spirit.

[5] The fool spurns his father's admonition, but prudent is he who heeds reproof.

[6] In the house of the just there are ample resources, but the earnings of the wicked are in turmoil.

[7] The lips of the wise disseminate knowledge, but the heart of fools is perverted.

[8] The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

[9] The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but he loves the man who pursues virtue.

[10] Severe punishment is in store for the man who goes astray; he who hates reproof will die.

[11] 1 The nether world and the abyss lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of men!

[12] The senseless man loves not to be reproved; to wise men he will not go.

[13] A glad heart lights up the face, but by mental anguish the spirit is broken.

[14] The mind of the intelligent man seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly.

[15] Every day is miserable for the depressed, but a lighthearted man has a continual feast.

[16] 2 Better a little with fear of the LORD than a great fortune with anxiety.

[17] Better a dish of herbs where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it.

[18] An ill-tempered man stirs up strife, but a patient man allays discord.

[19] The way of the sluggard is hemmed in as with thorns, but the path of the diligent is a highway.

[20] A wise son makes his father glad, but a fool of a man despises his mother.

[21] Folly is joy to the senseless man, but the man of understanding goes the straight way.

[22] Plans fail when there is no counsel, but they succeed when counselors are many.

[23] There is joy for a man in his utterance; a word in season, how good it is!

[24] The path of life leads the prudent man upward, that he may avoid the nether world below.

[25] The LORD overturns the house of the proud, but he preserves intact the widow's landmark.

[26] The wicked man's schemes are an abomination to the LORD, but the pure speak what is pleasing to him.

[27] He who is greedy of gain brings ruin on his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.

[28] The just man weighs well his utterance, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil.

[29] The LORD is far from the wicked, but the prayer of the just he hears.

[30] A cheerful glance brings joy to the heart; good news invigorates the bones.

[31] He who listens to salutary reproof will abide among the wise.

[32] He who rejects admonition despises his own soul, but he who heeds reproof gains understanding.

[33] The fear of the LORD is training for wisdom, and humility goes before honors.

Proverbs Chapter 16

[1] 1 Man may make plans in his heart, but what the tongue utters is from the LORD.

[2] All the ways of a man may be pure in his own eyes, but it is the LORD who proves the spirit.

[3] Entrust your works to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.

[4] 2 The LORD has made everything for his own ends, even the wicked for the evil day.

[5] Every proud man is an abomination to the LORD; I assure you that he will not go unpunished.

[6] By kindness and piety guilt is expiated, and by the fear of the LORD man avoids evil.

[7] When the LORD is pleased with a man's ways, he makes even his enemies be at peace with him.

[8] Better a little with virtue, than a large income with injustice.

[9] In his mind a man plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps.

[10] 3 The king's lips are an oracle; no judgment he pronounces is false.

[11] Balance and scales belong to the LORD; all the weights used with them are his concern.

[12] Kings have a horror of wrongdoing, for by righteousness the throne endures.

[13] The king takes delight in honest lips, and the man who speaks what is right he loves.

[14] The king's wrath is like messengers of death, but a wise man can pacify it.

[15] In the light of the king's countenance is life, and his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.

[16] How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To acquire understanding is more desirable than silver.

[17] The path of the upright avoids misfortune; he who pays attention to his way safeguards his life.

[18] Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

[19] It is better to be humble with the meek than to share plunder with the proud.

[20] He who plans a thing will be successful; happy is he who trusts in the LORD!

[21] The wise man is esteemed for his discernment, yet pleasing speech increases his persuasiveness.

[22] Good sense is a fountain of life to its possessor, but folly brings chastisement on fools.

[23] The mind of the wise man makes him eloquent, and augments the persuasiveness of his lips.

[24] Pleasing words are a honeycomb, sweet to the taste and healthful to the body.

[25] Sometimes a way seems right to a man, but the end of it leads to death!

[26] The laborer's appetite labors for him, for his mouth urges him on.

[27] A scoundrel is a furnace of evil, and on his lips there is a scorching fire.

[28] An intriguer sows discord, and a talebearer separates bosom friends.

[29] A lawless man allures his neighbor, and leads him into a way that is not good.

[30] He who winks his eye is plotting trickery; he who compresses his lips has mischief ready.

[31] Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by virtuous living.

[32] A patient man is better than a warrior, and he who rules his temper, than he who takes a city.

[33] 4 When the lot is cast into the lap, its decision depends entirely on the LORD.

Proverbs Chapter 17

[1] Better a dry crust with peace than a house full of feasting with strife.

[2] 1 An intelligent servant will rule over a worthless son, and will share the inheritance with the brothers.

[3] The crucible for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the tester of hearts is the LORD.

[4] 2 The evil man gives heed to wicked lips, and listens to falsehood from a mischievous tongue.

[5] He who mocks the poor blasphemes his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

[6] Grandchildren are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their parentage.

[7] Fine words are out of place in a fool; how much more, lying words in a noble!

[8] A man who has a bribe to offer rates it a magic stone; at every turn it brings him success.

[9] He who covers up a misdeed fosters friendship, but he who gossips about it separates friends.

[10] A single reprimand does more for a man of intelligence than a hundred lashes for a fool.

[11] On rebellion alone is the wicked man bent, but a merciless messenger will be sent against him.

[12] Face a bear robbed of her cubs, but never a fool in his folly!

[13] If a man returns evil for good, from his house evil will not depart.

[14] The start of strife is like the opening of a dam; therefore, check a quarrel before it begins!

[15] He who condones the wicked, he who condemns the just, are both an abomination to the LORD.

[16] Of what use in the fool's hand are the means to buy wisdom, since he has no mind for it?

[17] He who is a friend is always a friend, and a brother is born for the time of stress.

[18] Senseless is the man who gives his hand in pledge, who becomes surety for his neighbor.

[19] 3 He who loves strife loves guilt; he who builds his gate high courts disaster.

[20] He who is perverse in heart finds no good, and a double-tongued man falls into trouble.

[21] To be a fool's parent is grief for a man; the father of a numskull has no joy.

[22] A joyful heart is the health of the body, but a depressed spirit dries up the bones.

[23] The wicked man accepts a concealed bribe to pervert the course of justice.

[24] The man of intelligence fixes his gaze on wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

[25] A foolish son is vexation to his father, and bitter sorrow to her who bore him.

[26] It is wrong to fine an innocent man, but beyond reason to scourge princes.

[27] He who spares his words is truly wise, and he who is chary of speech is a man of intelligence.

[28] Even a fool, if he keeps silent, is considered wise; if he closes his lips, intelligent.

Proverbs Chapter 18

[1] In estrangement one seeks pretexts: with all persistence he picks a quarrel.

[2] The fool takes no delight in understanding, but rather in displaying what he thinks.

[3] With wickedness comes contempt, and with disgrace comes scorn.

[4] The words from a man's mouth are deep waters, but the source of wisdom is a flowing brook.

[5] It is not good to be partial to the guilty, and so to reject a rightful claim.

[6] The fool's lips lead him into strife, and his mouth provokes a beating.

[7] The fool's mouth is his ruin; his lips are a snare to his life.

[8] The words of a talebearer are like dainty morsels that sink into one's inmost being.

[9] The man who is slack in his work is own brother to the man who is destructive.

[10] 1 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the just man runs to it and is safe.

[11] The rich man's wealth is his strong city; he fancies it a high wall.

[12] 2 Before his downfall a man's heart is haughty, but humility goes before honors.

[13] 3 He who answers before he hears-- his is the folly and the shame.

[14] A man's spirit sustains him in infirmity-- but a broken spirit who can bear?

[15] The mind of the intelligent gains knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

[16] A man's gift clears the way for him, and gains him access to great men.

[17] The man who pleads his case first seems to be in the right; then his opponent comes and puts him to the test.

[18] 4 The lot puts an end to disputes, and is decisive in a controversy between the mighty.

[19] A brother is a better defense than a strong city, and a friend is like the bars of a castle.

[20] 5 From the fruit of his mouth a man has his fill; with the yield of his lips he sates himself.

[21] Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who make it a friend shall eat its fruit.

[22] He who finds a wife finds happiness; it is a favor he receives from the LORD.

[23] The poor man implores, but the rich man answers harshly.

[24] Some friends bring ruin on us, but a true friend is more loyal than a brother.

Proverbs Chapter 19

[1] Better a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is crooked in his ways and rich.

[2] Without knowledge even zeal is not good; and he who acts hastily, blunders.

[3] A man's own folly upsets his way, but his heart is resentful against the LORD.

[4] Wealth adds many friends, but the friend of the poor man deserts him.

[5] The false witness will not go unpunished, and he who utters lies will not escape.

[6] Many curry favor with a noble; all are friends of the man who has something to give.

[7] All the poor man's brothers hate him; how much more do his friends shun him!

[8] He who gains intelligence is his own best friend; he who keeps understanding will be successful.

[9] The false witness will not go unpunished, and he who utters lies will perish.

[10] Luxury is not befitting a fool; much less should a slave rule over princes.

[11] It is good sense in a man to be slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

[12] The king's wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor, like dew on the grass.

[13] The foolish son is ruin to his father, and the nagging of a wife is a persistent leak.

[14] Home and possessions are an inheritance from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

[15] Laziness plunges a man into deep sleep, and the sluggard must go hungry.

[16] He who keeps the precept keeps his life, but the despiser of the word will die.

[17] 1 He who has compassion on the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his good deed.

[18] Chastise your son, for in this there is hope; but do not desire his death.

[19] The man of violent temper pays the penalty; even if you rescue him, you will have it to do again.

[20] Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may eventually become wise.

[21] Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the decision of the LORD that endures.

[22] From a man's greed comes his shame; rather be a poor man than a liar.

[23] The fear of the LORD is an aid to life; one eats and sleeps without being visited by misfortune.

[24] The sluggard loses his hand in the dish; he will not even lift it to his mouth.

[25] If you beat an arrogant man, the simple learn a lesson; if you rebuke an intelligent man, he gains knowledge.

[26] He who mistreats his father, or drives away his mother, is a worthless and disgraceful son.

[27] If a son ceases to hear instruction, he wanders from words of knowledge.

[28] An unprincipled witness perverts justice, and the mouth of the wicked pours out iniquity.

[29] Rods are prepared for the arrogant, and blows for the backs of fools.

Proverbs Chapter 20

[1] Wine is arrogant, strong drink is riotous; none who goes astray for it is wise.

[2] The dread of the king is as when a lion roars; he who incurs his anger forfeits his life.

[3] It is honorable for a man to shun strife, while every fool starts a quarrel.

[4] In seedtime the sluggard plows not; when he looks for the harvest, it is not there.

[5] The intention in the human heart is like water far below the surface, but the man of intelligence draws it forth.

[6] Many are declared to be men of virtue: but who can find one worthy of trust?

[7] When a man walks in integrity and justice, happy are his children after him!

[8] A king seated on the throne of judgment dispels all evil with his glance.

[9] 1 Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am cleansed of my sin"?

[10] Varying weights, varying measures, are both an abomination to the LORD.

[11] Even by his manners the child betrays whether his conduct is innocent and right.

[12] The ear that hears, and the eye that sees-- the LORD has made them both.

[13] Love not sleep, lest you be reduced to poverty; eyes wide open mean abundant food.

[14] 2 "Bad, bad!" says the buyer; but once he has gone his way, he boasts.

[15] Like gold or a wealth of corals, wise lips are a precious ornament.

[16] 3 Take his garment who becomes surety for another, and for strangers yield it up!

[17] The bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

[18] Plans made after advice succeed; so with wise guidance wage your war.

[19] A newsmonger reveals secrets; so have nothing to do with a babbler!

[20] 4 If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will go out at the coming of darkness.

[21] Possessions gained hastily at the outset will in the end not be blessed.

[22] Say not, "I will repay evil!" Trust in the LORD and he will help you.

[23] Varying weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good.

[24] 5 Man's steps are from the LORD; how, then, can a man understand his way?

[25] 6 Rashly to pledge a sacred gift is a trap for a man, or to regret a vow once made.

[26] A wise king winnows the wicked, and threshes them under the cartwheel.

[27] A lamp from the LORD is the breath of man; it searches through all his inmost being.

[28] Kindness and piety safeguard the king, and he upholds his throne by justice.

[29] The glory of young men is their strength, and the dignity of old men is gray hair.

[30] Evil is cleansed away by bloody lashes, and a scourging to the inmost being.

Proverbs Chapter 21

[1] Like a stream is the king's heart in the hand of the LORD; wherever it pleases him, he directs it.

[2] All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes, but it is the LORD who proves hearts.

[3] 1 To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

[4] Haughty eyes and a proud heart-- the tillage of the wicked is sin.

[5] The plans of the diligent are sure of profit, but all rash haste leads certainly to poverty.

[6] He who makes a fortune by a lying tongue is chasing a bubble over deadly snares.

[7] The oppression of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is right.

[8] The way of the culprit is crooked, but the conduct of the innocent is right.

[9] It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than in a roomy house with a quarrelsome woman.

[10] The soul of the wicked man desires evil; his neighbor finds no pity in his eyes.

[11] When the arrogant man is punished, the simple are the wiser; when the wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.

[12] The just man appraises the house of the wicked: there is one who brings down the wicked to ruin.

[13] He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard.

[14] A secret gift allays anger, and a concealed present, violent wrath.

[15] To practice justice is a joy for the just, but terror for evildoers.

[16] 2 The man who strays from the way of good sense will abide in the assembly of the shades.

[17] He who loves pleasure will suffer want; he who loves wine and perfume will not be rich.

[18] 3 The wicked man serves as ransom for the just, and the faithless man for the righteous.

[19] It is better to dwell in a wilderness than with a quarrelsome and vexatious wife.

[20] Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool consumes it.

[21] He who pursues justice and kindness will find life and honor.

[22] The wise man storms a city of the mighty, and overthrows the stronghold in which it trusts.

[23] He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from trouble.

[24] Arrogant is the name for the man of overbearing pride who acts with scornful effrontery.

[25] The sluggard's propensity slays him, for his hands refuse to work.

[26] Some are consumed with avarice all the day, but the just man gives unsparingly.

[27] The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, the more so when they offer it with a bad intention.

[28] The false witness will perish, but he who listens will finally have his say.

[29] The wicked man is brazenfaced, but the upright man pays heed to his ways.

[30] There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel, against the LORD.

[31] The horse is equipped for the day of battle, but victory is the LORD'S.

Proverbs Chapter 22

[1] A good name is more desirable than great riches, and high esteem, than gold and silver.

[2] Rich and poor have a common bond: the LORD is the maker of them all.

[3] The shrewd man perceives evil and hides, while simpletons continue on and suffer the penalty.

[4] The reward of humility and fear of the LORD is riches, honor and life.

[5] Thorns and snares are on the path of the crooked; he who would safeguard his life will shun them.

[6] Train a boy in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not swerve from it.

[7] The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

[8] He who sows iniquity reaps calamity, and the rod destroys his labors.

[9] The kindly man will be blessed, for he gives of his sustenance to the poor.

[10] Expel the arrogant man and discord goes out; strife and insult cease.

[11] The LORD loves the pure of heart; the man of winning speech has the king for his friend.

[12] The eyes of the LORD safeguard knowledge, but he defeats the projects of the faithless.

[13] 1 The sluggard says, "A lion is outside; in the streets I might be slain."

[14] The mouth of the adulteress is a deep pit; he with whom the LORD is angry will fall into it.

[15] Folly is close to the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

[16] 2 He who oppresses the poor to enrich himself will yield up his gains to the rich as sheer loss.

[17] 3 4 The sayings of the wise: Incline your ear, and hear my words, and apply your heart to my doctrine;

[18] For it will be well if you keep them in your bosom, if they all are ready on your lips.

[19] 5 That your trust may be in the LORD, I make known to you the words of Amen-em-Ope.

[20] Have I not written for you the "Thirty," with counsels and knowledge,

[21] To teach you truly how to give a dependable report to one who sends you?

[22] Injure not the poor because they are poor, nor crush the needy at the gate;

[23] For the LORD will defend their cause, and will plunder the lives of those who plunder them.

[24] Be not friendly with a hotheaded man, nor the companion of a wrathful man,

[25] Lest you learn his ways, and get yourself into a snare.

[26] Be not one of those who give their hand in pledge, of those who become surety for debts;

[27] For if you have not the means to pay, your bed will be taken from under you.

[28] Remove not the ancient landmark which your fathers set up.

[29] You see a man skilled at his work? He will stand in the presence of kings; he will not stand in the presence of obscure men.

Proverbs Chapter 23

[1] When you sit down to dine with a ruler, keep in mind who is before you;

[2] 1 And put a knife to your throat if you have a ravenous appetite.

[3] Do not desire his delicacies; they are deceitful food.

[4] Toil not to gain wealth, cease to be concerned about it;

[5] While your glance flits to it, it is gone! for assuredly it grows wings, like the eagle that flies toward heaven.

[6] Do not take food with a grudging man, and do not desire his dainties;

[7] For in his greed he is like a storm. "Eat and drink," he says to you, though his heart is not with you;

[8] The little you have eaten you will vomit up, and you will have wasted your agreeable words.

[9] Speak not for the fool's hearing; he will despise the wisdom of your words.

[10] Remove not the ancient landmark, nor invade the fields of orphans;

[11] For their redeemer is strong; he will defend their cause against you.

[12] Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.

[13] Withhold not chastisement from a boy; if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.

[14] Beat him with the rod, and you will save him from the nether world.

[15] My son, if your heart be wise, my own heart also will rejoice;

[16] And my inmost being will exult, when your lips speak what is right.

[17] Let not your heart emulate sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the LORD always;

[18] For you will surely have a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

[19] Hear, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the right way.

[20] Consort not with winebibbers, nor with those who eat meat to excess;

[21] For the drunkard and the glutton come to poverty, and torpor clothes a man in rags.

[22] Listen to your father who begot you, and despise not your mother when she is old.

[23] Get the truth, and sell it not-- wisdom, instruction and understanding.

[24] The father of a just man will exult with glee; he who begets a wise son will have joy in him.

[25] Let your father and mother have joy; let her who bore you exult.

[26] My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.

[27] For the harlot is a deep ditch, and the adulteress a narrow pit;

[28] Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the faithless among men.

[29] 2 Who scream? Who shriek? Who have strife? Who have anxiety? Who have wounds for nothing? Who have black eyes?

[30] Those who linger long over wine, those who engage in trials of blended wine.

[31] Look not on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the glass. It goes down smoothly;

[32] but in the end it bites like a serpent, or like a poisonous adder.

[33] Your eyes behold strange sights, and your heart utters disordered thoughts;

[34] You are like one now lying in the depths of the sea, now sprawled at the top of the mast.

[35] 3 "They struck me, but it pained me not; They beat me, but I felt it not; When shall I awake to seek wine once again?"

Proverbs Chapter 24

[1] 1 Be not emulous of evil men, and desire not to be with them;

[2] For their hearts plot violence, and their lips speak of foul play.

[3] By wisdom is a house built, by understanding is it made firm;

[4] And by knowledge are its rooms filled with every precious and pleasing possession.

[5] A wise man is more powerful than a strong man, and a man of knowledge than a man of might;

[6] For it is by wise guidance that you wage your war, and the victory is due to a wealth of counselors.

[7] 2 For a fool, to be silent is wisdom; not to open his mouth at the gate.

[8] He who plots evil doing-- men call him an intriguer.

[9] Beyond intrigue and folly and sin, it is arrogance that men find abominable.

[10] 3 If you remain indifferent in time of adversity, your strength will depart from you.

[11] 4 Rescue those who are being dragged to death, and from those tottering to execution withdraw not.

[12] If you say, "I know not this man!" does not he who tests hearts perceive it? He who guards your life knows it, and he will repay each one according to his deeds.

[13] If you eat honey, my son, because it is good, if virgin honey is sweet to your taste;

[14] Such, you must know, is wisdom to your soul. If you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

[15] Lie not in wait against the home of the just man, ravage not his dwelling place;

[16] 5 For the just man falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble to ruin.

[17] Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and when he stumbles, let not your heart exult,

[18] Lest the LORD see it, be displeased with you, and withdraw his wrath from your enemy.

[19] Be not provoked with evildoers, nor envious of the wicked;

[20] For the evil man has no future, the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

[21] 6 My son, fear the LORD and the king; have nothing to do with those who rebel against them;

[22] For suddenly arises the destruction they send, and the ruin from either one, who can measure?

[23] 7 These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.

[24] He who says to the wicked man, "You are just"-- men will curse him, people will denounce him;

[25] But those who convict the evildoer will fare well, and on them will come the blessing of prosperity.

[26] 8 He gives a kiss on the lips who makes an honest reply.

[27] 9 Complete your outdoor tasks, and arrange your work in the field; afterward you can establish your house.

[28] Be not a witness against your neighbor without just cause, thus committing folly with your lips.

[29] 10 Say not, "As he did to me, so will I do to him; I will repay the man according to his deeds."

[30] I passed by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man without sense;

[31] And behold! it was all overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall broken down.

[32] And as I gazed at it, I reflected; I saw and learned the lesson:

[33] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest--

[34] Then will poverty come upon you like a highwayman, and want like an armed man.

Proverbs Chapter 25

[1] 1 These also are proverbs of Solomon. The men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transmitted them.

[2] God has glory in what he conceals, kings have glory in what they fathom.

[3] As the heavens in height, and the earth in depth, the heart of kings is unfathomable.

[4] Remove the dross from silver, and it comes forth perfectly purified;

[5] Remove the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne is made firm through righteousness.

[6] 2 Claim no honor in the king's presence, nor occupy the place of great men;

[7] For it is better that you be told, "Come up closer!" than that you be humbled before the prince.

[8] What your eyes have seen bring not forth hastily against an opponent; For what will you do later on when your neighbor puts you to shame?

[9] Discuss your case with your neighbor, but another man's secret do not disclose;

[10] Lest, hearing it, he reproach you, and your ill repute cease not.

[11] Like golden apples in silver settings are words spoken at the proper time.

[12] Like a golden earring, or a necklace of fine gold, is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.

[13] Like the coolness of snow in the heat of the harvest is a faithful messenger for the one who sends him. (He refreshes the soul of his master.)

[14] Like clouds and wind when no rain follows is the man who boastfully promises what he never gives.

[15] By patience is a ruler persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.

[16] If you find honey, eat only what you need, lest you become glutted with it and vomit it up.

[17] Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he have more than enough of you, and hate you.

[18] Like a club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow, is the man who bears false witness against his neighbor.

[19] Like an infected tooth or an unsteady foot is (dependence on) a faithless man in time of trouble.

[20] Like a moth in clothing, or a maggot in wood, sorrow gnaws at the human heart.

[21] 3 If your enemy be hungry, give him food to eat, if he be thirsty, give him to drink;

[22] For live coals you will heap on his head, and the LORD will vindicate you.

[23] The north wind brings rain, and a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.

[24] It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than in a roomy house with a quarrelsome woman.

[25] Like cool water to one faint from thirst is good news from a far country.

[26] Like a troubled fountain or a polluted spring is a just man who gives way before the wicked.

[27] 4 To eat too much honey is not good; nor to seek honor after honor.

[28] Like an open city with no defenses is the man with no check on his feelings.

Proverbs Chapter 26

[1] 1 Like snow in summer, or rain in harvest, honor for a fool is out of place.

[2] Like the sparrow in its flitting, like the swallow in its flight, a curse uncalled-for arrives nowhere.

[3] The whip for the horse, the bridle for the ass, and the rod for the back of fools.

[4] 2 Answer not the fool according to his folly, lest you too become like him.

[5] Answer the fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.

[6] He cuts off his feet, he drinks down violence, who sends messages by a fool.

[7] 3 A proverb in the mouth of a fool hangs limp, like crippled legs.

[8] Like one who entangles the stone in the sling is he who gives honor to a fool.

[9] Like a thorn stick brandished by the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

[10] Like an archer wounding all who pass by is he who hires a drunken fool.

[11] As the dog returns to his vomit, so the fool repeats his folly.

[12] You see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

[13] The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the street, a lion in the middle of the square!"

[14] The door turns on its hinges, the sluggard, on his bed!

[15] The sluggard loses his hand in the dish; he is too weary to lift it to his mouth.

[16] The sluggard imagines himself wiser than seven men who answer with good sense.

[17] Like the man who seizes a passing dog by the ears is he who meddles in a quarrel not his own.

[18] Like a crazed archer scattering firebrands and deadly arrows

[19] Is the man who deceives his neighbor, and then says, "I was only joking."

[20] For lack of wood, the fire dies out; and when there is no talebearer, strife subsides.

[21] What a bellows is to live coals, what wood is to fire, such is a contentious man in enkindling strife.

[22] The words of a talebearer are like dainty morsels that sink into one's inmost being.

[23] Like a glazed finish on earthenware are smooth lips with a wicked heart.

[24] With his lips an enemy pretends, but in his inmost being he maintains deceit;

[25] 4 When he speaks graciously, trust him not, for seven abominations are in his heart.

[26] A man may conceal hatred under dissimulation, but his malice will be revealed in the assembly.

[27] He who digs a pit falls into it; and a stone comes back upon him who rolls it.

[28] The lying tongue is its owner's enemy, and the flattering mouth works ruin.

Proverbs Chapter 27

[1] Boast not of tomorrow, for you know not what any day may bring forth.

[2] Let another praise you--not your own mouth; Someone else--not your own lips.

[3] Stone is heavy, and sand a burden, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

[4] Anger is relentless, and wrath overwhelming-- but before jealousy who can stand?

[5] Better is an open rebuke than a love that remains hidden.

[6] Wounds from a friend may be accepted as well meant, but the greetings of an enemy one prays against.

[7] One who is full, tramples on virgin honey; but to the man who is hungry, any bitter thing is sweet.

[8] Like a bird that is far from its nest is a man who is far from his home.

[9] Perfume and incense gladden the heart, but by grief the soul is torn asunder.

[10] Your own friend and your father's friend forsake not; but if ruin befalls you, enter not a kinsman's house. Better is a neighbor near at hand than a brother far away.

[11] If you are wise, my son, you will gladden my heart, and I will be able to rebut him who tuants me.

[12] The shrewd man perceives evil and hides; simpletons continue on and suffer the penalty.

[13] 1 Take his garment who becomes surety for another, and for the sake of a stranger, yield it up!

[14] 2 When one greets his neighbor with a loud voice in the early morning, a curse can be laid to his charge.

[15] For a persistent leak on a rainy day the match is a quarrelsome woman.

[16] He who keeps her stores up a stormwind; he cannot tell north from south.

[17] As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens his fellow man.

[18] He who tends a fig tree eats its fruit, and he who is attentive to his master will be enriched.

[19] As one face differs from another, so does one human heart from another.

[20] The nether world and the abyss are never satisfied; so too the eyes of men.

[21] As the crucible tests silver and the furnace gold, so a man is tested by the praise he receives.

[22] Though you should pound the fool to bits with the pestle, amid the grits in a mortar, his folly would not go out of him.

[23] 3 Take good care of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds;

[24] For wealth lasts not forever, nor even a crown from age to age.

[25] When the grass is taken away and the aftergrowth appears, and the mountain greens are gathered in,

[26] The lambs will provide you with clothing, and the goats will bring the price of a field,

[27] And there will be ample goat's milk to supply you, to supply your household, and maintenance for your maidens.

Proverbs Chapter 28

[1] The wicked man flees although no one pursues him; but the just man, like a lion, feels sure of himself.

[2] 1 If a land is rebellious, its princes will be many; but with a prudent man it knows security.

[3] A rich man who oppresses the poor is like a devastating rain that leaves no food.

[4] 2 Those who abandon the law praise the wicked man, but those who keep the law war against him.

[5] Evil men understand nothing of justice, but those who seek the LORD understand all.

[6] Better a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is crooked in his ways and rich.

[7] He who keeps the law is a wise son, but the gluttons' companion disgraces his father.

[8] 3 He who increases his wealth by interest and overcharge gathers it for him who is kind to the poor.

[9] 4 When one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

[10] He who seduces the upright into an evil way will himself fall into his own pit. (And blameless men will gain prosperity.)

[11] The rich man is wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who is intelligent sees through him.

[12] When the just are triumphant, there is great jubilation; but when the wicked gain preeminence, people hide.

[13] He who conceals his sins prospers not, but he who confesses and forsakes them obtains mercy.

[14] Happy the man who is always on his guard; but he who hardens his heart will fall into evil.

[15] Like a roaring lion or a ravenous bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

[16] The less prudent the prince, the more his deeds oppress. He who hates ill-gotten gain prolongs his days.

[17] Though a man burdened with human blood were to flee to the grave, none should support him.

[18] He who walks uprightly is safe, but he whose ways are crooked falls into the pit.

[19] He who cultivates his land will have plenty of food, but from idle pursuits a man has his fill of poverty.

[20] The trustworthy man will be richly blessed; he who is in haste to grow rich will not go unpunished.

[21] To show partiality is never good: for even a morsel of bread a man may do wrong.

[22] The avaricious man is perturbed about his wealth, and he knows not when want will come upon him.

[23] He who rebukes a man gets more thanks in the end than one with a flattering tongue.

[24] He who defrauds father or mother and calls it no sin, is a partner of the brigand.

[25] The greedy man stirs up disputes, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper.

[26] He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is safe.

[27] He who gives to the poor suffers no want, but he who ignores them gets many a curse.

[28] When the wicked gain pre-eminence, other men hide; but at their fall the just flourish.

Proverbs Chapter 29

[1] The man who remains stiff-necked and hates rebuke will be crushed suddenly beyond cure.

[2] When the just prevail, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

[3] He who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but he who consorts with harlots squanders his wealth.

[4] By justice a king gives stability to the land; but he who imposes heavy taxes ruins it.

[5] The man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net under his feet.

[6] The wicked man steps into a snare, but the just man runs on joyfully.

[7] The just man has a care for the rights of the poor; the wicked man has no such concern.

[8] Arrogant men set the city ablaze, but wise men calm the fury.

[9] If a wise man disputes with a fool, he may rage or laugh but can have no peace.

[10] Bloodthirsty men hate the honest man, but the upright show concern for his life.

[11] The fool gives vent to all his anger; but by biding his time, the wise man calms it.

[12] If a ruler listens to lying words, his servants all become wicked.

[13] 1 The poor and the oppressor have a common bond: the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

[14] If a king is zealous for the rights of the poor, his throne stands firm forever.

[15] The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a boy left to his whims disgraces his mother.

[16] When the wicked prevail, crime increases; but their downfall the just will behold.

[17] Correct your son, and he will bring you comfort, and give delight to your soul.

[18] Without prophecy the people become demoralized; but happy is he who keeps the law.

[19] By words no servant can be trained; for he understands what is said, but obeys not.

[20] Do you see a man hasty in his words? More can be hoped for from a fool!

[21] If a man pampers his servant from childhood, he will turn out to be stubborn.

[22] An ill-tempered man stirs up disputes, and a hotheaded man is the cause of many sins.

[23] Man's pride causes his humiliation, but he who is humble of spirit obtains honor.

[24] 2 The accomplice of a thief is his own enemy: he hears himself put under a curse, yet discloses nothing.

[25] The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the LORD is safe.

[26] Many curry favor with the ruler, but the rights of each are from the LORD.

[27] The evildoer is an abomination to the just, and he who walks uprightly is an abomination to the wicked.

Proverbs Chapter 30

[1] 1 2 The words of Agur, son of Jakeh the Massaite: The pronouncement of mortal man: "I am not God; I am not God, that I should prevail.

[2] Why, I am the most stupid of men, and have not even human intelligence;

[3] Neither have I learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy One.

[4] Who has gone up to heaven and come down again-- who has cupped the wind in his hands? Who has bound up the waters in a cloak-- who has marked out all the ends of the earth? What is his name, what is his son's name, if you know it?"

[5] Every word of God is tested; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

[6] Add nothing to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be exposed as a deceiver.

[7] Two things I ask of you, deny them not to me before I die:

[8] Put falsehood and lying far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; (provide me only with the food I need;)

[9] Lest, being full, I deny you, saying, "Who is the LORD?" Or, being in want, I steal, and profane the name of my God.

[10] Slander not a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you have to pay the penalty.

[11] 3 There is a group of people that curses its father, and blesses not its mother.

[12] There is a group that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not purged of its filth.

[13] There is a group--how haughty their eyes! how overbearing their glance!

[14] There is a group whose incisors are swords, whose teeth are knives, Devouring the needy from the earth, and the poor from among men.

[15] 4 The two daughters of the leech are, "Give, Give." Three things are never satisfied, four never say, "Enough!"

[16] The nether world, and the barren womb; the earth, that is never saturated with water, and fire, that never says, "Enough!"

[17] The eye that mocks a father, or scorns an aged mother, Will be plucked out by the ravens in the valley; the young eagles will devour it.

[18] 5 Three things are too wonderful for me, yes, four I cannot understand:

[19] The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, The way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.

[20] 6 Such is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats, wipes her mouth, and says, "I have done no wrong."

[21] Under three things the earth trembles, yes, under four it cannot bear up:

[22] Under a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is glutted with food;

[23] Under an odious woman when she is wed, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

[24] Four things are among the smallest on the earth, and yet are exceedingly wise:

[25] Ants--a species not strong, yet they store up their food in the summer;

[26] 7 Rock-badgers--a species not mighty, yet they make their home in the crags;

[27] Locusts--they have no king, yet they migrate all in array;

[28] Lizards--you can catch them with your hands, yet they find their way into king's palaces.

[29] Three things are stately in their stride, yes, four are stately in their carriage:

[30] The lion, mightiest of beasts, who retreats before nothing;

[31] The strutting cock, and the he-goat, and the king at the head of his people.

[32] 8 If you have foolishly been proud or presumptuous--put your hand on your mouth;

[33] For the stirring of milk brings forth curds, and the stirring of anger brings forth blood.

Proverbs Chapter 31

[1] The words of Lemuel, king of Massa. The advice which his mother gave him:

[2] What, my son, my first-born! what, O son of my womb; what, O son of my vows!

[3] Give not your vigor to women, nor your strength to those who ruin kings.

[4] It is not for kings, O Lemuel, not for kings to drink wine; strong drink is not for princes!

[5] Lest in drinking they forget what the law decrees, and violate the rights of all who are in need.

[6] Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to the sorely depressed;

[7] When they drink, they will forget their misery, and think no more of their burdens.

[8] Open your mouth in behalf of the dumb, and for the rights of the destitute;

[9] Open your mouth, decree what is just, defend the needy and the poor!

[10] When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.

[11] Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize.

[12] 1 She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.

[13] She obtains wool and flax and makes cloth with skillful hands.

[14] 2 Like merchant ships, she secures her provisions from afar.

[15] She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household.

[16] She picks out a field to purchase; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

[17] She is girt about with strength, and sturdy are her arms.

[18] 3 She enjoys the success of her dealings; at night her lamp is undimmed.

[19] She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle.

[20] She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.

[21] She fears not the snow for her household; all her charges are doubly clothed.

[22] She makes her own coverlets; fine linen and purple are her clothing.

[23] Her husband is prominent at the city gates as he sits with the elders of the land.

[24] She makes garments and sells them, and stocks the merchants with belts.

[25] 4 She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs at the days to come.

[26] She opens her mouth in wisdom, and on her tongue is kindly counsel.

[27] She watches the conduct of her household, and eats not her food in idleness.

[28] Her children rise up and praise her; her husband, too, extols her:

[29] "Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all."

[30] 5 Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

[31] Give her a reward of her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.

Introduction to Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes

Introduction

The title Ecclesiastes given to this book is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Qoheleth meaning, perhaps, "one who convokes an assembly." The book, however, does not consist of public addresses, but is a treatise, more or less logically developed, on the vanity of all things. Reflections in prose and aphorisms in verse are intermingled in Ecclesiastes, which contains, besides, an introduction and an epilogue.

The book is concerned with the purpose and value of human life. While admitting the existence of a divine plan, it considers such a plan to be hidden from man, who seeks happiness without ever finding it here below (Eccl 3:11; 8:7, 17). Ecclesiastes applies his "Vanity of vanities" to everything "under the sun," even to that wisdom which seeks to find at last a semblence of good in the things of the world. Merit does not yield happiness for it is often tried by suffering. Riches and pleasures do not avail. Existence is monotonous, enjoyment fleeting and vain; darkness quickly follows. Life, then, is an enigma beyond human ability to solve.

While Ecclesiastes concedes that there is an advantage for man in the enjoyment of certain legitimate pleasures lest he lapse into pessimism and despair, he nevertheless considers this indulgence also vanity unless man returns due thanks to the Creator who has given him all. Under this aspect, earthly wisdom would rise to the higher level of true spiritual wisdom. This true wisdom is not found "under the sun" but is perceived only by the light of faith, inasmuch as it rests with God, who is the final Judge of the good and the bad, and whose reign endures forever. The Epilogue gives the clue to this thought (Eccl 12:13, 14).

The moral teaching of the book is imperfect, like the Old Testament itself (Hebrews 7:19), yet it marks an advance in the development of the doctrine of divine retribution. While rejecting the older solution of earthly rewards and punishments, Ecclesiastes looks forward to a more lasting one. The clear answer to the problem was to come with the light of Christ's teaching concerning future life.

The author of the book was a teacher of popular wisdom (Eccl 12:9). Qoheleth was obviously only his literary name. Because he is called "David's son, king in Jerusalem," it was commonly thought that he was King Solomon. Such personation, however, was but a literary device to lend greater dignity and authority to the book-a circumstance which does not in any way impugn its inspired character. The Epilogue seems to have been written by an editor, probably a disciple of Qoheleth. The entire work differs considerably in language and style from earlier books of the Old Testament. It reflects a late period of Hebrew, and was probably written about three centuries before Christ.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 1

[1] 1 The words of David's son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem:

[2] 2 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!

[3] 3 What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?

[4] One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays.

[5] The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises.

[6] Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.

[7] All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going.

[8] 4 All speech is labored; there is nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing.

[9] What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun.

[10] Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us.

[11] 5 There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.

[12] I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem,

[13] and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about.

[14] 6 I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind.

[15] What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is missing cannot be supplied.

[16] Though I said to myself, "Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge";

[17] yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind.

[18] For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2

[1] 1 I said to myself, "Come, now, let me try you with pleasure and the enjoyment of good things." But behold, this too was vanity.

[2] Of laughter I said: "Mad!" and of mirth: "What good does this do?"

[3] 2 I thought of beguiling my senses with wine, though my mind was concerned with wisdom, and of taking up folly, until I should understand what is best for men to do under the heavens during the limited days of their life.

[4] I undertook great works; I built myself houses and planted vineyards;

[5] I made gardens and parks, and set out in them fruit trees of all sorts.

[6] And I constructed for myself reservoirs to water a flourishing woodland.

[7] I acquired male and female slaves, and slaves were born in my house. I also had growing herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem.

[8] I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and provinces. I got for myself male and female singers and all human luxuries.

[9] I became great, and I stored up more than all others before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom, too, stayed with me.

[10] Nothing that my eyes desired did I deny them, nor did I deprive myself of any joy, but my heart rejoiced in the fruit of all my toil. This was my share for all my toil.

[11] But when I turned to all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the toil at which I had taken such pains, behold! all was vanity and a chase after wind, with nothing gained under the sun.

[12] For what will the man do who is to come after the king? What men have already done! I went on to the consideration of wisdom, madness and folly.

[13] And I saw that wisdom has the advantage over folly as much as light has the advantage over darkness.

[14] The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.Yet I knew that one lot befalls both of them.

[15] So I said to myself, if the fool's lot is to befall me also, why then should I be wise? Where is the profit for me? And I concluded in my heart that this too is vanity.

[16] Neither of the wise man nor of the fool will there be an abiding remembrance, for in days to come both will have been forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies as well as the fool!

[17] Therefore I loathed life, since for me the work that is done under the sun is evil; for all is vanity and a chase after wind.

[18] And I detested all the fruits of my labor under the sun, because I must leave them to a man who is to come after me.

[19] And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruits of my wise labor under the sun. This also is vanity.

[20] So my feelings turned to despair of all the fruits of my labor under the sun.

[21] For here is a man who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and to another, who has not labored over it, he must leave his property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune.

[22] For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?

[23] All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest. This also is vanity.

[24] 3 There is nothing better for man than to eat and drink and provide himself with good things by his labors. Even this, I realized, is from the hand of God.

[25] For who can eat or drink apart from him?

[26] For to whatever man he sees fit he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering possessions to be given to whatever man God sees fit. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

[1] There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.

[2] A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.

[3] A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.

[4] A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

[5] A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

[6] A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.

[7] A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

[8] A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

[9] What advantage has the worker from his toil?

[10] I have considered the task which God has appointed for men to be busied about.

[11] He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men's ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

[12] I recognized that there is nothing better than to be glad and to do well during life.

[13] For every man, moreover, to eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of all his labor is a gift of God.

[14] I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it, or taking from it. Thus has God done that he may be revered.

[15] 1 What now is has already been; what is to be, already is; and God restores what would otherwise be displaced.

[16] And still under the sun in the judgment place I saw wickedness, and in the seat of justice, iniquity.

[17] And I said to myself, both the just and the wicked God will judge, since there is a time for every affair and on every work a judgment.

[18] I said to myself: As for the children of men, it is God's way of testing them and of showing that they are in themselves like beasts.

[19] For the lot of man and of beast is one lot; the one dies as well as the other. Both have the same life-breath, and man has no advantage over the beast; but all is vanity.

[20] Both go to the same place; both were made from the dust, and to the dust they both return.

[21] Who knows if the life-breath of the children of men goes upward and the life-breath of beasts goes earthward?

[22] And I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to rejoice in his work; for this is his lot. Who will let him see what is to come after him?

Ecclesiastes Chapter 4

[1] Again I considered all the oppressions that take place under the sun: the tears of the victims with none to comfort them! From the hand of their oppressors comes violence, and there is none to comfort them!

[2] And those now dead, I declared more fortunate in death than are the living to be still alive.

[3] And better off than both is the yet unborn, who has not seen the wicked work that is done under the sun.

[4] Then I saw that all toil and skillful work is the rivalry of one man for another. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

[5] 1 "The fool folds his arms and consumes his own flesh"--

[6] Better is one handful with tranquility than two with toil and a chase after wind!

[7] Again I found this vanity under the sun:

[8] a solitary man with no companion; with neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and riches do not satisfy his greed. "For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good things?" This also is vanity and a worthless task.

[9] Two are better than one: they get a good wage for their labor.

[10] If the one falls, the other will lift up his companion. Woe to the solitary man! For if he should fall, he has no one to lift him up.

[11] So also, if two sleep together, they keep each other warm. How can one alone keep warm?

[12] Where a lone man may be overcome, two together can resist. A three-ply cord is not easily broken.

[13] Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows caution;

[14] 2 for from a prison house one comes forth to rule, since even in his royalty he was poor at birth.

[15] 3 Then I saw all those who are to live and move about under the sun with the heir apparent who will succeed to his place.

[16] There is no end to all these people, to all over whom he takes precedence; yet the later generations will not applaud him. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

[17] 4 Guard your step when you go to the house of God. Let your approach be obedience, rather than the fools' offering of sacrifice; for they know not how to keep from doing evil.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 5

[1] Be not hasty in your utterance and let not your heart be quick to make a promise in God's presence. God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.

[2] 1 For nightmares come with many cares, and a fool's utterance with many words.

[3] When you make a vow to God, delay not its fulfillment. For God has no pleasure in fools; fulfill what you have vowed.

[4] You had better not make a vow than make it and not fulfill it.

[5] Let not your utterances make you guilty, and say not before his representative, "It was a mistake," lest God be angered by such words and destroy the works of your hands.

[6] Rather, fear God!

[7] If you see oppression of the poor, and violation of rights and justice in the realm, do not be shocked by the fact, for the high official has another higher than he watching him and above these are others higher still--.

[8] 2 Yet an advantage for a country in every respect is a king for the arable land.

[9] The covetous man is never satisfied with money, and the lover of wealth reaps no fruit from it; so this too is vanity.

[10] Where there are great riches, there are also many to devour them. Of what use are they to the owner except to feast his eyes upon?

[11] Sleep is sweet to the laboring man, whether he eats little or much, but the rich man's abundance allows him no sleep.

[12] This is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches kept by their owner to his hurt.

[13] Should the riches be lost through some misfortune, he may have a son when he is without means.

[14] As he came forth from his mother's womb, so again shall he depart, naked as he came, having nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.

[15] This too is a grievous evil, that he goes just as he came. What then does it profit him to toil for wind?

[16] All the days of his life are passed in gloom and sorrow, under great vexation, sickness and wrath.

[17] Here is what I recognize as good: it is well for a man to eat and drink and enjoy all the fruits of his labor under the sun during the limited days of the life which God gives him; for this is his lot.

[18] Any man to whom God gives riches and property, and grants power to partake of them, so that he receives his lot and finds joy in the fruits of his toil, has a gift from God.

[19] 3 For he will hardly dwell on the shortness of his life, because God lets him busy himself with the joy of his heart.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 6

[1] There is another evil which I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon man:

[2] there is the man to whom God gives riches and property and honor, so that he lacks none of all the things he craves; yet God does not grant him power to partake of them, but a stranger devours them. This is vanity and a dire plague.

[3] 1 Should a man have a hundred children and live many years, no matter to what great age, still if he has not the full benefit of his goods, or if he is deprived of burial, of this man I proclaim that the child born dead is more fortunate than he.

[4] Though it came in vain and goes into darkness and its name is enveloped in darkness;

[5] though it has not seen or known the sun, yet the dead child is at rest rather than such a man.

[6] 2 Should he live twice a thousand years and not enjoy his goods, do not both go to the same place?

[7] 3 All man's toil is for his mouth, yet his desire is not fulfilled.

[8] For what advantage has the wise man over the fool, or what advantage has the poor man in knowing how to conduct himself in life?

[9] 4 "What the eyes see is better than what the desires wander after." This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

[10] 5 Whatever is, was long ago given its name, and the nature of man is known, and that he cannot contend in judgment with one who is stronger than he.

[11] For though there are many sayings that multiply vanity, what profit is there for a man?

[12] For who knows what is good for a man in life, the limited days of his vain life (which God has made like a shadow)? Because-who is there to tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes Chapter 7

[1] 1 A good name is better than good ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.

[2] It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, For that is the end of every man, and the living should take it to heart.

[3] Sorrow is better than laughter, because when the face is sad the heart grows wiser.

[4] The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

[5] It is better to hearken to the wise man's rebuke than to hearken to the song of fools;

[6] For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the fool's laughter.

[7] For oppression can make a fool of a wise man, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

[8] Better is the end of speech than its beginning; better is the patient spirit than the lofty spirit.

[9] Do not in spirit become quickly discontented, for discontent lodges in the bosom of a fool.

[10] Do not say: How is it that former times were better than these? For it is not in wisdom that you ask about this.

[11] Wisdom and an inheritance are good, and an advantage to those that see the sun.

[12] For the protection of wisdom is as the protection of money; and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

[13] Consider the work of God. Who can make straight what he has made crooked?

[14] On a good day enjoy good things, and on an evil day consider: Both the one and the other God has made, so that man cannot find fault with him in anything.

[15] I have seen all manner of things in my vain days: a just man perishing in his justice, and a wicked one surviving in his wickedness.

[16] 2 "Be not just to excess, and be not overwise, lest you be ruined.

[17] 3 Be not wicked to excess, and be not foolish. Why should you die before your time?"

[18] 4 It is good to hold to this rule, and not to let that one go; but he who fears God will win through at all events.

[19] Wisdom is a better defense for the wise man than would be ten princes in the city,

[20] 5 yet there is no man on earth so just as to do good and never sin.

[21] Do not give heed to every word that is spoken lest you hear your servant speaking ill of you,

[22] for you know in your heart that you have many times spoken ill of others.

[23] All these things I probed in wisdom. I said, "I will acquire wisdom"; but it was beyond me.

[24] What exists is far-reaching; it is deep, very deep: who can find it out?

[25] I turned my thoughts toward knowledge; I sought and pursued wisdom and reason, and I recognized that wickedness is foolish and folly is madness.

[26] More bitter than death I find the woman who is a hunter's trap, whose heart is a snare and whose hands are prison bonds. He who is pleasing to God will escape her, but the sinner will be entrapped by her.

[27] Behold, this have I found, says Qoheleth, adding one thing to another that I might discover the answer

[28] 6 which my soul still seeks and has not found: One man out of a thousand have I come upon, but a woman among them all I have not found.

[29] 7 Behold, only this have I found out: God made mankind straight, but men have had recourse to many calculations.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8

[1] Who is like the wise man, and who knows the explanation of things? A man's wisdom illumines his face, but an impudent look is resented.

[2] Observe the precept of the king, and in view of your oath to God,

[3] be not hasty to withdraw from the king; do not join in with a base plot, for he does whatever he pleases,

[4] because his word is sovereign, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?"

[5] "He who keeps the commandment experiences no evil, and the wise man's heart knows times and judgments;

[6] for there is a time and a judgment for everything."--Yet it is a great affliction for man

[7] that he is ignorant of what is to come; for who will make known to him how it will be?

[8] There is no man who is master of the breath of life so as to retain it, and none has mastery of the day of death. There is no exemption from the struggle, nor are the wicked saved by their wickedness.

[9] All these things I considered and I applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun, while one man tyrannizes over another to his hurt.

[10] 1 Meanwhile I saw wicked men approach and enter; and as they left the sacred place, they were praised in the city for what they had done. This also is vanity.

[11] Because the sentence against evildoers is not promptly executed, therefore the hearts of men are filled with the desire to commit evil--

[12] because the sinner does evil a hundred times and survives. Though indeed I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, for their reverence toward him;

[13] 2 and that it shall not be well with the wicked man, and he shall not prolong his shadowy days, for his lack of reverence toward God.

[14] This is a vanity which occurs on earth: there are just men treated as though they had done evil and wicked men treated as though they had done justly. This, too, I say is vanity.

[15] 3 Therefore I commend mirth, because there is nothing good for man under the sun except eating and drinking and mirth: for this is the accompaniment of his toil during the limited days of the life which God gives him under the sun.

[16] When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to observe what is done on earth,

[17] I recognized that man is unable to find out all God's work that is done under the sun, even though neither by day nor by night do his eyes find rest in sleep. However much man toils in searching, he does not find it out; and even if the wise man says that he knows, he is unable to find it out.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 9

[1] 1 2 All this I have kept in mind and recognized: the just, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Love from hatred man cannot tell; both appear equally vain,

[2] in that there is the same lot for all, for the just and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for him who offers sacrifice and him who does not. As it is for the good man, so it is for the sinner; as it is for him who swears rashly, so it is for him who fears an oath.

[3] Among all the things that happen under the sun, this is the worst, that things turn out the same for all. Hence the minds of men are filled with evil, and madness is in their hearts during life; and afterward they go to the dead.

[4] Indeed, for any among the living there is hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion.

[5] For the living know that they are to die, but the dead no longer know anything. There is no further recompense for them, because all memory of them is lost.

[6] For them, love and hatred and rivalry have long since perished. They will never again have part in anything that is done under the sun.

[7] Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, because it is now that God favors your works.

[8] At all times let your garments be white, and spare not the perfume for your head.

[9] Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of the fleeting life that is granted you under the sun. This is your lot in life, for the toil of your labors under the sun.

[10] Anything you can turn your hand to, do with what power you have; for there will be no work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the nether world where you are going....

[11] Again I saw under the sun that the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts; for a time of calamity comes to all alike.

[12] 3 Man no more knows his own time than fish taken in the fatal net, or birds trapped in the snare; like these the children of men are caught when the evil time falls suddenly upon them.

[13] On the other hand I saw this wise deed under the sun, which I thought sublime.

[14] Against a small city with few men in it advanced a mighty king, who surrounded it and threw up great siegeworks about it.

[15] But in the city lived a man who, though poor, was wise, and he delivered it through his wisdom. Yet no one remembered this poor man.

[16] Though I had said, "Wisdom is better than force," yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words go unheeded.

[17] "The quiet words of the wise are better heeded than the shout of a ruler of fools"--!

[18] "A fly that dies can spoil the perfumer's ointment, and a single slip can ruin much that is good."

Ecclesiastes Chapter 10

[1] More weighty than wisdom or wealth is a little folly!

[2] 1 The wise man's understanding turns him to his right; the fool's understanding turns him to his left.

[3] When the fool walks through the street, in his lack of understanding he calls everything foolish.

[4] Should the anger of the ruler burst upon you, forsake not your place; for mildness abates great offenses.

[5] I have seen under the sun another evil, like a mistake that proceeds from the ruler:

[6] a fool put in lofty position while the rich sit in lowly places.

[7] I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes walked on the ground like slaves.

[8] He who digs a pit may fall into it, and he who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a serpent.

[9] He who moves stones may be hurt by them, and he who chops wood is in danger from it.

[10] If the iron becomes dull, though at first he made easy progress, he must increase his efforts; but the craftsman has the advantage of his skill.

[11] If the serpent bites because it has not been charmed, then there is no advantage for the charmer.

[12] Words from the wise man's mouth win favor, but the fool's lips consume him.

[13] The beginning of his words is folly, and the end of his talk is utter madness;

[14] yet the fool multiplies words. Man knows not what is to come, for who can tell him what is to come after him?

[15] 2 When will the fool be weary of his labor, he who knows not the way to the city?

[16] Woe to you, O land, whose king was a servant, and whose princes dine in the morning!

[17] Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of noble birth, and whose princes dine at the right time (for vigor and not in drinking bouts).

[18] When hands are lazy, the rafters sag; when hands are slack, the house leaks.

[19] Bread and oil call forth merriment and wine makes the living glad, but money answers for everything.

[20] Even in your thoughts do not make light of the king, nor in the privacy of your bedroom revile the rich. Because the birds of the air may carry your voice, a winged creature may tell what you say.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 11

[1] 1 Cast your bread upon the waters; after a long time you may find it again.

[2] 2 Make seven or eight portions; you know not what misfortune may come upon the earth.

[3] When the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, wherever it falls, there shall it lie.

[4] One who pays heed to the wind will not sow, and one who watches the clouds will never reap.

[5] Just as you know not how the breath of life fashions the human frame in the mother's womb, So you know not the work of God which he is accomplishing in the universe.

[6] In the morning sow your seed, and at evening let not your hand be idle: For you know not which of the two will be successful, or whether both alike will turn out well.

[7] Light is sweet! and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

[8] However many years a man may live, let him, as he enjoys them all, remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that is to come is vanity.

[9] Rejoice, O young man, while you are young and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart, the vision of your eyes; Yet understand that as regards all this God will bring you to judgment.

[10] 3 Ward off grief from your heart and put away trouble from your presence, though the dawn of youth is fleeting.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 12

[1] Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come And the years approach of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them;

[2] 1 Before the sun is darkened. and the light, and the moon, and the stars, while the clouds return after the rain;

[3] 2 When the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, And the grinders are idle because they are few, and they who look through the windows grow blind;

[4] 3 When the doors to the street are shut, and the sound of the mill is low; When one waits for the chirp of a bird, but all the daughters of song are suppressed;

[5] 4 And one fears heights, and perils in the street; When the almond tree blooms, and the locust grows sluggish and the caper berry is without effect, Because man goes to his lasting home, and mourners go about the streets;

[6] 5 Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken, And the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the broken pulley falls into the well,

[7] And the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it.

[8] Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, all things are vanity!

[9] Besides being wise, Qoheleth taught the people knowledge, and weighed, scrutinized and arranged many proverbs.

[10] Qoheleth sought to find pleasing sayings, and to write down true sayings with precision.

[11] 6 The sayings of the wise are like goads; like fixed spikes are the topics given by one collector.

[12] As to more than these, my son, beware. Of the making of many books there is no end, and in much study there is weariness for the flesh.

[13] 7 The last word, when all is heard: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all;

[14] because God will bring to judgment every work, with all its hidden qualities, whether good or bad.

Introduction to Song of Songs

The Song of Songs

Introduction

The Song of Songs, meaning the greatest of songs (Song 1:1), contains in exquisite poetic form the sublime portrayal and praise of the mutual love of the Lord and his people. The Lord is the Lover and his people are the beloved. Describing this relationship in terms of human love, the author simply follows Israel's tradition. Isaiah (Isaiah 5:1-7; 54:4-8), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 2:2, 3, 32), and Ezekiel (Eze 16; 23) all characterize the covenant between the Lord and Israel as a marriage. Hosea the prophet sees the idolatry of Israel in the adultery of Gomer (Son 1-3). He also represents the Lord speaking to Israel's heart (Song 2:16) and changing her into a new spiritual people, purified by the Babylonian captivity and betrothed anew to her divine Lover "in justice and uprightness, in love and mercy" (Song 2:21).

The author of the Song, using the same literary figure, paints a beautiful picture of the ideal Israel, the chosen people of the Old and New Testaments, whom the Lord led by degrees to an exalted spiritual union with himself in the bond of perfect love. When the Song is thus interpreted here is no reason for surprise at the tone of the poem, which employs in its descriptions the courtship and marriage customs of the author's time. Moreover, the poem is not an allegory in which each remark, e. g., in the dialogue of the lovers, has a higher meaning. It is a parable in which the true meaning of mutual love comes from the poem as a whole.

While the Song is thus commonly understood by most Catholic scholars, it is also possible to see in it an inspired portrayal of ideal human love. Here we would have from God a description of the sacredness and the depth of married union.

Although the poem is attributed to Solomon in the traditional title (Song 1:1), the language and style of the work, among other considerations, point to a time after the end of the Babylonian Exile (538 B.C.) as that in which an unknown poet composed this masterpiece. The structure of the Song is difficult to analyze; here it is regarded as a lyric dialogue, with dramatic movement and interest.

The use of marriage as a symbol, characteristic of the Song, is found extensively also in the New Testament (Matthew 9:15; 25:1-13; John 3:29; 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:23-32; Rev 19:7-9; 21:9-11). In Christian tradition, the Song has been interpreted in terms of the union between Christ and the Church and, particularly by St. Bernard, of the union between Christ and the individual soul. Throughout the liturgy, especially in the Little Office, there is a consistent application of the Song of Songs to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Songs Chapter 1

[1] 1

[2] B 2 Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth!

More delightful is your love than wine!

[3] Your name spoken is a spreading perfume-

that is why the maidens love you.

[4] Draw me!-

D We will follow you eagerly!

B Bring me, O king, to your chambers.

D With you we rejoice and exult,

we extol your love; it is beyond wine:

how rightly you are loved!

[5] B 3 I am as dark-but lovely,

O daughters of Jerusalem-

As the tents of Kedar,

as the curtains of Salma.

[6] 4 Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,

because the sun has burned me.

My brothers have been angry with me;

they charged me with the care of the vineyards:

my own vineyard I have not cared for.

[7] B 5 Tell me, you whom my heart loves,

where you pasture your flock,

where you give them rest at midday,

Lest I be found wandering

after the flocks of your companions.

[8] G If you do not know,

O most beautiful among women,

Follow the tracks of the flock

and pasture the young ones

near the shepherds' camps.

[9] G 6 To the steeds of Pharaoh's chariots

would I liken you, my beloved:

[10] Your cheeks lovely in pendants,

your neck in jewels.

[11] We will make pendants of gold for you,

and silver ornaments.

[12] B 7 For the king's banquet

my nard gives forth its fragrance.

[13] 8 My lover is for me a sachet of myrrh

to rest in my bosom.

[14] 9 My lover is for me a cluster of henna

from the vineyards of Engedi.

[15] G 10 Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,

ah, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves!

[16] B 11 Ah, you are beautiful, my lover-

yes, you are lovely.

Our couch, too, is verdant;

[17] the beams of our house are cedars,

our rafters, cypresses.

Songs Chapter 2

[1] 1 I am a flower of Sharon,

a lily of the valley.

[2] G As a lily among thorns,

so is my beloved among women.

[3] B As an apple tree among the trees of the woods,

so is my lover among men.

I delight to rest in his shadow,

and his fruit is sweet to my mouth.

[4] 2 He brings me into the banquet hall

and his emblem over me is love.

[5] Strengthen me with raisin cakes,

refresh me with apples,

for I am faint with love.

[6] His left hand is under my head

and his right arm embraces me.

[7] 3 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and hinds of the field,

Do not arouse, do not stir up love

before its own time.

[8] B 4 Hark! my lover-here he comes

springing across the mountains,

leaping across the hills.

[9] My lover is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Here he stands behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

peering through the lattices.

[10] My lover speaks; he says to me,

"Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,

and come!

[11] "For see, the winter is past,

the rains are over and gone.

[12] The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of pruning the vines has come,

and the song of the dove is heard in our land.

[13] The fig tree puts forth its figs,

and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.

Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,

and come!

[14] 5 "O my dove in the clefts of the rock,

in the secret recesses of the cliff,

Let me see you,

let me hear your voice,

For your voice is sweet,

and you are lovely."

[15] B 6 Catch us the foxes, the little foxes

that damage the vineyards; for our vineyards are in bloom!

[16] My lover belongs to me and I to him;

he browses among the lilies.

[17] 7 Until the day breathes cool and the shadows lengthen,

roam, my lover,

Like a gazelle or a young stag

upon the mountains of Bether.

Songs Chapter 3

[1] B 1 On my bed at night I sought him

whom my heart loves-

I sought him but I did not find him.

[2] I will rise then and go about the city;

in the streets and crossings I will seek

Him whom my heart loves.

I sought him but I did not find him.

[3] The watchmen came upon me

as they made their rounds of the city:

Have you seen him whom my heart loves?

[4] I had hardly left them

when I found him whom my heart loves.

I took hold of him and would not let him go

till I should bring him to the home of my mother,

to the room of my parent.

[5] I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and hinds of the field,

Do not arouse, do not stir up love

before its own time.

[6] D 2 What is this coming up from the desert,

like a column of smoke

Laden with myrrh, with frankincense,

and with the perfume of every exotic dust?

[7] Ah, it is the litter of Solomon;

sixty valiant men surround it,

of the valiant men of Israel:

[8] All of them expert with the sword,

skilled in battle,

Each with his sword at his side

against danger in the watches of the night.

[9] King Solomon made himself a carriage

of wood from Lebanon.

[10] He made its columns of silver,

its roof of gold,

Its seat of purple cloth,

its framework inlaid with ivory.

[11] Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth

and look upon King Solomon

In the crown with which his mother has crowned him

on the day of his marriage,

on the day of the joy of his heart.

Songs Chapter 4

[1] G Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,

ah, you are beautiful!

Your eyes are doves

behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down the mountains of Gilead.

[2] 1 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes to be shorn,

which come up from the washing,

All of them big with twins,

none of them thin and barren.

[3] 2 Your lips are like a scarlet strand;

your mouth is lovely.

Your cheek is like a half-pomegranate

behind your veil.

[4] 3 Your neck is like David's tower

girt with battlements;

A thousand bucklers hang upon it,

all the shields of valiant men.

[5] Your breasts are like twin fawns,

the young of a gazelle

that browse among the lilies.

[6] 4 Until the day breathes cool and the shadows lengthen,

I will go to the mountain of myrrh,

to the hill of incense.

[7] 5 You are all-beautiful, my beloved,

and there is no blemish in you.

[8] 6 Come from Lebanon, my bride,

come from Lebanon, come!

Descend from the top of Amana,

from the top of Senir and Hermon,

From the haunts of lions,

from the leopards' mountains.

[9] 7 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;

you have ravished my heart with one glance of your eyes,

with one bead of your necklace.

[10] How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride,

how much more delightful is your love than wine,

and the fragrance of your ointments than all spices!

[11] 8 Your lips drip honey, my bride,

sweetmeats and milk are under your tongue;

And the fragrance of your garments

is the fragrance of Lebanon.

[12] G 9 You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride,

an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed.

[13] You are a park that puts forth pomegranates,

with all choice fruits;

[14] 10 Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,

with all kinds of incense;

Myrrh and aloes,

with all the finest spices.

[15] You are a garden fountain, a well of water

flowing fresh from Lebanon.

[16] 11 Arise, north wind! Come, south wind!

blow upon my garden

that its perfumes may spread abroad.

B Let my lover come to his garden

and eat its choice fruits.

Songs Chapter 5

[1] G 1 I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride;

I gather my myrrh and my spices,

I eat my honey and my sweetmeats,

I drink my wine and my milk.

D Eat, friends; drink! Drink freely of love!

[2] B 2 I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil;

I heard my lover knocking:

"Open to me, my sister, my beloved,

my dove, my perfect one!

For my head is wet with dew,

my locks with the moisture of the night."

[3] 3 I have taken off my robe,

am I then to put it on?

I have bathed my feet,

am I then to soil them?

[4] My lover put his hand through the opening;

my heart trembled within me,

and I grew faint when he spoke.

[5] I rose to open to my lover,

with my hands dripping myrrh:

With my fingers dripping choice myrrh

upon the fittings of the lock.

[6] 4 I opened to my lover-

but my lover had departed, gone.

I sought him but I did not find him;

I called to him but he did not answer me.

[7] 5 The watchmen came upon me

as they made their rounds of the city;

They struck me, and wounded me,

and took my mantle from me,

the guardians of the walls.

[8] I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

if you find my lover-

What shall you tell him?-

that I am faint with love.

[9] D How does your lover differ from any other,

O most beautiful among women?

How does your lover differ from any other,

that you adjure us so?

[10] B 6 My lover is radiant and ruddy;

he stands out among thousands.

[11] His head is pure gold;

his locks are palm fronds,

black as the raven.

[12] His eyes are like doves

beside running waters,

His teeth would seem bathed in milk,

and are set like jewels.

[13] His cheeks are like beds of spice

with ripening aromatic herbs.

His lips are red blossoms;

they drip choice myrrh.

[14] His arms are rods of gold

adorned with chrysolites.

His body is a work of ivory

covered with sapphires.

[15] His legs are columns of marble

resting on golden bases.

His stature is like the trees on Lebanon,

imposing as the cedars.

[16] His mouth is sweetness itself;

he is all delight.

Such is my lover, and such my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.

Songs Chapter 6

[1] D 1 Where has your lover gone,

O most beautiful among women?

Where has your lover gone

that we may seek him with you?

[2] B 2 My lover has come down to his garden,

to the beds of spice,

To browse in the garden

and to gather lilies.

[3] My lover belongs to me and I to him;

he browses among the lilies.

[4] G 3 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my beloved,

as lovely as Jerusalem,

as awe-inspiring as bannered troops.

[5] Turn your eyes from me,

for they torment me.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

streaming down from Gilead.

[6] Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

which come up from the washing,

All of them big with twins,

none of them thin and barren.

[7] Your cheek is like a half-pomegranate

behind your veil.

[8] There are sixty queens, eighty concubines,

and maidens without number-

[9] One alone is my dove, my perfect one,

her mother's chosen,

the dear one of her parent.

The daughters saw her and declared her fortunate,

the queens and concubines, and they sang her praises;

[10] D Who is this that comes forth like the dawn,

as beautiful as the moon, as resplendent as the sun,

as awe-inspiring as bannered troops?

[11] B I came down to the nut garden

to look at the fresh growth of the valley,

To see if the vines were in bloom.

if the pomegranates had blossomed.

[12] 4 Before I knew it, my heart had made me

the blessed one of my kinswomen.

Songs Chapter 7

[1] D 1 Turn, turn, O Shulammite,

turn, turn, that we may look at you!

B Why would you look at the Shulammite

as at the dance of the two companies?

[2] D 2 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,

O prince's daughter!

Your rounded thighs are like jewels,

the handiwork of an artist.

[3] Your navel is a round bowl

that should never lack for mixed wine.

Your body is a heap of wheat

encircled with lilies.

[4] Your breasts are like twin fawns,

the young of a gazelle.

[5] 3 Your neck is like a tower of ivory.

Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon

by the gate of Bath-rabbim.

Your nose is like the tower on Lebanon

that looks toward Damascus.

[6] You head rises like Carmel;

your hair is like draperies of purple;

a king is held captive in its tresses.

[7] G How beautiful you are, how pleasing,

my love, my delight!

[8] 4 Your very figure is like a palm tree,

your breasts are like clusters.

[9] I said: I will climb the palm tree,

I will take hold of its branches.

Now let your breasts be like clusters of the vine

and the fragrance of your breath like apples,

[10] 5 And your mouth like an excellent wine-

B that flows smoothly for my lover,

spreading over the lips and the teeth.

[11] 6 I belong to my lover

and for me he yearns.

[12] Come, my lover, let us go forth to the fields

and spend the night among the villages.

[13] Let us go early to the vineyards, and see

if the vines are in bloom,

If the buds have opened,

if the pomegranates have blossomed;

There will I give you my love.

[14] 7 The mandrakes give forth fragrance,

and at our doors are all choice fruits;

Both fresh and mellowed fruits, my lover,

I have kept in store for you.

Songs Chapter 8

[1] Oh, that you were my brother,

nursed at my mother's breasts!

If I met you out of doors, I would kiss you

and none would taunt me.

[2] I would lead you, bring you in

to the home of my mother.

There you would teach me to give you

spiced wine to drink and pomegranate juice.

[3] His left hand is under my head

and his right arm embraces me.

[4] I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and hinds of the field,

Do not arouse, do not stir up love,

before its own time.

[5] D 1 Who is this coming up from the desert,

leaning upon her lover?

G Under the apple tree I awakened you;

it was there that your mother conceived you,

it was there that your parent conceived.

[6] B 2 Set me as a seal on your heart,

as a seal on your arm;

For stern as death is love,

relentless as the nether world is devotion;

its flames are a blazing fire.

[7] Deep waters cannot quench love,

nor floods sweep it away.

Were one to offer all he owns to purchase love,

he would be roundly mocked.

[8] 3 "Our sister is little

and she has no breasts as yet.

What shall we do for our sister

when her courtship begins?

[9] If she is a wall,

we will build upon it a silver parapet;

If she is a door,

we will reinforce it with a cedar plank."

[10] I am a wall,

and my breasts are like towers.

So now in his eyes I have become

one to be welcomed.

[11] B 4 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

he gave over the vineyard to caretakers.

For its fruit one would have to pay

a thousand silver pieces.

[12] My vineyard is at my own disposal;

the thousand pieces are for you, O Solomon,

and two hundred for the caretakers of its fruit.

[13] G 5 O garden-dweller,

my friends are listening for your voice,

let me hear it!

[14] B Be swift, my lover,

like a gazelle or a young stag

on the mountains of spices!

Introduction to Wisdom

The Book of Wisdom

Introduction

The Book of Wisdom was written about a hundred years before the coming of Christ. Its author, whose name is not known to us, was a member of the Jewish community at Alexandria, in Egypt. He wrote in Greek, in a style patterned on that of Hebrew verse. At times he speaks in the person of Solomon, placing his teachings on the lips of the wise king of Hebrew tradition in order to emphasize their value. His profound knowledge of the earlier Old Testament writings is reflected in almost every line of the book, and marks him, like Ben Sira, as an outstanding representative of religious devotion and learning among the sages of postexilic Judaism.

The primary purpose of the sacred author was the edification of his co-religionists in a time when they had experienced suffering and oppression, in part at least at the hands of apostate fellow Jews. To convey his message he made use of the most popular religious themes of his time, namely the splendor and worth of divine wisdom (Wisdom 6:22-11:1), the glorious events of the Exodus (Wisdom 11:2-16; 12:23-27; 15:18 19:22), God's mercy (Wisdom 11:17-12:22), the folly of idolatry (Wisdom 13:1-15:17), and the manner in which God's justice is vindicated in rewarding or punishing the individual soul (Wisdom 1:1-6:21). The first ten chapters especially form a preparation for the fuller teachings of Christ and his Church. Many passages from this section of the book, notably Wisdom 3:1-8, are used by the Church in her liturgy.

The principal divisions of the Book of Wisdom are:

Reward of Justice (Wisdom 1:1-6:21)

Praise of Wisdom by Solomon (Wisdom 6:22-11:1)

Special Providence of God during the Exodus (Wisdom 11:2-16; 12:23-27; 15:18-19:22) with digressions on God's mercy (Wisdom 11:17-12:22) and on the folly and shame of idolatry (Wisdom 13:1-15:17)

Wisdom Chapter 1

[1] 1 Love justice, you who judge the earth; think of the LORD in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart;

[2] Because he is found by those who test him not, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him.

[3] For perverse counsels separate a man from God, and his power, put to the proof, rebukes the foolhardy;

[4] Because into a soul that plots evil wisdom enters not, nor dwells she in a body under debt of sin.

[5] 2 For the holy spirit of discipline flees deceit and withdraws from senseless counsels; and when injustice occurs it is rebuked.

[6] For wisdom is a kindly spirit, yet she acquits not the blasphemer of his guilty lips; Because God is the witness of his inmost self and the sure observer of his heart and the listener to his tongue.

[7] 3 For the spirit of the LORD fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows what man says.

[8] Therefore no one who utters wicked things can go unnoticed, nor will chastising condemnation pass him by.

[9] For the devices of the wicked man shall be scrutinized, and the sound of his words shall reach the LORD, for the chastisement of his transgressions;

[10] Because a jealous ear hearkens to everything, and discordant grumblings are no secret.

[11] 4 Therefore guard against profitless grumbling, and from calumny withhold your tongues; For a stealthy utterance does not go unpunished, and a lying mouth slays the soul.

[12] Court not death by your erring way of life, nor draw to yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.

[13] Because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.

[14] For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, And there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the nether world on earth,

[15] For justice is undying.

[16] It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death, considered it a friend, and pined for it, and made a covenant with it, Because they deserve to be in its possession,

Wisdom Chapter 2

[1] they who said among themselves, thinking not aright: "Brief and troublous is our lifetime; neither is there any remedy for man's dying, nor is anyone known to have come back from the nether world.

[2] For haphazard were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been; Because the breath in our nostrils is a smoke and reason is a spark at the beating of our hearts,

[3] And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes and our spirit will be poured abroad like unresisting air.

[4] Even our name will be forgotten in time, and no one will recall our deeds. So our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud, and will be dispersed like a mist pursued by the sun's rays and overpowered by its heat.

[5] For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow; and our dying cannot be deferred because it is fixed with a seal; and no one returns.

[6] Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are real, and use the freshness of creation avidly.

[7] Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no springtime blossom pass us by;

[8] let us crown ourselves with rosebuds ere they wither.

[9] 1 Let no meadow be free from our wantonness; everywhere let us leave tokens of our rejoicing, for this our portion is, and this our lot.

[10] Let us oppress the needy just man; let us neither spare the widow nor revere the old man for his hair grown white with time.

[11] But let our strength be our norm of justice; for weakness proves itself useless.

[12] 2 3 Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training.

[13] He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD.

[14] To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us,

[15] Because his life is not like other men's, and different are his ways.

[16] He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father.

[17] Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.

[18] For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.

[19] With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.

[20] Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him."

[21] These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them,

[22] And they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls' reward.

[23] For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.

[24] But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it.

Wisdom Chapter 3

[1] 1 But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.

[2] They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction

[3] and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.

[4] For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality;

[5] Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself.

[6] 2 As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.

[7] 3 In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;

[8] They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the LORD shall be their King forever.

[9] Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect.

[10] 4 But the wicked shall receive a punishment to match their thoughts, since they neglected justice and forsook the LORD.

[11] For he who despises wisdom and instruction is doomed. Vain is their hope, fruitless are their labors, and worthless are their works.

[12] Their wives are foolish and their children wicked; accursed is their brood.

[13] 5 Yes, blessed is she who, childless and undefiled, knew not transgression of the marriage bed; she shall bear fruit at the visitation of souls.

[14] 6 So also the eunuch whose hand wrought no misdeed, who held no wicked thoughts against the LORD- For he shall be given fidelity's choice reward and a more gratifying heritage in the LORD'S temple.

[15] For the fruit of noble struggles is a glorious one; and unfailing is the root of understanding.

[16] But the children of adulterers will remain without issue, and the progeny of an unlawful bed will disappear.

[17] For should they attain long life, they will be held in no esteem, and dishonored will their old age be at last;

[18] While should they die abruptly, they have no hope nor comfort in the day of scrutiny;

[19] for dire is the end of the wicked generation.

Wisdom Chapter 4

[1] 1 Better is childlessness with virtue; for immortal is its memory: because both by God is it acknowledged, and by men.

[2] When it is present men imitate it, and they long for it when it is gone; And forever it marches crowned in triumph, victorious in unsullied deeds of valor.

[3] But the numerous progeny of the wicked shall be of no avail; their spurious offshoots shall not strike deep root nor take firm hold.

[4] For even though their branches flourish for a time, they are unsteady and shall be rocked by the wind and, by the violence of the winds, uprooted;

[5] Their twigs shall be broken off untimely, and their fruit be useless, unripe for eating, and fit for nothing.

[6] For children born of lawless unions give evidence of the wickedness of their parents, when they are examined.

[7] But the just man, though he die early, shall be at rest.

[8] For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time, nor can it be measured in terms of years.

[9] Rather, understanding is the hoary crown for men, and an unsullied life, the attainment of old age.

[10] 2 He who pleased God was loved; he who lived among sinners was transported--

[11] Snatched away, lest wickedness pervert his mind or deceit beguile his soul;

[12] For the witchery of paltry things obscures what is right and the whirl of desire transforms the innocent mind.

[13] Having become perfect in a short while, he reached the fullness of a long career;

[14] for his soul was pleasing to the LORD, therefore he sped him out of the midst of wickedness. But the people saw and did not understand, nor did they take this into account.

[15] 3

[16] Yes, the just man dead condemns the sinful who live, and youth swiftly completed condemns the many years of the wicked man grown old.

[17] For they see the death of the wise man and do not understand what the LORD intended for him, or why he made him secure.

[18] They see, and hold him in contempt; but the LORD laughs them to scorn.

[19] And they shall afterward become dishonored corpses and an unceasing mockery among the dead. For he shall strike them down speechless and prostrate and rock them to their foundations; They shall be utterly laid waste and shall be in grief and their memory shall perish.

[20] 4 Fearful shall they come, at the counting up of their sins, and their lawless deeds shall convict them to their face.

Wisdom Chapter 5

[1] Then shall the just one with great assurance confront his oppressors who set at nought his labors.

[2] Seeing this, they shall be shaken with dreadful fear, and amazed at the unlooked-for salvation.

[3] They shall say among themselves, rueful and groaning through anguish of spirit: "This is he whom once we held as a laughingstock and as a type for mockery,

[4] fools that we were! His life we accounted madness, and his death dishonored.

[5] See how he is accounted among the sons of God; how his lot is with the saints!

[6] We, then, have strayed from the way of truth, and the light of justice did not shine for us, and the sun did not rise for us.

[7] We had our fill of the ways of mischief and of ruin; we journeyed through impassable deserts, but the way of the LORD we knew not.

[8] What did our pride avail us? What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us?

[9] All of them passed like a shadow and like a fleeting rumor;

[10] Like a ship traversing the heaving water, of which, when it has passed, no trace can be found, no path of its keel in the waves.

[11] Or like a bird flying through the air; no evidence of its course is to be found- But the fluid air, lashed by the beat of pinions, and cleft by the rushing force Of speeding wings, is traversed: and afterward no mark of passage can be found in it.

[12] Or as, when an arrow has been shot at a mark, the parted air straightway flows together again so that none discerns the way it went through-

[13] Even so we, once born, abruptly came to nought and held no sign of virtue to display, but were consumed in our wickedness."

[14] Yes, the hope of the wicked is like thistledown borne on the wind, and like fine, tempest-driven foam; Like smoke scattered by the wind, and like the passing memory of the nomad camping for a single day.

[15] But the just live forever, and in the LORD is their recompense, and the thought of them is with the Most High.

[16] Therefore shall they receive the splendid crown, the beauteous diadem, from the hand of the LORD- For he shall shelter them with his right hand, and protect them with his arm.

[17] He shall take his zeal for armor and he shall arm creation to requite the enemy;

[18] He shall don justice for a breastplate and shall wear sure judgment for a helmet;

[19] He shall take invincible rectitude as a shield

[20] and whet his sudden anger for a sword, And the universe shall war with him against the foolhardy.

[21] Well-aimed shafts of lightnings shall go forth and from the clouds as from a well-drawn bow shall leap to the mark;

[22] and as from his sling, wrathful hailstones shall be hurled. The water of the sea shall be enraged against them and the streams shall abruptly overflow;

[23] A mighty wind shall confront them and a tempest winnow them out; Thus lawlessness shall lay the whole earth waste and evildoing overturn the thrones of potentates.

Wisdom Chapter 6

[1] Hear, therefore, kings, and understand; learn, you magistrates of the earth's expanse!

[2] Hearken, you who are in power over the multitude and lord it over throngs of peoples!

[3] Because authority was given you by the LORD and sovereignty by the Most High, who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels!

[4] 1 Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly, and did not keep the law, nor walk according to the will of God,

[5] Terribly and swiftly shall he come against you, because judgment is stern for the exalted-

[6] For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test.

[7] For the Lord of all shows no partiality, nor does he fear greatness, Because he himself made the great as well as the small, and he provides for all alike;

[8] but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.

[9] To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin.

[10] 2 For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy, and those learned in them will have ready a response.

[11] Desire therefore my words; long for them and you shall be instructed.

[12] Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her.

[13] She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men's desire;

[14] he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate.

[15] For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care;

[16] Because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.

[17] For the first step toward discipline is a very earnest desire for her; then, care for discipline is love of her;

[18] love means the keeping of her laws; To observe her laws is the basis for incorruptibility;

[19] and incorruptibility makes one close to God;

[20] thus the desire for Wisdom leads up to a kingdom.

[21] If, then, you find pleasure in throne and scepter, you princes of the peoples, honor Wisdom, that you may reign as kings forever.

[22] Now what wisdom is, and how she came to be I shall relate; and I shall hide no secrets from you, But from the very beginning I shall search out and bring to light knowledge of her, nor shall I diverge from the truth.

[23] Neither shall I admit consuming jealousy to my company, because that can have no fellowship with Wisdom.

[24] A great number of wise men is the safety of the world, and a prudent king, the stability of his people;

[25] so take instruction from my words, to your profit.

Wisdom Chapter 7

[1] 1 I too am a mortal man, the same as all the rest, and a descendant of the first man formed on earth. And in my mother's womb I was molded into flesh

[2] 2 in a ten-months' period-body and blood, from the seed of man, and the pleasure that accompanies marriage.

[3] And I too, when born, inhaled the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth; wailing, I uttered that first sound common to all.

[4] In swaddling clothes and with constant care I was nurtured.

[5] For no king has any different origin or birth,

[6] but one is the entry into life for all; and in one same way they leave it.

[7] Therefore I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.

[8] I preferred her to scepter and throne, And deemed riches nothing in comparison with her,

[9] nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; Because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.

[10] Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, And I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.

[11] Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands;

[12] And I rejoiced in them all, because Wisdom is their leader, though I had not known that she is the mother of these.

[13] Simply I learned about her, and ungrudgingly do I share- her riches I do not hide away;

[14] 3 For to men she is an unfailing treasure; those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God, to whom the gifts they have from discipline commend them.

[15] Now God grant I speak suitably and value these endowments at their worth: For he is the guide of Wisdom and the director of the wise.

[16] For both we and our words are in his hand, as well as all prudence and knowledge of crafts.

[17] For he gave me sound knowledge of existing things, that I might know the organization of the universe and the force of its elements,

[18] The beginning and the end and the midpoint of times, the changes in the sun's course and the variations of the seasons.

[19] Cycles of years, positions of the stars,

[20] natures of animals, tempers of beasts, Powers of the winds and thoughts of men, uses of plants and virtues of roots-

[21] Such things as are hidden I learned and such as are plain;

[22] for Wisdom, the artificer of all, taught me. For in her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, Not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent,

[23] kindly, Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing, And pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.

[24] For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.

[25] For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her.

[26] For she is the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness.

[27] And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring; And passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets.

[28] For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom.

[29] For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she takes precedence;

[30] for that, indeed, night supplants, but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.

Wisdom Chapter 8

[1] 1 Indeed, she reaches from end to end mightily and governs all things well.

[2] Her I loved and sought after from my youth; I sought to take her for my bride and was enamored of her beauty.

[3] She adds to nobility the splendor of companionship with God; even the LORD of all loved her.

[4] For she is instructress in the understanding of God, the selector of his works.

[5] And if riches be a desirable possession in life, what is more rich than Wisdom, who produces all things?

[6] And if prudence renders service, who in the world is a better craftsman than she?

[7] 2 Or if one loves justice, the fruits of her works are virtues; For she teaches moderation and prudence, justice and fortitude, and nothing in life is more useful for men than these.

[8] Or again, if one yearns for copious learning, she knows the things of old, and infers those yet to come. She understands the turns of phrases and the solutions of riddles; signs and wonders she knows in advance and the outcome of times and ages.

[9] So I determined to take her to live with me, knowing that she would be my counselor while all was well, and my comfort in care and grief.

[10] For her sake I should have glory among the masses, and esteem from the elders, though I be but a youth.

[11] I should become keen in judgment, and should be a marvel before rulers.

[12] 3 They would abide my silence and attend my utterance; and as I spoke on further, they would place their hands upon their mouths.

[13] For her sake I should have immortality and leave to those after me an everlasting memory.

[14] I should govern peoples, and nations would be my subjects-

[15] terrible princes, hearing of me, would be afraid; in the assembly I should appear noble, and in war courageous.

[16] Within my dwelling, I should take my repose beside her; For association with her involves no bitterness and living with her no grief, but rather joy and gladness.

[17] Thinking thus within myself, and reflecting in my heart That there is immortality in kinship with Wisdom,

[18] and good pleasure in her friendship, and unfailing riches in the works of her hands, And that in frequenting her society there is prudence, and fair renown in sharing her discourses, I went about seeking to take her for my own.

[19] 4 Now, I was a well-favored child, and I came by a noble nature;

[20] or rather, being noble, I attained an unsullied body.

[21] 5 And knowing that I could not otherwise possess her except God gave it-- and this, too, was prudence, to know whose is the gift-- I went to the LORD and besought him, and said with all my heart:

Wisdom Chapter 9

[1] God of my fathers, LORD of mercy. you who have made all things by your word

[2] And in your wisdom have established man to rule the creatures produced by you,

[3] To govern the world in holiness and justice, and to render judgment in integrity of heart:

[4] Give me Wisdom, the attendant at your throne, and reject me not from among your children;

[5] For I am your servant, the son of your handmaid, a man weak and short-lived and lacking in comprehension of judgment and of laws.

[6] Indeed, though one be perfect among the sons of men, if Wisdom, who comes from you, be not with him, he shall be held in no esteem.

[7] You have chosen me king over your people and magistrate for your sons and daughters.

[8] You have bid me build a temple on your holy mountain and an altar in the city that is your dwelling place, a copy of the holy tabernacle which you had established from of old.

[9] Now with you is Wisdom, who knows your works and was present when you made the world; Who understands what is pleasing in your eyes and what is conformable with your commands.

[10] Send her forth from your holy heavens and from your glorious throne dispatch her That she may be with me and work with me, that I may know what is your pleasure.

[11] For she knows and understands all things, and will guide me discreetly in my affairs and safeguard me by her glory;

[12] Thus my deeds will be acceptable, and I shall judge your people justly and be worthy of my father's throne.

[13] For what man knows God's counsel, or who can conceive what our LORD intends?

[14] For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans.

[15] For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.

[16] And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?

[17] Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?

[18] And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight, and men learned what was your pleasure, and were saved by Wisdom.

Wisdom Chapter 10

[1] 1 2 She preserved the first-formed father of the world when he alone had been created; And she raised him up from his fall,

[2] and gave him power to rule all things.

[3] 3 But when the unjust man withdrew from her in his anger, he perished through his fratricidal wrath.

[4] 4 When on his account the earth was flooded, Wisdom again saved it, piloting the just man on frailest wood.

[5] 5 She, when the nations were sunk in universal wickedness, knew the just man, kept him blameless before God, and preserved him resolute against pity for his child.

[6] 6 She delivered the just man from among the wicked who were being destroyed, when he fled as fire descended upon Pentapolis--

[7] 7 Where as a testimony to its wickedness, there yet remain a smoking desert, Plants bearing fruit that never ripens, and the tomb of a disbelieving soul, a standing pillar of salt.

[8] For those who forsook Wisdom first were bereft of knowledge of the right, And then they left mankind a memorial of their folly-- so that they could not even be hidden in their fall.

[9] But Wisdom delivered from tribulations those who served her.

[10] 8 She, when the just man fled from his brother's anger, guided him in direct ways, Showed him the kingdom of God and gave him knowledge of holy things; She prospered him in his labors and made abundant the fruit of his works,

[11] Stood by him against the greed of his defrauders, and enriched him;

[12] 9 She preserved him from foes, and secured him against ambush, And she gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that devotion to God is mightier than all else.

[13] 10 She did not abandon the just man when he was sold, but delivered him from sin.

[14] She went down with him into the dungeon, and did not desert him in his bonds, Until she brought him the scepter of royalty and authority over his oppressors, Showed those who had defamed him false, and gave him eternal glory.

[15] The holy people and blameless race--it was she who delivered them from the nation that oppressed them.

[16] 11 She entered the soul of the LORD'S servant, and withstood fearsome kings with signs and portents;

[17] she gave the holy ones the recompense of their labors, Conducted them by a wondrous road, and became a shelter for them by day and a starry flame by night.

[18] She took them across the Red Sea and brought them through the deep waters--

[19] 12 But their enemies she overwhelmed, and cast them up from the bottom of the depths.

[20] Therefore the just despoiled the wicked; and they sang, O LORD, your holy name

[21] Because Wisdom opened the mouths of the dumb, and gave ready speech to infants.

Wisdom Chapter 11

[1] She made their affairs prosper through the holy prophet.

[2] 1 They journeyed through the uninhabited desert, and in solitudes they pitched their tents;

[3] they withstood enemies and took vengeance on their foes.

[4] When they thirsted, they called upon you, and water was given them from the sheer rock, assuagement for their thirst from the hard stone.

[5] For by the things through which their foes were punished they in their need were benefited.

[6] 2 Instead of a spring, when the perennial river was troubled with impure blood

[7] as a rebuke to the decree for the slaying of infants, You gave them abundant water in an unhoped-for way,

[8] once you had shown by the thirst they then had how you punished their adversaries.

[9] For when they had been tried, though only mildly chastised, they recognized how the wicked, condemned in anger, were being tormented.

[10] the latter you tested, admonishing them as a father; the former as a stern king you probed and condemned.

Wisdom Chapter 12

[1] for your imperishable spirit is in all things!

[2] Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!

[3] For truly, the ancient inhabitants of your holy land,

[4] whom you hated for deeds most odious-- Works of witchcraft and impious sacrifices;

[5] 1 a cannibal feast of human flesh and of blood, from the midst of. . .-- These merciless murderers of children,

[6] and parents who took with their own hands defenseless lives, You willed to destroy by the hands of our fathers,

[7] that the land that is dearest of all to you might receive a worthy colony of God's children.

[8] But even these, as they were men, you spared, and sent wasps as forerunners of your army that they might exterminate them by degrees.

[9] Not that you were without power to have the wicked vanquished in battle by the just, or wiped out at once by terrible beasts or by one decisive word;

[10] But condemning them bit by bit, you gave them space for repentance. You were not unaware that their race was wicked and their malice ingrained, And that their dispositions would never change;

[11] for they were a race accursed from the beginning. Neither out of fear for anyone did you grant amnesty for their sins.

[12] For who can say to you, "What have you done?" or who can oppose your decree? Or when peoples perish, who can challenge you, their maker; or who can come into your presence as vindicator of unjust men?

[13] For neither is there any god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned;

[14] Nor can any king or prince confront you on behalf of those you have punished.

[15] But as you are just, you govern all things justly; you regard it as unworthy of your power to punish one who has incurred no blame.

[16] For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.

[17] 2 For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.

[18] But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you.

[19] And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; And you gave your sons good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.

[20] For these were enemies of your servants, doomed to death; yet, while you punished them with such solicitude and pleading, granting time and opportunity to abandon wickedness,

[21] With what exactitude you judged your sons, to whose fathers you gave the sworn covenants of goodly promises!

[22] Us, therefore, you chastise and our enemies with a thousand blows you punish, that we may think earnestly of your goodness when we judge, and, when being judged, may look for mercy.

[23] Hence those unjust also, who lived a life of folly, you tormented through their own abominations.

[24] For they went far astray in the paths of error, taking for gods the worthless and disgusting among beasts, deceived like senseless infants.

[25] Therefore as though upon unreasoning children, you sent your judgment on them as a mockery;

[26] But they who took no heed of punishment which was but child's play were to experience a condemnation worthy of God.

[27] For in the things through which they suffered distress, since they were tortured by the very things they deemed gods, They saw and recognized the true God whom before they had refused to know; with this, their final condemnation came upon them.

Wisdom Chapter 13

[1] 1 For all men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God, and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is, and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;

[2] 2 But either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water, or the luminaries of heaven, the governors of the world, they considered gods.

[3] Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods, let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these; for the original source of beauty fashioned them.

[4] Or if they were struck by their might and energy, let them from these things realize how much more powerful is he who made them.

[5] For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen.

[6] 3 But yet, for these the blame is less; For they indeed have gone astray perhaps, though they seek God and wish to find him.

[7] For they search busily among his works, but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair.

[8] But again, not even these are pardonable.

[9] For if they so far succeeded in knowledge that they could speculate about the world, how did they not more quickly find its LORD?

[10] But doomed are they, and in dead things are their hopes, who termed gods things made by human hands: Gold and silver, the product of art, and likenesses of beasts, or useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.

[11] A carpenter may saw out a suitable tree and skillfully scrape off all its bark, And deftly plying his art, produce something fit for daily use,

[12] and use up the refuse from his handiwork in preparing his food, and have his fill;

[13] Then the good-for-nothing refuse from these remnants, crooked wood grown full of knots, he takes and carves to occupy his spare time. This wood he models with listless skill, and patterns it on the image of a man

[14] or makes it resemble some worthless beast. When he has daubed it with red and crimsoned its surface with red stain, and daubed over every blemish in it,

[15] He makes a fitting shrine for it and puts it on the wall, fastening it with a nail.

[16] Thus lest it fall down he provides for it, knowing that it cannot help itself; for, truly, it is an image and needs help.

[17] But when he prays about his goods or marriage or children, he is not ashamed to address the thing without a soul. And for vigor he invokes the powerless;

[18] and for life he entreats the dead; And for aid he beseeches the wholly incompetent, and about travel, something that cannot even walk.

[19] And for profit in business and success with his hands he asks facility of a thing with hands completely inert.

Wisdom Chapter 14

[1] Again, one preparing for a voyage and about to traverse the wild waves cries out to wood more unsound than the boat that bears him.

[2] For the urge for profits devised this latter, and Wisdom the artificer produced it.

[3] But your providence, O Father! guides it, for you have furnished even in the sea a road, and through the waves a steady path,

[4] Showing that you can save from any danger, so that even one without skill may embark.

[5] But you will that the products of your Wisdom be not idle; therefore men trust their lives even to frailest wood, and have been safe crossing the surge on a raft.

[6] 1 For of old, when the proud giants were being destroyed, the hope of the universe, who took refuge on a raft, left to the world a future for his race, under the guidance of your hand.

[7] 2 For blest is the wood through which justice comes about;

[8] but the handmade idol is accursed, and its maker as well: he for having produced it, and it, because though corruptible, it was termed a god.

[9] Equally odious to God are the evildoer and his evil deed;

[10] and the thing made shall be punished with its contriver.

[11] Therefore upon even the idols of the nations shall a visitation come, since they have become abominable amid God's works, Snares for the souls of men and a trap for the feet of the senseless.

[12] For the source of wantoness is the devising of idols; and their invention was a corruption of life.

[13] For in the beginning they were not, nor shall they continue forever;

[14] for by the vanity of men they came into the world, and therefore a sudden end is devised for them.

[15] For a father, afflicted with untimely mourning, made an image of the child so quickly taken from him, And now honored as a god what was formerly a dead man and handed down to his subjects mysteries and sacrifices.

[16] Then, in time, the impious practice gained strength and was observed as law, and graven things were worshiped by princely decrees.

[17] Men who lived so far away that they could not honor him in his presence copied the appearance of the distant king And made a public image of him they wished to honor, out of zeal to flatter him when absent, as though present.

[18] And to promote this observance among those to whom it was strange, the artisan's ambition provided a stimulus.

[19] For he, mayhap in his determination to please the ruler, labored over the likeness to the best of his skill;

[20] And the masses, drawn by the charm of the workmanship, soon thought he should be worshiped who shortly before was honored as a man.

[21] And this became a snare for mankind, that men enslaved to either grief or tyranny conferred the incommunicable Name on stocks and stones.

[22] Then it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; but even though they live in a great war of ignorance, they call such evils peace.

[23] For while they celebrate either child-slaying sacrifices or clandestine mysteries, or frenzied carousals in unheard-of rites,

[24] They no longer safeguard either lives or pure wedlock; but each either waylays and kills his neighbor, or aggrieves him by adultery.

[25] And all is confusion-blood and murder, theft and guile, corruption, faithlessness, turmoil, perjury,

[26] Disturbance of good men, neglect of gratitude, besmirching of souls, unnatural lust, disorder in marriage, adultery and shamelessness.

[27] For the worship of infamous idols is the reason and source and extremity of all evil.

[28] For they either go mad with enjoyment, or prophesy lies, or live lawlessly or lightly forswear themselves.

[29] For as their trust is in soulless idols, they expect no harm when they have sworn falsely.

[30] 3 But on both counts shall justice overtake them: because they thought ill of God and devoted themselves to idols, and because they deliberately swore false oaths, despising piety.

[31] 4 For not the might of those that are sworn by but the retribution of sinners ever follows upon the transgression of the wicked.

Wisdom Chapter 15

[1] But you, our God, are good and true, slow to anger, and governing all with mercy.

[2] For even if we sin, we are yours, and know your might; but we will not sin, knowing that we belong to you.

[3] For to know you well is complete justice, and to know your might is the root of immortality.

[4] For neither did the evil creation of men's fancy deceive us, nor the fruitless labor of painters, A form smeared with varied colors,

[5] the sight of which arouses yearning in the senseless man, till he longs for the inanimate form of a dead image.

[6] Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes are they who make them and long for them and worship them.

[7] For truly the potter, laboriously working the soft earth, molds for our service each several article: Both the vessels that serve for clean purposes and their opposites, all alike; As to what shall be the use of each vessel of either class the worker in clay is the judge.

[8] And with misspent toil he molds a meaningless god from the selfsame clay; though he himself shortly before was made from the earth And after a little, is to go whence he was taken, when the life that was lent him is demanded back.

[9] But his concern is not that he is to die nor that his span of life is brief; Rather, he vies with goldsmiths and silversmiths and emulates molders of bronze, and takes pride in modeling counterfeits.

[10] Ashes his heart is! more worthless than earth is his hope, and more ignoble than clay his life;

[11] Because he knew not the one who fashioned him, and breathed into him a quickening soul, and infused a vital spirit.

[12] Instead, he esteemed our life a plaything, and our span of life a holiday for gain; "For one must," says he, "make profit every way, be it even out of evil."

[13] For this man more than any knows that he is sinning, when out of earthen stuff he creates fragile vessels and idols alike.

[14] But all quite senseless, and worse than childish in mind, are the enemies of your people who enslaved them.

[15] For they esteemed all the idols of the nations gods, which have no use of the eyes for vision, nor nostrils to snuff the air, Nor ears to hear, nor fingers on their hands for feeling; even their feet are useless to walk with.

[16] For a man made them; one whose spirit has been lent him fashioned them. For no man succeeds in fashioning a god like himself;

[17] being mortal, he makes a dead thing with his lawless hands. For he is better than the things he worships; he at least lives, but never they.

[18] 1 2 And besides, they worship the most loathsome beasts-- for compared as to folly, these are worse than the rest,

[19] Nor for their looks are they good or desirable beasts, but they have escaped both the approval of God and his blessing.

Wisdom Chapter 16

[1] 1 Therefore they were fittingly punished by similar creatures, and were tormented by a swarm of insects.

[2] Instead of this punishment, you benefited your people with a novel dish, the delight they craved, by providing quail for their food;

[3] That those others, when they desired food, since the creatures sent to plague them were so loathsome, should be turned from even the craving of necessities, While these, after a brief period of privation, partook of a novel dish.

[4] For upon those oppressors, inexorable want had to come; but these needed only be shown how their enemies were being tormented.

[5] For when the dire venom of beasts came upon them and they were dying from the bite of crooked serpents, your anger endured not to the end.

[6] 2 But as a warning, for a short time they were terrorized, though they had a sign of salvation, to remind them of the precept of your law.

[7] For he who turned toward it was saved, not by what he saw, but by you, the savior of all.

[8] And by this also you convinced our foes that you are he who delivers from all evil.

[9] For the bites of locusts and of flies slew them, and no remedy was found to save their lives because they deserved to be punished by such means;

[10] But not even the fangs of poisonous reptiles overcame your sons, for your mercy brought the antidote to heal them.

[11] For as a reminder of your injunctions, they were stung, and swiftly they were saved, Lest they should fall into deep forgetfulness and become unresponsive to your beneficence.

[12] For indeed, neither herb nor application cured them, but your all-healing word, O LORD!

[13] For you have dominion over life and death; you lead down to the gates of the nether world, and lead back.

[14] 3 Man, however, slays in his malice, but when the spirit has come away, it does not return, nor can he bring back the soul once it is confined.

[15] But your hand none can escape.

[16] For the wicked who refused to know you were punished by the might of your arm, Pursued by unwonted rains and hailstorms and unremitting downpours, and consumed by fire.

[17] For against all expectation, in water which quenches anything, the fire grew more active; For the universe fights on behalf of the just.

[18] For now the flame was tempered so that the beasts might not be burnt up that were sent upon the wicked, but that these might see and know they were struck by the judgment of God;

[19] And again, even in the water, fire blazed beyond its strength so as to consume the produce of the wicked land.

[20] Instead of this, you nourished your people with food of angels and furnished them bread from heaven, ready to hand, untoiled-for, endowed with all delights and conforming to every taste.

[21] For this substance of yours revealed your sweetness toward your children, and serving the desire of him who received it, was blended to whatever flavor each one wished.

[22] 4 Yet snow and ice withstood fire and were not melted, that they might know that their enemies' fruits Were consumed by a fire that blazed in the hail and flashed lightning in the rain.

[23] But this fire, again, that the just might be nourished, forgot even its proper strength;

[24] For your creation, serving you, its maker, grows tense for punishment against the wicked, but is relaxed in benefit for those who trust in you.

[25] Therefore at that very time, transformed in all sorts of ways, it was serving your all-nourishing bounty according to what they needed and desired;

[26] That your sons whom you loved might learn, O LORD, that it is not the various kinds of fruits that nourish man, but it is your word that preserves those who believe you!

[27] For what was not destroyed by fire, when merely warmed by a momentary sunbeam, melted;

[28] So that men might know that one must give you thanks before the sunrise, and turn to you at daybreak.

[29] For the hope of the ingrate melts like a wintry frost and runs off like useless water.

Wisdom Chapter 17

[1] For great are your judgments, and hardly to be described; therefore the unruly souls were wrong.

[2] For when the lawless thought to enslave the holy nation, shackled with darkness, fettered by the long night, they lay confined beneath their own roofs as exiles from the eternal providence.

[3] For they who supposed their secret sins were hid under the dark veil of oblivion Were scattered in fearful trembling, terrified by apparitions.

[4] For not even their inner chambers kept them fearless, for crashing sounds on all sides terrified them, and mute phantoms with somber looks appeared.

[5] No force, even of fire, was able to give light, nor did the flaming brilliance of the stars succeed in lighting up that gloomy night.

[6] 1 But only intermittent, fearful fires flashed through upon them; And in their terror they thought beholding these was worse than the times when that sight was no longer to be seen.

[7] And mockeries of the magic art were in readiness, and a jeering reproof of their vaunted shrewdness.

[8] For they who undertook to banish fears and terrors from the sick soul themselves sickened with a ridiculous fear.

[9] For even though no monstrous thing frightened them, they shook at the passing of insects and the hissing of reptiles,

[10] And perished trembling, reluctant to face even the air that they could nowhere escape.

[11] For wickedness, of its nature cowardly, testifies in its own condemnation, and because of a distressed conscience, always magnifies misfortunes.

[12] For fear is nought but the surrender of the helps that come from reason;

[13] and the more one's expectation is of itself uncertain, the more one makes of not knowing the cause that brings on torment.

[14] 2 So they, during that night, powerless though it was, that had come upon them from the recesses of a powerless nether world, while all sleeping the same sleep,

[15] Were partly smitten by fearsome apparitions and partly stricken by their souls' surrender; for fear came upon them, sudden and unexpected.

[16] Thus, then, whoever was there fell into that unbarred prison and was kept confined.

[17] For whether one was a farmer, or a shepherd, or a worker at tasks in the wasteland, Taken unawares, he served out the inescapable sentence;

[18] for all were bound by the one bond of darkness. And were it only the whistling wind, or the melodious song of birds in the spreading branches, Or the steady sound of rushing water,

[19] or the rude crash of overthrown rocks, Or the unseen gallop of bounding animals, or the roaring cry of the fiercest beasts, Or an echo resounding from the hollow of the hills, these sounds, inspiring terror, paralyzed them.

[20] For the whole world shone with brilliant light and continued its works without interruption;

[21] Over them alone was spread oppressive night, an image of the darkness that next should come upon them; yet they were to themselves more burdensome than the darkness.

Wisdom Chapter 18

[1] But your holy ones had very great light; And those others, who heard their voices but did not see their forms, since now they themselves had suffered, called them blest;

[2] 1 And because they who formerly had been wronged did not harm them, they thanked them, and pleaded with them, for the sake of the difference between them.

[3] Instead of this, you furnished the flaming pillar which was a guide on the unknown way, and the mild sun for an honorable migration.

[4] For those deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned by darkness, who had kept your sons confined through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world.

[5] 2 When they determined to put to death the infants of the holy ones, and when a single boy had been cast forth but saved, As a reproof you carried off their multitude of sons and made them perish all at once in the mighty water.

[6] That night was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.

[7] Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes.

[8] For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.

[9] 3 For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution, That your holy ones should share alike the same good things and dangers, having previously sung the praises of the fathers.

[10] But the discordant cry of their enemies responded, and the piteous wail of mourning for children was borne to them.

[11] And the slave was smitten with the same retribution as his master; even the plebeian suffered the same as the king.

[12] And all alike by a single death had countless dead; For the living were not even sufficient for the burial, since at a single instant their nobler offspring were destroyed.

[13] 4 For though they disbelieved at every turn on account of sorceries, at the destruction of the first-born they acknowledged that the people was God's son.

[14] For when peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent,

[15] Your all-powerful word from heaven's royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land,

[16] bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree. And as he alighted, he filled every place with death; he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth.

[17] Then, forthwith, visions in horrible dreams perturbed them and unexpected fears assailed them;

[18] And cast half-dead, one here, another there, each was revealing the reason for his dying.

[19] For the dreams that disturbed them had proclaimed this beforehand, lest they perish unaware of why they suffered ill.

[20] But the trial of death touched at one time even the just, and in the desert a plague struck the multitude; Yet not for long did the anger last.

[21] 5 For the blameless man hastened to be their champion, bearing the weapon of his special office, prayer and the propitiation of incense; He withstood the wrath and put a stop to the calamity, showing that he was your servant.

[22] 6 And he overcame the bitterness not by bodily strength, not by force of arms; But by word he overcame the smiter, recalling the sworn covenants with their fathers.

[23] For when corpses had already fallen one on another in heaps, he stood in the midst and checked the anger, and cut off the way to the living.

[24] 7 For on his full-length robe was the whole world, and the glories of the fathers were carved in four rows upon the stones, and your grandeur was on the crown upon his head.

[25] To these names the destroyer yielded, and these he feared; for the mere trial of anger was enough.

Wisdom Chapter 19

[1] 1 But the wicked, merciless wrath assailed until the end. For he knew beforehand what they were yet to do:

[2] 2 That though they themselves had agreed to the departure and had anxiously sent them on their way, they would regret it and pursue them.

[3] 3 For while they were still engaged in funeral rites and were mourning at the burials of the dead, They adopted another senseless plan; and those whom they had sent away with entreaty, they pursued as fugitives.

[4] For a compulsion suited to this ending drew them on, and made them forgetful of what had befallen them, That they might fill out the torments of their punishment,

[5] 4 and your people might experience a glorious journey while those others met an extraordinary death.

[6] For all creation, in its several kinds, was being made over anew, serving its natural laws, that your children might be preserved unharmed.

[7] The cloud overshadowed their camp; and out of what had before been water, dry land was seen emerging: Out of the Red Sea an unimpeded road, and a grassy plain out of the mighty flood.

[8] Over this crossed the whole nation sheltered by your hand, after they beheld stupendous wonders.

[9] For they ranged about like horses, and bounded about like lambs, praising you, O LORD! their deliverer.

[10] For they were still mindful of what had happened in their sojourn: how instead of the young of animals the land brought forth gnats, and instead of fishes the river swarmed with countless frogs.

[11] And later they saw also a new kind of bird when, prompted by desire, they asked for pleasant foods;

[12] For to appease them quail came to them from the sea.

[13] 5 And the punishments came upon the sinners only after forewarnings from the violence of the thunderbolts. For they justly suffered for their own misdeeds, since indeed they treated their guests with the more grievous hatred.

[14] For those others did not receive unfamiliar visitors, but these were enslaving beneficent guests.

[15] 6 And not that only; but what punishment was to be theirs since they received strangers unwillingly!

[16] Yet these, after welcoming them with festivities, oppressed with awful toils those who now shared with them the same rights.

[17] And they were struck with blindness, as those others had been at the portals of the just- When, surrounded by yawning darkness, each sought the entrance of his own gate.

[18] For the elements, in variable harmony among themselves, like strings of the harp, produce new melody, while the flow of music steadily persists. And this can be perceived exactly from a review of what took place.

[19] For land creatures were changed into water creatures, and those that swam went over on to the land.

[20] Fire in water maintained its own strength, and water forgot its quenching nature;

[21] Flames, by contrast, neither consumed the flesh of the perishable animals that went about in them, nor melted the icelike, quick-melting kind of ambrosial food.

[22] For every way, O LORD! you magnified and glorified your people; unfailing, you stood by them in every time and circumstance.

Introduction to Sirach

Sirach

Introduction

The Book of Sirach derives its name from the author, Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach (Sirach 50:27). Its earliest title seems to have been "Wisdom of the Son of Sirach." The designation "Liber Ecclesiasticus," meaning "Church Book," appended to some Greek and Latin manuscripts was due to the extensive use which the church made of this book in presenting moral teaching to catechumens and to the faithful.

The author, a sage who lived in Jerusalem, was thoroughly imbued with love for the law, the priesthood, the temple, and divine worship. As a wise and experienced observer of life he addressed himself to his contemporaries with the motive of helping them to maintain religious faith and integrity through study of the holy books, and through tradition.

The book contains numerous maxims formulated with care, grouped by affinity, and dealing with a variety of subjects such as the individual, the family, and the community in their relations with one another and with God. It treats of friendship, education, poverty and wealth, the law, religious worship, and many other matters which reflect the religious and social customs of the time.

Written in Hebrew between 200 and 175 B.C., the text was translated into Greek sometime after 132 B.C. by the author's grandson, who also wrote a Foreword which contains information about the book, the author, and the translator himself. Until the close of the nineteenth century Sirach was known only in translations, of which this Greek rendering was the most important. From it the Latin version was made. Between 1896 and 1900, again in 1931, and several times since 1956, manuscripts were discovered containing in all about two thirds of the Hebrew text, which agrees substantially with the Greek. One such text, from Masada, is pre-Christian in date.

Though not included in the Hebrew Bible after the first century A.D., nor accepted by Protestants, the Book of Sirach has always been recognized by the Catholic Church as divinely inspired and canonical. The Foreword, though not inspired, is placed in the Bible because of its antiquity and importance.

The contents of Sirach are of a discursive nature, not easily divided into separate parts. Sir 1-43 deal largely with moral instruction; Sirach 44:1-50:24 contain a eulogy of the heroes of Israel and some of the patriarchs. There are two appendices in which the author expresses his gratitude to God, and appeals to the unlearned to acquire true wisdom.

The Church uses the Book of Sirach extensively in her liturgy.

Foreword

Many important truths have been handed down to us through the law, the prophets, and the later authors; and for these the instruction and wisdom of Israel merit praise. Now, those who are familiar with these truths must not only understand them themselves but, as lovers of wisdom, be able, in speech and in writing, to help others less familiar. Such a one was my grandfather, Jesus, who, having devoted himself for a long time to the diligent study of the law, the prophets, and the rest of the books1 of our ancestors, and having developed a thorough familiarity with them, was moved to write something himself in the nature of instruction and wisdom, in order that those who love wisdom might, by acquainting themselves with what he too had written, make even greater progress in living in conformity with the divine law.

You therefore are now invited to read it in a spirit of attentive good will, with indulgence for any apparent failure on our part, despite earnest efforts, in the interpretation of particular passages. For words spoken originally in Hebrew are not as effective when they are translated into another language. That is true not only of this book but of the law itself, the prophets and the rest of the books, which differ no little when they are read in the original.

I arrived in Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Euergetes,2 and while there, I found a reproduction of our valuable teaching.3 I therefore considered myself in duty bound to devote some diligence and industry to the translation of this book. Many sleepless hours of close application have I devoted in the interval to finishing the book for publication, for the benefit of those living abroad who wish to acquire wisdom and are disposed to live their lives according to the standards of the law.

Sirach Chapter 1

[1] 1 All wisdom 2 comes from the LORD and with him it remains forever.

[2] The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain, the days of eternity: who can number these?

[3] Heaven's height, earth's breadth, the depths of the abyss: who can explore these?

[4] Before all things else wisdom was created; and prudent understanding, from eternity.

[5] To whom has wisdom's root been revealed? Who knows her subtleties?

[6] There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring, seated upon his throne:

[7] It is the LORD; he created her, has seen her and taken note of her.

[8] He has poured her forth upon all his works, upon every living thing according to his bounty; he has lavished her upon his friends.

[9] 3 4 Fear of the LORD is glory and splendor, gladness and a festive crown.

[10] Fear of the LORD warms the heart, giving gladness and joy and length of days.

[11] He who fears the LORD will have a happy end; even on the day of his death he will be blessed.

[12] The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD, which is formed with the faithful in the womb.

[13] With devoted men was she created from of old, and with their children her beneficence abides.

[14] Fullness of wisdom is fear of the LORD; she inebriates men with her fruits.

[15] Her entire house she fills with choice foods, her granaries with her harvest.

[16] Wisdom's garland is fear of the LORD, with blossoms of peace and perfect health.

[17] Knowledge and full understanding she showers down; she heightens the glory of those who possess her.

[18] The root of wisdom is fear of the LORD; her branches are length of days.

[19] 5 One cannot justify unjust anger; anger plunges a man to his downfall.

[20] A patient man need stand firm but for a time, and then contentment comes back to him.

[21] For a while he holds back his words, then the lips of many herald his wisdom.

[22] Among wisdom's treasures is the paragon of prudence; but fear of the LORD is an abomination to the sinner.

[23] If you desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the LORD will bestow her upon you;

[24] For fear of the LORD is wisdom and culture; loyal humility is his delight.

[25] 6 Be not faithless to the fear of the LORD, nor approach it with duplicity of heart.

[26] Play not the hypocrite before men; over your lips keep watch.

[27] Exalt not yourself lest you fall and bring upon you dishonor;

[28] For then the LORD will reveal your secrets and publicly cast you down,

[29] Because you approached the fear of the LORD with your heart full of guile.

Sirach Chapter 2

[1] 1 My son, when you come to serve the LORD, prepare yourself for trials.

[2] Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity.

[3] Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great.

[4] Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient;

[5] For in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation.

[6] Trust God and he will help you; make straight your ways and hope in him.

[7] You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy, turn not away lest you fall.

[8] You who fear the LORD, trust him, and your reward will not be lost.

[9] You who fear the LORD, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy.

[10] Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his fear and been forsaken? has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?

[11] Compassionate and merciful is the LORD; he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble.

[12] 2 Woe to craven hearts and drooping hands, to the sinner who treads a double path!

[13] Woe to the faint of heart who trust not, who therefore will have no shelter!

[14] Woe to you who have lost hope! what will you do at the visitation of the LORD?

[15] Those who fear the LORD disobey not his words; those who love him keep his ways.

[16] Those who fear the LORD seek to please him, those who love him are filled with his law.

[17] Those who fear the LORD prepare their hearts and humble themselves before him.

[18] Let us fall into the hands of the LORD and not into the hands of men, For equal to his majesty is the mercy that he shows.

Sirach Chapter 3

[1] 1 Children, pay heed to a father's right; do so that you may live.

[2] For the LORD sets a father in honor over his children; a mother's authority he confirms over her sons.

[3] He who honors his father atones for sins;

[4] he stores up riches who reveres his mother.

[5] He who honors his father is gladdened by children, and when he prays he is heard.

[6] He who reveres his father will live a long life; he obeys the LORD who brings comfort to his mother.

[7] He who fears the LORD honors his father, and serves his parents as rulers.

[8] In word and deed honor your father that his blessing may come upon you;

[9] For a father's blessing gives a family firm roots, but a mother's curse uproots the growing plant.

[10] Glory not in your father's shame, for his shame is no glory to you!

[11] His father's honor is a man's glory; disgrace for her children, a mother's shame.

[12] My son, take care of your father when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives.

[13] Even if his mind fail, be considerate with him; revile him not in the fullness of your strength.

[14] For kindness to a father will not be forgotten, it will serve as a sin offering--it will take lasting root.

[15] In time of tribulation it will be recalled to your advantage, like warmth upon frost it will melt away your sins.

[16] A blasphemer is he who despises his father; accursed of his Creator, he who angers his mother.

[17] 2 My son, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.

[18] Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.

[19] 3 For great is the power of God; by the humble he is glorified.

[20] What is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength search not.

[21] What is committed to you, attend to; for what is hidden is not your concern.

[22] With what is too much for you meddle not, when shown things beyond human understanding.

[23] Their own opinion has misled many, and false reasoning unbalanced their judgment.

[24] Where the pupil of the eye is missing, there is no light, and where there is no knowledge, there is no wisdom.

[25] A stubborn man will fare badly in the end, and he who loves danger will perish in it.

[26] A stubborn man will be burdened with sorrow; a sinner will heap sin upon sin.

[27] For the affliction of the proud man there is no cure; he is the offshoot of an evil plant.

[28] The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the wise man's joy.

[29] 4 Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sins.

[30] He who does a kindness is remembered afterward; when he falls, he finds a support.

Sirach Chapter 4

[1] 1 My son, rob not the poor man of his livelihood; force not the eyes of the needy to turn away.

[2] A hungry man grieve not, a needy man anger not;

[3] Do not exasperate the downtrodden; delay not to give to the needy.

[4] A beggar in distress do not reject; avert not your face from the poor.

[5] From the needy turn not your eyes, give no man reason to curse you;

[6] For if in the bitterness of his soul he curse you, his Creator will hear his prayer.

[7] Endear yourself to the assembly; before a ruler bow your head.

[8] Give a hearing to the poor man, and return his greeting with courtesy;

[9] Deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor; let not justice be repugnant to you.

[10] To the fatherless be as a father, and help their mother as a husband would; Thus will you be like a son to the Most High, and he will be more tender to you than a mother.

[11] 2 Wisdom instructs her children and admonishes those who seek her.

[12] He who loves her loves life; those who seek her out win her favor.

[13] He who holds her fast inherits glory; wherever he dwells, the LORD bestows blessings.

[14] Those who serve her serve the Holy One; those who love her the LORD loves.

[15] He who obeys her judges nations; he who hearkens to her dwells in her inmost chambers.

[16] If one trusts her, he will possess her; his descendants too will inherit her.

[17] She walks with him as a stranger, and at first she puts him to the test; Fear and dread she brings upon him and tries him with her discipline; With her precepts she puts him to the proof, until his heart is fully with her.

[18] Then she comes back to bring him happiness and reveal her secrets to him.

[19] But if he fails her, she will abandon him and deliver him into the hands of despoilers.

[20] 3 Use your time well; guard yourself from evil, and bring upon yourself no shame.

[21] There is a sense of shame laden with guilt, and a shame that merits honor and respect.

[22] Show no favoritism to your own discredit; let no one intimidate you to your own downfall.

[23] Refrain not from speaking at the proper time, and hide not away your wisdom;

[24] For it is through speech that wisdom becomes known, and knowledge through the tongue's rejoinder.

[25] Never gainsay the truth, and struggle not against the rushing stream.

[26] Be not ashamed to acknowledge your guilt, but of your ignorance rather be ashamed.

[27] Do not abase yourself before an impious man, nor refuse to do so before rulers.

[28] Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you.

[29] Be not surly in your speech, nor lazy and slack in your deeds.

[30] Be not a lion at home, nor sly and suspicious at work.

[31] Let not your hand be open to receive and clenched when it is time to give.

Sirach Chapter 5

[1] 1 Rely not on your wealth; say not: "I have the power."

[2] Rely not on your strength in following the desires of your heart.

[3] Say not: "Who can prevail against me?" for the LORD will exact the punishment.

[4] Say not: "I have sinned, yet what has befallen me?" for the LORD bides his time.

[5] Of forgiveness be not overconfident, adding sin upon sin.

[6] Say not: "Great is his mercy; my many sins he will forgive."

[7] For mercy and anger alike are with him; upon the wicked alights his wrath.

[8] Delay not your conversion to the LORD, put it not off from day to day;

[9] For suddenly his wrath flames forth; at the time of vengeance, you will be destroyed.

[10] Rely not upon deceitful wealth, for it will be no help on the day of wrath.

[11] 2 Winnow not in every wind, and start not off in every direction.

[12] 3 Be consistent in your thoughts; steadfast be your words.

[13] Be swift to hear, but slow to answer.

[14] If you have the knowledge, answer your neighbor; if not, put your hand over your mouth.

[15] Honor and dishonor through talking! A man's tongue can be his downfall.

[16] Be not called a detractor; use not your tongue for calumny;

[17] For shame has been created for the thief, and the reproach of his neighbor for the double-tongued.

Sirach Chapter 6

[1] 1 Say nothing harmful, small or great; be not a foe instead of a friend; A bad name and disgrace will you acquire: "That for the evil man with double tongue!"

[2] Fall not into the grip of desire, lest, like fire, it consume your strength;

[3] Your leaves it will eat, your fruits destroy, and you will be left a dry tree,

[4] For contumacious desire destroys its owner and makes him the sport of his enemies.

[5] 2 A kind mouth multiplies friends, and gracious lips prompt friendly greetings.

[6] Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.

[7] When you gain a friend, first test him, and be not too ready to trust him

[8] For one sort of friend is a friend when it suits him, but he will not be with you in time of distress.

[9] Another is a friend who becomes an enemy, and tells of the quarrel to your shame.

[10] Another is a friend, a boon companion, who will not be with you when sorrow comes.

[11] When things go well, he is your other self, and lords it over your servants;

[12] But if you are brought low, he turns against you and avoids meeting you.

[13] Keep away from your enemies; be on your guard with your friends.

[14] A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.

[15] A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth.

[16] A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds;

[17] For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.

[18] 3 My son, from your youth embrace discipline; thus will you find wisdom with graying hair.

[19] As though plowing and sowing, draw close to her; then await her bountiful crops.

[20] For in cultivating her you will labor but little, and soon you will eat of her fruits.

[21] How irksome she is to the unruly! The fool cannot abide her.

[22] She will be like a burdensome stone to test him, and he will not delay in casting her aside.

[23] 4 For discipline is like her name, she is not accessible to many.

[24] Listen, my son, and heed my advice; refuse not my counsel.

[25] Put your feet into her fetters, and your neck under her yoke.

[26] Stoop your shoulders and carry her and be not irked at her bonds.

[27] With all your soul draw close to her; with all your strength keep her ways.

[28] Search her out, discover her; seek her and you will find her. Then when you have her, do not let her go;

[29] Thus will you afterward find rest in her, and she will become your joy.

[30] Her fetters will be your throne of majesty; her bonds, your purple cord.

[31] 5 You will wear her as your robe of glory, bear her as your splendid crown.

[32] My son, if you wish, you can be taught; if you apply yourself, you will be shrewd.

[33] If you are willing to listen, you will learn; if you give heed, you will be wise.

[34] Frequent the company of the elders; whoever is wise, stay close to him.

[35] Be eager to hear every godly discourse; let no wise saying escape you.

[36] If you see a man of prudence, seek him out; let your feet wear away his doorstep!

[37] Reflect on the precepts of the LORD, let his commandments be your constant meditation; Then he will enlighten your mind, and the wisdom you desire he will grant.

Sirach Chapter 7

[1] 1 Do no evil, and evil will not overtake you;

[2] avoid wickedness, and it will turn aside from you.

[3] Sow not in the furrows of injustice, lest you harvest it sevenfold.

[4] Seek not from the LORD authority, nor from the king a place of honor.

[5] Parade not your justice before the Lord, and before the king flaunt not your wisdom.

[6] Seek not to become a judge if you have not strength to root out crime, Or you will show favor to the ruler and mar your integrity.

[7] Be guilty of no evil before the city's populace, nor disgrace yourself before the assembly.

[8] Do not plot to repeat a sin; not even for one will you go unpunished.

[9] Say not: "He will appreciate my many gifts; the Most High will accept my offerings."

[10] Be not impatient in prayers, and neglect not the giving of alms.

[11] 2 Laugh not at an embittered man; be mindful of him who exalts and humbles.

[12] Plot no mischief against your brother, nor against your friend and companion.

[13] Delight not in telling lie after lie, for it never results in good.

[14] 3 Thrust not yourself into the deliberations of princes, and repeat not the words of your prayer.

[15] Hate not laborious tasks, nor farming, which was ordained by the Most High.

[16] Do not esteem yourself better than your fellows; remember, his wrath will not delay.

[17] More and more, humble your pride; what awaits man is worms.

[18] 4 5 Barter not a friend for money, nor a dear brother for the gold of Ophir.

[19] Dismiss not a sensible wife; a gracious wife is more precious than corals.

[20] Mistreat not a servant who faithfully serves, nor a laborer who devotes himself to his task.

[21] 6 Let a wise servant be dear to you as your own self; refuse him not his freedom.

[22] If you have livestock, look after them; if they are dependable, keep them.

[23] 7 If you have sons, chastise them; bend their necks from childhood.

[24] If you have daughters, keep them chaste, and be not indulgent to them.

[25] Giving your daughter in marriage ends a great task; but give her to a worthy man.

[26] If you have a wife, let her not seem odious to you; but where there is ill-feeling, trust her not.

[27] With your whole heart honor your father; your mother's birthpangs forget not.

[28] Remember, of these parents you were born; what can you give them for all they gave you?

[29] With all your soul, fear God, revere his priests.

[30] With all your strength, love your Creator, forsake not his ministers.

[31] 8 Honor God and respect the priest; give him his portion as you have been commanded: First fruits and contributions, due sacrifices and holy offerings.

[32] To the poor man also extend your hand, that your blessing may be complete;

[33] 9 Be generous to all the living, and withhold not your kindness from the dead.

[34] Avoid not those who weep, but mourn with those who mourn;

[35] Neglect not to visit the sick-- for these things you will be loved.

[36] In whatever you do, remember your last days, and you will never sin.

Sirach Chapter 8

[1] 1 Contend not with an influential man, lest you fall into his power.

[2] Quarrel not with a rich man, lest he pay out the price of your downfall; For gold has dazzled many, and perverts the character of princes.

[3] Dispute not with a man of railing speech, heap no wood upon his fire.

[4] Be not too familiar with an unruly man, lest he speak ill of your forebears.

[5] 2 Shame not a repentant sinner; remember, we all are guilty.

[6] Insult no man when he is old, for some of us, too, will grow old.

[7] Rejoice not when a man dies; remember, we are all to die.

[8] Spurn not the discourse of the wise, but acquaint yourself with their proverbs; From them you will acquire the training to serve in the presence of princes.

[9] Reject not the tradition of old men which they have learned from their fathers; From it you will obtain the knowledge how to answer in time of need.

[10] Kindle not the coals of a sinner, lest you be consumed in his flaming fire.

[11] 3 Let not the impious man intimidate you; it will set him in ambush against you.

[12] Lend not to one more powerful than yourself; and whatever you lend, count it as lost.

[13] Go not surety beyond your means; think any pledge a debt you must pay.

[14] Contend not at law with a judge, for he will settle it according to his whim.

[15] Travel not with a ruthless man, lest he weigh you down with calamity; For he will go his own way straight, and through his folly you will perish with him.

[16] Provoke no quarrel with a quick-tempered man, nor ride with him through the desert, For bloodshed is nothing to him; when there is no one to help you, he will destroy you.

[17] Take no counsel with a fool, for he can keep nothing to himself.

[18] Before a stranger do nothing that should be kept secret, for you know not what it will engender.

[19] Open your heart to no man, and banish not your happiness.

Sirach Chapter 9

[1] 1 2 Be not jealous of the wife of your bosom, lest you teach her to do evil against you.

[2] Give no woman power over you to trample upon your dignity.

[3] Be not intimate with a strange woman, lest you fall into her snares.

[4] With a singing girl be not familiar, lest you be caught in her wiles.

[5] 3 Entertain no thoughts against a virgin, lest you be enmeshed in damages for her.

[6] Give not yourself to harlots, lest you surrender your inheritance.

[7] Gaze not about the lanes of the city and wander not through its squares;

[8] Avert your eyes from a comely woman; gaze not upon the beauty of another's wife-- Through woman's beauty many perish, for lust for it burns like fire.

[9] With a married woman dine not, recline not at table to drink by her side, Lest your heart be drawn to her and you go down in blood to the grave.

[10] 4 Discard not an old friend, for the new one cannot equal him. A new friend is like new wine which you drink with pleasure only when it has aged.

[11] Envy not a sinner's fame, for you know not what disaster awaits him.

[12] Rejoice not at a proud man's success; remember he will not reach death unpunished.

[13] Keep far from the man who has power to kill, and you will not be filled with the dread of death. But if you approach him, offend him not, lest he take away your life; Know that you are stepping among snares and walking over a net.

[14] As best you can, take your neighbors' measure, and associate with the wise.

[15] With the learned be intimate; let all your conversation be about the law of the LORD.

[16] Have just men for your table companions; in the fear of God be your glory.

[17] 5 Skilled artisans are esteemed for their deftness; but the ruler of his people is the skilled sage.

[18] Feared in the city is the man of railing speech, and he who talks rashly is hated.

Sirach Chapter 10

[1] A wise magistrate lends stability to his people, and the government of a prudent man is well ordered.

[2] As the people's judge, so are his ministers; as the head of a city, its inhabitants.

[3] A wanton king destroys his people, but a city grows through the wisdom of its princes.

[4] Sovereignty over the earth is in the hand of God, who raises up on it the man of the hour;

[5] Sovereignty over every man is in the hand of God, who imparts his majesty to the ruler.

[6] 1 No matter the wrong, do no violence to your neighbor, and do not walk the path of arrogance.

[7] Odious to the LORD and to men is arrogance, and the sin of oppression they both hate.

[8] Dominion is transferred from one people to another because of the violence of the arrogant.

[9] 2 Why are dust and ashes proud? even during life man's body decays;

[10] A slight illness--the doctor jests, a king today--tomorrow he is dead.

[11] When a man dies, he inherits corruption; worms and gnats and maggots.

[12] The beginning of pride is man's stubbornness in withdrawing his heart from his Maker;

[13] For pride is the reservoir of sin, a source which runs over with vice; Because of it God sends unheard-of afflictions and brings men to utter ruin.

[14] The thrones of the arrogant God overturns and establishes the lowly in their stead.

[15] The roots of the proud God plucks up, to plant the humble in their place:

[16] He breaks down their stem to the level of the ground, then digs their roots from the earth.

[17] The traces of the proud God sweeps away and effaces the memory of them from the earth.

[18] Insolence is not allotted to a man, nor stubborn anger to one born of woman.

[19] 3 Whose offspring can be in honor? Those of men. Which offspring are in honor? Those who fear God. Whose offspring can be in disgrace? Those of men. Which offspring are in disgrace? Those who transgress the commandments.

[20] Among brethren their leader is in honor; he who fears God is in honor among his people.

[21] Be it tenant or wayfarer, alien or pauper, his glory is the fear of the LORD.

[22] It is not just to despise a man who is wise but poor, nor proper to honor any sinner.

[23] The prince, the ruler, the judge are in honor; but none is greater than he who fears God.

[24] When free men serve a prudent slave, the wise man does not complain.

[25] Flaunt not your wisdom in managing your affairs, and boast not in your time of need.

[26] Better the worker who has plenty of everything than the boaster who is without bread.

[27] My son, with humility have self-esteem; prize yourself as you deserve.

[28] Who will acquit him who condemns himself? who will honor him who discredits himself?

[29] The poor man is honored for his wisdom as the rich man is honored for his wealth;

[30] Honored in poverty, how much more so in wealth! Dishonored in wealth, in poverty how much the more!

Sirach Chapter 11

[1] The poor man's wisdom lifts his head high and sets him among princes.

[2] Praise not a man for his looks; despise not a man for his appearance.

[3] Least is the bee among winged things, but she reaps the choicest of all harvests.

[4] Mock not the worn cloak and jibe at no man's bitter day: For strange are the works of the LORD, hidden from men his deeds.

[5] 1 The oppressed often rise to a throne, and some that none would consider wear a crown.

[6] The exalted often fall into utter disgrace; the honored are given into enemy hands.

[7] 2 Before investigating, find no fault; examine first, then criticize.

[8] Before hearing, answer not, and interrupt no one in the middle of his speech.

[9] Dispute not about what is not your concern; in the strife of the arrogant take no part.

[10] My son, why increase your cares, since he who is avid for wealth will not be blameless? Even if you run after it, you will never overtake it; however you seek it, you will not find it.

[11] One may toil and struggle and drive, and fall short all the more.

[12] Another goes his way a weakling and a failure, with little strength and great misery-- Yet the eyes of the LORD look favorably upon him; he raises him free of the vile dust,

[13] Lifts up his head and exalts him to the amazement of the many.

[14] 3 Good and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from the LORD.

[15] 4 Wisdom and understanding and knowledge of affairs, love and virtuous paths are from the LORD.

[16] Error and darkness were formed with sinners from their birth, and evil grows old with evildoers.

[17] The LORD'S gift remains with the just; his favor brings continued success.

[18] A man may become rich through a miser's life, and this is his allotted reward:

[19] 5 When he says: "I have found rest, now I will feast on my possessions," He does not know how long it will be till he dies and leaves them to others.

[20] My son, hold fast to your duty, busy yourself with it, grow old while doing your task.

[21] Admire not how sinners live, but trust in the LORD and wait for his light; For it is easy with the LORD suddenly, in an instant, to make a poor man rich.

[22] God's blessing is the lot of the just man, and in due time his hopes bear fruit.

[23] Say not: "What do I need? What further pleasure can be mine?"

[24] Say not: "I am independent. What harm can come to me now?"

[25] The day of prosperity makes one forget adversity; the day of adversity makes one forget prosperity.

[26] 6 For it is easy with the LORD on the day of death to repay man according to his deeds.

[27] A moment's affliction brings forgetfulness of past delights; when a man dies, his life is revealed.

[28] Call no man happy before his death, for by how he ends, a man is known.

[29] Bring not every man into your house, for many are the snares of the crafty one;

[30] Though he seem like a bird confined in a cage, yet like a spy he will pick out the weak spots.

[31] The talebearer turns good into evil; with a spark he sets many coals afire.

[32] The evil man lies in wait for blood, and plots against your choicest possessions.

[33] Avoid a wicked man, for he breeds only evil, lest you incur a lasting stain.

[34] Lodge a stranger with you, and he will subvert your course, and make a stranger of you to your own household.

Sirach Chapter 12

[1] 1 If you do good, know for whom you are doing it, and your kindness will have its effect.

[2] Do good to the just man and reward will be yours, if not from him, from the LORD.

[3] 2 No good comes to him who gives comfort to the wicked, nor is it an act of mercy that he does.

[4] Give to the good man, refuse the sinner; refresh the downtrodden, give nothing to the proud man.

[5] No arms for combat should you give him, lest he use them against yourself;

[6] With twofold evil you will meet for every good deed you do for him.

[7] The Most High himself hates sinners, and upon the wicked he takes vengeance.

[8] 3 In our prosperity we cannot know our friends; in adversity an enemy will not remain concealed.

[9] When a man is successful even his enemy is friendly; in adversity even his friend disappears.

[10] Never trust your enemy, for his wickedness is like corrosion in bronze.

[11] 4 Even though he acts humbly and peaceably toward you, take care to be on your guard against him. Rub him as one polishes a brazen mirror, and you will find that there is still corrosion.

[12] Let him not stand near you, lest he oust you and take your place. Let him not sit at your right hand, lest he then demand your seat, And in the end you appreciate my advice, when you groan with regret, as I warned you.

[13] Who pities a snake charmer when he is bitten, or anyone who goes near a wild beast?

[14] So is it with the companion of the proud man, who is involved in his sins:

[15] While you stand firm, he makes no bold move; but if you slip, he cannot hold back.

[16] With his lips an enemy speaks sweetly, but in his heart he schemes to plunge you into the abyss. Though your enemy has tears in his eyes, if given the chance, he will never have enough of your blood.

[17] If evil comes upon you, you will find him at hand; feigning to help, he will trip you up,

[18] Then he will nod his head and clap his hands and hiss repeatedly, and show his true face.

Sirach Chapter 13

[1] 1 He who touches pitch blackens his hand; he who associates with an impious man learns his ways.

[2] Bear no burden too heavy for you; go with no one greater or wealthier than yourself. How can the earthen pot go with the metal cauldron? When they knock together, the pot will be smashed:

[3] The rich man does wrong and boasts of it, the poor man is wronged and begs forgiveness.

[4] As long as the rich man can use you he will enslave you, but when you are exhausted, he will abandon you.

[5] As long as you have anything he will speak fair words to you, and with smiles he will win your confidence;

[6] When he needs something from you he will cajole you, then without regret he will impoverish you.

[7] While it serves his purpose he will beguile you, then twice or three times he will terrify you; When later he sees you he will pass you by, and shake his head over you.

[8] Guard against being presumptuous; be not as those who lack sense.

[9] When invited by a man of influence, keep your distance; then he will urge you all the more.

[10] Be not bold with him lest you be rebuffed, but keep not too far away lest you be forgotten.

[11] Engage not freely in discussion with him, trust not his many words; For by prolonged talk he will test you, and though smiling he will probe you.

[12] Mercilessly he will make of you a laughingstock, and will not refrain from injury or chains.

[13] Be on your guard and take care never to accompany men of violence.

[14] Every living thing loves its own kind, every man a man like himself.

[15] Every being is drawn to its own kind; with his own kind every man associates.

[16] Is a wolf ever allied with a lamb? So it is with the sinner and the just.

[17] 2 Can there be peace between the hyena and the dog? Or between the rich and the poor can there be peace?

[18] Lion's prey are the wild asses of the desert; so too the poor are feeding grounds for the rich.

[19] A proud man abhors lowliness; so does the rich man abhor the poor.

[20] When a rich man stumbles he is supported by a friend; when a poor man trips he is pushed down by a friend.

[21] Many are the supporters for a rich man when he speaks; though what he says is odious, it wins approval. When a poor man speaks they make sport of him; he speaks wisely and no attention is paid him.

[22] A rich man speaks and all are silent, his wisdom they extol to the clouds. A poor man speaks and they say: "Who is that?" If he slips they cast him down.

[23] Wealth is good when there is no sin; but poverty is evil by the standards of the proud.

[24] The heart of a man changes his countenance, either for good or for evil.

[25] The sign of a good heart is a cheerful countenance; withdrawn and perplexed is the laborious schemer.

Sirach Chapter 14

[1] Happy the man whose mouth brings him no grief, who is not stung by remorse for sin.

[2] Happy the man whose conscience does not reproach him, who has not lost hope.

[3] 1 Wealth ill becomes the mean man; and to the miser, of what use is gold?

[4] What he denies himself he collects for others, and in his possessions a stranger will revel.

[5] To whom will he be generous who is stingy with himself and does not enjoy what is his own?

[6] None is more stingy than he who is stingy with himself; he punishes his own miserliness.

[7] If ever he is generous, it is by mistake; and in the end he displays his greed.

[8] In the miser's opinion his share is too small;

[9] he refuses his neighbor and brings ruin on himself.

[10] The miser's eye is rapacious for bread, but on his own table he sets it stale.

[11] My son, use freely whatever you have and enjoy it as best you can;

[12] Remember that death does not tarry, nor have you been told the grave's appointed time.

[13] Before you die, be good to your friend, and give him a share in what you possess.

[14] Deprive not yourself of present good things, let no choice portion escape you.

[15] Will you not leave your riches to others, and your earnings to be divided by lot?

[16] Give, take, and treat yourself well, for in the nether world there are no joys to seek.

[17] All flesh grows old, like a garment; the age-old law is: All must die.

[18] As with the leaves that grow on a vigorous tree: one falls off and another sprouts-- So with the generations of flesh and blood: one dies and another is born.

[19] All man's works will perish in decay, and his handiwork will follow after him.

[20] 2 Happy the man who meditates on wisdom, and reflects on knowledge;

[21] Who ponders her ways in his heart, and understands her paths;

[22] Who pursues her like a scout, and lies in wait at her entry way;

[23] Who peeps through her windows, and listens at her doors;

[24] Who encamps near her house, and fastens his tent pegs next to her walls;

[25] Who pitches his tent beside her, and lives as her welcome neighbor;

[26] Who builds his nest in her leafage, and lodges in her branches;

[27] Who takes shelter with her from the heat, and dwells in her home.

Sirach Chapter 15

[1] He who fears the LORD will do this; he who is practiced in the law will come to wisdom.

[2] Motherlike she will meet him, like a young bride she will embrace him,

[3] Nourish him with the bread of understanding, and give him the water of learning to drink.

[4] He will lean upon her and not fall, he will trust in her and not be put to shame.

[5] She will exalt him above his fellows; in the assembly she will make him eloquent.

[6] Joy and gladness he will find, an everlasting name inherit.

[7] Worthless men will not attain to her, haughty men will not behold her.

[8] Far from the impious is she, not to be spoken of by liars.

[9] Unseemly is praise on a sinner's lips, for it is not accorded to him by God.

[10] But praise is offered by the wise man's tongue; its rightful steward will proclaim it.

[11] Say not: "It was God's doing that I fell away"; for what he hates he does not do.

[12] Say not: "It was he who set me astray"; for he has no need of wicked man.

[13] Abominable wickedness the LORD hates, he does not let it befall those who fear him.

[14] When God, in the beginning, created man, he made him subject to his own free choice.

[15] If you choose you can keep the commandments; it is loyalty to do his will.

[16] There are set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.

[17] Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him.

[18] Immense is the wisdom of the LORD; he is mighty in power, and all-seeing.

[19] The eyes of God see all he has made; he understands man's every deed.

[20] No man does he command to sin, to none does he give strength for lies.

Sirach Chapter 16

[1] 1 Desire not a brood of worthless children, nor rejoice in wicked offspring.

[2] Many though they be, exult not in them if they have not the fear of the LORD.

[3] Count not on their length of life, have no hope in their future. For one can be better than a thousand; rather die childless than have godless children!

[4] Through one wise man can a city be peopled; through a clan of rebels it becomes desolate.

[5] Many such things has my eye seen, even more than these has my ear heard.

[6] 2 Against a sinful band fire is enkindled, upon a godless people wrath flames out.

[7] 3 He forgave not the leaders of old who rebelled long ago in their might;

[8] 4 He spared not the neighbors of Lot whom he detested for their pride;

[9] 5 Nor did he spare the doomed people who were uprooted because of their sin;

[10] 6 Nor the six hundred thousand foot soldiers who perished for the impiety of their hearts.

[11] And had there been but one stiffnecked man, it were a wonder had he gone unpunished. For mercy and anger alike are with him who remits and forgives, though on the wicked alights his wrath.

[12] Great as his mercy is his punishment; he judges men, each according to his deeds.

[13] A criminal does not escape with his plunder; a just man's hope God does not leave unfulfilled.

[14] Whoever does good has his reward, which each receives according to his deeds.

[15] Say not: "I am hidden from God; in heaven who remembers me? Among so many people I cannot be known; what am I in the world of spirits?

[16] Behold, the heavens, the heaven of heavens, the earth and the abyss tremble at his visitation;

[17] The roots of the mountains, the earth's foundations, at his mere glance, quiver and quake.

[18] Of me, therefore, he will take no thought; with my ways who will concern himself?

[19] If I sin, no eye will see me; if all in secret I am disloyal, who is to know?

[20] Who tells him of just deeds and what could I expect for doing my duty?"

[21] Such are the thoughts of senseless men, which only the foolish knave will think.

[22] 7 Hearken to me, my son, take my advice, apply your mind to my words,

[23] While I propose measured wisdom, and impart accurate knowledge.

[24] When at the first God created his works and, as he made them, assigned their tasks,

[25] He ordered for all time what they were to do and their domains from generation to generation. They were not to hunger, nor grow weary, nor ever cease from their tasks.

[26] Not one should ever crowd its neighbor, nor should they ever disobey his word.

[27] Then the LORD looked upon the earth, and filled it with his blessings.

[28] Its surface he covered with all manner of life which must return into it again.

Sirach Chapter 17

[1] The LORD from the earth created man, and in his own image he made him.

[2] Limited days of life he gives him and makes him return to earth again.

[3] He endows man with a strength of his own, and with power over all things else on earth.

[4] He puts the fear of him in all flesh, and gives him rule over beasts and birds.

[5] He forms men's tongues and eyes and ears, and imparts to them an understanding heart.

[6] With wisdom and knowledge he fills them; good and evil he shows them.

[7] He looks with favor upon their hearts, and shows them his glorious works,

[8] That they may describe the wonders of his deeds and praise his holy name.

[9] He has set before them knowledge, a law of life as their inheritance;

[10] 1 An everlasting covenant he has made with them, his commandments he has revealed to them.

[11] His majestic glory their eyes beheld, his glorious voice their ears heard.

[12] He says to them, "Avoid all evil"; each of them he gives precepts about his fellow men.

[13] Their ways are ever known to him, they cannot be hidden from his eyes.

[14] 2 Over every nation he places a ruler, but the LORD'S own portion is Israel.

[15] All their actions are clear as the sun to him, his eyes are ever upon their ways.

[16] Their wickedness cannot be hidden from him; all of their sins are before the LORD.

[17] A man's goodness God cherishes like a signet ring, a man's virtue, like the apple of his eye.

[18] Later he will rise up and repay them, and requite each one of them as they deserve.

[19] 3 But to the penitent he provides a way back, he encourages those who are losing hope!

[20] Return to the LORD and give up sin, pray to him and make your offenses few.

[21] Turn again to the Most High and away from sin, hate intensely what he loathes;

[22] Who in the nether world can glorify the Most High in place of the living who offer their praise?

[23] No more can the dead give praise than those who have never lived; they glorify the LORD who are alive and well.

[24] How great the mercy of the LORD, his forgiveness of those who return to him!

[25] The like cannot be found in men, for not immortal is any son of man.

[26] 4 Is anything brighter than the sun? Yet it can be eclipsed. How obscure then the thoughts of flesh and blood!

[27] God watches over the hosts of highest heaven, while all men are dust and ashes.

Sirach Chapter 18

[1] 1 The Eternal is the judge of all things without exception; the LORD alone is just.

[2] Whom has he made equal to describing his works, and who can probe his mighty deeds?

[3] Who can measure his majestic power, or exhaust the tale of his mercies?

[4] One cannot lessen, nor increase, nor penetrate the wonders of the LORD.

[5] When a man ends he is only beginning, and when he stops he is still bewildered.

[6] What is man, of what worth is he? the good, the evil in him, what are these?

[7] The sum of a man's days is great if it reaches a hundred years:

[8] Like a drop of sea water, like a grain of sand, so are these few years among the days of eternity.

[9] That is why the LORD is patient with men and showers upon them his mercy.

[10] He sees and understands that their death is grievous, and so he forgives them all the more.

[11] Man may be merciful to his fellow man, but the LORD'S mercy reaches all flesh,

[12] Reproving, admonishing, teaching, as a shepherd guides his flock;

[13] Merciful to those who accept his guidance, who are diligent in his precepts.

[14] 2 My son, to your charity add no reproach, nor spoil any gift by harsh words.

[15] Like dew that abates a burning wind, so does a word improve a gift.

[16] Sometimes the word means more than the gift; both are offered by a kindly man.

[17] Only a fool upbraids before giving; a grudging gift wears out the expectant eyes.

[18] Be informed before speaking; before sickness prepare the cure.

[19] 3 Before you are judged, seek merit for yourself, and at the time of visitation you will have a ransom.

[20] Before you have fallen, humble yourself; when you have sinned, show repentance.

[21] Delay not to forsake sins, neglect it not till you are in distress.

[22] 4 Let nothing prevent the prompt payment of your vows; wait not to fulfill them when you are dying.

[23] Before making a vow have the means to fulfill it; be not one who tries the LORD.

[24] Think of wrath and the day of death, the time of vengeance when he will hide his face.

[25] Remember the time of hunger in the time of plenty, poverty and want in the day of wealth.

[26] Between morning and evening the weather changes; before the LORD all things are fleeting.

[27] A wise man is circumspect in all things; when sin is rife he keeps himself from wrongdoing.

[28] 5 Any learned man should make wisdom known, and he who attains to her should declare her praise;

[29] Those trained in her words must show their wisdom, dispensing sound proverbs like life-giving waters.

[30] 6 Go not after your lusts, but keep your desires in check.

[31] If you satisfy your lustful appetites they will make you the sport of your enemies.

[32] Have no joy in the pleasures of a moment which bring on poverty redoubled;

[33] Become not a glutton and a winebibber with nothing in your purse.

Sirach Chapter 19

[1] He who does so grows no richer; he who wastes the little he has will be stripped bare.

[2] Wine and women make the mind giddy, and the companion of harlots becomes reckless.

[3] Rottenness and worms will possess him, for contumacious desire destroys its owner.

Sirach Chapter 20

[1] 1 An admonition can be inopportune, and a man may be wise to hold his peace.

[2] It is much better to admonish than to lose one's temper, for one who admits his fault will be kept from disgrace.

[3] 2 Like a eunuch lusting for intimacy with a maiden is he who does right under compulsion.

[4] One man is silent and is thought wise, another is talkative and is disliked.

[5] One man is silent because he has nothing to say; another is silent, biding his time.

[6] A wise man is silent till the right time comes, but a boasting fool ignores the proper time.

[7] He who talks too much is detested; he who pretends to authority is hated.

[8] 3 Some misfortunes bring success; some things gained are a man's loss.

[9] 4 Some gifts do one no good, and some must be paid back double.

[10] Humiliation can follow fame, while from obscurity a man can lift up his head.

[11] A man may buy much for little, but pay for it seven times over.

[12] A wise man makes himself popular by a few words, but fools pour forth their blandishments in vain.

[13] A gift from a rogue will do you no good, for in his eyes his one gift is equal to seven.

[14] He gives little and criticizes often, and like a crier he shouts aloud. He lends today, he asks it back tomorrow; hateful indeed is such a man.

[15] A fool has no friends, nor thanks for his generosity;

[16] Those who eat his bread have an evil tongue. How many times they laugh him to scorn!

[17] 5 A fall to the ground is less sudden than a slip of the tongue; that is why the downfall of the wicked comes so quickly.

[18] Insipid food is the untimely tale; the unruly are always ready to offer it.

[19] A proverb when spoken by a fool is unwelcome, for he does not utter it at the proper time.

[20] A man through want may be unable to sin, yet in this tranquility he cannot rest.

[21] One may lose his life through shame, and perish through a fool's intimidation.

[22] A man makes a promise to a friend out of shame, and has him for his enemy needlessly.

[23] A lie is a foul blot in a man, yet it is constantly on the lips of the unruly.

[24] Better a thief than an inveterate liar, yet both will suffer disgrace;

[25] A liar's way leads to dishonor, his shame remains ever with him.

[26] 6 A wise man advances himself by his words, a prudent man pleases the great.

[27] He who works his land has abundant crops, he who pleases the great is pardoned his faults.

[28] Favors and gifts blind the eyes; like a muzzle over the mouth they silence reproof.

[29] Hidden wisdom and unseen treasure-- of what value is either?

[30] Better the man who hides his folly than the one who hides his wisdom.

Sirach Chapter 21

[1] 1 My son, if you have sinned, do so no more, and for your past sins pray to be forgiven.

[2] Flee from sin as from a serpent. that will bite you if you go near it; Its teeth are lion's teeth, destroying the souls of men.

[3] Every offense is a two-edged sword; when it cuts, there can be no healing.

[4] Violence and arrogance wipe out wealth; so too a proud man's home is destroyed.

[5] Prayer from a poor man's lips is heard at once, and justice is quickly granted him.

[6] He who hates correction walks the sinner's path, but he who fears the LORD repents in his heart.

[7] Widely known is the boastful speaker but the wise man knows his own faults.

[8] He who builds his house with another's money is collecting stones for his funeral mound.

[9] A band of criminals is like a bundle of tow; they will end in a flaming fire.

[10] 2 The path of sinners is smooth stones that end in the depths of the nether world.

[11] 3 He who keeps the law controls his impulses; he who is perfect in fear of the LORD has wisdom.

[12] He can never be taught who is not shrewd, but one form of shrewdness is thoroughly bitter.

[13] A wise man's knowledge wells up in a flood, and his counsel, like a living spring;

[14] A fool's mind is like a broken jar-- no knowledge at all can it hold.

[15] When an intelligent man hears words of wisdom, he approves them and adds to them; The wanton hears them with scorn and casts them behind his back.

[16] A fool's chatter is like a load on a journey, but there is charm to be found upon the lips of the wise.

[17] The views of a prudent man are sought in an assembly, and his words are considered with care.

[18] Like a house in ruins is wisdom to a fool; the stupid man knows it only as inscrutable words.

[19] Like fetters on the legs is learning to a fool, like a manacle on his right hand.

[20] A fool raises his voice in laughter, but the prudent man at the most smiles gently.

[21] Like a chain of gold is learning to a wise man, like a bracelet on his right arm.

[22] The fool steps boldly into a house, while the well-bred man remains outside;

[23] A boor peeps through the doorway of a house, but a cultured man keeps his glance cast down.

[24] It is rude for one to listen at a door; a cultured man would be overwhelmed by the disgrace of it.

[25] The lips of the impious talk of what is not their concern, but the words of the prudent are carefully weighed.

[26] Fools' thoughts are in their mouths, wise men's words are in their hearts.

[27] 4 When a godless man curses his adversary he really curses himself.

[28] A slanderer besmirches himself, and is hated by his neighbors.

Sirach Chapter 22

[1] 1 The sluggard is like a stone in the mud; everyone hisses at his disgrace.

[2] The sluggard is like a lump of dung; whoever touches him wipes his hands.

[3] An unruly child is a disgrace to its father; if it be a daughter she brings him to poverty.

[4] A thoughtful daughter becomes a treasure to her husband, a shameless one is her father's grief.

[5] A hussy shames her father and her husband; by both she is despised.

[6] 2 Like a song in time of mourning is inopportune talk, but lashes and discipline are at all times wisdom.

[7] Teaching a fool is like gluing a broken pot, or like disturbing a man in the depths of sleep;

[8] He talks with a slumberer who talks with a fool, for when it is over, he will say, "What was that?"

[9] Weep over the dead man, for his light has gone out; weep over the fool, for sense has left him.

[10] Weep but a little over the dead man, for he is at rest; but worse than death is the life of a fool.

[11] Seven days of mourning for the dead, but for the wicked fool a whole lifetime.

[12] Speak but seldom with the stupid man, be not the companion of a brute;

[13] Beware of him lest you have trouble and be spattered when he shakes himself; Turn away from him and you will find rest and not be wearied by his lack of sense.

[14] What is heavier than lead, and what is its name but "Fool"?

[15] Sand and salt and an iron mass are easier to bear than a stupid man.

[16] 3 Masonry bonded with wooden beams is not loosened by an earthquake; Neither is a resolve constructed with careful deliberation shaken in a moment of fear.

[17] A resolve that is backed by prudent understanding is like the polished surface of a smooth wall.

[18] Small stones lying on an open height will not remain when the wind blows; Neither can a timid resolve based on foolish plans withstand fear of any kind.

[19] 4 One who jabs the eye brings tears: he who pierces the heart bares its feelings.

[20] He who throws stones at birds drives them away, and he who insults a friend breaks up the friendship.

[21] Should you draw a sword against a friend, despair not, it can be undone.

[22] Should you speak sharply to a friend, fear not, you can be reconciled. But a contemptuous insult, a confidence broken, or a treacherous attack will drive away any friend.

[23] Make fast friends with a man while he is poor; thus will you enjoy his prosperity with him. In time of trouble remain true to him, so as to share in his inheritance when it comes.

[24] Before flames burst forth an oven smokes; so does abuse come before bloodshed.

[25] From a friend in need of support no one need hide in shame;

[26] But from him who brings harm to his friend all will stand aloof who hear of it.

[27] 5 Who will set a guard over my mouth, and upon my lips an effective seal, That I may not fail through them, that my tongue may not destroy me?

Sirach Chapter 23

[1] 1 LORD, Father and Master of my life, permit me not to fall by them!

[2] Who will apply the lash to my thoughts, to my mind the rod of discipline, That my failings may not be spared, nor the sins of my heart overlooked;

[3] Lest my failings increase, and my sins be multiplied; Lest I succumb to my foes, and my enemy rejoice over me?

[4] LORD, Father and God of my life, abandon me not into their control!

[5] A brazen look allow me not; ward off passion from my heart,

[6] Let not the lustful cravings of the flesh master me, surrender me not to shameless desires.

[7] 2 Give heed, my children, to the instruction that I pronounce, for he who keeps it will not be enslaved.

[8] Through his lips is the sinner ensnared; the railer and the arrogant man fall thereby.

[9] Let not your mouth form the habit of swearing, or becoming too familiar with the Holy Name.

[10] 3 Just as a slave that is constantly under scrutiny will not be without welts, So one who swears continually by the Holy Name will not remain free from sin.

[11] A man who often swears heaps up obligations; the scourge will never be far from his house. If he swears in error, he incurs guilt; if he neglects his obligation, his sin is doubly great. If he swears without reason he cannot be found just, and all his house will suffer affliction.

[12] There are words which merit death; may they never be heard among Jacob's heirs. For all such words are foreign to the devout, who do not wallow in sin.

[13] Let not your mouth become used to coarse talk, for in it lies sinful matter.

[14] Keep your father and mother in mind when you sit among the mighty, Lest in their presence you commit a blunder and disgrace your upbringing, By wishing you had never been born or cursing the day of your birth.

[15] A man who has the habit of abusive language will never mature in character as long as he lives.

[16] 4 5 Two types of men multiply sins, a third draws down wrath; For burning passion is a blazing fire, not to be quenched till it burns itself out: A man given to sins of the flesh, who never stops until the fire breaks forth;

[17] The rake to whom all bread is sweet and who is never through till he dies;

[18] And the man who dishonors his marriage bed and says to himself "Who can see me? Darkness surrounds me, walls hide me; no one sees me; why should I fear to sin?" Of the Most High he is not mindful,

[19] fearing only the eyes of men; He does not understand that the eyes of the LORD, ten thousand times brighter than the sun, Observe every step a man takes and peer into hidden corners.

[20] He who knows all things before they exist still knows them all after they are made.

[21] 6 Such a man will be punished in the streets of the city; when he least expects it, he will be apprehended.

[22] So also with the woman who is unfaithful to her husband and offers as heir her son by a stranger.

[23] 7 First, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High; secondly, she has wronged her husband; Thirdly, in her wanton adultery she has borne children by another man.

[24] 8 Such a woman will be dragged before the assembly, and her punishment will extend to her children;

[25] Her children will not take root; her branches will not bring forth fruit.

[26] She will leave an accursed memory; her disgrace will never be blotted out.

[27] Thus all who dwell on the earth shall know, and all who inhabit the world shall understand, That nothing is better than the fear of the LORD, nothing more salutary than to obey his commandments.

Sirach Chapter 24

[1] 1 Wisdom sings her own praises, before her own people she proclaims her glory;

[2] In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, in the presence of his hosts she declares her worth:

[3] "From the mouth of the Most High I came forth, and mistlike covered the earth.

[4] In the highest heavens did I dwell, my throne on a pillar of cloud.

[5] The vault of heaven I compassed alone, through the deep abyss I wandered.

[6] Over waves of the sea, over all the land, over every people and nation I held sway.

[7] Among all these I sought a resting place; in whose inheritance should I abide?

[8] "Then the Creator of all gave me his command, and he who formed me chose the spot for my tent, Saying, 'In Jacob make your dwelling, in Israel your inheritance.'

[9] Before all ages, in the beginning, he created me, and through all ages I shall not cease to be.

[10] In the holy tent I ministered before him, and in Zion I fixed my abode.

[11] Thus in the chosen city he has given me rest, in Jerusalem is my domain.

[12] I have struck root among the glorious people, in the portion of the LORD, his heritage.

[13] "Like a cedar on Lebanon I am raised aloft, like a cypress on Mount Hermon,

[14] Like a palm tree in En-gedi, like a rosebush in Jericho, Like a fair olive tree in the field, like a plane tree growing beside the water.

[15] 2 Like cinnamon, or fragrant balm, or precious myrrh, I give forth perfume; Like galbanum and onycha and sweet spices, like the odor of incense in the holy place.

[16] I spread out my branches like a terebinth, my branches so bright and so graceful.

[17] I bud forth delights like the vine, my blossoms become fruit fair and rich.

[18] 3 Come to me, all you that yearn for me, and be filled with my fruits;

[19] You will remember me as sweeter than honey, better to have than the honeycomb.

[20] 4 He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for more;

[21] He who obeys me will not be put to shame, he who serves me will never fail."

[22] 5 All this is true of the book of the Most High's covenant, the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the community of Jacob.

[23] It overflows, like the Pishon, with wisdom-- like the Tigris in the days of the new fruits.

[24] It runs over, like the Euphrates, with understanding, like the Jordan at harvest time.

[25] 6 It sparkles like the Nile with knowledge, like the Gihon at vintage time.

[26] The first man never finished comprehending wisdom, nor will the last succeed in fathoming her.

[27] For deeper than the sea are her thoughts; her counsels, than the great abyss.

[28] 7 Now I, like a rivulet from her stream, channeling the waters into a garden,

[29] Said to myself, "I will water my plants, my flower bed I will drench"; And suddenly this rivulet of mine became a river, then this stream of mine, a sea.

[30] Thus do I send my teachings forth shining like the dawn, to become known afar off.

[31] Thus do I pour out instruction like prophecy and bestow it on generations to come.

Sirach Chapter 25

[1] 1 With three things I am delighted, for they are pleasing to the LORD and to men: Harmony among brethren, friendship among neighbors, and the mutual love of husband and wife.

[2] Three kinds of men I hate; their manner of life I loathe indeed: A proud pauper, a rich dissembler, and an old man lecherous in his dotage.

[3] What you have not saved in your youth, how will you acquire in your old age?

[4] How becoming to the gray-haired is judgment, and a knowledge of counsel to those on in years!

[5] How becoming to the aged is wisdom, understanding and prudence to the venerable!

[6] The crown of old men is wide experience; their glory, the fear of the LORD.

[7] There are nine who come to my mind as blessed, a tenth whom my tongue proclaims: The man who finds joy in his children, and he who lives to see his enemies' downfall.

[8] 2 Happy is he who dwells with a sensible wife, and he who plows not like a donkey yoked with an ox. Happy is he who sins not with his tongue, and he who serves not his inferior.

[9] Happy is he who finds a friend and he who speaks to attentive ears.

[10] He who finds wisdom is great indeed, but not greater than he who fears the LORD.

[11] Fear of the LORD surpasses all else. its possessor is beyond compare.

[12] 3 Worst of all wounds is that of the heart, worst of all evils is that of a woman.

[13] Worst of all sufferings is that from one's foes, worst of all vengeance is that of one's enemies:

[14] No poison worse than that of a serpent, no venom greater than that of a woman.

[15] With a dragon or a lion I would rather dwell than live with an evil woman.

[16] Wickedness changes a woman's looks, and makes her sullen as a female bear.

[17] When her husband sits among his neighbors, a bitter sigh escapes him unawares.

[18] There is scarce any evil like that in a woman; may she fall to the lot of the sinner!

[19] Like a sandy hill to aged feet is a railing wife to a quiet man.

[20] Stumble not through woman's beauty, nor be greedy for her wealth;

[21] The man is a slave, in disgrace and shame, when a wife supports her husband.

[22] Depressed mind, saddened face, broken heart--this from an evil wife. Feeble hands and quaking knees-- from a wife who brings no happiness to her husband.

[23] 4 In woman was sin's beginning, and because of her we all die.

[24] Allow water no outlet, and be not indulgent to an erring wife.

[25] If she walks not by your side, cut her away from you.

Sirach Chapter 26

[1] 1 Happy the husband of a good wife, twice-lengthened are his days;

[2] 2 A worthy wife brings joy to her husband, peaceful and full is his life.

[3] A good wife is a generous gift bestowed upon him who fears the LORD;

[4] Be he rich or poor, his heart is content, and a smile is ever on his face.

[5] There are three things at which my heart quakes, a fourth before which I quail: Though false charges in public, trial before all the people, and lying testimony are harder to bear than death,

[6] 3 A jealous wife is heartache and mourning and a scourging tongue like the other three.

[7] A bad wife is a chafing yoke; he who marries her seizes a scorpion.

[8] A drunken wife arouses great anger, for she does not hide her shame.

[9] By her eyelids and her haughty stare an unchaste wife can be recognized.

[10] Keep a strict watch over an unruly wife, lest, finding an opportunity, she make use of it;

[11] Follow close if her eyes are bold, and be not surprised if she betrays you:

[12] As a thirsty traveler with eager mouth drinks from any water that he finds, So she settles down before every tent peg and opens her quiver for every arrow.

[13] A gracious wife delights her husband, her thoughtfulness puts flesh on his bones;

[14] A gift from the LORD is her governed speech, and her firm virtue is of surpassing worth.

[15] Choicest of blessings is a modest wife, priceless her chaste person.

[16] Like the sun rising in the LORD'S heavens, the beauty of a virtuous wife is the radiance of her home.

[17] 4 Like the light which shines above the holy lampstand, are her beauty of face and graceful figure.

[18] 5 Golden columns on silver bases are her shapely limbs and steady feet.

[19] These two bring grief to my heart, and the third arouses my horror: A wealthy man reduced to want; illustrious men held in contempt; And the man who passes from justice to sin, for whom the LORD makes ready the sword.

[20] 6 A merchant can hardly remain upright, nor a shopkeeper free from sin;

Sirach Chapter 27

[1] For the sake of profit many sin, and the struggle for wealth blinds the eyes.

[2] Like a peg driven between fitted stones, between buying and selling sin is wedged in.

[3] Unless you earnestly hold fast to the fear of the LORD, suddenly your house will be thrown down.

[4] When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do a man's faults when he speaks.

[5] As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in his conversation is the test of a man.

[6] The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does a man's speech disclose the bent of his mind.

[7] Praise no man before he speaks, for it is then that men are tested.

[8] If you strive after justice you will attain it, and put it on like a splendid robe.

[9] Birds nest with their own kind, and fidelity comes to those who live by it.

[10] As a lion crouches in wait for prey, so do sins for evildoers.

[11] Ever wise are the discourses of the devout, but the godless man, like the moon, is inconstant.

[12] Limit the time you spend among fools, but frequent the company of thoughtful men.

[13] The conversation of the wicked is offensive, their laughter is wanton guilt.

[14] Their oath-filled talk makes the hair stand on end, their brawls make one stop one's ears.

[15] Wrangling among the haughty ends in bloodshed, their cursing is painful to hear.

[16] 1 He who betrays a secret cannot be trusted, he will never find an intimate friend.

[17] Cherish your friend, keep faith with him; but if you betray his confidence, follow him not;

[18] For as an enemy might kill a man, you have killed your neighbor's friendship.

[19] Like a bird released from the hand, you have let your friend go and cannot recapture him;

[20] Follow him not, for he is far away, he has fled like a gazelle from the trap.

[21] A wound can be bound up, and an insult forgiven, but he who betrays secrets does hopeless damage.

[22] He who has shifty eyes plots mischief and no one can ward him off;

[23] In your presence he uses honeyed talk, and admires your every word, But later he changes his tone and twists your words to your ruin.

[24] There is nothing that I hate so much, and the LORD hates him as well.

[25] As a stone falls back on him who throws it up, so a blow struck in treachery injures more than one.

[26] As he who digs a pit falls into it, and he who lays a snare is caught in it,

[27] Whoever does harm will be involved in it without knowing how it came upon him.

[28] Mockery and abuse will be the lot of the proud, and vengeance lies in wait for them like a lion.

[29] The trap seizes those who rejoice in pitfalls, and pain will consume them before they die;

[30] Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.

Sirach Chapter 28

[1] The vengeful will suffer the LORD'S vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail.

[2] Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

[3] Should a man nourish anger against his fellows and expect healing from the LORD?

[4] Should a man refuse mercy to his fellows, yet seek pardon for his own sins?

[5] If he who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?

[6] Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin!

[7] Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; of the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.

[8] Avoid strife and your sins will be fewer, for a quarrelsome man kindles disputes,

[9] Commits the sin of disrupting friendship and sows discord among those at peace.

[10] The more wood, the greater the fire, the more underlying it, the fiercer the fight; The greater a man's strength, the sterner his anger, the greater his power, the greater his wrath.

[11] Pitch and resin make fires flare up, and insistent quarrels provoke bloodshed.

[12] 1 If you blow upon a spark, it quickens into flame, if you spit on it, it dies out; yet both you do with your mouth!

[13] Cursed be gossips and the double-tongued, for they destroy the peace of many.

[14] A meddlesome tongue subverts many, and makes them refugees among the peoples; It destroys walled cities, and overthrows powerful dynasties.

[15] A meddlesome tongue can drive virtuous women from their homes and rob them of the fruit of their toil;

[16] Whoever heeds it has no rest, nor can he dwell in peace.

[17] A blow from a whip raises a welt, but a blow from the tongue smashes bones;

[18] Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not as many as by the tongue.

[19] Happy he who is sheltered from it, and has not endured its wrath; Who has not borne its yoke nor been fettered with its chain;

[20] For its yoke is a yoke of iron and its chains are chains of bronze!

[21] Dire is the death it inflicts, besides which even the nether world is a gain;

[22] It will not take hold among the just nor scorch them in its flame,

[23] But those who forsake the LORD will fall victims to it, as it burns among them unquenchably! It will hurl itself against them like a lion; like a panther, it will tear them to pieces.

[24] As you hedge round your vineyard with thorns, set barred doors over your mouth;

[25] As you seal up your silver and gold, so balance and weigh your words.

[26] Take care not to slip by your tongue and fall victim to your foe waiting in ambush.

Sirach Chapter 29

[1] 1 He does a kindness who lends to his neighbor, and he fulfills the precepts who holds out a helping hand.

[2] Lend to your neighbor in his hour of need, and pay back your neighbor when a loan falls due;

[3] Keep your promise, be honest with him, and you will always come by what you need.

[4] Many a man who asks for a loan adds to the burdens of those who help him;

[5] When he borrows, he kisses the lender's hand and speaks with respect of his creditor's wealth; But when payment is due he disappoints him and says he is helpless to meet the claim.

[6] If the lender is able to recover barely half, he considers this an achievement; If not, he is cheated of his wealth and acquires an enemy at no extra charge; With curses and insults the borrower pays him back, with abuse instead of honor.

[7] Many refuse to lend, not out of meanness, but from fear of being cheated.

[8] To a poor man, however, be generous; keep him not waiting for your alms;

[9] Because of the precept, help the needy, and in their want, do not send them away empty-handed.

[10] Spend your money for your brother and friend, and hide it not under a stone to perish;

[11] Dispose of your treasure as the Most High commands, for that will profit you more than the gold.

[12] Store up almsgiving in your treasure house, and it will save you from every evil;

[13] Better than a stout shield and a sturdy spear it will fight for you against the foe.

[14] A good man goes surety for his neighbor, and only the shameless would play him false;

[15] Forget not the kindness of your backer, for he offers his very life for you.

[16] The wicked turn a pledge on their behalf into misfortune, and the ingrate abandons his protector;

[17] Going surety has ruined many prosperous men and tossed them about like waves of the sea,

[18] Has exiled men of prominence and sent them wandering through foreign lands.

[19] The sinner through surety comes to grief, and he who undertakes too much falls into lawsuits.

[20] Go surety for your neighbor according to your means, but take care lest you fall thereby.

[21] 2 Life's prime needs are water, bread, and clothing, a house, too, for decent privacy.

[22] Better a poor man's fare under the shadow of one's own roof than sumptuous banquets among strangers.

[23] Be it little or much, be content with what you have, and pay no heed to him who would disparage your home;

[24] A miserable life it is to go from house to house, for as a guest you dare not open your mouth.

[25] The visitor has no thanks for filling the cups; besides, you will hear these bitter words:

[26] "Come here, stranger, set the table, give me to eat the food you have!

[27] Away, stranger, for one more worthy; for my brother's visit I need the room!"

[28] Painful things to a sensitive man are abuse at home and insults from his creditors.

Sirach Chapter 30

[1] 1 He who loves his son chastises him often, that he may be his joy when he grows up.

[2] He who disciplines his son will benefit from him, and boast of him among his intimates.

[3] He who educates his son makes his enemy jealous, and shows his delight in him among his friends.

[4] At the father's death, he will seem not dead, since he leaves after him one like himself,

[5] Whom he looks upon through life with joy, and even in death, without regret:

[6] The avenger he leaves against his foes, and the one to repay his friends with kindness.

[7] He who spoils his son will have wounds to bandage, and will quake inwardly at every outcry.

[8] A colt untamed turns out stubborn; a son left to himself grows up unruly.

[9] Pamper your child and he will be a terror for you, indulge him and he will bring you grief.

[10] Share not in his frivolity lest you share in his sorrow, when finally your teeth are clenched in remorse.

[11] Give him not his own way in his youth, and close not your eyes to his follies.

[12] Bend him to the yoke when he is young, thrash his sides while he is still small, Lest he become stubborn, disobey you, and leave you disconsolate.

[13] Discipline your son, make heavy his yoke, lest his folly humiliate you.

[14] 2 Better a poor man strong and robust, than a rich man with wasted frame.

[15] More precious than gold is health and well-being, contentment of spirit than coral.

[16] No treasure greater than a healthy body; no happiness, than a joyful heart!

[17] 3 Preferable is death to a bitter life, unending sleep to constant illness.

[18] Dainties set before one who cannot eat are like the offerings placed before a tomb.

[19] What good is an offering to an idol that can neither taste nor smell?

[20] So it is with the afflicted man who groans at the good things his eyes behold!

[21] Do not give in to sadness, torment not yourself with brooding;

[22] Gladness of heart is the very life of man, cheerfulness prolongs his days.

[23] Distract yourself, renew your courage, drive resentment far away from you; For worry has brought death to many, nor is there aught to be gained from resentment.

[24] Envy and anger shorten one's life, worry brings on premature old age.

[25] One who is cheerful and gay while at table benefits from his food.

Sirach Chapter 31

[1] 1 Keeping watch over riches wastes the flesh, and the care of wealth drives away rest.

[2] 2 Concern for one's livelihood banishes slumber; more than a serious illness it disturbs repose.

[3] The rich man labors to pile up wealth, and his only rest is wanton pleasure;

[4] The poor man toils for a meager subsistence, and if ever he rests, he finds himself in want.

[5] The lover of gold will not be free from sin, for he who pursues wealth is led astray by it.

[6] Many have been ensnared by gold, though destruction lay before their eyes;

[7] It is a stumbling block to those who are avid for it, a snare for every fool.

[8] 3 Happy the rich man found without fault, who turns not aside after gain!

[9] Who is he, that we may praise him? he, of all his kindred, has done wonders,

[10] For he has been tested by gold and come off safe, and this remains his glory; He could have sinned but did not, could have done evil but would not,

[11] So that his possessions are secure, and the assembly recounts his praises.

[12] 4 If you are dining with a great man, bring not a greedy gullet to his table, Nor cry out, "How much food there is here!"

[13] Remember that gluttony is evil. No creature is greedier than the eye: therefore it weeps for any cause.

[14] Toward what he eyes, do not put out a hand; nor reach when he does for the same dish.

Sirach Chapter 32

[1] If you are chosen to preside at dinner, be not puffed up, but with the guests be as one of themselves; Take care of them first before you sit down;

[2] when you have fulfilled your duty, then take your place, To share in their joy and win praise for your hospitality.

[3] Being older, you may talk; that is only your right, but temper your wisdom, not to disturb the singing.

[4] When wine is present, do not pour out discourse, and flaunt not your wisdom at the wrong time.

[5] Like a seal of carnelian in a setting of gold is a concert when wine is served.

[6] Like a gold mounting with an emerald seal is string music with delicious wine.

[7] Young man, speak only when necessary, when they have asked you more than once;

[8] Be brief, but say much in those few words, be like the wise man, taciturn.

[9] When among your elders be not forward, and with officials be not too insistent.

[10] Like the lightning that flashes before a storm is the esteem that shines on modesty.

[11] When it is time to leave, tarry not; be off for home! There take your ease,

[12] And there enjoy doing as you wish, but without sin or words of pride.

[13] Above all, give praise to your Creator, who showers his favors upon you.

[14] 1 He who would find God must accept discipline; he who seeks him obtains his request.

[15] He who studies the law masters it, but the hypocrite finds it a trap.

[16] His judgment is sound who fears the LORD; out of obscurity he draws forth a clear plan.

[17] The sinner turns aside reproof and distorts the law to suit his purpose.

[18] The thoughtful man will not neglect direction; the proud and insolent man is deterred by nothing.

[19] Do nothing without counsel, and then you need have no regrets.

[20] Go not on a way that is set with snares, and let not the same thing trip you twice.

[21] Be not too sure even of smooth roads,

[22] be careful on all your paths.

[23] Whatever you do, be on your guard, for in this way you will keep the commandments.

[24] He who keeps the law preserves himself; and he who trusts in the LORD shall not be put to shame.

Sirach Chapter 33

[1] No evil can harm the man who fears the LORD; through trials, again and again he is safe.

[2] He who hates the law is without wisdom, and is tossed about like a boat in a storm.

[3] 1 The prudent man trusts in the word of the LORD, and the law is dependable for him as a divine oracle.

[4] Prepare your words and you will be listened to; draw upon your training, and then give your answer.

[5] 2 Like the wheel of a cart is the mind of a fool; his thoughts revolve in circles.

[6] A fickle friend is like the stallion that neighs, no matter who the rider.

[7] Why is one day more important than another, when it is the sun that lights up every day?

[8] It is due to the LORD'S wisdom that they differ; it is through him the seasons and feasts come and go.

[9] Some he dignifies and sanctifies, and others he lists as ordinary days.

[10] So too, all men are of clay, for from earth man was formed;

[11] Yet with his great knowledge the LORD makes men unlike; in different paths he has them walk.

[12] Some he blesses and makes great, some he sanctifies and draws to himself. Others he curses and brings low, and expels them from their place.

[13] Like clay in the hands of a potter, to be molded according to his pleasure, So are men in the hands of their Creator, to be assigned by him their function.

[14] As evil contrasts with good, and death with life, so are sinners in contrast with the just;

[15] See now all the works of the Most High: they come in pairs, the one the opposite of the other.

[16] 3 Now I am the last to keep vigil, like a gleaner after the vintage;

[17] Since by the LORD'S blessing I have made progress till like a vintager I have filled my wine press,

[18] I would inform you that not for myself only have I toiled, but for every seeker after wisdom.

[19] 4 Listen to me, O leaders of the multitude; O rulers of the assembly, give ear!

[20] Let neither son nor wife, neither brother nor friend, have power over you as long as you live.

[21] While breath of life is still in you, let no man have dominion over you. Give not to another your wealth, lest then you have to plead with him;

[22] Far better that your children plead with you than that you should look to their generosity.

[23] Keep control over all your affairs; let no one tarnish your glory.

[24] When your few days reach their limit, at the time of death distribute your inheritance.

[25] Fodder and whip and loads for an ass; the yoke and harness and the rod of his master.

[26] Make a slave work and he will look for his rest; let his hands be idle and he will seek to be free.

Sirach Chapter 34

[1] 1 Empty and false are the hopes of the senseless, and fools are borne aloft by dreams.

[2] Like a man who catches at shadows or chases the wind, is the one who believes in dreams.

[3] What is seen in dreams is to reality what the reflection of a face is to the face itself.

[4] Can the unclean produce the clean? can the liar ever speak the truth?

[5] Divination, omens and dreams all are unreal; what you already expect, the mind depicts.

[6] Unless it be a vision specially sent by the Most High, fix not your heart on it;

[7] For dreams have led many astray, and those who believed in them have perished.

[8] The law is fulfilled without fail, and perfect wisdom is found in the mouth of the faithful man.

[9] A man with training gains wide knowledge; a man of experience speaks sense.

[10] One never put to the proof knows little, whereas with travel a man adds to his resourcefulness.

[11] I have seen much in my travels, learned more than ever I could say.

[12] Often I was in danger of death, but by these attainments I was saved.

[13] Lively is the courage of those who fear the LORD, for they put their hope in their savior;

[14] He who fears the LORD is never alarmed, never afraid; for the LORD is his hope.

[15] Happy the soul that fears the LORD! In whom does he trust, and who is his support?

[16] The eyes of the LORD are upon those who love him; he is their mighty shield and strong support, A shelter from the heat, a shade from the noonday sun, a guard against stumbling, a help against falling.

[17] He buoys up the spirits, brings a sparkle to the eyes, gives health and life and blessing.

[18] 2 Tainted his gifts who offers in sacrifice ill-gotten goods! Mock presents from the lawless win not God's favor.

[19] The Most High approves not the gifts of the godless, nor for their many sacrifices does he forgive their sins.

[20] Like the man who slays a son in his father's presence is he who offers sacrifice from the possessions of the poor.

[21] The bread of charity is life itself for the needy; he who withholds it is a man of blood.

[22] He slays his neighbor who deprives him of his living: he sheds blood who denies the laborer his wages.

[23] If one man builds up and another tears down, what do they gain but trouble?

[24] If one man prays and another curses, whose voice will the LORD hear?

[25] If a man again touches a corpse after he has bathed, what did he gain by the purification?

[26] So with a man who fasts for his sins, but then goes and commits them again: Who will hear his prayer, and what has he gained by his mortification?

Sirach Chapter 35

[1] 1 To keep the law is a great oblation, and he who observes the commandments sacrifices a peace offering.

[2] 2 In works of charity one offers fine flour, and when he gives alms he presents his sacrifice of praise.

[3] To refrain from evil pleases the LORD, and to avoid injustice is an atonement.

[4] Appear not before the LORD empty-handed, for all that you offer is in fulfillment of the precepts.

[5] The just man's offering enriches the altar and rises as a sweet odor before the Most High.

[6] The just man's sacrifice is most pleasing, nor will it ever be forgotten.

[7] In generous spirit pay homage to the LORD, be not sparing of freewill gifts.

[8] With each contribution show a cheerful countenance, and pay your tithes in a spirit of joy.

[9] Give to the Most High as he has given to you, generously, according to your means.

[10] For the LORD is one who always repays, and he will give back to you sevenfold.

[11] But offer no bribes, these he does not accept! Trust not in sacrifice of the fruits of extortion,

[12] For he is a God of justice, who knows no favorites.

[13] 3 Though not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he hears the cry of the oppressed.

[14] He is not deaf to the wail of the orphan, nor to the widow when she pours out her complaint;

[15] Do not the tears that stream down her cheek cry out against him that causes them to fall?

[16] He who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens.

[17] The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal,

[18] Nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds, judges justly and affirms the right.

[19] God indeed will not delay, and like a warrior, will not be still

[20] Till he breaks the backs of the merciless and wreaks vengeance upon the proud;

[21] Till he destroys the haughty root and branch, and smashes the scepter of the wicked;

[22] Till he requites mankind according to its deeds, and repays men according to their thoughts;

[23] Till he defends the cause of his people, and gladdens them by his mercy.

[24] Welcome is his mercy in time of distress as rain clouds in time of drought.

Sirach Chapter 36

[1] 1 Come to our aid, O God of the universe, and put all the nations in dread of you!

[2] Raise your hand against the heathen, that they may realize your power.

[3] As you have used us to show them your holiness, so now use them to show us your glory.

[4] Thus they will know, as we know, that there is no God but you.

[5] Give new signs and work new wonders; show forth the splendor of your right hand and arm;

[6] Rouse your anger, pour out wrath, humble the enemy, scatter the foe.

[7] Hasten the day, bring on the time;

[8] Let raging fire consume the fugitive, and your people's oppressors meet destruction.

Sirach Chapter 37

[1] Every friend declares his friendship, but there are friends who are friends in name only.

[2] Is it not a sorrow unto death when your bosom companion becomes your enemy?

[3] "Alas, my companion! Why were you created to blanket the earth with deceit?"

[4] A false friend will share your joys, but in time of trouble he stands afar off.

[5] A true friend will fight with you against the foe, against your enemies he will be your shield-bearer.

[6] Forget not your comrade during the battle, and neglect him not when you distribute your spoils.

[7] Every counselor points out a way, but some counsel ways of their own;

[8] Be on the alert when one proffers advice, find out first of all what he wants. For he may be thinking of himself alone; why should the profit fall to him?

[9] He may tell you how good your way will be, and then stand by to watch your misfortune.

[10] Seek no advice from one who regards you with hostility; from those who envy you, keep your intentions hidden.

[11] Speak not to a woman about her rival, nor to a coward about war, to a merchant about business, to a buyer about value, to a miser about generosity, to a cruel man about mercy, to a lazy man about work, to a seasonal laborer about the harvest, to an idle slave about a great task: pay no attention to any advice they give.

[12] Instead, associate with a religious man, who you are sure keeps the commandments; Who is like-minded with yourself and will feel for you if you fall.

[13] Then, too, heed your own heart's counsel; for what have you that you can depend on more?

[14] A man's conscience can tell him his situation better than seven watchmen in a lofty tower.

[15] Most important of all, pray to God to set your feet in the path of truth.

[16] 1 A word is the source of every deed; a thought, of every act.

[17] The root of all conduct is the mind; four branches it shoots forth:

[18] Good and evil, death and life, their absolute mistress is the tongue.

[19] A man may be wise and benefit many, yet be of no use to himself.

[20] Though a man may be wise, if his words are rejected he will be deprived of all enjoyment.

[21] When a man is wise to his own advantage, the fruits of his knowledge are seen in his own person;

[22] When a man is wise to his people's advantage, the fruits of his knowledge are enduring:

[23] Limited are the days of one man's life, but the life of Israel is days without number.

[24] One wise for himself has full enjoyment, and all who see him praise him;

[25] One wise for his people wins a heritage of glory, and his name endures forever.

[26] 2 My son, while you are well, govern your appetite so that you allow it not what is bad for you;

[27] For not every food is good for everyone, nor is everything suited to every taste.

[28] Be not drawn after every enjoyment, neither become a glutton for choice foods,

[29] For sickness comes with overeating, and gluttony brings on biliousness.

[30] Through lack of self-control many have died, but the abstemious man prolongs his life.

Sirach Chapter 38

[1] 1 Hold the physician in honor, for he is essential to you, and God it was who established his profession.

[2] From God the doctor has his wisdom, and the king provides for his sustenance.

[3] His knowledge makes the doctor distinguished, and gives him access to those in authority.

[4] God makes the earth yield healing herbs which the prudent man should not neglect;

[5] Was not the water sweetened by a twig that men might learn his power?

[6] He endows men with the knowledge to glory in his mighty works,

[7] Through which the doctor eases pain and the druggist prepares his medicines;

[8] Thus God's creative work continues without cease in its efficacy on the surface of the earth.

[9] My son, when you are ill, delay not, but pray to God, who will heal you:

[10] Flee wickedness; let your hands be just, cleanse your heart of every sin;

[11] Offer your sweet-smelling oblation and petition, a rich offering according to your means.

[12] Then give the doctor his place lest he leave; for you need him too.

[13] There are times that give him an advantage,

[14] and he too beseeches God That his diagnosis may be correct and his treatment bring about a cure.

[15] He who is a sinner toward his Maker will be defiant toward the doctor.

[16] 2 My son, shed tears for one who is dead with wailing and bitter lament; As is only proper, prepare the body, absent not yourself from his burial:

[17] Weeping bitterly, mourning fully, pay your tribute of sorrow, as he deserves,

[18] One or two days, to prevent gossip; then compose yourself after your grief,

[19] For grief can bring on an extremity and heartache destroy one's health.

[20] Turn not your thoughts to him again; cease to recall him; think rather of the end.

[21] Recall him not, for there is no hope of his return; it will not help him, but will do you harm.

[22] Remember that his fate will also be yours; for him it was yesterday, for you today.

[23] With the departed dead, let memory fade; rally your courage, once the soul has left.

[24] 3 The scribe's profession increases his wisdom; whoever is free from toil can become a wise man.

[25] How can he become learned who guides the plow, who thrills in wielding the goad like a lance, Who guides the ox and urges on the bullock, and whose every concern is for cattle?

[26] His care is for plowing furrows, and he keeps a watch on the beasts in the stalls.

[27] So with every engraver and designer who, laboring night and day, Fashions carved seals, and whose concern is to vary the pattern. His care is to produce a vivid impression, and he keeps watch till he finishes his design.

[28] So with the smith standing near his anvil, forging crude iron. The heat from the fire sears his flesh, yet he toils away in the furnace heat. The clang of the hammer deafens his ears, His eyes are fixed on the tool he is shaping. His care is to finish his work, and he keeps watch till he perfects it in detail.

[29] So with the potter sitting at his labor, revolving the wheel with his feet. He is always concerned for his products, and turns them out in quantity.

[30] With his hands he molds the clay, and with his feet softens it. His care is for proper coloring, and he keeps watch on the fire of his kiln.

[31] All these men are skilled with their hands, each one an expert at his own task;

[32] Without them no city could be lived in, and wherever they stay, they need not hunger.

[33] They do not occupy the judge's bench, nor are they prominent in the assembly; They set forth no decisions or judgments, nor are they found among the rulers;

[34] Yet they maintain God's ancient handiwork, and their concern is for exercise of their skill.

Sirach Chapter 39

[1] How different the man who devotes himself to the study of the law of the Most High! He explores the wisdom of the men of old and occupies himself with the prophecies;

[2] He treasures the discourses of famous men, and goes to the heart of involved sayings;

[3] He studies obscure parables, and is busied with the hidden meanings of the sages.

[4] He is in attendance on the great, and has entrance to the ruler.

[5] He travels among the peoples of foreign lands to learn what is good and evil among men.

[6] His care is to seek the LORD, his Maker, to petition the Most High, To open his lips in prayer, to ask pardon for his sins. Then, if it pleases the LORD Almighty, he will be filled with the spirit of understanding; He will pour forth his words of wisdom and in prayer give thanks to the LORD,

[7] Who will direct his knowledge and his counsel, as he meditates upon his mysteries.

[8] He will show the wisdom of what he has learned and glory in the law of the LORD'S covenant.

[9] Many will praise his understanding; his fame can never be effaced; Unfading will be his memory, through all generations his name will live;

[10] Peoples will speak of his wisdom, and in assembly sing his praises.

[11] While he lives he is one out of a thousand, and when he dies his renown will not cease.

[12] 1 Once more I will set forth my theme to shine like the moon in its fullness!

[13] Listen, my faithful children: open up your petals, like roses planted near running waters;

[14] Send up the sweet odor of incense, break forth in blossoms like the lily. Send up the sweet odor of your hymn of praise; bless the LORD for all he has done!

[15] Proclaim the greatness of his name, loudly sing his praises, With music on the harp and all stringed instruments; sing out with joy as you proclaim:

[16] The works of God are all of them good; in its own time every need is supplied.

[17] At his word the waters become still as in a flask; he had but to speak and the reservoirs were made.

[18] He has but to command and his will is done; nothing can limit his achievement.

[19] The works of all mankind are present to him; not a thing escapes his eye.

[20] His gaze spans all the ages; to him there is nothing unexpected.

[21] No cause then to say: "What is the purpose of this?" Everything is chosen to satisfy a need.

[22] His blessing overflows like the Nile; like the Euphrates it enriches the surface of the earth.

[23] Again, his wrath expels the nations and turns fertile land into a salt marsh.

[24] For the virtuous his paths are level, to the haughty they are steep;

[25] Good things for the good he provided from the beginning, but for the wicked good things and bad.

[26] Chief of all needs for human life are water and fire, iron and salt, The heart of the wheat, milk and honey, the blood of the grape, and oil, and cloth;

[27] For the good all these are good, but for the wicked they turn out evil.

[28] There are storm winds created to punish, which in their fury can dislodge mountains; When destruction must be, they hurl all their force and appease the anger of their Maker.

[29] In his treasury also, kept for the proper time, are fire and hail, famine, disease,

[30] Ravenous beasts, scorpions, vipers, and the avenging sword to exterminate the wicked;

[31] In doing his bidding they rejoice, in their assignments they disobey not his command.

[32] So from the first I took my stand, and wrote down as my theme:

[33] The works of God are all of them good; every need when it comes he fills.

[34] No cause then to say: "This is not as good as that"; for each shows its worth at the proper time.

[35] So now with full joy of heart proclaim and bless the name of the Holy One.

Sirach Chapter 40

[1] 1 2 A great anxiety has God allotted, and a heavy yoke, to the sons of men; From the day one leaves his mother's womb to the day he returns to the mother of all the living,

[2] His thoughts, the fear in his heart, and his troubled forebodings till the day he dies--

[3] Whether he sits on a lofty throne or grovels in dust and ashes,

[4] Whether he bears a splendid crown or is wrapped in the coarsest of cloaks--

[5] Are of wrath and envy, trouble and dread, terror of death, fury and strife. Even when he lies on his bed to rest, his cares at night disturb his sleep.

[6] So short is his rest it seems like none, till in his dreams he struggles as he did by day, Terrified by what his mind's eye sees, like a fugitive being pursued;

[7] As he reaches safety, he wakes up astonished that there was nothing to fear.

[8] So it is with all flesh, with man and with beast, but for sinners seven times more.

[9] Plague and bloodshed, wrath and the sword, plunder and ruin, famine and death:

[10] For the wicked, these were created evil, and it is they who bring on destruction.

[11] 3 All that is of earth returns to earth, and what is from above returns above.

[12] All that comes from bribes or injustice will be wiped out, but loyalty remains for ages.

[13] Wealth out of wickedness is like a wadi in spate: like a mighty stream with lightning and thunder,

[14] Which, in its rising, rolls along the stones, but suddenly, once and for all, comes to an end.

[15] The offshoot of violence will not flourish, for the root of the godless is on sheer rock;

[16] Or they are like reeds on the riverbank, withered before all other plants;

[17] 4 But goodness will never be cut off, and justice endures forever. Wealth or wages can make life sweet, but better than either is finding a treasure.

[18] A child or a city will preserve one's name, but better than either, attaining wisdom.

[19] Sheepfolds and orchards bring flourishing health; but better than either, a devoted wife;

[20] Wine and music delight the soul, but better than either, conjugal love.

[21] The flute and the harp offer sweet melody, but better than either, a voice that is true.

[22] Charm and beauty delight the eye, but better than either, the flowers of the field.

[23] A friend, a neighbor, are timely guides, but better than either, a prudent wife.

[24] A brother, a helper, for times of stress; but better than either, charity that rescues.

[25] Gold and silver make one's way secure, but better than either, sound judgment.

[26] Wealth and vigor build up confidence, but better than either, fear of God. Fear of the LORD leaves nothing wanting; he who has it need seek no other support:

[27] The fear of God is a paradise of blessings; its canopy, all that is glorious.

[28] 5 My son, live not the life of a beggar, better to die than to beg;

[29] When one has to look to another's table, his life is not really a life. His neighbor's delicacies bring revulsion of spirit to one who understands inward feelings:

[30] In the mouth of the shameless man begging is sweet, but within him it burns like fire.

Sirach Chapter 41

[1] 1 O death! how bitter the thought of you for the man at peace amid his possessions, For the man unruffled and always successful, who still can enjoy life's pleasures.

[2] O death! how welcome your sentence to the weak man of failing strength, Tottering and always rebuffed, with no more sight, with vanished hope.

[3] Fear not death's decree for you; remember, it embraces those before you, and those after.

[4] Thus God has ordained for all flesh; why then should you reject the will of the Most High? Whether one has lived a thousand years, a hundred, or ten, in the nether world he has no claim on life.

[5] A reprobate line are the children of sinners, and witless offspring are in the homes of the wicked.

[6] Their dominion is lost to sinners' children, and reproach abides with their descendants.

[7] Children curse their wicked father, for they suffer disgrace through him.

[8] Woe to you, O sinful men, who forsake the law of the Most High.

[9] If you have children, calamity will seize them; you will beget them only for groaning. When you stumble, there is lasting joy; at death, you become a curse.

[10] Whatever is of nought returns to nought, so too the godless from void to void.

[11] Man's body is a fleeting thing, but a virtuous name will never be annihilated.

[12] Have a care for your name, for it will stand by you better than precious treasures in the thousands;

[13] 2 The boon of life is for limited days, but a good name, for days without number.

[14] 3 My children, heed my instruction about shame; judge of disgrace only according to my rules, For it is not always well to be ashamed, nor is it always the proper thing to blush:

[15] Before father and mother be ashamed of immorality, before master and mistress, of falsehood;

[16] Before prince and ruler, of flattery; before the public assembly, of crime;

[17] Before friend and companion, of disloyalty, and of breaking an oath or agreement.

[18] Be ashamed of theft from the people where you settle, and of stretching out your elbow when you dine;

[19] Of refusing to give when asked, of defrauding another of his appointed share,

[20] Of failing to return a greeting, and of rebuffing a friend;

[21] Of gazing at a married woman, and of entertaining thoughts about another's wife; Of trifling with a servant girl you have, and of violating her couch;

[22] Of using harsh words with friends, and of following up your gifts with insults;

[23] Of repeating what you hear, and of betraying secrets--

[24] These are the things you should rightly avoid as shameful if you would be looked upon by everyone with favor.

Sirach Chapter 42

[1] But of these things be not ashamed, lest you sin through human respect:

[2] Of the law of the Most High and his precepts, or of the sentence to be passed upon the sinful;

[3] Of sharing the expenses of a business or a journey, or of dividing an inheritance or property;

[4] Of accuracy of scales and balances, or of tested measures and weights;

[5] Of acquiring much or little, or of bargaining in dealing with a merchant; Of constant training of children, or of beating the sides of a disloyal servant;

[6] Of a seal to keep an erring wife at home, or of a lock placed where there are many hands;

[7] Of numbering every deposit, or of recording all that is given or received;

[8] Of chastisement of the silly and the foolish, or of the aged and infirm answering for wanton conduct. Thus you will be truly cautious and recognized by all men as discreet.

[9] 1 A daughter is a treasure that keeps her father wakeful, and worry over her drives away rest: Lest she pass her prime unmarried, or when she is married, lest she be disliked;

[10] While unmarried, lest she be seduced, or, as a wife, lest she prove unfaithful; Lest she conceive in her father's home, or be sterile in that of her husband.

[11] Keep a close watch on your daughter, lest she make you the sport of your enemies, A byword in the city, a reproach among the people, an object of derision in public gatherings. See that there is no lattice in her room, no place that overlooks the approaches to the house.

[12] Let her not parade her charms before men, or spend her time with married women;

[13] For just as moths come from garments, so harm to women comes from women:

[14] Better a man's harshness than a woman's indulgence, and a frightened daughter than any disgrace.

[15] 2 Now will I recall God's works; what I have seen, I will describe. At God's word were his works brought into being; they do his will as he has ordained for them.

[16] As the rising sun is clear to all, so the glory of the LORD fills all his works;

[17] Yet even God's holy ones must fail in recounting the wonders of the LORD, Though God has given these, his hosts, the strength to stand firm before his glory.

[18] He plumbs the depths and penetrates the heart; their innermost being he understands. The Most High possesses all knowledge, and sees from of old the things that are to come:

[19] He makes known the past and the future, and reveals the deepest secrets.

[20] No understanding does he lack; no single thing escapes him.

[21] Perennial is his almighty wisdom; he is from all eternity one and the same,

[22] With nothing added, nothing taken away; no need of a counselor for him!

[23] How beautiful are all his works! even to the spark and the fleeting vision!

[24] The universe lives and abides forever; to meet each need, each creature is preserved.

[25] All of them differ, one from another, yet none of them has he made in vain, For each in turn, as it comes, is good; can one ever see enough of their splendor?

Sirach Chapter 43

[1] The clear vault of the sky shines forth like heaven itself, a vision of glory.

[2] The orb of the sun, resplendent at its rising: what a wonderful work of the Most High!

[3] At noon it seethes the surface of the earth, and who can bear its fiery heat?

[4] Like a blazing furnace of solid metal, it sets the mountains aflame with its rays; By its fiery darts the land is consumed; the eyes are dazzled by its light.

[5] Great indeed is the LORD who made it, at whose orders it urges on its steeds.

[6] The moon, too, that marks the changing times, governing the seasons, their lasting sign,

[7] By which we know the feast days and fixed dates, this light-giver which wanes in its course:

[8] As its name says, each month it renews itself; how wondrous in this change!

[9] The beauty, the glory, of the heavens are the stars that adorn with their sparkling the heights of God,

[10] At whose command they keep their place and never relax in their vigils. A weapon against the flood waters stored on high, lighting up the firmament by its brilliance,

[11] Behold the rainbow! Then bless its Maker, for majestic indeed is its splendor;

[12] It spans the heavens with its glory, this bow bent by the mighty hand of God.

[13] His rebuke marks out the path for the lightning, and speeds the arrows of his judgment to their goal.

[14] At it the storehouse is opened, and like vultures the clouds hurry forth.

[15] In his majesty he gives the storm its power and breaks off the hailstones.

[16] The thunder of his voice makes the earth writhe; before his might the mountains quake.

[17] A word from him drives on the south wind, the angry north wind, the hurricane and the storm.

[18] He sprinkles the snow like fluttering birds; it comes to settle like swarms of locusts.

[19] Its shining whiteness blinds the eyes, the mind is baffled by its steady fall.

[20] He scatters frost like so much salt; it shines like blossoms on the thornbush.

[21] Cold northern blasts he sends that turn the ponds to lumps of ice. He freezes over every body of water, and clothes each pool with a coat of mail.

[22] When the mountain growth is scorched with heat, and the flowering plains as though by flames,

[23] The dripping clouds restore them all, and the scattered dew enriches the parched land.

[24] His is the plan that calms the deep, and plants the islands in the sea.

[25] Those who go down to the sea tell part of its story, and when we hear them we are thunderstruck;

[26] In it are his creatures, stupendous, amazing, all kinds of life, and the monsters of the deep.

[27] For him each messenger succeeds, and at his bidding accomplishes his will.

[28] 1 More than this we need not add; let the last word be, he is all in all!

[29] Let us praise him the more, since we cannot fathom him, for greater is he than all his works;

[30] Awful indeed is the LORD'S majesty, and wonderful is his power.

[31] Lift up your voices to glorify the LORD, though he is still beyond your power to praise;

[32] Extol him with renewed strength, and weary not, though you cannot reach the end:

[33] For who can see him and describe him? or who can praise him as he is?

[34] Beyond these, many things lie hid; only a few of his works have we seen.

[35] It is the LORD who has made all things, and to those who fear him he gives wisdom.

Sirach Chapter 44

[1] 1 2 Now will I praise those godly men, our ancestors, each in his own time:

[2] The abounding glory of the Most High's portion, his own part, since the days of old. Subduers of the land in kingly fashion, men of renown for their might,

[3] Or counselors in their prudence, or seers of all things in prophecy;

[4] Resolute princes of the folk, and governors with their staves; Authors skilled in composition, and forgers of epigrams with their spikes;

[5] Composers of melodious psalms, or discoursers on lyric themes;

[6] Stalwart men, solidly established and at peace in their own estates--

[7] All these were glorious in their time, each illustrious in his day.

[8] Some of them have left behind a name and men recount their praiseworthy deeds;

[9] But of others there is no memory, for when they ceased, they ceased. And they are as though they had not lived, they and their children after them.

[10] Yet these also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten;

[11] Their wealth remains in their families, their heritage with their descendants;

[12] Through God's covenant with them their family endures, their posterity, for their sake.

[13] And for all time their progeny will endure, their glory will never be blotted out;

[14] Their bodies are peacefully laid away, but their name lives on and on.

[15] At gatherings their wisdom is retold, and the assembly proclaims their praise.

[16] 3 [ENOCH walked with the LORD and was taken up, that succeeding generations might learn by his example.]

[17] NOAH, found just and perfect, renewed the race in the time of devastation. Because of his worth there were survivors, and with a sign to him the deluge ended;

[18] A lasting agreement was made with him, that never should all flesh be destroyed.

[19] ABRAHAM, father of many peoples, kept his glory without stain:

[20] 4 He observed the precepts of the Most High, and entered into an agreement with him; In his own flesh he incised the ordinance, and when tested he was found loyal.

[21] 5 For this reason, God promised him with an oath that in his descendants the nations would be blessed, That he would make him numerous as the grains of dust, and exalt his posterity like the stars; That he would give them an inheritance from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

[22] And for ISAAC he renewed the same promise because of Abraham, his father. The covenant with all his forebears was confirmed, and the blessing rested upon the head of JACOB.

[23] God acknowledged him as the first-born, and gave him his inheritance. He fixed the boundaries for his tribes, and their division into twelve.

Sirach Chapter 45

[1] 1 From him was to spring the man who won the favor of all: Dear to God and men, MOSES, whose memory is held in benediction.

[2] 2 God's honor devolved upon him, and the Lord strengthened him with fearful powers;

[3] God wrought swift miracles at his words and sustained him in the king's presence. He gave him the commandments for his people, and revealed to him his glory.

[4] For his trustworthiness and meekness God selected him from all mankind;

[5] 3 He permitted him to hear his voice, and led him into the cloud, Where, face to face, he gave him the commandments, the law of life and understanding, That he might teach his precepts to Jacob, his judgments and decrees to Israel.

[6] 4 He raised up also, like Moses in holiness, his brother AARON, of the tribe of Levi.

[7] 5 He made him perpetual in his office when he bestowed on him the priesthood of his people; He established him in honor and crowned him with lofty majesty;

[8] He clothed him with splendid apparel, and adorned him with the glorious vestments: Breeches and tunic and robe with pomegranates around the hem,

[9] And a rustle of bells round about, through whose pleasing sound at each step He would be heard within the sanctuary, and the children of his race would be remembered;

[10] The sacred vestments of gold, of violet, and of crimson, wrought with embroidery; The breastpiece for decision, the ephod and cincture

[11] with scarlet yarn, the work of the weaver; Precious stones with seal engravings in golden settings, the work of the jeweler, To commemorate in incised letters each of the tribes of Israel;

[12] On his turban the diadem of gold, its plate wrought with the insignia of holiness, Majestic, glorious, renowned for splendor, a delight to the eyes, beauty supreme.

[13] Before him, no one was adorned with these, nor may they ever be worn by any Except his sons and them alone, generation after generation, for all time.

[14] His cereal offering is wholly burnt with the established sacrifice twice each day;

[15] For Moses ordained him and anointed him with the holy oil, In a lasting covenant with him and with his family, as permanent as the heavens, That he should serve God in his priesthood and bless his people in his name.

[16] He chose him from all mankind to offer holocausts and choice offerings, To burn sacrifices of sweet odor for a memorial, and to atone for the people of Israel.

[17] He gave to him his laws, and authority to prescribe and to judge: To teach the precepts to his people, and the ritual to the descendants of Israel.

[18] Men of other families were inflamed against him, were jealous of him in the desert, The followers of Dathan and Abiram, and the band of Korah in their defiance.

[19] But the LORD saw this and became angry, he destroyed them in his burning wrath. He brought down upon them a miracle, and consumed them with his flaming fire.

[20] Then he increased the glory of Aaron and bestowed upon him his inheritance: The sacred offerings he allotted to him, with the showbread as his portion;

[21] The oblations of the LORD are his food, a gift to him and his descendants.

[22] But he holds no land among the people nor shares with them their heritage; For the LORD himself is his portion, his inheritance in the midst of Israel.

[23] PHINEHAS too, the son of Eleazar, was the courageous third of his line When, zealous for the God of all, he met the crisis of his people And, at the prompting of his noble heart, atoned for the children of Israel.

[24] Therefore on him again God conferred the right, in a covenant of friendship, to provide for the sanctuary, So that he and his descendants should possess the high priesthood forever.

[25] For even his covenant with David, the son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah, Was an individual heritage through one son alone; but the heritage of Aaron is for all his descendants.

[26] And now bless the LORD who has crowned you with glory! May he grant you wisdom of heart to govern his people in justice, Lest their welfare should ever be forgotten, or your authority, throughout all time.

Sirach Chapter 46

[1] 1 Valiant leader was JOSHUA, son of Nun, assistant to Moses in the prophetic office, Formed to be, as his name implies, the great savior of God's chosen ones, To punish the enemy and to win the inheritance for Israel.

[2] What glory was his when he raised his arm, to brandish his javelin against the city!

[3] 2 And who could withstand him when he fought the battles of the LORD?

[4] Did he not by his power stop the sun, so that one day became two?

[5] He called upon the Most High God when his enemies beset him on all sides, And God Most High gave answer to him in hailstones of tremendous power,

[6] Which he rained down upon the hostile army till on the slope he destroyed the foe; That all the doomed nations might know that the LORD was watching over his people's battles. And because he was a devoted follower of God

[7] 3 and in Moses' lifetime showed himself loyal, He and CALEB, son of Jephunneh, when they opposed the rebel assembly, Averted God's anger from the people and suppressed the wicked complaint--

[8] Because of this, they were the only two spared from the six hundred thousand infantry, To lead the people into their inheritance, the land flowing with milk and honey.

[9] And the strength he gave to Caleb remained with him even in his old age Till he won his way onto the summits of the land; his family too received an inheritance,

[10] That all the people of Jacob might know how good it is to be a devoted follower of the LORD.

[11] 4 The JUDGES, too, each one of them, whose hearts were not deceived, Who did not abandon God: may their memory be ever blessed,

[12] Their bones return to life from their resting place, and their names receive fresh luster in their children!

[13] Beloved of his people, dear to his Maker, dedicated from his mother's womb, Consecrated to the LORD as a prophet, was SAMUEL, the judge and priest. At God's word he established the kingdom and anointed princes to rule the people.

[14] By the law of the LORD he judged the nation, when he visited the encampments of Jacob.

[15] As a trustworthy prophet he was sought out and his words proved him true as a seer.

[16] He, too, called upon God, and offered him a suckling lamb;

[17] Then the LORD thundered forth from heaven, and the tremendous roar of his voice was heard.

[18] He brought low the rulers of the enemy and destroyed all the lords of the Philistines.

[19] When Samuel approached the end of his life, he testified before the LORD and his anointed prince, "No bribe or secret gift have I taken from any man!" and no one dared gainsay him.

[20] Even when he lay buried, his guidance was sought; he made known to the king his fate, And from the grave he raised his voice as a prophet, to put an end to wickedness.

Sirach Chapter 47

[1] 1 After him came NATHAN who served in the presence of David.

[2] Like the choice fat of the sacred offerings, so was DAVID in Israel.

[3] He made sport of lions as though they were kids, and of bears, like lambs of the flock.

[4] As a youth he slew the giant and wiped out the people's disgrace, When his hand let fly the slingstone that crushed the pride of Goliath.

[5] Since he called upon the Most High God, who gave strength to his right arm To defeat the skilled warrior and raise up the might of his people,

[6] Therefore the women sang his praises and ascribed to him tens of thousands. When he assumed the royal crown, he battled

[7] and subdued the enemy on every side. He destroyed the hostile Philistines and shattered their power till our own day.

[8] With his every deed he offered thanks to God Most High, in words of praise. With his whole being he loved his Maker and daily had his praises sung;

[9] He added beauty to the feasts and solemnized the seasons of each year With string music before the altar, providing sweet melody for the psalms

[10] So that when the Holy Name was praised, before daybreak the sanctuary would resound.

[11] The LORD forgave him his sins and exalted his strength forever; He conferred on him the rights of royalty and established his throne in Israel.

[12] 2 Because of his merits he had as his successor a wise son, who lived in security:

[13] SOLOMON reigned during an era of peace, for God made tranquil all his borders. He built a house to the name of God, and established a lasting sanctuary.

[14] How wise you were when you were young, overflowing with instruction, like the Nile in flood!

[15] Your understanding covered the whole earth, and, like a sea, filled it with knowledge.

[16] Your fame reached distant coasts, and their peoples came to hear you;

[17] With song and story and riddle, and with your answers, you astounded the nations.

[18] 3 You were called by that glorious name which was conferred upon Israel. Gold you gathered like so much iron, you heaped up silver as though it were lead;

[19] But you abandoned yourself to women and gave them dominion over your body.

[20] You brought dishonor upon your reputation, shame upon your marriage, Wrath upon your descendants, and groaning upon your domain;

[21] Thus two governments came into being, when in Ephraim kingship was usurped.

[22] But God does not withdraw his mercy, nor permit even one of his promises to fail. He does not uproot the posterity of his chosen one, nor destroy the offspring of his friend. So he gave to Jacob a remnant, to David a root from his own family.

[23] 4 Solomon finally slept with his fathers, and left behind him one of his sons, Expansive in folly, limited in sense, REHOBOAM, who by his policy made the people rebel; Until one arose who should not be remembered, the sinner who led Israel into sin, Who brought ruin to Ephraim

[24] and caused them to be exiled from their land. Their sinfulness grew more and more,

[25] 5 and they lent themselves to every evil,

Sirach Chapter 48

[1] Till like a fire there appeared the prophet whose words were as a flaming furnace.

[2] Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits;

[3] By God's word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire.

[4] How awesome are you, ELIJAH! Whose glory is equal to yours?

[5] You brought a dead man back to life from the nether world, by the will of the LORD.

[6] You sent kings down to destruction, and nobles, from their beds of sickness.

[7] You heard threats at Sinai, at Horeb avenging judgments.

[8] You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance, and a prophet as your successor.

[9] You were taken aloft in a whirlwind, in a chariot with fiery horses.

[10] You are destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to reestablish the tribes of Jacob.

[11] Blessed is he who shall have seen you before he dies,

[12] 1 O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind! Then ELISHA, filled with a twofold portion of his spirit, wrought many marvels by his mere word. During his lifetime he feared no one, nor was any man able to intimidate his will.

[13] Nothing was beyond his power; beneath him flesh was brought back into life.

[14] In life he performed wonders, and after death, marvelous deeds.

[15] Despite all this the people did not repent, nor did they give up their sins, Until they were rooted out of their land and scattered all over the earth. But Judah remained, a tiny people, with its rulers from the house of David.

[16] Some of these did what was right, but others were extremely sinful.

[17] 2 HEZEKIAH fortified his city and had water brought into it; With iron tools he cut through the rock and he built reservoirs for water.

[18] During his reign Sennacherib led an invasion and sent his adjutant; He shook his fist at Zion and blasphemed God in his pride.

[19] The people's hearts melted within them, and they were in anguish like that of childbirth.

[20] But they called upon the Most High God and lifted up their hands to him; He heard the prayer they uttered, and saved them through ISAIAH.

[21] God struck the camp of the Assyrians and routed them with a plague.

[22] For Hezekiah did what was right and held fast to the paths of David, As ordered by the illustrious prophet Isaiah, who saw the truth in visions.

[23] In his lifetime he turned back the sun and prolonged the life of the king.

[24] By his powerful spirit he looked into the future and consoled the mourners of Zion;

[25] He foretold what should be till the end of time, hidden things yet to be fulfilled.

Sirach Chapter 49

[1] 1 The name JOSIAH is like blended incense, made lasting by a skilled perfumer. Precious is his memory, like honey to the taste, like music at a banquet.

[2] For he grieved over our betrayals, and destroyed the abominable idols.

[3] He turned to God with his whole heart, and, though times were evil, he practiced virtue.

[4] Except for David, Hezekiah and Josiah, they all were wicked; They abandoned the Law of the Most High, these kings of Judah, right to the very end.

[5] So he gave over their power to others, their glory to a foolish foreign nation

[6] Who burned the holy city and left its streets desolate, As JEREMIAH had foretold;

[7] for they had treated him badly who even in the womb had been made a prophet, To root out, pull down, and destroy, and then to build and to plant.

[8] EZEKIEL beheld the vision and described the different creatures of the chariot;

[9] He also referred to JOB, who always persevered in the right path.

[10] Then, too, the TWELVE PROPHETS-- may their bones return to life from their resting place!-- Gave new strength to Jacob and saved him by their faith and hope.

[11] 2 How can we fittingly praise ZERUBBABEL, who was like a signet ring on God's right hand,

[12] And Jeshua, Jozadak's son? In their time they built the house of God; They erected the holy temple, destined for everlasting glory.

[13] Extolled be the memory of NEHEMIAH! He rebuilt our ruined walls, Restored our shattered defenses, and set up gates and bars.

[14] 3 Few on earth have been made the equal of ENOCH, for he was taken up bodily.

[15] Was ever a man born like JOSEPH? Even his dead body was provided for.

[16] Glorious, too, were SHEM and SETH and ENOS; but beyond that of any living being was the splendor of ADAM.

Sirach Chapter 50

[1] 1 The greatest among his brethren, the glory of his people, was SIMON the priest, son of Jochanan, In whose time the house of God was renovated, in whose days the temple was reinforced.

[2] In his time also the wall was built with powerful turrets for the temple precincts;

[3] In his time the reservoir was dug, the pool with a vastness like the sea's.

[4] He protected his people against brigands and strengthened his city against the enemy.

[5] How splendid he was as he appeared from the tent, as he came from within the veil!

[6] Like a star shining among the clouds, like the full moon at the holyday season;

[7] Like the sun shining upon the temple, like the rainbow appearing in the cloudy sky;

[8] Like the blossoms on the branches in springtime, like a lily on the banks of a stream; Like the trees of Lebanon in summer,

[9] like the fire of incense at the sacrifice; Like a vessel of beaten gold, studded with precious stones;

[10] Like a luxuriant olive tree thick with fruit, like a cypress standing against the clouds;

[11] Vested in his magnificent robes, and wearing his garments of splendor, As he ascended the glorious altar and lent majesty to the court of the sanctuary.

[12] When he received the sundered victims from the priests while he stood before the sacrificial wood, His brethren ringed him about like a garland, like a stand of cedars on Lebanon;

[13] All the sons of Aaron in their dignity clustered around him like poplars, With the offerings to the LORD in their hands, in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel.

[14] Once he had completed the services at the altar with the arranging of the sacrifices for the Most High,

[15] And had stretched forth his hand for the cup, to offer blood of the grape, And poured it out at the foot of the altar, a sweet-smelling odor to the Most High God,

[16] The sons of Aaron would sound a blast, the priests, on their trumpets of beaten metal; A blast to resound mightily as a reminder before the Most High.

[17] Then all the people with one accord would quickly fall prostrate to the ground In adoration before the Most High, before the Holy One of Israel.

[18] Then hymns would re-echo, and over the throng sweet strains of praise resound.

[19] All the people of the land would shout for joy, praying to the Merciful One, As the high priest completed the services at the altar by presenting to God the sacrifice due;

[20] Then coming down he would raise his hands over all the congregation of Israel. The blessing of the LORD would be upon his lips, the name of the LORD would be his glory.

[21] Then again the people would lie prostrate to receive from him the blessing of the Most High.

[22] 2 And now, bless the God of all, who has done wondrous things on earth; Who fosters men's growth from their mother's womb, and fashions them according to his will!

[23] May he grant you joy of heart and may peace abide among you;

[24] May his goodness toward us endure in Israel as long as the heavens are above.

[25] 3 4 My whole being loathes two nations, the third is not even a people:

[26] 5 Those who live in Seir and Philistia, and the degenerate folk who dwell in Shechem.

[27] 6 Wise instruction, appropriate proverbs, I have written in this book, I, Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach, as they gushed forth from my heart's understanding.

[28] Happy the man who meditates upon these things, wise the man who takes them to heart!

[29] If he puts them into practice, he can cope with anything, for the fear of the LORD is his lamp.

Sirach Chapter 51

[1] 1 I give you thanks, O God of my father; I praise you, O God my savior! I will make known your name, refuge of my life;

[2] you have been my helper against my adversaries. You have saved me from death, and kept back my body from the pit, From the clutches of the nether world you have snatched my feet;

[3] you have delivered me, in your great mercy From the scourge of a slanderous tongue, and from lips that went over to falsehood; From the snare of those who watched for my downfall, and from the power of those who sought my life; From many a danger you have saved me,

[4] from flames that hemmed me in on every side; From the midst of unremitting fire,

[5] From the deep belly of the nether world; From deceiving lips and painters of lies,

[6] from the arrows of dishonest tongues. I was at the point of death, my soul was nearing the depths of the nether world;

[7] I turned every way, but there was no one to help me, I looked for one to sustain me, but could find no one.

[8] But then I remembered the mercies of the LORD, his kindness through ages past; For he saves those who take refuge in him, and rescues them from every evil.

[9] So I raised my voice from the very earth, from the gates of the nether world, my cry.

[10] I called out: O Lord, you are my father, you are my champion and my savior; Do not abandon me in time of trouble, in the midst of storms and dangers.

[11] I will ever praise your name and be constant in my prayers to you. Thereupon the LORD heard my voice, he listened to my appeal;

[12] 2 He saved me from evil of every kind and preserved me in time of trouble. For this reason I thank him and I praise him; I bless the name of the LORD.

[13] 3 4 When I was young and innocent, I sought wisdom.

[14] She came to me in her beauty, and until the end I will cultivate her.

[15] As the blossoms yielded to ripening grapes, the heart's joy, My feet kept to the level path because from earliest youth I was familiar with her.

[16] In the short time I paid heed, I met with great instruction.

[17] Since in this way I have profited, I will give my teacher grateful praise.

[18] I became resolutely devoted to her-- the good I persistently strove for.

[19] I burned with desire for her, never turning back. I became preoccupied with her, never weary of extolling her. My hand opened her gate and I came to know her secrets.

[20] For her I purified my hands; in cleanness I attained to her. At first acquaintance with her, I gained understanding such that I will never forsake her.

[21] My whole being was stirred as I learned about her; therefore I have made her my prize possession.

[22] The LORD has granted me my lips as a reward, and my tongue will declare his praises.

[23] Come aside to me, you untutored, and take up lodging in the house of instruction;

[24] How long will you be deprived of wisdom's food, how long will you endure such bitter thirst?

[25] I open my mouth and speak of her: gain, at no cost, wisdom for yourselves.

[26] Submit your neck to her yoke, that your mind may accept her teaching. For she is close to those who seek her, and the one who is in earnest finds her.

[27] See for yourselves! I have labored only a little, but have found much.

[28] Acquire but a little instruction; you will win silver and gold through her.

[29] Let your spirits rejoice in the mercy of God, and be not ashamed to give him praise.

[30] Work at your tasks in due season, and in his own time God will give you your reward.

The Prophetic Books

The Prophetic Books

The prophetic books bear the names of the four major and twelve minor prophets, besides Lamentations and Baruch. The terms "major" and "minor" refer merely to the length of the respective compositions and not to any distinction in the prophetic office. Jonah is a story of the mission of the prophet rather than a collection of prophecies. Lamentations and Daniel are listed among the hagiographa in the Hebrew Bible, not among the prophetic books. The former contains a series of elegies on the fate of Jerusalem; the latter is apocalyptic in character. Daniel, who lived far removed from Palestine, was not called by God to preach; yet the book is counted as prophecy. Baruch, though excluded from the Hebrew canon, is found in the Septuagint version, and the Church has always acknowledged it to be sacred and inspired.

The prophetic books, together with the oral preaching of the prophets, were the result of the institution of prophetism, in which a succession of Israelites chosen by God and appointed by him to be prophets received communications from him and transmitted them to the people in his name (Deut 18:15-20). The prophets were spokesmen of God intermediaries between him and his people. The communications they received from God came through visions, dreams, and ecstasies and were transmitted to the people through sermons, writings, and symbolic actions.

The office of prophet was due to a direct call from God. It was not the result of heredity, just as it was not a permanent gift but a transient one, subject entirely to the divine will. The prophets preserved and developed revealed religion (1 Sam 12:6-25), denounced idolatry (1 Kings 14:1-13), defended the moral law (2 Sam 12:1-15), gave counsel in political matters (Isaiah 31:1-3), and often also in matters of private life (1 Sam 9:6-9). At times miracles confirmed their preaching, and their predictions of the future intensified the expectation of the Messiah and of his kingdom.

The prophetic literature in this volume contains the substance of the prophets' authentic preaching, resumes, and genuine samples of such preaching. Some parts were recorded by the prophets themselves, some by persons other than the prophets who uttered them.

The prophecies express judgments of the people's moral conduct, on the basis of the Mosaic alliance between God and Israel. They teach sublime truths and lofty morals. They contain exhortations, threats, announcements of punishment, promises of deliverance, made with solemn authority and in highly imaginative language. In the affairs of men, their prime concern is the interests of God, especially in what pertains to the chosen people through whom the Messiah is to come; hence their denunciations of idolatry and of that externalism in worship which excludes the interior spirit of religion. They are concerned also with the universal nature of the moral law, with personal responsibility, with the person and office of the Messiah, and with the conduct of foreign nations.

In content, the literary genre of prophecy uses warning and threat besides exhortation and promise to declare in God's name events of the near and distant future (Isa 8-9). In form, the divine source of prophetic declaration appears in: "The word (or oracle) of the Lord," or "Thus says the LORD," followed by the announcement of a coming event and its moral cause (Hosea 4:7-10). Divine exhortation and promise are introduced by such forms as: "Hear this word, O men of Israel, that the LORD pronounces over you" (Amos 3:1). Kindly and persuasive tones pervade the promises of reward and even the threats of punishment (Amos 5:14-15).

Disregard for exact chronological perspective in the prophecies is an additional characteristic.

Predictions of the immediate and distant future are often interrelated, not on the basis of years separating the events but on the analogy of the pattern joining present with very distant, though similar, conditions and circumstances. This is prophetic compenetration, idealization in which persons and things of the more immediate present, in the prophet's day, fade into a wider and more perfect order of persons and things of the future; the former are figures and types of the latter. Thus, some details of what the Psalmist said of the kingdom of David and Solomon (Psa 72) went beyond what was fulfilled in these men, as St. Thomas points out, and found their realization only in the kingdom of Christ. St. Jerome before him, and still earlier the apostles themselves-Peter (Acts 2:14-36) and Paul (Gal 4:21-31)-taught us that through anticipation in types we discover in Sacred Scripture the truth of things to come.

Thus the universal blessing for mankind, often promised by God through the mouths of his prophets in figures and types, was in time to become personalized and to confer its full benefit on us through the Word made flesh, who became for us the New Covenant through his life, death, and resurrection, as the prophets had foretold.

Introduction to Isaiah

Isaiah

Introduction

The greatest of the prophets appeared at a critical moment of Israel's history. The second half of the eighth century B.C. witnessed the collapse of the northern kingdom under the hammerlike blows of Assyria (722), while Jerusalem itself saw the army of Sennacherib drawn up before its walls (701). In the year that Uzziah, king of Judah, died (742), Isaiah received his call to the prophetic office in the Temple of Jerusalem. Close attention should be given to Isa 6, where this divine summons to be the ambassador of the Most High is circumstantially described.

The vision of the Lord enthroned in glory stamps an indelible character on Isaiah's ministry and provides the key to the understanding of his message. The majesty, holiness and glory of the Lord took possession of his spirit and, conversely, he gained a new awareness of human pettiness and sinfulness. The enormous abyss between God's sovereign holiness and man's sin overwhelmed the prophet. Only the purifying coal of the seraphim could cleanse his lips and prepare him for acceptance of the call: "Here I am, send me!"

The ministry of Isaiah may be divided into three periods, covering the reigns of Jotham (742-735), Ahaz (735-715), and Hezekiah (715-687). To the first period belong, for the most part, the early oracles (Isa 1-5) which exposed the moral breakdown of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem. With the accession of Ahaz, the prophet became adviser to the king, whose throne was threatened by the Syro-Ephraimite coalition. Rejecting the plea of Isaiah for faith and courage, the weak Ahaz turned to Assyria for help. From this period came the majority of messianic oracles found in the section of Immanuel prophecies (Isa 6-12).

Hezekiah succeeded his father and undertook a religious reform which Isaiah undoubtedly supported. But the old intrigues began again, and the king was soon won over to the pro-Egyptian party. Isaiah denounced this "covenant with death" and again summoned Judah to faith in Yahweh as her only hope. But it was too late; the revolt had already begun. Assyria acted quickly and her army, after ravaging Judah, laid siege to Jerusalem (701). "I shut up Hezekiah like a bird in his cage," boasts the famous inscription of Sennacherib. But Yahweh delivered the city, as Isaiah had promised: God is the Lord of history, and Assyria but an instrument in his hands.

Little is known about the last days of this great religious leader, whose oracles, of singular poetic beauty and power, constantly reminded his wayward people of their destiny and the fidelity of Yahweh to his promises.

The complete Book of Isaiah is an anthology of poems composed chiefly by the great prophet, but also by disciples, some of whom came many years after Isaiah. In 1-39 most of the oracles come from Isaiah and faithfully reflect the situation in eighth-century Judah. To disciples deeply influenced by the prophet belong sections such as the Apocalypse of Isaiah (Isa 24-27), the oracles against Babylon (Isa 13-14), and probably the poems of Isa 34-35.

Isa 40-55, sometimes called the Deutero-Isaiah, are generally attributed to an anonymous poet who prophesied toward the end of the Babylonian exile. From this section come the great messianic oracles known as the songs of the Servant, whose mysterious destiny of suffering and glorification is fulfilled in the passion and glorification of Christ. Isa 56-66 contain oracles from a later period and were composed by disciples who inherited the spirit and continued the work of the great prophet.

The principal divisions of the Book of Isaiah are the following:

The Book of Judgment

Indictment of Israel and Judah (Isaiah 1:1-5, 30)

Immanuel Prophecies (Isaiah 6:1-12:6)

Oracles against the Pagan Nations (Isaiah 13:1-23:18)

Apocalypse of Isaiah (Isaiah 24:1-27:13)

The Lord Alone, Israel's and Judah's Salvation (Isaiah 28:1-33:24)

The Lord, Zion's Avenger (Isaiah 34:1-35:10)

Historical Appendix (Isaiah 36:1-39:8)

The Book of Consolation

The Lord's Glory in Israel's Liberation (Isaiah 40:1-48:21)

Expiation of Sin, Spiritual Liberation of Israel (Isaiah 49:1-55:13)

Return of the First Captives (Isaiah 56:1-66:24)

Isaiah Chapter 1

[1] 1 The vision which Isaiah, son of Amoz, had concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

[2] Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, for the LORD speaks: Sons have I raised and reared, but they have disowned me!

[3] 2 An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master's manger; But Israel does not know, my people has not understood.

[4] 3 Ah! sinful nation, people laden with wickedness, evil race, corrupt children! They have forsaken the LORD, spurned the Holy One of Israel, apostatized.

[5] 4 Where would you yet be struck, you that rebel again and again? The whole head is sick, the whole heart faint.

[6] From the sole of the foot to the head there is no sound spot: Wound and welt and gaping gash, not drained, or bandaged, or eased with salve.

[7] Your country is waste, your cities burnt with fire; Your land before your eyes strangers devour (a waste, like Sodom overthrown)--

[8] 5 And daughter Zion is left like a hut in a vineyard, Like a shed in a melon patch, like a city blockaded.

[9] 6 Unless the LORD of hosts had left us a scanty remnant, We had become as Sodom, we should be like Gomorrah.

[10] Hear the word of the LORD, princes of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, people of Gomorrah!

[11] 7 What care I for the number of your sacrifices? says the LORD. I have had enough of whole-burnt rams and fat of fatlings; In the blood of calves, lambs and goats I find no pleasure.

[12] When you come in to visit me, who asks these things of you?

[13] 8 Trample my courts no more! Bring no more worthless offerings; your incense is loathsome to me. New moon and sabbath, calling of assemblies, octaves with wickedness: these I cannot bear.

[14] Your new moons and festivals I detest; they weigh me down, I tire of the load.

[15] 9 When you spread out your hands, I close my eyes to you; Though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood!

[16] Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil;

[17] learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.

[18] Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.

[19] If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land;

[20] But if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!

[21] 10 How has she turned adulteress, the faithful city, so upright! Justice used to lodge within her, but now, murderers.

[22] Your silver is turned to dross, your wine is mixed with water.

[23] Your princes are rebels and comrades of thieves; Each one of them loves a bribe and looks for gifts. The fatherless they defend not, and the widow's plea does not reach them.

[24] Now, therefore, says the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah! I will take vengeance on my foes and fully repay my enemies!

[25] I will turn my hand against you, and refine your dross in the furnace, removing all your alloy.

[26] I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as in the beginning; After that you shall be called city of justice, faithful city.

[27] 11 Zion shall be redeemed by judgment, and her repentant ones by justice.

[28] Rebels and sinners alike shall be crushed, those who desert the LORD shall be consumed.

[29] 12 You shall be ashamed of the terebinths which you prized, and blush for the groves which you chose.

[30] You shall become like a tree with falling leaves, like a garden that has no water.

[31] The strong man shall turn to tow, and his work shall become a spark; Both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench the flames.

Isaiah Chapter 2

[1] 1 This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

[2] 2 In days to come, The mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it;

[3] 3 many peoples shall come and say: "Come, let us climb the LORD'S mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths." For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

[4] He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.

[5] O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

[6] 4 You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with fortunetellers and soothsayers, like the Philistines; they covenant with strangers.

[7] Their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; Their land is full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots.

[8] Their land is full of idols; they worship the works of their hands, that which their fingers have made.

[9] But man is abased, each one brought low. (Do not pardon them!)

[10] Get behind the rocks, hide in the dust, From the terror of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty!

[11] 5 The haughty eyes of man will be lowered, the arrogance of men will be abased, and the LORD alone will be exalted, on that day.

[12] For the LORD of hosts will have his day against all that is proud and arrogant, all that is high, and it will be brought low;

[13] 6 Yes, against all the cedars of Lebanon and all the oaks of Bashan,

[14] Against all the lofty mountains and all the high hills,

[15] Against every lofty tower and every fortified wall,

[16] 7 Against all the ships of Tarshish and all stately vessels.

[17] Human pride will be abased, the arrogance of men brought low, And the LORD alone will be exalted, on that day.

[18] The idols will perish forever.

[19] Men will go into caves in the rocks and into holes in the earth, From the terror of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he arises to overawe the earth.

[20] On that day men will throw to the moles and the bats the idols of silver and gold which they made for worship.

[21] They go into caverns in the rocks and into crevices in the cliffs, From the terror of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he arises to overawe the earth.

[22] As for you, let man alone, in whose nostrils is but a breath; for what is he worth?

Isaiah Chapter 3

[1] 1 The Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and prop (all supplies of bread and water):

[2] Hero and warrior, judge and prophet, fortune-teller and elder,

[3] The captain of fifty and the nobleman, counselor, skilled magician, and expert charmer.

[4] I will make striplings their princes; the fickle shall govern them,

[5] And the people shall oppress one another, yes, every man his neighbor. The child shall be bold toward the elder, and the base toward the honorable.

[6] When a man seizes his brother in his father's house, saying, "You have clothes! Be our ruler, and take in hand this ruin!"--

[7] Then shall he answer in that day: "I will not undertake to cure this, when in my own house there is no bread or clothing! You shall not make me ruler of the people."

[8] Jerusalem is crumbling, Judah is falling; for their speech and their deeds are before the LORD, a provocation in the sight of his majesty.

[9] Their very look bears witness against them; their sin like Sodom they vaunt, They hide it not. Woe to them! they deal out evil to themselves.

[10] Happy the just, for it will be well with them, the fruit of their works they will eat.

[11] Woe to the wicked man! All goes ill, with the work of his hands he will be repaid.

[12] My people--a babe in arms will be their tyrant, and women will rule them! O my people, your leaders mislead, they destroy the paths you should follow.

[13] The LORD rises to accuse, standing to try his people.

[14] The Lord enters into judgment with his people's elders and princes: It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the loot wrested from the poor is in your houses.

[15] What do you mean by crushing my people, and grinding down the poor when they look to you? says the Lord, the GOD of hosts.

[16] The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with necks outstretched Ogling and mincing as they go, their anklets tinkling with every step,

[17] 2 The Lord shall cover the scalps of Zion's daughters with scabs, and the LORD shall bare their heads.

[18] On that day the LORD will do away with the finery of the anklets, sunbursts, and crescents;

[19] the pendants, bracelets, and veils;

[20] the headdresses, bangles, cinctures, perfume boxes, and amulets;

[21] 3 the signet rings, and the nose rings;

[22] the court dresses, wraps, cloaks, and purses;

[23] the mirrors, linen tunics, turbans, and shawls.

[24] Instead of perfume there will be stench, instead of the girdle, a rope, And for the coiffure, baldness; for the rich gown, a sackcloth skirt. Then, instead of beauty:

[25] Your men will fall by the sword, and your champions, in war;

[26] Her gates will lament and mourn, as the city sits desolate on the ground.

Isaiah Chapter 4

[1] 1 Seven women will take hold of one man on that day, saying: "We will eat our own food and wear our own clothing; Only let your name be given us, put an end to our disgrace!"

[2] 2 On that day, The branch of the LORD will be luster and glory, and the fruit of the earth will be honor and splendor for the survivors of Israel.

[3] 3 He who remains in Zion and he that is left in Jerusalem Will be called holy: every one marked down for life in Jerusalem.

[4] When the Lord washes away the filth of the daughters of Zion, And purges Jerusalem's blood from her midst with a blast of searing judgment,

[5] Then will the LORD create, over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her place of assembly, A smoking cloud by day and a light of flaming fire by night.

[6] For over all, his glory will be shelter and protection: shade from the parching heat of day, refuge and cover from storm and rain.

Isaiah Chapter 5

[1] 1 Let me now sing of my friend, my friend's song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside;

[2] He spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; Within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes.

[3] Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard:

[4] What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

[5] Now, I will let you know what I mean to do to my vineyard: Take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled!

[6] Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it.

[7] 2 The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his cherished plant; He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!

[8] 3 Woe to you who join house to house, who connect field with field, Till no room remains, and you are left to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

[9] In my hearing the LORD of hosts has sworn: Many houses shall be in ruins, large ones and fine, with no one to live in them.

[10] 4 Ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one liquid measure, And a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.

[11] Woe to those who demand strong drink as soon as they rise in the morning, And linger into the night while wine inflames them!

[12] With harp and lyre, timbrel and flute, they feast on wine; But what the LORD does, they regard not, the work of his hands they see not.

[13] Therefore my people go into exile, because they do not understand; Their nobles die of hunger, and their masses are parched with thirst.

[14] 5 Therefore the nether world enlarges its throat and opens its maw without limit; Down go their nobility and their masses, their throngs and their revelry.

[15] Men shall be abased, each one brought low, and the eyes of the haughty lowered,

[16] But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted by his judgment, and God the Holy shall be shown holy by his justice.

Isaiah Chapter 6

[1] 1 2 In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple.

[2] Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.

[3] "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory!"

[4] 3 At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.

[5] 4 Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

[6] Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

[7] 5 He touched my mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."

[8] Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!"

[9] 6 And he replied: Go and say to this people: Listen carefully, but you shall not understand! Look intently, but you shall know nothing!

[10] You are to make the heart of this people sluggish, to dull their ears and close their eyes; Else their eyes will see, their ears hear, their heart understand, and they will turn and be healed.

[11] "How long, O Lord?" I asked. And he replied: Until the cities are desolate, without inhabitants, Houses, without a man, and the earth is a desolate waste.

[12] 7 Until the LORD removes men far away, and the land is abandoned more and more.

[13] If there be still a tenth part in it, then this in turn shall be laid waste; As with a terebinth or an oak whose trunk remains when its leaves have fallen. (Holy offspring is the trunk.)

Isaiah Chapter 7

[1] 1 In the days of Ahaz, king of Judah, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, king of Israel, son of Remaliah, went up to attack Jerusalem, but they were not able to conquer it.

[2] When word came to the house of David that Aram was encamped in Ephraim, the heart of the king and heart of the people trembled, as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.

[3] 2 Then the LORD said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field,

[4] and say to him: Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear; let not your courage fail before these two stumps of smoldering brands (the blazing anger of Rezin and the Arameans, and of the son of Remaliah),

[5] because of the mischief that Aram (Ephraim and the son of Remaliah) plots against you, saying,

[6] 3 "Let us go up and tear Judah asunder, make it our own by force, and appoint the son of Tabeel king there."

[7] Thus says the LORD: This shall not stand, it shall not be!

[8] Damascus is the capital of Aram, and Rezin the head of Damascus; Samaria is the capital of Ephraim, and Remaliah's son the head of Samaria.

[9] 4 But within sixty years and five, Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation. Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm!

[10] Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz:

[11] 5 Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!

[12] 6 But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"

[13] Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?

[14] 7 Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

[15] 8 He shall be living on curds and honey by the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good.

[16] For before the child learns to reject the bad and choose the good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted.

[17] The LORD shall bring upon you and your people and your father's house days worse than any since Ephraim seceded from Judah. (This means the king of Assyria.)

[18] On that day The LORD shall whistle for the fly that is in the farthest streams of Egypt, and for the bee in the land of Assyria.

[19] All of them shall come and settle in the steep ravines and in the rocky clefts, on all thornbushes and in all pastures.

[20] 9 On that day the LORD shall shave with the razor hired from across the River (with the king of Assyria) the head, and the hair between the legs. It shall also shave off the beard.

[21] On that day a man shall keep a heifer or a couple of sheep,

[22] and from their abundant yield of milk he shall live on curds; curds and honey shall be the food of all who remain in the land.

[23] On that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand pieces of silver, shall be turned to briers and thorns.

[24] Men shall go there with bow and arrows; for all the country shall be briers and thorns.

[25] For fear of briers and thorns you shall not go upon any mountainside which used to be hoed with the mattock; they shall be grazing land for cattle and shall be trampled upon by sheep.

Isaiah Chapter 8

[1] 1 The LORD said to me: Take a large cylinder-seal, and inscribe on it in ordinary letters: "Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz."

[2] 2 And I took reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah.

[3] 3 Then I went to the prophetess and she conceived and bore a son. The LORD said to me: Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz,

[4] for before the child knows how to call his father or mother by name, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried off by the king of Assyria.

[5] Again the LORD spoke to me:

[6] 4 Because this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, And melts with fear before the loftiness of Rezin and Remaliah's son,

[7] Therefore the LORD raises against them the waters of the River, great and mighty (the king of Assyria and all his power). It shall rise above all its channels, and overflow all its banks;

[8] It shall pass into Judah, and flood it all throughout: up to the neck it shall reach; It shall spread its wings the full width of your land, Immanuel!

[9] Know, O peoples, and be appalled! Give ear, all you distant lands! Arm, but be crushed! Arm, but be crushed!

[10] 5 Form a plan, and it shall be thwarted; make a resolve, and it shall not be carried out, for "With us is God!"

[11] For thus said the LORD to me, taking hold of me and warning me not to walk in the way of this people:

[12] Call not alliance what this people calls alliance, and fear not, nor stand in awe of what they fear.

[13] But with the LORD of hosts make your alliance-- for him be your fear and your awe.

[14] Yet he shall be a snare, an obstacle and a stumbling stone to both the houses of Israel, A trap and a snare to those who dwell in Jerusalem;

[15] And many among them shall stumble and fall, broken, snared, and captured.

[16] 6 The record is to be folded and the sealed instruction kept among my disciples.

[17] For I will trust in the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob; yes, I will wait for him.

[18] 7 Look at me and the children whom the Lord has given me: we are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.

[19] 8 And when they say to you, "Inquire of mediums and fortune-tellers (who chirp and mutter!); should not a people inquire of their gods, apply to the dead on behalf of the living?"--

[20] then this document will furnish its instruction. That kind of thing they will surely say.

[21] 9

Isaiah Chapter 9

[1] The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.

[2] You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, As they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as men make merry when dividing spoils.

[3] For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, And the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.

[4] For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames.

[5] 1 For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.

[6] His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, From David's throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains By judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!

[7] The Lord has sent word against Jacob, it falls upon Israel;

[8] And all the people know it, Ephraim and those who dwell in Samaria, those who say in arrogance and pride of heart,

[9] "Bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone; Sycamores are felled, but we will replace them with cedars."

[10] But the LORD raises up their foes against them and stirs up their enemies to action:

[11] 2 Aram on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his wrath is not turned back, and his hand is still outstretched!

[12] The people do not turn to him who struck them, nor seek the LORD of hosts.

[13] So the LORD severs from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day.

[14] (The elder and the noble are the head, the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.)

[15] The leaders of this people mislead them and those to be led are engulfed.

[16] For this reason, the Lord does not spare their young men, and their orphans and widows he does not pity; They are wholly profaned and sinful, and every mouth gives vent to folly. For all this, his wrath is not turned back, his hand is still outstretched!

[17] For wickedness burns like fire, devouring brier and thorn; It kindles the forest thickets, which go up in columns of smoke.

[18] At the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land quakes, and the people are like fuel for fire; No man spares his brother, each devours the flesh of his neighbor.

[19] Though they hack on the right, they are hungry; though they eat on the left, they are not filled.

[20] 3 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they turn on Judah. For all this, his wrath is not turned back, his hand is still outstretched!

Isaiah Chapter 10

[1] Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and who write oppressive decrees,

[2] Depriving the needy of judgment and robbing my people's poor of their rights, Making widows their plunder, and orphans their prey!

[3] What will you do on the day of punishment, when ruin comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth,

[4] Lest it sink beneath the captive or fall beneath the slain? For all this, his wrath is not turned back, his hand is still outstretched!

[5] Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, my staff in wrath.

[6] 1 Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath I order him To seize plunder, carry off loot, and tread them down like the mud of the streets.

[7] But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; Rather, it is in his heart to destroy, to make an end of nations not a few.

[8] "Are not my commanders all kings?" he says,

[9] 2 "Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, or Samaria like Damascus?

[10] Just as my hand reached out to idolatrous kingdoms that had more images than Jerusalem and Samaria,

[11] Just as I treated Samaria and her idols, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her graven images?"

[12] (But when the LORD has brought to an end all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the utterance of the king of Assyria's proud heart,

[13] and the boastfulness of his haughty eyes. For he says:) "By my own power I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd. I have moved the boundaries of peoples, their treasures I have pillaged, and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned.

[14] My hand has seized like a nest the riches of nations; As one takes eggs left alone, so I took in all the earth; No one fluttered a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped!"

[15] Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? As if a rod could sway him who lifts it, or a staff him who is not wood!

[16] 3 Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send among his fat ones leanness, And instead of his glory there will be kindling like the kindling of fire.

[17] The Light of Israel will become a fire, Israel's Holy One a flame, That burns and consumes his briers and his thorns in a single day.

[18] His splendid forests and orchards will be consumed, soul and body;

[19] And the remnant of the trees in his forest will be so few, Like poles set up for signals, that any boy can record them.

[20] On that day The remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no more lean upon him who struck them; But they lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

[21] 4 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

[22] For though your people, O Israel, were like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant of them will return; their destruction is decreed as overwhelming justice demands.

[23] Yes, the destruction he has decreed, the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will carry out within the whole land.

[24] Therefore thus says the Lord, the GOD of hosts: O my people, who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian, though he strikes you with a rod, and raises his staff against you.

[25] For only a brief moment more, and my anger shall be over; but them I will destroy in wrath.

[26] Then the LORD of hosts will raise against them a scourge such as struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the sea as he did against Egypt.

[27] 5 On that day, His burden shall be taken from your shoulder, and his yoke shattered from your neck. He has come up from the direction of Rimmon,

[28] he has reached Aiath, passed through Migron, at Michmash his supplies are stored.

[29] They cross the ravine: "We will spend the night at Geba." Ramah is in terror, Gibeah of Saul has fled.

[30] Cry and shriek, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth!

[31] Madmenah is in flight, the inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.

[32] 6 Even today he will halt at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mount of daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem!

[33] Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, lops off the boughs with terrible violence; The tall of stature are felled, and the lofty ones brought low;

[34] The forest thickets are felled with the axe, and Lebanon in its splendor falls.

Isaiah Chapter 11

[1] 1 But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

[2] 2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,

[3] and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide,

[4] But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.

[5] Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.

[6] 3 Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.

[7] The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox.

[8] The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair.

[9] There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea.

[10] On that day, The root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, The Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.

[11] 4 On that day, The Lord shall again take it in hand to reclaim the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria and Egypt, Pathros, Ethiopia, and Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the isles of the sea.

[12] He shall raise a signal to the nations and gather the outcasts of Israel; The dispersed of Judah he shall assemble from the four corners of the earth.

[13] The envy of Ephraim shall pass away, and the rivalry of Judah be removed; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be hostile to Ephraim;

[14] 5 But they shall swoop down on the foothills of the Philistines to the west, together they shall plunder the Kedemites; Edom and Moab shall be their possessions, and the Ammonites their subjects.

[15] 6 The LORD shall dry up the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and wave his hand over the Euphrates in his fierce anger And shatter it into seven streamlets, so that it can be crossed in sandals.

[16] There shall be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, As there was for Israel when he came up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah Chapter 12

[1] 1 On that day, you will say: I give you thanks, O LORD; though you have been angry with me, your anger has abated, and you have consoled me.

[2] God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior.

[3] With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation,

[4] and say on that day: Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim how exalted is his name.

[5] Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement; let this be known throughout all the earth.

[6] Shout with exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!

Isaiah Chapter 13

[1] An oracle concerning Babylon; a vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz.

[2] 1 Upon the bare mountains set up a signal; cry out to them, Wave for them to enter the gates of the volunteers.

[3] 2 I have commanded my dedicated soldiers, I have summoned my warriors, eager and bold to carry out my anger.

[4] Listen! the rumble on the mountains: that of an immense throng! Listen! the noise of kingdoms, nations assembled! The LORD of hosts is mustering an army for battle.

[5] They come from a far-off country, and from the end of the heavens, The LORD and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy all the land.

[6] 3 Howl, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

[7] Therefore all hands fall helpless, the bows of the young men fall from their hands. Every man's heart melts

[8] in terror. Pangs and sorrows take hold of them, like a woman in labor they writhe; They look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.

[9] Lo, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and burning anger; To lay waste the land and destroy the sinners within it!

[10] The stars and constellations of the heavens send forth no light; The sun is dark when it rises, and the light of the moon does not shine.

[11] Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their guilt. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, the insolence of tyrants I will humble.

[12] 4 I will make mortals more rare than pure gold, men, than gold of Ophir.

[13] For this I will make the heavens tremble and the earth shall be shaken from its place, At the wrath of the LORD of hosts on the day of his burning anger.

[14] Like a hunted gazelle, or a flock that no one gathers, Every man shall turn to his kindred and flee to his own land.

[15] Everyone who is caught shall be run through; to a man, they shall fall by the sword.

[16] Their infants shall be dashed to pieces in their sight; their houses shall be plundered and their wives ravished.

[17] I am stirring up against them the Medes, who think nothing of silver and take no delight in gold.

[18] The fruit of the womb they shall not spare, nor shall they have eyes of pity for children.

[19] And Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory and pride of the Chaldeans, Shall be overthrown by God like Sodom and like Gomorrah.

[20] She shall never be inhabited, nor dwelt in, from age to age; The Arab shall not pitch his tent there, nor shepherds couch their flocks.

[21] 5 But wildcats shall rest there and owls shall fill the houses; There ostriches shall dwell, and satyrs shall dance.

[22] Desert beasts shall howl in her castles, and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is near at hand and her days shall not be prolonged.

Isaiah Chapter 14

[1] When the LORD has pity on Jacob and again chooses Israel and settles them on their own soil, the aliens will join them and be counted with the house of Jacob.

[2] The house of Israel will take them and bring them along to its place, and possess them as male and female slaves on the Lord's soil, making captives of its captors and ruling over its oppressors.

[3] On the day the LORD relieves you of sorrow and unrest and the hard service in which you have been enslaved,

[4] 1 you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has reached his end! how the turmoil is stilled!

[5] The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the staff of the tyrants

[6] That struck the peoples in wrath relentless blows; That beat down the nations in anger, with oppression unchecked.

[7] The whole earth rests peacefully, song breaks forth;

[8] The very cypresses rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon: "Now that you are laid to rest, there will be none to cut us down."

[9] The nether world below is all astir preparing for your coming; It awakens the shades to greet you, all the leaders of the earth; It has the kings of all nations rise from their thrones.

[10] All of them speak out and say to you, "You too have become weak like us, you are the same as we.

[11] Down to the nether world your pomp is brought, the music of your harps. The couch beneath you is the maggot, your covering, the worm."

[12] 2 How have you fallen from the heavens, O morning star, son of the dawn! How are you cut down to the ground, you who mowed down the nations!

[13] 3 You said in your heart: "I will scale the heavens; Above the stars of God I will set up my throne; I will take my seat on the Mount of Assembly, in the recesses of the North.

[14] I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will be like the Most High!"

[15] Yet down to the nether world you go to the recesses of the pit!

[16] When they see you they will stare, pondering over you: "Is this the man who made the earth tremble, and kingdoms quake?

[17] Who made the world a desert, razed its cities, and gave his captives no release?

[18] All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;

[19] But you are cast forth without burial, loathsome and corrupt, Clothed as those slain at sword-point, a trampled corpse. Going down to the pavement of the pit,

[20] you will never be one with them in the grave." For you have ruined your land, you have slain your people! Let him not be named forever, that scion of an evil race!

[21] Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their fathers; Lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the breadth of the world with tyrants.

[22] I will rise up against them, says the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, progeny and offspring, says the LORD.

[23] I will make it a haunt of hoot owls and a marshland; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts.

[24] The LORD of hosts has sworn: As I have resolved, so shall it be; As I have proposed, so shall it stand:

[25] I will break the Assyrian in my land and trample him on my mountains;

[26] This is the plan proposed for the whole earth, and this the hand outstretched over all nations.

[27] The LORD of hosts has planned; who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out; who can turn it back?

[28] 5 In the year that King Ahaz died, there came this oracle:

[29] 6 Rejoice not, O Philistia, not a man of you, that the rod which smote you is broken; For out of the serpent's root shall come an adder, its fruit shall be a flying saraph.

[30] In my pastures the poor shall eat, and the needy lie down in safety; But I will kill your root with famine that shall slay even your remnant.

[31] Howl, O gate; cry out, O city! Philistia, all of you melts away! For there comes a smoke from the north, without a straggler in the ranks.

[32] What will one answer the messengers of the nation? "The LORD has established Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge."

Isaiah Chapter 15

[1] Oracle on Moab: Laid waste in a night, Ar of Moab is destroyed; Laid waste in a night, Kir of Moab is destroyed.

[2] 1 Up goes daughter Dibon to the high places to weep; Over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. Every head is shaved, every beard sheared off.

[3] In the streets they wear sackcloth, lamenting and weeping; On the rooftops and in the squares everyone wails.

[4] Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, they are heard as far as Jahaz. At this the loins of Moab tremble, his soul quivers within him;

[5] The heart of Moab cries out, his fugitives reach Zoar (Eglath-shelishiyah). The ascent of Luhith they climb weeping; On the way to Horonaim they utter rending cries.

[6] The waters of Nimrim have become a waste; The grass is withered, new growth is gone, nothing is green.

[7] So now whatever they have acquired or stored away they carry across the Gorge of the Poplars,

[8] For the cry has gone round the land of Moab; As far as Eglaim the wailing, and to Beer-elim, the wail.

[9] 2 The waters of Dimon are filled with blood, but I will bring still more upon Dimon: Lions for those who are fleeing from Moab and for those who remain in the land!

Isaiah Chapter 16

[1] Send them forth, hugging the earth like reptiles, from Sela across the desert, to the mount of daughter Zion.

[2] 1 Like flushed birds, like startled nestlings, Are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

[3] 2 Offer counsel, take their part: at high noon let your shadow be like the night, To hide the outcasts, to conceal the fugitives.

[4] Let the outcasts of Moab live with you, be their shelter from the destroyer. When the struggle is ended, the ruin complete, and they have done with trampling the land,

[5] A throne shall be set up in mercy, and on it shall sit in fidelity (in David's tent) A judge upholding right and prompt to do justice.

[6] We have heard of the pride of Moab, how very proud he is, With his haughty, arrogant insolence that his empty words do not match.

[7] 3 4 Therefore Moab wails for Moab, everywhere they wail; For the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth they sigh, stricken with grief.

[8] 5 The terraced slopes of Heshbon languish, the vines of Sibmah, Whose clusters overpowered the lords of nations, While they reached as far as Jazer and scattered over the desert, And whose branches spread forth and extended over the sea.

[9] Therefore I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I water you with tears, Heshbon and Elealeh; For on your summer fruits and harvests the battle cry has fallen.

[10] From the orchards are taken away joy and gladness, In the vineyards there is no singing, no shout of joy; In the wine presses no one treads grapes, the vintage shout is stilled.

[11] Therefore for Moab my breast moans like a lyre, and my heart for Kir-hareseth.

[12] 6 When Moab grows weary on the high places, he shall enter his sanctuary to pray, but it shall avail him nothing.

[13] 7 This is the word the LORD spoke against Moab in times past.

[14] But now the LORD has spoken: In three years, like those of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be degraded despite all its great multitude; there shall be a remnant, very small and weak.

Isaiah Chapter 17

[1] 1 Oracle on Damascus: Lo, Damascus shall cease to be a city and become a ruin;

[2] Her cities shall be forever abandoned, given over to flocks to lie in undisturbed.

[3] 2 The fortress shall be lost to Ephraim and the kingdom to Damascus; The remnant of Aram shall have the same glory as the Israelites, says the LORD of hosts.

[4] On that day The glory of Jacob shall fade, and his full body grow thin,

[5] 3 Like the reaper's mere armful of stalks when he gathers the standing grain; Or as when one gleans the ears in the Valley of Rephaim.

[6] 4 Only a scattering of grapes shall be left! As when an olive tree has been beaten, Two or three olives remain at the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches, says the LORD, the God of Israel.

[7] On that day man shall look to his maker, his eyes turned toward the Holy One of Israel.

[8] 5 He shall not look to the altars, his handiwork, nor shall he regard what his fingers have made: the sacred poles or the incense stands.

[9] On that day his strong cities shall be like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites When faced with the children of Israel: they shall be laid waste.

[10] 6 For you have forgotten God, your savior, and remembered not the Rock, your strength. Therefore, though you plant your pagan plants and set out your foreign vine slips,

[11] Though you make them grow the day you plant them and make your sprouts blossom on the next morning, The harvest shall disappear on the day of the grievous blow, the incurable blight.

[12] 7 Ah! the roaring of many peoples that roar like the roar of the seas! The surging of nations that surge like the surging of mighty waves!

[13] But God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far away; Windswept, like chaff on the mountains, like tumbleweed in a storm.

[14] In the evening, they spread terror, before morning, they are gone! Such is the portion of those who despoil us, the lot of those who plunder us.

Isaiah Chapter 18

[1] 1 2 Ah, land of buzzing insects, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

[2] Sending ambassadors by sea, in papyrus boats on the waters! Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and bronzed, To a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers.

[3] All you who inhabit the world, who dwell on earth, When the signal is raised on the mountain, look! When the trumpet blows, listen!

[4] For thus says the LORD to me: I will quietly look on from where I dwell, Like the glowing heat of sunshine, like a cloud of dew at harvest time.

[5] Before the vintage, when the flowering is ended, and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes, Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.

[6] They shall all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts in the land; The birds of prey shall summer on them and on them all the beasts of the earth shall winter.

[7] Then will gifts be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and bronzed, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers-to Mount Zion where dwells the name of the LORD of hosts.

Isaiah Chapter 19

[1] Oracle on Egypt: See, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud on his way to Egypt; The idols of Egypt tremble before him, the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.

[2] I will rouse Egypt against Egypt: brother will war against brother, Neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kindgom.

[3] The courage of the Egyptians ebbs away within them, and I will bring to nought their counsel; They shall consult idols and charmers, ghosts and spirits.

[4] 1 I will deliver Egypt into the power of a cruel master, A harsh king who shall rule over them, says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.

[5] The waters shall be drained from the sea, the river shall shrivel and dry up;

[6] Its streams shall become foul, and the canals of Egypt shall dwindle and dry up. Reeds and rushes shall wither away,

[7] and bulrushes on the bank of the Nile; All the sown land along the Nile shall dry up and blow away, and be no more.

[8] The fishermen shall mourn and lament, all who cast hook in the Nile; Those who spread their nets in the water shall pine away.

[9] The linen-workers shall be disappointed, the combers and weavers shall turn pale;

[10] The spinners shall be crushed, all the hired laborers shall be despondent.

[11] 2 Utter fools are the princes of Zoan! the wisest of Pharaoh's advisers give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am a disciple of wise men, of ancient kings"?

[12] Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you and make known What the LORD of hosts has planned against Egypt.

[13] The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Memphis have been deceived. The chiefs of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

[14] The LORD has prepared among them a spirit of dizziness, And they have made Egypt stagger in whatever she does, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.

[15] 3 Egypt shall have no work to do for head or tail, palm branch or reed.

[16] On that day the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling with fear, because of the LORD of hosts shaking his fist at them.

[17] And the land of Judah shall be a terror to the Egyptians. Every time they remember Judah, they shall stand in dread because of the plan which the LORD of hosts has in mind for them.

[18] 4 On that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing by the LORD of hosts; one shall be called "City of the Sun."

[19] On that day there shall be an altar to the LORD in the land of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to the LORD near the boundary.

[20] It shall be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt, when they cry out to the LORD against their oppressors, and he sends them a savior to defend and deliver them.

[21] The LORD shall make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day; they shall offer sacrifices and oblations, and fulfill the vows they make to the LORD.

[22] Although the LORD shall smite Egypt severely, he shall heal them; they shall turn to the LORD and he shall be won over and heal them.

[23] On that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria; the Assyrians shall enter Egypt, and the Egyptians enter Assyria, and Egypt shall serve Assyria.

[24] On that day Israel shall be a third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land,

[25] when the LORD of hosts blesses it: "Blessed be my people Egypt, and the work of my hands Assyria, and my inheritance, Israel."

Isaiah Chapter 20

[1] In the year the general sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, fought against Ashdod and captured it,

[2] 1 the LORD gave a warning through Isaiah, the son of Amoz: Go and take off the sackcloth from your waist, and remove the sandals from your feet. This he did, walking naked and barefoot.

[3] Then the LORD said: Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,

[4] so shall the king of Assyria lead away captives from Egypt, and exiles from Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered (the shame of Egypt).

[5] They shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Ethiopia, their hope, and because of Egypt, their boast.

[6] The inhabitants of this coastland shall say on that day, "Look at our hope! We have fled here for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria; where can we flee now?"

Isaiah Chapter 21

[1] 1 Oracle on the wastelands by the sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping in waves through the Negeb, there comes from the desert, from the fearful land,

[2] 2 A cruel sight, revealed to me: the traitor betrays, the despoiler spoils. "Go up, Elam; besiege, O Media; I will put an end to all groaning!"

[3] Therefore my loins are filled with anguish, pangs have seized me like those of a woman in labor; I am too bewildered to hear, too dismayed to look.

[4] My mind reels, shuddering assails me; My yearning for twilight has turned into dread.

[5] 3 They set the table, spread out the rugs; they eat, they drink. Rise up, O princes, oil the shield!

[6] For thus says my Lord to me: Go, station a watchman, let him tell what he sees.

[7] If he sees a chariot, a pair of horses, Someone riding an ass, someone riding a camel, Then let him pay heed, very close heed.

[8] Then the watchman cried, "On the watchtower, O my Lord, I stand constantly by day; And I stay at my post through all the watches of the night.

[9] Here he comes now: a single chariot, a pair of horses; He calls out and says, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon, And all the images of her gods are smashed to the ground.'"

[10] O my people who have been threshed, beaten on my threshing floor! What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I have announced to you.

[11] 4 Oracle on Edom: They call to me from Seir, "Watchman, how much longer the night? Watchman, how much longer the night?"

[12] The watchman replies, "Morning has come, and again night. If you will ask, ask; come back again."

[13] 5 Oracle on Arabia: In the thicket in the nomad country spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites.

[14] Meet the thirsty, bring them water; you who dwell in the land of Tema, greet the fugitives with bread.

[15] They flee from the sword, from the whetted sword; From the taut bow, from the fury of battle.

[16] 6 For thus says the Lord to me: In another year, like those of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall come to an end.

[17] Few of Kedar's stalwart archers shall remain, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

Isaiah Chapter 22

[1] 1 Oracle of the Valley of Vision: What is the matter with you now, that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops,

[2] O city full of noise and chaos, O wanton town! Your slain are not slain with the sword, nor killed in battle.

[3] All your leaders fled away together, fled afar off; All who were in you were captured together, captured without the use of a bow.

[4] At this I say: Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly; Do not try to comfort me for the ruin of the daughter of my people.

[5] It is a day of panic, rout and confusion, from the Lord, the GOD of hosts, in the Valley of Vision. Walls crash; they cry for help to the mountains.

[6] 2 Elam takes up the quivers, Aram mounts the horses, and Kir uncovers the shields.

[7] Your choice valleys are filled with chariots, and horses are posted at the gates,

[8] 3 and shelter over Judah is removed. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest;

[9] you saw that the breaches in the City of David were many; you collected the water of the lower pool.

[10] You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, tearing some down to strengthen the wall;

[11] you made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to the city's Maker, nor did you consider him who built it long ago.

[12] On that day the Lord, the GOD of hosts, called on you To weep and mourn, to shave your head and put on sackcloth.

[13] But look! you feast and celebrate, you slaughter oxen and butcher sheep, You eat meat and drink wine: "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"

[14] This reaches the ears of the LORD of hosts-- You shall not be pardoned this wickedness till you die, says the Lord, the GOD of hosts.

[15] 4 Thus says the Lord, the GOD of hosts: Up, go to that official, Shebna, master of the palace,

[16] Who has hewn for himself a sepulcher on a height and carved his tomb in the rock: "What are you doing here, and what people have you here, that here you have hewn for yourself a tomb?"

[17] The LORD shall hurl you down headlong, mortal man! He shall grip you firmly

[18] And roll you up and toss you like a ball into an open land To perish there, you and the chariots you glory in, you disgrace to your master's house!

[19] I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station.

[20] 5 On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah;

[21] I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over to him your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

[22] 6 I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.

[23] I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family;

[24] 7 On him shall hang all the glory of his family: descendants and offspring, all the little dishes, from bowls to jugs.

[25] On that day, says the LORD of hosts, the peg fixed in a sure spot shall give way, break off and fall, and the weight that hung on it shall be done away with; for the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah Chapter 23

[1] 1 Oracle on Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your port is destroyed; From the land of the Kittim 2 the news reaches them.

[2] Silence! you who dwell on the coast, you merchants of Sidon, Whose messengers crossed the sea

[3] 3 over the deep waters. The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue, and she the merchant among nations.

[4] 4 Shame, O Sidon, fortress on the sea, for the sea has spoken: "I have not been in labor, nor given birth, nor raised young men, nor reared virgins."

[5] When it is heard in Egypt they shall be in anguish at the news of Tyre.

[6] Pass over to Tarshish, wailing, you who dwell on the coast!

[7] Is this your wanton city, whose origin is from old, Whose feet have taken her to dwell in distant lands?

[8] Who has planned such a thing against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, Whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the earth's honored men?

[9] The LORD of hosts has planned it, to disgrace all pride of majesty, to degrade all the earth's honored men.

[10] Cross to your own land, O ship of Tarshish; the harbor is no more.

[11] 5 His hand he stretches out over the sea, he shakes kingdoms; The LORD has ordered the destruction of Canaan's strongholds.

[12] You shall exult no more, he says, you who are now oppressed, virgin daughter Sidon. Arise, pass over to the Kittim, even there you shall find no rest.

[13] 6 (This people is the land of the Chaldeans, not Assyria.) She whom the impious founded, setting up towers for her, Has had her castles destroyed, and has been turned into a ruin.

[14] Lament, O ships of Tarshish, for your haven is destroyed.

[15] 7 On that day, Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years. With the days of another king, at the end of seventy years, it shall be for Tyre as in the song about the harlot:

[16] Take a harp, go about the city, O forgotten harlot; Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs, that they may remember you.

[17] At the end of the seventy years the LORD shall visit Tyre. She shall return to her hire and deal with all the world's kingdoms on the face of the earth.

[18] 8 But her merchandise and her hire shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall not be stored up or laid away, but from her merchandise those who dwell before the LORD shall eat their fill and clothe themselves in choice attire.

Isaiah Chapter 24

[1] 1 Lo, the LORD empties the land and lays it waste; he turns it upside down, scattering its inhabitants:

[2] Layman and priest alike, servant and master, The maid as her mistress, the buyer as the seller, The lender as the borrower, the creditor as the debtor.

[3] The earth is utterly laid waste, utterly stripped, for the LORD has decreed this thing.

[4] The earth mourns and fades, the world languishes and fades; both heaven and earth languish.

[5] 2 The earth is polluted because of its inhabitants, who have transgressed laws, violated statutes, broken the ancient covenant.

[6] Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants pay for their guilt; Therefore they who dwell on earth turn pale, and few men are left.

[7] The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted groan.

[8] Stilled are the cheerful timbrels, ended the shouts of the jubilant, stilled is the cheerful harp.

[9] They cannot sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who partake of it.

[10] 3 Broken down is the city of chaos, shut against entry, every house.

[11] In the streets they cry out for lack of wine; all joy has disappeared and cheer has left the land.

[12] In the city nothing remains but ruin; its gates are battered and desolate.

[13] Thus it is within the land, and among the peoples, As with an olive tree after it is beaten, as with a gleaning when the vintage is done.

[14] 4 These lift up their voice in acclaim; from the sea they proclaim the majesty of the LORD:

[15] "For this, in the coastlands, give glory to the LORD! In the coastlands of the sea, to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel!"

[16] From the end of the earth we hear songs: "Splendor to the Just One!" But I said, "I am wasted, wasted away. Woe is me! The traitors betray: with treachery have the traitors betrayed!

[17] Terror, pit, and trap are upon you, inhabitant of the earth;

[18] He who flees at the sound of terror will fall into the pit; He who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the trap. For the windows on high will be opened and the foundations of the earth will shake.

[19] The earth will burst asunder, the earth will be shaken apart, the earth will be convulsed.

[20] The earth will reel like a drunkard, and it will sway like a hut; Its rebellion will weigh it down, until it falls, never to rise again."

[21] 5 On that day the LORD will punish the host of the heavens in the heavens, and the kings of the earth on the earth.

[22] They will be gathered together like prisoners into a pit; They will be shut up in a dungeon, and after many days they will be punished.

[23] 6 Then the moon will blush and the sun grow pale, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, glorious in the sight of his elders.

Isaiah Chapter 25

[1] 1 O LORD, you are my God, I will extol you and praise your name; For you have fulfilled your wonderful plans of old, faithful and true.

[2] For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; The castle of the insolent is a city no more, nor ever to be rebuilt.

[3] Therefore a strong people will honor you, fierce nations will fear you.

[4] For you are a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in distress; Shelter from the rain, shade from the heat. As with the cold rain,

[5] as with the desert heat, even so you quell the uproar of the wanton.

[6] 2 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.

[7] On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, The web that is woven over all nations;

[8] he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces; The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.

[9] On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!"

[10] 3 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, but Moab will be trodden down as a straw is trodden down in the mire.

[11] He will stretch forth his hands in Moab as a swimmer extends his hands to swim; He will bring low their pride as his hands sweep over them.

[12] The high-walled fortress he will raze, and strike it down level with the earth, with the very dust.

Isaiah Chapter 26

[1] On that day they will sing this song in the land of Judah: "A strong city have we; he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us.

[2] Open up the gates to let in a nation that is just, one that keeps faith.

[3] A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you."

[4] Trust in the LORD forever! For the LORD is an eternal Rock.

[5] He humbles those in high places, and the lofty city he brings down; He tumbles it to the ground, levels it with the dust.

[6] It is trampled underfoot by the needy, by the footsteps of the poor.

[7] The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level.

[8] Yes, for your way and your judgments, O LORD, we look to you; Your name and your title are the desire of our souls.

[9] My soul yearns for you in the night, yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you; When your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world's inhabitants learn justice.

[10] The wicked man, spared, does not learn justice; in an upright land he acts perversely, and sees not the majesty of the LORD.

[11] O LORD, your hand is uplifted, but they behold it not; Let them be shamed when they see your zeal for your people: let the fire prepared for your enemies consume them.

[12] O LORD, you mete out peace to us, for it is you who have accomplished all we have done.

[13] O LORD, our God, other lords than you have ruled us; it is from you only that we can call upon your name.

[14] Dead they are, they have no life, shades that cannot rise; For you have punished and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them.

[15] You have increased the nation, O LORD, increased the nation to your own glory, and extended far all the borders of the land.

[16] O LORD, oppressed by your punishment, we cried out in anguish under your chastising.

[17] As a woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so were we in your presence, O LORD.

[18] We conceived and writhed in pain, giving birth to wind; Salvation we have not achieved for the earth, the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth.

[19] 1 But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise; awake and sing, you who lie in the dust. For your dew is a dew of light, and the land of shades gives birth.

[20] Go, my people, enter your chambers, and close your doors behind you; Hide yourselves for a brief moment, until the wrath is past.

[21] See, the LORD goes forth from his place, to punish the wickedness of the earth's inhabitants; The earth will reveal the blood upon her, and no longer conceal her slain.

Isaiah Chapter 27

[1] 1 On that day, The LORD will punish with his sword that is cruel, great, and strong, Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the coiled serpent; and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

[2] On that day-- The pleasant vineyard, sing about it!

[3] I, the LORD, am its keeper, I water it every moment; Lest anyone harm it, night and day I guard it.

[4] I am not angry, but if I were to find briers and thorns, In battle I should march against them; I should burn them all.

[5] 3 Or shall he cling to me for refuge? He must make peace with me; peace shall he make with me!

Isaiah Chapter 28

[1] 1 Woe to the majestic garland of the drunkard Ephraim, To the fading blooms of his glorious beauty, on the head of him who is stupefied with wine.

[2] 2 Behold, the LORD has a strong one and a mighty, who, like a downpour of hail, a destructive storm, Like a flood of water, great and overflowing, levels to the ground with violence;

[3] With feet that will trample the majestic garland of the drunkard Ephraim.

[4] The fading blooms of his glorious beauty on the head of the fertile valley Will be like an early fig before summer: when a man sees it, he picks and swallows it at once.

[5] On that day the LORD of hosts will be a glorious crown And a brilliant diadem to the remnant of his people,

[6] A spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, And strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

[7] But these also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priest and prophet stagger from strong drink, overpowered by wine; Led astray by strong drink, staggering in their visions, tottering when giving judgment.

[8] Yes, all the tables are covered with filthy vomit, with no place left clean.

[9] 3 "To whom would he impart knowledge? To whom would he convey the message? To those just weaned from milk, those taken from the breast?

[10] For he says, 'Command on command, command on command, rule on rule, rule on rule, here a little, there a little!'"

[11] 4 Yes, with stammering lips and in a strange language he will speak to this people

[12] to whom he said: This is the resting place, give rest to the weary; Here is repose-- but they would not listen.

[13] So for them the word of the LORD shall be: "Command on command, command on command, Rule on rule, rule on rule, here a little, there a little!" So that when they walk, they stumble backward, broken, ensnared, and captured.

[14] Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, you arrogant, who rule this people in Jerusalem:

[15] 5 Because you say, "We have made a covenant with death, and with the nether world we have made a pact; When the overwhelming scourge passes, it will not reach us; For we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have found a hiding place,"--

[16] 6 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am laying a stone in Zion, a stone that has been tested, A precious cornerstone as a sure foundation; he who puts his faith in it shall not be shaken.

[17] I will make of right a measuring line, of justice a level.-- Hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters shall flood the hiding place.

[18] Your covenant with death shall be canceled and your pact with the nether world shall not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes, you shall be trampled down by it.

[19] Whenever it passes, it shall take you; morning after morning it shall pass, By day and by night; terror alone shall convey the message.

[20] For the bed shall be too short to stretch out in, and the cover too narrow to wrap in.

[21] 7 For the LORD shall rise up as on Mount Perazim, bestir himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, To carry out his work, his singular work, to perform his deed, his strange deed.

[22] Now, be arrogant no more lest your bonds be tightened, For I have heard from the Lord, the GOD of hosts, the destruction decreed for the whole earth.

[23] 8 Give ear and hear my voice, pay attention and listen to what I say:

[24] Is the plowman forever plowing, always loosening and harrowing his land for planting?

[25] 9 When he has leveled the surface, does he not scatter gith and sow cumin, Put in wheat and barley, with spelt as its border?

[26] He has learned this rule, instructed by his God.

[27] Gith is not threshed with a sledge, nor does a cartwheel roll over cumin. But gith is beaten out with a staff, and cumin crushed for food with a rod.

[28] No, he does not thresh it unendingly, nor does he crush it with his noisy cartwheels and horses.

[29] This too comes from the LORD of hosts; wonderful is his counsel and great his wisdom.

Isaiah Chapter 29

[1] 1 Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year, let the feasts come round.

[2] But I will bring distress upon Ariel, with mourning and grief. You shall be to me like Ariel,

[3] I will encamp like David against you; I will encircle you with outposts and set up siege works against you.

[4] 2 Prostrate you shall speak from the earth, and from the base dust your words shall come. Your voice shall be like a ghost's from the earth, and your words like chirping from the dust.

[5] The horde of your arrogant shall be like fine dust, the horde of the tyrants like flying chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

[6] you shall be visited by the LORD of hosts, With thunder, earthquake, and great noise, whirlwind, storm, and the flame of consuming fire.

[7] 3 Then like a dream, a vision in the night, Shall be the horde of all the nations who war against Ariel with all the earthworks of her besiegers.

[8] As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakens with an empty stomach, Or when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakens faint and dry, So shall the horde of all the nations be, who make war against Zion.

[9] 4 Be irresolute, stupefied; blind yourselves and stay blind! Be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from strong drink!

[10] For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes (the prophets) and covered your heads (the seers).

[11] For you the revelation of all this has become like the words of a sealed scroll. When it is handed to one who can read, with the request, "Read this," he replies, "I cannot; it is sealed."

[12] When it is handed to one who cannot read, with the request, "Read this," he replies, "I cannot read."

[13] The Lord said: Since this people draws near with words only and honors me with their lips alone, though their hearts are far from me, And their reverence for me has become routine observance of the precepts of men,

[14] Therefore I will again deal with this people in surprising and wondrous fashion: The wisdom of its wise men shall perish and the understanding of its prudent men be hid.

[15] Woe to those who would hide their plans too deep for the LORD! Who work in the dark, saying, "Who sees us, or who knows us?"

[16] Your perversity is as though the potter were taken to be the clay: As though what is made should say of its maker, "He made me not!" Or the vessel should say of the potter, "He does not understand."

[17] 5 But a very little while, and Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard be regarded as a forest!

[18] On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see.

[19] The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

[20] For the tyrant will be no more and the arrogant will have gone; All who are alert to do evil will be cut off,

[21] those whose mere word condemns a man, Who ensnare his defender at the gate, and leave the just man with an empty claim.

[22] 6 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of the house of Jacob, who redeemed Abraham: Now Jacob shall have nothing to be ashamed of, nor shall his face grow pale.

[23] When his children see the work of my hands in his midst, They shall keep my name holy; they shall reverence the Holy One of Jacob, and be in awe of the God of Israel.

[24] Those who err in spirit shall acquire understanding, and those who find fault shall receive instruction.

Isaiah Chapter 30

[1] Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, Who carry out plans that are not mine, who weave webs that are not inspired by me, adding sin upon sin.

[2] They go down to Egypt, but my counsel they do not seek. They find their strength in Pharaoh's protection and take refuge in Egypt's shadow;

[3] Pharaoh's protection shall be your shame, and refuge in Egypt's shadow your disgrace.

[4] When their princes are at Zoan and their messengers reach Hanes,

[5] All shall be ashamed of a people that gain them nothing, Neither help nor benefit, but only shame and reproach.

[6] 1 (Oracle on the Beasts of the Negeb) Through the distressed and troubled land of the lioness and roaring lion, of the viper and flying saraph, They carry their riches on the backs of asses and their treasures on the humps of camels To a people good for nothing,

[7] 2 to Egypt whose help is futile and vain. Therefore I call her "Rahab quelled."

[8] 3 Now come, write it on a tablet they can keep, inscribe it in a record; That it may be in future days an eternal witness:

[9] This is a rebellious people, deceitful children, Children who refuse to obey the law of the LORD.

[10] They say to the seers, "Have no visions"; to the prophets, "Do not descry for us what is right; speak flatteries to us, conjure up illusions.

[11] Out of the way! Out of our path! Let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel."

[12] Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel: Because you reject this word, And put your trust in what is crooked and devious, and depend on it,

[13] This guilt of yours shall be like a descending rift Bulging out in a high wall whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant.

[14] It crashes like a potter's jar smashed beyond rescue, And among its fragments cannot be found a sherd to scoop fire from the hearth or dip water from the cistern.

[15] For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies. But this you did not wish.

[16] "No," you said, "Upon horses we will flee." --Very well, flee! "Upon swift steeds we will ride." --Not so swift as your pursuers.

[17] A thousand shall tremble at the threat of one; if five threaten you, you shall flee, Until you are left like a flagstaff on the mountaintop, like a flag on the hill.

[18] Yet the LORD is waiting to show you favor, and he rises to pity you; For the LORD is a God of justice: blessed are all who wait for him!

[19] O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, no more will you weep; He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you.

[20] 4 The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,

[21] While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: "This is the way; walk in it," when you would turn to the right or to the left.

[22] And you shall consider unclean your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered images; You shall throw them away like filthy rags to which you say, "Begone!"

[23] He will give rain for the seed that you sow in the ground, And the wheat that the soil produces will be rich and abundant. On that day your cattle will graze in spacious meadows;

[24] The oxen and the asses that till the ground will eat silage tossed to them with shovel and pitchfork.

[25] Upon every high mountain and lofty hill there will be streams of running water. On the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall,

[26] The light of the moon will be like that of the sun and the light of the sun will be seven times greater (like the light of seven days). On the day the LORD binds up the wounds of his people, he will heal the bruises left by his blows.

[27] 5 See the name of the LORD coming from afar in burning wrath, with lowering clouds! His lips are filled with fury, his tongue is like a consuming fire;

[28] His breath, like a flood in a ravine that reaches suddenly to the neck, Will winnow the nations with a destructive winnowing, and with repeated winnowings will he battle against them (and a bridle on the jaws of the peoples to send them astray).

[29] You will sing as on a night when a feast is observed, And be merry of heart, as one marching along with a flute Toward the mountain of the LORD, toward the Rock of Israel, accompanied by the timbrels and lyres.

Isaiah Chapter 31

[1] Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who depend upon horses: Who put their trust in chariots because of their number, and in horsemen because of their combined power, But look not to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the LORD!

[2] Yet he too is wise and will bring disaster; he will not turn from what he has threatened to do. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against those who help evildoers.

[3] The Egyptians are men, not God, their horses are flesh, not spirit; When the LORD stretches forth his hand, the helper shall stumble, the one helped shall fall, and both of them shall perish together.

[4] Thus says the LORD to me: As a lion or a lion cub growling over its prey, With a band of shepherds assembled against it, Is neither frightened by their shouts nor disturbed by their noise, So shall the LORD of hosts come down to wage war upon the mountain and hill of Zion.

[5] Like hovering birds, so the LORD of hosts shall shield Jerusalem, To protect and deliver, to spare and rescue it.

[6] Return, O children of Israel, to him whom you have utterly deserted.

[7] On that day each one of you shall spurn his sinful idols of shlver and gold, which he made with his hands.

[8] Assyria shall fall by a sword not wielded by man,. no mortal sword shall devour him; He shall flee before the sword, and his young men shall be impressed as laborers.

Isaiah Chapter 32

[1] See, a king will reign justly and princes will rule rightly.

[2] Each of them will be a shelter from the wind, a retreat from the rain. They will be like streams of water in a dry country, like the shade of a great rock in a parched land.

[3] The eyes of those who see will not be closed;. the ears of those who hear will be attentive,

[4] The flighty will become wise and capable, and the stutterers will speak fluently and clearly.

Isaiah Chapter 33

[1] Woe, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you finish destroying, you will be destroyed; when wearied with betraying, you will be betrayed.

[2] O LORD, have pity on us, for you we wait. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble!

[3] At the roaring sound, peoples flee; when you rise in your majesty, nations are scattered.

[4] Men gather spoil as caterpillars are gathered up; they rush upon it like the onrush of locusts.

[5] The LORD is exalted, enthroned on high; he fills Zion with right and justice.

[6] That which makes her seasons lasting, the riches that save her, are wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is her treasure.

[7] 1 See, the men of Ariel cry out in the streets, the messengers of Shalem weep bitterly.

[8] The highways are desolate, travelers have quit the paths, Covenants are broken, their terms are spurned; yet no man gives it a thought.

[9] 2 The country languishes in mourning, Lebanon withers with shame; Sharon is like the steppe, Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.

[10] Now will I rise up, says the LORD, now will I be exalted, now be lifted up.

[11] You conceive dry grass, bring forth stubble; my spirit shall consume you like fire.

[12] The peoples shall be as in a limekiln, like brushwood cut down for burning in the fire.

[13] Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my might.

[14] On Zion sinners are in dread, trembling grips the impious: "Who of us can live with the consuming fire? who of us can live with the everlasting flames?"

[15] He who practices virtue and speaks honestly, who spurns what is gained by oppression, Brushing his hands free of contact with a bribe, stopping his ears lest he hear of bloodshed, closing his eyes lest he look on evil--

[16] He shall dwell on the heights, his stronghold shall be the rocky fastness, his food and drink in steady supply.

[17] 3 Your eyes will see a king in his splendor, they will look upon a vast land.

[18] Your mind will dwell on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?"

[19] To the people of alien tongue you will look no more, the people of obscure speech, stammering in a language not understood.

[20] Look to Zion, the city of our festivals; let your eyes see Jerusalem as a quiet abode, a tent not to be struck, Whose pegs will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes severed.

[21] 4 In a place of rivers and wide streams on which no boat is rowed, where no majestic ship passes,

Isaiah Chapter 34

[1] Come near, O nations, and hear; be attentive, O peoples! Let the earth and what fills it listen, the world and all it produces.

[2] The LORD is angry with all the nations and is wrathful against all their host; he has doomed them and given them over to slaughter.

[3] Their slain shall be cast out, their corpses shall send up a stench; The mountains shall run with their blood,

[4] and all the hills shall rot; The heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all their host shall wither away, As the leaf wilts on the vine, or as the fig withers on the tree.

[5] When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, lo, it shall come down in judgment upon Edom, a people I have doomed.

[6] The LORD has a sword filled with blood, greasy with fat, With the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of rams' kidneys; For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

[7] Wild oxen shall be struck down with fatlings, and bullocks with bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their earth greasy with fat.

[8] For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of requital by Zion's defender.

[9] Edom's streams shall be changed into pitch and her earth into sulphur, and her land shall become burning pitch;

[10] Night and day it shall not be quenched, its smoke shall rise forever. From generation to generation she shall lie waste, never again shall anyone pass through her.

[11] 1 But the desert owl and hoot owl shall possess her, the screech owl and raven shall dwell in her. The LORD will measure her with line and plummet to be an empty waste for satyrs to dwell in.

[12] Her nobles shall be no more, nor shall kings be proclaimed there; all her princes are gone.

[13] Her castles shall be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She shall become an abode for jackals and a haunt for ostriches.

[14] 2 Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the lilith repose, and find for herself a place to rest.

[15] There the hoot owl shall nest and lay eggs, hatch them out and gather them in her shadow; There shall the kites assemble, none shall be missing its mate.

[16] 3 Look in the book of the LORD and read: No one of these shall be lacking, For the mouth of the LORD has ordered it, and his spirit shall gather them there.

[17] It is he who casts the lot for them, and with his hands he marks off their shares of her; They shall possess her forever, and dwell there from generation to generation.

Isaiah Chapter 35

[1] 1 The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom.

[2] They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

[3] Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak,

[4] Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you.

[5] Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared;

[6] Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe.

[7] The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water; The abode where jackals lurk will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.

[8] A highway will be there, called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it.

[9] No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it. It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk.

[10] Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.

Isaiah Chapter 36

[1] 1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went on an expedition against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

[2] From Lachish the king of Assyria sent his commander with a great army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When he stopped at the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field,

[3] there came out to him the master of the palace, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, and Shebna the scribe, and the herald Joah, son of Asaph.

[4] The commander said to them, "Tell King Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, 'On what do you base this confidence of yours?

[5] Do you think mere words substitute for strategy and might in war? On whom, then, do you rely, that you rebel against me?

[6] This Egypt, the staff on which you rely, is in fact a broken reed which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it. That is what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is to all who rely on him.

[7] 2 But if you say to me: "We rely on the LORD, our God," is not he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, commanding Judah and Jerusalem to worship before this altar?'

[8] "Now, make a wager with my lord the king of Assyria: 'I will give you two thousand horses, if you can put riders on them.'

[9] How then can you repulse even one of the least servants of my lord? And yet you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen!

[10] 'Was it without the LORD'S will that I have come up to destroy this land? The LORD said to me, "Go up and destroy that land!"'"

[11] 3 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic; we understand it. Do not speak to us in Judean within earshot of the people who are on the wall."

[12] But the commander replied, "Was it to you and your master that my lord sent me to speak these words? Was it not rather to the men sitting on the wall, who, with you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?"

[13] Then the commander stepped forward and cried out in a loud voice in Judean, "Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

[14] Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, since he cannot deliver you.

[15] Let not Hezekiah induce you to rely on the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely save us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria."'

[16] Do not listen to Hezekiah, for the king of Assyria says: 'Make peace with me and surrender! Then each of you will eat of his own vine and of his own fig tree, and drink the water of his own cistern,

[17] until I come to take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and wine, of bread and vineyards.

[18] Do not let Hezekiah seduce you by saying, "The LORD will save us." Has any of the gods of the nations ever rescued his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

[19] Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Where are the gods of Samaria? Have they saved Samaria from my hand?

[20] Which of all the gods of these lands ever rescued his land from my hand? Will the LORD then save Jerusalem from my hand?'"

[21] But they remained silent and did not answer him one word, for the king had ordered them not to answer him.

[22] Then the master of the palace, Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and the herald Joah, son of Asaph, came to Hezekiah with their garments torn, and reported to him what the commander had said.

Isaiah Chapter 37

[1] When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his garments, wrapped himself in sackcloth, and went into the temple of the LORD.

[2] He sent Eliakim, the master of the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, wrapped in sackcloth, to tell the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz:

[3] 1 "Thus says Hezekiah: 'This is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace. Children are at the point of birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.

[4] Perhaps the LORD, your God, will hear the words of the commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God, and will rebuke him for the words which the LORD, your God, has heard. Send up a prayer for the remnant that is here.'"

[5] When the servants of King Hezekiah had come to Isaiah,

[6] he said to them: "Tell this to your master: 'Thus says the LORD: Do not be frightened by the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

[7] I am about to put in him such a spirit that, when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own land, and there I will cause him to fall by the sword.'"

[8] When the commander returned to Lachish and heard that the king of Assyria had left there, he found him besieging Libnah.

[9] 2 The king of Assyria heard a report that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had come out to fight against him. Again he sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message: "Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah:

[10] 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.

[11] You yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: They doomed them! Will you, then, be saved?

[12] Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed save them? Gozen, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?

[13] Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, or a king of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena or Ivvah?'"

[14] Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then he went up to the temple of the LORD, and spreading it out before him,

[15] he prayed to the LORD:

[16] 3 "O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.

[17] Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, O LORD and see! Hear all the words of the letter that Sennacherib sent to taunt the living God.

[18] Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,

[19] and cast their gods into the fire; they destroyed them because they were not gods but the work of human hands, wood and stone.

[20] Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, alone are God."

[21] Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: In answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria,

[22] this is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him: She despises you, laughs you to scorn, the virgin daughter Zion; Behind you she wags her head, daughter Jerusalem.

[23] Whom have you insulted and blasphemed, against whom have you raised your voice And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel!

[24] Through your servants you have insulted the Lord: You said, "With my many chariots I climbed the mountain heights, the recesses of Lebanon; I cut down its lofty cedars, its choice cypresses; I reached the remotest heights, its forest park.

[25] I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands; I dried up with the soles of my feet all the rivers of Egypt.

[26] Have you not heard? Long ago I prepared it, From days of old I planned it, now I have brought it to pass: That you should reduce fortified cities into heaps of ruins,

[27] While their inhabitants, shorn of power, are dismayed and ashamed, Becoming like the plants of the field, like the green growth, like the scorched grass on the housetops.

[28] I am aware whether you stand or sit; I know whether you come or go, and also your rage against me.

[29] Because of your rage against me and your fury which has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and make you return the way you came.

[30] 4 This shall be a sign for you: this year you shall eat the aftergrowth, next year, what grows of itself; But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit!

[31] The remaining survivors of the house of Judah shall again strike root below and bear fruit above.

[32] For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant, and from Mount Zion, survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

[33] Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up siegeworks against it.

[34] He shall return by the same way he came, without entering the city, says the LORD.

[35] I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.

[36] 5 The angel of the LORD went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. Early the next morning, there they were, all the corpses of the dead.

[37] So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp and went back home to Nineveh.

[38] 6 When he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him with the sword and fled into the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon reigned in his stead.

Isaiah Chapter 38

[1] 1 2 In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: "Thus says the LORD: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover."

[2] Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:

[3] "O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!" And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

[4] Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:

[5] 3 "Go, tell Hezekiah: Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the LORD'S temple; I will add fifteen years to your life.

[6] I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city."

[7] (Isaiah answered:) "This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised:

[8] 4 See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced." So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.

[9] The song of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

[10] 5 Once I said, "In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years."

[11] 6 I said, "I shall see the LORD no more in the land of the living. No longer shall I behold my fellow men among those who dwell in the world."

[12] 7 My dwelling, like a shepherd's tent, is struck down and borne away from me; You have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs the last thread. Day and night you give me over to torment;

[13] I cry out until the dawn. Like a lion he breaks all my bones; (day and night you give me over to torment).

[14] Like a swallow I utter shrill cries; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak, gazing heavenward: O Lord, I am in straits; be my surety!

[15] 8 What am I to say or tell him? He has done it! I shall go on through all my years despite the bitterness of my soul.

[16] 9 Those live whom the LORD protects; yours. . . the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life;

[17] 10 thus is my bitterness transformed into peace. You have preserved my life from the pit of destruction, When you cast behind your back all my sins.

[18] 11 For it is not the nether world that gives you thanks, nor death that praises you; Neither do those who go down into the pit await your kindness.

[19] The living, the living give you thanks, as I do today. Fathers declare to their sons, O God, your faithfulness.

[20] The LORD is our savior; we shall sing to stringed instruments In the house of the LORD all the days of our life.

Isaiah Chapter 39

[1] 1 At that time when Merodach-baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, heard that Hezekiah had recovered from his sickness, he sent letters and gifts to him.

[2] Hezekiah was pleased at this, and therefore showed the messengers his treasury, the silver and gold, the spices and fine oil, his whole armory, and everything that was in his storerooms; there was nothing in his house or in his whole realm that he did not show them.

[3] Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men say to you? Where did they come from?" Hezekiah answered, "They came to me from a distant land, from Babylon."

[4] "What did they see in your house?" he asked. Hezekiah replied, "They saw everything in my house; there is nothing in my storerooms that I did not show them."

[5] Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

[6] 2 Behold, the days shall come when all that is in your house, and everything that your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried off to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD.

[7] Some of your own bodily descendants shall be taken and made servants in the palace of the king of Babylon."

[8] 3 Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is favorable." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my lifetime."

Isaiah Chapter 40

[1] Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.

[2] 1 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.

[3] 2 A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!

[4] Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.

[5] Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

[6] A voice says, "Cry out!" I answer, "What shall I cry out?" "All mankind is grass, and all their glory like the flower of the field.

[7] The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it. (So then, the people is the grass.)

[8] Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever."

[9] Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!

[10] Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.

[11] Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.

[12] 3 Who has cupped in his hand the waters of the sea, and marked off the heavens with a span? Who has held in a measure the dust of the earth, weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

[13] Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or has instructed him as his counselor?

[14] Whom did he consult to gain knowledge? Who taught him the path of judgment, or showed him the way of understanding?

[15] Behold, the nations count as a drop in the bucket, as dust on the scales; the coastlands weigh no more than powder.

[16] 4 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor its animals be enough for holocausts.

[17] Before him all the nations are as nought, as nothing and void he accounts them.

[18] To whom can you liken God? With what equal can you confront him?

[19] An idol, cast by a craftsman, which the smith plates with gold and fits with silver chains?

[20] Mulberry wood, the choice portion which a skilled craftsman picks out for himself, Choosing timber that will not rot, to set up an idol that will not be unsteady?

[21] Do you not know? Have you not heard? Was it not foretold you from the beginning? Have you not understood? Since the earth was founded

[22] He sits enthroned above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; He stretches out the heavens like a veil, spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

[23] He brings princes to nought and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

[24] Scarcely are they planted or sown, scarcely is their stem rooted in the earth, When he breathes upon them and they wither, and the stormwind carries them away like straw.

[25] To whom can you liken me as an equal? says the Holy One.

[26] 6 Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these: He leads out their army and numbers them, calling them all by name. By his great might and the strength of his power not one of them is missing!

[27] 7 Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?

[28] Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.

[29] He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound.

[30] Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall,

[31] They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.

Isaiah Chapter 41

[1] 1 Keep silence before me, O coastlands; you peoples, wait for my words! Let them draw near and speak; let us come together for judgment.

[2] 2 Who has stirred up from the East the champion of justice, and summoned him to be his attendant? To him he delivers the nations and subdues the kings; With his sword he reduces them to dust, with his bow, to driven straw.

[3] He pursues them, passing on without loss, by a path his feet do not even tread.

[4] Who has performed these deeds? He who has called forth the generations since the beginning. I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last I will also be.

[5] The coastlands see, and fear; the ends of the earth tremble: these things are near, they come to pass.

Isaiah Chapter 42

[1] 1 Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations,

[2] Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.

[3] 2 A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,

[4] 3 Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

[5] Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it:

[6] I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations,

[7] To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

[8] I am the LORD, this is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.

[9] See, the earlier things have come to pass, new ones I now foretell; Before they spring into being, I announce them to you.

[10] Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth: Let the sea and what fills it resound, the coastlands, and those who dwell in them.

[11] 4 Let the steppe and its cities cry out, the villages where Kedar dwells; Let the inhabitants of Sela exult, and shout from the top of the mountains.

[12] Let them give glory to the LORD, and utter his praise in the coastlands.

[13] The LORD goes forth like a hero, like a warrior he stirs up his ardor; He shouts out his battle cry, against his enemies he shows his might:

[14] I have looked away, and kept silence, I have said nothing, holding myself in; But now, I cry out as a woman in labor, gasping and panting.

[15] I will lay waste mountains and hills, all their herbage I will dry up; I will turn the rivers into marshes, and the marshes I will dry up.

[16] I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them, and I will not forsake them.

[17] They shall be turned back in utter shame who trust in idols; Who say to molten images, "You are our gods."

[18] 5 You who are deaf, listen, you who are blind, look and see!

[19] Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like the messenger I send?

[20] You see many things without taking note; your ears are open, but without hearing.

[21] Though it pleased the LORD in his justice to make his law great and glorious,

[22] 6 This is a people despoiled and plundered, all of them trapped in holes, hidden away in prisons. They are taken as booty, with no one to rescue them, as spoil, with no one to demand their return.

[23] Who of you gives ear to this? Who listens and pays heed for the time to come?

[24] 7 Who was it that gave Jacob to be plundered, Israel to the despoilers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? In his ways they refused to walk, his law they disobeyed.

[25] So he poured out wrath upon them, his anger, and the fury of battle; It blazed round about them, yet they did not realize, it burned them, but they took it not to heart.

Isaiah Chapter 43

[1] But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine.

[2] When you pass through the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned; the flames shall not consume you.

[3] 1 For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in return for you.

[4] Because you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you, I give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life.

[5] Fear not, for I am with you; from the east I will bring back your descendants, from the west I will gather you.

[6] I will say to the north: Give them up! and to the south: Hold not back! Bring back my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth:

[7] Everyone who is named as mine, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

[8] Lead out the people who are blind though they have eyes, who are deaf though they have ears.

[9] 2 Let all the nations gather together, let the peoples assemble! Who among them could have revealed this, or foretold to us the earlier things? Let them produce witnesses to prove themselves right, that one may hear and say, "It is true!"

[10] You are my witnesses, says the LORD, my servants whom I have chosen To know and believe in me and understand that it is I. Before me no god was formed, and after me there shall be none.

[11] It is I, I the LORD; there is no savior but me.

[12] It is I who foretold, I who saved; I made it known, not any strange god among you; You are my witnesses, says the LORD. I am God,

[13] yes, from eternity I am He; There is none who can deliver from my hand: who can countermand what I do?

[14] 3 Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sakes I send to Babylon; I will lower all the bars, and the Chaldeans shall cry out in lamentation.

[15] I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.

[16] Thus says the LORD, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,

[17] Who leads out chariots and horsemen, a powerful army, Till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick.

[18] 4 Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not;

[19] See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.

[20] Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, For I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink,

[21] The people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.

[22] 5 Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob, for you grew weary of me, O Israel.

[23] You did not bring me sheep for your holocausts, nor honor me with your sacrifices. I did not exact from you the service of offerings, nor weary you for frankincense.

[24] 6 You did not buy me sweet cane for money, nor fill me with the fat of your sacrifices; Instead, you burdened me with your sins, and wearied me with your crimes.

[25] It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more.

[26] Would you have me remember, have us come to trial? Speak up, prove your innocence!

[27] 7 Your first father sinned; your spokesmen rebelled against me

[28] Till I repudiated the holy gates, put Jacob under the ban, and exposed Israel to scorn.

Isaiah Chapter 44

[1] Hear then, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen.

[2] 1 Thus says the LORD who made you, your help, who formed you from the womb: Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, the darling whom I have chosen.

[3] I will pour out water upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land; I will pour out my spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing upon your descendants.

[4] They shall spring up amid the verdure like poplars beside the flowing waters.

[5] 2 One shall say, "I am the LORD'S," another shall be named after Jacob, And this one shall write on his hand, "The LORD'S," and Israel shall be his surname.

[6] Thus says the LORD, Israel's King and redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; there is no God but me.

[7] Who is like me? Let him stand up and speak, make it evident, and confront me with it. Who of old announced future events? Let them foretell to us the things to come.

[8] 3 Fear not, be not troubled: did I not announce and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there a God or any Rock besides me?

[9] 4 Idol makers all amount to nothing, and their precious works are of no avail, as they themselves give witness. To their shame, they neither see nor know anything; and they are more deaf than men are.

[10] Indeed, all the associates of anyone who forms a god, or casts an idol to no purpose, will be put to shame;

[11] they will all assemble and stand forth, to be reduced to fear and shame.

[12] The smith fashions an iron image, works it over the coals, shapes it with hammers, and forges it with his strong arm. He is hungry and weak, drinks no water and becomes exhausted.

[13] The carpenter stretches a line and marks with a stylus the outline of an idol. He shapes it with a plane and measures it off with a compass, making it like a man in appearance and dignity, to occupy a shrine.

[14] He cuts down cedars, takes a holm or an oak, and lays hold of other trees of the forest, which the Lord had planted and the rain made grow

[15] to serve man for fuel. With a part of their wood he warms himself, or makes a fire for baking bread; but with another part he makes a god which he adores, an idol which he worships.

[16] Half of it he burns in the fire, and on its embers he roasts his meat; he eats what he has roasted until he is full, and then warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm, I feel the fire."

[17] Of what remains he makes a god, his idol, and prostrate before it in worship, he implores it, "Rescue me, for you are my god."

[18] The idols have neither knowledge nor reason; their eyes are coated so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand.

[19] Yet he does not reflect, nor have the intelligence and sense to say, "Half of the wood I burned in the fire, and on its embers I baked bread and roasted meat which I ate. Shall I then make an abomination out of the rest, or worship a block of wood?"

[20] 5 He is chasing ashes-a thing that cannot save itself when the flame consumes it; yet he does not say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?"

[21] Remember this, O Jacob, you, O Israel, who are my servant! I formed you to be a servant to me; O Israel, by me you shall never be forgotten:

[22] I have brushed away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like a mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

[23] Raise a glad cry, you heavens: the LORD has done this; shout, you depths of the earth. Break forth, you mountains, into song, you forest, with all your trees. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and shows his glory through Israel.

[24] Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, who formed you from the womb: I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens; when I spread out the earth, who was with me?

[25] It is I who bring to nought the omens of liars, who make fools of diviners; I turn wise men back and make their knowledge foolish.

[26] It is I who confirm the words of my servants, I carry out the plan announced by my messengers; I say to Jerusalem: Be inhabited; to the cities of Judah: Be rebuilt; I will raise up their ruins.

[27] It is I who said to the deep: Be dry; I will dry up your wellsprings.

[28] 6 I say of Cyrus: My shepherd, who fulfills my every wish; He shall say of Jerusalem, "Let her be rebuilt," and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid."

Isaiah Chapter 45

[1] 1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I grasp, Subduing nations before him, and making kings run in his service, Opening doors before him and leaving the gates unbarred:

[2] 2 I will go before you and level the mountains; Bronze doors I will shatter, and iron bars I will snap.

[3] I will give you treasures out of the darkness, and riches that have been hidden away, That you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

[4] For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel my chosen one, I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not.

[5] I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not,

[6] 3 so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun men may know that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, there is no other;

[7] 4 I form the light, and create the darkness, I make well-being and create woe; I, the LORD, do all these things.

[8] 5 Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this.

[9] 6 Woe to him who contends with his Maker; a potsherd among potsherds of the earth! Dare the clay say to its modeler, "What are you doing?" or, "What you are making has no hands"?

[10] Woe to him who asks a father, "What are you begetting?" or a woman, "What are you giving birth to?"

[11] Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, his maker: You question me about my children, or prescribe the work of my hands for me!

[12] It was I who made the earth and created mankind upon it; It was my hands that stretched out the heavens; I gave the order to all their host.

[13] 7 It was I who stirred up one for the triumph of justice; all his ways I make level. He shall rebuild my city and let my exiles go free Without price or ransom, says the LORD of hosts.

[14] 8 Thus says the LORD: The earnings of Egypt, the gain of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, tall of stature, Shall come over to you and belong to you; they shall follow you, coming in chains. Before you they shall fall prostrate, saying in prayer: "With you only is God, and nowhere else; the gods are nought.

[15] 9 Truly with you God is hidden, the God of Israel, the savior!

[16] Those are put to shame and disgrace who vent their anger against him; Those go in disgrace who carve images.

[17] Israel, you are saved by the LORD, saved forever! You shall never be put to shame or disgrace in future ages."

[18] 10 For thus says the LORD, The creator of the heavens, who is God, The designer and maker of the earth who established it, Not creating it to be a waste, but designing it to be lived in: I am the LORD, and there is no other.

[19] I have not spoken from hiding nor from some dark place of the earth, And I have not said to the descendants of Jacob, "Look for me in an empty waste." I, the LORD, promise justice, I foretell what is right.

[20] 11 Come and assemble, gather together, you fugitives from among the gentiles! They are without knowledge who bear wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save.

[21] Come here and declare in counsel together: Who announced this from the beginning and foretold it from of old? Was it not I, the LORD, besides whom there is no other God? There is no just and saving God but me.

[22] Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other!

[23] By myself I swear, uttering my just decree and my unalterable word: To me every knee shall bend; by me every tongue shall swear,

[24] Saying, "Only in the LORD are just deeds and power. Before him in shame shall come all who vent their anger against him.

[25] In the LORD shall be the vindication and the glory of all the descendants of Israel."

Isaiah Chapter 46

[1] 1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are upon beasts and cattle; They must be borne up on shoulders, carried as burdens by the weary.

[2] They stoop and bow down together; unable to save those who bear them, they too go into captivity.

[3] Hear me, O house of Jacob, all who remain of the house of Israel, My burden since your birth, whom I have carried from your infancy.

[4] Even to your old age I am the same, even when your hair is gray I will bear you; It is I who have done this, I who will continue, and I who will carry you to safety.

[5] Whom would you compare me with, as an equal, or match me against, as though we were alike?

[6] There are those who pour out gold from a purse and weigh out silver on the scales; Then they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god before which they fall down in worship.

[7] They lift it to their shoulders to carry; when they set it in place again, it stays, and does not move from the spot. Although they cry out to it, it cannot answer; it delivers no one from distress.

[8] Remember this and be firm, bear it well in mind, you rebels; remember the former things, those long ago:

[9] I am God, there is no other; I am God, there is none like me.

[10] At the beginning I foretell the outcome; in advance, things not yet done. I say that my plan shall stand, I accomplish my every purpose.

[11] 2 I call from the east a bird of prey, from a distant land, one to carry out my plan. Yes, I have spoken, I will accomplish it; I have planned it, and I will do it.

[12] Listen to me, you fainthearted, you who seem far from the victory of justice:

[13] I am bringing on my justice, it is not far off, my salvation shall not tarry; I will put salvation within Zion, and give to Israel my glory.

Isaiah Chapter 47

[1] 1 Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter Babylon; Sit on the ground, dethroned, O daughter of the Chaldeans. No longer shall you be called dainty and delicate.

[2] Take the millstone and grind flour, remove your veil; Strip off your train, bare your legs, pass through the streams.

[3] Your nakedness shall be uncovered and your shame be seen; I will take vengeance, I will yield to no entreaty, says our redeemer,

[4] Whose name is the LORD of hosts, the Holy One of Israel.

[5] Go into darkness and sit in silence, O daughter of the Chaldeans, No longer shall you be called sovereign mistress of kingdoms.

[6] Angry at my people, I profaned my inheritance, And I gave them into your hand; but you showed them no mercy, And upon old men you laid a very heavy yoke.

[7] You said, "I shall remain always, a sovereign mistress forever!" But you did not lay these things to heart, you disregarded their outcome.

[8] Now hear this, voluptuous one, enthroned securely, Saying to yourself, "I, and no one else! I shall never be a widow, or suffer the loss of my children"--

[9] 2 Both these things shall come to you suddenly, in a single day: Complete bereavement and widowhood shall come upon you For your many sorceries and the great number of your spells;

[10] Because you felt secure in your wickedness, and said, "No one sees me." Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, And you said to yourself, "I, and no one else!"

[11] But upon you shall come evil you will not know how to predict; Disaster shall befall you which you cannot allay. Suddenly there shall come upon you ruin which you will not expect.

[12] Keep up, now, your spells and your many sorceries. Perhaps you can make them avail, perhaps you can strike terror!

[13] You wearied yourself with many consultations, at which you toiled from your youth; Let the astrologers stand forth to save you, the stargazers who forecast at each new moon what would happen to you.

[14] Lo, they are like stubble, fire consumes them; They cannot save themselves from the spreading flames. This is no warming ember, no fire to sit before.

[15] Thus do your wizards serve you with whom you have toiled from your youth; Each wanders his own way, with none to save you.

Isaiah Chapter 48

[1] Hear this, O house of Jacob called by the name Israel, sprung from the stock of Judah, You who swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel without sincerity or justice,

[2] Though you are named after the holy city and rely on the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

[3] Things of the past I foretold long ago, they went forth from my mouth, I let you hear of them; then suddenly I took action and they came to be.

[4] Because I know that you are stubborn and that your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead bronze,

[5] I foretold them to you of old; before they took place I let you hear of them, That you might not say, "My idol did them, my statue, my molten image commanded them."

[6] Now that you have heard, look at all this; must you not admit it? From now on I announce new things to you, hidden events of which you knew not.

[7] Now, not long ago, they are brought into being, and beforetime you did not hear of them, so that you cannot claim to have known them;

[8] You neither heard nor knew, they did not reach your ears beforehand. Yes, I know you are utterly treacherous, a rebel you were called from birth.

[9] For the sake of my name I restrain my anger, for the sake of my renown I hold it back from you, lest I should destroy you.

[10] See, I have refined you like silver, tested you in the furnace of affliction.

[11] For my sake, for my own sake, I do this; why should I suffer profanation? My glory I will not give to another.

[12] Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I named! I, it is I who am the first, and also the last am I.

[13] Yes, my hand laid the foundations of the earth; my right hand spread out the heavens. When I call them, they stand forth at once.

[14] 1 All of you assemble and listen: Who among you foretold these things? The LORD'S friend shall do his will against Babylon and the progeny of Chaldea.

[15] I myself have spoken, I have called him, I have brought him, and his way succeeds!

[16] 2 Come near to me and hear this! Not from the beginning did I speak it in secret; At the time it comes to pass, I am present: "Now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his spirit."

[17] Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.

[18] If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea;

[19] Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains, Their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence.

[20] Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea! With shouts of joy proclaim this, make it known; Publish it to the ends of the earth, and say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.

[21] They did not thirst when he led them through dry lands; Water from the rock he set flowing for them; he cleft the rock, and waters welled forth."

[22] (There is no peace for the wicked, says the LORD.)

Isaiah Chapter 49

[1] 1 2 Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The LORD called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name.

[2] 3 He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me.

[3] 4 You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory.

[4] Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, Yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God.

[5] For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, That Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength!

[6] 5 It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

[7] Thus says the LORD, the redeemer and the Holy One of Israel, To the one despised, whom the nations abhor, the slave of rulers: When kings see you, they shall stand up, and princes shall prostrate themselves Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.

[8] Thus says the LORD: In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you, To restore the land and allot the desolate heritages,

[9] Saying to the prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness: Show yourselves! Along the ways they shall find pasture, on every bare height shall their pastures be.

[10] They shall not hunger or thirst, nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them; For he who pities them leads them and guides them beside springs of water.

[11] I will cut a road through all my mountains, and make my highways level.

[12] 6 See, some shall come from afar, others from the north and the west, and some from the land of Syene.

[13] Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, break forth into song, you mountains. For the LORD comforts his people and shows mercy to his afflicted.

[14] But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me."

[15] Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.

[16] 7 See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name; your walls are ever before me.

[17] Your rebuilders make haste, as those who tore you down and laid you waste go forth from you;

[18] Look about and see, they are all gathering and coming to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall be arrayed with them all as with adornments, like a bride you shall fasten them on you.

[19] Though you were waste and desolate, a land of ruins, Now you shall be too small for your inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up will be far away.

[20] The children whom you had lost shall yet say to you, "This place is too small for me, make room for me to live in."

[21] You shall ask yourself: "Who has borne me these? I was bereft and barren (exiled and repudiated); who has reared them? I was left all alone; where then do these come from?"

[22] Thus says the Lord GOD: See, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

[23] Kings shall be your foster fathers, their princesses your nurses; Bowing to the ground, they shall worship you and lick the dust at your feet. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, and those who hope in me shall never be disappointed.

[24] Thus says the LORD: Can booty be taken from a warrior? or captives be rescued from a tyrant?

[25] Yes, captives can be taken from a warrior, and booty be rescued from a tyrant; Those who oppose you I will oppose, and your sons I will save.

[26] I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with the juice of the grape. All mankind shall know that I, the LORD, am your savior, your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Isaiah Chapter 50

[1] 1 Thus says the LORD: Where is the bill of divorce with which I dismissed your mother? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? It was for your sins that you were sold, for your crimes that your mother was dismissed.

[2] 2 Why was no one there when I came? Why did no one answer when I called? Is my hand too short to ransom? Have I not the strength to deliver? Lo, with my rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; Their fish rot for lack of water, and die of thirst.

[3] I clothe the heavens in mourning, and make sackcloth their vesture.

[4] 3 The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear;

[5] 4 And I have not rebelled, have not turned back.

[6] 5 I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.

[7] The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

[8] He is near who upholds my right; if anyone wishes to oppose me, let us appear together. Who disputes my right? Let him confront me.

[9] See, the Lord GOD is my help; who will prove me wrong? Lo, they will all wear out like cloth, the moth will eat them up.

[10] 6 Who among you fears the LORD, heeds his servant's voice, And walks in darkness without any light, Trusting in the name of the LORD and relying on his God?

[11] All of you kindle flames and carry about you fiery darts; Walk by the light of your own fire and by the flares you have burnt! This is your fate from my hand: you shall lie down in a place of pain.

Isaiah Chapter 51

[1] 1 Listen to me, you who pursue justice, who seek the LORD; Look to the rock from which you were hewn, to the pit from which you were quarried;

[2] Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth; When he was but one I called him, I blessed him and made him many.

[3] Yes, the LORD shall comfort Zion and have pity on all her ruins; Her deserts he shall make like Eden, her wasteland like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of song.

[4] 2 Be attentive to me, my people; my folk, give ear to me. For law shall go forth from my presence, and my judgment, as the light of the peoples.

[5] I will make my justice come speedily; my salvation shall go forth (and my arm shall judge the nations); In me shall the coastlands hope, and my arm they shall await.

[6] 3 Raise your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; Though the heavens grow thin like smoke, the earth wears out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies, My salvation shall remain forever and my justice shall never be dismayed.

[7] Hear me, you who know justice, you people who have my teaching at heart: Fear not the reproach of men, be not dismayed at their revilings.

[8] They shall be like a garment eaten by moths, like wool consumed by grubs; But my justice shall remain forever and my salvation, for all generations.

[9] 4 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD! Awake as in the days of old, in ages long ago! Was it not you who crushed Rahab, you who pierced the dragon?

[10] 5 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, Who made the depths of the sea into a way for the redeemed to pass over?

[11] Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.

[12] I, it is I who comfort you. Can you then fear mortal man, who is human only, to be looked upon as grass,

[13] And forget the LORD, your maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth? All the day you are in constant dread of the fury of the oppressor; But when he sets himself to destroy, what is there of the oppressor's fury?

[14] The oppressed shall soon be released; they shall not die and go down into the pit, nor shall they want for bread.

[15] For I am the LORD, your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the LORD of hosts by name.

[16] I have put my words into your mouth and shielded you in the shadow of my hand, I, who stretched out the heavens, who laid the foundations of the earth, who say to Zion: You are my people.

[17] Awake, awake! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who drank at the LORD'S hand the cup of his wrath; Who drained to the dregs the bowl of staggering!

[18] She has no one to guide her of all the sons she bore; She has no one to grasp her by the hand, of all the sons she reared!--

[19] Your misfortunes are double; who is there to condole with you? Desolation and destruction, famine and sword! Who is there to comfort you?

[20] Your sons lie helpless at every street corner like antelopes in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.

[21] But now, hear this, O afflicted one, drunk, but not with wine,

[22] Thus says the LORD, your Master, your God, who defends his people: See, I am taking from your hand the cup of staggering; The bowl of my wrath you shall no longer drink.

[23] I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, those who ordered you to bow down, that they might walk over you, While you offered your back like the ground, like the street for them to walk on.

Isaiah Chapter 52

[1] Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your glorious garments, O Jerusalem, holy city. No longer shall the uncircumcised or the unclean enter you.

[2] Shake off the dust, ascend to the throne, Jerusalem; Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter Zion!

[3] For thus says the LORD: You were sold for nothing, and without money you shall be redeemed.

[4] Thus says the Lord GOD: To Egypt in the beginning my people went down, to sojourn there; Assyria, too, oppressed them for nought.

[5] But now, what am I to do here? says the LORD. My people have been taken away without redress; their rulers make a boast of it, says the LORD; all the day my name is constantly reviled.

[6] Therefore on that day my people shall know my renown, that it is I who have foretold it. Here I am!

[7] 1 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, Announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, "Your God is King!"

[8] Hark! Your watchmen raise a cry, together they shout for joy, For they see directly, before their eyes, the LORD restoring Zion.

[9] Break out together in song, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the LORD comforts his people, he redeems Jerusalem.

[10] The LORD has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; All the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God.

[11] 2 Depart, depart, come forth from there, touch nothing unclean! Out from there! Purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

[12] Yet not in fearful haste will you come out, nor leave in headlong flight, For the LORD comes before you, and your rear guard is the God of Israel.

[13] 3 See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.

[14] Even as many were amazed at him-- so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance beyond that of mortals--

[15] So shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it.

Isaiah Chapter 53

[1] Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

[2] 1 He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him.

[3] 2 He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

[4] 3 Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted.

[5] But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.

[6] We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all.

[7] Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth.

[8] Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people,

[9] A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood.

[10] 4 (But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.

[11] Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.

[12] Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses.

Isaiah Chapter 54

[1] 1 Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear, break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor, For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband, says the LORD.

[2] Enlarge the space for your tent, spread out your tent cloths unsparingly; lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.

[3] For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left; Your descendants shall dispossess the nations and shall people the desolate cities.

[4] Fear not, you shall not be put to shame; you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced. The shame of your youth you shall forget, the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember.

[5] 2 For he who has become your husband is your Maker; his name is the LORD of hosts; Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth.

[6] The LORD calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, A wife married in youth and then cast off, says your God.

[7] For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back.

[8] In an outburst of wrath, for a moment I hid my face from you; But with enduring love I take pity on you, says the LORD, your redeemer.

[9] This is for me like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah should never again deluge the earth; So I have sworn not to be angry with you, or to rebuke you.

[10] Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

[11] 3 O afflicted one, storm-battered and unconsoled, I lay your pavements in carnelians, and your foundations in sapphires;

[12] I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of carbuncles, and all your walls of precious stones.

[13] All your sons shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.

[14] In justice shall you be established, far from the fear of oppression, where destruction cannot come near you.

[15] Should there be any attack, it shall not be of my making; whoever attacks you shall fall before you.

[16] Lo, I have created the craftsman who blows on the burning coals and forges weapons as his work; It is I also who have created the destroyer to work havoc.

[17] No weapon fashioned against you shall prevail; every tongue you shall prove false that launches an accusation against you. This is the lot of the servants of the LORD, their vindication from me, says the LORD.

Isaiah Chapter 55

[1] 1 All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!

[2] Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare.

[3] Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.

[4] As I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of nations,

[5] So shall you summon a nation you knew not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, Because of the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.

[6] Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near.

[7] Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; Let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.

[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

[9] As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

[10] For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats,

[11] So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.

[12] Yes, in joy you shall depart, in peace you shall be brought back; Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you, and all the trees of the countryside shall clap their hands.

[13] 2 In place of the thornbush, the cypress shall grow, instead of nettles, the myrtle. This shall be to the LORD'S renown, an everlasting imperishable sign.

Isaiah Chapter 56

[1] 1 Thus says the LORD: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed.

[2] Happy is the man who does this, the son of man who holds to it; Who keeps the sabbath free from profanation, and his hand from any evildoing.

[3] 2 Let not the foreigner say, when he would join himself to the LORD, "The LORD will surely exclude me from his people"; Nor let the eunuch say, "See, I am a dry tree."

[4] For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who observe my sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant,

[5] 3 I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name Better than sons and daughters; an eternal, imperishable name will I give them.

[6] And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, Loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants-- All who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant,

[7] Them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; Their holocausts and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

[8] Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: Others will I gather to him besides those already gathered.

[9] 4 5 All you wild beasts of the field, come and eat, all you beasts in the forest!

[10] My watchmen are blind, all of them unaware; They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; Dreaming as they lie there, loving their sleep.

[11] They are relentless dogs, they know not when they have enough. These are the shepherds who know no discretion; Each of them goes his own way, every one of them to his own gain:

[12] "Come, I will fetch some wine; let us carouse with strong drink, And tomorrow will be like today, or even greater."

Isaiah Chapter 57

[1] The just man perishes, but no one takes it to heart; Devout men are swept away, with no one giving it a thought. Though he is taken away from the presence of evil, the just man

[2] enters into peace; There is rest on his couch for the sincere, straightforward man.

[3] But you, draw near, you sons of a sorceress, adulterous, wanton race!

[4] Of whom do you make sport, at whom do you open wide your mouth, and put out your tongue? Are you not rebellious children, a worthless race;

[5] You who are in heat among the terebinths, under every green tree; You who immolate children in the wadies, behind the crevices in the cliffs?

[6] 1 Among the smooth stones of the wadi is your portion, these are your lot; To these you poured out libations, and brought offerings. Should I decide not to punish these things?

[7] Upon a high and lofty mountain you made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifice.

[8] Behind the door and the doorpost you placed your indecent symbol. Deserting me, you spread out your high, wide bed; And of those whose embraces you love you carved the symbol and gazed upon it

[9] 2 While you approached the king with scented oil, and multiplied your perfumes; While you sent your ambassadors far away, down even to the nether world.

[10] Though worn out by your many misdeeds, you never said, "It is hopeless"; New strength you found, and so you did not weaken.

[11] Of whom were you afraid? Whom did you fear, that you became false And did not remember me or give me any thought? Was I to remain silent and unseeing, so that you would not have me to fear?

[12] 3 I will expose your justice and your works;

[13] 4 They shall not help you when you cry out, nor save you in your distress. All these the wind shall carry off, the breeze shall bear away; But he who takes refuge in me shall inherit the land, and possess my holy mountain.

[14] Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove the stumbling blocks from my people's path.

[15] For thus says he who is high and exalted, living eternally, whose name is the Holy One: On high I dwell, and in holiness, and with the crushed and dejected in spirit, To revive the spirits of the dejected, to revive the hearts of the crushed.

[16] I will not accuse forever, nor always be angry; For their spirits would faint before me, the souls that I have made.

[17] Because of their wicked avarice I was angry, and struck them, hiding myself in wrath, as they went their own rebellious way.

[18] I saw their ways, but I will heal them and lead them; I will give full comfort to them and to those who mourn for them,

[19] I, the Creator, who gave them life. Peace, peace to the far and the near, says the LORD; and I will heal them.

[20] But the wicked are like the tossing sea which cannot be calmed, And its waters cast up mud and filth.

[21] No peace for the wicked! says my God.

Isaiah Chapter 58

[1] 1 Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.

[2] 2 They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.

[3] "Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?" Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.

[4] Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!

[5] Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

[6] This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke;

[7] Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.

[8] Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

[9] Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;

[10] If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday;

[11] Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.

[12] The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; "Repairer of the breach," they shall call you, "Restorer of ruined homesteads."

[13] If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD'S holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice--

[14] Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah Chapter 59

[1] Lo, the hand of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

[2] Rather, it is your crimes that separate you from your God, It is your sins that make him hide his face so that he will not hear you.

[3] For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt; Your lips speak falsehood, and your tongue utters deceit.

[4] 1 No one brings suit justly, no one pleads truthfully; They trust in emptiness and tell lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth malice.

[5] 2 They hatch adders' eggs, and weave spiders' webs: Whoever eats their eggs will die, if one of them is pressed, it will hatch as a viper;

[6] Their webs cannot serve as clothing, nor can they cover themselves with their works. Their works are evil works, and deeds of violence come from their hands.

[7] Their feet run to evil, and they are quick to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are destructive thoughts, plunder and ruin are on their highways.

[8] The way of peace they know not, and there is nothing that is right in their paths; Their ways they have made crooked, whoever treads them knows no peace.

[9] 3 That is why right is far from us and justice does not reach us. We look for light, and lo, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom!

[10] Like blind men we grope along the wall, like people without eyes we feel our way. We stumble at midday as at dusk, in Stygian darkness, like the dead.

[11] We all growl like bears, like doves we moan without ceasing. We look for right, but it is not there; for salvation, and it is far from us.

[12] For our offenses before you are many, our sins bear witness against us. Yes, our offenses are present to us, and our crimes we know:

[13] Transgressing, and denying the LORD, turning back from following our God, Threatening outrage, and apostasy, uttering words of falsehood the heart has conceived.

[14] Right is repelled, and justice stands far off; For truth stumbles in the public square, uprightness cannot enter.

[15] Honesty is lacking, and the man who turns from evil is despoiled. The LORD saw this, and was aggrieved that right did not exist.

[16] He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was none to intervene; So his own arm brought about the victory, and his justice lent him its support.

[17] He put on justice as his breastplate, salvation, as the helmet on his head; He clothed himself with garments of vengeance, wrapped himself in a mantle of zeal.

[18] He repays his enemies their deserts, and requites his foes with wrath.

[19] Those in the west shall fear the name of the LORD, and those in the east, his glory; For it shall come like a pent-up river which the breath of the LORD drives on.

[20] He shall come to Zion a redeemer to those of Jacob who turn from sin, says the LORD.

[21] This is the covenant with them which I myself have made, says the LORD: My spirit which is upon you and my words that I have put into your mouth Shall never leave your mouth, nor the mouths of your children Nor the mouths of your children's children from now on and forever, says the LORD.

Isaiah Chapter 60

[1] 1 Rise up in splendor! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.

[2] See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; But upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.

[3] Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.

[4] Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you: Your sons come from afar, and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.

[5] Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, For the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.

[6] Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midian and Ephah; All from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.

[7] All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered for you, the rams of Nebaioth shall be your sacrifices; They will be acceptable offerings on my altar, and I will enhance the splendor of my house.

[8] 2 What are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their cotes?

[9] All the vessels of the sea are assembled, with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, To bring your children from afar with their silver and gold, In the name of the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.

[10] Foreigners shall rebuild your walls, and their kings shall be your attendants; Though I struck you in my wrath, yet in my good will I have shown you mercy.

[11] Your gates shall stand open constantly; day and night they shall not be closed But shall admit to you the wealth of nations, and their kings, in the vanguard.

[12] For the people or kingdom shall perish that does not serve you; those nations shall be utterly destroyed.

[13] 3 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you: the cypress, the plane and the pine, To bring beauty to my sanctuary, and glory to the place where I set my feet.

[14] The children of your oppressors shall come, bowing low before you; All those who despised you shall fall prostrate at your feet. They shall call you "City of the LORD," "Zion of the Holy One of Israel."

[15] Once you were forsaken, hated and unvisited, Now I will make you the pride of the ages, a joy to generation after generation.

[16] You shall suck the milk of nations, and be nursed at royal breasts; You shall know that I, the LORD, am your savior, your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

[17] In place of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron, silver; In place of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron; I will appoint peace your governor, and justice your ruler.

[18] No longer shall violence be heard of in your land, or plunder and ruin within your boundaries. You shall call your walls "Salvation" and your gates "Praise."

[19] No longer shall the sun be your light by day, Nor the brightness of the moon shine upon you at night; The LORD shall be your light forever, your God shall be your glory.

[20] No longer shall your sun go down, or your moon withdraw, For the LORD will be your light forever, and the days of your mourning shall be at an end.

[21] Your people shall all be just, they shall always possess the land, They, the bud of my planting, my handiwork to show my glory.

[22] The smallest shall become a thousand, the youngest, a mighty nation; I, the LORD, will swiftly accomplish these things when their time comes.

Isaiah Chapter 61

[1] 1 The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners,

[2] To announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn;

[3] To place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit. They will be called oaks of justice, planted by the LORD to show his glory.

[4] They shall rebuild the ancient ruins, the former wastes they shall raise up And restore the ruined cities, desolate now for generations.

[5] Strangers shall stand ready to pasture your flocks, foreigners shall be your farmers and vinedressers.

[6] You yourselves shall be named priests of the LORD, ministers of our God you shall be called. You shall eat the wealth of the nations and boast of riches from them.

[7] Since their shame was double and disgrace and spittle were their portion, They shall have a double inheritance in their land, everlasting joy shall be theirs.

[8] For I, the LORD, love what is right, I hate robbery and injustice; I will give them their recompense faithfully, a lasting covenant I will make with them.

[9] Their descendants shall be renowned among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; All who see them shall acknowledge them as a race the LORD has blessed.

[10] I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels.

[11] As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, So will the Lord GOD make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.

Isaiah Chapter 62

[1] For Zion's sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, Until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.

[2] 1 Nations shall behold your vindication, and all kings your glory; You shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the LORD.

[3] You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem held by your God.

[4] No more shall men call you "Forsaken," or your land "Desolate," But you shall be called "My Delight," and your land "Espoused." For the LORD delights in you, and makes your land his spouse.

[5] As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.

[6] 2 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have stationed watchmen; Never, by day or by night, shall they be silent. O you who are to remind the LORD, take no rest

[7] And give no rest to him, until he re-establishes Jerusalem And makes of it the pride of the earth.

[8] The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: No more will I give your grain as food to your enemies; Nor shall foreigners drink your wine, for which you toiled.

[9] But you who harvest the grain shall eat it, and you shall praise the LORD; You who gather the grapes shall drink the wine in the courts of my sanctuary.

[10] 3 Pass through, pass through the gates, prepare the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, raise up a standard over the nations.

[11] See, the LORD proclaims to the ends of the earth: Say to daughter Zion, your savior comes! Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.

[12] They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD, And you shall be called "Frequented," a city that is not forsaken.

Isaiah Chapter 63

[1] 1 Who is this that comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments, from Bozrah- This one arrayed in majesty, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, I who announce vindication, I who am mighty to save."

[2] Why is your apparel red, and your garments like those of the wine presser?

[3] "The wine press I have trodden alone, and of my people there was no one with me. I trod them in my anger, and trampled them down in my wrath; Their blood spurted on my garments; all my apparel I stained.

[4] For the day of vengeance was in my heart, my year for redeeming was at hand.

[5] I looked about, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that there was no one to lend support; So my own arm brought about the victory and my own wrath lent me its support.

[6] I trampled down the peoples in my anger, I crushed them in my wrath, and I let their blood run out upon the ground."

[7] 2 The favors of the LORD I will recall, the glorious deeds of the LORD, Because of all he has done for us; for he is good to the house of Israel, He has favored us according to his mercy and his great kindness.

[8] He said: They are indeed my people, children who are not disloyal; So he became their savior

[9] in their every affliction. It was not a messenger or an angel, but he himself who saved them. Because of his love and pity he redeemed them himself, Lifting them and carrying them all the days of old.

[10] But they rebelled, and grieved his holy spirit; So he turned on them like an enemy, and fought against them.

[11] Then they remembered the days of old and Moses, his servant; Where is he who brought up out of the sea the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who put his holy spirit in their midst;

[12] Whose glorious arm was the guide at Moses' right; Who divided the waters before them, winning for himself eternal renown;

[13] Who led them without stumbling through the depths like horses in the open country,

[14] Like cattle going down into the plain, the spirit of the LORD guiding them? Thus you led your people, bringing glory to your name.

[15] Look down from heaven and regard us from your holy and glorious palace! Where is your zealous care and your might, your surge of pity and your mercy? O Lord, hold not back,

[16] for you are our father. Were Abraham not to know us, nor Israel to acknowledge us, You, LORD, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever.

[17] Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.

[18] Why have the wicked invaded your holy place, why have our enemies trampled your sanctuary?

[19] Too long have we been like those you do not rule, who do not bear your name. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you,

Isaiah Chapter 64

[1] As when brushwood is set ablaze, or fire makes the water boil! Thus your name would be made known to your enemies and the nations would tremble before you,

[2] While you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,

[3] such as they had not heard of from of old. No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him.

[4] Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful;

[5] all of us have become like unclean men, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; We have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.

[6] There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; For you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt.

[7] Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.

[8] Be not so very angry, LORD, keep not our guilt forever in mind; look upon us, who are all your people.

[9] Your holy cities have become a desert, Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a waste.

[10] Our holy and glorious temple in which our fathers praised you Has been burned with fire; all that was dear to us is laid waste.

[11] Can you hold back, O LORD, after all this? Can you remain silent, and afflict us so severely?

Isaiah Chapter 65

[1] I was ready to respond to those who asked me not, to be found by those who sought me not. I said: Here I am! Here I am! To a nation that did not call upon my name.

[2] I have stretched out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, Who walk in evil paths and follow their own thoughts,

[3] People who provoke me continually, to my face, Offering sacrifices in the groves and burning incense on bricks,

[4] Living among the graves and spending the night in caverns, Eating swine's flesh, with carrion broth in their dishes,

[5] 1 Crying out, "Hold back, do not touch me; I am too sacred for you!" These things enkindle my wrath, a fire that burns all the day.

[6] Lo, before me it stands written; I will not be quiet until I have paid in full

[7] Your crimes and the crimes of your fathers as well, says the LORD. Since they burned incense on the mountains, and disgraced me on the hills, I will at once pour out in full measure their recompense into their laps.

[8] Thus says the LORD: When the juice is pressed from grapes, men say, "Do not discard them, for there is still good in them"; Thus will I do with my servants: I will not discard them all;

[9] From Jacob I will save offspring, from Judah, those who are to inherit my mountains; My chosen ones shall inherit the land, my servants shall dwell there.

[10] Sharon shall be a pasture for the flocks and the valley of Achor a resting place for the cattle of my people who have sought me.

[11] 2 But you who forsake the LORD, forgetting my holy mountain, You who spread a table for Fortune and fill cups of blended wine for Destiny,

[12] You I will destine for the sword; you shall all go down in slaughter. Since I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen, But did what was evil in my sight and preferred things which displease me,

[13] therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Lo, my servants shall eat, but you shall go hungry; My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;

[14] My servants shall shout for joy of heart, But you shall cry out for grief of heart and howl for anguish of spirit.

[15] The Lord GOD shall slay you, and the name you leave Shall be used by my chosen ones for cursing; but my servants shall be called by another name

[16] By which he will be blessed on whom a blessing is invoked in the land; He who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; For the hardships of the past shall be forgotten, and hidden from my eyes.

[17] Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind.

[18] Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight;

[19] I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying;

[20] No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime; He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years, and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.

[21] They shall live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant;

[22] They shall not build houses for others to live in, or plant for others to eat. As the years of a tree, so the years of my people; and my chosen ones shall long enjoy the produce of their hands.

[23] They shall not toil in vain, nor beget children for sudden destruction; For a race blessed by the LORD are they and their offspring.

[24] Before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hearken to them.

[25] 3 The wolf and the lamb shall graze alike, and the lion shall eat hay like the ox (but the serpent's food shall be dust). None shall hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Isaiah Chapter 66

[1] Thus says the LORD: The heavens are my throne, the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you build for me; what is to be my resting place?

[2] My hand made all these things when all of them came to be, says the LORD. This is the one whom I approve: the lowly and afflicted man who trembles at my word.

[3] Merely slaughtering an ox is like slaying a man; sacrificing a lamb, like breaking a dog's neck; Bringing a cereal offering, like offering swine's blood; burning incense, like paying homage to an idol. Since these have chosen their own ways and taken pleasure in their own abominations,

[4] 1 I in turn will choose ruthless treatment for them and bring upon them what they fear. Because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened; Because they did what was evil in my sight, and chose what gave me displeasure,

[5] Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: Your brethren who, because of my name, hate and reject you, say, "Let the LORD show his glory that we may see your joy"; but they shall be put to shame.

[6] A sound of roaring from the city, a sound from the temple, The sound of the LORD repaying his enemies their deserts!

[7] 2 Before she comes to labor, she gives birth; Before the pains come upon her, she safely delivers a male child.

[8] Who ever heard of such a thing, or saw the like? Can a country be brought forth in one day, or a nation be born in a single moment? Yet Zion is scarcely in labor when she gives birth to her children.

[9] Shall I bring a mother to the point of birth, and yet not let her child be born? says the LORD; Or shall I who allow her to conceive, yet close her womb? says your God.

[10] Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her; Exult, exult with her, all you who were mourning over her!

[11] Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, That you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts!

[12] For thus says the LORD: Lo, I will spread prosperity over her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent. As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap;

[13] As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.

[14] When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bodies flourish like the grass; The LORD'S power shall be known to his servants, but to his enemies, his wrath.

[15] Lo, the LORD shall come in fire, his chariots like the whirlwind, To wreak his wrath with burning heat and his punishment with fiery flames.

[16] For the LORD shall judge all mankind by fire and sword. and many shall be slain by the LORD.

[17] They who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the groves, as followers of one who stands within, they who eat swine's flesh, loathsome things and mice, shall all perish with their deeds and their thoughts, says the LORD.

[18] 3 I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory.

[19] I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations.

[20] They shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the LORD in clean vessels.

[21] Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.

[22] As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make Shall endure before me, says the LORD, so shall your race and your name endure.

[23] From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.

[24] 4 They shall go out and see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me; Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be extinguished; and they shall be abhorrent to all mankind.

Introduction to Jeremiah

Jeremiah

Introduction

The Book of Jeremiah combines history, biography, and prophecy. It portrays a nation in crisis and introduces the reader to an extraordinary leader upon whom the Lord placed the heavy burden of the prophetic office. Jeremiah was born about 650 B.C. of a priestly family from the little village of Anathoth, near Jerusalem. While still very young he was called to his task in the thirteenth year of King Josiah (628), whose reform, begun with enthusiasm and hope, ended with his death on the battlefield of Megiddo (609) as he attempted to stop the northward march of the Egyptian Pharaoh Neco.

The prophet heartily supported the reform of the pious King Josiah, which began in 629 B.C. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, fell in 612, preparing the way for the new colossus, Babylon, which was soon to put an end to Judean independence.

After the death of Josiah the old idolatry returned. Jeremiah opposed it with all his strength. Arrest, imprisonment, and public disgrace were his lot. Jeremiah saw in the nation's impenitence the sealing of its doom. Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and carried King Jehoiachin into exile (Jeremiah 22:24).

During the years 598-587, Jeremiah attempted to counsel Zedekiah in the face of bitter opposition. The false prophet Hananiah proclaimed that the yoke of Babylon was broken and a strong pro-Egyptian party in Jerusalem induced Zedekiah to revolt. Nebuchadnezzar took swift and terrible vengeance; Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 and its leading citizens sent into exile. About this time Jeremiah uttered the great oracle of the "New Covenant" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) sometimes called "The Gospel before the Gospel." This passage contains his most sublime teaching and is a landmark in Old Testament theology.

The prophet remained amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, but was later forced into Egyptian exile by a band of conspirators. There, according to an old tradition, he was murdered by his own countrymen. The influence of Jeremiah was greater after his death than before. The exiled community read and meditated on the lessons of the prophet, and his influence can be seen in Ezekiel, certain of the psalms, and the second part of Isaiah. Shortly after the exile, the Book of Jeremiah as we have it today was published in a final edition.

It is divided as follows:

Oracles in the Days of Josiah (Jeremiah 1:1-6:30)

Oracles Mostly in the Days of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 7:1-20:18)

Oracles in the Last Years of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 21:1-33:26)

Fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 34:1-45:5)

Oracles against the Nations (Jeremiah 46:1-51:64)

Historical Appendix (Jeremiah 52:1-34)

Jeremiah Chapter 1

[1] The words of Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, of a priestly family in Anathoth, 1 in the land of Benjamin.

[2] The word of the LORD first came to him in the days of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign,

[3] 2 and continued through the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the downfall and exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah.

[4] The word of the LORD came to me thus:

[5] 3 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

[6] 4 "Ah, Lord GOD!" I said, "I know not how to speak; I am too young."

[7] But the LORD answered me, Say not, "I am too young." To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.

[8] Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.

[9] Then the LORD extended his hand and touched my mouth, saying, See, I place my words in your mouth!

[10] This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, To root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.

[11] 5 The word of the LORD came to me with the question: What do you see, Jeremiah? "I see a branch of the watching-tree," I replied.

[12] Then the LORD said to me: Well have you seen, for I am watching to fulfill my word.

[13] 6 A second time the word of the LORD came to me with the question: What do you see? "I see a boiling cauldron," I replied, "that appears from the north."

[14] And from the north, said the LORD to me, evil will boil over upon all who dwell in the land.

[15] Lo, I am summoning all the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; Each king shall come and set up his throne at the gateways of Jerusalem, Opposite her walls all around and opposite all the cities of Judah.

[16] I will pronounce my sentence against them for all their wickedness in forsaking me, And in burning incense to strange gods and adoring their own handiwork.

[17] But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them;

[18] For it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, A pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: Against Judah's kings and princes, against its priests and people.

[19] They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 2

[1] 1 This word of the LORD came to me:

[2] 2 Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown.

[3] 3 Sacred to the LORD was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; Should anyone presume to partake of them, evil would befall him, says the LORD.

[4] Listen to the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob! All you clans of the house of Israel,

[5] thus says the LORD: What fault did your fathers find in me that they withdrew from me, Went after empty idols, and became empty themselves?

[6] They did not ask, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, Who led us through the desert, through a land of wastes and gullies, Through a land of drought and darkness, through a land which no one crosses, where no man dwells?"

[7] When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, You entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome.

[8] 4 The priests asked not, "Where is the LORD?" Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols.

[9] Therefore will I yet accuse you, says the LORD, and even your children's children I will accuse.

[10] 5 Pass over to the coast of the Kittim and see, send to Kedar and carefully inquire: Where has the like of this been done?

[11] Does any other nation change its gods?-- yet they are not gods at all! But my people have changed their glory for useless things.

[12] Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.

[13] Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.

[14] 6 Is Israel a slave, a bondman by birth? Why then has he become booty?

[15] Against him lions roar full-throated cries. They have made his land a waste; his cities are charred ruins, without inhabitant.

[16] 7 Yes, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes shave the crown of your head.

[17] Has not the forsaking of the LORD, your God, done this to you?

[18] 8 And now, why go to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Why go to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

[19] Your own wickedness chastises you, your own infidelities punish you. Know then, and see, how evil and bitter is your forsaking the LORD, your God, And showing no fear of me, says the Lord, the GOD of hosts.

[20] 9 Long ago you broke your yoke, you tore off your bonds. "I will not serve," you said. On every high hill, under every green tree, you gave yourself to harlotry.

[21] I had planted you, a choice vine of fully tested stock; How could you turn out obnoxious to me, a spurious vine?

[22] Though you scour it with soap, and use much lye, The stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord GOD.

[23] 10 How can you say, "I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals"? Consider your conduct in the Valley, recall what you have done: A frenzied she-camel, coursing near and far,

[24] breaking away toward the desert, Snuffing the wind in her ardor-- who can restrain her lust? No beasts need tire themselves seeking her; in her month they will meet her.

[25] Stop wearing out your shoes and parching your throat! But you say, "No use! no! I love these strangers, and after them I must go."

[26] As the thief is shamed when caught, so shall the house of Israel be shamed: They, their kings and their princes, their priests and their prophets;

[27] They who say to a piece of wood, "You are my father," and to a stone, "You gave me birth." They turn to me their backs, not their faces; yet, in their time of trouble they cry out, "Rise up and save us!"

[28] Where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up! Will they save you in your time of trouble? For as numerous as your cities are your gods, O Judah! And as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up for Baal.

[29] How dare you still plead with me? You have all rebelled against me, says the LORD.

[30] In vain I struck your children; the correction they did not take. Your sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.

[31] You, of this generation, take note of the word of the Lord: Have I been a desert to Israel, a land of darkness? Why do my people say, "We have moved on, we will come to you no more"?

[32] Does a virgin forget her jewelry, a bride her sash? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

[33] How well you pick your way when seeking love! You who, in your wickedness, have gone by ways unclean!

[34] You, on whose clothing there is the life-blood of the innocent, whom you found committing no burglary;

[35] Yet withal you say, "I am innocent; at least, his anger is turned away from me." Behold, I will judge you on that word of yours, "I have not sinned."

[36] How very base you have become in changing your course! By Egypt will you be shamed, as you were shamed by Assyria.

[37] From there also shall you go away with hands upon your head; For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, with them you will have no success.

Jeremiah Chapter 3

[1] 1 If a man sends away his wife and, after leaving him, she marries another man, Does the first husband come back to her? Would not the land be wholly defiled? But you have sinned with many lovers, and yet you would return to me! says the LORD.

[2] 2 Lift your eyes to the heights, and see, where have men not lain with you? By the waysides you waited for them like an Arab in the desert. You defiled the land by your wicked harlotry.

[3] Therefore the showers were withheld, the spring rain failed. But because you have a harlot's brow, you refused to blush.

[4] Even now do you not call me, "My father, you who are the bridegroom of my youth"?

[5] "Will he keep his wrath forever, will he hold his grudge to the end?" This is what you say; yet you do all the evil you can.

[6] The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: See now what rebellious Israel has done! She has gone up every high mountain, and under every green tree she has played the harlot.

[7] And I thought, after she has done all this she will return to me. But she did not return. Then, even though her traitor sister Judah saw

[8] that for all the adulteries rebellious Israel had committed, I put her away and gave her a bill of divorce, nevertheless her traitor sister Judah was not frightened; she too went off and played the harlot.

[9] Eager to sin, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and wood.

[10] With all this, the traitor sister Judah did not return to me wholeheartedly, but insincerely, says the LORD.

[11] Then the LORD said to me: Rebel Israel is inwardly more just than traitorous Judah.

[12] Go, proclaim these words toward the north, and say: Return, rebel Israel, says the LORD, I will not remain angry with you; For I am merciful, says the LORD, I will not continue my wrath forever.

[13] Only know your guilt: how you rebelled against the LORD, your God, How you ran hither and yon to strangers (under every green tree) and would not listen to my voice, says the LORD.

[14] 3 Return, rebellious children, says the LORD, for I am your Master; I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion.

[15] I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.

[16] When you multiply and become fruitful in the land, says the LORD, They will in those days no longer say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD!" They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or miss it, or make another.

[17] At that time they will call Jerusalem the LORD'S throne; there all nations will be gathered together to honor the name of the LORD at Jerusalem, and they will walk no longer in their hardhearted wickedness.

[18] In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel; together they will come from the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers as a heritage.

[19] I had thought: How I should like to treat you as sons, And give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful among the nations! You would call me, "My Father," I thought, and never cease following me.

[20] But like a woman faithless to her lover, even so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.

[21] A cry is heard on the heights! the plaintive weeping of Israel's children, Because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD, their God.

[22] Return, rebellious children, and I will cure you of your rebelling. "Here we are, we now come to you because you are the LORD, our God.

[23] Deceptive indeed are the hills, the thronging mountains; In the LORD, our God, alone is the salvation of Israel.

[24] 4 The shame-god has devoured our fathers' toil from our youth, Their sheep and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.

[25] Let us lie down in our shame, let our disgrace cover us, for we have sinned against the LORD, our God, From our youth to this day, we and our fathers also; we listened not to the voice of the LORD, our God."

Jeremiah Chapter 4

[1] If you wish to return, O Israel, says the LORD, return to me. If you put your detestable things out of my sight, and do not stray,

[2] 1 Then you can swear, "As the LORD lives," in truth, in judgment, and in justice; Then shall the nations use his name in blessing, and glory in him.

[3] For to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, thus says the LORD: Till your untilled ground, sow not among thorns.

[4] 2 For the sake of the LORD, be circumcised, remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem; Lest my anger break out like fire, and burn till none can quench it, because of your evil deeds.

[5] Proclaim it in Judah, make it heard in Jerusalem; Blow the trumpet through the land, summon the recruits! Say, "Fall in, let us march to the fortified cities."

[6] Bear the standard to Zion, seek refuge without delay! Evil I bring from the north, and great destruction.

[7] Up comes the lion from his lair, the destroyer of nations has set out, has left his place, To turn your land into desolation, till your cities lie waste and empty.

[8] So gird yourselves with sackcloth, mourn and wail: "The blazing wrath of the LORD is not turned away from us."

[9] In that day, says the LORD, The king will lose heart, and the princes; the priests will be amazed, and the prophets stunned.

[10] 3 "Alas! Lord GOD," they will say, "You only deceived us When you said: Peace shall be yours; for the sword touches our very soul."

[11] At that time it will be said of this people and of Jerusalem, "From the glaring heights through the desert a wind comes toward the daughter of my people." Not to winnow, not to cleanse,

[12] does this wind from the heights come at my bidding; And I myself now pronounce sentence upon them.

[13] See! like storm clouds he advances, like a hurricane his chariots; Swifter than eagles are his steeds: "Woe to us! we are ruined."

[14] Cleanse your heart of evil, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long must your pernicious thoughts lodge within you?

[15] Listen! They proclaim it from Dan, from Mount Ephraim they announce destruction:

[16] "Make this known to the nations, announce it to Jerusalem: The besiegers are coming from the distant land, shouting their war cry against the cities of Judah."

[17] Like watchmen of the fields they surround her, for she has rebelled against me, says the LORD.

[18] Your conduct, your misdeeds, have done this to you; how bitter is this disaster of yours, how it reaches to your very heart!

[19] 4 My breast! my breast! how I suffer! The walls of my heart! My heart beats wildly, I cannot be still; For I have heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

[20] Ruin after ruin is reported; the whole earth is laid waste. In an instant my tents are ravaged; in a flash, my shelters.

[21] How long must I see that signal, hear that trumpet sound!

[22] Fools my people are, they know me not; Senseless children they are, having no understanding; They are wise in evil, but know not how to do good.

[23] I looked at the earth, and it was waste and void; at the heavens, and their light had gone out!

[24] I looked at the mountains, and they were trembling, and all the hills were crumbling!

[25] I looked and behold, there was no man; even the birds of the air had flown away!

[26] I looked and behold, the garden land was a desert, with all its cities destroyed before the LORD, before his blazing wrath.

[27] For thus says the LORD: Waste shall the whole land be; I will (not) wholly destroy it.

[28] Because of this the earth shall mourn, the heavens above shall darken; I have spoken, I will not repent, I have resolved, I will not turn back.

[29] At the shout of horseman and bowman each city takes to flight; They shrink into the thickets, they scale the rocks: All the cities are abandoned, and no one dwells in them.

[30] You now who are doomed, what do you mean by putting on purple, bedecking yourself with gold, Shading your eyes with cosmetics, beautifying yourself in vain? Your lovers spurn you, they seek your life.

[31] Yes, I hear the moaning, as of a woman in travail, like the anguish of a mother with her first child- The cry of daughter Zion gasping, as she stretches forth her hands: "Ah, woe is me! I sink exhausted before the slayers!"

Jeremiah Chapter 5

[1] Roam the streets of Jerusalem, look about and observe, Search through her public places, to find even one Who lives uprightly and seeks to be faithful, and I will pardon her!

[2] Though they say, "As the LORD lives," they swear falsely.

[3] O LORD, do your eyes not look for honesty? You struck them, but they did not cringe; you laid them low, but they refused correction; They set their faces harder than stone, and refused to return to you.

[4] It is only the lowly, I thought, who are foolish; For they know not the way of the LORD, their duty to their God.

[5] I will go to the great ones and speak with them; For they know the way of the LORD, their duty to their God. But, one and all, they had broken the yoke, torn off the harness.

[6] Therefore lions from the forest slay them, wolves of the desert ravage them, Leopards keep watch round their cities: all who come out are torn to pieces For their many crimes and their numerous rebellions.

[7] Why should I pardon you these things? Your sons have forsaken me, they swear by gods that are not. I fed them, but they committed adultery; to the harlot's house they throng.

[8] Lustful stallions they are, each neighs after another's wife.

[9] Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD; On a nation such as this shall I not take vengeance?

[10] Climb to her terraces, and ravage them, destroy them (not) wholly. Tear away her tendrils, they do not belong to the LORD.

[11] For they have openly rebelled against me, both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, says the LORD.

[12] 1 They denied the LORD, saying, "Not he-- No evil shall befall us, neither sword nor famine shall we see.

[13] The prophets have become wind, and the word is not in them. May their threats be carried out against themselves!"

[14] Now, for this that you have said, says the LORD, the God of hosts- Behold, I make my words in your mouth, a fire, And this people is the wood that it shall devour!--

[15] Beware, I will bring against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the LORD; A long-lived nation, an ancient nation, a people whose language you know not, whose speech you cannot understand.

[16] Their quivers are like open graves; all of them are warriors.

[17] They will devour your harvest and your bread, devour your sons and your daughters, Devour your sheep and cattle, devour your vines and fig trees; They will beat flat with the sword the fortified city in which you trust.

[18] Yet even in those days, says the LORD, I will not wholly destroy you.

[19] And when they ask, "Why has the LORD done all these things to us?" say to them, "As you have forsaken me to serve strange gods in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a land not your own."

[20] Announce this to the house of Jacob, proclaim it in Judah:

[21] Pay attention to this, foolish and senseless people Who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not.

[22] Should you not fear me, says the LORD, should you not tremble before me? I made the sandy shore the sea's limit, which by eternal decree it may not overstep. Toss though it may, it is to no avail; though its billows roar, they cannot pass.

[23] But this people's heart is stubborn and rebellious; they turn and go away,

[24] 2 And say not in their hearts, "Let us fear the LORD, our God, Who gives us rain early and late, in its time; Who watches for us over the appointed weeks of harvest."

[25] Your crimes have prevented these things, your sins have turned back these blessings from you.

[26] For there are among my people criminals; like fowlers they set traps, but it is men they catch.

[27] Their houses are as full of treachery as a bird-cage is of birds; Therefore they grow powerful and rich,

[28] fat and sleek. They go their wicked way; justice they do not defend By advancing the claim of the fatherless or judging the cause of the poor.

[29] Shall I not punish these things? says the LORD; on a nation such as this shall I not take vengeance?

[30] A shocking, horrible thing has happened in the land:

[31] The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests teach as they wish; Yet my people will have it so; what will you do when the end comes?

Jeremiah Chapter 6

[1] Flee, sons of Benjamin, out of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, raise a signal over Beth-haccherem; For evil threatens from the north, and mighty destruction.

[2] O lovely and delicate daughter Zion, you are ruined!

[3] 1 Against her, shepherds come with their flocks; all around, they pitch their tents, each one grazes his portion.

[4] "Prepare for war against her, Up! let us rush upon her at midday! Alas! the day is waning, evening shadows lengthen;

[5] Up! let us rush upon her by night, destroy her palaces!"

[6] For thus says the LORD of hosts: Hew down her trees, throw up a siege mound against Jerusalem. Woe to the city marked for punishment; nought but oppression within her!

[7] As the well gushes out its waters, so she gushes out her wickedness. Violence and destruction resound in her; ever before me are wounds and blows.

[8] Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be estranged from you; Lest I turn you into a desert, a land where no man dwells.

[9] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Glean, glean like a vine the remnant of Israel; Pass your hand, like a vintager, repeatedly over the tendrils.

[10] To whom shall I speak? whom shall I warn, and be heard? See! their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot give heed; See, the word of the LORD has become for them an object of scorn, which they will not have.

[11] Therefore my wrath brims up within me, I am weary of holding it in; I will pour it out upon the child in the street, upon the young men gathered together. Yes, all will be taken, husband and wife, graybeard with ancient.

[12] Their houses will fall to strangers, their fields and their wives as well; For I will stretch forth my hand against those who dwell in this land, says the LORD.

[13] Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain; prophet and priest, all practice fraud.

[14] 2 They would repair, as though it were nought, the injury to my people: "Peace, peace!" they say, though there is no peace.

[15] They are odious; they have done abominable things, yet they are not at all ashamed, they know not how to blush. Hence they shall be among those who fall; in their time of punishment they shall go down, says the LORD.

[16] 3 Thus says the LORD: Stand beside the earliest roads, ask the pathways of old Which is the way to good, and walk it; thus you will find rest for your souls. But they said, "We will not walk it."

[17] 4 When I raised up watchmen for them: "Hearken to the sound of the trumpet!" they said, "We will not hearken."

[18] Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O earth, what I will do with them:

[19] See, I bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their own schemes, Because they heeded not my words, because they despised my law.

[20] Of what use to me incense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from far-off lands? Your holocausts find no favor with me, your sacrifices please me not.

[21] Therefore, thus says the LORD: See, I will place before this people obstacles to bring them down; Fathers and sons alike, neighbors and friends shall perish.

[22] Thus says the LORD: See, a people comes from the land of the north, a great nation, roused from the ends of the earth.

[23] Bow and javelin they wield; cruel and pitiless are they. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on steeds, Each in his place, for battle against you, daughter Zion.

[24] We hear the report of them; helpless fall our hands, Anguish takes hold of us, throes like a mother's in childbirth.

[25] Go not forth into the field, step not into the street, Beware of the enemy's sword; terror on every side!

[26] O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes. Mourn as for an only child with bitter wailing, For sudden upon us comes the destroyer.

[27] A tester among my people I have appointed you, to search and test their way.

[28] Arch-rebels are they all, dealers in slander, all of them corrupt.

[29] The bellows roars, the lead is consumed by the fire; In vain has the smelter refined, the wicked are not drawn off.

[30] "Silver rejected" they shall be called, for the LORD has rejected them.

Jeremiah Chapter 7

[1] 1 The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

[2] Stand at the gate of the house of the LORD, and there proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD!

[3] Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place.

[4] Put not your trust in the deceitful words: "This is the temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!"

[5] Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor;

[6] 2 if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm,

[7] will I remain with you in this place, in the land which I gave your fathers long ago and forever.

[8] But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss!

[9] Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, go after strange gods that you know not,

[10] and yet come to stand before me in this house which bears my name, and say: "We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again"?

[11] Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I too see what is being done, says the LORD.

[12] 3 You may go to Shiloh, which I made the dwelling place of my name in the beginning. See what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

[13] And now, because you have committed all these misdeeds, says the LORD, because you did not listen, though I spoke to you untiringly; because you did not answer, though I called you,

[14] I will do to this house named after me, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, just as I did to Shiloh.

[15] I will cast you away from me, as I cast away all your brethren, all the offspring of Ephraim.

[16] You, now, do not intercede for this people; raise not in their behalf a pleading prayer! Do not urge me, for I will not listen to you.

[17] Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem?

[18] 4 The children gather wood, their fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, while libations are poured out to strange gods in order to hurt me.

[19] Is it I whom they hurt, says the LORD; is it not rather themselves, to their own confusion?

[20] See now, says the Lord GOD, my anger and my wrath will pour out upon this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruits of the earth; it will burn without being quenched.

[21] Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Heap your holocausts upon your sacrifices; eat up the flesh!

[22] 5 In speaking to your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no command concerning holocaust or sacrifice.

[23] This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper.

[24] But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.

[25] From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.

[26] Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.

[27] When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you.

[28] Say to them: This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.

[29] 6 Cut off your dedicated hair and throw it away! on the heights intone an elegy; For the LORD has rejected and cast off the generation that draws down his wrath.

[30] The people of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, says the LORD. They have defiled the house which bears my name by setting up in it their abominable idols.

[31] In the Valley of Ben-hinnom they have built the high place of Topheth to immolate in fire their sons and their daughters, such a thing as I never commanded or had in mind.

[32] Therefore, beware! days will come, says the LORD, when Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom will no longer be called such, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. For lack of space, Topheth will be a burial place.

[33] The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the field, which no one will drive away.

[34] In the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem I will silence the cry of joy, the cry of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will be turned to rubble.

Jeremiah Chapter 8

[1] At that time, says the LORD, the bones of the kings and princes of Judah, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the citizens of Jerusalem will be emptied out of their graves

[2] 1 and spread out before the sun and the moon and the whole army of heaven, which they loved and served, which they followed, consulted, and worshiped. They will not be gathered up for burial, but will lie like dung upon the ground.

[3] Death will be preferred to life by all the survivors of this wicked race who remain in any of the places to which I banish them, says the LORD of hosts.

[4] Tell them: Thus says the LORD: When someone falls, does he not rise again? if he goes astray, does he not turn back?

[5] Why do these people rebel with obstinate resistance? Why do they cling to deceptive idols, refuse to turn back?

[6] I listen closely: they speak what is not true; No one repents of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done!" Everyone keeps on running his course, like a steed dashing into battle.

[7] Even the stork in the air knows it seasons; Turtledove, swallow and thrush observe their time of return, But my people do not know the ordinance of the LORD.

[8] 2 How can you say, "We are wise, we have the law of the LORD"? Why, that has been changed into falsehood by the lying pen of the scribes!

[9] The wise are confounded, dismayed and ensnared; Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, of what avail is their wisdom?

[10] Therefore, I will give their wives to strangers, their fields to spoilers. Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain, prophet and priest, all practice fraud.

[11] 3 They would repair, as though it were nought, the injury to the daughter of my people: "Peace, peace!" they say, though there is no peace.

[12] They are odious; they have done abominable things, yet they are not at all ashamed, they know not how to blush. Hence they shall be among those who fall; in their time of punishment they shall go down, says the LORD.

[13] I will gather them all in, says the LORD: no grapes on the vine, No figs on the fig trees, foliage withered!

[14] Why do we remain here? Let us form ranks and enter the walled cities, to perish there; For the LORD has wrought our destruction, he has given us poison to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

[15] We wait for peace to no avail; for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.

[16] From Dan is heard the snorting of his steeds; The neighing of his stallions shakes the whole land. They come devouring the land and all it contains, the city and those who dwell in it.

[17] Yes, I will send against you poisonous snakes, Against which no charm will work when they bite you, says the LORD.

[18] My grief is incurable, my heart within me is faint.

[19] Listen! the cry of the daughter of my people, far and wide in the land! Is the LORD no longer in Zion, is her King no longer in her midst? (Why do they provoke me with their idols, with their foreign nonentities?)

[20] "The harvest has passed, the summer is at an end, and yet we are not safe!"

[21] I am broken by the ruin of the daughter of my people. I am disconsolate; horror has seized me.

[22] 4 Is there no balm in Gilead, no physician there? Why grows not new flesh over the wound of the daughter of my people?

[23] Oh, that my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night over the slain of the daughter of my people!

Jeremiah Chapter 9

[1] Would that I had in the desert a travelers' lodge! That I might leave my people and depart from them. They are all adulterers, a faithless band.

[2] They ready their tongues like a drawn bow; with lying, and not with truth, they hold forth in the land. They go from evil to evil, but me they know not, says the LORD.

[3] 1 Be on your guard, everyone against his neighbor; put no trust in any brother. Every brother apes Jacob, the supplanter, every friend is guilty of slander.

[4] Each one deceives the other, no one speaks the truth. They have accustomed their tongues to lying, and are perverse, and cannot repent.

[5] Violence upon violence, deceit upon deceit: They refuse to recognize me, says the LORD.

[6] Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: I will smelt them and test them; how else should I deal with their wickedness?

[7] A murderous arrow is his tongue, his mouth utters deceit; He speaks cordially with his friends, but in his heart he lays an ambush!

[8] For these things, says the LORD, shall I not punish them? On a nation such as this shall I not take vengeance?

[9] Over the mountains, break out in cries of lamentation, over the pasture lands, intone a dirge: They are scorched, and no man crosses them, unheard is the bleat of the flock; Birds of the air as well as beasts, all have fled, and are gone.

[10] I will turn Jerusalem into a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; The cities of Judah I will make into a waste, where no one dwells.

[11] Who is so wise that he can understand this? Let him to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken make it known: Why is the land ravaged, scorched like a wasteland untraversed?

[12] The LORD answered: Because they have abandoned my law, which I set before them, and have not followed it or listened to my voice,

[13] but followed rather the hardness of their hearts and the Baals, as their fathers had taught them;

[14] therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: See now, I will give them wormwood to eat and poison to drink.

[15] I will scatter them among nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known; I will send the sword to pursue them until I have completely destroyed them.

[16] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Attention! tell the wailing women to come, summon the best of them;

[17] Let them come quickly and intone a dirge for us, That our eyes may be wet with weeping, our cheeks run with tears.

[18] The dirge is heard from Zion: Ruined we are, and greatly ashamed; We must leave the land, give up our homes!

[19] Hear, you women, the word of the LORD, let your ears receive his message. Teach your daughters this dirge, and each other this lament.

[20] Death has come up through our windows, has entered our palaces; It cuts down the children in the street, young people in the squares.

[21] The corpses of the slain lie like dung on a field, Like sheaves behind the harvester, with no one to gather them.

[22] Thus says the LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man glory in his strength, nor the rich man glory in his riches;

[23] But rather, let him who glories, glory in this, that in his prudence he knows me, Knows that I, the LORD, bring about kindness, justice and uprightness on the earth; For with such am I pleased, says the LORD.

[24] See, days are coming, says the LORD, when I will demand an account of all those circumcised in their flesh:

[25] 2 Egypt and Judah, Edom and the Ammonites, Moab and the desert dwellers who shave their temples. For all these nations, like the whole house of Israel, are uncircumcised in heart.

Jeremiah Chapter 10

[1] Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.

[2] 1 Thus says the LORD: Learn not the customs of the nations, and have no fear of the signs of the heavens, though the nations fear them.

[3] For the cult idols of the nations are nothing, wood cut from the forest, Wrought by craftsmen with the adze,

[4] adorned with silver and gold. With nails and hammers they are fastened, that they may not totter.

[5] Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, they cannot speak; They must be carried about, for they cannot walk. Fear them not, they can do no harm, neither is it in their power to do good.

[6] No one is like you, O LORD, great are you, great and mighty is your name.

[7] Who would not fear you, King of the nations, for it is your due! Among all the wisest of the nations, and in all their domain, there is none like you.

[8] One and all they are dumb and senseless, these idols they teach about are wooden:

[9] Silver strips brought from Tarshish, and gold from Ophir, The work of the craftsman and the handiwork of the smelter, Clothed with violet and purple- all of them the work of artisans.

[10] The LORD is true God, he is the living God, the eternal King, Before whose anger the earth quakes, whose wrath the nations cannot endure:

Jeremiah Chapter 11

[1] The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

[2] Speak to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem,

[3] saying to them: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not observe the terms of this covenant,

[4] which I enjoined upon your fathers the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that iron foundry, saying: Listen to my voice and do all that I command you. Then you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

[5] Thus I will fulfill the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey: the one you have today. "Amen, LORD," I answered.

[6] Then the LORD said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and obey them.

[7] Urgently and constantly I warned your fathers to obey my voice, from the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt even to this day.

[8] But they did not listen or give ear. Each one followed the hardness of his evil heart, till I brought upon them all the threats of this covenant which they had failed to observe as I commanded them.

[9] A conspiracy has been found, the LORD said to me, among the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.

[10] They have returned to the crimes of their forefathers who refused to obey my words. They also have followed and served strange gods; the covenant which I had made with their fathers, the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken.

[11] Therefore, thus says the LORD: See, I bring upon them misfortune which they cannot escape. Though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.

[12] Then the cities of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they have been offering incense. But these gods will give them no help whatever when misfortune strikes.

[13] For as numerous as your cities are your gods, O Judah! And as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars for offering sacrifice to Baal.

[14] Do not intercede on behalf of this people, nor utter a plea for them. I will not listen when they call to me at the time of their misfortune.

[15] What right has my beloved in my house, while she prepares her plots? Can vows and sacred meat turn away your misfortune from you? Will you still be jubilant

[16] when you hear the great invasion? A spreading olive tree, goodly to behold, the LORD has named you; Now he sets fire to it, its branches burn.

[17] The LORD of hosts who planted you has decreed misfortune for you because of the evil done by the house of Israel and by the house of Judah, who provoked me by sacrificing to Baal.

[18] I knew it because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.

Jeremiah Chapter 12

[1] You would be in the right, O LORD, if I should dispute with you; even so, I must discuss the case with you. Why does the way of the godless prosper, why live all the treacherous in contentment?

[2] You planted them; they have taken root, they keep on growing and bearing fruit. You are upon their lips, but far from their inmost thoughts.

[3] 1 You, O Lord, know me, you see me, you have found that at heart I am with you. Pick them out like sheep for the slaughter, set them apart for the day of carnage.

[4] How long must the earth mourn, the green of the whole countryside wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it beasts and birds disappear, because they say, "God does not see our ways."

[5] If running against men has wearied you, how will you race against horses? And if in a land of peace you fall headlong, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

[6] For even your own brothers, the members of your father's house, betray you; they have recruited a force against you. Do not believe them, even if they are friendly to you in their words.

[7] I abandon my house, cast off my heritage; The beloved of my soul I deliver into the hand of her foes.

[8] My heritage has turned on me like a lion in the jungle; Because she has roared against me, I treat her as an enemy.

[9] My heritage is a prey for hyenas, is surrounded by vultures; Come, gather together, all you beasts of the field, come and eat!

[10] Many shepherds have ravaged my vineyard, have trodden my heritage underfoot; The portion that delighted me they have turned into a desert waste.

[11] They have made it a mournful waste, desolate it lies before me, Desolate, all the land, because no one takes it to heart.

[12] Upon every desert height brigands have come up. The LORD has a sword which consumes the land, from end to end: no peace for all mankind.

[13] They have sown wheat and reaped thorns, they have tired themselves out to no purpose; They recoil before their harvest, the flaming anger of the LORD.

[14] 3 Thus says the LORD against all my evil neighbors who plunder the heritage which I gave my people Israel as their own: See, I will pluck them up from their land; the house of Judah I will pluck up in their midst.

[15] But after plucking them up, I will pity them again and bring them back, each to his heritage, each to his land.

[16] And if they carefully learn my people's custom of swearing by my name, "As the LORD lives," they who formerly taught my people to swear by Baal shall be built up in the midst of my people.

[17] But if they do not obey, I will uproot and destroy that nation entirely, says the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 13

[1] 1 The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth; wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water.

[2] I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on.

[3] A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus:

[4] Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing, and go now to the Parath; there hide it in a cleft of the rock.

[5] Obedient to the LORD'S command, I went to the Parath and buried the loincloth.

[6] After a long interval, he said to me: Go now to the Parath and fetch the loincloth which I told you to hide there.

[7] Again I went to the Parath, sought out and took the loincloth from the place where I had hid it. But it was rotted, good for nothing!

[8] Then the message came to me from the LORD:

[9] Thus says the LORD: So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem.

[10] This wicked people who refuse to obey my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts, and follow strange gods to serve and adore them, shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing.

[11] For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man's loins, so had I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD; to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty. But they did not listen.

[12] Now speak to them this word: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Every wineflask is meant to be filled with wine. If they reply, "Do we not know that every wineflask is meant to be filled with wine?"

[13] say to them: Thus says the LORD: Beware! I am filling with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land, the kings who succeed to David's throne, the priests and prophets, and all the citizens of Jerusalem.

[14] I will dash them against each other, fathers and sons together, says the LORD; I will show no compassion, I will not spare or pity, but will destroy them.

[15] Give ear, listen humbly, for the LORD speaks.

[16] Give glory to the LORD, your God, before it grows dark; Before your feet stumble on darkening mountains; Before the light you look for turns to darkness, changes into black clouds.

[17] If you do not listen to this in your pride, I will weep in secret many tears; My eyes will run with tears for the LORD'S flock, led away to exile.

[18] Say to the king and to the queen mother: come down from your throne; From your heads fall your magnificent crowns.

[19] The cities of the Negeb are besieged, with no one to relieve them; All Judah is banished in universal exile.

[20] Lift up your eyes and see men coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your glory?

[21] What will you say when they place as rulers over you those whom you taught to be your lovers? Will not pangs seize you like those of a woman giving birth?

[22] If you ask in your heart why these things befall you: For your great guilt your skirts are stripped away and you are violated.

[23] Can the Ethiopian change his skin? the leopard his spots? As easily would you be able to do good, accustomed to evil as you are.

[24] I will scatter them like chaff that flies when the desert wind blows.

[25] This is your lot, the portion measured out to you from me, says the LORD. Because you have forgotten me, and trusted in the lying idol,

[26] I now will strip off your skirts from you, so that your shame will appear.

[27] Your adulteries, your neighings, your shameless prostitutions: On the hills in the highlands I see these horrible crimes of yours. Woe to you, Jerusalem, how long will it yet be before you become clean!

Jeremiah Chapter 14

[1] The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

[2] Judah mourns, her gates are lifeless; Her people sink down in mourning: from Jerusalem ascends a cry of anguish.

[3] The nobles send their servants for water, but when they come to the cisterns They find no water and return with empty jars. Ashamed, despairing, they cover their heads

[4] because of the stricken soil; Because there is no rain in the land the farmers are ashamed, they cover their heads.

[5] Even the hind in the field deserts her offspring because there is no grass.

[6] The wild asses stand on the bare heights, gasping for breath like jackals; Their eyes grow dim, because there is no vegetation to be seen.

[7] Even though our crimes bear witness against us, take action, O LORD, for the honor of your name-- Even though our rebellions are many, though we have sinned against you.

[8] O Hope of Israel, O LORD, our savior in time of need! Why should you be a stranger in this land, like a traveler who has stopped but for a night?

[9] Why are you like a man dumbfounded, a champion who cannot save? You are in our midst, O LORD, your name we bear: do not forsake us!

[10] Thus says the LORD of this people: They so love to wander that they do not spare their feet. The LORD has no pleasure in them; now he remembers their guilt, and will punish their sins.

[11] Then the LORD said to me: Do not intercede for this people.

[12] If they fast, I will not listen to their supplication. If they offer holocausts or cereal offerings, I will not accept them. Rather, I will destroy them with the sword, famine, and pestilence.

[13] Ah! Lord GOD, I replied, it is the prophets who say to them, "You shall not see the sword; famine shall not befall you. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place."

[14] Lies these prophets utter in my name, the LORD said to me. I did not send them; I gave them no command nor did I speak to them. Lying visions, foolish divination, dreams of their own imagination, they prophesy to you.

[15] Therefore, thus says the LORD: Concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, though I did not send them; who say, "Sword and famine shall not befall this land": by the sword and famine shall these prophets meet their end.

[16] The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem by famine and the sword. No one shall bury them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour out upon them their own wickedness.

[17] Speak to them this word: Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest, Over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound.

[18] If I walk out into the field, look! those slain by the sword; If I enter the city, look! those consumed by hunger. Even the prophet and the priest forage in a land they know not.

[19] Have you cast Judah off completely? Is Zion loathsome to you? Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed? We wait for peace, to no avail; for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.

[20] We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness, the guilt of our fathers; that we have sinned against you.

[21] For your name's sake spurn us not, disgrace not the throne of your glory; remember your covenant with us, and break it not.

[22] Among the nations' idols is there any that gives rain? Or can the mere heavens send showers? Is it not you alone, O LORD, our God, to whom we look? You alone have done all these things.

Jeremiah Chapter 15

[1] The LORD said to me: Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them away from me.

[2] If they ask you where they should go, tell them, Thus says the LORD: Whoever is marked for death, to death; whoever is marked for the sword, to the sword; whoever is marked for famine, to famine; whoever is marked for captivity, to captivity.

[3] Four kinds of scourge I have decreed against them, says the LORD: the sword to slay them; dogs to drag them about; the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy them.

[4] And I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

[5] Who will pity you, Jerusalem, who will console you? Who will stop to ask about your welfare?

[6] You have disowned me, says the LORD, turned your back upon me; And so I stretched out my hand to destroy you, I was weary of sparing you.

[7] I winnowed them with the fan in every city gate. I destroyed my people through bereavement; they returned not from their evil ways.

[8] Their widows were more numerous before me than the sands of the sea. I brought against the mother of youths the spoiler at midday; Suddenly I struck her with anguish and terror.

[9] The mother of seven swoons away, gasping out her life; Her sun sets in full day, she is disgraced, despairing. Their survivors I will give to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD.

[10] Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth! a man of strife and contention to all the land! I neither borrow nor lend, yet all curse me.

[11] Tell me, LORD, have I not served you for their good? Have I not interceded with you in the time of misfortune and anguish?

[12] 1

Jeremiah Chapter 16

[1] This message came to me from the LORD:

[2] Do not marry any woman; you shall not have sons or daughters in this place,

[3] for thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who will be born in this place, the mothers who will give them birth, the fathers who will beget them in this land:

[4] Of deadly disease they shall die. Unlamented and unburied they will lie like dung on the ground. Sword and famine will make an end of them, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.

[5] Go not into a house of mourning, the LORD continued: go not there to lament or offer sympathy. For I have withdrawn my friendship from this people, says the LORD, my kindness and my pity.

[6] 1 They shall die, the great and the lowly, in this land, and shall go unburied and unlamented. No one will gash himself or shave his head for them.

[7] They will not break bread with the bereaved to console them in their bereavement; they will not give them the cup of consolation to drink over the death of father or mother.

[8] Enter not a house where people are celebrating, to sit with them eating and drinking.

[9] For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Before your very eyes and during your lifetime I will silence from this place the cry of joy and the cry of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

[10] When you proclaim all these words to this people and they ask you: "Why has the LORD pronounced all these great evils against us? What is our crime? What sin have we committed against the LORD, our God?"--

[11] you shall answer them: It is because your fathers have forsaken me, says the LORD, and followed strange gods, which they served and worshiped; but me they have forsaken, and my law they have not observed.

[12] And you have done worse than your fathers. Here you are, every one of you, walking in the hardness of his evil heart instead of listening to me.

[13] I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known; there you can serve strange gods day and night, because I will not grant you my mercy.

[14] However, days will surely come, says the LORD, when it will no longer be said, "As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt";

[15] but rather, "As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of the north and out of all the countries to which he had banished them." I will bring them back to the land which I gave their fathers.

[16] Look! I will send many fishermen, says the LORD, to catch them. After that, I will send many hunters to hunt them out from every mountain and hill and from the clefts of the rocks.

[17] For my eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor does their guilt escape my view.

[18] I will at once repay them double for their crime and their sin of profaning my land with their detestable corpses of idols, and filling my heritage with their abominations.

[19] O LORD, my strength, my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress! To you will the nations come from the ends of the earth, and say, "Mere frauds are the heritage of our fathers, empty idols of no use."

[20] Can man make for himself gods? These are not gods.

[21] Look, then: I will give them knowledge; this time I will leave them in no doubt Of my strength and my power: they shall know that my name is LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 17

[1] The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, Engraved with a diamond point upon the tablets of their hearts.(And the horns of their altars,

[2] when their sons remember their altars and their sacred poles, beside the green trees, on the high hills,

[3] the peaks in the highland.) Your wealth and all your treasures I will give as spoil. In recompense for all your sins throughout your borders,

[4] You will relinquish your hold on your heritage which I have given you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land that you know not: For a fire has been kindled by my wrath that will burn forever.

[5] Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.

[6] He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.

[7] Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.

[8] He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.

[9] More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?

[10] I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.

[11] A partridge that mothers a brood not her own is the man who acquires wealth unjustly: In midlife it will desert him; in the end he is only a fool.

[12] A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, such is our holy place.

[13] O hope of Israel, O LORD! all who forsake you shall be in disgrace; The rebels in the land shall be put to shame; they have forsaken the source of living waters (the LORD).

[14] Heal me, LORD, that I may be healed; save me, that I may be saved, for it is you whom I praise.

[15] See how they say to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come to pass!"

[16] Yet I did not press you to send calamity; the day without remedy I have not desired. You know what passed my lips; it is present before you.

[17] Do not be my ruin, you, my refuge in the day of misfortune.

[18] Let my persecutors, not me, be confounded; let them, not me, be broken. Bring upon them the day of misfortune, crush them with repeated destruction.

[19] 1 Thus said the LORD to me: Go, stand at the Gate of Benjamin, where the kings of Judah enter and leave, and at the other gates of Jerusalem.

[20] There say to them: Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all you citizens of Jerusalem who enter these gates!

[21] Thus says the LORD: As you love your lives, take care not to carry burdens on the sabbath day, to bring them in through the gates of Jerusalem.

[22] Bring no burden from your homes on the sabbath. Do no work whatever, but keep holy the sabbath, as I commanded your fathers,

[23] though they did not listen or give ear, but stiffened their necks so as not to hear or take correction.

[24] If you obey me wholeheartedly, says the LORD, and carry no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath, keeping the sabbath holy and abstaining from all work on it,

[25] then, through the gates of this city, kings who sit upon the throne of David will continue to enter, riding in their chariots or upon their horses, along with their princes, and the men of Judah, and the citizens of Jerusalem. This city will remain inhabited forever.

[26] To it people will come from the cities of Judah and the neighborhood of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the foothills, from the hill country and the Negeb, to bring holocausts and sacrifices, cereal offerings and incense and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.

[27] But if you do not obey me and keep holy the sabbath, if you carry burdens and come through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath, I will set unquenchable fire to its gates, which will consume the palaces of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah Chapter 18

[1] 1 This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

[2] Rise up, be off to the potter's house; there I will give you my message.

[3] I went down to the potter's house and there he was, working at the wheel.

[4] Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.

[5] Then the word of the Lord came to me:

[6] Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the LORD. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

[7] Sometimes I threaten to uproot and tear down and destroy a nation or a kingdom.

[8] But if that nation which I have threatened turns from its evil, I also repent of the evil which I threatened to do.

[9] Sometimes, again, I promise to build up and plant a nation or a kingdom.

[10] But if that nation does what is evil in my eyes, refusing to obey my voice, I repent of the good with which I promised to bless it.

[11] And now, tell this to the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Take care! I am fashioning evil against you and making a plan. Return, each of you, from his evil way; reform your ways and your deeds.

[12] But they will say, "No use! We will follow our own devices; each one of us will behave according to the stubbornness of his evil heart!"

[13] Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations- who has ever heard the like? Truly horrible things has virgin Israel done!

[14] 2 Does the snow of Lebanon desert the rocky heights? Do the gushing waters dry up that flow fresh down the mountains?

[15] Yet my people have forgotten me: they burn incense to a thing that does not exist. They stumble out of their ways, the paths of old, To travel on bypaths, not the beaten track.

[16] Their land shall be turned into a desert, an object of lasting ridicule: All passers-by will be amazed, will shake their heads.

[17] Like the east wind, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back, not my face, in their day of disaster.

[18] "Come," they said, "let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah. It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests, nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets. And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word."

[19] Heed me, O LORD, and listen to what my adversaries say.

[20] Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them.

[21] 3 So now, deliver their children to famine, do away with them by the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men die of pestilence, their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

[22] May cries be heard from their homes, when suddenly you send plunderers against them. For they have dug a pit to capture me, they have hid snares for my feet;

[23] But you, O LORD, know all their plans to slay me. Forgive not their crime, blot not out their sin in your sight! Let them go down before you, proceed against them in the time of your anger.

Jeremiah Chapter 19

[1] Thus said the LORD: Go, buy a potter's earthen flask. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests,

[2] 1 and go out toward the Valley of Ben-hinnom, at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate; there proclaim the words which I will speak to you:

[3] Listen to the word of the LORD, kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such evil upon this place that all who hear of it will feel their ears tingle.

[4] This is because they have forsaken me and alienated this place by burning in it incense to strange gods which neither they nor their fathers knew; and the kings of Judah have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

[5] They have built high places for Baal to immolate their sons in fire as holocausts to Baal: such a thing as I neither commanded nor spoke of, nor did it ever enter my mind.

[6] Therefore, days will come, says the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather, the Valley of Slaughter.

[7] In this place I will foil the plan of Judah and Jerusalem; I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those that seek their lives. Their corpses I will give as food to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.

[8] I will make this city an object of amazement and derision. Because of all its wounds, every passer-by will be amazed and will catch his breath.

[9] I will have them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters; they shall eat one another's flesh during the strict siege by which their enemies and those who seek their lives will confine them.

[10] And you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who went with you,

[11] and say to them: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Thus will I smash this people and this city, as one smashes a clay pot so that it cannot be repaired. And Topheth shall be a burial place, for lack of place to bury elsewhere.

[12] Thus I will do to this place and to its inhabitants, says the LORD; I will make this city like Topheth.

[13] And the houses of Jerusalem and the palaces of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth, all the houses upon whose roofs they burnt incense to the whole host of heaven and poured out libations to strange gods.

[14] When Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the house of God and said to all the people:

[15] Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I will surely bring upon this city all the evil with which I threatened it, because they have stiffened their necks and have not obeyed my words.

Jeremiah Chapter 20

[1] 1 Jeremiah was heard prophesying these things by the priest Pashhur, son of Immer, chief officer in the house of the LORD.

[2] So he had the prophet scourged and placed in the stocks at the upper Gate of Benjamin in the house of the LORD.

[3] 2 The next morning, after Pashhur had released Jeremiah from the stocks, the prophet said to him: Instead of Pashhur, the LORD will name you "Terror on every side."

[4] 3 For thus says the LORD: Indeed, I will deliver you to terror, you and all your friends. Your own eyes shall see them fall by the sword of their enemies. All Judah I will deliver to the king of Babylon, who shall take them captive to Babylon or slay them with the sword.

[5] All the wealth of this city, all it has toiled for and holds dear, all the treasures of the kings of Judah, I will give as plunder into the hands of their foes, who shall seize it and carry it away to Babylon.

[6] You Pashhur, and all the members of your household shall go into exile. To Babylon you shall go, you and all your friends; there you shall die and be buried, because you have prophesied lies to them.

[7] 4 You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me.

[8] Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; The word of the LORD has brought me derision and reproach all the day.

[9] I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.

[10] Yes, I hear the whisperings of many: "Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!" All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. "Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him."

[11] But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion.

[12] O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause.

[13] Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD, For he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!

[14] 5 Cursed be the day on which I was born! May the day my mother gave me birth never be blessed!

[15] Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, "A child, a son, has been born to you!" filling him with great joy.

[16] Let that man be like the cities which the LORD relentlessly overthrew; Let him hear war cries in the morning, battle alarms at noonday,

[17] because he did not dispatch me in the womb! Then my mother would have been my grave, her womb confining me forever.

[18] Why did I come forth from the womb, to see sorrow and pain, to end my days in shame?

Jeremiah Chapter 21

[1] 1 The message which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent him Pashhur, son of Malchiah, and the priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, with this request:

[2] Inquire for us of the LORD, because Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, is attacking us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wonderful works, so that he will withdraw from us.

[3] But Jeremiah answered them: This is what you shall report to Zedekiah:

[4] Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I will turn back in your hands the weapons with which you intend to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls. These weapons I will pile up in the midst of this city,

[5] and I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and mighty arm, in anger, and wrath, and great rage!

[6] I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die in a great pestilence.

[7] After that, says the LORD, I will hand over Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his ministers and the people in this city who survive pestilence, sword, and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, into the hands of their enemies and those who seek their lives. He shall strike them with the edge of the sword, without quarter, without pity or mercy.

[8] And to this people you shall say: Thus says the LORD: See, I am giving you a choice between life and death.

[9] Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword or famine or pestilence. But whoever leaves and surrenders to the besieging Chaldeans shall live and have his life as booty.

[10] 2 For I have turned against this city, for its woe and not for its good, says the LORD. It shall be given into the power of the king of Babylon who shall burn it with fire.

[11] 3 To the royal house of Judah: Hear the word of the LORD,

[12] O house of David! Thus says the LORD: Each morning dispense justice, rescue the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor, Lest my fury break out like fire which burns without being quenched, because of the evil of your deeds.

[13] 4 Beware! I am against you, Valley-site, Rock of the Plain, says the LORD. You who say, "Who will attack us, who can penetrate our retreats?"

[14] 5 I will punish you, says the LORD, as your deeds deserve! I will kindle a fire in its forest that shall devour all its surroundings.

Jeremiah Chapter 22

[1] The LORD told me this: Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and there deliver this message:

[2] You shall say: Listen to the word of the LORD, king of Judah, who sit on the throne of David, you, your ministers, and your people that enter by these gates!

[3] Thus says the LORD: Do what is right and just. Rescue the victim from the hand of his oppressor. Do not wrong or oppress the resident alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

[4] If you carry out these commands, kings who succeed to the throne of David will continue to enter the gates of this palace, riding in chariots or mounted on horses, with their ministers, and their people.

[5] But if you do not obey these commands, I swear by myself, says the LORD: this palace shall become rubble.

[6] 1 For thus says the LORD concerning the palace of the king of Judah: Though you be to me like Gilead, like the peak of Lebanon, I will turn you into a waste, a city uninhabited.

[7] Against you I will send destroyers, each with his axe: They shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

[8] Many people will pass by this city and ask one another: "Why has the LORD done this to so great a city?"

[9] And the answer will be given: "Because they have deserted their covenant with the LORD, their God, by worshiping and serving strange gods."

[10] 2 Weep not for him who is dead, mourn not for him! Weep rather for him who is going away; never again will he see the land of his birth.

[11] 3 Thus says the LORD concerning Shallum, son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father as king. He has left this place never to return.

[12] Rather, he shall die in the place where they exiled him; this land he shall not see again.

[13] 4 Woe to him who builds his house on wrong, his terraces on injustice; Who works his neighbor without pay, and gives him no wages.

[14] Who says, "I will build myself a spacious house, with airy rooms," Who cuts out windows for it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermillion.

[15] 5 Must you prove your rank among kings by competing with them in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink? He did what was right and just, and it went well with him.

[16] Because he dispensed justice to the weak and the poor, it went well with him. Is this not true knowledge of me? says the LORD.

[17] But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except on your own gain, On shedding innocent blood, on practicing oppression and extortion.

[18] 6 Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament him, "Alas! my brother"; "Alas! sister." They shall not lament him, "Alas, Lord! alas, Majesty!"

[19] 7 The burial of an ass shall he be given, dragged forth and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

[20] 8 Scale Lebanon and cry out, in Bashan lift up your voice; Cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers are crushed.

[21] I spoke to you when you were secure, but you answered, "I will not listen." This has been your way from your youth, not to listen to my voice.

[22] The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, your lovers shall go into exile. Surely then you shall be ashamed and confounded because of all your wickedness.

[23] You who dwell on Lebanon, who nest in the cedars, How you shall groan when pains come upon you, like the pangs of a woman in travail!

[24] 9 As I live, says the LORD, if you, Coniah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, are a signet ring on my right hand, I will snatch you from it.

[25] I will deliver you into the hands of those who seek your life; the hands of those whom you fear; the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans.

[26] 10 I will cast you out, you and the mother who bore you, into a different land from the one you were born in; and there you shall die.

[27] Neither of them shall come back to the land for which they yearn.

[28] Is this man Coniah a vessel despised, to be broken up, an instrument that no one wants? Why are he and his descendants cast out? why thrown into a land they know not?

[29] O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD--

[30] 11 Thus says the LORD: Write this man down as one childless, who will never thrive in his lifetime! No descendant of his shall achieve a seat on the throne of David as ruler again over Judah.

Jeremiah Chapter 23

[1] 1 Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD.

[2] Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.

[3] I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply.

[4] I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the LORD.

[5] Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; As king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land.

[6] In his days Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security. This is the name they give him: "The LORD our justice."

[7] Therefore, the days will come, says the LORD, when they shall no longer say, "As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt";

[8] but rather, "As the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Israel up from the land of the north"--and from all the lands to which I banished them; they shall again live on their own land.

[9] 2 Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken, my bones all tremble; I am like a man who is drunk, overcome by wine, Because of the LORD, because of his holy words.

[10] With adulterers the land is filled; on their account the land mourns, the pasture ranges are seared. Theirs is an evil course, theirs is unjust power.

[11] Both prophet and priest are godless! In my very house I find their wickedness, says the LORD.

[12] Hence their way shall become for them slippery ground. In the darkness they shall lose their footing, and fall headlong; Evil I will bring upon them: the year of their punishment, says the LORD.

[13] Among Samaria's prophets I saw unseemly deeds: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

[14] But among Jerusalem's prophets I saw deeds still more shocking: Adultery, living in lies, siding with the wicked, so that no one turns from evil; To me they are all like Sodom, its citizens like Gomorrah.

[15] Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts against the prophets: Behold, I will give them wormwood to eat, and poison to drink; For from Jerusalem's prophets ungodliness has gone forth into the whole land.

[16] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Listen not to the words of your prophets, who fill you with emptiness; Visions of their own fancy they speak, not from the mouth of the LORD.

[17] 3 They say to those who despise the word of the LORD, "Peace shall be yours"; And to everyone who walks in hardness of heart, "No evil shall overtake you."

[18] Now, who has stood in the council of the LORD, to see him and to hear his word? Who has heeded his word, so as to announce it?

[19] See, the storm of the LORD! His wrath breaks forth In a whirling storm that bursts upon the heads of the wicked.

[20] The anger of the LORD shall not abate until he has done and fulfilled what he has determined in his heart. When the time comes, you shall fully understand.

[21] I did not send these prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

[22] Had they stood in my council, and did they but proclaim to my people my words, They would have brought them back from evil ways and from their wicked deeds.

[23] 4 Am I a God near at hand only, says the LORD, and not a God far off?

[24] Can a man hide in secret without my seeing him? says the LORD. Do I not fill both heaven and earth? says the LORD.

[25] I have heard the prophets who prophesy lies in my name say, "I had a dream! I had a dream!"

[26] How long will this continue? Is my name in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies and their own deceitful fancies?

[27] By their dreams which they recount to each other, they think to make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

[28] 5 Let the prophet who has a dream recount his dream; let him who has my word speak my word truthfully! What has straw to do with the wheat? says the LORD.

[29] Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, like a hammer shattering rocks?

[30] Therefore I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words from each other.

[31] Yes, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who borrow speeches to pronounce oracles.

[32] Yes, I am against the prophets who prophesy lying dreams, says the LORD, and who lead my people astray by recounting their lies and by their empty boasting. From me they have no mission or command, and they do this people no good at all, says the LORD.

[33] 6 And when this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, "What is the burden of the LORD?" you shall answer, "You are the burden, and I cast you off, says the LORD."

[34] If a prophet or a priest or anyone else mentions "the burden of the LORD," I will punish that man and his house.

[35] Thus you shall ask, when speaking to one another, "What answer did the LORD give?" or, "What did the LORD say?"

[36] But the burden of the LORD you shall mention no more. For each man his own word becomes the burden so that you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.

[37] Thus shall you ask the prophet, "What answer did the LORD give?" or, "What did the LORD say?"

[38] But if you ask about "the burden of the LORD," then thus says the LORD: Because you use this phrase, "the burden of the LORD," though I forbade you to use it,

[39] therefore I will lift you on high and cast you from my presence, you and the city which I gave to you and your fathers.

[40] And I will bring upon you eternal reproach, eternal, unforgettable shame.

Jeremiah Chapter 24

[1] 1 The LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD.--This was after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had exiled from Jerusalem Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, the artisans and the skilled workers, and brought them to Babylon.--

[2] One basket contained excellent figs, the early-ripening kind. But the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

[3] Then the LORD said to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? "Figs," I replied; "the good ones are very good, but the bad ones very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten."

[4] Thereupon this word of the LORD came to me:

[5] Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, even so will I regard with favor Judah's exiles whom I sent away from this place into the land of the Chaldeans.

[6] I will look after them for their good, and bring them back to this land, to build them up, not to tear them down; to plant them, not to pluck them out.

[7] I will give them a heart with which to understand that I am the LORD. They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

[8] And like the figs that are bad, so bad they cannot be eaten--yes, thus says the LORD--even so will I treat Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his princes, the remnant of Jerusalem remaining in this land and those who have settled in the land of Egypt.

[9] I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all the places to which I will drive them.

[10] I will send upon them the sword, famine, and pestilence, until they have disappeared from the land which I gave them and their fathers.

Jeremiah Chapter 25

[1] 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah (the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon).

[2] This word the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem:

[3] Since the thirteenth year of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day-these three and twenty years-the word of the LORD has come to me and I spoke to you untiringly, but you would not listen.

[4] Though you refused to listen or pay heed, the LORD has sent you without fail all his servants the prophets

[5] with this message: Turn back, each of you, from your evil way and from your evil deeds; then you shall remain in the land which the LORD gave you and your fathers, from of old and forever.

[6] Do not follow strange gods to serve and adore them, lest you provoke me with your handiwork, and I bring evil upon you.

[7] But you would not listen to me, says the LORD, and so you provoked me with your handiwork to your own harm.

[8] Hence, thus says the LORD of hosts: Since you would not listen to my words,

[9] lo! I will send for and fetch all the tribes of the north, says the LORD (and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant); I will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these neighboring nations. I will doom them, making them an object of horror, of ridicule, of everlasting reproach.

[10] Among them I will bring to an end the song of joy and the song of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstone and the light of the lamp.

[11] This whole land shall be a ruin and a desert. Seventy years these nations shall be enslaved to the king of Babylon;

[12] but when the seventy years have elapsed, I will punish the king of Babylon and the nation and the land of the Chaldeans for their guilt, says the LORD. Their land I will turn into everlasting desert.

[13] Against that land I will fulfill all the words I have spoken against it (all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations).

[14] They also shall be enslaved to great nations and mighty kings, and thus I will repay them according to their own deeds and according to their own handiwork.

[15] 2 For thus said the LORD, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of foaming wine from my hand, and have all the nations to whom I will send you drink it.

[16] They shall drink, and be convulsed, and go mad, because of the sword I will send among them.

[17] I took the cup from the hand of the LORD and gave drink to all the nations to which the LORD sent me:

[18] (Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, her kings and her princes, to make them a ruin and a desert, an object of ridicule and cursing, as they are today;)

[19] Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, his princes, all the people under him, native

[20] 3 and foreign; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

[21] Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

[22] 4 all the kings of Tyre, of Sidon, and of the shores beyond the sea;

[23] 5 Dedan and Tema and Buz, all the desert dwellers who shave their temples;

[24] (all the kings of Arabia;)

[25] all the kings of Zimri, of Elam, of the Medes;

[26] 6 all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other; all the kingdoms upon the face of the earth (and after them the king of Sheshach shall drink).

[27] Tell them: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink! become drunk and vomit; fall, never to rise, before the sword that I will send among you!

[28] If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, say to them: Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink!

[29] For since with this city, which is called by my name, I begin to inflict evil, how can you possibly be spared? You shall not be spared! I will call down the sword upon all who inhabit the earth, says the LORD of hosts.

[30] Prophesy against them all these things and say to them: The LORD roars from on high, from his holy dwelling he raises his voice; Mightily he roars over the range, a shout like that of vintagers over the grapes.

[31] To all who inhabit the earth to its very ends the uproar spreads; For the LORD has an indictment against the nations, he is to pass judgment upon all mankind: The godless shall be given to the sword, says the LORD.

[32] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Lo! calamity stalks from nation to nation; A great storm is unleashed from the ends of the earth.

[33] On that day, those whom the LORD has slain will be strewn from one end of the earth to the other. None will mourn them, none will gather them for burial; they shall lie like dung on the field.

[34] Howl, you shepherds, and wail! roll in the dust, leaders of the flock! The time for your slaughter has come; like choice rams you shall fall.

[35] There is no flight for the shepherds, no escape for the leaders of the flock.

[36] Listen! Wailing from the shepherds, howling by the leaders of the flock! For the LORD lays waste their grazing place,

[37] desolate lie the peaceful pastures;

[38] The lion leaves his lair, and their land is made desolate By the sweeping sword, by the burning wrath of the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 26

[1] 1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this message came from the LORD:

[2] Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the house of the LORD and speak to the people of all the cities of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD; whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing.

[3] Perhaps they will listen and turn back, each from his evil way, so that I may repent of the evil I have planned to inflict upon them for their evil deeds.

[4] Say to them: Thus says the LORD: If you disobey me, not living according to the law I placed before you

[5] and not listening to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send you constantly though you do not obey them,

[6] I will treat this house like Shiloh, and make this the city which all the nations of the earth shall refer to when cursing another.

[7] Now the priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD.

[8] When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD bade him speak to all the people, the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying, "You must be put to death!

[9] Why do you prophesy in the name of the LORD: 'This house shall be like Shiloh,' and 'This city shall be desolate and deserted'?" And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

[10] When the princes of Judah were informed of these things, they came up from the king's palace to the house of the LORD and held court at the New Gate of the house of the LORD.

[11] The priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the people, "This man deserves death; he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears."

[12] Jeremiah gave this answer to the princes and all the people: "It was the LORD who sent me to prophesy against this house and city all that you have heard.

[13] Now, therefore, reform your ways and your deeds; listen to the voice of the LORD your God, so that the LORD will repent of the evil with which he threatens you.

[14] As for me, I am in your hands; do with me what you think good and right.

[15] But mark well: if you put me to death, it is innocent blood you bring on yourselves, on this city and its citizens. For in truth it was the LORD who sent me to you, to speak all these things for you to hear."

[16] Thereupon the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man does not deserve death; it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us."

[17] At this, some of the elders of the land came forward and said to all the people assembled,

[18] 2 "Micah of Moresheth used to prophesy in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and he told all the people of Judah: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Zion shall become a plowed field, Jerusalem a heap of ruins, and the temple mount a forest ridge.

[19] Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah condemn him to death? Did they not rather fear the LORD and entreat the favor of the LORD, so that he repented of the evil with which he had threatened them? But we are on the point of committing this great evil to our own undoing."

[20] There was another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah, son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-jearim; he prophesied the same things against this city and land as Jeremiah did.

[21] When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and princes were informed of his words, the king sought to kill him. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt.

[22] Thereupon King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan, son of Achbor, and others with him into Egypt

[23] to bring Uriah back to the king, who had him slain by the sword and his corpse cast into the common grave.

[24] 3 But Ahikam, son of Shaphan, protected Jeremiah, so that he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

Jeremiah Chapter 27

[1] 1 2 (In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah,) . . . this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

[2] Thus said the LORD to me: Make for yourself bands and yoke bars and put them over your shoulders.

[3] Send to the kings of Edom, of Moab, of the Ammonites, of Tyre, and of Sidon, through the ambassadors who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, king of Judah,

[4] and charge them thus: Tell your masters: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

[5] It was I who made the earth, and man and beast on the face of the earth, by my great power, with my outstretched arm; and I can give them to whomever I think fit.

[6] Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant; even the beasts of the field I have given him for his use.

[7] All nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his land, too, shall come. Then it in turn shall serve great nations and mighty kings.

[8] Meanwhile, if any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, or will not bend its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with sword, famine, and pestilence, says the LORD, until I give them into his hand.

[9] 3 You, however, must not listen to your prophets, to your diviners and dreamers, to your soothsayers and sorcerers, who say to you, "You need not serve the king of Babylon."

[10] For they prophesy lies to you, in order to drive you far from your land, to make me banish you so that you will perish.

[11] The people that submits its neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon to serve him I will leave in peace on its own land, says the LORD, to till it and dwell in it.

[12] To Zedekiah, king of Judah, I spoke the same words: Submit your necks to the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, so that you may live.

[13] Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and pestilence, with which the LORD has threatened the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

[14] Do not listen to the words of those prophets who say, "You need not serve the king of Babylon," for they prophesy lies to you.

[15] I did not send them, says the LORD, but they prophesy falsely in my name, with the result that I must banish you, and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.

[16] To the priests and to all the people I spoke as follows: Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you: "The vessels of the house of the LORD will be brought back from Babylon soon now," for they prophesy lies to you.

[17] Do not listen to them! Serve the king of Babylon that you may live; else this city will become a heap of ruins.

[18] If they were prophets, if the word of the LORD were with them, they would intercede with the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which remain in the house of the LORD and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem might not be taken to Babylon.

[19] 4 For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, the bronze sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city,

[20] which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not take when he exiled Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem--

[21] yes, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:

[22] To Babylon they shall be brought, and there they shall remain, until the day I look for them, says the LORD; then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.

Jeremiah Chapter 28

[1] That same year, in (the beginning of) the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah, son of Azzur, from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people:

[2] "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

[3] Within two years I will restore to this place all the vessels of the temple of the LORD which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took away from this place to Babylon.

[4] And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,' says the LORD. 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

[5] The prophet Jeremiah answered the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people assembled in the house of the LORD,

[6] and said: Amen! thus may the LORD do! May he fulfill the things you have prophesied by bringing the vessels of the house of the LORD and all the exiles back from Babylon to this place!

[7] But now, listen to what I am about to state in your hearing and the hearing of all the people.

[8] From of old, the prophets who were before you and me prophesied war, woe, and pestilence against many lands and mighty kingdoms.

[9] But the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as truly sent by the LORD only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled.

[10] Thereupon the prophet Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, broke it,

[11] and said in the presence of all the people: "Thus says the LORD: 'Even so, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from off the neck of all the nations.'" At that, the prophet Jeremiah went away.

[12] Some time after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

[13] Go tell Hananiah this: Thus says the LORD: By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke!

[14] For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: A yoke of iron I will place on the necks of all these nations serving Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; even the beasts of the field I give him.

[15] To the prophet Hananiah the prophet Jeremiah said: Hear this, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, and you have raised false confidence in this people.

[16] For this, says the LORD, I will dispatch you from the face of the earth; this very year you shall die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.

[17] That same year, in the seventh month, Hananiah the prophet died.

Jeremiah Chapter 29

[1] This is the contents of the letter which the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, to the priests, the prophets, and all the people who were exiled by Nebuchadnezzar from Jerusalem to Babylon.

[2] This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the courtiers, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans and the skilled workmen had left Jerusalem.

[3] 1 Delivered in Babylon by Elasah, son of Shaphan, and by Gemariah, son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Babylon, the letter read:

[4] Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon:

[5] Build houses to dwell in; plant gardens, and eat their fruits.

[6] Take wives and beget sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters. There you must increase in number, not decrease.

[7] Promote the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the LORD, for upon its welfare depends your own.

[8] thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let yourselves be deceived by the prophets and diviners who are among you; do not listen to those among you who dream dreams.

[9] For they prophesy lies to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 30

[1] 1 The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

[2] Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write all the words I have spoken to you in a book.

[3] For behold, the days will come, says the LORD, when I will change the lot of my people (of Israel and Judah, says the LORD), and bring them back to the land which I gave to their fathers; they shall have it as their possession.

[4] These are the words which the LORD spoke to Israel and to Judah:

[5] thus says the LORD: A cry of dismay we hear; fear reigns, not peace.

[6] Inquire, and see: since when do men bear children? Why, then, do I see all these men, with their hands on their loins like women in childbirth? Why have all their faces turned deathly pale?

[7] How mighty is that day-- none like it! A time of distress for Jacob, though he shall be saved from it.

[8] On that day, says the LORD of hosts, "I will break his yoke from off your necks and snap your bonds." Strangers shall no longer enslave them;

[9] 2 instead, they shall serve the LORD, their God, and David, their king, whom I will raise up for them.

[10] But you, my servant Jacob, fear not, says the LORD, be not dismayed, O Israel! Behold, I will deliver you from the far-off land, your descendants, from their land of exile; Jacob shall again find rest, shall be tranquil and undisturbed,

[11] for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you. I will make an end of all the nations among which I have scattered you; but of you I will not make an end. I will chastise you as you deserve, I will not let you go unpunished.

[12] For thus says the LORD: Incurable is your wound, grievous your bruise;

[13] There is none to plead your cause, no remedy for your running sore, no healing for you.

[14] All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not seek you. I struck you as an enemy would strike, punished you cruelly;

[15] Why cry out over your wound? your pain is without relief. Because of your great guilt, your numerous sins, I have done this to you.

[16] Yet all who devour you shall be devoured, all your enemies shall go into exile. All who plunder you shall be plundered, all who pillage you I will hand over to pillage.

[17] For I will restore you to health; of your wounds I will heal you, says the LORD. "The outcast" they have called you, "with no avenger."

[18] Thus says the LORD: See! I will restore the tents of Jacob, his dwellings I will pity; City shall be rebuilt upon hill, and palace restored as it was.

[19] From them will resound songs of praise, the laughter of happy men. I will make them not few, but many; they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them.

[20] His sons shall be as of old, his assembly before me shall stand firm; I will punish all his oppressors.

[21] 3 His leader shall be one of his own, and his rulers shall come from his kin. When I summon him, he shall approach me; how else should one take the deadly risk of approaching me? says the LORD.

[22] You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

[23] See, the storm of the LORD! His wrath breaks forth In a whirling storm that bursts upon the heads of the wicked.

[24] The anger of the LORD will not abate until he has done and fulfilled what he has determined in his heart. When the time comes, you will fully understand.

Jeremiah Chapter 31

[1] At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel, and they shall be my people.

[2] 1 Thus says the LORD: The people that escaped the sword have found favor in the desert. As Israel comes forward to be given his rest,

[3] the LORD appears to him from afar: With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you.

[4] Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin Israel; Carrying your festive tambourines, you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers.

[5] Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; those who plant them shall enjoy the fruits.

[6] Yes, a day will come when the watchmen will call out on Mount Ephraim: "Rise up, let us go to Zion, to the LORD, our God."

[7] For thus says the LORD: Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The LORD has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.

[8] Behold, I will bring them back from the land of the north; I will gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, The mothers and those with child; they shall return as an immense throng.

[9] They departed in tears, but I will console them and guide them; I will lead them to brooks of water, on a level road, so that none shall stumble. For I am a father to Israel, Ephraim is my first-born.

[10] Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, proclaim it on distant coasts, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

[11] The LORD shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.

[12] Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the LORD'S blessings: The grain, the wine, and the oil, the sheep and the oxen; They themselves shall be like watered gardens, never again shall they languish.

[13] Then the virgins shall make merry and dance, and young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

[14] I will lavish choice portions upon the priests, and my people shall be filled with my blessings, says the LORD.

[15] 2 Thus says the LORD: In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning, of bitter weeping! Rachel mourns her children, she refuses to be consoled because her children are no more.

[16] Thus says the LORD: Cease your cries of mourning, wipe the tears from your eyes. The sorrow you have shown shall have its reward, says the LORD, they shall return from the enemy's land.

[17] There is hope for your future, says the LORD; your sons shall return to their own borders.

[18] I hear, I hear Ephraim pleading: You chastised me, and I am chastened; I was an untamed calf. If you allow me, I will return, for you are the LORD, my God.

[19] I turn in repentance; I have come to myself, I strike my breast; I blush with shame, I bear the disgrace of my youth.

[20] Is Ephraim not my favored son, the child in whom I delight? Often as I threaten him, I still remember him with favor; My heart stirs for him, I must show him mercy, says the LORD.

[21] Set up road markers, put up guideposts; Turn your attention to the highway, the road by which you went. Turn back, O virgin Israel, turn back to these your cities.

[22] 3 How long will you continue to stray, rebellious daughter? The LORD has created a new thing upon the earth: the woman must encompass the man with devotion.

[23] Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: When I change their lot in the land of Judah and her cities, they shall again repeat this greeting: "May the LORD bless you, holy mountain, abode of justice!"

[24] Judah and all her cities, the farmers and those who lead the flock, shall dwell there together.

[25] For I will refresh the weary soul; every soul that languishes I will replenish.

[26] 4 Upon this I awoke and opened my eyes; but my sleep was sweet to me.

[27] The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will seed the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.

[28] As I once watched over them to uproot and pull down, to destroy, to ruin, and to harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD.

[29] 5 In those days they shall no longer say, "The fathers ate unripe grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge,"

[30] but through his own fault only shall anyone die: the teeth of him who eats the unripe grapes shall be set on edge.

[31] 6 The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

[32] It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.

[33] But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

[34] No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.

[35] Thus says the LORD, He who gives the sun to light the day, moon and stars to light the night; Who stirs up the sea till its waves roar, whose name is LORD of hosts:

[36] If ever these natural laws give way in spite of me, says the LORD, Then shall the race of Israel cease as a nation before me forever.

[37] Thus says the LORD: If the heavens on high can be measured, or the foundations below the earth be sounded, Then will I cast off the whole race of Israel because of all they have done, says the LORD.

[38] 7 The days are coming, says the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt as the LORD'S, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

[39] The measuring line shall be stretched from there straight to the hill Gareb and then turn to Goah.

[40] 8 The whole valley of corpses and ashes, all the slopes toward the Kidron Valley, as far as the corner of the Horse Gate at the east, shall be holy to the LORD. Never again shall the city be rooted up or thrown down.

Jeremiah Chapter 32

[1] 1 2 This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

[2] At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned in the quarters of the guard, at the king's palace.

[3] Zedekiah, king of Judah, had imprisoned him there, remonstrating: "How dare you prophesy: Thus says the LORD: I am handing over this city to the king of Babylon, who will capture it.

[4] Neither shall Zedekiah, king of Judah, escape the hands of the Chaldeans; rather shall he be handed over to the king of Babylon. They shall meet and speak face to face,

[5] and Zedekiah shall be taken to Babylon. There he shall remain, until I attend to him, says the LORD; in fighting the Chaldeans, you cannot win!"

[6] 3 This message came to me from the LORD, said Jeremiah:

[7] 4 Hanamel, son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you with the offer: "Buy for yourself my field in Anathoth, since you, as nearest relative, have the first right of purchase."

[8] Then, as the LORD foretold, Hanamel, my uncle's son, came to me to the quarters of the guard and said, "Please buy my field in Anathoth, in the district of Benjamin; as nearest relative, you have the first claim to possess it; make it yours." I knew this was what the LORD meant,

[9] so I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, paying him the money, seventeen silver shekels.

[10] When I had written and sealed the deed, called witnesses and weighed out the silver on the scales,

[11] 5 I accepted the deed of purchase, both the sealed copy, containing title and conditions, and the open one.

[12] This deed of purchase I gave to Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed, and before all the men of Judah who happened to be in the quarters of the guard.

[13] In their presence I gave Baruch this charge:

[14] 6 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both the sealed and the open deed of purchase, and put them in an earthen jar, so that they can be kept there a long time.

[15] For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

[16] After giving the deed of purchase to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed thus to the LORD:

[17] Ah, Lord GOD, you have made heaven and earth by your great might, with your outstretched arm; nothing is impossible to you.

[18] You continue your kindness through a thousand generations; and you repay the fathers' guilt, even into the lap of their sons who follow them. O God, great and mighty, whose name is LORD of hosts,

[19] great in counsel, mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, giving to each according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds:

[20] you have wrought signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and to this day, both in Israel and among all other men, until now you have gained renown.

[21] With strong hand and outstretched arm you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt amid signs and wonders and great terror.

[22] This land you gave them, as you had promised their fathers under oath, a land flowing with milk and honey.

[23] They entered and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice; by your law they did not live, and what you commanded they failed to do. Hence you let all these evils befall them.

[24] See, the siegeworks have arrived at this city to breach it; the city will be handed over to the Chaldeans who are attacking it, amid sword, famine, and pestilence. What you threatened has happened, you see it yourself;

[25] and yet you tell me, O Lord GOD: Buy the field with money, call in witnesses. But the city has already been handed over to the Chaldeans!

[26] Then this word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

[27] I am the LORD, the God of all mankind! Is anything impossible to me?

[28] This now is what the LORD says: I will hand over this city to the Chaldeans, for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to take.

[29] The Chaldeans who are attacking it shall enter this city and set fire to it, burning it and its houses, on the roofs of which incense was burned to Baal and libations were poured out to strange gods as a provocation to me.

[30] The Israelites and the Judeans from their youth have done only what is evil in my eyes; the Israelites did nothing but provoke me with the works of their hands, says the LORD.

[31] From the day it was built to this day, this city has excited my anger and wrath,

[32] so that I must put it out of my sight for all the wickedness the Israelites and Judeans, with their kings and their princes, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, have done to provoke me.

[33] They turned their backs to me, not their faces; though I kept teaching them, they would not listen to my correction.

[34] They defiled the house named after me by the horrid idols they set up in it.

[35] 7 They built high places to Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and immolated their sons and daughters to Molech, bringing sin upon Judah; this I never commanded them, nor did it even enter my mind that they should practice such abominations.

[36] Now, therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, which as you say is handed over to the king of Babylon amid sword, famine, and pestilence:

[37] Behold, I will gather them together from all the lands to which in anger, wrath, and great rage I banish them; I will bring them back to this place and settle them here in safety.

[38] They shall be my people, and I will be their God.

[39] One heart and one way I will give them, that they may fear me always, to their own good and that of their children after them.

[40] I will make with them an eternal covenant, never to cease doing good to them; into their hearts I will put the fear of me, that they may never depart from me.

[41] I will take delight in doing good to them: I will replant them firmly in this land, with all my heart and soul.

[42] For thus says the LORD: Just as I brought upon this people all this great evil, so I will bring upon them all the good I promise them.

[43] Fields shall again be bought in this land, which you call a desert, without man or beast, handed over to the Chaldeans.

[44] Fields shall be bought with money, deeds written and sealed, and witnesses shall be used in the land of Benjamin, in the suburbs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah and of the hill country, in the cities of the foothills and of the Negeb, when I change their lot, says the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 33

[1] The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still imprisoned in the quarters of the guard:

[2] Thus says the LORD who made the earth and gave it form and firmness, whose name is LORD:

[3] Call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell to you things great beyond reach of your knowledge.

[4] Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of Judah's kings, which are being destroyed in the face of siegeworks and the sword:

[5] men come to battle the Chaldeans, and these houses will be filled with the corpses of those whom I slay in my anger and wrath, when I hide my face from this city for all their wickedness.

[6] Behold, I will treat and assuage the city's wounds; I will heal them, and reveal to them an abundance of lasting peace.

[7] I will change the lot of Judah and the lot of Israel, and rebuild them as of old.

[8] I will cleanse them of all the guilt they incurred by sinning against me; all their offenses by which they sinned and rebelled against me, I will forgive.

[9] Then Jerusalem shall be my joy, my praise, my glory, before all the nations of the earth, as they hear of all the good I will do among them. They shall be in fear and trembling over all the peaceful benefits I will give her.

[10] Thus says the LORD: In this place of which you say, "How desolate it is, without man, without beast!" and in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are now deserted, without man, without citizen, without beast, there shall yet be heard

[11] the cry of joy, the cry of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride, the sound of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, singing, "Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good; his mercy endures forever." For I will restore this country as of old, says the LORD.

[12] Thus says the LORD of hosts: In this place, now desolate, without man or beast, and in all its cities there shall again be sheepfolds for the shepherds to couch their flocks.

[13] In the cities of the hill country, of the foothills, and of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin and the suburbs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.

[14] 1 The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.

[15] In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot; he shall do what is right and just in the land.

[16] In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: "The LORD our justice."

[17] For thus says the LORD: Never shall David lack a successor on the throne of the house of Israel,

[18] nor shall priests of Levi ever be lacking, to offer holocausts before me, to burn cereal offerings, and to sacrifice victims.This word of the LORD also came to Jeremiah:

[19] Thus says the LORD:

[20] If you can break my covenant with day, and my covenant with night, so that day and night no longer alternate in sequence,

[21] then can my covenant with my servant David also be broken, so that he will not have a son to be king upon his throne, and my covenant with the priests of Levi who minister to me.

[22] Like the host of heaven which cannot be numbered, and the sands of the sea which cannot be counted, I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister to me.

[23] This word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

[24] Have you not noticed what these people are saying: "The LORD has rejected the two tribes which he had chosen"? They spurn my people as if it were no longer a nation in their eyes.

[25] Thus says the LORD: When I have no covenant with day and night, and have given no laws to heaven and earth,

[26] then too will I reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers for the race of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will change their lot and show them mercy.

Jeremiah Chapter 34

[1] This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD while Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his armies and the earth's kingdoms subject to him, as well as the other peoples, were all attacking Jerusalem and all her cities:

[2] Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Go to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and tell him: Thus says the LORD: I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon; he will destroy it with fire.

[3] Neither shall you escape his hand; rather you will be captured and fall into his hands. You shall see the king of Babylon and speak to him face to face. Then you shall be taken to Babylon.

[4] But if you obey the word of the LORD, Zedekiah, king of Judah, then, says the LORD to you, you shall not die by the sword.

[5] You shall die in peace, and they will lament you as their lord, and burn spices for your burial as they did for your fathers, the kings who preceded you from the first; it is I who make this promise, says the LORD.

[6] The prophet Jeremiah told all these things to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem,

[7] 1 while the armies of the king of Babylon were attacking Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah, Lachish, and Azekah, since these alone were left of the fortified cities of Judah.

[8] 2 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made an agreement with all the people in Jerusalem to issue an edict of emancipation.

[9] Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should hold a man of Judah, his brother, in slavery.

[10] All the princes and the others who entered the agreement consented to set free their male and female servants, so that they should be slaves no longer. But though they agreed and freed them,

[11] afterward they took back their male and female slaves whom they had set free and again forced them into service.

[12] Then this word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

[13] Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: The day I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the place where they were slaves, I made this covenant with them:

[14] Every seventh year each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you; six years he shall serve you, but then you shall let him go free. Your fathers, however, did not heed me or obey me.

[15] Today you indeed repented and did what is right in my eyes by proclaiming the emancipation of your brethren and making an agreement before me in the house that is named after me.

[16] But then you changed your mind and profaned my name by taking back your male and female slaves to whom you had given their freedom; you forced them once more into slavery.

[17] Therefore, thus says the LORD: You did not obey me by proclaiming your neighbors and kinsmen free. I now proclaim you free, says the LORD, for the sword, famine, and pestilence. I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

[18] 3 The men who violated my covenant and did not observe the terms of the agreement which they made before me, I will make like the calf which they cut in two, between whose two parts they passed.

[19] The princes of Judah and of Jerusalem, the courtiers, the priests, and the common people, who passed between the parts of the calf,

[20] I will hand over, all of them, to their enemies, to those who seek their lives: their corpses shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

[21] Zedekiah, too, king of Judah, and his princes, I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives, to the soldiers of the king of Babylon who have at present withdrawn from you.

[22] I will give the command, says the LORD, and bring them back to this city. They shall attack and capture it, and destroy it with fire; the cities of Judah I will turn into a desert where no man dwells.

Jeremiah Chapter 35

[1] This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:

[2] 1 Approach the Rechabites and speak to them; bring them into the house of the LORD, to one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink.

[3] So I went and brought Jaazaniah, son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, the whole company of the Rechabites,

[4] 2 into the house of the LORD, to the room of the sons of Hanan, son of Igdaliah, the man of God, next to the princes' room, above the room of Maaseiah, son of Shallum, keeper of the doorway.

[5] I set before these Rechabite men bowls full of wine and offered them cups to drink the wine.

[6] 3 "We do not drink wine," they said to me: "Jonadab, Rechab's son, our father, forbade us in these words: 'Neither you nor your children shall ever drink wine.

[7] Build no house and sow no seed; neither plant nor own a vineyard. You shall dwell in tents all your life, so that you may live long on the earth where you are wayfarers.'

[8] Now we have heeded Jonadab, Rechab's son, our father, in all his prohibitions. All our lives we have not drunk wine, neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daughters.

[9] We build no houses to live in; we own no vineyards or fields or crops,

[10] and we live in tents; we obediently do everything our father Jonadab commanded us.

[11] 4 But when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, invaded this land, we decided to come into Jerusalem to escape the army of the Chaldeans and the army of Aram; that is why we are now living in Jerusalem."

[12] Then this word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

[13] Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, say to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem: Will you not take correction and obey my words? says the LORD.

[14] The advice of Jonadab, Rechab's son, by which he forbade his children to drink wine, has been followed: to this day they have not drunk it; they obeyed their father's command. Me, however, you have not obeyed, although I spoke to you untiringly and insistently.

[15] I kept sending you all my servants the prophets, telling you to turn back, all of you, from your evil way; to reform your conduct, and not follow strange gods or serve them, if you would remain on the land which I gave you and your fathers; but you did not heed me or obey me.

[16] Yes, the children of Jonadab, Rechab's son, observed the command which their father laid on them; but this people does not obey me!

[17] Now, therefore, says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: I will bring upon Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem every evil that I threatened; because when I spoke they did not obey, when I called they did not answer.

[18] But to the company of the Rechabites Jeremiah said: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Since you have obeyed the command of Jonadab, your father, kept all his commands and done everything he commanded you,

[19] thus therefore says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Never shall there fail to be a descendant of Jonadab, Rechab's son, standing in my service.

Jeremiah Chapter 36

[1] In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

[2] Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, in the days of Josiah, until today.

[3] Perhaps, when the house of Judah hears all the evil I have in mind to do to them, they will turn back each from his evil way, so that I may forgive their wickedness and their sin.

[4] So Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah, who wrote down on a scroll, as Jeremiah dictated, all the words which the LORD had spoken to him.

[5] 1 Then Jeremiah charged Baruch: I cannot go to the house of the LORD; I am prevented from doing so.

[6] Do you go on the fast day and read publicly in the LORD'S house the LORD'S words from the scroll you wrote at my dictation; read them also to all the men of Judah who come up from their cities.

[7] Perhaps they will lay their supplication before the LORD and will all turn back from their evil way; for great is the fury of anger with which the LORD has threatened this people.

[8] Baruch, son of Neriah, did everything the prophet Jeremiah commanded; from the book-scroll he read the LORD'S words in the LORD'S house.

Jeremiah Chapter 37

[1] Coniah, son of Jehoiakim, was succeeded by King Zedekiah, son of Josiah; he was made king over the land of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

[2] Neither he, nor his ministers, nor the people of the land would listen to the words of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah the prophet.

[3] Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah with this request: "Pray to the LORD, our God, for us."

[4] 1 At this time Jeremiah had not yet been put into prison; he still came and went freely among the people.

[5] 2 Also, Pharaoh's army had set out from Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard this report they marched away from the city.

[6] This word of the LORD then came to the prophet Jeremiah:

[7] Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Give this answer to the king of Judah who sent you to me to consult me: Pharaoh's army which has set out to help you will return to its own land, Egypt.

[8] The Chaldeans shall return to the fight against this city; they shall capture it and destroy it with fire.

[9] Thus says the LORD: Do not deceive yourselves with the thought that the Chaldeans will leave you for good, because they shall not leave!

[10] Even if you were to defeat the whole Chaldean army now attacking you, and only the wounded remained, each in his tent, these would rise up and destroy the city with fire.

[11] When the Chaldean army lifted the siege of Jerusalem at the threat of the army of Pharaoh,

[12] Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem for the district of Benjamin, to take part with his family in the division of an inheritance.

[13] But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, he met the captain of the guard, a man named Irijah, son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah; he seized the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "You are deserting to the Chaldeans!"

[14] "That is a lie!" Jeremiah answered, "I am not deserting to the Chaldeans." Without listening, Irijah kept Jeremiah in custody and brought him to the princes.

[15] The princes were enraged, and had Jeremiah beaten and thrown into prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which they were using as a jail.

[16] And so Jeremiah entered the vaulted dungeon, where he remained a long time.

[17] Once King Zedekiah had him brought to his palace and he asked him secretly whether there was any message from the LORD. Yes! Jeremiah answered: you shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.

[18] Jeremiah then asked King Zedekiah: In what have I wronged you, or your ministers, or this people, that you should put me in prison?

[19] And where are your own prophets now,

[20] who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land? Hear now, my lord king, and grant my petition: do not send me back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I shall die there.

[21] King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be confined in the quarters of the guard, and given a loaf of bread each day from the bakers' shop until all the bread in the city was eaten up. Thus Jeremiah remained in the quarters of the guard.

Jeremiah Chapter 38

[1] 1 Shephatiah, son of Mattan, Gedaliah, son of Pashhur, Jucal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, son of Malchiah, heard Jeremiah speaking these words to all the people:

[2] Thus says the LORD: He who remains in this city shall die by sword, or famine, or pestilence; but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be spared him as booty, and he shall live.

[3] Thus says the LORD: This city shall certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon; he shall capture it.

[4] 2 "This man ought to be put to death," the princes said to the king; "he demoralizes the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such things to them; he is not interested in the welfare of our people, but in their ruin."

[5] King Zedekiah answered: "He is in your power"; for the king could do nothing with them.

[6] And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, which was in the quarters of the guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

[7] 3 Now Ebed-melech, a Cushite, a courtier in the king's palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. The king happened just then to be at the Gate of Benjamin,

[8] and Ebed-melech went there from the palace and said to him,

[9] "My lord king, these men have been at fault in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, casting him into the cistern. He will die of famine on the spot, for there is no more food in the city."

[10] Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Cushite to take three men along with him, and draw the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he should die.

[11] Ebed-melech took the men along with him, and went first to the linen closet in the palace, from which he took some old, tattered rags; these he sent down to Jeremiah in the cistern, with ropes.

[12] Then he said to Jeremiah, "Put the old, tattered rags between your armpits and the ropes." Jeremiah did so,

[13] and they drew him up with the ropes out of the cistern. But Jeremiah remained in the quarters of the guard.

[14] Once King Zedekiah summoned the prophet Jeremiah to come to him at the third entrance to the house of the LORD. "I have a question to ask you," the king said to Jeremiah; "hide nothing from me." Jeremiah answered Zedekiah:

[15] If I tell you anything, you will have me killed, will you not? If I counsel you, you will not listen to me!

[16] But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly: "As the LORD lives who gave us the breath of life, I will not kill you; nor will I hand you over to these men who seek your life."

[17] Thereupon Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: Thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the princes of Babylon's king, you shall save your life; this city shall not be destroyed with fire, and you and your family shall live.

[18] But if you do not surrender to the princes of Babylon's king, this city shall fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, who shall destroy it with fire, and you shall not escape their hands.

[19] King Zedekiah, however, said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the men of Judah who have deserted to the Chaldeans; I may be handed over to them, and they will mistreat me."

[20] You will not be handed over, Jeremiah answered. Please obey the voice of the LORD and do as I tell you; then it shall go well with you, and your life will be spared.

[21] But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD shows me:

[22] All the women left in the house of Judah's king shall be brought out to the princes of Babylon's king, and they shall taunt you thus: "They betrayed you, outdid you, your good friends! Now that your feet are stuck in the mud, they slink away."

[23] All your wives and sons shall be led forth to the Chaldeans, and you shall not escape their hands; you shall be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city shall be destroyed with fire.

[24] Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no one know about this conversation, or you shall die.

[25] If the princes hear I spoke to you, if they come and ask you, 'Tell us what you said to the king; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,' or, 'What did the king say to you?'

[26] give them this answer: 'I petitioned the king not to send me back to Jonathan's house to die there.'"

[27] When all the princes came to Jeremiah, they questioned him, and he answered them in the very words the king had commanded. They said no more to him, for nothing had been heard of the earlier conversation.

[28] Thus Jeremiah stayed in the quarters of the guard till the day Jerusalem was taken.When Jerusalem was taken. . . .

Jeremiah Chapter 39

[1] 1 In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army marched against Jerusalem and besieged it.

[2] 2 On the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, a breach was made in the city's defenses.

[3] All the princes of the king of Babylon came and occupied the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, of Simmagir, the chief officer, Nebushazban, the high dignitary, and all the other princes of the king of Babylon. . . .

[4] 3 When Zedekiah, king of Judah, saw them, he and all his warriors fled by night, leaving the city on the Royal Garden Road through the gate between the two walls. He went in the direction of the Arabah,

[5] 4 but the Chaldean army pursued them, and overtook and captured Zedekiah in the desert near Jericho. He was brought to Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, pronounced sentence upon him.

[6] As Zedekiah looked on, his sons were slain at Riblah by order of the king of Babylon, who slew also all the nobles of Judah.

[7] He then blinded Zedekiah and bound him in chains to bring him to Babylon.

[8] The Chaldeans set fire to the king's palace and the houses of the people, and demolished the walls of Jerusalem.

[9] Nebuzaradan, chief of the bodyguard, deported to Babylon the rest of the people left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the workmen.

[10] But some of the poor who had no property were left in the land of Judah by Nebuzaradan, chief of the bodyguard, and were given at the same time vineyards and farms.

[11] Concerning Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave the following orders through Nebuzaradan, chief of the bodyguard:

[12] "Take him and look after him; let no harm befall him, but treat him as he himself requests."

[13] Thereupon Nebuzaradan, chief of the bodyguard, and Nebushazban, the high dignitary, and Nergal-sharezer, the chief officer, and all the nobles of the king of Babylon,

[14] had Jeremiah taken out of the quarters of the guard, and entrusted to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to be brought home. And so he remained among the people.

[15] While Jeremiah was still imprisoned in the quarters of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him:

[16] Go, tell this to Ebed-melech the Cushite: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am now fulfilling the words I spoke against this city, for evil and not for good; and this before your very eyes.

[17] But on that day I will rescue you, says the LORD; you shall not be handed over to the men of whom you are afraid.

[18] I will make certain that you escape and do not fall by the sword. Your life shall be spared as booty, because you trusted in me, says the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 40

[1] 1 This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, had released him in Ramah, where he had found him a prisoner in chains, among the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.

[2] When the captain of the bodyguard took charge of Jeremiah, he said to him, "The LORD, your God, foretold the ruin of this place.

[3] Now he has brought about in deed what he threatened; because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this fate has befallen you.

[4] And now, I am freeing you today from the fetters that bind your hands; if it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, you may come: I will look after you well. But if it does not please you to come to Babylon, you need not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think good and proper";

[5] and then, before he left--"or go to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed ruler over the cities of Judah; stay with him among the people, or go wherever you please." The captain of the bodyguard gave him food and gifts and let him go.

[6] 2 Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, in Mizpah, and stayed with him among the people left in the land.

[7] When the army leaders who were still in the field with all their men heard that the king of Babylon had given Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, charge of the land, of men, women, and children, and of those poor who had not been led captive to Babylon,

[8] 3 they came with their men to Gedaliah in Mizpah: Ishmael, son of Nethaniah; Johanan, son of Kareah; Seraiah, son of Tanhumeth; the sons of Ephai of Netophah; and Jezaniah of Beth-maacah.

[9] Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, adjured them and their men not to be afraid to serve the Chaldeans: to stay in the land and submit to the king of Babylon, for their own welfare;

[10] saying that he himself would remain in Mizpah, as their intermediary with the Chaldeans who should come to them. They were to collect the wine, the fruit, and the oil, to store them in jars, and to settle in the cities they occupied.

[11] When the people of Judah in Moab, those among the Ammonites, those in Edom, and those in all other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah, and had appointed over them Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan,

[12] they all returned to the land of Judah from the places to which they had scattered. They went to Gedaliah at Mizpah and had a rich harvest of wine and fruit.

[13] Now Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the leaders of the armies in the field came to Gedaliah in Mizpah

[14] 4 and asked him whether he did not know that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, had sent Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, to assassinate him.

[15] But Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, would not believe them. Then Johanan, son of Kareah, said secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah: "Let me go and kill Ishmael, son of Nethaniah; no one will know it. Why should he be allowed to kill you? All the Jews who have now rallied to you will be dispersed and the remnant of Judah will perish."

[16] Nevertheless, Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, answered Johanan, son of Kareah, "You shall do nothing of the kind; you have lied about Ishmael."

Jeremiah Chapter 41

[1] In the seventh month Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of royal descent, one of the king's nobles, came with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. And while they were together at table in Mizpah,

[2] Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and the ten who were with him, rose up and attacked with swords Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon had made ruler over the land; and they killed him.

[3] Ishmael also slew all the men of Judah of military age who were with Gedaliah and the Chaldean soldiers who were there.

[4] The second day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it,

[5] eighty men with beards shaved off, clothes in rags, and with gashes on their bodies came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, bringing food offerings and incense for the house of the LORD.

[6] Ishmael son of Nethaniah, went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went.

[7] "Come to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam," he said as he met them. When they were once inside the city, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and his men slew them and threw them into the cistern.

[8] But there were ten among them who pleaded with Ishmael: "Do not kill us; we have stores buried in the field: wheat and barley, oil and honey." And so he spared them and did not kill them, as he had killed their companions.

[9] The cistern into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men he had killed was the large one made by King Asa to defend himself against Baasha, king of Israel; this cistern Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, filled with the slain.

[10] 1 Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, led away the remnant of the people left in Mizpah and the princesses, whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, had confided to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. With these captives, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, set out to make his way to the Ammonites.

[11] But when Johanan, son of Kareah, and the other army leaders with him heard of the crimes Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had committed,

[12] 2 they took all their men and set out to attack Ishmael, son of Nethaniah. They overtook him at the Great Waters in Gibeon.

[13] At the sight of Johanan, son of Kareah, and the other army leaders, the people who were Ishmael's captives rejoiced.

[14] All of those whom Ishmael had brought away from Mizpah went over to Johanan, son of Kareah.

[15] But Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, escaped from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites with eight men.

[16] Then Johanan, son of Kareah, and all his army leaders took charge of the remnant of the people, both the soldiers and the women and children with their guardians, whom Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had brought away from Mizpah after he killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikim. From Gibeon,

[17] they retreated to the lodging place of Chimham near Bethlehem, where they stopped, intending to flee into Egypt.

[18] They were afraid of the Chaldeans, because Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, had slain Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made ruler in the land of Judah.

Jeremiah Chapter 42

[1] Then all the army leaders, Johanan, son of Kareah, Azariah, son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, high and low, approached the prophet Jeremiah

[2] and said, "Grant our petition; pray for us to the LORD, your God, for all this remnant. We are now few who once were many, as you well see.

[3] Let the LORD, your God, show us what way we should take and what we should do."

[4] Very well! the prophet Jeremiah answered them: I will pray to the LORD, your God, as you desire; whatever the LORD answers you, I will tell you; I will withhold nothing from you.

[5] And they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be our witness: we will truly and faithfully follow all the instructions the LORD, your God, will send us.

[6] Whether it is pleasant or difficult, we will obey the command of the LORD, our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us for obeying the command of the LORD, our God."

[7] Ten days passed before the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

[8] Then he called Johanan, son of Kareah, his army leaders, and all the people, high and low,

[9] and said to them: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to offer your prayer:

[10] If you remain quietly in this land I will build you up, and not tear you down; I will plant you, not uproot you; for I regret the evil I have done you.

[11] Do not fear the king of Babylon, before whom you are now afraid; do not fear him, says the LORD, for I am with you to save you, to rescue you from his power.

[12] I will grant you mercy, so that he will be sorry for you and let you return to your land.

[13] But if you disobey the voice of the LORD, your God, and decide not to remain in this land,

[14] saying, "No, we will go to Egypt, where we will see no more of war, hear the trumpet alarm no longer, nor hunger for bread; there we will live";

[15] then listen to the word of the LORD, remnant of Judah: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are determined to go to Egypt, when you arrive there to stay,

[16] the sword you fear shall reach you in the land of Egypt; the hunger you dread shall cling to you no less in Egypt, and there you shall die.

[17] All those men who determine to go to Egypt to stay, shall die by the sword, famine, and pestilence; not one shall survive or escape the evil that I will bring upon them.

[18] For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my furious anger was poured out upon the citizens of Jerusalem, so shall my anger be poured out on you when you reach Egypt. You shall become an example of malediction and horror, a curse and a reproach, and you shall never see this place again.

[19] It is the LORD who has spoken to you, remnant of Judah; do not go to Egypt! You can never say that I did not warn you this day.

[20] At the cost of your lives you have deceived me, sending me to the LORD, your God, saying, "Pray for us to the LORD, our God; make known to us all that the LORD, our God, shall say, and we will do it."

[21] Today I proclaim his message, but you obey the voice of the LORD, your God, in nothing that he has commissioned me to make known to you.

[22] Have no doubt of this, you shall die by the sword, famine, and pestilence in the place where you wish to go and settle.

Jeremiah Chapter 43

[1] When Jeremiah finished speaking to the people all these words of the LORD, their God, with which the LORD had sent him to them,

[2] Azariah, son of Hoshaiah, Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the insolent men shouted to Jeremiah: "You lie; it was not the LORD, our God, who sent you to tell us not to go to Egypt to settle.

[3] It is Baruch, son of Neriah, who stirs you up against us, to hand us over to the Chaldeans to be killed or exiled to Babylon."

[4] Johanan, son of Kareah, and the rest of the leaders and the people did not obey the LORD'S command to stay in the land of Judah.

[5] Instead, Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the army leaders took along the whole remnant of Judah that had been dispersed among the nations and had returned thence to dwell again in the land of Judah:

[6] men, women, and children, the princesses and everyone whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, had entrusted to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah, the prophet, and Baruch, son of Neriah.

[7] Against the LORD'S command they went to Egypt, and arrived at Tahpanhes. . . .

[8] This word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:

[9] 1 Take with you large stones and sink them in mortar in the brickyard at the entrance to the royal building in Tahpanhes, while the men of Judah look on,

[10] and then say to them: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and bring him here. He will set his throne upon these stones which I, Jeremiah, have sunk, and stretch his canopy over them.

[11] He shall come and strike the land of Egypt: with death, whoever is marked for death; with exile, everyone destined for exile; with the sword, all who are intended for the sword.

[12] He shall set fire to the temples of Egypt's gods, and burn the gods or carry them off. As a shepherd delouses his cloak, he shall delouse the land of Egypt and depart victorious.

[13] He shall smash the obelisks of the temple of the sun in the land of Egypt and destroy with fire the temples of the Egyptian gods.

Jeremiah Chapter 44

[1] This word came to Jeremiah for all the people of Judah who were living in Egypt, at Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in Upper Egypt:

[2] 1 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil I brought on Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. Today they are ruins and uninhabited,

[3] because of the evil they did to provoke me, going after strange gods, serving them and sacrificing to them, gods which neither they, nor you, nor your fathers knew.

[4] Though I kept sending to you all my servants the prophets, with the plea not to commit this horrible deed which I hate,

[5] they would not listen or accept the warning to turn away from the evil of sacrificing to strange gods.

[6] Therefore the fury of my anger poured forth in flame over the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, so that they became the ruinous waste they are today.

[7] Now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you inflict so great an evil upon yourselves? Will you root out from Judah man and wife, child and nursling, and not leave yourselves even a remnant?

[8] Will you go on provoking me by the works of your hands, by sacrificing to strange gods here in the land of Egypt where you have come to live? Will you be rooted out and become a curse and a disgrace among all the nations of the earth?

[9] Have you forgotten the evil deeds which your fathers, and the kings of Judah and their wives, and you yourselves and your wives have done in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?

[10] To this day they have not been crushed; they do not fear or follow the law and the statutes which I set before you and your fathers.

[11] Hence, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have determined evil against you; and I will uproot all Judah.

[12] I will take away the remnant of Judah who insisted on coming to dwell in Egypt, so that they shall be wholly destroyed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall by the sword or be consumed by hunger. High and low, they shall die by the sword, or by hunger, and become an example of malediction, a horror, a curse and a reproach.

[13] Thus will I punish those who live in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem with sword, hunger, and pestilence. None of the remnant of Judah that have come to settle in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive.

[14] None shall return to the land of Judah, though they yearn to return and live there. Only scattered refugees shall return.

[15] From all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to strange gods, from all the women who were present in the immense crowd, and from all the people who lived in Lower and Upper Egypt, Jeremiah received this answer:

[16] "We will not listen to what you say in the name of the LORD.

[17] Rather will we continue doing what we had proposed; we will burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, as we and our fathers, our kings and princes have done in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had enough food to eat and we were well off; we suffered no misfortune.

[18] But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we are in need of everything and are being destroyed by the sword and by hunger.

[19] And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out libations to her, was it without our husbands' consent that we baked for her cakes in her image and poured out libations to her?"

[20] To all the people, men and women, who gave him this answer, Jeremiah said:

[21] Was it not this that the LORD remembered and brought to mind, that you burned incense in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem: you, your fathers, your kings and princes, and the people generally?

[22] The LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds, the horrible things which you were doing; and so your land became a waste, a desert, a thing accursed and without inhabitants, as it is today.

[23] Because you burned incense and sinned against the LORD, not obeying the voice of the LORD, not living by his law, his statutes, and his decrees, this evil has befallen you at the present day.

[24] Jeremiah said further to all the people, including the women: Hear the word of the LORD, all you Judeans in the land of Egypt:

[25] Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have stated your intentions, and kept them in fact: "We will continue to fulfill the vows we have made to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out libations to her." Very well! keep your vows, carry out your resolutions!

[26] But listen then to the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who live in Egypt; I swear by my own great name, says the LORD, in the whole land of Egypt no man of Judah shall henceforth pronounce my name, saying, "As the Lord GOD lives."

[27] I am watching over them to do evil, not good. All the men of Judah in Egypt shall perish by the sword or famine until they are utterly destroyed.

[28] Those who escape the sword to return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah shall be few in number. The whole remnant of Judah who came to settle in Egypt shall know whose word stands, mine or theirs.

[29] That you may know how surely my threats of punishment for you shall be fulfilled, this shall be a sign to you, says the LORD, that I will punish you in this place.

[30] 2 Thus says the LORD: See! I will hand over Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, to his enemies, to those who seek his life, just as I handed over Zedekiah, king of Judah, to his enemy and mortal foe, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Jeremiah Chapter 45

[1] 1 This is the message that the prophet Jeremiah gave to Baruch, son of Neriah, when he wrote in a book the prophecies that Jeremiah dictated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:

[2] Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, to you, Baruch,

[3] because you said, "Alas! the LORD adds grief to my pain; I am weary from groaning, and can find no rest":

[4] say this to him, says the LORD: What I have built, I am tearing down; what I have planted, I am uprooting: even the whole land.

[5] And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not! I am bringing evil on all mankind, says the LORD, but your life I will leave you as booty, wherever you may go.

Jeremiah Chapter 46

[1] 1 This is the word of the LORD that came to the prophet Jeremiah against the nations.

[2] 2 Concerning Egypt. Against the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:

[3] Prepare shield and buckler! march to battle!

[4] Harness the horses, mount, charioteers! Fall in with your helmets; polish your spears, put on your breastplates.

[5] What do I see? With broken ranks They fall back; their heroes are routed, They flee headlong without making a stand. Terror on every side, says the LORD!

[6] The swift cannot flee, nor the hero escape: There in the north, on the Euphrates' bank, they stumble and fall.

[7] Who is this that surges forward like the Nile, like rivers of billowing waters?

[8] Egypt surges like the Nile, like rivers of billowing waters. "I will surge forward," he says, "and cover the earth, destroying the city and its people.

[9] Forward, horses! drive madly, chariots! Set out, warriors, Cush and Put, bearing your shields, Men of Lud, stretching your bows!"

[10] But this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, vengeance on his foes! The sword devours, is sated, drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts holds a slaughter feast in the northland, on the Euphrates.

[11] Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter Egypt! No use to multiply remedies; for you there is no cure.

[12] The nations hear of your shame, your cries fill the earth. Warrior trips over warrior, both fall together.

[13] 3 The message which the LORD gave to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the advance of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to attack the land of Egypt:

[14] Announce it in Egypt, publish it in Migdol, proclaim it in Memphis and Tahpanhes! Say: Take your stand, prepare yourselves, the sword has already devoured your neighbors.

[15] 4 Why has Apis fled, your mighty one failed to stand? The LORD thrust him down;

[16] he stumbled repeatedly, and fell. They said one to another, "Up! let us return to our own people, To the land of our birth, away from the destroying sword."

[17] 5 Call Pharaoh, king of Egypt, by the name "The noise that let its time go by."

[18] 6 As I live, says the King whose name is LORD of hosts, Like Tabor among the mountains he shall come, like Carmel above the sea.

[19] Pack your baggage for exile, capital city of daughter Egypt; Memphis shall become a desert, an empty ruin.

[20] Egypt is a pretty heifer, from the north a horsefly lights upon her.

[21] The mercenaries in her ranks are like fatted calves; They too turn and flee together, stand not their ground, When the day of their ruin comes upon them, the time of their punishment.

[22] She sounds like a retreating reptile! Yes, they come in force; like woodchoppers, they attack her with axes.

[23] They cut down her forest, says the LORD, impenetrable though it be; More numerous than locusts, they cannot be counted.

[24] Disgraced is daughter Egypt, handed over to the people of the north.

[25] 7 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, has said: See! I will punish Amon of Thebes, and Egypt, her gods and her kings, Pharaoh, and those who trust in him.

[26] I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his ministers. But later on Egypt shall be inhabited again, as in times past, says the LORD.

[27] But you, my servant Jacob, fear not; be not dismayed, O Israel. Behold, I will deliver you from the far-off land, your descendants, from their land of exile. Jacob shall again find rest, shall be tranquil and undisturbed.

[28] You, my servant Jacob, never fear, says the LORD, for I am with you; I will make an end of all the nations to which I have driven you, But of you I will not make an end: I will chastise you as you deserve, I will not let you go unpunished.

Jeremiah Chapter 47

[1] This is the word that came from the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:

[2] 1 Thus says the LORD: Behold: waters are rising from the north, a torrent in flood; It shall flood the land and all that is in it, the cities and their people. All the people of the land set up a wailing cry.

[3] They hear the stamping hooves of his steeds, the rattling chariots, the rumbling wheels. Fathers turn not to save their children; their hands fall helpless

[4] 2 Because of the day which has come to ruin all the Philistines, And cut off from Tyre and Sidon the last of their allies. Yes, the LORD is destroying the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

[5] 3 Gaza is shaved bald, Ashkelon is reduced to silence; Ashdod, the remnant of their strength, how long will you gash yourself?

[6] 4 Alas, sword of the LORD! how long till you find rest? Return into your scabbard; stop, be still!

[7] How can it find rest when the LORD has commanded it? Against Ashkelon and the seashore he has appointed it.

Jeremiah Chapter 48

[1] 1 Concerning Moab, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo, it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is disgraced and captured, Disgraced and overthrown is the stronghold:

[2] Moab's glory is no more. Evil they plan against Heshbon: "Come, let us put an end to her as a people." You, too, Madmen, shall be reduced to silence; behind you stalks the sword.

[3] Listen! a cry from Horonaim of ruin and great destruction!

[4] Moab is crushed, their outcry is heard in Zoar.

[5] The ascent of Luhith they climb weeping; On the descent to Horonaim the cry of destruction is heard.

[6] "Flee, save your lives, to survive like the wild ass in the desert!"

[7] 2 Because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be captured. Chemosh shall go into exile, his priests and princes with him.

[8] The destroyer comes upon every city, not a city escapes; Ruined is the valley, wasted the plain, as the LORD has said.

[9] Set up a memorial for Moab, for it is an utter wasteland; Its cities are turned into ruins where no one dwells.

[10] (Cursed be he who does the LORD'S work remissly, cursed he who holds back his sword from blood.)

[11] Moab has been tranquil from his youth, has rested upon his lees; He was not poured from one flask to another, he went not into exile. Thus he kept his taste, and his scent was not lost.

[12] Hence, the days shall come, says the LORD, when I will send him coopers to turn him over; they shall empty his flasks and break his jars.

[13] Chemosh shall disappoint Moab, as Israel was disappointed by Bethel in which they trusted.

[14] How can you say, "We are heroes, men valiant in war"?

[15] The ravager of Moab and his cities advances, the flower of his youth goes down to be slaughtered, says the King, the LORD of hosts by name.

[16] Near at hand is Moab's ruin, his disaster hastens apace.

[17] Mourn for him, all you his neighbors, all you who knew him well! Say: How the strong staff is broken, the glorious rod!

[18] Come down from glory, sit on the ground, you that dwell in Dibon; Moab's ravager has come up against you, he has ruined your strongholds.

[19] Stand by the wayside, watch closely, you that dwell in Aroer; Ask the man who flees, the woman who tries to escape: say to them, "What has happened?"

[20] Moab is disgraced, yes, destroyed, howl and cry out; Publish it at the Arnon, Moab is ruined!

[21] For judgment has come on the land of the plateau: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

[22] on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

[23] on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,

[24] on Kerioth and on Bozrah: on all the cities of Moab, far and near.

[25] Moab's strength is broken, his might is shattered, says the LORD.

[26] Because he boasted against the LORD, make Moab drunk so that he retches and vomits, and he too becomes a laughingstock.

[27] Is Israel a laughingstock to you? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head whenever you speak of her?

[28] Leave the cities, dwell in the crags, you that dwell in Moab. Be like a dove that nests out of reach on the edge of a chasm.

[29] We have heard of the pride of Moab, pride beyond bounds: His loftiness, his pride, his scorn, his insolence of heart.

[30] I know, says the LORD, his arrogance; liar in boast, liar in deed.

[31] And so I wail over Moab, over all Moab I cry, over the men of Kir-heres I moan.

[32] More than for Jazer I weep over you, vineyard of Sibmah. Your tendrils trailed down to the sea, as far as Jazer they stretched. Upon your harvest, upon your vintage, the ravager has fallen.

[33] Joy and jubilation are at an end in the fruit gardens of the land of Moab. I drain the wine from the wine vats, the treader treads no more, the vintage shout is stilled.

[34] The cry of Heshbon and Elealeh is heard as far as Jahaz; they call from Zoar to Horonaim, and to Eglath-shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim turn into a desert.

[35] I will leave no one in Moab, says the LORD, to offer a holocaust on the high place, or to burn incense to his gods.

[36] Hence the wail of flutes for Moab is in my heart; for the men of Kir-heres the wail of flutes is in my heart: the wealth they acquired has perished.

[37] Every head has been made bald, every beard shaved; every hand is gashed, and the loins of all are clothed in sackcloth.

[38] On every roof of Moab and in all his squares there is mourning; I have shattered Moab like a pot that no one wants, says the LORD.

[39] How terror seizes Moab, and wailing! How he turns his back in shame! Moab has become a laughingstock and a horror to all his neighbors!

[40] For thus says the LORD: Behold, like an eagle he soars, spreads his wings over Moab.

[41] Cities are taken, strongholds seized: On that day the hearts of Moab's heroes are like the heart of a woman in travail.

[42] Moab shall be destroyed, no more a people, because he boasted against the LORD.

[43] Terror, pit, and trap be upon you, people of Moab, says the LORD.

[44] He who flees from the terror falls into the pit; He who climbs from the pit is caught in the trap; For I will bring these things upon Moab in the year of their punishment, says the LORD.

[45] In Heshbon's shadow stop short the exhausted refugees; For fire breaks forth from Heshbon, and a blaze from the house of Sihon: It consumes the brow of Moab, the skull of the noisemakers.

[46] Woe to you, O Moab, you are ruined, O people of Chemosh! Your sons are taken into exile, your daughters into captivity.

[47] But I will change the lot of Moab in the days to come, says the LORD. Thus far the judgment on Moab.

Jeremiah Chapter 49

[1] 1 Concerning the Ammonites, thus says the LORD: Has Israel no sons? has he no heir? Why then has Milcom disinherited Gad, why have his people settled in Gad's cities?

[2] 2 But the days are coming, says the LORD, when against Rabbah of the Ammonites I will sound the battle alarm; She shall become a mound of ruins, and her daughter cities shall be destroyed by fire. Israel shall inherit those who disinherited her, says the LORD.

[3] Howl, Heshbon, for the ravager approaches, shriek, daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn, run to and fro, gashing yourselves; For Milcom goes into exile along with his priests and captains.

[4] Why do you glory in your strength, your ebbing strength, rebellious daughter? You who trust in your treasures, saying, "Who can come against me?"

[5] I am bringing terror upon you, says the Lord GOD of hosts, from all round about you; You shall be scattered, each man in headlong flight, with no one to rally the fugitives.

[6] But afterward I will change the lot of the Ammonites, says the LORD.

[7] 3 4 Concerning Edom, thus says the LORD of hosts: Is there no more wisdom in Teman, has counsel perished from the prudent, has their wisdom become corrupt?

[8] 5 Flee, retreat, hide in deep holes, you who live in Dedan: For I will bring destruction upon Esau when I come to punish him.

[9] If vintagers came upon you, they would leave no gleanings; If thieves by night, they would destroy as they pleased.

[10] So I myself will strip Esau; I will uncover his retreats so that he cannot hide. He is ruined: sons, and brothers, and neighbors, so that he is no more.

[11] Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive; your widows, let them trust in me.

[12] For thus says the LORD: Even those not sentenced to drink the cup must drink it! Shall you then go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished; you shall surely drink it.

[13] 6 By my own self I have sworn, says the LORD: Bozrah shall become an object of horror and a disgrace, a desolation and a curse; she and all her cities shall become ruins forever.

[14] I have heard a report from the LORD, a herald has been sent among the nations: Gather together, move against her, rise up for battle.

[15] Small will I make you among the nations, despised among men!

[16] The terror you spread beguiled you, and your presumption of heart; You that live in rocky crags, that hold the heights of the hill: Though you build your nest high as the eagle, from there I will drag you down, says the LORD.

[17] Edom shall become an object of horror. Every passer-by shall be appalled and catch his breath at all her wounds.

[18] As when Sodom, Gomorrah, and their neighbors were overthrown, says the LORD, not a man shall dwell there: no one shall visit there.

[19] As when a lion comes up from the thicket of Jordan to the permanent feeding grounds, So I, in an instant, will drive men off; and whom I choose I will establish there! For who is like me? who can call me to account? What shepherd can stand against me?

[20] Therefore, hear the counsel of the LORD, which he has taken against Edom; Hear the plans he has made against those that live in Teman: They shall be dragged away, even the smallest sheep, their own pasture shall be aghast because of them.

[21] At the noise of their fall the earth quakes, to the Red Sea the outcry is heard!

[22] See! like an eagle he soars aloft, and spreads his wings over Bozrah; On that day the hearts of Edom's heroes shall be like the heart of a woman in travail.Concerning Damascus:

[23] 7 Hamath and Arpad are covered with shame, they have heard bad news; Worried, they toss like the sea which cannot rest.

[24] Damascus is weakened, she turns to flee, panic has seized her. Distress and pangs take hold of her, like those of a woman in travail.

[25] How can the city of glory be forsaken, the town of delight!

[26] But now her young men shall fall in her streets, and all her warriors shall be stilled. On that day, says the LORD of hosts,

[27] 8 I will set fire to the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

[28] Of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, thus says the LORD: Rise up, attack Kedar, ravage the Easterners.

[29] Their tents and herds shall be taken away, their tent curtains and all their goods; Their camels they shall carry off for themselves, and shout from upon them, "Terror on every side!"

[30] Flee! leave your homes, hide in deep holes, you that live in Hazor, says the LORD; For counsel has been taken against you, a plan has been formed against you (Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon).

[31] Rise up! set out against a nation that is at peace, that lives secure, says the LORD, That has no gates or bars, and dwells alone.

[32] Their camels shall be your booty, their many herds your spoil; I will scatter to the winds those who shave their temples, from all sides I will bring ruin upon them, says the LORD.

[33] Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals, a desert forever, Where no man lives, no human being stays.

[34] 9 The following word of the LORD against Elam came to the prophet Jeremiah at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah:

[35] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might.

[36] I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four ends of the heavens: I will scatter them to all these winds, till there is no nation to which the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

[37] I will break Elam before their foes, before those who seek their life; I will bring evil upon them, my burning wrath, says the LORD. I will send the sword to pursue them until I have completely made an end of them;

[38] My throne I will set up in Elam and destroy from there king and princes, says the LORD.

[39] But in the days to come I will change the lot of Elam, says the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 50

[1] 1 The word which the LORD spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans, through the prophet Jeremiah:

[2] 2 Announce and publish it among the nations; publish it, hide it not, but say: Babylon is taken, Bel confounded, Merodach shattered; her images are put to shame, her idols shattered.

[3] A people from the north advances against her to turn her land into a desert, So that no one shall live there, because man and beast have fled away.

[4] In those days, at that time, says the LORD, the men of Israel and of Judah shall come, Weeping as they come, to seek the LORD, their God;

[5] to their goal in Zion they shall ask the way. "Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD with covenant everlasting, never to be forgotten."

[6] Lost sheep were my people, their shepherds misled them, straggling on the mountains; From mountain to hill they wandered, losing the way to their fold.

[7] Whoever came upon them devoured them, and their enemies said, "We incur no guilt, Because they sinned against the LORD, the hope of their fathers, their abode of justice."

[8] Flee from Babylon, leave the land of the Chaldeans, be like the rams at the head of the flock.

[9] See, I am stirring up against Babylon a band of great nations from the north; from there they advance, and she shall be taken. Their arrows are arrows of the skilled warrior; none shall return without effect.

[10] Chaldea shall be their plunder, and all her plunderers shall be enriched, says the LORD.

[11] Yes, rejoice and exult, you that plunder my portion; Frisk like calves on the green, snort like stallions!

[12] Your mother shall be sorely put to shame, she that bore you shall be abashed; See, the last of the nations, a desert, dry and waste.

[13] Because of the LORD'S wrath she shall be empty, and become a total desert; Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled and catch his breath, at all her wounds.

[14] Take your posts encircling Babylon, you who bend the bow; Shoot at her, spare not your arrows,

[15] 3 raise the war cry against her on all sides. She surrenders, her bastions fall, her walls are torn down: Vengeance of the LORD is this! Take revenge on her, as she has done, do to her; for she sinned against the LORD.

[16] Cut off from Babylon the sower and him who wields the sickle in harvest time! Before the destroying sword, each of them turns to his own people, everyone flees to his own land.

[17] A stray sheep was Israel that lions pursued; Formerly the king of Assyria devoured her, now Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gnaws her bones.

[18] Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as once I punished the king of Assyria;

[19] But I will bring back Israel to her fold, to feed on Carmel and Bashan, And on Mount Ephraim and Gilead, till she has her fill.

[20] In those days, at that time, says the LORD: They shall seek Israel's guilt, but it shall be no more, and Judah's sins, but these shall no longer be found; for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.

[21] 4 Attack the land of Merathaim, and those who live in Pekod; Slaughter and doom them, says the LORD, do all I have commanded you.

[22] Battle alarm in the land, dire destruction!

[23] How has the hammer of the whole earth been broken and shattered! What an object of horror Babylon has become among the nations.

[24] You ensnared yourself, and were caught, O Babylon, before you knew it! You were discovered and seized, because you challenged the LORD.

[25] The LORD opens his armory and brings forth the weapons of his wrath; For the Lord GOD of hosts has work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.

[26] Come upon her from every side, open her granaries, Pile up her goods in heaps and doom it, leave not a remnant.

[27] Slay all her oxen, let them go down to the slaughter; Woe to them! their day has come, the time of their punishment.

[28] Listen! the fugitives, the escaped from the land of Babylon: They announce in Zion the vengeance of the LORD, our God.

[29] Call up against Babylon archers, all who bend the bow; Encamp around her, let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; as she has done, do to her, For she insulted the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

[30] Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, all her warriors shall perish on that day, says the LORD.

[31] I am against you, man of insolence, says the Lord GOD of hosts; For your day has come, the time for me to punish you.

[32] Insolence stumbles and falls; there is no one to raise him up. I will kindle in his cities a fire that shall devour everything around him.

[33] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Oppressed are the men of Israel, and with them the men of Judah; All their captors hold them fast and refuse to let them go.

[34] Strong is their avenger, whose name is LORD of hosts; He will defend their cause with success, and give rest to the earth, but unrest to those who live in Babylon.

[35] A sword upon the Chaldeans, says the LORD, upon Babylon's people, her princes and wise men!

[36] A sword upon the soothsayers, that they may become fools! A sword upon her warriors, that they may tremble;

[37] A sword upon her motley throng, that they may become women! A sword upon her treasures, that they may be plundered;

[38] A sword upon her waters, that they may dry up! For it is a land of idols, and they shall be made frantic by fearful things.

[39] Hence, wildcats and desert beasts shall dwell there, and ostriches shall occupy it; Never again shall it be peopled, or lived in, from age to age.

[40] As when God overturned Sodom and Gomorrah, with their neighbors, says the LORD, Not a man shall dwell there, no human being shall tarry there.

[41] See! a people comes from the north, a great nation, and mighty kings roused from the ends of the earth.

[42] Bow and javelin they wield, cruel and pitiless are they; They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride forth on steeds, Each in his place for battle against you, daughter Babylon.

[43] The king of Babylon hears news of them, and helpless fall his hands; Anguish seizes him, throes like a mother's in childbirth.

[44] As when a lion comes up from the Jordan's thicket to the permanent feeding grounds, So I, in one instant, will drive them off, and whom I choose I will establish there; For who is like me? who calls me to account? what shepherd can stand against me?

[45] Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD which he has taken against Babylon; Hear the plans he has made against the land of the Chaldeans: They shall be dragged away, even the smallest sheep; their own pasture shall be aghast because of them.

[46] At the cry "Babylon is captured!" the earth quakes; the outcry is heard among the nations.

Jeremiah Chapter 51

[1] Thus says the LORD: See! I rouse against Babylon, and against those who live in Chaldea, a destroying wind.

[2] Against Babylon I will send winnowers to winnow her and lay waste her land; They shall besiege her from all sides on the day of affliction.

[3] Let the bowman draw his bow, and flaunt his coat of mail; Spare not her young men, doom her entire army.

[4] The slain shall fall in the land of Chaldea, the transfixed, in her streets;

[5] For Israel and Judah are not widowed of their God, the LORD of hosts, And the Chaldean land is full of guilt to be punished by the Holy One of Israel.

[6] Flee out of Babylon; let each one save his life, perish not for her guilt; This is a time of vengeance for the LORD, he pays her her due.

[7] Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the LORD which made the whole earth drunk; The nations drank its wine, with this they have become mad.

[8] Babylon suddenly falls and is crushed: howl over her! Bring balm for her wounds, in case she can be healed.

[9] "We have tried to heal Babylon, but she cannot be healed. Leave her, let us go, each to his own land." Her judgment reaches heaven, it touches the clouds.

[10] The LORD has brought to light our just cause; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD, our God, has done.

[11] 1 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers; The LORD has stirred up the spirit of Media's kings; Babylon he is resolved to destroy. Yes, it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for his temple.

[12] Against the walls of Babylon raise a signal, make strong the watch; Post sentries, arrange ambushes! For the LORD has planned and he will carry out his threat against the inhabitants of Babylon.

[13] You who dwell by mighty waters, rich in treasure, Your end has come, the term at which you shall be cut off!

[14] The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself: I will fill you with men as numerous as locusts, who shall raise over you the vintage shout!

[15] He has sworn who made the earth by his power, and established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his skill.

[16] When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar, and he brings up clouds from the end of the earth; He makes the lightning flash in the rain, and releases stormwinds from their chambers.

[17] Every man is stupid, ignorant; every artisan is put to shame by his idol: He molded a fraud, without breath of life.

[18] Nothingness are they, a ridiculous work, that will perish in their time of punishment.

[19] Not like these is the portion of Jacob, he is the creator of all things; Israel is his very own tribe, LORD of hosts is his name.

[20] You are my hammer, my weapon for war; With you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.

[21] With you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver.

[22] With you I shatter man and wife, with you I shatter old and young, with you I shatter the youth and maiden.

[23] With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, with you I shatter the farmer and his team, with you I shatter satraps and prefects.

[24] Thus will I repay Babylon, and all who live in Chaldea All the evil they did to Zion, as you shall see with your own eyes, says the LORD.

[25] Beware! I am against you, destroying mountain, destroyer of the entire earth, says the LORD; I will stretch forth my hand against you, roll you down over the cliffs, and make you a burnt mountain:

[26] They will not take from you a cornerstone, or a foundation stone; Ruins forever shall you be, says the LORD.

[27] 2 Raise a signal on the earth, blow the trumpet among the nations; Dedicate peoples to war against her, summon against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; Appoint recruiting officers against her, send up horses like bristling locusts.

[28] Dedicate peoples to war against her: the king of Media, Its governors and all its prefects, every land in his domain.

[29] The earth quakes and writhes, the LORD'S plan against Babylon is carried out, Turning the land of Babylon into a desert where no one lives.

[30] Babylon's warriors have ceased to fight, they remain in their strongholds; Dried up is their strength, they have become women. Burned are their homes, and broken their bars.

[31] One runner meets another, herald meets herald, Telling the king of Babylon that all his city is taken.

[32] The fords have been seized, and the fortresses set on fire, while warriors are in panic.

[33] For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trodden; Yet a little while, and the harvest time will come for her.

[34] 3 He has consumed me, routed me, (Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,) he has left me as an empty vessel; He has swallowed me like a dragon: filled his belly with my delights, and cast me out.

[35] My torn flesh be upon Babylon, says the city on Zion; My blood upon the people of Chaldea, says Jerusalem.

[36] But now, thus says the LORD: Surely I will defend your cause, I will avenge you; I will dry up her sea, and drain her fountain.

[37] Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; A place of horror and ridicule, where no one lives.

[38] They all roar like lions, growl like lion cubs.

[39] When they are parched, I will set a drink before them to make them drunk, that they may be overcome with perpetual sleep, never to awaken, says the LORD.

[40] I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.

[41] How has she been seized, made captive, the glory of the whole world! What a horror has Babylon become among nations:

[42] against Babylon the sea rises, she is overwhelmed by the roaring waves!

[43] Her cities have become a desert, parched and arid land Where no man lives, and no one passes through.

[44] I will punish Bel in Babylon, and make him disgorge what he swallowed; peoples shall stream to him no more. The wall of Babylon falls!

[45] Leave her, my people, let each one save himself from the burning wrath of the LORD.

[46] Be not discouraged for fear of rumors spread in the land; this year the rumor comes, then violence in the land, tyrant against tyrant.

[47] But behold, the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall lie fallen within her.

[48] Then heaven, and earth, and everything in them shall shout over Babylon with joy, when the destroyers come against her from the north, says the LORD.

[49] Babylon, too, must fall, O slain of Israel, as at the hands of Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.

[50] You who have escaped the sword, go on, stand not still; Remember the LORD from afar, let Jerusalem come to your minds.

[51] We are ashamed because we have heard taunts, confusion covers our faces; strangers have entered the holy places of the house of the LORD.

[52] But behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will punish her idols, and in her whole land the wounded will groan.

[53] Though Babylon scale the heavens, and make her strong heights inaccessible, destroyers from me shall reach her, says the LORD.

[54] Hear! loud cries from Babylon, dire destruction from the land of the Chaldeans;

[55] For the LORD lays Babylon waste, stills her loud cry, Though her waves were roaring like mighty waters, and their clamor was heard afar.

[56] For the destroyer comes upon her, (Babylon,) her heroes are captured, their bows broken; The LORD is a God who requites, he will surely repay.

[57] I will make her princes and her wise men drunk, her governors, her prefects, and her warriors, so that they sleep an eternal sleep, never to awaken, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

[58] Thus says the LORD of hosts: The walls of spacious Babylon shall be leveled utterly; her lofty gates shall be destroyed by fire. The toil of the nations is for nothing; for the flames the peoples weary themselves.

[59] 4 This was the errand given by the prophet Jeremiah to Seraiah, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon for the king in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah; Seraiah was chief quartermaster.

[60] 5 Jeremiah had written all the misfortune that was to befall Babylon in a single book: all these words that were written against Babylon.

[61] And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: When you reach Babylon, see that you read aloud all these words,

[62] and then say: O LORD, you yourself threatened to destroy this place, so that neither man nor beast should dwell in it, since it would remain an everlasting desert.

[63] When you have finished reading this book, tie a stone to it and throw it in the Euphrates,

[64] 6 and say: Thus shall Babylon sink. Never shall she rise, because of the evil I am bringing upon her. (To "weary themselves" are the words of Jeremiah.)

Jeremiah Chapter 52

[1] 1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

[2] He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.

[3] Indeed, what was done in Jerusalem and in Judah so angered the LORD that he cast them out from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

[4] 2 In the tenth month of the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole army advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it, and built siege walls on every side.

[5] The siege of the city continued until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

[6] On the ninth day of the fourth month, when famine had gripped the city and the people had no more bread,

[7] the city walls were breached. Then all the soldiers took to flight and left the city by night through the gate between the two walls which was near the king's garden. With the Chaldeans surrounding the city, they went in the direction of the Arabah.

[8] But the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the desert near Jericho, while his whole army fled from him.

[9] The king, therefore, was arrested and brought to Riblah, in the land of Hamath, to the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him.

[10] As Zedekiah looked on, the king of Babylon slew his sons as well as all the princes of Judah at Riblah.

[11] Then he blinded Zedekiah, bound him with fetters, and had him brought to Babylon and kept in prison until the day of his death.

[12] 3 On the tenth day of the fifth month (this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, came to Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon.

[13] He burned the house of the LORD, the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every large building he destroyed with fire.

[14] And the Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guard tore down all the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

[15] Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, led into exile the rest of the people left in the city, and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the artisans.

[16] But some of the country's poor, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, left behind as vinedressers and farmers.

[17] The bronze pillars that belonged to the house of the LORD, and the wheeled carts and the bronze sea in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke into pieces; they carried away all the bronze to Babylon.

[18] They took also the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the bowls, the pans, and all the bronze vessels used for service.

[19] The basins also, the fire holders, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the pans, the sacrificial bowls which were of gold or silver, these too the captain of the guard carried off,

[20] as well as the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve oxen of bronze under the sea, and the wheeled carts which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD. The bronze of all these furnishings could not be weighed.

[21] Each of the pillars was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in diameter; each was four fingers thick, and hollow inside.

[22] A bronze capital five cubits high surmounted the one pillar, and a network with pomegranates encircled the capital, all of brass; and so for the other pillar. The pomegranates. . .

[23] there were ninety-six pomegranates. There were a hundred pomegranates, all around the network.

[24] The captain of the guard also took Seraiah, the high priest, Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three keepers of the entry.

[25] And from the city he took one courtier, a commander of soldiers, and seven men in the personal service of the king who were present in the city, and the scribe of the army commander who mustered the people of the land, and sixty of the common people who were in the city.

[26] The captain of the guard, Nebuzaradan, arrested these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah,

[27] who had them struck down and put to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath. Thus was Judah exiled from her land.

[28] 4 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar led away captive: in his seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three people of Judah;

[29] in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, eight hundred and thirty-two persons from Jerusalem;

[30] in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, exiled seven hundred and forty-five people of Judah: four thousand six hundred persons in all.

[31] 5 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the inaugural year of his reign, took up the case of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and released him from prison.

[32] 6 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a throne higher than that of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

[33] Jehoiachin took off his prison garb and ate at the king's table as long as he lived.

[34] The allowance given him by the king of Babylon was a perpetual allowance, in fixed daily amounts, all the days of his life until the day of his death.

Introduction to Lamentations

Lamentations

Introduction

The sixth century B.C. was an age of crisis, a turning point in the history of Israel. With the destruction of the temple and the interruption of its ritual, the exile of the leaders and loss of national sovereignty, an era came to an end. Not long after the fall of Jerusalem (587) an eyewitness of the national humiliation composed these five laments. They combine confession of sin, grief over the suffering and humiliation of Zion, submission to merited chastisement, and strong faith in the constancy of Yahweh's love and power to restore. The union of poignant grief and unquenchable hope reflects the constant prophetic vision of the weakness of man and the strength of God's love; it also shows how Israel's faith in Yahweh could survive the shattering experience of national ruin.

As a literary work, the Book of Lamentations is carefully constructed according to a familiar structural device. The first four poems are acrostics in which the separate stanzas begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet from the first to the last. Far from destroying the spontaneous pathos of the songs, this literary feature permits a symbolic and disciplined expression of the profound grief, the sinful responsibility, and the enduring hope of the suffering community. The figure of Israel as the bride of Yahweh, familiar from the prophets, appears here again; but now Zion is a desolate widow, the Judaea Capta of Titus' memorial coins, sustained only by the faith that God's chastisement will eventually give place to his infinite compassion.

Lamentations Chapter 1

[1] 1 How lonely she is now, the once crowded city! Widowed is she who was mistress over nations; The princess among the provinces has been made a toiling slave.

[2] Bitterly she weeps at night, tears upon her cheeks, With not one to console her of all her dear ones; Her friends have all betrayed her and become her enemies.

[3] Judah has fled into exile from oppression and cruel slavery; Yet where she lives among the nations she finds no place to rest: All her persecutors come upon her where she is narrowly confined.

[4] The roads to Zion mourn for lack of pilgrims going to her feasts; All her gateways are deserted, her priests groan, Her virgins sigh; she is in bitter grief.

[5] Her foes are uppermost, her enemies are at ease; The LORD has punished her for her many sins. Her little ones have gone away, captive before the foe.

[6] Gone from daughter Zion is all her glory: Her princes, like rams that find no pasture, Have gone off without strength before their captors.

[7] Jerusalem is mindful of the days of her wretched homelessness, When her people fell into enemy hands, and she had no one to help her; When her foes gloated over her, laughed at her ruin.

[8] Through the sin of which she is guilty, Jerusalem is defiled; All who esteemed her think her vile now that they see her nakedness; She herself groans and turns away.

[9] Her filth is on her skirt; she gave no thought how she would end. Astounding is her downfall, with no one to console her. Look, O LORD, upon her misery, for the enemy has triumphed!

[10] The foe stretched out his hand to all her treasures; She has seen those nations enter her sanctuary Whom you forbade to come into your assembly.

[11] All her people groan, searching for bread; They give their treasures for food, to retain the breath of life. "Look O LORD, and see how worthless I have become!

[12] "Come, all you who pass by the way, look and see Whether there is any suffering like my suffering, which has been dealt me When the LORD afflicted me on the day of his blazing wrath.

[13] "From on high he sent fire down into my very frame; He spread a net for my feet, and overthrew me. He left me desolate, in pain all the day.

[14] 2 "He has kept watch over my sins; by his hand they have been plaited: They have settled about my neck, he has brought my strength to its knees; The Lord has delivered me into their grip, I am unable to rise.

[15] "All the mighty ones in my midst the Lord has cast away; He summoned an army against me to crush my young men; The LORD has trodden in the wine press virgin daughter Judah.

[16] "At this I weep, my eyes run with tears: Far from me are all who could console me, any who might revive me; My sons were reduced to silence when the enemy prevailed."

[17] Zion stretched out her hands, but there was no one to console her; The LORD gave orders against Jacob for his neighbors to be his foes; Jerusalem has become in their midst a thing unclean.

[18] "The LORD is just; I had defied his command. Listen, all you peoples, and behold my suffering: My maidens and my youths have gone into captivity.

[19] 3 "I cried out to my lovers, but they failed me. My priests and my elders perished in the city; Where they sought food for themselves, they found it not.

[20] "Look, O LORD, upon my distress: all within me is in ferment, My heart recoils within me from my monstrous rebellion. In the streets the sword bereaves, at home death stalks.

[21] "Give heed to my groaning; there is no one to console me. All my enemies rejoice at my misfortune: it is you who have wrought it. Bring on the day you have proclaimed, that they may be even as I.

[22] 4 "Let all their evil come before you; deal with them As you have dealt with me for all my sins; My groans are many, and I am sick at heart."

Lamentations Chapter 2

[1] 1 How the Lord in his wrath has detested daughter Zion! He has cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, Unmindful of his footstool on the day of his wrath.

[2] The Lord has consumed without pity all the dwellings of Jacob; He has torn down in his anger the fortresses of daughter Judah; He has brought to the ground in dishonor her king and her princes.

[3] 2 He broke off, in fiery wrath, the horn that was Israel's whole strength; He withheld the support of his right hand when the enemy approached; He blazed up in Jacob like a flaming fire devouring all about it.

[4] Like an enemy he made taut his bow; with his arrows in his right hand He took his stand as a foe, and slew all on whom the eye doted; Over the tent of daughter Zion he poured out his wrath like fire.

[5] The Lord has become an enemy, he has consumed Israel: Consumed all her castles and destroyed her fortresses; For daughter Judah he has multiplied moaning and groaning.

[6] He has demolished his shelter like a garden booth, he has destroyed his dwelling; In Zion the LORD has made feast and sabbath to be forgotten; He has scorned in fierce wrath both king and priest.

[7] The Lord has disowned his altar, rejected his sanctuary; The walls of her towers he has handed over to the enemy, Who shout in the house of the LORD as on a feast day.

[8] 3 The LORD marked for destruction the wall of daughter Zion: He stretched out the measuring line; his hand brought ruin, yet he did not relent-- He brought grief on wall and rampart till both succumbed.

[9] Sunk into the ground are her gates; he has removed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the pagans; priestly instruction is wanting, And her prophets have not received any vision from the LORD.

[10] 4 On the ground in silence sit the old men of daughter Zion; They strew dust on their heads and gird themselves with sackcloth; The maidens of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground.

[11] 5 Worn out from weeping are my eyes, within me all is in ferment; My gall is poured out on the ground because of the downfall of the daughter of my people, As child and infant faint away in the open spaces of the town.

[12] They ask their mothers, "Where is the cereal?"--in vain, As they faint away like the wounded in the streets of the city, And breathe their last in their mothers' arms.

[13] To what can I liken or compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? What example can I show you for your comfort, virgin daughter Zion? For great as the sea is your downfall; who can heal you?

[14] Your prophets had for you false and specious visions; They did not lay bare your guilt, to avert your fate; They beheld for you in vision false and misleading portents.

[15] All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and wag their heads over daughter Jerusalem: "Is this the all-beautiful city, the joy of the whole earth?"

[16] All your enemies open their mouths against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, "We have devoured her. This at last is the day we hoped for; we have lived to see it!"

[17] The LORD has done as he decreed: he has fulfilled the threat He set forth from days of old; he has destroyed and had no pity, Letting the enemy gloat over you and exalting the horn of your foes.

[18] Cry out to the Lord; moan, O daughter Zion! Let your tears flow like a torrent day and night; Let there be no respite for you, no repose for your eyes.

[19] Rise up, shrill in the night, at the beginning of every watch; Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your little ones (Who faint from hunger at the corner of every street).

[20] 6 "Look, O LORD, and consider: whom have you ever treated thus? Must women eat their offspring, their well-formed children? Are priest and prophet to be slain in the sanctuary of the LORD?

[21] "Dead in the dust of the streets lie young and old; My maidens and young men have fallen by the sword; You have slain on the day of your wrath, slaughtered without pity.

[22] "You summoned as for a feast day terrors against me from all sides; There was not, on the day of your wrath, either fugitive or survivor; Those whom I bore and reared my enemy has utterly destroyed."

Lamentations Chapter 3

[1] 1 I am a man who knows affliction from the rod of his anger,

[2] One whom he has led and forced to walk in darkness, not in the light;

[3] Against me alone he brings back his hand again and again all the day.

[4] He has worn away my flesh and my skin, he has broken my bones;

[5] He has beset me round about with poverty and weariness;

[6] He has left me to dwell in the dark like those long dead.

[7] He has hemmed me in with no escape and weighed me down with chains;

[8] Even when I cry out for help, he stops my prayer;

[9] He has blocked my ways with fitted stones, and turned my paths aside.

[10] A lurking bear he has been to me, a lion in ambush!

[11] He deranged my ways, set me astray, left me desolate.

[12] He bent his bow, and set me up as the target for his arrow.

[13] He pierces my sides with shafts from his quiver.

[14] I have become a laughingstock for all nations, their taunt all the day long;

[15] He has sated me with bitter food, made me drink my fill of wormwood.

[16] He has broken my teeth with gravel, pressed my face in the dust;

[17] My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;

[18] I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hoped for from the LORD.

[19] The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall;

[20] Remembering it over and over leaves my soul downcast within me.

[21] But I will call this to mind, as my reason to have hope:

[22] The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent;

[23] They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.

[24] My portion is the LORD, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

[25] Good is the LORD to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him;

[26] It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the LORD.

[27] 2 It is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth.

[28] Let him sit alone and in silence, when it is laid upon him.

[29] 3 Let him put his mouth to the dust; there may yet be hope.

[30] Let him offer his cheek to be struck, let him be filled with disgrace.

[31] For the Lord's rejection does not last forever;

[32] Though he punishes, he takes pity, in the abundance of his mercies;

[33] He has no joy in afflicting or grieving the sons of men.

[34] When anyone tramples underfoot all the prisoners in the land,

[35] When he distorts men's rights in the very sight of the Most High,

[36] When he presses a crooked claim, the Lord does not look on unconcerned.

[37] Who commands so that it comes to pass, except the Lord ordains it;

[38] Except it proceeds from the mouth of the Most High, whether the thing be good or bad!

[39] Why should any living man complain, any mortal, in the face of his sins?

[40] Let us search and examine our ways that we may return to the LORD!

[41] Let us reach out our hearts toward God in heaven!

[42] We have sinned and rebelled; you have not forgiven us.

[43] You veiled yourself in wrath and pursued us, you slew us and took no pity;

[44] You wrapped yourself in a cloud which prayer could not pierce.

[45] You have made us offscourings and refuse among the nations.

[46] All our enemies have opened their mouths against us;

[47] Terror and the pit have been our lot, desolation and destruction;

[48] My eyes run with streams of water over the downfall of the daughter of my people.

[49] My eyes flow without ceasing, there is no respite,

[50] Till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees.

[51] My eyes torment my soul at the sight of all the daughters of my city.

[52] Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird;

[53] They struck me down alive in the pit, and sealed me in with a stone.

[54] The waters flowed over my head, and I said, "I am lost!"

[55] I called upon your name, O LORD, from the bottom of the pit;

[56] You heard me call, "Let not your ear be deaf to my cry for help!"

[57] You came to my aid when I called to you; you said, "Have no fear!"

[58] You defended me in mortal danger, you redeemed my life.

[59] You see, O LORD, how I am wronged; do me justice!

[60] You see all their vindictiveness, all their plots against me.

[61] You hear their insults, O LORD, (all their plots against me),

[62] The whispered murmurings of my foes, against me all the day;

[63] Whether they sit or stand, see, I am their taunt song.

[64] Requite them as they deserve, O LORD, according to their deeds;

[65] Give them hardness of heart, as your curse upon them;

[66] Pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under your heavens!

Lamentations Chapter 4

[1] How tarnished is the gold, how changed the noble metal; How the sacred stones lie strewn at every street corner!

[2] Zion's precious sons, fine gold their counterpart, Now worth no more than earthen jars made by the hands of a potter!

[3] 1 Even the jackals bare their breasts and suckle their young; The daughter of my people has become as cruel as the ostrich in the desert.

[4] The tongue of the suckling cleaves to the roof of its mouth in thirst; The babes cry for food, but there is no one to give it to them.

[5] Those accustomed to dainty food perish in the streets; Those brought up in purple now cling to the ash heaps.

[6] The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the penalty of Sodom, Which was overthrown in an instant without the turning of a hand.

[7] Brighter than snow were her princes, whiter than milk, More ruddy than coral, more precious than sapphire.

[8] Now their appearance is blacker than soot, they are unrecognized on the streets; Their skin shrinks on their bones, as dry as wood.

[9] Better for those who perish by the sword than for those who die of hunger, Who waste away, as though pierced through, lacking the fruits of the field!

[10] The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children, To serve them as mourners' food in the downfall of the daughter of my people.

[11] The LORD has spent his anger, poured out his blazing wrath; He has kindled a fire in Zion that has consumed her foundations.

[12] The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the world's inhabitants, That enemy or foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

[13] 2 Because of the sins of her prophets and the crimes of her priests, Who shed in her midst the blood of the just!--

[14] They staggered blindly in the streets, soiled with blood, So that people could not touch even their garments:

[15] "Away you unclean!" they cried to them, "Away, away, do not draw near!" If they left and wandered among the nations, nowhere could they remain.

[16] The LORD himself has dispersed them, he regards them no more; He does not receive the priests with favor, nor show kindness to the elders.

[17] 3 Our eyes ever wasted away, looking in vain for aid; From our watchtower we watched for a nation that could not save us.

[18] Men dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, and came; our time had expired.

[19] Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the air, They harassed us on the mountains and waylaid us in the desert.

[20] 4 The anointed one of the LORD, our breath of life, was caught in their snares, He in whose shadow we thought we could live on among the nations.

[21] 5 Though you rejoice and are glad, O daughter Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz, To you also shall the cup be passed; you shall become drunk and naked.

[22] Your chastisement is completed, O daughter Zion, he will not prolong your exile; But your wickedness, O daughter Edom, he will punish, he will lay bare your sins.

Lamentations Chapter 5

[1] Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us, look, and see our disgrace:

[2] Our inherited lands have been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.

[3] We have become orphans, fatherless; widowed are our mothers.

[4] The water we drink we must buy, for our own wood we must pay.

[5] On our necks is the yoke of those who drive us; we are worn out, but allowed no rest.

[6] 1 To Egypt we submitted, and to Assyria, to fill our need of bread.

[7] 2 Our fathers, who sinned, are no more; but we bear their guilt.

[8] 3 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their hands.

[9] At the peril of our lives we bring in our sustenance, in the face of the desert heat;

[10] Our skin is shriveled up, as though by a furnace, with the searing blasts of famine.

[11] The wives in Zion were ravished by the enemy, the maidens in the cities of Judah;

[12] Princes were gibbeted by them, elders shown no respect.

[13] The youths carry the millstones, boys stagger under their loads of wood;

[14] 4 The old men have abandoned the gate, the young men their music.

[15] The joy of our hearts has ceased, our dance has turned into mourning;

[16] The garlands have fallen from our heads: woe to us, for we have sinned!

[17] Over this our hearts are sick, at this our eyes grow dim:

[18] That Mount Zion should be desolate, with jackals roaming there!

[19] You, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your throne stands from age to age.

[20] Why, then, should you forget us, abandon us so long a time?

[21] Lead us back to you, O LORD, that we may be restored: give us anew such days as we had of old.

[22] For now you have indeed rejected us, and in full measure turned your wrath against us.

Introduction to Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes

Introduction

The title Ecclesiastes given to this book is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Qoheleth meaning, perhaps, "one who convokes an assembly." The book, however, does not consist of public addresses, but is a treatise, more or less logically developed, on the vanity of all things. Reflections in prose and aphorisms in verse are intermingled in Ecclesiastes, which contains, besides, an introduction and an epilogue.

The book is concerned with the purpose and value of human life. While admitting the existence of a divine plan, it considers such a plan to be hidden from man, who seeks happiness without ever finding it here below (Eccl 3:11; 8:7, 17). Ecclesiastes applies his "Vanity of vanities" to everything "under the sun," even to that wisdom which seeks to find at last a semblence of good in the things of the world. Merit does not yield happiness for it is often tried by suffering. Riches and pleasures do not avail. Existence is monotonous, enjoyment fleeting and vain; darkness quickly follows. Life, then, is an enigma beyond human ability to solve.

While Ecclesiastes concedes that there is an advantage for man in the enjoyment of certain legitimate pleasures lest he lapse into pessimism and despair, he nevertheless considers this indulgence also vanity unless man returns due thanks to the Creator who has given him all. Under this aspect, earthly wisdom would rise to the higher level of true spiritual wisdom. This true wisdom is not found "under the sun" but is perceived only by the light of faith, inasmuch as it rests with God, who is the final Judge of the good and the bad, and whose reign endures forever. The Epilogue gives the clue to this thought (Eccl 12:13, 14).

The moral teaching of the book is imperfect, like the Old Testament itself (Hebrews 7:19), yet it marks an advance in the development of the doctrine of divine retribution. While rejecting the older solution of earthly rewards and punishments, Ecclesiastes looks forward to a more lasting one. The clear answer to the problem was to come with the light of Christ's teaching concerning future life.

The author of the book was a teacher of popular wisdom (Eccl 12:9). Qoheleth was obviously only his literary name. Because he is called "David's son, king in Jerusalem," it was commonly thought that he was King Solomon. Such personation, however, was but a literary device to lend greater dignity and authority to the book-a circumstance which does not in any way impugn its inspired character. The Epilogue seems to have been written by an editor, probably a disciple of Qoheleth. The entire work differs considerably in language and style from earlier books of the Old Testament. It reflects a late period of Hebrew, and was probably written about three centuries before Christ.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 1

[1] 1 The words of David's son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem:

[2] 2 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!

[3] 3 What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?

[4] One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays.

[5] The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises.

[6] Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.

[7] All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going.

[8] 4 All speech is labored; there is nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing.

[9] What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun.

[10] Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us.

[11] 5 There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.

[12] I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem,

[13] and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about.

[14] 6 I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind.

[15] What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is missing cannot be supplied.

[16] Though I said to myself, "Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge";

[17] yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind.

[18] For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2

[1] 1 I said to myself, "Come, now, let me try you with pleasure and the enjoyment of good things." But behold, this too was vanity.

[2] Of laughter I said: "Mad!" and of mirth: "What good does this do?"

[3] 2 I thought of beguiling my senses with wine, though my mind was concerned with wisdom, and of taking up folly, until I should understand what is best for men to do under the heavens during the limited days of their life.

[4] I undertook great works; I built myself houses and planted vineyards;

[5] I made gardens and parks, and set out in them fruit trees of all sorts.

[6] And I constructed for myself reservoirs to water a flourishing woodland.

[7] I acquired male and female slaves, and slaves were born in my house. I also had growing herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem.

[8] I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and provinces. I got for myself male and female singers and all human luxuries.

[9] I became great, and I stored up more than all others before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom, too, stayed with me.

[10] Nothing that my eyes desired did I deny them, nor did I deprive myself of any joy, but my heart rejoiced in the fruit of all my toil. This was my share for all my toil.

[11] But when I turned to all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the toil at which I had taken such pains, behold! all was vanity and a chase after wind, with nothing gained under the sun.

[12] For what will the man do who is to come after the king? What men have already done! I went on to the consideration of wisdom, madness and folly.

[13] And I saw that wisdom has the advantage over folly as much as light has the advantage over darkness.

[14] The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.Yet I knew that one lot befalls both of them.

[15] So I said to myself, if the fool's lot is to befall me also, why then should I be wise? Where is the profit for me? And I concluded in my heart that this too is vanity.

[16] Neither of the wise man nor of the fool will there be an abiding remembrance, for in days to come both will have been forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies as well as the fool!

[17] Therefore I loathed life, since for me the work that is done under the sun is evil; for all is vanity and a chase after wind.

[18] And I detested all the fruits of my labor under the sun, because I must leave them to a man who is to come after me.

[19] And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruits of my wise labor under the sun. This also is vanity.

[20] So my feelings turned to despair of all the fruits of my labor under the sun.

[21] For here is a man who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and to another, who has not labored over it, he must leave his property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune.

[22] For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?

[23] All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest. This also is vanity.

[24] 3 There is nothing better for man than to eat and drink and provide himself with good things by his labors. Even this, I realized, is from the hand of God.

[25] For who can eat or drink apart from him?

[26] For to whatever man he sees fit he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering possessions to be given to whatever man God sees fit. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

[1] There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.

[2] A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.

[3] A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.

[4] A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

[5] A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

[6] A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.

[7] A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

[8] A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

[9] What advantage has the worker from his toil?

[10] I have considered the task which God has appointed for men to be busied about.

[11] He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men's ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

[12] I recognized that there is nothing better than to be glad and to do well during life.

[13] For every man, moreover, to eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of all his labor is a gift of God.

[14] I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it, or taking from it. Thus has God done that he may be revered.

[15] 1 What now is has already been; what is to be, already is; and God restores what would otherwise be displaced.

[16] And still under the sun in the judgment place I saw wickedness, and in the seat of justice, iniquity.

[17] And I said to myself, both the just and the wicked God will judge, since there is a time for every affair and on every work a judgment.

[18] I said to myself: As for the children of men, it is God's way of testing them and of showing that they are in themselves like beasts.

[19] For the lot of man and of beast is one lot; the one dies as well as the other. Both have the same life-breath, and man has no advantage over the beast; but all is vanity.

[20] Both go to the same place; both were made from the dust, and to the dust they both return.

[21] Who knows if the life-breath of the children of men goes upward and the life-breath of beasts goes earthward?

[22] And I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to rejoice in his work; for this is his lot. Who will let him see what is to come after him?

Ecclesiastes Chapter 4

[1] Again I considered all the oppressions that take place under the sun: the tears of the victims with none to comfort them! From the hand of their oppressors comes violence, and there is none to comfort them!

[2] And those now dead, I declared more fortunate in death than are the living to be still alive.

[3] And better off than both is the yet unborn, who has not seen the wicked work that is done under the sun.

[4] Then I saw that all toil and skillful work is the rivalry of one man for another. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

[5] 1 "The fool folds his arms and consumes his own flesh"--

[6] Better is one handful with tranquility than two with toil and a chase after wind!

[7] Again I found this vanity under the sun:

[8] a solitary man with no companion; with neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and riches do not satisfy his greed. "For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good things?" This also is vanity and a worthless task.

[9] Two are better than one: they get a good wage for their labor.

[10] If the one falls, the other will lift up his companion. Woe to the solitary man! For if he should fall, he has no one to lift him up.

[11] So also, if two sleep together, they keep each other warm. How can one alone keep warm?

[12] Where a lone man may be overcome, two together can resist. A three-ply cord is not easily broken.

[13] Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows caution;

[14] 2 for from a prison house one comes forth to rule, since even in his royalty he was poor at birth.

[15] 3 Then I saw all those who are to live and move about under the sun with the heir apparent who will succeed to his place.

[16] There is no end to all these people, to all over whom he takes precedence; yet the later generations will not applaud him. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

[17] 4 Guard your step when you go to the house of God. Let your approach be obedience, rather than the fools' offering of sacrifice; for they know not how to keep from doing evil.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 5

[1] Be not hasty in your utterance and let not your heart be quick to make a promise in God's presence. God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.

[2] 1 For nightmares come with many cares, and a fool's utterance with many words.

[3] When you make a vow to God, delay not its fulfillment. For God has no pleasure in fools; fulfill what you have vowed.

[4] You had better not make a vow than make it and not fulfill it.

[5] Let not your utterances make you guilty, and say not before his representative, "It was a mistake," lest God be angered by such words and destroy the works of your hands.

[6] Rather, fear God!

[7] If you see oppression of the poor, and violation of rights and justice in the realm, do not be shocked by the fact, for the high official has another higher than he watching him and above these are others higher still--.

[8] 2 Yet an advantage for a country in every respect is a king for the arable land.

[9] The covetous man is never satisfied with money, and the lover of wealth reaps no fruit from it; so this too is vanity.

[10] Where there are great riches, there are also many to devour them. Of what use are they to the owner except to feast his eyes upon?

[11] Sleep is sweet to the laboring man, whether he eats little or much, but the rich man's abundance allows him no sleep.

[12] This is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches kept by their owner to his hurt.

[13] Should the riches be lost through some misfortune, he may have a son when he is without means.

[14] As he came forth from his mother's womb, so again shall he depart, naked as he came, having nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.

[15] This too is a grievous evil, that he goes just as he came. What then does it profit him to toil for wind?

[16] All the days of his life are passed in gloom and sorrow, under great vexation, sickness and wrath.

[17] Here is what I recognize as good: it is well for a man to eat and drink and enjoy all the fruits of his labor under the sun during the limited days of the life which God gives him; for this is his lot.

[18] Any man to whom God gives riches and property, and grants power to partake of them, so that he receives his lot and finds joy in the fruits of his toil, has a gift from God.

[19] 3 For he will hardly dwell on the shortness of his life, because God lets him busy himself with the joy of his heart.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 6

[1] There is another evil which I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon man:

[2] there is the man to whom God gives riches and property and honor, so that he lacks none of all the things he craves; yet God does not grant him power to partake of them, but a stranger devours them. This is vanity and a dire plague.

[3] 1 Should a man have a hundred children and live many years, no matter to what great age, still if he has not the full benefit of his goods, or if he is deprived of burial, of this man I proclaim that the child born dead is more fortunate than he.

[4] Though it came in vain and goes into darkness and its name is enveloped in darkness;

[5] though it has not seen or known the sun, yet the dead child is at rest rather than such a man.

[6] 2 Should he live twice a thousand years and not enjoy his goods, do not both go to the same place?

[7] 3 All man's toil is for his mouth, yet his desire is not fulfilled.

[8] For what advantage has the wise man over the fool, or what advantage has the poor man in knowing how to conduct himself in life?

[9] 4 "What the eyes see is better than what the desires wander after." This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

[10] 5 Whatever is, was long ago given its name, and the nature of man is known, and that he cannot contend in judgment with one who is stronger than he.

[11] For though there are many sayings that multiply vanity, what profit is there for a man?

[12] For who knows what is good for a man in life, the limited days of his vain life (which God has made like a shadow)? Because-who is there to tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes Chapter 7

[1] 1 A good name is better than good ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.

[2] It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, For that is the end of every man, and the living should take it to heart.

[3] Sorrow is better than laughter, because when the face is sad the heart grows wiser.

[4] The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

[5] It is better to hearken to the wise man's rebuke than to hearken to the song of fools;

[6] For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the fool's laughter.

[7] For oppression can make a fool of a wise man, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

[8] Better is the end of speech than its beginning; better is the patient spirit than the lofty spirit.

[9] Do not in spirit become quickly discontented, for discontent lodges in the bosom of a fool.

[10] Do not say: How is it that former times were better than these? For it is not in wisdom that you ask about this.

[11] Wisdom and an inheritance are good, and an advantage to those that see the sun.

[12] For the protection of wisdom is as the protection of money; and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

[13] Consider the work of God. Who can make straight what he has made crooked?

[14] On a good day enjoy good things, and on an evil day consider: Both the one and the other God has made, so that man cannot find fault with him in anything.

[15] I have seen all manner of things in my vain days: a just man perishing in his justice, and a wicked one surviving in his wickedness.

[16] 2 "Be not just to excess, and be not overwise, lest you be ruined.

[17] 3 Be not wicked to excess, and be not foolish. Why should you die before your time?"

[18] 4 It is good to hold to this rule, and not to let that one go; but he who fears God will win through at all events.

[19] Wisdom is a better defense for the wise man than would be ten princes in the city,

[20] 5 yet there is no man on earth so just as to do good and never sin.

[21] Do not give heed to every word that is spoken lest you hear your servant speaking ill of you,

[22] for you know in your heart that you have many times spoken ill of others.

[23] All these things I probed in wisdom. I said, "I will acquire wisdom"; but it was beyond me.

[24] What exists is far-reaching; it is deep, very deep: who can find it out?

[25] I turned my thoughts toward knowledge; I sought and pursued wisdom and reason, and I recognized that wickedness is foolish and folly is madness.

[26] More bitter than death I find the woman who is a hunter's trap, whose heart is a snare and whose hands are prison bonds. He who is pleasing to God will escape her, but the sinner will be entrapped by her.

[27] Behold, this have I found, says Qoheleth, adding one thing to another that I might discover the answer

[28] 6 which my soul still seeks and has not found: One man out of a thousand have I come upon, but a woman among them all I have not found.

[29] 7 Behold, only this have I found out: God made mankind straight, but men have had recourse to many calculations.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 8

[1] Who is like the wise man, and who knows the explanation of things? A man's wisdom illumines his face, but an impudent look is resented.

[2] Observe the precept of the king, and in view of your oath to God,

[3] be not hasty to withdraw from the king; do not join in with a base plot, for he does whatever he pleases,

[4] because his word is sovereign, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?"

[5] "He who keeps the commandment experiences no evil, and the wise man's heart knows times and judgments;

[6] for there is a time and a judgment for everything."--Yet it is a great affliction for man

[7] that he is ignorant of what is to come; for who will make known to him how it will be?

[8] There is no man who is master of the breath of life so as to retain it, and none has mastery of the day of death. There is no exemption from the struggle, nor are the wicked saved by their wickedness.

[9] All these things I considered and I applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun, while one man tyrannizes over another to his hurt.

[10] 1 Meanwhile I saw wicked men approach and enter; and as they left the sacred place, they were praised in the city for what they had done. This also is vanity.

[11] Because the sentence against evildoers is not promptly executed, therefore the hearts of men are filled with the desire to commit evil--

[12] because the sinner does evil a hundred times and survives. Though indeed I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, for their reverence toward him;

[13] 2 and that it shall not be well with the wicked man, and he shall not prolong his shadowy days, for his lack of reverence toward God.

[14] This is a vanity which occurs on earth: there are just men treated as though they had done evil and wicked men treated as though they had done justly. This, too, I say is vanity.

[15] 3 Therefore I commend mirth, because there is nothing good for man under the sun except eating and drinking and mirth: for this is the accompaniment of his toil during the limited days of the life which God gives him under the sun.

[16] When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to observe what is done on earth,

[17] I recognized that man is unable to find out all God's work that is done under the sun, even though neither by day nor by night do his eyes find rest in sleep. However much man toils in searching, he does not find it out; and even if the wise man says that he knows, he is unable to find it out.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 9

[1] 1 2 All this I have kept in mind and recognized: the just, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Love from hatred man cannot tell; both appear equally vain,

[2] in that there is the same lot for all, for the just and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for him who offers sacrifice and him who does not. As it is for the good man, so it is for the sinner; as it is for him who swears rashly, so it is for him who fears an oath.

[3] Among all the things that happen under the sun, this is the worst, that things turn out the same for all. Hence the minds of men are filled with evil, and madness is in their hearts during life; and afterward they go to the dead.

[4] Indeed, for any among the living there is hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion.

[5] For the living know that they are to die, but the dead no longer know anything. There is no further recompense for them, because all memory of them is lost.

[6] For them, love and hatred and rivalry have long since perished. They will never again have part in anything that is done under the sun.

[7] Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, because it is now that God favors your works.

[8] At all times let your garments be white, and spare not the perfume for your head.

[9] Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of the fleeting life that is granted you under the sun. This is your lot in life, for the toil of your labors under the sun.

[10] Anything you can turn your hand to, do with what power you have; for there will be no work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the nether world where you are going....

[11] Again I saw under the sun that the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts; for a time of calamity comes to all alike.

[12] 3 Man no more knows his own time than fish taken in the fatal net, or birds trapped in the snare; like these the children of men are caught when the evil time falls suddenly upon them.

[13] On the other hand I saw this wise deed under the sun, which I thought sublime.

[14] Against a small city with few men in it advanced a mighty king, who surrounded it and threw up great siegeworks about it.

[15] But in the city lived a man who, though poor, was wise, and he delivered it through his wisdom. Yet no one remembered this poor man.

[16] Though I had said, "Wisdom is better than force," yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words go unheeded.

[17] "The quiet words of the wise are better heeded than the shout of a ruler of fools"--!

[18] "A fly that dies can spoil the perfumer's ointment, and a single slip can ruin much that is good."

Ecclesiastes Chapter 10

[1] More weighty than wisdom or wealth is a little folly!

[2] 1 The wise man's understanding turns him to his right; the fool's understanding turns him to his left.

[3] When the fool walks through the street, in his lack of understanding he calls everything foolish.

[4] Should the anger of the ruler burst upon you, forsake not your place; for mildness abates great offenses.

[5] I have seen under the sun another evil, like a mistake that proceeds from the ruler:

[6] a fool put in lofty position while the rich sit in lowly places.

[7] I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes walked on the ground like slaves.

[8] He who digs a pit may fall into it, and he who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a serpent.

[9] He who moves stones may be hurt by them, and he who chops wood is in danger from it.

[10] If the iron becomes dull, though at first he made easy progress, he must increase his efforts; but the craftsman has the advantage of his skill.

[11] If the serpent bites because it has not been charmed, then there is no advantage for the charmer.

[12] Words from the wise man's mouth win favor, but the fool's lips consume him.

[13] The beginning of his words is folly, and the end of his talk is utter madness;

[14] yet the fool multiplies words. Man knows not what is to come, for who can tell him what is to come after him?

[15] 2 When will the fool be weary of his labor, he who knows not the way to the city?

[16] Woe to you, O land, whose king was a servant, and whose princes dine in the morning!

[17] Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of noble birth, and whose princes dine at the right time (for vigor and not in drinking bouts).

[18] When hands are lazy, the rafters sag; when hands are slack, the house leaks.

[19] Bread and oil call forth merriment and wine makes the living glad, but money answers for everything.

[20] Even in your thoughts do not make light of the king, nor in the privacy of your bedroom revile the rich. Because the birds of the air may carry your voice, a winged creature may tell what you say.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 11

[1] 1 Cast your bread upon the waters; after a long time you may find it again.

[2] 2 Make seven or eight portions; you know not what misfortune may come upon the earth.

[3] When the clouds are full, they pour out rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, wherever it falls, there shall it lie.

[4] One who pays heed to the wind will not sow, and one who watches the clouds will never reap.

[5] Just as you know not how the breath of life fashions the human frame in the mother's womb, So you know not the work of God which he is accomplishing in the universe.

[6] In the morning sow your seed, and at evening let not your hand be idle: For you know not which of the two will be successful, or whether both alike will turn out well.

[7] Light is sweet! and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

[8] However many years a man may live, let him, as he enjoys them all, remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that is to come is vanity.

[9] Rejoice, O young man, while you are young and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart, the vision of your eyes; Yet understand that as regards all this God will bring you to judgment.

[10] 3 Ward off grief from your heart and put away trouble from your presence, though the dawn of youth is fleeting.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 12

[1] Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come And the years approach of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them;

[2] 1 Before the sun is darkened. and the light, and the moon, and the stars, while the clouds return after the rain;

[3] 2 When the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, And the grinders are idle because they are few, and they who look through the windows grow blind;

[4] 3 When the doors to the street are shut, and the sound of the mill is low; When one waits for the chirp of a bird, but all the daughters of song are suppressed;

[5] 4 And one fears heights, and perils in the street; When the almond tree blooms, and the locust grows sluggish and the caper berry is without effect, Because man goes to his lasting home, and mourners go about the streets;

[6] 5 Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken, And the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the broken pulley falls into the well,

[7] And the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it.

[8] Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, all things are vanity!

[9] Besides being wise, Qoheleth taught the people knowledge, and weighed, scrutinized and arranged many proverbs.

[10] Qoheleth sought to find pleasing sayings, and to write down true sayings with precision.

[11] 6 The sayings of the wise are like goads; like fixed spikes are the topics given by one collector.

[12] As to more than these, my son, beware. Of the making of many books there is no end, and in much study there is weariness for the flesh.

[13] 7 The last word, when all is heard: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man's all;

[14] because God will bring to judgment every work, with all its hidden qualities, whether good or bad.

Introduction to Baruch

Baruch

Introduction

The opening verses of this book ascribe it, or at least its first part, to Baruch, the well-known secretary of the prophet Jeremiah. It contains five very different compositions, the first and the last in prose, the others in poetic form. The prose sections were certainly composed in Hebrew, though the earliest known form of the book is in Greek.

An observance of the feast of Booths with a public prayer of penitence and petition (Baruch 1:15-3:8), such as is supposed by the introduction (Baruch 1:1-14), would not have been possible during the lifetime of Baruch after the fall of Jerusalem; this indeed is suggested in the prayer itself (Baruch 2:26). The prayer is therefore to be understood as the pious reflection of a later Jewish writer upon the circumstances of the exiles in Babylon as he knew them from the Book of Jeremiah. He expresses in their name sentiments called for by the prophet, and ascribes the wording of these sentiments to the person most intimately acquainted with Jeremiah's teaching, namely, Baruch. The purpose of this literary device is to portray for his own and later generations the spirit of repentance which prompted God to bring the exile to an end.

The lesson thus gained is followed by a hymn in praise of Wisdom (Baruch 3:9-4:4), exalting the law of Moses as the unique gift of God to Israel, the observance of which is the way to life and peace. The ideal city of Jerusalem is then represented (Baruch 4:5-29) as the solicitous mother of all exiles, who is assured in the name of God that all her children will be restored to her (Baruch 4:30-5:9).

The final chapter is really a separate work, with a title of its own (Baruch 6:1). It is patterned after the earlier letter of Jeremiah (Jer 29), in the spirit of the warnings against idolatry contained in Jer 10 and Isa 44. Its earnestness is impressive, but in restating previous inspired teachings at a later day, it does so with no special literary grace.

Thus the principal divisions of the book are seen to be:

Prayer of the Exiles (Baruch 1:1-3:8)

Praise of Wisdom in the Law of Moses (Baruch 3:9-4:4)

Jerusalem Bewails and Consoles Her Captive Children (Baruch 4:5-29)

Jerusalem Consoled: The Captivity about To End (Baruch 4:30-5:9)

The Letter of Jeremiah against Idolatry ((Bar) Let 6:1-7)

Baruch Chapter 1

[1] Now these are the words of the scroll which Baruch, son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, son of Zedekiah, son of Hasadiah, son of Hilkiah, wrote in Babylon,

[2] 1 in the fifth year (on the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem and burnt it with fire).

[3] And Baruch read the words of this scroll for Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to hear it, as well as all the people who came to the reading:

[4] 2 the nobles, the kings' sons, the elders, and the whole people, small and great alike--all who lived in Babylon by the river Sud.

[5] They wept and fasted and prayed before the LORD,

[6] and collected such funds as each could furnish.

[7] These they sent to Jerusalem, to Jehoiakim, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, the priest, and to the priests and the whole people who were with him in Jerusalem.

[8] 3 (This was when he received the vessels of the house of the Lord that had been removed from the temple, to restore them to the land of Judah, on the tenth of Sivan. These silver vessels Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah, had had made

[9] after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, carried off Jeconiah, and the princes, and the skilled workers, and the nobles, and the people of the land from Jerusalem, as captives, and brought them to Babylon.)

[10] Their message was: "We send you funds, with which you are to procure holocausts, sin offerings, and frankincense, and to prepare cereal offerings; offer these on the altar of the LORD our God,

[11] 4 and pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that of Belshazzar, his son, that their lifetimes may equal the duration of the heavens above the earth;

[12] and that the LORD may give us strength, and light to our eyes, that we may live under the protective shadow of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that of Belshazzar, his son, and serve them long, finding favor in their sight.

[13] "Pray for us also to the LORD, our God; for we have sinned against the LORD, our God, and the wrath and anger of the LORD have not yet been withdrawn from us at the present day.

[14] And read out publicly this scroll which we send you, in the house of the LORD, on the feast day and during the days of assembly:

[15] "Justice is with the LORD, our God; and we today are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem,

[16] that we, with our kings and rulers and priests and prophets, and with our fathers,

[17] have sinned in the LORD'S sight

[18] and disobeyed him. We have neither heeded the voice of the LORD, our God, nor followed the precepts which the LORD set before us.

[19] From the time the LORD led our fathers out of the land of Egypt until the present day, we have been disobedient to the LORD, our God, and only too ready to disregard his voice.

[20] And the evils and the curse which the LORD enjoined upon Moses, his servant, at the time he led our fathers forth from the land of Egypt to give us the land flowing with milk and honey, cling to us even today.

[21] For we did not heed the voice of the LORD, our God, in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us,

[22] but each one of us went off after the devices of our own wicked hearts, served other gods, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, our God.

Baruch Chapter 2

[1] "And the LORD fulfilled the warning he had uttered against us: against our judges, who governed Israel, against our kings and princes, and against the men of Israel and Judah.

[2] He brought down upon us evils so great that there has not been done anywhere under heaven what has been done in Jerusalem, as was written in the law of Moses:

[3] 1 that one after another of us should eat the flesh of his son or of his daughter.

[4] He has made us subject to all the kingdoms round about us, a reproach and a horror among all the nations round about to which the LORD has scattered us.

[5] We are brought low, not raised up, because we sinned against the LORD, our God, not heeding his voice.

[6] "Justice is with the LORD, our God; and we, like our fathers, are flushed with shame even today.

[7] All the evils of which the LORD had warned us have come upon us:

[8] and we did not plead before the LORD, or turn, each from the figments of his evil heart.

[9] And the LORD kept watch over the evils, and brought them home to us; for the LORD is just in all the works he commanded us to do,

[10] but we did not heed his voice, or follow the precepts of the LORD which he set before us.

[11] "And now, LORD, God of Israel, you who led your people out of the land of Egypt with your mighty hand, with signs and wonders and great might, and with your upraised arm, so that you have made for yourself a name till the present day:

[12] we have sinned, been impious, and violated, O LORD, our God, all your statutes.

[13] Let your anger be withdrawn from us, for we are left few in number among the nations to which you scattered us.

[14] Hear, O LORD, our prayer of supplication, and deliver us for your own sake: grant us favor in the presence of our captors,

[15] that the whole earth may know that you are the LORD, our God, and that Israel and his descendants bear your name.

[16] O LORD, look down from your holy dwelling and take thought of us; turn, O LORD, your ear to hear us.

[17] Look directly at us, and behold: it is not the dead in the nether world, whose spirits have been taken from within them, who will give glory and vindication to the LORD.

[18] He whose soul is deeply grieved, who walks bowed and feeble, with failing eyes and famished soul, will declare your glory and justice, LORD!

[19] "Not on the just deeds of our fathers and our kings do we base our plea for mercy in your sight, O LORD, our God.

[20] You have brought your wrath and anger down upon us, as you had warned us through your servants the prophets:

[21] 'Thus says the LORD: Bend your shoulders to the service of the king of Babylon, that you may continue in the land I gave your fathers:

[22] for if you do not hear the LORD'S voice so as to serve the king of Babylon,

[23] I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem The sounds of joy and the sounds of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; And all the land shall be deserted, without inhabitants.'

[24] But we did not heed your voice, or serve the king of Babylon, and you fulfilled the threats you had made through your servants the prophets, to have the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers brought out from their burial places.

[25] 2 And indeed, they lie exposed to the heat of day and the frost of night. They died in dire anguish, by hunger and the sword and plague.

[26] 3 And you reduced the house which bears your name to what it is today, for the wickedness of the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.

[27] "But with us, O Lord, our God, you have dealt in all your clemency and in all your great mercy.

[28] This was your warning through your servant Moses, the day you ordered him to write down your law in the presence of the Israelites:

[29] If you do not heed my voice, surely this great and numerous throng will dwindle away among the nations to which I will scatter them.

[30] For I know they will not heed me, because they are a stiff-necked people. But in the land of their captivity they shall have a change of heart;

[31] they shall know that I, the LORD, am their God. I will give them hearts, and heedful ears;

[32] and they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and shall invoke my name.

[33] Then they shall turn back from their stiff-necked stubbornness, and from their evil deeds, because they shall remember the fate of their fathers who sinned against the LORD.

[34] And I will bring them back to the land which with my oath I promised to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and they shall rule it. I will make them increase; they shall not then diminish.

[35] And I will establish for them, as an eternal covenant, that I will be their God, and they shall be my people; and I will not again remove my people Israel from the land I gave them.

Baruch Chapter 3

[1] "LORD Almighty, God of Israel, afflicted souls and dismayed spirits call to you.

[2] Hear, O LORD, for you are a God of mercy; and have mercy on us, who have sinned against you:

[3] for you are enthroned forever, while we are perishing forever.

[4] LORD Almighty, God of Israel, hear the prayer of Israel's few, the sons of those who sinned against you; they did not heed the voice of the LORD, their God, and the evils cling to us.

[5] Remember at this time not the misdeeds of our fathers, but your own hand and name:

[6] for you are the LORD our God; and you, O LORD, we will praise!

[7] For this, you put into our hearts the fear of you: that we may call upon your name, and praise you in our captivity, when we have removed from our hearts all the wickedness of our fathers who sinned against you.

[8] Behold us today in our captivity, where you scattered us, a reproach, a curse, and a requital for all the misdeeds of our fathers, who withdrew from the LORD, our God."

[9] Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: listen, and know prudence!

[10] How is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your foes, grown old in a foreign land, Defiled with the dead,

[11] accounted with those destined for the nether world?

[12] You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!

[13] Had you walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in enduring peace.

[14] Learn where prudence is, where strength, where understanding; That you may know also where are length of days, and life, where light of the eyes, and peace.

[15] Who has found the place of wisdom, who has entered into her treasuries?

[16] Where are the rulers of the nations, they who lorded it over the wild beasts of the earth,

[17] and made sport of the birds of the heavens: They who heaped up the silver and the gold in which men trust; of whose possessions there was no end?

[18] They schemed anxiously for money, but there is no trace of their work:

[19] They have vanished down into the nether world, and others have risen up in their stead.

[20] Later generations have seen the light, have dwelt in the land, But the way to understanding they have not known,

[21] they have not perceived her paths, or reached her; their offspring were far from the way to her.

[22] 1 She has not been heard of in Canaan, nor seen in Teman.

[23] The sons of Hagar who seek knowledge on earth, the merchants of Midian and Teman, the phrasemakers seeking knowledge, These have not known the way to wisdom, nor have they her paths in mind.

[24] 2 O Israel, how vast is the house of God, how broad the scope of his dominion:

[25] Vast and endless, high and immeasurable!

[26] In it were born the giants, renowned at the first, stalwarts, skilled in war.

[27] Not these did God choose, nor did he give them the way of understanding;

[28] They perished for lack of prudence, perished through their folly.

[29] Who has gone up to the heavens and taken her, or brought her down from the clouds?

[30] Who has crossed the sea and found her, bearing her away rather than choice gold?

[31] None knows the way to her, nor has any understood her paths.

[32] Yet he who knows all things knows her; he has probed her by his knowledge-- He who established the earth for all time, and filled it with four-footed beasts;

[33] He who dismisses the light, and it departs, calls it, and it obeys him trembling;

[34] Before whom the stars at their posts shine and rejoice;

[35] When he calls them, they answer, "Here we are!" shining with joy for their Maker.

[36] Such is our God; no other is to be compared to him:

[37] He has traced out all the way of understanding, and has given her to Jacob, his servant, to Israel, his beloved son.

[38] Since then she has appeared on earth, and moved among men.

Baruch Chapter 4

[1] She is the book of the precepts of God, the law that endures forever; All who cling to her will live, but those will die who forsake her.

[2] Turn, O Jacob, and receive her: walk by her light toward splendor.

[3] Give not your glory to another, your privileges to an alien race.

[4] Blessed are we, O Israel; for what pleases God is known to us!

[5] Fear not, my people! Remember, Israel,

[6] You were sold to the nations not for your destruction; It was because you angered God that you were handed over to your foes.

[7] For you provoked your Maker with sacrifices to demons, to no-gods;

[8] You forsook the Eternal God who nourished you, and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you.

[9] She indeed saw coming upon you the anger of God; and she said: "Hear, you neighbors of Zion! God has brought great mourning upon me,

[10] For I have seen the captivity that the Eternal God has brought upon my sons and daughters.

[11] With joy I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go.

[12] Let no one gloat over me, a widow, bereft of many: For the sins of my children I am left desolate, because they turned from the law of God,

[13] and did not acknowledge his statutes; In the ways of God's commandments they did not walk, nor did they tread the disciplined paths of his justice.

[14] "Let Zion's neighbors come, to take note of the captivity of my sons and daughters, brought upon them by the Eternal God.

[15] He has brought against them a nation from afar, a nation ruthless and of alien speech, That has neither reverence for age nor tenderness for childhood;

[16] They have led away this widow's cherished sons, have left me solitary, without daughters.

[17] What can I do to help you?

[18] He who has brought this evil upon you must himself deliver you from your enemies' hands.

[19] Farewell, my children, farewell: I am left desolate.

[20] I have taken off the garment of peace, have put on sackcloth for my prayer of supplication, and while I live I will cry out to the Eternal God.

[21] "Fear not, my children; call upon God, who will deliver you from oppression at enemy hands.

[22] I have trusted in the Eternal God for your welfare, and joy has come to me from the Holy One Because of the mercy that will swiftly reach you from your eternal savior.

[23] With mourning and lament I sent you forth, but God will give you back to me with enduring gladness and joy.

[24] As Zion's neighbors lately saw you taken captive, so shall they soon see God's salvation come to you, with great glory and the splendor of the Eternal God.

[25] 1 "My children, bear patiently the anger that has come from God upon you; Your enemies have persecuted you, and you will soon see their destruction and trample upon their necks.

[26] My pampered children have trodden rough roads, carried off by their enemies like sheep in a raid.

[27] Fear not, my children; call out to God! He who brought this upon you will remember you.

[28] As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God, turn now ten times the more to seek him;

[29] For he who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy."

[30] Fear not, Jerusalem! He who gave you your name is your encouragement.

[31] Fearful are those who harmed you, who rejoiced at your downfall;

[32] Fearful are the cities where your children were enslaved, fearful the city that took your sons.

[33] As that city rejoiced at your collapse, and made merry at your downfall, so shall she grieve over her own desolation.

[34] I will take from her the joyous throngs, and her exultation shall be turned to mourning:

[35] 2 For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal God, for a long time, and demons shall dwell in her from that time on.

[36] Look to the east, Jerusalem! behold the joy that comes to you from God.

[37] Here come your sons whom you once let go, gathered in from the east and from the west By the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.

Baruch Chapter 5

[1] Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever:

[2] Wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name.

[3] For God will show all the earth your splendor:

[4] you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship.

[5] Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children Gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God.

[6] Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.

[7] For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, And that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.

[8] The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God's command;

[9] For God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company.

Baruch Chapter 6

[1] A copy of the letter which Jeremiah sent to those who were being led captive to Babylon by the king of the Babylonians, to convey to them what God had commanded him:

For the sins you committed before God, you are being led captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians.

[2] When you reach Babylon you will be there many years, a period seven generations long; after which I will bring you back from there in peace.

[3] And now in Babylon you will see borne upon men's shoulders gods of silver and gold and wood, which cast fear upon the pagans.

[4] Take care that you yourselves do not imitate their alien example and stand in fear of them,

[5] when you see the crowd before them and behind worshiping them. Rather, say in your hearts, "You, O LORD, are to be worshiped!";

[6] for my angel is with you, and he is the custodian of your lives.

[7] Their tongues are smoothed by woodworkers; they are covered with gold and silver-but they are a fraud, and cannot speak.

[8] People bring gold, as to a maiden in love with ornament,

[9] and furnish crowns for the heads of their gods. Then sometimes the priests take the silver and gold from their gods and spend it on themselves,

[10] or give part of it to the harlots on the terrace. They trick them out in garments like men, these gods of silver and gold and wood;

[11] but though they are wrapped in purple clothing, they are not safe from corrosion or insects.

[12] They wipe their faces clean of the house dust which is thick upon them.

[13] Each has a scepter, like the human ruler of a district; but none does away with those that offend against it.

[14] Each has in its right hand an axe or dagger, but it cannot save itself from war or pillage. Thus it is known they are not gods; do not fear them.

[15] As useless as one's broken tools

[16] are their gods, set up in their houses; their eyes are full of dust from the feet of those who enter.

[17] Their courtyards are walled in like those of a man brought to execution for a crime against the king; the priests reinforce their houses with gates and bars and bolts, lest they be carried off by robbers.

[18] They light more lamps for them than for themselves, yet not one of these can they see.

[19] They are like any beam in the house; it is said their hearts are eaten away. Though the insects out of the ground consume them and their garments, they do not feel it.

[20] Their faces are blackened by the smoke of the house.

[21] Bats and swallows alight on their bodies and on their heads; and cats as well as birds.

[22] Know, therefore, that they are not gods, and do not fear them.

[23] Despite the gold that covers them for adornment, unless someone wipes away the corrosion, they do not shine; nor did they feel anything when they were molded.

[24] They are bought at any price, and there is no spirit in them.

[25] Having no feet, they are carried on men's shoulders, displaying their shame to all; and those who worship them are put to confusion

[26] because, if they fall to the ground, the worshipers must raise them up. They neither move of themselves if one sets them upright, nor come upright if they fall; but one puts gifts beside them as beside the dead.

[27] Their priests resell their sacrifices for their own advantage. Even their wives cure parts of the meat, but do not share it with the poor and the weak;

[28] the menstruous and women in childbed handle their sacrifices. Knowing from this that they are not gods, do not fear them.

[29] How can they be called gods? For women bring the offerings to these gods of silver and gold and wood;

[30] and in their temples the priests squat with torn tunic and with shaven hair and beard, and with their heads uncovered.

[31] They shout and wail before their gods as others do at a funeral banquet.

[32] The priests take some of their clothing and put it on their wives and children.

[33] Whether they are treated well or ill by anyone, they cannot requite it; they can neither set up a king nor remove him.

[34] Similarly, they cannot give anyone riches or coppers; if one fails to fulfill a vow to them, they cannot exact it of him.

[35] They neither save a man from death, nor deliver the weak from the strong.

[36] To no blind man do they restore his sight, nor do they save any man in an emergency.

[37] They neither pity the widow nor benefit the orphan.

[38] These gilded and silvered wooden statues are like stones from the mountains; and their worshipers will be put to shame.

[39] How then can it be thought or claimed that they are gods?

[40] Even the Chaldeans themselves have no respect for them; for when they see a deaf mute, incapable of speech, they bring forward Bel and ask the god to make noise, as though the man could understand;

[41] and they are themselves unable to reflect and abandon these gods, for they have no sense.

[42] And their women, girt with cords, sit by the roads, burning chaff for incense;

[43] and whenever one of them is drawn aside by some passer-by who lies with her, she mocks her neighbor who has not been dignified as she has, and has not had her cord broken.

[44] All that takes place around these gods is a fraud: how then can it be thought or claimed that they are gods?

[45] They are produced by woodworkers and goldsmiths, and they are nothing else than what these craftsmen wish them to be.

[46] Even those who produce them are not long-lived;

[47] how then can what they have produced be gods? They have left frauds and opprobrium to their successors.

[48] For when war or disaster comes upon them, the priests deliberate among themselves where they can hide with them.

[49] How then can one not know that these are no-gods, which do not save themselves either from war or from disaster?

[50] They are wooden, gilded and silvered; they will later be known for frauds. To all peoples and kings it will be clear that they are not gods, but human handiwork; and that God's work is not in them.

[51] Who does not know that they are not gods?

[52] They set no king over the land, nor do they give men rain.

[53] They neither vindicate their own rights, nor do they recover what is unjustly taken, for they are unable;

[54] they are like crows between heaven and earth. For when fire breaks out in the temple of these wooden or gilded or silvered gods, though the priests flee and are safe, they themselves are burnt up in the fire like beams.

[55] They cannot resist a king, or enemy forces.

[56] How then can it be admitted or thought that they are gods? are safe from neither thieves nor bandits, these wooden and silvered and gilded gods;

[57] those who seize them strip off the gold and the silver, and go away with the clothing that was on them, and they cannot help themselves.

[58] How much better to be a king displaying his valor, or a handy tool in a house, the joy of its owner, than these false gods; or the door of a house, that keeps safe those who are within, rather than these false gods; or a wooden post in a palace, rather than these false gods!

[59] The sun and moon and stars are bright, and obedient in the service for which they are sent.

[60] Likewise the lightning, when it flashes, is a goodly sight; and the same wind blows over all the land.

[61] The clouds, too, when commanded by God to proceed across the whole world, fulfill the order;

[62] and fire, sent from on high to burn up the mountains and the forests, does what has been commanded. But these false gods are not their equal, whether in beauty or in power;

[63] so that it is unthinkable, and cannot be claimed, that they are gods. They can neither execute judgment, nor benefit man.

[64] Know, therefore, that they are not gods, and do not fear them.

[65] Kings they neither curse nor bless.

[66] They show the nations no signs in the heavens, nor are they brilliant like the sun, nor shining like the moon.

[67] The beasts which can help themselves by fleeing to shelter are better than they are.

[68] Thus in no way is it clear to us that they are gods; so do not fear them.

[69] For like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch, that is no protection, are their wooden, gilded, silvered gods.

[70] Just like a thornbush in a garden on which perches every kind of bird, or like a corpse hurled into darkness, are their silvered and gilded wooden gods.

[71] From the rotting of the purple and the linen upon them, it can be known that they are not gods; they themselves will in the end be comsumed, and be a disgrace in the land.

[72] The better for the just man who has no idols: he shall be far from disgrace!

Introduction to Ezekiel

Ezekiel

Introduction

Ezekiel's complex character makes him one of the most interesting figures in Israelite prophecy. In many ways he resembles the more primitive type of prophet represented by Elijah and Elisha; yet he clearly depends on all his predecessors in prophecy, and his teaching is a development of theirs. His unique contribution to the history of prophetism lies in his manifest interest in the temple and the liturgy, an interest paralleled in no other prophet-not even Jeremiah who, like Ezekiel, was also a priest. Particularly because of this interest, Ezekiel's influence on postexilic religion was enormous, and not without reason has he been called "the father of Judaism." This has resulted in his prophecies reaching us with the evident marks of editing and addition by the post-exilic circles that shared his intense interest. However, we may be sure that in this book we have throughout what is in substance the prophet's own work.

Ezekiel became a prophet in Babylon-the first prophet to receive the call to prophesy outside the Holy Land. As one of the exiles deported by Nebuchadnezzar in 597, his first task was to prepare his fellow countrymen in Babylon for the final destruction of Jerusalem, which they believed to be inviolable. Accordingly, the first part of his book consists of reproaches for Israel's past and present sins and the confident prediction of yet a further devastation of the land of promise and a more general exile. In 587, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, Ezekiel was vindicated before his unbelieving compatriots.

After this time, Ezekiel's message changes. From now on his prophecy is characterized by the promise of salvation in a new covenant, and he is anxious to lay down the conditions necessary to obtain it. Even as Jeremiah had believed, Ezekiel thought that the exiles were the hope of Israel's restoration, once God's allotted time for the Exile had been accomplished. His final eight chapters are an utopian vision of the Israel of the future, rid of its past evils and reestablished firmly under the rule of the Lord. The famous vision of the dry bones in chapter 37 expresses his firm belief in a forthcoming restoration, Israel rising to new life from the graveyard of Babylon. But Ezekiel's new covenant, like Jeremiah's, was to see its true fulfillment only in the New Testament.

Perhaps no other prophet has stressed the absolute majesty of God as Ezekiel does. This appears not only in the tremendous vision by the river Chebar with which his prophecy opens, but throughout the book. Ultimately, says Ezekiel, whatever God does to or for man is motivated by zeal for his own holy name. The new heart and the new spirit which must exist under the new covenant cannot be the work of man; they too must be the work of God. By such teachings he helped prepare for the New Testament doctrine of salvation through grace.

The Book of Ezekiel is divided as follows:

Call of the Prophet (Ezekiel 1:1-3:27)

Before the Siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1-24:27)

Prophecies against Foreign Nations (Ezekiel 25:1-32:32)

Salvation for Israel (Ezekiel 33:1-39:29)

The New Israel (Ezekiel 40:1-48:35)

Ezekiel Chapter 1

[1] 1 In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens opened, and I saw divine visions.--

[2] 2 On the fifth day of the month, the fifth year, that is, of King Jehoiachin's exile,

[3] the word of the LORD came to the priest Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.--There the hand of the LORD came upon me.

[4] 3 As I looked, a stormwind came from the North, a huge cloud with flashing fire (enveloped in brightness), from the midst of which (the midst of the fire) something gleamed like electrum.

[5] 4 Within it were figures resembling four living creatures that looked like this: their form was human,

[6] but each had four faces and four wings,

[7] and their legs went straight down; the soles of their feet were round. They sparkled with a gleam like burnished bronze.

[8] Human hands were under their wings, and the wings of one touched those of another.

Ezekiel Chapter 2

[1] 1 Son of man, stand up! I wish to speak with you.

[2] 2 As he spoke to me, spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard the one who was speaking

[3] say to me: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their fathers have revolted against me to this very day.

[4] Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you. But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD!

[5] And whether they heed or resist--for they are a rebellious house--they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

[6] 3 But as for you, son of man, fear neither them nor their words when they contradict you and reject you, and when you sit on scorpions. Neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

[7] (But speak my words to them, whether they heed or resist, for they are rebellious.)

[8] As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you: be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.

[9] It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me, in which was a written scroll

[10] which he unrolled before me. It was covered with writing front and back, and written on it was: Lamentation and wailing and woe!

Ezekiel Chapter 3

[1] He said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel.

[2] So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat.

[3] 1 Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. He said:

[4] Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.

[5] Not to a people with difficult speech and barbarous language am I sending you,

[6] nor to the many peoples (with difficult speech and barbarous language) whose words you cannot understand. If I were to send you to these, they would listen to you;

[7] but the house of Israel will refuse to listen to you, since they will not listen to me. For the whole house of Israel is stubborn of brow and obstinate in heart.

[8] But I will make your face as hard as theirs, and your brow as stubborn as theirs,

[9] like diamond, harder than flint. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

[10] Son of man, he said to me, take into your heart all my words that I speak to you; hear them well.

[11] Now go to the exiles, to your countrymen, and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD!--whether they heed or resist!

[12] 2 Then spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the noise of a loud rumbling as the glory of the LORD rose from its place:

[13] the noise made by the wings of the living creatures striking one another, and by the wheels alongside them, a loud rumbling.

[14] The spirit which had lifted me up seized me, and I went off spiritually stirred, while the hand of the LORD rested heavily upon me.

[15] 3 Thus I came to the exiles who lived at Tel-abib by the river Chebar, and for seven days I sat among them distraught.

[16] 7 At the end of seven days. . .

Ezekiel Chapter 4

[1] As for you, son of man, take a clay tablet; lay it in front of you, and draw on it a city (Jerusalem).

[2] Raise a siege against it: build a tower, lay out a ramp, pitch camps, and set up batteringrams all around.

[3] Then take an iron griddle and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Fix your gaze on it: it shall be in the state of siege, and you shall besiege it. This shall be a sign for the house of Israel.

[4] Then you shall lie on your left side, while I place the sins of the house of Israel upon you. As many days as you lie thus, you shall bear their sins.

[5] 1 For the years of their sins I allot you the same number of days, three hundred and ninety, during which you will bear the sins of the house of Israel.

[6] When you finish this, you are to lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the sins of the house of Judah forty days; one day for each year I have allotted you.

[7] 2 Fixing your gaze on the siege of Jerusalem, with bared arm you shall prophesy against it.

[8] See, I will bind you with cords so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

[9] 3 Again, take wheat and barley, and beans and lentils, and millet and spelt; put them in a single vessel and make bread out of them. Eat it for as many days as you lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety.

[10] The food you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; each day the same.

[11] And the water you drink shall be the sixth of a hin by measure; each day the same.

[12] For your food you must bake barley loaves over human excrement in their sight, said the LORD.

[13] Thus the Israelites shall eat their food unclean among the nations where I scatter them.

[14] "Oh no, Lord GOD!" I protested. "Never have I been made unclean, and from my youth till now, never have I eaten carrion flesh or that torn by wild beasts; never has any unclean meat entered my mouth."

[15] Very well, he replied, I allow you cow's dung in place of human excrement; bake your bread on that.

Ezekiel Chapter 5

[1] As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it like a barber's razor, passing it over your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair you have cut.

[2] 1 Burn a third in the fire, within the city, when the days of your siege are completed; place another third around the city and strike it with the sword; the final third strew in the wind, and pursue it with the sword.

[3] (But of the last take a small number and tie them in the hem of your garment.

[4] Then take some of these and throw them in the midst of the fire and burn them.) Say to the whole house of Israel:

[5] Thus says the Lord GOD: This is Jerusalem! In the midst of the nations I placed her, surrounded by foreign countries.

[6] But she rebelled against my ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against my statutes more than the foreign countries surrounding her; she has spurned my ordinances and has not lived by my statutes.

[7] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have been more rebellious than the nations surrounding you, not living by my statutes nor fulfilling my ordinances, but acting according to the ordinances of the surrounding nations;

[8] 2 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am coming at you! I will inflict punishments in your midst while the nations look on.

[9] Because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never done before, the like of which I will never do again.

[10] 3 This means that fathers within you shall eat sons, and sons shall eat fathers. I will inflict punishments upon you and scatter all that remain of your people in every direction.

[11] Therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable abominations, I swear to cut you down. I will not look upon you with pity nor have mercy.

[12] A third of your people shall die of pestilence and perish of hunger within you; another third shall fall by the sword all around you; and a third I will scatter in every direction, and I will pursue them with the sword.

[13] Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will wreak my fury upon them till I am appeased; they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken in my jealousy when I spend my fury upon them.

[14] I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that surround you, which every passer-by may see.

[15] When I execute judgment upon you in anger and fury and with furious chastisements, you shall be a reproach and an object of scorn, a terrible warning to the nations that surround you. I, the LORD, have spoken!

Ezekiel Chapter 6

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, turn toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them:

[3] 1 Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. Thus says the Lord GOD (to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys): See, I am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

[4] Your altars shall be laid waste, your incense stands shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain ones before your idols;

[5] 2 I will scatter their bones all around your altars.

[6] In all your dwelling places cities shall be made desolate and high places laid waste, so that your altars will be made desolate and laid waste, your idols broken and removed, and your incense stands smashed to bits.

[7] (The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

[8] I have warned you.) When some of your people have escaped to other nations from the sword, and have been scattered over the foreign lands,

[9] then those who have escaped will remember me among the nations to which they have been exiled, after I have broken their adulterous hearts that turned away from me (and their eyes which lusted after idols). They shall loathe themselves because of their evil deeds, all their abominations.

[10] Then they shall know that it was not in vain that I, the LORD, threatened to inflict this calamity upon them.

[11] 3 Thus says the Lord GOD: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and cry "Alas!" because of all the abominations of the house of Israel, for which they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.

[12] He that is far off shall die of pestilence, he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he that is besieged shall perish by famine; so will I spend my fury upon them.

[13] 4 Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when their slain shall lie amid their idols, all about their altars, on every high hill and mountaintop, beneath every green tree and leafy oak, wherever they offered appeasing odors to any of their gods.

[14] 5 I will stretch out my hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the desert to Riblah; thus shall they know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel Chapter 7

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, now say: Thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land!

[3] Now the end is upon you; I will unleash my anger against you and judge you according to your conduct and lay upon you the consequences of all your abominations.

[4] I will not look upon you with pity nor have mercy; I will bring your conduct down upon you, and the consequences of your abominations shall be in your midst; then shall you know that I am the LORD.

[5] Thus says the Lord GOD: Disaster upon disaster! See it coming!

[6] An end is coming, the end is coming upon you! See it coming!

[7] The climax has come for you who dwell in the land! The time has come, near is the day: a time of consternation, not of rejoicing.

[8] Soon now I will pour out my fury upon you and spend my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your conduct and lay upon you the consequences of all your abominations.

[9] I will not look upon you with pity nor have mercy; I will deal with you according to your conduct, and the consequences of your abominations shall be in your midst; then shall you know that it is I, the LORD, who strike.

[10] See, the day of the LORD! See, the end is coming! Lawlessness is in full bloom, insolence flourishes,

[11] violence has risen to support wickedness. It shall not be long in coming, nor shall it delay.

[12] 1 The time has come, the day dawns. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn, for wrath shall be upon all the throng.

[13] The seller shall not regain what he sold as long as he lives, for wrath shall be upon all the throng. Because of his sins, no one shall preserve his life.

[14] They shall sound the trumpet and make everything ready, yet no one shall go to war, for my wrath is upon all the throng.

[15] The sword is outside; pestilence and hunger are within. He that is in the country shall die by the sword; pestilence and famine shall devour those in the city.

[16] Even those who escape and flee to the mountains like the doves of the valleys--I will put them all to death, each one for his own sins.

[17] All their hands shall be limp, and all their knees shall run with water.

[18] 2 They shall put on sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; shame shall be on all their faces and baldness on all their heads.

[19] They shall fling their silver into the streets, and their gold shall be considered refuse. Their silver and gold cannot save them on the day of the LORD'S wrath. They shall not be allowed to satisfy their craving or fill their bellies, for this has been the occasion of their sin.

[20] In the beauty of their ornaments they put their pride: they made of them their abominable images (their idols). For this reason I make them refuse.

[21] I will hand them over as booty to foreigners, to be spoiled and defiled by the wicked of the earth.

[22] 3 I will turn away my face from them, and my treasure shall be profaned: robbers shall enter and profane it.

[23] They shall wreak slaughter, for the land is filled with bloodshed and the city full of violence.

[24] I will bring in the worst of the nations, who shall take possession of their houses. I will put an end to their proud strength, and their sanctuaries shall be profaned.

[25] When anguish comes they shall seek peace, but there will be none.

[26] There shall be disaster after disaster, rumor after rumor. Prophetic vision shall fade; instruction shall be lacking to the priest, and counsel to the elders,

[27] while the prince shall be enveloped in terror, and the hands of the common people shall tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and according to their judgments I will judge them; thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel Chapter 8

Ezekiel Chapter 9

[1] Then he cried loud for me to hear: Come, you scourges of the city!

[2] With that I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate which faces the north, each with a destroying weapon in his hand. In their midst was a man dressed in linen, with a writer's case at his waist. They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.

[3] Then he called to the man dressed in linen with the writer's case at his waist,

[4] 1 saying to him: Pass through the city (through Jerusalem) and mark an X on the foreheads of those who moan and groan over all the abominations that are practiced within it.

[5] To the others I heard him say: Pass through the city after him and strike! Do not look on them with pity nor show any mercy!

[6] Old men, youths and maidens, women and children--wipe them out! But do not touch any marked with the X; begin at my sanctuary. So they began with the men (the elders) who were in front of the temple.

[7] Defile the temple, he said to them, and fill the courts with the slain; then go out and strike in the city.

[8] As they began to strike, I was left alone. I fell prone, crying out, Alas, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all that is left of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?"

[9] He answered me: The sins of the house of Israel are great beyond measure; the land is filled with bloodshed, the city with lawlessness. They think that the LORD has forsaken the land, that he does not see them.

[10] I, however, will not look upon them with pity, nor show any mercy. I will bring down their conduct upon their heads.

[11] Then I saw the man dressed in linen with the writing case at his waist make his report: "I have done as you ordered."

Ezekiel Chapter 10

[1] 1 On the fifth day of the sixth month, in the sixth year, as I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there.

[2] 2 I looked up and saw a form that looked like a man. Downward from what seemed to be his waist, there was fire; from his waist upward there seemed to be a brightness like the sheen of electrum. He stretched out what appeared to be a hand and seized me by the hair of my head. . . .

[3] As the man entered, the cloud filled the inner court,

[4] and the glory of the LORD rose from over the cherubim to the threshold of the temple; the temple was filled with the cloud, and all the court was bright with the glory of the LORD.

[5] The noise of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court; it was like the voice of God the Almighty when he speaks.

[6] When he had commanded the man dressed in linen to take fire from within the wheelwork, among the cherubim, the man entered and stood by one of the wheels.

[7] Thereupon its cherub stretched out his hand toward the fire that was among the cherubim. He took up some of it and put it in the hands of the one dressed in linen, who took it and came out.

[8] (Something like human hands could be seen under the wings of the cherubim.)

Ezekiel Chapter 11

[1] Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the temple. At the entrance of the gate I saw twenty-five men, among whom were Jaazaniah, son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

[2] The LORD said to me: Son of man, these are the men who are planning evil and giving wicked counsel in this city.

[3] 2 "Shall we not," they say, "be building houses soon? The city is the kettle, and we are the meat."

[4] Therefore prophesy against them, son of man, prophesy!

[5] Then the spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he told me to say: Thus says the LORD: This is the way you talk, house of Israel, and what you are plotting I well know.

[6] You have slain many in this city and have filled its streets with your slain.

[7] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Your slain whom you have placed within it, they are the meat, and the city is the kettle; but you I will take out of it.

[8] You fear the sword, but the sword I will bring upon you, says the Lord GOD.

[9] I will bring you out of the city, and hand you over to foreigners, and inflict punishments upon you.

[10] By the sword you shall fall; at the boundaries of Israel I will judge you; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[11] The city shall not be a kettle for you, nor shall you be the meat within it. At the boundaries of Israel I will judge you,

[12] and you shall know that I am the LORD, by whose statutes you have not lived, and whose ordinances you have not kept; rather, you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.

[13] While I was prophesying, Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. I fell prone and cried out in a loud voice: "Alas, Lord GOD! will you utterly wipe out what remains of Israel?"

[14] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[15] 3 Son of man, it is about your kinsmen, your fellow exiles, and the whole house of Israel that the inhabitants of Jerusalem say, "They are far away from the LORD; to us the land of Israel has been given as our possession."

[16] Therefore say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I have removed them far among the nations and scattered them over foreign countries--and was for a while their only sanctuary in the countries to which they had gone--

[17] I will gather you from the nations and assemble you from the countries over which you have been scattered, and I will restore to you the land of Israel.

[18] They shall return to it and remove from it all its detestable abominations.

[19] I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart,

[20] so that they will live according to my statutes, and observe and carry out my ordinances; thus they shall be my people and I will be their God.

[21] But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their detestable abominations, I will bring down their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 12

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house; they have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.

[3] Now, son of man, during the day while they are looking on, prepare your baggage as though for exile, and again while they are looking on, migrate from where you live to another place; perhaps they will see that they are a rebellious house.

[4] You shall bring out your baggage like an exile in the daytime while they are looking on; in the evening, again while they are looking on, you shall go out like one of those driven into exile;

[5] 1 while they look on, dig a hole in the wall and pass through it;

[6] while they look on, shoulder the burden and set out in the darkness; cover your face that you may not see the land, for I have made you a sign for the house of Israel.

[7] I did as I was told. During the day I brought out my baggage as though it were that of an exile, and at evening I dug a hole through the wall with my hand and, while they looked on, set out in the darkness, shouldering my burden.

[8] Then, in the morning, the word of the LORD came to me:

[9] Son of man, did not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, ask you what you were doing?

[10] Tell them: Thus says the Lord GOD: This oracle concerns Jerusalem and the whole house of Israel within it.

[11] I am a sign for you: as I have done, so shall it be done to them; as captives they shall go into exile.

[12] The prince who is among them shall shoulder his burden and set out in darkness, going through a hole that he has dug in the wall, and covering his face lest he be seen by anyone.

[13] 2 But I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, into the land of the Chaldeans--but he shall not see it--and there he shall die.

[14] All his retinue, his aides, and his troops I will scatter in every direction, and pursue them with the sword.

[15] Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them over foreign lands.

[16] Yet I will leave a few of them to escape the sword, famine and pestilence, so that they may tell of all their abominations among the nations to which they will come; thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

[17] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[18] Son of man, eat your bread trembling, and drink your water shaking with anxiety.

[19] Then say to the people of the land: Thus says the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (to the land of Israel): They shall eat their bread in anxiety and drink their water in horror, that their land may be emptied of the violence of all its inhabitants that now fills it.

[20] Inhabited cities shall be in ruins, and the land shall be a waste; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[21] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[22] 3 Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel: "The days drag on, and no vision ever comes to anything"?

[23] Say to them therefore: Thus says the Lord GOD: I will put an end to this proverb; they shall never quote it again in Israel. Rather, say to them: The days are at hand, and also the fulfillment of every vision.

[24] There shall no longer be any false visions or deceitful divinations within the house of Israel, because it is I, the LORD, who will speak.

Ezekiel Chapter 13

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, prophesy! Say to those who prophesy their own thought: Hear the word of the LORD:

[3] Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to those prophets who are fools, who follow their own spirit and have seen no vision.

[4] Like foxes among ruins are your prophets, O Israel!

Ezekiel Chapter 14

[1] When certain elders of Israel came and sat down before me,

[2] the word of the LORD came to me:

[3] Son of man, these men have the memory of their idols fresh in their hearts, and they keep the occasion of their sin before them. Why should I allow myself to be consulted by them?

[4] Therefore speak with them, and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: If anyone of the house of Israel, holding the memory of his idols in his heart and keeping the occasion of his sin before him, has recourse to a prophet, I, the LORD, will be his answer in person because of his many idols.

[5] Thus would I bring back to their senses the house of Israel, who have become estranged from me through all their idols.

[6] Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: Return and be converted from your idols; turn yourselves away from all your abominations.

[7] For if anyone of the house of Israel or any alien resident in Israel is estranged from me, and holds the memory of his idols in his heart and keeps the occasion of his sin before him, yet asks a prophet to consult me for him, I, the LORD, will be his answer in person.

[8] I will turn against that man, and make of him an example and a byword. I will cut him off from the midst of my people. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[9] 1 As for the prophet, if he is beguiled into speaking a word, I, the LORD, shall have beguiled that prophet; I will stretch out my hand against him and root him out of my people Israel.

[10] Each shall receive punishment for his sin, the inquirer and the prophet shall be punished alike,

[11] so that the house of Israel may no longer stray from me and may no longer be defiled by all their sins. Thus they shall be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord GOD.

[12] 2 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[13] Son of man, when a land sins against me by breaking faith, I stretch out my hand against it and break its staff of bread, I let famine loose upon it and cut off from it both man and beast;

[14] 3 and even if these three men were in it, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they could save only themselves by their virtue, says the Lord GOD.

[15] If I were to cause wild beasts to prowl the land, depopulating it so that it became a waste, traversed by none because of the wild beasts,

[16] and these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, I swear they could save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, and the land would be a waste.

[17] Or if I brought the sword upon this country, commanding the sword to pass through the land cutting off from it man and beast,

[18] and these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they would be unable to save either sons or daughters; they alone would be saved.

[19] Or if I were to send pestilence into this land, pouring out upon it my bloodthirsty fury, cutting off from it man and beast,

[20] even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, I swear that they could save neither son nor daughter; they would save only themselves by their virtue.

[21] Thus says the Lord GOD: Even though I send Jerusalem my four cruel punishments, the sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast,

[22] still some survivors shall be left in it who will bring out sons and daughters; when they come out to you, you shall see their conduct and their actions and be consoled regarding the evil I have brought on Jerusalem (all that I have brought upon it).

[23] They shall console you when you see their conduct and actions, for you shall then know that it was not without reason that I did to it what I did, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 15

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, what makes the wood of the vine better than any other wood? That branch among the trees of the forest!

[3] Can you use its wood to make anything worthwhile? Can you make even a peg from it, to hang on it any kind of vessel?

[4] If you throw it on the fire as fuel and the fire devours both ends and even the middle is scorched, is it still good for anything?

[5] Why, even when it was whole it was good for nothing; how much less, when the fire has devoured and scorched it, can it be used for anything!

[6] Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have destined as fuel for the fire, do I make the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

[7] I will set my face against them; they have escaped from the fire, but the fire shall devour them. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD, when I turn my face against them.

[8] I will make the land a waste, because they have broken faith, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 16

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.

[3] 1 Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: By origin and birth you are of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

[4] As for your birth, the day you were born your navel cord was not cut; you were neither washed with water nor anointed, nor were you rubbed with salt, nor swathed in swaddling clothes.

[5] No one looked on you with pity or compassion to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome, the day you were born.

[6] Then I passed by and saw you weltering in your blood. I said to you: Live in your blood

[7] and grow like a plant in the field. You grew and developed, you came to the age of puberty; your breasts were formed, your hair had grown, but you were still stark naked.

[8] 2 Again I passed by you and saw that you were now old enough for love. So I spread the corner of my cloak over you to cover your nakedness; I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you; you became mine, says the Lord GOD.

[9] Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood, and anointed you with oil.

[10] I clothed you with an embroidered gown, put sandals of fine leather on your feet; I gave you a fine linen sash and silk robes to wear.

[11] I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms, a necklace about your neck,

[12] a ring in your nose, pendants in your ears, and a glorious diadem upon your head.

[13] Thus you were adorned with gold and silver; your garments were of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. Fine flour, honey, and oil were your food. You were exceedingly beautiful, with the dignity of a queen.

[14] You were renowned among the nations for your beauty, perfect as it was, because of my splendor which I had bestowed on you, says the Lord GOD.

[15] But you were captivated by your own beauty, you used your renown to make yourself a harlot, and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by, whose own you became.

[16] 3 You took some of your gowns and made for yourself gaudy high places, where you played the harlot. . . .

[17] You took the splendid gold and silver ornaments that I had given you and made for yourself male images, with which also you played the harlot.

[18] You took your embroidered gowns to cover them; my oil and my incense you set before them;

[19] the food that I had given you, the fine flour, the oil, and the honey with which I fed you, you set before them as an appeasing odor, says the Lord GOD.

[20] 4 The sons and daughters you had borne me you took and offered as sacrifices to be devoured by them! Was it not enough that you had become a harlot?

[21] You slaughtered and immolated my children to them, making them pass through fire.

[22] And through all your abominations and harlotries you remembered nothing of when you were a girl, stark naked and weltering in your blood.

[23] Then after all your evildoing--woe, woe to you! says the Lord GOD--

[24] 5 you raised for yourself a platform and a dais in every public place.

[25] At every street corner you built a dais for yourself to use your beauty obscenely, spreading your legs for every passer-by, playing the harlot countless times.

[26] You played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, so many times that I was provoked to anger.

[27] Therefore I stretched out my hand against you, I diminished your allowance and delivered you over to the will of your enemies, the Philistines, who revolted at your lewd conduct.

[28] You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; and after playing the harlot with them, you were still not satisfied.

[29] Again and again you played the harlot, now going to Chaldea, the land of the traders; but despite this, you were still not satisfied.

[30] How wild your lust! says the Lord GOD, that you did all these things, acting like a shameless prostitute,

[31] building your platform at every street corner and erecting your dais in every public place! Yet you were unlike a prostitute, since you disdained payment.

[32] The adulterous wife receives, instead of her husband, payment.

[33] All harlots receive gifts. But you rather bestowed your gifts on all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all sides for your harlotry.

[34] Thus in your harlotry you were different from all other women. No one sought you out for prostitution. Since you gave payment instead of receiving it, how different you were!

[35] Therefore, harlot, hear the word of the LORD!

[36] Thus says the Lord GOD: Because you poured out your lust and revealed your nakedness in your harlotry with your lovers and abominable idols, and because you sacrificed the life-blood of your children to them,

[37] I will now gather together all your lovers whom you tried to please, whether you loved them or loved them not; I will gather them against you from all sides and expose you naked for them to see.

[38] I will inflict on you the sentence of adulteresses and murderesses; I will wreak fury and jealousy upon you.

[39] I will hand you over to them to tear down your platform and demolish your dais; they shall strip you of your garments and take away your splendid ornaments, leaving you stark naked.

[40] They shall lead an assembly against you to stone you and hack you with their swords.

[41] They shall burn your apartments with fire and inflict punishments on you while many women look on. Thus I will put an end to your harlotry, and you shall never again give payment.

[42] When I have wreaked my fury upon you I will cease to be jealous of you, I will be quiet and no longer vexed.

[43] Because you did not remember what happened when you were a girl, but enraged me with all these things, therefore in return I am bringing down your conduct upon your head, says the Lord GOD. For did you not add lewdness to the rest of your abominable deeds?

[44] See, everyone who is fond of proverbs will say of you, 'Like mother, like daughter.'

[45] 6 Yes, you are the true daughter of the mother who spurned her husband and children, and you are a true sister to those who spurned their husbands and children--your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

[46] 7 Your elder sister was Samaria with her daughters, living to the north of you; and your younger sister, living to the south of you, was Sodom with her daughters.

[47] Yet not only in their ways did you walk, and act as abominably as they did; in a very short time you became more corrupt in all your ways than they.

[48] As I live, says the Lord GOD, I swear that your sister Sodom, with her daughters, has not done as you and your daughters have done!

[49] And look at the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were proud, sated with food, complacent in their prosperity, and they gave no help to the poor and needy.

[50] Rather, they became haughty and committed abominable crimes in my presence; then, as you have seen, I removed them.

[51] Samaria did not commit half your sins! You have done more abominable things than they, and have even made your sisters appear just, with all the abominable deeds you have done.

[52] You, then, bear your shame; you are an argument in favor of your sisters! In view of your sinful deeds, more abominable than theirs, they appear just in comparison with you. Blush for shame, and bear the shame of having made your sisters appear just.

[53] I will restore their fortunes, the fortune of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters (and I will restore your fortune along with them),

[54] that you may bear your shame and be disgraced for all the comfort you brought them.

[55] Yes, your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, Samaria and her daughters, shall return to their former state (you and your daughters shall return to your former state).

[56] Was not your sister Sodom kept in bad repute by you while you felt proud of yourself,

[57] before your wickedness became evident? Now you are like her, reproached by the Edomites and all your neighbors, despised on all sides by the Philistines.

[58] The penalty of your lewdness and your abominations--you must bear it all, says the LORD.

[59] For thus speaks the Lord GOD: I will deal with you according to what you have done, you who despised your oath, breaking a covenant.

[60] Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl, and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you.

[61] Then you shall remember your conduct and be ashamed when I take your sisters, those older and younger than you, and give them to you as daughters, even though I am not bound by my covenant with you.

[62] For I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the LORD,

[63] that you may remember and be covered with confusion, and that you may be utterly silenced for shame when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 17

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, propose a riddle, and speak this proverb to the house of Israel:

[3] Thus speaks the Lord GOD: The great eagle, with great wings, with long pinions, with thick plumage, many-hued, came to Lebanon. He took the crest of the cedar,

[4] tearing off its topmost branch, And brought it to a land of tradesmen, set it in a city of merchants.

[5] Then he took some seed of the land, and planted it in a seedbed; A shoot by plentiful waters, like a willow he placed it,

[6] To sprout and grow up a vine, dense and low-lying, Its branches turned toward him, its roots lying under him. Thus it became a vine, produced branches and put forth shoots.

[7] But there was another great eagle, great of wing, rich in plumage; To him this vine bent its roots, sent out its branches, That he might water it more freely than the bed where it was planted.

[8] In a fertile field by plentiful waters it was planted, to grow branches, bear fruit, and become a majestic vine.

[9] Say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Can it prosper? Will he not rather tear it out by the roots and strip off its fruit, so that all its green growth will wither when he pulls it up by the roots? (No need of a mighty arm or many people to do this.)

[10] True, it is planted, but will it prosper? Will it not rather wither, when touched by the east wind, in the bed where it grew?

[11] 1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[12] Son of man, say now to the rebellious house: Do you not understand what this means? It is this: The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took away its king and princes with him to Babylon.

[13] Then he selected a man of the royal line with whom he made a covenant, binding him under oath, while removing the nobles of the land,

[14] so that the kingdom would remain a modest one, without aspirations, and would keep his covenant and obey him.

[15] But this man rebelled against him, sending envoys to Egypt to obtain horses and a great army. Can he prosper? Can he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still go free?

[16] As I live, says the Lord GOD, in the home of the king who set him up to rule, whose oath he spurned, whose covenant with him he broke, there in Babylon I swear he shall die!

[17] When ramps are cast up and siege towers are built for the destruction of many lives, he shall not be saved in the conflict by Pharaoh with a great army and numerous troops.

[18] He spurned his oath, breaking his covenant. Though he gave his hand in pledge, he did all these things. He shall not escape!

[19] Therefore say: Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, my oath which he spurned, my covenant which he broke, I swear to bring down upon his head.

[20] I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there over his breaking faith with me.

[21] All the crack troops among his forces shall fall by the sword, and the survivors shall be scattered in every direction. Thus you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken.

[22] 2 Therefore say: Thus says the Lord GOD: I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, And plant it on a high and lofty mountain;

[23] on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it. It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.

[24] And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, Bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, Wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom. As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.

Ezekiel Chapter 18

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man,

[2] 1 what is the meaning of this proverb that you recite in the land of Israel: "Fathers have eaten green grapes, thus their children's teeth are on edge"?

[3] As I live, says the Lord GOD: I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among you who will repeat this proverb in Israel.

[4] For all lives are mine; the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine; only the one who sins shall die.

[5] If a man is virtuous--if he does what is right and just,

[6] 2 if he does not eat on the mountains, nor raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; if he does not defile his neighbor's wife, nor have relations with a woman in her menstrual period;

[7] if he oppresses no one, gives back the pledge received for a debt, commits no robbery; if he gives food to the hungry and clothes the naked;

[8] if he does not lend at interest nor exact usury; if he holds off from evildoing, judges fairly between a man and his opponent;

[9] if he lives by my statutes and is careful to observe my ordinances, that man is virtuous--he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.

[10] But if he begets a son who is a thief, a murderer, or who does any of these things

[11] (though the father does none of them), a son who eats on the mountains, defiles the wife of his neighbor,

[12] oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not give back a pledge, raises his eyes to idols, does abominable things,

[13] lends at interest and exacts usury--this son certainly shall not live. Because he practiced all these abominations, he shall surely die; his death shall be his own fault.

[14] On the other hand, if a man begets a son who, seeing all the sins his father commits, yet fears and does not imitate him;

[15] a son who does not eat on the mountains, or raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor's wife;

[16] who does not oppress anyone, or exact a pledge, or commit robbery; who gives his food to the hungry and clothes the naked;

[17] who holds off from evildoing, accepts no interest or usury, but keeps my ordinances and lives by my statutes--this one shall not die for the sins of his father, but shall surely live.

[18] Only the father, since he violated rights, and robbed, and did what was not good among his people, shall in truth die for his sins.

[19] You ask: "Why is not the son charged with the guilt of his father?" Because the son has done what is right and just, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live.

[20] Only the one who sins shall die. The son shall not be charged with the guilt of his father, nor shall the father be charged with the guilt of his son. The virtuous man's virtue shall be his own, as the wicked man's wickedness shall be his own.

[21] But if the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

[22] None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced.

[23] Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord GOD. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live?

[24] And if the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil, the same kind of abominable things that the wicked man does, can he do this and still live? None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered, because he has broken faith and committed sin; because of this, he shall die.

[25] You say, "The LORD'S way is not fair!" Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?

[26] When a virtuous man turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.

[27] But if a wicked man, turning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life;

[28] since he has turned away from all the sins which he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

[29] And yet the house of Israel says, "The LORD'S way is not fair!" Is it my way that is not fair, house of Israel, or rather, is it not that your ways are not fair?

[30] Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Turn and be converted from all your crimes, that they may be no cause of guilt for you.

[31] Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?

[32] For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord GOD. Return and live!

Ezekiel Chapter 19

[1] As for you, son of man, raise a lamentation over the prince of Israel:

[2] 1 What a lioness was your mother, a lion of lions! Among young lions she couched to rear her whelps.

[3] One whelp she raised up, a young lion he became; He learned to seize prey, men he devoured.

[4] Then nations raised cries against him, in their pit he was caught; They took him away with hooks to the land of Egypt.

[5] Then she saw that in vain she had waited, her hope was destroyed. She took another of her whelps, him she made a young lion.

[6] He prowled among the lions, a young lion he became; He learned to seize prey, men he devoured;

[7] He ravaged their strongholds, their cities he wasted. The land and all in it were appalled at the noise of his roar.

[8] Nations laid out against him snares all about him; They spread their net to take him, in their pit he was caught.

[9] They put him in a cage and took him away to the king of Babylon, So that his voice would not be heard on the mountains of Israel.

[10] 2 Your mother was like a vine planted by the water; Fruitful and branchy was she because of the abundant water.

[11] One strong branch she put out as a royal scepter. Stately was her height amid the dense foliage; Notably tall was she with her many clusters.

[12] But she was torn up in fury and flung to the ground; The east wind withered her up, her fruit was torn off; Then her strong branch withered up, fire devoured it.

[13] So now she is planted in the desert, in a land dry and parched,

[14] For fire came out of the branch and devoured her shoots; She is now without a strong branch, a ruler's scepter. This is a lamentation and serves as a lamentation.

Ezekiel Chapter 20

[1] 1 In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to consult the LORD and sat down before me.

[2] Then the word of the LORD came to me:

[3] Son of man, speak with the elders of Israel and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: Have you come to consult me? As I live! I swear I will not allow myself to be consulted by you, says the Lord GOD.

[4] Will you judge them? Will you judge, son of man? Make known to them the abominations of their ancestors

[5] in these words: Thus speaks the Lord GOD: The day I chose Israel, I swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob; in the land of Egypt I revealed myself to them and swore: I am the LORD, your God.

[6] That day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt to the land I had scouted for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, a jewel among all lands.

[7] Then I said to them: Throw away, each of you, the detestable things that have held your eyes; do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD, your God.

[8] But they rebelled against me and refused to listen to me; none of them threw away the detestable things that had held their eyes, they did not abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I thought of pouring out my fury on them and spending my anger on them there in the land of Egypt;

[9] but I acted for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they were, in whose presence I had made myself known to them, revealing that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt.

[10] Therefore I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the desert.

[11] Then I gave them my statutes and made known to them my ordinances, which everyone must keep, to have life through them.

[12] I also gave them my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, to show that it was I, the LORD, who made them holy.

[13] But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the desert. They did not observe my statutes, and they despised my ordinances that bring life to those who keep them. My sabbaths, too, they desecrated grievously. Then I thought of pouring out my fury on them in the desert to put an end to them,

[14] but I acted for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose presence I had brought them out.

[15] Nevertheless I swore to them in the desert not to bring them to the land I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, a jewel among all lands.

[16] So much were their hearts devoted to their idols, they had not lived by my statutes, but despised my ordinances and desecrated my sabbaths.

[17] But I looked on them with pity, not wanting to destroy them, so I did not put an end to them in the desert.

[18] Then I said to their children in the desert: Do not observe the statutes of your parents or keep their ordinances; do not defile yourselves with their idols.

[19] I am the LORD, your God: observe my statutes and be careful to keep my ordinances;

[20] keep holy my sabbaths, as a sign between me and you to show that I am the LORD, your God.

[21] But their children rebelled against me: they did not observe my statutes or keep my ordinances that bring life to those who observe them, and my sabbaths they desecrated. Then I thought of pouring out my fury on them, of spending my anger on them in the desert;

[22] but I stayed my hand, acting for my name's sake, lest it be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose presence I brought them out.

[23] Nevertheless I swore to them in the desert that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them over foreign lands;

[24] for they did not keep my ordinances, but despised my statutes and desecrated my sabbaths, with eyes only for the idols of their fathers.

[25] 2 Therefore I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances through which they could not live.

[26] I let them become defiled by their gifts, by their immolation of every first-born, so as to make them an object of horror.

[27] Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them: Thus says the Lord GOD: In this way also your fathers blasphemed me, breaking faith with me:

[28] when I had brought them to the land I had sworn to give them, and they saw all its high hills and leafy trees, there they offered their sacrifices (there they brought their offensive offerings), there they sent up appeasing odors, and there they poured out their libations.

[29] I asked them: To what sort of high place do you betake yourselves?--and so they call it a high place even to the present day.

[30] Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers? Will you lust after their detestable idols?

[31] By offering your gifts, by making your children pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols even to this day. Shall I let myself be consulted by you, house of Israel? As I live! says the Lord GOD: I swear I will not let myself be consulted by you.

[32] What you are thinking of shall never happen: "We shall be like the nations, like the peoples of foreign lands, serving wood and stone."

[33] As I live, says the Lord GOD, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, with poured-out wrath, I swear I will be king over you!

[34] With a mighty hand and outstretched arm, with poured-out wrath, I will bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries over which you are scattered;

[35] 3 then I will lead you to the desert of the peoples, where I will enter into judgment with you face to face.

[36] Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, says the Lord GOD.

[37] I will count you with the staff and bring back but a small number.

[38] I will separate from you those who have rebelled and transgressed against me; from the land where they sojourned as aliens I will bring them out, but they shall not return to the land of Israel. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[39] As for you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD: Come, each one of you, destroy your idols! Then listen to me, and never again profane my holy name with your gifts and your idols.

[40] For on my holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord GOD, there the whole house of Israel without exception shall worship me; there I will accept them, and there I will claim your tributes and the first fruits of your offerings, and all that you dedicate.

[41] As a pleasing odor I will accept you, when I have brought you from among the nations and gathered you out of the countries over which you were scattered; and by means of you I will manifest my holiness in the sight of the nations.

[42] Thus you shall know that I am the LORD, when I bring you back to the land of Israel, the land which I swore to give to your fathers.

[43] There you shall recall your conduct and all the deeds by which you defiled yourselves; and you shall loathe yourselves because of all the evil things you did.

[44] And you shall know that I am the LORD when I deal with you thus, for my name's sake, and not according to your evil conduct and corrupt actions, O house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 21

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] 1 Son of man, look southward, preach toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the southern land.

[3] Hear the word of the LORD! you shall say to the southern forest. Thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am kindling a fire in you that shall devour all trees, the green as well as the dry. The blazing flame shall not be quenched, but from south to north every face shall be scorched by it.

[4] Everyone shall see that I, the LORD, have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched.

[5] But I said, "Alas! Lord GOD, they say to me, 'Is not this the one who is forever spinning parables?'"

[6] Then the word of the LORD came to me:

[7] Son of man, look toward Jerusalem, preach against their sanctuary, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

[8] 2 saying to the land of Israel: Thus says the LORD: See! I am coming at you; I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you the virtuous and the wicked.

[9] Thus my sword shall leave its sheath against everyone from south to north,

[10] and everyone shall know that I, the LORD, have drawn my sword from its sheath, and it shall not be sheathed again.

[11] As for you, son of man, groan! with shattered strength groan bitterly while they look on.

[12] 3 And when they ask you, "Why are you groaning?", you shall say: Because of a report; when it comes every heart shall fail, every hand shall fall helpless, every spirit shall be daunted, and every knee shall run with water. See, it is coming, it is here! says the Lord GOD.

[13] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[14] Son of man, prophesy! say: Thus says the LORD: A sword, a sword has been sharpened, a sword, a sword has been burnished:

[15] To work slaughter has it been sharpened, to flash lightning has it been burnished. Why should I now withdraw it? You have spurned the rod and every judgment!

[16] I have given it over to the burnisher that he might hold it in his hand, A sword sharpened and burnished to be put in the hand of a slayer.

[17] Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is destined for my people; It is for all the princes of Israel, victims of the sword with my people. Therefore, slap your thigh, 4

[18] for the sword has been tested; and why should it not be so? says the Lord GOD, since you have spurned the rod.

[19] As for you, son of man, prophesy, brushing one hand against the other: While the sword is doubled and tripled, this sword of slaughter, This great sword of slaughter which threatens all around,

[20] That every heart may tremble; for many will be the fallen. At all their gates I have appointed the sword for slaughter, Fashioned to flash lightning, burnished for slaughter.

[21] Cleave to the right! destroy! to the left! wherever your edge is turned.

[22] 5 Then I, too, shall brush one hand against the other and wreak my fury. I, the LORD, have spoken.

[23] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[24] Son of man, make for yourself two roads over which the sword of the king of Babylon can come. Both roads shall lead out from the same land. Then put a signpost at the head of each road,

[25] so that the sword can come to Rabbah of the Ammonites or to Judah's capital, Jerusalem.

[26] 6 For at the fork where the two roads divide stands the king of Babylon, divining; he has shaken the arrows, inquired of the teraphim, inspected the liver.

[27] 7 In his right hand is the divining arrow marked "Jerusalem," bidding him to give the order for slaying, to raise his voice in the battle cry, to post battering rams at the gates, to cast up a ramp, to build a siege tower.

[28] In their eyes this is but a lying oracle; yet they are bound by the oaths they have sworn, and the arrow taken in hand marks their guilt.

[29] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have drawn attention to your guilt, with your crimes laid bare and your sinfulness in all your wicked deeds revealed (because attention has been drawn to you), you shall be taken in hand.

[30] And as for you, depraved and wicked prince of Israel, whose day is coming when your life of crime will be ended,

[31] thus says the Lord GOD: Off with the turban and away with the crown! Nothing shall be as it was! Up with the low and down with the high!

[32] Twisted, twisted, twisted will I leave it; it shall not be the same until he comes who has the claim against the city; and to him I will hand it over.

[33] 8 As for you, son of man, prophesy: Thus says the Lord GOD against the Ammonites and their insults: A sword, a sword is drawn for slaughter, burnished to consume and to flash lightning,

[34] because you planned with false visions and lying divinations to lay it on the necks of depraved and wicked men whose day has come when their crimes are at an end.

[35] Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.

[36] I will pour out my indignation upon you, breathing my fiery wrath upon you, I will hand you over to ravaging men, artisans of destruction.

[37] You shall be fuel for the fire, your blood shall flow throughout the land. You shall not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.

Ezekiel Chapter 22

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] You, son of man, would you judge, would you judge the bloody city? Then make known all her abominations,

[3] and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the city which sheds blood within herself so that her time has come, and which has made idols for her own defilement.

[4] By the blood which you shed you have been made guilty, and with the idols you made you have become defiled; you have brought on your day, so that the end of your years has come. Therefore I make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all foreign lands.

[5] Those near you and those far off shall deride you because of your foul reputation and your great perversity.

[6] See! the princes of Israel, family by family, are in you only for bloodshed.

[7] Within you, father and mother are despised; in your midst, they extort from the resident alien; within you, they oppress orphans and widows.

[8] What is holy to me you have spurned, and my sabbaths you have desecrated.

[9] There are those in you who slander to cause bloodshed; within you are those who feast on the mountains; in your midst are those who do lewd things.

[10] In you are those who uncover the nakedness of their fathers, and in you those who coerce women in their menstrual period.

[11] There are those in you who do abominable things with the wives of their neighbors, men who defile their daughters-in-law by incest, men who coerce their sisters, the daughters of their own fathers.

[12] There are those in you who take bribes to shed blood. You exact interest and usury; you despoil your neighbors violently; and me you have forgotten, says the Lord GOD.

[13] See, I am brushing one hand against the other because of the unjust profits you have made and because of the blood shed in your midst.

[14] Can your heart remain firm, will your hands be strong, in the days when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.

[15] I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you over foreign lands, so that I may purge your uncleanness.

[16] In you I will allow myself to be profaned in the eyes of the nations; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[17] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[18] Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross for me. All of them are bronze and tin, iron and lead (in the midst of a furnace): dross from silver have they become.

[19] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because all of you have become dross, therefore I must gather you together within Jerusalem.

[20] Just as silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered into a furnace and smelted in the roaring flames, so I will gather you together in my furious wrath, put you in, and smelt you.

[21] When I have assembled you, I will blast you with the fire of my anger and smelt you with it.

[22] You shall be smelted by it just as silver is smelted in a furnace. Thus you shall know that I, the LORD, have poured out my fury on you.

[23] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[24] Son of man, say to her: You are a land unrained on (that is, not rained on) at the time of my fury.

[25] Her princes are like roaring lions that tear prey; they devour people, seizing their wealth and precious things, and make widows of many within her.

[26] Her priests violate my law and profane what is holy to me; they do not distinguish between the sacred and the profane, nor teach the difference between the unclean and the clean; they pay no attention to my sabbaths, so that I have been profaned in their midst.

[27] Her nobles within her are like wolves that tear prey, shedding blood and destroying lives to get unjust gain.

[28] Her prophets cover them with whitewash, pretending to visions that are false and performing lying divinations, saying, "Thus says the Lord GOD," although the LORD has not spoken.

[29] The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they afflict the poor and the needy, and oppress the resident alien without justice.

[30] Thus I have searched among them for someone who could build a wall or stand in the breach before me to keep me from destroying the land; but I found no one.

[31] Therefore I have poured out my fury upon them; with my fiery wrath I have consumed them; I have brought down their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 23

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother,

[3] who even as young girls played the harlot in Egypt. There the Egyptians caressed their bosoms and fondled their virginal breasts.

[4] 1 Oholah was the name of the elder, and the name of her sister was Oholibah. They became mine and bore sons and daughters. (As for their names: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.)

[5] Oholah became a harlot faithless to me; she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians, warriors

[6] dressed in purple, governors and officers, all of them attractive young men, knights mounted on horses.

[7] Thus she gave herself as a harlot to them, to all the elite of the Assyrians, and she defiled herself with all those for whom she lusted (with all their idols).

[8] She did not give up the harlotry which she had begun in Egypt, when they had lain with her as a young girl, fondling her virginal breasts and pouring out their impurities on her.

[9] Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she had lusted.

[10] They exposed her nakedness, her sons and daughters they took away, and herself they slew with the sword. Thus she became a byword for women, for they punished her grievously.

[11] Though her sister Oholibah saw all this, her lust was more depraved than her sister's, and she outdid her in harlotry.

[12] She too lusted after the Assyrians, governors and officers, warriors impeccably clothed, knights mounted on horses, all of them attractive young men.

[13] I saw that she had defiled herself. Both had gone down the same path,

[14] yet she went further in her harlotry. When she saw men drawn on the wall, the images of Chaldeans drawn with vermillion,

[15] with sashes girded about their waists, flowing turbans on their heads, all looking like chariot warriors, the portraits of Babylonians, natives of Chaldea,

[16] she lusted for them; no sooner had she set eyes on them than she sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

[17] Then the Babylonians came to her, to the love couch, and defiled her with their intercourse. As soon as she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.

[18] Her harlotry was discovered and her shame was revealed, and I became disgusted with her as I had become disgusted with her sister.

[19] But she played the harlot all the more, recalling the days of her girlhood, when she had been a harlot in the land of Egypt.

[20] She lusted for the lechers of Egypt, whose members are like that of an ass, and whose heat is like that of stallions.

[21] You yearned for the lewdness of your girlhood, when the Egyptians fondled your breasts, caressing your bosom.

[22] Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: I will now stir up your lovers against you, those with whom you are disgusted, and I will bring them against you from every side:

[23] 2 the men of Babylon and all of Chaldea, Pekod, Shoa and Koa, along with all those of Assyria, attractive young men, all of them governors and officers, charioteers and warriors, all of them horsemen.

[24] They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and many peoples. Shields, bucklers, and helmets they shall array against you everywhere.

[25] I will leave it to them to judge, and they will judge you by their own ordinances. I will let loose my jealousy against you, so that they shall deal with you in fury, cutting off your nose and ears; and what is left of you shall fall by the sword. They shall take away your sons and daughters, and what is left of you shall be devoured by fire.

[26] They shall strip off your clothes and seize your splendid ornaments.

[27] I will put an end to your lewdness and to the harlotry you began in Egypt; you shall no longer look toward it, nor shall you remember Egypt again.

[28] For thus says the Lord GOD: I am now handing you over to those whom you hate, to those who fill you with disgust.

[29] They shall deal with you in hatred, seizing all that you have worked for and leaving you stark naked, so that your indecent nakedness is exposed. Your lewdness and harlotry

[30] have brought these things upon you, because you played the harlot with the nations by defiling yourself with their idols.

[31] Because you followed in the path of your sister, I will hand you her cup.

[32] Thus says the Lord GOD: The cup of your sister you shall drink, so wide and deep, which holds so much,

[33] Filled with destruction and grief, a cup of dismay, the cup of your sister.

[34] You shall drain it dry, and gnaw at the very sherds of the cup, and you shall tear out your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.

[35] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, it is for you to bear the penalty of your lewdness and harlotry.

[36] Then the LORD said to me: Son of man, would you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then make known to them their abominations.

[37] For they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; to feed them they immolated the children they had borne me.

[38] (This, too, they did to me: they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my sabbaths.

[39] On the very day they slew their children for their idols, they entered my sanctuary to desecrate it. Thus they acted within my house.)

[40] 3 Moreover, they sent for men who had to come from afar, to whom messengers were sent. And so they came--and for them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and put on ornaments.

[41] You sat on a couch prepared for them, with a table spread before it, on which you had set my incense and oil.

[42] Then was heard the shout of a carefree mob in the city, and these were men brought in from the desert, who put bracelets on the women's arms and splendid diadems on their heads.

[43] So I said: "Oh, this woman jaded with adulteries! Now they will commit whoredom with her, and as for her. . . ."

[44] And indeed they did come to her as men come to a harlot. Thus they came to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women.

[45] But just men shall punish them with the sentence meted out to adulteresses and murderesses, for they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands.

[46] Thus says the Lord GOD: Summon an assembly against them, and deliver them over to terror and plunder.

[47] The assembly shall stone them and hack them to pieces with their swords. They shall slay their sons and daughters, and burn their houses with fire.

[48] Thus I will put an end to lewdness in the land, and all the women will be warned not to imitate your lewdness.

[49] They shall inflict on you the penalty of your lewdness, and you shall pay for your sins of idolatry. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel Chapter 24

[1] 1 On the tenth day of the tenth month, in the ninth year, the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, write down this date today, for this very day the king of Babylon has invested Jerusalem.

[3] 2 Propose this parable to the rebellious house: Thus says the Lord GOD: Set up the pot, set it up, then pour in some water.

[4] Put in it pieces of meat, all good pieces: thigh and shoulder; Fill it with the choicest joints

[5] taken from the pick of the flock. Then pile the wood beneath it; bring to a boil these pieces and the joints that are in it.

[6] Take out its pieces, one by one, without casting lots for it. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, a pot containing rust, whose rust has not been removed.

[7] 3 For the blood she shed is in her midst; she poured it on the bare rock; she did not pour it out on the earth, to be covered with dust.

[8] To work up my wrath, to excite my vengeance, she put her blood on the bare rock, not to be covered.

[9] Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: I, too, will heap up a great bonfire,

[10] piling on wood and kindling the fire, Till the meat has been cooked, till the broth has boiled.

[11] Then I will set the pot empty on the coals till its metal glows red hot, till the impurities in it melt, and its rust disappears.

[12] Yet not even with fire will its great rust be removed.

[13] Because you have sullied yourself with lewdness when I would have purified you, and you refused to be purified of your uncleanness, therefore you shall not be purified until I wreak my fury on you.

[14] I, the LORD, have spoken; it is coming, for I will bring it about without fail. I will not have pity nor repent. By your conduct and your deeds you shall be judged, says the Lord GOD.

[15] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[16] Son of man, by a sudden blow I am taking away from you the delight of your eyes, but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears.

[17] 4 Groan in silence, make no lament for the dead, bind on your turban, put your sandals on your feet, do not cover your beard, and do not eat the customary bread.

[18] That evening my wife died, and the next morning I did as I had been commanded.

[19] Then the people asked me, "Will you not tell us what all these things that you are doing mean for us?" I therefore spoke to the people that morning,

[20] saying to them: Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[21] Say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: I will now desecrate my sanctuary, the stronghold of your pride, the delight of your eyes, the desire of your soul. The sons and daughters you left behind shall fall by the sword.

[22] 5 You shall do as I have done, not covering your beards nor eating the customary bread.

[23] Your turbans shall remain on your heads, your sandals on your feet. You shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away because of your sins and groan one to another.

Ezekiel Chapter 25

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, turn toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them.

[3] Say to the Ammonites: Hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD: Because you cried out your joy over the desecration of my sanctuary, the devastation of the land of Israel, and the exile of the house of Judah,

[4] 1 therefore I will deliver you into the possession of the Easterners. They shall set up their encampments among you and pitch their tents; they shall eat your fruits and drink your milk.

[5] I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and the villages of the Ammonites a resting place for flocks. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[6] For thus says the Lord GOD: Because you clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing most maliciously in your heart over the land of Israel,

[7] therefore I will stretch out my hand against you. I will make you plunder for the nations, I will cut you off from the peoples, and remove you from the lands. I will destroy you, and thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[8] Thus says the Lord GOD: Because Moab said, "See! the house of Judah is like all other nations,"

[9] 2 therefore I will clear the shoulder of Moab totally of its cities, the jewels of the land: Beth-jesimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim.

[10] I will hand her over, along with the Ammonites, into the possession of the Easterners, that she may not be remembered among the peoples.

[11] Thus I will execute judgment upon Moab, that they may know that I am the LORD.

[12] Thus says the Lord GOD: Because Edom has taken vengeance on the house of Judah and has made itself grievously guilty by taking vengeance on them,

[13] therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it man and beast. I will make it a waste from Teman to Dedan; they shall fall by the sword.

[14] My vengeance upon Edom I will entrust to my people Israel, who will deal with Edom in accordance with my anger and my fury; thus they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord GOD.

[15] Thus says the Lord GOD: Because the Philistines have acted revengefully, and have taken vengeance with destructive malice in their hearts, with an undying enmity,

[16] 3 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am stretching out my hand against the Philistines; I will cut off the Cherethites and wipe out the remnant on the seacoast.

[17] I will execute great acts of vengeance on them, punishing them furiously. Thus they shall know that I am the LORD, when I wreak my vengeance on them.

Ezekiel Chapter 26

[1] On the first day of the. . . month in the eleventh year, the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, because of what Tyre said of Jerusalem: "Aha! it is broken, the gateway to the peoples; now that it is ruined, its wealth reverts to me!"

[3] therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am coming at you, Tyre; I will churn up against you many nations, even as the sea churns up its waves;

[4] 1 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and raze her towers. I will scrape the ground from her and leave her a bare rock;

[5] She shall be a drying place for nets in the midst of the sea. I have spoken, says the Lord GOD: and she shall be booty for the nations.

[6] 2 And her daughters on the mainland shall be slaughtered by the sword; thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

[7] For thus says the Lord GOD: I am now bringing up against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the king of kings, with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great and mighty army.

[8] Your daughters on the mainland he shall slay with the sword; He shall place a siege tower against you, cast up a ramp about you, and raise his shields against you.

[9] He shall pound your walls with battering-rams and break down your towers with his weapons.

[10] The surge of his horses shall cover you with dust, amid the noise of steeds, of wheels and of chariots. Your walls shall shake as he enters your gates, even as one enters a city that is breached.

[11] With the hoofs of his horses he shall trample all your streets; Your people he shall slay by the sword; your mighty pillars he shall pull to the ground.

[12] Your wealth shall be plundered, your merchandise pillaged; Your walls shall be torn down, your precious houses demolished; Your stones, your timber, and your clay shall be cast into the sea.

[13] I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.

[14] I will make you a bare rock; a drying place for nets shall you be. Never shall you be rebuilt, for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.

[15] Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: At the noise of your fall, at the groaning of the wounded, when the sword slays in your midst, shall not the isles quake?

[16] 3 All the princes of the sea shall step down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They shall be clothed in mourning and, sitting on the ground, they shall tremble at every moment and be horrified at you.

[17] Then they shall utter a lament over you: How have you perished, gone from the seas, city most prized! Once she was mighty on the sea, she and her dwellers, Who spread terror into all that dwelt by the sea.

[18] On this, the day of your fall, the islands quake! The isles in the sea are terrified at your passing.

[19] For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a city desolate like cities that are no longer inhabited, when I churn up the abyss against you, and its mighty waters cover you,

[20] 4 then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the pit, those of the bygone age; and I will make you dwell in the nether lands, in the everlasting ruins, with those who go down to the pit, so that you may never return to take your place in the land of the living.

[21] I will make you a devastation, and you shall be no more; you shall be sought, but never again found, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 27

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] As for you, son of man, utter a lament over Tyre,

[3] and say to Tyre that is situated at the approaches of the sea, that brought the trade of the peoples to many a coastland: Thus says the Lord GOD: Tyre, you said, "I am a ship, perfect in beauty."

[4] In the midst of the sea your builders placed you, perfected your beauty.

[5] 1 With cypress from Senir they built for you all of your decks; Cedar from Lebanon they took to make you a mast;

[6] 2 From the highest oaks of Bashan they made your oars; Your bridge they made of cypress wood from the coasts of Kittim.

[7] 3 Fine embroidered linen from Egypt became your sail (to serve you as a banner). Purple and scarlet from the coasts of Elishah covered your cabin.

[8] 4 Citizens of Sidon and Arvad served as your oarsmen; Skilled men of Zemer were in you to be your mariners;

[9] The elders and experts of Gebal were in you to caulk your seams. Every ship and sailor on the sea came to you to carry trade.

[10] Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as warriors; shield and helmet they hung upon you, increasing your splendor.

[11] The men of Arvad were all about your walls, and the Gamadites were in your towers; they hung their bucklers all around on your walls, and made perfect your beauty.

[12] Tarshish traded with you, so great was your wealth, exchanging silver, iron, tin, and lead for your wares.

[13] Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were also traders with you, exchanging slaves and articles of bronze for your goods.

[14] From Beth-togarmah horses, steeds, and mules were exchanged for your wares.

[15] The Rhodanites trafficked with you; many coastlands traded with you; ivory tusks and ebony wood they gave you for payment.

[16] Edom traded with you, so many were your products, exchanging garnets, purple, embroidered cloth, fine linen, coral, and rubies for your wares.

[17] Judah and the land of Israel trafficked with you, exchanging Minnith wheat, figs, honey, oil, and balm for your goods.

[18] Damascus traded with you, so great was your wealth, exchanging Helbon wine and Zahar wool.

[19] Javan exchanged wrought iron, cassia, and aromatic cane from Uzal for your wares.

[20] Dedan traded with you for riding gear.

[21] The trade of Arabia and of all the sheikhs of Kedar belonged to you; they dealt in lambs, rams, and goats.

[22] The merchants of Sheba and Raamah also traded with you, exchanging for your wares the very choicest spices, all kinds of precious stones, and gold.

[23] Haran, Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad

[24] traded with you, marketing with you rich garments, violet mantles, embroidered cloth, varicolored carpets, and firmly woven cords.

[25] Ships of Tarshish journeyed for you in your merchandising. You were full and heavily laden in the heart of the sea.

[26] Through the deep waters your oarsmen brought you home, But the east wind smashed you in the heart of the sea.

[27] Your wealth, your goods, your wares, your sailors, and your crew, (the caulkers of your seams, those who traded for your goods, all your warriors who were in you, and all the great crowd within you) Sank into the heart of the sea on the day of your shipwreck.

[28] Hearing the shouts of your mariners, the shores begin to quake.

[29] Down from their ships come all who ply the oar; The sailors, all the mariners of the sea, stand on the shore,

[30] Making their voice heard on your behalf, shouting bitter cries, Strewing dust on their heads, rolling in the ashes.

[31] For you they shave their heads and put on sackcloth, For you they weep in anguish, with bitter lament.

[32] In their mourning they utter a lament over you; thus they wail over you: Who was ever destroyed like Tyre in the midst of the sea?

[33] With your goods which you drew from the seas you filled many peoples; With your great wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth.

[34] Now you are wrecked in the sea, in the watery depths; Your wares and all your crew have gone down with you.

[35] All who dwell on the coastlands are aghast over you, Their kings are terrified, their faces convulsed.

[36] The traders among the peoples now hiss at you; You have become a horror, and you shall be no more.

Ezekiel Chapter 28

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are haughty of heart, you say, "A god am I! I occupy a godly throne in the heart of the sea!"-- And yet you are a man, and not a god, however you may think yourself like a god.

[3] 1 Oh yes, you are wiser than Daniel, there is no secret that is beyond you.

[4] By your wisdom and your intelligence you have made riches for yourself; You have put gold and silver into your treasuries.

[5] By your great wisdom applied to your trading you have heaped up your riches; your heart has grown haughty from your riches--

[6] therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have thought yourself to have the mind of a god,

[7] Therefore I will bring against you foreigners, the most barbarous of nations. They shall draw their swords against your beauteous wisdom, they shall run them through your splendid apparel.

[8] They shall thrust you down to the pit, there to die a bloodied corpse, in the heart of the sea.

[9] Will you then say, "I am a god!" when you face your murderers? No, you are a man, not a god, handed over to those who will slay you.

[10] You shall die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners, for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.

[11] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[12] 2 Son of man, utter a lament over the king of Tyre, saying to him: Thus says the Lord GOD: You were stamped with the seal of perfection, of complete wisdom and perfect beauty.

[13] In Eden, the garden of God, you were, and every precious stone was your covering (carnelian, topaz, and beryl, chrysolite, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, garnet, and emerald); Of gold your pendants and jewels were made, on the day you were created.

[14] 3 With the Cherub I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God, walking among the fiery stones.

[15] Blameless you were in your conduct from the day you were created, Until evil was found in you,

[16] the result of your far-flung trade; violence was your business, and you sinned. Then I banned you from the mountain of God; the Cherub drove you from among the fiery stones.

[17] You became haughty of heart because of your beauty; for the sake of splendor you debased your wisdom. I cast you to the earth, so great was your guilt; I made you a spectacle in the sight of kings.

[18] Because of your guilt, your sinful trade, I have profaned your sanctuaries, And I have brought out fire from your midst which will devour you. I have reduced you to dust on the earth in the sight of all who should see you.

[19] Among the peoples, all who knew you stand aghast at you; You have become a horror, you shall be no more.

[20] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[21] Son of man, look toward Sidon, and prophesy against it:

[22] Thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am coming at you, Sidon; I will be glorified in your midst. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I inflict punishments upon it and use it to manifest my holiness.

[23] Into it I will send pestilence, and blood shall flow in its streets. Within it shall fall those slain by the sword that comes against it from every side. Thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

[24] Sidon shall no longer be a tearing thorn for the house of Israel, a brier that scratches them more than all the others about them who despise them; thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

[25] Thus says the Lord GOD: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, then I will manifest my holiness through them in the sight of the nations. Then they shall live on their land which I gave to my servant Jacob;

[26] they shall live on it in security, building houses and planting vineyards. They shall dwell secure while I inflict punishments on all their neighbors who despised them; thus they shall know that I, the LORD, am their God.

Ezekiel Chapter 29

[1] 1 On the twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year, the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] 2 Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.

[3] 3 Say this to him: Thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am coming at you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, Great crouching monster amidst your Niles: Who say, "The Niles are mine; it is I who made them!"

[4] I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your Niles stick to your scales, then draw you up from the midst of your Niles along with all the fish of your Niles sticking to your scales.

[5] I will cast you into the desert, you and all the fish of your Niles; You shall fall upon the open field, you shall not be taken up or buried; To the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air I give you as food,

[6] That all who dwell in Egypt may know that I am the LORD. Because you have been a reed staff for the house of Israel:

[7] When they held you in hand, you splintered, throwing every shoulder out of joint; When they leaned on you, you broke, bringing each one of them down headlong;

[8] therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See! I will bring the sword against you, and cut off from you both man and beast.

[9] The land of Egypt shall become a desolate waste; thus they shall know that I am the LORD. Because you said, "The Niles are mine; it is I who made them,"

[10] 4 therefore see! I am coming at you and against your Niles; I will make the land of Egypt a waste and a desolation from Migdol to Syene, and even to the frontier of Ethiopia.

[11] No foot of man or beast shall pass through it; they shall not pass through it, and it will be uninhabited for forty years.

[12] I will make the land of Egypt the most desolate of lands, and its cities shall be the most deserted of cities for forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and strew them over foreign lands.

[13] Yet thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they are scattered,

[14] 5 and I will restore Egypt's fortune, bringing them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, where it will be the lowliest

[15] of kingdoms, never more to set itself above the nations. I will make them few, that they may not dominate the nations.

[16] No longer shall they be for the house of Israel to trust in, but the living reminder of its guilt for having turned to follow after them. Thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

[17] 6 On the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year, the word of the LORD came to me:

[18] 7 Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has led his army in an exhausting campaign against Tyre. Their heads became bald and their shoulders were galled; but neither he nor his army received any wages from Tyre for the campaign he led against it.

[19] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I am now giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He shall carry off its riches, plundering and pillaging it for the wages of his soldiers, who did it for me;

[20] as payment for his toil I have given him the land of Egypt, says the Lord GOD.

[21] On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will cause you to speak out in their midst; thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel Chapter 30

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, speak this prophecy: Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry, Oh, the day!

[3] for near is the day, near is the day of the LORD; a day of clouds, doomsday for the nations shall it be.

[4] Then a sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt, when her riches are seized and her foundations are overthrown.

[5] Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Libya, and people of the allied territory shall fall by the sword with them.

[6] Those who support Egypt shall fall, and down shall come her proud strength; from Migdol to Syene they shall fall there by the sword, says the Lord GOD.

[7] She shall be the most devastated of lands, and her cities shall be the most desolate of all.

[8] Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I set fire to Egypt and when all who help her are broken.

[9] On that day messengers shall hasten forth at my command to terrify unsuspecting Ethiopia; they shall be in anguish on the day of Egypt, which is surely coming.

[10] Thus says the Lord GOD: I will put an end to the throngs of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

[11] He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations, shall be brought in to devastate the land. They shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.

[12] I will turn the Niles into dry land and sell the land over to the power of the wicked. The land and everything in it I will hand over to foreigners to devastate. I, the LORD, have spoken.

[13] Thus says the Lord GOD: I will put an end to the great ones of Memphis and the princes of the land of Egypt, that they may be no more. I will cast fear into the land of Egypt, and devastate Pathros.

[14] I will set fire to Zoan, and inflict punishments on Thebes.

[15] I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium, Egypt's stronghold, and cut down the crowds in Memphis.

[16] I will set fire to Egypt; Syene shall writhe in anguish; Thebes shall be breached and its walls shall be demolished.

[17] The young men of On and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword, and the cities themselves shall go into captivity.

[18] In Tehaphnehes the day shall be darkened when I break the scepter of Egypt. Her haughty pride shall cease from her, clouds shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.

[19] Thus will I inflict punishments on Egypt, that they may know that I am the LORD.

[20] 1 On the seventh day of the first month in the eleventh year, the word of the LORD came to me:

[21] 2 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and see, it has not been bound up with bandages and healing remedies that it may be strong enough to hold the sword.

[22] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am coming at Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. I will break his strong arm, so that the sword drops from his hand.

[23] I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and strew them over foreign lands.

[24] But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand, which he will bring against Egypt so as to plunder and pillage it.

[25] (I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, but the arms of Pharaoh shall drop.) Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon for him to wield against the land of Egypt.

[26] (I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and strew them over foreign lands.) Thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel Chapter 31

[1] 1 On the first day of the third month in the eleventh year, the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his hordes: What are you like in your greatness?

[3] Behold, a cypress (cedar) in Lebanon, beautiful of branch, lofty of stature, amid the very clouds lifted its crest.

[4] Waters made it grow, the abyss made it flourish, sending its rivers round where it was planted, turning its streams to all the trees of the field.

[5] Thus it grew taller than every other tree of the field, and longer of branch because of the abundant water.

[6] In its boughs nested all the birds of the air, under its branches all beasts of the field gave birth, in its shade dwelt numerous peoples of every race.

[7] It became beautiful and stately in its spread of foliage, for its roots were turned toward abundant water.

[8] The cedars in the garden of God were not its equal, nor could the fir trees match its boughs, Neither were the plane trees like it for branches; no tree in the garden of God matched its beauty.

[9] I made it beautiful, with much foliage, the envy of all Eden's trees in the garden of God.

[10] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it became lofty in stature, raising its crest among the clouds, and because it became proud in heart at its height,

[11] I have handed it over to the mightiest of the nations, which has dealt with it in keeping with its wickedness. I humiliated it.

[12] Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it on the mountains. Its foliage was brought low in all the valleys, its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the land withdrew from its shade, abandoning it.

[13] On its fallen trunk rested all the birds of the air, and by its branches were all the beasts of the field.

[14] Thus no tree may grow lofty in stature or raise its crest among the clouds; no tree fed by water may stand by itself in its loftiness. For all of them are destined for death, for the land below, For the company of mortals, those who go down into the pit.

[15] Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day he went down to the nether world I made the abyss close up over him; I stopped its streams so that the deep waters were held back. I cast gloom over Lebanon because of him, so that all the trees in the land drooped on his account.

[16] At the crash of his fall I made the nations rock, when I cast him down to the nether world with those who go down into the pit. In the land below, all Eden's trees were consoled, Lebanon's choice and best, all that were fed by water.

[17] They too have come down with him to the nether world, to those slain by the sword; those who dwelt in his shade are dispersed among the nations.

[18] Which was your equal in glory or size among the trees of Eden? Yet you have been brought down with the trees of Eden to the land below. You shall lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. Such are Pharaoh and all his hordes, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 32

[1] 1 On the first day of the twelfth month in the twelfth year, the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, utter a lament over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, saying to him: Lion of the nations, you are destroyed. You were like a monster in the sea, spouting in your streams, Stirring the water with your feet and churning its streams.

[3] Thus says the Lord GOD: I will spread my net over you (with a host of many nations), and draw you up in my seine.

[4] I will leave you on the land; on the open field I will cast you. I will have all the birds of the air alight on you, and all the beasts of the earth eat their fill of you.

[5] I will leave your flesh on the mountains, and fill the valleys with your carcass.

[6] I will water the land with what flows from you, and the river beds shall be filled with your blood.

[7] When I snuff you out I will cover the heavens, and all their stars I will darken; The sun I will cover with clouds, and the moon shall not give its light.

[8] All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken on your account, And I will spread darkness over your land, says the Lord GOD.

[9] I will grieve the hearts of many peoples when I lead you captive among the nations, to lands which you do not know.

[10] Many peoples shall be appalled at you, and their kings shall shudder over you in horror when they see me brandish my sword, and on the day of your downfall every one of them shall continuously tremble for his own life.

[11] For thus says the Lord GOD: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you.

[12] I will cut down your horde with the blades of warriors, all of them the most ruthless of the nations; They shall lay waste the glory of Egypt, and all her hordes shall be destroyed.

[13] I will have all of her animals perish beside her abundant waters; The foot of man shall stir them no longer, nor shall the hoof of beast disturb them.

[14] Then will I make their waters clear, and their streams flow like oil, says the Lord GOD.

[15] When I turn Egypt into a waste, the land shall be devastated of all that is in it; when I strike all who live there, they shall know that I am the LORD.

[16] This is a dirge, and it shall be sung: the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt and all its hordes shall they chant it, says the Lord GOD.

[17] On the fifteenth day of the first month in the twelfth year, the word of the LORD came to me:

[18] Son of man, lament over the throngs of Egypt, for the mighty nations have thrust them down to the bottom of the earth, with those who go down into the pit.

[19] "Whom do you excel in beauty?

Ezekiel Chapter 33

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, speak thus to your countrymen: When I bring the sword against a country, and the people of this country select one of their number to be their watchman,

[3] and the watchman, seeing the sword coming against the country, blows the trumpet to warn the people,

[4] anyone hearing but not heeding the warning of the trumpet and therefore slain by the sword that comes against him, shall be responsible for his own death.

[5] He heard the trumpet blast yet refused to take warning; he is responsible for his own death, for had he taken warning he would have escaped with his life.

[6] But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the warning trumpet, so that the sword comes and takes anyone, I will hold the watchman responsible for that person's death, even though that person is taken because of his own sin.

[7] You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.

[8] If I tell the wicked man that he shall surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he (the wicked man) shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death.

[9] But if you warn the wicked man, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.

[10] As for you, son of man, speak to the house of Israel: You people say, "Our crimes and our sins weigh us down; we are rotting away because of them. How can we survive?"

[11] Answer them: As I live, says the Lord GOD, I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man's conversion, that he may live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! Why should you die, O house of Israel?

[12] As for you, son of man, tell your countrymen: The virtue which a man has practiced will not save him on the day that he sins; neither will the wickedness that a man has done bring about his downfall on the day that he turns from his wickedness (nor can the virtuous man, when he sins, remain alive).

[13] Though I say to the virtuous man that he shall surely live, if he then presumes on his virtue and does wrong, none of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered; because of the wrong he has done, he shall die.

[14] And though I say to the wicked man that he shall surely die, if he turns away from his sin and does what is right and just,

[15] giving back pledges, restoring stolen goods, living by the statutes that bring life, and doing no wrong, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

[16] None of the sins he committed shall be held against him; he has done what is right and just, he shall surely live.

[17] Yet your countrymen say, "The way of the LORD is not fair!"; but it is their way that is not fair.

[18] When a virtuous man turns away from what is right and does wrong, he shall die for it.

[19] But when a wicked man turns away from wickedness and does what is right and just, because of this he shall live.

[20] And still you say, "The way of the LORD is not fair!"? I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.

[21] 1 On the fifth day of the tenth month, in the twelfth year of our exile, the fugitive came to me from Jerusalem and said, "The city is taken!"

[22] The hand of the LORD had come upon me the evening before the fugitive arrived, and he opened my mouth when the fugitive reached me in the morning. My mouth was opened, and I was dumb no longer.

[23] 2 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[24] Son of man, they who live in the ruins on the land of Israel reason thus: "Abraham, though but a single individual, received possession of the land; we, therefore, being many, have as permanent possession the land that has been given to us."

[25] Give them this answer: Thus says the Lord GOD: You eat on the mountains, you raise your eyes to your idols, you shed blood--yet you would keep possession of the land?

[26] You rely on your sword, you do abominable things, each one of you defiles his neighbor's wife--yet you would keep possession of the land?

[27] Tell them this: Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, those who are in the ruins I swear shall fall by the sword; those who are in the open field I have given to the wild beasts for food; and those who are in fastnesses and in caves shall die by the plague.

[28] I will make the land a desolate waste, so that its proud strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will cross them.

[29] Thus they shall know that I am the LORD, when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the abominable things they have done.

[30] 3 As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking about you along the walls and in the doorways of houses. They say to one another, "Come and hear the latest word that comes from the LORD."

[31] My people come to you as people always do; they sit down before you and hear your words, but they will not obey them, for lies are on their lips and their desires are fixed on dishonest gain.

[32] For them you are only a ballad singer, with a pleasant voice and a clever touch. They listen to your words, but they will not obey them.

[33] But when it comes--and it is surely coming!-they shall know that there was a prophet among them.

Ezekiel Chapter 34

[1] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] 1 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, in these words prophesy to them (to the shepherds): Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?

[3] You have fed off their milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured.

[4] You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally.

[5] So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered

[6] and wandered over all the mountains and high hills; my sheep were scattered over the whole earth, with no one to look after them or to search for them.

[7] Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

[8] As I live, says the Lord GOD, because my sheep have been given over to pillage, and because my sheep have become food for every wild beast, for lack of a shepherd; because my shepherds did not look after my sheep, but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep;

[9] because of this, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

[10] Thus says the Lord GOD: I swear I am coming against these shepherds. I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep so that they may no longer pasture themselves. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths.

[11] For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

[12] As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark.

[13] I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel (in the land's ravines and all its inhabited places).

[14] In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel.

[15] I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.

[16] The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal (but the sleek and the strong I will destroy), shepherding them rightly.

[17] As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.

[18] Was it not enough for you to graze on the best pasture, that you had to trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? Was it not enough for you to drink the clearest water, that you had to foul the remainder with your feet?

[19] Thus my sheep had to graze on what your feet had trampled and drink what your feet had fouled.

[20] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Now will I judge between the fat and the lean sheep.

[21] Because you push with side and shoulder, and butt all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them out,

[22] I will save my sheep so that they may no longer be despoiled, and I will judge between one sheep and another.

[23] 2 I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture them and be their shepherd.

[24] I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

[25] I will make a covenant of peace with them, and rid the country of ravenous beasts, that they may dwell securely in the desert and sleep in the forests.

[26] I will place them about my hill, sending rain in due season, rains that shall be a blessing to them.

[27] The trees of the field shall bear their fruits, and the land its crops, and they shall dwell securely on their own soil. Thus they shall know that I am the LORD when I break the bonds of their yoke and free them from the power of those who enslaved them.

[28] They shall no longer be despoiled by the nations or devoured by beasts of the earth, but shall dwell secure, with no one to frighten them.

[29] I will prepare for them peaceful fields for planting; they shall no longer be carried off by famine in the land, or bear the reproaches of the nations.

[30] Thus they shall know that I, the LORD, am their God, and they are my people, the house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.

[31] (You, my sheep, you are the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD.)

Ezekiel Chapter 35

[1] 1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it.

[3] Say to it: Thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am coming at you, Mount Seir. I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate waste.

[4] Your cities I will turn into ruins, and you shall be a waste; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[5] Because you never let die your hatred for the Israelites, whom you delivered over to the power of the sword at the time of their trouble, when their crimes came to an end,

[6] therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD, you have been guilty of blood, and blood, I swear, shall pursue you.

[7] I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste, and cut off from it any traveler.

[8] With the slain I will fill your hills, your valleys, and all your ravines (in them the slain shall fall by the sword):

[9] desolate will I make you forever, and leave your cities without inhabitants; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[10] 2 Because you said: The two nations and the two lands have become mine; we shall possess them--although the LORD was there--

[11] therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will deal with you according to your anger and your envy which you have exercised (in your hatred) against them. I will make myself known among you when I judge you,

[12] and you shall know that I am the LORD. I have heard all the contemptuous things you have uttered against the mountains of Israel: "They are desolate, they have been given us to devour."

[13] I have heard the insolent and wild words you have spoken against me.

[14] Thus says the Lord GOD: Just as you rejoiced over my land because it was desolate, so will I do to you.

[15] In keeping with your glee over the devastation of the inheritance of the house of Israel, so will I treat you. A waste shall you be, Mount Seir, you and the whole of Edom. Thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel Chapter 36

[1] As for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD!

[2] Thus says the Lord GOD: Because the enemy has said of you, "Ha! the everlasting heights have become our possession"

[3] (therefore prophesy in these words: Thus says the Lord GOD:); because you have been ridiculed and despised on all sides for having become a possession for the rest of the nations, and have become a byword and a popular jeer;

[4] therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD: (Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have been given over to the pillage and mockery of the remaining nations round about;

[5] therefore thus says the Lord GOD:) Truly, with burning jealousy I speak against the rest of the nations (and against all of Edom) who with wholehearted joy and utter contempt have considered my land their possession to be delivered over to plunder.

[6] (Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys: Thus says the Lord GOD:) With jealous fury I speak, because you have borne the reproach of the nations.

[7] Therefore do I solemnly swear that your neighboring nations shall bear their own reproach.

[8] As for you, mountains of Israel, you shall grow branches and bear fruit for my people Israel, for they shall soon return.

[9] See, I come to you, it is to you that I turn; you will be tilled and sown,

[10] and I will settle crowds of men upon you, the whole house of Israel; cities shall be repeopled, and ruins rebuilt.

[11] I will settle crowds of men and beasts upon you, to multiply and be fruitful. I will repeople you as in the past, and be more generous to you than in the beginning; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

[12] (My people Israel are the ones whom I will have walk upon you; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their heritage. Never again shall you rob them of their children.)

[13] 1 Thus says the Lord GOD: Because they have said of you, "You are a land that devours men, and you rob your people of their children";

[14] therefore, never again shall you devour men or rob your people of their children, says the Lord GOD.

[15] No more will I permit you to hear the reproach of nations, or bear insults from peoples, or rob your people of their children, says the Lord GOD.

[16] Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[17] Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their conduct and deeds. In my sight their conduct was like the defilement of a menstruous woman.

[18] Therefore I poured out my fury upon them (because of the blood which they poured out on the ground, and because they defiled it with idols).

[19] I scattered them among the nations, dispersing them over foreign lands; according to their conduct and deeds I judged them.

[20] But when they came among the nations (wherever they came), they served to profane my holy name, because it was said of them: "These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave their land."

[21] So I have relented because of my holy name which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they came.

[22] Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: Not for your sakes do I act, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you came.

[23] I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations, in whose midst you have profaned it. Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.

[24] For I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands, and bring you back to your own land.

[25] I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

[26] I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.

[27] I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees.

[28] You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

[29] I will save you from all your impurities; I will order the grain to be abundant, and I will not send famine against you.

[30] I will increase the fruit on your trees and the crops in your fields; thus you shall no longer bear among the nations the reproach of famine.

[31] Then you shall remember your evil conduct, and that your deeds were not good; you shall loathe yourselves for your sins and your abominations.

[32] Not for your sakes do I act, says the Lord GOD--let this be known to you! Be ashamed and abashed because of your conduct, O house of Israel.

[33] Thus says the Lord GOD: When I purify you from all your crimes, I will repeople the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt;

[34] the desolate land shall be tilled, which was formerly a wasteland exposed to the gaze of every passer-by.

[35] "This desolate land has been made into a garden of Eden," they shall say. "The cities that were in ruins, laid waste, and destroyed are now repeopled and fortified."

[36] Thus the neighboring nations that remain shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed and replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have promised, and I will do it.

[37] Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will be persuaded to do for the house of Israel: to multiply them like sheep.

[38] As with sacrificial sheep, the sheep of Jerusalem on its feast days, the cities which were in ruins shall be filled with flocks of men; thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel Chapter 37

[1] 1 The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he led me out in the spirit of the LORD and set me in the center of the plain, which was now filled with bones.

[2] He made me walk among them in every direction so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain. How dry they were!

[3] He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come to life? "Lord GOD," I answered, "you alone know that."

[4] Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!

[5] Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.

[6] I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put spirit in you so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD.

[7] I prophesied as I had been told, and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise; it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone.

[8] I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them, and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them.

[9] Then he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD: From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.

[10] I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army.

[11] Then he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They have been saying, "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off."

[12] Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.

[13] Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people!

[14] I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

[15] 2 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[16] Now, son of man, take a single stick, and write on it: Judah and those Israelites who are associated with him. Then take another stick and write on it: Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.

[17] Then join the two sticks together, so that they form one stick in your hand.

[18] When your countrymen ask you, "Will you not tell us what you mean by all this?",

[19] answer them: Thus says the Lord GOD: (I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and of the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will join to it the stick of Judah, making them a single stick; they shall be one in my hand.

[20] The sticks on which you write you shall hold up before them to see.

[21] Tell them: Thus speaks the Lord GOD:) I will take the Israelites from among the nations to which they have come, and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.

[22] I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one prince for them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.

[23] No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, and all their transgressions. I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy, and cleanse them so that they may be my people and I may be their God.

[24] My servant David shall be prince over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.

[25] They shall live on the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children's children, with my servant David their prince forever.

[26] I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.

[27] My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

[28] Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

Ezekiel Chapter 38

[1] 1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

[2] 2 Son of man, turn toward Gog (the land of Magog), the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him:

[3] Thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am coming at you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

[4] I will lead you forth with all your army, horses and riders all handsomely outfitted, a great horde with bucklers and shields, all of them carrying swords:

[5] Persia, Cush, and Put with them (all with shields and helmets),

[6] Gomer with all its troops, Beth-togarmah from the recesses of the north with all its troops, many peoples with you.

[7] Prepare yourself, be ready, you and all your horde assembled about you, and be at my disposal.

[8] After many days you will be mustered (in the last years you will come) against a nation which has survived the sword, which has been assembled from many peoples (on the mountains of Israel which were long a ruin), which has been brought forth from among the peoples and all of whom now dwell in security.

[9] You shall come up like a sudden storm, advancing like a cloud to cover the earth, you and all your troops and the many peoples with you.

[10] Thus says the Lord GOD: At that time thoughts shall arise in your mind, and you shall devise an evil scheme:

[11] "I will go up against a land of open villages and attack the peaceful people who are living in security, all of them living without walls, having neither bars nor gates,

[12] 3 to plunder and pillage, turning my hand against the ruins that were repeopled and against a people gathered from the nations, a people concerned with cattle and goods, who dwell at the navel of the earth."

[13] Sheba and Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish and all her young lions shall ask you: "Is it for plunder that you have come? Is it for pillage that you have summoned your horde, to carry off silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to seize much plunder?"

[14] Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: Thus says the Lord GOD: When my people Israel are dwelling in security, will you not bestir yourself

[15] and come from your home in the recesses of the north, you and many peoples with you, all mounted on horses, a great horde and a mighty army?

[16] You shall come up against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land. In the last days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know of me, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you, O Gog.

Ezekiel Chapter 39

[1] Now, son of man, prophesy against Gog in these words: Thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am coming at you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.

[2] I will turn you about, I will urge you on, and I will make you come up from the recesses of the north; I will lead you against the mountains of Israel.

[3] Then I will strike the bow from your left hand, and make the arrows drop from your right.

[4] Upon the mountains of Israel you shall fall, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you. To birds of prey of every kind and to the wild beasts I am giving you to be eaten.

[5] On the open field you shall fall, for I have decreed it, says the Lord GOD.

[6] I will send fire upon Magog and upon those who live securely in the coastlands; thus they shall know that I am the LORD.

[7] I will make my holy name known among my people Israel; I will no longer allow my holy name to be profaned. Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

[8] Yes, it is coming and shall be fulfilled, says the Lord GOD. This is the day I have decreed.

[9] Then shall those who live in the cities of Israel go out and burn weapons: (shields and bucklers,) bows and arrows, clubs and lances; for seven years they shall make fires with them.

[10] They shall not have to bring in wood from the fields or cut it down in the forests, for they shall make fires with the weapons. Thus they shall plunder those who plundered them and pillage those who pillaged them, says the Lord GOD.

[11] 1 On that day I will give Gog for his tomb a well-known place in Israel, the Valley of Abarim east of the sea (it is blocked to travelers). Gog shall be buried there with all his horde, and it shall be named "Valley of Hamon-gog."

[12] To purify the land, the house of Israel shall need seven months to bury them.

[13] All the people of the land shall bury them and gain renown for it, when I reveal my glory, says the Lord GOD.

[14] Men shall be permanently employed to pass through the land burying those who lie unburied, so as to purify the land. For seven months they shall keep searching.

[15] When they pass through, should they see a human bone, let them put up a marker beside it, until others have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.

[16] (Also the name of the city shall be Hamonah.) Thus the land shall be purified.

[17] As for you, son of man, says the Lord GOD, say to birds of every kind and to all the wild beasts: Come together, from all sides gather for the slaughter I am about to provide for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel: you shall have flesh to eat and blood to drink.

[18] You shall eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the land (rams, lambs, and goats, bullocks, fatlings of Bashan, all of them).

[19] From the slaughter which I will provide for you, you shall eat fat until you are filled and drink blood until you are drunk.

[20] You shall be filled at my table with horses and riders, with warriors and soldiers of every kind, says the Lord GOD.

[21] Thus I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see the judgment I have executed and the hand I have laid upon them.

[22] From that day forward the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD, their God.

[23] The nations shall know that because of its sins the house of Israel went into exile; for they transgressed against me, and I hid my face from them and handed them over to their foes, so that all of them fell by the sword.

[24] According to their uncleanness and their transgressions I dealt with them, hiding my face from them.

[25] Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have pity on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name.

[26] They shall forget their disgrace and all the times they broke faith with me, when they live in security on their land with no one to frighten them.

[27] When I bring them back from among the peoples, I will gather them from the lands of their enemies, and will prove my holiness through them in the sight of many nations.

[28] Thus they shall know that I, the LORD, am their God, since I who exiled them among the nations, will gather them back on their land, not leaving any of them behind.

[29] No longer will I hide my face from them, for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 40

[1] 1 On the tenth day of the month beginning the twenty-fifth year of our exile, fourteen years after the city was taken, that very day the hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me

[2] in divine visions to the land of Israel, where he set me down on a very high mountain. On it there seemed to be a city being built before me.

[3] When he had brought me there, all at once I saw a man whose appearance was that of bronze; he was standing in the gate, holding a linen cord and a measuring rod.

[4] The man said to me, "Son of man, look carefully and listen intently, and pay strict attention to all that I will show you, for you have been brought here so that I might show it to you. Tell the house of Israel all that you see."

[5] 2 (Then I saw an outer wall that completely surrounded the temple. The man was holding a measuring rod six cubits long, each cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth; he measured the width and the height of the structure, each of which were found to be one rod.)

[6] 3 Then he went to the gate which faced the east, climbed its steps, and measured the gate's threshold, which was found to be a rod wide.

[7] The cells were a rod long and a rod wide, and the pilasters between the cells measured five cubits. The threshold of the gate adjoining the vestibule of the gate toward the inside measured one rod.

[8] He measured the vestibule of the gate,

[9] which was eight cubits, and its pilasters, which were two cubits. The vestibule of the gate was toward the inside.

[10] The cells of the east gate were three on either side, of equal size, and the pilasters on either side were also of equal size.

[11] He measured the gate's entrance, which was ten cubits wide, while the width of the gate's passage itself was thirteen cubits.

[12] The border before each of the cells on both sides was one cubit; the cells themselves were six cubits on either side, from opening to opening.

[13] He measured the gate from the back wall of one cell to the back wall of the cell on the opposite side: the width was twenty-five cubits.

[14] He measured the vestibule, which was twenty-five cubits. The pilasters adjoining the court on either side were six cubits.

[15] The length of the gate from the front entrance to the front of the vestibule on the inside was fifty cubits.

[16] Within the gateway on both sides there were splayed windows let into the cells (and into their pilasters); likewise, within the vestibule on both sides there were windows. The pilasters were decorated with palms.

[17] 4 Then he brought me to the outer court, where there were chambers and a pavement. The pavement was laid all around the court, and the chambers, which were on the pavement, were thirty in number.

[18] The pavement lay alongside the gates, as wide as the gates were long; this was the lower pavement.

[19] He measured the width of the court from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner gate; it was one hundred cubits between them. Then he proceeded north,

[20] where, on the outer court, there was a gate facing north, whose length and width he measured.

[21] Its cells, three on either side, its pilasters, and its vestibule had the same measurements as those of the first gate; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

[22] Its windows, the windows of its vestibule, and its palm decorations were of the same proportions as those of the gate facing the east. Seven steps led up to it, and its vestibule was toward the inside.

[23] The inner court had a gate opposite the north gate, just as at the east gate; he measured one hundred cubits from one gate to the other.

[24] Then he led me south, to where there was a southern gate, whose cells, pilasters, and vestibule he measured; they were the same size as the others.

[25] The gate and its vestibule had windows on both sides, like the other windows. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

[26] It was ascended by seven steps; its vestibule was toward the inside; and it was decorated with palms here and there on its pilasters.

[27] The inner court also had a southern gate; from gate to gate he measured one hundred cubits.

[28] 5 Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate, where he measured the south gate. Its dimensions were the same as the others;

[29] its cells, its pilasters, and its vestibule were the same size as the others. The gate and its vestibule had windows on both sides; and it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

Ezekiel Chapter 41

[1] Then he brought me to the nave and measured the pilasters, which were six cubits thick on either side.

[2] The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the walls at either side of it measured five cubits each. He measured the length of the nave, which was found to be forty cubits, while its width was twenty.

[3] Then he went in beyond and measured the pilasters flanking that entrance, which were two cubits; the width of the entrance was six cubits, and the walls at either side of it extended seven cubits each.

[4] He measured the space beyond the nave, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, and said to me, "This is the holy of holies."

[5] Then he measured the wall of the temple, which was six cubits thick; the side chambers, which extended all the way around the temple, had a width of four cubits.

[6] There were thirty side chambers built one above the other in three stories, and there were offsets in the outside wall of the temple that enclosed the side chambers; these served as supports, so that there were no supports in the temple wall proper.

[7] There was a broad circular passageway that led upward to the side chambers, for the temple was enclosed all the way around and all the way upward; therefore the temple had a broad way running upward so that one could pass from the lowest to the middle and the highest story.

[8] About the temple was a raised pavement completely enclosing it--the foundations of the side chambers--a full rod of six cubits in extent.

[9] The width of the outside wall which enclosed the side chambers was five cubits. Between the side chambers of the temple

[10] and the chambers of the court was an open space twenty cubits wide going all around the temple.

[11] The side chambers had entrances to the open space, one entrance on the north and another on the south. The width of the wall surrounding the open space was five cubits.

[12] 1 The building fronting the free area on the west side was seventy cubits front to back; the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and it measured ninety cubits from side to side.

[13] He measured the temple, which was one hundred cubits long. The free area, together with the building and its walls, was a hundred cubits in length.

[14] The facade of the temple, along with the free area, on the east side, was one hundred cubits wide.

[15] He measured the building which lay the length of the free area and behind it, and together with its walls on both sides it was one hundred cubits. The inner nave and the outer vestibule

[16] were paneled with precious wood all around, covered from the ground to the windows. There were splayed windows with trellises about them (facing the threshold).

[17] As high as the lintel of the door, even into the interior part of the temple as well as outside, on every wall on every side in both the inner and outer rooms were carved

[18] the figures of cherubim and palmtrees: a palmtree between every two cherubim. Each cherub had two faces:

[19] a man's face looking at a palmtree on one side, and a lion's face looking at a palmtree on the other; thus they were figured on every side throughout the whole temple.

[20] From the ground to the lintel of the door the cherubim and palmtrees were carved on the walls.

[21] The way into the nave was a square doorframe. In front of the holy place was something that looked like

[22] 2 a wooden altar, three cubits in height, two cubits long, and two cubits wide. It had corners, and its base and sides were of wood. He said to me, "This is the table which is before the LORD."

[23] The nave had a double door, and also the holy place had

[24] a double door. Each door had two movable leaves; two leaves were on one doorjamb and two on the other.

[25] Carved upon them (on the doors of the nave) were cherubim and palmtrees, like those carved on the walls. Before the vestibule outside was a wooden lattice.

[26] There were splayed windows (and palmtrees) on both side walls of the vestibule, and the side chambers of the temple. . . .

Ezekiel Chapter 42

[1] Then he led me north to the outer court, bringing me to some chambers on the north that lay across the free area and which were also across from the building.

[2] Their length was a hundred cubits on the north side, and they were fifty cubits wide.

[3] Across the twenty cubits of the inner court and the pavement of the outer court, there were three parallel rows of them on different levels.

[4] In front of the chambers, to the inside, was a walk ten cubits broad and a wall of one cubit; but the entrances of the chambers were on the north.

[5] 1 The outermost chambers were the lowest, for the system of levels set them at a level lower than the closest chambers and those in between;

[6] for they were in three rows and had no foundations to conform with the foundations of the courts, therefore they were on a lower terrace of the ground than the closest and the middle chambers.

[7] On the far side there was a wall running parallel to the chambers along the outer court; its length before these chambers was fifty cubits,

[8] for the length of the chambers belonging to the outer court was fifty cubits, but along its entire length the wall measured one hundred cubits.

[9] Below these chambers there was the way in from the east, so that one could enter from the outer court

[10] where the wall of the court began. To the south along the side of the free area and the building there were also chambers,

[11] before which was a passage. These looked like the chambers to the north, just as long and just as wide, with the same exits and plan and entrances.

[12] Below the chambers to the south there was an entrance at the beginning of the way which led to the back wall, by which one could enter from the east.

[13] 2 He said to me, "The north and south chambers which border on the free area are the sanctuary chambers; here the priests who draw near to the LORD shall eat the most sacred meals, and here they shall keep the most sacred offerings: cereal offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings; for it is a holy place.

[14] When the priests have once entered, they shall not leave the holy place for the outer court until they have left here the clothing in which they ministered, for it is holy. They shall put on other garments, and then approach the place destined for the people."

[15] When he had finished measuring the inner temple area, he brought me out by way of the gate which faces east and measured all the limits of the court.

[16] He measured the east side: five hundred cubits by his measuring rod. Then he turned

[17] and measured the north side: five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. He turned

[18] to the south and measured five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.

[19] Then he turned to the west and measured five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.

[20] Thus he measured it in the four directions, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide. It was surrounded by a wall, to separate the sacred from the profane.

Ezekiel Chapter 43

[1] Then he led me to the gate which faces the east,

[2] and there I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. I heard a sound like the roaring of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.

[3] The vision was like that which I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like that which I had seen by the river Chebar. I fell prone

[4] as the glory of the LORD entered the temple by way of the gate which faces the east,

[5] but spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court. And I saw that the temple was filled with the glory of the LORD.

[6] Then I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man stood beside me.

[7] The voice said to me: Son of man, this is where my throne shall be, this is where I will set the soles of my feet; here I will dwell among the Israelites forever. Never again shall they and their kings profane my holy name with their harlotries and with the corpses of their kings (their high places).

[8] 1 When they placed their threshold against my threshold and their doorpost next to mine, so that only a wall was between us, they profaned my holy name by their abominable deeds; therefore I consumed them in my wrath.

[9] From now on they shall put far from me their harlotry and the corpses of their kings, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

[10] As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel (that they may be ashamed of their sins), both its measurements and its design;

[11] (and if they are ashamed of all that they have done,) make known to them the form and design of the temple, its exits and entrances, all its statutes and laws; write these down for them to see, that they may carefully observe all its laws and statutes.

[12] This is the law of the temple: its whole surrounding area on the mountain top shall be most sacred.

[13] 2 These were the measurements of the altar in cubits of one cubit plus a handbreadth. Its base was one cubit high and one cubit deep, with a rim around its edges of one span. The height of the altar itself was as follows:

[14] from its base at the bottom up to the lower edge it was two cubits high, and this ledge was one cubit deep; from the lower to the upper ledge it was four cubits high, and this ledge also was one cubit deep;

[15] the hearth of the altar was four cubits high, and extending from the top of the hearth were the four horns of the altar.

[16] The hearth was a square: twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide.

[17] The upper ledge was also a square: fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide. The lower ledge, likewise a square, was sixteen cubits long and sixteen cubits wide, with a half-cubit rim surrounding it. And there was a base of one cubit all around. The steps of the altar face the east.

[18] Then he said to me: Son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: These are the statutes for the altar when it is set up for the offering of holocausts upon it and for the sprinkling of blood against it.

[19] Give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, the Levites who are of the line of Zadok, who draw near me to minister to me, says the Lord GOD.

[20] Take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim all around. Thus you shall purify it and make atonement for it.

[21] Then take the bull of the sin offering, which is to be burnt in a designated part of the temple, outside the sanctuary.

[22] On the second day present an unblemished he-goat as a sin offering, to purify the altar as was done with the bull.

[23] When you have finished the purification, bring an unblemished young bull and an unblemished ram from the flock,

[24] and present them before the LORD; the priests shall strew salt on them and offer them to the LORD as holocausts.

[25] Daily for seven days you shall offer a he-goat as a sin offering, and a young bull and a ram from the flock, all unblemished, shall be offered

[26] for seven days. Thus atonement shall be made for the altar, and it shall be purified and dedicated.

[27] And when these days are over, from the eighth day on, the priests shall offer your holocausts and peace offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 44

[1] Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, facing the east; but it was closed.

[2] He said to me: This gate is to remain closed; it is not to be opened for anyone to enter by it; since the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it, it shall remain closed.

[3] 1 Only the prince may sit down in it to eat his meal in the presence of the LORD. He must enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and leave by the same way.

[4] Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the facade of the temple, and when I looked I saw the glory of the LORD filling the LORD'S temple, and I fell prone.

[5] Then he said to me: Son of man, pay strict attention, look carefully, and listen intently to all that I will tell you about the statutes and laws of the LORD'S temple; be attentive in regard to those who are to be admitted to the temple and all those who are to be excluded from the sanctuary.

[6] Say to that rebellious house, the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough of all these abominations of yours, O house of Israel!

[7] 2 You have admitted foreigners, uncircumcised both in heart and flesh, to my sanctuary to profane it when you offered me food, fat, and blood; thus you have broken my covenant by all your abominations.

[8] Instead of caring for the service of my temple, you have appointed such as these to serve me in my sanctuary in your stead.

[9] Thus says the Lord GOD: No foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, shall ever enter my sanctuary; none of the foreigners who live among the Israelites.

[10] 3 But as for the Levites who departed from me when Israel strayed from me to pursue their idols, they shall bear the consequences of their sin.

[11] They shall serve in my sanctuary as gatekeepers and temple servants; they shall slaughter the holocausts and the sacrifices for the people, and they shall stand before the people to minister for them.

[12] Because they used to minister for them before their idols, and became an occasion of sin to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn an oath against them, says the Lord GOD: they shall bear the consequences of their sin.

[13] They shall no longer draw near me to serve as my priests, nor shall they touch any of my sacred things, or the most sacred things. Thus they shall bear their disgrace because of all their abominable deeds.

[14] But I will set them to the service of the temple, for all its work and for everything that is to be done in it.

[15] As for the levitical priests, however, the Zadokites who cared for my sanctuary when the Israelites strayed from me, they shall draw near me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer me fat and blood, says the Lord GOD.

[16] It is they who shall enter my sanctuary, they who shall approach my table to minister to me, and they who shall carry out my service.

[17] Whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments; they shall not put on anything woolen when they minister at the gates of the inner court or within the temple.

[18] They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen drawers on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat.

[19] 4 When they are to go out to the people in the outer court, they shall take off the garments in which they ministered and leave them in the chambers of the sanctuary, putting on other garments; thus they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

[20] They shall not shave their heads nor let their hair hang loose, but they shall keep their hair carefully trimmed.

[21] No priest shall drink wine when he is to enter the inner court.

[22] They shall not take for their wives either widows or divorced women, but only virgins of the race of Israel; however, they may marry women who are the widows of priests.

[23] They shall teach my people to distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and make known to them the difference between the clean and the unclean.

[24] In capital cases they shall stand as judges, judging them according to my decrees. They shall observe my laws and statutes on all my festivals, and keep my sabbaths holy.

[25] They shall not make themselves unclean by coming near any dead person, unless it be their father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or maiden sister; for these they may make themselves unclean.

[26] After a priest has been cleansed, he must wait an additional seven days,

[27] and on the day he enters the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall present his sin offering, says the Lord GOD.

[28] They shall have no inheritance, for I am their inheritance; you shall give them no property in Israel, for I am their property.

[29] 5 They shall eat the cereal offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; whatever is under the ban in Israel shall be theirs.

[30] All the choicest first fruits of every kind, and all the best of your offerings of every kind, shall belong to the priests; likewise the best of your dough you shall give to the priests to bring a blessing down upon your house.

[31] The priests shall not eat anything, whether flesh or fowl, that has died of itself or has been killed by wild beasts.

Ezekiel Chapter 45

[1] When you apportion the land into inheritances, you shall set apart a sacred tract of land for the LORD, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand wide; its whole area shall be sacred.

[2] Of this land a square plot, five hundred by five hundred cubits, surrounded by a free space of fifty cubits, shall be assigned to the sanctuary.

[3] Also from this sector measure off a strip, twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide, within which shall be the sanctuary, the holy of holies.

[4] This shall be the sacred part of the land belonging to the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who draw near to minister to the LORD; it shall be a place for their homes and pasture land for their cattle.

[5] Also there shall be a strip twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide as property for the Levites, the ministers of the temple, that they may have cities to live in.

[6] As property of the City you shall designate a strip five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand long, parallel to the sacred tract; this shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

[7] The prince shall have a section bordering on both sides of the combined sacred tract and City property, extending westward on the western side and eastward on the eastern side, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions from the western boundary to the eastern boundary

[8] of the land. This shall be his property in Israel, so that the princes of Israel will no longer oppress my people, but will leave the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

[9] 1 Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and do what is right and just! Stop evicting my people! says the Lord GOD.

[10] You shall have honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest liquid measure.

[11] The ephah and the liquid measure shall be of the same size: the liquid measure equal to a tenth of a homer, and the ephah equal to a tenth of a homer; by the homer they shall be determined.

[12] The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

[13] These are the offerings you shall make: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley.

[14] 2 The regulation for oil: for every measure of oil, a tenth of a measure, computed by the kor of ten liquid measures (or a homer, for ten liquid measures make a homer).

[15] One sheep from the flock for every two hundred from the pasturage of Israel, for sacrifice--holocausts and peace offerings and atonement sacrifices, says the Lord GOD.

[16] All the people of the land shall be bound to this offering (for the prince in Israel).

[17] It shall be the duty of the prince to provide the holocausts, cereal offerings, and libations on the feasts, new moons, and sabbaths, on all the festivals of the house of Israel. He shall offer the sin offerings, cereal offerings, holocausts, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

[18] Thus says the Lord GOD: On the first day of the first month you shall use an unblemished young bull as a sacrifice to purify the sanctuary.

[19] Then the priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorposts of the gates of the inner court.

[20] You shall repeat this on the first day of the seventh month for those who have sinned through inadvertence or ignorance; thus you shall make atonement for the temple.

[21] On the fourteenth day of the first month you shall observe the feast of the Passover; for seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten.

[22] On that day the prince shall offer on his own behalf, and on behalf of all the people of the land, a bull as a sin offering.

[23] On each of the seven days of the feast he shall offer as a holocaust to the LORD seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, and as a sin offering he shall offer one male goat each day.

[24] 3 As a cereal offering he shall offer one ephah for each bull and one ephah for each ram; and he shall offer one hin of oil for each ephah.

[25] On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the feast day, and for seven days, he shall perform the same rites, making the same sin offerings, the same holocausts, the same cereal offerings and offerings of oil.

Ezekiel Chapter 46

[1] Thus says the Lord GOD: The gate toward the east of the inner court shall remain closed throughout the six working days, but on the sabbath and on the day of the new moon it shall be open.

[2] The prince shall enter from outside by way of the vestibule of the gate and remain standing at the doorpost of the gate; then while the priests offer his holocausts and peace offerings, he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then leave; the gate shall not be closed until evening.

[3] The people of the land shall worship before the LORD at the door of this gate on the sabbaths and new moons.

[4] The holocausts which the prince presents to the LORD on the sabbath shall consist of six unblemished lambs and an unblemished ram,

[5] together with a cereal offering of one ephah for the ram, whatever he pleases for the lambs, and a hin of oil for each ephah.

[6] On the day of the new moon he shall provide an unblemished young bull, also six lambs and a ram without blemish,

[7] with a cereal offering of one ephah for the bull and one for the ram, for the lambs as much as he has at hand, and for each ephah a hin of oil.

[8] The prince shall always enter and depart by the vestibule of the gate.

[9] When the people of the land enter the presence of the LORD to worship on the festivals, if they enter by the north gate they shall leave by the south gate, and if they enter by the south gate they shall leave by the north gate; no one shall return by the gate through which he has entered, but he shall leave by the opposite gate.

[10] The prince shall be in their midst when they enter, and he shall also leave with them.

[11] On the feasts and festivals the cereal offering shall be an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, but for the lambs as much as one pleases, and a hin of oil with each ephah.

[12] When the prince makes a freewill offering to the LORD, whether holocausts or peace offerings, the eastern gate shall be opened for him, and he shall offer his holocausts or his peace offerings as on the sabbath; then he shall leave, and the gate shall be closed after his departure.

[13] He shall offer as a daily holocaust to the LORD an unblemished yearling lamb; this he shall offer every morning.

[14] With it every morning he shall provide as a cereal offering one sixth of an ephah, with a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. This cereal offering to the LORD is mandatory with the established holocaust.

[15] The lamb, the cereal offering, and the oil are to be offered every morning as an established holocaust.

[16] Thus says the Lord GOD: If the prince makes a gift of part of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; that property is theirs by inheritance.

[17] 1 But if he makes a gift of part of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall belong to the latter only until the year of release, when it shall revert to the prince. Only the inheritance given to his sons is permanent.

[18] The prince shall not seize any part of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He shall provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of my people will be driven from their property.

[19] Then he brought me by the entrance which is on the side of the gate to the chambers (of the sanctuary, reserved to the priests) which face the north. There, at their west end, I saw a place,

[20] concerning which he said to me, "Here the priests cook the guilt offerings and the sin offerings, and bake the cereal offerings, so that they do not have to take them into the outer court at the risk of transmitting holiness to the people."

[21] Then he led me into the outer court and had me pass around the four corners of the court, and I saw that in each corner there was another court:

[22] in the four corners of the court, minor courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide, all four of them the same size.

[23] A wall of stones surrounded each of the four, and hearths were built beneath the stones all the way around.

[24] He said to me, "These are the kitchens where the temple ministers cook the sacrifices of the people."

Ezekiel Chapter 47

[1] 1 Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the facade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple, south of the altar.

[2] He led me outside by the north gate, and around to the outer gate facing the east, where I saw water trickling from the southern side.

[3] Then when he had walked off to the east with a measuring cord in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and had me wade through the water, which was ankle-deep.

[4] He measured off another thousand and once more had me wade through the water, which was now knee-deep. Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade; the water was up to my waist.

[5] Once more he measured off a thousand, but there was now a river through which I could not wade; for the water had risen so high it had become a river that could not be crossed except by swimming.

[6] He asked me, "Have you seen this, son of man?" Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit.

[7] Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides.

[8] He said to me, "This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.

[9] Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.

[10] 2 Fishermen shall be standing along it from En-gedi to En-eglaim, spreading their nets there. Its kinds of fish shall be like those of the Great Sea, very numerous.

[11] Only its marshes and swamps shall not be made fresh; they shall be left for salt.

[12] Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."

[13] 3 Thus says the Lord GOD: These are the boundaries within which you shall apportion the land among the twelve tribes of Israel (Joseph having two portions).

[14] All of you shall have a like portion in this land which I swore to give to your fathers, that it might fall to you as your inheritance.

[15] This is the boundary of the land on the north side: from the Great Sea in the direction of Hethlon, past Labo of Hamath, to Zedad,

[16] Berothah, and Sibraim, along the frontiers of Hamath and Damascus, to Hazar-enon which is on the border of the Hauran.

[17] Thus the border shall extend from the sea to Hazar-enon, with the frontier of Hamath and Damascus to the north. This is the northern boundary.

[18] The eastern boundary: between the Hauran--toward Damascus--and Gilead on the one side, and the land of Israel on the other side, the Jordan shall form the boundary down to the eastern sea as far as Tamar. This is the eastern boundary.

[19] The southern boundary: from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, thence to the Wadi of Egypt, and on to the Great Sea. This is the southern boundary.

[20] The western boundary: the Great Sea forms the boundary up to a point parallel to Labo of Hamath. This is the western boundary.

[21] You shall distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

[22] You shall allot it as inheritances for yourselves and for the aliens resident in your midst who have bred children among you. The latter shall be to you like native Israelites; along with you they shall receive inheritances among the tribes of Israel.

[23] In whatever tribe the alien may be resident, there you shall assign him his inheritance, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel Chapter 48

[1] 1 This is the list of the tribes. Dan: at the northern extremity, adjoining Hamath, all along from the approaches to Hethlon through Labo of Hamath to Hazar-enon, on the northerly border with Damascus, with his possession reaching from the eastern to the western boundary.

[2] Asher: on the frontier of Dan, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[3] Naphtali: on the frontier of Asher, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[4] Manasseh: on the frontier of Naphtali, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[5] Ephraim: on the frontier of Manasseh, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[6] Reuben: on the frontier of Ephraim, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[7] Judah: on the frontier of Reuben, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[8] On the frontier of Judah, from the eastern to the western boundary there shall be the tract which you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits from north to south, and as wide as one of the tribal portions from the eastern to the western boundary. In the center of the tract shall be the sanctuary.

[9] The tract that you set aside for the LORD shall be twenty-five thousand cubits across by twenty thousand north and south.

[10] In this sacred tract the priests shall have twenty-five thousand cubits on the north, ten thousand on the west, ten thousand on the east, and twenty-five thousand on the south; and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in its center.

[11] The consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who fulfilled my service and did not stray along with the Israelites as the Levites did,

[12] shall have within this tract of land their own most sacred domain, next to the territory of the Levites.

[13] The Levites shall have a territory corresponding to that of the priests, twenty-five thousand cubits by ten thousand. The whole tract shall be twenty-five thousand cubits across and twenty thousand north and south.

[14] They may not sell or exchange or alienate this, the best part of the land, for it is sacred to the LORD.

[15] The remaining five thousand cubits along the twenty-five-thousand-cubit line are profane land, assigned to the City for dwellings and pasture; the City shall be at their center.

[16] These are the dimensions of the City: the north side, forty-five hundred cubits; the south side, forty-five hundred cubits; the east side, forty-five hundred cubits; and the west side, forty-five hundred cubits.

[17] The pasture lands of the City shall extend north two hundred and fifty cubits, south two hundred and fifty cubits, east two hundred and fifty cubits, and west two hundred and fifty cubits.

[18] There shall remain an area along the sacred tract, ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand to the west, whose produce shall provide food for the workers of the City.

[19] The workers in the City shall be taken from all the tribes of Israel.

[20] The entire tract shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand cubits; as a perfect square you shall set apart the sacred tract together with the City property.

[21] The remainder shall belong to the prince: the land on both sides of the sacred tract and the City property, extending along the twenty-five-thousand-cubit line eastward to the eastern boundary, and westward along the twenty-five-thousand-cubit line to the western boundary, a territory parallel with the tribal portions for the prince. The sacred tract and the sanctuary of the temple shall be in the middle.

[22] Thus, except for the property of the Levites and the City property, which lie in the midst of the prince's property, the territory between the portions of Judah and of Benjamin shall belong to the prince.

[23] These are the remaining tribes. Benjamin: from the eastern to the western boundary.

[24] Simeon: on the frontier of Benjamin, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[25] Issachar: on the frontier of Simeon, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[26] Zebulun: on the frontier of Issachar, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[27] Gad: on the frontier of Zebulun, from the eastern to the western boundary.

[28] Along the frontier of Gad shall be the southern boundary, which shall extend from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, and from there to the Wadi of Egypt, and on to the Great Sea.

[29] Such is the land which you shall apportion as inheritances among the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, says the Lord GOD.

[30] These are the exits of the City, the gates of which are named after the tribes of Israel. On the north side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits,

[31] there shall be three gates: the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi.

[32] On the east side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, there shall be three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan.

[33] On the south side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, there shall be three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, and the gate of Zebulun.

[34] On the west side, measuring forty-five hundred cubits, there shall be three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, and the gate of Naphtali.

[35] The perimeter of the City is eighteen thousand cubits. The name of the City shall henceforth be "The LORD is here."

Introduction to Daniel

Daniel

Introduction

This Book takes its name, not from the author, who is actually unknown, but from its hero, a young Jew taken early to Babylon, where he lived at least until 538 B.C. Strictly speaking, the book does not belong to the prophetic writings but rather to a distinctive type of literature known as "apocalyptic," of which it is an early specimen. Apocalyptic writing enjoyed its greatest popularity from 200 B.C. to 100 A.D., a time of distress and persecution for Jews, and later, for Christians. Though subsequent in time to the prophetic, apocalyptic literature has its roots in the teaching of the prophets, who often pointed ahead to the day of the Lord, the consummation of history. For both prophet and apocalyptist Yahweh was the Lord of history, and he would ultimately vindicate his people.

This work was composed during the bitter persecution carried on by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167-164) and was written to strengthen and comfort the Jewish people in their ordeal.

The Book contains stories originating in and transmitted by popular traditions which tell of the trials and triumphs of the wise Daniel and his three companions. The moral is that men of faith can resist temptation and conquer adversity. The characters are not purely legendary but rest on older historical tradition. What is more important than the question of historicity, and closer to the intention of the author, is the fact that a persecuted Jew of the second century B.C. would quickly see the application of these stories to his own plight.

There follows a series of visions promising deliverance and glory to the Jews in the days to come. The great nations of the ancient world have risen in vain against Yahweh; his kingdom shall overthrow existing powers and last forever. Under this apocalyptic imagery are contained some of the best elements of prophetic teaching: the insistence on right conduct, the divine control over events, the certainty that the kingdom of God will ultimately triumph. The arrival of the kingdom is a central theme of the synoptic gospels, and Jesus, in calling himself the "Son of Man," reminds us that he fulfills the destiny of this mysterious figure in the seventh chapter of Daniel.

The added episodes of Susanna, Bel, and the Dragon, found only in the Greek version, are edifying short stories with a didactic purpose.

These three sections constitute the divisions of the Book of Daniel:

Daniel and the Kings of Babylon (Daniel 1:1-6:29)

Daniel's Visions (Daniel 7:1-12:13)

Appendix ((Dan)Sus 13; Bel 14)

Daniel Chapter 1

[1] In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came and laid siege to Jerusalem.

[2] The Lord handed over to him Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and some of the vessels of the temple of God, which he carried off to the land of Shinar, 1 and placed in the temple treasury of his god.

[3] The king told Ashpenaz, his chief chamberlain, to bring in some of the Israelites of royal blood and of the nobility,

[4] young men without any defect, handsome, intelligent and wise, quick to learn, and prudent in judgment, such as could take their place in the king's palace; they were to be taught the language and literature of the Chaldeans;

[5] after three years' training they were to enter the king's service. The king allotted them a daily portion of food and wine from the royal table.

[6] Among these were men of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

[7] 2 The chief chamberlain changed their names: Daniel to Belteshazzar, Hananiah to Shadrach, Mishael to Meshach, and Azariah to Abednego.

[8] 3 But Daniel was resolved not to defile himself with the king's food or wine; so he begged the chief chamberlain to spare him this defilement.

[9] Though God had given Daniel the favor and sympathy of the chief chamberlain,

[10] he nevertheless said to Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king; it is he who allotted your food and drink. If he sees that you look wretched by comparison with the other young men of your age, you will endanger my life with the king."

[11] Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief chamberlain had put in charge of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

[12] "Please test your servants for ten days. Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

[13] Then see how we look in comparison with the other young men who eat from the royal table, and treat your servants according to what you see."

[14] He acceded to this request, and tested them for ten days;

[15] after ten days they looked healthier and better fed than any of the young men who ate from the royal table.

[16] So the steward continued to take away the food and wine they were to receive, and gave them vegetables.

[17] To these four young men God gave knowledge and proficiency in all literature and science, and to Daniel the understanding of all visions and dreams.

[18] At the end of the time the king had specified for their preparation, the chief chamberlain brought them before Nebuchadnezzar.

[19] When the king had spoken with all of them, none was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; and so they entered the king's service.

[20] In any question of wisdom or prudence which the king put to them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom.

[21] 4 Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

Daniel Chapter 2

[1] 1 In the second year of his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which left his spirit no rest and robbed him of his sleep.

[2] 2 So he ordered that the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans be summoned to interpret the dream for him. When they came and presented themselves to the king,

[3] he said to them, "I had a dream which will allow my spirit no rest until I know what it means."

[4] 3 The Chaldeans answered the king (Aramaic): "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream and we will give its meaning."

[5] The king answered the Chaldeans, "This is what I have decided: unless you tell me the dream and its meaning, you shall be cut to pieces and your houses destroyed.

[6] But if you tell me the dream and its meaning, you shall receive from me gifts and presents and great honors. Now tell me the dream and its meaning."

[7] Again they answered, "Let the king tell his servants the dream and we will give its meaning."

[8] But the king replied: "I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, since you know what I have decided.

[9] If you do not tell me the dream, there can be but one decree for you. You have framed a false and deceitful interpretation to present me with till the crisis is past. Tell me the dream, therefore, that I may be sure that you can also give its correct interpretation."

[10] The Chaldeans answered the king: "There is not a man on earth who can do what you ask, O king; never has any king, however great and mighty, asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean.

[11] What you demand, O king, is too difficult; there is no one who can tell it to the king except the gods who do not dwell among men."

[12] At this the king became violently angry and ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be put to death.

[13] When the decree was issued that the wise men should be slain, Daniel and his companions were also sought out.

[14] Then Daniel prudently took counsel with Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had set out to kill the wise men of Babylon:

[15] "O officer of the king," he asked, "what is the reason for this harsh order from the king?" When Arioch told him,

[16] Daniel went and asked for time from the king, that he might give him the interpretation.

[17] Daniel went home and informed his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

[18] that they might implore the mercy of the God of heaven in regard to this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

[19] During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he blessed the God of heaven:

[20] "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power are his.

[21] He causes the changes of the times and seasons, makes kings and unmakes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who understand.

[22] He reveals deep and hidden things and knows what is in the darkness, for the light dwells with him.

[23] To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, because you have given me wisdom and power. Now you have shown me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the king's dream."

[24] So Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, "Do not put the wise men of Babylon to death. Bring me before the king, and I will tell him the interpretation of the dream." Arioch quickly brought Daniel to the king and said,

[25] "I have found a man among the Judean captives who can give the interpretation to the king."

[26] The king asked Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Can you tell me the dream that I had, and its meaning?"

[27] In the king's presence Daniel made this reply: "The mystery about which the king has inquired, the wise men, enchanters, magicians, and astrologers could not explain to the king.

[28] But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what is to happen in days to come; this was the dream you saw as you lay in bed.

[29] To you in your bed there came thoughts about what should happen in the future, and he who reveals mysteries showed you what is to be.

[30] To me also this mystery has been revealed; not that I am wiser than any other living person, but in order that its meaning may be made known to the king, that you may understand the thoughts in your own mind.

[31] "In your vision, O king, you saw a statue, very large and exceedingly bright, terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.

[32] The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs bronze,

[33] 4 the legs iron, its feet partly iron and partly tile.

[34] While you looked at the statue, a stone which was hewn from a mountain without a hand being put to it, struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces.

[35] The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once, fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer, and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

[36] 5 "This was the dream; the interpretation we shall also give in the king's presence.

[37] You, O king, are the king of kings; to you the God of heaven has given dominion and strength, power and glory;

[38] men, wild beasts, and birds of the air, wherever they may dwell, he has handed over to you, making you ruler over them all; you are the head of gold.

[39] Another kingdom shall take your place, inferior to yours, then a third kingdom, of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth.

[40] There shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; it shall break in pieces and subdue all these others, just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else.

[41] The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter's tile and partly of iron, mean that it shall be a divided kingdom, but yet have some of the hardness of iron. As you saw the iron mixed with clay tile,

[42] and the toes partly iron and partly tile, the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

[43] The iron mixed with clay tile means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage, but they shall not stay united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

[44] In the lifetime of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever.

[45] That is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain without a hand being put to it, which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold. The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future; this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure."

[46] Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell down and worshiped Daniel and ordered sacrifice and incense offered to him.

[47] To Daniel the king said, "Truly your God is the God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries; that is why you were able to reveal this mystery."

[48] He advanced Daniel to a high post, gave him many generous presents, made him ruler of the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

[49] At Daniel's request the king made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego administrators of the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the king's court.

Daniel Chapter 3

[1] 1 King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden statue made, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, which he set up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

[2] 2 He then ordered the satraps, prefects, and governors, the counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the officials of the provinces to be summoned to the dedication of the statue which he had set up.

[3] The satraps, prefects, and governors, the counselors, treasurers, judges, and magistrates and all the officials of the provinces, all these came together for the dedication and stood before the statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

[4] 3 A herald cried out: "Nations and peoples of every language, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and all the other musical instruments,

[5] you are ordered to fall down and worship the golden statue which King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

[6] 4 Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be instantly cast into a white-hot furnace."

[7] Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and all the other musical instruments, the nations and peoples of every language all fell down and worshiped the golden statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

[8] At that point, some of the Chaldeans came and accused the Jews

[9] to King Nebuchadnezzar: "O king, live forever!

[10] O king, you issued a decree that everyone who heard the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and all the other musical instruments should fall down and worship the golden statue;

[11] whoever did not was to be cast into a white-hot furnace.

[12] There are certain Jews whom you have made administrators of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego; these men, O king, have paid no attention to you; they will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up."

[13] Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and sent for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were promptly brought before the king.

[14] King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them: "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you will not serve my god, or worship the golden statue that I set up?

[15] Be ready now to fall down and worship the statue I had made, whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and all the other musical instruments; otherwise, you shall be instantly cast into the white-hot furnace; and who is the God that can deliver you out of my hands?"

[16] Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, "There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter.

[17] 5 If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us!

[18] But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up."

[19] Nebuchadnezzar's face became livid with utter rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual

[20] and had some of the strongest men in his army bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the white-hot furnace.

[21] They were bound and cast into the white-hot furnace with their coats, hats, shoes and other garments,

[22] for the king's order was urgent. So huge a fire was kindled in the furnace that the flames devoured the men who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into it.

[23] But these three fell, bound, into the midst of the white-hot furnace.

[24] 6 They walked about in the flames, singing to God and blessing the Lord.

[25] In the fire Azariah stood up and prayed aloud:

[26] "Blessed are you, and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and glorious forever is your name.

[27] For you are just in all you have done; all your deeds are faultless, all your ways right, and all your judgments proper.

[28] You have executed proper judgments in all that you have brought upon us and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers. By a proper judgment you have done all this because of our sins;

[29] For we have sinned and transgressed by departing from you, and we have done every kind of evil.

[30] Your commandments we have not heeded or observed, nor have we done as you ordered us for our good.

[31] Therefore all you have brought upon us, all you have done to us,you have done by a proper judgment.

[32] You have handed us over to our enemies, lawless and hateful rebels; to an unjust king, the worst in all the world.

[33] Now we cannot open our mouths; we, your servants, who revere you, have become a shame and a reproach.

[34] For your name's sake, do not deliver us up forever, or make void your covenant.

[35] Do not take away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,

[36] To whom you promised to multiply their offspring like the stars of heaven, or the sand on the shore of the sea.

[37] For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins.

[38] We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.

[39] But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received;

[40] As though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs, So let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly; for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.

[41] And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you.

[42] Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.

[43] Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord:

[44] Let all those be routed who inflict evils on your servants; Let them be shamed and powerless, and their strength broken;

[45] Let them know that you alone are the Lord God, glorious over the whole world."

[46] Now the king's men who had thrown them in continued to stoke the furnace with brimstone, pitch, tow, and faggots.

[47] The flames rose forty-nine cubits above the furnace,

[48] and spread out, burning the Chaldeans nearby.

[49] But the angel of the Lord went down into the furnace with Azariah and his companions, drove the fiery flames out of the furnace,

[50] and made the inside of the furnace as though a dew-laden breeze were blowing through it. The fire in no way touched them or caused them pain or harm.

[51] Then these three in the furnace with one voice sang, glorifying and blessing God:

[52] "Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever; And blessed is your holy and glorious name, praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.

[53] Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory, praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.

[54] Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

[55] Blessed are you who look into the depths from your throne upon the cherubim, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

[56] Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven, praiseworthy and glorious forever.

[57] Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

[58] Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

[59] You heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

[60] All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

[61] All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[62] Sun and moon, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[63] Stars of heaven, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[64] Every shower and dew, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[65] All you winds, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[66] Fire and heat, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[67] [Cold and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[68] Dew and rain, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[69] Frost and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[70] Ice and snow, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[71] Nights and days, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[72] Light and darkness, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[73] Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[74] Let the earth bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

[75] Mountains and hills, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[76] Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[77] You springs, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[78] Seas and rivers, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[79] You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[80] All you birds of the air, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[81] All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[82] You sons of men, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[83] O Israel, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[84] Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[85] Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[86] Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[87] Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

[88] Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. For he has delivered us from the nether world, and saved us from the power of death; He has freed us from the raging flame and delivered us from the fire.

[89] Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

[90] Bless the God of gods, all you who fear the Lord; praise him and give him thanks, because his mercy endures forever." Hearing them sing, and astonished at seeing them alive,

[91] King Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles, "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?" "Assuredly, O king," they answered.

[92] 7 "But," he replied, "I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God."

[93] Then Nebuchadnezzar came to the opening of the white-hot furnace and called to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: "Servants of the most high God, come out." Thereupon Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire.

[94] When the satraps, prefects, governors, and nobles of the king came together, they saw that the fire had had no power over the bodies of these men; not a hair of their heads had been singed, nor were their garments altered; there was not even a smell of fire about them.

[95] Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants that trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

[96] Therefore I decree for nations and peoples of every language that whoever blasphemes the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut to pieces and his house destroyed. For there is no other God who can rescue like this."

[97] Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

[98] 8 King Nebuchadnezzar to the nations and peoples of every language, wherever they dwell on earth: abundant peace!

[99] 9 It has seemed good to me to publish the signs and wonders which the most high God has accomplished in my regard.

[100] How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures through all generations.

Daniel Chapter 4

[1] I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, content and prosperous.

[2] I had a terrifying dream as I lay in bed, and the images and the visions of my mind frightened me.

[3] So I issued a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me to give the interpretation of the dream.

[4] When the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers had come in, I related the dream before them; but none of them could tell me its meaning.

[5] 1 Finally there came before me Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy God. I repeated the dream to him:

[6] "Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy God is in you and no mystery is too difficult for you; tell me the meaning of the visions that I saw in my dream.

[7] "These were the visions I saw while in bed: I saw a tree of great height at the center of the world.

[8] It was large and strong, with its top touching the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of the earth.

[9] Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, providing food for all. Under it the wild beasts found shade, in its branches the birds of the air nested; all men ate of it.

[10] 2 In the vision I saw while in bed, a holy sentinel came down from heaven,

[11] 3 and cried out: " 'Cut down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit; let the beasts flee its shade, and the birds its branches.

[12] But leave in the earth its stump and roots, fettered with iron and bronze, in the grass of the field. Let him be bathed with the dew of heaven; his lot be to eat, among beasts, the grass of the earth.

[13] Let his mind be changed from the human; let him be given the sense of a beast, till seven years pass over him.

[14] By decree of the sentinels is this decided, by order of the holy ones, this sentence; That all who live may know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men: He can give it to whom he will, or set over it the lowliest of men.'

[15] "This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me its meaning. Although none of the wise men in my kingdom can tell me the meaning, you can, because the spirit of the holy God is in you."

[16] Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was appalled for a while, terrified by his thoughts. "Belteshazzar," the king said to him, "let not the dream or its meaning terrify you."

[17] 4 "My lord," Belteshazzar replied, "this dream should be for your enemies, and its meaning for your foes. The large, strong tree that you saw, with its top touching the heavens, that could be seen by the whole earth,

[18] which had beautiful foliage and abundant fruit, providing food for all, under which the wild beasts lived, and in whose branches the birds of the air dwelt--

[19] you are that tree, O king, large and strong! Your majesty has become so great as to touch the heavens, and your rule extends over the whole earth.

[20] As for the king's vision of a holy sentinel that came down from heaven and proclaimed: 'Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave in the earth its stump and roots, fettered with iron and bronze in the grass of the field; let him be bathed with the dew of heaven, and let his lot be among wild beasts till seven years pass over him'--Daniel 4:21 this is its meaning, O king; this is the sentence which the Most High has passed upon my lord king:

Daniel Chapter 5

[1] 1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his lords, with whom he drank.

[2] 2 Under the influence of the wine, he ordered the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, to be brought in so that the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers might drink from them.

[3] When the gold and silver vessels taken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in, and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers were drinking

[4] wine from them, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

[5] Suddenly, opposite the lampstand, the fingers of a human hand appeared, writing on the plaster of the wall in the king's palace. When the king saw the wrist and hand that wrote,

[6] his face blanched; his thoughts terrified him, his hip joints shook, and his knees knocked.

[7] The king shouted for the enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers to be brought in. "Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means," he said to the wise men of Babylon, "shall be clothed in purple, wear a golden collar about his neck, and be third in the government of the kingdom."

[8] But though all the king's wise men came in, none of them could either read the writing or tell the king what it meant.

[9] Then King Belshazzar was greatly terrified; his face went ashen, and his lords were thrown into confusion.

[10] When the queen heard of the discussion between the king and his lords, she entered the banquet hall and said, "O king, live forever! Be not troubled in mind, nor look so pale!

[11] There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy God; during the lifetime of your father he was seen to have brilliant knowledge and god-like wisdom. In fact, King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers,

[12] because of the extraordinary mind possessed by this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. He knew and understood how to interpret dreams, explain enigmas, and solve difficulties. Now therefore, summon Daniel to tell you what this means."

[13] Then Daniel was brought into the presence of the king. The king asked him, "Are you the Daniel, the Jewish exile, whom my father, the king, brought from Judah?

[14] I have heard that the spirit of God is in you, that you possess brilliant knowledge and extraordinary wisdom.

[15] Now, the wise men and enchanters were brought in to me to read this writing and tell me its meaning, but they could not say what the words meant.

[16] But I have heard that you can interpret dreams and solve difficulties; if you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means, you shall be clothed in purple, wear a gold collar about your neck, and be third in the government of the kingdom."

[17] Daniel answered the king: "You may keep your gifts, or give your presents to someone else; but the writing I will read for you, O king, and tell you what it means.

[18] The Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar a great kingdom and glorious majesty.

[19] Because he made him so great, the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Whomever he wished, he killed or let live; whomever he wished, he exalted or humbled.

[20] But when his heart became proud and his spirit hardened by insolence, he was put down from his royal throne and deprived of his glory;

[21] he was cast out from among men and was made insensate as a beast; he lived with wild asses, and ate grass like an ox; his body was bathed with the dew of heaven, until he learned that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of men and appoints over it whom he will.

[22] You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this;

[23] you have rebelled against the Lord of heaven. You had the vessels of his temple brought before you, so that you and your nobles, your wives and your entertainers, might drink wine from them; and you praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence. But the God in whose hand is your life breath and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.

[24] By him were the wrist and hand sent, and the writing set down.

[25] 3 "This is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, TEKEL, and PERES. These words mean:

[26] 4 MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it;

[27] TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting;

[28] PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

[29] Then by order of Belshazzar they clothed Daniel in purple, with a gold collar about his neck, and proclaimed him third in the government of the kingdom.

[30] The same night Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was slain:

Daniel Chapter 6

[1] 1 And Darius the Mede succeeded to the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

[2] Darius decided to appoint over his entire kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to safeguard his interests;

[3] these were accountable to three supervisors, one of whom was Daniel.

[4] Daniel outshone all the supervisors and satraps because an extraordinary spirit was in him, and the king thought of giving him authority over the entire kingdom.

[5] Therefore the supervisors and satraps tried to find grounds for accusation against Daniel as regards the administration. But they could accuse him of no wrongdoing; because he was trustworthy, no fault of neglect or misconduct was to be found in him.

[6] Then these men said to themselves, "We shall find no grounds for accusation against this Daniel unless by way of the law of his God."

[7] So these supervisors and satraps went thronging to the king and said to him, "King Darius, live forever!

[8] All the supervisors of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, nobles, and governors are agreed that the following prohibition ought to be put in force by royal decree: no one is to address any petition to god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king; otherwise he shall be cast into a den of lions.

[9] 2 Now, O king, issue the prohibition over your signature, immutable and irrevocable under Mede and Persian law."

[10] So King Darius signed the prohibition and made it law.

[11] Even after Daniel heard that this law had been signed, he continued his custom of going home to kneel in prayer and give thanks to his God in the upper chamber three times a day, with the windows open toward Jerusalem.

[12] So these men rushed in and found Daniel praying and pleading before his God.

[13] Then they went to remind the king about the prohibition: "Did you not decree, O king, that no one is to address a petition to god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king; otherwise he shall be cast into a den of lions?" The king answered them, "The decree is absolute, irrevocable under the Mede and Persian law."

[14] To this they replied, "Daniel, the Jewish exile, has paid no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you issued; three times a day he offers his prayer."

[15] The king was deeply grieved at this news and he made up his mind to save Daniel; he worked till sunset to rescue him.

[16] But these men insisted. "Keep in mind, O king," they said, "that under the Mede and Persian law every royal prohibition or decree is irrevocable."

[17] 3 So the king ordered Daniel to be brought and cast into the lions' den. To Daniel he said, "May your God, whom you serve so constantly, save you."

[18] To forestall any tampering, the king sealed with his own ring and the rings of the lords the stone that had been brought to block the opening of the den.

[19] Then the king returned to his palace for the night; he refused to eat and he dismissed the entertainers. Since sleep was impossible for him,

[20] the king rose very early the next morning and hastened to the lions' den.

[21] As he drew near, he cried out to Daniel sorrowfully, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, has the God whom you serve so constantly been able to save you from the lions?"

[22] Daniel answered the king: "O king, live forever!

[23] My God has sent his angel and closed the lions' mouths so that they have not hurt me. For I have been found innocent before him; neither to you have I done any harm, O king!"

[24] This gave the king great joy. At his order Daniel was removed from the den, unhurt because he trusted in his God.

[25] The king then ordered the men who had accused Daniel, along with their children and their wives, to be cast into the lions' den. Before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

[26] Then King Darius wrote to the nations and peoples of every language, wherever they dwell on the earth: "All peace to you!

[27] I decree that throughout my royal domain the God of Daniel is to be reverenced and feared: "For he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be without end.

[28] He is a deliverer and savior, working signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, and he delivered Daniel from the lions' power."

[29] So Daniel fared well during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Daniel Chapter 7

[1] 1 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream as he lay in bed, and was terrified by the visions of his mind. Then he wrote down the dream; the account began:

[2] 2 In the vision I saw during the night, suddenly the four winds of heaven stirred up the great sea,

[3] from which emerged four immense beasts, each different from the others.

[4] 3 The first was like a lion, but with eagle's wings. While I watched, the wings were plucked; it was raised from the ground to stand on two feet like a man, and given a human mind.

[5] 4 The second was like a bear; it was raised up on one side, and among the teeth in its mouth were three tusks. It was given the order, "Up, devour much flesh."

[6] 5 After this I looked and saw another beast, like a leopard; on its back were four wings like those of a bird, and it had four heads. To this beast dominion was given.

[7] 6 After this, in the visions of the night I saw the fourth beast, different from all the others, terrifying, horrible, and of extraordinary strength; it had great iron teeth with which it devoured and crushed, and what was left it trampled with its feet.

[8] I was considering the ten horns it had, when suddenly another, a little horn, sprang out of their midst, and three of the previous horns were torn away to make room for it. This horn had eyes like a man, and a mouth that spoke arrogantly.

[9] 7 As I watched, Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was snow bright, and the hair on his head as white as wool; His throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire.

[10] A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat; Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.

[11] I watched, then, from the first of the arrogant words which the horn spoke, until the beast was slain and its body thrown into the fire to be burnt up.

[12] The other beasts, which also lost their dominion, were granted a prolongation of life for a time and a season.

[13] 8 As the visions during the night continued, I saw One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him,

[14] He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.

[15] I, Daniel, found my spirit anguished within its sheath of flesh, and I was terrified by the visions of my mind.

[16] I approached one of those present and asked him what all this meant in truth; in answer, he made known to me the meaning of the things:

[17] "These four great beasts stand for four kingdoms which shall arise on the earth.

[18] But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingship, to possess it forever and ever."

[19] But I wished to make certain about the fourth beast, so very terrible and different from the others, devouring and crushing with its iron teeth and bronze claws, and trampling with its feet what was left;

[20] about the ten horns on its head, and the other one that sprang up, before which three horns fell; about the horn with the eyes and the mouth that spoke arrogantly, which appeared greater than its fellows.

[21] For, as I watched, that horn made war against the holy ones and was victorious

[22] until the Ancient One arrived; judgment was pronounced in favor of the holy ones of the Most High, and the time came when the holy ones possessed the kingdom.

[23] He answered me thus: "The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, different from all the others; It shall devour the whole earth, beat it down, and crush it.

[24] The ten horns shall be ten kings rising out of that kingdom; another shall rise up after them, Different from those before him, who shall lay low three kings.

[25] 9 He shall speak against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High, thinking to change the feast days and the law. They shall be handed over to him for a year, two years, and a half-year.

[26] But when the court is convened, and his power is taken away by final and absolute destruction,

[27] Then the kingship and dominion and majesty of all the kingdoms under the heavens shall be given to the holy people of the Most High, Whose kingdom shall be everlasting: all dominions shall serve and obey him."

[28] 10 The report concluded: I, Daniel, was greatly terrified by my thoughts, and my face blanched, but I kept the matter to myself.

Daniel Chapter 8

[1] 1 After this first vision, I, Daniel, had another, in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar.

[2] 2 In my vision I saw myself in the fortress of Susa in the province of Elam; I was beside the river Ulai.

[3] I looked up and saw standing by the river a ram with two great horns, the one larger and newer than the other.

[4] I saw the ram butting toward the west, north, and south. No beast could withstand it or be rescued from its power; it did what it pleased and became very powerful.

[5] As I was reflecting, a he-goat with a prominent horn on its forehead suddenly came from the west across the whole earth without touching the ground.

[6] It approached the two-horned ram I had seen standing by the river, and rushed toward it with savage force.

[7] I saw it attack the ram with furious blows when they met, and break both its horns. It threw the ram, which had not the force to withstand it, to the ground, and trampled upon it; and no one could rescue it from its power.

[8] The he-goat became very powerful, but at the height of its power the great horn was shattered, and in its place came up four others, facing the four winds of heaven.

[9] 3 Out of one of them came a little horn which kept growing toward the south, the east, and the glorious country.

[10] 4 Its power extended to the host of heaven, so that it cast down to earth some of the host and some of the stars and trampled on them.

[11] It boasted even against the prince of the host, from whom it removed the daily sacrifice, and whose sanctuary it cast down,

[12] as well as the host, while sin replaced the daily sacrifice. It cast truth to the ground, and was succeeding in its undertaking.

[13] 5 I heard a holy one speaking, and another said to whichever one it was that spoke, "How long shall the events of this vision last concerning the daily sacrifice, the desolating sin which is placed there, the sanctuary, and the trampled host?"

[14] He answered him, "For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be purified."

[15] While I, Daniel, sought the meaning of the vision I had seen, a manlike figure stood before me,

[16] 6 and on the Ulai I heard a human voice that cried out, "Gabriel, explain the vision to this man."

[17] 7 When he came near where I was standing, I fell prostrate in terror. But he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the end time."

[18] As he spoke to me, I fell forward in a faint; he touched me and made me stand up.

[19] "I will show you," he said, "what is to happen later in the period of wrath; for at the appointed time, there will be an end.

[20] "The two-horned ram you saw represents the kings of the Medes and Persians.

[21] The he-goat is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn on its forehead is the first king.

[22] The four that rose in its place when it was broken are four kingdoms that will issue from his nation, but without his strength.

[23] "After their reign, when sinners have reached their measure, There shall arise a king, impudent and skilled in intrigue.

[24] He shall be strong and powerful, bring about fearful ruin, and succeed in his undertaking. He shall destroy powerful peoples;

[25] his cunning shall be against the holy ones, his treacherous conduct shall succeed. He shall be proud of heart and destroy many by stealth. But when he rises against the prince of princes, he shall be broken without a hand being raised.

[26] The vision of the evenings and the mornings is true, as spoken; Do you, however, keep this vision undisclosed, because the days are to be many."

[27] I, Daniel, was weak and ill for some days; then I arose and took care of the king's affairs. But I was appalled at the vision, which I could not understand.

Daniel Chapter 9

[1] 1 It was the first year that Darius, son of Ahasuerus, of the race of the Medes, reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans;

[2] 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, tried to understand in the Scriptures the counting of the years of which the LORD spoke to the prophet Jeremiah: that for the ruins of Jerusalem seventy years must be fulfilled.

[3] I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

[4] I prayed to the LORD, my God, and confessed, "Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!

[5] We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.

[6] We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

[7] Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.

[8] O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.

[9] But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Yet we rebelled against you

[10] and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.

[11] Because all Israel transgressed your law and went astray, not heeding your voice, the sworn malediction, recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, was poured out over us for our sins.

[12] You carried out the threats you spoke against us and against those who governed us, by bringing upon us in Jerusalem the greatest calamity that has ever occurred under heaven.

[13] 3 As it is written in the law of Moses, this calamity came full upon us. As we did not appease the LORD, our God, by turning back from our wickedness and recognizing his constancy,

[14] so the LORD kept watch over the calamity and brought it upon us. You, O LORD, our God, are just in all that you have done, for we did not listen to your voice.

[15] "Now, O Lord, our God, who led your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and made a name for yourself even to this day, we have sinned, we are guilty.

[16] O Lord, in keeping with all your just deeds, let your anger and your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. On account of our sins and the crimes of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become the reproach of all our neighbors.

[17] Hear, therefore, O God, the prayer and petition of your servant; and for your own sake, O Lord, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary.

[18] Give ear, O my God, and listen; open your eyes and see our ruins and the city which bears your name. When we present our petition before you, we rely not on our just deeds, but on your great mercy.

[19] O Lord, hear! O Lord, pardon! O Lord, be attentive and act without delay, for your own sake, O my God, because this city and your people bear your name!"

[20] I was still occupied with my prayer, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, presenting my petition to the LORD, my God, on behalf of his holy mountain--

[21] 4 I was still occupied with this prayer, when Gabriel, the one whom I had seen before in vision, came to me in rapid flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

[22] He instructed me in these words: "Daniel, I have now come to give you understanding.

[23] When you began your petition, an answer was given which I have come to announce, because you are beloved. Therefore, mark the answer and understand the vision.

[24] 5 "Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and for your holy city: Then transgression will stop and sin will end, guilt will be expiated, Everlasting justice will be introduced, vision and prophecy ratified, and a most holy will be anointed.

[25] 6 Know and understand this: From the utterance of the word that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt Until one who is anointed and a leader, there shall be seven weeks. During sixty-two weeks it shall be rebuilt, With streets and trenches, in time of affliction.

[26] 7 After the sixty-two weeks an anointed shall be cut down when he does not possess the city; And the people of a leader who will come shall destroy the sanctuary. Then the end shall come like a torrent; until the end there shall be war, the desolation that is decreed.

[27] 8 For one week he shall make a firm compact with the many; Half the week he shall abolish sacrifice and oblation; On the temple wing shall be the horrible abomination until the ruin that is decreed is poured out upon the horror."

Daniel Chapter 10

[1] 1 In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel, who had been named Belteshazzar. The revelation was certain: a great war; he understood it from the vision.

[2] 2 In those days, I, Daniel, mourned three full weeks.

[3] I ate no savory food, I took no meat or wine, and I did not anoint myself at all until the end of the three weeks.

[4] 3 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month I was on the bank of the great river, the Tigris.

[5] 4 As I looked up, I saw a man dressed in linen with a belt of fine gold around his waist.

[6] His body was like chrysolite, his face shown like lightning, his eyes were like fiery torches, his arms and feet looked like burnished bronze, and his voice sounded like the roar of a multitude.

[7] I alone, Daniel, saw the vision; but great fear seized the men who were with me; they fled and hid themselves, although they did not see the vision.

[8] So I was left alone, seeing this great vision. No strength remained in me; I turned the color of death and was powerless.

[9] When I heard the sound of his voice, I fell face forward in a faint.

[10] But then a hand touched me, raising me to my hands and knees.

[11] "Daniel, beloved," he said to me, "understand the words which I am speaking to you; stand up, for my mission now is to you." When he said this to me, I stood up trembling.

[12] "Fear not, Daniel," he continued; "from the first day you made up your mind to acquire understanding and humble yourself before God, your prayer was heard. Because of it I started out,

[13] 5 but the prince of the kingdom of Persia stood in my way for twenty-one days, until finally Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kings of Persia,

[14] and came to make you understand what shall happen to your people in the days to come; for there is yet a vision concerning those days."

[15] While he was speaking thus to me, I fell forward and kept silent.

[16] Then something like a man's hand touched my lips; I opened my mouth and said to the one facing me, "My lord, I was seized with pangs at the vision and I was powerless.

[17] How can my lord's servant speak with you, my lord? For now no strength or even breath is left in me."

[18] The one who looked like a man touched me again and strengthened me, saying,

[19] "Fear not, beloved, you are safe; take courage and be strong."

[20] When he spoke to me, I grew strong and said, "Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me." "Do you know," he asked, "why I have come to you? Soon I must fight the prince of Persia again. When I leave, the prince of Greece will come;

[21] but I shall tell you what is written in the truthful book. No one supports me against all these except Michael, your prince,

Daniel Chapter 11

[1] 1 standing as a reinforcement and a bulwark for me.

[2] 2 Now I shall tell you the truth. "Three kings of Persia are yet to come; and a fourth shall acquire the greatest riches of all. Strengthened by his riches, he shall rouse all the kingdom of Greece.

[3] But a powerful king shall appear and rule with great might, doing as he pleases.

[4] No sooner shall he appear than his kingdom shall be broken and divided in four directions under heaven; but not among his descendants or in keeping with his mighty rule, for his kingdom shall be torn to pieces and belong to others than they.

[5] 3 "The king of the south shall grow strong, but one of his princes shall grow stronger still and govern a domain greater than his.

[6] After some years they shall become allies: the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north in the interest of peace. But her bid for power shall fail: and her line shall not be recognized, and she shall be given up, together with those who brought her, her son and her husband. But later

[7] a descendant of her line shall succeed to his rank, and shall come against the rampart and enter the stronghold of the king of the north, and conquer them.

[8] Even their gods, with their molten images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, he shall carry away as booty into Egypt. For years he shall have nothing to do with the king of the north.

[9] Then the latter shall invade the land of the king of the south, and return to his own country.

[10] "But his sons shall prepare and assemble a great armed host, which shall advance like a flood, then withdraw. When it returns and surges around the stronghold,

[11] the king of the south, provoked, shall go out to fight against the king of the north, whose great host shall make a stand but shall be given into his hand

[12] and be carried off. In the pride of his heart, he shall lay low tens of thousands, but he shall not triumph.

[13] For the king of the north shall raise another army, greater than before; after some years he shall attack with this large army and great resources.

[14] In those times many shall resist the king of the south, and outlaws of your people shall rise up in fulfillment of vision, but they shall fail.

[15] When the king of the north comes, he shall set up siegeworks and take the fortified city by storm. The power of the south shall not withstand him, and not even his picked troops shall have the strength to resist.

[16] He shall attack him and do as he pleases, with no one to withstand him. He shall stop in the glorious land, dealing destruction.

[17] He shall set himself to penetrate the entire strength of his kingdom. He shall conclude an agreement with him and give him a daughter in marriage in order to destroy the kingdom, but this shall not succeed in his favor.

[18] He shall turn to the coastland and take many, but a leader shall put an end to his shameful conduct, so that he cannot renew it against him.

[19] He shall turn to the strongholds of his own land, but shall stumble and fall, to be found no more.

[20] In his stead one shall arise who will send a tax collector through the glorious kingdom, but he shall soon be destroyed, though not in conflict or in battle.

[21] "There shall rise in his place a despicable person, to whom the royal insignia shall not be given. By stealth and fraud he shall seize the kingdom.

[22] Armed might shall be completely overwhelmed by him and crushed, and even the prince of the covenant.

[23] After allying with him, he shall treacherously rise to power with a small party.

[24] By stealth he shall enter prosperous provinces and do that which his fathers or grandfathers never did; he shall distribute spoil, booty, and riches among them and devise plots against their strongholds; but only for a time.

[25] He shall call on his strength and cleverness to meet the king of the south with a great army; the king of the south shall prepare for battle with a very large and strong army, but he shall not succeed because of the plots devised against him.

[26] Even his table companions shall seek to destroy him, his army shall be overwhelmed, and many shall fall slain.

[27] The two kings, resolved on evil, shall sit at table together and exchange lies, but they shall have no success, because the appointed end is not yet.

[28] "He shall turn back toward his land with great riches, his mind set against the holy covenant; he shall arrange matters and return to his land.

[29] At the time appointed he shall come again to the south, but this time it shall not be as before.

[30] 4 When ships of the Kittim confront him, he shall lose heart and retreat. Then he shall direct his rage and energy against the holy covenant; those who forsake it he shall once more single out.

[31] Armed forces shall move at his command and defile the sanctuary stronghold, abolishing the daily sacrifice and setting up the horrible abomination.

[32] By his deceit he shall make some who were disloyal to the covenant apostatize; but those who remain loyal to their God shall take strong action.

[33] The nation's wise men shall instruct the many; though for a time they will become victims of the sword, of flames, exile, and plunder.

[34] When they fall, few people shall help them, but many shall join them out of treachery.

[35] Of the wise men, some shall fall, so that the rest may be tested, refined, and purified, until the end time which is still appointed to come.

[36] 5 "The king shall do as he pleases, exalting himself and making himself greater than any god; he shall utter dreadful blasphemies against the God of gods. He shall prosper only till divine wrath is ready, for what is determined must take place.

[37] He shall have no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one in whom women delight; for no god shall he have regard, because he shall make himself greater than all.

[38] Instead, he shall give glory to the god of strongholds; a god unknown to his fathers he shall glorify with gold, silver, precious stones, and other treasures.

[39] To defend the strongholds he shall station a people of a foreign god. Whoever acknowledges him he shall provide with abundant honor; he shall make them rule over the many and distribute the land as a reward.

[40] "At the appointed time the king of the south shall come to grips with him, but the king of the north shall overwhelm him with chariots and horsemen and a great fleet, passing through the countries like a flood.

[41] He shall enter the glorious land and many shall fall, except Edom, Moab, and the chief part of Ammon, which shall escape from his power.

[42] He shall extend his power over the countries, and not even the land of Egypt shall escape.

[43] He shall control the riches of gold and silver and all the treasures of Egypt; Libya and Ethiopia shall be in his train.

[44] When news from the east and the north terrifies him, he shall set out with great fury to slay and to doom many.

[45] He shall pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the sea and the glorious holy mountain, but he shall come to his end with none to help him.

Daniel Chapter 12

[1] 1 "At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people; It shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time. At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book.

[2] 2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.

[3] But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, And those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.

[4] "As for you, Daniel, keep secret the message and seal the book until the end time; many shall fall away and evil shall increase."

[5] I, Daniel, looked and saw two others, one standing on either bank of the river.

[6] One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was upstream, "How long shall it be to the end of these appalling things?"

[7] 3 The man clothed in linen, who was upstream, lifted his right and left hands to heaven; and I heard him swear by him who lives forever that it should be for a year, two years, a half-year; and that, when the power of the destroyer of the holy people was brought to an end, all these things should end.

[8] I heard, but I did not understand; so I asked, "My lord, what follows this?"

[9] "Go, Daniel," he said, "because the words are to be kept secret and sealed until the end time.

[10] Many shall be refined, purified, and tested, but the wicked shall prove wicked; none of them shall have understanding, but the wise shall have it.

[11] From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the horrible abomination is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.

[12] Blessed is the man who has patience and perseveres until the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

[13] Go, take your rest, you shall rise for your reward at the end of days."

Daniel Chapter 13

[1] 1 In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,

[2] who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah;

[3] her pious parents had trained their daughter according to the law of Moses.

[4] Joakim was very rich; he had a garden near his house, and the Jews had recourse to him often because he was the most respected of them all.

[5] That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges, of whom the Lord said, "Wickedness has come out of Babylon: from the elders who were to govern the people as judges."

[6] These men, to whom all brought their cases, frequented the house of Joakim.

[7] When the people left at noon, Susanna used to enter her husband's garden for a walk.

[8] When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk, they began to lust for her.

[9] They suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments.

[10] Though both were enamored of her, they did not tell each other their trouble,

[11] for they were ashamed to reveal their lustful desire to have her.

[12] Day by day they watched eagerly for her.

[13] One day they said to each other, "Let us be off for home, it is time for lunch." So they went out and parted;

[14] but both turned back, and when they met again, they asked each other the reason. They admitted their lust, and then they agreed to look for an occasion when they could meet her alone.

[15] One day, while they were waiting for the right moment, she entered the garden as usual, with two maids only. She decided to bathe, for the weather was warm.

[16] Nobody else was there except the two elders, who had hidden themselves and were watching her.

[17] "Bring me oil and soap," she said to the maids, "and shut the garden doors while I bathe."

[18] They did as she said; they shut the garden doors and left by the side gate to fetch what she had ordered, unaware that the elders were hidden inside.

[19] As soon as the maids had left, the two old men got up and hurried to her.

[20] "Look," they said, "the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us; give in to our desire, and lie with us.

[21] If you refuse, we will testify against you that you dismissed your maids because a young man was here with you."

[22] "I am completely trapped," Susanna groaned. "If I yield, it will be my death; if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.

[23] Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt than to sin before the Lord."

[24] Then Susanna shrieked, and the old men also shouted at her,

[25] as one of them ran to open the garden doors.

[26] When the people in the house heard the cries from the garden, they rushed in by the side gate to see what had happened to her.

[27] At the accusations by the old men, the servants felt very much ashamed, for never had any such thing been said about Susanna.

[28] When the people came to her husband Joakim the next day, the two wicked elders also came, fully determined to put Susanna to death. Before all the people they ordered:

[29] "Send for Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah, the wife of Joakim." When she was sent for,

[30] she came with her parents, children and all her relatives.

[31] Susanna, very delicate and beautiful,

[32] was veiled; but those wicked men ordered her to uncover her face so as to sate themselves with her beauty.

[33] All her relatives and the onlookers were weeping.

[34] In the midst of the people the two elders rose up and laid their hands on her head.

[35] Through her tears she looked up to heaven, for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.

[36] The elders made this accusation: "As we were walking in the garden alone, this woman entered with two girls and shut the doors of the garden, dismissing the girls.

[37] A young man, who was hidden there, came and lay with her.

[38] When we, in a corner of the garden, saw this crime, we ran toward them.

[39] We saw them lying together, but the man we could not hold, because he was stronger than we; he opened the doors and ran off.

[40] Then we seized this one and asked who the young man was,

[41] but she refused to tell us. We testify to this." The assembly believed them, since they were elders and judges of the people, and they condemned her to death.

[42] But Susanna cried aloud: "O eternal God, you know what is hidden and are aware of all things before they come to be:

[43] you know that they have testified falsely against me. Here I am about to die, though I have done none of the things with which these wicked men have charged me."

[44] The Lord heard her prayer.

[45] As she was being led to execution, God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,

[46] and he cried aloud: "I will have no part in the death of this woman."

[47] All the people turned and asked him, "What is this you are saying?"

[48] He stood in their midst and continued, "Are you such fools, O Israelites! To condemn a woman of Israel without examination and without clear evidence?

[49] Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her."

[50] Then all the people returned in haste. To Daniel the elders said, "Come, sit with us and inform us, since God has given you the prestige of old age."

[51] But he replied, "Separate these two far from one another that I may examine them."

[52] After they were separated one from the other, he called one of them and said: "How you have grown evil with age! Now have your past sins come to term:

[53] passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent, and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says, "The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.'

[54] Now, then, if you were a witness, tell me under what tree you saw them together."

[55] 2 "Under a mastic tree," he answered. "Your fine lie has cost you your head," said Daniel; "for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him and split you in two."

[56] Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought. "Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah," Daniel said to him, "beauty has seduced you, lust has subverted your conscience.

[57] 3 This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel, and in their fear they yielded to you; but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.

[58] Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together."

[59] "Under an oak," he said. "Your fine lie has cost you also your head," said Daniel; "for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two so as to make an end of you both."

[60] The whole assembly cried aloud, blessing God who saves those that hope in him.

[61] They rose up against the two elders, for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury. According to the law of Moses, they inflicted on them the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:

[62] they put them to death. Thus was innocent blood spared that day.

[63] Hilkiah and his wife praised God for their daughter Susanna, as did Joakim her husband and all her relatives, because she was found innocent of any shameful deed.

[64] And from that day onward Daniel was greatly esteemed by the people.

Daniel Chapter 14

[1] 1 After King Astyages was laid with his fathers, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom.

[2] 2 Daniel was the king's favorite and was held in higher esteem than any of the friends of the king.

[3] 3 The Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they provided for it six barrels of fine flour, forty sheep, and six measures of wine.

[4] The king worshiped it and went every day to adore it; but Daniel adored only his God.

[5] When the king asked him, "Why do you not adore Bel?" Daniel replied, "Because I worship not idols made with hands, but only the living God who made heaven and earth and has dominion over all mankind."

[6] Then the king continued, "You do not think Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?"

[7] Daniel began to laugh. "Do not be deceived, O king," he said; "it is only clay inside and bronze outside; it has never taken any food or drink."

[8] Enraged, the king called his priests and said to them, "Unless you tell me who it is that consumes these provisions, you shall die.

[9] But if you can show that Bel consumes them, Daniel shall die for blaspheming Bel." Daniel said to the king, "Let it be as you say!"

[10] There were seventy priests of Bel, besides their wives and children. When the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel,

[11] the priests of Bel said, "See, we are going to leave. Do you, O king, set out the food and prepare the wine; then shut the door and seal it with your ring.

[12] If you do not find that Bel has eaten it all when you return in the morning, we are to die; otherwise Daniel shall die for his lies against us."

[13] They were not perturbed, because under the table they had made a secret entrance through which they always came in to consume the food.

[14] After they departed the king set the food before Bel, while Daniel ordered his servants to bring some ashes, which they scattered through the whole temple; the king alone was present. Then they went outside, sealed the closed door with the king's ring, and departed.

[15] The priests entered that night as usual, with their wives and children, and they ate and drank everything.

[16] Early the next morning, the king came with Daniel.

[17] "Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?" he asked. And Daniel answered, "They are unbroken, O king."

[18] As soon as he had opened the door, the king looked at the table and cried aloud, "Great you are, O Bel; there is no trickery in you."

[19] But Daniel laughed and kept the king from entering. "Look at the floor," he said; "whose footprints are these?"

[20] "I see the footprints of men, women, and children!" said the king.

[21] The angry king arrested the priests, their wives, and their children. They showed him the secret door by which they used to enter to consume what was on the table.

[22] He put them to death, and handed Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple.

[23] There was a great dragon which the Babylonians worshiped.

[24] "Look!" said the king to Daniel, "you cannot deny that this is a living god, so adore it."

[25] But Daniel answered, "I adore the Lord, my God, for he is the living God.

[26] Give me permission, O king, and I will kill this dragon without sword or club." "I give you permission," the king said.

[27] Then Daniel took some pitch, fat, and hair; these he boiled together and made into cakes. He put them into the mouth of the dragon, and when the dragon ate them, he burst asunder. "This," he said, "is what you worshiped."

[28] When the Babylonians heard this, they were angry and turned against the king. "The king has become a Jew," they said; "he has destroyed Bel, killed the dragon, and put the priests to death."

[29] They went to the king and demanded: "Hand Daniel over to us, or we will kill you and your family."

[30] When he saw himself threatened with violence, the king was forced to hand Daniel over to them.

[31] They threw Daniel into a lions' den, where he remained six days.

[32] In the den were seven lions, and two carcasses and two sheep had been given to them daily. But now they were given nothing, so that they would devour Daniel.

[33] In Judea there was a prophet, Habakkuk; he mixed some bread in a bowl with the stew he had boiled, and was going to bring it to the reapers in the field,

[34] when an angel of the Lord told him, "Take the lunch you have to Daniel in the lions' den at Babylon."

[35] But Habakkuk answered, "Babylon, sir, I have never seen, and I do not know the den!"

[36] The angel of the Lord seized him by the crown of his head and carried him by the hair; with the speed of the wind, he set him down in Babylon above the den.

[37] "Daniel, Daniel," cried Habakkuk, "take the lunch God has sent you."

[38] "You have remembered me, O God," said Daniel; "you have not forsaken those who love you."

[39] While Daniel began to eat, the angel of the Lord at once brought Habakkuk back to his own place.

[40] On the seventh day the king came to mourn for Daniel. As he came to the den and looked in, there was Daniel, sitting there!

[41] The king cried aloud, "You are great, O Lord, the God of Daniel, and there is no other besides you!"

[42] Daniel he took out, but those who had tried to destroy him he threw into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before his eyes.

Introduction to Hosea

Hosea

Introduction

Hosea belonged to the northern kingdom and began his prophetic career in the last years of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.). Some believe that he was a priest, others that he was a cult prophet; the prophecy, our only source of information concerning his life, gives us no certain answer in the matter. The collected oracles reveal a very sensitive, emotional man who could pass quickly from violent anger to the deepest tenderness. The prophecy pivots around his own unfortunate marriage to Gomer, a personal tragedy which profoundly influenced his teaching. In fact, his own prophetic vocation and message were immeasurably deepened by the painful experience he underwent in his married life.

Gomer, the adultress, symbolized faithless Israel. And just as Hosea could not give up his wife forever even when she played the harlot, so Yahweh could not renounce Israel, who had been betrothed to him. God would chastise, but it would be the chastisement of the jealous lover, longing to bring back the beloved to the fresh and pure joy of their first love.

Israel's infidelity took the form of idolatry and ruthless oppression of the poor. No amount of mechanically offered sacrifices could atone for her serious sins. Chastisement alone remained; God would have to strip her of the rich ornaments bestowed by her false lovers and thus bring her back to the true lover. A humiliated Israel would again seek Yahweh. The eleventh chapter of Hosea is one of the summits of Old Testament theology; God's love for his people has never been expressed more tenderly. Hosea began the tradition of describing the relation between Yahweh and Israel in terms of marriage. This symbolism appears later on in the Old Testament; and, in the New, both St. John and St. Paul express in the same imagery the union between Christ and his Church.

The Book of Hosea is divided as follows:

The Prophet's Marriage and Its Lesson (Hosea 1:1-3:5)

Israel's Guilt and Punishment (Hosea 4:1-14:9(10))

Hosea Chapter 1

[1] 1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel.

[2] In the beginning of the LORD'S speaking to Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: Go, take a harlot wife 2 and harlot's children, for the land gives itself to harlotry, turning away from the LORD.

[3] So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.

[4] 3 Then the LORD said to him: Give him the name Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed at Jezreel And bring to an end the kingdom of the house of Israel;

[5] On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

[6] 4 When she conceived again and bore a daughter, the LORD said to him: Give her the name Lo-ruhama; I no longer feel pity for the house of Israel: rather, I abhor them utterly.

[7] 5 Yet for the house of Judah I feel pity; I will save them by the LORD, their God; But I will not save them by war, by sword or bow, by horses or horsemen.

[8] After she weaned Lo-ruhama, she conceived and bore a son.

[9] 6 Then the LORD said: Give him the name Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Hosea Chapter 2

[1] 1 Protest against your mother, protest! for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her harlotry from before her, her adultery from between her breasts,

[2] 2 Or I will strip her naked, leaving her as on the day of her birth; I will make her like the desert, reduce her to an arid land, and slay her with thirst.

[3] I will have no pity on her children, for they are the children of harlotry.

[4] 3 Yes, their mother has played the harlot; she that conceived them has acted shamefully. "I will go after my lovers," she said, "who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink."

[5] Since she has not known that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, And her abundance of silver, and of gold, which they used for Baal,

[6] Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season; I will snatch away my wool and my flax, with which she covers her nakedness.

[7] So now I will lay bare her shame before the eyes of her lovers, and no one can deliver her out of my hand.

[8] I will bring an end to all her joy, her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her solemnities.

[9] I will lay waste her vines and fig trees, of which she said, "These are the hire my lovers have given me"; I will turn them into rank growth and wild beasts shall devour them.

[10] 4 I will punish her for the days of the Baals, for whom she burnt incense While she decked herself out with her rings and her jewels, and, in going after her lovers, forgot me, says the LORD.

[11] 5 Therefore, I will hedge in her way with thorns and erect a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.

[12] If she runs after her lovers, she shall not overtake them; if she looks for them she shall not find them. Then she shall say, "I will go back to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now."

[13] 6 So I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.

[14] From there I will give her the vineyards she had, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt.

[15] 7 On that day, says the LORD, She shall call me "My husband," and never again "My baal."

[16] Then will I remove from her mouth the names of the Baals, so that they shall no longer be invoked.

[17] I will make a covenant for them on that day, with the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, and with the things that crawl on the ground. Bow and sword and war I will destroy from the land, and I will let them take their rest in security.

[18] 8 I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy;

[19] I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.

[20] On that day I will respond, says the LORD; I will respond to the heavens, and they shall respond to the earth;

[21] The earth shall respond to the grain, and wine, and oil, and these shall respond to Jezreel.

[22] I will sow him for myself in the land, and I will have pity on Lo-ruhama. I will say to Lo-ammi, "You are my people," and he shall say, "My God!"

Hosea Chapter 3

[1] 1 2 Again the LORD said to me: Give your love to a woman beloved of a paramour, an adultress; Even as the LORD loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and are fond of raisin cakes.

[2] 3 So I bought her for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.

[3] Then I said to her: "Many days you shall wait for me; you shall not play the harlot Or belong to any man; I in turn will wait for you."

[4] 4 For the people of Israel shall remain many days without king or prince, Without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or household idols.

[5] 5 Then the people of Israel shall turn back and seek the LORD, their God, and David, their king; They shall come trembling to the LORD and to his bounty, in the last days.

Hosea Chapter 4

[1] Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel, for the LORD has a grievance against the inhabitants of the land: There is no fidelity, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land.

[2] False swearing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery! in their lawlessness, bloodshed follows bloodshed.

[3] Therefore the land mourns, and everything that dwells in it languishes: The beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and even the fish of the sea perish.

[4] 1 But let no one protest, let no one complain; with you is my grievance, O priests!

[5] You shall stumble in the day, and the prophets shall stumble with you at night; I will destroy your mother.

[6] My people perish for want of knowledge! Since you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from my priesthood; Since you have ignored the law of your God, I will also ignore your sons.

[7] One and all they sin against me, exchanging their glory for shame.

[8] They feed on the sin of my people, and are greedy for their guilt.

[9] The priests shall fare no better than the people: I will punish them for their ways, and repay them for their deeds.

[10] They shall eat but not be satisfied, they shall play the harlot but not increase, Because they have abandoned the LORD

[11] to practice harlotry. Old wine and new deprive my people of understanding.

[12] 2 They consult their piece of wood, and their wand makes pronouncements for them, For the spirit of harlotry has led them astray; they commit harlotry, forsaking their God.

[13] On the mountaintops they offer sacrifice and on the hills they burn incense, Beneath oak and poplar and terebinth, because of their pleasant shade. That is why your daughters play the harlot, and your daughters-in-law are adulteresses.

[14] 3 Am I then to punish your daughters for their harlotry, your daughters-in-law for their adultery? You yourselves consort with harlots, and with prostitutes you offer sacrifice! So must a people without understanding come to ruin.

[15] 4 Though you play the harlot, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty! Come not to Gilgal, nor up to Beth-aven, to swear, "As the Lord lives!"

[16] For Israel is as stubborn as a heifer; will the LORD now give them broad pastures as though they were lambs?

[17] 5 Ephraim is an associate of idols, let him alone!

[18] When their carousing is over, they give themselves to harlotry; in their arrogance they love shame.

[19] 6 The wind has bound them up in its pinions; they shall have only shame from their altars.

Hosea Chapter 5

[1] 1 Hear this, O priests, Pay attention, O house of Israel, O household of the king, give ear! It is you who are called to judgment. For you have become a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

[2] In their perversity they have sunk into wickedness, and I am rejected by them all.

[3] I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; Now Ephraim has played the harlot, Israel is defiled.

[4] Their deeds do not allow them to return to their God; For the spirit of harlotry is in them, and they do not recognize the LORD.

[5] The arrogance of Israel bears witness against him; Ephraim stumbles in his guilt, and Judah stumbles with them.

[6] With their flocks and their herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they shall not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them.

[7] They have been untrue to the LORD, for they have begotten illegitimate children; Now shall the new moon devour them together with their fields.

[8] 2 3 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah! Sound the alarm in Beth-aven: "Look behind you, O Benjamin!"

[9] Ephraim shall become a waste on the day of chastisement: Against the tribes of Israel I announce what is sure to be.

[10] 4 The princes of Judah have become like those that move a boundary line; Upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.

[11] 5 Is Ephraim maltreated, his rights violated? No, he has willingly gone after filth!

[12] 6 I am like a moth for Ephraim, like maggots for the house of Judah.

[13] 7 When Ephraim saw his infirmity, and Judah his sore, Ephraim went to Assyria, and Judah sent to the great king. But he cannot heal you nor take away your sore.

[14] For I am like a lion to Ephraim, like a young lion to the house of Judah; It is I who rend the prey and depart, I carry it away and no one can save it from me.

[15] 8 I will go back to my place until they pay for their guilt and seek my presence.

Hosea Chapter 6

[1] 1 In their affliction, they shall look for me: "Come, let us return to the LORD, For it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.

[2] 2 He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence.

[3] Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD; as certain as the dawn is his coming, and his judgment shines forth like the light of day! He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth."

[4] 3 What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away.

[5] For this reason I smote them through the prophets, I slew them by the words of my mouth;

[6] For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts.

[7] But they, in their land, violated the covenant; there they were untrue to me.

[8] Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood.

[9] As brigands ambush a man, a band of priests slay on the way to Shechem, committing monstrous crime.

[10] In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there harlotry is found in Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

[11] 4 For you also, O Judah, a harvest has been appointed.

Hosea Chapter 7

[1] When I would bring about the restoration of my people, when I would heal Israel, The guilt of Ephraim stands out, the wickedness of Samaria; They practice falsehood, thieves break in, bandits plunder abroad.

[2] Yet they do not remind themselves that I remember all their wickedness. Even now their crimes surround them, present to my sight.

[3] 1 In their wickedness they regale the king, the princes too, with their deceits.

[4] They are all kindled to wrath like a blazing oven, Whose fire the baker desists from stirring once the dough is kneaded until it has risen.

[5] On the day of our king, the princes are overcome with the heat of wine. He extends his hand among dissemblers;

[6] the plotters approach with hearts like ovens. All the night their anger sleeps; in the morning it flares like a blazing fire.

[7] They are all heated like ovens, and consume their rulers. All their kings have fallen; none of them calls upon me.

[8] 2 Ephraim mingles with the nations, Ephraim is a hearth cake unturned.

[9] Strangers have sapped his strength, but he takes no notice of it; Of gray hairs, too, there is a sprinkling, but he takes no notice of it.

[10] The arrogance of Israel bears witness against him; yet they do not return to the LORD, their God, nor seek him, for all that.

[11] Ephraim is like a dove, silly and senseless; They call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria.

[12] Even as they go I will spread my net around them, like birds in the air I will bring them down. In an instant I will send them captive from their land.

[13] Woe to them, they have strayed from me! Ruin to them, they have sinned against me! Though I wished to redeem them, they spoke lies against me.

[14] 3 They have not cried to me from their hearts when they wailed upon their beds; For wheat and wine they lacerated themselves, while they rebelled against me.

[15] Though I trained and strengthened their arms, yet they devised evil against me.

[16] They have again become useless, like a treacherous bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongues; thus they shall be mocked in the land of Egypt.

Hosea Chapter 8

[1] A trumpet to your lips, You who watch over the house of the LORD! Since they have violated my covenant, and sinned against my law,

[2] While to me they cry out, "O, God of Israel, we know you!"

[3] The men of Israel have thrown away what is good; the enemy shall pursue them.

[4] 1 They made kings, but not by my authority; they established princes, but without my approval. With their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, to their own destruction.

[5] Cast away your calf, O Samaria! my wrath is kindled against them; How long will they be unable to attain innocence in Israel?

[6] The work of an artisan no god at all, Destined for the flames-- such is the calf of Samaria!

[7] When they sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind; The stalk of grain that forms no ear can yield no flour; Even if it could, strangers would swallow it.

[8] Israel is swallowed up; he is now among the nations a thing of no value.

[9] They went up to Assyria-- a wild ass off on its own-- Ephraim bargained for lovers.

[10] Even though they bargain with the nations, I will now gather an army; King and princes shall shortly succumb under the burden.

[11] 2 When Ephraim made many altars to expiate sin, his altars became occasions of sin.

[12] Though I write for him my many ordinances, they are considered as a stranger's.

[13] Though they offer sacrifice, immolate flesh and eat it, the LORD is not pleased with them. He shall still remember their guilt and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

[14] Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces. Judah, too, has fortified many cities, but I will send fire upon his cities, to devour their castles.

Hosea Chapter 9

[1] 1 Rejoice not, O Israel, exult not like the nations! For you have been unfaithful to your God, loving a harlot's hire upon every threshing floor.

[2] Threshing floor and wine press shall not nourish them, the new wine shall fail them.

[3] They shall not dwell in the LORD'S land; Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and in Assyria they shall eat unclean food.

[4] 2 They shall not pour libations of wine to the LORD, or proffer their sacrifices before him. Theirs will be like mourners' bread, that makes unclean all who eat of it; Such food as they have shall be for themselves; it cannot enter the house of the LORD.

[5] 3 What will you do on the festival day, the day of the LORD'S feast?

[6] When they go from the ruins, Egypt shall gather them in, Memphis shall bury them. Weeds shall overgrow their silver treasures, and thorns invade their tents.

[7] They have come, the days of punishment! they have come, the days of recompense! Let Israel know it! "The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad!" Because your iniquity is great, great, too, is your hostility.

[8] A prophet is Ephraim's watchman with God, yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways, hostility in the house of his God.

[9] 4 They have sunk to the depths of corruption, as in the days of Gibeah; He shall remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

[10] 5 Like grapes in the desert, I found Israel; Like the first fruits of the fig tree in its prime, I considered your fathers. When they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the Shame, they became as abhorrent as the thing they loved.

[11] The glory of Ephraim flies away like a bird: no birth, no carrying in the womb, no conception. Were they to bear children, I would slay the darlings of their womb.

[12] Even though they bring up their children, I will make them childless, till not one is left. Woe to them when I turn away from them!

[13] Ephraim, as I saw, was like Tyre, planted in a beauteous spot; But Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer.

[14] 6 Give them, O LORD! give them what? Give them an unfruitful womb, and dry breasts!

[15] 7 All their wickedness is in Gilgal; yes, there they incurred my hatred. Because of their wicked deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no longer; all their princes are rebels.

[16] Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit.

[17] My God will disown them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Hosea Chapter 10

[1] 1 Israel is a luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth. The more abundant his fruit, the more altars he built; The more productive his land, the more sacred pillars he set up.

[2] Their heart is false, now they pay for their guilt; God shall break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars.

[3] If they would say, "We have no king"-- Since they do not fear the LORD, what can the king do for them?

[4] 2 Nothing but make promises, swear false oaths, and make alliances, While justice grows wild like wormwood in a plowed field!

[5] 3 The inhabitants of Samaria fear for the calf of Beth-aven; The people mourn for it and its priests wail over it, because the glory has departed from it.

[6] It too shall be carried to Assyria, as an offering to the great king. Ephraim shall be taken into captivity, Israel be shamed by his schemes.

[7] The king of Samaria shall disappear, like foam upon the waters.

[8] The high places of Aven shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles shall overgrow their altars. Then they shall cry out to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall upon us!"

[9] Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel. There they took their stand; war was not to reach them in Gibeah.

[10] 4 Against the wanton people I came and I chastised them; I gathered troops against them when I chastised them for their two crimes.

[11] Ephraim was a trained heifer, willing to thresh; I myself laid a yoke upon her fair neck; Ephraim was to be harnessed, Judah was to plow, Jacob was to break his furrows:

[12] "Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety; Break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain down justice upon you."

[13] But you have cultivated wickedness, reaped perversity, and eaten the fruit of falsehood. Because you have trusted in your chariots, and in your many warriors,

[14] 5 Turmoil shall break out among your tribes and all your fortresses shall be ravaged As Salman ravaged Beth-arbel in time of war, smashing mothers and their children.

[15] So shall it be done to you, Bethel, because of your utter wickedness: At dawn the king of Israel shall perish utterly.

Hosea Chapter 11

[1] 1 When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son.

[2] The more I called them, the farther they went from me, Sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols.

[3] Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms;

[4] 2 I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.

[5] He shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be his king;

[6] The sword shall begin with his cities and end by consuming his solitudes. Because they refused to repent, their own counsels shall devour them.

[7] His people are in suspense about returning to him; and God, though in unison they cry out to him, shall not raise them up.

[8] 3 How could I give you up, O Ephraim, or deliver you up, O Israel? How could I treat you as Admah, or make you like Zeboiim? My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred.

[9] I will not give vent to my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again; For I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you.

[10] They shall follow the LORD, who roars like a lion; When he roars, his sons shall come frightened from the west,

[11] Out of Egypt they shall come trembling, like sparrows, from the land of Assyria, like doves; And I will resettle them in their homes, says the LORD.

Hosea Chapter 12

[1] Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, the house of Israel, with deceit; Judah is still rebellious against God, against the Holy One, who is faithful.

[2] 1 Ephraim chases the wind, ever pursuing the gale. His lies and falsehoods are many: he comes to terms with Assyria, and carries oil to Egypt.

[3] 2 The LORD has a grievance against Israel: he shall punish Jacob for his conduct, for his deeds he shall repay him.

[4] In the womb he supplanted his brother, and as a man he contended with God;

[5] He contended with the angel and triumphed, entreating him with tears. At Bethel he met God and there he spoke with him:

[6] The LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his name!

[7] You shall return by the help of your God, if you remain loyal and do right and always hope in your God.

[8] A merchant who holds a false balance, who loves to defraud!

[9] Though Ephraim says, "How rich I have become; I have made a fortune!" All his gain shall not suffice him for the guilt of his sin.

[10] I am the LORD, your God, since the land of Egypt; I will again have you live in tents, as in that appointed time.

[11] I granted many visions and spoke to the prophets, through whom I set forth examples.

[12] In Gilead is falsehood, they have come to nought, in Gilgal they sacrifice to bullocks; Their altars are like heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.

[13] When Jacob fled to the land of Aram, he served for a wife; for a wife Israel tended sheep.

[14] 3 By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet they were protected.

[15] Ephraim has exasperated his lord; therefore he shall cast his blood-guilt upon him and repay him for his outrage.

Hosea Chapter 13

[1] Ephraim's word caused fear, for he was exalted in Israel; but he sinned through Baal and died.

[2] Now they continue to sin, making for themselves molten images, Silver idols according to their fancy, all of them the work of artisans. "To these," they say, "offer sacrifice." Men kiss calves!

[3] Therefore, they shall be like a morning cloud or like the dew that early passes away, Like chaff storm-driven from the threshing floor or like smoke out of the window.

[4] I am the LORD, your God, since the land of Egypt; You know no God besides me, and there is no savior but me.

[5] I fed you in the desert, in the torrid land.

[6] They ate their fill; when filled, they became proud of heart and forgot me.

[7] Therefore, I will be like a lion to them, like a panther by the road I will keep watch.

[8] I will attack them like a bear robbed of its young, and tear their hearts from their breasts; I will devour them on the spot like a lion, as though a wild beast were to rend them.

[9] Your destruction, O Israel! who is there to help you?

[10] Where now is your king, that he may rescue you in all your cities? And your rulers, of whom you said, "Give me a king and princes"?

[11] 1 I give you a king in my anger, and I take him away in my wrath.

[12] The guilt of Israel is wrapped up, his sin is stored away.

[13] 2 The birth pangs shall come for him, but he shall be an unwise child; For when it is time he shall not present himself where children break forth.

[14] 3 Shall I deliver them from the power of the nether world? shall I redeem them from death? Where are your plagues, O death! where is your sting, O nether world! My eyes are closed to compassion.

[15] Though he be fruitful among his fellows, an east wind shall come, a wind from the LORD, rising from the desert, That shall dry up his spring, and leave his fountain dry. It shall loot his land of every precious thing.

Hosea Chapter 14

[1] Samaria shall expiate her guilt, for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed to pieces, their expectant mothers shall be ripped open.

[2] Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt.

[3] Take with you words, and return to the LORD; Say to him, "Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, that we may render as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.

[4] Assyria will not save us, nor shall we have horses to mount; We shall say no more, 'Our god,' to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion."

[5] I will heal their defection, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them.

[6] I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,

[7] and put forth his shoots. His splendor shall be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.

[8] Again they shall dwell in his shade and raise grain; They shall blossom like the vine, and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

[9] Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols? I have humbled him, but I will prosper him. "I am like a verdant cypress tree"-- Because of me you bear fruit!

[10] 1 Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.

Introduction to Joel

Joel

Introduction

This prophecy is rich in apocalyptic imagery and strongly eschatological in tone. It was composed about 400 B.C. Its prevailing theme is the day of the Lord.

A terrible invasion of locusts ravaged Judah. So frightful was the scourge that the prophet visualized it as a symbol of the coming day of the Lord. In the face of this threatening catastrophe, the prophet summoned the people to repent, to turn to the Lord with fasting and weeping. They were ordered to convoke a solemn assembly in which the priests would pray for deliverance. The Lord answered their prayer and promised to drive away the locusts and bless the land with peace and prosperity. To these material blessings would be added an outpouring of the spirit on all flesh. St. Peter, in his first discourse before the people at Pentecost (Acts 2:16-21), sees in the coming of the Holy Spirit the fulfillment of this promise (Joel 1:1-3:5).

The concluding poem pictures the nations gathered in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where the Lord is about to pass judgment. Israel's enemies are summoned to hear the solemn indictment; their evil deeds are at last requited. The tumultuous throng assembled in the valley of decision is made up of the enemies of God and they face inevitable destruction. The oracle changes abruptly from the terrifying image of judgment to a vision of Israel restored and forever secure from her enemies. God is both the vindicator of his people and the source of their blessing (4:1-21).

Joel Chapter 1

[1] The word of the LORD which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

[2] Hear this, you elders! Pay attention, all you who dwell in the land! Has the like of this happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

[3] Tell it to your children, and your children to their children, and their children to the next generation.

[4] 1 What the cutter left, the locust swarm has eaten; What the locust swarm left, the grasshopper has eaten; And what the grasshopper left, the devourer has eaten.

[5] Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because the juice of the grape will be withheld from your mouths.

[6] 2 For a people has invaded my land, mighty and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and his molars those of a lioness.

[7] He has laid waste my vine, and blighted my fig tree; He has stripped it, sheared off its bark; its branches are made white.

[8] Lament like a virgin girt with sackcloth for the spouse of her youth.

[9] Abolished are offering and libation from the house of the LORD; In mourning are the priests, the ministers of the LORD.

[10] The field is ravaged, the earth mourns, Because the grain is ravaged, the must has failed, the oil languishes.

[11] Be appalled, you husbandmen! wail, you vinedressers! Over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

[12] The vine has dried up, the fig tree is withered; The pomegranate, the date palm also, and the apple, all the trees of the field are dried up; Yes, joy has withered away from among mankind.

[13] Gird yourselves and weep, O priests! wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! The house of your God is deprived of offering and libation.

[14] Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the elders, all who dwell in the land, Into the house of the LORD, your God, and cry to the LORD!

[15] Alas, the day! for near is the day of the LORD, and it comes as ruin from the Almighty.

[16] From before our very eyes has not the food been cut off; And from the house of our God, joy and gladness?

[17] The seed lies shriveled under its clods; the stores are destroyed, The barns are broken down, for the grain has failed.

[18] How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are bewildered! Because they have no pasturage, even the flocks of sheep have perished.

[19] To you, O LORD, I cry! for fire has devoured the pastures of the plain, and flame has enkindled all the trees of the field.

[20] Even the beasts of the field cry out to you; For the streams of water are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the plain.

Joel Chapter 2

[1] Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming;

[2] Yes, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom, a day of clouds and somberness! Like dawn spreading over the mountains, a people numerous and mighty! Their like has not been from of old, nor will it be after them, even to the years of distant generations.

[3] Before them a fire devours, and after them a flame enkindles; Like the garden of Eden is the land before them, and after them a desert waste; from them there is no escape.

[4] Their appearance is that of horses; like steeds they run.

[5] As with the rumble of chariots they leap on the mountaintops; As with the crackling of a fiery flame devouring stubble; Like a mighty people arrayed for battle.

[6] Before them peoples are in torment, every face blanches.

[7] Like warriors they run, like soldiers they scale the wall; They advance, each in his own lane, without swerving from their paths.

[8] No one crowds another, each advances in his own track; Though they fall into the ditches, they are not checked.

[9] They assault the city, they run upon the wall, they climb into the houses; In at the windows they come like thieves.

[10] Before them the earth trembles, the heavens shake; The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withhold their brightness.

[11] The LORD raises his voice at the head of his army; For immense indeed is his camp, yes, mighty, and it does his bidding. For great is the day of the LORD, and exceedingly terrible; who can bear it?

[12] Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;

[13] Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.

[14] Perhaps he will again relent and leave behind him a blessing, Offerings and libations for the LORD, your God.

[15] Blow the trumpet in Zion! proclaim a fast, call an assembly;

[16] Gather the people, notify the congregation; Assemble the elders, gather the children and the infants at the breast; Let the bridegroom quit his room, and the bride her chamber.

[17] 1 Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep, And say, "Spare, O LORD, your people, and make not your heritage a reproach, with the nations ruling over them! Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

[18] Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land and took pity on his people.

[19] The LORD answered and said to his people: See, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them; No more will I make you a reproach among the nations.

[20] 2 No, the northerner I will remove far from you, and drive him out into a land arid and waste, With his van toward the eastern sea, and his rear toward the western sea; And his foulness shall go up, and his stench shall go up.

[21] Fear not, O land! exult and rejoice! for the LORD has done great things.

[22] Fear not, beasts of the field! for the pastures of the plain are green; The tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and the vine give their yield.

[23] 3 And do you, O children of Zion, exult and rejoice in the LORD, your God! He has given you the teacher of justice: he has made the rain come down for you, the early and the late rain as before.

[24] The threshing floors shall be full of grain and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

[25] And I will repay you for the years which the locust has eaten, The grasshopper, the devourer, and the cutter, my great army which I sent among you.

[26] You shall eat and be filled, and shall praise the name of the LORD, your God, Because he has dealt wondrously with you; my people shall nevermore be put to shame.

[27] And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel; I am the LORD, your God, and there is no other; my people shall nevermore be put to shame.

Joel Chapter 3

[1] 1 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions;

[2] Even upon the servants and the handmaids, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

[3] And I will work wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke;

[4] The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, At the coming of the Day of the LORD, the great and terrible day.

[5] Then everyone shall be rescued who calls on the name of the LORD; For on Mount Zion there shall be a remnant, as the LORD has said, And in Jerusalem survivors whom the LORD shall call.

Joel Chapter 4

[1] Yes, in those days, and at that time, when I would restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

[2] 1 I will assemble all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, And I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of my people and my inheritance, Israel; Because they have scattered them among the nations, and divided my land.

[3] Over my people they have cast lots; they gave a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for the wine they drank.

[4] Moreover, what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Would you take vengeance upon me by some action? But if you do take action against me, swiftly, speedily, I will return your deed upon your own head.

[5] You took my silver and my gold, and brought my precious treasures into your temples!

[6] You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own country!

[7] See, I will rouse them from the place into which you have sold them, and I will return your deed upon your own head.

[8] 2 I will sell your sons and your daughters to the people of Judah, who shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off. Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

[9] Declare this among the nations: proclaim a war, rouse the warriors to arms! Let all the soldiers report and march!

[10] 3 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak man say, "I am a warrior!"

[11] 4 Hasten and come, all you neighboring peoples, assemble there! (Bring down, O Lord, your warriors!)

[12] Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit in judgment upon all the neighboring nations.

[13] 5 Apply the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; Come and tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for great is their malice.

[14] Crowd upon crowd in the valley of decision; For near is the day of the LORD in the valley of decision.

[15] Sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withhold their brightness.

[16] The LORD roars from Zion, and from Jerusalem raises his voice; The heavens and the earth quake, but the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the men of Israel.

[17] Then shall you know that I, the LORD, am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain; Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall pass through her no more.

[18] 6 And then, on that day, the mountains shall drip new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; And the channels of Judah shall flow with water: A fountain shall issue from the house of the LORD, to water the Valley of Shittim.

[19] Egypt shall be a waste, and Edom a desert waste, Because of violence done to the people of Judah, because they shed innocent blood in their land.

[20] But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem for all generations.

[21] I will avenge their blood, and not leave it unpunished. The LORD dwells in Zion.

Introduction to Amos

Amos

Introduction

Amos was a shepherd of Tekoa in Judah, who exercised his ministry during the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.). He prophesied in Israel at the great cult center of Bethel, from which he was finally expelled by the priest in charge of this royal sanctuary. The poetry of Amos, who denounces the hollow prosperity of the northern kingdom, is filled with imagery and language taken from his own pastoral background. The book is an anthology of his oracles and was compiled either by the prophet or by some of his disciples.

The prophecy begins with a sweeping indictment of Damascus, Philistia, Tyre, and Edom; but the forthright herdsman saves his climactic denunciation for Israel, whose injustice and idolatry are sins against the light granted to her. Israel could indeed expect the day of Yahweh, but it would be a day of darkness and not light. When Amos prophesied the overthrow of the sanctuary, the fall of the royal house, and the captivity of the people, it was more than Israelite officialdom could bear. The priest of Bethel drove Amos from the shrine-but not before hearing a terrible sentence pronounced upon himself.

Amos is a prophet of divine judgment, and the sovereignty of Yahweh in nature and history dominates his thought. But he was no innovator; his conservatism was in keeping with the whole prophetic tradition calling the people back to the high moral and religious demands of Yahweh's revelation. In common with the other prophets, Amos knew that divine punishment is never completely destructive; it is part of the hidden plan of God to bring salvation to men. The perversity of the human will may retard, but it cannot totally frustrate, this design of a loving God. The last oracle opens up a perspective of restoration under a Davidic king.

The Book of Amos may be divided as follows:

Judgment of the Nations (Amos 1:1-2:16)

Words and Woes for Israel (Amos 3:1-6:14)

Symbolic Visions: Threats and Promises (Amos 7:1-9:8, 9)

Epilogue: Messianic Perspective (Amos 9:8c-15)

Amos Chapter 1

[1] 1 The words of Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa, which he received in vision concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake:

[2] The LORD will roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem raise his voice: The pastures of the shepherds will languish, and the summit of Carmel wither.

[3] 2 Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron,

[4] 3 I will send fire upon the house of Hazael, to devour the castles of Ben-hadad.

[5] 4 I will break the bar of Damascus; I will root out those who live in the Valley of Aven, And the sceptered ruler of Beth-eden; the people of Aram shall be exiled to Kir, says the LORD.

[6] Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because they took captive whole groups to hand over to Edom,

[7] I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, to devour her castles;

[8] I will root out those who live in Ashdod, and the sceptered ruler of Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the last of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God.

[9] 5 Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Tyre, and for four I will not revoke my word; Because they delivered whole groups captive to Edom, and did not remember the pact of brotherhood,

[10] I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre,to devour her castles.

[11] 6 Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because he pursued his brother with the sword, choking up all pity; Because he persisted in his anger and kept his wrath to the end,

[12] 7 I will send fire upon Teman, and it will devour the castles of Bozrah.

[13] Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because they ripped open expectant mothers in Gilead, while extending their territory,

[14] 8 I will kindle a fire upon the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour her castles Amid clamor on the day of battle and stormwind in a time of tempest.

[15] Their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes with him, says the LORD.

Amos Chapter 2

[1] 1 Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because he burned to ashes the bones of Edom's king,

[2] I will send fire upon Moab, to devour the castles of Kerioth; Moab shall meet death amid uproar and shouts and trumpet blasts.

[3] I will root out the judge from her midst, and her princes I will slay with him, says the LORD.

[4] 2 Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because they spurned the law of the LORD, and did not keep his statutes; Because the lies which their fathers followed have led them astray,

[5] I will send fire upon Judah, to devour the castles of Jerusalem.

[6] 3 4 Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke my word; Because they sell the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals.

[7] They trample the heads of the weak into the dust of the earth, and force the lowly out of the way. Son and father go to the same prostitute, profaning my holy name.

[8] 5 Upon garments taken in pledge they recline beside any altar; And the wine of those who have been fined they drink in the house of their god.

[9] Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites before them, who were as tall as the cedars, and as strong as the oak trees. I destroyed their fruit above, and their roots beneath.

[10] It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and who led you through the desert for forty years, to occupy the land of the Amorites:

[11] 6 I who raised up prophets among your sons, and nazirites among your young men. Is this not so, O men of Israel? says the LORD.

[12] But you gave the nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

[13] Beware, I will crush you into the ground as a wagon crushes when laden with sheaves.

[14] Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong man shall not retain his strength; The warrior shall not save his life,

[15] nor the bowman stand his ground; The swift of foot shall not escape, nor the horseman save his life.

[16] And the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day, says the LORD.

Amos Chapter 3

[1] Hear this word, O men of Israel, that the LORD pronounces over you, over the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:

[2] 1 You alone have I favored, more than all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your crimes.

[3] Do two walk together unless they have agreed?

[4] Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from its den unless it has seized something?

[5] Is a bird brought to earth by a snare when there is no lure for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground without catching anything?

[6] 2 If the trumpet sounds in a city, will the people not be frightened? If evil befalls a city, has not the LORD caused it?

[7] Indeed, the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets.

[8] The lion roars-- who will not be afraid! The Lord GOD speaks-- who will not prophesy!

[9] 3 Proclaim this in the castles of Ashdod, in the castles of the land of Egypt: "Gather about the mountain of Samaria, and see the great disorders within her, the oppression in her midst."

[10] For they know not how to do what is right, says the LORD, Storing up in their castles what they have extorted and robbed.

[11] Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: An enemy shall surround the land, and strip you of your strength, and pillage your castles,

[12] Thus says the LORD: As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion a pair of legs or the tip of an ear of his sheep, So the Israelites who dwell in Samaria shall escape with the corner of a couch or a piece of a cot.

[13] Hear and bear witness against the house of Jacob, says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts:

[14] On the day when I punish Israel for his crimes, I will visit also the altars of Bethel: The horns of the altar shall be broken off and fall to the ground.

[15] 4 Then will I strike the winter house and the summer house; The ivory apartments shall be ruined, and their many rooms shall be no more, says the LORD.

Amos Chapter 4

[1] 1 Hear this word, women of the mountain of Samaria, you cows of Bashan, You who oppress the weak and abuse the needy; Who say to your lords, "Bring drink for us!"

[2] The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness: Truly the days are coming upon you When they shall drag you away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks;

[3] You shall go out through the breached walls each by the most direct way, And you shall be cast into the mire, says the LORD.

[4] 2 Come to Bethel and sin, to Gilgal, and sin the more; Each morning bring your sacrifices, every third day, your tithes;

[5] Burn leavened food as a thanksgiving sacrifice, proclaim publicly your freewill offerings, For so you love to do, O men of Israel, says the Lord GOD.

[6] Though I have made your teeth clean of food in all your cities, and have made bread scarce in all your dwellings, Yet you returned not to me, says the LORD.

[7] Though I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was still three months away; I sent rain upon one city but not upon another; One field was watered by rain, but another without rain dried up;

[8] Though two or three cities staggered to one city for water that did not quench their thirst; Yet you returned not to me, says the LORD.

[9] I struck you with blight and searing wind; your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees the locust devoured; Yet you returned not to me, says the LORD.

[10] 3 I sent upon you a pestilence like that of Egypt, and with the sword I slew your young men; Your horses I let be captured, to your nostrils I brought the stench of your camps; Yet you returned not to me, says the LORD.

[11] I brought upon you such upheaval as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: you were like a brand plucked from the fire; Yet you returned not to me, says the LORD.

[12] So now I will deal with you in my own way, O Israel! and since I will deal thus with you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel:

[13] Him who formed the mountains, and created the wind, and declares to man his thoughts; Who made the dawn and the darkness, and strides upon the heights of the earth: The LORD, the God of hosts by name.

Amos Chapter 5

[1] Hear this word which I utter over you, a lament, O house of Israel:

[2] She is fallen, to rise no more, the virgin Israel; She lies abandoned upon her land, with no one to raise her up.

[3] For thus says the Lord GOD: The city that marched out with a thousand shall be left without a hundred, Another that marched out with a hundred shall be left with ten, of the house of Israel.

[4] For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: Seek me, that you may live,

[5] but do not seek Bethel; Do not come to Gilgal, and do not cross to Beer-sheba. For Gilgal shall be led into exile, and Bethel shall become nought.

[6] 1 Seek the LORD, that you may live, lest he come upon the house of Joseph like a fire That shall consume, with none to quench it for the house of Israel:

[7] Woe to those who turn judgment to wormwood and cast justice to the ground!

Amos Chapter 6

[1] 1 2 Woe to the complacent in Zion, to the overconfident on the mount of Samaria, Leaders of a nation favored from the first, to whom the people of Israel have recourse!

[2] Pass over to Calneh and see, go from there to Hamath the great, and down to Gath of the Philistines! Are you better than these kingdoms, or is your territory wider than theirs?

[3] You would put off the evil day, yet you hasten the reign of violence!

[4] Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, They eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall!

[5] Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment.

[6] They drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils; yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!

[7] Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile, and their wanton revelry shall be done away with.

[8] The Lord GOD has sworn by his very self, say I, the LORD, the God of hosts: I abhor the pride of Jacob, I hate his castles, and I give over the city with everything in it;

[9] Should there remain ten men in a single house, these shall die.

[10] Only a few shall be left to carry the dead out of the houses; If one says to a man inside a house, "Is anyone with you?" and he answers, "No one," Then he shall say, "Silence!" for no one must mention the name of the LORD.

[11] Indeed, the LORD has given the command to shatter the great house to bits, and reduce the small house to rubble.

[12] 3 Can horses run across a cliff? or can one plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.

[13] 4 You rejoice in Lodebar, and say, "Have we not, by our own strength, seized for ourselves Karnaim?"

[14] 5 Beware, I am raising up against you, O house of Israel, say I, the LORD, the God of hosts, A nation that shall oppress you from Labo of Hamath even to the Wadi Arabah.

Amos Chapter 7

[1] 1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was forming a locust swarm when the late growth began to come up (the late growth after the king's mowing).

[2] While they were eating all the grass in the land, I said: Forgive, O Lord GOD! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!

[3] And the LORD repented of this. "It shall not be," said the Lord GOD.

[4] 2 Then the Lord GOD showed me this: he called for a judgment by fire. It had devoured the great abyss, and was consuming the land,

[5] when I said: Cease, O Lord GOD! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!

[6] The LORD repented of this. "This also shall not be," said the Lord GOD.

[7] 3 Then the Lord GOD showed me this: he was standing by a wall, plummet in hand.

[8] The LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" And when I answered, "A plummet," the Lord said: See, I will lay the plummet in the midst of my people Israel; I will forgive them no longer.

[9] The high places of Isaac shall be laid waste, and the sanctuaries of Israel made desolate; I will attack the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

[10] Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel: "Amos has conspired against you here within Israel; the country cannot endure all his words.

[11] For this is what Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land."

[12] To Amos, Amaziah said: "Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread by prophesying,

[13] but never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple."

[14] 4 Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.

[15] The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.

[16] Now hear the word of the LORD!" You say: prophesy not against Israel, preach not against the house of Isaac.

[17] Now thus says the LORD: Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city, and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; Your land shall be divided by measuring line, and you yourself shall die in an unclean land; Israel shall be exiled far from its land.

Amos Chapter 8

[1] This is what the Lord GOD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.

[2] "What do you see, Amos?" he asked. I answered, "A basket of ripe fruit." Then the LORD said to me: The time is ripe to have done with my people Israel; I will forgive them no longer.

[3] The temple songs shall become wailings on that day, says the Lord GOD. Many shall be the corpses, strewn everywhere.--Silence!

[4] Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!

[5] 1 "When will the new moon be over," you ask, "that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating!

[6] We will buy the lowly man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!"

[7] 2 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!

[8] 3 Shall not the land tremble because of this, and all who dwell in it mourn, While it rises up and tosses like the Nile, and settles back like the river of Egypt?

[9] On that day, says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun set at midday and cover the earth with darkness in broad daylight.

[10] I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentations. I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth and make every head bald. I will make them mourn as for an only son, and bring their day to a bitter end.

[11] Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD.

[12] Then shall they wander from sea to sea and rove from the north to the east In search of the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.

[13] On that day, fair virgins and young men shall faint from thirst;

[14] 4 Those who swear by the shameful idol of Samaria, "By the life of your god, O Dan!" "By the life of your love, O Beersheba!" those shall fall, never to rise again.

Amos Chapter 9

[1] 1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: Strike the bases, so that the doorjambs totter till you break them off on the heads of them all! Those who are left I will slay with the sword; not one shall flee, no survivor shall escape.

[2] Though they break through to the nether world, even from there my hand shall bring them out; Though they climb to the heavens, I will bring them down;

[3] 2 Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, there too I will hunt them out and take them away; Though they hide from my gaze in the bottom of the sea, I will command the serpent there to bite them;

[4] Though they are led into captivity by their enemies, there will I command the sword to slay them. I will fix my gaze upon them for evil, and not for good,

[5] I, the Lord GOD of hosts. I melt the earth with my touch, so that all who dwell on it mourn, While it all rises up like the Nile, and settles back like the river of Egypt;

[6] I have built heaven, my upper chamber, and established my vault over the earth; I summon the waters of the sea and pour them upon the surface of the earth, I, the LORD by name.

[7] 3 Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O men of Israel, says the LORD? Did I not bring the Israelites from the land of Egypt As I brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?

[8] The eyes of the Lord GOD are on this sinful kingdom; I will destroy it from off the face of the earth. But I will not destroy the house of Jacob completely, says the LORD.

[9] For see, I have given the command to sift the house of Israel among all the nations, As one sifts with a sieve, letting no pebble fall to the ground.

[10] By the sword shall all sinners among my people die, those who say, "Evil will not reach or overtake us."

[11] 4 On that day I will raise up the fallen hut of David; I will wall up its breaches, raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,

[12] That they may conquer what is left of Edom and all the nations that shall bear my name, say I, the LORD, who will do this.

[13] Yes, days are coming, says the LORD, When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the vintager, him who sows the seed; The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains, and all the hills shall run with it.

[14] I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel; they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities, Plant vineyards and drink the wine, set out gardens and eat the fruits.

[15] I will plant them upon their own ground; never again shall they be plucked From the land I have given them, say I, the LORD, your God.

Obadiah

[1] The vision of Obadiah. (Thus says the Lord GOD:) Of Edom we have heard a message from the LORD, and a herald has been sent among the nations: "Up! let us go to war against him!"

[2] See, I make you small among the nations; you are held in dire contempt.

[3] The pride of your heart has deceived you: you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose abode is in the heights, Who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to earth?"

[4] Though you go as high as the eagle, and your nest be set among the stars, From there will I bring you down, says the LORD.

[5] If thieves came to you, if robbers by night, how could you be thus destroyed: would they not steal merely till they had enough? If vintagers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? 1

[6] How they search Esau, seek out his hiding places!

[7] 2 To the border they drive you-- all your allies; They deceive you, they overpower you-- those at peace with you; Those who eat your bread lay snares beneath you: There is no understanding in him!

[8] 3 Shall I not, says the LORD, on that day make the wise men disappear from Edom, and understanding from the mount of Esau?

[9] 4 Your warriors, O Teman, shall be crushed, till all on Mount Esau are destroyed.

[10] 5 Because of violence to your brother Jacob, disgrace shall cover you and you shall be destroyed forever.

[11] 6 On the day when you stood by, on the day when aliens carried off his possessions, And strangers entered his gates and cast lots over Jerusalem, you too were one of them.

[12] Gaze not upon the day of your brother, the day of his disaster; Exult not over the children of Judah on the day of their ruin; Speak not haughtily on the day of distress!

[13] Enter not the gate of my people on the day of their calamity; Gaze not, you at least, upon his misfortune on the day of his calamity; Lay not hands upon his possessions on the day of his calamity!

[14] Stand not at the crossroads to slay his refugees; Betray not his fugitives on the day of distress!

[15] For near is the day of the LORD for all the nations! As you have done, so shall it be done to you, your deed shall come back upon your own head;

[16] 7 As you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually. Yes, they shall drink and swallow, and shall become as though they had not been.

[17] 8 But on Mount Zion there shall be a portion saved; the mountain shall be holy, And the house of Jacob shall take possession of those that dispossessed them.

[18] The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; The house of Esau shall be stubble, and they shall set them ablaze and devour them; Then none shall survive of the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken.

[19] They shall occupy the Negeb, the mount of Esau, and the foothills of the Philistines; And they shall occupy the lands of Ephraim and the lands of Samaria, and Benjamin shall occupy Gilead.

[20] 9 The captives of the host of the children of Israel shall occupy the Canaanite land as far as Zarephath, And the captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall occupy the cities of the Negeb.

[21] 10 And saviors shall ascend Mount Zion to rule the mount of Esau, and the kingship shall be the LORD'S.

Introduction to Jonah

Jonah

Introduction

Written in the postexilic era, probably in the fifth century B.C., this book is a didactic story with an important theological message. It concerns a disobedient prophet who attempted to run away from his divine commission, was cast overboard and swallowed by a great fish, rescued in a marvelous manner, and sent on his way to Nineveh, the traditional enemy of Israel. To the surprise of Jonah, the wicked city listened to his message of doom and repented immediately. All, from king to lowliest subject, humbled themselves in sackcloth and ashes. Seeing their repentance, God did not carry out the punishment he had planned for them. Whereupon Jonah complained to God about the unexpected success of his mission; he was bitter because Yahweh, instead of destroying, had led the people to repentance and then spared them.

From this partly humorous story, a very sublime lesson may be drawn. Jonah stands for a narrow and vindictive mentality, all too common among the Jews of that period. Because they were the chosen people, a good many of them cultivated an intolerant nationalism which limited the mercy of God to their nation. It was abhorrent to their way of thinking that nations as wicked as Assyria should escape his wrath.

The prophecy, which is both instructive and entertaining, strikes directly at this viewpoint. It is a parable of mercy, showing that God's threatened punishments are but the expression of a merciful will which moves all men to repent and seek forgiveness. The universality of the story contrasts sharply with the particularistic spirit of many in the postexilic community. The book has also prepared the way for the gospel with its message of redemption for all, both Jew and Gentile.

Jonah Chapter 1

[1] This is the word of the LORD that came to Jonah, son of Amittai: 1

[2] "Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me."

[3] 2 But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD.

[4] The LORD, however, hurled a violent wind upon the sea, and in the furious tempest that arose the ship was on the point of breaking up.

[5] Then the mariners became frightened and each one cried to his god. To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, and lay there fast asleep.

[6] The captain came to him and said, "What are you doing asleep? Rise up, call upon your God! Perhaps God will be mindful of us so that we may not perish."

[7] Then they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots to find out on whose account we have met with this misfortune." So they cast lots, and thus singled out Jonah.

[8] "Tell us," they said, "what is your business? Where do you come from? What is your country, and to what people do you belong?"

[9] "I am a Hebrew," Jonah answered them; "I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."

[10] Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him, "How could you do such a thing!"--They knew that he was fleeing from the LORD, because he had told them.--

[11] "What shall we do with you," they asked, "that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea was growing more and more turbulent.

[12] Jonah said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, that it may quiet down for you; since I know it is because of me that this violent storm has come upon you."

[13] Still the men rowed hard to regain the land, but they could not, for the sea grew ever more turbulent.

[14] 3 Then they cried to the LORD: "We beseech you, O LORD, let us not perish for taking this man's life; do not charge us with shedding innocent blood, for you, LORD, have done as you saw fit."

[15] Then they took Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea's raging abated.

[16] Struck with great fear of the LORD, the men offered sacrifice and made vows to him.

Jonah Chapter 2

[1] But the LORD sent a large fish, that swallowed Jonah; and he remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

[2] From the belly of the fish Jonah said this prayer to the LORD, his God:

[3] Out of my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me; From the midst of the nether world I cried for help, and you heard my voice.

[4] For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea, and the flood enveloped me; All your breakers and your billows passed over me.

[5] Then I said, "I am banished from your sight! yet would I again look upon your holy temple."

[6] The waters swirled about me, threatening my life; the abyss enveloped me; seaweed clung about my head.

[7] Down I went to the roots of the mountains; the bars of the nether world were closing behind me forever, But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD, my God.

[8] When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; My prayer reached you in your holy temple.

[9] Those who worship vain idols forsake their source of mercy.

[10] But I, with resounding praise, will sacrifice to you; What I have vowed I will pay: deliverance is from the LORD.

[11] Then the LORD commanded the fish to spew Jonah upon the shore.

Jonah Chapter 3

[1] The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:

[2] "Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you."

[3] So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD'S bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it.

[4] 1 Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day's walk announcing, "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"

[5] when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

[6] When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.

[7] Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his nobles: "Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.

[8] 2 Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; every man shall turn from his evil way and from the violence he has in hand.

[9] Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath, so that we shall not perish."

[10] When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.

Jonah Chapter 4

[1] 1 But this was greatly displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry.

[2] "I beseech you, LORD," he prayed, "is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I fled at first to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.

[3] And now, LORD, please take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live."

[4] But the LORD asked, "Have you reason to be angry?"

[5] Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it, where he built himself a hut and waited under it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city.

[6] 2 And when the LORD God provided a gourd plant, that grew up over Jonah's head, giving shade that relieved him of any discomfort, Jonah was very happy over the plant.

[7] But the next morning at dawn God sent a worm which attacked the plant, so that it withered.

[8] And when the sun arose, God sent a burning east wind; and the sun beat upon Jonah's head till he became faint. Then he asked for death, saying, "I would be better off dead than alive."

[9] But God said to Jonah, "Have you reason to be angry over the plant?" "I have reason to be angry," Jonah answered, "angry enough to die."

[10] 3 Then the LORD said, "You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor and which you did not raise; it came up in one night and in one night it perished.

[11] And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, not to mention the many cattle?"

Introduction to Micah

Micah

Introduction

Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah. Of his personal life and call we know nothing except that he came from the obscure village of Moresheth in the foothills. His were the broad vistas of the Judean lowland and the distant sea on the western horizon. With burning eloquence he attacked the rich exploiters of the poor, fraudulent merchants, venal judges, corrupt priests and prophets. To the man of the countryside the vices of the nation seemed centered in its capitals, for both Samaria and Jerusalem are singled out for judgment. An interesting notice in Jeremiah 26:17, 18 informs us that the reform of Hezekiah was influenced by the preaching of Micah.

The prophecy may be divided into three parts: I: The impending judgment of the Lord, followed by an exposition of its causes, Israel's sins. Censure of Judah's leaders for betrayal of their responsibility. (Micah 1:1-3:12) II: The glory of the restored Zion. A prince of David's house will rule over a reunited Israel. (St. Matthew's Nativity narrative points to Christ's birth in Bethlehem as the fulfillment of this propehecy.) A remnant shall survive the chastisement of Judah and her adversaries shall be destroyed. (Micah 4:1-5:14) III: The case against Israel, in which the Lord is portrayed as the plaintiff who has maintained fidelity to the covenant. The somber picture closes with a prayer for national restoration and a beautiful expression of trust in God's pardoning mercy. (Micah 6:1-7:20)

It should be noted that each of these three divisions begins with reproach and the threat of punishment, and ends on a note of hope and promise.

Micha Chapter 1

[1] The word of the LORD which came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: that is, the vision he received concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

[2] Hear, O peoples, all of you, give heed, O earth, and all that fills you! Let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple! 1

[3] For see, the LORD comes forth from his place, he descends and treads upon the heights of the earth.

[4] The mountains melt under him and the valleys split open, Like wax before the fire, like water poured down a slope.

[5] For the crime of Jacob all this comes to pass, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the crime of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of the house of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

[6] I will make Samaria a stone heap in the field, a place to plant for vineyards; I will throw down into the valley her stones, and lay bare her foundations.

[7] 2 All her idols shall be broken to pieces, all her wages shall be burned in the fire, and all her statues I will destroy. As the wages of a harlot they were gathered, and to the wages of a harlot shall they return.

[8] For this reason I lament and wail, I go barefoot and naked; I utter lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.

[9] There is no remedy for the blow she has been struck; rather, it has come even to Judah, It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

[10] 3 Publish it not in Gath, weep not at all; In Beth-leaphrah roll in the dust.

[11] Pass by, you who dwell in Shaphir! The inhabitants of Zaanan come not forth from their city. The lamentation of Beth-ezel finds in you its grounds.

[12] How can the inhabitants of Maroth hope for good? For evil has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.

[13] Harness steeds to the chariots, O inhabitants of Lachish; Lachish, the beginning of sin for daughter Zion, Because there were in you the crimes of Israel.

[14] Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath; Beth-achzib is a deception to the kings of Israel.

[15] Yet must I bring to you the conqueror, O inhabitants of Mareshah; Even to Adullam shall go the glory of Israel.

[16] 4 Make yourself bald, pluck out your hair, for the children whom you cherish; Let your baldness be as the eagle's, because they are exiled from you.

Micha Chapter 2

[1] Woe to those who plan iniquity, and work out evil on their couches; In the morning light they accomplish it when it lies within their power.

[2] 1 They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and they take them; They cheat an owner of his house, a man of his inheritance.

[3] Therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I am planning against this race an evil from which you shall not withdraw your necks; Nor shall you walk with head high, for it will be a time of evil.

[4] On that day a satire shall be sung over you, and there shall be a plaintive chant: "Our ruin is complete, our fields are portioned out among our captors, The fields of my people are measured out, and no one can get them back!"

[5] 2 Thus you shall have no one to mark out boundaries by lot in the assembly of the LORD.

[6] 3 "Preach not," they preach, "let them not preach of these things!" The shame will not withdraw.

[7] How can it be said, O house of Jacob, "Is the LORD short of patience, or are such his deeds?" Do not my words promise good to him who walks uprightly?

[8] But of late my people has risen up as an enemy: you have stripped off the mantle covering the tunic Of those who go their way in confidence, as though it were spoils of war.

[9] 4 The women of my people you drive out from their pleasant houses; From their children you take away forever the honor I gave them.

[10] 5 "Up! Be off, this is no place to rest"; For any trifle you exact a crippling pledge.

[11] If one, acting on impulse, should make the futile claim: "I pour you wine and strong drink as my prophecy," then he would be the prophet of this people.

[12] 6 I will gather you, O Jacob, each and every one, I will assemble all the remnant of Israel; I will group them like a flock in the fold, like a herd in the midst of its corral; they shall not be thrown into panic by men.

[13] With a leader to break the path they shall burst open the gate and go out through it; Their king shall go through before them, and the LORD at their head.

Micha Chapter 3

[1] And I said: Hear, you leaders of Jacob, rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not your duty to know what is right,

[2] you who hate what is good, and love evil? You who tear their skin from them, and their flesh from their bones!

[3] They eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from them, and break their bones. They chop them in pieces like flesh in a kettle, and like meat in a caldron.

[4] When they cry to the LORD, he shall not answer them; Rather shall he hide his face from them at that time, because of the evil they have done.

[5] 1 Thus says the LORD regarding the prophets who lead my people astray; Who, when their teeth have something to bite, announce peace, But when one fails to put something in their mouth, proclaim war against him.

[6] Therefore you shall have night, not vision, darkness, not divination; The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them.

[7] Then shall the seers be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; They shall cover their lips, all of them, because there is no answer from God.

[8] But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the LORD, with authority and with might; To declare to Jacob his crimes and to Israel his sins.

[9] Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel! You who abhor what is just, and pervert all that is right;

[10] Who build up Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness!

[11] Her leaders render judgment for a bribe, her priests give decisions for a salary, her prophets divine for money, While they rely on the LORD, saying, "Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No evil can come upon us!"

[12] Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem reduced to rubble, And the mount of the temple to a forest ridge.

Micha Chapter 4

[1] 1 In days to come the mount of the LORD'S house Shall be established higher than the mountains; it shall rise high above the hills, And peoples shall stream to it:

[2] Many nations shall come, and say, "Come, let us climb the mount of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, that we may walk in his paths." For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

[3] He shall judge between many peoples and impose terms on strong and distant nations; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.

[4] Every man shall sit under his own vine or under his own fig tree, undisturbed; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

[5] For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, But we will walk in the name of the LORD, our God, forever and ever.

[6] On that day, says the LORD, I will gather the lame, And I will assemble the outcasts, and those whom I have afflicted.

[7] I will make of the lame a remnant, and of those driven far off a strong nation; And the LORD shall be king over them on Mount Zion, from now on forever.

[8] 2 And you, O Magdal-eder, hillock of daughter Zion! Unto you shall it come: the former dominion shall be restored, the kingdom of daughter Jerusalem.

[9] Now why do you cry out so? Are you without a king? Or has your counselor perished, That you are seized with pains like a woman in travail?

[10] 3 Writhe in pain, grow faint, O daughter Zion, like a woman in travail; For now shall you go forth from the city and dwell in the fields; To Babylon shall you go, there shall you be rescued. There shall the LORD redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

[11] How many nations are gathered against you! They say, "Let her be profaned, let our eyes see Zion's downfall!"

[12] But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, nor understand his counsel, When he has gathered them like sheaves on the threshing floor.

[13] Arise and thresh, O daughter Zion; your horn I will make iron And your hoofs bronze, that you may crush many peoples; You shall devote their spoils to the LORD, and their riches to the Lord of the whole earth.

[14] 4 Now fence yourself in, Bat-gader! "They have laid siege against us!" With the rod they strike on the cheek the ruler of Israel.

Micha Chapter 5

[1] 1 But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.

[2] 2 (Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, And the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.)

[3] He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; And they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth;

[4] 3 he shall be peace. If Assyria invades our country and treads upon our land, We shall raise against it seven shepherds, eight men of royal rank;

[5] 4 And they shall tend the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword; And we shall be delivered from Assyria, if it invades our land and treads upon our borders.

[6] The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, Like dew coming from the LORD, like raindrops on the grass, Which wait for no man, nor tarry for the sons of men.

[7] And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, Like a lion among beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep; When it passes through, it tramples and tears, and there is none to deliver.

[8] Your hand shall be lifted above your foes, and all your enemies shall be destroyed.

[9] 5 On that day, says the LORD, I will destroy the horses from your midst and ruin your chariots;

[10] I will demolish the cities of your land and tear down all your fortresses.

[11] I will abolish the means of divination from your use, and there shall no longer be soothsayers among you.

[12] 6 I will abolish your carved images and the sacred pillars from your midst; And you shall no longer adore the works of your hands.

[13] I will tear out the sacred poles from your midst, and destroy your cities.

[14] I will wreak vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that have not hearkened.

Micha Chapter 6

[1] Hear, then, what the LORD says: Arise, present your plea before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice!

[2] Hear, O mountains, the plea of the LORD, pay attention, O foundations of the earth! For the LORD has a plea against his people, and he enters into trial with Israel.

[3] O my people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? Answer me!

[4] For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery I released you; And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

[5] 1 My people, remember what Moab's King Balak planned, and how Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him . . . from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the just deeds of the LORD.

[6] 2 With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow before God most high? Shall I come before him with holocausts, with calves a year old?

[7] 3 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriad streams of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my crime, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

[8] You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.

[9] 4 Hark! the LORD cries to the city. (It is wisdom to fear your name!) Hear, O tribe and city council,

[10] Am I to bear any longer criminal hoarding and the meager ephah that is accursed?

[11] Shall I acquit criminal balances, bags of false weights?

Micha Chapter 7

[1] Alas! I am as when the fruit is gathered, as when the vines have been gleaned; There is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

[2] The faithful are gone from the earth, among men the upright are no more! They all lie in wait to shed blood, each one ensnares the other.

[3] Their hands succeed at evil; the prince makes demands, The judge is had for a price, The great man speaks as he pleases,

[4] The best of them is like a brier, the most upright like a thorn hedge. The day announced by your watchmen! your punishment has come; now is the time of your confusion.

[5] 1 Put no trust in a friend, have no confidence in a companion; Against her who lies in your bosom guard the portals of your mouth.

[6] For the son dishonors his father, the daughter rises up against her mother, The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies are those of his household.

[7] But as for me, I will look to the LORD, I will put my trust in God my savior; my God will hear me!

[8] 2 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy! though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD is my light.

[9] The wrath of the LORD I will endure because I have sinned against him, Until he takes up my cause, and establishes my right. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see his justice.

[10] When my enemy sees this, shame shall cover her: She who said to me, "Where is the LORD, thy God?" My eyes shall see her downfall; now shall she be trampled underfoot, like the mire in the streets.

[11] 3 It is the day for building your walls; on that day the boundary shall be taken away.

[12] It is the day; and they shall come to you from Assyria and from Egypt, From Tyre even to the River, from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain;

[13] And the land shall be a waste because of its citizens, as a result of their deeds.

[14] 4 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, That dwells apart in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old;

[15] As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt, show us wonderful signs.

[16] The nations shall behold and be put to shame, in spite of all their strength; They shall put their hands over their mouths; their ears shall become deaf.

[17] They shall lick the dust like the serpent, like reptiles on the ground; They shall come quaking from their fastnesses, trembling in fear of you (the LORD, our God).

[18] Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency,

[19] And will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;

[20] You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, As you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

Introduction to Nahum

Nahum

Introduction

Shortly before the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C., Nahum uttered his prophecy against the hated city. To understand the prophet's exultant outburst of joy over the impending destruction it is necessary to recall the savage cruelty of Assyria, which had made it the scourge of the ancient Near East for almost three centuries. The royal inscriptions of Assyria afford the best commentary on the burning denunciation of "the bloody city."' In the wake of their conquests, mounds of heads, impaled bodies, enslaved citizens, and avaricious looters testified to the ruthlessness of the Assyrians. Little wonder that Judah joined in the general outburst of joy over the destruction of Nineveh!

But Nahum is not a prophet of unrestrained revenge. God's moral government of the world is asserted. Yahweh is the avenger but he is also merciful, a citadel in the day of distress. Nineveh's doom was a judgment on the wicked city. Before many years passed, Jerusalem too was to learn the meaning of such a judgment.

The Book is divided as follows: The Lord's Coming in Judgment (Nahum 1:2-2:1, 3) The Fall of Nineveh (Nahum 2:2-3:19)

Nahum Chapter 1

[1] Oracle about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

[2] 1 2 A jealous and avenging God is the LORD, an avenger is the LORD, and angry; The LORD brings vengeance on his adversaries, and lays up wrath for his enemies;

[3] The LORD is slow to anger, yet great in power, and the LORD never leaves the guilty unpunished. In hurricane and tempest is his path, and clouds are the dust at his feet;

[4] 3 He rebukes the sea and leaves it dry, and all the rivers he dries up. Withered are Bashan and Carmel, and the bloom of Lebanon fades;

[5] The mountains quake before him, and the hills dissolve; The earth is laid waste before him, the world and all who dwell in it.

[6] 4 Before his wrath, who can stand firm, and who can face his blazing anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are rent asunder before him.

[7] The LORD is good, a refuge on the day of distress; He takes care of those who have recourse to him,

[8] when the flood rages; He makes an end of his opponents, and his enemies he pursues with darkness.

[9] 5 What are you imputing to the LORD? It is he who will make an end! The enemy shall not rise a second time;

[10] As when a tangle of thornbushes is set aflame, like dry stubble, they shall be utterly consumed.

[11] 7 From you he came who devised evil against the LORD, the scoundrel planner.

Nahum Chapter 2

[1] See, upon the mountains there advances the bearer of good news, announcing peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah, fulfill your vows! For nevermore shall you be invaded by the scoundrel; he is completely destroyed.

[2] 1 The hammer comes up against you; guard the rampart, Keep watch on the road, gird your loins, marshall all your strength!

Nahum Chapter 3

[1] Woe to the bloody city, all lies, full of plunder, whose looting never stops!

[2] The crack of the whip, the rumbling sounds of wheels; horses a-gallop, chariots bounding,

[3] Cavalry charging, The flame of the sword, the flash of the spear, the many slain, the heaping corpses, the endless bodies to stumble upon!

[4] For the many debaucheries of the harlot, fair and charming, a mistress of witchcraft, Who enslaved nations with her harlotries, and peoples by her witchcraft:

[5] 1 I am come against you, and I will strip your skirt from you; I will show your nakedness to the nations, to the kingdoms your shame!

[6] I will cast filth upon you, disgrace you and put you to shame;

[7] Till everyone who sees you runs from you, saying, "Nineveh is destroyed; who can pity her? Where can one find any to console her?"

[8] 2 Are you better than No-amon that was set among the streams, Surrounded by waters, with the flood for her rampart and water her wall?

[9] Ethiopia was her strength, and Egypt, and others without end; Put and the Libyans were her auxiliaries.

[10] Yet even she went captive into exile, even her little ones were dashed to pieces at the corner of every street; For her nobles they cast lots, and all her great men were put into chains.

[11] You too, shall drink of this till you faint away; you, too, shall seek a refuge from the foe.

[12] All your fortresses are but fig trees, bearing early figs That fall, when shaken, into the hungry mouth.

[13] See, the troops are women in your midst; to your foes the gates of your land are open wide, fire has consumed their bars.

[14] 3 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your fortresses; Go down into the mud and tread the clay, take hold of the brick mold!

[15] There the fire shall consume you, the sword shall cut you down. Multiply like the grasshoppers, multiply like the locusts!

[16] Make your couriers more numerous than the stars,

[17] your garrisons as many as grasshoppers, And your scribes as locust swarms gathered on the rubble fences on a cold day! Yet when the sun warms them, the grasshoppers will spread their wings and fly, and vanish, no one knows where.

[18] Alas! how your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, your nobles have gone to rest; Your people are scattered upon the mountains, with none to gather them.

[19] There is no healing for your hurt, your wound is mortal. All who hear this news of you clap their hands over you; For who has not been overwhelmed, steadily, by your malice?

Introduction to Habakkuk

Habakkuk

Introduction

This prophecy dates from the years 605-597 B.C., or between the great Babylonian victory at Carchemish and Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Judah which culminated in the capture of Jerusalem. The situation of Judah was desperate at this time, with political intrigue and idolatry widespread in the small kingdom. The first two chapters consist of a dialogue between the prophet and the Lord. For what may be the first time in Israelite literature, a man questions the ways of God, as Habakkuk calls him to account for his government of the world. To this question God replies that he has prepared a chastising rod, Babylon, which will be the avenging instrument in his hand. There is added the divine assurance that the just Israelite will not perish in the calamities about to be visited on the nation.

The third chapter is a magnificent religious lyric, filled with reminiscences of Israel's past and rich in literary borrowings from the poetry of ancient Canaan, though still expressing authentic Israelite faith. God appears in all his majestic splendor and executes vengeance on Judah's enemies. The prophecy ends with a joyous profession of confidence in the Lord, the Savior.

Habakkuk Chapter 1

[1] The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet received in vision.

[2] 1 How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not intervene.

[3] Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord.

[4] This is why the law is benumbed, and judgment is never rendered: Because the wicked circumvent the just; this is why judgment comes forth perverted.

[5] 2 Look over the nations and see, and be utterly amazed! For a work is being done in your days that you would not have believed, were it told.

[6] For see, I am raising up Chaldea, that bitter and unruly people, That marches the breadth of the land to take dwellings not his own.

[7] Terrible and dreadful is he, from himself derive his law and his majesty.

[8] 3 Swifter than leopards are his horses, and keener than wolves at evening. His horses prance, his horsemen come from afar: They fly like the eagle hastening to devour;

[9] each comes for the rapine, Their combined onset is that of a stormwind that heaps up captives like sand.

[10] He scoffs at kings, and princes are his laughingstock; He laughs at any fortress, heaps up a ramp, and conquers it.

[11] 4 Then he veers like the wind and is gone-- this culprit who makes his own strength his god!

[12] 5 Are you not from eternity, O LORD, my holy God, immortal? O LORD you have marked him for judgment, O Rock 6 , you have readied him for punishment!

[13] Too pure are your eyes to look upon evil, and the sight of misery you cannot endure. Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence while the wicked man devours one more just than himself?

[14] You have made man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler.

[15] 7 He brings them all up with his hook, he hauls them away with his net, He gathers them in his seine; and so he rejoices and exults.

[16] 8 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his seine; For thanks to them his portion is generous, and his repast sumptuous.

[17] Shall he, then, keep on brandishing his sword to slay peoples without mercy?

Habakkuk Chapter 2

[1] I will stand at my guard post, and station myself upon the rampart, And keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my complaint.

[2] Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.

[3] For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.

[4] 1 The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live. Wealth, too, is treacherous: the proud, unstable man--

[5] He who opens wide his throat like the nether world, and is insatiable as death, Who gathers to himself all the nations, and rallies to himself all the peoples--

[6] Shall not all these take up a taunt against him, satire and epigrams about him, to say: Woe to him who stores up what is not his: how long can it last! he loads himself down with debts.

[7] Shall not your creditors rise suddenly? Shall not they who make you tremble awake? You shall become their spoil!

[8] Because you despoiled many peoples all the rest of the nations shall despoil you; Because of men's blood shed, and violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

[9] Woe to him who pursues evil gain for his household, setting his nest on high to escape the reach of misfortune!

[10] You have devised shame for your household, cutting off many peoples, forfeiting your own life:

[11] 2 For the stone in the wall shall cry out, and the beam in the woodwork shall answer it!

[12] Woe to him who builds a city by bloodshed, and establishes a town by wickedness!

[13] 3 Is not this from the LORD of hosts: peoples toil for the flames, and nations grow weary for nought!

[14] But the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the LORD'S glory as water covers the sea.

[15] Woe to you who give your neighbors a flood of your wrath to drink, and make them drunk, till their nakedness is seen!

[16] You are filled with shame instead of glory; drink, you too, and stagger! On you shall revert the cup from the LORD'S right hand, and utter shame on your glory.

[17] 4 For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover you, and the destruction of the beasts shall terrify you; Because of men's blood shed, and violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

[18] 5 Of what avail is the carved image, that its maker should carve it? Or the molten image and lying oracle, that its very maker should trust in it, and make dumb idols?

Habakkuk Chapter 3

[1] 1 Prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet. To a plaintive tune.

[2] 2 O LORD, I have heard your renown, and feared, O LORD, your work. In the course of the years revive it, in the course of the years make it known; in your wrath remember compassion!

[3] 3 God comes from Teman 4 , the Holy One from Mount Paran. Covered are the heavens with his glory, and with his praise the earth is filled.

[4] His splendor spreads like the light; rays shine forth from beside him, where his power is concealed.

[5] Before him goes pestilence, and the plague follows in his steps.

[6] He pauses to survey the earth; his look makes the nations tremble. The eternal mountains are shattered, the age-old hills bow low along his ancient ways.

[7] I see the tents of Cushan collapse; trembling are the pavilions of the land of Midian.

[8] Is your anger against the streams, O LORD? Is your wrath against the streams, your rage against the sea, That you drive the steeds of your victorious chariot?

[9] Bared and ready is your bow, filled with arrows is your quiver. Into streams you split the earth;

[10] at sight of you the mountains tremble. A torrent of rain descends; the ocean gives forth its roar. The sun forgets to rise,

[11] the moon remains in its shelter, At the light of your flying arrows, at the gleam of your flashing spear.

[12] In wrath you bestride the earth, in fury you trample the nations.

[13] 5 You come forth to save your people, to save your anointed one. You crush the heads of the wicked, you lay bare their bases at the neck.

[14] You pierce with your shafts the heads of their princes whose boast would be of devouring the wretched in their lair.

[15] You tread the sea with your steeds amid the churning of the deep waters.

[16] I hear, and my body trembles; at the sound, my lips quiver. Decay invades my bones, my legs tremble beneath me. I await the day of distress that will come upon the people who attack us.

[17] For though the fig tree blossom not nor fruit be on the vines, Though the yield of the olive fail and the terraces produce no nourishment, Though the flocks disappear from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,

[18] Yet will I rejoice in the LORD and exult in my saving God.

[19] GOD, my Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet swift as those of hinds and enables me to go upon the heights. For the leader; with stringed instruments.

Introduction to Zephaniah

Zephaniah

Introduction

The title of the prophecy informs us that the ministry of Zephaniah took place during the reign of Josiah (640-609 B.C.). The protest against the worship of false gods, and the condemnation of the pro-Assyrian court ministers who served as regents during Josiah's minority, allow us to place the work in the first decade of the reign. Accordingly, the prophecy of Zephaniah comes rightly before that of Jeremiah, who was probably influenced by it in both language and ideas.

The age of Zephaniah was a time of religious degradation, when the old idolatries reappeared and men worshiped sun, moon, and stars. Rites completely alien to the pure monotheism taught by Moses flourished in Jerusalem. To the corrupt city Zephaniah announced the impending judgment, the day of the Lord. The prophecy may be divided into three sections, corresponding to the three chapters of the book:

The day of the Lord: A day of doom. The last few verses of this oracle give the classic description of the day of the Lord as an overwhelming disaster. The Christian hymn Dies Irae is based on this passage (Zephaniah 1:2-18)

The day of the Lord: A day of judgment of the nations, traditional enemies of God's people (Zephaniah 2:1-15)

Reproach and Promise for Jerusalem: Despite Judah's infidelities, the Lord in his mercy will spare a holy remnant, which will finally enjoy peace. The prophecy closes with a hymn of joy sung by the remnant restored to Zion (Zephaniah 3:1-20)

Zephaniah Chapter 1

[1] The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

[2] I will completely sweep away all things from the face of the earth, says the LORD.

[3] I will sweep away man and beast, I will sweep away the birds of the sky, and the fishes of the sea. I will overthrow the wicked; I will destroy mankind from the face of the earth, says the LORD.

[4] I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; I will destroy from this place the last vestige of Baal, the very names of his priests.

[5] 1 And those who adore the host of heaven on the roofs, with those who adore the LORD but swear by Milcom;

[6] And those who have fallen away from the LORD, and those who do not seek the LORD.

[7] 2 Silence in the presence of the Lord GOD! for near is the day of the LORD, Yes, the LORD has prepared a slaughter feast, he has consecrated his guests.

[8] On the day of the LORD'S slaughter feast I will punish the princes, and the king's sons, and all that dress in foreign apparel.

[9] 3 I will punish, on that day, all who leap over the threshold, Who fill the house of their master with violence and deceit.

[10] 4 On that day, says the LORD, A cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the New Quarter, loud crashing from the hills.

[11] Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar! for all the merchants will be destroyed, all who weigh out silver, done away with.

[12] 5 At that time I will explore Jerusalem with lamps; I will punish the men who thicken on their lees, Who say in their hearts, "Neither good nor evil can the LORD do."

[13] Their wealth shall be given to pillage and their houses to devastation; They will build houses, but shall not dwell in them, plant vineyards, but not drink their wine,

[14] Near is the great day of the LORD, near and very swiftly coming, Hark, the day of the LORD! bitter, then, the warrior's cry.

[15] A day of wrath is that day a day of anguish and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, A day of thick black clouds,

[16] a day of trumpet blasts and battle alarm Against fortified cities, against battlements on high.

[17] I will hem men in till they walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their brains like dung.

[18] Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to save them on the day of the LORD'S wrath, When in the fire of his jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. For he shall make an end, yes, a sudden end, of all who live on the earth.

Zephaniah Chapter 2

[1] 1 Gather, gather yourselves together, O nation without shame!

[2] Before you are driven away, like chaff that passes on; Before there comes upon you the blazing anger of the LORD: Before there comes upon you the day of the LORD'S anger.

[3] Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who have observed his law; Seek justice, seek humility; perhaps you may be sheltered on the day of the LORD'S anger.

[4] 2 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon shall be a waste, Ashdod they shall drive out at midday, and Ekron shall be uprooted.

[5] 3 Woe to you who dwell by the seacoast, to the Cretan folk! The word of the LORD is against you, I will humble you, land of the Philistines, and leave you to perish without an inhabitant!

[6] The coastland of the Cretans shall become fields for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

[7] The coast shall belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; by the sea they shall pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon at evening they shall couch their flocks, For the LORD their God shall visit them, and bring about their restoration.

[8] I have heard the revilings uttered by Moab, and the insults of the Ammonites, When they reviled my people and made boasts against their territory.

[9] Therefore, as I live, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become like Sodom, the land of Ammon like Gomorrah: A field of nettles and a salt pit and a waste forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, the survivors of my nation dispossess them.

[10] Such shall be the requital of their pride, because they reviled and boasted against the people of the LORD of hosts.

[11] The LORD shall inspire them with fear when he makes all the gods of earth to waste away; Then, each from its own place, all the coastlands of the nations shall adore him.

[12] 4 You too, O Cushites, shall be slain by the sword of the LORD.

[13] He will stretch out his hand against the north, to destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a waste, dry as the desert.

[14] In her midst shall settle in droves all the wild life of the hollows; The screech owl and the desert owl shall roost in her columns; Their call shall resound from the window, the raven's croak from the doorway.

[15] 5 Is this the exultant city that dwelt secure; That told herself, "There is no other than I!" How has she become a waste, a lair for wild beasts? Whoever passes by her hisses, and shakes his fist!

Zephaniah Chapter 3

[1] Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted, to the tyrannical city!

[2] She hears no voice, accepts no correction; In the LORD she has not trusted, to her God she has not drawn near.

[3] Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; Her judges are wolves of the night that have had no bones to gnaw by morning.

[4] Her prophets are insolent, treacherous men; Her priests profane what is holy, and do violence to the law.

[5] The LORD within her is just, who does no wrong; Morning after morning he renders judgment unfailingly, at dawn.

[6] I have destroyed nations, their battlements are laid waste; I have made their streets deserted, with no one passing through; Their cities are devastated, with no man dwelling in them.

[7] I said, "Surely now you will fear me, you will accept correction"; She should not fail to see all I have visited upon her. Yet all the more eagerly have they done all their corrupt deeds.

[8] Therefore, wait for me, says the LORD, against the day when I arise as accuser; For it is my decision to gather together the nations, to assemble the kingdoms, In order to pour out upon them my wrath, all my blazing anger; For in the fire of my jealousy shall all the earth be consumed.

[9] For then I will change and purify the lips of the peoples, That they all may call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one accord;

[10] From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia and as far as the recesses of the North, they shall bring me offerings.

[11] On that day You need not be ashamed of all your deeds, your rebellious actions against me; For then will I remove from your midst the proud braggarts, And you shall no longer exalt yourself on my holy mountain.

[12] But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly, Who shall take refuge in the name of the LORD;

[13] the remnant of Israel. They shall do no wrong and speak no lies; Nor shall there be found in their mouths a deceitful tongue; They shall pasture and couch their flocks with none to disturb them.

[14] Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!

[15] The LORD has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear.

[16] On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!

[17] The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, He will sing joyfully because of you,

[18] as one sings at festivals. I will remove disaster from among you, so that none may recount your disgrace.

[19] Yes, at that time I will deal with all who oppress you; I will save the lame, and assemble the outcasts; I will give them praise and renown in all the earth, when I bring about their restoration.

[20] At that time I will bring you home, and at that time I will gather you; For I will give you renown and praise, among all the peoples of the earth, When I bring about your restoration before your very eyes, says the LORD.

Introduction to Haggai

Haggai

Introduction

Postexilic prophecy begins with Haggai, who received the word of the Lord in the second year of Darius (520 B.C.). The Jews who returned from the exile in Babylonia had encountered formidable obstacles in their efforts to re-establish Jewish life in Judah. The Samaritans had succeeded in blocking the rebuilding of the temple; but after Darius acceded to the throne (522), permission was given to resume the work. At this critical moment, when defeatism and a certain lethargy had overtaken his repatriated countrymen, Haggai came forward with his exhortations to them to complete the great task. The first oracle, an appeal to the Jews, is contained in Hag 1. To this appeal Haggai added a short oracle of encouragement (Haggai 2:1-9) for the sake of those who gloomily contrasted the former magnificence of Solomon's temple with the second temple: the Lord would be present in this new abode, and its glory, enhanced by the offerings of the Gentiles, would surpass the ancient splendor.

The prophecy may be divided into five oracles:

The call to rebuild the temple. The economic distress so apparent in Judah is due to the Jews' neglect of the Lord while they provide for their own needs (Haggai 1:1-15).

The future glory of the new temple, surpassing that of the old (Haggai 2:1-9).

Unworthiness of a people, who may be the Samaritans, to offer sacrifice at the newly restored altar. This oracle is cast in the literary form of a torah, an instruction given the people by a priest (Haggai 2:10-14).

A promise of immediate blessings, which follows upon the undertaking (Hag 1) to rebuild the temple (Haggai 2:15-19).

A pledge to Zerubbabel, descendant of David, repository of the messianic hopes (Haggai 2:20-23).

Haggai Chapter 1

[1] 1 On the first day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak:

[2] Thus says the LORD of hosts: This people says: "Not now has the time come to rebuild the house of the LORD."

[3] (Then this word of the LORD came through Haggai, the prophet:)

[4] 2 Is it time for you to dwell in your own paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

[5] Now thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways!

[6] You have sown much, but have brought in little; you have eaten, but have not been satisfied; You have drunk, but have not been exhilarated; have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed; And he who earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it.

[7] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways!

[8] Go up into the hill country; bring timber, and build the house That I may take pleasure in it and receive my glory, says the LORD.

[9] You expected much, but it came to little; and what you brought home, I blew away. For what cause? says the LORD of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while each of you hurries to his own house.

[10] Therefore the heavens withheld from you their dew, and the earth her crops.

[11] And I called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountains; Upon the grain, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon all that the ground brings forth; Upon men and upon beasts, and upon all that is produced by hand.

[12] 3 Then Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak, and all the remnant of the people listened to the voice of the LORD, their God, and to the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD, their God, had sent him, and the people feared because of the LORD.

[13] And the LORD'S messenger, Haggai, proclaimed to the people as the message of the LORD: I am with you, says the LORD.

[14] Then the LORD stirred up the spirit of the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and the spirit of the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, so that they came and set to work on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,

[15] on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. In the second year of King Darius,

Haggai Chapter 2

[1] on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai:

[2] Tell this to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people:

[3] Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes?

[4] But now take courage, Zerubbabel, says the LORD, and take courage, Joshua, high priest, son of Jehozadak, And take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD, and work! For I am with you, says the LORD of hosts.

[5] This is the pact that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, And my spirit continues in your midst; do not fear!

[6] 1 For thus says the LORD of hosts: One moment yet, a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

[7] I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come in, And I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.

[8] Mine is the silver and mine the gold, says the LORD of hosts.

[9] Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former, says the LORD of hosts; And in this place I will give you peace, says the LORD of hosts.

[10] On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai:

[11] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests for a decision:

[12] 2 If a man carries sanctified flesh in the fold of his garment and the fold touches bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any other food, do they become sanctified? "No," the priests answered.

[13] Then Haggai said: If a person unclean from contact with a corpse touches any of these, do they become unclean? The priests answered, "They become unclean."

[14] Then Haggai continued: So is this people, and so is this nation in my sight, says the LORD: And so are all the works of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

[15] 3 But now, consider from this day forward. Before there was a stone laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD,

[16] how did you fare? When one went to a heap of grain for twenty measures, it would yield but ten; When another went to the vat to draw fifty measures, there would be but twenty.

[17] I struck you in all the works of your hands with blight, searing wind, and hail, yet you did not return to me, says the LORD.

[18] 4 (Consider from this day forward: from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. From the day on which the temple of the LORD was founded, consider!)

[19] Indeed, the seed has not sprouted, nor have the vine, the fig, the pomegranate and the olive tree yet borne. From this day, I will bless!

[20] 5 The message of the LORD came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month:

[21] Tell this to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah: I will shake the heavens and the earth;

[22] I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms, destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the riders with their horses shall go down by one another's sword.

[23] 6 On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, my servant, says the LORD, And I will set you as a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the LORD of hosts.

Introduction to Zechariah

Zechariah

Introduction

Zechariah's initial prophecy is dated to 520 B.C., the same year as that in which Haggai received the prophetic call. The first eight chapters of the Book of Zechariah contain oracles which certainly belong to him while the last six (sometimes called "Deutero-Zechariah") represent the work of one or more unknown authors. In the prophecies proper to Zechariah eight symbolic visions are recorded, all meant to promote the work of rebuilding the temple and to encourage the returned exiles, especially their leaders, Joshua and Zerubbabel. In the final chapter of this first division Zechariah portrays the messianic future under the figure of a prosperous land to which the nations come in pilgrimage, eager to follow the God of Israel.

The second part of Zechariah is divided into two sections, each with its own introductory title. The first (Zec 9-11) consists of oracles whose historical background, date and authorship are extremely difficult to determine. With Zechariah 9:9 begins the messianic vision of the coming of the Prince of Peace. The verses describing the triumphant appearance of the humble king are taken up by the four Evangelists to describe the entry of Christ into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Zec 12 is introduced by an oracle proclaiming the victory of God's people over the heathen. The prophecy closes by describing in apocalyptic imagery, the final assault of the enemy on Jerusalem, after which the messianic age begins.

Zechariah Chapter 1

[1] In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, 1 the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

[2] The LORD was indeed angry with your fathers. . .

[3] and say to them: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.

[4] Be not like your fathers whom the former prophets warned: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Turn from your evil ways and from your wicked deeds. But they would not listen or pay attention to me, says the LORD.

[5] Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, can they live forever?

[6] But my words and my decrees, which I entrusted to my servants the prophets, did not these overtake your fathers? Then they repented and admitted: "The LORD of hosts has treated us according to our ways and deeds, just as he had determined he would."

[7] 2 In the second year of Darius, on the twenty-fourth day of Shebat, the eleventh month, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, in the following way:

[8] 3 I had a vision during the night. There appeared the driver of a red horse, standing among myrtle trees in a shady place, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

[9] Then I asked, "What are these, my lord?"; and the angel who spoke with me answered me, "I will show you what these are."

[10] The man who was standing among the myrtle trees spoke up and said, "These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth."

[11] And they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, "We have patrolled the earth; see, the whole earth is tranquil and at rest!"

[12] 4 Then the angel of the Lord spoke out and said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will you be without mercy for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that have felt your anger these seventy years?"

[13] To the angel who spoke with me, the LORD replied with comforting words.

[14] And the angel who spoke with me said to me, Proclaim: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am deeply moved for the sake of Jerusalem and Zion,

[15] 5 and I am exceedingly angry with the complacent nations; whereas I was but a little angry, they added to the harm.

[16] 6 Therefore, says the LORD: I will turn to Jerusalem in mercy; my house shall be built in it, says the LORD of hosts, and a measuring line shall be stretched over Jerusalem.

[17] Proclaim further: Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion, and again choose Jerusalem.

Zechariah Chapter 2

[1] 1 I raised my eyes and looked; there were four horns.

[2] Then I asked the angel who spoke with me what these were. He answered me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah and Israeland Jerusalem."

[3] Then the LORD showed me four blacksmiths. And I asked, "What are these coming to do?"

[4] And he said, "Here are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no man raised his head any more; but these have come to terrify them: to cast down the horns of the nations that raised their horns to scatter the land of Judah."

[5] Again I raised my eyes and looked: there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.

[6] "Where are you going?" I asked. "To measure Jerusalem," he answered; "to see how great is its width and how great its length."

[7] Then the angel who spoke with me advanced, and another angel came out to meet him,

[8] 2 and said to him, "Run, tell this to that young man: People will live in Jerusalem as though in open country, because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst.

[9] But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst."

[10] 3 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the LORD; for I scatter you to the four winds of heaven, says the LORD.

[11] Up, escape to Zion! you who dwell in daughter Babylon.

[12] For thus said the LORD of hosts (after he had already sent me) concerning the nations that have plundered you: Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye.

[13] See, I wave my hand over them; they become plunder for their slaves. Thus you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.

[14] Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.

[15] Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day, and they shall be his people, and he will dwell among you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

[16] The LORD will possess Judah as his portion of the holy land, and he will again choose Jerusalem.

[17] Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD! for he stirs forth from his holy dwelling.

Zechariah Chapter 3

[1] Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, while Satan stood at his right hand to accuse him.

[2] And the angel of the LORD said to Satan, "May the LORD rebuke you, Satan; may the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand snatched from the fire?"

[3] 1 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clad in filthy garments.

[4] He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy garments, and clothe him in festal garments."

[5] He also said, "Put a clean miter on his head." And they put a clean miter on his head and clothed him with the garments. Then the angel of the LORD, standing, said, "See, I have taken away your guilt."

[6] The angel of the LORD then gave Joshua this assurance:

[7] "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you walk in my ways and heed my charge, you shall judge my house and keep my courts, and I will give you access among these standing here.

[8] 2 Listen, O Joshua, high priest! You and your associates who sit before you are men of good omen. Yes, I will bring my servant the Shoot.

[9] 3 Look at the stone that I have placed before Joshua, one stone with seven facets. I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will take away the guilt of the land in one day.

[10] On that day, says the LORD of hosts, you will invite one another under your vines and fig trees."

Zechariah Chapter 4

[1] Then the angel who spoke with me returned and awakened me, like a man awakened from his sleep.

[2] "What do you see?" he asked me. "I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl at the top," I replied; "on it are seven lamps with their tubes,

[3] and beside it are two olive trees, one on the right and the other on the left."

Zechariah Chapter 5

[1] 1 Then I raised my eyes again and saw a scroll flying.

[2] "What do you see?" he asked me. I answered, "I see a scroll flying; it is twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide."

[3] Then he said to me: "This is the curse which is to go forth over the whole earth; in accordance with it shall every thief be swept away, and in accordance with it shall every perjurer be expelled from here.

[4] I will send it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall come into the house of the thief, or into the house of him who perjures himself with my name; it shall lodge within his house, consuming it, timber and stones."

[5] 2 Then the angel who spoke with me came forward and said to me, "Raise your eyes and see what this is that comes forth."

[6] "What is it?" I asked. And he answered, "This is a bushel container coming. This is their guilt in all the land."

[7] Then a leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the bushel.

[8] "This is Wickedness," he said; and he thrust her inside the bushel, pushing the leaden cover into the opening.

[9] Then I raised my eyes and saw two women coming forth with a wind ruffling their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a stork. As they lifted up the bushel into the air,

[10] I said to the angel who spoke with me, "Where are they taking the bushel?"

[11] He replied, "To build a temple for it in the land of Shinar; when the temple is ready, they will deposit it there in its place."

Zechariah Chapter 6

[1] 1 Again I raised my eyes and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains; and the mountains were of bronze.

[2] The first chariot had red horses, the second chariot black horses,

[3] the third chariot white horses, and the fourth chariot spotted horses--all of them strong horses.

[4] I asked the angel who spoke with me, "What are these, my lord?"

[5] The angel said to me in reply, "These are the four winds of the heavens, which are coming forth after being reviewed by the LORD of all the earth."

[6] The chariot with the black horses was turning toward the land of the north, the red and the white horses went after them, and the spotted ones went toward the land of the south.

[7] As these strong horses emerged, eager to set about patrolling the earth, he said, "Go, patrol the earth!" Then, as they patrolled the earth,

[8] he called out to me and said, "See, they that go forth to the land of the north will make my spirit rest in the land of the north."

[9] This word of the LORD then came to me:

[10] Take from the returned captives Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah; and go the same day to the house of Josiah, son of Zephaniah (these had come from Babylon).

[11] 2 Silver and gold you shall take, and make a crown; place it on the head of (Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest) Zerubbabel.

[12] And say to him: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Here is a man whose name is Shoot, and where he is he shall sprout, and he shall build the temple of the LORD.

[13] Yes, he shall build the temple of the LORD, and taking up the royal insignia, he shall sit as ruler upon his throne. The priest shall be put at his right hand, and between the two of them there shall be friendly understanding.

[14] The crown itself shall be a memorial offering in the temple of the LORD in favor of Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and the son of Zephaniah.

[15] And they who are from afar shall come and build the temple of the LORD, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And if you heed carefully the voice of the LORD your God. . . .

Zechariah Chapter 7

[1] 1 In the fourth year of Darius the king (the word of the LORD came to Zechariah), on the fourth day of Chislev, the ninth month,

[2] Bethelsarezer sent Regemmelech and his men to implore favor of the LORD

[3] and to ask the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts, and the prophets, "Must I mourn and abstain in the fifth month as I have been doing these many years?"

[4] Thereupon this word of the LORD of hosts came to me:

[5] Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month these seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?

[6] And when you were eating and drinking, was it not for yourselves that you ate, and for yourselves that you drank?

[7] Were not these the words which the LORD spoke through the former prophets, when Jerusalem and the surrounding cities were inhabited and at peace, when the Negeb and the foothills were inhabited?

[8] (This word of the LORD came to Zechariah:

[9] Thus says the LORD of hosts:) Render true judgment, and show kindness and compassion toward each other.

[10] Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the alien or the poor; do not plot evil against one another in your hearts.

[11] But they refused to listen; they stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears so as not to hear.

[12] And they made their hearts diamondhard so as not to hear the teaching and the message that the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets.

[13] Then the LORD of hosts in his great anger said that, as they had not listened when he called, so he would not listen when they called,

[14] but would scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they did not know. Thus the land was left desolate after them with no one traveling to and fro; they made the pleasant land into a desert.

Zechariah Chapter 8

[1] This word of the LORD of hosts came: Thus says the LORD of hosts:

[2] I am intensely jealous for Zion, stirred to jealous wrath for her.

[3] Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, and I will dwell within Jerusalem; Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.

[4] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women, each with staff in hand because of old age, shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem.

[5] The city shall be filled with boys and girls playing in her streets.

[6] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Even if this should seem impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people, shall it in those days be impossible in my eyes also, says the LORD of hosts?

[7] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Lo, I will rescue my people from the land of the rising sun, and from the land of the setting sun.

[8] I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem. They shall be my people, and I will be their God, with faithfulness and justice.

[9] Thus says the LORD of hosts: Let your hands be strong, you who in these days hear these words spoken by the prophets on the day when the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid for the building of the temple.

[10] For before those days there were no wages for men, or hire for beasts; those who came and went had no security from the enemy, for I set every man against his neighbor.

[11] But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in former days, says the LORD of hosts,

[12] for it is the seedtime of peace: the vine shall yield its fruit, the land shall bear its crops, and the heavens shall give their dew; all these things I will have the remnant of the people possess.

[13] Just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you that you may be a blessing; do not fear, but let your hands be strong.

[14] Thus says the LORD of hosts: As I determined to harm you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the LORD of hosts, and I did not relent,

[15] so again in these days I have determined to favor Jerusalem and the house of Judah; do not fear!

[16] These then are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another; let there be honesty and peace in the judgments at your gates,

[17] and let none of you plot evil against another in his heart, nor love a false oath. For all these things I hate, says the LORD.

[18] This word of the LORD of hosts came to me:

[19] 1 Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast days of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months shall become occasions of joy and gladness, cheerful festivals for the house of Judah; only love faithfulness and peace.

[20] Thus says the LORD of hosts: There shall yet come peoples, the inhabitants of many cities;

[21] and the inhabitants of one city shall approach those of another, and say, "Come! let us go to implore the favor of the LORD"; and, "I too will go to seek the LORD."

[22] Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to implore the favor of the LORD.

[23] Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men of every nationality, speaking different tongues, shall take hold, yes, take hold of every Jew by the edge of his garment and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

Zechariah Chapter 9

[1] 1 An oracle: The word of the LORD is upon the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its resting place, For the cities of Aram are the LORD'S, as are all the tribes of Israel,

[2] Hamath also, on its border, Tyre too, and Sidon, however wise they be.

[3] Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the mire of the streets.

[4] Lo, the LORD will strip her of her possessions, and smite her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire.

[5] Ashkelon shall see it and be afraid; Gaza also: she shall be in great anguish; Ekron, too, for her hope shall come to nought. The king shall disappear from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited,

[6] 2 and the baseborn shall occupy Ashdod. I will destroy the pride of the Philistine

[7] 3 and take from his mouth his bloody meat, and his abominations from between his teeth: He also shall become a remnant for our God, and shall be like a family in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.

[8] 4 I will encamp by my house as a guard that none may pass to and fro; No oppressor shall pass over them again, for now I have regard for their affliction.

[9] 5 Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.

[10] 6 He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; The warrior's bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

[11] 7 As for you, for the blood of your covenant with me, I will bring forth your prisoners from the dungeon.

[12] 8 In the return to the fortress of the waiting prisoners, This very day, I will return you double for your exile.

[13] For I will bend Judah as my bow, I will arm myself with Ephraim; I will arouse your sons, O Zion, (against your sons, O Yavan,) and I will use you as a warrior's sword.

[14] The LORD shall appear over them, and his arrow shall shoot forth as lightning; The LORD God shall sound the trumpet, and come in a storm from the south.

[15] The LORD of hosts shall be a shield over them, they shall overcome sling stones and trample them underfoot; They shall drink blood like wine, till they are filled with it like libation bowls, like the corners of the altar.

[16] And the LORD, their God, shall save them on that day, his people, like a flock. For they are the jewels in a crown raised aloft over his land.

[17] For what wealth is theirs, and what beauty! grain that makes the youths flourish, and new wine, the maidens!

Zechariah Chapter 10

[1] Ask of the LORD rain in the spring season! It is the LORD who makes storm clouds. And sends men the pouring rain; for everyone, grassy fields.

[2] 1 For the teraphim speak nonsense, the diviners have false visions: Deceitful dreams they tell, empty comfort they offer. This is why they wander like sheep, wretched: they have no shepherd.

[3] My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; For the LORD of hosts will visit his flock, the house of Judah, and make them his stately war horse.

[4] From him shall come leader and chief, from him warrior's bow and every officer.

[5] They shall all be warriors, trampling the mire of the streets in battle; They shall wage war because the LORD is with them, and shall put the horsemen to rout.

[6] I will strengthen the house of Judah, the house of Joseph I will save; I will bring them back, because I have mercy on them, they shall be as though I had never cast them off, for I am the LORD, their God, and I will hear them.

[7] Then Ephraim shall be valiant men, and their hearts shall be cheered as by wine. Their children shall see it and be glad, their hearts shall rejoice in the LORD.

[8] I will whistle for them to come together, and when I redeem them they will be as numerous as before.

[9] I sowed them among the nations, yet in distant lands they remember me; they shall rear their children and return.

[10] I will bring them back from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into Gilead and into Lebanon, but these shall not suffice them;

[11] I will cross over to Egypt and smite the waves of the sea and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up. The pride of Assyria shall be cast down, and the scepter of Egypt taken away.

[12] I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they shall walk in his name, says the LORD.

Zechariah Chapter 11

[1] Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars!

[2] Wail, you cypress trees, for the cedars are fallen, the mighty have been despoiled. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest is cut down!

[3] Hark! the wailing of the shepherds, their glory has been ruined. Hark! the roaring of the young lions, the jungle of the Jordan is laid waste.

[4] 1 Thus said the LORD, my God: Shepherd the flock to be slaughtered.

[5] For they who buy them slay them with impunity; while those who sell them say, "Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich!" Even their own shepherds do not feel for them.

[6] (Nor shall I spare the inhabitants of the earth any more, says the LORD. Yes, I will deliver each of them into the power of his neighbor, or into the power of his king; they shall crush the earth, and I will not deliver it out of their power.)

[7] So I became the shepherd of the flock to be slaughtered for the sheep merchants. I took two staffs, one of which I called "Favor," and the other, "Bonds," and I fed the flock.

[8] In a single month I did away with the three shepherds. I wearied of them, and they behaved badly toward me.

[9] "I will not feed you," I said. "What is to die, let it die; what is to perish, let it perish, and let those that are left devour one another's flesh."

[10] Then I took my staff "Favor" and snapped it asunder, breaking off the covenant which I had made with all peoples;

[11] that day it was broken off. The sheep merchants who were watching me understood that this was the word of the LORD.

[12] I said to them, "If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, let it go." And they counted out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.

[13] But the LORD said to me, "Throw it in the treasury, the handsome price at which they valued me." So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.

[14] Then I snapped asunder my other staff, "Bonds," breaking off the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

[15] The LORD said to me: This time take the gear of a foolish shepherd.

[16] For I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will take no note of those that perish, nor seek the strays, nor heal the injured, nor feed what survives--he will eat the flesh of the fat ones and tear off their hoofs!

[17] Woe to my foolish shepherd who forsakes the flock! May the sword fall upon his arm and upon his right eye; Let his arm wither away entirely, and his right eye be blind forever!

Zechariah Chapter 12

[1] 1 An oracle: the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus says the LORD, who spreads out the heavens, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:

[2] See, I will make Jerusalem a bowl to stupefy all peoples round about. (Judah will be besieged, even Jerusalem.)

[3] On that day I will make Jerusalem a weighty stone for all peoples. All who attempt to lift it shall injure themselves badly, and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered against her.

[4] On that day, says the LORD, I will strike every horse with fright, and its rider with madness. I will strike blind all the horses of the peoples, but upon the house of Judah I will open my eyes,

[5] and the princes of Judah shall say to themselves, "The inhabitants of Jerusalem have their strength in the LORD of hosts, their God."

[6] On that day I will make the princes of Judah like a brazier of fire in the woodland, and like a burning torch among sheaves, and they shall devour right and left all the surrounding peoples; but Jerusalem shall still abide on its own site.

[7] The LORD shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over Judah.

[8] On that day, the LORD will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the weakling among them shall be like David on that day, and the house of David godlike, like an angel of the LORD before them.

[9] On that day I will seek the destruction of all nations that come against Jerusalem.

[10] 2 I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and petition; and they shall look on him whom they have thrust through, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they shall grieve over him as one grieves over a first-born.

[11] 3 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem shall be as great as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

[12] And the land shall mourn, each family apart: the family of the house of David, and their wives; the family of the house of Nathan, and their wives;

[13] the family of the house of Levi, and their wives; the family of Shemei, and their wives;

[14] and all the rest of the families, each family apart, and the wives apart.

Zechariah Chapter 13

[1] 1 On that day there shall be open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness.

[2] On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will destroy the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be mentioned no more; I will also take away the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness from the land.

[3] If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, "You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the LORD." When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through.

[4] 2 On that day, every prophet shall be ashamed to prophesy his vision, neither shall he assume the hairy mantle to mislead,

[5] but he shall say, "I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the soil, for I have owned land since my youth."

[6] 3 And if anyone asks him, "What are these wounds on your chest?" he shall answer, "With these I was wounded in the house of my dear ones."

[7] 4 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate, says the LORD of hosts. Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be dispersed, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.

[8] In all the land, says the LORD, two thirds of them shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left.

[9] I will bring the one third through fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined, and I will test them as gold is tested. They shall call upon my name, and I will hear them. I will say, "They are my people," and they shall say, "The LORD is my God."

Zechariah Chapter 14

[1] 1 Lo, a day shall come for the LORD when the spoils shall be divided in your midst.

[2] And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle: the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be removed from the city.

[3] Then the LORD shall go forth and fight against those nations, fighting as on a day of battle.

[4] That day his feet shall rest upon the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem to the east. The Mount of Olives shall be cleft in two from east to west by a very deep valley, and half of the mountain shall move to the north and half of it to the south.

[5] And the valley of the LORD'S mountain shall be filled up when the valley of those two mountains reaches its edge; it shall be filled up as it was filled up by the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, shall come, and all his holy ones with him.

[6] On that day there shall no longer be cold or frost.

[7] There shall be one continuous day, known to the LORD, not day and night, for in the evening time there shall be light.

[8] On that day, living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, and half to the western sea, and it shall be so in summer and in winter.

[9] The LORD shall become king over the whole earth; on that day the LORD shall be the only one, and his name the only one.

[10] And from Geba to Rimmon in the Negeb, all the land shall turn into a plain; but Jerusalem shall remain exalted in its place. From the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate; and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses,

[11] they shall occupy her. Never again shall she be doomed; Jerusalem shall abide in security.

[12] And this shall be the plague with which the LORD shall strike all the nations that have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall rot in their sockets, and their tongues shall rot in their mouths.

[13] On that day there shall be among them a great tumult from the LORD: every man shall seize the hand of his neighbor, and the hand of each shall be raised against that of his neighbor.

[14] Judah also shall fight against Jerusalem. The riches of all the surrounding nations shall be gathered together, gold, silver, and garments, in great abundance.

[15] Similar to this plague shall be the plague upon the horses, mules, camels, asses, and upon all the beasts that are in those camps.

[16] All who are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall come up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of Booths.

[17] If any of the families of the earth does not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, no rain shall fall upon them.

[18] And if the family of Egypt does not come up, or enter, upon them shall fall the plague which the LORD will inflict upon all the nations that do not come up to celebrate the feast of Booths.

[19] This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to celebrate the feast of Booths.

[20] On that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, "Holy to the LORD." The pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the libation bowls before the altar.

[21] And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who come to sacrifice shall take them and cook in them. On that day there shall no longer be any merchant in the house of the LORD of hosts.

Introduction to Malachi

Malachi

Introduction

This work was composed by an anonymous writer shortly before Nehemiah's arrival in Jerusalem (445 B.C.). Because of the sharp reproaches he was leveling against the priests and rulers of the people, the author probably wished to conceal his identity. To do this he made a proper name out of the Hebrew expression for "My Messenger" (Malachi), which occurs in Malachi 1:1; 3:1. The historical value of the prophecy is considerable in that it gives us a picture of life in the Jewish community returned from Babylon, between the period of Haggai and the reform measures of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is likely that the author's trenchant criticism of abuses and religious indifference in the community prepared the way for these necessary reforms.

The chosen people had made a sorry return for divine love. The priests, who should have been leaders, had dishonored God by their blemished sacrifices. In his first chapter, the writer foresees the time when all nations will offer a pure oblation (Malachi 1:11)-a prophecy whose fulfillment the Church sees in the Sacrifice of the Mass. The author then turns from priests to people, denouncing their marriages with pagans and their callous repudiation of Israelite wives. Imbued with the rationalist and critical spirit of the times, many had wearied God with the question, "Where is the God of justice?" To this question the prophet replies that the day of the Lord is coming. But first the forerunner must come, who will prepare the soil for repentance and true worship. The Gospel writers point to John the Baptizer, as the forerunner ushering in the messianic age, the true day of the Lord. When the ground is prepared God will appear, measuring out rewards and punishments and purifying the nation in the furnace of judgment. He will create a new order in which the ultimate triumph of good is inevitable.

Malachi Chapter 1

[1] An oracle. The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.

[2] I have loved you, says the LORD; but you say, "How have you loved us?"

[3] 1 Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, but hated Esau; I made his mountains a waste, his heritage a desert for jackals.

[4] If Edom says, "We have been crushed but we will rebuild the ruins," Thus says the LORD of hosts: They indeed may build, but I will tear down, And they shall be called the land of guilt, the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.

[5] Your own eyes shall see it, and you will say, "Great is the LORD, even beyond the land of Israel."

[6] A son honors his father, and a servant fears his master; If then I am a father, where is the honor due to me? And if I am a master, where is the reverence due to me?-- So says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise his name. But you ask, "How have we despised your name?"

[7] By offering polluted food on my altar! Then you ask, "How have we polluted it?" By saying the table of the LORD may be slighted!

[8] 2 When you offer a blind animal for sacrifice, is this not evil? When you offer the lame or the sick, is it not evil? Present it to your governor; see if he will accept it, or welcome you, says the LORD of hosts.

[9] So now if you implore God for mercy on us, when you have done the like Will he welcome any of you? says the LORD of hosts.

[10] 3 Oh, that one among you would shut the temple gates to keep you from kindling fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts; neither will I accept any sacrifice from your hands,

[11] For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name is great among the nations; And everywhere they bring sacrifice to my name, and a pure offering; For great is my name among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

[12] But you behave profanely toward me by thinking the LORD'S table and its offering may be polluted, and its food slighted.

[13] You also say, "What a burden!" and you scorn it, says the LORD of hosts; You bring in what you seize, or the lame, or the sick; yes, you bring it as a sacrifice. Shall I accept it from your hands? says the LORD.

[14] Cursed is the deceiver, who has in his flock a male, but under his vow sacrifices to the LORD a gelding; For a great King am I, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Malachi Chapter 2

[1] And now, O priests, this commandment is for you: If you do not listen,

[2] And if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and of your blessing I will make a curse. Yes, I have already cursed it, because you do not lay it to heart.

[3] 1 Lo, I will deprive you of the shoulder and I will strew dung in your faces, The dung of your feasts, and you will be carried off with it.

[4] Then you will know that I sent you this commandment because I have a covenant with Levi, says the LORD of hosts.

[5] My covenant with him was one of life and peace; fear I put in him, and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name.

[6] True doctrine was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found upon his lips; He walked with me in integrity and in uprightness, and turned many away from evil.

[7] For the lips of the priest are to keep knowledge, and instruction is to be sought from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

[8] But you have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction; You have made void the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.

[9] I, therefore, have made you contemptible and base before all the people, Since you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your decisions.

[10] 2 Have we not all the one Father? Has not the one God created us? Why then do we break faith with each other, violating the covenant of our fathers?

[11] Judah has broken faith; an abominable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has profaned the temple which the LORD loves, and has married an idolatrous woman.

[12] May the LORD cut off from the man who does this both witness and advocate out of the tents of Jacob, and anyone to offer sacrifice to the LORD of hosts!

[13] This also you do: the altar of the LORD you cover with tears, weeping and groaning, Because he no longer regards your sacrifice nor accepts it favorably from your hand;

[14] And you say, "Why is it?"-- Because the LORD is witness between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have broken faith though she is your companion, your betrothed wife.

[15] Did he not make one being, with flesh and spirit: and what does that one require but godly offspring? You must then safeguard life that is your own, and not break faith with the wife of your youth.

[16] For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, And covering one's garment with injustice, says the LORD of hosts; You must then safeguard life that is your own, and not break faith.

[17] You have wearied the LORD with your words, yet you say, "How have we wearied him?" By your saying, "Every evildoer is good in the sight of the LORD, And he is pleased with him"; or else, "Where is the just God?"

Malachi Chapter 3

[1] 1 Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.

[2] But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner's fire, or like the fuller's lye.

[3] He will sit refining and purifying (silver), and he will purify the sons of Levi, Refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.

[4] Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old, as in years gone by.

[5] I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be swift to bear witness Against the sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, those who defraud the hired man of his wages, Against those who defraud widows and orphans; those who turn aside the stranger, and those who do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

[6] 2 Surely I, the LORD, do not change, nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob.

[7] Since the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Yet you say, "How must we return?"

[8] Dare a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me! And you say, "How do we rob you?" In tithes and in offerings!

[9] You are indeed accursed, for you, the whole nation, rob me.

[10] 3 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, That there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the LORD of hosts: Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessing upon you without measure?

[11] For your sake I will forbid the locust to destroy your crops; And the vine in the field will not be barren, says the LORD of hosts.

[12] Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the LORD of hosts.

[13] You have defied me in word, says the LORD, yet you ask, "What have we spoken against you?"

[14] You have said, "It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping his command, And going about in penitential dress in awe of the LORD of hosts?

[15] Rather must we call the proud blessed; for indeed evildoers prosper, and even tempt God with impunity."

[16] 4 Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened attentively; And a record book was written before him of those who fear the LORD and trust in his name.

[17] And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, my own special possession, on the day I take action. And I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

[18] Then you will again see the distinction between the just and the wicked; Between him who serves God, and him who does not serve him.

[19] For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts.

[20] But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays; And you will gambol like calves out of the stall

[21] 1)and tread down the wicked; They will become ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day I take action, says the LORD of hosts.

[22] Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I enjoined him on Horeb, The statutes and ordinances for all Israel.

[23] 5 Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of the LORD comes, the great and terrible day,

[24] 6 To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the land with doom. Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of the LORD comes, the great and terrible day.

Footnotes

[13-14] The Chronicler's comment on why Saul met his tragic end: he had disobeyed the Lord's command given through the prophet Samuel (1 Sam 15:3-9), and had sought counsel of a necromancer (1 Sam 28:6-19), contrary to the Mosaic law against necromancy (Deut 18:10-11).

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[11-12] The Three: the Chronicler names only two of them: Ishbaal and Eleazar. According to 2 Sam 23:8-12, the Three were Ishbaal, Eleazar, and Shammah.

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[20] The Thirty: listed by name in 1 Chron 11:26-47. The list given in 2 Sam 23:8-39 often differs in names and spellings; for the numbers, see the note there.

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[25-38] The Chronicler fills out the pageantry of joyous occasions in keeping with his much later appreciation of the significance of the event in the history of God's people: the numbers in attendance at David's crowning in Hebron (cf 2 Sam 5:1-3) are recounted in the same spirit of enthusiasm which in 1 Chron 12:23 compares David's band of desert freebooters to a numerous encampment of angels.

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[5] Shihor of Egypt: the eastern branch of the Nile delta. Labo of Hamath: in southern Syria.

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[9] Chidon: in 2 Sam 6:6 Nodan.

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[11] Perez-uzza: a Hebrew term meaning "the breaking out against Uzza."

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[20] Alamoth: a musical term (literally, "young women") of uncertain meaning, occurring also in Psalm 46:1 where it is rendered as virgins. Perhaps it may mean something like "soprano," whereas the term "eighth" (Hebrew sheminith, 1 Chron 15:21) may then mean "bass"; cf Psalm 6:1; 12:1.

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[8-36] A hymn composed of parts, with textual variants, from several Psalms: 1 Chron 16:8-22 = Psalm 105:1-15; 1 Chron 16:23-33 = Psalm 96:1-13; 1 Chron 16:34-36 = Psalm 106:1, 47-48.

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[16] Zadok . . . and Ahimelech, son of Abiathar, were priests: as in the Chronicler's source, 2 Sam 8:17. But according to 2 Sam 15:24, 29, 35; 17:15; 19:11; 20:25, and even 1 Chron 15:11 it was Abiathar who shared the priestly office with Zadok, and he remained in this office even during the early years of Solomon's reign (1 Kings 2:26; 4:4). Moreover, according to 1 Sam 22:20; 23:6; 30:7 Ahimelech was the father, not the son, of Abiathar. If the text Ahimelech, son of Abiathar, is not due to a scribal change, one must assume that Abiathar had a son who was named after his grandfather and who shared the priestly office with his father during the last years of David's reign.

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[17] David's sons were the chief assistants to the king: in the parallel passage, 2 Sam 8:18 which was the Chronicler's source, David's sons were priests. The change is characteristic of the Chronicler, for whom only Aaron's descendants could be priests.

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[1:1-9:34] The Chronicler set as his task the retelling, from his particular viewpoint, of the story of God's people from the beginning to his own day. Since his primary interest was the history of David and the Davidic dynasty of Judah, he presents through mere genealogical lists a summary of what preceded the reign of Saul, David's predecessor in the kingdom. The sources for these genealogies are mostly the canonical Hebrew Scriptures that were already in their present form in his time. The cross references in this book indicate in each case the scriptural sources used.

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[38] Seir: another name for Esau (1 Chron 1:35) or Edom (1 Chron 1:43).

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[5] Elhanan . . . slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath: the Chronicler thus solves the difficulty of the apparent contradiction between 1 Sam 17:49, 51 (David killed Goliath) and 2 Sam 21:19 (Elhanan killed Goliath).

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[1] A satan: in the parallel passage of 2 Sam 24:1 the Lord's anger. The change in the term reflects the changed theological outlook of postexilic Israel, when evil could no longer be attributed directly to God. At an earlier period the Hebrew word satan ("adversary," or, especially in a court of law, "accuser"), when not used of men, designated an angel who accused men before God (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7; Zechariah 3:1-2). Here, as in later Judaism (Wisdom 2:24) and in the New Testament, satan, or the "devil" (from the Greek translation of the word), designates an evil spirit who tempts men to wrongdoing.

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[25] Six hundred shekels of gold: about 10, 000 dollars. According to 2 Sam 24:24, David paid 50 shekels of silver, about 20 dollars, for Ornan's threshing floor; but for the Chronicler the site of the temple was much more precious than that.

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[2-4] According to 1 Kings 5:15-18,(15-32) it was Solomon who made the material preparations for building the temple, even though David had wished to do so (1 Kings 5:17-18[17-29]). The Chronicler, however, sought to have David, who was Israel's ideal king, more closely connected with Israel's most sacred sanctuary, the temple of Jerusalem.

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[9] The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is reflected in the name Solomon, in Hebrew, Shelomo. A contrast is drawn here between Solomon, the peaceful man, and David, who waged great wars (1 Chron 22:8). David was prevented from building the temple, not only because all his time was taken up in waging war (1 Kings 5:17), but also, because he shed much blood (1 Chron 22:8), and in the eyes of the Chronicler this made him ritually unfit for the task.

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[14] A hundred thousand talents of gold: about 3,775 tons of gold. A million talents of silver: about 37,750 tons of silver. The fantastically exaggerated figures are intended merely to stress the inestimable value of the temple as the center of Israelite worship. More modest figures are given in 1 Kings 9:14, 28; 10:10, 14.

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[6] Ahimelech, son of Abiathar: see note on 1 Chron 18:16.

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[2-31] This list of twenty-four classes of temple singers balances the list of the twenty-four classes of priests (1 Chron 24:4-19). The last nine names in 1 Chron 25:4 which seem to form a special group, appear to have been originally fragments or incipits of hymns. With some slight changes in the vocalization, the names would mean: "Have mercy on me, O LORD," "Have mercy on me," "You are my God," "I magnify," "I extol the help of . . . ," "Sitting in adversity," "I have fulfilled," "He made abundant," and "Visions."

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[18] The large building (in the Hebrew text Parbar): see note on 2 Kings 23:11.

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[1-15] This list of army commanders is similar to, but distinct from, the list of David's warriors as given in 1 Chron 11:10-47. The schematic enumeration of the soldiers as presented here is, no doubt, artificial and grossly exaggerated (12 x 24,000 = 288,000 men!), unless the Hebrew word (eleph) for thousand is understood as designating a military unit of much smaller size; see note on 1 Chron 12:25-38.

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[34] After Ahithophel: after his suicide (2 Sam 17:23). Jehoiada then succeeded him as the king's counselor. Abiathar: the priest. The Chronicler does not mention his office because he regards only the Zadokites as legitimate high priests.

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[2] The ark . . . , the footstool . . . of our God: the Lord, who was invisibly entroned upon the cherubim that were associated with the ark of the covenant at Shiloh and later in the Jerusalem temple, had the ark as his footstool; cf Psalm 99:5; 132:7. The propitiatory (1 Chron 28:11) and the chariot throne (1 Chron 28:18) reflect the different circumstances of the postexilic community, for whom only the place of the ark was a focal point of worship, though the ark itself was no longer present.

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[18] Chariot throne: probably suggested by Ezekiel 1:4-24; 10:1-22.

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[22] For a second time: the first time is referred to in 1 Chron 23:1. Here there is a solemn public ratification of David's earlier appointment of Solomon as his successor.

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[2:3-4:23] For two reasons, the Chronicler places the genealogy of the tribe of Judah before that of the other tribes, giving it also at greater length than the others: because of his interest in David and because in the Chronicler's time the people of God were almost exclusively Jews. Both David and the Jews were of the tribe of Judah.

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[9] Chelubai: a variant form of the name Caleb (1 Chron 2:18, 42) distinct from Chelub of 1 Chron 4:11.

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[10-17] Immediate ancestors of David. A similar list is given in Ruth 4:19-22; each list, independent of the other, derives from a common source.

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[18-24] Descendants of Caleb. In 1 Chron 4:15 as is often the case in the Pentateuch (Numbers 13:6; 14:6, 30; 26:65; etc.), Caleb is called son of Jephunneh. Here he is called son of Hezron, perhaps because the Calebites were reckoned as part of the clan of the Hezronites.

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[25-41] The Jerahmeelites were a clan in the Negeb of Judah.

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[42-49] Another list, dating from preexilic times, of the Calebites, a clan that inhabited the south of Judah.

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[50-55] The Hurites, a clan dwelling to the south and west of Jerusalem and related to the Calebites.

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[1-9] David's sons.

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[1] Daniel: called Chileab in 2 Sam 3:3.

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[5] Shimea: called Shammua in 2 Sam 5:14. Ammiel: called Eliam in 2 Sam 11:3.

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[10-16] The kings of Judah from Solomon to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.

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[15] Shallum: the same as Jehoahaz, Josiah's successor; cf Jeremiah 22:11.

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[17-24] The descendants of King Jechoniah up to the time of the Chronicler. If twenty-five years are allowed to each generation, the ten generations between Jechoniah and Anani (the last name on the list) would bring the birth of the latter to about 405 B.C.--an important item in establishing the approximate date of the Chronicler.

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[18] Shenazzar: presumably the same as Sheshbazzar of Ezra 1:8, 11; 5:14-16 the prince of Judah who was the first Jewish governor of Judah after the exile. Both forms of the name probably go back to the Babylonian name Sin-ab-ussar signifying, "O [god] Sin, protect [our] father!"

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[19] Zerubbabel: here called the son of Pedaiah, though elsewhere (Haggai 1:12, 14; 2:2, 23; Ezra 3:2, 8; 5:2; Nehemiah 12:1) called son of Shealtiel. The latter term may merely mean that Zerubbabel succeeded Shealtiel as head of the house of David.

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[1-43] The southern tribes.

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[39] Gedor: in the Greek, Gerar, no doubt correct.

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[1-26] The Transjordan tribes.

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[26] Pul: the name which the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 B.C.) took as king of Babylon.

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[5:27-6:66] The tribe of Levi. The list gives special prominence to Levi's son Kohath, from whom were descended both the Aaronite priests (1 Chron 5:26[26-41]) and the leading group of temple singers (1 Chron 6:18-23).

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[30-41] The line of preexilic priests. The list seems to be confused in 1 Chron 5:26(36-38), which repeat the names, mostly in inverse order, that occur in 1 Chron 5:26(34-36). A similar but shorter list is given, with variations, in Ezra 7:1-5.

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[16-32] The origin of the choir services performed by the levitical families in the postexilic temple at the time of the Chronicler is here attributed to David, somewhat as all the laws in the Pentateuch are attributed to Moses.

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[39-66] Regarding the nature of the rights of Levites in the cities assigned to them, see note on Joshua 21:1.

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[1-40] The northern tribes.

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[1-40] A second, variant list of the Benjaminites, with special prominence given to Saul's family (1 Chron 8:33-40).

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[2-34] The inhabitants of Jerusalem after the exile. A similar list, with many variants in the names, is given in Nehemiah 11:3-24.

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[1] Queen of Sheba: women rulers among the Arabs are recorded in eighth-century-B.C. Assyrian inscriptions. Sheba was for centuries the leading principality in what is now the Yemen.

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[11-12] Cabinet: an unknown wood, probably fragrant.

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[22] Tarshish ships: large, strong vessels for long voyages. Tarshish was the ancient Tartessus, a Phoenician colony in southern Spain, the name of which denotes a center for smelting metallic ore.

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[1-3,7] The glorious rise of Solomon, his piety and wisdom, administrative skill and wealth, the extension of his kingdom, his prestige among neighboring rulers, his reign of peace, above all his friendship with God-these are now eclipsed by his sins of intermarriage with great numbers of pagan wives and the consequent forbidden worship of their gods (Exodus 34:11-16; Deut 7:1-5). His construction of temples in their honor merited the punishment of loss of a united kingdom to his posterity, and the opposition of adversaries to himself (1 Kings 11:14, 23-37). Hadad the Edomite rebelled against Solomon at the beginning of his reign (1 Kings 11:25). Rezon of Syria established a new kingdom in Damascus; Jeroboam of Israel constituted the greatest threat because of his revolt from within. This threefold threat culminated in the breakup of Solomon's kingdom.

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[1] Shechem: chief city of the northern tribes, where a covenant of fidelity had previously been made between the Lord and his people and a stone of witness had been erected in memory of the event (Joshua 24:25-27).

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[16] What share have we in David: even in David's time the northern tribes seemed ready to withdraw from Judah (2 Sam 20:1). The unreasonable attitude of Rehoboam toward them intensified the discontent caused by the oppression of Solomon (1 Kings 12:4) and thus precipitated the establishment of a rival monarchy (1 Kings 12:20).

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[26-32] Jeroboam feared reunification of the divided kingdom through worship in the single temple in Jerusalem. To prevent this he encouraged shrines on the high places, and appointed false priests to supplement those of levitical descent. The golden bullocks he installed in two of his sanctuaries, though probably intended as bearers of the invisible Divine Majesty, quickly became occasions for idolatry. Thus Jeroboam caused Israel to sin, and sealed his doom and that of his royal house (1 Kings 13:34; 14:7-14).

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[29] Bethel and Dan: at the southern and northern boundaries of the separate kingdom of Israel, where sanctuaries had existed in the past (Genesis 12:8; 13:3; 18:10-22; 25:1-16; Judges 18:1-31).

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[25] In the fifth year . . . Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem: c. 926 B. C. According to 2 Chron 12:1-12, the repentance of King Rehoboam and of the princes of Israel after the warning of the prophet Shemaiah diverted the actual attack on Jerusalem. Shishak, however, carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and of the king's palace (2 Chron 12:9). A bas-relief of this Pharaoh in the temple of Amon at Karnak commemorates his conquest of some hundred and fifty Palestinian and Transjordanian cities and towns.

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[18] Ben-hadad . . . king of Aram: Ben-hadad I, third successor of Rezon, who had thrown off the yoke of the Israelites during the reign of Solomon and become king of Aram (1 Kings 11:23, 24).

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[1] Elijah the Tishbite: one of the most important figures in Old Testament history. As his name indicates ("Yahweh is my God"), Elijah was the successful leader in the struggle to preserve the knowledge and worship of Yahweh against the encroaching worship of Baal introduced into Israel by Jezebel, the Tyrian wife of Ahab. The Elijah cycle of narratives includes, besides the above struggle, miracle stories, denunciations of kings, and a preparation for the prophet's role as eschatological forerunner of the "great day of the Lord"; cf Malachi 3:18(23-24); Matthew 17:10-13; Luke 1:17.

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[11-13] Compare these divine manifestations to Elijah with those to Moses (Exodus 19:1-23; 33:21-23; 34:5) on the same Mount Horeb (Sinai) (Deut 4:10-15). Though various phenomena, such as wind, storms, earthquakes, fire (Exodus 19:18-19), herald the divine presence, they do not constitute the presence itself which, like the tiny whispering sound, is imperceptible and bespeaks the spirituality of God. It was fitting that Elijah, whose mission it was to re-establish the covenant and restore the pure faith, should have returned to Horeb where the covenant was revealed to Moses and through him to the Israelite people (Exodus 3:1-4, 17; 33:18-34:9). Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ at the time of his transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:1-7; Luke 9:28-36).

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[15-17] Elijah himself carried out only the third of the commissions entrusted to him (1 Kings 19:19-21); Elisha was deputed to perform the first in person (2 Kings 8:7-19), and the second through one of his followers (2 Kings 9:1-10).

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[19-21] Elijah's act of throwing his mantle over the shoulders of Elisha expressed the divine call to share the prophetic mission. Elisha's prompt response through destruction of his plow and oxen is an example of total obedience and detachment from his former manner of living in order to promote the glory of God.

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[9] En-rogel: the modern Job's Well southeast of Jerusalem. It marked the ancient boundary between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Joshua 15:7; 18:16). Here David's men sought information about Absalom's revolt (2 Sam 17:17).

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[20] At this time, neither law nor the right of primogeniture, but the will of the ruling monarch, determined succession to the throne.

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[38] Cherethites and Pelethites: mercenaries in David's bodyguard. They became part of his retinue after he defeated the Philistines and established himself in Jerusalem; cf 2 Sam 8:18; 15:18; 20:23.

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[50] Horns of the altar: the protuberances on each of the four corners of the altar were surrounded with a special degree of holiness (Exodus 27:2; 29:12), and constituted a place of asylum for transgressors of the law (Exodus 21:13-14; 1 Kings 2:28).

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[22] At the beginning of the year: in the spring.

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[19] The response of Ahab to this divine judgment is described in 1 Kings 21:27, and the consequences are given in 1 Kings 21:28-29; 2 Kings 9:21-26.

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[20-26] In these verses the Judean editor of the Books of Kings substitutes, for the message of Elijah prepared for in 1 Kings 21:19 a sweeping and definitive judgment against the whole family of Ahab in the same terms as were used against the families of Jeroboam I (1 Kings 14:9-11) and Baasha (1 Kings 16:2-4). This judgment is the fruit of later theological reflection; it is not occasioned directly by the crime against Naboth, but by the idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel. The judgment on Jezebel herself (1 Kings 21:23) may have been uttered by Elijah during the Naboth episode; it finds its fulfillment in 2 Kings 9:36-37. Still another theological explanation for the death of Ahab is given by the North Israelite writer of 1 Kings 20:35-42 above.

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[19-23] The prophet Micaiah uses as a last resort to deter Ahab from his foolhardy design of fighting against Ramoth-gilead the literary device of describing false prophets as messengers of a lying spirit which God, after holding counsel with his angels, permits to deceive them.

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[28] A note in the Hebrew text after this verse attributes to Micaiah ben Imlah the first words of the book of a different Micaiah, the minor prophet of Moreshet.

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[52] Seventeenth year: so the present Hebrew text. More consistent with 2 Kings 1:17 would be a date in the twenty-fourth year of Jehoshaphat for Ahab's death; see note on 2 Kings 3:1.

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[1-6,8-9] Solomon is expected to remove from his father's family the imputation of blood guilt brought upon it by Joab in the unwarranted killings of Abner (2 Sam 3:27-29) and Amasa (2 Sam 19:9-10); and likewise to punish Shimei for his curse, the effects of which David had pledged himself not to avenge in person (2 Sam 19:21-23). The standards of morality presumed in these verses are far from the Christian ones.

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[17,22-25] Abishag had been the concubine of King David (1 Kings 1:4). His successor, Solomon, inherited his father's harem. When Adonijah requested Abishag as his wife, he was subtly undermining the security of Solomon's throne and exposing himself to the suspicion of insurrection that would cost him his life; cf 2 Sam 3:6-11; 16:22.

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[7-19] The administration of the kingdom thus initiated by Solomon continued in its main features for the duration of the monarchy in Israel and Judah.

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[19] One prefect . . . in the king's own land: the royal territory of Judah had its own peculiar administration different from that of the twelve districts which had to supply the king and his household with a month's provisions of food each year (1 Kings 4:7).

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[1] Construction of the temple of the LORD is here paralleled in importance with the founding of the nation after the departure from Egypt. In both, God is the central figure who chose Israel as his people, and now chooses the place where his temple should be built (Deut 12:4-18, 26). The year is given in a round number, 480, which corresponds to twelve generations. The fourth year of Solomon's reign: c. 968 B.C.

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[11-13] The word of the LORD . . . my people Israel: the oracle, which came as a climax at the completion of the work, was an expression of God's acceptance and approval. Nevertheless the fulfillment of God's promises to David and his royal descendants will depend on their observance of his ordinances and commands.

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[19] The innermost part of the temple: the sanctuary or holy of holies reserved exclusively for the Lord. Here through his presence he dwelt as on a throne between the cherubim above the ark of the covenant (1 Kings 6:23-28; 2 Chron 3:10-13). See note on Exodus 25:18-20.

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[20] Twenty (cubits) high: it is usually supposed that the holy of holies was of this height because it had a raised floor, five cubits above the floor level of the nave, rather than a dropped ceiling. The building was twenty-five cubits high (1 Kings 6:2) according to the reading here followed.

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[15-21] The two hollow bronze columns, Jachin and Boaz (2 Chron 3:17) stood free to the right and left of the temple porch. The names are related to God's power (Boaz) founding (Jachin) the temple and his people.

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[23-26] The sea . . . rested on twelve oxen: this was a large circular tank containing about twelve thousand gallons of water.

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[6-9] The transfer of the ark of the covenant into the newly constructed temple building, and the oracle of God's acceptance (1 Kings 9:3-9), and his act of possession (1 Kings 8:10-13), constituted the temple's solemn dedication, and made of it the abiding dwelling of God among his people for which David had hoped (2 Sam 6:12-15; 7:1-3). The concurrence of the feast of Booths marks an appropriate transition of God's dwelling among nomadic tribes to his permanent abode among a settled people.

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[33-34,46-53] These references to deportation of Israelites to a hostile land are an expansion of Solomon's prayer dating from the Babylonian exile four centuries later.

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[14] One hundred and twenty talents of gold: approximately three million six hundred thousand dollars.

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[15] Millo: probably means a filling, and may refer to an artificial earthwork or platform of stamped ground south of the temple area. It was begun by David (2 Sam 5:9); cf 1 Kings 9:24; 11:27.

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[26] Ezion-geber . . . Edom: the first mention of maritime commerce in the Israelite kingdom (to which the land of Edom was subject after its conquest by King David; cf 2 Sam 8:14).

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[1] The year one hundred and sixty: 152 B.C. Alexander . . . Antiochus: Alexander Balas claimed to be a son of Antiochus IV. He had the backing of the Romans, who had never forgiven Demetrius for becoming king without their permission. The latter meanwhile had become unpopular with his own people as well as with the Jews.

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[21] Jonathan . . . feast of Booths: Jonathan began to discharge the office of high priest October 23-30, 152 B.C. For seven years after the death of Alcimus there had been no high priest in Jerusalem. It was taken for granted that the king, though a Gentile, had the power to appoint one. The Maccabees, though a priestly family, were not of the line of Zadok, and some in Israel regarded Jonathan's tenure as a usurpation.

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[30] The three districts annexed from Samaria: mentioned by name in 1 Maccc 11;34. The present Greek text, by a scribal error, has added "and Galilee" after "Samaria."

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[57] Cleopatra: Cleopatra Thea, then about fifteen years old. She later married Demetrius II, and later still, his brother Antiochus VII. The year one hundred and sixty-two: 151/150 B.C.

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[67] The year one hundred and sixty-five: 147 B.C. Demetrius: Demetrius II Nicator.

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[76] Joppa: about forty miles northwest of Jerusalem. For the first time the Maccabees took possession of a seaport; nominally it was on behalf of King Alexander.

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[89] Kinsmen: a class higher than Chief Friends.

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[7] Eleutherus: modern Nahr el-Kebir, the northern border of modern Lebanon; in the second century B.C. the northern limit of Coelesyria.

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[67] Plain of Hazor: the site of the ancient Canaanite city (Joshua 11:10), ten miles north of the Lake of Gennesaret.

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[8] Seleucia-by-the-Sea: at the mouth of the Orontes, the port city of Antioch.

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[10] I regret . . . to kill me: according to Josephus, Ammonius, a friend of Alexander, had tried to assassinate Ptolemy, and the latter claimed that Alexander was the instigator, thus calumniating him to gain his kingdom (1 Macc 11:11).

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[19] The year one hundred and sixty-seven: 146/145 B.C. The two deaths (1 Macc 11:17-18) occurred in the summer of 145 B.C.

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[30] Brother: this title and father in 1 Macc 11:32 are honorific titles used of the Kinsmen.

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[31] Lasthenes: leader of the mercenary troops who had come with Demetrius from Crete. He was now the young king's chief minister and was apparently responsible for the disastrous policy (1 Macc 11:38) of disbanding the national army.

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[34] Aphairema: the Ophrah of Joshua 18:23; 1 Sam 23:6; the Ephron of 2 Chron 13:19; and the Ephraim of John 11:54 - modern et-Taiyibeh, five miles northeast of Bethel. Lydda: the Lod of the postexilic Jews (Ezra 2:33; Nehemiah 11:35) and the hometown of Aeneas, who was cured by Peter (Acts 9:32-34). It is ten miles southeast of Joppa. Ramathaim: the Ramathaim-zophim of 1 Sm 1,1, and the Arimathea of Matthew 27:57 modern Rentis, nine miles northeast of Lydda.

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[59] Ladder of Tyre: modern Ras en-Naquurah, on the border between Lebanon and Israel, where the mountains reach the sea, so that the coastal road must ascend in a series of steps.

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[60] West-of-Euphrates: refers here to the territory of Palestine and Coelesyria, but not Upper Syria; cf 1 Macc 11:3, 32; 7:8.

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[7] Onias: Onias I, high priest from 323-300 or 290 B.C. Arius: Arius I, king from 309 to 265 B.C. The letter was sent long ago, i.e., a century and a half before.

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[9] The sacred books . . . in our possession: a reference to "the law, the prophets and other books," as mentioned in the Prologue to Sirach (1 Macc 12:1), after 132 B.C.

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[25] Country of Hamath: the Seleucid territory of Upper Syria northeast of Coelesyria and separated from it by the Eleutherus River. The latter territory was under the command of Jonathan (1 Macc 11:59, 60).

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[49] The Great Plain: of Beth-shan (1 Macc 12:41), where Jonathan's disbanded troops remained.

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[20-21] The invaders made a wide flanking; movement to invade Judea from the south. Adora was a few miles southwest of Beth-zur. They would avoid Beth-zur itself and other strongholds of the Maccabees by following the way of the desert.

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[23] Bashama: northeast of the Sea of Galilee.

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[41] The year one hundred and seventy: March, 142, to April, 141 B.C., by the temple calendar.

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[43] Gazara: a key position in the Shephelah, fortified by Bacchides in 160 B.C.; cf 9,52.

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[51] The twenty-third day of the second month: June 3, 141 B.C.

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[53] John: John Hyrcanus, who was to succeed his father as ruler and high priest; cf 1 Macc 16:23-24.

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[1] The year one hundred and seventy-two: 141-140 B.C. The expedition began most probably in the spring of 140.

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[2] Arsaces: Arsaces VI, also called Mithridates I, the Parthian king (171-138 B.C.). Parthians had overrun Persia and now held Babylonia, both of which had hitherto belonged to the Seleucid empire. The Greeks and Macedonians in these countries had appealed to Demetrius for help.

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[16] The embassy to Rome and Sparta was sent soon after Simon's accession to power, and the replies were received before Demetrius' expedition (1 Macc 14:1-3)--probably in 142 B.C.

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[27] Eighteenth day of Elul: September 13, 140 B.C. Asaramel: a Hebrew name meaning "court of the people of God."

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[47] Ethnarch: a subaltern ruler over a racial group whose office needed confirmation by a higher authority within the empire.

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[1] Antiochus: Antiochus VII Sidetes, son of Demetrius I, and younger brother of Demetrius II, now a prisoner of the Parthians. At the age of twenty he set out from the island of Rhodes to take his brother's place and drive out the usurper Trypho.

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[10] The year one hundred and seventy-four: 138 B.C.

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[11] Dor, by the sea: a fortress on the Palestinian coast, fifteen miles south of Carmel.

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[16] Lucius: Perhaps Lucius Caecilius Metellus, consul in 142 B.C., or Lucius Calpurnicus Piso, consul in 140-139 B.C. This document pertains to Simon's first years as leader.

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[22] Attalus: Attalus II of Pergamum, reigned 159-138 B.C. Ariarthes: Ariarthes V of Cappadocia, reigned 162-130 B.C. Arsaces: see note on 1 Macc 14:2.

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[37] Orthosia: a port between Tripoli and the Eleutherus River.

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[39] Kedron: a few miles southeast of Jamnia and facing the fortress of Gazara held by John Hyrcanus.

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[14] In the year one hundred and seventy-seven, in the eleventh month: January-February, 134 B.C., by the temple calendar.

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[15] Dok: a fortress built on a cliff three miles northwest of Jericho, near modern Ain Duq.

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[23-24] John Hyrcanus was ruler and high priest from 134 B.C. till his death in 104 B.C. These verses suggest that the book was written, or at least completed, only after he died.

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[1] Land of Kittim: Greece. The name referred originally to inhabitants of Kiti, capital of the isle of Cyprus, then to any Cypriots (Isaiah 23:1; Jeremiah 2:10), later to Greeks in general, and finally even to Romans. See note on Daniel 11:30. Darius: Darius III, Codoman (336-331 B.C.).

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[7] Twelve years: 336-323 B.C.

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[10] The year one hundred and thirty-seven: Antiochus IV seized the throne in September, 175 B.C. Dates are given in this book according to the Seleucid era, which however was reckoned in two different ways. Antiochians considered this date to be October, 312 B.C. (Syrian calendar), while Babylonians and Jewish priests accepted April, 311 B.C. as the commencement of the era (temple calendar). The author of 1 Macc dates political events by the Syrian calendar but religious events by the temple calendar. Accordingly, the civil New Year occurred variously in September or October, the religious New Year in March or April.

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[14] Gymnasium: symbol and center of athletic and intellectual life, it was the chief instrument of Hellenistic propaganda. Jewish youth were attracted by sports and encouraged to join youth clubs. They received training in military skills and in the duties of citizens. Through participation in the intellectual life, many were gradually won over to paganism.

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[17] Elephants: an important part of Seleucid armament. About 300 B.C. Seleucus I, founder of the dynasty, procured five hundred of them from India; cf 1 Macc 6:34-37.

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[20] Defeated Egypt in the year one hundred and forty-three: 169 B.C. No mention is made in 1 Mc of the second expedition to Egypt a year later, described in 2 Macc 5:1, 11; Daniel 11:25, 19 records both.

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[33] City of David: not Mount Zion on the eastern hill of Jerusalem, which David captured from the Jebusites (2 Sam 5:7), but a new fortress built on the western hill and overlooking the temple and its courts on Mount Zion. It was occupied for twenty-six years by the Syro-Macedonian garrison, together with apostate Jews, and was a continual threat to the temple and the Jewish people (1 Macc 1:36); cf 1 Macc 13:49-51.

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[54] Fifteenth day of the month Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five: December 6, 167 B.C. Horrible abomination: in the original Hebrew, a contemptuous pun on the title "Lord of heaven" given to the god Zeus Olympios, to whom an image or perhaps an altar was erected upon the altar of holocausts in the temple of Jerusalem; cf Daniel 9:27; 11:31.

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[56-57] Scrolls of the law: one or more of the first five books of the Old Testament.

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[1] Modein: a village twenty miles northwest of Jerusalem.

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[18] The King's Friends: a regular order of nobility at Hellenistic courts. The various grades are frequently mentioned in this book:

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[18] Friends, Chief Friends, Kinsmen.

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[29] The desert: the sparsely inhabited mountain country southward from Jerusalem and west of the Dead Sea. It was an arid region with some perennial springs and a fair amount of rain in winter.

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[42] Hasideans: in Hebrew hasidim, "pious ones," a religious group devoted to the strict observance of the law. They were the forerunners of both the Pharisees and the Essenes. They first supported the Maccabean movement, but subsequently opposed it, regarding it as too political.

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[70] In the year one hundred and forty-six: 166 B.C.

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[10] Apollonius: the Mysian commander mentioned in 1 Macc 1:29; 2 Macc 5:24.

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[49] Nazirites: see note on Numbers 6:1-3.

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[16] Beth-horon: the famous pass leading up from the coastal plain to the Judean hill country. Here Joshua won an important battle (Joshua 10:10-11), and in 66 A.D. a Roman force under Cestius was trapped and massacred.

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[22] He himself: out of reverence for God, the author of 1 Macc prefers to use this and other expressions, such as "Heaven," instead of the divine name. Cf 1 Macc 3:50.

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[24] About eight hundred: the figures given in this book for strength of armies and number of casualties are not to be taken literally. In accordance with biblical usage, they indicate rather the importance of the battle described or the greatness of the victory.

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[37] This expedition, in the spring of 165 B.C., resulted in failure; cf 1 Macc 6.

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[38] Nicanor: the leader of another attack against the Jews four years later. He was finally killed by Judas; cf 1 Macc 7:26-46.

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[40] Emmaus: probably not the village mentioned in Luke 24:13 but a settlement about twenty miles west of Jerusalem at the edge of the hill country.

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[46] ...Mizpah a place of prayer for Israel: a holy place established of old eight miles north and slightly west of Jerusalem. It was here that Samuel began to judge the Israelites (1 Sam 7:5-11; 10:17).

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[48] To learn . . . idols: favorable omens for the coming battle. A contrast is intended between the idol worship of the pagans and the consultation of the word of God by the Jews; cf 2 Macc 8:23.

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[15] Gazara: Gezer of the Hebrew Bible, five miles northwest of Emmaus; Azotus, Hebrew Ashdod, lay to the southwest; and Jamnia, Hebrew Jabneel (Joshua 15:11) or Jabneh (2 Chron 26:6), to the west of Gazara.

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[22] Philistine territory: the coastal cities of southern Palestine, traditionally hostile to Jerusalem. Jamnia in particular was an important base for the Seleucid power.

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[29] Beth-zur: an important frontier city in the mountain area, fifteen miles south of Jerusalem. Its inhabitants were sympathetic to the Maccabees and refused to receive Lysias.

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[35] According to 2 Macc 11:13-15 peace negotiations followed between Lysias and Judas.

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[36] The sanctuary: the whole temple area with its walls, courts and outbuildings, to be distinguished from the temple proper, the oblong edifice with porch, main room and inner shrine.

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[52] Twenty-fifth day of the ninth month . . . in the year one hundred and forty-eight: December 14, 164 B.C.

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[59] Days of the dedication . . . Chislev: institution of thefeast of Hannukah, also called the feast of Dedication (John 10:22). Josephus Flavius calls it the feast of Lights.

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[1] The events of this chapter occurred within the year 163 B.C.

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Akrabattene: a district southwest of the Dead Sea.

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[4] Sons of Baean: 2 Macc 10:15-23 calls them simply Idumeans.

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[6-8] This summary anticipates the order of events and would fit better between 1 Macc 5:36 and 37. It corresponds to 2 Macc 12:17-23. The action was probably a reprisal for the massacre referred to in 1 Macc 5:13. Timothy was the Seleucid governor of Transjordan. Jazer: a town on the road from the Jordan to Amman.

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[15] Ptolemais: Hebrew Acco (Judges 1:31), modern Acre, on the coast north of Haifa.

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[25] Nabateans: an Arab people who acquired wealth and power as caravan merchants in the final two centuries B.C. They settled down, established Petra as their capital, and for a time controlled all of Transjordan, even as far as Damascus. It was from a Nabatean governor that St. Paul escaped about 38 A.D. (2 Cor 11:32-33).

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[46] Ephron: a city in Transjordan opposite Beth-shan, about five miles east of the Jordan River. Situated on a height, it dominated the valleys of the two tributaries of the Jordan.

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[65] Sons of Esau: Idumeans.

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[1] Elymais: the mountainous region of Elam, north of the Persian Gulf. This section continues the story from 1 Macc 3:37 and pertains to events preceding those in 1 Macc 4:37-39.

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[16] The year one hundred and forty-nine: September 22, 164, to October 9, 163 B.C. A Babylonian list of the Seleucid kings indicates that Antiochus died in November or early December of 164.

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[17] The king's son Antiochus: Antiochus V Eupator, then about nine years old. He was in Antioch, still in the charge of Lysias, who proceeded to govern and wage wars in his name. Both were put to death two years later, when Demetrius, brother of Antiochus IV, arrived to claim the kingship; cf 1 Macc 7:1-3.

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[20] The year one hundred and fifty: October, 163, to September, 162 B.C.

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[49] A sabbath year in the land: when sowing and reaping were prohibited (Exodus 23:10-11; Lev 25:2-7). The year without a harvest (autumn of 164 to autumn of 163) was followed by a food shortage.

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[1-3] The year one hundred and fifty-one: the spring of 161 B.C. Demetrius, son of Seleucus, was the lawful heir to the kingdom; but when only nine years old, he was taken as a hostage at Rome in place of his uncle, who ruled as Antiochus IV Epiphanes. At the age of twenty-five Demetrius fled secretly from Rome and, with the support of the Syrians, overcame his rival Antiochus V and put him to death. The royal palace: at Antioch.

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[5-6] Alcimus: a renegade Jew hostile to the Maccabees, who became high priest after the death of Menelaus (2 Macc 14:3). He received confirmation in his office from the new King Demetrius (2 Macc 7:9), and brought malicious charges against Judas and his brothers and the people (2 Macc 7:6). He wrought more evils on the Israelites than the Gentiles had done (2 Macc 8:23).

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[19] Beth-zaith: about three miles north of Beth-zur and twelve miles south of Jerusalem.

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[27] Nicanor . . . deceitfully sent to Judas: a more favorable picture of Nicanor, as an honest man who became a personal friend of Judas, is given in 2 Macc 14:17-25. Their friendship was broken by the intrigues of Alcimus (2 Macc 14:26-30).

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[31] Caphar-salama: a village seven miles north-northwest of Jerusalem, on the road leading to Beth-horon.

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Defiled them: spitting on the priests caused them to become legally defiled.

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[40] Adasa: a village southeast of Caphar-salama.

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[49] The thirteenth of Adar: March 27, 160 B.C. This day in the Jewish calendar was called the "Day of Nicanor" (2 Macc 15:36), but it was not long celebrated by the Jews.

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[50] A short time: about one month following the death of Nicanor. After that began the attack of Bacchides resulting in the death of Judas (1 Macc 9:1-18).

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[1] This chapter contains the account of the embassy which Judas sent to Rome, probably before the death of Nicanor, to conclude a treaty of alliance between Rome and the Jewish nation. Without precise chronology, the pertinent data are gathered into a unified theme.

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[1] The image of the Roman Republic greatly impressed the smaller Eastern peoples seeking support against their overlords (1 Macc 8:1-16), because of Roman success in war (1 Macc 8:2-11) and effective aid to their allies (1 Macc 8:12-13). Numerous interventions by Rome in the politics of the Near East bear witness to its power and prestige in the second century B.C. Cf 1 Macc 1:10; 7:2; 12:3; 15:15-24; 2 Macc 11:34. With the Roman control of Palestine in 63 B.C., the Republic and later the Empire became heartily detested. The eulogy of Rome in this chapter is one of the reasons why 1 Maccabees was not preserved by the Palestinian Jews of the century that followed.

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[2] Gauls: probably the Celts of northern Italy and southern France, subdued by the Romans in 222 B.C., and again in 200-191 B.C.; but perhaps also those in Asia Minor (the Galatians), whom the Romans defeated in 189 B.C.

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[5] Phillip: Phillip V of Macedonia, defeated by a Graeco-Roman alliance at Cynoscephalae in 197 B.C. Perseus, his son, was defeated at Pydna in 168 B.C., and died a prisoner. With this, the kingdom of Macedonia came to an end.

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[6] Antiochus: Antiochus III, greatest of the Seleucid kings. He was defeated at Magnesia in 190 B.C. By the Treaty of Apamea in 189, he was obliged to pay Rome a crushing indemnity of 15, 000 talents. It was the weakening of Antiochene power and the growing military and economic influence of Rome that led Antiochus IV to adopt the policy of political, religious and cultural unification of Syria and Palestine.

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[8] Lycia, Mysia: regions in western Asia Minor. These names are restored here by conjectural emendation; the Greek text has "India, Media," most likely through scribal error. Eumenes: Eumenes II (197-158), king of Pergamum, an ally of Rome who benefited greatly from Antiochus' losses.

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[9-10] The revolt of the Achaean League, inserted here, occurred in 146 B.C., after Judas' time. It was crushed by the Roman consul Lucius Mummius and marked the end of Greek independence. The author regards all Greeks as the enemies of God.

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[16] They entrusted their government to one man: actually the Roman Republic always had two consuls as joint heads of the government. Presumably, a single one dealt with embassies and answered letters, hence the impression the Jews received; cf 1 Macc 8:15, 16.

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[22] The reply . . . on bronze tablets and sent to Jerusalem: The decree of the Senate would be inscribed on bronze and kept in the Roman Capitol, with only a copy in letter form sent to Jerusalem. The translation of the decree into Hebrew and then into Greek, as found here in 1 Macc, may have occasioned this error.

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[2] They took the road . . . Arbela, they captured it: This passage is restored, in part, by conjectural emendation. The present Greek text could be translated, "They took the road to Gilgal, and camping opposite Mesaloth at Arbela, they captured it." But Arbela (modern Khirbet Irbid) was in Galilee-on a high hill overlooking the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Gilgal, on the contrary, was in the Jordan valley near Jericho. "Mesaloth" is probably a corrupt form of a Hebrew word meaning "steps, ascent."

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[54] In the year . . . second month: May, 159 B.C.

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[62] Bethbasi: two miles east of Bethlehem and six miles north of Tekoa.

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[73] Began to judge: exercise the governing authority as in the book of Judges. With Jerusalem and the garrison towns (1 Macc 9:50) firmly in Seleucid hands, Jonathan's freedom of action was greatly restricted. Michmash, southeast of Bethel, famous for the exploit of the former Jonathan, son of Saul; cf 1 Sam 14.

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[3] The first month of the year one hundred and fifty-two: April/May 160 B.C., by the temple calendar.

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[15] As far as the mountain slopes: conjectural emendation. The Greek text has "as far as Mount Azotus"; this is most unlikely. Apparently the Greek translator mistook the Hebrew word ashd't, "slopes," for a shd'd, "Azotus."

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[33] Tekoa: home of the prophet Amos in the wild country above the Dead Sea, southeast of Jerusalem.

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[34] Omitted, it is a dittography of 1 Macc 9:43.

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[35] Jonathan sent his brother: this was John who was called Gaddi (1 Macc 2:2; cf 1 Macc 9:36, 38).

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[36] Medaba: northeast of the Dead Sea.

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[45] Jonathan's force was apparently trapped in one of the many oxbows of the lower Jordan. Bacchides had crossed and caught them still on the east bank.

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[50] These sites constitute a ring on the edges of the province of Judea.

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[2] Here, as in Jeremiah 31:15 Rachel's tomb is placed north of Jerusalem. Later tradition understood Genesis 35:19-20 in the sense given by Matthew 2:16-18 and placed the tomb at Bethlehem, farther south.

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[5] A garrison of the Philistines: the Hebrew word for "garrison" has been explained alternatively to mean a pillar erected to mark the Philistine occupation, or an inspector or officer for the collection of taxes. In a prophetic state: in an ecstatic condition due to strong feelings of religious enthusiasm induced by a communal observance, possibly accompanied by music and dancing.

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[8] By inserting this verse, with its seven days, an editor has prepared for one narrative of the rejection of Saul (1 Sam 13:8-15) in the very context of Saul's anointing.

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[10] The story has here been abridged by omitting the fulfillment of the first two signs given by Samuel (1 Sam 10:2-4).

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[25] The law of royalty: the charter defining the rights of the king.

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[1] About a month later: there is ancient evidence for a longer introduction to this campaign. The time indication here may refer to its earlier stages rather than to the events of 1 Sam 10.

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[12-14] With these verses, an editor has harmonized the account of the acknowledgment of Saul as king at Mizpah (1 Sam 10:17-24) with the public acclamation at Gilgal (1 Sam 11:15) after the defeat of the Ammonites (1 Sam 11:1-11). The Greek text of 1 Sam 11:15 reads "and Samuel anointed Saul as king," instead of they made Saul king.

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[1] A formula like that of 2 Sam 5:4 was introduced here at some time; but the age of Saul when he became king remains a blank, and the two years assigned for his reign in the received text cannot be correct. Tradition (Acts 13:21) offers the round number, "forty years."

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[3-4] The Philistine garrison: see note on 1 Sam 10:5. Let the Hebrews hear: a different reading of these verses, based on the Greek, would yield: "And the Philistines heard that the Hebrews (or: the slaves) had revolted. Saul in the meantime sounded the trumpet throughout all the land (1 Sam 13:4), and all Israel heard that Saul. . . ."

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[7-15] These verses, like 1 Sam 10:8 anticipate the rejection of Saul; a different occasion and motivation for this are given in 1 Sam 15; 28:17-18.

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[18] Ephod: to be used in consulting God; see note on 1 Sam 14:41; 2:28

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[23] Past Beth-horon: this is a textual correction influenced by 1 Sam 13:18; the received Hebrew text refers to Bethel (Beth-aven), but the effect of the victory would seem to have been that the main ridge of mountains in the territories of Benjamin and Ephraim was cleared of Philistines.

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[41] The Urim and Thummim, or sacred lots, were a device for ascertaining the will of God; they ceased to be used after the time of David. The material and the shape of these objects, and the manner in which they were used, are unknown. They gave a "yes" or "no" answer to specific questions.

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[45] Rescue: the Hebrew word used is that for the "redemption" of the first-born (Exodus 13:13-15).

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[49] Ishvi: known also as Ishbaal, in 2 Sam 2:8 and elsewhere. The name may once have read "Ishyo" here.

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[3] Under the ban: in such wars of extermination, all things (men, cities, beasts, etc.) were to be blotted out; nothing could be reserved for private use. The interpretation of God's will here attributed to Samuel is in keeping with the abhorrent practices of blood revenge prevalent among pastoral, seminomadic peoples such as the Hebrews had recently been. The slaughter of the innocent has never been in conformity with the will of God.

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[4] The numbers here are not realistic; compare note 1 Sam 14:24.

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[11] I regret: God manifests "regret" when, offended by men, he takes away his benefits, graces and favors. It is not God, but men, who change, to their own detriment.

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[22] Samuel is disapproving, not of sacrifices in general, but of merely external sacrifices offered in defiance of God's commandment and without heartfelt obedience.

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[1] The anointing here prepared for is unknown to David's brother Eliab in the next chapter (1 Sam 17:28), and David is twice anointed after Saul's death (2 Sam 2:4; 5:3).

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[14] An evil spirit sent by the LORD: the Lord permitted Saul to be tormented with violent fits of rage.

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[18] Of the two traditions which describe the coming of David into Saul's service, the oldest Greek translation retains only the one comprised in 1 Sam 16:14-23; 17:1-11, 32-54. This effort at consistency is not in accord with the character of the rest of the book; see note on 1 Sam 8:1. Though square brackets are used in this edition to indicate the passages lacking in the oldest translation, this is meant only to help the reader follow one account at a time. Both are equally a part of the inspired text, as are also the various amplifications and retouchings of the narrative given within brackets in 1 Sam 18; 19.

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[6] Scimitar: the Hebrew word for this is rather rare, and the nature of the weapon was in doubt until recent years. It is not the same as the sword of 1 Sam 17:45.

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[7] Six hundred shekels: over 15 pounds.

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[12-31] An alternative account of how David came to undertake the combat with the Philistine is here inserted; it is continued in 1 Sam 17:55-58; 18:1-6. See note on 1 Sam 16:18.

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[54] At the time supposed by this narrative, Jerusalem was still Jebusite, and David had no military tent of his own; the verse is a later gloss.

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[11] This story in all probability orignially followed 1 Sam 18:29, placing the episode of David's escape on the night of his marriage with Michal.

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[11] Give him to the LORD: some ancient texts call Samuel a nazir in this context; see note on Numbers 6:1-3

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[20] Since she had asked: this explanation would be more directly appropriate for the name Saul, which means "asked"; Samuel means "name of God."

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[24] An ephah: a little more than a bushel.

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[26] The meal on the first day of the month would have religious overtones, and a ritual impurity (Lev 15:16; Deut 23:10-12) would bar David from sharing in it.

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[5-6] From women: the high priest, willing to distribute the holy bread to David and his men, requires that they be free from ritual uncleanness, associated in Old Testament times (Lev 15:18) with the marriage act. David's answer supposes the discipline of a military campaign under the conditions of "holy war" (Deut 23:10).

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[4-5] Refuge: seemingly connected with the cave complex spoken of in 1 Sam 22:1.

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[25] Fool is his name: Nabal in Hebrew means "a fool."

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[26] Abigail anticipates that some misfortune will shortly overtake Nabal, as in fact it does (1 Sam 25:37-38).

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[29] The bundle of the living: the figure is perhaps taken from the practice of tying up valuables in a kerchief or bag for safekeeping. Abigail desires that David enjoy permanent peace and security, but that his enemies be subject to constant agitation and humiliation like a stone whirled about, cast out of the sling, and thereafter disregarded.

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[19] The Lord's inheritance: the land of Israel (Deut 32:8-9) under the Lord's special protection, where he could be freely worshiped.

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[6] Has . . . belonged to the kings of Judah: as a personal holding, outside the system of tribal lands; Jerusalem, when taken by David, had a similar status (2 Sam 5:7-9).

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[12] Human beings cannot communicate at will with the souls of the dead. God may, however, permit a departed soul to appear to the living and even to disclose things unknown to them. Saul's own prohibition of necromancy and divination (1 Sam 28:3) was in keeping with the consistent teaching of the Old Testament. If we are to credit the reality of the apparition to Saul, it was due, not to the summons of the witch, but to God's will; the woman merely furnished the occasion.

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[1-10] A hymn attributed to Hannah, the mother of Samuel, as her thanksgiving to God because she has borne a son despite her previous sterility. She praises God as the helper of the weak (1 Sam 2:1-2), who casts down the mighty and raises up the lowly (1 Sam 2:3-5), and who alone is the source of true strength (1 Sam 2:8-10); the hymn ends with a prayer for the king (1 Sam 2:10). This canticle has several points of resemblance with our Lady's Magnificat.

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[1] Horn: the symbol of strength; cf Psalm 18:3; 75:5; 89:18; 112:9.

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[3] Speak . . . mouths: addressed to the enemies mentioned in 1 Sam 2:1.

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[18] Linen apron: called in Hebrew "ephod," but not the same as the high priest's ephod (Exodus 28:6-14) or the ephod used in divination (1 Sam 2:28). Samuel wore a simple apron such as was worn by the priests (1 Sam 22:18), and on one occasion also by David (2 Sam 6:14).

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[22] The bracketed words, which recall Exodus 38:8, are a gloss in the received text; they are lacking in the oldest Greek translation, and in a Hebrew manuscript from Qumran.

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[27-36] These verses propose the punishment of Eli from a point of view contemporary with the reform of Josiah (2 Kings 23:9; cf 1 Sam 2:36); they hint at the events recorded in 1 Sam 22:18-23 and 1 Kings 2:27. The older story of this divine warning is that in 1 Sam 3:11-14

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[28] Ephod: a portable container, presumably of cloth, for the lots used in ritual consultation of God during the days of the Judges (Judges 17:5; 18:14-15) and down into the time of David (1 Sam 14:3-5; 23:6-8; 30:7-8). The ephod of the high priest described in Exodus 28:6-8 becomes a garment upon which a breastpiece of decision symbolizes, but no longer serves for, such consultation. The Exodus text codifies a later form of the tradition.

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[5] This report of the suicidal act of Saul is presented as a part of his downfall, to be judged accordingly.

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[12] Cremated them: cremation was not normally practiced in Israel, though it was known in the country from pre-Israelite times.

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[1] Uncommon: prophetic communications from God were almost unknown.

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[17] May God do thus and so to you: the Biblical writers avoid repeating for us the specific terms of a curse as the speaker would have uttered it.

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[1] And. . . Israel: this belongs to ch 4.

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[4] Enthroned upon the cherubim: this title of the Lord seems to have originated in the sanctuary at Shiloh; it represents the divine Majesty as seated upon a throne on which he can be borne through the heaven by winged creatures somewhat as in the visions of Ezekial 1 and 10.

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[8] These mighty gods: the Philistines, who were polytheists, are represented as supposing the Israelites honored several gods.

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[6] Hemorrhoids . . . mice: a double calamity fell upon them-a plague of mice or rats, and a severe epidemic of pestilential tumors, probably the bubonic plague.

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[3] A guilt offering: a propitiatory offering customary after unwitting transgression of the ordinances of God regarding holy things or property rights; cf Lev 6:1-3.

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[6] Poured it out on the ground: for the symbolism, cf 2 Sam 14:4.

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[12] Ebenezer: or eben ha-ezer, means "stone of help."

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[1] From this chapter on, the First Book of Samuel gives us two and sometimes three viewpoints on most of the events with which it is concerned, such as the appointment of Saul as king, the reasons for his downfall, his relationship with David, even the circumstances of Saul's death (1 Sam 31; 2 Sam 1). The choice of Saul as king is seen, in 1 Sam 8, followed by 1 Sam 10:17-27 and 1 Sam 12 as motivated by the people's defection from the proper service of God; this later editorial approach incorporates not only narratives with which it is consistent, but also early traditions (1 Sam 9:1-10, 16 and 1 Sam 11) which portray the events and their motivation quite differently.

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[8] A quarter of a silver shekel: about a tenth of an ounce of silver.

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[9] (9)This verse is a later explanation of the term seer, first used in the text in 1 Sam 9:11.

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[12] On the high place: the local sanctuary on the top of a hill, where the sacrifice was offered and the sacrificial meal eaten.

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[24] And what went with it: a slight change would give "and the fatty tail" as perhaps the original reading. Sheep in the Near East are exceptionally fat-tailed, and such a portion would be thought a special delicacy by the Hebrews. However, the ritual legislation as we know it (Lev 3:9) would require that the fat tail be burned on the altar. If this general rule was later than the time of Samuel, the present text may have been retouched so as not to seem to contravene it. A Qumran text has "the festive (leg)" here.

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[1] All Israel: as in the original source (1 Kings 12:1), the northern tribes, distinct from Judah and Benjamin. Contrast the Chronicler's own terms, those Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah (2 Chron 10:17), and all the Israelites (literally, all Israel) in Judah and Benjamin (2 Chron 11:3).

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[5-12] These verses, though not found in 1 Kings, are apparently based on a reliable, ancient source.

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[3] Sukkites: foreign mercenaries in the Egyptian army.

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[4-12] This is a free composition of the Chronicler to show that this was a religious, rather than a political, war.

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[7-14] An Ethiopian invasion of Judah is mentioned only in 1 Chronicles. This account may be a legend contrived to show how the pious King Asa was rewarded through divine assistance. There may, however, have been an incursion of nomads from the Negeb at this time; cf 2 Chron 14:13-14.

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[10-12] With this description of a covenant ceremony in the third month of a year beginning in the spring, the Chronicler lays a foundation for celebrating the ancient feast of Pentecost (Weeks) as the time for a solemn renewal of the people's covenant with God on Mount Sinai; see Exodus 19:1-3; Lev 23:16 and the note there. This is also the background for Pentecost as the "birthday of the Church."

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[7] The king of Aram . . . escaped: according to the Lucianic recension, "the king of Israel escaped": this may well be the original reading; Asa was friendly with Aram.

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[3] The Lord was with Jehoshaphat: along with Hezekiah and Josiah, Jehoshaphat was one of the Chronicler's favorite kings.

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[12-22] See note on 1 Kings 22:19-23.

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[27] "Hear, O peoples, all of you!": this quotation, which appears in some texts of 1 Kings 22:28, ascribes to the prophet Micaiah ben Imlah the opening words of the prophetic utterance of Micah of Moresheth (Micah 1:2), a century later.

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[2] Jehu the seer, son of Hanani: hardly the same seer as Jehu, son of Hanani, who prophesied against Baasha almost fifty years earlier (1 Kings 16:1).

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[5] The bronze altar . . . the LORD's Dwelling: the Chronicler justifies Solomon's worship at the high place of Gibeon. He pictures the LORD's Dwelling, i.e., the Mosaic meeting tent, and the bronze altar made at Moses' command (Exodus 31:1-9) as still at Gibeon after David had removed the ark of the covenant from there to a new tent in Jerusalem (1 Chron 15:1, 25; 16:1). The altar made by Bezalel is described as being of acacia wood plated with bronze (Exodus 27:1, 2). Solomon later made an all-bronze altar for the temple in Jerusalem (2 Chron 4:1).

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[16-17] Egypt . . . Cilicia: it seems likely that the horses came from Cilicia and the chariots from Egypt. Some read the source of these data in 1 Kings 10:28-29 as containing the name (Musur) of a mountain district north of Cilicia, rather than of Egypt; but the author of Chronicles surely understood Egypt; cf 2 Chron 9:28.

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[1-30] Although the account here seems to be a free composition of the Chronicler, there is probably a basis in fact for it; there could well have been a raid of nomads against Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat, similar to Zerah's attack on Asa (2 Chron 14:8-14). The story may also, in some way, be connected with the campaign of Israel and Judah against Moab through the territory of Edom (2 Kings 3:4-27).

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[21] Holy Appearance: the Lord, who is with the Israelite army (2 Chron 20:17), manifests himself (the same language is in Psalm 29:2) in bringing Israel the victory (Exodus 14:14, 24).

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[26] Beracah: the Hebrew word for "blessing."

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[6] One of Ahab's daughters: Athaliah. In 2 Chron 22:2 (and its source, 2 Kings 8:26) she is called Omri's daughter; but this should probably be understood in the sense of granddaughter.

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[12] Elijah: the only mention by the Chronicler of this prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel. It is doubtful that Elijah was still living in the reign of Jehoram of Judah; in any case, the attribution of the letter to him is most likely an imaginative filling out of the narration.

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[9] This account of the death of Ahaziah of Judah is not derived from 2 Kings 9:27-28 with which it is at variance.

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[13] Beside his pillar: the king had a special place in the eastern gateway of the temple court that contained the altar of holocausts. He occupied this place on feasts and sabbaths at the time of the statutory offerings, or when he made free-will offerings of his own; cf 2 Kings 11:4 and also Ezekiel 46:1-8 for a later reflection of this.

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[5] Collect money: according to 2 Kings 12:5 the people themselves brought the money to the temple; it consisted, at least in part, of voluntary contributions. At the time of the Chronicler (see Nehemiah 10:32) there was a fixed head tax for the upkeep of the temple (2 Chron 34:9), based on Exodus 30:12-16. This was still in force in New Testament times (Matthew 17:24-25).

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[24] With Obed-edom: possibly a reference to the priest of an Edomite false worship (cf 2 Chron 25:14), if not to a levitical family of gatekeepers; cf 1 Chron 15:18; 26:12-15.

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[28] The City of Judah: in the parallel passage of 2 Kings 14:20 the City of David. The Chronicler is referring, by this term, to the capital of Judah, Jerusalem.

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[5] Zechariah: this person, not otherwise identified, is referred to in language suggesting a pious layman rather than a priest or prophet; cf 2 Chron 29:1.

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[19] Ahaz, king of Israel: in the period of the divided kingdom the term king of Israel would elsewhere mean "king of the northern kingdom of Israel."

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[13] A Danite woman: a widow of the tribe of Naphtali (1 Kings 7:14). The Danites had settled in the northern section of Naphtali's territory (Judges 18:27-29). Bezalel's fellow craftsman was of the tribe of Dan (Exodus 31:6).

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[7] Third month . . . seventh month: between the feast of Pentecost and that of Booths, an interval without rain in Palestine, at the end of which the problem of storage (2 Chron 31:11) would become more urgent.

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[33] The approach to the tombs: literally, "the ascent of the tombs," which may mean "the upper section of the tombs," their most prominent and honored place.

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[11] There is no evidence elsewhere for an imprisonment of King Manasseh in Babylon. However, according to the Assyrian inscriptions, he paid tribute to the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon (680-669 B.C.) and Asshurbanipal (668-627 B.C.). He may well have been obliged to go to Nineveh to take the oath of allegiance as vassal to the king of Assyria.

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[13] And prayed to him: these words led an unknown writer to compose the apocryphal "Prayer of Manasseh," which is added as an appendix to many editions of the Vulgate Bible and is used in the public prayers of the Church.

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[3] In his twelfth year: c. 628 B.C., the year after Asshurbanipal's death, when Judah could free itself from Assyrian domination. From 2 Kings 22:1-23:25 alone, one might think that Josiah's reform began only after the discovery of the book of the law in the temple, in the eighteenth year of his reign. But the Chronicler is no doubt right in placing the beginning of the reform at an earlier period. The very repair of the temple, which led to the finding of the book of the law, must have been occasioned by a cultic reform.

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[31] Standing at his post: see note on 2 Chron 23:13.

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[25] The reference to a lamentation over Josiah composed by Jeremiah is not found either in 2 Kgs or Jer; but see note on Zechariah 12:11. Their lamentations: probably a reference to the canonical Book of Lamentations.

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[6] Nebuchadnezzar . . . bound him with chains to take him to Babylon: the Chronicler does not say that Jehoiakim was actually taken to Babylon. According to 2 Kings 24:1-6 Jehoiakim revolted after being Nebuchadnezzar's vassal for three years; he died in Jerusalem before the Babylonian king could reach the city. However, Daniel 1:1-2 apparently based on 2 Chron 36:6-7 speaks of Jehoiakim's deportation to Babylon.

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[10] His brother Zedekiah: Zedekiah was actually the brother of Jehoiakim and the uncle of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:17; Jeremiah 37:1), though scarcely older than his nephew (2 Kings 24:8, 18; 2 Chron 36:9, 11).

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[22-23] The words of these verses are identical with those of Ezra 1:1-3a. Originally Ezra-Nehemiah formed the last part of the single work of the Chronicler, of which 1 and 2 Chronicles formed the first part. But when Ezra-Nehemiah was regarded as a natural sequence to the Books of Samuel and of Kings, it was separated from 1 and 2 Chronicles and placed before them. Thus, 1 and 2 Chronicles became the last part of the Hebrew Bible. To prevent this work from ending on a note of doom, Ezra 1:1-3a was repeated as 2 Chron 36:22-23.

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[1] Mount Moriah: the height in the land of Moriah (Genesis 22:2). This is the only place in the Bible where the temple mount is identified with the site where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac.

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[4] The porch . . . twenty cubits high: this measurement, not given in the Books of Kings, is here based on a variant Greek text that may be a later revision. The received Hebrew text says, "one hundred and twenty cubits high." The height of the two free-standing columns adjacent to the porch (1 Kings 7:15-16) is nearly doubled by the Chronicler (2 Chron 3:15).

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[14] The veil: at the entrance of the holy of holies, as also in the Mosaic meeting tent (Exodus 26:31-32). Solomon's temple had doors at this place (1 Kings 6:31). Apparently there was a veil here in the temple of the Chronicler's time as there was also in Herod's temple (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).

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[3] Oxen: in 1 Kings 7:24 this double row of ornaments is described as being gourds. The text of Kings available to the Chronicler may have been faulty on this point as the words are similar in sound. In 4:16 the forks correspond in a similar way to bowls in the text of 1 Kings (7:40).

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[5] Three thousand measures: according to 1 Kings 7:26, two thousand measures.

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[4] The Levites: The parallel passage in 1 Kings 8:3 has the priests; but see 2 Chron 5:5 where the Deuteronomic term levitical priests is used, as also in 2 Chron 23:18; 30:27.

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[9] The ark has remained there to this day: the Chronicler must have copied this from his source (1 Kings 8:8) without reflecting that the ark was lost in the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem; cf 2 Macc 2:4-8.

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[13] This verse is not found in the Chronicler's source; cf 1 Kings 8:22-23. He has Solomon praying on a bronze platform . . . in the middle of the courtyard because at the time of the Chronicler only the priests prayed before the altar.

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[9-10] The feast: of Booths, celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and followed by a solemn octave lasting through the twenty-second day (Lev 23:33-36; Numbers 29:12-35); the people are therefore sent home on the twenty-third day (2 Chron 7:10). The festival (2 Chron 7:8) for the dedication of the altar and of the temple lasted for seven days before the feast of Booths, from the seventh to the fourteenth day. According to 1 Kings 8:65-66 the people are dismissed at the end of these seven days.

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[2] The cities which Huram had given him: according to 1 Kings 9:10-14, Solomon had ceded the cities as payment for the timber and gold received from Tyre. But since Huram was dissatisfied, he may have returned the cities to Solomon.

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[4] Tadmor: later known as Palmyra, an important caravan city in the Syrian desert. The parallel passage in 1 Kings 9:18 has Tamar, in southern Judah; cf Ezekiel 47:19; 48:28. But Solomon may well have fortified Tadmor against the Arameans.

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[28] See note on 2 Chron 1:16-17.

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[2] Jehosheba was the wife of Jehoida, the high priest; cf 2 Chron 22:11.

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[14] By the pillar: see note on 2 Chron 23:13.

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[5] A savior: by this language, typical of the Book of Judges (2 Kings 3:9, 15), Jeroboam II of Israel is meant; cf 2 Kings 14:27.

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[6] Sacred pole: see note on Exodus 34:13.

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[12-13] The conclusion to the reign of Joash is given again in 2 Kings 14:15-16 where it is more appropriate.

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[14] My father, my father: the king expresses here the same sentiments as those with which Elisha addressed Elijah.

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[16-19] Symbolic acts similar to these are seen in Exodus 17:8-10; Joshua 8:18-20; Ezekiel 4:1-3.

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[1-2] In the second year . . . twenty-nine years in Jerusalem: the reigns of the kings of Judah between Athaliah and Ahaz are assigned too many years in all to correspond to the reigns in Israel from Jehu to the fall of Samaria. It seems probable that Amaziah was murdered as soon as his son Azariah was old enough to rule, and that Amaziah's reign was nearer nineteen than twenty-nine years. The correlation, in 2 Kings 15:1 of the beginning of Azariah's reign with the 27th year of Jeroboam II can hardly be correct; and the sixteen-year reign of Jotham of Judah (2 Kings 15:33) consisted for the most part of a regency during the illness of his father (2 Kings 15:5).

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[17] See note on 2 Kings 14:1-2.

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[21] Azariah: also called Uzziah in many texts.

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[25] Sea of the Arabah: the Dead Sea. Jonah: see note on Jonah 1:1.

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[1] Twenty-seventh year: see note on 2 Kings 14:1-2.

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[19] Pul: The Babylonian throne name of the Assyrian Tiglath-pileser III; cf 2 Kings 15:29.

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[27] The twenty years here ascribed to Pekah are an impossibility; the calculation which made his reign, of five years at most, appear so long may have been based on the attempt to give Jotham of Judah a full sixteen-year reign independently of his regency. See 2 Kings 16:1 and the note on 2 Kings 14:1-2.

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[35] The Upper Gate: also the Gate of Benjamin; cf Jeremiah 20:2; Ezekiel 9:2.

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[9] Firmly dated events bearing on chapters 16 through 20 are: the fall of Damascus (2 Kings 16:9) in 732 B.C., the fall of Samaria (2 Kings 18:9-11) in 721 B.C., and Sennacherib's invasion of Judah (2 Kings 18:13) in 701 B.C., which is equated both in Kgs and in Isaiah 36:1 with the 14th year of Hezekiah. These data make it necessary to credit Ahaz with at least a twenty-year reign, between 735 and c. 715 B.C., and to exclude the correlations between Hoshea of Israel and Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18. If the 14th-year correspondence for 701 B.C. is given up, other arrangements are possible. The alleged ages of Jotham (2 Kings 15:33), Ahaz (2 Kings 16:2), and Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:2) at their successive accessions to the throne do not argue for an early date for Hezekiah; but one or more of these may be artificial. Azariah (2 Kings 15:1-7; Isaiah 6:1) was still on the throne of Judah in 743 B.C.

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[15] For consultation: perhaps the introduction into Judah of the Babylonian practice of omen sacrifices; cf Ezekiel 21:16.

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[18] Emplacement . . . for a throne, and the outer entrance for the king: signs of sovereignty for the Hebrew kings.

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[3] Shalmaneser: son and successor of Tiglath-pileser.

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[6] The king of Assyria: Shalmaneser's successor and usurper, Sargon II.

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[34-40] They did not . . . earlier manner: this passage is an adaptation of language denouncing the Israelites to make it applicable to the later Samaritan sect of postexilic times. The original bearing of the discourse [2 KINGS 13-15] can be seen by reading it between 2 Kings 17:22 and 2 Kings 17:23. Cf also 2 Kings 18:12.

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[9] See note on 2 Kings 16:9.

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[18:13-20:11] Duplication of Isaiah 36:1-22; 37; 38:8, 21-22.

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[13] Sennacherib succeeded Sargon II as king of Assyria. His Judean campaign was waged in 701 B.C. See note on 2 Kings 16:9.

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[17] General, the lord chamberlain . . . commander: the text lists three major functionaries by their Assyrian titles, of which only the first, more nearly "lord lieutenant," is military in origin; the commander was technically the king's chief butler.

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[3] See note on Isaiah 37:3.

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[21-31] 2KI 19:21-28 are addressed to Sennacherib, 2 Kings 19:29-31 to Judah.

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Baalzebub: in this form, "Baal of flies." The name in the Hebrew text is a derisive alteration of Baalzebul, "Prince Baal." The best New Testament evidence supports the latter form in Matthew 10:25; Luke 11:15. Later associations with Aramaic beeldebaba, "enemy," gave the ancient name its connotation of "devil."

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[8] Hairy garment: a sign of ascetical and prophetic calling, imitated by John the Baptizer; see Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6.

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[12] Divine fire: literally, "fire of God," which in Hebrew sounds quite like man of God. The play on words is the basis for Elijah's alleged retort. This story was told among the people to enhance the dignity of the prophet and to reflect the power of God whom he served. The mercy which God extends even to the wicked is described in Wisdom 11:17-12, 22 and the prophet Elijah was well aware of it (1 Kings 21:28-29).

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[17] Joram: in the Second Book of Kings the name Joram (yoram), alternately Jehoram (yehoram), appears in numerous passages to designate both the king of Judah, son and successor of Jehoshaphat (848-841 B.C.), and the contemporary king of Israel, son of Ahab (852-841 B.C.). For the convenience of the reader in distinguishing these two kings, the longer form, Jehoram, is used to designate the king of Judah and the shorter form, Joram, to designate the king of Israel. See note on 2 Kings 3:1.

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[12-19] Duplication of Isaiah 39:1-8.

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[20] Pool and conduit: Hezekiah's tunnel; cf 2 Chron 32:30.

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[3] Shaphan: head of a prominent family in the reign of Josiah, secretary to the king, bearer and reader of the newfound book of the law (2 Kings 22:3-13; 2 Chron 34:8-9, 15-20). He and his sons favored the reform of King Josiah and supported the prophet Jeremiah; cf Jeremiah 26:24.

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[7] Cult prostitutes: of both sexes; cf 1 Kings 14:24.

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[10] Topheth . . . by fire: condemned by Deuteronomic law and denounced by Jeremiah (Deut 12:31; Jeremiah 7:29-31; Jer 19).

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[11] Large building: to the west of the temple area (1 Chron 26:18), named in the Hebrew by an Egyptian name for a similar construction.

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[13] Mount of Misconduct: a paranomasia on "Mount of Olives" (in Hebrew Maschit/mishcheh) as suggested by the Targum. Cf Vulgate, "Mount of Offense." Horror . . . idol: in all three phrases here the Hebrew uses a pejorative designation meaning "abomination."

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[18] From Samaria: more narrowly, from Bethel; cf 1 Kings 13:31-32.

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[24] Household gods, idols: teraphim. See note on Genesis 31:19.

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[30-35] People of the land: in this period, the phrase referred to "landed gentry"; in later times it meant "the poor." Cf 2 Kings 24:14.

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[33] A talent of gold: some manuscripts of the Greek and Syriac texts have "ten talents."

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[8] He reigned three months: in the year 597 B.C.

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[1-30] This chapter parallels Jer 39 and 52; see notes to those parts of Jeremiah.

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[11] Those who had deserted: perhaps on the advice of Jeremiah; cf Jeremiah 38:2-3.

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[1] Gilgal: commonly identified with Jiljulieh, about seven miles north of Bethel, and different from the Gilgal in Deut 11:30 near Shechem, and that in Joshua 4;5 passim, near Jericho.

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[9] Double portion of your spirit: as the first-born son inherited a double portion of his father's property (Deut 21:17), so Elisha asks to inherit from Elijah his spirit of prophecy in the degree befitting his principal disciple. In Numbers 11:17, 25 God bestows some of the spirit of Moses on others.

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[12] My father: a religious title accorded prophetic leaders; cf 2 Kings 6:21; 8:9. Israel's chariots and drivers: Elijah was worth more than a whole army in defending Israel and the true religion. King Joash of Israel uses the same phrase of Elisha himself (2 Kings 13:14).

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[23-24] This story, like the one about Elijah and the captains (2 Kings 1), is preserved for us in Scripture to convey a popular understanding of the dignity of the prophet. Told in popular vein, it becomes a caricature, in which neither Elisha nor the bears behave in character. See note on 2 Kings 1:12 and the contrasting narrative in 2 Kings 4.

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[1] The sequence of the reigns between Ahab and Jehu of Israel may be reconstructed as follows: Jehoshaphat of Judah outlived Ahab by a short time, so that Ahaziah of Israel was his contemporary. Jehoram of Judah succeeded his father Jehoshaphat while Ahaziah of Israel was still alive. Jehoram (Joram) of Israel became king, following his brother Ahaziah, in the second year of Jehoram of Judah (2 Kings 1:17); this is one datum on which the earliest Greek evidence and the standard Hebrew text are in agreement.

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[22] The two Jehorams were contemporary for much of their reigns; Jehoram of Judah was succeeded by Ahaziah something more than a year before Jehu did away with the rulers of both kingdoms (2 Kings 9:1-29). The Moabite campaign of 2 Kings 3:4-27 is thus best placed under the two Kings Jehoram, before the Edomite rebellion mentioned in 2 Kings 8:20. In the received Hebrew text, Jehoshaphat has been made the Judahite protagonist in the campaign against Moab as a tribute to his piety; this assimilates the story of 2 Kings 3 to that of 1 Kings 22, but creates difficulties in the chronology which the extant data leave partly unresolved. An older practice for stories of the Israelite kings was to leave them and their fellow kings without identification by name; cf 2 Kings 6:8-7, 20. The name of Jehoshaphat has been omitted from a number of places in 2 Kings 3-8, in this translation; cf 1 Kings 22:51.

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[25] Kir-hareseth: modern Kerak, east of the Dead Sea; cf Isaiah 16:7, 11; Jeremiah 48:31, 36.

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[27] The wrath against Israel: probably the wrath of Chemosh, the Moabite god to whom the child was offered. He was feared by the Israelites who lost heart on foreign soil.

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[1] His creditor . . . slaves: Hebrew law permitted the selling of wife and children as chattels for debt; cf Exodus 21:7; Amos 2:6; 8:6; Isaiah 50.

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[26] Greetings: the conventional answer to Gehazi's question, which tells him nothing.

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[29] Do not greet him: the profuse exchange of compliments among Orientals meeting and greeting one another consumed time. Urgency necessitated their omission, as our Lord counseled his disciples (Luke 10:4).

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[12] Wash in them and be cleansed: typical of the ambiguity in ritual healing or cleanliness. The muddy waters of the Jordan are no match hygienically for the mountain spring waters of Damascus; ritually, it is the other way around.

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[17] Two mule-loads of earth: Israelite earth on which to erect in Aram an altar to the God of Israel.

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[19] Go in peace: Elisha understands and approves the situation of Naaman who, though a proselyte as regards belief in and worship of the God of Israel, is required by his office to assist his master, the king, worshiping in the pagan temple of Rimmon.

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[22] With your sword or bow: since the king would not slay prisoners who had surrendered to his power, much less should he slay prisoners captured by God's power. By oriental custom they became guests within Samaria's walls.

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[1] Market: literally "gate," the principal place of trading in ancient walled cities in time of peace.

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[6] Kings of the borderlands: from Musur in Anatolia rather than Egypt.

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[6] An official: literally "eunuch," and perhaps actually so in this instance.

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[13] A dog . . . your servant: Hazael feigns humility (1 Sam 24:14; 2 Sam 9:8), without attending to the crimes he would commit after usurping the royal power as the prophet predicts. Anything so important: literally "a great deed" for a patriotic Syrian.

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[16] Jehoram of Judah succeeded his father Jehoshaphat during the reign of Ahaziah of Israel. See note on 2 Kings 3:1.

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[25] Twelfth year of Joram: i.e., of Israel, who probably reigned only eight years.

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[7-10] The editors of the Books of Kings have here added to the prophet's message the same type of indictment and sanctions against the family of Ahab as were invoked against the dynasties of Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:10-11), Baasha (1 Kings 16:3- 4), and Ahab on a previous occasion (1 Kings 21:21-24).

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[22] Fornications and witchcrafts: the worship of foreign gods.

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[3] Two years: three years according to 1 Macc 1:54; 4:52.

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[12] Ptolemy Macron: son of Dorymenes (2 Macc 4:45), was formerly hostile to the Jews (2 Macc 6:8).

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[14-23] Probably the same campaign of Judas against the Idumeans that is mentioned in 1 Macc 5:1-3.

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[24] Timothy . . . previously . . . defeated by the Jews: as recounted in 2 Macc 8:30-33.

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[28] As soon as dawn broke: the same battle at dawn as in 1 Macc 5:30-34.

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[37] Timothy . . . they killed: apparently, the same Timothy is still alive in 2 Macc 12:2, 18-25. The present passage is not in chronological order; Gazara, 2 Macc 10:32 (Gezer) was not captured by the Jews until much later (cf 1 Macc 9:50-52; 13:53).

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[1-12] The defeat of Lysias at Beth-zur probably occurred before the purification of the temple; cf 1 Macc 4:26-35.

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[21] The year one hundred and forty-eight: 164 B.C. The reading of the name of the month and its position in the calendar are uncertain.

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[33] The date, which is the same as the date of the Romans' letter (v 38), cannot be correct. The king's letter must be connected with the peace treaty of the year 149 of the Seleucid era, i. e., 163 B.C. Perhaps the mention of the month of Xanthicus in the body of the letter (2 Macc 11:30) caused the date of the Romans' letter to be transferred to this one.

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[38] The date is March 12, 164 B.C.

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[2] Apollonius, son of Gennaeus: not the Apollonius who was the son of Menestheus (2 Macc 4:21). Nicanor: probably distinct from the Nicanor of 2 Macc 14:2.

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[10] From there: not from the aforesaid Jamnia (2 Macc 12:8-9) or Joppa (2 Macc 12:3-7), but from a place in Transjordan; 2 Macc 12:10-26 parallel the account given in 1 Macc 5:9-13, 24-54 of Judas' campaign in northern Transjordan.

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[17] Certain Jews known as Toubiani: because they lived "in the land of Tob" (1 Macc 5:13).

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[26] Atargatis: a Syrian goddess, represented by the body of a fish.

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[29] Scythopolis: the Greek name of the city of Beth-shan; cf 1 Macc 5:52.

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[35] One of Bacenor's men: certain ancient witnesses to the text have "one of the Toubiani"; cf 2 Macc 12:17.

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[42-45] This is the earliest statement of the doctrine that prayers (2 Macc 12:42) and sacrifices (2 Macc 12:43) for the dead are efficacious. The statement is made here, however, only for the purpose of proving that Judas believed in the resurrection of the just (2 Macc 7:9, 14, 23, 36). That is, he believed that expiation could be made for certain sins of otherwise good men-soldiers who had given their lives for God's cause. Thus, they could share in the resurrection. His belief was similar to, but not quite the same as, the Catholic doctrine of purgatory.

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[1] In the year one hundred and forty-nine: 163-162 B.C.

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[2] They led: the Greek means literally "Each (of them) led," but it is unlikely that the author meant the already immense numbers to be doubled; the numbers are similar to those in 1 Macc 6:30.

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[4] Beroea: the Greek name of Aleppo.

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[5] Ashes: probably smoldering ashes; the tower resembles the ancient Persian fire towers.

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[15] Slew: literally "stabbed"; the deed was done by Eleazar (1 Macc 6:43-46).

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[16] They withdrew in triumph: according to 1 Macc 6:47 they fled.

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[21] Military secrets: probably about the lack of provisions in the besieged city; cf 1 Macc 6:49.

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[24] The Greek text is uncertain and may be rendered: "He approved of Maccabeus, then left Hegemonides as governor of the territory. . . ." Gerrenes: probably the inhabitants of Gerar, southeast of Gaza.

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[1] Three years later: actually, Demetrius (I Soter), son of Seleucus (IV), landed at Tripolis in the year 151 of the Seleucid era (1 Macc 14:4), i.e., 162-161 B.C.; cf 1 Macc 7:1-7.

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[14] Who would have banished Judas: the meaning of the Greek is uncertain; some render it: "who had fled before Judas."

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[37-46] The story of Razis belongs to the "martyrology" class of literature; it is similar to the stories in 2 Macc 6:18-7:42.

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[6] Public monument of victory: a heap of stones covered with the arms and armor of the fallen enemy.

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[9] The law and the prophets: the first of the three parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, called the sacred books (1 Macc 12:9).

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[12] Onias, the former high priest: Onias III (2 Macc 3:1-40). Evidently the author believed that the departed just were in some way alive even before the resurrection.

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[14] Jeremiah: regarded by the postexilic Jews as one of the greatest figures in their history; cf 2 Macc 2:1; Matthew 16:14. Who . . . prays for his people: a clear belief in the intercession of the saints.

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[31] Those in the citadel: presumably Jewish soldiers; actually, the citadel was still in the possession of the Syrians.

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[36] Mordecai's Day: the feast of Purim, celebrated on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar (Esther 9:17-22).

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[7] Demetrius: Demetrius II, king of Syria (145-139, 129-125 B.C.). The year one hundred and sixty-nine of the Seleucid era, 143 B.C. Regarding the dates in 1 and 2 Mc, see note on 1 Macc 1:10. On the troubles caused by Jason and his revolt against the kingdom, i.e., the rule of the legitimate high priest, see 2 Macc 4:7-22.

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[19] Persia: actually Babylonia, which later became part of the Persian Empire.

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[36] By a play on words, the Greek term naphtha (petroleum) is assimilated to some Semitic word, perhaps nephthar, meaning "loosened."

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[8] Our prayer was heard: in the ultimate victory of the Maccabees.

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[9] Feast of Booths in the month of Chislev: really the feast of the Dedication of the temple (2 Macc 10:1-8), celebrated on the twenty-fifth of Chislev (Nov.-Dec.). Its solemnity resembles that of the true feast of Booths (Lev 23:33-43), celebrated on the fifteenth of Tishri (Sept.-Oct.); cf 2 Macc 1:18.

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[10] 124 B.C. The date pertains to the preceding, not the following letter. King Ptolemy: Ptolemy VI Philometor, ruler of Egypt from 180 to 145 B.C.; he is mentioned also in 1 Macc 1:18; 10:51-59.

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[11-12] The king: Antiochus IV of Syria, the bitter persecutor of the Jews, who, as leader of the Syrian army that invaded Persia, perished there in 164 B.C.

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[13] Nanea: an oriental goddess comparable to Artemis of the Greeks.

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[14-17] A different account of the death of Antiochus IV is given in 2 Macc 9:1-29, and another variant account in 1 Macc 6:1-16. The writer of this letter had probably heard a distorted rumor of the king's death. This fact and other indications show that the letter was written very soon after Antiochus IV died, hence in 164 B.C.

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[18-36] This purely legendary account of Nehemiah's miraculous fire is incorporated in the letter because of its connection with the temple and its rededication.

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[18] Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple he: rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, but the temple had been rebuilt by Zerubbabel almost a century before.

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[1-8] This legendary accout of how Jeremiah hid the sacred tent (which was not mentioned after the time of Solomon!), the ark, and the altar is given for the purpose of explaining why the postexilic temple was the legitimate place of worship even without these sacred objects.

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[4] The mountain: Nebo; cf Deut 34:1.

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[8] The Place: the temple of Jerusalem.

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[11] The statement attributed here to Moses seems to be based on Lev 10:16-20.

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[13] Nehemiah's Memoirs: a lost apocryphal work.

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[20] For the account of the campaigns against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, see 2 Macc 4:7-10:9; and for the account of those against his son Antiochus V Eupator, see 2 Macc 10:10-13:26.

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[1-40] This legendary episode about Heliodorus is recounted here for the purpose of stressing the inviolability of the temple of Jerusalem; its later profanation was allowed by God because of the people's sins; cf 2 Macc 5:17-18.

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[1] The high priest Onias: Onias III, who was high priest from 196 to 175 B.C., and died in 171 B.C. He was the son of Simon, whose praises are sung in Sirach 50:1-21.

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[3] Seleucus: Seleucus IV Philopator, who reigned from 187 to 175 B.C.

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[4] Bilgah: a priestly family mentioned in Nehemiah 12:5, 18.

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[11] Son of Tobias: a member of the Tobiad family of Transjordan (Nehemiah 2:10; 6:17-19; 13:4-8). Hyrcanus' father was Joseph, whose mother was the sister of the high priest Onias II.

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[7] Seleucus died: he was murdered by Heliodorus. Antiochus Epiphanes was his younger brother. Onias' brother showed his love for the Greek way of life (2 Macc 4:10) by changing his Hebrew name Joshua, or Jesus, to the Greek name Jason.

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[39] The city: Jerusalem. Menelaus was still in Syria.

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[44] The senate: the council of Jewish elders at Jerusalem; cf 1 Macc 12:6.

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[9] Youth club: an educational institution in which young men were trained both in Greek intellectual culture and in physical fitness. Antiochians: honorary citizens of Antioch, a Hellenistic city of the Seleucid Kingdom that had a corporation of such Antiochians, who enjoyed certain political and commerical privileges.

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[11] Eupolemus: one of the two envoys sent to Rome by Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc 8:17).

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[12] Since the gymnasium, where the youth exercised naked (Greek gymnos), lay in the Tyropoeon Valley to the east of the citadel, it was directly next to the temple on its eastern side. The Greek hat: a wide-brimmed hat, traditional headgear of Hermes, the patron god of athletic contests; it formed part of the distinctive costume of the members of the "youth club."

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[20] Triremes: war vessels with three banks of oars.

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[21] Philometor: Ptolemy VI, king of Egypt, c. 172 to c. 145 B.C.

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[23] Menelaus: Jewish high priest from c. 172 to his execution in 162 B.C. (2 Macc 13:3-8).

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[30] Mallus: a city of Cilicia (2 Macc 4:36) in southeastern Asia Minor, about thirty miles east of Tarsus.

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[36] The city: Antioch. But some understand the Greek to mean "each city."

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[1] Second expedition: the first invasion of Egypt by Antiochus in 169 B.C. (1 Macc 1:16-20) is not mentioned in 2 Macc, unless the coming of the Syrian army to Palestine (2 Macc 4:21-22) is regarded as the first invasion. The author of 2 Macc apparently combines the first pillage of Jerusalem in 169 B.C. after Antiochus' first invasion of Egypt (1 Macc 1:20-28; cf 2 Macc 5:5-7) with the second pillage of the city two years later (167 B.C.), following the king's second invasion of Egypt in 168 B.C. (1 Macc 1:29-35; cf 2 Macc 5:24-26).

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[5] Jason: brother of Onias III, was claimant of the high priesthood (2 Macc 4:7-10). Later he was supplanted by Menelaus who drove him into Transjordan (2 Macc 4:26).

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[8] Aretas: King Aretas I of the Nabateans; cf 1 Macc 5:25.

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[19] Man is more important than even the most sacred institutions; cf Mark 2:27.

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[22] Philip, a Phrygian by birth: the Philip of 2 Macc 6:11; 8:8 but probably not the same as Philip the regent of 2 Macc 9:29 and 1 Macc 6:14.

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[23] Mount Gerizim: the sacred mountain of the Samaritans at Shechem; cf 2 Macc 6:2.

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[24] Apollonius: the Mysian commander of 1 Macc 1:29; mentioned also in 2 Macc 3:5; 4:4.

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[2] Olympian Zeus: equated with the Syrian Baal Shamen ("the lord of the heavens"), a term which the Jews rendered as "Shiqqus shomem," horrible abomination (Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; 1 Macc 1:54).

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[4] Amused themselves with prostitutes: as in the fertility cults of the ancient Near East; see notes on Baruch 6:10, 42-43.

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[7] Dionysus: called also Bacchus, the god of the grape harvest and of wine; ivy was one of his symbols.

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[6:18-7:42] The stories of Eleazar and of the mother and her seven sons, among the earliest models of "martyrology," were understandably popular among the Christians of the early centuries. Written originally to encourage God's people in times of persecution, they add gruesome details to the record of tortures, and place long speeches in the mouths of the martyrs.

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[9] The King of the world will raise us up: here, and in 2 Macc 7:11, 14, 23, 29, 36, belief in the future resurrection of the body, at least for the just, is clearly stated; cf also 2 Macc 12:44; 14:46; Daniel 12:2.

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[28] God did not make them out of existing things: that is, God made all things solely by his omnipotent will and his creative word; cf Hebrews 11:3.

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[8-29, 34-35] This account of the campaign of Nicanor and Gorgias against Judas is paralleled, with certain differences, in 1 Macc 3:38-4:24.

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[22] Joseph: called John in 1 Macc 2:2; 9:36, 38; this paragraph interrupts the story of Nicanor's defeat, which is resumed in 2 Macc 8:34. The purpose of the author apparently is to group together the defeats suffered by the Syrians on various occasions. Battles against Timothy are recounted in 1 Macc 5:37-44; 2 Macc 12:10-25; against Bacchides, in 1 Macc 7:8-20.

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[1-28] In order to keep together the various accounts of God's punishment of the persecutors of his people, the author places here the stories of Antiochus' illness and death (in actuality the king died only after the purification of the temple; cf 1 Macc 4:36-59; 6:1-16; 2 Macc 10:1-8); of Judas' campaigns in Idumea and Transjordan; cf 1 Macc 5:1-51; 2 Macc 10:14-38; and of the first expedition of Lysias (1 Macc 4:26-35; 2 Macc 11:1-15).

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[19-27] Despite the statement in 2 Macc 9:18 this letter is not really a supplication. It is rather a notification to all the king's subjects of the appointment of his son as his successor and a request that they be loyal to the new king. Apparently the same letter, which has every appearance of being authentic, was sent to the various peoples throughout the kingdom, with only a few words of address changed for each group.

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[25] The letter copied below: not included in the text of 2 Macc.

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[1] Some time later: early in the reign of David, since Hanun's father had been ruling in Ammon at the beginning of Saul's reign (1 Sam 11) and Solomon was as yet unborn (2 Sam 11:1; 12:24).

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[6-9] A Hebrew text from Qumran (4Q Sam * ) comes closer in these verses to what is given in 1 Chron 19:6-9. The scene of the conflict is more likely Rabbath-Ammon, with Josephus (Ant.,vii,123), than Madeba, as in 1 Chron; compare ch. 11.

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[1] At the turn of the year: in the spring.

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[22] After this verse, the Greek text, which is here the older form, has David, angry with Joab, repeat exactly the questions Joab had foreseen in 2 Sam 11:20-21. In 2 Sam 11:24 of our oldest Greek text, the messenger specifies that about eighteen men were killed.

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[1-4] This utterance of Nathan is in regular lines in Hebrew, resembling English blank verse.

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[30] Weighed a talent: since this would be more than 75 pounds, some commentators picture the idol's crown as displaying a single precious stone of large size, which David took to wear; but the text does not say this.

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[7] Hope: literally, "glowing coal." The image is similar to that of the lighted lamp, e.g., Psalm 89:17 to keep alive the ancestral name.

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[14] How not to banish: a possible allusion to the religious institution of cities of refuge for involuntary murderers; see Numbers 35:9-15

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[17] A resting place: cf Psalm 95:11; Hebrews 3:7-4, 11. The reference here is to a return home for Absalom to Israel.

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[8] Bloodshed . . . Saul: refers to the episode recounted in 2 Sam 21:1-14.

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[21] Upsurgings of the deeps: this reading attempts to recover from an unintelligible Hebrew phrase the poetic parallel to dew and rain. The sense would be a wish that the mountain should have neither moisture from above nor water from springs or wells.

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[8] The text of this verse is quite uncertain.

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[18-19] The proverbial expression here has been poorly transmitted, and its sense is doubtful.

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[1-51] This song of thanksgiving is also given, with a few small variants, in Ps 18. In both places it is attributed to David. Two main sections can be distinguished. In the first part, after an introductory stanza of praise to God (2 Sam 22:2-4), David describes the peril he was in (2 Sam 22:5-7), and then poetically depicts, under the form of a theophany, God's intervention in his behalf (2 Sam 22:8-20), concluding with an acknowledgment of God's justice (2 Sam 22:21-31). In the second part, God is praised for having prepared the psalmist for war (2 Sam 22:32-35), given him victory over his enemies (2 Sam 22:36-39), whom he put to flight (2 Sam 22:40-43), and bestowed on him dominion over many peoples (2 Sam 22:44-46). The entire song ends with a paean of grateful praise (2 Sam 22:47-51).

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[3] The horn of my salvation: my strong savior. The horn, the dreadful weapon of an enraged bull, was a symbol of strength; cf Luke 1:69.

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[5-6] These verses are to be understood figuratively.

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[7] His temple: his heavenly abode.

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[8-10] God's intervention is graphically portrayed under the figures of an earthquake (2 Sam 22:8, 16) and a thunderstorm (2 Sam 22:9-15); cf Judges 5:4-5; Psalm 29; Psalm 97:2-6; Hebrews 3.

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[11] He mounted a cherub: since God makes the winds his messengers, or "angels" (Psalm 104:4), he is spoken of poetically as riding on the clouds, or on the angelic creatures called "cherubim." His earthly throne above the ark of the covenant was likewise associated with two winged cherubim; cf Exodus 37:7-9. In both senses the Lord is enthroned upon the cherubim; cf Psalm 79:2; 99:1.

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[26-27] Men are treated by God in the same way they treat him and their fellow men.

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[29] My lamp: a figure of life and happiness; cf 1 Kings 11:36.

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[34] The heights: a natural stronghold safe from attack; cf Psalm 62:3; Hebrews 3:19.

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[1-7] The text of this short composition in the spirit of the wisdom writers (Proverb 30:1-6) is difficult in places; it views David's career in retrospect.

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[8-10] There are thirty-seven warriors in all mentioned in this list. First there are the Three warriors most noted for single-handed exploits (2 Sam 23:8-12). Then comes the story of a daring adventure by three unnamed members of the larger group (2 Sam 23:13-17). Next come the commanders of the king's bodyguard, Abishai (2 Sam 23:18-19) and Benaiah (2 Sam 23:20-23), with whom must be counted Asahel (2 Sam 23:24) and Joab (2 Sam 23:18, 24, 37), and finally the group of the Thirty (2 Sam 23:24-39).

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[24] A more complete notice about Asahel, who died early in his career (2 Sam 2:16-23), is to be presumed lost at this point. Elhanan is the first of the Thirty.

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[1-3] This story was probably joined at one time to 2 Sam 21:1-14.

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[10] The narrative supposes that since the people belonged to the Lord rather than to the king, only the Lord should know their exact number.

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[17] Before this verse a Qumran manuscript (4Q Sam[a]) gives the fuller text of 1 Chron 21:16 an alternative to the words When David saw the angel who was striking the people.

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[16] The nature of this gruesome game is not clear, and the place name is variously given in the older texts.

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[4] Saul's grandson Meribbaal is the subject of 2 Sam 9. The text of this verse may owe its present place to the fact that pre-Christian copies of the Books of Samuel tended to confuse his name with that of his uncle Ishbaal, Saul's son and successor, a principal figure in 2 Sam 2;3;4.

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[6-12] David's most important military exploit, the taking of Jerusalem, is here presented before his battles with the Philistines, 2 Sam 5:17-25, which were earlier in time. The sense of 2 Sam 5:6, 8 is in doubt.

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[17] Refuge: probably near Adullam (1 Sam 22:1-5).

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[18-25] The successive defeats of the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim southwest of Jerusalem had the effect of blocking their access to the mountain ridge near Gibeon, and confining them to their holdings on the coast and in the foothills beyond Gezer to the west and south.

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[20] Baal-perazim: means approximately "the lord of scatterings."

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[24] Sound of marching: the wind in the treetops suggestive of the Lord's footsteps.

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[8-16] The prophecy to David contained in these verses is cited again, in poetic form, in Psalm 89:20-38, and alluded to in Psalm 132. The promise regarding the people of Israel, 2 Sam 7:10-11, is a part of the promise to David at least as old as the composition of this chapter of Samuel, where it is anticipated in 2 Sam 7:6-7, and alluded to in David's thanksgiving, 2 Sam 7:23-24; it applies to the people an expression used of David in Psalm 89:23.The prophecy to David is the basis for Jewish expectation of a Messiah, son of David, which Jesus Christ fulfilled in a transcendent way; cf Acts 2:30; Hebrews 1:5.

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[19] This too you have shown to man: the text as transmitted has, rather, "and this is instruction for (or: the law of) mankind." The author of Chronicles (1 Chron 17:17) saw approximately the same phrase, which he endeavored to fit into the context in a quite different sense. The above is conjectural; cf Deut 5:24.

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[1] Wresting . . . : the Hebrew text here gives "the bridle of the cubit"; 1 Chron 18:1 understood "Gath and its dependent villages"; others implausibly read "dominion of the capital city."

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[2] Two lengths . . . a full length: usually taken to mean that two-thirds of them were executed; but it could mean that two-thirds were spared, if the line was used full length in their case but doubled on itself to make "two lines" for those to be put to death.

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[13] On his return: possibly to Jerusalem, after the revolt of Absalom, a circumstance which this catalogue of victories would avoid mentioning. 1 Chron 18:13 attributes the defeat of the Edomites to Abishai.

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[1] The earthquake: which according to Hebrew tradition marked the crime of Uzziah when he attempted to offer incense in the temple (2 Chron 26:16-21). Zechariah mentions it several centuries later (Zechariah 14:5).

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[3] For three crimes . . . four: crime after crime, an indefinite number; cf Amos 1:6. The series of judgments on the foreign nations shows that the Lord demands the observance of the moral order everywhere; Israel and Judah, despite their privileged position, are no exception. I will not revoke my word: God will not withdraw his threat of punishment against each of these nations. They threshed Gilead: the people of Aram under King Hazael had devastated Gilead; cf 2 Kings 10:32-33.

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[4] Fire: devastation caused by the Assyrians (Amos 1:7, 10, 12, 14; 2:2, 5); cf 1 Sam 15:18. Hazael and Ben-hadad: kings of the Arameans whose captial was Damascus (Amos 1:5); they fought against Israel (2 Kings 13:3), and had long occupied the region of Gilead (Amos 1:3) in Transjordan.

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[5] Bar of Damascus: the beam securing the main gate of the city against invaders, symbol of its defenses. Valley of Aven ("vale of wickedness") and Beth-eden ("house of pleasure"): Aramean territory from southwest to northeast.

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[9] Pact of brotherhood: Hiram of Tyre had made a pact with Solomon and called him brother (1 Kings 5:12; 9:13).

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[11] Pursued his brother: the Edomites were descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob (Genesis 25-27); nevertheless they constantly nourished enmity against Jacob's descendants, the Israelites.

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[12] Teman and Bozrah: two of the chief cities of Edom; cf Jeremiah 49:20.

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[14] Rabbah: now called Amman, the modern capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

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[1] Here the prophet stresses the gravity of Moab's violation of the Semitic custom of providing honorable burial for the dead.

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[4] The lies: false gods, who exist only in the minds of their worshipers. The crimes of Judah are infidelity and idolatry, in contrast to the sins for which the surrounding nations are judged.

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[6-13] The detailed crimes of Israel are placed in strong contrast with the benefits with which the Lord favored his people.

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[6] A pair of sandals: indicating how cheaply the rich regarded the poor.

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[8] Upon garments . . . any altar: usurers kept the garments taken as pledges from the poor; but instead of restoring them to their owners before nightfall (Exodus 22:25; Deut 24:12), they used them in idolatrous worship. Wine . . . their god: under the guise of a religious ceremony they drink the wine obtained through unjust fines.

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[11] Nazirites: see note on Numbers 6:1-3.

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[2] God's choice of Israel brought its own responsibility.

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[6] The sufferings which sinful man experiences through the permissive will of God are presented here, as elsewhere in the Old Testament, simply as caused by the Lord.

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[9] Israel's southern neighbors, beyond Judah, are invited by the prophetic orator to witness the moral disorders of God's people.

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[15] Ivory apartments: rooms containing furniture inlaid in ivory, similar to the pieces discovered in the excavations at Samaria.

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[1] Bashan: the region east of the Sea of Galilee, famous for its rich pasture and fattened herds, to which Amos likens the indolent women of Samaria.

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[4-5] This invitation to the sanctuaries of the northern kingdom is ironical. Pilgrimages to the shrines of Bethel and Gilgal were the more displeasing to God because they were contrary to his will and ineffective toward improvement of morals.

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[10] Pestilence like that of Egypt: plagues were well known in Egypt; cf Deut 7:15; 28:27, 60. Stench of your camps: caused by the unburied bodies.

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[6] House of Joseph: the kingdom of Israel or northern kingdom, the chief tribes of which were descended from Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph; cf Amos 5:15; 6:6.

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[1-7] The luxury of the people in Samaria will be punished by exile. They failed to learn the lesson from Calneh, Hamath and Gath at the approach of the powerful and warlike Assyrians.

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[1] The complacent in Zion . . . the overconfident . . . of Samaria: the proud and self-interested rulers of Judah and Israel.

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[12] Can horses . . . oxen?: one cannot change the course of nature, as the Israelites attempted to do by their sins of injustice.

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[13] Lodebar . . . Karnaim: in Transjordan; they had been captured by the Israelites. Perhaps it is in irony that reference is made to these two cities, for the root of the first suggests "nothing" and that of the second, "horns" or "strength."

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[14] A nation: Assyria.

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[1] The king's mowing: the first mowing, a portion of which was payable to the king as a tax.

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[4] Fire: understood by many as a burning drought.

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[7] Plummet in hand: signifying that God is about to withdraw his mercy from his people and that the nation is to be measured for destruction.

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[14-15] Amos denies that he belonged to the class of professional prophets; his vocation is due to the personal intervention of the Lord.

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[5] Ephah: a standard of measure; a little more than a bushel.

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[7] The pride of Jacob: the sinful pride detested by God (Amos 6:8), in contrast to God himself, who is the true Pride of Jacob.

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[8] The figure is based on the annual flooding of the river Nile.

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[14] Dan and Beer-sheba: the extreme northern and southern limits of the country, where idolatrous worship was offered.

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[1-8] There will be no escape from God's punishment, symbolized here by the destruction of a building, probably the schismatic temple at Bethel.

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[3] Serpent: the sea monster of familiar legend, subdued by God at the time of creation and lurking still in the ocean depths; cf Psalm 89:9-10.

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[7] The Ethiopians . . . the Philistines . . . the Arameans: by nature Israel is not different from any other nation. It was not because of any merit on Israel's part that God delivered them from Egypt. Caphtor: the island of Crete.

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[11-12] In Acts 15:15-17 St. James interprets this passage in a messianic sense. Fallen hut: the kingdom. The nations that shall bear my name: the Gentile peoples who shall be converted to the Lord, that is, conquered by him, and therefore shall bear his name.

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[2] In the fifth year on the seventh day of the month: Jerusalem fell on the seventh day of the fifth month; cf 2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 52:12. Either the text read originally "the fifth month," or it refers to the observance of an anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

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[4] The river Sud: one of the Babylonian canals, not otherwise identified. In ancient non-Biblical Hebrew fragments discovered in 1952, there is reference to a river "Sur" in a similar context.

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[8-9] He: possibly Baruch; less likely Jehoiakim . . . the priest (Baruch 1:7), a member of the high-priestly family not mentioned elsewhere. The silver vessels here described are distinct from the vessels referred to in 2 Kings 25:14 and Ezra 1:7-9. The author of this note may have thought of the fifth year (v 1) of Zedekiah, in view of Jeremiah 28:1; 29:1-3. A "fifth year," again with no month mentioned, is given in Ezekiel 1:2 for the inaugural vision of Ezekiel's prophetic career.

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[11] Nebuchadnezzar . . . Belshazzar, his son: as in Daniel 5:1-2. Later Jewish tradition seems to have simplified the history of the past by making the last Chaldean ruler of Babylon the son of the conqueror of Jerusalem.

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[3] One after another of us should eat: see note on Lam 2:20.

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[25] They lie exposed: probably an allusion to Jeremiah 36:30; see note on Jeremiah 22:19.

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[26] The house which bears your name: the temple of Jerusalem. What it is today: during the exile it lay in ruins.

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[22-23] Despite the renown for wisdom of the peoples of Canaan or Phoenicia (Ezekiel 28:3-4), of Teman (Jeremiah 49:7), of the sons of Hagar or the Arabians, they did not possess true wisdom, which is found only in the law of God.

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[24] The house of God: here, the created universe.

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[25] Trample upon their necks: love of enemies was not an Old Testament ideal. The Babylonians are considered here, however, to be God's enemies as well as Israel's.

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[35] Deserts and desolate places were looked upon as the special habitations of demons; Tobit 8:3; Luke 11:24.

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[10:1-12:13] This final vision repeats some of the material contained in the others. It is concerned with history of the worldly kingdoms from the time of Cyrus to the defeat of the tyrant Antiochus.

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[2] Mourned: perhaps the author intends to recall the interruption in the rebuilding of the temple, which occurred during this time (Ezra 4:1-4).

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[4] The first month: the month Nisan (mid-March to mid-April).

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[5-6] The heavenly person of the vision is probably the angel Gabriel, as in Daniel 9:21. Chrysolite: or topaz, a yellowish precious stone.

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[13] The prince of the kingdom of Persia: the guardian angel of Persia. The later Judaism ascribed protecting angels to various groups of human society, often as little more than personifications. Michael: the angel who is the protector of God's people (Daniel 10:21).

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[1] Standing . . . truth: these are the first two verses of Daniel 11.

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[2-4] The three kings of Persia who follow Cyrus are uncertain, since there were more than three Persian kings between Cyrus and the dissolution of the kingdom. The fourth is doubtless Xerxes I (486-465 B.C.), the great campaigner against Greece. The powerful king is Alexander the Great, who ended the Persian empire by his victory at Issus in 333 B.C.

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[5-45] These verses describe the dynastic histories of the Ptolemies in Egypt (the king of the south) and the Seleucids in Syria (the king of the north), the two divisions of the Hellenistic empire that were of interest to the author (Daniel 11:6). In Daniel 11:10-20 is described the struggle between the two kingdoms for the control of Palestine, in which the Seleucids were eventually victorious. The reference in Daniel 11:20 is to Seleucus IV, who sent Heliodorus to plunder the temple treasure in Jerusalem (2 Macc 3). Finally, Daniel 11:21-45 describe the career of Antiochus IV and his persecution, in details that have been seen above.

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[30] Kittim: originally this word meant Cypriots or other island dwellers. Here it means the Romans, who forced Antiochus to withdraw from Egypt during his second campaign there.

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[36-39] Instead of venerating Apollo, one of the gods of his ancestors, Antiochus venerated, and even identified himself with, Zeus Olympios, whom the Romans equated with the god of their fortress in Rome, Jupiter Capitolinus, the god of strongholds.

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[1] Written in the book: the book of God's predestination.

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[2] The first Israelites who have fallen (Daniel 11:33-35) shall awake, that is, rise to live forever. A resurrection of the wicked as in later, Christian teaching (John 5:28-29) is implied here if the others are included in the many; but cf Isaiah 66:24.

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[7] A year, two years, a half-year: see note on Daniel 7:25. The author's perspective is the end of Antiochus, and beyond, the final consummation of all things.

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[1] 13, 1-14, 42: The short stories in these two chapters may have originally been about some other Daniel or Daniels Than the hero of the main part of the book. They exist now only in Greek, but probably were first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic. They are excluded from the Jewish canon of Scripture, but the Church has always included them among the inspired writings.

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[55] 13, 55-59: The contrast between the mastic tree, which is small, and the majestic oak emphasizes the contradiction between the statements of the two elders. In the Greek text there is a play on words between the names of these two trees and the mortal punishment decreed by Daniel for the elders.

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[57] 13, 57: Besides the evident moral intent of this story, it appears to have served the purpose of contrasting the northern and the southern kingdoms, Israel and Judah, in favor of the latter.

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missing foot note text

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[2] 14, 2: This verse in the Septuagint Greek text reads: "There was once a priest, Daniel by name, the son of Abal, A favorite of the king of Babylon." This may represent an earlier form of the story, before it was attached to the Book of Daniel.

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[3] 14, 3: Bel: see the note on 4, 5.

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[2] Shinar: ancient name for Babylonia, a deliberate archaism in this text; cf Genesis 10:10; 11:2.

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[7] The young men are given Babylonian names as a sign of their adoption by the king.

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[8] This defilement: the bread, meat, and wine of the Gentiles, which were unclean (Hosea 9:3; Tobit 1:12; Judith 10:5; 12:1-2) because they might have been offered to idols or prepared over firewood taken from a sacred grove. Only raw vegetables and water were safe from this danger (Daniel 1:12).

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[21] The first year of King Cyrus: the year of this Persian king's conquest of Babylon, 539/8 B.C.

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[1-49] The chronology of Daniel 2:1 is in conflict with that of Daniel 1:5, 18 and in Daniel 1:25 Daniel appears to be introduced to the king for the first time. It seems that the story of this chapter was originally entirely independent of Daniel 1 and later retouched slightly to fit its present setting.

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[2] Chaldeans: here probably astrologers, who were so associated with the Chaldeans in the Hebrew mind that in the later language they are sometimes simply called by the name of that people.

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[4] Aramaic: from Daniel 2:4-7:28 the text of Daniel is in Aramaic, not Hebrew, as indicated by this gloss.

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[33] Partly tile: terra cotta tile was much in use among the Babylonians for decoration and for actual construction.

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[36-45] The four successive kingdoms in this apocalyptic perspective are the Babylonian (gold), the Median (silver), the Persian (bronze), and the Hellenistic (iron). The last, after Alexander's death, was divided among his generals (Daniel 2:41-42). The two resulting kingdoms, which most affected the Jews, were the dynasty of the Ptolemies in Egypt and that of the Seleucids in Syria, who tried in vain, by war and through intermarriage, to restore the unity of Alexander's empire (Daniel 2:43). The stone hewn from the mountain is the messianic kingdom awaited by the Jews (Daniel 2:44-45). Our Lord made this image personal to himself; cf Luke 20:17-18.

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[1] Dura: several places in Babylonia bore this name. Probably the present reference is to one a few miles south of Babylon. Colossi of the type mentioned here were not uncommon in antiquity; a cubit was seventeen and a half inches.

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[2] Satraps: the Persian major governors.

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[4] Psaltery: a harplike instrument.

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[6] Death by fire was not unknown as a punishment in Babylonia; cf Jeremiah 29:22.

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[17] If our God . . . can save us: the youths do not question the efficacy of the divine power, but whether it will be exercised (Daniel 3:18).

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[24] 3,24-90: These verses are inspired additions to the Aramaic text of Daniel, translated from the Greek form of the book. They were originally composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, which has not been preserved. The church has always regarded them as part of the canonical Scriptures.

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[92] A son of God: an angel; cf Job 1:6.

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[3:98-4:34] This section has the form of a letter written by Nebuchadnezzar to his subjects.

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[3:30(99)] The most high God: the Jews, especially in the diaspora, used this title to distinguish their God from those of the pagans. On the lips of a polytheist (so also in Daniel 3:26(93)) it was merely the title of another god. It was an ancient divine name used in Canaan; cf Genesis 14:18.

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[5] After the name of my god: Belteshazzar, the Babylonian name given to Daniel at the king's orders (Daniel 1:7), is Balatsu-ussur, "protect his life." In the king's intention, this would be an abbreviation for Bel-balatsu-ussur. It would thus include an appeal to the god Bel, originally the name of the city god of Nippur, and later identified with Marduk, the chief god of Babylon. Daniel's use of the name would refer the prayer rather to the true God.

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[10] A holy sentinel: an angel. This term is found in the Bible only in this chapter of Daniel, but it is common in later Jewish literature.

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[11-13] As the tree is Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:19), the description passes from metaphor to the reality.

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[17] "This dream . . . for your foes": Daniel speaks as a courtier.

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[1] King Belshazzar: Belshazzar was actually the crown prince, but he had been given royal authority in Babylon by his father Nabonidus.

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[2] Nebuchadnezzar, his father: several kings of Babylon intervened between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. Either the term father is used here in the broad sense of "remote predecessor," or the name Nebuchadnezzar is used for "Nabonidus."

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[25] Mene, Tekel, and Peres: these seem to be the Aramaic names of weights and monetary values: the mina, the shekel (the sixtieth part of a mina), and the parsu (a half-mina).

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[26-28] Daniel interprets these three terms by a play on the words: Mene, connected with the verb meaning to number; Tekel, with the verb meaning to weigh; Peres, with the verb meaning to divide. There is also a play on the last term with the word for Persians.

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[1] Darius the Mede: unknown in profane history. The Median kingdom had already been conquered by Cyrus the Persian, and it was Cyrus who captured Babylon. Evidently the author of Daniel has deliberately adopted an apocalyptic view of history, derived from prophecy (cf Isaiah 13:17-19; Jeremiah 51:11, 28-30), according to which the Medes formed the second of four world kingdoms preceding the messianic times; see note on Daniel 2:36-45. The character of Darius the Mede has probably been modeled on that of the Persian King Darius the Great (522-486 B.C.), the second successor of Cyrus.

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[9] Immutable and irrevocable: the passages in Esther 1:19 and 8:8 also refer to the immutability of Medo-Persian laws. The historian Diodorus Siculus indicates that such a concept existed in the time of Darius III (335-331 B.C.), the last of the Persian kings. Cf Daniel 6:13, 16.

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[17] The lions' den: a pit too deep to be easily scaled; its opening was blocked with a stone (v 18).

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[1-27] The significance of this vision is the same as that of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2; see note on Daniel 2:36-45. To the four succeeding world kingdoms, Babylonian, Median, Persian, and Greek, is opposed the messianic kingdom of the people of God. The imagery of this chapter has been used extensively in the Revelation of St. John, where it is applied to the Roman empire, the persecutor of the Church.

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[28] This verse ends the Aramaic part of the Book of Daniel.

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[2] The great sea: the primordial ocean beneath the earth, according to primitive cosmology (Genesis 7:11; 49:25). This was thought to contain various monsters (Isaiah 27:1; Job 7:12), and in particular mythological monsters symbolizing the chaos which God had vanquished in ancient times (Job 9:13; 26:13; etc.).

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[4] The representation of the Babylonian empire as a winged lion, a common motif in Babylonian art, symbolizes the bestial power hostile to God. The two wings that were plucked represent Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. On two feet like a man . . . a human mind: contrasts with what is said in Daniel 4:13, 30.

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[5] A bear: represents the Median empire, its three tusks symbolizing its destructive nature; hence, the command: "Up, devour much flesh."

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[6] A leopard: used to symbolize the swiftness with which Cyrus the Persian established his kingdom. Four heads: corresponding to the four Persian kings of Daniel 11:2.

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[7-8] Alexander's empire was different from all the others in that it was Western rather than Oriental in inspiration. The ten horns represent the kings of the Seleucid dynasty, the only part of the Hellenistic empire that concerned the author. The little horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 B.C.), the worst of the Seleucid kings, who usurped the throne.

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[9-10] A vision of the heavenly throne of God (the Ancient One), who sits in judgment (symbolized by fire) over the nations. Some of the details of the vision, depicting the divine majesty and omnipotence, are to be found in Ezekial 1.

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[13-14] One like a son of man: in contrast to the worldly kingdoms opposed to God, which appear as beasts, the glorified people of God that will form his kingdom on earth is represented in human form (Daniel 7:18). Just as our Lord applied the figure of the stone hewn from the mountain to himself (Daniel 2:36-45), he also made the title "Son of Man" his most characteristic way of referring to himself, as the One in whom and through whom the salvation of God's people came to be realized.

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[25] The reference is to the persecutions of Antiochus IV and his attempt to force the Jews to give up their customs and to adopt Hellenistic ways (1 Macc 1:33-34). A year, two years, and a half-year: an indefinite, evil period of time. As seven is the Jewish "perfect" number, half of it signifies great imperfection. Actually, this corresponds fairly accurately to the duration of Antiochus' persecution.

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[1-27] This vision repeats the major part of the preceding one, though in a more explicit fashion. As explained in Daniel 8:20-22 the two-horned ram represents the combined kingdom of the Medes and Persians, destroyed by Alexander's Hellenistic empire originating in the west. Once again the author is interested only in the Seleucid dynasty, which emerged from the dissolution of Alexander's empire after his death in 323 B.C.

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[2] The fortress of Susa: the royal palace of the Persian kings in the ancient territory of Elam, east of Babylonia. The river Ulai: a canal along the northern side of Susa.

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[9] A little horn, as in Daniel 7 is Antiochus IV. The glorious country: Palestine.

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[10-12] The host of heaven: ordinarily meaning the stars, here refers to the people of God; cf Daniel 12:3. The prince of the host: God himself, with whose holy religion Antiochus interfered (1 Macc 1:45).

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[13] The desolating sin: the Hebrew contains a wordplay (shomem) on the name Baal Shamem ("lord of the heavens," the Greek Zeus Olympios), referring to the statue with which Antiochus profaned the temple of Jerusalem (2 Macc 6:2).

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[16] The angel Gabriel is mentioned here for the first time in the Bible. There is wordplay in the preceding verse on geber--manlike figure.

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[17] The end time: the day of the Lord, when God sits in judgment on his enemies (Daniel 8:19).

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[1] Darius: see the note on Daniel 6:1.

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[2] Seventy years: the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10) prophesied a Babylonian captivity of seventy years, a round number signifying the complete passing away of the existing generation. Jeremiah's prophecy was fulfilled in the capture of Babylon by Cyrus and the subsequent return of the Jews to Palestine. However, the author of Daniel, living during the persecution of Antiochus, sees the conditions of the exile still existing; therefore, in his meditation he extends Jeremiah's number to seventy weeks of years (Daniel 9:24), i.e., seven times seventy years, to characterize the Jewish victory over the Seleucids as the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy.

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[13] As it is written: the first time that this formula of Scriptural citation is used in the Bible. The reference (Daniel 9:11) is to the sanctions of Lev 26:14-16; Deut 28:15-17.

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[21] At the time of the evening sacrifice: between three and four in the afternoon.

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[24] Seventy weeks: i.e., of years. Just as Jeremiah's seventy years was an approximation (see note on Daniel 9:2), the four hundred and ninety years here is not to be taken literally. Similarly, the distribution of the "weeks" in the following verses indicates only relative proportions of the total figure. A most holy: an expression used almost always of an object, the altar or the temple, but once (1 Chron 23:13) of Aaron the high priest. The author sees the definitive establishment of the kingdom of God, realized in the reconsecration of the temple after Antiochus' desecration, or personified in the holy community (like the Son of Man of Daniel 7). The Fathers of the Church almost unanimously understood the reference to be to Christ, the final realization of the prophecy.

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[25] From the utterance . . . to be rebuilt: from the time of Jeremiah's prophecy. One . . . anointed and a leader: either Cyrus, who was called the anointed of the Lord to end the exile (Isaiah 45:1), or the high priest Joshua who presided over the rebuilding of the altar of sacrifice after the exile (Ezra 3:2). Seven weeks: forty-nine years, an approximation of the time of the exile. During sixty-two weeks . . . rebuilt: a period of 434 years, roughly approximating the interval between the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile and the beginning of the Seleucid persecution.

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[26] An anointed: doubtless the high priest Onias III, murdered in 171 B.C., from which the author dates the beginning of the persecution. Onias was in exile when he was killed. A leader: Antiochus IV.

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[27] One week: the final phase of the period in view, the time of Antiochus' persecution; he is Antiochus himself. The many: the faithless Jews who allied themselves with the heathen; cf 1 Macc 1:11-13. Half the week: three and a half years; see note on 1 Macc 7:25. The temple was desecrated by Antiochus from 167 to 165 B.C. The temple wing: probably the main portal. The horrible abomination: see note on Daniel 8:13. Perhaps an inscription was placed on the portal of the temple dedicating it to the Olympian Zeus. Our Lord referred to this passage in his own prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15).

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[14] Even the highest heavens: literally, "and the heavens of the heavens"; compare the phrase, "the third heaven," in 2 Cor 12:2.

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[16] Circumcise your hearts: cf Deut 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; Romans 2:29. The "uncircumcised heart" (Lev 26:41; Jeremiah 9:25; Ezekiel 44:7, 9) is closed and unreceptive to divine grace and guidance, just as "uncircumcised ears" (Jeremiah 6:10) are closed to sound, and "uncircumcised lips" (Exodus 6:12, 30) do not open well in speech.

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[13-15] As often in the Prophets, the discourse passes into the words of God himself. Cf Deut 7:4; 17:3; 28:20; 29:4, 5.

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[14] The early rain: the rains which begin in October or November and continue intermittently throughout the winter. The late rain: the heavy showers of March and April. In Palestine the crops are sown in the autumn and reaped in the spring.

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[24] The Western Sea: the Mediterranean.

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[29] You shall pronounce the blessing . . . the curse: for the full ceremony, see Deut 27-28. Gerizim . . . Ebal: adjacent mountains in Samaria with a deep ravine between them. Their summits command an excellent view of the entire country.

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[20] Meat for food: as on special feasts. Meat was not eaten every day in Israel, even by the wealthy.

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[2,4,6] Dreamer: a false prophet who pretended to have received revelations from God in his dreams; cf Jeremiah 23:25-32; Zechariah 10:2. But dreams could also be a channel of true prophecy (Numbers 12:6; Joel 2:32[3:1]) and of genuine revelations (Genesis 20:3, 6; 31:10, 24; 37:5, 9; Matthew 1:20; 2:12, 13, 19; etc.).

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[5] The gazelle, the addax, the oryx: species of antelopes. The ibex: a species of wild goat.

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[19-20] The apparent contradiction is to be resolved in the light of Lev 11:20-23: the unclean winged insects are those that walk on the ground; the clean winged creatures are those that leap on the ground, such as certain species of locusts.

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[21] Boil a kid in its mother's milk: see note on Exodus 23:19.

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[24] Considering how the LORD has blessed you: should the Israelite farmer be blessed with an abundant harvest, a tenth of this would be too much to transport for a great distance.

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[1] At the end of every seven-year period: in every seventh, or sabbatical, year. Cf Deut 15:9; 31:10; and compare Jeremiah 34:14 with Deut 15:12. A relaxation of debts: it is uncertain whether a full cancellation of debts is meant, or merely a suspension of payment on them or on their interest among the Israelites. Cf Exodus 23:11 where the same Hebrew root is used of a field that is "let lie fallow" in the sabbatical year.

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[11] The needy will never be lacking: compare the words of Christ, "The poor you have always with you" (Matthew 26:11).

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[17] His ear: cf Exodus 21:6 and the note there.

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[1] Abib: "ear of grain, ripe grain," the name of the month in which the barley harvest fell, corresponding to our March and April; at a later period this month received the Babylonian name of "Nisan."

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[10] Feast of Weeks: later known more commonly as "Pentecost."

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[13] See note on Lev 23:34.

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[21-17:7] This section seems to be out of its proper place, since it interrupts the natural sequence of the laws for the judges (Deut 16:18-20; 17:8-13). It probably belongs to the similar section, Deut 12:29-14:2.

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[21-22] Sacred pole . . . sacred pillar: see note on Exodus 34:13.

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[5] Out to your city gates: outside the gates in an unclean place; cf Lev 24:14; Numbers 15:36; Acts 7:58; Hebrews 13:12.

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[12] The priest: the high priest; the judge: a layman. The former presided over the court in cases which directly concerned religion, the latter in cases of a more secular nature; cf 2 Chron 19:8-11.

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[16] Horses: chariotry for war. The LORD'S warning: the same warning is also referred to in Deut 28:68, although it is not mentioned explicitly elsewhere in the Pentateuch. We know from other sources that Egypt used to export war horses to Palestine. The danger envisioned here is that some king might make Israel a vassal of Egypt for the sake of such military aid.

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[10-11] Immolates his son or daughter in the fire: to Molech. See note on Lev 18:21. Such human sacrifices are classed here with other pagan superstitions because they were believed to possess magical powers for averting a calamity; cf 2 Kings 3:27. Three other forms of superstition are listed here: augury (by a fortune-teller, a soothsayer or a diviner): black magic (by a charmer . . . or caster of spells); and necromancy (by one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead).

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[15] A prophet like me: from the context (opposition to the pagan soothsayers) it seems that Moses is referring in general to all the true prophets who were to succeed him. But since Christ is the Great Prophet in whom the prophetic office finds its fulfillment and completion, this passage was understood in a special Messianic sense both by the Jews (John 6:14; 7:40) and by the Apostles (Acts 3:22; 7:37).

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[2] Set apart three cities: the Israelites were to have at least six cities of refuge, three in the land east of the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan west of the Jordan (Numbers 35:9-34); but since the three cities east of the Jordan had now been appointed (Deut 4:41-43), reference is made here only to the three west of the Jordan. The execution of this command is narrated in Joshua 20.

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[6] The avenger of blood: see note on Numbers 35:12.

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[1] The local setting of all these discourses is in the land of Moab beyond the Jordan (cf Deut 1:5), also known as the plains of Moab (Numbers 36:13).

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[7] The Amorites and the Canaanites formed the principal part of the pre-Israelite population of Palestine. The foothills: the hills on the western slope of the Judean mountain range. The Arabah: the valley of the Jordan and the depression south of the Dead Sea. The Negeb: the arid land in southern Palestine.

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[9] Carry you: cf Deut 1:31.

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[27] In your tents: among yourselves.

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[36] Except Caleb: Joshua also was allowed to enter, but he is not referred to here because special mention is made of him in Deut 1:38 as the successor of Moses.

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[1-9] This paragraph is best read immediately after Deut 19:21. The slain man may not necessarily have been murdered; he may have been killed by a wild beast. But the blood of the slain cries out to God from the soil where it was shed; cf Genesis 4:10. Therefore a religious ceremony of propitiation is here prescribed in order to avert God's anger on the community.

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[4] They shall cut the heifer's throat there in the wadi: its blood is to be carried away by the stream, signifying thereby the removal of the human blood from the soil. This is not a sacrifice but a symbolic action; the priests are present merely as official witnesses.

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[6] Wash their hands: a symbolic gesture in protestation of one's own innocence when human blood is unjustly shed; cf Matthew 27:24.

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[7] This blood: the blood of the slain man as symbolized by the heifer's blood.

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[12-13] Shave her head . . . : these symbolic actions are meant to signify the purification of the woman from her pagan defilement or perhaps the end of her period of mourning for her previous husband.

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[19] The gate: in the city walls. This open space served as the forum for the administration of justice. Cf Deut 22:15; 25:7; Ruth 4:1, 2, 11; Isaiah 29:21; Amos 5:10, 12, 15.

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[22] Hung on a tree: some understand, "impaled on a stake." In any case the hanging or impaling was not the means used to execute the criminal; he was first put to death by the ordinary means, stoning, and his corpse was then exposed on high as a salutary warning for others. Cf Joshua 8:29; 10:26; 1 Sam 31:10; 2 Sam 21:9.

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[23] God's curse rests on him who hangs on a tree: St. Paul quotes these words in Gal 3:13, where he applies them to the crucified Savior, who "redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us."

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[9] Become forfeit: to the sanctuary; cf Lev 19:19; Joshua 6:19.

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[12] Twisted cords: referred to as "tassels" on "violet cords" in Numbers 15:38. See note there.

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[15] The evidence of her virginity: the bridal garment or sheet stained with a little blood from the first nuptial relations.

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[18] Chastise him: flog him, as prescribed in Deut 25:1-3.

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[23] A maiden who is betrothed: a girl who is married but not yet brought to her husband's home and whose marriage is therefore still unconsummated.

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[1] Father's wife: stepmother. Dishonor: cf Deut 27:20.

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[17] In any one of your communities: from this it would seem that the slave in question is a fugitive from a foreign country.

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[18-19] The pagans believed that they could enter into special relationship with their gods and goddesses by having sexual relations with the pagan priests and priestesses who prostituted themselves for this purpose. The money paid for this was considered a sort of votive offering made to the pagan sanctuary. Such abominations were naturally forbidden in Israel. A dog's price: the money paid to the pagan priest for his indecent service.

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[1-4] This law is directly concerned only with forbidding divorced couples to remarry each other, and indirectly with checking hasty divorces, by demanding sufficient cause and certain legal formalities. Divorce itself is taken for granted and tolerated as an existing custom whose evils this law seeks to lessen. Cf Deut 22:19, 29; Malachi 2:14-16. Christ gave the authentic interpretation of this law: "Moses, by reason of the hardness of your heart, permitted you to put away your wives; but it was not so from the beginning" (Matthew 19:8, 9).

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[1] Something indecent: a rather indefinite phrase, meaning perhaps "immodest conduct." At the time of Christ the rabbis differed in opinion concerning the sufficient grounds for divorce; cf Matthew 19:3.

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[6] Since the Israelites ground their grain into flour only in sufficient quantity for their current need, to deprive a debtor of his hand mill was virtually equivalent to condemning him to starve to death.

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[10-11] The debtor had the right to select the pledge that the creditor demanded as a guarantee for his loan.

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[3] Forty stripes: a relatively mild punishment in ancient times. Later Jewish practice limited the number to thirty-nine; cf 2 Cor 11:24.

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[4] St. Paul argues from this verse that a laborer has the right to live on the fruits of his labor; cf 1 Cor 9:9; 1 Tim 5:18.

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[5] When brothers live together: when relatives of the same clan, though married, hold their property in common. It was only in this case that the present law was to be observed, since one of its purposes was to keep the property of the deceased within the same clan. Such a marriage of a widow with her brother-in-law is known as a "levirate" marriage from the Latin word levir, meaning "a husband's brother."

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[9-10] The penalty decreed for a man who refuses to comply with this law of family loyalty is public disgrace (the widow is to spit in his face) and the curse of poverty; sandals were proverbially a man's cheapest possession (cf Amos 2:6; 8:6), and therefore "a man without sandals" was the poorest of the poor. Some commentators, however, connect this symbolic act with the ceremony mentioned in Ruth 4:7, 8.

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[17-19] This attack on Israel by Amalek is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, although it probably was connected with the battle mentioned in Exodus 17:8. A campaign against Amalek was carried out by Saul; cf 1 Sam 15.

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[5] Aramean: either in reference to the origin of the patriarchs from Aram Naharaim (cf Genesis 24:10; 25:20; 28:5; 31:20, 24), or merely in the sense of "nomad," in the same way as "Arab" was later used; cf Jeremiah 3:2.

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[12] And you have given them to the Levite . . . : as prescribed in Deut 14:28-29.

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[14] These are allusions to pagan religious practices.

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[8] On the stones: cf Deut 27:3-4; not the stones of the altar.

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[15-26] Amen: see note on Numbers 5:22.

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[1-69] This chapter would read better immediately after Deut 26.

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[68] In galleys: in the ships of the Phoenician slave traders (Ezekiel 27:13; Joel 3:6[4:6]; Amos 1:9), who also dealt with Egypt (Isaiah 23:3).

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[6] In your coming in . . . in your going out: at the beginning and end of every action, or in all actions in general.

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[7,25] From but one direction . . . in seven: in one compact mass, contrasted with many scattered groups.

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[10] You bearing the name of the LORD: literally, "The LORD'S name is called over you," an expression signifying ownership and protection. Cf 2 Sam 12:28; 1 Kings 8:43; Isaiah 4:1; 63:19; Jeremiah 7:10-11; 14:9; 15:16; 25:29; Amos 9:12.

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[13] The head, not the tail: in the honorable position as leader. Cf Isaiah 9:14; 19:15.

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[35] This verse is best read with Deut 28:27.

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[46] A sign and a wonder: an ominous example, attracting attention; cf Deut 29:21-28.

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[60] He will again afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt: such as the Lord had promised to remove from his people; cf Deut 7:15.

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[65] Wasted eyes: worn out and disappointed in their longing gaze.

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[3] Eyes to see . . . ears to hear: with inner, spiritual discernment. Cf Matthew 13:43.

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[11] Sanction of a curse: the present pact binds under penalty of the curses mentioned in this book. Cf Deut 29:20.

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[14] Not here among us: this includes their descendants.

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[18] To sweep away both the watered soil and the parched ground: apparently a proverb signifying that such an unfaithful Israelite will cause God to punish the good with the wicked, to root out the good plants growing in irrigated soil, together with the worthless plants growing in the dry ground.

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[28] What is still hidden: the events of the future. What has already been revealed: God's law and the punishments in store for those who break it. Leave the future to God; our business is to keep his law.

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[23] The Caphtorim: members of one of the groups of sea peoples who invaded the coast of Egypt and the southern part of Palestine about 1200 B.C. Caphtor: the ancient name of the island of Crete. Cf Amos 9:7.

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[34] Doomed: see notes on Numbers 18:14; 21:3.

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[6] Circumcise your hearts: see note on Deut 10:16.

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[11-14] God has revealed his will so clearly that ignorance of hislaw can be no excuse. St. Paul in Romans 10:6-10, applies these words to the ease with which we can come to faith and salvation in Christ.

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[14] In your mouths: that you may readily talk about it; cf Deut 6:7; 11:19. And in your hearts: that you may easily remember it; cf Deut 6:6; 11:18.

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[10] The year of relaxation: cf Deut 15:1-3 and the note there.

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[11-13] Reading the law not only instructed the people but also consoled them by the assurance of the divine goodness.

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[14-15,23] Deut 31:23 is best read immediately after Deut 31:15; perhaps the original order was Deut 7,8,14,15,23.

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[1-43] In the style of the great prophets, the speaker is often God himself. The whole song is a poetic sermon, having for its theme God's benefits to Israel (Deut 32:1-14) and Israel's ingratitude and idolatry in turning to the gods of the pagans, which sins will be punished by the pagans themselves (Deut 32:15-29); in turn, the foolish pride of the pagans will be punished, and the Lord's honor will be vindicated (Deut 32:30-43).

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[8] The sons of God: the angels; cf Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Psalm 89:6-7. Here the various nations are portrayed as having their respective guardian angels. Cf Daniel 10:20-21; 12:1.

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[13] The land: Canaan.

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[14] Bashan: a fertile grazing land east of the Jordan, famous for its strong cattle. Cf Psalm 22:13; Ezekiel 39:18; Amos 4:1.

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[15] The darling: a probable meaning of the Hebrew word yeshurun, a term of endearment for "Israel." Cf Deut 33:5, 26; Isaiah 44:2.

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[28-35] The reference is to the pagan nations, not to Israel.

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[36] Their protected and unprotected: the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain; according to some, the idea is "slaves and freemen."

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[2-5,26-29] These verses seem to form an independent hymn describing, in the form of a theophany, the conquest of Canaan. The first section of this hymn (Deut 33:2-5) serves here as an introduction to the various "blessings"; the second section (Deut 33:26-29), as their conclusion.

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[21] The princely portion: Moses gave the tribe of Gad their land on the east of the Jordan only on condition that they would help the other tribes conquer the land west of the river; cf Numbers 32; Joshua 22.

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[22] The sense is, "May he leap up like a lion of Bashan"; the heavily wooded hills of Bashan were notorious for their lions, but the tribe of Dan was not settled in this region.

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[23] The lake: the Lake of Gennesaret on which the land of this tribe bordered.

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[24] The land of the tribe of Asher was covered with olive groves.

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[3] His holy ones were in his hand: the Israelites were protected by the Lord.

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[5,26] The darling: see note on Deut 32:15.

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[6] In keeping with the other blessings, probably this verse was once introduced by the phrase, "Of Reuben he said." It is to be noted that there is no blessing here for Simeon.

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[7] Bring him to his people: this probably refers to the isolated position of the tribe of Judah during the conquest of the Promised Land (cf Judges 1:17-19); according to some commentators the reference is to the divided kingdom.

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[8] Thummim . . . Urim: see note on Exodus 28:30.

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[9] The reference is probably to the Levites' slaughter of their brethren after the affair of the golden calf in the desert; cf Exodus 32:27-29.

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[16] Him who dwells in the bush: a title given to the Lord because of his appearance to Moses in the burning bush; cf Exodus 3.

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[19] The abundance of the seas: perhaps the wealth that comes from sea-borne trade or from fishing. The hidden treasures of the sand: possibly an allusion to the valuable purple dye extracted from certain marine shells found on the coast of northern Palestine.

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[11] Bed of iron some translate, "a sarcophagus of basalt."

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[18] I charged them the words which follow were spoken to the men of Reuben and Gad (cf Numbers 32).

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[10] Beginning here and continuing on for several verses (at least to the end of v Deut 4:14) is the "reminiscence," the account of the things that the Israelites should recall and teach their children.

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[20] Egypt is called an iron foundry, or furnace for smelting iron, because God allowed the Israelites to be afflicted there for the sake of their spiritual purification; the same expression for Egypt occurs also in 1 Kings 8:51; Jeremiah 11:4; compare the expression, "the furnace of affliction," in Isaiah 48:10.

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[25] Grown old: Israel will lose the freshness of its youthful fervor.

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[34] Testings: the demonstrations of God's power as in the ten great plagues of Egypt; cf Deut 7:19; 29:2.

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[48] Sion: another name for Mount Hermon, besides those mentioned in 3:9.

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[9-10] God does not punish us for another's sins, but because of the solidarity of human society, the good or evil deeds of one generation may make their effects felt even in later generations. Yet note how God's mercy allows the good effects of virtue to last much longer than the bad effects of vice: a thousand generations compared to three or four.

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[4-5] This passage contains the basic principle of the whole Mosaic law, the keynote of the Book of Deuteronomy: since the Lord alone is God, we must love him with an undivided heart. Christ cited these words as "the greatest and the first commandment," embracing in itself the whole law of God (Matthew 22:37, 38 and parallels).

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[8] Bind them . . . as a sign: these injunctions were probably meant merely in a figurative sense; cf Exodus 13:9, 16. However, the later Jews understood them literally, and tied on their wrists and foreheads "phylacteries," boxes containing strips of parchment on which these words were inscribed; cf Matthew 23:5.

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[13] Him shall you serve: here, to "serve" God means especially to "worship" him; in this sense it is quoted by our Lord (Matthew 4:10) as an argument against worshiping the devil.

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[5] Sacred pillars . . . poles: see note on Exodus 34:13.

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[3] Not by bread alone, etc: quoted by our Lord in Matthew 4:4. The sense is: God takes care of those who love him even when natural means seem to fail them.

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[2] It is doubtful whether the author is endorsing either direction; cf Proverb 4:25-27.

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[15] He who . . . city: perhaps a proverbial expression for supreme stupidity.

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[1] This may refer to a spirit of adventure in business or to generosity in almsgiving. Waters: of the ocean, which sometimes carry lost treasures to the shore.

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[2] This verse refers either to almsgiving or to the wisdom of not putting all one's cargo into a single vessel.

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[10] Dawn . . . fleeting: literally, "youth and the dawn [of life] are vanity."

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[2] The sun . . . return: the cloudy and rainy Palestinian winter, a natural symbol of old age.

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[3] Guardians: the arms; strong men: the legs; grinders: the teeth; they who . . . windows: the eyes.

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[4] Doors: the tightly compressed lips; sound of the mill: perhaps the sound of mastication; daughters of song: the voice.

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[5] The almond tree blooms: resembling the white hair of age. The locust . . . sluggish: an image of the stiffness in movement of the aged. The caper berry: a stimulant for appetite.

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[6] The golden bowl suspended by the silver cord was a symbol of life; the snapping of the cord and the breaking of the bowl, a symbol of death. The pitcher . . . the broken pulley: another pair of metaphors for life and its ending.

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[11] Goads . . . one collector: the sayings were stimulants to thought and also spikes or centers around which to group correlated pronouncements of the wise.

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[13] Man's all: St. Jerome explains: "Unto this is every man born that, knowing his Maker, he may revere him in fear, honor, and the observance of his commandments."

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[1] Qoheleth: see Introduction.

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[2] Vanity of vanities: a Hebrew superlative expressing the supreme degree of futility and emptiness.

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[3] Under the sun: used throughout this book to signify "on the earth."

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[8] All speech . . . man can say: or "All things are wearisome beyond man's power to tell."

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[11] Men remember nothing long, God never forgets.

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[14] Chase after wind: futility, like an attempt to corral the winds. Cf Hosea 12:2. The ancient versions understood "affliction of spirit." These words are used to conclude sections of the discourse, as far as Eccl 6:9.

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[1-11] The author here assumes the role of Solomon.

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[3] Though my mind . . . wisdom: while indulging in pleasure the author hopes to discover wherein man's true happiness consists.

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[24] Unrestrained indulgence is not advocated here, but legitimate pleasure and the cheerfulness it begets.

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[15] God restores: the meaning is probably that God allows no part of his creation to drop out of existence.

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[5] Consumes his own flesh: refuses to work for the necessities of life and consequently suffers hunger and impairs his bodily health.

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[14] Prison house: probably his mother's womb, from which the king issues without possessions. Cf Eccl 5:14.

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[15] The king is no sooner dead than the people transfer their allegiance to his successor.

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[17] The fools' . . . sacrifice: unacceptable to God because of their disobedience; cf 1 Sam 15:22; Hosea 6:6.

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[2] Nightmares: literally, "dreams."

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[8] The wording of this verse has perhaps never been adequately explained.

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[19] The meaning is that the joys of life, though temporary, keep a man from dwelling on the ills which afflict humanity.

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[3] A large family, a long life, an honorable burial, all were highly esteemed by the Hebrews, and it was considered a great misfortune to be deprived of them.

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[6] Same place: the grave.

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[7] Mouth: appetite, and therefore, body.

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[9] Better . . . wander after: the good that is present to us is better than that which is absent and, perhaps, unattainable.

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[10] The one who is stronger than man is God.

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[1] Ointment: applied to the child at birth; a good name remains even after death.

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[16] St. Jerome explains the warning against excessive justice in reference to the self-righteous man who is so stern that he is never willing to forgive sin in others; cf Eccl 7:20-22.

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[17] Untimely death was traditionally recognized as a divine punishment of the wicked; cf 1 Sam 2:31-34; Jeremiah 17:11; Psalm 55:23; Proverb 10:27. This warning against presumptuous wickedness is not an endorsement of any lesser degree of misconduct.

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[18] This rule . . . that one: the sayings cited in Eccl 7:16-17. Others refer this and that to riches and wisdom (cf Eccl 7:12), justice and wisdom, or justice and wickedness. This last supposition makes the author's thought hard to follow.

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[20] This is to be understood in the sense of Romans 5:12. See note there.

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[28] The author found sincerity rare among men, but among women still more rare.

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[29] Calculations: the many vain attempts and schemes of men to attain happiness by their own efforts.

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[10] The text is obscure. The Latin has "wicked men buried, who, while still alive, were in the holy place and were praised in the city as if their works were just."

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[13] Shadowy: perhaps an addition here; cf Eccl 6:12.

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[15] See notes on Eccl 2:24; 5:19.

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[1-10] These statement are based on a very imperfect concept of life beyond the grave. With Christian revelation about the future life came the only satisfactory solution of the problem which so perplexed the author.

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[1] Love from hatred: divine favor or disfavor.

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[12] His own time: the time of death or sudden disaster.

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[1] From India to Ethiopia: from western India to Upper Egypt, the greatest extent of the Persian Empire achieved under Darius the Great, father of Ahasuerus.

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[2] Susa: ancient capital of Elam (Genesis 14:1); under the Achamenid kings, one of the two capitals of the Persian Empire. The other was Persepolis, the summer palace of the kings.

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[9] Queen Vashti: Herodotus (Histories 7:61) relates that the wife of Ahasuerus was Amestris.

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[19] Irrevocable royal decree: the historian Siculus Indicates that such a concept of irrevocable laws existed in the time of Darius III (335-331 B.C.), the last of the Persian kings; cf Esther 8:8.

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[22] To each province . . . script and to each people . . . language: many languages were spoken in the Persian Empire, the principal ones being Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Aramaic, Phoenician, Egyptian, and Greek. Each of them had its own script.

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[7] Hadassah (the feminine form of hadas, myrtle), was the name by which this woman would be known among her Jewish compatriots. Esther is a variant of the name of the Babylonian goddess lshtar.

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[18] A holiday: or perhaps, "a remission of taxes."

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[19-23] This is a resumption, in a slightly different form, of the story already told in Esther A:12-15.

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[21] Mordecai . . . at the king's gate: to exercise watchful care for Esther. Some understand this to mean that Mordecai was stationed at the gate to render royal service; cf Esther A:2.

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[23] Hanged on a gibbet: impaled, perhaps, after the Babylonian manner.

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[2] Mordecai . . . would not kneel and bow down: in order not to render to man the homage which he regarded as belonging to God alone; cf Esther C:5ff.

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[7] Pur: a Babylonian word which the Hebrew translates as goral, "lot." This word is preserved in the text because its plural, purim, became the name of the feast of Purim commemorating the deliverance of the Jews; cf Esther 9:24, 26.

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[10] Signet ring: a ring containing a seal which was impressed on documents to authenticate them. By giving this ring to Haman, the king bestowed on him the power to authenticate royal decrees.

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[14] From another source: very probably Mordecai refers to divine aid; the Greek additions (C) are explicit about this.

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[1] The Hebrew text here translated is a short form of the account already given in Greek.

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[8] Whatever is written . . . cannot be revoked: the king cannot directly grant Esther's request (Esther 8:5) to revoke the previous decree against the Jews because of the irrevocable character of the laws of the Medes and Persians (Esther 1:19; Daniel 6:9); but he empowers Esther to issue a new decree in his name which renders the earlier decree without effect; cf Esther 3:12f.

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[13] Avenge themselves on their enemies: partly in self-defense (Esther E:20), and partly to express the fact that the extreme cruelty designed against the Jews by their enemies now recoiled upon the latter as a punishment. Cf Esther 9:1f.

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[7] Two lots: in this passage of the Greek text, which gives a more religious interpretation of the feast, the two lots are drawn by God to determine, respectively, the destiny of Israel and that of the nations. In Esther 3:7 above, translated from the Hebrew text, the feast is called Purim because of the lots which Aman Cast to determine the day for the extinction of the Jews.

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[10] The Greek text of Esther contains a postscript as follows: In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and his son Ptolemy brought the present letter of Purim, saying that it was genuine and that Lysimachus, son of Ptolemy, of the community of Jerusalem, had translated it. The date referred to in this postscript is most probably 78-77 B.C., in the reign of Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V.

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[10] The LORD help you . . . : literally, "May the LORD be with you in the same way as I let you . . . "; a sarcastic blessing intended as a curse.

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[11] Pharaoh realized that if the men alone went they would have to return to their families. He suspected that the Hebrews had no intention of returning.

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[13] East wind: coming across the desert from Arabia, the strong east wind brings Egypt the burning sirocco and, at times, locusts. Cf Exodus 14:21.

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[19] The Red Sea: according to the traditional translation, but the Hebrew is literally, "the Reed Sea"; hence the Red Sea of Exodus was probably a body of shallow water somewhat to the north of the present deep Red Sea.

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[21] Darkness: at times a storm from the south, called the khamsin, blackens the sky of Egypt with sand from the Sahara; the dust in the air is then so thick that the darkness can, in a sense, "be felt."

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[2] This month: Abib, the month of "ripe grain." Cf Exodus 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Deut 16:1. It occurred near the vernal equinox, March-April. Later it was known by the Babylonian name of Nisan. Cf Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 5:7.

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[4] Share in the lamb: probably, in the expenses of its purchase. Some explain, "reckon for the lamb the number of persons required to eat it." Cf Exodus 12:10.

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[11] Passover: in Hebrew, pesach, in Aramaic, pascha. In the following verses the same root is used in the verb "to pass over." The word may be originally Egyptian, pesach, "the blow," i.e., the final plague which destroyed the Egyptian first-born.

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[22] Hyssop: a plant with many woody branchlets that made a convenient sprinkler.

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[38] Mixed ancestry: half-Hebrew and half-Egyptian. Cf Numbers 11:4; Lev 24:10-11.

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[40] In Egypt: according to some ancient sources, "in Canaan and Egypt," thus reckoning from the time of Abraham. Cf Gal 3:17.

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[46] You shall not break any of its bones: the application of these words to our Lord on the cross shows that the Paschal lamb was a prophetic type of Christ, immolated to free men from the bondage of sin. Cf also 1 Cor 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19.

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[17] By way of the Philistines' land: the most direct route from Egypt to Palestine, along the shore of the Mediterranean.

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[21] A column of cloud . . . a column of fire: probably one and the same preternatural phenomenon, a central nucleus of fire surrounded by smoke; only at night was its luminous nature visible. Cf Exodus 40:38.

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[2] These places have not been definitively identified. Even the relative position of Pi-hahiroth and Baal-zephon is not clear; perhaps the former was on the west shore of the sea, where the Israelites were, and the latter on the opposite shore.

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[20] The cloud now became dark: the light which it ordinarily cast at night would now have been a help to the Egyptians; its present obscurity serves as a shield for the Israelites. However, the reading of the original text here is not quite certain.

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[1-21] This canticle (used in Christian liturgy) celebrates God's saving power, miraculously delivering his people from their enemies, and leading them to the victorious conquest of the Promised Land.

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[21] She led them: Miriam's refrain re-echoes the first verse of this song and was probably sung as an antiphon after each verse.

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[1] On the fifteenth day of the second month: just one full month after their departure from Egypt. Cf Exodus 12:2, 51; Numbers 33:3, 4. They encamped in the desert of Sin on a Friday; the murmuring (Exodus 16:2, 3) occurred on the sabbath, the arrival of the quail (Exodus 16:13) the evening before Sunday, followed by six mornings (Exodus 16:14-27) of collecting manna before the next sabbath.

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[4] Bread from heaven: as a gift from God, the manna is said to come down from the sky. Cf Psalm 78:25; Wisdom 16:20. Perhaps it was similar to a natural substance that is still found in small quantities on the Sinai peninsula, but here it is, at least in part, clearly miraculous. Our Lord referred to the manna as a type of the Blessed Eucharist. Cf John 6:32, 49-52.

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[15] What is this: the original man hu is thus rendered by the ancient versions, which understood the phrase as a popular etymology of the Hebrew word man, "manna"; some render, "This is manna."

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[18] St. Paul cites this passage as an example of equitable sharing. Cf 2 Cor 8:15.

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[31] Coriander seed: small, round, aromatic seeds of bright brown color; the comparison, therefore, refers merely to the size and shape, not to the taste or color of the manna.

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[33] Urn: according to the Greek translation, which is followed in Hebrews 9:4, this was a golden vessel.

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[34] The commandments: the two tablets of the ten commandments, which were kept in the ark. Cf Exodus 25:16, 21, 22.

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[7] Massah . . . Meribah: Hebrew words meaning respectively, "the (place of the) test," and, "the (place of the) quarreling."

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[8] Amalek: the Amalekites were an aboriginal people of southern Palestine and the Sinai peninsula. Cf Numbers 24:20.

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[15] Yahweh-nissi: meaning, "the LORD is my banner."

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[6] Kingdom of priests: inasmuch as the whole Israelite nation was consecrated to God in a special way, it formed a race of royal priests who participated in the liturgical sacrifices, even though the actual offering of the sacrifices was the exclusive prerogative of the Aaronic priesthood. The same condition exists in the New Dispensation as regards the whole Christian people and the Christian priesthood in the strict sense. Cf Isaiah 61:6; 1 Peter 2:5, 9.

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[1] Sons of Israel: here literally the first-generation sons of Jacob. Cf Genesis 1:5. However, beginning with Exodus 1:7 the same Hebrew phrase refers to the more remote descendants of Jacob; hence, from here on, it is ordinarily rendered "the Israelites." Households: the family in its fullest sense, including wives, children and servants.

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[2] The sons of Jacob are listed here according to the respective mothers. Cf Genesis 29:31; 30:20; 35:16-26

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[5] Direct descendants: literally, persons coming from the loins of Jacob; hence, wives and servants are here excluded. Cf Genesis 46:26

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[8] Who knew nothing of Joseph: this king ignored the services that Joseph had rendered to Egypt.

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[11] Pharaoh: not a personal name, but a title common to all the kings of Egypt.

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[14] Mortar: either the wet clay with which the bricks were made, as in Nahum 3:14, or the cement used between the bricks in building, as in Genesis 11:3

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[16] And see them giving birth: the Hebrew text is uncertain.

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[22] The river: the Nile, which was "the" river for the Egyptians.

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[1-17] The precise division of these precepts into "ten commandments" is somewhat uncertain. Traditionally among Catholics Exodus 20:1-6 is considered as only one commandment, and Exodus 20:17 as two. Cf Deut 5:6-21.

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[5] Jealous: demanding exclusive allegiance, such as a wife must have for her husband.

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[24] I choose for the remembrance of my name: literally, "where I make my name to be remembered": at the sacred site where God wishes to be worshiped and his name revered.

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[1] Rules: judicial precedents to be used in settling questions of law and custom. This introductory phrase serves as the title of the following collection of civil and religious laws (Exodus 21-23) which is called in Exodus 24:7, the book of the covenant.

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[6] To God: to the sanctuary; or perhaps the phrase is to be rendered, "to the gods," in the sense of "to the judges." Cf Psalm 82:1. Since the expression "to have an open ear" meant "to obey," a pierced ear lobe was an ancient symbol of obedience. Cf Psalm 40:7.

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[8] Destined her: intended her as a wife of second rank.

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[23-25] This section is known as the lex talionis, the law of tit for tat. The purpose of this law was not merely the enforcement of rigorous justice, but also the prevention of greater penalties than would be just. Christ refers to this passage when he exhorts Christians to cede their lawful rights for the sake of charity. Cf Matthew 5:38-40.

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[36] In the Vulgate, Exodus 22:1-31.

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[1-2] If a thief is caught: this seems to be a fragment of what was once a longer law on housebreaking, which has been inserted here into the middle of a law on stealing animals. At night the householder would be justified in killing a burglar outright, but not so in the daytime, when the burglar could more easily be caught alive. He must make full restitution: this stood originally immediately after Exodus 21:37.

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[4] The Greek and Latin versions understood this verse as a prohibition against allowing one's cattle to graze in the field of another.

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[7] Brought to God: see note on Exodus 21:6. Cf also Exodus 22:10.

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[16] The customary marriage price for virgins: fifty shekels according to Deut 22:29.

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[27] God: or perhaps "the gods," in the sense of "the judges," as the parallel with a prince of your people suggests.

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[14] These three feasts are elsewhere called the Passover, Pentecost and Booths. Cf Exodus 34:18-26; Lev 23; Deut 16.

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[15] Appear before me: the original expression was "see my face"; so also in several other places, as Exodus 23:17; 34:23- 24; Deut 16:16; 31:11.

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[19] Boil a kid in its mother's milk: this was part of a Canaanite ritual; hence it is forbidden here as a pagan ceremony.

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[21] My authority resides in him: literally, "My name is within him."

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[24] Make anything like them: some render, "act according to their conduct." Sacred pillars: objects of religious veneration at Canaanite sanctuaries.

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[28] Hornets: some understand this figuratively of various troublesome afflictions; others translate the Hebrew word as "leprosy." Cf Deut 7:20; Joshua 24:12; Wisdom 12:8.

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[31] The sea of the Philistines: the Mediterranean. The River: the Euphrates. Only in the time of David and Solomon did the territory of Israel come near to reaching such distant borders.

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[4] Pillars: stone shafts or slabs, erected as symbols of the fact that each of the twelve tribes had entered into this covenant with God; not idolatrous as in Exodus 23:24, although the same Hebrew word is used in both passages. See note on Genesis 28:18.

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[11] After gazing on God: the ancients thought that the sight of God would bring instantaneous death. Cf Exodus 33:20; Genesis 16:13; 32:31; Judges 6:22, 23; 13:22. Eat and drink: partake of the sacrificial meal.

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[5] Tahash: perhaps the name of a marine animal, such as the dugong or the porpoise. The Greek and Latin versions took it for the color hyacinth.

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[17] Propitiatory: this traditional rendering of the Hebrew term, which may mean merely "cover," is derived from its connection with the ceremony of the Day of Atonement whereby God was rendered "propitious." Cf Lev 16:14, 16.

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[18-20] Cherubim: probably in the form of human-headed winged lions. The cherubim over the ark formed the throne for the invisible Lord. Cf Psalm 80:2. For a more detailed description of the somewhat different cherubim in the temple of Solomon, see 1 Kings 6:23-28; 2 Chron 3:10-13.

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[25] A frame: probably placed near the bottom of the legs to keep them steady. The golden table of Herod's temple is pictured thus on the Arch of Titus.

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[29-30] The plates held the showbread, that is, the holy bread which was placed upon the table every sabbath as an offering to God, and was later eaten by the priests. The cups held the incense which was strewn upon the bread. Cf Lev 24:5-9. The libation wine was poured from the pitchers into the bowls. All these vessels were kept on the golden table.

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[33] In keeping with the arrangement of the ornaments on the shaft, the three sets of ornaments on each branch were probably so placed that one was at the top and the other two equally spaced along the length of the branch. Knob: the cup-shaped seed capsule at the base of a flower.

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[34-35] Of the four ornaments on the shaft, one was at the top and one was below each of the three sets of side branches.

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[37] The lamps were probably shaped like small boats, with the wick at one end; the end with the wick was turned toward the front of the lampstand.

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[38] Trays: small receptacles for the burnt-out wicks.

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[1] Sheets: strips of tapestry, woven of white linen, the colored threads being used for the cherubim which were embroidered on them. These sheets were stretched across the top of the Dwelling to form a roof, their free ends hanging down inside the boards which formed walls.

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[7] Tent covering: the cloth made of sheets of goat hair to cover the Dwelling.

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[9] Half the width of the end strip was folded back at the front of the Dwelling, thus leaving another half-strip to hang down at the rear. Cf Exodus 26:12.

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[17] Arms: literally, "hands." According to some, they served as "tongue and groove" to mortise the boards together; according to others, they were pegs at the bottom of the boards and fitted into sockets in the pedestals.

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[32] Hooks: probably placed near the tops of the columns, to hold the rope from which the veils and curtains hung.

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[36] Variegated: without definite designs such as the cherubim on the inner veil.

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[4] Grating: it is not clear whether this was flush with the altar or at some small distance from it; in the latter case the space between the altar and the grating would be filled with stones and serve as a platform around the altar, which would otherwise be too high for the priest to reach conveniently.

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[8] Hollow: probably filled with earth or stones when in use. Cf Exodus 20:24-25.

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[6] Ephod: this Hebrew word is retained in the translation because it is the technical term for a peculiar piece of the priestly vestments, the exact nature of which is uncertain. It seems to have been a sort of apron that hung from the shoulders of the priest by shoulder straps (Exodus 28:7) and was tied around his waist by the loose ends of the attached belt (Exodus 28:8).

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[15-30] Breastpiece: in shape like a modern altar burse, it was a pocketlike receptacle for holding the Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30), and formed an integral part of the ephod, to which it was attached by an elaborate system of rings and chains. Both the ephod and its breastpiece were made of brocaded linen.

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[17-20] The translation of the Hebrew names of some of these gems is quite conjectural.

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[30] Urim and Thummim: both the meaning of these Hebrew words and the exact nature of the objects so designated are uncertain. They were apparently lots of some kind which were drawn or cast by the priest to ascertain God's decision in doubtful matters. Hence, the burse in which they were kept was called "the breastpiece of decision."

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[41] Ordain them: literally, "fill their hands," a technical expression used solely for the installation of priests. The phrase probably originated in the custom of placing in the priests' hands the instruments or other symbols of the sacerdotal office.

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[22] Fatty tail: the thick layer of fat surrounding the tails of sheep and rams bred in Palestine even today. It is regarded as a choice food. Cf Lev 3:9.

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[24-26] Wave offering: the portions of a peace offering, breast and right thigh, which the officiating priest moved to and fro (waved) in the presence of the Lord. They were reserved for Aaron and his sons.

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[27-30] These verses are a parenthetical interruption of the ordination ritual; Exodus 29:31 belongs logically immediately after Exodus 29:26.

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[36,37] Purge the altar: the construction of an altar by profane hands rendered it impure. The anointing and consecration of the altar purified it and made it sacred.

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[38-42] A parenthesis inserted into the rubrics for consecrating the altar; Exodus 29:43 belongs directly after Exodus 29:37.

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[3] Basket: literally, "chest" or "ark"; the same Hebrew word is used in Genesis 6:14 for Noah's ark. Here, however, the chest was made of papyrus stalks.

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[10] When the child grew: probably when he was weaned or a little later. Moses: in Hebrew, Mosheh; the Hebrew word for "draw out" is mashah. This explanation of the name is not intended as a scientific etymology but as a play on words. The name is probably derived from an Egyptian word for "has been born," referring the birth to a god thought to be its sponsor.

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[11] After Moses had grown up: Acts 7:23 indicates that this was after an interval of nearly forty years. Cf Exodus 7:7. Striking: probably in the sense of "flogging"; according to some, "slaying."

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[18] Reuel: he was also called Jethro. Cf Exodus 3:1; 4:18; 18:1.

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[19] An Egyptian: Moses was probably wearing Egyptian dress, or spoke Egyptian to Reuel's daughters.

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[22] Gershom: the name is explained as if it came from the Hebrew word ger, "stranger," joined to the Hebrew word sham, "there." Some Greek and Latin manuscripts add here a passage taken from Exodus 18:4.

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[10] The service cloths: so the Greek. They were perhaps the colored cloths mentioned in Numbers 4:4-15.

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[5] The calf . . . a feast of the LORD: from this it is clear that the golden calf was intended as an image, not of a false god, but of the LORD himself, his strength being symbolized by the strength of a young bull. The Israelites, however, had been forbidden to represent the Lord under any visible form. Cf Exodus 20:4.

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[20] The water: the stream that flowed down Mount Sinai. Cf Deut 9:21.

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[27] Slay your own kinsmen . . . : those who were especially guilty of the idolatry.

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[29] Dedicated to the LORD: because of their zeal for the true worship of the Lord, the Levites were chosen to be special ministers of the ritual service. However, the meaning of the Hebrew here is somewhat disputed.

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[32] The book that you have written: the list of God's intimate friends. In a similar sense St. Paul wished to be anathema from Christ for the sake of his brethren. Cf Romans 9:3.

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[7-11] The meeting tent is mentioned here by anticipation; its actual construction is described in the following chapters.

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[14] I myself: literally, "my face," that is, "my presence." To give you rest: in the Promised Land; some understand, "to put your mind at rest"; others, by a slight emendation in the text, render, "to lead you."

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[23] You may see my back: man can see God's glory as reflected in creation, but his "face," that is, God as he is in himself, mortal man cannot behold. Cf 1 Cor 13:12.

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[13] Sacred poles: "Ashera" was the name of a Canaanite goddess. In her honor wooden poles (asherot) were erected, just as stone pillars (massebot) were erected in honor of the god Baal. Both were placed near the altar in a Canaanite shrine.

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[14] The LORD is "the Jealous One": see note on Exodus 20:5. Some, by a slight emendation, render, "The LORD is jealous for his name." Cf Ezekiel 39:25.

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[22] Feast of Weeks: the festival of thanksgiving for the harvest, celebrated seven weeks or fifty days after the beginning of the harvest. It was also called Pentecost (fiftieth) and coincided with the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, fifty days after the offering of the first fruits (Lev 23:10-11; Deut 16:9).

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[33] He put a veil over his face: St. Paul sees in this a symbol of the failure of the Jews to recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah: the true spiritual meaning of the writings of Moses and the prophets is still veiled from the unbelieving Jews. Cf 2 Cor 3:7-18.

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[8] The reflecting surface of ancient mirrors was usually of polished bronze. The women who served: cf 1 Sam 2:22.

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[1] The mountain of God: probably given this designation because of the divine apparitions which took place there, such as on this occasion and when the Israelites were there after the departure from Egypt.

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[2] An angel of the LORD: the visual form under which God appeared and spoke to men is referred to indifferently in some Old Testament texts either as God's angel or as God himself. Cf Genesis 16:7, 13; Exodus 14:19, 24, 25; Numbers 22:22-35; Jdgs 6,11-18.

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[6] The appearance of God caused fear of death, since it was believed that no one could see God and live; cf Genesis 32:30. The God of Abraham . . . Jacob: cited by Christ in proof of the resurrection since the patriarchs, long dead, live on in God who is the God of the living. Cf Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37.

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[8] I have come down: a figure of speech signifying an extraordinary divine intervention in human affairs. Cf Genesis 11:5, 7. Flowing with milk and honey: an expression denoting agricultural prosperity, which seems to have been proverbial in its application to Palestine. Cf 13:5; Numbers 13:27; Joshua 5:6; Jeremiah 11:5; 32:22; Ezekiel 20:6, 15.

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[11] Who am I: besides naturally shrinking from such a tremendous undertaking, Moses realized that, as a fugitive from Pharaoh, he could hardly hope to carry out a mission to him. Perhaps he also recalled that on one occasion even his own kinsmen questioned his authority. Cf Exodus 2:14.

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[14] I am who am: apparently this utterance is the source of the word Yahweh, the proper personal name of the God of Israel. It is commonly explained in reference to God as the absolute and necessary Being. It may be understood of God as the Source of all created beings. Out of reverence for this name, the term Adonai, "my Lord," was later used as a substitute. The word LORD in the present version represents this traditional usage. The word "Jehovah" arose from a false reading of this name as it is written in the current Hebrew text.

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[16] Elders: the Israelite leaders, who were usually older men. They were representatives of the people.

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[22] Articles: probably jewelry. Despoil: this was permissible, that the Israelites might compensate themselves for their many years of servitude; besides, the Egyptians would give these things willingly. Cf Exodus 12:33-36.

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[2] On the first day of the first month: almost a year after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. Cf Exodus 40:17.

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[13] Send someone else: literally, "Send by means of him whom you will send," that is, "Send whom you will."

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[16] Spokesman: literally, "mouth"; Aaron was to serve as a mouthpiece for Moses, as a prophet does for God; hence the relation between Moses and Aaron is compared to that between God and his prophet. Cf Exodus 7:1.

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[17] This staff: probably the same as that of Exodus 4:2-4; but some understand it here of a new staff now given by God to Moses.

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[18] Moses did not tell his father-in-law his main reason for returning to Egypt, but this secondary motive which he offered was also true.

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[21] Make him obstinate: literally, "harden his heart." God permitted Pharaoh to be stubborn in his opposition to the departure of the Israelites. Cf Romans 9:17, 18.

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[24-26] Apparently God was angry with Moses for having failed to keep the divine command given to Abraham in Genesis 17:10-12. Moses' life is spared when his wife circumcises their son.

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[6] The taskmasters and foremen: the former were higher officials and probably Egyptians; the latter were lower officials, chosen from the Israelites themselves. Cf Exodus 5:14.

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[7] Straw was mixed with the clay to give the sun-dried bricks greater consistency.

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[14] The purpose of the genealogy here is to give the line from which Moses and Aaron sprang. Reuben and Simeon are first mentioned because, as older brothers of Levi, their names occur before his in the genealogy.

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[20] His aunt: more exactly, "his father's sister." Later on such a marriage was forbidden. Cf Lev 18:12. Hence, the Greek and Latin versions render here, "his cousin."

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[1] Just as God had his prophets to speak to men in his name, so Moses had Aaron as his "prophet" to speak to Pharaoh. Cf Exodus 4:16.

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[14] Most of the ten plagues of Egypt seem to be similar to certain natural phenomena of that country; but they are represented as supernatural at least in their greater intensity and in their occurring exactly according to Moses' commands.

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[7:25-8:28] This is Exodus 8:1-32 in the verse enumeration of the Vulgate.

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[9] Courtyards: some render "farmhouses."

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[12, 17] Gnats, flies: it is uncertain what species of trouble-some insects are here meant.

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[15] The finger of God: understood by the magicians as the staff mentioned in Exodus 8:13, Cf Luke 11:20.

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[22] The Egyptians would fiercely resent the sacrifice of any animal they considered sacred. Certain animals were worshiped in Egypt, at least as the symbols of various deities.

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[16] To show you: some ancient versions read, "to show through you." Cf Romans 9:17.

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[10:1-11:25] In these chapters of the current Hebrew text, several visions involving the temple of Jerusalem were combined to form a single continuous vision. The redistribution of verses in this translation is an attempt to separate the original visions. Ezekiel 10:1(8:1, 2, 4) have been transposed here from Ezekial 8. [1] The fifth day of the sixth month, in the sixth year: September 17, 592 B.C.

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[2] The dots suppose the omission of some words describing the prophet's being transported in his visions to the court of the temple.

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[3] These words reflect the false confidence of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the face of the Chaldean invasion. Jerusalem, they think, is like an iron kettle protecting the meat within it from harm; but cf Ezekiel 24:3-6.

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[15-21] Like Jeremiah (cf Ezekial 29), Ezekiel knows that no reform is to be expected from the men of Judah who remained in Palestine; but the exiles will be the ones to form the new Israel. The new, spiritual covenant will replace the former covenant; cf Jeremiah 24:7.

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[5] Dig a hole in the wall: the exiles are to leave Jerusalem through the broken walls of the ruined city.

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[13] But he shall not see it: Zedekiah was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar before being deported to Babylonia; cf 2 Kings 25:7.

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[22,27] These words were used against Ezekiel because of the apparent failure of his prophecies; cf Jeremiah 20:7-9.

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[9] I, the LORD, shall have beguiled that prophet: the ancient Israelites attributed to God every action, good or evil; cf 1 Sam 18:10; 2 Sam 24:1-3. We would say, rather, that God permitted this deceit.

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[12-23] The doctrine of personal responsibility before God was not new (cf Ezekiel 3:16-21; 18; 33:1-20); but it had not been emphasized by the prophets before the exile, who mostly predicted national retribution and called for national repentance.

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[14] Noah, Daniel, and Job: proverbially virtuous men. The Daniel named here may be the traditional just judge of the ancient past, celebrated in Canaanite literature, who is possibly reflected in Daniel 13, but is not the hero of Daniel 1-12.

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[3-4] By origin and birth . . . Canaan . . . Amorite . . . Hittite: the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah absorbed not only pre-Israelite racial strains, but also many elements of the country's pagan cult and customs.

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[8] I spread the corner of my cloak over you to cover your nakedness: and also to signify the intention of marriage; cf Ruth 3:9.

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[16] Fine robes were used to cover a couch for harlotry; cf Proverb 7:16-17. In the allegory of this chapter the viewpoint often shifts from the figure (harlotry) to the reality (idolatry).

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[20-21] Human sacrifice was introduced under Judah's impious kings; cf 2 Kings 16:3; 17:17; Jeremiah 7:31.

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[24] A platform and a dais: associated with ritual prostitution, which the Israelites borrowed from Canaanite practice.

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[45] True daughter of the mother: Jerusalem has followed in the footsteps of its heathen forebears; cf Ezekiel 16:3.

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[46] Your elder sister was Samaria: Samaria can be called an elder sister in view of the relatively greater importance of the northern kingdom, Israel, during most of Old Testament history. Also, the relatively insignificant Sodom of ancient history can be called your younger sister.

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[11-21] These verses explain the foregoing allegory. In 597 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar removed King Jehoiachin and took him into exile; in his place he set Zedekiah, Jehoiachin's uncle, on the throne and received from him the oath of loyalty. But Zedekiah was beguiled into rebellion by Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt, and thereby merited punishment; cf 2 Kings 24:10-25:7.

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[22-23] I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar . . . plant it: the Lord will restore Israel under a messianic King from the same Davidic dynasty.

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[2] Fathers . . . on edge: a proverb by which the people claimed that they were being punished for their ancestors' sins rather than for their own; cf Jeremiah 31:29.

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[6] Eat on the mountains: partake of ritual meals at the heathen high places.

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[2-9] The meaning of this allegory is uncertain. Probably the two young lions are Jehoahaz and Zedekiah, sons of the same mother, who were deported to Egypt and Babylonia respectively. Cf 2 Kings 23:31-34; 24:18-20.

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[10-14] A vine: Judah. One strong branch: the Davidic king.

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[1] The thirtieth year, which corresponds to the fifth year of exile (Ezekiel 1:2), has never been satisfactorily explained; possibly it refers to the prophet's age. The river Chebar: probably a canal near Nippur, southeast of Babylon, one of the sites on which the Jewish exiles were settled.

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[2] The fifth day of the fourth month, the fifth year: July 31, 593 B.C.; cf Ezekiel 1:1.

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[4] The North: the abode of God; see notes on Job 37:22; Psalm 48:3. Electrum: an alloy of gold and silver, used here for some undetermined bright metal.

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[5] Four living creatures: identified as cherubim in Ezekiel 10:1-2(20-21).

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[1] The seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month: August 14, 591 B.C.

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[25-26] I gave them statutes that were not good: the Lord permitted them to adopt pagan practices, including the abominable sacrifice of their newborn infants, which could only merit their destruction. See note on Ezekiel 14:9.

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[35-38] Exile in the pagan lands will serve the same purpose as the desert journey after the Exodus from Egypt: the rebellious will be eliminated, and only a remnant will survive.

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[2-4] The southern kingdom, Judah, is likened to a forest about to be burned; cf Jeremiah 21:14.

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[8] Cut off from you the virtuous and the wicked: a more complete devastation of Jerusalem than that described in Ezekiel 9:6.

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[12] A report: the news of the fall of Jerusalem; cf Ezekiel 33:21- 22.

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[17] Slap your thigh: a gesture signifying grief and dread.

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[22] Brush one hand against the other: a gesture signifying the rejection of responsibility; cf Ezekiel 22:13; Numbers 24:10.

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[26] Three forms of divination are mentioned: arrow divination, consisting in the use of differently marked arrows extracted or shaken from a case at random; the consultation of the teraphim or household idols, and liver divination, scrutiny of the configurations of the livers of newly slaughtered animals, a common form of divination in Mesopotamia.

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[27-28] An arrow marked "Jerusalem" is picked out, which marks the guilt of the city's inhabitants for having broken their oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar.

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[33] (33-37) In the preceding section Nebuchadnezzar is represented as deciding whether to attack Jerusalem or Rabbath-Ammon. As it happened, Jerusalem was chosen for attack; later, however, the Chaldeans also invaded Ammon. The present oracle against Ammon is inserted here, rather than in Ezekial 25-32, in order to complement the oracle against Jerusalem.

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[4] Oholah . . . Oholibah: symbolic names. The first, standing for Samaria, may be read to mean "her own tent"; the latter, standing for Jerusalem, means "My tent is in her." The references seem to be to the schismatic temple and cult of the Lord in Samaria, as opposed to their authentic counterpart in Jerusalem.

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[23] Pekod, Shoa and Koa: peoples living about the Tigris, part of "greater Babylonia."

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[40] Men who had to come from afar: ambassadors from Assyria and Babylon. Alliances with these countries aided in the corruption of both Israel and Judah.

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[1] The tenth day of the tenth month, in the ninth year: January 15, 588 B.C. The same date is given in Jeremiah 52:4.

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[3-5] This present comparison of the inhabitants of Jerusalem to meat boiled in a pot symbolizes their punishment rather than their supposed protection as in Ezekiel 11:3.

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[7] Blood . . . to be covered with dust: since blood was sacred to God, it had to be covered with earth (Lev 17:13); the blood of a murdered man that was left uncovered cried to heaven for vengeance; cf Job 16:18; Genesis 4:10.

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[17] The customary bread: eaten as a mourning observance; cf Jeremiah 16:7. The other gestures here forbidden were also popular mourning customs.

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[23-24] (22,23) The fall of the city will be so sudden and final that the exiles will have no time to go into mourning.

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[4] The Easterners: nomadic tribes to the east of Ammon and Moab.

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[9] The shoulder of Moab: the edge of the Moabite plateau.

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[16] Cherethites: a people forming part of the Philistine nation; cf Zephaniah 2:5.

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[4-5] A bare rock: the Tyre of Ezekiel's time was situated on a rocky island just off the Phoenician coast; it was not until the time of Alexander the Great that it was connected by a causeway to the mainland.

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[6] Her daughters: tributary towns and villages on the mainland.

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[16] The princes of the sea: the rulers of the islands and coastal cities leagued commercially with Tyre.

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[20] Those who descend into the pit: the dead, pictured as dwelling in a place or cave of darkness.

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[5] Senir: another name for Mount Hermon; cf Deut 3:9.

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[6] Bashan: northern Transjordan, which, like Lebanon, was noted for its great forests. Kittim: probably Cyprus.

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[7] Elishah: probably another term for Cyprus.

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[8-9] Sidon . . . Arvad . . . Zemer . . . Gebal: Phoenician cities in Tyre's orbit of influence; the last-named is the classical Byblos.

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[3] Wiser than Daniel: see note on Ezekiel 14:14.

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[12-19] This picture of Tyre and its fall recalls images of the earthly paradise portraying the creation of man in perfection and his fall (Genesis 2-3).

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[14] The holy mountain of God: the residence of God was sometimes designated as a mountain; cf Isaiah 14:13. The fiery stones: associated with the divine presence; cf Ezekiel 1:13; Psalm 18:13.

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[1] The twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year: January 7, 587 B.C. The siege of Jerusalem had begun a year earlier; cf Ezekiel 24:1.

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[2] Egypt was allied with Judah against the Chaldeans.

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[3] Niles: the many rivulets of the Nile as it branches out into the Delta.

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[10] From Migdol to Syene: from the northern to the southern extremity of Egypt. Syene is the modern Assuan.

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[14] Pathros, the land of their origin: upper Egypt, that is, southern Egypt, where the Egyptians were thought to have originated; Isaiah 11:11; Jeremiah 44:1, 15.

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[17] The first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year: April 26, 571 B.C. This is the latest date attached to any prophecy in Ezekiel.

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[18-19] The fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy against Tyre (Ezekial 26-28) was a thirteen-year siege of the city by Nebuchadnezzar (587-574 B.C.). Tyre seems to have been taken, but its resources were exhausted and the booty was small. Therefore Ezekiel now prophesies that Nebuchadnezzar will collect his wages as God's instrument in the punishment of Tyre, by plundering Egypt.

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[1] Son of man: a formal way of saying simply "man"; God's habitual way of addressing the prophet throughout this book. Probably the title is used to emphasize the separation of the divine and the human.

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[2] Spirit: vital power, coming from God, which enables the prophet to hear the word of God; cf Ezekiel 8:3; 9:24; 11:1.

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[6] When you sit on scorpions: the prophet must be prepared for the bitterest opposition.

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[20] The seventh day of the first month in the eleventh year: April 29, 587 B.C.

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[21-26] This oracle was uttered during the siege of Jerusalem, which had now lasted more than a year (Ezekiel 24:1). Pharaoh Hophra went to the aid of Jerusalem, causing the Chaldeans to lift the siege temporarily; cf Jeremiah 34:21; 37:6- 7. In the prophet's eyes, this was interfering with the divine punishment of Judah that was to be inflicted by the Chaldeans. The Egyptians were routed by the Chaldeans, and were able to offer no more help to Jerusalem; cf Ezekial 31.

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[1] The first day of the third month in the eleventh year: June 21, 587 B.C.

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[1] The first day of the twelfth month in the twelfth year: March 3, 585 B.C.

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[21-22] January 8, 585 B.C. According to Jeremiah (Ezekiel 39:2), Jerusalem was taken in July, 587. Some MSS read "eleventh" for twelfth year (January, 586); even so, there was ample time between the fall of Jerusalem and the arrival of the fugitive from that city to journey to Babylon. However, this is the fugitive sent to fulfill the promise of Ezekiel 24:25, 27, the eye witness who would release Ezekiel from his dumbness; cf Ezekiel 3:26-27.

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[23-29] News brought by the fugitive furnished the occasion of this prophecy. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel rejects the idea that the survivors in Judah have any claim to the land. The new Israel is to be formed from the exiles.

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[30] The fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecies about Jerusalem was responsible for this temporary enthusiasm among the unstable people.

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[2] The shepherds of Israel: the leaders of the people.

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[23] One shepherd . . . my servant David: a messianic Davidic King who will rule over the restored Israel (Ezekiel 34:25-31) in the name of the Lord.

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[1-15] After the fall of Jerusalem, Edom assisted the Chaldeans in devastating the land and subduing the population, and ended by occupying part of Judah's former territory. For this reason these oracles against Edom are found in the context of the city's fall.

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[10] The two nations and the two lands: the superseded kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their territories.

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[13] A land that devours men: destroys its own population, as could be seen in its disastrous political history.

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[1-14] This vision is a prediction of the restoration of Israel under the figure of a resurrection from the dead; it is not concerned with the doctrine of resurrection itself.

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[15-22] The symbolic action of joining two sticks into one signifies the future union of Israel and Judah under one messianic King.

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[38:1-39:20] These three oracles against Gog may refer either to a specific foreign invasion in the future, or to the apocalyptic struggle between good and evil at the end of time. By some they are ascribed to a later author than Ezekiel, who lived after the exile and the return to Palestine.

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[2] Gog: the name is almost certainly a symbolic one taken from that of Gyges, king of Lydia, whether or not the prophet has a specific person in mind. The gloss Magog may be an Akkadian expression, mat-Gog, "the land of Gog." Meshech and Tubal, as well as Gomer and Beth-togarmah (Ezekiel 38:6), were countries around the Black Sea, the northernmost countries known to the Hebrews: the north (cf also Ezekiel 38:22(15)) was the traditional direction from which invasion was expected; cf Jeremiah 1:13-15.

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[12] Who dwell at the navel of the earth: the people of Israel (cf Ezekiel 38:15(18); Ezekiel 5:5). Many ancient peoples spoke of their own homelands as "the navel," that is, the center of the earth.

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[11] The Valley of Abarim: in the Abarim mountains, east of the Jordan. Hamon-gog: means "the horde of Gog."

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[3] As sweet as honey: though the prophet must foretell terrible things, the word of God is sweet to him who receives it.

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[12] The glory of the LORD: the divine presence, manifested here in visible form.

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[15] Tel-abib: one of the sites where the exiles were settled, probably near Nippur.

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[16] (3:16) At the end of seven days . . . : the incomplete sentence probably contained some such words as "the word of the Lord came to me." For seven days, see Ezekiel 3:15. (This verse has been transposed from chapter 3.)

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[40:1-48:35] This lengthy vision of the new Israel is dated (Ezekiel 40:1) April 28, 573 B.C. It is largely concerned with the new temple and the prescriptions to govern it, but other details of the restored commonwealth are included, forming a kind of program for the future. The literary form of the vision has been aptly termed "utopian": it is plain that the prophet did not expect a literal fulfillment of much of what he described. The passage doubtless underwent successive additions, both from the prophet and from later inspired writers.

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[5] A cubit and a handbreadth: the ordinary cubit consisted of six handbreadths; the great cubit, of seven. In measuring the temple, a rod six great cubits long was used. The ordinary cubit was about one and a half feet, or, more exactly, 17.5 inches; the large cubit, 20.4 inches.

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[6-16] The east gate, leading into the outer court of the temple, is described more fully than the north and south gates, which, however, were of the same dimensions. On the west side of the outer court there was a large building instead of a gate (Ezekiel 41:12).

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[17] The outer court: the court outside the temple area proper, which had its own inner court (Ezekiel 40:28-37).

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[28-37] The gates leading into the inner court of the temple area correspond to the gates leading into the outer court, with the exception that their vestibules are on the outer rather than the inner side. (Ezekiel 40:30, a dittography of Ezekiel 40:29 is omitted.)

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[12] The building: the function of this structure lying behind the temple is never specified.

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[22] A wooden altar: the altar of incense, standing in the nave at the entrance to the holy of holies.

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[5-6] The three rows of identical chambers, since they rested on different ground levels, necessarily had roofs on correspondingly different levels.

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[13] The function of these chambers is explained again in Ezekiel 46:19-20.

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[8] They placed their threshold against my threshold: the preexilic temple and the royal palace belonged to the same complex of buildings, and this physical proximity was reflected in the use made of the temple by kings like Ahaz and Manasseh, who treated it as their private chapel for pagan rites. In the new Israel the temple is free, even physically, from civil jurisdiction; cf Ezekiel 45:7-8.

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[13] The altar: of holocausts, standing in the inner court of the temple area; cf Ezekiel 40:47.

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[3] The prince stands at the eastern gate of the inner court while his sacrifice is offered up (Ezekiel 46:2); he then goes to the vestibule of the outer court, there to partake of his sacrificial meal. The closed outer gate on the eastern side signifies that the Lord has entered the temple permanently, not to depart again.

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[7-9] In the preexilic temple various menial services had been performed by foreigners; cf Joshua 9:22-27. In the new temple the Levites will perform these services (Ezekiel 44:10-14).

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[10-14] Levites other than the Zadokite priesthood of Jerusalem had performed priestly functions at the various sanctuaries and high places in Israel and Judah, where the worship of the Lord had often been corrupted with pagan elements. The demotion of the Levites to menial service in the temple was enforced in the actual restoration after the exile, and explains why relatively few Levites were willing to return; cf Ezra 8:15-17.

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[19] Thus they will not transmit holiness to the people: holiness was thought of as something physical, as though it were communicable, and therefore not to be brought in contact with unconsecrated persons.

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[29] Under the ban: dedicated to the Lord, withdrawn from profane use.

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[9-12] Besides the land monopoly fostered by royal greed and collusion with the wealthy (Micah 2:2; Isaiah 3:12-15; 5:8-10), one grave social evil of preexilic Israel was dishonesty in business; cf Hosea 12:8; Amos 8:5. Ephah: a dry measure; liquid measure: in Hebrew, a "bath," standardized according to the homer (a dry measure of about 10 bushels, or 80 gallons). In Ezekiel 45:12 reference is made to the change in value of the mina: before the exile it was valued at 50 shekels, but afterward, in imitation of Babylonian practice, the 60-shekel mina was adopted. The shekel was a unit of weight slightly less than half an ounce. As a monetary unit, the value obviously differed greatly, depending on whether it was a gold or a silver shekel.

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[14] Kor: both a liquid and a dry measure, corresponding to the homer.

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[24] Hin: a sixth part of the liquid measure called a bath.

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[17] The year of release: the jubilee year; cf Lev 25:23-55.

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[1-12] The wonderful and superabundant stream flowing from the temple, restoring to fertility traditionally arid ground, is symbolic of the return of the conditions of primeval paradise; cf Genesis 2:10-14. Water signifies great blessings, just as dryness signifies a curse; cf Ezekiel 26:5, 14.

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[10] From En-gedi to En-eglaim: the former was about halfway down the western shore of the Dead Sea, the latter may have been at its northern extremity.

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[13-20] These boundaries of the restored Israel correspond to those of the Davidic kingdom at its fullest extent, the so-called "ideal boundaries" of the promised land; cf Numbers 34:3-12.

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[1-29] This distribution of the land among the tribes does not correspond to the geographical realities of Palestine. It is a description of the ideal order, like that in Ezekiel 47:1-12.

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[5-6] Three hundred and ninety days . . . forty days: symbolically representing the respective lengths of the periods of exile of northern Israelites and Judahites. Northern Israel had already fallen to Assyria in 722 B.C. The letters in the Hebrew phrase for the days of your siege (Ezekiel 4:8), each of which has its own numerical value, add up to three hundred and ninety. Forty years represent one generation.

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[7] Bared arm: a symbol of unrestrained power.

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[9-13] This action represents the scarcity of food during the siege of Jerusalem, and the consequent need to eat whatever is at hand. Twenty shekels: about nine ounces. The sixth of a hin: about one quart.

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[2] The city: the one drawn on the tablet.

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[8] I am coming at you: an expression borrowed from the language of warfare in which enemies attacked one another with the sword. You in Ezekiel 5:8-17 is Jerusalem.

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[10] Fathers . . . shall eat sons, and sons . . . fathers: see note on Lam 2:20.

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[3] High places: the sanctuaries on the mountaintops where illegal worship, whether of the Lord or of Canaanite deities, was performed.

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[5] Scatter their bones . . . altars: dead men's bones defiled a place; cf 2 Kings 23:14.

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[11] Clap your hands, stamp your feet: here evidently signs of mourning; in Ezekiel 25:6, signs of joy.

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[13] Every green tree and leafy oak: sacred groves had a long history in Palestine as places of worship; cf Deut 12:2; note on Genesis 12:6.

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[14] From the desert to Riblah: the whole land, from the far south to the far north.

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[12-13] Mundane affairs will cease to have any meaning in view of the disaster that is to come.

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[18] Baldness: shaving the head was a sign of mourning.

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[22] My treasure: the temple of Jerusalem.

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[4] Ezekiel is pre-eminently the prophet of personal retribution; the innocent inhabitants of Jerusalem are to be spared when the idolatrous are punished. An X: literally, the Hebrew letter taw, which had the form of a cross.

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[6] Johanan, son of Eliashib: actually, the grandson of Eliashib; the father of Johanan was Eliashib's son Joiada (Nehemiah 12:10-11, 22). Since Eliashib was high priest at the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:1, 20-21; 13:4, 7) and Johanan, if not yet high priest, was at least old enough to have his own separate quarters (chamber) in the temple at the time of Ezra, it is practically certain that Nehemiah's activity in Jerusalem must have preceded that of Ezra.

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[9] Ninth month: Chislev (November-December), during the "early rains" in Palestine. Since the assembly took place in the open . . . all the people . . . were trembling . . . because it was raining.

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[16-17] The work of the committee lasted three months, from the first day of the tenth month, Tebet (December-January), to the first day of the first month, Nisan (March-April), of the following Jewish year.

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[44] The account of the problem of mixed marriages at the time of Ezra is continued in Nehemiah 9:1-5; this may be read immediately after Ezra 10:44 though the date given in Nehemiah 9:1 fits more precisely after Ezra 10:15; cf Haggai 2:10-14.

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[1] In the first year of Cyrus: as sovereign over the world empire which began with his conquest of Babylon; that is, 538 B.C.

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[8] Sheshbazzar: very probably the fourth son of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, taken captive to Babylon in 598 B.C., listed in 1 Chron 3:18 as Senneser; if so, he was the uncle of Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:2-4); see note on 1 Chron 3:18.

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[11] Total . . . five thousand four hundred pieces: either this figure or the figures given for one or more of the items listed (Ezra 1:9-10) have been corrupted in the transmission of the text.

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[1-67] As it now stands, this list is an expanded form of the lists of returned captives from the sixth century B.C.; see Nehemiah 7:6-72 where it reappears.

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[63] His Excellency: the deputy of the Persian government; from the context, he was one of the Jewish exile leaders. Nehemiah as governor receives the same title (Nehemiah 8:9; 10:2). Urim and Thummin: see note on Exodus 28:30.

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[1-2] The seventh month: Tishri (September-October), apparently of 538 B.C.; cf Ezra 1:1; 4:5. In this case, it was Sheshbazzar who erected the first altar, since he began the work on the foundations of the temple in Jerusalem; cf Ezra 5:16. It was in the second year of Darius I, i.e., in 520 B.C., that Jeshua and Zerubbabel resumed the work on the temple that had been temporarily interrupted (Ezra 4:24-5:1; Haggai 1:1; 2:1). The Chronicler or a later editor of the text here attributes to them the beginning of the work which, in reality, they merely completed. Shealtiel: the eldest son of King Jehoiachin of Judah and the brother of Sheshbazzar (1 Chron 3:18-19); Zerubbabel was therefore the grandson of Jehoiachin; see note on Ezra 1:8.

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[5] Darius: Darius I (521-485 B.C.). The temple-building narrative continues in Ezra 4:24. In between (Ezra 4:6-23) is a series of notes about the opposition to the returned exiles voiced at the Persian court in the early fifth century B.C., after the temple had been reestablished.

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[7] Aramaic: this word in the original text seems to be a note indicating a change of language from Hebrew to Aramaic, which in fact takes place here. The Aramaic section ends with Ezra 6:18 but again in Ezra 7:12-26 a royal letter is cited in Aramaic.

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[8-23] The central question here is the rebuilding of the fortification walls of Jerusalem, not the building of the temple. The interruption of work on the city wall some time before 445 B.C. was the occasion for the coming of Nehemiah to Palestine (Nehemiah 1:1-4; 2:1-5). Artaxerxes: Artaxerxes I (464-423 B.C.).

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[24] The second year . . . of Darius: that is, 520 B.C.; it marks the beginning of the successful restoration of the temple, which was accomplished within the five years following (Ezra 5:1-6:18).

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[1] The prophets Haggai and Zechariah: two of the Minor Prophets, whose books record their role in the encouragement of this work.

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[22] Assyria: used here in a broad sense for the Persian Empire.

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[1-8] The date of Ezra's journey to Palestine is not known with certainty. The seventh year of King Artaxerxes I would be 458 B.C., and the present order of the text suggests that date. The narratives of Ezra and Nehemiah make it seem to many, however, that the arrival of Nehemiah in 445 B.C. should precede that of Ezra. If so, Ezra may be thought to have come in 398 B.C., the seventh year of King Artaxerxes II. Others argue for the thirty-seventh year of Artaxerxes I, that is, 428 B.C.; this would suppose that the date given in the text has suffered in transmission.

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[25] The wisdom of your God: the Mosaic law; cf Ezra 7:6, 14.

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[15] Ahava: a town at an unidentified site in Babylonia. The river that flowed toward it was probably a branch or canal of the Euphrates.

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[36] The story of Ezra's mission is seemingly continued from this point by Nehemiah 7:72b-8:18 which may be read before Ezra 9:1.

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[7] After this verse, the next part of the prayer attributed to Ezra is perhaps to be found in Nehemiah 9:6-37, which may be read as leading up to Ezra 9:8-15.

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[1-32] This chapter presents a remarkably good classification of the various peoples known to the ancient Israelites; it is theologically important as stressing the basic family unity of all men on earth. The relationship between the various peoples is based partly on linguistic, partly on geographic, and partly on political grounds according to their . . . languages, . . . lands and nations (Genesis 10:31). In general, the descendants of Japheth (Genesis 10:2-5) are the peoples of the Indo-European languages to the north and west of Mesopotamia and Syria; the descendants of Ham (Genesis 10:6-20) are the Hamitic-speaking peoples of northern Africa; and the descendants of Shem (Genesis 10:21-31) are the Semitic-speaking peoples of Mesopotamia, Syria and Arabia. But there are many exceptions to this rule; the Semitic-speaking peoples of Canaan, for instance, are considered descendants of Ham, because at the time they were subject to Hamitic Egypt (Genesis 10:6, 15-19). This chapter is a composite from the Yahwist source (Genesis 10:8-19, 21, 24-30) of about the ninth century B.C., and the Priestly source (Genesis 10:1-7, 20, 22-23, 31-32) of a few centuries later. That is why certain tribes of Arabia are listed under both Ham (Genesis 10:7) and Shem (Genesis 10:26-28).

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[14] The Pathrusim: the people of upper (southern) Egypt; cf Isaiah 11:11; Jeremiah 44:1; Ezekiel 29:14; 30:14. Caphtorim: Crete; for Caphtor as the place of origin of the Philistines, cf Deut 2:23; Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 47:4.

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[15] Heth: the biblical Hittites; see note on Genesis 23:3.

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[19] Lasha: the reading of this name is uncertain; perhaps it should be "Bela"; cf Genesis 14:2.

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[25] In the Hebrew text there is a play on the name Peleg and the word niplega, "was divided."

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[2] Gomer: the Cimmerians; Madai: the Medes; Javan: the Greeks.

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[3] Ashkenaz: the Scythians.

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[4] Elishah: Cyprus; the Kittim: certain inhabitants of Cyprus; the Rodanim: the inhabitants of Rhodes.

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[6] Cush: Biblical Ethiopia, modern Nubia. Mizraim: Egypt; Put: either Punt in East Africa or Libya.

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[8] Cush: here, the Kassites; see note on Genesis 2:10-14. Nimrod: probably Tukulti-Ninurta I (thirteenth century B.C.), the first Assyrian conqueror of Babylonia and a famous city-builder at home.

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[10] Shinar: ancient Sumer in southern Mesopotamia, mentioned also in Genesis 11:2; 14:1.

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[11] Asshur: Assyria. Rehoboth-Ir: literally "wide-streets city," was probably not the name of another city, but an epithet of Nineveh; cf Jonah 3:3.

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[12] Calah: Assyrian Kalhu, the capital of Assyria in the ninth century B.C.

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[1-9] This story, based on traditions about the temple towers or ziggurats of Babylonia, is used by the sacred writer primarily to illustrate man's increasing wickedness, shown here in his presumptuous effort to create an urban culture apart from God. The secondary motive in the story is to present an imaginative origin of the diversity of the languages among the various peoples inhabiting the earth, as well as an artificial explanation of the name "Babylon."

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[32] Since Terah was seventy years old when his son Abraham was born (Genesis 11:26), and Abraham was seventy-five when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4), Terah lived in Haran for sixty years after Abraham's departure. According to the tradition in the Samaritan text, Terah died when he was one hundred and forty-five years old, therefore, in the same year in which Abraham left Haran. This is the tradition followed in St. Stephen's speech: Abraham left Haran "after his father's death" (Acts 7:4).

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[2] Shinar: see note on Genesis 10:10.

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[4] Tower with its top in the sky: a direct reference to the chief ziggurat of Babylon, the E-sag-ila, signifying "the house that raises high its head." Babylonian ziggurats were the earliest skyscrapers.

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[9] Babel: the Hebrew form of the name "Babylon"; the native name, Bab-ili, means "gate of the gods." The Hebrew word balil, "he confused," has a similar sound. Apparently the name referred originally only to a certain part of the city, the district near the gate that led to the temple area.

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[10-26] This section is a continuation of the genealogical record given in Genesis 5:1-32; see note there. Although the ages of the patriarchs in this list are much lower than those of the antediluvian patriarchs, they are still artificial and devoid of historical value. The ages given here are from the current Hebrew text; the Samaritan and Greek texts have divergent sets of numbers in most cases.

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[12] The Greek text has a certain Kenan (cf Genesis 5:9-10) between Arpachshad and Shelah. This text is followed in Luke 3:36.

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[16] Eber: the eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews, "descendants of Eber" (Genesis 10:21, 24-30); see note on Genesis 14:13.

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[28] Ur of the Chaldeans: Ur was an extremely ancient city of the Sumerians (later, of the Babylonians) in southern Mesopotamia. The Greek text has "the land of the Chaldeans." In either case, the term Chaldeans is an anachronism, because the Chaldeans were not known to history until approximately a thousand years after Abraham's time.

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[31] The Samaritan and Greek texts include Nahor and his wife in Terah's migration to Haran. Although this is probably due to scribal harmonization, Nahor's family actually did migrate to Haran; cf Genesis 24:10; 27:43.

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[3] Shall find blessing in you: the sense of the Hebrew expression is probably reflexive, "shall bless themselves through you" (i.e., in giving a blessing they shall say, "May you be as blessed as Abraham"), rather than passive, "shall be blessed in you." Since the term is understood in a passive sense in the New Testament (Acts 3:25; Gal 3:8), it is rendered here by a neutral expression that admits of both meanings. So also in the blessings given by God to Isaac (Genesis 26:4) and Jacob (Genesis 28:14).

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[5] Persons: slaves and retainers that formed the social aggregate under the leadership of Abraham; cf Genesis 14:14.

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[9] The Negeb: the semidesert land of southern Palestine.

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[13] You are my sister: although Abraham's deceit may not be fully defensible, his statement was at least a half-truth; Sarah was indeed his relative, called "a sister" in Hebrew; cf Genesis 20:12. Moreover, the ancient traditions on which this story and the parallel ones in Genesis 20:1-18; 26:6-11 are based, probably come from the Hurrian custom of wife-sister marriage. Among the Hurrians, with whom Abraham's clan lived in close contact at Haran, a man could adopt his wife as his sister and thus give her higher status.

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[16] Camels: domesticated camels probably did not come into common use in the ancient Near East until the end of the millennium B.C. Thus the mention of camels at the time of the patriarchs (Genesis 24:11-64; 30:43; 31:17, 34; 32:8, 16; 37:25) is seemingly an anachronism.

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[1] In the days of . . . : the personal name by which the event is dated has not been preserved.

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[3] The Salt Sea: now known as the Dead Sea.

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[5-6] The four kings came from north to south through the land east of the Jordan.

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[13] Abram the Hebrew: elsewhere in the Old Testament, until the last pre-Christian centuries, the term "Hebrew" is used only by non-Israelites, or by Israelites in speaking to foreigners, since it evidently had a disparaging connotation--something like "immigrant." The account in this chapter may, therefore, have been taken originally from a non-Israelite source, in which Abraham, a warlike sheik of Palestine, appears as a truly historical figure of profane history.

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[18] Salem: traditionally identified with Jerusalem (Psalm 76:3), but the Hebrew text is not certain; instead of the present melek shalem ("king of Salem"), the original may have been melek shelomo ("a king allied to him"). In Hebrews 7:2 "king of Salem" is interpreted as "king of peace" (shalom).

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[19] God Most High: in Hebrew, el-elyon. In Canaanite texts, each element may occur separately as the name of a specific deity, or they may be applied together to a single deity, as is done here by the Canaanite priest Melchizedek. For the Israelites, el became a poetic synonym for elohim ("God"); elyon ("Most High") became one of the titles of their God Yahweh.

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[20] Abram gave him: literally "he gave him"; but Abram is to be understood as the subject of the sentence, for the tithes were the tenth part assigned to priests; cf Hebrews 7:4-10.

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[22] Abraham uses the name of the Canaanite god el-elyon ("God, the Most High") in apposition to the name of his God, yahweh ("the LORD").

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[6] Abraham's faith in God's promises was regarded as an act of righteousness, i.e., as expressing the "right" attitude of man toward God. In turn, God credited this to Abraham, i.e., gave him title to the fulfillment of God's promises. St. Paul (Romans 4:1-25; Gal 3:6-9) makes Abraham's faith a model for that of Christians.

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[9] Three-year-old: ritually mature.

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[16] Time-span: the Hebrew term dor is commonly rendered as "generation," but it may signify a period of varying length. Neither this passage nor the statement about the four hundred years has any value for determining how long the Israelites were in Egypt.

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[17] Brazier: literally "oven"; a portable one is meant here. The smoke and fire represent God's presence. Although the text does not mention it, Abraham no doubt also walked between the split carcasses. For the meaning of this strange ceremony, see note on Jeremiah 34:18-19.

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[18] Made a covenant: literally "cut a covenant"; the expression derives from the ceremony of cutting the animals in two.

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[1-6] Sarah's actions are all in keeping with the laws of the time, as known from ancient extra-biblical sources.

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[7] The LORD'S messenger: a manifestation of God in human form; therefore in Genesis 16:13 the messenger is identified with the Lord himself.

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[11] Ishmael: in Hebrew the name means "God has heard."

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[13] The God of Vision: In Hebrew, el-roi; hence the name of the spring. Remained alive: for the ancient notion that a person died on seeing God, cf Genesis 32:31; Exodus 20:19; Deut 4:33; Judges 13:22.

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[14] Beer-lahai-roi: probably "the well of living sight," i.e., the well where one can see (God) and yet live.

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[1] The Almighty: traditional but incorrect rendering of the divine title shaddai, of uncertain meaning.

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[5] Abram and Abraham are merely two forms of the same name, both meaning, "the father is exalted"; another variant form is Abiram (Numbers 16:1; 1 Kings 16:34). The additional -ha- in the form Abraham is explained by folk etymology as coming from ab-hamon goyim, "father of a host of nations."

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[15] Sarai and Sarah are variant forms of the same name, both meaning "princess."

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[17] Laughed: yishaq, which is the Hebrew form of the name "Isaac"; other similar explanations of the name are given in Genesis 18:12 and 21:6.

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[3] Abraham addresses the leader of the group, whom he does not yet recognize as Yahweh; in the next two verses he speaks to all three men. The other two are later (Genesis 19:1) identified as messengers.

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[6] Three seahs: one ephah, about half a bushel.

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[8] Curds: a type of soft cheese or yoghurt.

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[10] One of them: i.e., the Lord. Abraham now realizes this for the first time when he hears the prediction of a miraculous birth. About this time next year: literally "when the time becomes alive," i.e., at the time when birth is due after the period of gestation; the conception is understood as taking place soon after the prediction.

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[12] Sarah laughed: see note on Genesis 17:17.

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[20] Israelite tradition was unanimous in ascribing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to the wickedness of these cities, but tradition varied in regard to the nature of this wickedness. According to the present account of the Yahwist, the sin of Sodom was homosexuality (Genesis 19:4-5), which is therefore also known as sodomy; but according to Isaiah (Isaiah 1:9-10; 3:9), it was a lack of social justice; Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:46-51) described it as a disregard for the poor, whereas Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:14) saw it as general immorality.

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[2] Gentlemen: Lot does not yet know that the distinguished-looking men are God's messengers; cf Genesis 18:3.

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[38] The son of my kin: in Hebrew, ben-ammi, similar in sound to the name "Ammonites."

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[11] Blinding light: a preternatural flash that temporarily dazed the wicked men and revealed to Lot the true nature of his guests.

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[12] Since Lot apparently had no sons, a glossator interpreted the term to mean sons-in-law.

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[14] It is uncertain whether Lot's sons-in-law were fully married to his daughters or only "engaged" to them (Israelite "engagement" was the first part of the marriage ceremony), or even whether the daughters involved were the same as, or different from, the two daughters who were still in their father's house.

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[20] A small place: the Hebrew word misar, literally "a little thing," has the same root consonants as the name of the town Zoar in Genesis 19:22.

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[25] Overthrew: The consistent use of this term, literally "turned upside down," to describe the destruction of the Cities of the Plain seems to imply that their upheaval (Genesis 19:29) was caused primarily by an earthquake; this would naturally be accompanied by a disastrous fire, especially in a region containing bitumen (Genesis 14:10) and its accompanying gases.

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[28-29] From the height east of Hebron, Abraham could easily see the region at the southern end of the Dead Sea, where the Cities of the Plain were probably located.

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[30-38] This Israelite tale about the origin of Israel's neighbors east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea was told partly to ridicule these racially related but rival nations and partly to give folk etymologies for their names.

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[37] From my father: in Hebrew, meabi, similar in sound to the name "Moab."

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[1:1-2:4a] This section introduces the whole Pentateuch. It shows how God brought an orderly universe out of primordial chaos.

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[2] The abyss: the primordial ocean according to the ancient Semitic cosmogony. After God's creative activity, part of this vast body forms the salt-water seas (Genesis 1:9-10); part of it is the fresh water under the earth (Psalm 33:7; Ezekiel 31:4), which wells forth on the earth as springs and fountains (Genesis 7:11; 8:2; Proverb 3:20). Part of it, "the upper water" (Psalm 148:4; Daniel 3:60), is held up by the dome of the sky (Genesis 1:6-7), from which rain descends on the earth (Genesis 7:11; 2 Kings 7:2, 19; Psalm 104:13). A mighty wind: literally, "a wind of God," or "a spirit of God"; cf Genesis 8:1.

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[5] In ancient Israel a day was considered to begin at sunset. According to the highly artificial literary structure of Genesis 1:1-2:4a, God's creative activity is divided into six days to teach the sacredness of the sabbath rest on the seventh day in the Israelite religion (Genesis 2:2-3).

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[26] Man is here presented as the climax of God's creative activity; he resembles God primarily because of the dominion God gives him over the rest of creation.

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[1-18] This story from the Elohist source (see note on Genesis 4:25) combines elements found in the two very similar but distinct stories of the Yahwist source, in Genesis 12:10-20; 26:6-11.

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[7] Spokesman: the Hebrew term nabi used here is regularly translated as "prophet," but it simply means "one who speaks on behalf of another," whether the latter is God, as in almost all cases, or another man, as in Exodus 4:16.

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[16] A thousand shekels of silver: not a gift distinct from that of the animals and the slaves (Genesis 20:14), but the monetary value of these.

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[9-19] This story of Hagar's expulsion, in the Elohist source, is in general a duplicate of the one from the Yahwist source in vv. 16:5-14; but the two stories differ greatly in detail.

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missing foot note text

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[22] Here and in Genesis 21:32 the Greek text has ". . . Abimelech, accompanied by Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol . . ."; but this is probably a secondary harmonization with Genesis 26:26. Abimelech took Phicol with him in order to intimidate Abraham by a show of strength.

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[23] This place: Beer-sheba (Genesis 21:31). Abimelech had come from Gerar (Genesis 20:2), about thirty miles west of Beer-sheba.

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[31] Beer-sheba: the Hebrew name really means, "the well of the seven," i.e., the place where there are seven wells, alluded to in the episode of the seven ewe lambs, Genesis 21:28-30; but it can also be interpreted to mean "the well of the oath."

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[33] God the Eternal: in Hebrew, el olam, perhaps the name of the deity of the pre-Israelite sanctuary at Beer-sheba, but used by Abraham merely as a title of Yahweh; cf Isaiah 40:28.

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[1] God put Abraham to the test: to prove the firmness of Abraham's faith in God's promise that through Isaac all the nations of the earth would find blessing; cf Genesis 18:10, 18; 21:12.

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[2] Only one: uniquely precious, especially loved; therefore the same term is rendered in Genesis 22:12, 17 as "beloved."

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[14] Yahweh-yireh: a Hebrew expression meaning "the Lord will see"; the reference is to the words in Genesis 22:8, "God himself will see to it."

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[20-24] A list of Aramean tribes who lived to the east and northeast of Israel, twelve in number, like the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 35:23) and the twelve tribes of Ishmael Genesis (25:12-16).

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[3] The Hittites: a non-Semitic people in Canaan; their relationship to the well-known Hittites of Asia Minor is uncertain.

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[4] A resident alien: literally "a sojourner and a settler," i.e., a long-term resident alien. Such a one would normally not have the right to own property. The importance of Abraham's purchase of the field in Machpelah, which is worded in technical legal terms, lies in the fact that it gave his descendants their first, though small, land rights in the country that God had promised the patriarch they would one day inherit as their own. Abraham therefore insists on purchasing the field and not receiving it as a gift.

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[10] Who sat on his town council: probable meaning of the literal translation, "who came in at the gate of his city"; so also in Genesis 23:18.

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[15] Four hundred shekels: probably an exorbitant sum; Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:9) paid only seventeen shekels for his field in Anathoth, though the Babylonian invasion no doubt helped to reduce the price.

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[16] The current market value: the standard weight called a shekel varied according to time and place.

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[2] Put your hand under my thigh: the symbolism of this act was apparently connected with the Hebrew concept of children issuing from their father's "thigh" (Genesis 46:26; Exodus 1:5). Perhaps the man who took such an oath was thought to bring the curse of sterility on himself if he did not fulfill his sworn promise. Jacob made Joseph swear in the same way (Genesis 47:29). In both these instances, the oath was taken to carry out the last request of a man upon his death.

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[10] Nahor: it is uncertain whether this is to be understood as the name of Abraham's brother (Genesis 11:27), Rebekah's grandfather (Genesis 24:15), or the city of the same name (as known from the Mari documents): Aram Naharaim, situated near Haran (Genesis 11:31) in northern Mesopotamia.

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[12] Let it turn out favorably for me: let me have a favorable omen; cf Genesis 24:14.

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[63] He went out: the meaning of the Hebrew term that follows this is obscure.

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[1-11] Though mentioned here, Abraham's marriage to a "concubine," or wife of secondary rank, and his death are not to be understood as happening chronologically after the events narrated in the preceding chapter.

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[6] The land of Kedem: or "the country of the East," the region inhabited by the Kedemites or Easterners (Genesis 29:1; Judges 6:3, 33; Job 1:3; Isaiah 11:14). The names mentioned in Genesis 25:2-4, as far as they can be identified, are those of tribes in the Arabian desert.

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[18] Pitched camp: literally "fell"; the same Hebrew verb is used in Judges 7:12 in regard to the hostile encampment of Bedouin tribes. The present passage shows the fulfillment of the prediction contained in Genesis 16:12.

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[25] Reddish: in Hebrew, admoni, a reference to Edom, another name for Esau (Genesis 25:30; 36:1). Edom, however, was really the name of the country south of Moab where the descendants of Esau lived. It was called the "red" country because of its reddish sandstone. Hairy: in Hebrew, sear, a reference to Seir, another name for Edom (Genesis 36:8). One might expect the text to say, "So they named him Seir"; but Esau (esaw) also means "hairy."

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[26] Esau's heel: the Hebrew is baaqeb esaw, a reference to the name Jacob; cf Genesis 27:36. Probably, however, the name Jacob has no true etymological connection with the Hebrew word for "heel" (aqeb) but is instead a shortened form of some such name as yaaqob-el ("may God protect").

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[30] Red stuff: in Hebrew, adom; another play on the word Edom, the "red" land.

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[31] Birthright: the privilege that entitled the first-born son to a position of honor in the family and to a double share in the possessions inherited from the father.

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[6-11] The Yahwist's version of the wife-sister episode at Gerar; the Elohist's version (Genesis 20:1-18) is connected with Abraham and Sarah.

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[12-33] The Yahwist's version of the story about the wells at Beer-sheba; again, the Elohist's version (Genesis 21:22-23) is connected with Abraham. A redactor joined the two accounts by means of the parenthetical Genesis 26:15, 18.

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[20] Esek: "challenge."

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[21] Sitnah: "opposition"; one might expect the text to be continued by some such words as "because they were in opposition there."

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[33] Shibah: "seven," for the sake of a closer assonance with Beer-sheba; but the present version of the story says nothing about there being seven wells there as implied in Genesis 21:28-31. The Greek version understood the Hebrew text more logically as shebua, "oath," in keeping with the present story.

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[34-35] These verses from the Priestly source, which have no logical connection with the preceding stories, serve as an introduction to the following section on Esau's loss of his birthright by suggesting a motivation for this in Isaac's and Rebekah's dislike for Esau's Canaanite wives.

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[1-45] What Jacob did in deceiving his father and thereby cheating Esau out of Isaac's deathbed blessing is condemned as blameworthy, not only by Hosea (Hosea 12:4) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 9:3), but also, indirectly, by the Yahwist narrator of the present story, who makes the reader sympathize with Esau as the innocent victim of a cruel plot, and shows that Jacob and his mother, the instigator of the plot, paid for it by a lifelong separation from each other. The story was told because it was part of the mystery of God's ways in salvation history--his use of weak, sinful men to achieve his own ultimate purpose.

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[4] My special blessing: "the blessing of my soul." The same expression is used also in Genesis 27:19, 25, 31. In the context it must mean something like a solemn deathbed blessing, believed to be especially efficacious.

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[36] He has now supplanted me: in Hebrew, wayyaqebeni, a wordplay on the name Jacob, yaaqob; see Jeremiah 9:3 and note, as well as Genesis 25:26. There is also a play between the Hebrew words bekora ("birthright") and beraka ("blessing").

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[27:46-28:9] This section, which is from the Priestly source and a direct sequel of Genesis 26:34-35, presents a different, though not contradictory, reason for Jacob's going to Paddan-aram: namely, to preserve racial purity among the chosen people. The account of Esau's marriages is given for the purpose of explaining the racial mixture of the Edomites, who were descended in part from tribes related to Israel, in part from older peoples in Edom called Hittites, Horites or Hivites, and in part from the Ishmaelite (Arabian) tribes who later invaded the region.

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[11] Shrine: literally "place," often used specifically of a sacred site. Here the place was Bethel (Genesis 28:19), a sacred site as early as the time of Abraham (Genesis 12:8).

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[12] Stairway: in Hebrew, sullam, traditionally but inaccurately translated as "ladder." The corresponding verb, salal, means "to heap up" something, such as dirt for a highway or ramp. The imagery in Jacob's dream is derived from the Babylonian ziggurat or temple tower, "with its top in the sky" (Genesis 11:4), and with brick steps leading up to a small temple at the top.

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[17] This: the stone Jacob used as a headrest; cf Genesis 28:22. That: the stairway Jacob saw in his dream.

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[18] Memorial stone: in Hebrew, masseba, a stone which might vary in shape and size, set upright and usually intended for some religious purpose. Since the custom of erecting such "sacred pillars" in Palestine went back to its pre-Israelite period, their pagan associations were often retained; therefore, later Israelite religion forbade their erection (Lev 26:1; Deut 16:22) and ordered the destruction of those that were associated with paganism (Exodus 34:31; Deut 12:3).

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[19] Bethel: i.e., "house of God"; the reference is to the abode of God in Genesis 28:17.

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[1] Easterners: see note on Genesis 25:6.

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[34] Levi: related to yillaweh, "he will become attached."

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[35] Judah: related to odeh, "I will give grateful praise."

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[11] Burst into tears: literally "raised his voice and wept," i.e., for joy.

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[14] Flesh and blood: literally "bone and flesh," i.e., a close relative; on the Hebrew idiom, see Genesis 2:23.

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[17] Lovely eyes: the adjective modifying eyes is often translated as "weak," but "lovely" is the more probable word.

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[18] Jacob offers to render service (Joshua 15:16, 17; 1 Sam 17:25; 18;17) in lieu of the customary bridal price (Exodus 22:16, 17; Deut 22:29).

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[25] Jacob was amazed: he had not recognized Leah because a bride was veiled when she was brought to her bridegroom; cf Genesis 24:65

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[27] The bridal week: an ancient wedding lasted for seven days of festivities; cf Judges 14:12.

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[32] Reuben: the literal meaning of the Hebrew name is "look, a son!" But in this case, as also with the names of all the other sons of Jacob, a symbolic rather than an etymological interpretation of the name is given, because the name and the persons were regarded as closely interrelated. The symbolic interpretation of Reuben's name, according to the Yahwist source, is based on the similar-sounding raa beonyi, "he saw my misery." In the Elohist source, the name is explained by the similar-sounding yeehabani, "he will love me."

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[33] Simeon: in popular etymology, related to shama, "he heard."

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[4b-25] This section is chiefly concerned with the creation of man. It is much older than the narrative of Genesis 1:1-2:4a. Here God is depicted as creating man before the rest of his creatures, which are made for man's sake.

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[7] God is portrayed as a potter molding man's body out of clay. There is a play on words in Hebrew between adam ("man") and adama ("ground"). Being: literally, "soul."

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[8] Eden: used here as the name of a region in southern Mesopotamia; the term is derived from the Sumerian word eden, "fertile plain." A similar-sounding Hebrew word means "delight"; the garden in Eden could therefore be understood as the "garden of delight," so that, through the Greek version, it is now known also as "paradise," literally, a "pleasure park."

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[10-14] Rises: in flood to overflow its banks. Beyond there: as one travels upstream. Branches: literally, "heads," i.e., upper courses. Eden is near the head of the Persian Gulf, where the Tigris and the Euphrates join with two other streams to form a single river. The land of Cush here and in Genesis 10:8, is not Ethiopia (Nubia) as elsewhere, but the region of the Kassites east of Mesopotamia.

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[23] There is a play on the similar-sounding Hebrew words ishsha ("woman") and ishah ("her man, her husband").

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[24] One body: literally "one flesh"; classical Hebrew has no specific word for "body." The sacred writer stresses the fact that conjugal union is willed by God.

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[3] On my knees: in the ancient Near East, a father would take a newborn child in his lap to signify that he acknowledged it as his own; Rachel uses the ceremony in order to adopt the child and establish her legal rights to it.

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[24] Joseph: explained by the words yosep, "may he add," and in Genesis 30:23, asap, "he has removed."

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[32] Dark . . . sheep . . . spotted or speckled goats: In the Near East the normal color of sheep is light gray, whereas that of goats is uniform dark brown or black. Ordinarily, therefore, Jacob would have received but few animals.

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[35] By giving the abnormally colored animals to his sons, Laban not only deprived Jacob of his first small wages, but he also designed to prevent in this way the future breeding of such animals in the part of his flock entrusted to Jacob.

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[39-42] Jacob's stratagem was based on the widespread notion among simple people that visual stimuli can have prenatal effects on the offspring of breeding animals. Thus, the rods on which Jacob had whittled stripes or bands or chevron marks were thought to cause the female goats that looked at them to bear kids with lighter-colored marks on their dark hair, while the gray ewes were thought to bear lambs with dark marks on them simply by visual cross-breeding with the dark goats.

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[4] Consort: The Hebrew word normally means "wife," but here it refers to a wife of secondary rank, who did not have the full legal rights of an ordinary wife.

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[6] Dan: explained by the term dannanni, "he has vindicated me."

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[8] Naphtali: explained by the phrase "naptule elohim niptalti," literally, "in a divine wrestling match I have wrestled," perhaps implying the concept of an ordeal; hence the above rendering, I engaged in a fateful struggle.

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[11] Gad: explained by the Hebrew term begad, literally "in luck," i.e., what good luck!

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[13] Asher: explained by the term beoshri, literally "in my good fortune." i.e., what good fortune, and by the term ishsheruni "they call me fortunate."

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[14] Mandrakes: an herb whose root was anciently thought to promote conception. The Hebrew word for mandrakes, dudaim, has erotic connotations, since it sounds like the words daddayim ("breasts") and dodim ("sexual pleasure").

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[18] Issachar: explained by the terms, sekari, "my reward," and in Genesis 30:16, sakor sekartika, literally "I have hired you," i.e., I have paid for you.

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[20] Zebulun: related to the Akkadian word zubullum, "bridegroom's gift," is explained by the terms, zebadani . . . zebed tob, "he has brought me a precious gift," and yizbeleni, "he will offer me presents."

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[8-12] This Elohist account of the miraculous increase in Jacob's flock differs somewhat from the Yahwist account given in Genesis 30:32-42.

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[49] Mizpah: a town in Gilead; cf Judges 10:17; 11:11, 34; Hosea 5:1. The Hebrew name mispa ("lookout") is allied to yisep yhwh ("may the Lord keep watch"), and also echoes the word masseba ("memorial pillar").

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[15] Outsiders: literally "foreign women"; they lacked the favored legal status of native women. Used up: literally "eaten, consumed"; the bridal price that a man received for giving his daughter in marriage was legally reserved as her inalienable dowry.

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[19] Household idols: in Hebrew, teraphim, figurines used in divination (Ezekiel 21:26; Zechariah 10:2). Laban calls them his "gods" ?(Genesis 31:30).

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[20] Hoodwinked: literally "stolen the heart of," i.e., lulled the mind of. Aramean: The earliest extra-biblical references to the Arameans date from several centuries after the time of Jacob; to call Laban an Aramean and to have him speak Aramaic (Genesis 31:47) would seem to be an anachronism.

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[23] For seven days: literally "a way of seven days," a general term to designate a long distance; it would have taken a camel caravan many more days to travel from Haran to Gilead, the region east of the northern half of the Jordan.

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[26] War captives: literally "women captured by the sword"; the women of a conquered people were treated as part of the victor's booty; cf 1 Sam 30:2; 2 Kings 5:2.

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[39] Laban's actions were contrary to the customs of the ancient Near East, as recorded in the Code of Hammurabi: "If in a sheepfold an act of god has occurred, or a lion has made a kill, the shepherd shall clear himself before the deity, and the owner of the fold must accept the loss" (par. 266); cf Exodus 22:12.

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[43-54] In this account of the treaty between Laban and Jacob, the Yahwist and Elohist sources are closely interwoven. The mound or cairn of stones comes from the Yahwist source, the memorial stone or stele comes from the Elohist one.

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[47] Jegar-sahadutha: an Aramaic term meaning "mound of witness." Galeed: in Hebrew, galed, with the same meaning; also offers an explanation of the regional name Gilead.

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[3] Mahanaim: a town in Gilead (Joshua 13:26, 30; 21:38; 2 Sam 2:8; etc.). The Hebrew name means "two camps." There are other allusions to the name in Genesis 32:8, 11.

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[25] Some man: a messenger of the Lord in human form, as is clear from Genesis 32:29,-31

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Israel: the first part of the Hebrew name Yisrael is given a popular explanation in the word sarita, "you contended"; the second part is the first syllable of elohim, "divine beings." The present incident, with a similar allusion to the name Israel, is referred to in Hosea 12:5, where the mysterious wrestler is explicitly called an angel.

4 [31] Peniel: a variant of the word Penuel (Genesis 32:32), the name of a town on the north bank of the Jabbok in Gilead (Judges 8:8-9, 17; 1 Kings 12:25). The name is explained as meaning "the face of God," peni-el. Yet my life has been spared: see note on Genesis 16:13.

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missing foot note text

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[17] Succoth: an important town near the confluence of the Jabbok and the Jordan (Joshua 13:27; Judges 8:5-16; 1 Kings 7:46). Booths: in Hebrew, sukkot, of the same sound as the name of the town.

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[19] Pieces of bullion: in Hebrew, kesita, a monetary unit of which the value is now unknown. Descendants of Hamor: Hamorites, "the men of Hamor"; cf Judges 9:28. Hamor was regarded as the eponymous ancestor of the pre-Israelite inhabitants of Shechem.

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[1] Every able-bodied man in the community: literally "all those who go out at the gate of the city," apparently meaning the men who go out to war. By temporarily crippling them through circumcision, Jacob's sons deprived the city of its defenders.

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[2] Hivite: The Greek text has "Horite"; the terms were apparently used indiscriminately to designate the Hurrian or other non-Semitic elements in Palestine.

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[24] Behind the story of the rape of Dinah and the revenge of Jacob's sons on the men of the city of Shechem there probably lies a dimly recollected historical event connected with an armed conflict between the earliest Israelite tribes invading central Canaan and the Hurrian inhabitants of the Shechem region.

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[2] Foreign gods: pagan images, including household idols (see note on Genesis 31:19), that Jacob's people brought with them from Paddan-aram.

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[4] Rings: Earrings were often worn as amulets connected with pagan magic.

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[8] This verse may have stood originally in some other context. Rebekah's nurse is spoken of without a name, in Genesis 24:59. Allon-bacuth: the Hebrew name means "oak of weeping."

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[18] Ben-oni: means either "son of my vigor" or, more likely in the context, "son of affliction." Benjamin: "son of the right hand." This may be interpreted to signify a son who is his father's help and support, but more likely its original meaning was "southerner." In the Hebrew idiom, the south lies to one's right hand, and Benjamin was the southernmost of the Rachel tribes.

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[19] Bethlehem: the gloss comes from a later tradition that identified the site with Bethlehem, also called Ephrath or Ephratha (Joshua 15:59; Ruth 4:11; Micah 5:1). But Rachel's grave was actually near Ramah (Jeremiah 31:15), a few miles north of Jerusalem, in the territory of Benjamin (1 Sam 10:2).

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[24-26] Benjamin is here said to have been born in Paddan-aram, either because all twelve sons of Jacob are considered as a unit, or because the Priestly source, from which Genesis 35:23-29 are taken, follows a tradition different from that of the Elohistic source found in Genesis 35:16-20.

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[2-14] The names of Esau's wives and of their fathers given here differ considerably from their names cited from other old sources in Genesis 26:34 and Genesis 28:9. Zibeon the Hivite: in Genesis 36:20 he is called a "Horite"; see note on Genesis 34:2.

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[20] Seir the Horite: according to Deut 2:12, the highlands of Seir were inhabited by Horites before they were occupied by the Edomites.

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[31] Before any king reigned over the Israelites: obviously this statement was written after the time of Saul, Israel's first king.

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[21-36] The chapter thus far is from the Yahwist source, as are also Genesis 37:25-28a. But Genesis 37:21-24 and Genesis 37:28b-36 are from the Elohist source. In the latter, Reuben tries to rescue Joseph, who is taken in Reuben's absence by certain Midianites; in the Yahwist source, it is Judah who saves Joseph's life by having him sold to certain Ishmaelites. Although the two variant forms in which the story was handed down in early oral tradition differ in these minor points, they agree on the essential fact that Joseph was brought as a slave into Egypt because of the jealousy of his brothers.

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[28] They sold Joseph . . . silver: in the Hebrew text, these words occur between out of the cistern and (they) took him to Egypt at the end of the verse.

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[1-30] This chapter, from the Yahwist source, has nothing to do with the Joseph story in which Judah is still living with his father and brothers. The sacred author inserted this independent account from the life of Judah at this place to mark the long lapse of time during which Joseph's family knew nothing of his life in Egypt. This is apparently a personalized history of the early days of the tribe of Judah, which interbred with several Canaanite clans, though some of these soon became extinct.

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[5] Chezib: a variant form of Achzib (Joshua 15:44; Micah 1:14), a town in the Judean Shephelah.

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[8] Preserve your brother's line: literally "raise up seed for your brother." The ancient Israelites regarded as very important their law of levirate, or "brother-in-law" marriage; see notes on Deut 25:5; Ruth 2:20. In the present story, it is primarily Onan's violation of this law, rather than the means he used to circumvent it, that brought on him God's displeasure (Genesis 38:9-10).

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[18] Seal and cord: the cylinder seal, through which a hole was bored lengthwise so that it could be worn from the neck by a cord, was a distinctive means of identification. Apparently a man's staff was also marked with his name (Numbers 17:16-17) or other sign of identification.

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[21] Temple prostitute: the Hebrew term qedesha, literally "consecrated woman," designates a woman who had ritual intercourse with men in pagan fertility rites; cf Deut 23:18; Hosea 4:14, where the same Hebrew word is used. Hirah the Adullamite uses a word that refers to a higher social class than that designated by the term zona, common "harlot," used in Genesis 38:15-24.

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[29] He was called Perez: the Hebrew word means "breach."

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[30] He was called Zerah: a name connected here by popular etymology with a Hebrew verb for the red light of dawn, alluding apparently to the crimson thread.

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[1] (Potiphar . . . chief steward): These words in the text serve to harmonize Genesis 39 from the Yahwist source with Genesis 37;36; 40:1-23 from the Elohist. In the former, the Ishmaelites who bought Joseph from his brothers (Genesis 37:28) sold him to the unnamed "Egyptian master" of ch 39. In the latter, the Midianites who kidnaped Joseph (Genesis 37:28; 40:15) sold him to Potiphar, Pharaoh's chief steward (Genesis 37:36), whose house was used as a royal prison (Genesis 40:2-3).

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[5] Like gods who know: or "like God who knows."

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[8] The breezy time of the day: literally "the wind of the day." On most days in Palestine a cooling breeze blows from the sea shortly before sunset.

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[15] He will strike . . . at his heel: since the antecedent for he and his is the collective noun offspring, i.e., all the descendants of the woman, a more exact rendering of the sacred writer's words would be, "They will strike . . . at their heels." However, later theology saw in this passage more than unending hostility between snakes and men. The serpent was regarded as the devil (Wisdom 2:24; John 8:44; Rev 12:9; 20:2), whose eventual defeat seems implied in the contrast between head and heel. Because "the Son of God appeared that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8), the passage can be understood as the first promise of a Redeemer for fallen mankind. The woman's offspring then is primarily Jesus Christ.

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[20] This verse seems to be out of place; it would fit better after Genesis 3:24. The Hebrew name hawwa ("Eve") is related to the Hebrew word hay ("living").

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[24] The above rendering is based on the ancient Greek version; that of the current Hebrew is, When he expelled the man, he settled east of the garden of Eden, the cherubim.

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[13] Lift up your head: signifying "pardon you." In Genesis 40:19 "to lift up the head" means "to behead"; and finally, in Genesis 40:20, the same expression means "to review the case (of someone)." Joseph couches his interpretation of the dreams in equivocal terms.

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[42] Signet ring: a finger ring in which was set a stamp seal, different from the cylinder seal such as Judah wore; see note on Genesis 38:18. This is an authentic detail. By receiving Pharaoh's signet ring, Joseph was made vizier of Egypt (Genesis 41:43); the vizier was known as "seal-bearer of the king of Lower Egypt." Another authentic detail is the gold chain, a symbol of high office in ancient Egypt.

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[43] Abrek: apparently a cry of homage, though the word's derivation and actual meaning are uncertain.

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[45] Zaphenath-paneah: a Hebrew transcription of an Egyptian name meaning "the god speaks and he (the new-born child) lives." Asenath: means "belonging to (the Egyptian goddess) Neith." Potiphera: means "he whom Ra (the Egyptian god) gave"; a shorter form of the same name was borne by Joseph's master (Genesis 37:36). Heliopolis: in Hebrew, On, a city seven miles northeast of modern Cairo, site of the chief temple of the sun god; it is mentioned also in Genesis 41:50; 46:20; Ezekiel 30:17.

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[51] Manasseh: allusion to this name is in the Hebrew expression, nishshani, "he made me forget."

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[52] Ephraim: related to the Hebrew expression hiphrani, "(God) has made me fruitful."

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[9,12] The nakedness of the land: the military weakness of the land, like human nakedness, should not be seen by strangers.

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[27-28] These two verses are from the Yahwist source, whereas the rest of the chapter is from the Elohist source, in which the men find the money in their sacks (not "bags"--a different Hebrew word) only when they arrive home (Genesis 42:35); cf Genesis 43:21.

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[1-34] This chapter and the following one are from the Yahwist source, in which Judah, not Reuben as in the Elohist source, volunteers to go surety for Benjamin.

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[32] Separately to him: that Joseph did not eat with the other Egyptians was apparently a matter of rank.

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[34] Five times as large as: probably an idiomatic expression for "much larger than."

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[1-2] Replacement of the money in the men's bags is probably a redactional addition here, taken from the Yahwist account of the first visit. It is only the goblet in Benjamin's bag, not any replaced money, that plays a part in the rest of the chapter.

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[5] Divination: seeking omens through liquids poured into a cup or bowl was a common practice in the ancient Near East; cf Genesis 44:15. Even though divination was frowned on in later Israel (Lev 19:31), it is in this place an authentic touch which the sacred author does not hesitate to ascribe to Joseph, the wisest man in Egypt.

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[16] Guilt: in trying to do away with Joseph when he was young.

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[19] My lord . . . your servants: such frequently repeated expressions in Judah's speech show the formal court style used by a subject in speaking to a high official.

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[8] Father to Pharaoh: a term applied to a vizier in ancient Egypt.

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[9-15] In these verses, as in Genesis 46:31-47:5a, all from the Yahwist source, Joseph in his own name invites his father and brothers to come to Egypt. Only after their arrival is Pharaoh informed of the fact. On the other hand, in Genesis 45:16-20, from the Elohist source, it is Pharaoh himself who invites Joseph's kinsmen to migrate to his domain.

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[10] The region of Goshen: modern Wadi Tumilat in the eastern part of the Nile Delta.

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[3] I am God: more precisely according to the Hebrew text, "I am El." "El" is here a divine name, not the common noun "god."

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[9-27] This genealogical list has here been inserted by a redactor who based it on the clan lists (Numbers 26:5-50) at the time of Moses. Therefore it includes some of Jacob's grandchildren, who would hardly have been born when Joseph was still a relatively young man. The number fourteen (Genesis 46:22) is based on a garbled version of the genealogical list.

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[27] Seventy persons: either to be understood as a round number, or arrived at by including Jacob and Joseph with the preceding persons, who add up to sixty-eight.

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[9] Wayfarer . . . wayfarers: man is merely a sojourner on earth; cf Psalm 39:13.

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[11] The region of Rameses: same as the region of Goshen; see note on Genesis 45:10. The name Rameses, however, is an anachronism, since this royal name did not come into use before the end of the fourteenth century B.C., long after the time of Joseph.

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[31] Israel bowed at the head of the bed: meaning perhaps that he gave a nod of assent and appreciation as he lay on his bed. By reading with different vowels the Hebrew word for "bed," the Greek version translated it as "staff," and understood the phrase to mean that he bowed in worship, leaning on the top of his staff; it is thus quoted in Hebrews 11:21.

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[3] Luz: an older name of Bethel (Genesis 28:19).

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[7] Since her early death prevented Rachel from bearing more than two sons, Jacob feels justified in treating her two grandsons as if they were her own offspring.

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[22] Both the meaning of the Hebrew and the historical reference in this verse are obscure. By taking the Hebrew word for Shechem as a common noun meaning shoulder or mountain slope, some translators render the verse, "I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I captured. . ." The reference may be to the capture of Shechem by the sons of Jacob (Genesis 34:24-29). Shechem lay near the border separating the tribal territory of Manasseh from that of Ephraim (Joshua 16:4-9; 17:1-2, 7).

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[5] Knives: if this is the meaning of the obscure Hebrew word here, the reference may be to the knives used in circumcising the men of Shechem (Genesis 34:24; cf Joshua 5:2).

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[10] While tribute is brought to him: this translation is based on a slight change in the Hebrew text, which, as it stands, would seem to mean, "until he comes to Shiloh." A somewhat different reading of the Hebrew text would be, "until he comes to whom it belongs." This last has been traditionally understood in a Messianic sense. In any case, the passage foretells the supremacy of the tribe of Judah, which found its fulfillment in the Davidic dynasty and ultimately in the Messianic Son of David, Jesus Christ.

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[11] In wine . . . the blood of grapes: Judah's clothes are poetically pictured as soaked with grape juice from trampling in the wine press, the rich vintage of his land; cf Isaiah 63:2.

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[16] In Hebrew the verb for achieve justice is from the same root as the name Dan.

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[19] In Hebrew there is a certain assonance between the name Gad and the words for "raided," "raiders" and "raid."

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[25-26] A very similar description of the agricultural riches of the tribal land of Joseph is given in Deut 33:13-16.

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[1] The Hebrew name qayin ("Cain") and the term qaniti ("I have produced") present another play on words.

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[7] Demon lurking: in Hebrew, robes, literally "croucher," is used here, like the similar Akkadian term rabisu, to designate a certain kind of evil spirit.

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[15] A mark: probably a tattoo. The use of tattooing for tribal marks has always been common among the nomads of the Near Eastern deserts.

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[16] The land of Nod: not a definite geographic region. The term merely means "the land of nomads."

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[17-22] In Genesis 4:12-16 Cain was presented as the archetype of nomadic peoples. The sacred author in this section follows another ancient tradition that makes Cain the prototype of sedentary peoples with higher material culture.

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[25-26] Has granted: Hebrew shat, a wordplay on the name shet ("Seth"). Enosh: in Hebrew, a synonym of adam ("man"). At the time . . . name: men began to call God by his personal name, Yahweh, rendered as "the LORD" in this version of the Bible. The ancient, so-called Yahwist source used here employs the name Yahweh long before the time of Moses. Another ancient source, the Elohist (from its use of the term Elohim, "God," instead of Yahweh, "Lord," for the pre-Mosaic period), makes Moses the first to use Yahweh as the proper name of Israel's God, previously known by other names as well; cf Exodus 3:13-15.

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[10-11] Goren-ha-atad: "Threshing Floor of the Brambles." Abel-mizraim: although the name really means "watercourse of the Egyptians," it is understood here, by a play on the first part of the term, to mean "mourning of the Egyptians." The site has not been identified through either reading of the name. But it is difficult to see why the mourning rites should have been held in the land beyond the Jordan when the burial was at Hebron. Perhaps an earlier form of the story placed the mourning rites beyond the Wadi of Egypt, the traditional boundary between Canaan and Egypt (Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4, 47).

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[1-32] Although this chapter, with its highly schematic form, belongs to the relatively late "Priestly document," it is based on very ancient traditions. Together with Genesis 11:10-26, its primary purpose is to bridge the genealogical gap between Adam and Abraham. Adam's line is traced through Seth, but several names in the series are the same as, or similar to, certain names in Cain's line (Genesis 4:17-19). The long lifespans attributed to these ten antediluvian patriarchs have a symbolic rather than a historical value. Babylonian tradition also recorded ten kings with fantastically high ages who reigned successively before the flood.

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[24] In place of the usual formula, Then he died, the change to Enoch walked with God clearly implies that he did not die, but like Elijah (2 Kings 2:11, 12) was taken alive to God's abode.

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[29] There is a similarity in sound between the Hebrew word noah, "Noah," and the verbal phrase yenahamenu, "he will bring us relief"; this latter refers both to the curse put on the soil because of the fall of man (Genesis 3:17-19) and to Noah's success in agriculture, especially in raising grapes for wine (Genesis 9:20-21).

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[1-4] This is apparently a fragment of an old legend that had borrowed much from ancient mythology. The sacred author incorporates it here, not only in order to account for the prehistoric giants of Palestine, whom the Israelites called the Nephilim, but also to introduce the story of the flood with a moral orientation--the constantly increasing wickedness of mankind.

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[2] The sons of heaven: literally "the sons of the gods" or "the sons of God," i.e., the celestial beings of mythology.

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[3] My spirit: the breath of life referred to in Genesis 2:7. His days . . . years: probably the time God would still let men live on earth before destroying them with the flood, rather than the maximum span of life God would allot to individual men in the future.

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[4] As well as later: According to Numbers 13:33, when the Israelites invaded Palestine and found there the tall aboriginal Anakim, they likened them to the Nephilim; cf Deut 2:10-11. Perhaps the huge megalithic structures in Palestine were thought to have been built by a race of giants, whose superhuman strength was attributed to semi-divine origin. The heroes of old: the legendary worthies of ancient mythology.

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[6:5-8:22] The story of the great flood here recorded is a composite narrative based on two separate sources interwoven into an intricate patchwork. To the Yahwist source, with some later editorial additions, are usually assigned Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 7-10, 12, 16b, 17b, 22-23; 8:2b-3a, 6-12, 13b, 20-22. The other sections come from the "Priestly document." The combination of the two sources produced certain duplications (e.g., Genesis 6:13-22 of the Yahwist source, beside Genesis 7:1-5 of the Priestly source); also certain inconsistencies, such as the number of the various animals taken into the ark (Genesis 6:19-20; 7:14-15 of the Priestly source, beside Genesis 7:2-3 of the Yahwist source), and the timetable of the flood (Genesis 8:3-5, 13-14 of the Priestly source, beside Genesis 7:4, 10, 12, 17b; 8:6, 10, 12 of the Yahwist source). Both biblical sources go back ultimately to an ancient Mesopotamian story of a great flood, preserved in the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic. The latter account, in some respects remarkably similar to the biblical account, is in others very different from it.

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[14] Gopherwood: an unidentified wood not mentioned elsewhere; gopher is merely the Hebrew word for it.

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[15] The dimensions of Noah's ark were approximately 440 x 73 x 44 feet, a foot and a half to the cubit. The ark of the Babylonian flood story was an exact cube, 120 cubits in length, width and height.

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[16] Opening for daylight: a conjectural rendering of the Hebrew word sohar, occurring only here. The reference is probably to an open space on all sides near the top of the ark to admit light and air. The ark also had a window or hatch, which could be opened and closed (Genesis 8:6).

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[11] Abyss: the subterranean ocean; see note on 1:2.

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[4] Ararat: ancient Urartu, north of the Mesopotamian plain, part of modern Armenia.

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[6] In the original Yahwist source, from which this verse is taken, the forty days refer to the full period of the flood itself (cf Genesis 7:4, 17); in the present context, however, they seem to refer to a period following the date just given in Genesis 8:5 from the Priestly source.

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[21] From the start: literally "from his youth." It is uncertain whether this means from the beginning of the human race or from the early years of the individual.

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[3] Antediluvian creatures, including man, are depicted as vegetarians (Genesis 1:29-30), becoming carnivorous only after the flood.

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[4] Because a living being dies when it loses most of its blood, the ancients regarded blood as the seat of life, and therefore as sacred. Although in itself the prohibition against eating meat with blood in it is comparable to the ritual laws of the Mosaic code, the Jews considered it binding on all men, because it was given by God to Noah, the new ancestor of all mankind; therefore the early Christian Church retained it for a time (Acts 15:20, 29).

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[18-27] This story seems to be a composite of two earlier accounts; in the one, Ham was guilty, whereas, in the other, it was Canaan. One purpose of the story is to justify the Israelites' enslavement of the Canaanites because of certain indecent sexual practices in the Canaanite religion. Obviously the story offers no justification for enslaving African Negroes, even though Canaan is presented as a "son" of Ham because the land of Canaan belonged to Hamitic Egypt at the time of the Israelite invasion.

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[26] Blessed . . . Shem: perhaps the text read originally, "Blessed of the LORD be Shem," which would be expected in the context.

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[27] In the Hebrew text there is a play on the words yapt ("expand") and yepet ("Japheth").

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[2-4] Traditionally, these verses have been taken as the prophet's complaint against the internal evils of Judah; the language used is that employed by Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah to condemn the social abuses of their day. In Habakkuk 1:5-7 the Lord answers this complaint by indicating the Chaldean empire as his instrument for punishing his people for these sins.

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[5] Look over the nations and see: after Nebuchadnezzar's defeat of Egypt in 605 B.C., there could be little doubt that it was the Chaldean ambition to dominate the entire Near East.

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[8] Wolves at evening: the wolf is apparently thought of as more rabid and vicious in the evening when setting out for prey (Jeremiah 5:6; Zephaniah 3:3).

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[11] Veers like the wind: the conquests of the ancient Near East were mainly raiding expeditions to collect tribute. As far as administration of conquered territories was concerned, both the Assyrians and Chaldeans were usually content to install friendly rulers and then depart. This culprit: though the Chaldeans were used by God as the agents of his punishment, this did not diminish their own guilt as ruthless marauders.

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[1:12-2:1] It is generally thought that this complaint is directed against the Chaldeans and their terrible destruction. But it may well be a continuation of 1:2-4 against the wicked Judahites who have merited God's punishment.

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[12] O Rock: an ancient title celebrating the Lord's power; cf Psalm 18:32.

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[15] The he of this and the following verses, to whom is attributed such extensive evil and the destruction of many peoples, may be the wicked of Judah embodied in King Jehoiakim, ally of the powerful Pharaoh Neco of Egypt; the devastation wrought by Jehoiakim and Neco together is condemned.

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[16] He sacrifices to his net: in Habakkuk 1:15 the wicked ruler in question is represented as catching men in a net. This verse alludes to some rite involving the sacrificial veneration of the weapons of war.

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[4] The just man, because of his faith, shall live: the faith which here enables the virtuous man to survive the impending doom is both a confident belief in God's justice, and patience in awaiting its execution. St. Paul quotes these words (Romans 1:17; Gal 3:11; Hebrews 10:38) to confirm his teaching that man receives justification and supernatural life through faith in Christ.

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[11-12] The palaces, built at the expense of gross injustice (Habakkuk 2:6-10), call down vengeance on their builders. This is typical prophetic language for the condemnation of social crimes within Israel and Judah.

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[13] Peoples toil for the flames: they build only to have fire consume their work, when they build contrary to God's will.

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[17] The violence done to Lebanon: the spoliation of the cedar forests of Lebanon, used in lavish building projects by the great conquerors; cf Isaiah 14:8; 37:24. The destruction of the beasts: the killing-off of the wild animals through excessive hunting by the same conquerors; cf Baruch 3:16.

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[18-20] Idolatrous worship is here shown to be folly by contrasting man-made idols with the majesty of the one true God.

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[1] A later liturgical rubric. So also the end of Habakkuk 3:19.

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[2] In the course of the years revive it: renew today your wondrous deeds of the past.

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[3-15] Cf the theophanies in Deut 33:2-3; Judges 5:4-5; Psalm 18:8-16; 68:8, 9; 77:17-21; 97:1-5; Nahum 1:3-6, etc. Conventional language is employed to describe the appearance of the Lord, as in Exodus 19:16-19.

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[3] Teman: a region in Edom. Mount Paran: in the territory of Edom: or the northern part of the Sinaitic peninsula. The Lord is represented as coming from Sinai, where he had appeared to Moses and given Israel the covenant and the law.

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[13] Your anointed one: the theocratic king, the head of God's people.

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[1] The sixth month in the second year: August/September in 520 B.C.

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[4] The luxury of the homes of the wealthy with their paneled houses contrasts sadly with the ruined state of the Lord's house.

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[12] The remnant of the people: a technical term in Haggai and Zechariah for the returned exiles.

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[6-9] From the later period of Ezekiel's preaching onward, the temple became, as here, one of the dominant messianic themes. Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former: because Christ will enter it.

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[12-14] According to the ritual concepts of the Jews, uncleanness was more contagious than sacredness. Inasmuch as the people were unclean, their offerings became unclean (Numbers 19:22).

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[15-19] This prophecy is intimately linked with Haggai 1, and should be read with it.

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[18] The ninth month: the ordinal ninth has been copied incorrectly from Haggai 2:10. This note clearly concerns the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, on which the temple of the Lord was founded (Haggai 1:15).

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[20] The month: probably again the sixth month, as in Haggai 1:15; 2:18; see note on the latter.

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[23] This promise to Zerubbabel, reversing the punishment of his grandfather (Jeremiah 22:24), is a continuation of the messianic hope; cf Zechariah 6:11-12.

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[1] Sacred pillars: see note on Hosea 3:4.

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[4] Justice . . . like wormwood: the administration of justice, which should have been the mainstay of the people, has in corrupt hands become another instrument of oppression; cf Amos 6:13.

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[5] The calf of Beth-aven: see notes on Hosea 4:15; 8:4-6.

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[10] Their two crimes: possibly the outrage described in Jdgs 19 is conceived as a double crime, of adultery and murder. Or the prophet regards the proclamation of the monarchy (cf 1 Sam 10:23-24) as a crime.

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[14] As Salman ravaged Beth-arbel: allusion to an invasion not otherwise mentioned in the Bible. Salman may have been the Moabite king of this name mentioned in an inscription of Tiglath-pileser III. There were several Beth-arbels in Palestine; this one was probably in Transjordan.

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[1] Out of Egypt: Hosea, like most of the prophets, dates the real beginning of Israel from the time of Moses and the Exodus. Matthew 2:15 applies this text to the return of the Christ Child from Egypt.

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[4] I drew them . . . with bands of love: not forcing them like draft animals, but drawing them with kindness and affection.

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[8] Admah . . . Zeboiim: cities destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah (Deut 29:22).

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[2] He comes . . . Egypt: allusion to the commercial and military pacts with the great powers, consistently condemned by the prophets as derogatory of the Lord's claim on his people.

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[3-7] Contemporary Israel and the Israel represented by its ancestor Jacob (Israel) are here alternated, a splendid example of the Hebrew concept of "corporate personality" or easy transition from the individual to the community of which he is part. Hosea recalls the history of Jacob as it now appears in Genesis, but with some differences of detail and order.

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[14] A prophet: Moses.

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[11] I give you a king . . . in my wrath: the Lord punishes the people of the northern kingdom by giving them incompetent kings who are soon deposed.

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[13] Israel's sin is such as to warrant its destruction (Hosea 13:12), because it refuses to do penance. It will therefore perish as surely as the unborn child which dies in its mother's body because it does not properly employ the only way to safety.

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[14] Shall . . . nether world: a vigorous affirmation of the Lord's determination to destroy Israel. St. Paul cites these words in a different sense (1 Cor 15:54-55), that of the ultimate victory of life over death in the resurrection of the body on the last day, wrought through the merits of Christ's passion and resurrection.

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[10] (10)A later addition in the style of the wisdom literature.

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[Hosea 1-3] This section is ordinarily thought to be biographical, the prophet's personal tragedy figuring as the relation of God to his people Israel. Hosea's marriage to a harlot wife represents Israel's infidelity to her Lord; hence the symbolic names of the children (Hosea 1:4-9). In Hosea 2:4-23 the Lord protests this infidelity and decrees its consequences, but promises restoration in return for amendment; his punishments are medicinal. In Hosea 3 He once more takes back his wife, but only conditionally, signifying God's long-suffering love for Israel and hope for her return.

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[2] A harlot wife: this does not necessarily mean that Gomer was a harlot when Hosea married her; the verse describes the event in its final consequences.

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[4] Jezreel: the strategic valley in northern Israel where Jehu brought the dynasty of Omri to an end through bloodshed (2 Kings 9-10). Jeroboam II was the last king but one of the house of Jehu; the prophecy in this verse was fulfilled by the murder of his son, who reigned only six months (2 Kings 15:8-10).

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[6] Lo-ruhama: "she is not pitied." The "pity" that is here withheld from Israel is God's gratuitous love which inspires his beneficent acts.

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[7] The terrible punishments announced by the prophets were so fully realized that later generations made a point of recalling the same prophets' messages of consolation also, even though it meant taking these from another context. Thus, an editor placed the words of (2:1-3) Hosea 3:5 after the repudiation of Israel in Hosea 1:9; here the more natural order has been restored. The present verse is another example of the same thing. In addition, it may be the work of a later hand, dating from a time when the prophecies of Hosea were circulated in the south, after the dissolution of the northern kingdom that he had prophesied. The second part of the verse emphasizes the power of the Lord, who needs no human agents to fulfill his will. It may refer to the deliverance of Jerusalem from the siege of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35-37).

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[9] Lo-ammi: "not my people."

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[1] The Lord speaks of Israel, still using the example of Hosea's wife.

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[2] I will strip her naked: contemporary documents indicate that this was a conventional punishment for adultery.

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[4] My lovers: the local fertility deities to whom, rather than to the Lord (Hosea 2:8(10)), the unfaithful Israelites attributed the produce of the land.

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[10] (15)The days of the Baals: ritual observances held in various local shrines in honor of Baal.

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[14,15 (8,9)] The crop failures, blight, etc., sent by the Lord (Hosea 2:9-12(11-14)) have as their purpose to make Israel see the folly of her ways.

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[16-17] Israel's journey in the desert represents for Hosea the time of Israel's fidelity, before it was corrupted by the ways of Canaan; cf Jeremiah 2:2-7; Amos 5:25. Thus, he pictures a restoration in terms of a new entry into the promised land.

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[15] My baal: the word means "lord, master." It was commonly used by women of their husbands, but it is to be shunned as a title for the Lord because of its association with the pagan god Baal. Probably it had been so used by many Israelites, who saw little if any difference between the worship of the Lord and the worship of Baal.

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[21-22] The Lord will once more espouse Israel; the qualities ascribed to the renewed people are the bridal gift (cf Genesis 24:53) with which he will endow it. In right and in justice: two terms dear to Hosea, used by him especially to condemn the popular social injustice and corruption of the legal processes. Here they mean right conduct in general. Love: one of the most characteristic words of Hosea's prophecy. It means a dutiful love, based on a social relation; here it refers to the covenant between God and his people. It is a love fulfilled by the performance of mutual obligations. Mercy: from the same root as the word translated pity in Hosea 1:6; cf Hosea 1:25. And you shall know the LORD: another characteristic expression of Hosea; cf Hosea 4:1; 5:4; 6:3, 6. It means not an abstract but a practical knowledge, i.e., acknowledgment of his will, obedience to his law.

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[1-5] Hosea is instructed to take Gomer back, redeeming her from her paramours. On condition of her amendment, she will be restored to her former position of wife. This in turn signifies God's enduring love for his people. He will put the people through a period of trial--the dissolution of the kingdom--in order that they may return to him wholeheartedly.

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[1] Raisin cakes: offerings to the fertility goddess Ashera, the female counterpart of Baal; cf Jeremiah 7:18; 44:19.

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[2] Homer: about ten bushels. Lethech: a half-homer.

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[4] Sacred pillar: the stone massebah, originally perhaps a phallic symbol, representing Baal. These were also used, with another signification, in Israelite worship; see notes on Genesis 28:18; Exodus 34:13. Ephod: an instrument used in consulting the deity; cf 1 Sam 23:6-12; 30:7; see notes on Exodus 28:6, 15-30. Household idols: images regarded as the tutelary deities of the household; cf Genesis 31:19; Judges 17:5; 18:14, 17- 18.

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[5] David, their king: the messianic King of the Davidic line who will restore the kingdom of God's people; cf Jeremiah 23:5; Ezekiel 34:23, 24: The last days: the messianic age.

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[4-6] Hosea is particularly severe with the priests in the northern kingdom, who had led the way in the general apostasy from God's law. The prophets here associated with the priests (Hosea 4:5) were doubtless cult prophets, who were often unworthy of their pretended calling; cf Jeremiah 2:8; 4:9-10; 6:13-14; 23:9-40.

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[12] Wood . . . wand: an idol used in divination.

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[14] With prostitutes you offer sacrifice: the ritual prostitution practiced at the Canaanite shrine was introduced even into sanctuaries dedicated to the Lord. In comparison, the adultery that had become common in Israel was a far less reprehensible crime.

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[15] Gilgal: not the Gilgal of the south (Joshua 4:19-20), but a sanctuary north of Bethel where there was an association of cult prophets (2 Kings 2:1-3; 4:38). Beth-aven: literally, "house of iniquity," Hosea's nickname for Bethel, or a scribal substitute for Bethel, "house of god," in this context. Bethel was one of the royal shrines of Israel, where there was a schismatic public worship of the Lord; cf 1 Kings 12:26-30.

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[17] Ephraim: the heartland of the northern kingdom. During the latter part of Hosea's prophetic career, Ephraim was all that remained of Israel after the Assyrians had overrun Transjordan and Galilee.

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[19] The Israelites shall be carried from their country as by a whirlwind. To this their idolatry has brought them.

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[1] Mizpah: probably the Mizpah in Transjordan is meant; cf Joshua 11:8. Tabor: the mountain that dominates the valley of Jezreel.

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[8-14] This passage refers to the Syro-Ephraimite war of 735-734 B.C., when a coalition of Arameans and Israelites attempted to dethrone the king of Judah. Judah repulsed the attempt with the aid of Assyria, and the latter devastated both Aram and Israel; cf 2 Kings 16:5-9. Hosea condemns both Israel and Judah for the war.

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[8] A vision of invasion, from Gibeah and Ramah in northern Judah, into Israel.

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[10] Like those that move a boundary line: comparison of the invaders to a classic case of social injustice; cf Deut 19:14; 27:17; Proverb 23:10-11.

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[11] Gone after filth: by allying himself with Aram.

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[12] Moth . . . maggots: internal corruption will work the Lord's punishment on both Israel and Judah.

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[13] Ephraim went . . . the great king: in 738 B.C. the Israelite King Manahem had to pay tribute to the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, whose vassal he became (2 Kings 15:19-20). Under the threat of the Syro-Ephraimite invasion King Ahaz of Judah also submitted himself and his country to Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 16:7-9). "The great king" was the title used by the Assyrian kings.

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[15] The Lord withdraws himself from Israel, hoping for its repentance.

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[1] In . . . me: this is the last line of Hosea 5.

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[2] After two days; on the third day: after a short lapse of time.

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[4] Piety: the word is translated "love" in Hosea 2:21 and in Hosea 6:6.

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[11] Harvest: when the land will reap the consequences of its sins.

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[3-7] This passage refers to the dynastic upheavals of Israel's declining days. Between the death of Jeroboam II and the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians, a matter of some twenty-five years, there were four separate dynasties on the throne and as many murdered kings. The prophet compares the Israelite nobles who were inflamed with passion to an overheated oven that consumes what it is supposed to bake; thus the land consumes its kings. Regale: with wine (Hosea 7:3). Like fire smoldering through the night and blazing up in the morning, the sleeping anger of plotters soon breaks out in open rebellion; the succession of night and morning suggests the short reigns of the various kings of this troubled period.

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[8] A hearth cake unturned: burnt on one side, half baked on the other, and therefore useless. Israel's decline in power is ascribed to its disastrous meddling in the power politics of the neighboring nations.

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[14] They lacerated themselves: a common oriental practice in prayers of earnest impetration (1 Kings 18:28); the practice was forbidden in Israelite religion (Lev 19:28; Deut 14:1).

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[4-6] Israel's monarchy and separate sanctuary are here associated, as in 1 Kings 12:20-33; both were the result of rebellion against the divinely approved Davidic dynasty and the Jerusalem temple with the ark of the covenant. The calf image set up by Jeroboam I in the royal shrines prevented Israel from attaining innocence (Hosea 8:5-6).

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[11] The very multiplicity of sanctuaries throughout the land was a danger to the purity of worship. The local shrines were speedily assimilated to the cult places used by the Canaanites, and the Lord was identified with the god Baal worshiped there. Thus the Deuteronomic writers, influenced by prophetic ideas, ended by restricting sacrificial worship to the one temple in Jerusalem.

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[1-2] Upon every threshing floor: an allusion to harvest festivals in honor of Baal, to whom the Israelites had attributed the fertility of the land; cf Hosea 2:7.

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[4] Mourners' bread: bread eaten at funeral rites; cf Deut 26:13-14. Contact with a corpse made a person ritually unclean, together with everything he touched. Such bread could not be offered to the Lord.

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[5] The LORD'S feast: doubtless the autumn feast of Booths, the most important of the Israelite public celebrations; cf Lev 23:34.

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[9] The days of Gibeah: a reference to the outrage committed at Gibeah in the days of the Judges (Judges 19:22-30).

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[10] At Baal-peor (Numbers 25:1-5) the Israelites consecrated themselves to Baal, here called the Shame.

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[14] An unfruitful womb: this appears to be a reversal of the ancient blessing of Joseph contained in Genesis 49:25-26 in which the increase, hence fruitfulness, promised to the patriarch is even signified by the name of his son Ephraim, on whose descendants the prophet now invokes the curse of extinction.

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[15] Gilgal: see note on Hosea 4:15.

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[6-7] Impious nation: Israel. It was God's intention to use Assyria merely to punish, not to destroy, his people.

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[9] Calno . . . Damascus: cities captured by the Assyrians.

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[16] His fat ones: the strong men of the king of Assyria.

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[21] A remnant will return: in Hebrew, shear-jashub, an allusion to the name of Isaiah's son, Shear-jashub; cf Isaiah 7:3.

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[27-32] A poetic description of the progress of the Assyrian army, advancing from the north through Judah to the gates of Jerusalem.

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[32-34] Just when the enemy is about to capture Jerusalem, God intervenes and destroys the hostile army.

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[1] Jesse: David's father. Shoot . . . stump: after the Babylonian Exile only a stump of the Davidic dynasty will remain; from it will arise the new shoot, the messianic King.

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[2-3] The source of the traditional names of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Septuagint and the Vulgate read "piety" for fear of the LORD in its first occurence, thus listing seven gifts.

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[6-9] This picture of the idyllic harmony of paradise is a dramatic symbol of the universal peace and justice of messianic times.

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[11] Pathros . . . sea: where God's people lived in exile. Pathros: upper Egypt. Elam: east of Babylonia. Shinar: Babylonia. Hamath: on the Orontes River in Syria. Isles: or coastlands, in the Mediterranean.

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[14] Kedemites: tribes in the Arabian Desert.

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[15] Tongue . . . Egypt: the body of water between Egypt and Palestine.

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[1-6] Israel's thanksgiving to the Lord, expressed in language like that of the Psalms.

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[2] To them: the Medes (Isaiah 13:17) and Persians, who would destroy Babylon. Gates of the volunteers: the mustering places of Babylon's enemies for war against her.

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[3] Dedicated soldiers: in the sense that they will wage a "holy war" and carry out God's plan.

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[6-8] Day of the LORD: described often in prophetical writings, it generally signified the coming of the Lord in power and majesty to destroy his enemies and inaugurate his kingdom. Here it refers to the overthrow of Babylon. The figures used convey the idea of horror and destruction. Read together Isaiah 13:6-8, 14-16.

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[12] Ophir: cf note to Psalm 45:9.

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[21] Satyrs: in the popular mind, demons of goatlike form dwelling in ruins, symbols of immorality; cf Lev 17:7.

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[4-21] This taunt-song, or satire, is one of the finest in the Bible.

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[12] Morning star: the king of Babylon. The Vulgate has "Lucifer," a name applied by the Church Fathers to Satan.

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[13] Recesses of the North: see note on Psalm 48:3.

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[28] The year that King Ahaz died: 715 B.C.

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[29] Rod: an Assyrian oppressor whose identity is uncertain. Flying saraph: a poisonous serpent, distinguished by its speedy movement; cf note on Numbers 21:6.

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[2] Every head . . . sheared off: traditional signs of grief.

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[9] There is in the Hebrew a play on words: Dimon and dam, the latter signifying "blood."

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[2] The Arnon: principal river of Moab.

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[3-5] Directed to Jerusalem, which should receive the suffering Moabites with mercy, as befits the city of David's family, who were partly descended from Ruth the Moabite.

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[7-14] Moab had been prosperous; now it has become a desert.

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[7] Raisin cakes: masses of dried compressed grapes used as food (cf 2 Sam 6:19; 1 Chron 16:3; Song 2:5), and also in pagan cult (Hosea 3:1).

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[8] Desert: to the east. Sea: the Dead Sea.

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[12] In vain do the Moabites appeal to their god Chemosh.

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[13-14] A prose application of the preceding poetic oracle against Moab (Isaiah 15:1-16:12); cf Jeremiah 4:8. Like those of a hireling: who fulfills his period of service according to the shortest manner of reckoning; cf Isaiah 21:16.

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[1] Damascus: capital of Syria, destroyed in 732 B.C.

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[3] Ephraim: Israel, leagued with Syria against Assyria and Judah; destroyed in 721 B.C. Aram: Syria.

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[5] Valley of Rephaim: a fertile plain to the southwest of Jerusalem; cf Joshua 15:8; 2 Sam 5:18.

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[6] Olives not easily picked by hand were knocked from the tree by means of a long stick; cf Isaiah 24:13.

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[8] Sacred poles: see note on Exodus 34:13. Incense stands: small altars on which incense was burned in idolatrous worship; cf Isaiah 27:9; Lev 26:30.

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[10] Pagan plants: literally "plants of delights," understood by some as planted in honor of the god of fertility.

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[12-13] Many peoples: the hordes that accompanied the invading Assyrians, whom God repels just as he vanquished the primeval waters of chaos; see notes on Job 3:8; 7:12; Psalm 89:10.

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[1-2] Papyrus boats: light and serviceable vessels made of bundles of papyrus stalks and sealed with pitch. Egypt, ruled by a dynasty from Ethiopia, had invited Judah to join a coalition against Assyria, but Isaiah bade the ambassadors return to their own people.

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[1] Land of buzzing insects: the region of the Upper Nile where these multiplied with great rapidity.

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[4] Cruel master: the king of Assyria.

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[11,13] Zoan, later known as Tanis, and Memphis (in Hebrew, Noph) were the key cities of the Nile Delta.

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[15] Head or tail, palm branch or reed: the leaders or the people; cf Isaiah 9:13, 14.

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[18] Five cities: colonies of Jews living together and speaking their languages, Hebrew and Aramaic; cf Jer 43. City of the Sun: the meaning is uncertain, but the reference seems to be to the city known later as Heliopolis.

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[1] The title of the book: an editorial addition. Isaiah: meaning "the salvation of the LORD," or "The LORD is salvation." Amoz: not the minor prophet. Judah: the southern kingdom of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Uzziah: also called Azariah; cf 2 Kings 15:1; 2 Chron 26:1.

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[21] A picture of Jerusalem, once so faithful to God. Apostasy from the covenant is often likened by the prophets to unfaithfulness to the marriage vow.

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[27] This verse is the key to the whole Book of Isaiah. Zion's defiant persistence in sin has demanded a divine judgment, by which her survivors will be cleansed and will return to God in justice; cf Isaiah 40:2.

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[29] Terebinths which you prized . . . groves which you chose: as popular shrines for idolatrous worship.

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[3] Israel: not the northern kingdom, as in Isaiah 9:11 exclusively, which Isaiah usually calls "Ephraim" from the tribe bordering on the southern kingdom, but the entire chosen people, cf Isaiah 8:14.

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[4] Holy One of Israel: a title used frequently by Isaiah, rarely by other writers.

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[5-8] Sufferings inflicted upon God's people for their sins.

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[8] Daughter Zion: Jerusalem. Hut . . . shed: for the shelter of watchmen and laborers.

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[9] LORD of hosts: God, who is the Creator and Ruler of the heavenly armies of the angels, stars, etc. Remnant: St. Paul uses this text in Romans 9:29 where he speaks of God's saving mercy toward the Jews and Gentiles. Sodom . . . Gomorrah: cf Genesis 19.

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[11] The number of your sacrifices: however numerous, they are not acceptable without the right dispositions on the part of the worshipers.

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[13] Octaves with wickedness: the solemnity of the feasts marred by evil deeds.

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[15] Spread out your hands: in prayer.

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[2-6] The symbolic act of the prophet conveyed the idea that Assyria would lead captive the Egyptians and Ethiopians. The Judeans and their allies would then realize the folly of having trusted in them.

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[1] Wastelands by the sea: Babylonia. Negeb: the desert south of Judah.

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[2] Elam . . . Media: nations which, under the leadership of Cyrus, captured Babylon in 538 B.C. End to all groaning: those who were captive of Babylon shall be freed.

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[5] Babylon is destroyed while its leaders are feasting; cf Daniel 5. Oil the shield: shields were oiled and greased so as to divert blows more easily.

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[11-12] Seir: another name for Edom. The Edomites ask the prophet how much longer they must suffer (the night of suffering); he answers ambiguously: "Liberation (morning) and further suffering (night)," but perhaps they will later receive a more encouraging answer (ask, come back again).

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[13-14] Arabia: that is, the nomad country. Dedanites: an Arab tribe associated with Edom and Tema, and living east of the Red Sea; cf Genesis 10:7; 25:3; Jeremiah 25:23.

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[16] Year . . . of a hireling: see note on 16:14. Kedar: a nomad tribe in Arabia; cf Isaiah 42:11; 60:7; Psalm 120:5.

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[1-8] Valley of Vision: while the people live in revelry and disorder, the prophet foresees the impending doom of the city.

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[6] Elam, Aram, Kir: all allies of Assyria. Kir: perhaps the same people referred to in Amos 1:5.

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[8-11] Defense measures, in which the inhabitants of Jerusalem placed their trust instead of relying on God. House of the Forest: an armory built by Solomon; its columns of wood suggested the trees of a forest; cf 1 Kings 7:2; 10:17.

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[15] Shebna: referred to as the scribe in Isaiah 36:3.

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[20] Eliakim: also referred to in Isaiah 36:3; he is described as loyal to God.

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[22] Key: symbol of authority; cf Matthew 16:19; Rev 3:7.

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[24-25] If Eliakim should anger God, he and his family (compared here to dishes, bowls and jugs) will suffer disaster.

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[1-4,12-14] These verses refer to Sidon, Isaiah 23:5-11 to Tyre.

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[1] Kittim: Cyprus.

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[3] Shihor: a synonym for the Nile.

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[4] The sea: brings to distant coasts the news that Sidon must disown her children; her people are dispersed.

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[11] Canaan's strongholds: the fortresses of Phoenicia.

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[13] The gloss here identifies she whom the impious founded with the land of the Chaldeans.

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[15] Seventy years: a conventional period of time indicating simply a long disaster; cf Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10.

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[18] Describes the conversion of Tyre.

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[1-27:13] This section, probably composed at a later date, contains oracles on the day of the Lord, combined with hymns of thanksgiving and of supplication.

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[5] Ancient covenant: God's commandments to all mankind.

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[10] City of chaos: a symbol of godlessness as opposed to Jerusalem, the city of God.

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[14] These: the saved.

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[21] Host of the heavens: the stars, which were regarded by the pagans as gods; cf Deut 4:19; Jeremiah 8:2.

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[23] His elders: the heavenly courtiers surrounding the throne of God.

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[1-8] Victory in messianic times.

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[6] This mountain: Zion, symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem.

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[10] Moab: symbol of God's enemies.

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[19] This verse refers to the restoration of Israel in messianic times under the figure of the resurrection of the dead; cf Ezekiel 37.

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[1] Leviathan . . . dragon: symbols of the forces of evil which God vanquishes even as he overcame primeval chaos; cf notes on Job 3:8; 7:12.

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[8-9] Israel will make peace with God and destroy all signs of idolatrous worship.

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[1] Ephraim: the northern kingdom. Its capital, Samaria, was built upon a hill, suggestive of a majestic garland adorning the head of the drunken kingdom.

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[2] A strong one and a mighty: Assyria.

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[9-10] The words of those who ridicule Isaiah. The Hebrew of Isaiah 28:10 by its very sound, conveys the idea of mocking imitation of what the prophet says, as though he spoke like a stammering child: SAU LASAU, SAU LASAU, CAU LACAU, CAU LACAU, ZE'ER SHAM, ZE'ER SHAM. But in v 13 God repeats these words in deadly earnest, putting them in the mouth of the victorious pagan army.

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[11] God will answer the mockers and defend Isaiah. Strange language: spoken by the invading army.

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[15,18] A covenant with death, and with the nether world: an alliance with foreign powers, such as Egypt and Babylon, to prevent death and destruction. Have made lies . . . a hiding place: this confidence in human aid proves to be false and deceitful, incapable of averting the dreaded disaster. Overwhelming scourge: the flood of the Assyrian invasion; cf Isaiah 8:7-8.

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[16] A stone in Zion: the true and sure foundation of salvation promised by God to the Davidic dynasty (cf Isaiah 7:13-16; 9:1-6), which the Apostles saw fulfilled in Christ the universal Savior; cf 1 Peter 2:6-8; Romans 9:33; 10:9-11. Cornerstone: the assurance of salvation rejected by Israel in the prophet's time, is reflected by the psalmist (Psalm 118:22) and fulfilled in the Person of Christ; cf Matthew 21:42; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:7.

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[21] Mount Perazim . . . Valley of Gibeon: where David defeated the Philistines; cf 2 Sam 5:20, 25; 1 Chron 14:11, 16.

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[23-29] The practical variation of the farmer's work taught him by God reflects God's dealing with his people, wisely adapted to circumstances; he does not crush their weakness altogether; cf Isaiah 29.

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[25] Gith . . . cumin: herbs used in seasoning food. Spelt: a variety of wheat.

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[1-2] Ariel: variously interpreted to mean "lion of God" or "hearth (altar) of God," a poetic name for Jerusalem; or perhaps to be read as Uru-el, "foundation of God," an archaic name for the Jebusite city of Jerusalem; like that Ariel, against which David encamped, it will be besieged by God.

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missing foot note text

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[7-8] Just when the Assyrians think their capture of Jerusalem to be certain, the Lord will snatch victory from their hands and save his city.

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[9-12] Jerusalem in her blindness refuses to believe God's revelation that she will be saved.

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[17-24] The prophet presents God's plan of redemption in terms of unheard-of natural phenomena as if such changes in nature took place, e.g., the change of the cedars of Lebanon into an orchard (Isaiah 29:17).

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[22] Who redeemed Abraham: by freeing him from the idolatry of his native land.

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[1] An editorial addition introducing Isaiah 2-5.

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[2-4] The messianic destiny which ensures Judah's later restoration. In the messianic kingdom the prophets generally see the Lord's house as the seat of authority and the source of clear and certain doctrine; also, its rule willingly accepted by all peoples, maintained by spiritual sanctions, and tending to universal peace. This passage is found substantially unchanged in Micah 4:1-3; it probably, although not certainly, has Isaiah as its author.

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[3] Zion . . . Jerusalem: types of the earthly center of the messianic kingdom.

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[6] Fortune-tellers and soothsayers: divination was strictly forbidden; cf Deut 18:9-14.

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[11] That day: the day of the Lord, a day of retribution, often referred to, especially by the minor prophets, and described in terms of natural phenomena: earthquake, fire, storm.

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[13] Lebanon: Mount Lebanon in Syria, famed for its cedars. Bashan: the wooded uplands east of the Jordan River.

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[16] Tarshish: cf note on Psalm 48:8.

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[6] Flying saraph: see note on Numbers 21:6.

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[7] Rahab: Egypt, here as elsewhere (cf Psalm 87:4), is compared to the stormy, impetuous sea monster (cf Isaiah 51:9; Job 26:12; Psalm 89:11), which yet, when asked for aid by Judah, becomes silent, quelled.

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[8] Isaiah will write down his condemnation of the people so that (Isaiah 30:12-18) its fulfillment may afterward be admitted.

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[20] Teacher: God, who in the past taught in a veiled manner through his prophets, will in future help them to understand his teaching clearly. This was eminently true when the Son of God became Man.

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[27-33] God's punishment of Assyria. The name of the LORD: God himself; cf Psalm 20:2.

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[7] Ariel . . . Shalem: Jerusalem; cf Isaiah 29:1; Genesis 14:18.

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[9] Sharon: the fertile plain near the Mediterranean.

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[17] King: the messianic king, or God; cf Isaiah 33:22.

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[22-23] Boat . . . majestic ship: of a foreign oppressor.

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[11] Satyrs: see note on Isaiah 13:21; cf Isaiah 34:14.

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[14] Lilith: a female demon thought to roam about the desert.

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[16] Book of the LORD: God's list of all his creatures; cf Psalm 69:29 "the book of the living"; Psalm 139:16, "your book."

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[1-10] Similar to the description of the return from the exile, as found in Isaiah 40-55.

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[36:1-39:8] Except for 38:9-20 this historical appendix describing the siege, etc., is paralleled in 2 Kings 18:13-20:19 which, however, has certain details proper to itself. The events are also recorded in substantially the same way in the cuneiform inscriptions of Sennacherib.

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[7] The Assyrians pretend that Hezekiah's removal of the high places and altars (illegal sanctuaries) was taken by the Lord as an insult. They declare to Jerusalem's emissaries that the city therefore no longer has a right to the Lord's protection and that they are the ones who truly carry out his will (Isaiah 36:10).

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[11] The Jewish emissaries ask that the conversation be carried on in Aramaic, not in Judean, for they fear the effect of the Assyrian claims upon the morale of the people.

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[3] A proverbial expression. In the Bible the pangs of childbirth often typify extreme anguish; cf Isaiah 13:8; Jeremiah 6:24; Micah 4:9, 10. In this instance there is reference to the desperate situation of Hezekiah from which he was scarcely able to free himself.

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[9] Tirhakah: may have been general of the Egyptian army in 701 B.C.; later he became king, one of the Ethiopian dynasty of Egyptian kings (c. 690-664 B.C.). Many consider that this account in Isaiah combines features of two originally distinct sieges of Jerusalem by Sennacherib.

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[16] In contrast to the empty boasting of the Assyrians, Hezekiah proclaims the Lord as God over all the kingdoms of the earth.

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[30] You: Hezekiah. A sign: it is difficult to know the nature of this sign. Either it is merely a proverbial expression to signify that prosperity follows adversity, or it indicates that after two years the normal conditions of life will be resumed.

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[36] The destruction of Sennacherib's army is also recorded by Herodotus, a Greek historian of the fifth century B.C. It was probably due to the bubonic plague, but the sacred author attributes it to its ultimate cause, God through his angel.

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[38] The violent death of Sennacherib (681 B.C.) is also mentioned in non-biblical sources. It occurred twenty years after his invasion of Judea.

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[38:1-39:8] The events of this section-sickness and recovery of Hezekiah, embassy of Merodach-baladan-point forward to Babylon (cc 40-66). They occurred prior to the events of Isaiah 36:1-37:38 which point back to Assyria (Isaiah 1:1-35:10).

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[17] You cast behind your back all my sins: figurative language to express the divine forgiveness of sins, as if God no longer saw or cared about them. This expression is ordinarily used of men forgetting God; cf 1 Kings 14:9; Ezekiel 23:35; Psalm 50:17.

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[18-19] See note on Psalm 6:5.

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[1] In those days: a time prior to the siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C.

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[5] Since Hezekiah died in 687 B.C., this sickness of his seems to have been in 702 B.C., that is, fifteen years before.

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[8] Stairway to the terrace of Ahaz: this interpretation is based on a reading of the Hebrew text revised according to the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah; cf 2 Kings 23:12. Many translatethe phrase as "steps of Ahaz" and understand this as referring to a sundial.

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[10] In the noontime of life: long before the end of a full span of life; cf Psalm 55:23; 102:24.

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[11] See the LORD: go to the Temple and take part in its service.

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[12] These two metaphors emphasize the suddenness and finality of death.

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[15] What am I to say or tell him?: a rhetorical question, as if the poet were at a loss in giving fitting expression to his gratitude; cf Psalm 116:12. He has done it: accomplished the cure. Despite the bitterness: even though the one praying was previously so dejected.

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[16] Yours . . . the life of my spirit: the current Hebrew text is corrupt. The revised Latin psalter renders it: "you have revived my soul."

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[1] Merodach-baladan: twice king of Babylon, probably from 721 to 710 B.C., and again for nine months, in 704-703. This visit of his messengers, certainly before 701, was in reality a political one. Babylon hoped to lead an anti-Assyrian confederation composed of neighboring states.

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[6] Because Judah preferred to follow a pro-Babylonian policy, instead of trusting in God, it would later be exiled to Babylon.

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[8] Favorable: for the exile would not occur in his lifetime.

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[1-12] Anarchy will reign in Jerusalem and Judah. In the prevailing desperation, even the most unworthy and the least qualified will be sought as rulers.

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[17] Bare their heads: a mark of social disgrace; cf Numbers 5:18.

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[21] Nose rings: of gold, a feminine ornament in the East; cf note on Genesis 24:22.

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[2] Service: servitude and exile.

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[3-5] The figurative language here describes the actual return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. It is the Lord who leads them; their road is made easy for them. Matthew 3:3 and parallels see in these verses a prophecy of the Baptizer and Christ.

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[12] Span: the distance between the extended little finger and the thumb. Measure: literally, "third"; here a small container.

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[16] Lebanon . . . fuel: the famed cedars would not be enough to keep the fires of sacrifice burning.

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[26] Created: see note on Genesis 1:1. By name: for he is their Creator.

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[27-28] God's people, here called Jacob and Israel, must not give way to discouragement: their Lord is the eternal God.

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[1-4] It is generally agreed that these verses describe the vocation and victory of Cyrus, whom the Lord used as his instrument to redeem Israel.

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[2] Cyrus is the champion of justice and God's attendant.

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[1-4] Servant: there are three other "Servant-of-the-Lord" oracles, 49:1-7; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12. Many identifications have been proposed, e.g., historical Israel, ideal Israel, an Old Testament historical character before or during the lifetime of the prophet, the prophet himself. The New Testament and Christian tradition, however, have seen a fulfillment of these prophecies in Jesus Christ.

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[3] A reference to the mercy of Christ.

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[4] Coastlands: the lands of the Mediterranean. In the Old Testament the word often refers to the pagan lands of the west.

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[11] Kedar: cf footnote to Isaiah 21:16. Sela: Petra, the capital of Edom.

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[18-20] Because of their unbelief, the Lord rebukes his people, whom he calls his servant, his messenger.

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[22] A people: Israel in exile.

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[24] Despoilers: the Assyrians and Babylonians.

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[3-4] Egypt . . . Ethiopia and Seba: countries which God permitted the Persians to conquer in return for having given Israel its freedom.

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[9] Only God can know and predict future events; cf Isaiah 41:1-5, 21-29.

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[14-17] The destruction of Babylon.

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[18] No need to think solely of the past wonders of the exodus from Egypt; equally great is the exodus from Babylon.

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[22-28] The reason for the liberation of the Israelites is not their fidelity but rather God's mercy.

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[24] Sweet cane: a fragrant substance used in making incense and the sacred anointing oil; cf Exodus 30:23; Jeremiah 6:20.

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[27] First father: Adam or Jacob, or collectively "early ancestors." Spokesmen: leaders, priests, prophets.

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[2] The darling: see note on Deut 32:15; cf also Deut 33:5, 26.

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[5] Write on his hand: an allusion to the Babylonian custom of tatooing the owner's name on the hand of his slave; cf also Rev 13:16.

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[8] Rock: place of refuge; said of God in Deut 32:4, 18; 1 Sam 2:2; etc.

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[9-20] Satire on the makers and worshipers of idols.

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[20] Chasing ashes: exerting efforts in vain; cf Hosea 12:2; Eccl 1:14; 2:11, 17.

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[28] Cyrus: king of Persia (559-529 B.C.) and conqueror of Babylon (538 B.C.), who liberated the Jews, permitting them to return to their native land and to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.

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[1] Anointed: in Hebrew, meshiah, from which the word "Messiah" is derived; from its Greek translation Christos, we have the name "Christ." Applied to kings, "anointed" originally referred only to those of Israel, but it is here given to Cyrus because he is the agent of the Lord.

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[18] Waste: an allusion to the beginning of creation, when the earth was waste and void (Genesis 1:2), the same Hebrew word, tohu, being used in both passages. The further reference here is to Palestine, which God wishes again to be inhabited by the returning exiles.

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[20] Who bear wooden idols: in their religious processions. The gods of the pagans have feet but cannot walk; cf Psalm 115:7; Baruch 6:25.

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[2] Bronze doors: of Babylon.

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[6] The Gentiles will come to know the true God; cf also 45:20-25.

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[7] Create woe: God permits evil for the sake of a greater good.

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[8] The Vulgate rendering gives a more precise messianic sense to this verse, using "just one" and "savior" in place of justice and salvation. The Advent liturgy uses the Vulgate form, Rorate coeli desuper . . ., to express the world's longing for the coming of Christ.

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[9] No one may challenge God's freedom of action, exemplified here by the selection of Cyrus as his anointed.

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[13] One: Cyrus, called by God for the deliverance and restoration of Israel.

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[14] Egypt . . . Ethiopia . . . Sabeans: the Egyptians and their allies who, when conquered by Cyrus, are seen as acknowledging the God of Israel to be the one true God; cf 43:3.

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[15] God is hidden: he dwells invisibly in the holy of holies.

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[1] Bel . . . Nebo: gods of Babylon; their complete helplessness is here contrasted with God's omnipotence.

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[11] From the east a bird of prey: Cyrus; cf Isaiah 41:2-4.

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[1-15] A taunt-song, mocking Babylon, once queen of the nations, now made a slave girl.

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[9-13,15] Babylon was known for its sorcery and astrology.

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[14] The LORD's friend: Cyrus, who carries out God's plans.

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[16] "Now the Lord . . . spirit": said by Cyrus; cf Isaiah 48:14.

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[1-7] The second of the four "Servant-of-the-Lord" oracles.

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[1] Gave me my name: designated me for a special office (cf Jeremiah 1:5), or perhaps, made me renowned (cf Psalm 45:18).

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[2] The Servant was made ready and fit for the preaching of God's word.

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[3] Israel: the Servant is identified with the people of Israel as their ideal representative; however, since Isaiah 49:5, 6 seem to distinguish the Servant from Israel, some regard the word Israel here as a gloss.

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[6] The Servant's vocation will be not only the restoration of Israel but the conversion of the world; cf Luke 2:32.

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[12] Syene: now called Aswan, at the first cataract of the Nile in southern Egypt.

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[16] Upon the palms . . . name: for continual remembrance; cf Exodus 13:9, 16; Deut 6:6-9.

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[1] Seven women . . . one man: the disproportion of the sexes due to war leaves the female population almost without male partners. The women are eager to marry, not for support, but to avoid the disgrace of being childless.

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[2] Branch of the LORD: divine blessings in general, which later culminated in the Messiah; cf Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12.

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[3] Marked down for life: in God's list of his elect; cf Exodus 32:32.

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[1] Responding to the people's complaint of utter abandonment by God, the prophet shows that their sins were responsible for their banishment. Since there was no bill of divorce, the bond between the Lord and his people still exists and he will ultimately save them.

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[2] Israel's faith in God is weak; she does not answer his call, nor believe in his promises of deliverance.

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[4-11] The third of the four "Servant-of-the-Lord" oracles; in Isaiah 50:4-9 the Servant speaks; in Isaiah 50:10-11 God reproves the people for not following the Servant.

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[5] The Servant does not refuse the divine vocation.

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[6] He willingly submits to insults and beatings. Plucked my beard: a grave insult.

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[10-11] Instead of trusting in the Lord and his Servant, the people rely on their own devices, to their own destruction.

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[1] Rock . . . pit: your glorious ancestry.

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[4-5] The conversion of the Gentiles.

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[6] God's salvation and justice are eternal, in contrast to the impermanence of the heavens and the earth: cf Matthew 24:35.

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[9] Rahab: see note on Isaiah 30:7. The dragon: see notes on Isaiah 27:1; Psalm 74:13.

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[10] Great deep: another reference to the primeval chaos of Genesis 1:2.

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[7-10] God leads his people back from Babylon to Zion, from whose ruined walls watchmen . . . shout for joy; cf Romans 10:15.

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[11] From there: from Babylon. Vessels of the LORD: taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, now carried back by the exiled priests returning in procession to Zion; cf Ezra 1:7.

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[52:13-53:12] The last of the four "Servant-of-the-Lord" oracles. An extraordinary description of the sinless Servant, who by his voluntary suffering atones for the sins of his people, and saves them from just punishment at the hands of God. Only in Jesus Christ is the prophecy perfectly fulfilled.

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[2] Only God appreciated his Servant's true greatness.

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[3] Because he suffered, he was regarded as a sinner and therefore as one to be spurned.

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[4-6] He did indeed suffer but it was for the sins of mankind, and through his sufferings men are healed.

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[10-12] Because he fulfilled the divine will by suffering for the sins of others, the Servant will be rewarded by the Lord. See the light: enjoy happiness. This line may originally have read, "he shall drink and eat to the full"--at the thanksgiving sacrifice at which he shall divide the spoils (53:12).

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[1] Jerusalem, pictured as a wife who had been barren and deserted, now suddenly finds herself with innumerable children (the returning exiles); cf Gal 4:27 for the application of this text to the Church, the New Zion.

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[5] Redeemer: cf note on Isaiah 41:14.

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[11-12] Cf Rev 21. Afflicted one: Jerusalem; carnelians: reddish quartz, hard and durable, carbuncles: another precious stone of red color.

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[1-3] God's salvation is freely extended to his people and to all nations; through him will the benefits assured to David be renewed; cf Isaiah 12:3; John 7:37.

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[13] Thornbush . . . nettles: suggestive of the desert and therefore symbolic of suffering and hardship; cypress, myrtle: suggestive of fertile land and therefore symbolic of joy and strength.

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[1-8] Participation in the future messianic salvation is offered to all who believe in the Lord and keep his commandments, regardless of origin or social condition.

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[3] Eunuchs had originally been excluded from the community of the Lord; cf Deut 23:2; Wisdom 3:14. Dry tree: unable to produce the fruit of offspring.

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[5] A monument and a name: a memorial inscription to prevent oblivion for one who had no children; cf 2 Sam 18:18; Nehemiah 7:15; 13:14.

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[56:9-57:13] This section is apparently preexilic, written in the manner of the older prophets who condemned the pagan rites of Baal worship.

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[9] Wild beasts: foreign nations, which are invited to come and ravage Israel.

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[6] Smooth stones: the Hebrew word for this expression has the same consonants as the word for "portion"; instead of making the Lord their portion (cf Psalm 16:5), the people adored slabs of stone which they took from the streambeds in valleys and set up as idols; cf Jeremiah 3:9. Therefore, it is implied, they will be swept away as by a sudden torrent of waters carrying them down the rocky-bottomed gorge to destruction and death without burial.

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[9] The king: the pagan god Moloch. Ambassadors: children sent to him through a sacrificial death.

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[12] Justice: here used ironically.

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[13] All these: the wicked mentioned in 57:3-10.

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[1] This command is directed to the prophet.

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[2-14] Merely external worship does not avail with God; it must be joined to internal sincerity.

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[4] Emptiness: things having no value.

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[5-6] A proverb signifying evil works-adders' eggs-and useless devices-spiders' webs; the former do positive harm to oneself and others; the latter serve no useful purpose.

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[9-15] Spoken by the people through the mouth of the prophet.

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[1] My friend had a vineyard: the Lord and his chosen people.

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[7] Judgment . . . bloodshed . . . justice . . . outcry: in Hebrew, these adversative terms constitute a play on words.

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[8-10] Land-grabbers who unjustly acquire property will be impoverished instead of enriched.

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[10] Ten acres: a field requiring ten days of plowing by a yoke of oxen. Liquid measure: in Hebrew, a "bath," i.e., about ten gallons. Homer: a dry measure of about ten bushels. Ephah: a dry measure of about one bushel.

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[14] (14) Nether world: cf note on Psalm 6:5.

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[1-6] The Church makes use of these verses for the first reading of the Mass on the feast of Epiphany, for she sees in them symbols of her universality.

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[8-9] Like clouds, like doves: the white sails of the ships of Tarshish; cf note on Psalm 48:8.

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[13] Glory of Lebanon: the cedars, together with the cypress, the plane and the pine, all precious, durable wood.

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[1-2] This was spoken by the prophet in regard to the restoration of Zion, but quoted by Christ as referring to his mission; cf Luke 4:18, 19. Year of favor . . . day of vindication: the time of God's salvation.

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[2] New name: figurative expression for a new state of happiness; cf Rev 2:17; 3:12.

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[6-7] Remind the LORD . . . give no rest to him: figuratively, as though to make certain that the Lord will remember his pledge to Jerusalem. Cf Luke 11:7-8.

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[10] The command is given to the workmen to begin the reconstruction of the city.

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[1-6] In a dramatic dialogue between God and the prophet, the Lord is portrayed as the sole avenger of justice against his enemies.

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[63:7-64:11] A prayer probably composed toward the end of the exile, in which the prophet, after recalling God's blessings on Israel in its past history (Isaiah 63:7-10), especially at the Exodus (Isaiah 63:11-14), begs the Lord to come once more to the aid of his people (63:15-64:3), who now humbly confess their sins (Isaiah 64:4-11).

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[5] I am too sacred for you: the uncleanness of pork, obvious to a Semite, is what these people claim has made them sacred! The prophet ridicules them. Some translate: "I will render you sacred," and understand this as referring to the concept of sacredness as something contagious.

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[11-12] Destiny: the Hebrew also has a play on the words: Destiny and destine; men&icirc; and man&icirc;th&icirc;.

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[25] See note on Isaiah 11:6-9.

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[4-5] Worship which is merely external is as evil as though it were idolatry.

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[7-9] The absence of labor in Zion's childbearing is a symbol of the joyful begetting of the new people of God.

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[18-21] God summons the neighboring nations to Zion and from among them will send some to far distant lands to proclaim his glory. All your brethren: Jews in exile.

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[24] God's enemies lie dead outside the walls of the New Jerusalem; just as in the past, corpses, filth and refuse lay in the Valley of Hinnom outside the city, where huge fires were constantly burning; cf Joshua 15:8; 2 Chron 28:3; Mark 9:45-48.

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[1-3] Temple: the holy place, just in front of the holy of holies. Seraphim: literally "the burning ones," are celestial beings who surround the throne of God. Each has six wings. Reverence for the divine majesty causes them to veil their faces with two wings; modesty, to veil their extremities in similar fashion; alacrity in God's service, to extend two wings in preparation for flight. Holy, holy, holy: God's perfect interior holiness whose exterior manifestation is his glory. These words are found in the Roman liturgy just before the Canon of the Mass.

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[1] In the year King Uzziah died: 742 B.C.

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[4] Smoke: reminiscent of the clouds which surrounded God at Mount Sinai; cf Exodus 19:16-19; Deut 4:11, 12.

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[5] Doomed: it was popularly believed that to see God would lead to one's death; cf Genesis 32:31; Exodus 33:20; Judges 13:22.

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[7] Touched your lips: Isaiah is thus symbolically purified to be worthy of his vocation as God's prophet. In the Roman liturgy, the celebrant at Mass makes reference to this incident just before he reads the gospel.

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[9-10] The truth that the nation will remain impenitent is vividly foretold, as if its obstinacy would be caused, instead of merely occasioned, by the prophet's warning. Cf Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10.

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[12] Several limited deportations in the time of Isaiah would later culminate in the Babylonian exile.

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[1] Days of Ahaz: who ruled from 735 to 715 B.C. This attack against Jerusalem by the kings of Aram (Syria) and Israel was occasioned by Ahaz' refusal to enter with them into an anti-Assyrian alliance; cf 2 Kings 16.

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[3] Shear-jashub: this name means "a remnant will return."

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[6] Son of Tabeel: an adherent of Jerusalem's enemies. His appointment would interrupt the lawful succession from David.

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[9] Within sixty years and five: if the text is correct, its reference is unknown.

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[11] Deep . . . sky: an extraordinary or miraculous sign that would prove God's firm will to save the royal house of David from its oppressors.

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[12] Tempt the LORD: Ahaz expresses in this hypocritical way his preference for depending upon the might of Assyria rather than upon God.

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[14] The sign proposed by Isaiah was concerned with the preservation of Judah in the midst of distress (cf Isaiah 7:15, 17), but more especially with the fulfillment of God's earlier promise to David (2 Sam 7:12-16) in the coming of Immanuel (meaning, "With us is God") as the ideal king (cf Isaiah 9:5-6; 11:1-5). The Church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and his Virgin Mother. The prophet need not have known the full force latent in his own words; and some Catholic writers have sought a preliminary and partial fulfillment in the conception and birth of the future King Hezekiah, whose mother, at the time Isaiah spoke, would have been a young, unmarried woman (Hebrew, almah). The Holy Spirit was preparing, however, for another Nativity which alone could fulfill the divinely given terms of Immanuel's mission, and in which the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God was to fulfill also the words of this prophecy in the integral sense intended by the divine Wisdom.

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[15] Curds and honey: the restricted diet of those who remain after devastation has changed the once fertile fields of Judah into grazing land; cf Isaiah 7:21-25.

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[20] God will use the Assyrians from across the River (the Euphrates) as his instrument (razor) to inflict disgrace and suffering upon his people.

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[1] Ordinary letters: easily read by all. Maher-shalal-hash-baz: a symbolic name to be given to another son of Isaiah (v 3); it means "quick spoils; speedy plunder," and describes what the Assyrians will do.

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[2] Reliable witnesses: who would testify that Isaiah had indeed prophesied the future destruction. Uriah the priest: cf 2 Kings 16:10.

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[3] The prophetess: wife of Isaiah.

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[6-8] This people: Judah. Waters of Shiloah: the stream that flows into the pool of Shiloah in Jerusalem, its slow current symbolizing the silent, divine protection which Judah has rejected. God will therefore summon the mighty Assyrian army, symbolized by the River (Euphrates), to devastate Judah, which, however, will not be entirely destroyed, because it is the land of Immanuel.

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[10] The plan of Israel's enemies will be thwarted because, as the name "Immanuel" signifies, With us is God.

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[16] Kept among my disciples: for preservation and transmission.

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[18] Signs: Isaiah and his sons had symbolic names.

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[19] Chirp and mutter: a mocking reference to the sounds uttered by necromancers, as if the dead were speaking; all such practices were forbidden.

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[21,22] These verses have been transposed and placed within Isaiah 14:25 which affords the context in which they can be understood.

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[5] A child: the Immanuel of Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 8:8; cf Isaiah 11:1, 2, 9. In Christian tradition and liturgy, this passage is used to refer to Christ. Upon his shoulder dominion rests: authority. Wonder-Counselor: remarkable for his wisdom and prudence. God-Hero: a warrior and a defender of his people, like God himself. Father-Forever: ever devoted to his people. Prince of Peace: his reign will be characterized by peace.

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[11] Aram: the Syrian kingdom, with its capital at Damascus.

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[20] Manasseh . . . Ephraim: two of the leading tribes of the northern kingdom.

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[2] Signs of the heavens: phenomena in the sky superstitiously regarded by the pagans as dire omens.

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[3] Jeremiah does not seek private vengeance but the punishment of the wicked by the Lord; cf Jeremiah 20:12. Nevertheless, the prophet's reaction to persecution shows the difference between the spirit of the Old Testament and the New.

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[14] My evil neighbors: nations surrounding Israel, the land belonging to the Lord; cf Isaiah 8:8.

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[1-11] This is probably a vision of the prophet symbolizing the religious corruption of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians, represented here by the river Parath, the Euphrates; though a spring of the same name, northeast of Anathoth, may be directly meant.

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[12-14] These verses are omitted in the text because Jeremiah 15:12 in the Hebrew is a dittography of Jeremiah 17:1. Jeremiah 15:13-14 are a dittography of Jeremiah 17:3f.

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[6-7] These verses refer to popular mourning practices, sometimes connected with pagan superstition; cf Deut 14:1-2.

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[19] The Gate of Benjamin: probably the northern gate of the temple area and city wall of Jerusalem; cf Jeremiah 20:2; 37:12; 38:7.

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[1-12] The lesson of the potter is not that God deals arbitrarily with his people, but that he is almighty to destroy or restore, accordingly as they disobey him or fulfill his plans.

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[14] Lebanon: here apparently including Mount Hermon, whose snow-capped peak can be seen from parts of Palestine all year round. The prophet contrasts the certainties of nature with Israel's unnatural desertion of the Lord for idols (Jeremiah 18:15).

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[21] In the Old Testament a man's family was regarded as part of his personality, to be rewarded or punished along with him; cf Joshua 7:24-26.

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[2] Potsherd Gate: in the south wall of Jerusalem, through which potsherds and other refuse were carried to the Valley of Ben-hinnom.

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[1] Anathoth: a village about three miles northeast of Jerusalem, where Solomon exiled Abiathar (1 Kings 2:26-27); it is probable that Jeremiah belonged to the priestly family of Abiathar.

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[3] Until the downfall: these words were originally prefixed as a title to a collection of Jeremiah's prophecies which lacked Jer 40-44. The new title in Jeremiah 40:1 and the oracles that follow clearly show that Jeremiah continued to prophesy after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

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[5] Jeremiah was destined to the office of prophet before his birth; cf Isaiah 49:1, 5; Luke 1:15; Gal 1:15, 16. I knew you: I loved you and chose you. I dedicated you: I set you apart to be a prophet. Some Fathers and later theologians understand this to mean that Jeremiah was freed from original sin before his birth. The context does not justify this conclusion. The nations: the pagan neighbors of Judah, besides the great world powers-Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt-intimately associated with Judah's destiny.

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[6] I am too young: Jeremiah's youth (he was less than thirty years old) must not be an obstacle to the responsibilities of the prophetic office; God will supply for his human defects (cf Jeremiah 1:7, 8).

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[11] The watching-tree: the almond tree, which is the first to blossom in the springtime as though it had not slept. The Hebrew name contains a play on words with "I am watching."

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[13] Boiling cauldron . . . the north: symbol of an invasion from the north; cf Jeremiah 1:14-15.

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[1] Chief officer in the house of the LORD: head of the temple police; cf Jeremiah 29:26. By entering the temple court (Jeremiah 19:14), Jeremiah had put himself under Pashhur's jurisdiction.

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[3] Terror on every side: Pashhur will share the fate of doomed Jerusalem and will experience personally all that the people as a whole have had to endure.

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[4] Babylon: mentioned here for the first time as the land of exile. The prophecy probably dates from after 605B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt and made the Chaldean empire dominant in Syria and Palestine.

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[7] You duped me: to be understood in the light of Jeremiah's intimate dealings with God; cf Jeremiah 15:18.

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[14-18] Deception, sorrow and terror have brought the prophet close to the point of despair; nevertheless he has expressed his utmost confidence in the triumph of God's will (Jeremiah 20:11-13); cf Job 3:3-12.

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[1] Zedekiah: brother of Jehoiakim, appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar after he had carried Jehoiachin away to captivity (2 Kings 24:17). Pashhur: different from the one in Jeremiah 20:1-3 but also one of Jeremiah's enemies; cf Jeremiah 38:1, 4.

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[10] Jeremiah consistently pointed out the uselessness of resistance to Babylon, since the Lord had delivered Judah to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 27:6). Because of this the prophet was denounced and imprisoned as a traitor (Jeremiah 37:13-14).

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[21:11-23:8] This section contains an editor's collection of Jeremiah's oracles against the kings of Judah. They are placed in the chronological order of the kings, and are prefaced by the oracles against the kings of Judah in general (Jeremiah 21:11-22:9).

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[13] Valley-site, Rock of the Plain: Mount Zion, surrounded by valleys, was regarded by the royal house as impregnable. Despite this natural fortification, God shows derisively that it is no more than a rock rising from the plain, undefendable against the attack of his fury.

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[14] Its forest: probably the royal palace, built of cedar wood; cf Jeremiah 22:14; in 1 Kings 7:2 the armory of Solomon's palace is called "the house of the forest of Lebanon."

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[6] Gilead . . . Lebanon: both were known for their trees; cf Jeremiah 22:7.

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[26] You and the mother who bore you: the queen mother held a special position in the monarchy of Judah, and in the Books of Kings she is invariably mentioned by name along with the king (1 Kings 15:2; 2 Kings 18:2). Jehoiachin did indeed die in Babylon.

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[30] Childless: Jehoiachin is so considered because none of his descendants will be king. From the Book of Ezekiel, who dates his oracles according to Jehoiachin's fictitious regnal years, it is evident that the people expected Jehoiachin to return. The above prophecy of Jeremiah was uttered to dispel this hope (Jeremiah 28:4). Of the seven sons born to Jehoiachin in exile, none became king. His grandson Zerubbabel presided for a time over the Jewish community after the return from exile, but not as king.

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[10] Him who is dead: Josiah. His successor, Jehoahaz, who is going away, was deported by Pharaoh Neco to Egypt, where he died (2 Kings 23:33, 34).

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[11] Shallum: Jehoahaz is called this only here. Presumably it was his name at birth, while Jehoahaz was his royal name.

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[13] Without pay: either by forced labor in public works, or inasmuch as workers were defrauded of their hire. Despite the impoverishment caused in Judah by the payment of foreign tribute, Jehoiakim embarked on a program of lavish building in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 22:14). Social injustice is the cause of much of the prophetic condemnation of the kings (Jeremiah 22:17).

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[15-16] Josiah, the reforming king, prospered materially without oppressing his people; he embodied all the ideals of kingship.

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[18] "Alas! my brother"; "Alas! sister": customary cries of mourning.

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[19] The burial of an ass: no burial at all, except to be cast outside the city as refuse. This prophecy regards the popular feeling toward Jehoiakim rather than the actual circumstances of his burial. According to 2 Kings 24:5 he was buried with his fathers in Jerusalem. However, his grave may have been profaned by Nebuchadnezzar.

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[20-23] The prophet first apostrophizes Jerusalem, which is bidden to scale Lebanon, Bashan, and Abarim, i.e., the highest surrounding mountains to the north, northeast, and southeast, to gaze on the ruin of its lovers, i.e., the false leaders of Judah, called its shepherds (Jeremiah 22:22); cf Jeremiah 2:8. The year is 597 B.C., after Nebuchadnezzar's deportation of Jehoiachin. Jerusalem still stands (Jeremiah 22:23), apparently as secure as the heights of Lebanon, but destruction is to follow (cf Jeremiah 22:6).

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[24] Coniah: a shortened form of Jeconiah, the name which Jeremiah gives the king called elsewhere in the Bible Jehoiachin. A signet ring: the seal used by important men-in a sense, their most valuable possession-mounted in a ring worn constantly on the hand. The Lord says that even were Jehoiachin such a precious possession, he would reject him. The words in Jeremiah 22:24-30 date from the short three-month reign of Jehoiachin, before he was carried away by Nebuchadnezzar.

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[1-8] With the false rulers who have governed his people the Lord contrasts himself, the good shepherd, who will in the times of restoration appoint worthy rulers (Jeremiah 23:1-4). A messianic King will arise from the line of David who will rule over Judah and Israel with the justice of the Lord, fulfilling all the kingly ideals (Jeremiah 23:5, 6). "The Lord our justice" is probably an ironic wordplay on the name of the weak King Zedekiah ("The Lord is justice"); the messianic King will be in reality what Zedekiah's name falsely proclaims him. The final verses, Jeremiah 23:7-8 were probably added during the exile.

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[9-40] After the collection of oracles against the kings, the editor of the book placed this collection of oracles against the false prophets. With them are associated the priests, for both have betrayed their trust as instructors in the religion of the Lord; cf Jeremiah 2:8; 4:9; 6:13-14.

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[17-20] Not only are the false prophets personally immoral, but they encourage immorality by prophesying good of those who do evil. The true prophet, on the other hand, sees the inevitable consequences of sin.

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[23] Near at hand only . . . far off: God knows not merely the present but also the future.

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[28-29] Straw . . . wheat: such is the contrast between false and true prophecy. True prophecy is like fire (cf Jeremiah 5:14; 20:9), producing violent results (Jeremiah 23:29); Jeremiah's own life is a testimony of this.

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[33-40] A wordplay on massa', which means both oracle (usually of woe) and burden. In Jeremiah 23:34-36 it appears that the word massa' itself is forbidden the people in the meaning of a divine oracle. Doubtless this was because of some association unknown to us. In Hosea 2:18 it is forbidden to call God "Baal" ("master"), because of the association of this title with the Canaanite god.

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[1-10] Jeremiah, like Ezekiel, saw that no good could be expected from the people who had been left in Judah under Zedekiah or who had fled into Egypt; good was to be hoped for only from those who would pass through the purifying experience of the exile to form the new Israel.

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[1-14] The fourth year of Jehoiakim: 605 B.C. Officially, the first year of Nebuchadnezzar began the following year; but as early as his victory over Egypt at Carchemish in 605, Nebuchadnezzar was the dominant power in the Near East, in whom Jeremiah now saw the fulfillment of his prophecy of the enemy to come from the north (cf Jeremiah 1:13; 6:22-24). In Jeremiah 25:11-12 occurs for the first time the prophecy of the seventy years' exile; cf Jeremiah 29:8(10). This Jeremiah intends as a round number, to signify that the present generation must die out.

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[15-17] Jeremiah is a prophet to the nations (cf Jeremiah 1:5) as well as to his own people. All the nations mentioned here appear again in the more extensive collection of Jeremiah's oracles against the nations in Jer 46-51.

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[20] Uz: the homeland of Job, in Edomite or Arabian territory.

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[22] The shores beyond the sea: Phoenician commercial colonies planted throughout the Mediterranean world.

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[23] Dedan and Tema and Buz: North Arabian tribes.

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[26] Sheshach: Babylon. The word is formed from babel by substituting letters of the Hebrew alphabet in inverse order.

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[1] The beginning of the reign: a technical expression for the time between a king's accession to the throne and the beginning of his first official (calendar) year as king. Jehoiakim's first regnal year was 608 B.C.

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[18] Micah of Moresheth: the prophet Micah, who appears among the canonical minor prophets (cf Micah 1:1).

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[24] Ahikam, son of Shaphan: one of Josiah's officials (2 Kings 22:12) and father of Gedaliah, Jeremiah's friend, who was governor of Judah after Zedekiah's deportation (cf Jeremiah 39:14; 40:5-7).

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[1-29, 32] A special collection of Jeremiah's prophecies dealing with false prophets. From stylistic peculiarities, quite evident in the Hebrew, it is plain that these three chapters once existed independently of the other prophecies of Jeremiah.

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[1] [In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim . . . Judah]: this gloss cannot be correct because according to Jeremiah 28:1 the time is the fourth year of Zedekiah 594 B.C., the occasion of an embassy of the neighboring states (Jeremiah 27:3), doubtless for the purpose of laying plans against Nebuchadnezzar.

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[9] Your prophets: seers and diviners served the Gentile kings as the professional prophets served the kings of Judah.

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[19-22] This prophecy was fulfilled after Zedekiah's disastrous defeat; cf 2 Kings 25:13-15.

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[3] Elasah: possibly the brother of Ahikam (cf Jeremiah 26:24). Gemariah: perhaps the son of the high priest Hilkiah; cf 2 Kings 22:4. Zedekiah had dispatched these men to Nebuchadnezzar for some other purpose, possibly the payment of tribute, but Jeremiah took advantage of their mission to send his letter by them.

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[1-3, 5] These verses probably contain the earliest of Jeremiah's preachings. The covenant relationship, symbolized by the figure of a marriage, was frequently broken by Israel, seen here as an unfaithful wife unworthy of reconciliation with God (Jeremiah 3:1-5).

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[23] The Valley: of Ben-hinnom, south of Jerusalem, site of the infamous sanctuary of Topheth where children were sacrificed to Molech; cf Jeremiah 7:31.

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[2] Devotion: Israel's gratitude, fidelity, and love for God.

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[3] First fruits: an offering to God which became his exclusive property, and could therefore not be put to profane use; cf Lev 22:1.

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[8] Those who dealt with the law: the priests. The shepherds: the kings and nobles.

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[10] Kittim: a Phoenician colony in Cyprus. Kedar: a nomad tribe of the Syrian desert. These two names represent West and East.

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[14] Bondman by birth: a perpetual slave, different from the debt-slave, who was to be freed after six years; cf Exodus 21:2.

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[16] Memphis: the capital of Lower Egypt. Tahpanhes: A frontier city of Egypt, east of the Delta. Shave the crown of your head: the spoilation of Judah at the hands of the Egyptians.

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[18] Egypt and Assyria were the protecting foreign powers favored by rival parties within Judah. The desire for such foreign alliances is a further desertion of the Lord, the source of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13), in favor of the above-named powers, symbolized by the Nile and the Euphrates rivers.

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[20] Harlotry: idolatry (because Israel is the bride of God).

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[1-31:40] These two chapters do not belong chronologically to those that precede or follow. They contain mainly oracles of salvation which Jeremiah originally uttered on behalf of the conquered remnants of the northern kingdom; then, after Judah began to share Samaria's fate, the oracles were extended to include Judah. Their composition is to be placed early in Jeremiah's ministry, probably after the fall of Nineveh (612 B.C.), when Josiah assumed power over the North; cf 2 Kings 23:15-17.

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[9] David, their king: the messianic King of the Davidic line, often called David by the prophets; cf Ezekiel 34:23-24; 37:24- 25; Hosea 3:5.

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[21] His leader: probably not the messianic King, but simply any one of the rulers of the restored Israel, who will no longer be foreigners, and with whom the Lord will be on terms of intimacy, as with the whole people. The deadly risk of approaching me: to approach God unsummoned brings death; cf Lev 16:1-2.

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[2] The people that escaped the sword: the exiles who were not killed but deported; they have found favor in the desert, across which they were driven into captivity. The prophet alludes to the first desert wandering of Israel (Exodus 16-18), in which the people found the Lord. His rest: the land of promise. The perfect fulfillment of this promised rest is found only in the New Testament (Hebrews 3-4).

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[15] Ramah: a village about five miles north of Jerusalem, where Rachel was buried (1 Sam 10:2). Rachel: said to mourn for her children since she was the ancestress of Ephraim, the chief of the northern tribes. Matthew 2:18 applies this verse to the slaughter of the innocents by Herod.

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[22] The woman must encompass the man: the words "with devotion," not in the Hebrew, are added for the sense. No fully satisfactory explanation has been given this text. Among the more probable are these: (a) Formerly the man (the Lord) encompassed the woman (Israel) with mercy and devotion; now in the spiritual religion of Israel which will follow on the restoration, this order will be reversed. (b) So secure will Israel be after the restoration that women will no longer need the natural protection of their husbands, but even weak women can protect men. (c) St. Jerome in his commentary on this verse understood it of Mary's virginal conception of Christ. "The LORD has created a new thing on earth; without seed of man, without carnal union and conception, "a woman will encompass a man' within her womb-One who, though He will later appear to advance in wisdom and age through the stages of infancy and childhood, yet, while confined for the usual number of months in his mother's womb, will already be perfect man."

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[26] I awoke . . . sweet to me: probably said by the prophet himself.

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[29] "The fathers . . . on edge": a proverb used in Israel, expressing the idea that children suffer for the sins of their parents (cf Ezekiel 18:2). The Israel of the restoration will be characterized instead by personal responsibility and retribution for one's acts (v 30; cf Jeremiah 31:31-34).

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[31-34] The new covenant to be made with Israel is a common theme of the prophets, beginning with Hosea. According to Jeremiah, the qualities of the new covenant that make it different from the old are: (a) It will not be broken, but will last forever; (b) Its law will be written in the heart, not merely on tablets of stone; (c) The knowledge of God will be so generally shown forth in the life of the people that it will no longer be necessary to put it into words of instruction. In the fullest sense, this prophecy was fulfilled only through the work of Jesus Christ; cf Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25.

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[38] From the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate: from the northeast to the northwest.

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[40] Valley of corpses and ashes: the Valley of Ben-hinnom, which joins the Kidron at the southeast of ancient Jerusalem. The Horse Gate: in the eastern city wall, at the southeast corner of the temple area.

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[1-44] This chapter recounts a prophecy "in action." At the Lord's command, Jeremiah fulfills his family duty to purchase the land of his cousin, carrying out all the legal forms, including records, to testify that Judah will be restored and that the life of the past will be resumed.

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[1] The tenth year of Zedekiah: 588 B.C. The eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar: dating his reign from his victory at Carchemish; see note on Jeremiah 25:1-14.

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[6-9] Jeremiah's imprisonment by the weak-willed Zedekiah was a technical custody that did not deprive him of all freedom of action. The siege maintained by the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 32:2) was only now beginning (Jeremiah 32:24), and could be bypassed by individual persons going to and fro between Jerusalem and nearby Anathoth.

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[7] The first right of purchase: the obligation of the closest relative to redeem the property of one in economic distress, so that the ancestral land might remain within the family (Lev 25:25-28); see note on Ruth 2:20.

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[11] The sealed copy . . . and the open one: the legal deed of sale was written on a scroll, which was then rolled up and sealed; about it was rolled another scroll, left unsealed, containing a copy or a summary of the first.

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[14] In an earthen jar: the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in such a jar.

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[35] Molech: the god to whom human sacrifice was offered in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. Here, as in Jeremiah 19:5 he is given the name Baal; see note on Lev 18:21.

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[14-26] This is the longest continuous passage in the Book of Jeremiah that is lacking in the Greek. It appears to be the postexilic composition of an inspired writer who used parts of the prophecies of Jeremiah-often, however, in a sense different from the prophet's. The prediction of an eternal Davidic dynasty (Jeremiah 33:14-17) to fulfill the prophecy of Nathan (2 Sam 7:11-16), and of a perpetual priesthood and sacrifice (Jeremiah 33:18), was not to be realized in the restoration of the Jewish nation. It finds its fulfillment only in Jesus of Nazareth, who combined with his messianic Davidic kingship an eternal priesthood; cf Hebrews 6:20; 7:24-25.

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[7] Lachish and Azekah: fortress towns to the southwest of Jerusalem which Nebuchadnezzar besieged to prevent help coming to Jerusalem from Egypt. Between 1935 and 1938, archaeologists found at Lachish several letters written on pottery fragments which date from 598 or 588 B.C., and which mention both Lachish and Azekah.

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[8-22] While the Chaldean siege of Jerusalem was in progress, the citizens of Jerusalem made a covenant at Zedekiah's instigation to free their brother Judeans who were in slavery. Doubtless this was both to provide additional free defenders for the city and to offer reparation for past violations of the law, according to which Hebrew slaves were to serve no longer than six years (Deut 15:12-15). But when the siege was temporarily lifted, probably because of the help promised by Pharaoh Hophra (cf Jeremiah 37:5), the inhabitants of Jerusalem broke the covenant and once more pressed their brethren into slavery (Jeremiah 34:11).

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[18-19] As the Bible (Genesis 15:10-17) and also contemporary inscriptions make clear, agreements were sometimes ratified by walking between the divided pieces of animals while the contracting parties invoked on themselves a fate similar to that of the slaughtered beast if they should fail to keep their word. The agreement: that mentioned in Jeremiah 34:10, 15.

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[2] The Rechabites: reactionaries who believed that the Lord could not be well served except by maintaining the original nomadic conditions of Israel's life. Without sharing their convictions, the prophet holds up their fidelity to their ideals as an example to put to shame his faithless countrymen. In the days of Jehoiakim: probably in 599 or 598 B.C.

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[4] The sons of Hanan: probably the disciples of this man of God or prophet. Maaseiah: possibly the father of the priest Zephaniah (Jeremiah 29:25; 37:3). Keeper of the doorway: a priestly function of responsibility; cf Jeremiah 52:24.

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[6] Jonadab: a contemporary of King Jehu; cf 2 Kings 10:15-17.

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[11] The army of Aram: Nebuchadnezzar enlisted the help of Judah's foreign neighbors in his assault on Jerusalem.

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[5] I am prevented: probably because of his temple sermon (Jeremiah 7:1-15), or because of temporary ritual uncleanness.

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[4] Put into prison: as described in Jeremiah 32:1-3. Chronologically, the present episode follows Jeremiah 34:1-7.

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[5] Pharaoh's army: the force sent by Pharaoh Hophra which caused the Chaldeans momentarily to lift the siege of Jerusalem (cf Jeremiah 34:21).

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[1] Jeremiah enjoyed sufficient liberty in the quarters of the guard (Jeremiah 37:21) to speak to the people; cf Jeremiah 32:6-9. Gedaliah, son of Pashhur: the latter is possibly the Pashhur of Jeremiah 20:1. Pashhur, son of Malchiah: mentioned in Jeremiah 21:1.

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[4] He demoralizes the soldiers: literally, "he weakens their hands." One of the Lachish ostraca (see note on Jeremiah 34:7) uses the same expression of the princes in Jerusalem.

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[7] A Cushite: an Ethiopian. Ebed-melech evidently held a position of some authority at court.

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[1] The tenth month of the ninth year: the month Tebet (mid-December to mid-January) of the year 589/8 B.C.

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[2] The ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year: in July of 587 B.C.

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[4] The Royal Garden Road: along the southeast side of the city; the royal garden was in the Kidron Valley. The gate between the two walls: the southernmost city gate, at the end of the Tyropoean Valley. The Arabah: the Jordan Valley. Zedekiah was attempting to escape across the Jordan when he was captured near Jericho.

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[5] Riblah: Nebuchadnezzar's headquarters in Syria, which had also been used by Pharaoh Neco (2 Kings 23:33).

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[1] Such remarriage of divorced spouses was forbidden by Deut 24:1-4. Under this figure the prophet sees the presumption of Judah, the unfaithful spouse, who thinks she can return to the Lord after uniting herself to other gods.

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[2] An Arab: a marauding nomad who lay in wait for caravans.

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[14-18] A remnant of Israel (Jeremiah 3:14) will reunite with Judah (18). The elementary cult of the Lord represented by the ark of the covenant will now be replaced by a more deeply spiritual and universal alliance, symbolized by his throne in the ideal Jerusalem around which all nations will be gathered together (Jeremiah 3:17).

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[24] Shame-god: literally, shame, a term commonly substituted for Baal, the Canaanite god with many local shrines.

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[1] This word: actually, no further word of the Lord is recorded until 42:7-9. This is a title affixed to the following chapters after they were attached to an earlier form of the book ending with Jer 39.

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[6] Mizpah: some five miles northwest of Jerusalem, where Israel chose its first king (1 Sam 10:17-24). Presumably Jerusalem had been damaged too much by the Chaldean conquest to remain a seat of government.

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[8] Jezaniah: the seal ring of a high official of this name was discovered in 1932 at the site usually identified with Mizpah, Tell en-Nasbe.

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[14] The Ammonites: they resented the survival of their ancient enemy, Judah. Ishmael: their willing tool, who doubtless aspired to rule over Judah himself, as he was of the house of David; cf Jeremiah 41:1.

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[10] The princesses: of the royal house of Judah. They had not been deported to Babylon with the men of this house.

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[12] Gibeon: today called El-Jib; it is northwest of Jerusalem. The most recent excavations have revealed the extensive dimensions of the city spring and well, called here the Great Waters: cf 2 Sam 2:12-14.

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[9] The royal building: residence of the Egyptian governor.

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[2-30] Chronologically, this is the last of Jeremiah's prophecies to his countrymen. The narrative leaves him an old man nearing seventy, rejected by his people. According to tradition, he was murdered in Egypt by fellow Judeans.

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[30] Hophra: killed by his own people. The ruler of Egypt at the time of its conquest by Nebuchadnezzar was Hophra's successor Amasis, who was also slain by his enemies.

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[1-5] At the conclusion of his narrative, Baruch appends a prophecy given him personally by Jeremiah when he first wrote down Jeremiah's words (cf Jer 36). The future revealed by the prophet had depressed Baruch; this prophecy was to assure him of his personal safety, while repeating the Lord's determination to destroy Judah.

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[46-51] In these chapters most of Jeremiah's oracles against the foreign nations have been gathered together and placed at the end of his book; in the Greek text they appear with the other oracles against the nations, in Jer 25. In general, they are in chronological order: Jeremiah 46:1-49:33 from the fourth year of Jehoiakim; 49, 34-39, at the beginning of Zedekiah's reign; Jeremiah 50:1-51:64, from the fourth year of Zedekiah.

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[2] Carchemish on the Euphrates: the western terminus of the Mesopotamian trade route, where Nebuchadnezzar defeated Neco in 605 B.C., thus gaining undisputed control of Syria and Palestine.

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[13] In 601 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar advanced against Egypt and even entered the country, but finally had to withdraw to Syria.

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[15] Apis: the chief god of Memphis, venerated in the form of a black bull.

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[17] "The noise . . . go by": in Hebrew there is wordplay here on the name Hophra, who still made a pretense of power though his career was at an end.

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[18] Tabor . . . Carmel: outstanding mountains of Palestine, symbols of strength, to which Nebuchadnezzar is compared.

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[25] Amon: the sun-god worshiped at Thebes, in Upper Egypt.

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[2-7] This prophecy was fulfilled in 605/4 B.C.

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[4] Tyre and Sidon: Phoenician cities associated commercially with the Philistines, and enemies of Nebuchadnezzar; cf Jeremiah 27:1-4. Nebuchadnezzar carried out a thirteen-year siege of Tyre which was only partially successful. Caphtor: probably the island of Crete, the traditional place of origin of the Philistines; cf Amos 9:7.

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[5] Of the ancient Philistine cities, neither Gath nor Ekron (Jeremiah 25:20) is mentioned in this period of waning independence of the seacoast.

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[6] Words of the Philistines.

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[1-47] Moab was one of the Israelites' bitterest enemies. According to Flavius Josephus, Moab and Ammon were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar in his twenty-third year, 582 B.C., five years after the destruction of Jerusalem.

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[7] Chemosh: chief god of the Moabites.

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[1] Milcom: chief god of the Ammonites. The Transjordan tribe of Gad bordered on Ammon, and after the collapse of the northern kingdom the Ammonites occupied its territory.

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[2] Rabbah of the Ammonites: or Rabbath-Ammon, capital of the Ammonite kingdom. The modern Amman is the capital of the kingdom of Jordan.

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[7-22] Edom: this implacable enemy from ancient times profited from Judah's downfall; cf Ob 11f.

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[7] Teman: a district of Edom, used here for the whole country; it was famous for its wise men; cf Job 2:11.

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[8] Esau: Jacob's brother, the traditional ancestor of the Edomites; cf Genesis 36.

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[13] Bozrah: capital of Edom, southeast of the Dead Sea.

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[23] Hamath and Arpad: independent Aramean states to the north of Damascus; the invasion is conceived as coming from the north. The situation is of the eighth century B.C. Cf Isaiah 10:9-10.

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[27] The palaces of Ben-hadad: the royal palaces in Damascus where at least three kings bore this name; cf 1 Kings 15:18; 20.

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[34] Elam: the ancient kingdom to the east of Babylonia.

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[2] As the LORD lives: this oath, made sincerely, implies Israel's return to God and loyal adherence to him. Thus the ancient promises are fulfilled; cf Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; Psalm 72:17.

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[4] The mere external rite of circumcision avails nothing unless accompanied by the removal of blindness and obstinacy of heart; cf Romans 2:25, 29; 1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6; 6:13, 15.

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[10] You only deceived us: the false prophets blame their deception on God; cf Jeremiah 14:13-16.

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[19-21] Probably the prophet's own anguish at the coming destruction of Judah.

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[1-51, 58] a collection of miscellaneous prophecies against Babylon which now stands as the introduction to the story in Jeremiah 51:59-64. The Greek text of Jeremiah 50:1 omits through the prophet Jeremiah, and it is in fact likely that these oracles are not Jeremiah's, but were composed by other inspired writers after the fall of Jerusalem, who may have used some of Jeremiah's texts. Babylon fell to the Persians in 538 B.C.

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[2] Bel: originally the name of the god of Nippur in Mesopotamia, then identified with Merodach (Marduk), chief god of Babylon.

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[15] Her walls are torn down: the prophet is not predicting the details of Babylon's downfall, but describing such a downfall in conventional language. Actually, Babylon was surrendered peaceably, without destruction.

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[21] Merathaim, "twice bitter," and Pekod, "punishment," are here symbolic terms for Babylonia, though probably they suggest also the names of regions in that country.

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[11] Media's kings: the Medes dwelt with the Persians in the land now known as Iran. At the time these words were written the Medes were the dominant people of the two, but within a short time the Persians had gained the ascendancy.

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[27] Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: regions or people in what is now Armenia, subject at this time to Media.

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[34] Me, my: refers to Jerusalem.

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[59] Seraiah: the brother of Baruch; cf Jeremiah 32:12. The king: Zedekiah. Perhaps Seraiah went to Babylon to explain away the presence of foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem that same year; cf Jeremiah 27:3.

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[60] Jeremiah prophesied against Babylon, even as he foretold Judah's release from Babylon's power (Jeremiah 3:14-18; 32:15; 33:6-9, 12-13); but his book against Babylon was thrown in the Euphrates (Jeremiah 51:63). The preceding oracles were composed by later writers; see note on Jeremiah 50:1-51:58.

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[64] To "weary themselves" are the words of Jeremiah: an editorial remark concerning the end of Jeremiah 51:58.

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[1-34] This supplement to the Book of Jeremiah was taken by the final editor from 2 Kings 24:18-25, 30 and placed here in order to show the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecies. In part this repeats the history given in Jer 39-41; the history of Gedaliah in 2 Kings 25:22-26 however, has not been reproduced here.

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[4] In the tenth month of the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the month: January 15, 588 B.C. Cf Jeremiah 39:1.

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[12] On the tenth day of the fifth month . . . nineteenth year: the tenth of Ab-July/August in 587 B.C.

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[28-30] These verses are missing in the Greek text and have not been taken from 2 Kings 25 but from some other source using a different system of chronology. Besides the deportations of 598 and 587 B.C., mention is made here of a final one that took place in the year 582/1, possibly as a sequel to the murder of Gedaliah; cf Jeremiah 41:2.

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[31-34] In the year 561/0 B.C., Jehoiachin was released from prison by Nebuchadnezzar's successor Awel-Marduk (Evil-merodach), who reigned only two years. Babylonian records confirm the fact that Jehoiachin and his family were supported at public expense.

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[32] The other kings: who had also been brought as captives to Babylon.

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[12] They denied the LORD: the people act as though God does not exist and will not interfere.

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[24] Rain early and late: autumn and spring rains respectively. Appointed weeks of harvest: the seven weeks between the Passover (Deut 16:9-10) and Pentecost, during which it ordinarily did not rain.

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[3] Shepherds . . . with their flocks: foreign invaders with their armies.

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[14] As though it were nought: the false assurance of well-being given by priest and prophet cannot reduce the harm which universal materialism and corruption have done to the people.

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[16] Earliest roads . . . pathways of old: history and the lessons to be learned from it.

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[17] Watchmen: the prophets who, like Jeremiah, had upheld God's moral law.

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[1-15] The temple of the LORD will not serve as a place of refuge for the Jews against their enemies if they fail to reform their evil ways.

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[6] The resident alien: specially protected by law; cf Exodus 20:10; Numbers 9:14; 15:14; Deut 5:14; 28:43.

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[12] Shiloh: original place of worship from the time of Joshua to that of Samuel. The sanctuary was later rejected by God and destroyed by the Philistines; cf 1 Sam 1:9; 4:3-4; Psalm 78:60, 68, 69.

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[18] Queen of heaven: the Assyro-Babylonian Ishtar, goddess of fertility, whose worship was introduced under King Manasseh and was revived after Josiah's death. Cakes shaped like stars (Ishtar was identified with the planet Venus) were offered in her honor.

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[22] I gave them no command: right conduct rather than mere external cult was God's will concerning his people (Jeremiah 7:23).

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[29] Dedicated hair: the unshorn hair of the nazirite, regarded as sacred because of a vow, temporary or permanent, to abstain from cutting or shaving the hair, from contact with a corpse, and from all products of the vine; cf Numbers 6:4-8. The cutting of this hair was a sign of extreme mourning.

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[2] Army of heaven: the stars, worshiped by the pagan nations and even by the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the reigns of Manasseh and Amon.

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[8-9] Lying pen of the scribes: because the interpretations and ordinances of the scribes ran counter to the word of the Lord.

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[11] Daughter of my people: the people itself personified as a woman.

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[22] Gilead: noted for its healing balm but unable to heal the moral wound of the people.

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[3] Jacob, the supplanter: in Hebrew, a play on words. Jacob, as his name indicates ("he supplants"), deprived his brother Esau of his birthright; cf Genesis 25:26, 33.

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[25] Desert dwellers . . . temples: Arab tribesmen who cut off their hair and shaved their temples in honor of the pagan god Dushara. This was forbidden the Israelites (Lev 19:27).

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[1] I loathe my life: this is the first verse of Job 10.

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[4-5] The Hebrew is somewhat obscure, but the general sense is that the wicked mock at the pious when the latter appear to be abandoned by God; cf Psalm 22:7-9; Matthew 27:39-43.

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[18] (18)Waistcloth . . . loins: he reduces kings to the condition of slaves, who wear only a cloth wrapped about the waist.

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[14] The second half of the verse is a common biblical expression for risking one's life; cf Judges 12:3; 1 Sam 19:5; 28:21; Psalm 119:109; the first half of the verse must have a similar meaning. Job is so confident of his innocence that he is willing to risk his life by going to judgment with God.

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[20] From here to the end of Job 14 Job pleads his case, addressing God rather than his three friends.

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[28] (13:28)This verse has been transposed from Job 13.

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[17] Sealed up in a pouch: hidden away and forgotten.

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[18] As the blood of those who were unjustly slain cries to heaven for vengeance (Genesis 4:10; Ezekiel 24:6-9), so Job's sufferings demand redress.

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[19] Witness: refers either to God or, more probably, to Job's prayer.

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[3] Addressed to God; Job 17:10 to Job's friends.

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[4] Job himself is portrayed as having the heedless rage of wild beasts, despite which God does not forsake the usual course of Divine Providence.

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[13] First-born of death: that is, disease, plague.

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[14] The king of terrors: of the nether world, death; however, the Hebrew is obscure.

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[20] With my flesh between my teeth: meaning perhaps that Job has been reduced to such an extremity that he scarcely has thin lips over his teeth. But the current Hebrew text of this line is probably corrupt.

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[22] Divine: possessing God's attributes of judgment and authority to punish.

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[23-24] Job regards what he is about to say as so important that he wishes it recorded in a permanent manner.

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[25, 27] The meaning of this passage is obscure because the original text has been poorly preserved and the ancient versions do not agree among themselves. It is certain that Job expresses his belief in a future vindication by God (called here in the Hebrew "Goel"), but the time and manner of this vindication are undefined. In the Vulgate Job is made to indicate a belief in physical resurrection after death, but the Hebrew and the other ancient versions are less specific.

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[1] Uz: somewhere in Edom or Arabia. Job: a not uncommon name in ancient Semitic circles; its original meaning was "enemy."

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[2-3] The numbers mentioned here indicate Job's great wealth and happiness, external proof of God's friendship.

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[3] Men of the East: that is, east of Palestine.

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[6] Sons of God: angels. Satan: literally, "adversary."

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[15] Sabeans: from southern Arabia.

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[16] Lightning: literally, "God's fire."

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[21] Go back again: to the earth; cf Genesis 2:7; Sirach 40:1.

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[22] Those on high: the angels.

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[6-8] This criticism of Job by Eliphaz is altogether untrue, but it is made to dramatize the latter's argument that God always acts justly when he causes someone to suffer. Job 22:8 is misplaced.

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[18] A gloss, taken partly from Job 21:16.

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[24] Ophir: cf note to Psalm 45:10.

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[1] Why does not God favor his friends by the speedy punishment of his enemies? (The text and order of verses in this chapter are not certain; note the omission of Job 24:9 which duplicates words of Job 24:2-4.)

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[3] His troops: the heavenly hosts, the stars or the angels. His light: compare the wording in Job 24:13: those who are rebels against the light.

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[1-14] Probably to be read as Job's reply to Bildad's short speech. Some, however, would make it the reply to Zophar (Job 27:13-21); it would thus lead up to the poem of Job 28.

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[5] Shades: the dead in Sheol, the nether world; cf Psalm 6:6; 88:11.

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[6] Nether world: cf note to Psalm 6:6. Abaddon: Hebrew for "(place of) destruction," a synonym for nether world; cf Job 28:22; Rev 9:11.

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[7] The North: used here as a synonym for the firmament, the heavens; cf Isaiah 14, 13.

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[10] Circle: the horizon of the ocean which serves as the boundary for the activity of light and darkness.

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[12] Rahab: cf Job 9:13; see note on Psalm 89:11.

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[13] The fugitive dragon: the same term occurs in Isaiah 27:1 in apposition to Leviathan; see note on Job 3:8. This is actually Job 27:22.

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[1-28] Note the changed order of verses; Job 28:4 is uncertain. This chapter contains a beautifully vivid description of that Wisdom which is beyond the attainment of creatures; known only to God, it is reflected in the order and majesty of his creation. Man, however, can, in a way, participate in this Wisdom by fearing the LORD and avoiding evil. Scholars are not agreed regarding the authorship of this poem, though it is altogether worthy of the author of the Book of Job. Used here as a counterpoise to Job 3 at the beginning of the dialogue, it may have been first conceived as an independent poem.

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[6] Hyperbole to express abundance; see note on Job 20:17.

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[18] Phoenix: a legendary bird which, after several centuries of life, consumed itself in fire, then rose from its ashes in youthful freshness. This meaning, originally intended in the Greek, later came to mean "palm tree." Some render the Hebrew as "sand."

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[4] Skin for skin: an expression which, as applied to Job, means that he has borne his suffering patiently thus far only because he seeks to avoid greater suffering and to receive greater favors from God.

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[9] Curse God and die: you have nothing to hope for from God and therefore nothing to live for.

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[11] The names of Job's friends suggest Edomite origin. The Edomites (Obadiah 1:8-9) and more specifically the Temanites (Jeremiah 49:7) enjoyed a reputation for wisdom.

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[4] Saltwort: found in salt marshes and very sour to the taste; eaten by the extremely poor as a cooked vegetable. Broom plant: the juniper or brushwood; cf Psalm 120:4; a figure of bitterness and poverty, because of its bitter-tasting roots which are practically inedible.

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[8,9] Note the gradation: avoidance of sinful glances and thoughts against a maiden; desire for another's wife.

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[2] Elihu means "My God is he." This speaker was from Buz, which, according to Jeremiah 25:23 was near Tema and Dedan. A young man, he impetuously and impatiently upbraids Job for his boldness toward God, and the three friends for not successfully answering Job. He undertakes to defend God's absolute justice and to explain more clearly why there is suffering. While fundamentally his position is the same as that of the three friends, he does locate more definitely, though not perfectly, the place of suffering in the divine plan.

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[13] Met wisdom: in Job's arguments.

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[23] Angel: one of the thousands who stand between God and man as intermediaries, reminding man of his duties and giving God an account of their fulfillment.

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[4] A reply to you: Elihu refers to Job's statement that the innocent suffer as much as the wicked, and especially to Eliphaz's words in Job 22:2-3.

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[14-15] The text here is uncertain. It seems to indicate that Job should have realized God's indifference is only apparent, and that, because he has not done so, God will punish him.

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[5-21] Perhaps this section should be read between Job 34:6 and 7.

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[12] Knowledge: practical wisdom in serving God, which they lack because they refused it when warned (cf Job 36:10).

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[14] Reprobate: cf Deut 23:18-19.

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[2] Voice: the thunder.

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[9] Chamber: where it was popularly believed storms were kept enclosed.

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[12] Their rounds: of rain (Job 36:27), of clouds (Job 36:29-30), of lightning and thunder (Job 36:32-33), of snow (Job 37:6), of winds (Job 37:9).

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[18] The firmament . . . mirror: the ancients thought of the sky as a ceiling above which were the "upper waters" (cf Genesis 1:6-7; 7:11); when this ceiling became as hard as metal, the usual rain failed to fall on the earth (cf Lev 26:19; Deut 28:23).

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[20] Will an angel bring this to God's attention?

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[21] Even though God seems not to know our circumstances, he does know them, just as surely as the sun shines, unseen by man, behind the clouds.

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[22] Now the storms of doubt and ignorance disappear, and from the North, used here as a symbol for God's mysterious abode, comes the splendor of the manifestation of God's majestic ways.

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[1] Now the LORD enters the debate and addresses two discourses (Job 38-39 and Job 40-41) to Job, in which he speaks of his wisdom and power, which are altogether beyond the capacity of Job, who therefore should never dare to demand a reason for the divine actions. Out of the storm: frequently the background of the appearances of the LORD in the Old Testament; cf Psalm 18; 50; Nahum 1:3; Hebrews 3.

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[3] Gird up your loins: prepare for combat--figuratively, be ready to defend yourself in debate.

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[7] Sons of God: angels; cf Job 1:6.

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[21] Divine irony.

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[22-23] Hail . . . of war: thus God used a hailstorm to rout Joshua's foes in the battle of Gibeon; cf Joshua 10:11; Sirach 46:5.

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[31-32] Pleiades . . . Orion . . . Bear: cf Job 9:9. Mazzaroth: It is uncertain what astronomical group is meant by this Hebrew word; perhaps a southern constellation (cf Job 9:9).

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[34] Veil yourself . . . storm: wrap yourself in a cloud, as God comes in a theophany; cf Psalm 18:12.

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[35] Here we are: at your service.

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[36] Understanding: the reflection of divine Wisdom discernible in the created animal instincts of the cock.

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[13] The wings of the ostrich cannot raise her from the ground, but they help her to run swiftly.

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[14-16] It was popularly believed that, because the ostrich laid her eggs on the sand, she was thereby cruelly abandoning them; cf Lam 4:3.

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[19-25] The famous description of a war horse.

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[8] Leviathan: in Job 40:25 the crocodile; here the reference is probably to a mythological sea monster symbolizing primeval chaos. Cf Job 9:13; 26:13; Psalm 74:13-14; 104:26; Isaiah 27:1.

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[15] Behemoth: the hippopotamus.

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[24] Eyes . . . nose: the only exposed parts of the submerged beast.

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[25] (25) Leviathan here is the crocodile. But cf Job 3:8.

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[30] (30) Merchants: literally, "Canaanites," whose reputation for trading was so widespread that their name came to be used for merchants; cf Proverb 31:24. The meaning of this verse is that the crocodile is too powerful a creature to be sold like a common fish.

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[2-6] In the current Hebrew text, this final utterance of Job is interrupted by words ascribed to God (Job 42:3-4) which are in large part a duplication of Job 38:2-3.

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[10] The lion: used figuratively here for the violent, rapacious sinner who cannot prevail against God.

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[12-21] A dramatic presentation of the idea of man's nothingness in contrast to God's greatness.

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[4] At the gate: of the city, where justice was administered.

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[7] Sparks: in Hebrew, "sons of resheph," which the ancient versions took as the name of a bird.

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[9] Omitted here; it is a duplicate of Job 9:10.

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[19] Six . . . the seventh: proverbial expression for any large number; cf Proverb 24:16; Luke 17:4.

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[5-6] Job would not complain if his life were as pleasant to him as fodder to a hungry animal; but his life is as disagreeable as insipid food. White of an egg: thus the obscure Hebrew has been understood in Jewish tradition; some render it "mallow juice."

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[19] Tema: in northwest Arabia. Sheba: see note on Job 1:15.

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[1] Drudgery: taken by some to refer to military service; cf also Job 14:14.

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[12] An allusion in poetic imagery to primeval chaos as a monstrous ocean vanquished by God at the world's creation. 3 [12-21] Job now speaks, not to his friend, but to God.

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missing foot note text

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[11-13] As marsh plants need water, so man needs God. These verses are taken by some as a quotation from the teaching of the forefathers; cf Job 8:10.

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[13] Rehab: cf Job 26:12. See note on Psalm 89:11.

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[28-31] You: refers to God.

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[4] Cutter . . . locust . . . grasshopper . . . devourer: these names refer to various species of locusts; they can only be approximate.

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[6] A people: the locusts compared to an invading army.

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[17] The priests stood in the open space between the outdoor altar of holocausts and the temple building, facing the latter in order thereby to look toward God present in the holy of holies.

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[20] The northerner: the locusts, that are compared to an invading army, which in Palestine came from the north; cf Jeremiah 1:14-15; 4:6; Ezekiel 26:7; 38:6, 15.

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[23] The teacher of justice: the rain sent by God to show his fidelity to his promises, and to teach his people to be faithful to his commandments; cf Deut 11:14. There is also a play on words here between the Hebrew word moreh (teacher) and the Hebrew word yoreh (the early rain). The expression likewise had a messianic connotation; cf Isaiah 30:20. The founder of the Essene sect of Qumran (second century B.C.) was known as "The Teacher of Justice."

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[1] (Joel 3:1-5)I will pour out my spirit: In the Old Testament the spirit is the gift of God bestowed on those acting as his agents. The promise of the spirit is quoted by St. Peter in Acts 2:17-21 as fulfilled in an eminent way by the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, bestowed on the Apostles.

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[2] Valley of Jehoshaphat: a symbolic name of the place of final judgment (Joel 4:14). The name Jehoshaphat signifies "Yahweh judges." This place has been popularly identified with the Kidron Valley.

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[8] Sabeans: a south Arabian people known for their commerce.

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[10] This imagery is used in the reverse sense in Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3. Here the warlike weapons are made in response to God's summons to armies which he selected to expel forever the unlawful invaders from the land of his chosen people.

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[11] Warriors: the angels; cf Zechariah 14:5.

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[13] Because of their numerous crimes, the nations are ripe for punishment. The use of warlike weapons against them is likened to the onslaught on the fields and vines at harvest time.

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[18] The Valley of Shittim, or "the ravine of the acacia trees": perhaps a part of the Kidron Valley southeast of Jerusalem; the prophetic picture of a stream of water flowing from a fountain in the temple of Jerusalem is to be found in Ezekiel 47:1. The Shittim east of the Jordan (see note on Numbers 25:1) is hardly referred to here.

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[1] Jonah, son of Amittai: a prophet of this name lived at the time of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.).

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[3] Tarshish: identified by many with Tartessus, an ancient Phoenician colony in southwest Spain; precise identification with any particular Phoenician center in the western Mediterranean is uncertain. To the Hebrews it stood for the far west.

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[14] Since it has pleased the Lord to punish Jonah, the mariners ask that in ridding themselves of him they be not charged with the crime of murder.

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[4] Shall be destroyed: the Hebrew expression reminds the reader of the "overthrowing" of the wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, by a special act of God.

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[8] Beast . . . sackcloth: the animals carried the signs of this repentance, as on occasions of joy they bore garlands.

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[1] He became angry: because of his narrowly nationalistic vindictiveness, Jonah did not wish the Lord to forgive the Ninevites.

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[6] Gourd plant: the Hebrew word, kikayon means here a wide-leafed plant of the cucumber or castor-bean variety.

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[10-11] Jonah is selfish in bemoaning his personal loss of a shady gourd plant without any concern over the threat of loss of life to the Ninevites through the destruction of their city. If God in his kindness provided the plant for his prophet without the latter's effort or merit, how much more is he disposed to show love and mercy toward all men, Jew and Gentile, when they repent of their sins and implore his pardon! God's providence is also shown here to extend even to animals.

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[5] Hebron . . . Eglon: these four cities were to the south and southwest of Jerusalem.

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[11] Great stones from the sky: the hailstones mentioned in the next sentence.

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[13] Is this not recorded: the reference is to the preceding, poetic passage. Evidently the Book of Jashar, like the Book of the Wars of the LORD (Numbers 21:14), recounted in epic style the exploits of Israel's early heroes. The sun halted: though it is widely supposed that this passage describes in popular language and according to external appearances a miraculous lengthening of the day, it is equally probable that Joshua's prayer was rather for an abrupt obscuration of the sun, which would impede his enemies in their flight homeward and also prevent them from rallying their forces; this request would have been answered by the hailstorm (cf Sirach 46:5) and by a darkness relieved only twenty-four hours later, well into the next day.

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[41] Goshen: a town and its surrounding district at the southern end of the Judean mountains (cf Joshua 11:16; 15:51); not to be confused with the land of Goshen in northeastern Egypt (Genesis 45:10), although in the current Hebrew Bible both names are spelled the same.

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[1-3] Hazor, Madon, Shimron, and Chinneroth: cities and their surrounding districts in eastern Galilee. Achshaph and Naphath-dor: southwest of Galilee. The mountain regions: in central and northern Galilee.

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[5] The waters of Merom: a stream in central Galilee that flows southeast to water the fertile Arabah, or plain of Chinneroth on the western shore of the Lake of Gennesaret.

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[21-23] Most of the land assigned to the tribe of Judah was not conquered by it till the early period of the Judges. See note on Judges 1:1-36.

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[23] The land enjoyed peace: of a limited and temporary nature. Many of the individual tribes had still to fight against the remaining Canaanites; cf Joshua 15:13-17; 17:12-13. This verse forms the conclusion to the first part of the book. Cf note on Joshua 12:1-24.

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[1-24] This chapter, inserted between the two principal parts of the book (Joshua 1-11; 13-21), resembles the lists of conquered cities which are inscribed on monuments of the Egyptian and Assyrian monarchs. Perhaps it was copied here from some such public Israelite record.

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[2] Geshur: not to be confused with the large Aramaean district of the same name in Bashan (Joshua 13:11-13; Deut 3:14); here it is a region to the south of the Philistine country, since 13:2-5 list the unconquered lands along the coast from south to north; cf also 1 Sam 27:8.

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[8] The Valley of Ben-hinnom: the southern limit of Jerusalem. Ben-hinnom means "son of Hinnom." The place was also called Valley of Hinnom, in Hebrew ge-hinnom, whence the word "Gehenna" is derived.

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[17-19] The story of Othniel is told again in Judges 1:13-15; cf also Judges 3:9-11.

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[20-62] This elaborate list of the cities of Judah was probably taken from a document made originally for administrative purposes; the cities are divided into four provincial districts, some of which have further subdivisions. For similar lists of the cities of Judah, cf Joshua 19:2-7; 1 Chron 4:28-32; Nehemiah 11:25-30. This list has suffered in transmission, so that the totals given in Joshua 15:32, 36 are not exact, and some of the names are probably misspelled; many of the cities cannot be identified.

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[33] In the foothills: see note on Deut 1:7.

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[61] In the desert: in the Jordan rift near the Dead Sea.

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[1-17:18] The boundaries and cities of Judah, the most important tribe, having been given, the land of the next most important group, the two Josephite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, is now described, though it was separated from Judah by the territories of Benjamin (Joshua 18:11-20) and Dan (Joshua 19:40-48).

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[1-3] This line formed the southern boundary of Ephraim and the northern boundaries of Benjamin and of Dan.

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[5] The dividing line: separating Ephraim from Manasseh. Ephraim's northern border (Joshua 16:5) is given in an east-to-west direction; its eastern border (Joshua 16:6-7) in a north-to-south direction.

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[7] Manasseh bordered on Asher: only at the extreme northwestern section of Manasseh's territory. The boundary given in the following sentences (Joshua 17:7-10) is a more detailed description of the one already mentioned in Joshua 16:5-7, as separating Manasseh from Ephraim.

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[12-20] Benjamin's northern boundary (Joshua 18:12-13) corresponded to part of the southern boundary of Ephraim Joshua 16:1-2). Their western border (Joshua 1:14) was the eastern border of Dan (cf Joshua 19:40-47). Their southern boundary (Joshua 18:15-19) corresponded to part of the northern boundary of Judah (Joshua 15:6-9).

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[10-16] Zebulun's territory was in the central section of the Plain of Esdraelon and of southern Galilee; it was bounded on the south by Manasseh, on the southeast by Issachar, on the northeast and north by Naphtali, and on the west by Asher. The site of the later city of Nazareth was within its borders. Bethlehem of Zebulun was, of course, distinct from the city of the same name in Judah. Twelve cities: apparently seven of the names are missing from Joshua 19:15 unless some of the places mentioned in Joshua 19:12-14 are to be included in the number.

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[17-23] Issachar's land was on the eastern watershed of the Plain of Esdraelon, but also included the southeastern end of the Galilean mountains. It was surrounded by Manasseh on the south and east, by Naphtali on the north, and by Zebulun on the west. Jezreel (Joshua 19:18) dominated the plain to which it gave its name, the later form of which was Esdraelon.

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[24-31] Asher inherited the western slope of the Galilean hills as far as the sea, with Manasseh to the south, Zebulun and Naphtali to the east, and Phoenicia to the north.

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[32-39] Naphtali received eastern Galilee; Asher was to the west and Zebulun and Issachar were to the south, while the upper Jordan and Mount Hermon formed the eastern border. Part of the tribe of Dan later on occupied the northern extremity of Naphtali's lands, at the sources of the Jordan (Joshua 19:47).

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[40-46] The original territory of Dan was a small enclave between Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and the Philistines.

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[47] Leshem: called Laish in Jdgs 18 where the story of the migration of the Danites is told at greater length.

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[4] The ideal frontiers are given: in the south the desert of Sinai, in the north the Lebanon range, in the east the Euphrates, and in the west the Great Sea, the Mediterranean.

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[1-9] The laws concerning the cities of refuge are given in Numbers 35:9-28; Deut 19:1-13; see notes on Numbers 35:16-25; Deut 19:2.

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[1] The order to establish special cities for the Levites is given in Numbers 35:1-8. The forty-eight cities listed here were hardly the exclusive possession of the Levites; at least the more important of them, such as Hebron, Shechem and Ramoth in Gilead, were certainly peopled for the most part by the tribe in whose territory they were situated. But in all these cities the Levites had special property rights which they did not possess in other cities; cf Lev 25:32-34.

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[11] In the region of the Jordan facing the land of Canaan: on the eastern side of the Jordan valley. The river itself formed the boundary between these eastern tribes and the rest of the tribes who lived in what was formerly Canaan-though the term Canaan could also be used of both sides of the Jordan valley (cf Joshua 22:10). The Transjordan tribes naturally built their altar in their own territory.

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[12] To declare war on them: the western Israelites considered this altar, which seemed to violate the customary unity of the sanctuary (Lev 17:1-9; Deut 12:4-14), as a sign of secession and dangerous to national unity. The motives for the war were political as well as religious.

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[19] Unclean: not sanctified by the Dwelling of the Lord.

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[20] Achan . . . did not perish alone: his guilt caused the failure of the first attack on Ai (Joshua 7:4-23); this fact is adduced as an argument for the solidarity and mutual responsibility of all the Israelites.

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[22] The LORD, the God of gods: the Hebrew, which cannot be adequately rendered in English here, adds to the divine name Yahweh ("the LORD") two synonymous words for "God," el and elohim. The repetition of these three sacred words adds force to the protestations of fidelity and innocence.

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[28] To witness: far from being destined to form a rival sanctuary, the model of the altar was intended by the eastern tribes solely as a means of teaching their children to be faithful to the one true sanctuary beyond the Jordan.

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[34] The name of this altar was the Hebrew word for "witness," "ed.

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[14] Going the way of all men: drawing near to death, the inevitable goal of all; cf 1 Kings 2:1-2.

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[15] Every threat: mentioned especially in Deut 28:15-68.

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[2] Beyond the River: east of the Euphrates; cf Genesis 11:28-31.

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[12] The hornets: see note on Exodus 23:28.

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[15] The gods your fathers served: Abraham's ancestors were polytheists.

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[19] You may not be able: fidelity to God's service is not easy, and therefore those who take such solemn obligations on themselves must be ever vigilant against human weakness.

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[32] The bones of Joseph: the mummified body of Joseph (Genesis 50:25-26), which the Israelites took with them as they left Egypt (Exodus 13:19), was fittingly buried at the ancient city of Shechem, near the border between the two Josephite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

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[1] Harlot: this is the regular equivalent of the Hebrew word, but perhaps it is used here of Rahab in the broader sense of a woman who kept a public house. Joshua's spies hoped to remain undetected at such an inn.

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Stalks of flax spread out: to dry in the sun, after they had been soaked in water, according to the ancient process of preparing flax for linen-making. In the Near East the flax harvest occurs near the time of the feast of the Passover (Joshua 4:19; 5:10); cf Exodus 9:31.

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[8-11] Rahab's faith and good works are praised in the New Testament; cf Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25.

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[15] A house built into the city wall: such houses, which used the city wall for their own inner walls, have been found at ancient sites. The upper story of Rahab's house was evidently higher than the city wall. It was through the window of such a house that St. Paul escaped from Damascus; cf Acts 9:25; 2 Cor 11:33.

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[15] Season of the harvest: toward the end of March and the beginning of April, when the grain and other crops that grew during the rainy season of winter were reaped. The crossing took place "on the tenth day of the first month" of the Hebrew year, which began with the first new moon after the spring equinox; cf Joshua 4:19. At this time of the year the Jordan would be swollen as a result of the winter rains and the melting snow of Mount Hermon.

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[16] The sudden damming of the river could have been caused by a landslide, as has happened on other occasions. The miraculous character of this event would not thereby be removed because God, who foretold it (Joshua 3:13), also caused it to take place at precisely the right moment (Joshua 3:15), whether or not he used natural forces to accomplish his will.

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[10-18] After the digression about the two sets of memorial stones, the author resumes the narrative by briefly repeating the story of the crossing, which he had already told in Joshua 3:14-17.

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[3] Gibeath-haaraloth: "Hill of the Foreskins."

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[9] The place is called Gilgal: by popular etymology, because of the similarity of sound with the Hebrew word gallothi, "I have removed." Gilgal probably means "(the place of) the circle of standing stones." Cf Joshua 4:4-8.

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[10] The month: the first month of the year, later called Nisan; see note on Joshua 3:15. The crossing of the Jordan occurred, therefore, about the same time of the year as did the equally miraculous crossing of the Red Sea; cf Exodus 12-14.

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[5:13-6:26] The account of the siege of Jericho embraces: (1) The command of the Lord, through his angel, to Joshua (Joshua 5:13-6, 5); (2) Joshua's instructions to the Israelites, with a brief summary of how these orders were carried out (Joshua 6:6-11); (3) a description of the action on each of the first six days (Joshua 6:12-14); (4) the events on the seventh day (Joshua 6:15-26).

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[18] That is under the ban: that is doomed to destruction; see notes on Lev 27:29; Numbers 18:14; 21:3.

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[20] The wall collapsed: by the miraculous intervention of God. The blowing of the horns and the shouting of the people were a customary feature of ancient warfare, here intended by God as a test of the people's obedience and of their faith in his promise; cf Hebrews 11:30.

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[25] From Matthew 1:5, we learn that Rahab married Salmon of the tribe of Judah and thus became the great-great-grand-mother of David, Christ's ancestor; cf Ruth 4:18-22.

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[26] He shall lose his first-born . . . its gates: this curse was fulfilled when Hiel rebuilt Jericho as a fortified city during the reign of Ahab, king of Israel; cf 1 Kings 16:34. Till then Jericho was merely an unwalled village; cf Joshua 18:12, 21; Judges 3:13; 2 Sam 10:5.

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[16-18] Was designated: probably by means of the Urim and Thummim; cf 1 Sam 14:38-42. See note on Exodus 28:30.

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[26] Achor: "misery, affliction." The reference is to the saying of Joshua in Joshua 7:25, with an allusion also to the similar-sounding name of Achan.

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[3] Thirty thousand warriors: this figure of the Hebrew text, which seems extremely high, may be due to a copyist's error; some manuscripts of the Septuagint have "three thousand," which is the number of the whole army in the first, unsuccessful attack (Joshua 7:4); the variant reading in Joshua 8:12 mentions "five thousand."

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[30-35] These ceremonies were prescribed in Deut 11:29; 27:2-26. See notes on those passages.

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[7] The Hivites: apparently the Gibeonites belonged to this larger ethnic group (cf also Joshua 11:19), although in 2 Sam 21:2 they are classed as Amorites; both groups are listed among the seven nations in Canaan whom the Israelites were to exterminate; cf Deut 7:1-2.

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[21] Hewers of wood and drawers of water: proverbial terms for the lowest social class in the Israelite community; cf Deut 29:10-11.

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[26-27] Later on, Saul violated the immunity of the Gibeonites, but David vindicated it; cf 2 Sam 21:1-9.

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[4] Saddle-asses: a sign of rank and wealth; cf Judges 5:10; 12:14.

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[24] Chemosh: the chief god of the Moabites--not of the Ammonites, whose leading deity was called Molech or Milcom; cf Numbers 21:29; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13. The error is probably due to an ancient copyist. Jephthah argues from the viewpoint of his adversaries, the Ammonites, that they were entitled to all the land they had conquered with the aid of their god. It does not necessarily follow that Jephthah himself believed in the actual existence of this pagan god.

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[30-40] The text clearly implies that Jephthah vowed a human sacrifice, according to the custom of his pagan neighbors; cf 2 Kings 3:27. The inspired author merely records the fact; he does not approve of the action.

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[37] Mourn my virginity: to bear children was woman's greatest pride; to be childless was regarded as a great misfortune. Hence Jephthah's daughter asks permission to mourn the fact that she will be put to death before she can bear children.

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[6] Shibboleth: "an ear of grain." But this Hebrew word can also mean "flood water" as in Psalm 69:3, 16. Apparently the Gileadites engaged the Ephraimites in conversation about the "flood water" of the Jordan. Differences in enunciating the initial sibilant of the Hebrew word betrayed different tribal affinities.

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[5] Consecrated: in Hebrew, nazir. Samson therefore was for life to be under the nazirite vow, which obliged him to abstain from drinking wine or having his hair cut; cf Numbers 6:2-8.

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[18] Mysterious: incomprehensible, above human understanding. Hence, the angel speaks in the name of the Lord himself, to whom Manoah at once offers a sacrifice.

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[1-3] Marriages were arranged by the parents of the bridegroom as well as of the bride; cf Genesis 24:2-8; 34:3-6. The Mosaic law specified only seven pagan nations, not including the Philistines, in the prohibition against mixed marriages; cf Deut 7:1-4. But national and religious sentiment was against any marriage with a non-Israelite; cf Genesis 28:1-2; 1 Kings 11:1-10.

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[5-7] Although Samson was accompanied by his parents on the journey to Timnah, Judges 14:7 implies that he was not near them when he tore the lion in pieces.

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[11] Companions: known at a later period as "the friends of the bridegroom" (1 Macc 9:39; Mark 2:19), the best man and his fellows. Here they are Philistines (Judges 14:16), appointed by the family of the bride, who would also have several bridesmaids; cf Matthew 25:1-13.

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[17] Ramath-lehi: "heights of the jawbone."

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[19] En-hakkore: "the spring of him who cries out," an allusion to Samson's cry in Judges 15:18.

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[23] Dagon was originally a Mesopotamian deity, whom the Philistines came to worship as their own god of grain.

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[3] Idol: an image, not of a pagan god, but of the Lord. The Mosaic law forbade the making of an image even of the true God.

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[12-13] According to Numbers 18:1-7 only those Levites who were descended from Aaron could be consecrated as priests.

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[1] The tribe of Dan had been assigned a territory with definite limits in central Palestine. However they were unable to gain possession of the better portion of their land (Judges 1:34). So they now seek territory elsewhere in Palestine.

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[3] Recognized the voice: perhaps they noticed the peculiar pronunciation of his south Hebrew dialect.

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[30] Until . . . land: about the year 734 B.C., when the Assyrian emperor Tiglath-pileser III subjected northern Palestine.

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[5-9] Such importuning of guests to prolong their stay at the home of their host is characteristic of Oriental hospitality.

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[15] Private hospitality was the customary means of providing comfort to travelers where public facilities were so rare.

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[22] Who were corrupt: literally "sons of Belial," indicating extreme perversion; cf Genesis 19:4-8. This crime and its punishment made the name Gibeah proverbial as a place of shameful wickedness; cf Hosea 9:9; 10:9.

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[29] A drastic means for arousing the tribes to avenge the unheard of crime of the Benjaminites.

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[1-36] This chapter summarizes events most of which occurred shortly after the death of Joshua. Perhaps because they were planned and inaugurated by him, they are also attributed to him in the last half of the preceding book (Joshua 14-22).

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[16] Moses' father-in-law: Reuel; cf Numbers 10:29-32 and note. City of palms: Jericho (cf Deut 34:3), or a town in the Negeb.

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[21] According to Joshua 18:16, Jerusalem was assigned to the tribe of Benjamin. But it was not actually taken from the Jebusites until David captured it (2 Sam 5:6-9) and made it his capital, outside the tribal organization.

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[1] From Dan to Beer-sheba: from north to south. The land of Gilead: all the territory east of the Jordan.

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[7] The Israelites were asked to decide at once what action to take concerning this crime; cf 2 Sam 16:20. The Levite undoubtedly addressed the tribal heads who would speak in behalf of the multitude.

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[12] Before the crime at Gibeah was punished, the Benjaminites were invited to join their brethren, the Israelites, in punishing the crime. Since they failed to respond, special messengers were sent asking them to deliver up the guilty ones. They replied by gathering their forces for combat.

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[18] Judah shall go first: the same response as in Judges 1:1-2, but without the assurance of immediate success. Only after the Israelites were punished at the hands of the Benjaminites for their own grossness, and had performed penance, did they succeed in punishing the latter for their part in the crime of rape and murder, by gaining the victory over them.

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[1-3] The anger of the Israelites led them to destroy their brethren, the Benjaminites. Having realized their goal, however, they were soon filled with dismay, and sought to restore the tribe they had all but exterminated.

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[6-9] This account is summarized in the parallel passage in Judges 21:2-5.

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[11] Under the ban: see note on Numbers 21:3.

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[15] Had made a breach: what is here attributed to God was in reality the free and deliberate act of the Israelites and happened only by the permissive will of God. The ancients attributed to the first primary cause what is more directly due to secondary causes.

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[18] Regardless of the serious consequences of their vow, the Israelites considered themselves obliged to fulfill it; cf Judges 11:31, 35-36, 39.

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[25] Cf Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1. The verse gives the reason why the lawlessness of the period of judges, and the events described herein, were possible.

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[5] Bochim: the Hebrew word for "weepers."

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[11] Baals: the chief god of the Canaanites and the Phoenicians was called "Baal," a word meaning "lord." He was honored by various titles, hence the plural form here, equivalent to "the pagan gods."

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[13] Ashtaroth: the Canaanite Phoenician goddess of love and fertility was Astarte. The plural form used here refers to her various titles and images and is equivalent to "goddesses."

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[3] The Philistines: non-Semitic invaders who gave their name to all Palestine, although they occupied only its south-western plains. Their confederation embraced the five leading cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron.

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[7] Asherahs: elsewhere rendered "sacred poles." See note on Exodus 34:13 and on Deut 7:5. Here the word seems to mean "goddesses."

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[11] Most of the Kenites occupied a district in the southern part of Judah (Judges 1:16). A group of them, however, had detached themselves and settled in lower Galilee.

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[17-22] It is to be noted that the sacred author merely records the fact of the murder of Sisera. We must not construe this as approval of Jael's action.

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[2-31] This canticle is an excellent example of early Hebrew poetry, even though some of its verses are now obscure.

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[8] New gods: pagan deities; cf Deut 32:16-18. God punished the idolatry of the Israelites by leaving them relatively unarmed before the attacks of their enemies, who had better weapons, made of iron; cf 1 Sam 13:19-22.

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[14-22] Praise for the tribes which formed the Israelite league against Sisera: Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh (represented by Machir), Zebulun, Issachar, and Naphtali (led by Barak). The tribes of Reuben, Gad (Gilead), Dan, and Asher are chided for their lack of co-operation. The more distant tribes of Judah and Simeon are not mentioned.

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[20-21] It would seem that nature aided the Hebrews in some way. Perhaps the torrential rains swelled the waters of Kishon, which then overwhelmed the Canaanites.

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[23] Meroz: an unknown locality in which Hebrews probably resided, since its inhabitants are cursed for their failure to proffer aid.

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[24] Yahweh-shalom: Hebrew for "the LORD is peace," a reference to the LORD's words, "Be calm," literally, "Peace be to you!"

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[25] The sacred pole: see note on Exodus 34:13.

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[32] Jerubbaal: similar in sound to the Hebrew words meaning, "Let Baal take action."

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[5] The Lord desired not numerous but reliable soldiers. Those who drank from their hands were alert, standing ready to resist attack, whereas the others were careless and undependable. The cowardly soldiers had already been dismissed (Judges 7:3); cf Deut 20:8.

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[13] The barley loaf represents the agricultural Hebrews while the tent refers to the nomadic Midianites. The overthrow of the tent indicates the victory of the Hebrews over their Midianite oppressors.

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[19] At the beginning of the middle watch: about two hours before midnight. The ancient Hebrews divided the night into three watches of about four hours each. At the beginning of a watch the sentinels were changed.

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[6] Are the hands . . . in your possession . . . ?: i.e., can you already boast of victory? The hands as well as the heads of slain enemies were cut off and counted as trophies; cf 2 Sam 4:8; 2 Kings 10:7-8; and the Ugaritic Anath Epic, V AB, II 10ff.

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[24] Ishmaelites: here as in Genesis 37:25-28, the designation is not ethnic; it refers rather to their status as nomads.

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[31] Concubine: a wife of secondary rank.

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[33] Baal of Berith: one of the titles of Baal as worshiped by the Canaanites of Shechem, meaning "the lord of the covenant."

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[9] Whereby men and gods are honored: oil was used in the worship both of the true God and of false gods; it was prescribed in the worship of Yahweh (Lev 2:1, 6, 15; 24:2). It was also used to consecrate prophets, priests and kings (Exodus 30:25, 30; 1 Sam 10:1; 16:13).

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[13] Cheers gods: wine was used in the libations both of the Temple of Jerusalem and of pagan temples.

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[16] Just as the noble trees refused the honor of royalty and were made subject to a mean plant, so did Abimelech of less noble birth than the seventy sons of Gideon now tyrannize over the people.

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[45] Sowing the site with salt: a severe measure, which was a symbol of desolation, and even more, since it actually rendered the ground barren and useless.

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[12] (12-13) The deceitful means used by Judith against Holofernes, here and in Judith 11:5-19, are to be judged in the light of the moral concepts of Old Testament times; cf Genesis 27:1-25; 34:13-29; 37:32-34; Joshua 2:1-7; Judges 4:17-22.

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[10] Banquet for his servants alone . . . officers: Holofernes invited the officials of his household, but not the officers of his army, who were needed for military duty.

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[6] (6-10) In recognizing the head of Holofernes, whom he had known personally, Achior was so overcome with the evidence of the Lord's power exerted through a woman that he believed in the God of Israel.

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[9] You are the glory of Jerusalem, the surpassing joy of Israel; you are the splendid boast of our people: these words are used in the liturgy of the church in regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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[17] Fire and worms into their flesh: see footnote on Isaiah 66:24.

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[25] The Vulgate adds: "The feast day of this victory was adopted by the Hebrews into the calendar of their holy days, and has been celebrated by the Jews from that time to the present." However, there is no other evidence of such a festivity; and it is the ancient feast of Passover to which the narrative is especially suited.

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[6] Cheleoud: probably the Chaldeans are meant.

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[12] The two seas: the ancient rulers in Mesopotamia often designated the limits of their realm as extending from the Upper Sea (the Mediterranean) to the Lower Sea (the Persian Gulf).

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[7] Earth and water: in the Persian period, the offering of these to a conqueror was a symbolic gesture of unconditional surrender.

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[10] Geba: perhaps originally "Gelboe," the mountain range near the eastern end of which lay Scythopolis, the Greek name for ancient Beth-shean (Joshua 17:11).

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[3] Returned from exile . . . profanation: these allusions are variously attributed-to the Persian period (538-323 B.C.), or even to a condition in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.).

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[6] Joakim, who was high priest: see Baruch 1:7 and the footnote on Baruch 1:8, 9; this name for a high priest cannot be used in dating the events in Jdth.

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[8] The organization of the Jewish nation as subject to a high priest and a senate, or council of elders, was proper to the Greek period (after 323 B.C.), and is reflected in the coinage of John Hyrcanus (135-104 B.C.).

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[10] Domestic animals: see note on Jonah 3:8.

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[11] Prostrated themselves in front of the temple building: for a parallel to this ceremony of entreaty, see Joel 1:13, 14; 2:15-17, and the note on Joel 2:17.

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[6] (6-9) Achior outlines the early history of the Hebrews, whose forefather, Abraham, first lived in Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11:28) and then migrated to Haran (Genesis 11:31) in Aram Naharaim (Genesis 24:10), which was called Mesopotamia by the Greeks. The gods of their forefathers were the pagan deities worshiped by Abraham's relatives (Joshua 24:2).

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[19] The Latin Vulgate (Judith 6:15) has a longer form of this prayer: "Lord, God of heaven and earth, behold their arrogance; regard our lowliness and look with favor on your holy ones; show that you do not abandon those who trust in you, but that you humble those who trust in themselves and glory in their own strength."

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[5] Lighted fires on their bastions: to serve as signals for alerting the neighboring towns. Reference to fire signals in time of siege is made in the Lachish ostraca at the beginning of the sixth century B.C. Kept watch throughout the night: to prevent a surprise attack.

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[1] Salamiel, son of Sarasadai: head of the tribe of Simeon during the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert (Numbers 1:6).

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[5] A tent: erected by Judith on the roof of her house (Judith 8:5); it was here that the elders came to confer with her (Judith 8:11).

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[2] The maiden: Dinah, Jacob's daughter, who was violated by Shechem, the Hivite (Genesis 34:2).

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[3] Because Shechem had deceived and violated Dinah, her brothers, Simeon and Levi, tricked Shechem and the men of his city into being circumcised, and then slew them while they were confined to bed from the circumcision; cf Genesis 34:13-29.

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[1-22] In this poem the poet first describes Jerusalem's miserable state after the destruction wrought by the Chaldeans (Lam 1:1-11-12); in v 11b the city itself takes up the lament.

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[14] They have been plaited . . . my neck: the sins of the people have been bound together and laid as a yoke on their back; cf Matthew 23:4.

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[19] My lovers: Zion's foreign allies, who failed to help her, as the prophets had warned.

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[22] Zion fully acknowledges her guilt and the justness of divine punishment; nevertheless, she pleads that her enemies also be punished for their guilt.

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[1] The glory of Israel: the temple. His footstool: the ark of the covenant (1 Chron 28:2; Psalm 99:5; 132:7); or again, the temple (Ezekiel 43:7).

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[3] Horn: symbol of power and strength; cf Lam 2:17; 1 Sam 2:10; Luke 1:69; etc.

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[8] The measuring line: used not only in building, but in deciding what must be destroyed; cf Isaiah 34:11; 2 Kings 21:13.

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[10] They strew dust: as a sign of penance; cf Job 2:12.

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[11] My gall is poured out on the ground: I am afflicted with bitter sorrow; cf Job 16:13.

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[20] Must women eat their offspring: extreme famine in a besieged city sometimes led to this form of cannibalism; cf Lam 4:10; 2 Kings 6:28-29; Baruch 2:3; Ezekiel 5:10.

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[1-21] The author identifies Zion's sufferings with his own.

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[27] To bear the yoke: to do God's will; cf Jeremiah 2:20.

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[29] Let him put his mouth to the dust: in humble submission; cf Psalm 72:9.

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[3] Cruel as the ostrich: see note on Job 39:14-16. Jerusalem, in her distress, has abandoned her children.

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[13-15] The priests and the false prophets lulled the people into an illusory security (Jeremiah 2:8; 5:31; 6:13; etc.), condoning and entering into their crimes so that they themselves became unclean.

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[17] A nation: Egypt, which failed to give effective aid against Babylon.

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[20] Our breath of life: the king. This is a royal epithet borrowed from Egyptian usage, while the anointed one of the LORD is Israelite. After the disaster of 598 B.C. (2 Kings 24:1-17), Jerusalem could have hoped to live in peace amidst her neighbors; but they (Lam 4:21-22) as well as Babylon turned against her to ensure her total devastation in 587 B.C.

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[21] Uz: see note on Jeremiah 25:20.

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[6] In its state of abjection, Judah was forced to depend on its traditional enemies to the west and the east for subsistence. Mesopotamia is here called by the name it had long borne, Assyria, though in these times the power of the Assyrians had been superseded by that of the Chaldeans.

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[7] Our fathers: collective responsibility, for good and for evil, was recognized in the Old Testament; cf Jeremiah 31:29. But the present generation is also personally guilty of sin (Lam 5:16).

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[8] Administrations imposed by foreign powers were notoriously corrupt and inept. The Hebrew word for "slave" is the same as that used for an official (servant of the ruler); the author doubtless intends the double meaning here.

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[14] The gate: the place of assembly, where city decisions were made and judgment given by the elders and other notables; see note on Ruth 4:1.

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[1] Nadab and Abihu: the older sons of Aaron. Cf Exodus 6:23-24.

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[2] Fire: perhaps after the manner of lightning.

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[3] I will manifest my sacredness: the presence of God is so sacred that it strikes dead those who approach him without the proper holiness. Cf Numbers 20:13; Ezekiel 28:22.

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[5] In their tunics: they were buried just as they were, with no shroud or funeral solemnities.

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[6] Bare your heads: go without the customary head covering, as a sign of mourning. Some interpreters, however, understand it as the cutting off of one's hair, which ordinarily all the Israelites, men as well as women, let grow long. Cf Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 7:29. Still others understand the verb to mean "to let one's hair hang loose and wild." Cf Lev 13:45; 21:10, where the same phrase is used.

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[16-19] Eleazar and Ithamar burned the entire goat of the sin offering (Lev 9:15) instead of eating it in a sacred place (Lev 6:19) to bear the guilt of the community. Aaron defends this action of his sons against Moses' displeasure by implying that they did not have sufficient sanctity to eat the flesh of the victim and thus perform the expiation of the people. They themselves still labored under the blow of the divine anger which struck their brothers Nadab and Abihu.

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[1-3] These distinctions between edible and inedible meats were probably based on traditional ideas of hygiene, but they are here given a moral, religious basis: the inedible varieties are classified as "unclean" to remind the Israelites that they are to be a pure and holy people, dedicated to the Lord.

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[5-6] According to modern zoology, the rock badger (hyrax Syriacus) is classified as an ungulate, and the hare as a rodent; neither is a ruminant. They appear to chew their food as the true ruminants do, and it is upon this appearance that the classification in the text is based.

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[13-19, 30] The identification of the various Hebrew names for these birds and reptiles is in many cases uncertain.

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[19] The bat: actually a mammal, but listed here with the birds because of its wings.

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[22] The Hebrew distinguishes four classes of edible locust-like insects, but the difference between them is quite uncertain. Cf Matthew 3:4.

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[24-28] This paragraph sharpens the prohibition against unclean animals: not only is their meat unfit for food, but contact with their dead bodies makes a person ritually unclean.

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[26] All hoofed animals that are not cloven-footed: such as the horse and the ass.

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[27] All those that walk on paws: such as dogs and cats.

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[36] Whoever touches the dead body: to remove the dead insect from the water supply.

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[2-3] The uncleanness of the woman was more serious during the first period, the seven days after the birth of a boy or the fourteen days after the birth of a girl; only during this period would the rules given in Lev 15:19-24 apply.

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[8] Forty days after the birth of Jesus, his Virgin Mother made this offering of the poor (Luke 2:22, 24); since the holocaust was offered in thanksgiving for the birth of the child, this was most fittingly offered by Mary. However, because of her miraculous delivery, she was not really obliged to make the sin offering of purification.

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[2-4] Various kinds of skin blemishes are treated here which were not contagious but simply disqualified their subjects from association with others, especially in public worship, until they were declared ritually clean. The Hebrew term used does not refer to Hansen's disease, currently called leprosy.

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[12-14] If leprosy breaks out on the skin: the symptoms described here point to a form of skin disease which is merely on the surface and therefore easily cured.

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[30] Scall: a scabby or scaly eruption of the scalp. According to some, "ringworm."

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[39] Tetter: vitiligo, a harmless form of skin disease.

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[47] A leprous infection: some mold or fungus growth resembling human leprosy.

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[4] Scarlet yarn: probably used for tying the hyssop sprig to the cedar branchlet.

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[5] Spring water: literally, "living water," taken from some source of running water, not from a cistern.

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[22] Two turtledoves: substitutes for the two additional lambs, similar to the offering of a poor woman after childbirth. Cf Lev 12:8.

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[23] What is added to the legislation by this verse is uncertain in both the Hebrew and the Greek.

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[2] The sanctuary, inside the veil: the innermost part of the sanctuary, known also as "the holy of holies." Cf Exodus 26:33-34. Here the high priest was allowed to enter only once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In Hebrews 9:3-12 this ceremony is applied to Christ's single act of Redemption, whereby he won for us an everlasting atonement. Propitiatory: see note on Exodus 25:17.

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missing foot note text

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[13] Else he will die: the smoke is to conceal the resplendent majesty of God, the sight of which would strike any man dead.

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[23] This verse is best read after Lev 16:25. According to later Jewish practice the high priest again went into the holy of holies to remove the censer.

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[29] Mortify himself: literally, "afflict his soul"; traditionally understood by the Jews as signifying abstinence from all food. This is the only fast day prescribed in the Mosaic law.

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[3-5] The ancients considered blood the seat and sign of life, and therefore something sacred, even in animals. Cf Genesis 9:4-5. Hence, even the ordinary butchering of an animal for meat was looked upon as having a sacrificial character, so that it should be performed at the sanctuary. This law, however, could not be carried out without great difficulty when the Israelites were scattered throughout Palestine, and so was modified in Deut 12:20-22.

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[11] That atonement may thereby be made for your own lives: hence, the sacrifice of an animal was a symbolic act which substituted the victim's life for the life of the offerer, who thus acknowledged that he deserved God's punishments for his sins. This idea of sacrifice is applied in Hebrews 9-10 to the death of Christ, inasmuch as "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22).

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[6-18] These laws are formulated as directed to the male Israelites only, but naturally the same norms of consanguinity and affinity would apply to the women as well. Marriage, as well as casual intercourse, is here forbidden between men and women of the specified degrees of relationship.

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[16] With your brother's wife: it was the violation of this law which aroused the wrath of John the Baptist against Herod Antipas. Cf Mark 6:18. An exception to this law is made in Deut 25:5.

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[21] Immolated to Molech: the reference is to the Canaanite custom of sacrificing children to the god Molech. The little victims were first slain and then cremated. Cf Ezekiel 16:20-22; 20:26, 31; 23:37.

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[18] You shall love your neighbor as yourself: cited by our Lord as the second of the two most important commandments of God. Cf Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31. Although in the present context the word "neighbor" is restricted to "fellow countrymen," in Luke 10:29-37 Christ extends its meaning to embrace all men, even enemies. Cf also Matthew 5:43-45.

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[20-22] This law seems out of its proper context here; perhaps it stood originally after Lev 20:12. Female slave . . . given her freedom: reference is to the case treated of in Exodus 21:7-11.

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[23-25] Uncircumcised: by analogy with a newborn boy, the newly planted tree was considered impure until "circumcised" by offering to the Lord all the fruit it bore in the fourth year.

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[27] See note on Lev 21:5.

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[2] From the herd or from the flock: the only animals which could be used as sacrificial victims were either of the bovine class (bulls, cows and calves) or the ovine class (sheep and lambs, goats and kids). Excluded, therefore, were not only all wild animals, but also such "unclean" domestic animals as the camel and the ass. See note on Lev 11:1-3.

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[3] Holocaust: from the Greek word meaning "wholly burned," this is the technical term for the special type of sacrifice in which an entire animal except its hide was consumed in the fire on the altar. The primary purpose of this complete gift was to render glory and praise to God.

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[27] This verse is best read immediately after Lev 20:6.

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[1] Unclean for any dead person: by preparing the corpse for burial. Cf Numbers 6:6; 19:11-19.

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[5] Such mourning customs of the Canaanites were forbidden to all the Israelites, but especially to the priests. Cf Lev 19:27-28.

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[6] Sacred: the same Hebrew word has both the active meaning of "holy," that is, keeping oneself free from profane impurities, and the passive meaning of "sacred," that is, set apart from what is profane and therefore treated with religious reverence.

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[10] Bare his head: see note on 10:6.

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[11] The sabbath: according to the Jewish tradition this was the feast day itself, the fifteenth of Nisan, which was a special day of rest. Cf Lev 23:7. However, some understand here the Saturday of the Passover week, or even the Saturday following it; cf John 19:31.

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[14] Any bread: made from the new grain. The harvest had first to be sanctified for man's use by this offering to God.

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[16] The fiftieth: from the Greek word for this we have the name "Pentecost." Cf 2 Macc 12:31; Acts 2:1. It was also called "the feast of the Seven Weeks," or simply "the feast of Weeks" (Numbers 28:26; Deut 16:10; Tobit 2:1). The new cereal offering: of flour made from the new grain. Pentecost was the thanksgiving feast at the end of the grain harvest, which began after Passover. Later tradition made it a commemoration of the giving of the law at Sinai.

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[34] Feasts of Booths: the joyful observance of the vintage and fruit harvest. Cf Deut 16:13. During the seven days of the feast the Israelites camped in booths of branches erected on the roofs of their houses or in the streets in commemoration of their wanderings in the desert, where they dwelt in booths.

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[40] Foliage: literally, "fruit," but here probably used in the general sense of "produce, growth." These branches were used for constructing the "booths" or huts in which the people lived during the feast. Cf Nehemiah 8:15. However, from about the time of Christ on, the Jews have understood this of "fruit" in the strict sense; hence, branches of lemons and oranges were carried with the other branches in joyous procession.

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[5-7-9] As long as the produce of the sabbatical year remains on the field, it remains available to everyone; cf Lev 25:12. In Exodus 23:10-11 the poor and the wild beasts that have no other source of nourishment are alone mentioned.

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[10] Fiftieth year: to arrive at this number, the preceding year of jubilee is included in the count, and therefore this is more exactly the forty-ninth year, the seventh sabbatical year. Liberty: Israelite slaves were set free (Lev 25:50) and landed property was returned to its original owner (Lev 25:13): two important laws for preserving the social and economic equilibrium. Jubilee: derived from the Hebrew word yobel, "ram's horn," which was blown on this occasion.

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[3-45] Since God's covenant was with the Israelite nation as a whole, these promises and threats are made primarily to the entire community. The rewards and punishments are of a temporal nature because the community as such exists only here on earth, not in the hereafter.

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[29] Eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters: extreme famine in cities under siege often forced their inhabitants to such dire means of subsistence. Cf Deut 28:53; Jeremiah 19:9; Ezekiel 5:10; 2 Kings 6:28-u29.

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[46] The Book of Leviticus seems originally to have ended here; the following chapter is an appendix.

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[12] Determine its value: fix the price at which the animal may be sold to someone else. Only the original owner must pay the twenty percent tax, as a penalty for buying back what he had vowed to God. So also for houses and fields that are vowed to the Lord, as treated of in the following verses. The money from the sale or from the redemption of such vowed property naturally goes to the sanctuary.

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[27] An unclean animal: such as the first-born of an ass, which was unfit for sacrifice. According to Exodus 13:13; 34:20, a first-born ass was to be redeemed by offering a sheep in its stead, or was to have its neck broken. The present law is probably a later modification of the earlier one.

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[29] All human beings that are doomed: according to some interpreters, this signifies the idolatrous Canaanites, who were doomed to destruction by divine authority; according to others, this drastic law was enacted for the purpose of discouraging private persons from rashly vowing their slaves or other dependents as offerings to God. Cf Exodus 22:19; Deut 13:13-19.

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[2] Token offering: literally, "reminder." Instead of burning the whole cereal offering, they burned only this part of it on the altar; it thus corresponded to the fat of the peace offering. See note on Lev 3:1.

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[13] The salt of the covenant of your God: the partaking in common of salt by those seated together at table was an ancient symbol of friendship and alliance. Cf Mark 9:49 and Col 4:6; and see note on Numbers 18:19.

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[1] Peace offering: thus the ancient versions have rendered the Hebrew word, which perhaps means more exactly, "fulfillment sacrifice," offered up in fulfillment of a vow. Cf Proverb 7:14. Its characteristic feature was the sacred banquet at which the offerer and his guests partook of the meat of the sacrificed animal. Cf Lev 7:11-21.

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[4] The lobe of the liver: some render, "the fatty covering of the liver."

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[9] The whole fatty tail: see note on Exodus 29:22.

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[17] Any fat: only the fat mentioned in Lev 3:9-10, 14-15 is meant; other fat could be eaten by the Israelites.

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[2] A sin: not necessarily a moral fault; included are all the cases of ritual uncleanness which people necessarily incurred in certain unavoidable circumstances.

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[3] The anointed priest: his violation of the ceremonial law brought a sort of collective guilt on all the people whom he represented before God. Sin offering: more exactly, "sacrifice for remitting sin"; sin is here understood as explained above.

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[15] Cheating: not offering the full amount in tithes, first fruits, etc. Guilt offering: its characteristic was a certain additional penalty imposed as reparation for the injustice involved in the fault which was atoned for by this sacrifice. However, in certain passages, e.g., Lev 14:12- 13; Numbers 6:12; Ezra 10:19, the term "guilt offering" is used for more important cases of "sin offerings" where no apparent injustice is involved.

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[17] Without being aware of it: the case naturally presupposes that later on the offender learns of his mistake. Cf Lev 4:13, 14.

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[2] Ritual: literally, "law, instruction." Here, and in the following paragraphs, are given additional prescriptions for various kinds of sacrifices which were, in part, treated of in the preceding chapters.

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[12-16] This is another law about the daily or "established" cereal offering. It differs in some respects from the preceding law (Lev 6:7-11) and also from the law in Exodus 29:38-42. Hence, the words on the day he is anointed were probably added by some later scribe in order to avoid the difficulty of harmonizing this law with the other two laws on the same matter.

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[13] Leavened bread: these loaves were not burned on the altar (cf Lev 2:11), but were eaten at the "communion" meal which followed the sacrifice. See note on Lev 3:1.

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[23] The fat: only the particular portions specified in Lev 3:9- 10,14-15 are meant. Ox or sheep or goat: such animals as could be sacrificed; the fat of other clean animals could be eaten.

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[30-34] A wave offering . . . a raised offering: these ceremonies are described in Exodus 29:24-28. The Hebrew word for "raised offering" is also rendered, in certain contexts, as "contribution."

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[35] The priestly share: literally, "the anointed part."

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[1-9, 21] Though presented in the form of a narrative, this description of Aaron's ordination was intended to serve as a guide for all future ordinations.

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[2] The vestments, etc.: already described in Exodus 28-29.

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[8] The Urim and Thummim: see note on Exodus 28:30.

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[34] The sense is not quite clear. Either the verse gives merely the reason why God ordered this ceremony, or it contains God's command that the same ceremony be used in all future ordinations, or it decrees a repetition of the entire ceremony on each of the seven days. At least a sin offering for atonement was made on each of these days. Cf Exodus 29:29-36.

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[3-5] The thought passes from the person Esau to his descendants, Edom, and from the person Jacob to his descendants, Israel. Loved: preferred; hated: rejected; cf Genesis 25:21-23. St. Paul uses this passage as an example of God's freedom of choice in calling the Gentiles to the faith (Romans 9:13).

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[8] The offering in sacrifice of a lame, sick or blind animal was forbidden in the law (Lev 22:17-25; Deut 17:1).

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[10-11] The imperfect sacrifices offered without sincerity by the people of Judah are displeasing to the Lord. He will rather be pleased with the offerings of the Gentile nations throughout the world (from the rising of the sun, even to its setting), which anticipate the pure offering to be sacrificed in messianic times, the universal Sacrifice of the Mass, as we are told by the Council of Trent.

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[3] I will deprive you of the shoulder: this part of a sacrificial animal, allotted by the law (Deut 18:3) to the priests, will be withheld from them.

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[10-1] Intermarriage of Israelites with foreigners was forbidden according to Deut 7:1-4. After the exile this law was strictly enforced (Ezra 9-10). Foreign marriages are here portrayed as a violation of the convenant (Malachi 2:10), which made the sacrifices offered by the offenders unacceptable to God (Malachi 2:13). They were all the more reprehensible when accompanied by the divorce of Israelite wives (Malachi 2:14-16). This gradual return to the primitive ideal of the indissolubility of marriage was fully realized in New Testament times through the teaching of Christ; cf Matthew 19:3-12.

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[1] My messenger . . . before me: in Malachi 3:23 this messenger is called Elijah. In Matthew 11:10 these words are quoted by Christ as referring to John the Baptizer, who prepared the way for the coming of the Savior; cf Matthew 3:1-3, 11-12; 17:11-13; Mark 1:2-8; Luke 3:2-18; John 1:31-34.

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[6-7] God is faithful to his promises. He will not abandon the Israelites, who are still his people.

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[10] Storehouse: the temple treasury.

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[16] Record book: see note on Exodus 32:32.

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[23] (23)Elijah: described in 2 Kings 2:11 as taken heavenward in a fiery chariot. Here his return to earth seems to be foretold. Jewish tradition has interpreted this literally; Christ declared it to be fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptizer (Matthew 17:10-13).

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[24] (24)The words in fine print, a repetition of Malachi 3:23 have been added by the scribes so that the collection of the twelve minor prophets will not end with the threat of doom.

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[2] His holy temple: God's heavenly temple; the prophet pictures a theophany (Micah 1:3-4).

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[7] The comparison of the unfaithful people with a prostitute, first found in Hosea, is frequent with the prophets; probably ritual prostitution is meant; cf Amos 2:7-8; Hosea 4:14.

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[10-15] The Judean cities here named were in the vicinity of Moresheth, the region with which Micah was most familiar. They were to experience divine chastisement. In the Hebrew, wordplays on the names of these cities abound. The text is partly obscure.

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[16] Shaving the head was a sign of mourning; cf Isaiah 3:24; Amos 8:10.

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[2] Land monopoly, also denounced by Isaiah, was a chronic vice in Judah. To protect the poor against it, a man's inheritance, his ancestral property, was supposed to be inviolate; cf 1 Kings 21:1-4; but the wealthy in their greed were enslaving men for their debts and depriving them of their land.

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[5] To mark our boundaries by lot: an allusion to the initial distribution of the land of Palestine among the Israelites; cf Joshua 13-21. The appropriate punishment of those greedy for land will be the loss of their land to their enemies (Micah 2:4), a loss that will be irrevocable.

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[6-7] The words in quotation marks are the protestations of the people against the prophet's predictions of doom.

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[9] The honor I gave them: their dignity as free Israelites.

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[10] A crippling pledge: Israelite law forbade exacting pledges for loans that would work hardship on the borrower (Exodus 22:25-26; Deut 24:6, 10-13, 17); but the law was habitually violated.

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[12-13] The messianic passage concerning the restoration after the Babylonian exile seems out of place here and is probably a later addition.

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[5-8] Almost all the prophetic books contain oracles against the false prophets. Here Micah accuses them of prophesying for venal motives and determining the prophecy by the price that is paid them; he contrasts his own disinterested preaching of the word of God.

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[1-3] See note on Isaiah 2:2-4.

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[8] Magdal-eder: "tower of the flock," an ancient place name (cf Genesis 35:21), here used symbolically of Jerusalem.

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[10] For now . . . your enemies: probably a later addition to the text, when the prediction of exile had been fulfilled in the Babylonian captivity. The prophet sees the exile as the means whereby God will purify and restore his people.

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[14] Bat-gader: "fenced-in maiden," another symbolic name for Jerusalem, then under siege from the Assyrians.

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[1] In contrast to Bat-gader (Micah 4:13(14)), where the ruler of Israel, the reigning king, is in peril of his life from the Assyrians, is the tiny city and clan of Bethlehem-Ephrathah, from which comes the ancient Davidic dynasty (whose origin is from of old, from ancient times) with its messianic King, one who is to be ruler in Israel.

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[2] She who is to give birth: the mother of the Messiah; cf Isaiah 7:14.

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[4-5] This passage, expressing confidence in Judah's ability to deliver itself from Assyria, is in contrast with the preceding messianic oracle, which ascribes deliverance to the Lord and his agent. Some believe that here the prophet is quoting the words of the defiant men of Judah. The shepherds and men of royal rank are one and the same: warriors capable of routing Assyria. The same kind of numerical progression is used by Amos (Amos 1:3), and elsewhere in the Bible.

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[5] Nimrod: the legendary ancestor of the Mesopotamians; cf Genesis 10:10-12.

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[9-13] Part of the messianic restoration will consist in the removal of everything that has drawn Israel away from the Lord; this includes not only the objects of false worship, but also the armaments in which the idolaters had trusted.

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[12-14] Sacred pillars . . . sacred poles: see note on Exodus 34; 13.

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[5] From Shittim to Gilgal: from the east to the west side of the Jordan; the events described in Joshua 3-5 are meant. The text is defective; however, it is evident that this verse continues the remembrance of God's deeds of mercy to Israel, beginning with the Exodus (Micah 6:4) and extending to the conquest, deeds which have provoked so little response from his people.

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[6-8] The people ask how they shall worship the Lord, proposing the various forms of sacrifice. The prophet replies that sacrifice avails nothing without the true spirit of religion. This is one of the best expressions of the prophetic teaching on religion, the preparation for such New Testament passages as James 1:27.

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[7] Shall I give my first-born: through Canaanite influence the abominable practice of human sacrifice had been introduced under impious kings (cf 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6).

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[9] The city: Jerusalem as the embodiment of the crimes of the entire land.

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[5-6] Corresponding to the widespread civil corruption and apostasy from religion is the breakdown of normal human and family relations.

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[8-10] The unnamed enemy of Judah mentioned in these verses may be Assyria or one of the neighboring countries, such as Edom, which stood by to profit at Judah's downfall.

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[11-13] This prophecy of restoration and repopulation of the promised land by the Jews now in exile appears to be from the period after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (587 B.C.).

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[14-17] This prayer appears to be from the time after the return from exile (537 B.C.), when the people, few in number, possessed only a fragment of their former land, and were surrounded by hostile nations.

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[2-8] A poem written in the style of the alphabetic psalms; cf Psalm 9A;25;111;119. Here, however, most of the verses beginning with the letters of the second half of the alphabet are not preserved.

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[2] A jealous . . .God: see note on Exodus 20:5.

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[4] Bashan, Carmel and Lebanon were famous for their forests.

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[6-7] The coming of God in judgment has two aspects: to those who oppose him it will be unbearable; to those who have recourse to him it will bring strength and consolation.

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[9] What are you imputing to the LORD?: the people of Judah are asked what they think God has in mind.

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[11] (11)From you . . . the scoundrel planner: addressed to Nineveh, the capital city of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who besieged Jerusalem c. 700 B.C.

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[2] (2)The hammer comes up against you: the enemy is about to crush Nineveh.

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[5-6] The punishment of adulteresses.

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[8] No-amon: No was the Egyptian name of the capital of Upper Egypt, called Thebes by the Greeks; its tutelary deity was Amon. This great city was destroyed by the Assyrians in 663 B.C.

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[14] An ironic exhortation to prepare the city for a futile defense. Go down . . . brick mold: make bricks for the city walls.

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[1-39] This section belongs to the Nehemiah narrative rather than to that of Ezra. It is best read after Nehemiah 13:31. In view of all this: considering the situation described in Nehemiah 13:4-31.

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[1-19] This list of the family heads who lived in Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah is best read after Nehemiah 7:72a. It is basically the same as that given in 1 Chron 9:2-17 but there are many differences between the two lists.

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[10-11] Jeshua, the high priest when Zerubbabel was governor, i.e., the last decades of the sixth century B.C. (Haggai 1:1, 12, 14; 2:2, 4). He was the grandfather of Eliashib, the high priest at least in the early period of Nehemiah's governorship, i.e., 445-433 B.C. (Ezra 10:6; Nehemiah 3:1, 20, 21; 13:4, 7). Eliashib, in turn, was the grandfather of Johanan, a grown man, if not yet a high priest, at the time of Ezra, i.e., c. 400 B.C. (Ezra 10:6; and note). According to Josephus (Antiquites XI, v), whose testimony here is doubtful, Jaddua, son of Johanan, died as an old man about the time that Alexander the Great died, i.e., 323 B.C. If this list of the postexilic high priests, at least as far as Johanan, comes, as seems probable (cf Nehemiah 12:23), from the Chronicler himself and not from a later scribe, it is of prime importance for dating the Chronicler's work in the first decades of the fourth century B.C.

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[27-43] The dedication of the wall of Jerusalem took place, no doubt, soon after the restoration of the wall and its gates had been completed. Therefore, this section is best read after Nehemiah 6:15.

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[44-47] This account of the provisions made for the temple services is apparently a composition of the Chronicler. At that time: a mere connective; no particular time is meant, but the account fits best after that of the restoration of the temple (Ezra 6:13-18) in the days of Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:47). The gloss mentioning Nehemiah is not in the ancient Greek version.

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[1-3] These verses were composed by the Chronicler to serve as an introduction to the reforms that Nehemiah instituted during his second mission in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 13:4-31). The part of the book of Moses read to the people is freely quoted here from Deut 23:3-6.

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[4-31] This is part of the "Memoirs of Nehemiah"; it is continued in 10:1-40.

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[6] After due time: It is not known when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem or how long his second period of activity there lasted, but it probably ended before Ezra came to Palestine; see note on Ezra 7:1-8.

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[24] Ashdodite: the language spoken at Ashdod, more likely an Aramaic rather than a Philistine dialect. Jewish: Hebrew as spoken in postexilic Judah.

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[1] The first mission of Nehemiah, from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I, lasted from the spring (Nehemiah 2:1) of 445 B. C. until 433 B. C. (Nehemiah 5:14). It is recounted in Nehemiah 1:1-6:15; 12:27-43; 6:16-7:5; 11:1-21 which may be read in that order.

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[11] Cupbearer to the king: an important official in the royal household. Because Nehemiah could appear in the queen's presence (Nehemiah 2:6), it is commonly presumed that he was a eunuch; but this is not necessarily so.

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[10] Sanballat the Horonite: the governor of the province of Samaria [Nehemiah 3:32(33,34)], apparently a native of one of the Beth-horons. A letter from the Jews living at Elephantine in southern Egypt, dated 408-407 B. C., mentions "Delayah and Shelemyah, the sons of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria." Although his own name was Babylonian-Sin-uballit, i.e., "Sin (the moon god) has given life"-his two sons had names referring to Yahweh. Tobiah, the Ammonite slave: the governor of the province of Ammon in Transjordan. His honorary title, "servant" (in Hebrew, ebed), i.e., of the king, could also be understood as slave, and Nehemiah no doubt meant it in this derogatory sense. The Tobiads remained a powerful family even in Maccabean times (2 Macc 3:11). Sanballat and Tobiah, together with Geshem the Arab (Nehemiah 2:19; 6:1, 2), who was probably in charge of Edom and the regions to the south and southeast of Judah, opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls on political grounds; the city was the capital of a rival province.

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[13-15] Nehemiah left Jerusalem by the Valley Gate near the northwestern end of the old City of David and went south down the Tyropoean Valley toward the Dragon Spring (or the En-rogel of Joshua 15:7; 18:16; 2 Sam 17:17; 1 Kings 1:9 now known as Job's Well) at the juncture of the Valley of Hinnom and the Kidron Valley; he then turned north at the Dung Gate (or the Potsherd Gate of Jeremiah 19:2) at the southern end of the city and proceeded up the wadi, that is, the Kidron Valley, passing the Spring Gate (at the Spring of Gihon) and the King's Pool (unidentified); finally he turned west and then south to his starting point.

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[20] Neither share nor claim nor memorial: although Sanballat and Tobiah were Yahwist, Nehemiah would not let them participate in any of the rights of the religious community in Jerusalem.

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[1-32] The construction work on the gates and walls of the city is described in counterclockwise direction, beginning and ending at the Sheep Gate (to the north of the temple). The exact sites of many of the topographical points mentioned are uncertain.

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[8] Wall of the public square: that is, the section of wall bounding the place of assembly outside the Gate of Ephraim, or New City Gate; cf Nehemiah 3:6; 8:16.

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[7] You are exacting interest from your own kinsmen!: contrary to the Mosaic law (Deut 23:20).

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[15] Elul: the sixth month (August-September). Fifty-two days: according to Josephus (Antiquities XI, v 8), the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah took two years and four months, which seems more probable.

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[17-19] These verses should be read immediately after v 14.

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[6-72a] See note on Ezra 2:1-67.

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[65, 69] His Excellency: see note on Ezra 2:63.

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[7:72b-8:18] To be read after Ezra 8:36. The gloss mentioning Nehemiah in Nehemiah 7:9 was inserted in this Ezra section after the dislocation of several parts of Ezra-Nehemiah had occurred. There is no clear evidence of a simultaneous presence of Nehemiah and Ezra in Jerusalem; Nehemiah 12:26; 12:36 are also scribal glosses.

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[1-5] This is a continuation of the account concerning the problem of mixed marriages at the time of Ezra; it should be read immediately after Ezra 10:44.

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[6-37] The prayer of Ezra which began in Ezra 9:6-7 is here continued; see note on Ezra 9:7.

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[10] Days of celebration: special holidays, such as the occasion of a victory. Festivals: the great annual feasts of the Passover, Pentecost and Booths described in Lev 23; Numbers 28-29.

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[30-33] Hobab wished to be coaxed before granting the favor. From Judges 1:16 it seems probable that he did accede to Moses' request.

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[33] The mountain of the LORD: Sinai (Horeb), elsewhere always called "the mountain of God."

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[3] Taberah means "the burning."

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[7] Coriander seed: see note on Exodus 16:31. Bdellium: a transparent, amber-colored gum resin, which is also mentioned in Genesis 2:12.

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[25] They prophesied: in the sense, not of foretelling the future, but of speaking in enraptured enthusiasm. Such manifestations of mystic exaltation occurred in the early days of Hebrew prophecy (1 Sam 10:10-12; 19:20-22) and in the first years of the Church (Acts 2:6-11, 17; 19:6; 1 Cor 12-14).

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[31] At a height of two cubits from the ground: exhausted by the storm, the quail could take but short, low flights, so that they were easily captured. To give food to the hungry people, God may have used the natural phenomenon of the annual migration of quail across the Sinai Peninsula. In the spring large flocks of these birds cross the Gulf of Aqabah flying toward the west; in the fall they fly back eastward from the Mediterranean. The sea mentioned here probably refers to the former body of water.

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[32] They spread them out: to cure by drying.

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[34] Kibroth-hattaavah means "graves of greed."

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[1] Cushite woman: apparently Zipporah, the Midianitess, is meant; cf Exodus 2:21. Perhaps the term is used here merely in the sense of "despised foreigner."

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[2] The real reason for Miriam's quarrel with her brother Moses was her jealousy of his superior position; his Cushite wife served only as an occasion for the dispute. Aaron merely followed his sister in her rebellion; hence she alone was punished.

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[10] A snow-white leper: afflicted with "white leprosy," a skin disease that generally is not serious or of long duration. Cf Lev 13:3-6.

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[16] Joshua: in Hebrew, "Jehoshua," which was later modified to "Jeshua," the Hebrew pronunciation of the name "Jesus." Hoshea and Joshua are variants of one original name meaning "the LORD saves." Cf Matthew 1:21.

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[21] The desert of Zin: north of Paran and southwest of the Dead Sea. It is quite distinct from "the desert of Sin" near the border of Egypt (Exodus 16:1; 17:1; Numbers 33:11). Labo of Hamath: a town near Riblah (Jeremiah 39:5-6) at the southern border of Hamath, an independent kingdom in southern Syria. David's conquests extended as far as Hamath (2 Sam 8:9-11), and Labo thus formed the northern border of the ideal extent of Israel's possessions (Numbers 34:7-9; Ezekiel 47:15; 48:1). Some commentators think that this verse is a later addition to the text; cf Deut 1:24.

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[22, 28] Anakim: an aboriginal race in southern Palestine, largely absorbed by the Canaanites before the Israelite invasion. Either because of their tall stature or because of the massive stone structures left by them the Israelites regarded them as giants.

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[23] Eshcol means "cluster."

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[33] Giants: in Hebrew, "nephilim." Cf Genesis 6:4.

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[9] They are but food for us: that is, "we can easily consume and destroy them." This is the answer to the pessimistic report that this land "consumes its inhabitants" (Numbers 13:32).

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[25] The valleys: the low-lying plains in the Negeb and along the seacoast and in the Jordan depression, as well as the higher valleys in the mountains farther north: cf Numbers 14:45.

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[28-29] God punished the malcontents by giving them their wish; cf Numbers 14:2. Their lack of faith and of confidence in God is cited in 1 Cor 10:10, and Hebrews 3:12-18, as a warning for Christians.

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[45] Hormah: one of the Canaanite royal cities in southern Judea (Joshua 12:14), known at this time as "Zephath"; the origin of the later name is told in 21:3; Judges 1:17.

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[2-16] These laws on sacrifice are complementary to those of Lev 1-3. Since the food of the Israelites consisted not only of meat but also of bread, oil and wine, so, besides the animal oblations, they offered flour, wine and oil in sacrifice to the Lord.

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[20] Dough: some render, "barley grits." This word is used elsewhere only in Ezekiel 44:30 and Nehemiah 10:33; a related Hebrew word is used in Lev 2:14.

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[22-24] Although no moral guilt is incurred by an inadvertent violation of God's commandments, the sanctity of the law can require some reparation even for such violations.

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[34] No clear decision: they already knew that a willful violation of the sabbath was a capital offense, but they did not yet know how the death penalty was to be inflicted.

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[38] Tassels: at the time of Christ these tassels were worn by all pious Jews, including our Lord (Matthew 9:20-21; Mark 6:56); the Pharisees wore very large ones in ostentation of their zeal for the law (Matthew 23:5).

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[1-3] The evidence seems to show that there were two distinct rebellions: one of Korah and his band (Numbers 27:3) and the other of Dathan and Abiram (Deut 11:6); cf Psalm 106. The present account combines both events into one narrative; but even here it is rather easy to separate the two, once certain proper names (Numbers 16:1, 6, 24, 32, 35) have been identified as glosses. The rebellion of the Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, was of a political nature, against Moses alone as the civil leader; these rebels were punished by being swallowed alive in an earthquake. The rebellion of Korah was of a religious nature, against the religious leadership of both Moses and Aaron; about two hundred and fifty malcontents joined Korah's band; they were punished by fire. The parts of the present section which refer to the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram are Numbers 16:12-15, 25-34; the rest of Numbers 16:35 and all of Numbers 17 concern the rebellion of Korah.

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[12] We will not go: to appear before Moses' tribunal.

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[14] Gouge out our eyes: blind us to the real state of affairs.

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[25] Since Dathan and Abiram had refused to go to Moses (Numbers 16:12-14), he, with the elders as witnesses, was obliged to go to their tent.

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[35] This verse continues 16:24; the first sentence is transposed from 16:27.

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[3] Whatever was brought into intimate contact with something sacred shared in its sacredness. See note on Numbers 19:20.

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[17] (17)The staff was not merely an article of practical use, but also a symbol of authority; cf Genesis 49:10; Numbers 24:17; Jeremiah 48:17. Hence, the staff of a leader of a tribe was considered the emblem of his tribe; in fact, certain Hebrew words for "staff" also mean "tribe." Perhaps for this reason, to avoid confusion, the author here uses the term "ancestral house" instead of the ordinary word for "tribe."

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[18] (18)Levi's staff: it is not clear whether this is considered as one of the twelve mentioned in the preceding verse, or as a thirteenth staff. Sometimes Levi is reckoned as one of the twelve tribes (e.g., Deut 27:12-13), but more often the number twelve is arrived at by counting the two sub-tribes of Joseph, i.e., Ephraim and Manasseh, as distinct tribes. In this passage also it seems probable that the tribe of Levi is considered apart from the other twelve.

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[27] (27,28)Logically these two verses belong immediately after Numbers 16:35.

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[1-3] This law, which kept unqualified persons from contact with sacred things, is the answer to the Israelites' cry in Numbers 17:13(28). It is followed by other laws concerning priests and Levites.

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[2] Associates: in Hebrew this word alludes to the popular etymology of the name "Levi." Cf Genesis 29:34.

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[4] Layman: here, "one who is not a Levite"; in Numbers 18:7, "one who is not a priest."

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[7] Veil: the outer veil, or "curtain," is probably meant.

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[8-10] Two classes of offerings are here distinguished: the most sacred offering, which only the male members of the priestly families could eat, and the other offerings, which even the women of the priestly families could eat (Numbers 18:11-19).

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[11] Wave offering: this included the breast and right leg (Numbers 18:18), the shoulder of the peace offering (Lev 7:30-34), and portions of the nazirite sacrifice (Numbers 6:19-20).

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[14] Doomed: in Hebrew, herem, which means here "set aside from profane use and made sacred to the Lord." Cf Lev 27:21, 28,

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[19] An inviolable covenant: literally, "a convenant of salt." Cf 2 Chron 13:5. The reference may perhaps be to the preservative power of salt (cf Matthew 5:13); but more likely the phrase refers to the custom of partaking of the same salt in common to render a contract unbreakable. See note on Lev 2:13.

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[20] The priests and Levites were forbidden to own hereditary land such as the other Israelites possessed; therefore in the allotment of the land they were not to receive any portion of it. Certain cities, however, were assigned to them for their residence; cf 35:1-8.

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[3] Outside the camp: several Fathers of the Church saw in this a prefiguring of the sacrificial death of Christ outside the walls of Jerusalem; cf John 19:20; Hebrews 13:12; in the purifying water, into which the ashes of the red heifer were put, they saw a type of the water of Baptism.

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[4] Toward the front of the meeting tent: since the tabernacle faced the east (Exodus 26:15-30), the killing of the heifer took place east of the camp; in later times it was done on the Mount of Olives, east of the Temple.

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[17-19] "If . . . the sprinkled ashes of a heifer sanctify the unclean unto the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ . . . cleanse your conscience from dead works?" (Hebrews 9:13-14).

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[20] Ritual uncleanness is, as it were, contagious, so also sacredness; see note on Numbers 17:3.

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[2] All Israel was divided into tribes, each tribe into clans, and each clan into ancestral houses.

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[16] Troops: literally "thousands"; this division of the Israelites, with its subdivisions of "hundreds, fifties and tens," was primarily for military and judicial purposes. Cf Exodus 18:21; 2 Sam 18:1.

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[47] The Levites were not enrolled in this census, which was principally for military purposes, but a separate census was made of them. Cf Numbers 3:15-16, 39.

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[1] The first month: we would expect the mention also of the day and of the year (after the exodus) when this took place; cf similar dates in Numbers 1:1; 10:11; 33:38; Deut 1:3. Here the full date seems to have been lost. Probably the Israelites arrived in Kadesh in the third year after the exodus. Cf Deut 1:46. The desert of Zin: a barren region with a few good oases, southwest of the Dead Sea. See note on Numbers 13:21.

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[11] Twice: perhaps because he had not sufficient faith to work the miracle with the first blow. Cf Numbers 20:12.

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[12-13] The sin of Moses and Aaron consisted in doubting God's mercy toward the ever-rebellious people. In showing forth my sanctity: God's sacred power and glory: an allusion to the name of the place, Kadesh, which means "sanctified, sacred." Meribah means "contention." Cf Exodus 17:7.

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[14] Your brother Israel: the Edomites were descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob. Their country, to the southeast of the Dead Sea, was also known as Seir; cf Genesis 25:24-26; 36:1; 8- 9.

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[17] The royal road: an important highway, running north and south along the plateau east of the Dead Sea. In ancient times it was much used by caravans and armies; later it was improved by the Romans, and large stretches of it are still clearly recognizable.

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[22] Mount Hor: not definitively identified, but probably to be sought in the vicinity of Kadesh. According to Deut 10:6 Aaron died at Moserah (cf "Moseroth" in Numbers 33:30-31), which is apparently the name of the region in which Mount Hor is situated.

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[1-3] The account of this episode seems to be a later insertion here, for Numbers 21:4, belongs logically immediately after Numbers 20:29. Perhaps this is the same event as that mentioned in Judges 1:16-17.

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[20] Jeshimon: "the wasteland"; in 1 Sam 23:19, 24; 26:1, 3 this is the desert of Judah, on the western side of the Dead Sea, but here and in Numbers 23:28, it seems to refer to the southern end of the Jordan valley where Beth-jeshimoth was situated.

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[29] Chemosh: the chief god of the Moabites, and mentioned as such in the famous inscription of Mesha, king of Moab, who was the contemporary of the dynasty of Omri in Israel. Cf 1 Kings 11:7, 33; 2 Kings 23:13; Jeremiah 48:7, 13.

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[3] Hormah: related to the Hebrew word herem, meaning "doomed." See notes on Numbers 14:45; 18:14.

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[5] This wretched food: apparently the manna is meant.

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[6] Saraph: the Hebrew name for a certain species of venomous snakes; the word probably signifies "the fiery one," these snakes being so called from the burning effect of their poisonous bite.

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[8] If anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover: "and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting" (John 3:14-15).

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[9] King Hezekiah, in his efforts to abolish idolatry, "smashed the bronze serpent which Moses had made" (2 Kings 18:4).

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[11] lye-abarim probably means "the ruins in the Abarim (Mountains)." See note on Numbers 27:12.

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[14] The "Book of the Wars of the LORD": an ancient collection of Israelite songs, now lost. Waheb in Suphah: since neither place is mentioned elsewhere, it is quite uncertain whether these dubious Hebrew words are even to be considered as place names; some Hebrew words apparently lost must have preceded this phrase.

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[16] Beer means a well.

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[1] The plains of Moab: the lowlands to the northeast of the Dead Sea, between the Jordan and the foothills below Mount Nebo. Here the Israelites remained until they crossed the Jordan, as told in Joshua 1-4. Jericho lay to the west of the Jordan.

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[6] Curse this people for us: Balak believed that if Balaam forecast an evil omen for Israel, this evil would come to pass, as if by magic. Balaam was a soothsayer or foreteller; cf Joshua 13:22.

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[22] The anger of God flared up: not merely because Balaam was going to Balak, for he had God's permission for the journey (Numbers 22:20), but perhaps because he was tempted by avarice to curse Israel against God's command. "They have followed the way of Balaam, son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing" (2 Peter 2:15); "and have rushed on thoughtlessly into the error of Balaam for the sake of gain" (Judges 1:11). Cf Numbers 22:32 and compare Exodus 4:18-26.

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[7] Aram: the ancient name of the region later known as Syria. The Eastern Mountains: the low ranges in the Syrian desert near the Euphrates and Balaam's town of Pethor; cf Numbers 22:5.

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[9] A people that lives apart: Israel, as the chosen people of God, occupied a unique place among the nations, from which they kept themselves aloof.

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[10] The dust of Jacob . . . Israel's wind-borne particles: the Israelites will be as numerous as dust in a desert sandstorm. May I . . . as many as theirs: a formula by which Balaam swears he is speaking the truth; he sees the reward of virtue in having numerous descendants.

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[13] To another place: Balak thought that if Balaam would view Israel from a different site, he could forecast a different kind of omen.

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[21] Misfortune . . . misery: Balaam admits that he is unable to predict any evils for Israel.

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[22] A wild bull of towering might: the reference is to Israel, rather than to God.

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[10] Balak beat his palms: a sign of disclaiming any responsibility for paying the promised reward.

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[17] A star . . . a staff: many of the Fathers have understood this as a Messianic prophecy, although it is not referred to anywhere in the New Testament; in this sense the star is Christ himself, just as he is the staff from Israel; cf Isaiah 11:1. But it is doubtful whether this passage is to be connected with the "star of the Magi" in Matthew 2:1-12. The Shuthites: mentioned in other documents of this period as nomads on the borders of Palestine.

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[20] First: literally "the beginning." Amalek was an aboriginal people in Palestine and therefore considered as of great antiquity. There is a deliberate contrast here between the words first and end.

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[21] The Kenites lived in high strongholds in the mountains of southern Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula, and were skilled in working the various metals found in their territory. Their name is connected, at least by popular etymology, with the Hebrew word for "smith"; of similar sound is the Hebrew word for "nest"-hence the play on words in the present passage.

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[23-24] The translation of this short oracle is based on a reconstructed text and is rather uncertain. Ishmael: the survival of Ishmael is indicated in Genesis 17:20; 21:13, 18.

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[1] Shittim: the full name was Abel-shittim, a locality at the foot of the mountains in the northeastern corner of the plains of Moab (Numbers 33:49). Illicit relations: perhaps as part of the licentious worship of Baal of Peor.

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[4] Hold a public execution: the same phrase occurs in 2 Sam 21:6-14 where the context shows that at least a part of the penalty consisted in being denied honorable burial. In both passages, dismemberment as a punishment for the breaking of covenant pledges is a current understanding of the phrase.

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[6] Midianite woman: at this time the Midianites were leagued with the Moabites in opposing Israel; cf Numbers 22:4, 7. Balaam had induced both the Midianites (Numbers 31:16) and the Moabites (Rev 2:14) to lure the Israelites to the obscene rites of Baal of Peor. They were weeping: on account of the plague that had struck them; cf Numbers 25:8.

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[11] For my honor: by taking vengeance on those who had made Baal of Peor a rival of the Lord.

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[14-15] The nobility of the slain couple is mentioned in order to stress the courage of Phinehas in punishing them. The zeal of Phinehas became proverbial; cf Psalm 106:30; Sirach 45:23; 1 Macc 2:26, 54.

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[16-18] The account of the execution of this command is given in Numbers 31:1-18.

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[19] This is the last verse of Numbers 25.

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[12] Nemuel: so also in Genesis 46:10; 1 Chron 4:24. In Exodus 6:15, the same man is called "Jemuel"; it is uncertain which form is correct.

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[52-56] The division of Canaan among the various tribes and clans and families was determined partly by the size of each group and partly by lot. Perhaps the lots determined the respective locality of each tribal land and the section reserved for each clan, while the relative size of the allotted locality and section depended on the numerical strength of each group. The Hebrews considered the outcome of the drawing of lots as an expression of God's will; cf Acts 1:23-26.

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[3] He did not join . . . against the LORD: had he done so, he and his heirs could have rightly been deprived of the privilege of receiving a portion in the Promised Land.

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[5-11] The purpose of this law, as also that of the related laws in Numbers 36:2-10 (heiresses to marry within the same tribe), Deut 25:5-10 (levirate marraige), and Lev 25:10 (return of property in the jubilee year), was to keep the landed property within the proper domain of each tribe.

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[12] The Abarim Mountains: the range on the eastern side of the Dead Sea.

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[16] The God of the spirits of all mankind: the sense is either that God knows the character and abilities of all men and therefore knows best whom to appoint (cf Acts 1:24), or, more probably, that God is Master of life and death and therefore can call Moses from this world whenever he wishes; cf the same phrase in Numbers 16:22, where "spirit" evidently means "the life principle."

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[18] A man of spirit: literally, "a man in whom there is spirit": one who has the qualities of a good leader-courage, prudence, and strength of will. Cf Genesis 41:38; Deut 34:9.

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[21] The Urim: certain sacred objects which the Hebrew priests employed to ascertain the divine will, probably by obtaining a positive or negative answer to a given question. The full expression was "the Urim and Thummim"; cf Exodus 28:30; Lev 8:8; Deut 33:8; Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65. Joshua was ordinarily not to receive direct revelations from God as Moses had received them.

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[3] The established holocaust: "the tamid holocaust," the technical term for the daily sacrifice.

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[5] Oil of crushed olives: this oil, made in a mortar, was purer and more expensive than oil extracted in the olive press.

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[7] In the sanctuary: according to Sirach 50:15 it was at the base of the altar.

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[11] On the first of each month: literally, "at the new moons"; beginning on the evening when the crescent of the new moon first appeared.

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[16] On the fourteenth day: toward evening at the end of this day; cf Exodus 12:6, 18.

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[26] The day of first fruits: a unique term for this feast, which is usually called "the feast of Weeks"; it was celebrated as a thanksgiving for the wheat harvest seven weeks after the barley harvest (Passover). In the time of Christ it was commonly known by the Greek word "Pentecost," that is, "fiftieth" (day after the Passover); see note on Lev 23:16.

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[1] The first day of the seventh month (about September-October) is now the Jewish New Year's Day. In the older calendar the year began with the first of Nisan (March-April); cf Exodus 12:2.

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[7] The tenth day of this seventh month: the Day of Atonement. Mortify yourselves: literally, "afflict your souls," that is, with fasting.

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[11] The atonement sin offering: the bullock prescribed in Lev 16:11-12.

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[12] This feast of Booths celebrating the vintage harvest was the most popular of all and therefore had the most elaborate ritual. See note on Lev 23:34.

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[13] Thirteen bullocks: the number of bullocks sacrificed before the octave day was seventy, arranged on a descending scale so that the number on the seventh day was the sacred number seven.

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[35] A solemn meeting: the Hebrew word is the technical term for the closing celebration of the three major feasts of the Passover, Pentecost and Booths, or of other special feasts that lasted for a week. Cf Lev 23:36; Deut 16:8; 2 Chron 7:9; Nehemiah 8:18.

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[3-31] A similar arrangement of the tribes around the central sanctuary in the ideal Israelite state is given in Ezekial 48.

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[3] A vow . . . a pledge: here the former signifies the doing of some positive good deed, in particular the offering of some sacrifice; the latter signifies the abstaining from some otherwise elicit action or pleasure; cf Numbers 30:14.

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[11] In her husband's house: after her marriage. This contrasts with the case given in Numbers 30:7-9.

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[16] He countermands them: he prevents their fulfillment. Since he has first allowed the vows to remain valid, he can no longer annul them.

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[1-3] The narrative of Israel's relations with Midian, which was interrupted after Numbers 25:18, is now resumed.

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[8] The five Midianite kings: they are called "Midianite princes, Sihon's vassals" in Joshua 13:21.

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[17] (17)There are later references to Midian in Jdgs 6-8; 1 Kings 11:18; Isaiah 60:6. The present raid was only against those Midianites who were dwelling at this time near the encampment of the Israelites.

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[23] Lustral water: water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer as prescribed in Numbers 19:9.

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[27] Divide them evenly: for a similar division of the booty into two equal parts, between those who engaged in the fray and those who stayed with the baggage, cf 1 Sam 30:24. But note that here the tax on the booty of the noncombatants is ten times as much as that on the soldier's booty.

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[50] The precise nature and use of some of these articles of gold is not certain.

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[1] Gilead: the name of the western part of the plateau east of the Jordan, sometimes signifying the whole region from the Yarmuk to the Jordan, sometimes only the northern part of this region, and sometimes, as here, only its southern part. Jazer lay to the east of southern Gilead.

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[3] The places named in this verse, as well as the additional ones given in Numbers 32:34-38, were all in the former kingdom of Sihon, that is, in the region between the Jabbok and the Arnon. Cf Numbers 21:23, 24; Joshua 13:19-21, 24-27.

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[12] Kenizzite: a member of the clan of Kenaz, which, according to Genesis 36:11, 15, 42, was Edomitic; hence, although Caleb belonged to the tribe of Judah (Numbers 13:6;34:19), he must have had Edomite blood in his veins; cf also Joshua 14:6, 14.

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[20-22] Since the ark of the Lord was borne into battle with the Israelite army, the vanguard was said to march before the Lord.

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[33] The preceding is concerned solely with the two tribes of Gad and Reuben and with the land of the former kingdom of Sihon; hence it seems probable that the sudden reference here to the half-tribe of Manasseh and to their territory in Bashan, the former kingdom of Og, is a later addition to the text.

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[38] The phrase in brackets is a gloss, warning the reader either to change the order of the preceding names, or, more probably, to read some other word, such as bosheth, "shame," for Baal. They called by their old names: literally, "they called by their names" (see Textual Notes); however, some understand the current Hebrew text to mean, "they called by new names."

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[1-3] This list of camping sites was drawn up by Moses, as Numbers 33:2 expressly states. However, in its present form it probably includes some glosses. Moreover, a comparison with the more detailed accounts of the journey as given elsewhere shows that this list is not complete. It records just forty camping sites, not counting the starting place, Rameses, and the terminus, the plains of Moab. This number, which corresponds exactly to the forty years of wandering in the desert, is probably a schematic device. Besides, it seems that in its present form the order of some of these names has been disturbed. Several names listed here are not recorded elsewhere.

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[3-4] These two verses were probably borrowed from some ancient song celebrating the exodus from Egypt.

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[30-36] Moseroth is mentioned in Deut 10:6 (in the form of "Moserah"), as the place where Aaron died. It must therefore have been close to Mount Hor; cf Numbers 20:22-24. It seems very probable that the section Numbers 33:36b-41a stood orginally immediately after Numbers 33:30a.

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[40] The verse begins the same account of the victory over Arad as is given in Numbers 21:1-3, where it also follows the account of Aaron's death.

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[41b-49] It seems that this section stood originally immediately after Numbers 33:36a.

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[6] The Great Sea: the Mediterranean.

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[7-8] Mount Hor: different from the one where Aaron died; cf Numbers 20:22; 33:37, 38.

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[8] This provision was hardly observed in the actual assignment of the levitical cities as narrated in Joshua 21.

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[12] The avenger of blood: one of the close relatives of the slain (2 Sam 14:7) who, as executor of public justice, had the right and duty to take the life of the murderer; cf Deut 19:6, 12; Joshua 20:3, 5, 9.

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[16-25] Here, as also in Deut 19:1-13, there is a casuistic development of the original law as stated in Exodus 21:12-14.

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[4] Before the jubilee year various circumstances, such as divorce, could make such property revert to its original tribal owners; but in the jubilee year it became irrevocably attached to its new owners.

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[5-9] This is a supplement to the law given in Numbers 27:5-11.

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[25-26] The Gershonites had two wagons for transporting these things; cf Numbers 7:7. For a description of the Dwelling, see Exodus 26:1-6; the tent, Exodus 26:7-13; its covering, Exodus 26:14; the curtain at the entrance, Exodus 26:36; the hangings of the court, Exodus 27:9-15; the curtain at the entrance of the court, Exodus 27:16; the ropes of the Dwelling, Exodus 35:18.

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[31] The Kohathites had to carry these sacred objects on their shoulders; cf Numbers 7:9. For a description of the ark, see Exodus 25:10-22; the table, Exodus 25:23-30; the lampstand, Exodus 25:31-40; the altars, Exodus 27:1-8; 30:1-10.

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[36-37] The Merarites had four wagons for transporting this heavy material; cf Numbers 7:8. For a description of the boards, bars, etc., of the Dwelling, see Exodus 26:15-30; the columns, pedestals etc., of the court, Exodus 27:9-19.

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[3] Thirty: at a later period the Levites began to serve when they were twenty-five (Numbers 8:24) or even only twenty years old (1 Chron 23:24, 27; 2 Chron 31:17; Ezra 3:8; but cf 1 Chron 23:3).

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[5] The screening curtain: the veil between the inner and the outer rooms of the sanctuary. Cf Exodus 26:31-33.

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[11] The golden altar: the altar of incense. Cf Exodus 30:1-6.

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[13] The altar: the bronze altar of holocausts. Cf Exodus 27:1-8.

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[14] Forks: used in turning over the sacrificed animal on the fire of the altar. Basins: to receive the sacrificial blood; cf Zechariah 9:15.

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[2] For the laws regarding victims of leprosy, see Lev 13-14; those suffering from a discharge, Lev 15; the unclean by contact with a corpse, Numbers 19:11-22; Lev 21:1-4.

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[5-10] The basic law on unjust possession is given in Lev 5:14-19. The new item here concerns the case where the injured party has died and left no heirs, in which case the restitution must be made to the priest.

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[8] Next of kin: literally "redeemer," a technical term denoting the nearest relative, upon whom devolved the obligation of "redeeming" the family property, in order to keep it within the family. Cf Lev 25:25; Ruth 4:1-6.

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[17] Holy water: water from the laver that stood in the court of the Dwelling.

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[18] Appeal: by which she invokes the Lord and refers her case to his decision.

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[21] An example of malediction and imprecation: the woman's name would be used in curses and oaths to invoke a similar misfortune on another person or on oneself. Cf Isaiah 65:15; Jeremiah 29:22.

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[22] Amen: a Hebrew word meaning, "certainly, truly," used to give assent to a statement, a curse, a blessing, a prayer, or the like; in this sense of "so be it," the Christian liturgy also uses it after prayers and blessings.

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[31] Free from guilt:by fulfilling his obligation of obtaining a decision in the matter.

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[1-3] Nazirite: from the Hebrew word nazir, meaning "set apart as sacred, dedicated, vowed." The nazirite vow could be either for a limited period or for life. Those bound by this vow had to abstain from all the products of the grapevine, from cutting or shaving their hair, and from contact with a corpse. They were regarded as men of God like the prophets; cf Amos 2:11-12. Examples of lifelong nazirites were Samson (Judges 13:4-5, 7; 16:17), Samuel (1 Sam 1:11), and John the Baptizer (Luke 1:15). At the time of Christ the practice of taking the nazirite vow for a limited period seems to have been quite common, even among the early Christians; cf Acts 18:18; 21:23-24, 26.

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[25] Let his face shine: a Hebrew idiom for "smile."

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[26] Peace: the Hebrew word includes the idea of "prosperity, happiness."

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[12-88] The repetitious account of the same offerings brought by each of the twelve tribal princes and the summary of them are characteristic of an official registration.

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[6] Purify them: in the language of the Pentateuch only the priests were "consecrated," that is, made sacred or set aside for the Lord, in an elaborate ceremony described in Exodus 29; Lev 8. The Levites were merely "purified," that is, made ritually clean for their special work.

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[7] Water of remission: literally, "water of sin," that is, for the remission of sin.

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[21] Cleansed themselves of sin: by having the "water of remission" sprinkled on them as prescribed in Numbers 8:7.

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[14] An alien: this passage presupposes that he is already circumcised as prescribed in Exodus 12:48.

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[15] The cloud: already mentioned at the departure from Egypt; cf Exodus 13:21-22.

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[5] Something of value may escape the robber, and the vintager always leaves something for the gleaners, but God's devastation of Edom will be complete.

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[21] Saviors:the victorious Israelites who will rule over their enemies after the fashion of the ancient Judges; cf Judges 3:9, 15, 31; 10:1.

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[7] There is no understanding in him: Edom's faithless allies assure one another that he does not have sense enough to be able to defend himself.

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[8] The wise men: Edom was proverbial for its wise men; cf Jeremiah 49:7.

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[9] Teman: one of the names used for the land southeast of Palestine, here synonymous with Edom. Esau: here used as the name of the land.

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[10] Your brother Jacob: Esau, also called Edom, and Jacob, the father of Judah, were the sons of Isaac (Genesis 25:24-26).

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[11] After the devastation of Judah, Edom occupied the southern part of its territory. Edomites also joined the invading Chaldean forces (Obadiah 1:13) and assisted them in capturing the people of Judah (Obadiah 1:14).

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[16] As you have drunk: the Lord addresses the people of Judah. As the people of Jerusalem have drunk the cup of retribution, so shall the nations, and especially Edom (Obadiah 1:18), suffer punishment. This metaphorical use of drinking the cup of God's wrath is common in the Bible; cf Job 21:20; Isaiah 19:14; Jeremiah 25:15-16.

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[17-19] The Israelites shall be restored and shall occupy the lands of those who oppressed them. The survivors of Judah shall be rejoined by the returned exiles from northern Israel.

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[20] Zarephath: a town in Phoenicia, north of Tyre; cf 1 Kings 17:10. Ezekiel's ideal boundaries of the new Israel (Ezekiel 47:13-15) extend farther north. Sepharad: probably Sardis in western Asia Minor. The later rabbis thought it to be Spain.

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[10:1-22:16] The varied contents of this first collection of Solomon's proverbs apply mostly to individual life. Each of its three hundred and seventy-five proverbs is meant to be distinct from the others, developing one idea through contrasting parallelism in Prov 10-15, and a climactic treatment in Prov 16-22.

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[12] Love covers all offenses: a favorite maxim of the Apostles; cf 1 Cor 13:7; James 5:20; 1 Peter 4:8; Proverb 17:9.

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[15] The inspired author reflects upon the reality of the power of money and the defeat of poverty, without approving these things.

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[22] The blessing of God rather than our own industry crowns our efforts with success; cf Psalm 127:1-2; Matthew 6:25-34.

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[4] Wealth . . . death: not what a man is worth but what he is, counts before God.

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[14] Cf Matthew 7:17; Gal 6:8.

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[9] Light . . . lamp: symbols of life and prosperity; cf Proverb 4:18-19.

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[13] Word: advice, or God's law.

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[11] Nether world . . . abyss: the abode of the dead, signifying the profound obscurity which is open nevertheless to the sight and power of God.

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[16-17] Not the amount of temporal goods but the virtue of their possessor makes them a source of happiness.

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[1] Words, like actions, often produce results different from those which were planned.

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[4] Even the wicked, in their punishment, cannot escape glorifying God's justice.

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[10] Decisions of supreme judicial authority were presumed disinterested and correct.

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[33] The favorable or unfavorable result of chance depends on God. Deciding strifes and doubts by lot was practiced by the ancient Hebrews; cf Exodus 28:15-30; Lev 16:8; Joshua 7:14; 1 Sam 10:20-21.

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[2] Intelligence and ability are esteemed more highly than nobility of blood.

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[4] To justify his own evil ways, a wicked man judges evil of others. Cf Matthew 7:1-5.

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[19] Builds . . . high: a symbol of arrogance.

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[10-11] Religion is a strong support and sure refuge in the struggle of life. The rich foolishly rely on their wealth for such support.

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[12] Compare the Savior's words: "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted" (Matthew 23:12).

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[13] To speak without first listening is characteristic of a fool; cf Proverb 10:14; Sirach 11:8.

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[18] See note on Proverb 16:33.

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[20-21] Everyone must accept the consequences, of benefit or harm to himself, which his words produce.

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[17] Cf Matthew 25:34-40.

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[1-6] This prologue explains the purpose of the book: to educate the inexperienced in knowledge and right conduct, and to increase the learning of the wise man by proverbs, parables and riddles.

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[2] Discipline: education or formation which dispels ignorance and corrects vice.

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[4] Simple: immature and inexperienced, hence easily influenced for good or evil.

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[7] Fear of the LORD: reverential fear and respect for God on account of his sovereignty, goodness and justice toward men. This is the foundation of religion.

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[8-19] A warning against association with the greedy and the violent who seek to destroy the honest man and to steal his possessions (Proverb 1:11-14). The trap which the wicked set for the innocent (Proverb 1:11), in the end (Proverb 1:19) takes away the life of the wicked themselves.

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[17] Instructed by the wise man, the youth (of Proverb 1:4) will recognize the invitation of the wicked (Proverb 1:11-14) as a net spread before him, and he will thus, like the bird, be protected against falling into it.

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[20-33] Wisdom is here personified; with divine authority she sets forth and proclaims the moral order, instructing and threatening (Proverb 1:24-33) the multitudes in the streets and places of assembly.

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[28] Overtaken by doom, the foolish seek wisdom, but in vain because they do so too late. Cf John 7:34; 8:21.

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[31] Sinners are punished by the bad fruits which their sins produce. Cf Wisdom 11:16.

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[9] Man can be free of sin only by the power of God. Cf 1 Kings 8:46-48; Job 4:17; 14:4; Psalm 51:2-4; 130:3-4; Romans 3:23-24; 1 John 1:8.

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[14] What one wishes to buy is valued cheaply in order that it may be obtained at a low price; once purchased, it is deemed more valuable.

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[16] Caution is again advised in the matter of becoming surety; cf Proverb 6:1-3.

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[20] His lamp will go out: misfortune, even death, awaits him; cf Proverb 13:9; Exodus 21:17.

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[24] Man is dependent upon God and cannot fully foresee his own course.

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[25] This verse cautions against making vows without proper reflection; cf Deut 23:22-25; Eccl 5:4-5.

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[3] External rites or sacrifices do not please God unless accompanied by internal worship and right moral conduct; cf Proverb 15:8; 21:27; Isaiah 1:11-15; Amos 5:22; Malachi 1:12.

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[16] Assembly of the shades: cf note on Job 26:5.

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[18] Wicked . . . ransom for the just: exemplified in the history of God's chosen people whom he ransomed from Egypt at the cost of the life of Pharaoh and his army (Exodus 14:23-31), and from Babylon by giving to Cyrus, the Persian conqueror, Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba, the richest lands of the world (Isaiah 43:1-3).

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[13] To avoid the effort required for doing good, the sluggard exaggerates the difficulties that must be overcome.

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[16] Money gained by exploiting the poor is in turn lost to those who are more wealthy.

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[22:17-24:22] This collection of proverbs, introduced as sayings of the wise, is given in the more intimate and personal form of an address to a pupil called the son and is arranged in strophes instead of couplets.

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[22:17-23:35] The maxims warn against: oppression of the poor and defenseless (Proverb 22:22-23), anger (Proverb 22:24-25), giving surety for debts (Proverb 22:26-27), bad manners at a king's table (Proverb 23:1-2), anxiety for riches (Proverb 23:4-5), a grudging host (Proverb 23:6-8), intemperance in food and drink (Proverb 23:19-21, 29-35), and adultery (Proverb 23:26-28). They exhort to: careful workmanship (Proverb 22:29), respect for the rights of orphans (Proverb 23:10-11), correction of the young (Proverb 23:13-14), filial piety (Proverb 23:15-16, 22-25), and fear of the LORD (Proverb 23:17-18).

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[19-20] Amen-em-Ope:an Egyptian scribe to whom is attributed a collection of maxims in Thirty chapters (Proverb 22:20) composed for the instruction of his children and addressed to a young man who wishes to enter upon a career. The inspired editor of Proverbs does not translate these, but uses their materials in constructing a similar collection of proverbs.

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[2] Put a knife to your throat: a metaphor for self-restraint.

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[29-35] A vivid description of the evil effects, physical and psychological, of drunkenness.

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[35] Wine makes the drunkard insensible to bodily and moral harm. His one desire is to indulge again.

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[1-22] These verses continue an exhortation to wisdom (Proverb 24:3-7, 13-14), and against: violence (Proverb 24:1-2), pride and intrigue (Proverb 24:8-9), callousness (Proverb 24:10-12), injustice (Proverb 24:15-16), joy in the failure of others (Proverb 24:17-18) or scandal at their success (Proverb 24:19-20), and rebellion against authority (Proverb 24:21-22).

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[29] This verse indicates great progress from the principle of the law of Talion (see note on Exodus 21:23-25) toward the teaching found in Romans 12:17-19. Cf also Proverb 25:21-23.

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[7] At the gate: of the city, where justice was administered and public affairs discussed; see note on Ruth 4:1. Cf also Psalm 69:13; 127:5; Proverb 22:22; 31:23, 31.

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[10] Indifferent: to those who suffer unjustly.

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[11] Rescue . . . death: most probably refers to the legal rescue of those unjustly condemned to death.

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[16] The just man overcomes every misfortune which oppresses him. Seven times: i.e., an indefinite number; cf Matthew 18:21- 22; Luke 17:4.

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[21-22] One owes obedience to God and to supreme civil authority (Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:1-3; 1 Peter 2:13-14). The punishments for failure in either duty transcend the limits of private justice.

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[23-34] This collection of sayings continues in the same vein as the preceding: it instructs in fairness (Proverb 24:23-26) and preparation for the future (Proverb 24:27); and warns against vengeance (Proverb 24:28-29) and slothfulness (Proverb 24:30-34).

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[26] He gives a kiss on the lips: shows himself a true friend.

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[27] This verse is commonly interpreted as advocating careful and practical preparation for marriage.

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missing foot note text

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[6-7] Compare the lesson on humility which was taught by Christ (Luke 14:7-11).

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[21-22] Charity is invaluable in resolving enmities and restoring peace. Live coals: i.e., either remorse and embarrassment for the harm done, or increased punishment for refusing reconciliation. Cf Matthew 5:44; Romans 12:20.

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[27] Nor . . . honor after honor: the text is uncertain.

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[1-28] Concrete images describe the vices of fools (Proverb 26:1-12), of sluggards (Proverb 26:13-16), of meddlers (Proverb 26:17-19), of talebearers (Proverb 26:20-22), and of flatterers (Proverb 26:23-28).

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[4-5] There is no contradiction between these two proverbs. In any answer the wise man gives he must protect his own interest against the fool.

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[7-9] The fool abuses whatever knowledge he possesses.

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[25] Seven abominations: many evil intentions.

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[13] See note on Proverb 20:16.

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[14] The loud voice suggests hypocrisy in the greeting.

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[23-27] The land of Palestine was very suitable for flocks and herds, which formed the principal source of wealth for their owners.

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[2] The meaning of this poorly preserved verse seems to be that frequent changes of rulers often result from moral corruption and political disorder.

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[4] The law: religious and moral teaching.

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[8] Interest and overcharge were strictly forbidden in the old law among Israelites because it was presumed that the borrower was in distress; cf Exodus 22:25; Lev 25:35-37; Deut 23:19; Psalm 15:5; Ezekiel 18:8. Civil and divine law will take the offender's wealth from him.

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[9] Prayers offered in bad faith are displeasing to God.

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[13] God gives life to all classes of people; cf Proverb 22:2.

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[24] Is his own enemy: because he not only incurs guilt as an accomplice but, by his silence, brings down on himself the curse invoked on the unknown guilty partner.

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[Chapters 2-7] These chapters form an ordered discourse in seven "columns" of twenty-two verses each. Chapter 2 introduces the four topics about which the sage instructs his pupil: the service of God (Proverb 3:1-12, 25-34) the search for wisdom (Proverb 3:13-24, 35; 4:1-9), the avoidance of evil companions among men (Proverb 4:10-27; 5:21-23), and among women (5:1-20; 6:20-7:27). The last topic is treated at a length equal to the first three because the discourse is meant especially for youths (cf Proverb 1:4).

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[1-22] The search for wisdom (Proverb 2:1-4) leads to the protection of God (Proverb 2:5-8) and of wisdom herself (Proverb 2:9-11; cf Proverb 1:20-33) and to deliverance from evil men (Proverb 2:12-15) and evil women (Proverb 2:16-19), and so to lasting happiness (Proverb 2:20-22).

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[2-3] Wisdom, understanding, intelligence: various names or aspects of the same gift.

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[1-3] Agur wishes to stress man's insignificance when he is compared to God; cf Job 38-39.

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[1] Agur: an unknown person. Massaite: from Massa in northern Arabia, elsewhere referred to as an encampment of the Ishmaelites (Genesis 25:14). But the word may not be intended as a place name; it might signify "an oracle," "a prophecy."

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[11-14] Perverted people are here classified as unfilial (Proverb 30:11), self-righteous (Proverb 30:12), proud (Proverb 30:13) and rapacious (Proverb 30:14).

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[15-17] The two daughters . . . "Give, Give": the text is obscure but the sense seems to be that the leech is insatiable in its desire for blood, just as desire for blood, just as are the nether world for victims, the barren womb for offspring, the parched earth for water, and fire for fuel (Proverb 30:16).

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[18-19] The soaring flight of the eagle, the mysterious movement upon a rock of the serpent which has no feet, the path of the ship through the trackless deep, and the marvelous procreation of human life, excite great wonderment.

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[20] This verse portrays the indifference of an adulterous woman who thinks there is no trace of her wicked act.

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[26] Rock-badgers: cf note to Psalm 104:18.

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[32-33] The anger aroused by overweening pride threatens an awesome punishment.

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[12] Good, and not evil: i.e., prosperity, not adversity.

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[14] Merchant: literally, "Canaanite" (cf Proverb 31:24), probably because the merchant class had been composed chiefly of Canaanites.

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[18] Her lamp is undimmed: indicates abundance of productive work and its accompanying prosperity; cf Proverb 20:20; Job 18:6.

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[25] Laughs at the days to come: anticipates the future with gladness free from anxiety.

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[30] The true charm of the ideal wife is her religious spirit, for she fears the LORD; cf note on Proverb 1:7.

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[1-12] Many are the rewards for fidelity and trust in God, and for diffidence of self (Proverb 3:1-8). Cf Deut 30:20; Isaiah 38:19. The offering of material things for divine worship is blessed by an increase of such goods (Proverb 3:9-10). Even correction and chastisement are a mark of God's love and favor (Proverb 3:11-12).

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[13-24] Wisdom, or understanding, is more valuable than silver and gold. Its fruit is long life, riches, honor and happiness (Proverb 3:13-18). Even the creation of the universe and its adornment (Genesis 1) were not done without wisdom (Proverb 3:19-20). It is the life of the soul and gives security in work and in repose (Proverb 3:21-24).

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[15] Corals: some precious stone may be intended.

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[18] A tree of life: cf Proverb 11:30; 13:12; Genesis 2:9.

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[20] For the Hebrews, the depths enclosed the great subterranean ocean; the rain and dew descended from the celestial ocean above the firmament; cf Genesis 1:6-10; Job 26:8, 12; Psalm 18:15; 24:2.

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[25-34] Serving God with confidence in him (Proverb 3:25-26) requires serving one's neighbor through kindness (Proverb 3:27- 28), peace with the good (Proverb 3:29-31), no envy of the wicked (Proverb 3:31), because the Lord's friendship and kindness are with the just; his curse is with the wicked.

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[25] The ruin of the wicked: i.e., the ruin that comes upon the wicked.

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[1-9] The sage speaks as a father admonishing his children to secure wisdom at any cost.

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[10-27] The way of wisdom leads directly to life (Proverb 4:10-13); it is a light that grows brighter (Proverb 4:19[18]). The wise man is bound to shun (Proverb 4:14-17) the dark and violent path of the wicked (Proverb 4:18[19]). Singleness of purpose and right conduct proceed from the heart of a wise man as from the source of life Prov (4:23-26); they save him from destruction on evil paths (Proverb 4:27; 5:21-23).

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[18] (18)Till perfect day: literally, "till the day is established"; this may refer to full daylight or to noonday.

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[1-20] Understanding and discretion guard a man against the wiles of an adulteress, which lead astray and beget bitterness, bloodshed and death (Proverb 5:1-6). They destroy honor, waste the years of life, despoil hard-earned wealth, consume the flesh, and bring remorse in the end (Proverb 5:7-14). Conjugal fidelity and love for one wife only bring happiness and security (Proverb 5:15-20). Cf Proverb 6:20-7:27.

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[9] Honor: the words "life" and "wealth" have also been read in this place. A merciless one: the offended husband; cf Proverb 6:34-35.

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[19] Lovely hind . . . graceful doe: oriental symbols of feminine beauty and charm; cf Song 2:7, 9, 17.

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[21-23] These verses are best read after Proverb 5:27.

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[1-19] These verses interrupt the discourse of chapters Proverb 6:2-7, which should be read apart from them; they contain four shorter proverbs akin to those in Prov 30.

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[1] Given your hand in pledge: literally, "struck your hands"; this was probably the legal method for closing a contract.

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[10] This verse may be regarded as the sluggard's reply or as a continuation of the remonstrance.

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[16-19] The seven vices symbolized for the most part by bodily organs are pride, lying, murder, intrigue, readiness to do evil, false witness, and the stirring up of discord.

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[6:20-7:27] Parental training and the love of wisdom are an invaluable and constant help for the young (Proverb 6:20-23; 7:1-4). They are the best defense against adultery (Proverb 6:24; 7:5, 24-25), which involves the guilty in many dangers and punishments (Proverb 6:26-35; 7:6-27). Cf Proverb 5:1-20.

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[14] "Peace offerings . . . vows": a portion of the sacrifice reverted to the donor and had to be eaten on the same day at a family festival (Lev 7:11-15). In this figure, the adulteress offers to share with the foolish young man the deadly feast of her sensuality.

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[1-36] Wisdom is here personified as in Proverb 1:20-33, to confirm the words of the teacher of wisdom. She exalts her grandeur and origin, and invites all (Proverb 8:1-11) to be attentive to her salutary influence in human society (Proverb 8:12-21), for she was privileged to be present at the creation of the world (Proverb 8:22-31). Finally, she promises life and the favor of God to those who find her, death to those who despise her.

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[5] Simple ones . . . fools: see note on Proverb 1:4.

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[7-8] The truth and sincerity of wisdom are absolute because they are divine. They can neither deceive nor tolerate deception. An intelligent man understands and accepts them.

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[14] What is here predicated of wisdom is elsewhere attributed to God (Job 12:13-16).

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[22-31] Wisdom is of divine origin. It is here represented as a being which existed before all things (Proverb 8:22-26) and concurred with God when he planned and executed the creation of the universe, adorned it with beauty and variety, and established its wonderful order (Proverb 8:27-30). Here that plurality of divine Persons is foreshadowed which was afterward to be fully revealed when Wisdom in the Person of Jesus Christ became incarnate.

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[23] Poured forth: the exact meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain; the expression must imply the equivalent of "born." The Hebrews liken the movement of air and of spirit to that of liquids.

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[24-26] The formless mass from which God created the heavens and the earth; cf Genesis 1:1-2; 2:4-6.

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[30] His craftsman: furnishing God with the plan, as it were, for the creation of all things; cf Job 38:1-2; Wisdom 7:22-8:1. I was his delight: the ever-present object of God's complacency.

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[1-6,13-18] Wisdom and folly are represented as matrons, each inviting people to her banquet. Wisdom offers the food and drink of divine doctrine and virtue which give life (Proverb 9:1-6). Unstable and senseless folly furnishes the stolen bread and water of deceit and vice which bring death to her guests.

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[3] She calls: i.e., indirectly, through her maidens; but the text could also mean that wisdom herself publicly proclaims her invitation.

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[Psalm 100] A hymn inviting the people to enter the temple courts with thank offerings for the God who created them.

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[3] Although the people call on all the nations of the world to join in their hymn, they are conscious of being the chosen people of God.

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[Psalm 101] The king, grateful at being God's chosen (Psalm 100:1), promises to be a ruler after God's own heart (Psalm 100:2-3), allowing into the royal service only the God-fearing (Psalm 100:3-8).

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[2] Within my royal court: the king promises to make his own household a model for Israel, banning all officials who abuse their power.

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[6] I look to the faithful of the land: the king seeks companions only among those faithful to God.

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[8] Each morning: the normal time for the administration of justice (2 Sam 15:2; Jeremiah 21:12) and for the arrival of divine aid (Psalm 59:17; 143:8; Isaiah 33:2). I clear the wicked from the land: the king, as God's servant, is responsible for seeing that divine justice is carried out.

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[Psalm 102] A lament, one of the Penitential Psalms. The psalmist, experiencing psychic and bodily disintegration (Psalm 102:4-12), cries out to God (Psalm 102:1-3). In the temple precincts where God has promised to be present, the psalmist recalls God's venerable promises to save the poor (Psalm 102:13-23). The final part (Psalm 102:24-28) restates the original complaint and prayer, and emphasizes God's eternity.

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[9] They make my name a curse: enemies use the psalmist's name in phrases such as, "May you be as wretched as this person!"

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[20-23] Both Psalm 102:20-21 and Psalm 102:22-23 depend on Psalm 102:19.

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[25] In the midst of my days: when the normal span of life is but half completed. Cf Isaiah 38:10; Jeremiah 17:11.

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[Psalm 103] The speaker in this hymn begins by praising God for personal benefits (Psalm 103:1-5), then moves on to God's mercy toward all the people (Psalm 103:6-18). Even sin cannot destroy that mercy (Psalm 103:11-13), for the eternal God is well aware of the people's human fragility (Psalm 103:14-18). The psalmist invites the heavenly beings to join in praise (Psalm 103:19-22).

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[5] Your youth is renewed like the eagle's: because of the eagle's long life it was a symbol of perennial youth and vigor. Cf Isaiah 40:31

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[Psalm 104] A hymn praising God who easily and skillfully made rampaging waters and primordial night into a world vibrant with life. The psalmist describes God's splendor in the heavens (Psalm 104:1-4), how the chaotic waters were tamed to fertilize and feed the world (104:5-18), and how primordial night was made into a gentle time of refreshment (Psalm 104:19-23). The picture is like Genesis 1:1-2: a dark and watery chaos is made dry and lighted so that creatures might live. The psalmist reacts to the beauty of creation with awe (Psalm 104:24-34). May sin not deface God's work (Psalm 104:35)!

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[3] Your palace upon the waters: God's heavenly dwelling above the upper waters of the sky. Cf Genesis 1:6-7; Psalm 29:10.

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[5-9] God places the gigantic disk of the earth securely on its foundation and then, as a warrior, chases away the enveloping waters and confines them under, above, and around the earth.

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[16-18] Even the exotic flora and fauna of the high mountains of the Lebanon range receive adequate water.

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[26] Leviathan: a sea monster symbolizing primeval chaos. Cf Psalm 74:14; Isaiah 27:1; Job 40:25. God does not destroy chaos but makes it part of the created order.

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[29-30] On one level, the spirit (or wind) of God is the fall and winter rains that provide food for all creatures. On another, it is the breath (or spirit) of God that makes beings live.

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[35] Hallelujah: a frequent word in the last third of the Psalter. The word combines the plural imperative of praise (hallelu) with an abbreviated form of the divine name Yah(weh).

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[Psalm 105] A hymn to God who promised the land of Canaan to the holy people. Cf Psalm 78; 106; 136. Israel is invited to praise and seek the presence of God (Psalm 105:1-6), who is faithful to the promise of land to the ancestors (Psalm 105:7-11). In every phase of the national story--the ancestors in the land of Canaan (Psalm 105:12-15), Joseph in Egypt (Psalm 105:16-22), Israel in Egypt (Psalm 105:23-38), Israel in the desert on the way to Canaan (Psalm 105:39-45)--God remained faithful, reiterating the promise of the land to successive servants.

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[14] Kings: Pharaoh and Abimelech of Gerar. Cf Genesis 12:17; 20:6-7.

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[15] My anointed . . . my prophets: the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were "anointed" in the sense of being consecrated and recipients of God's revelation.

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[23,27] The land of Ham: a synonym for Egypt. Cf Genesis 10:6.

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[27-38] This psalm and Psalm 78:43-51 have an account of the plagues differing in number or in order from Exodus 7:14-12:30. Several versions of the exodus story were current.

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[Psalm 106] Israel is invited to praise the God whose mercy has always tempered judgment of Israel (Psalm 106:1-3). The speaker, on behalf of all, seeks solidarity with the people, who can always count on God's fidelity despite their sin (Psalm 106:4-5). Confident of God's mercy, the speaker invites national repentance (Psalm 106:6) by reciting from Israel's history eight instances of sin, judgment, and forgiveness. The sins are the rebellion at the Red Sea (Psalm 106:6-12; see Exodus 14-15), the craving for meat in the desert (Psalm 106:13-15; see Numbers 11), the challenge to Moses' authority (Psalm 106:16-18; see Numbers 16), the golden calf episode (Psalm 106:19-23; see Exodus 32-34), the refusal to take Canaan by the southern route (Psalm 106:24-27; see Numbers 13-14 and Deut 1-2), the rebellion at Baal-Peor (Psalm 106:28-31; see Numbers 25:1-10), the anger of Moses (Psalm 106:32-33; see Numbers 20:1-13), and mingling with the nations (Psalm 106:34-47). The last, as suggested by its length and generalized language, may be the sin that invites the repentance of the present generation. The text gives the site of each sin: Egypt (Psalm 106:7), the desert (Psalm 106:14), the camp (Psalm 106:16), Horeb (Psalm 106:19), in their tents (Psalm 106:25), Baal-Peor (Psalm 106:28), the waters of Meribah (Psalm 106:32), Canaan (Psalm 106:38).

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[23] Withstood him in the breach: the image is that of Moses standing in a narrow break made in the wall to keep anyone from entering.

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[32] Moses suffered because of them: Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because of his rash words (Numbers 20:12). According to Deut 1:37, Moses was not allowed to cross because of the people's sin, not his own.

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[37] The gods: Hebrew shedim, customarily translated "demons," occurs in parallelism with "gods" in an important inscription from Transjordan and hence is translated "gods."

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[48] A doxology ending Book IV of the Psalter. It is not part of the psalm.

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[Psalm 107] A hymn inviting those who have been rescued by God to give praise (Psalm 107:1-3). Four archetypal divine rescues are described, each ending in thanksgiving: from the sterile desert (Psalm 107:4-9), from imprisonment in gloom (Psalm 107:10-16), from mortal illness (Psalm 107:17-22), and from the angry sea (Psalm 107:23-32). The number four connotes totality, all the possible varieties of rescue. The same saving activity of God is shown in Israel's history (Psalm 107:33-41); whenever the people were endangered God rescued them. The last verses invite people to ponder the persistent saving acts of God (Psalm 107:42-43).

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[33-41] God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18-19, which the psalm sees as the destruction of the wicked inhabitants of Canaan to prepare the way for Israel (Psalm 107:33-34). God then led Israel through the desert to give them a fertile land (Psalm 107:35-38) and protected them from every danger (Psalm 107:39-41).

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[Psalm 108] A prayer compiled from two other psalms: Psalm 108:2-6 are virtually the same as Psalm 57:8-12; Psalm 108:7-14 are the same as Psalm 60:7-14. An old promise of salvation (Psalm 108:8-10) is combined with a confident assurance (Psalm 108:2-6, 13) and petition (Psalm 108:7, 12-13).

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[Psalm 109] A lament notable for the length and vehemence of its prayer against evildoers (Psalm 109:6-20); the cry to God (Psalm 109:1) and the complaint (Psalm 109:22-25) are brief in comparison. The psalmist is apparently the victim of a slander campaign, potentially devastating in a society where reputation and honor are paramount. In the emotional perspective of the psalm, there are only two types of people: the wicked and their poor victims. The psalmist is a poor victim (Psalm 108:22, 31) and by that fact a friend of God and enemy of the wicked. The psalmist seeks vindication not on the basis of personal virtue but because of God's promise to protect the poor.

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[6] An accuser: Hebrew satan, a word occurring in Job 1-2 and Zechariah 3:1-2. In the latter passage Satan stands at the right hand of the high priest to bring false accusations against him before God. Here the accuser is human.

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[20] May the LORD bring all this: the psalmist prays that God ratify the curses of 6-19 and bring them upon the wicked.

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[Psalm 110] A royal psalm in which a court singer recites three oracles in which God assures the king that his enemies are conquered (Psalm 110:1-2), makes the king "son" in traditional adoption language (Psalm 110:3), gives priestly status to the king and promises to be with him in future military ventures (Psalm 110:4-7).

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[1] The LORD says to you, my lord: literally, "The LORD says to my lord," a polite form of address of an inferior to a superior. Cf 1 Sam 25:25; 2 Sam 1:10. The court singer refers to the king. Jesus in the synoptic gospels (Matthew 22:41-46 and parallels) takes the psalmist to be David and hence "my lord" refers to the messiah, who must be someone greater than David. Your footstool: in ancient times victorious kings put their feet on the prostrate bodies of their enemies.

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[3] Like the dew I begot you: an adoption formula as in Psalm 2:7; 89:27-28. Before the daystar: possibly an expression for before the world began (Proverb 8:22).

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[4] Like Melchizedek: Melchizedek was the ancient king of Salem (Jerusalem) who blessed Abraham (Genesis 14:18-20); like other kings of the time he performed priestly functions. Hebrews 7 sees in Melchizedek a type of Christ.

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[7] Who drinks from the brook by the wayside: the meaning is uncertain. Some see an allusion to a rite of royal consecration at the Gihon spring (cf 1 Kings 1:33, 38). Others find here an image of the divine warrior (or king) pursuing enemies so relentlessly that he does not stop long enough to eat and drink.

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[Psalm 111] A temple singer (Psalm 111:1) tells how God is revealed in Israel's history (Psalm 111:2-10). The deeds reveal God's very self, powerful, merciful, faithful. The poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

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[1] In the assembled congregation of the upright: in the temple. Cf Psalm 149:1.

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[3] Your: the psalm refers to God in the third person throughout; the shift to the second person is for the sake of inclusive language.

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[5] Food to those who fear you: probably a reference to the manna in the desert, which elsewhere is seen as a type of the Eucharist. Cf John 6:31-33, 49-51.

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[6] Lands: literally, "inheritance, heritage."

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[10] The fear of the LORD: reverence for God, the Hebrew term for religion.

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[Psalm 112] An acrostic poem detailing the blessings received by those who remain close to God by obedience to the commandments. Among their blessings are children (Psalm 112:2), wealth that enables them to be magnanimous (Psalm 112:3, 5, 9), and virtue by which they encourage others (Psalm 112:4). The just person is an affront to the wicked, whose hopes remain unfulfilled (Psalm 112:10). The logic resembles Psalms 1; 111.

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[1] Happy are those: literally, "Happy the person." "Person" is used typically, hence the plural translation.

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[3] Prosperity: literally, "justice." In the Second Temple Period the word acquired the nuance of liberality and almsgiving. Cf Sirach 3:30; 7:10; Matthew 6:1-4.

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[9] Their horn: the symbol for vitality and honor.

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[Psalm 113] A hymn exhorting the congregation to praise God's name, i.e., the way in which God is present in the world; the name is mentioned three times in Psalm 113:1-3. The divine name is especially honored in the temple (Psalm 113:1) but its recognition is not limited by time (Psalm 113:2) and space (Psalm 113:3), for God is everywhere active (Psalm 113:4-5) especially in rescuing the lowly faithful (Psalm 113:7-9).

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[Psalm 114] A hymn celebrating Israel's escape from Egypt, journey through the wilderness, and entry into the promised land, and the miracles of nature that bore witness to God's presence in their midst. In the perspective of the psalm, the people proceed directly from Egypt into the promised land (Psalm 114:1-2). Sea and Jordan, which stood like soldiers barring the people from their land, flee before the mighty God as the earth recoils from the battle (Psalm 114:3-4). The poet taunts the natural elements as one taunts defeated enemies (Psalm 114:5-6).

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[3-4] Pairs of cosmic elements such as sea and rivers, mountains and hills, are sometimes mentioned in creation accounts. Personified here as warriors, the pairs tremble in fear before the Divine Warrior. The quaking also recalls the divine appearance in the storm at Sinai (Exodus 19:16-19) and elsewhere (Judges 5:4-5; Psalm 18:7-15).

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[8] The miracles of giving drink to the people in the arid desert. Cf Exodus 17:1-7; Isaiah 41:17-18.

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[Psalm 115] A response to the enemy taunt, "Where is your God?" This hymn to the glory of Israel's God (Psalm 115:1-3) ridicules the lifeless idols of the nations (Psalm 115:4-8), expresses in a litany the trust of the various classes of the people in God (Psalm 115:9-11), invokes God's blessing on them as they invoke the divine name (Psalm 115:12-15), and concludes as it began with praise of God. Psalm 135:15-18 similarly mocks the Gentile gods and has a similar litany and hymn (Psalm 135:19-21).

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[2] Where is their God?: implies that God cannot help them.

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[9-11] The house of Israel . . . the house of Aaron . . . those fear the LORD: the laity of Israelite birth, the priests, and the converts to Judaism. Cf Psalm 118:2-4; 135:19-21. In the New Testament likewise "those who fear the Lord" means converts to Judaism (cf Acts 10:2, 22, 35; 13:16, 26).

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[16] The heavens: literally "the heaven of heavens" or "the highest heavens," i.e., above the firmament. See note on Psalm 148:4.

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[17] See note on Psalm 6:5.

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[Psalm 116] A thanksgiving in which the psalmist responds to divine rescue from mortal danger (Psalm 116:3-4) and from near despair (10-11) with vows and temple sacrifices (Psalm 116:13-14, 17-19). The Greek and Latin versions divide the psalm into two parts: Psalm 116:1-9 and 10-19, corresponding to its two major divisions.

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[3] The cords of death: death is personified here; it attempts to capture the psalmist with snares and nets. Cf Psalm 18:6.

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[9] The land of the living: the phrase elsewhere is an epithet of the Jerusalem Temple (cf Psalm 27:13; 52:5; Isaiah 38:11). Hence the psalmist probably refers to being present to God in the temple.

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[10] I kept faith, even when I said: even in the days of despair, the psalmist did not lose all hope.

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[13] The cup of salvation: probably the libation of wine poured out in gratitude for rescue. Cf Exodus 25:29; Numbers 15:5, 7, 10.

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[15] Too costly in the eyes of the LORD: the meaning is that the death of God's faithful is grievous to God, not that God is pleased with the death. Cf Psalm 72:14. In Wisdom 3:5-6 God accepts the death of the righteous as a sacrificial burnt offering.

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[Psalm 117] This shortest of hymns calls on the nations to acknowledge God's supremacy. The supremacy of Israel's God has been demonstrated to them by the people's secure existence, which is owed entirely to God's gracious fidelity.

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[Psalm 118] A thanksgiving liturgy accompanying a victory procession of the king and the people into the temple precincts. After an invocation in the form of a litany (Psalm 118:1-4), the psalmist (very likely speaking in the name of the community) describes how the people confidently implored God's help (Psalm 118:5-9) when hostile peoples threatened its life (Psalm 118:10-14); vividly God's rescue is recounted (Psalm 118:15-18). Then follows a dialogue at the temple gates between the priests and the psalmist as the latter enters to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice (Psalm 118:19-25). Finally, the priests impart their blessing (Psalm 118:26-27), and the psalmist sings in gratitude (Psalm 118:28-29).

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[20] Where the victors enter: their victory has demonstrated that God favors them; they are "just" in the biblical sense.

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[22] The stone the builders rejected: a proverb: what is insignificant to human beings has become great through divine election. The "stone" may originally have meant the foundation stone or capstone of the temple. The New Testament interpreted the verse as referring to the death and resurrection of Christ (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11; cf Isaiah 28:16 and Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:7).

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[25] Grant salvation: the Hebrew for this cry has come into English as "Hosanna." This cry and the words in Psalm 118:26 were used in the gospels to welcome Jesus entering the temple on Palm Sunday (Mark 11:9-10).

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[Psalm 119] This psalm, the longest by far in the psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others' fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law's consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them. Several expected elements do not appear in the psalm: Mount Sinai with its story of God's revelation and gift to Israel of instruction and commandments, the temple and other institutions related to revelation and laws (frequent in other psalms). The psalm is fascinated with God's word directing and guiding human life. The poem is an acrostic; its twenty-two stanzas (of eight verses each) are in the order of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the eight verses within a stanza begins with the same letter. Each verse contains one word for "instruction." The translation here given attempts to translate each Hebrew word for "instruction" with the same English word. There are, however, nine words for "instruction," not eight, so the principle of a different word for "instruction" in each verse cannot be maintained with perfect consistency. The nine words for "instruction" in the translation are: law, edict, command, precept, word, utterance, way, decree, and teaching.

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[19] A sojourner in the land: like someone without the legal protection of a native inhabitant, the psalmist has a special need for the guidance of God's teaching.

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[32] For you open my docile heart: literally, "you make broad my heart."

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[48] I lift up my hands to your commands: to lift up the hands was an ancient gesture of reverence to God. Here the picture is applied to God's law.

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[89-91] God's word creates the world, which manifests that word by its permanence and reliability.

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[Psalm 11] A song of trust. Though friends counsel flight to the mountain country (a traditional hideout) to escape trouble (Psalm 11:1-3), the innocent psalmist reaffirms confidence in God, who protects those who seek asylum in the temple (Psalm 11:4-7).

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[3] Foundations: usually understood of public order. Cf Psalm 82:5.

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[6] Their allotted cup: the cup that God gives people to drink is a common figure for their destiny. Cf Psalm 16:5; 75:9; Matthew 20:22; 26:39; Rev 14:10.

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[Psalm 120] A thanksgiving, reporting divine rescue (Psalm 120:10) yet with fervent prayer for further protection against lying attackers (Psalm 120:2-4). The psalmist is acutely conscious of living away from God's own land where divine peace prevails (Psalm 120:5-7).

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[1] Song of ascents: Psalm 120-134 all begin with this superscription. Most probably these fifteen psalms once formed a collection of psalms sung when pilgrims went to Jerusalem, since one "ascended" to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:28; Psalm 24:3; 122:4; Luke 2:42) or to the house of God or to an altar (1 Kings 12:33; 2 Kings 23:2; Psalm 24:3). Less probable is the explanation that these psalms were sung by the exiles when they "ascended" to Jerusalem from Babylonia (cf Ezra 7:9). The idea, found in the Mishnah, that the fifteen steps on which the Levites sang corresponded to these fifteen psalms (Middot 2:5) must underlie the Vulgate translation canticum graduum, "song of the steps" or "gradual song."

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[3] More besides: a common curse formula in Hebrew was "May the Lord do such and such evils to you [the evils being specified], and add still more to them." Cf 1 Sam 3:17; 14:44; 25:22. Here the psalmist is at a loss for a suitable malediction.

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[4] Coals of brushwood: coals made from the stalk of the broom plant burn with intense heat. The psalmist thinks of lighted coals cast at his enemies.

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[5] Meshech was in the far north (Genesis 10:2) and Kedar was a tribe of the north Arabian desert (Genesis 25:13). The psalmist may be thinking generally of all aliens living among inhospitable peoples.

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[Psalm 121] A blessing given to someone embarking on a dangerous journey whether a soldier going on a campaign or a pilgrim returning home from the temple. People look anxiously at the wooded hills. Will God protect them on their journey (Psalm 121:1)? The speaker declares that God is not confined to a place or a time (Psalm 121:2), that every step is guarded (3-4); night and day (Psalm 121:5-6) God watches over their every movement (Psalm 121:7-8).

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[1] The mountains: possibly Mount Zion, the site of the temple and hence of safety, but more probably mountains as a place of dangers, causing anxiety to the psalmist.

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[5-6] The image of shade, a symbol of protection, is apt: God as shade protects from the harmful effects that ancients believed were caused by the sun and moon.

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[Psalm 122] A song of Zion, sung by pilgrims obeying the law to visit Jerusalem three times on a journey. The singer anticipates joining the procession into the city (Psalm 122:1-3). Jerusalem is a place of encounter, where the people praise God (Psalm 122:4) and hear the divine justice mediated by the king (Psalm 112:5). The very buildings bespeak God's power (cf Psalm 48:13-15). May the grace of this place transform the people's lives (Psalm 112:6-9)!

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[3] Walled round about: literally, "which is joined to it," probably referring both to the density of the buildings and to the dense population.

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[Psalm 123] A lament that begins as a prayer of an individual (Psalm 123:1), who expresses by a touching comparison exemplary confidence in God (Psalm 123:2). The psalm ends in prayer that God relieve the people's humiliation at the hands of the arrogant (Psalm 123:3-4).

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[Psalm 124] A thanksgiving which teaches that Israel's very existence is owed to God who rescues them. In the first part Israel's enemies are compared to the mythic sea dragon (Psalm 124:2b-3a; cf Jeremiah 51:34) and Flood (Psalm 124:3b-5; cf Isaiah 51:9-10). The psalm heightens the malice of human enemies by linking them to the primordial enemies of God's creation. Israel is a bird freed from the trapper's snare (Psalm 124:6-8)--freed originally from Pharaoh and now from the current danger.

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[8] Our help is the name: for the idiom, see Exodus 18:4.

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[Psalm 125] In response to exilic anxieties about the ancient promises of restoration, the psalm expresses confidence that God will surround the people as the mountains surround Zion (Psalm 125:1-2). The just will not be contaminated by the wicked (Psalm 125:3). May God judge between the two groups (Psalm 125:4-5).

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[3] The land given to the just: literally, "the lot of the just." The promised land was divided among the tribes of Israel by lot (Numbers 26:55; Joshua 18). The just are the members of the people who are obedient to God. If the domination of the wicked were to continue in the land, even the just would be infected by their evil attitudes.

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[Psalm 126] A lament probably sung shortly after Israel's return from exile. The people rejoice that they are in Zion (Psalm 126:1-3) but mere presence in the holy city is not enough; they must pray for the prosperity and the fertility of the land (Psalm 126:4). The last verses are probably an oracle of promise: the painful work of sowing will be crowned with life (Psalm 126:5-6).

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[4] Like the dry stream beds of the Negeb: the psalmist prays for rain in such abundance that the dry riverbeds will run.

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[Psalm 127] The psalm puts together two proverbs (Psalm 127:1-2, 3-5) on God establishing "houses" or families. The prosperity of human groups is not the work of humans but the gift of God.

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[5] At the gate: the reference is not to enemies besieging the walls of a city but to adversaries in litigation. Lawcourts functioned in the open area near the main city gate. The more adult sons a man had, the more forceful he would appear in disputes. Cf Proverb 31:23.

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[Psalm 128] A statement that the ever-reliable God will bless the reverent (Psalm 128:1). God's blessing is concrete: satisfaction and prosperity, a fertile spouse and abundant children (Psalm 128:2-4). The perspective is that of the adult male, ordinarily the ruler and representative of the household to the community. The last verses extend the blessing to all the people for generations to come (Psalm 128:5-6).

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[1] All who fear the LORD: literally, singular: "the one fearing," is used in a typical sense and so is translated by the plural.

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[Psalm 129] A psalm giving thanks for God's many rescues of Israel over the long course of their history (Psalm 129:1-4); the people pray that their oppressors never know the joy of harvest (Psalm 129:5-8).

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[4] The ropes of the yoke of the wicked: usually understood as the rope for yoking animals to the plow. If it is severed, the plowing (cf Psalm 129:3) comes to a halt.

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[6] Like grass on the rooftops: after the spring rains, grass would sprout from the coat of mud with which the flat roofs of simple houses were covered, but when the dry summer began there was no moisture in the thin roof-covering to sustain the grass.

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missing foot note text

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[Psalm 12] A lament. The psalmist, thrown into a world where lying and violent people persecute the just (Psalm 12:2-3), prays that the wicked be punished (Psalm 12:4-5). The prayer is not simply for vengeance but arises from a desire to see God's justice appear on earth. Psalm 12:6 preserves the word of assurance spoken by the priest to the lamenter; it is not usually transmitted in such psalms. In Psalm 12:7-8 the psalmist affirms the intention to live by the word of assurance.

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[Psalm 13] A crucible: lit. "in a crucible in the ground." The crucible was placed in the ground for support.

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[Psalm 130] This lament, a Penitential Psalm, is the De profundis used in liturgical prayers for the faithful departed. In deep sorrow the psalmist cries to God (Psalm 130:1-2), asking for mercy (Psalm 130:3-4). The psalmist's trust (Psalm 130:5-6) becomes a model for the people (Psalm 130:7-8).

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[1] The depths: Sheol here is a metaphor of total misery. Deep anguish makes the psalmist feel "like those descending to the pit" (Psalm 143:7).

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[4] And so you are revered: the experience of God's mercy leads one to a greater sense of God.

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[Psalm 131] A song of trust, in which the psalmist gives up self-sufficiency (Psalm 131:1), like a babe enjoying the comfort of its mother's lap (Psalm 131:2), thus providing a model for Israel's faith (Psalm 131:3).

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[Psalm 132] A song for a liturgical ceremony in which the ark, the throne of Israel's God, was carried in procession to the temple. The singer asks that David's care for the proper housing of the ark be regarded with favor (Psalm 132:1-5), and tells how it was brought to Jerusalem (Psalm 132:6-10). There follows God's promise of favor to the Davidic dynasty (Psalm 132:11-12) and to Zion (Psalm 132:13-17). The transfer of the ark to the tent in Jerusalem is described in 2 Sam 6.

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[1] All his anxious care: to build the temple. Cf 2 Sam 7:1-17 and 1 Kings 8:17.

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[2,5] Mighty One of Jacob: one of the titles of Israel's God. Cf Genesis 49:24; Isaiah 49:26; 60:16.

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[6] Ephrathah: the homeland of David. Cf Ruth 4:11. The fields of Jaar: poetic for Kiriath-jearim, a town west of Jerusalem, where the ark remained for several generations. Cf 1 Sam 7:1-2 ; 2 Sam 6:2; 1 Chron 13:5-6.

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[17] A horn sprout for David's line: the image of the horn, a symbol of strength, is combined with that of a "sprout," a term used for the Davidic descendant (cf Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12). Early Christians referred the latter designation to Christ as son of David (Luke 1:69).

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[Psalm 133] A benediction over a peaceful community, most probably the people Israel, but appropriate too for Israelite families (Psalm 133:1). The history of Israel, whether of its ancestors in the book of Genesis or of later periods, was a history of distinct groups struggling to live in unity. Here that unity is declared blessed, like the holy oils upon the priest Aaron or the dew of the rainless summer that waters the crops (Psalm 133:2-3).

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[1] The people: literally, "brothers," i.e., male and female members of a kin group or people--most probably, the people Israel.

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[2] Ointment: oil was used at the consecration of the high priest (Exodus 30:22-33).

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[3] Dew: dew was an important source of moisture in the dry climate (Genesis 27:28; Hosea 14:6). Hermon: the majestic snow-capped mountain visible in the north of Palestine.

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[Psalm 134] A brief liturgy exhorting the temple singers to acknowledge the great deeds of God at a night service (cf Isaiah 30:29). Mount Zion is the place from which blessings affect the lives of humans, for there Israel's God dwells.

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[1] Servants of the LORD: priests and Levites. Cf Deut 10:8; Psalm 113:1; 135:1; Azariah 1:62-63.

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[Psalm 135] The hymn begins and ends with an invitation to praise God (Psalm 135:1-3, 19-20) for the great act of choosing Israel (Psalm 135:4). The story of Israel's emergence as a people is told in Psalm 135:5-14; God created and redeemed the people, easily conquering all opposition. God's defeat of hostile powers means that the powers themselves and their images are useless (Psalm 135:15-18). The last three verses appear also in Psalm 115:4-8.

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[4] Though all nations are God's, Israel has a special status as God's "treasured" people: Exodus 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Malachi 3:17.

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[Psalm 136] The hymn praises Israel's God ("the God of gods," Psalm 136:2), who has created the world in which Israel lives. The refrain occurring after every line suggests that a speaker and chorus sang the psalm in antiphonal fashion. A single act of God is described in Psalm 136:4-25 God arranges the heavens and the earth as the environment for human community, and then creates the community by freeing them and giving them land. In the final section (Psalm 136:23-25) God, who created the people and gave them land, continues to protect and nurture them.

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[22] A heritage for Israel: the land was given to Israel by God to be handed on to future generations.

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[Psalm 137] A temple singer refuses to sing the people's sacred songs in an alien land despite demands from Babylonian captors (Psalm 137:1-4). The singer swears an oath by what is most dear to a musician--hands and tongue--to exalt Jerusalem always (Psalm 137:5-6). The psalm ends with a prayer that the old enemies of Jerusalem, Edom and Babylon, be destroyed (Psalm 137:7-9).

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[2] Poplars: sometimes incorrectly translated "willow." The Euphrates poplar is a high tree common on riverbanks in the Orient.

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[9] Happy those who seize your children and smash them against a rock: the infants represent the future generations, and so must be destroyed if the enemy is truly to be eradicated.

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[Psalm 138] A thanksgiving to God, who came to the rescue of the psalmist. Divine rescue was not the result of the psalmist's virtues but of God's loving fidelity (Psalm 138:1-3). The act is not a private transaction but a public act that stirs the surrounding nations to praise God's greatness and care for the people (Psalm 138:4-6). The psalmist, having experienced salvation, trusts that God will always be there in moments of danger (Psalm 138:7-8).

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[1] Before the gods: i.e., heavenly beings, who were completely subordinate to Israel's God. The earthly temple represents the heavenly palace of God.

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[Psalm 139] A hymnic meditation on God's omnipresence and omniscience. The psalmist is keenly aware of God's all-knowing gaze (Psalm 139:1-6), of God's presence in every part of the universe (Psalm 139:7-12), and of God's control over the psalmist's very self (Psalm 139:13-16). Summing up Psalm 139:1-16, 17-18 express wonder. There is only one place hostile to God's rule--wicked people. The psalmist prays to be removed from their company (Psalm 139:19-24).

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[2] When I sit and stand: in all my physical movement.

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[9] Fly with the wings of dawn: go to the extremities of the east. Beyond the sea: uttermost bounds of the west; the sea is the Mediterranean.

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[11] Night shall be my light: night to me is what day is to others.

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[15] The depths of the earth: figurative language for the womb, stressing the hidden and mysterious operations that occur there.

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[24] My way . . . the ancient paths: the manner of living of our ancestors, who were faithful to God's will. Cf Jeremiah 6:16.

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[1] A lament in which the psalmist, seriously ill (Psalm 13:4), expresses fear that enemies will interpret his or her death as a divine judgment. Hence the heartfelt prayer (Psalm 13:2-3) is for healing that will signal to those enemies that the psalmist enjoys God's favor (Psalm 13:4-5). The poem ends with a confession of trust in God and a statement of praise (Psalm 13:6).

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[Psalm 140] A lament seeking rescue from violent and treacherous foes (Psalm 140:2-6). The psalmist remains trusting (Psalm 140:7-8), vigorously praying that the plans of the wicked recoil upon themselves (Psalm 140:9-12). A serene statement of praise ends the psalm (Psalm 140:13). The psalmist is content to be known as one of "the needy," "the poor," "the just," "the upright" (Psalm 140:13), a class of people expecting divine protection.

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[4] Similar metaphors for a wicked tongue are used in Psalm 52:2; 55:20; 58:3.

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[6] Have set a trap . . . have spread a net: the same figure, of hunters setting traps, occurs in Psalm 9:16; 31:5; 35:7; 64:6. Cf Matthew 22:15; Luke 11:54.

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[Psalm 141] A lament of an individual (Psalm 141:1-2) who is keenly aware that only the righteous can worship God properly and who therefore prays to be protected from the doomed wicked (3-10).

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[2] Incense: literally, "smoke," i.e., the fragrant fumes arising from the altar at the burning of sacrificial animals or of aromatic spices; also used in Rev 5:8 as a symbol of prayer. My uplifted hands: the gesture of supplication. Cf Psalm 28:2; 63:5; 88:10; 119:48; 134:2; 143:6.

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[5-7] the Hebrew text is obscure.

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[Psalm 142] In this lament imploring God for help (Psalm 142:2-4), the psalmist tells how enemies have set a trap (Psalm 142:4-5), and prays for rescue (Psalm 142:6-8). The speaker feels utterly alone (Psalm 142:5), exhausted (Psalm 142:7), and may even be imprisoned (Psalm 142:7). Prison is possibly a metaphor for general distress. The last two verses are the vow of praise, made after receiving an assurance of divine help (Psalm 142:7).

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[1] In the cave: cf 1 Sam 22:1; 24:1-3; Psalm 57:1.

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[8] Then the just shall gather around me: in the temple, when the psalmist offers a thanksgiving sacrifice.

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[Psalm 143] One of the Church's seven Penitential Psalms, this lament is a prayer to be freed from death-dealing enemies. The psalmist addresses God, aware that there is no equality between God and humans; salvation is a gift (Psalm 143:1-2). Victimized by evil people (Psalm 143:3-4), the psalmist recites ("remembers") God's past actions on behalf of the innocent (Psalm 143:5-6). The psalm continues with fervent prayer (Psalm 143:7-9) and a strong desire for guidance and protection (Psalm 143:10-12).

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[Psalm 144] They have crushed: literally, "he crushed"; the singular is used typically, hence the plural translation.

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[1] The psalm may reflect a ceremony in which the king, as leader of the army, asked God's help (Psalm 144:1-8). In Psalm 144:9 the poem shifts abruptly from pleading to thanksgiving, and (except for Psalm 144:11) shifts again to prayer for the people. The first section (Psalm 144:1-2) is a prayer of thanks for victory; the second (Psalm 144:3-7a), a humble acknowledgment of human nothingness and a supplication that God show forth saving power; the third (Psalm 144:9-11), a promise of future thanksgiving; the fourth (Psalm 144:12-15), a wish for prosperity and peace. A prayer for deliverance from treacherous foes serves as a refrain after the second and third sections (Psalm 144:7b-8, 11). Except for its final section, the psalm is made up almost entirely of verses from other psalms.

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[1-2] Composed of phrases from Psalm 18:3, 35, 47-48.

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[3] Similar to Psalm 8:5.

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[4] Composed of phrases from Psalm 39:6; 102:12.

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[5-7] Adapted in large part from Psalm 18:10, 15, 17; 104:32.

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[8b,11b] Their right hands are raised in lying oaths: the psalmist's enemies give false testimony.

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[Psalm 145] A hymn in acrostic form; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Acrostic poems usually do not develop ideas but consist rather of loosely connected statements. The singer invites all to praise God (Psalm 145:1-3, 21). The "works of God" make God present and invite human praise (Psalm 145:4-7); they climax in a confession (Psalm 145:8-9). God's mighty acts show forth divine kingship (Psalm 145:10-20), a major theme in the literature of early Judaism and in Christianity.

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[Psalm 146] A hymn of someone who has learned there is no other source of strength except the merciful God. Only God, not mortal humans (Psalm 146:3-4), can help vulnerable and oppressed people (Psalm 146:5-9). The first of the five hymns that conclude the Psalter.

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[Psalm 147] The hymn is divided into three sections by the calls to praise in Psalm 147:1; 7,12. The first section praises the powerful creator who restores exiled Judah (Psalm 147:1-6); the second section, the creator who provides food to animals and humans; the third and climactic section exhorts the holy city to recognize it has been re-created and made the place of disclosure for God's word, a word as life-giving as water.

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[8-9] God clothes the fields and feeds the birds. Cf Matthew 6:26, 30.

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[10-11] Acknowledging one's dependence upon God rather than claiming self-sufficiency pleases God. Cf Psalm 20:8; 33:16-19.

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[15-19] God speaks through the thunder of nature and the word of revealed law. Cf Isaiah 55:10-11. The weather phenomena are well known in Jerusalem: a blizzard of snow and hail followed by a thunderstorm that melts the ice.

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[Psalm 148] A hymn inviting the beings of heaven (Psalm 148:1-6) and of earth (Psalm 148:7-14) to praise God. The hymn does not distinguish between inanimate and animate (and rational) nature.

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[4] Highest heavens: literally, "the heavens of the heavens," i.e., the space above the firmament, where the "upper waters" are stored. Cf Genesis 1:6-7; Deut 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 104:3, 13.

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[14] The LORD has lifted high the horn of his people: horn = strength, the concrete noun for the abstract. Of all peoples God has chosen Israel to return praise and thanks in a special way.

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[Psalm 149] A hymn inviting the people of Israel to celebrate their God in song and festive dance (Psalm 149:1-3, 5) because God has chosen them and given them victory (Psalm 149:4). The exodus and conquest are the defining acts of Israel; the people must be ready to do again those acts in the future at the divine command (Psalm 149:6-9).

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[3] Make music with tambourine and lyre: the verse recalls the great exodus hymn of Exodus 15:20.

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[5] At their banquet: literally, "upon their couches." The people reclined to banquet.

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[9] The glory: what brings honor to the people is their readiness to carry out the divine will, here conceived as punishing injustice done by the nations.

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[Psalm 14] The lament (duplicated in Psalm 53) depicts the world as consisting of two types of people: "the fools" (= the wicked, Psalm 14:1-3) and "the company of the just" (Psalm 14:4-6; also called "my people," and "the poor"). The wicked persecute the just, but the psalm expresses the hope that God will punish the wicked and reward the good.

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[1] Fools: literally, "the fool." The singular is used typically, hence the plural translation.

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[7] Israel . . . Jacob . . . his people: the righteous poor are identified with God's people.

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[Psalm 150] The psalm is a closing doxology both for the fifth book of the Psalms (Psalm 150:107-149) and for the Psalter as a whole. Temple musicians and dancers are called to lead all beings on earth and in heaven in praise of God. The psalm proclaims to whom praise shall be given, and where (Psalm 150:1); what praise shall be given, and why (Psalm 150:2); how praise shall be given (Psalm 150:3-5), and by whom (Psalm 150:6).

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[1] His holy sanctuary: God's temple on earth. The mighty dome of the heavens: literally, "[God's] strong vault"; heaven is here imagined as a giant plate separating the inhabited world from the waters of the heavens.

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[Psalm 15] The psalm records a liturgical scrutiny at the entrance to the temple court (cf Psalm 24:3-6; Isaiah 33:14b-16). The Israelite wishing to be admitted had to ask the temple official what conduct was appropriate to God's precincts. Note the emphasis on virtues relating to one's neighbor.

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[1] Your tent . . . your holy mountain: the temple could be referred to as "tent" (Psalm 61:5; Isaiah 33:20), a reference to the tent of the wilderness period and the tent of David (2 Sam 6:17; 7:2), predecessors of the temple. Holy mountain: a venerable designation of the divine abode (Psalm 2:6; 3:5; 43:3; 48:2 etc.).

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[5] Lends no money at interest: lending money in the Old Testament was often seen as assistance to the poor in their distress, not as an investment; making money off the poor by charging interest was thus forbidden (Exodus 22:24; Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:20).

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[Psalm 16] In the first section, the psalmist rejects the futile worship of false gods (Psalm 16:2-5), preferring Israel's God (Psalm 16:1), the giver of the land (Psalm 16:6). The second section reflects on the wise and life-giving presence of God (Psalm 16:7-11).

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[1] Miktam: a term occurring six times in psalm superscriptions, always with "David." Its meaning is unknown.

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[4] Take their names: to use the gods' names in oaths and hence to affirm them as one's own gods.

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[6] Pleasant places were measured out for me: the psalmist is pleased with the plot of land measured out to the family, which was to be passed on to succeeding generations ("my inheritance").

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[10] Nor let your faithful servant see the pit: Hebrew shahath means here the pit, a synonym for Sheol, the underworld. The Greek translation derives the word here and elsewhere from the verb shahath, "to be corrupt." On the basis of the Greek, Acts 2:25-32; 13:35-37 apply the verse to Christ's resurrection, "Nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption."

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[Psalm 17] A lament of an individual unjustly attacked who has taken refuge in the temple. Confident of being found innocent, the psalmist cries out for God's just judgment (Psalm 17:1-5) and requests divine help against enemies (Psalm 17:6-9a). Those ravenous lions (Psalm 17:9b-12) should be punished (Psalm 17:13-14). The psalm ends with a serene statement of praise (Psalm 17:15). The Hebrew text of Psalm 17:3-4, 14 is uncertain.

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[8] Apple of your eye . . . shadow of your wings: images of God's special care. Cf Deut 32:10; Proverb 7:2; Isaiah 49:2.

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[10-12,14] An extended metaphor: the enemies are lions.

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[15] When I awake: probably the psalmist has spent the night in the sanctuary (cf Psalm 17:3) and hopes to wake to an oracle assuring God's protective presence.

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[Psalm 12] A royal thanksgiving for a military victory, duplicated in 2 Sam 22. Thanksgiving psalms are in essence reports of divine rescue. The psalm has two parallel reports of rescue, the first told from a heavenly perspective (Psalm 18:5-20), and the second from an earthly perspective (Psalm 18:36-46). The first report adapts old mythic language of a cosmic battle between sea and rainstorm in order to depict God's rescue of the Israelite king from his enemies. Each report has a short hymnic introduction (Psalm 18:2-4, 32-36) and conclusion (Psalm 18:21-31, 47-50).

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[3] My saving horn: my strong savior. The horn referred to is the weapon of a bull and the symbol of fertility. Cf 1 Sam 2:10; Psalm 132:17; Luke 1:69

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[6] Cords: hunting imagery, the cords of a snare.

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[7] His temple: his heavenly abode.

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[8-16] God appears in the storm, which in Palestine comes from the west. The introduction to the theophany (Psalm 18:8-9) is probably a description of a violent, hot, and dry east-wind storm. In the fall transition period from the rainless summer to the rainy winter such storms regularly precede the rains. Cf Exodus 14:21-22.

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[11] Cherub: a winged creature, derived from myth, in the service of the deity (Genesis 3:24; Exodus 25:18-20; 37:6-9). Cherubim were the throne bearers of the deity (Psalm 80:2; 99:1; 1 Kings 6:23-28; 8:6-8).

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[15] Arrows: lightning.

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[35] Bow of bronze: hyperbole for a bow difficult to bend and therefore capable of propelling an arrow with great force.

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[Psalm 19] The heavenly elements of the world, now beautifully arranged, bespeak the power and wisdom of their creator (Psalm 19:2-7). The creator's wisdom is available to human beings in the law (Psalm 19:8-11), toward which the psalmist prays to be open (Psalm 19:12-14). The themes of light and speech unify the poem.

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[4] No word or sound: the regular functioning of the heavens and the alternation of day and night inform humans without words of the creator's power and wisdom.

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[5] The sun: in other religious literature the sun is a judge and lawgiver since it sees all in its daily course; Psalm 19:5b-7 form a transition to the law in Psalm 19:8-11. The six synonyms for God's revelation (Psalm 19:8-11) are applied to the sun in comparable literature.

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[12] Instructed: the Hebrew verb means both to shine and to teach. Cf Daniel 12:3.

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[Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each "way" brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death.

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[1] Those: literally, "the man." That word is used here and in many of the Psalms as typical, and therefore is translated "they." The way: a common biblical term for manner of living or moral conduct (Psalm 32:8; 101:2, 6; Proverb 2:20; 1 Kings 8:36).

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[2] The law of the LORD: either the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, or, more probably, divine teaching or instruction.

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[4] The wicked: those who by their actions distance themselves from God's life-giving presence.

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[Psalm 20] The people pray for the king before battle. The people ask for divine help (Psalm 20:2-6) and express confidence that such help will be given (Psalm 20:7-10). A solemn assurance of divine help may well have been given between the two sections in the liturgy, something like the promises of Psalm 12:6; 21:9-13. The final verse (Psalm 20:9) [10] echoes the opening verse.

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[4] Remember: God's remembering implies readiness to act. Cf Genesis 8:1; Exodus 2:24

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[6] Victory: the Hebrew root is often translated "salvation," "to save," but in military contexts it can have the specific meaning of "victory."

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[1] The first part of this royal psalm is a thanksgiving (Psalm 21:2-8), and the second is a promise that the king will triumph over his enemies (Psalm 21:9-13). The king's confident prayer (Psalm 21:3-5) and trust in God (Psalm 21:8) enable him to receive the divine gifts of vitality, peace, and military success. Psalm 21:13(14) reprises Psalm 21:2. When kings ceased in Israel after the sixth century B.C., the psalm was sung of a future Davidic king.

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[Psalm 22] A lament unusual in structure and in intensity of feeling. The psalmist's present distress is contrasted with God's past mercy in Psalm 22:2-12. In Psalm 22:13-22 enemies surround the psalmist. The last third is an invitation to praise God (Psalm 22:23-27), becoming a universal chorus of praise (Psalm 22:28-31). The psalm is important in the New Testament. Its opening words occur on the lips of the crucified Jesus (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46), and several other verses are quoted, or at least alluded to, in the accounts of Jesus' passion (Matthew 27:35, 43; John 19:24).

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[1] The deer of the dawn: apparently the title of the melody.

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[7] I am a worm, hardly human: the psalmist's sense of isolation and dehumanization, an important motif of Psalm 22 is vividly portrayed here.

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[13-14] Bulls: the enemies of the psalmist are also portrayed in less-than-human form, as wild animals (cf Psalm 22:17, 21-22). Bashan: a grazing land east of the Jordan, famed for its cattle. Cf Deut 32:14; Ezekiel 39:18; Amos 4:1

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[16] The dust of death: the netherworld, the domain of the dead.

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[23] In the community I will praise you: the person who offered a thanksgiving sacrifice in the temple recounted to the other worshipers the favor received from God and invited them to share in the sacrificial banquet. The final section (Psalm 22:24-32) may be a summary or a citation of the psalmist's poem of praise.

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[25] Turn away: literally, "hides his face from me," an important metaphor for God withdrawing from someone, e.g., Micah 3:4; Isaiah 8:17; Psalm 27:9; 69:18; 88:15.

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[27] The poor: originally the poor, who were dependent on God; the term ('anawim) came to include the religious sense of "humble, pious, devout."

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[30] Hebrew unclear. The translation assumes that all on earth (Psalm 22:27-28) and under the earth (Psalm 22:29) will worship God.

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[Psalm 23] God's loving care for the psalmist is portrayed under the figures of a shepherd for the flock (Psalm 23:1-4) and a host's generosity toward a guest (Psalm 23:5-6). The imagery of both sections is drawn from traditions of the exodus (Isaiah 40:11; 49:10; Jeremiah 31:10).

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[1] My shepherd: God as good shepherd is common in both the Old Testament and the New Testament (Ezekiel 34:11-16; John 10:11-18).

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[3] The right path: connotes "right way" and "way of righteousness."

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[4] A dark valley: a different division of the Hebrew consonants yields the translation "the valley of the shadow of death."

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[5] You set a table before me: this expression occurs in an exodus context in Psalm 78:19. As my enemies watch: my enemies see that I am God's friend and guest. Oil: a perfumed ointment made from olive oil, used especially at banquets (Psalm 104:15; Matthew 26:7; Luke 7:37, 46; John 12:2).

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[6] Goodness and love: the blessings of God's covenant with Israel.

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[Psalm 24] The psalm apparently accompanied a ceremony of the entry of God (invisibly enthroned upon the ark), followed by the people, into the temple. The temple commemorated the creation of the world (Psalm 24:1-2). The people had to affirm their fidelity before being admitted into the sanctuary (Psalm 24:3-6; cf Psalm 15). A choir identifies the approaching God and invites the very temple gates to bow down in obeisance (Psalm 24:7-10).

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[4-5] Literally, "the one whose hands are clean." The singular is used for the entire class of worshipers, hence the plural translation.

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[7, 9] Lift up your heads, O gates . . . you ancient portals: the literal meaning is impossible since the portcullis (a gate that moves up and down) was unknown in the ancient world. Extra-biblical parallels suggest a full personification of the circle of gate towers: they are like a council of elders, bowed down and anxious, awaiting the return of the army and the Great Warrior gone to battle.

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[Psalm 25] A lament. Each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Such acrostic psalms are often a series of statements only loosely connected. The psalmist mixes ardent pleas (Psalm 25:1-2, 16-22) with expressions of confidence in God who forgives and guides.

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[5] Because of your goodness, LORD: these words have been transposed from the end of 7 to preserve the pattern of two lines per letter of the Hebrew alphabet in the acrostic poem.

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[22] A final verse beginning with the Hebrew letter pe is added to the normal 22-letter alphabet. Thus the letters aleph, lamed, and pe open the first, middle (Psalm 25:11), and last lines of the psalm. Together, they spell aleph, the first letter of the alphabet.

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[Psalm 26] Like a priest washing before approaching the altar (Exodus 30:17-21), the psalmist seeks God's protection upon entering the temple. Psalm 26:1-3, matched by Psalm 26:11-12, remind God of past integrity while asking for purification; Psalm 26:4-5, matched by Psalm 26:9-10, pray for inclusion among the just; Psalm 26:6-8, the center of the poem, express the joy in God at the heart of all ritual.

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[6] I will wash my hands: the washing of hands was a liturgical act (Exodus 30:19, 21; 40:31-32), symbolic of inner as well as outer cleanness. Cf Isaiah 1:16.

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[Psalm 27] Tradition has handed down the two sections of the psalm (Psalm 27:1-6; 7-14) as one psalm, though each part could be understood as complete in itself. Asserting boundless hope that God will bring rescue (Psalm 27:1-3), the psalmist longs for the presence of God in the temple, protection from all enemies (Psalm 27:4-6). In part B there is a clear shift in tone (Psalm 27:7-12); the climax of the poem comes with "I believe" (Psalm 27:13), echoing "I trust" (Psalm 27:3).

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[2] To devour my flesh: the psalmist's enemies are rapacious beasts (Psalm 7:3; 17:12; 22:14, 17).

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[8] Seek God's face (literally: "to seek his face"): to commune with God in the temple. The idiom is derived from the practice of journeying to sacred places. Cf Hosea 5:15; 2 Sam 21:1; Psalm 24:6.

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[13] In the land of the living: or "in the land of life," an epithet of the Jerusalem temple (Psalm 52:7; 116:9; Isaiah 38:11), where the faithful had access to the life-giving presence of God.

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[2] Your holy place: the innermost part of the temple, the holy of holies, containing the ark. Cf 1 Kings 6:16, 19-23; 8:6-8.

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[6] The psalmist shifts to fervent thanksgiving, probably responding to a priestly or prophetic oracle in Psalm 28:5cd (not usually transmitted) assuring the worshiper that the prayer has been heard.

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[8] Your people . . . your anointed king: salvation is more than individual, affecting all the people and their God-given leader.

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[Psalm 29] The hymn invites the members of the heavenly court to acknowledge God's supremacy by ascribing glory and might to God alone (Psalm 29:1-2a, 9b). Divine glory and might are dramatically visible in the storm (Psalm 29:3-9a). The storm apparently comes from the Mediterranean onto the coast of Syria-Palestine and then moves inland. In Psalm 29:10 the divine beings acclaim God's eternal kingship. The psalm concludes with a prayer that God will impart the power just displayed to the Israelite king and through the king to Israel.

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[1] You heavenly beings: literally "sons of God," i.e., members of the heavenly court who served Israel's God in a variety of capacities.

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[3] The voice of the LORD: the sevenfold repetition of the phrase imitates the sound of crashing thunder and may allude to God's primordial slaying of Leviathan, the seven-headed sea monster of Canaanite mythology.

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[6] Sirion: the Phoenician name for Mount Hermon. Cf Deut 3:9.

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[8] The desert of Kadesh: probably north of Palestine in the neighborhood of Lebanon and Hermon.

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[9b-10] Having witnessed God's supreme power (Psalm 29:3-9a), the gods acknowledge the glory that befits the king of the divine and human world.

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[10] The flood: God defeated the primordial waters and made them part of the universe. Cf Psalm 89:10-13; 93:3-4.

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[11] His people: God's people, Israel.

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[Psalm 2] royal psalm. To rebellious kings (Psalm 2:1-3) God responds vigorously (Psalm 2:4-6). A speaker proclaims the divine decree (in the legal adoption language of the day), making the Israelite king the earthly representative of God (Psalm 2:7-9) and warning kings to obey (Psalm 2:10-11). The psalm has a messianic meaning for the Church; the New Testament understands it of Christ (Acts 4:25-27; 13:33; Hebrews 1:5).

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[2] Anointed: in Hebrew mashiah, "anointed"; in Greek christos, whence English Messiah and Christ. In Israel kings (Judges 9:8; 1 Sam 9:16; 16:12-13) and high priests (Lev 8:12; Numbers 3:3) received the power of their office through anointing.

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[Psalm 30] An individual thanksgiving in four parts: praise and thanks for deliverance and restoration (Psalm 30:2-4); an invitation to others to join in (Psalm 30:5-6); a flashback to the time before deliverance (Psalm 30:7-11); a return to praise and thanks (Psalm 30:12). Two sets of images recur: 1) going down, death, silence; 2) coming up, life, praising. God has delivered the psalmist from one state to the other.

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[1] For the dedication of the temple: a later adaptation of the psalm to celebrate the purification of the temple in 164 B.C. during the Maccabean Revolt.

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[3] Healed: for God as healer, see also Psalm 103:3; 107:20; Hosea 6:1; 7:1; 11:3; 14:5.

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[4] Sheol ... pit: the shadowy underworld residence of the spirits of the dead, here a metaphor for near death.

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[7] Complacent: untroubled existence is often seen as a source of temptation to forget God. Cf Deut 8:10-18; Hosea 13:6; Proverb 30:9.

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[10] in the stillness of Sheol no one gives you praise; let me live and be among your worshipers. Cf Psalm 6:6; 88:11-13; 115:17; Isaiah 38:18.

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[Psalm 31] A lament (Psalm 31:2-19) with a strong emphasis on trust (Psalm 31:4, 6, 15-16), ending with an anticipatory thanksgiving (Psalm 31:20-24). As is usual in laments, the affliction is couched in general terms. The psalmist feels overwhelmed by evil people but trusts in the "faithful God" (Psalm 31:6).

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[6] Into your hands I commend my spirit: in Luke 23:46 Jesus breathes his last with this psalm verse. Stephen in Acts 7:59 illudes to these words as he is attacked by enemies. The verse is used as an antiphon in the Divine Office at Compline, the last prayer of the day.

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[13] Like a shattered dish: a common comparison for something ruined and useless. Cf Isaiah 30:14; Jeremiah 19:11; 22:28

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[14] Terrors are all around: a cry used in inescapable danger. Cf Jeremiah 6:25; 20:10; 46:5; 49:29.

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[Psalm 32] An individual thanksgiving and the second of the seven Penitential Psalms (cf Psalm 6). The opening declaration--the forgiven are blessed (Psalm 32:1-2)--arises from the psalmist's own experience. At one time the psalmist was stubborn and closed, a victim of sin's power (Psalm 32:3-4), and then became open to the forgiving God (Psalm 32:5-7). Sin here, as often in the Bible, is not only the personal act of rebellion against God but also the consequences of that act--frustration and waning of vitality. Having been rescued, the psalmist can teach others the joys of justice and the folly of sin (Psalm 32:8-11).

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[3] I kept silent: did not confess the sin before God.

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[6] Flood waters: the untamed waters surrounding the earth, a metaphor for danger.

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[Psalm 33] A hymn in which the just are invited (Psalm 33:1-3) to praise God, who by a mere word (Psalm 33:4-5) created the three-tiered universe of the heavens, the cosmic waters, and the earth (Psalm 33:6-9). Human words, in contrast, effect nothing (Psalm 33:10-11). The greatness of human beings consists in God's choosing them as a special people and their faithful response (Psalm 33:12-22).

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[6] All their host: the stars of the sky are commonly viewed as a vast army, e.g., Nehemiah 9:6; Isaiah 40:26; 45:12; Jeremiah 33:22.

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[7] The waters . . . as in a bowl: ancients sometimes attributed the power keeping the seas from overwhelming land to a primordial victory of the storm-god over personified Sea. God confines the seas as easily as one puts water in a bowl.

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[Psalm 34] A thanksgiving in acrostic form, each line beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In this psalm one letter is missing and two are in reverse order. The psalmist, fresh from the experience of being rescued (Psalm 34:5, 7), can teach the "poor," those who are defenseless, to trust in God alone (Psalm 34:4, 12). God will make them powerful (Psalm 34:5-11) and give them protection (Psalm 34:12-22).

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[1] Abimelech: a scribal error for Achish. In 1 Sam 21:13-16, David feigned madness before Achish, not Abimelech.

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[11] The powerful: literally, "lions." Fierce animals were sometimes metaphors for influential people.

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[12] Children: the customary term for students in Wisdom literature.

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[Psalm 35] A lament of a person betrayed by friends. The psalmist prays that the evildoers be publicly exposed as unjust (Psalm 35:1-8), and gives thanks in anticipation of vindication (Psalm 35:9-10). Old friends are the enemies (Psalm 35:11-16). May their punishment come quickly (Psalm 35:17-21)! The last part (Psalm 35:22-26) echoes the opening in praying for the destruction of the psalmist's persecutors. The psalm may appear vindictive, but one must keep in mind that the psalmist is praying for public redress now of a public injustice. There is at this time no belief in an afterlife in which justice will be redressed.

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[1-6] The mixture of judicial, martial, and hunting images shows that the language is figurative. The actual injustice is false accusation of serious crimes (Psalm 35:11, 15, 20-21). The psalmist seeks lost honor through a trial before God.

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[13,15-17] The Hebrew is obscure.

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[Psalm 36] A psalm with elements of wisdom (Psalm 36:2-5), the hymn (Psalm 36:6-10), and the lament (Psalm 36:11-13). The rule of sin over the wicked (Psalm 36:2-5) is contrasted with the rule of divine love and mercy over God's friends (Psalm 36:6-10). The psalm ends with a prayer that God's guidance never cease (Psalm 36:11-12).

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[3] Hated: punished by God.

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[6-7] Love . . . judgments: God actively controls the entire world.

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[8] The shadow of your wings: metaphor for divine protection. It probably refers to the winged cherubim in the holy of holies in the temple. Cf 1 Kings 6:23-28, 32; 2 Chron 3:10-13; Ezekiel 1:4-9.

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[Psalm 37] The psalm responds to the problem of evil, which the Old Testament often expresses as a question: why do the wicked prosper and the good suffer? The psalm answers that the situation is only temporary. God will reverse things, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked here on earth. The perspective is concrete and earthbound: people's very actions place them among the ranks of the good or wicked. Each group or "way" has its own inherent dynamism--eventual frustration for the wicked, eventual reward for the just. The psalm is an acrostic, i.e., each section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has its own imagery and logic.

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[3,9,11,22,27,29,34] The land: the promised land, Israel, which became for later interpreters a type or figure of heaven. Cf Hebrews 11:9-10, 13-16. The New Testament Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12; Luke 6:20-26) have been influenced by the psalm, especially their total reversal of the present and their interpretation of the happy future as possession of the land.

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[Psalm 38] In this lament, one of the Penitential Psalms (cf Psalm 6), the psalmist acknowledges the sin that has brought physical and mental sickness and social ostracism. There is no one to turn to for help; only God can undo the past and restore the psalmist.

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[Psalm 39] The lament of a mortally ill person who at first had resolved to remain silently submissive (Psalm 39:2-4). But the grief was too much and now the psalmist laments the brevity and vanity of life (Psalm 39:5-7), yet remaining hopeful (Psalm 39:8-10). The psalmist continues to express both acceptance of the illness and hope for healing in Psalm 39:11-13.

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[Psalm 3] An individual lament complaining of enemies who deny that God will come to the rescue (Psalm 3:2-3). Despite such taunts the psalmist hopes for God's protection even in sleep (Psalm 3:4-7). The psalm prays for an end to the enemies' power to speak maliciously (Psalm 3:8) and closes peacefully with an expression of trust (Psalm 3:8)[9].

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[1] The superscription, added later, relates the psalm to an incident in the life of David.

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[3,5,9] Selah: the term is generally considered a direction to the cantor or musicians but its exact meaning is not known. It occurs 71 times in 39 psalms.

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[Psalm 40] A thanksgiving (Psalm 40:2-13) has been combined with a lament (Psalm 40:14-17), that appears also in Psalm 70. The psalmist describes the rescue in spatial terms--being raised up from the swampy underworld to firm earth where one can praise God (Psalm 40:2-4). All who trust God will experience like protection (Psalm 40:5-6)! The psalm stipulates the precise mode of thanksgiving: not animal sacrifice but open and enthusiastic proclamation of the salvation just experienced (Psalm 40:7-11). A prayer for protection concludes (Psalm 40:12-17).

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[4] A new song: a song in response to the new action of God (cf Psalm 33:3; 96:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10). Giving thanks is not purely a human response but is itself a divine gift.

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[7-9] Obedience is better than sacrifice (cf 1 Sam 15:22; Isaiah 1:10-20; Hosea 6:6; Amos 5:22-25; Micah 6:6-8; Acts 7:42-43 [quoting Amos 5:25-26]). Hebrews 10:5-9 quotes the somewhat different Greek version and interprets it as Christ's self-oblation.

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[Psalm 41] A thanksgiving for rescue from illness (Psalm 41:4, 5, 9). Many people, even friends, have interpreted the illness as a divine punishment for sin and have ostracized the psalmist (Psalm 41:5-11). The healing shows the return of God's favor and rebukes the psalmist's detractors (Psalm 41:12-13).

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[2] Happy those concerned for the lowly and poor: other psalms use the same formula ("Happy those") for those whom God favors. Cf Psalm 32:1-2; 34:9; 40:5; 65:5. The psalmist's statement about God's love of the poor is based on the experience of being rescued (Psalm 41:1-3).

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[10] Even the friend . . . has scorned me: John 13:18 cites this verse to characterize Judas as a false friend. Scorned me: an interpretation of the unclear Hebrew, "made great the heel against me."

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[11] That I may repay them as they deserve: the healing itself is an act of judgment through which God decides for the psalmist and against the false friends. The prayer is not necessarily for strength to punish enemies.

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[14] The doxology, not part of the psalm, marks the end of the first of the five books of the Psalter. Compare Psalm 72:18-20; 89:53; 106:48.

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[Psalms 42-43] Psalm 42-43 form a single lament of three sections, each section ending in an identical refrain (Psalm 42:6, 11[12]; 43:5). The psalmist is in the extreme north of Israel, far from Jerusalem, and longs for the divine presence that Israel experienced in the temple liturgy. Despite sadness, the psalmist hopes once again to join the worshiping crowds.

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[1] The Korahites: a major guild of temple singers (2 Chron 20:19) whose name appears in the superscriptions of Psalm 42; 44-49; 84-85; 87-88.

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[3] See the face of God: "face" designates a personal presence (Genesis 33:10; Exodus 10:28-29; 2 Sam 17:11). The expressions "see God/God's face" occur elsewhere (Psalm 11:7; 17:15; 63:2; cf Exodus 24:10; 33:7-11; Job 33:26) for the presence of God in the temple.

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[7] From the land of the Jordan: the sources of the Jordan are in the foothills of Mount Hermon in present-day southern Lebanon. Mount Mizar is presumed to be a mountain in the same range.

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[8] Here deep calls to deep: to the psalmist, the waters arising in the north are overwhelming and far from God's presence, like the waters of chaos (Psalm 18:5; 69:2-3, 15; Jonah 2:3-6).

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[3] Your light and fidelity: a pair of divine attributes personified as guides for the pilgrimage. The psalmist seeks divine protection for the journey to Jerusalem.

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[Psalm 44] In this lament the community reminds God of past favors which it has always acknowledged (Psalm 44:2-9). But now God has abandoned Israel to defeat and humiliation (Psalm 44:10-17), though the people are not conscious of any sin against the covenant (Psalm 44:18-23). They struggle with being God's special people amid divine silence; yet they continue to pray (Psalm 44:24-26).

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[11] You make us retreat: the corollary of Psalm 44:3. Defeat, like victory, is God's doing; neither Israel nor its enemies can claim credit (Psalm 44:23).

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[19] Our hearts have not turned back: Israel's defeat was not caused by its lack of fidelity.

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[20] A place of jackals: following Israel's defeat and exile (Psalm 44:11-12), the land lies desolate, inhabited only by jackals. Cf Isaiah 13:22; Jeremiah 9:10; 10:22. Others take tannim as "sea monster" (cf Ezekiel 29:3; 32:2) and render: "you crushed us as you did the sea monster."

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[Psalm 45] A song for the Davidic king's marriage to a foreign princess from Tyre in Phoenicia. The court poet sings (Psalm 45:2, 18) of God's choice of the king (Psalm 45:3, 8), of his role in establishing divine rule (Psalm 45:4-8), and of his splendor as he waits for his bride (Psalm 45:9-10). The woman is to forget her own house when she becomes wife to the king (Psalm 45:11-13). Her majestic beauty today is a sign of the future prosperity of the royal house (Psalm 45:14-17). The psalm was retained in the collection when there was no reigning king, and came to be applied to the king who was to come, the messiah.

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[7] O god: the king, in courtly language, is called "god," i.e., more than human, representing God to the people. Hebrews 1:8-9 applies Psalm 45:7-8 to Christ.

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[9] Ivory-paneled palaces: literally, "palaces of ivory." Ivory paneling and furniture decoration have been found in Samaria and other ancient Near Eastern cities. Cf Amos 3:15.

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[10] Ophir's gold: uncertain location, possibly a region on the coast of southern Arabia or eastern Africa, famous for its gold. Cf 1 Kings 9:28; 10:11; Job 22:24.

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[11] Forget your people and your father's house: the bride should no longer consider herself a daughter of her father's house, but the wife of the king--the queen.

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[Psalm 46] A song of confidence in God's protection of Zion with close parallels to Psalm 48. The dominant note in Psalm 46 is sounded by the refrain, The LORD of hosts is with us (Psalm 46:4, 8, 12). The first strophe (Psalm 46:2-4) sings of the security of God's presence even in utter chaos; the second (Psalm 46:5-8), of divine protection of the city Psalm 46 from its enemies; the third (Psalm 46:9-11), of God's imposition of imperial peace.

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[1] Alamoth: the melody of the psalm, now lost.

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[3-4] Figurative ancient Near Eastern language to describe social and political upheavals.

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[4] The first line of the refrain is similar in structure and meaning to Isaiah's name for the royal child, Immanuel, With us is God (Isaiah 7:14; 8:8, 10).

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[5] Jerusalem is not situated on a river. This description derives from mythological descriptions of the divine abode and symbolizes the divine presence as the source of all life (cf Isaiah 33:21; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Joel 3:18(4:18); Zechariah 14:8; Rev 22:1-2).

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[Psalm 47] A hymn calling on the nations to acknowledge the universal rule of Israel's God (Psalm 47:2-5) who is enthroned as king over Israel and the nations (Psalm 47:6-9).

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[5] Our heritage . . . the glory: the land of Israel (cf Isaiah 58:14), which God has given Israel in an act of sovereignty.

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[6] God mounts the throne: "has gone up to the throne," according to the context (Psalm 47:9). Christian liturgical tradition has applied the verse to the ascension of Christ.

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[Psalm 48] A Zion hymn, praising the holy city as the invincible dwelling place of God. Unconquerable, it is an apt symbol of God who has defeated all enemies. After seven epithets describing the city (Psalm 48:2-3), the psalm describes the victory by the Divine Warrior over hostile kings (Psalm 48:4-8). The second half proclaims the dominion of the God of Zion over all the earth (Psalm 48:9-12) and invites pilgrims to announce that God is eternally invincible like Zion itself (13-14).

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[1] Korahites: Psalm 48: see note on Psalm 42:1.

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[3] The heights of Zaphon: the mountain abode of the Canaanite storm-god Baal in comparable texts. To speak of Zion as if it were Zaphon was to claim for Israel's God what Canaanites claimed for Baal. Though topographically speaking Zion is only a hill, viewed religiously it towers over other mountains as the home of the supreme God (cf Psalm 68:16-17).

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[6] When they looked: the kings are stunned by the sight of Zion, touched by divine splendor. The language is that of holy war, in which the enemy panics and flees at the sight of divine glory.

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[8] The ships of Tarshish: large ships, named after the distant land or port of Tarshish, probably ancient Tartessus in southern Spain, although other identifications have been proposed. Cf Isaiah 2:16; 60:9; Jonah 1:3.

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[9] What we had heard we now see: the glorious things that new pilgrims had heard about the holy city--its beauty and awesomeness- -they now see with their own eyes. The seeing here contrasts with the seeing of the hostile kings in Psalm 48:6.

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[15] So mighty is God: Israel's God is like Zion in being eternal and invincible. The holy city is therefore a kind of "sacrament" of God.

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[Psalm 49] The psalm affirms confidence in God (cf Psalm 23; 27:1-6; 62) in the face of the apparent good fortune of the unjust rich. Cf Psalm 37; 73. Reliance on wealth is misplaced (Psalm 49:8-10) for it is of no avail in the face of death (Psalm 49:18-20). After inviting all to listen to this axiom of faith (Psalm 49:2-5), the psalmist depicts the self-delusion of the ungodly (Psalm 49:6-13), whose destiny is to die like ignorant beasts (Psalm 49:13, 18; cf Proverb 7:21-23). Their wealth should occasion no alarm, for they will come to nought, whereas God will save the just (Psalm 49:14-20).

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[1] Korahites: see note on Psalm 42:1.

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[5] Problem: the psalmist's personal solution to the perennial biblical problem of the prosperity of the wicked. Question: parallel in meaning to problem; in Wisdom literature it means the mysterious way of how the world works.

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[8] One cannot redeem oneself: an axiom. For the practice of redemption, cf Job 6:21-23. A play on the first Hebrew word of Psalm 49:8, 16 relates the two verses.

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[16] Will take me: the same Hebrew verb is used of God "taking up" a favored servant: Enoch in Genesis 5:24; Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11-12; the righteous person in Psalm 73:24. The verse apparently states the hope that God will rescue the faithful psalmist in the same manner.

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[Psalm 4] An individual lament emphasizing trust in God. The petition is based upon the psalmist's vivid experience of God as savior (Psalm 4:2). That experience of God is the basis for the warning to the wicked: revere God who intervenes on the side of the faithful (Psalm 4:3-6). The faithful psalmist exemplifies the blessings given to the just (Psalm 4:7-8).

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[1] For the leader: many psalm headings contain this rubric. Its exact meaning is unknown but may signify that such psalms once stood together in a collection of "the choirmaster." Cf 1 Chron 15:21.

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[5] Tremble: be moved deeply with religious awe. The Greek translation understood the emotion to be anger, and it is so cited in Eph 4:26.

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[Psalm 50] A covenant lawsuit stating that the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience (cf Micah 6:1-8). It begins with a theophany and the summoning of the court (Psalm 50:1-6). Then in direct address God explains what is required of the faithful (Psalm 50:7-15), rebukes the hypocritical worshiper (Psalm 50:16-21), and concludes with a threat and a promise (Psalm 50:22-23; cf Isaiah 1:19-20).

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[Psalm 51] A lament, the most famous of the seven Penitential Psalms, prays for the removal of the personal and social disorders that sin has brought. The poem has two parts of approximately equal length: Psalm 51:3-10 and Psalm 51:11-19, and a conclusion in Psalm 51:20-21. The two parts interlock by repetition of "blot out" in the first verse of each section (Psalm 51:3, 11), of "wash (away)" just after the first verse of each section (Psalm 51:4) and just before the last verse (Psalm 51:9) of the first section, and of "heart," "God," and "spirit" in Psalm 51:12, 19. The first part (Psalm 51:3-10) asks deliverance from sin, which is not just a past act but its emotional, physical, and social consequences. The second part (Psalm 51:11-19) seeks something more profound than wiping the slate clean: nearness to God, living by the spirit of God (Psalm 51:12-13), like the relation between God and people described in Jeremiah 31:33-34. Nearness to God brings joy and the authority to teach sinners (Psalm 51:15-16). Such proclamation is better than offering sacrifice (Psalm 51:17-19). The last two verses ask for the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Psalm 51:19 [20-21]).

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[7] A sinner, even as my mother conceived me: literally, "In iniquity was I conceived," an instance of hyperbole: at no time was the psalmist ever without sin. Cf Psalm 88:15, "I am mortally afflicted since youth," i.e., I have always been afflicted. The verse does not imply that the sexual act of conception is sinful.

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[9] Hyssop: a small bush whose many woody twigs make a natural sprinkler. It was prescribed in the Mosaic law as an instrument for sprinkling sacrificial blood or lustral water for cleansing. Cf Exodus 12:22; Lev 14:4; Numbers 19:18.

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[18] For you do not desire sacrifice: the mere offering of the ritual sacrifice apart from good dispositions is not acceptable to God. Cf Psalm 50.

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[19(20-21)] Most scholars think that these verses were added to the psalm some time after the destruction of the temple in 587 B.C. The verses assume that the rebuilt temple will be an ideal site for national reconciliation.

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[Psalm 52] A condemnation of the powerful and arrogant (Psalm 52:3-6), who bring down upon themselves God's judgment (Psalm 52:7). The just, those who trust in God alone, are gladdened and strengthened by the downfall of their traditional enemies (Psalm 52:8-9).

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[10] Like an olive tree: the righteous will flourish in the house of God like a well-watered olive tree. Cf Psalm 92:14; 128:3.

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[Psalm 53] A lament of an individual, duplicated in Psalm 14, except that "God" is used for "the Lord," and Psalm 53:6 is different. See under Psalm 14.

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[Psalm 54] A lament in which the person under attack calls directly upon God for help (Psalm 54:3-5). Refusing to despair, the psalmist hopes in God, who is active in history and just (Psalm 54:6-7). The psalm ends with a serene promise to return thanks (Psalm 54:7[8-9]).

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[3] By your name: one is present in one's name, hence God as revealed to humans.

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[Psalm 55] The psalmist, betrayed by intimate friends (Psalm 55:14-15, 20-21), prays that God punish those oath breakers and thus be acknowledged as the protector of the wronged. The sufferings of the psalmist include both ostracism (Psalm 55:4) and mental turmoil (Psalm 55:5-6), culminating in the wish to flee society (Psalm 55:7-9). The wish for a sudden death for one's enemies (Psalm 55:16) occurs elsewhere in the psalms; an example of such a death is the earth opening under the wicked Dathan and Abiram (Numbers 16:31-32). The psalmist, confident of vindication, exhorts others to a like trust in the God of justice (Psalm 55:23). The psalm is not so much for personal vengeance as for a public vindication of God's righteousness now. There was no belief in an afterlife where such vindication could take place.

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[Psalm 56] Beset physically (Psalm 56:2-3) and psychologically (Psalm 56:6-7), the psalmist maintains a firm confidence in God (Psalm 56:5, 9-10). Nothing will prevent the psalmist from keeping the vow to give thanks for God's gift of life (Psalm 56:13). A refrain (Psalm 56:5, 11-12) divides the psalm in two equal parts.

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[1] Yonath elem rehoqim: Hebrew words probably designating the melody to which the psalm was to be sung.

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[9] Are my tears not stored in your vial: a unique saying in the Old Testament. The context suggests that the tears are saved because they are precious; God puts a high value on each of the psalmist's troubles.

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[Psalm 57] Each of the two equal strophes contains a prayer for rescue from enemies, accompanied by joyful trust in God (Psalm 57:2-5, 7-11). The refrain prays that God be manifested as saving (Psalm 57:6, 11[12]). Psalm 108 is nearly identical to part of this psalm (Psalm 57:8-11 = Psalm 108:2-6).

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[1] Do not destroy: probably the title of the melody to which the psalm was to be sung.

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[2] The shadow of your wings: probably refers to the wings of the cherubim (powerful winged animals) whose wings spread over the ark in the inner chamber of the temple (1 Kings 6:23-28).

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[9] I will wake the dawn: by a bold figure the psalmist imagines the sound of music and singing will waken a new day.

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[Psalm 58] A lament expressing trust in God's power to dethrone all powers obstructing divine rule of the world. First condemned are "the gods," the powers that were popularly imagined to control human destinies (Psalm 58:2-3), then "the wicked," the human instruments of these forces (Psalm 58:4-6). The psalmist prays God to prevent them from harming the just (Psalm 58:7-10). The manifestation of justice will gladden the just; they will see that their God is with them (Psalm 58:11). The psalm is less concerned with personal vengeance than with public vindication of God's justice now.

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[1] Do not destroy: probably the title of the melody to which the psalm was to be sung.

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[2] Gods: the Bible sometimes understands pagan gods to be lesser divine beings who are assigned by Israel's God to rule the foreign nations. Here they are accused of injustice, permitting the human judges under their patronage to abuse the righteous. Cf Psalm 82.

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[5-6] The image is that of a poisonous snake that is controlled by the voice or piping of its trainer.

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[9] A snail that oozes away: empty shells suggested to ancients that snails melted away as they left a slimy trail.

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[Psalm 59] A lament in two parts (Psalm 59:2-9, 11b-17), each ending in a refrain (Psalm 59:10, 17[18]). Both parts alternate prayer for vindication (Psalm 59:2-3, 4b-5; 11b-14) with vivid depictions of the psalmist's enemies (Psalm 59:4-5a, 7-8, 15-16). The near curse in Psalm 59:12-13 is not a crude desire for revenge but a wish that God's just rule over human affairs be recognized now.

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[1] Do not destroy: probably the title of the melody to which the psalm was to be sung.

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[8] Who is there to hear?: a sample of the enemies' godless reflection. The answer is that God hears their blasphemies.

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[Psalm 5] A lament contrasting the security of the house of God (Psalm 5:8-9, 12-13) with the danger of the company of evildoers (Psalm 5:5-7, 10-11). The psalmist therefore prays that God will hear (Psalm 5:2-4) and grant the protection and joy of the temple.

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[10] Their throats: their speech brings harm to their hearers (cf Jeremiah 5:16). The verse mentions four parts of the body, each a source of evil to the innocent.

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[Psalm 60] The community complains that God has let the enemy win the battle (Psalm 60:3-5) and asks for an assurance of victory (Psalm 60:6-7). In the oracle God affirms ownership of the land; the invasion of other nations is not permanent and will be reversed ultimately (Psalm 60:8-10). With renewed confidence, the community resolves to fight again (Psalm 60:11). The opening lament is picked up again (Psalm 60:12), but this time with new awareness of God's power and human limitation.

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[7-12] These verses occur again as the second half of Psalm 108.

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[8] I will apportion . . . measure out: God lays claim to these places. The valley of Succoth: probably the lower stretch of the Jabbok valley.

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[9] Judah, my own scepter: an allusion to the Testament of Jacob, Genesis 49:10.

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[10] Moab is my washbowl: Moab borders the Dead Sea, hence a metaphor for the country. Upon Edom I cast my sandal: an ancient legal gesture of taking possession of land.

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[11] The fortified city: perhaps Bozrah, the fortified capital of Edom. Cf Isaiah 34:6; 63:1; Amos 1:12.

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[Psalm 61] A lament of the king who feels himself at the brink of death (Psalm 61:3) and cries out for the strong and saving presence of God (Psalm 61:3b-5). The king cites the prayer being made for him (Psalm 61:7-8), and promises to give thanks to God.

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[3] Brink of Sheol: literally, "edge of the earth," "earth" being taken in its occasional meaning "the underworld." Cf Jonah 2:3.

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[6] In prayer: added for sense. Psalm 61:7-8 express the plea of Psalm 61:6.

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[9] Then: Hebrew "just as," i.e., in accord with the vows referred to in Psalm 61:5.

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[Psalm 62] A song of trust displaying serenity from experiencing God's power (the refrains of Psalm 62:2-3 and Psalm 62:6-7) and anger toward unjust enemies (Psalm 62:4-5). From the experience of being rescued, the psalmist can teach others to trust in God (Psalm 62:9-12).

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[1] 'Al Jeduthun: apparently the Hebrew name for the melody.

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[10] On a balance they rise: precious objects were weighed by balancing two pans suspended from a beam. The lighter pan rises.

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[12] One thing . . . two things: parallelism of numbers for the sake of variation, a common device in Semitic poetry. One should not literally add up the numbers. Cf Amos 1:3; Proverb 6:16-19; 30:15, 18, 21.

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[Psalm 63] A psalm expressing the intimate relationship between God and the worshiper. Separated from God (Psalm 63:2), the psalmist longs for the divine life given in the temple (Psalm 63:3-6), which is based on a close relationship with God (Psalm 63:7-9). May all my enemies be destroyed and God's true worshipers continue in giving praise (Psalm 63:10-11)!

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[4] For your love is better than life: only here in the Old Testament is anything prized above life--in this case God's love.

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[12] All who swear by the Lord: to swear by a particular god meant that one was a worshiper of that god (Isaiah 45:23; 48:1; Zephaniah 1:5).

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[Psalm 64] A lament of a person overwhelmed by the malice of the wicked who are depicted in the psalms as the enemies of the righteous (Psalm 64:2-7). When people see God bringing upon the wicked the evil they intended against others, they will know who is the true ruler of the world (Psalm 64:8-10) The final verse is a vow of praise (Psalm 64:10 [11]).

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[5] Catch them unawares: literally, "suddenly," i.e., "unexpectedly."

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[Psalm 65] The community, aware of its unworthiness (Psalm 65:3-4), gives thanks for divine bounty (Psalm 65:5), a bounty resulting from God's creation victory (Psalm 65:6-9). At God's touch the earth comes alive with vegetation and flocks (Psalm 65:10-13).

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[2] Vows: the Israelites were accustomed to promising sacrifices in the temple if their prayers were heard.

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[3] To you all flesh must come: all must have recourse to God's mercy.

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[6] Awesome deeds: the acts of creating--installing mountains, taming seas, restraining nations (Psalm 65:7-8)--that are visible worldwide (Psalm 65:6, 9).

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[9-13] Apparently a description of the agricultural year, beginning with the first fall rains that soften the hard sun-baked soil (Psalm 65:9-10).

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[9] God's stream: the fertile waters of the earth derive from God's fertile waters in the heavenly world.

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[12] Paths: probably the tracks of God's storm chariot dropping rain upon earth.

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[Psalm 66] In the first part (Psalm 66:1-12), the community praises God for powerful acts for Israel, both in the past (the exodus from Egypt and the entry into the land [Psalm 66:6]) and in the present (deliverance from a recent but unspecified calamity [Psalm 8-12]). In the second part (Psalm 66:13-20), an individual from the rescued community fulfills a vow to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. As often in thanksgivings, the rescued person steps forward to teach the community what God has done (Psalm 66:16-20).

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[5-6] Cf the events described in Exodus 14:1-15, 21; Joshua 3:11-4:24 and Psalm 114.

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[12] You let captors set foot on our neck: literally, "you let men mount our head." Conquerors placed their feet on the neck of their enemies as a sign of complete defeat. Cf Joshua 10:24. A ceremonial footstool of the Egyptian king Tutankhamen portrays bound and prostrate bodies of enemies ready for the king's feet on their heads, and one of Tutankhamen's ceremonial chariots depicts the king as a sphinx standing with paw atop the neck of an enemy.

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[13] Holocausts: wholly burnt offerings. Cf Lev 1:3-13; 6:1-4; 22:17-20.

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[Psalm 67] A petition for a bountiful harvest (Psalm 67:7), made in the awareness that Israel's prosperity will persuade the nations to worship its God.

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[2] May God be gracious to us: the people's petition echoes the blessing pronounced upon them by the priests. Cf Numbers 6:22-27.

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[Psalm 68] The psalm is extremely difficult because the Hebrew text is badly preserved and the ceremony that it describes is uncertain. The translation assumes the psalm accompanied the early autumn Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth), which included a procession of the tribes (Psalm 68:25-28). Israel was being oppressed by a foreign power, perhaps Egypt (Psalm 68:31-32)--unless Egypt stands for any oppressor. The psalm may have been composed from segments of ancient poems, which would explain why the transitions are implied rather than explicitly stated. At any rate, Psalm 68:2 is based on Numbers 10:35-36, and Psalm 68:8-9 are derived from Judges 5:4-5. The argument develops in nine stanzas (each of three to five poetic lines): 1. confidence that God will destroy Israel's enemies (Psalm 68:2-4); 2. call to praise God as savior (Psalm 68:5-7); 3. God's initial rescue of Israel from Egypt (Psalm 68:8), the Sinai encounter (Psalm 68:9), and the settlement in Canaan (Psalm 68:10-11); 4. the defeat of the Canaanite kings (Psalm 68:12-15); 5. the taking of Jerusalem, where Israel's God will rule the world (Psalm 68:16-19); 6. praise for God's past help and for the future interventions that will be modeled on the ancient exodus-conquest (Psalm 68:20-24); 7. procession at the Feast of Tabernacles (Psalm 68:25-28); 8. prayer that the defeated enemies bring tribute to the temple (29-32); 9. invitation for all kingdoms to praise Israel's God (33-35).

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[31] The wild beast of the reeds: probably the Nile crocodile, a symbol for Egypt; see Psalm 68:32 and Ezekiel 29:2-5.

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[31] Psalm 68:32[29-30] Lower Egypt is the delta area north of Cairo. Upper Egypt is the Nile-Valley from Cairo to Aswan. Ethiopia is still further south.

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[2] The opening line alluding to Numbers 10:35 makes clear that God's assistance in the period of the exodus and conquest is the model and assurance of all future divine help.

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[5] Exalt the rider of the clouds: God's intervention is in the imagery of Canaanite myth in which the storm-god mounted the storm clouds to ride to battle. Such theophanies occur throughout the psalm: Psalm 68:2-3, 8-10, 12-15, 18-19, 22-24, 29-32, 34-35. See Deut 33:26; Psalm 18:8-16; Isaiah 19:1.

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[7] While rebels live in the desert: rebels must live in the arid desert, whereas God's people will live in the well-watered land (Psalm 68:8-11).

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[12-15] The Hebrew text upon which the translation is based has apparently suffered dislocation and has been substantially rearranged for sense. The version of the defeat of the kings differs from that in the book of Joshua, where the people play a significant role. Here God alone is responsible for the victory (though the actual battle is not described); Israel only gathers the spoils. God alone is the source of Israel's success; human effort is not important.

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[15] Zalmon: generally taken as the name of a mountain where snow is visible in winter, perhaps to be located in the Golan Heights or in the mountains of Bashan or Hauran east of the Sea of Galilee.

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[17] The mountain: Mount Zion, the site of the temple.

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[23] Even from Bashan . . . from the depths of the sea: the heights and the depths, the farthest places where enemies might flee.

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[25-28] Your procession: the procession renews God's original taking up of residence on Zion, described in Psalm 68:16-19.

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[Psalm 69] A lament complaining of suffering in language both metaphorical (Psalm 69:2-3; 15-16 the waters of chaos) and literal (Psalm 69:4, 5, 9, 11-13, exhaustion, alienation from family and community, false accusation). In the second part the psalmist prays with special emphasis that the enemies be punished for all to see (Psalm 69:23-29). Despite the pain, the psalmist does not lose hope that all be set right, and promises public praise (Psalm 69:30-36). The psalm, which depicts the suffering of the innocent just person vividly, is cited often by the New Testament especially in the passion accounts, e.g., Psalm 69:5 in John 15:25; Psalm 69:22 in Mark 15:23, 36 and parallels and in John 19:29. The psalm prays not so much for personal vengeance as for public vindication of God's justice. There was, at this time, no belief in an afterlife where such vindication could take place. Redress had to take place now, in the sight of all.

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[1] "Lilies": apparently the name of the melody.

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[2] Waters: the waters of chaos from which God created the world are a common metaphor for extreme distress. Cf Psalm 18:5; 42:8; 88:8; Jonah 2:3-6.

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[5] What I did not steal: the psalmist, falsely accused of theft, is being forced to make restitution.

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[10] Zeal for your house consumes me: the psalmist's commitment to God's cause brings only opposition. Cf John 2:17. I am scorned by those who scorn you: Romans 15:3 uses the verse as an example of Jesus' unselfishness.

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[31] That I may praise God's name in song: the actual song is cited in 33-35, the word "praise" in 35 referring back to "praise" in Psalm 69:31.

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[Psalm 6] The first of the seven Penitential Psalms (Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143), a designation dating from the seventh century A.D. for psalms suitable to express repentance. The psalmist does not, as in many laments, claim to be innocent but appeals to God's mercy (Psalm 6:5). Sin here, as often in the Bible, is both the sinful act and its injurious consequences; here it is physical sickness (Psalm 6:3-4, 7-8) and the attacks of enemies (Psalm 6:8, 9, 10)[11]. The psalmist prays that the effects of personal and social sin be taken away.

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[1] Upon the eighth: apparently a musical notation, now lost.

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[4] How long?: elliptical for "How long will it be before you answer my prayer?" Cf Psalm 13:2-3.

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[5] mercy: Heb. hesed, translated as "mercy' or "love," describes God's affectionate fidelity to human beings, which is rooted in divine and not human integrity.

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[6] A motive for God to preserve the psalmist from death: in the shadowy world of the dead no one offers you praise. Sheol is the biblical term for the underworld where the insubstantial souls of dead human beings dwelt. It was similar to the Hades of Greek and Latin literature. In the second century B.C., biblical books begin to speak positively of life with God after death (Daniel 12:1-3; Wisdom 3).

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[Psalm 70] A lament of a poor and afflicted person (Psalm 70:6) who has no resource except God, and who cries out to be saved from the enemy. The psalm is almost identical to Psalm 40:14-17.

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[Psalm 71] A lament of an old person (Psalm 71:9, 18) whose afflictions are interpreted by enemies as a divine judgment (Psalm 71:11). The first part of the psalm pleads for help (Psalm 71:1-4) on the basis of a hope learned from a lifetime's experience of God; the second part describes the menace (Psalm 71:9-13) yet remains buoyant (Psalm 71:14-16); the third develops the theme of hope and praise.

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[7] A portent to many: the afflictions of the sufferer are taken as a manifestation of God's anger. Cf Deut 28:46; Psalm 31:12.

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[Psalm 72] A royal psalm in which the Israelite king, as the representative of God, is the instrument of divine justice (Psalm 72:1-4, 12-14) and blessing (Psalm 72:5-7, 15-17) for the whole world. The king is human, giving only what he has received from God. Hence intercession must be made for him. The extravagant language is typical of oriental royal courts.

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[2] The king . . . the son of kings: the crown prince is the king's son; the prayer envisages the dynasty.

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[8] From sea to sea . . . the ends of the earth: the boundaries of the civilized world known at the time: from the Mediterranean Sea (the western sea) to the Persian Gulf (the eastern sea), and from the Euphrates (the river) to the islands and lands of southwestern Europe, "the ends of the earth." The words may also have a mythic nuance--the earth surrounded by cosmic waters, hence everywhere.

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[10] Tarshish and the islands: the far west (Psalm 48:6); Arabia and Seba: the far south (1 Kings 10:1).

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[14] Their blood: cf Psalm 116:15.

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[16] The translation of the difficult Hebrew is tentative.

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[17] May the tribes of the earth give blessing with his name: an echo of the promise to the ancestors (Genesis 12:3; 26:4; 28:14), suggesting that the monarchy in Israel fulfilled the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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[18-19] A doxology marking the end of Book II of the Psalter.

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[Psalm 73] The opening verse of this probing poem (cf Psalm 37:49) is actually the psalmist's hard-won conclusion from personal experience: God is just and good! The psalmist describes near loss of faith (Psalm 73:2-3), occasioned by observing the wicked who blasphemed God with seeming impunity (Psalm 73:4-12). Feeling abandoned despite personal righteousness, the psalmist could not bear the injustice until an experience of God's nearness in the temple made clear how deluded the wicked were. Their sudden destruction shows their impermanence (Psalm 73:13-20). The just can thus be confident, for, as the psalmist now knows, their security is from God (Psalm 73:1, 23-28).

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[9] They set their mouths against the heavens: in an image probably derived from mythic stories of half-divine giants, the monstrous speech of the wicked is likened to enormous jaws gaping wide, devouring everything in sight.

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[10] The Hebrew is obscure.

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missing foot note text

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[24] And at the end receive me with honor: a perhaps deliberately enigmatic verse. It is understood by some commentators as reception into heavenly glory, hence the traditional translation, "receive me into glory." The Hebrew verb can indeed refer to mysterious divine elevation of a righteous person into God's domain: Enoch in Genesis 5:24; Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11-12; the righteous psalmist in Psalm 49:16. Personal resurrection in the Old Testament, however, is clearly attested only in the second century B.C. The verse is perhaps best left unspecified as a reference to God's nearness and protection.

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[Psalm 74] A communal lament sung when the enemy invaded the temple; it would be especially appropriate at the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Israel's God is urged to look upon the ruined sanctuary and remember the congregation who worshiped there (Psalm 74:1-11). People and sanctuary are bound together; an attack on Zion is an attack on Israel. In the second half of the poem, the com-munity brings before God the story of their origins--their creation (Psalm 74:12-17)--in order to move God to reenact that deed of creation now. Will God allow a lesser power to destroy the divine project (Psalm 74:18-23)?

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[1] Forever: the word implies that the disaster is already of long duration. Cf Psalm 74:9 and note.

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[9] Now we see no signs: ancients often asked prophets to say for how long a divine punishment was to last. Cf 2 Sam 24:13. Here no prophet has arisen to indicate the duration.

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[12-17] Comparable Canaanite literature describes the storm-god's victory over all-encompassing Sea and its allies (dragons and Leviathan) and the subsequent peaceful arrangement of the universe, sometimes through the placement of paired cosmic elements (day and night, sun and moon). Cf Psalm 89:12-13. The psalm apparently equates the enemies attacking the temple with the destructive cosmic forces already tamed by God. Why then are those forces now raging untamed against your own people?

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[Psalm 75] The psalmist gives thanks and rejoices (Psalm 75:2, 10) for the direct intervention of God, which is promised in two oracles (3-4,11). Expecting that divine intervention, the psalmist warns evildoers to repent (Psalm 75:5-9).

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[2] You said: supplied for clarity here and in Psalm 75:11. The translation assumes in both places that the psalmist is citing an oracle of God.

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[5] Do not raise your horns!: the horn is the symbol of strength; to raise one's horn is to exalt one's own power as Psalm 75:5 explains.

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missing foot note text

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[Psalm 76] A song glorifying Zion, the mountain of Jerusalem where God destroyed Israel's enemies. Zion is thus the appropriate site to celebrate the victory (Psalm 76:3-4), a victory described in parallel scenes (Psalm 76:5-7, 8-11). Israel is invited to worship its powerful patron deity (Psalm 76:12).

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[3] Salem: an ancient name for Jerusalem, used here perhaps on account of its allusion to the Hebrew word for peace, shalom. Cf Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:1-3.

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[5] Ancient mountains: conjectural translation of a difficult Hebrew phrase on the basis of Genesis 49:26. The mountains are part of the structure of the universe (Psalm 89:12-13).

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[11] Edom . . . Hamath: conjectural translation. Israel's neighbors to the southeast and north.

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[Psalm 77] A community lament in which the speaker ("I") describes the anguish of Israel at God's silence when its very existence is at stake (Psalm 77:2-11). In response the speaker recites the story of how God brought the people into existence (Psalm 77:12-20). The question is thus posed to God: Will you allow the people you created to be destroyed?

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[11] I conclude: literally, "I said." The psalmist, after pondering the present distress and God's promises to Israel, has decided that God has forgotten the people.

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[12] I will remember: the verb sometimes means to make present the great deeds of Israel's past by reciting them. Cf Psalm 78:42; 105:5; 106:7.

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[Psalm 78] A recital of history to show that past generations did not respond to God's gracious deeds and were punished by God making the gift into a punishment. Will Israel now fail to appreciate God's new act--the choosing of Zion and of David? The tripartite introduction invites Israel to learn the lessons hidden in its traditions (Psalm 78:1-4, 5-7, 8-11); each section ends with the mention of God's acts. There are two distinct narratives of approximately equal length: the wilderness events (Psalm 78:12-39) and the movement from Egypt to Canaan (Psalm 78:40-72). The structure of both is parallel: gracious act (Psalm 78:12-16, 40-55), rebellion (Psalm 78:17-20, 56-58), divine punishment (Psalm 78:21-31, 59-64), God's readiness to forgive and begin anew (Psalm 78:32-39, 65-72). The psalm may reflect the reunification program of either King Hezekiah (late eighth century) or King Josiah (late seventh century) in that the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim, Joseph) is especially invited to accept Zion and the Davidic king.

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[68,70] God's ultimate offer of mercy to the sinful helpless people is Zion and the Davidic king.

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[2] Story: Hebrew mashal literally means "comparison" and can signify a story with a hidden meaning. Matthew 13:35 cites the verse to explain Jesus' use of parables.

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[9] Ephraimite archers: Ephraim was the most important tribe of the Northern Kingdom. Its military defeat (here unspecified) demonstrates its infidelity to God, who otherwise would have protected it.

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[12,43] Zoan: a city on the arm of the Nile, a former capital of Egypt.

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[23-31] On the manna and the quail, see Exodus 16 and Numbers 11. Unlike Exodus 16, here both manna and quail are instruments of punishment, showing that a divine gift can become deadly because of Israel's apostasy.

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[35] Remembered: invoked God publicly in worship. Their words were insincere (Psalm 78:36).

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[38] God is always ready to forgive and begin anew, as in choosing Zion and David (Psalm 78:65-72).

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[43-55] Exodus 7-12 records ten plagues. Here there are six divine attacks upon Egypt; the seventh climactic act is God's bringing Israel to the holy land.

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[60] Shiloh: an important shrine in the north prior to Jerusalem. Despite its holy status, it was destroyed (Psalm 78:60-64; cf Jeremiah 7:12, 14).

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[Psalm 79] A communal lament complaining that the nations have defiled the temple and murdered the holy people, leaving their corpses unburied (Psalm 79:1-4). The occasion is probably the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 587 B.C. The people ask how long the withdrawal of divine favor will last (Psalm 79:5), pray for action now (Psalm 79:6-7), and admit that their own sins have brought about the catastrophe (Psalm 79:8-9). They seek to persuade God to act for reasons of honor: the nations who do not call upon the Name are running amok (Psalm 79:6); the divine honor is compromised (Psalm 79:1, 10, 12); God's own servants suffer (Psalm 79:2-4, 11).

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[Psalm 7] An individual lament. The psalmist flees to God's presence in the sanctuary for justice and protection (Psalm 7:2-3) and takes an oath that only the innocent can swear (Psalm 7:4-6). The innocent psalmist can thus hope for the just God's protection (Psalm 7:7-14) and be confident that the actions of the wicked will come back upon their own heads (Psalm 7:15-17). The justice of God leads the psalmist to praise (Psalm 7:17)[18].

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[4] At fault in this: in the accusation the enemies have made against the psalmist.

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[Psalm 80] A community lament in time of military defeat. Using the familiar image of Israel as a vineyard, the people complain that God has broken down the wall protecting the once splendid vine brought from Egypt (Psalm 80:9-14). They pray that God will again turn to them and use the Davidic king to lead them to victory (Psalm 80:15-19).

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[1] Lilies . . . . Eduth: the first term is probably the title of the melody to which the psalm was to be sung; the second is unexplained.

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[9] A vine: a frequent metaphor for Israel. Cf Isaiah 5:1-7; 27:2-5; Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1; Matthew 21:33.

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[12] The sea: the Mediterranean. The river: the Euphrates. Cf Genesis 15:18; 1 Kings 5:1. The terms may also have a mythic nuance--the seas that surround the earth; sea and river are sometimes paralleled in poetry.

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[18] The man at your right hand . . . the one: the Davidic king who will lead the army in battle.

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[Psalm 81] At a pilgrimage feast, probably harvest in the fall, the people assemble in the temple in accord with the Sinai ordinances (Psalm 81:2-6). They hear a divine word (mediated by a temple speaker) telling how God rescued them from slavery in Egypt (Psalm 81:7-9), gave them the fundamental commandment of fidelity (Psalm 81:9-11), which would bring punishment if they refused to obey (Psalm 81:12-13). But if Israel repents, God will be with them once again, bestowing protection and fertility (Psalm 81:14-16).

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[1] Upon the gittith: probably the title of the melody to which the psalm was to be sung or a musical instrument.

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[4] New moon . . . full moon: the pilgrimage feast of harvest began with a great assembly (Lev 23:24; Numbers 29:1), used the new moon as a sign (Numbers 29:6), and included trumpets (Lev 23:24).

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[6] I hear a new oracle: literally, "a tongue I do not know I hear." A temple official speaks the word of God (Psalm 81:5b-16), which is authoritative and unlike merely human words (cf Numbers 24:4, 16).

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[7] I relieved their shoulders of the burden: literally, "his [Israel's] shoulder," hence the plural translation. A reference to the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt. The basket: for carrying clay to make bricks. Cf Exodus 1:14.

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[8] Meribah: place of rebellion in the wilderness; cf Exodus 17:7; Numbers 20:13.

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[10] There must be no foreign god among you: as in Psalm 50 and 95, Israel is challenged to obey the first commandment of fidelity to God after the proclamation of the exodus.

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[Psalm 82] As in Psalm 58, the pagan gods are seen as subordinate divine beings to whom Israel's God had delegated oversight of the foreign countries in the beginning (Deut 32:8-9). Now God arises in the heavenly assembly (Psalm 82:1) to rebuke the unjust "gods" (Psalm 82:2-4), who are stripped of divine status and reduced in rank to mortals (Psalm 82:5-7). They are accused of misruling the earth by not upholding the poor. A short prayer for universal justice concludes the psalm (Psalm 82:8).

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[5] The gods are blind and unable to declare what is right. Their misrule shakes earth's foundations (cf Psalm 11:3; 75:4), which God made firm in creation (Psalm 96:10).

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[6] I declare: "Gods though you be": in John 10:34 Jesus uses the verse to prove that those to whom the word of God is addressed can fittingly be called "gods."

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[8] Judge the earth: according to Deut 32:8-9, Israel's God had originally assigned jurisdiction over the foreign nations to the subordinate deities, keeping Israel as a personal possession. Now God will directly take over the rulership of the whole world.

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[Psalm 83] The community lament complains to God of the nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel (Psalm 83:1-8). The psalmist sees all Israel's enemies throughout its history united in a conspiracy (Psalm 83:2-8). May God destroy the current crop of enemies as the enemies of old were destroyed (Psalm 83:9-12), and may they be pursued until they acknowledge the name of Israel's God (Psalm 83:13-18).

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[7-9] Apart from the Assyrians, all the nations listed here were neighbors of Israel. The people of . . . Hagar: a tribe of the desert regions east of Ammon and Moab (1 Chron 5:10, 19-22). Gebal is the Phoenician city of Byblos or perhaps a mountain region south of the Dead Sea. The descendants of Lot are Moab and Edom (Genesis 19:36-38 and Deut 2:9). These nations were never united against Israel in the same period; the psalm has lumped them all together.

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[10-13] For the historical events, see Jdgs 4-8.

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[Psalm 84] Israelites celebrated three pilgrimage feasts in Jerusalem annually. The psalm expresses the sentiments of the pilgrims eager to enjoy the divine presence.

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[4] The desire of a restless bird for a secure home is an image of the desire of a pilgrim for the secure house of God. Cf Psalm 42:2-3, where the image for the desire of the pilgrim is the thirst of the deer for water.

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[7] Baca valley: Hebrew obscure; probably a valley on the way to Jerusalem.

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[10] Our shield . . . your anointed: the king had a role in the liturgical celebration. For the king as shield, cf Psalm 89:19.

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[Psalm 85] A national lament reminding God of past favors and forgiveness (Psalm 85:2-4) and begging for forgiveness and grace now (Psalm 85:5-8). A speaker represents the people who wait humbly with open hearts (Psalm 85:9-10): God will be active on their behalf (Psalm 85:11-13). The situation suggests the conditions of Judea during the early postexilic period, the fifth century B.C.; the thoughts are similar to those of postexilic prophets (Haggai 1:5-11; 2:6-9).

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[9] The prophet listens to God's revelation. Cf Hebrews 2:1.

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[11-13] Divine activity is personified as pairs of virtues.

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[Psalm 86] An individual lament. The psalmist, "poor and oppressed" (Psalm 86:1), "devoted" (Psalm 86:2), "your servant" (Psalm 86:2, 4, 16), "rescued from the depths of Sheol" (Psalm 86:13), attacked by the ruthless (14), desires only God's protection (Psalm 86:1-7, 11-17).

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[Psalm 87] A song of Zion, like Psalms 46; 48; 76; 132. After the Exile of the sixth century B.C., diaspora Jews from all over the world (Psalm 87:4) made the long pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the city of God (Psalm 87:1-3). Such Jews may have hailed from distant lands, but the psalm sees them as children of Zion (Psalm 87:5-7). The original occasion may have been Pentecost, which always attracted a large number of diaspora Jews.

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[2] The gates: the city itself, a common Hebrew idiom.

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[5-6] The bond between the exile and the holy city was so strong as to override the exile's citizenship of lesser cities.

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[Psalm 88] A lament in which the psalmist prays for rescue from the alienation of approaching death. Each of the three stanzas begins with a call to God (Psalm 88:2, 10, 14) and complains of the death that separates one from God. The tone is persistently grim.

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[4-8] In imagination the psalmist already experiences the alienation of Sheol.

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[11-13] The psalmist seeks to persuade God to act out of concern for divine honor: the shades give you no worship, so keep me alive to offer you praise.

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[Psalm 89] The community laments the defeat of the Davidic king, to whom God promised kingship as enduring as the heavens (Psalm 89:2-5). The psalm narrates how God became king of the divine beings (Psalm 89:6-9) and how the Davidic king became king of earthly kings (Psalm 89:20-38). Since the defeat of the king calls into question God's promise, the community ardently prays God to be faithful to the original promise to David (Psalm 89:39-52).

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[53] The doxology at the end of the third book of the Psalms; it is not part of Psalm 89.

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[3-5] David's dynasty is to be as long-lasting as the heavens, a statement reinforced by using the same verbs (establish, stand) both of the divine love and loyalty and of the Davidic dynasty and throne. Cf Psalm 89:29-30.

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[7] The gods: literally, "the sons of gods," "the holy ones" and "courtiers" of Psalm 89:6, 8. These heavenly spirits are members of God's court.

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[11] Rahab: a mythological sea monster whose name is used in the Bible mainly as a personification of primeval chaos. Cf Job 9:13; 26:12; Psalm 74:13-14; Isaiah 51:9.

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[13] Zaphon and Amanus: two sacred mountains in northern Syria. Tabor: a high hill in the valley of Jezreel in northern Israel. Hermon: a mountain in Lebanon, forming the southern spur of the Anti-Lebanon range.

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[18,25] Horn: a concrete noun for an abstract quality; horn is a symbol of strength.

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[26] The sea . . . the rivers: geographically the limits of the Davidic Empire (the Mediterranean and the Euphrates); mythologically, the traditional forces of chaos. See note on Psalm 89:11.

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[28] Most High: a divine title, which is here extended to David as God's own king. Cf Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 9:5. As God rules over the members of the heavenly council (Psalm 89:6-9), so David, God's surrogate, rules over earthly kings.

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[37-38] Like the sun before me . . . like the sky: as enduring as the heavenly lights. Cf Psalm 89:2-5 and Psalm 72:5, 17.

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[Psalm 8] While marvelling at the limitless grandeur of God (Psalm 8:2-3), the psalmist is struck first by the smallness of human beings in creation (Psalm 8:4-5), and then by the royal dignity and power that God has graciously bestowed upon them (Psalm 8:6-9).

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[1] Upon the gittith: probably the title of the melody to which the psalm was to be sung or a musical instrument.

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[3] Babes and infants: the text is obscure. Some join this line to the last line of Psalm 8:2 (itself obscure) to read: "(you) whose majesty is exalted above the heavens / by the mouths of babes and infants." Drawn a defense: some prefer the Septuagint's "fashioned praise," which is quoted in Matthew 21:16. Enemy and avenger: probably cosmic enemies. The primeval powers of watery chaos are often personified in poetic texts (Psalm 74:13-14; 89:11; Job 9:13; 26:12-13; Isaiah 51,9).

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[5] Humans . . . mere mortals: literally, "(mortal) person". . . "son of man (in sense of a human being, Hebrew 'adam)." The emphasis is on the fragility and mortality of human beings to whom God has given great dignity.

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[6] Little less than a god: Hebrew 'elohim, the ordinary word for "God" or "the gods" or members of the heavenly court. The Greek version translated 'elohim by "angel, messenger"; several ancient and modern versions so translate. The meaning seems to be that God created human beings almost at the level of the beings in the heavenly world. Hebrews 2:9 finds the eminent fulfillment of this verse in Jesus Christ, who was humbled before being glorified. Cf also 1 Cor 15:27 where St. Paul applies to Christ the closing words of Psalm 8:7.

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[Psalm 90] A communal lament that describes only in general terms the cause of the community's distress. After confidently invoking God (Psalm 90:1), the psalm turns to a complaint contrasting God's eternity with the brevity of human life (Psalm 90:2-6) and sees in human suffering the punishment for sin (Psalm 90:7-12). The psalm concludes with a plea for God's intervention (Psalm 90:13-17).

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[3] Return: one word of God is enough to return mortals to the dust from which they were created. Humans were created from earth in Genesis 2:7; 3:19.

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[Psalm 91] A prayer of someone who has taken refuge in the security of the temple (Psalm 91:1-2). The psalmist is confident that God's presence will protect the people in every dangerous situation (Psalm 91:3-13). The final verses are an oracle of salvation promising salvation to those who trust in God (Psalm 91:14-16).

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[1] The shelter of the Most High: basically "hiding place" but in the psalms a designation for the protected temple precincts. Cf Psalm 27:5; 31:21; 61:5. The shadow of the Almighty: literally, "the shadow of the wings of the Almighty." Cf Psalm 17:8; 36:8; 57:2; 63:8. Psalm 91:4 makes clear that the shadow is an image of the safety afforded by the outstretched wings of the cherubim in the holy of holies.

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[11-12] The words are cited in Luke 4:10-11; Matthew 4:6, as Satan tempts Jesus in the desert.

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[Psalm 92] A hymn of praise and thanks for God's faithful deeds (Psalm 92:2-5). The wicked, deluded by their prosperity (Psalm 92:6-9), are punished (Psalm 92:10), whereas the psalmist has already experienced God's protection (Psalm 92:11-15).

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[14] Planted: the just are likened to trees growing in the sacred precincts of the temple, which is often seen as the source of life and fertility because of God's presence. Cf Psalm 36:9, 10; Ezekiel 47:1-12.

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[Psalm 93] A hymn celebrating the kingship of God, who created the world (Psalm 93:1-2) by defeating the sea (Psalm 93:3-4). In the ancient myth that is alluded to here, Sea completely covered the land, making it impossible for the human community to live. Sea, or Flood, roars in anger against God, who is personified in the storm. God's utterances or decrees are given authority by the victory over Sea (Psalm 93:5).

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[1] The LORD is king: literally, "the LORD reigns." This psalm, and Psalms 47; 96-99, are sometimes called enthronement psalms. They may have been used in a special liturgy during which God's ascent to the throne was ritually reenacted. They have also been interpreted eschatologically, pointing to the coming of God as king at the end-time.

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[3] The flood: the primordial sea was tamed by God in the act of creation. It is a figure of chaos and rebellion. Cf Psalm 46:4.

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[Psalm 94] A lament of an individual who is threatened by wicked people. The danger affects the whole community. Calling upon God as judge (Psalm 94:1-2), the psalm complains about oppression of the holy community by people within (Psalm 94:3-7). Bold declarations of faith follow: denunciation of evildoers (Psalm 94:8-11) and assurance to the just (Psalm 94:12-15). The psalm continues with further lament (Psalm 94:16-19) and ends with strong confidence in God's response (Psalm 94:20-23).

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[Psalm 95] Twice the psalm calls the people to praise and worship God (Psalm 95:1-2, 6), the king of all creatures (Psalm 95:3-5) and shepherd of the flock (Psalm 95:7a, 7b). The last strophe warns the people to be more faithful than were their ancestors in the journey to the promised land (Psalm 95:7c-11). This invitation to praise God regularly opens the Church's official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours.

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[8] Meribah: literally, "contention"; the place where the Israelites quarreled with God. Massah: "testing," the place where they put God to the trial. Cf Exodus 17:7; Numbers 20:13.

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[11] My rest: the promised land as in Deut 12:9. Hebrews 4 applies the verse to the eternal rest of heaven.

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[Psalm 96] A hymn inviting all humanity to praise the glories of Israel's God (Psalm 96:1-3), who is the sole God (Psalm 96:4-6). To the just ruler of all belongs worship (Psalm 96:7-10); even inanimate creation is to offer praise (Psalm 96:11-13). This psalm has numerous verbal and thematic contacts with Isaiah 40-55, as does Psalm 98. Another version of the psalm is 1 Chron 16:23-33.

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[4] For references to other gods, see comments on Psalm 58 and 82.

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[Psalm 97] The hymn begins with God appearing in a storm, a traditional picture of some ancient Near Eastern gods (Psalm 97:1-6); cf Psalm 18:8-16; Micah 1:3-4; Hebrews 3:3-15. Israel rejoices in the overthrowing of idol worshipers and their gods (Psalm 97:7-9) and the rewarding of the faithful righteous (Psalm 97:10-12).

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[7] All gods: divine beings thoroughly subordinate to Israel's God. The Greek translates "angels," an interpretation adopted by Hebrews 1:6.

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[Psalm 98] A hymn, similar to Psalm 96, extolling God for Israel's victory (Psalm 98:1-3). All nations (Psalm 98:4-6) and even inanimate nature (Psalm 98:7-8) are summoned to welcome God's coming to rule over the world (Psalm 98:9).

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[1] Marvelous deeds . . . victory: the conquest of all threats to the peaceful existence of Israel, depicted in the psalms variously as a cosmic force such as sea, or nations bent on Israel's destruction, or evildoers seemingly triumphant. Whose right hand and holy arm: God is pictured as a powerful warrior.

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[Psalm 99] A hymn to God as the king whose grandeur is most clearly seen on Mount Zion (Psalm 99:2) and in the laws given to Israel (Psalm 99:4). Israel is special because of God's word of justice, which was mediated by the revered speakers, Moses, Aaron, and Samuel (Psalm 99:6-8). The poem is structured by the threefold statement that God is holy (Psalm 99:3, 5, 9) and by the twice-repeated command to praise (Psalm 99:5, 9).

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[1] Enthroned on the cherubim: cherubim were composite beings with animal and human features, common in ancient Near Eastern art. Two cherubim were placed on the ark (or box) of the covenant in the holy of holies. Upon them God was believed to dwell invisibly. Cf Exodus 25:20-22; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; Psalm 80:2.

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[5] Footstool: a reference to the ark. Cf 1 Chron 28:2; Psalm 132:7.

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[Psalms 9-10] Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 in the Hebrew text have been transmitted as separate poems but they actually form a single acrostic poem and are so transmitted in the Greek and Latin tradition. Each verse of the two psalms begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (though several letters have no corresponding stanza). The psalm states loosely connected themes: the rescue of the helpless poor from their enemies, God's worldwide judgment and rule over the nations, the psalmist's own concern for rescue (Psalm 9:14-15).

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[1] Muth Labben: probably the melodic accompaniment of the psalm, now lost.

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[15] Daughter Zion: an ancient Near Eastern city could sometimes be personified as a woman or a queen, the spouse of the god of the city.

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[17] The Lord is revealed in this divine rule: God has so made the universe that the wicked are punished by the very actions they perform.

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[1,2 ] In the time of the judges: three generations before the end of the period of judges; cf Ruth 4:21-22. Bethlehem of Judah: to distinguish it from the town of the same name in the tribe of Zebulun (Joshua 19:15). Ephrathites from Bethlehem: belonging to a Judean clan which settled in Bethlehem; cf 1 Sam 17:12; 1 Chron 2:50-51; 4:4.

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[8] Mother's house: the women's part of the dwelling; cf Judges 4:17; Song 3:4.

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[11] Have I other sons . . . husbands? Naomi insisted that her daughters-in-law remain in their own country only for the sake of posterity. If she had had other sons, the levirate law would have obliged them to marry the widows of her deceased sons to perpetuate the names of the deceased; cf Genesis 38:8; Deut 25:5, 6.

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[16-17] An example of heroic fidelity and piety. Ruth's decision, confirmed with an oath, to adhere to her mother-in-law impelled her to abandon her country and its pagan worship.

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[20-21] Naomi: "amiable" or "pleasant," suggesting God's favor toward her. The Almighty has brought evil upon me: the ancients regarded adversity as a punishment from God for personal sin, as if good and evil were always repaid in a temporal and material manner.

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[22] Barley harvest: early April. This circumstance favored the events of the narrative that follow.

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[2] Let me go and glean . . . grain: even the poor, the widow, the stranger, and the orphan had a right to glean at harvest time; cf Lev 19:9; 23:22; Deut 24:19-22.

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[4] The LORD be with you: courtesy and religious feeling characterize the salutations of the Hebrews. This greeting is used in the Christian liturgy.

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[20] One of our next of kin: literally "our redeemer," a near relative of the same clan who had the right and duty to restore the land which an impoverished kinsman had alienated (Lev 25:25-28), and to marry the widow of a relative who had died without male offspring so as to raise up posterity to his name (Deut 25:5-10).

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[4] Uncover a place at his feet, . . .: confident of the virtue of Ruth and Boaz, Naomi advises this unusual expedient to her daughter-in-law for the purpose of introducing her claim.

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[9] Spread the corner of your cloak over me: be my protector by marrying me according to the duty of a near kinsman; cf Deut 25:5; Ezekiel 16:8.

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[12] Relative still closer: who had a prior right and duty to marry Ruth.

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[1] Took a seat at the gate: i.e., of the city, where business affairs were settled.

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[2] Ten of the elders: to serve as judges in legal matters as well as witnesses of the settlement of business affairs; cf Deut 25:7-9.

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[4] Poverty had obliged Naomi to sell the land of her deceased husband. The law permitted the nearest kinsman to redeem the land and thus preserve the family patrimony; cf Lev 25:25.

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[5-6] The heir of Elimelech's field had died without children (Ruth 1:5). The nearest of kin could now redeem the land but he must also take Ruth, the widow of the late heir, to wife to perpetuate the family of the deceased; cf Deut 25:5-6. The first male child of such a marriage would be the legal son of Mahlon and grandson of Elimelech.

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[7] Take off his sandal . . .: by this act the near relative renounced his legal right, both to the field of Elimelech and to the marriage with Ruth. The custom mentioned in Deut 25:6 is somewhat different.

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[12] Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah: the right which Judah unwittingly satisfied for his daughter-in-law Tamar (Genesis 38), Boaz willingly rendered to Ruth.

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[16] Placed him on her lap: took him as her own; cf Genesis 30:3; 48:12; Numbers 11:12.

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[17] The father of Jesse, the father of David: indicating the place of Obed, Jesse and David in the line of Judah and the ancestry of Christ, the Messiah; cf Matthew 1:5-6.

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[6-18] Glory displayed through arrogance and pride is false and displeasing to God and men, because founded on dust and ashes (Sirach 10:6-11). It is the denial of the glory due to God, and therefore the source of all sin (Sirach 10:12-13). Even the memory of the proud is destroyed and God transfers their power to the lowly (Sirach 10:14-18).

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[9-10] The text is uncertain. Its general implication is that man deteriorates physically even while alive: a slight illness today may be followed by death tomorrow. The uncertainty of life leaves no room for pride.

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[19-11:6] Regardless of social barriers, genuine honor among men comes from fear of the Lord and a true estimate of self. The Lord exalts the lowly and oppressed; transgressors of the commandments merit dishonor and disgrace.

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[5] Cf 1 Sam 2:8; Psalm 105:17-22; Luke 1:52.

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[7-25] Discretion regulates a man's conduct toward others and their affairs (Sirach 11:7-9); as regards his own interests, a man should avoid solicitude for the passing external benefits of life and property (Sirach 11:10-14, 18, 19, 21, 23-25) and cultivate the lasting inward gifts of wisdom and virtue (Sirach 11:15, 17, 20, 22).

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[14] Divine Providence ultimately governs the lives of men. Evil: misfortune and calamity sent by God either in punishment or as an incentive to repentance or to greater virtue.

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[15-16] Some ancient witnesses omit these two verses.

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[19] Cf the parable of the rich man, Luke 12:16-21.

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[26-28] Sirach, writing before Christian revelation, did not go beyond the hour of death to find full divine retribution.

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[1-7] The limitations to the practice of charity here reflected were removed by Christ, who requires that good be done even to enemies and to those who hate, persecute and calumniate us (Matthew 5:43-48).

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[3-5] The author advises against generosity to those who would abuse it.

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[8-18] Through adversity friends are distinguished from enemies; to trust the latter or permit them intimacy is to invite disaster. Cf note on Sirach 6:5-17.

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[11] Brazen mirror: see note on Exodus 38:8.

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[1-14:2] By means of various figures Sirach indicates the practical impossibility of genuine and sincere companionship between the poor and the proud rich. He lays down the principle of associating with equals (Sirach 13:15).

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[17] The hostility between the dogs which guard the flocks at night and the rapacious hyenas is proverbial in Palestine.

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[3-16] The miser does no good even to himself (Sirach 14:3-10); wealth should be wisely used during life, for it must be left behind at death (Sirach 14:11-16). In the light of the gospel, generosity has a higher motivation and promise of reward than the Old Testament writer could propose. Cf Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:32-34.

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[14:20-15:20] From his social teaching the sage now turns to consider individual responsibility. Happiness is to be found in the pursuit and possession of wisdom (Sirach 14:20-15:5). Joy and honor are given, not to the sinner (Sirach 14:7-9), but to him who fears God and observes his law (Sirach 14:1-6, 10). The sinner is fully responsible for his conduct because God, who sees all things (Sirach 14:18-19), is not the author of wickedness (Sirach 15:11-13, 20): he gives to every man the liberty to choose between good and evil (Sirach 15:14-17).

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[1-21] Sinful offspring are a great misfortune (16:1-4), for history and experience show how God punishes sin (Sirach 16:5-10). He judges everyone according to his deeds (Sirach 16:11-13); no one is hidden from him or escapes retribution at his hand (Sirach 16:15-21).

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[6] For Korah and his band (Sirach 16:6, 7), see Numbers 16:35; Psalm 106:18; for the disgruntled Israelites (Sirach 16:6b), Psalm 78:21-22.

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[7] The leaders of old: the "mighty men of old" who were destroyed by the flood: Genesis 6:4; Wisdom 14:6; Baruch 3:26-28.

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[8] The people of Sodom and Gomorrah: Genesis 19:24-25; Ezekiel 16:49- 50.

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[9] The Canaanites: Exodus 23:23-24, 27-31; 33:2; Deut 7:1; Wisdom 12:3.

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[10] The Israelites who murmured against Moses: Numbers 11:20; 14:12, 22-24.

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[16:22-17:18] In harmony with Genesis 1-2, the author describes God's wisdom in creating the universe and all things in it (16:22-28), endowing man with a moral nature, with wisdom and knowledge and freedom of will according to his own image (17:1, 6), so that man may govern the earth (16:3-4), praise God's name (Sirach 16:8), obey his law (Sirach 16:9-12), and render to him an account of his deeds (Sirach 16:18). Cf Psalm 19; 104.

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[10] An everlasting covenant . . . his commandments: the various covenants which God entered into with mankind, e.g., Genesis 2:15-17; 17:1-22 especially on Mount Sinai where the people saw God's glory and heard his voice (Exodus 19:16-24:18).

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[14] Ruler: this may refer to civil authority or to angels placed over nations as guardians; see note on Deut 32:8 and the cross references above.

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[19-27] Exhorting the sinner to return to God (Sirach 17:19-21, 24-26) the author implies that the Lord will postpone death for a repentant sinner so that he may fulfill his destiny of praising God on earth (Sirach 17:22-23). In the light of Christian teaching, the gift of final penitence extends this divine purpose into life everlasting. See note on Psalm 6:6; cf also Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11-16.

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[26] Obscure: literally, evil; compare Genesis 6:5. Though moral fault is not excluded, the thought here is the inability to understand the merciful designs of God. Cf Wisdom 9:14-18.

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[1-13] Not only are God's justice and power beyond man's understanding (Sirach 18:1-5), his mercy also is boundless and surpasses all human compassion (Sirach 18:6-13).

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[14-27] The practice of charity is an art which avoids every offense to the recipient (Sirach 18:14-18). Prudence directs the changing circumstances of daily life toward the attainment of its reward at the time of visitation, i.e., the day of reckoning (Sirach 18:19-27).

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[19] Merit . . . ransom: almsgiving is often portrayed in the Bible as a means of approach to the forgiving mercy of God. Cf Sirach 3:29-30; 29:11-12; Tobit 12:12-13; Daniel 4:24; Luke 16:9; Acts 10:31.

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[22-23] The usual object of a vow in Old Testament times was the offering of a bloody sacrifice.

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[28-29] A general statement on the teaching of wisdom, serving either as a conclusion to the preceding section or as an introduction to the following one. The neighbors of the wise man are regarded as the field into which he channels the waters of wisdom to encourage growth. Cf Sirach 24:28-31.

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[18:30-19:4] Inordinate gratification of the senses makes a man unreasonable, the slave of passion, the sport of his enemies. In the end it destroys him physically and spiritually.

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[1-8] The Lord is the source and preserver of wisdom (Sirach 1:1); he created her from eternity, before all things else (Sirach 1:4-7); all his works reflect wisdom (Sirach 1:2, 3, 8).

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[1] Wisdom: here the author speaks of true wisdom, namely God's external revelation of himself. Throughout the book he describes in great detail just what wisdom is; sometimes it is divine; sometimes it is a synonym for God's law; sometimes it is human. But the author makes clear that even human wisdom, properly understood, comes from God.

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[9-18] Here are described the spiritual and temporal blessings that come during the lifetime of him who fears the Lord, i.e., practices true religion.

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[9] Fear of the LORD: see note on Psalm 111:10.

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[19-22] The disciple of wisdom shuns unjust anger which brings downfall. By patience and self-control he preserves calm, recovers contentment, and receives public praise. The sinner, on the contrary, despises the restraints which religion imposes.

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[25-29] Infidelity to religion, or the use of it for any but the single purpose of serving God, is hypocrisy and self-exaltation, deserving of public disgrace.

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[1-7] Wisdom indicates the proper times for speech and silence, that is, the occasions when the most benefit can be gained from them.

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[3] The sense is that violence or force against a person can prevent an external act of sin or compel a good deed without eliminating the internal sin or desire of wrongdoing. Cf Sirach 20:20.

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[8-16] In a series of paradoxes the author indicates how much true and lasting values differ from apparent ones.

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[9] And some . . . double: or perhaps, "but some are doubly precious."

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[17-25] The ill-timed speech of the wicked, the unruly and a fool is repulsive (Sirach 20:17-19); human respect exposes one to intimidation, rash promises and enmity (Sirach 20:21- 22); lies bring dishonor and lasting disgrace (Sirach 20:23, 24, 25).

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[26-30] Unlike the fool who invites disaster through misuse of his tongue, the sage through prudent speech gains in honor and esteem among the great (Sirach 20:26-27). He must beware, however, of accepting bribes, lest he share in evil through silence when he should reprove (Sirach 20:28-30).

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[1-10] Under various figures, the consequences of sin are described as destructive of wealth, and even of bodily life, and deserving of death and a place in the depths of the nether world (Sirach 21:2-4, 6a, 8-10). Through prayer, forgiveness can be sought (Sirach 21:1), and through fear of the Lord, repentance is achieved (Sirach 1:5, 6b).

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[10] The path of sinners . . . nether world: eternal retribution is not yet proposed in this reference. It became clearly revealed through the teaching of Christ; cf Matthew 7:13, 14; 25:1-46; Luke 16:19-31.

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[11-28] The mind of the wise man is a fountain of knowledge (Sirach 21:13, 15); his will is trained to keep the law (Sirach 21:11); his words are gracious, valued, carefully weighed, sincere (Sirach 21:16-17, 25-26); his conduct is respectful, cultured and restrained (Sirach 21:20, 22-24). The fool's mind is devoid of knowledge and impenetrable to it (Sirach 21:12, 14, 18, 19); his will rejects it (Sirach 21:15); his talk is burdensome (16), his laughter unrestrained (Sirach 21:20), his conversation shallow and meddlesome (Sirach 21:25, 26); his conduct is bold and rude (Sirach 21:22-24); his abuse of others redounds on himself (Sirach 21:27-28).

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[27] Adversary: this can be understood in the sense that, if a man curses one who led him into sin, he implicitly curses himself for having yielded to the sin; or in the sense that the enemy is the man's own sinful nature; or even in the sense that the enemy is the devil, since the Hebrew word used here is satan. Cf 1 Chron 21:1; Zechariah 3:2; 2 Peter 2:12, 13; Jude 1:9.

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[1-15] To Sirach, a lazy person and an unruly child are a cause of shame and disgrace; everyone wishes to be rid of them (Sirach 22:1-5). A wicked fool is as senseless as a man asleep or dead, but the grief he causes others lasts a lifetime (Sirach 22:7-11). He is like a brute, troublesome and intolerable (Sirach 22:12-15).

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[6] Like a song . . . is . . . talk: some understand talk in the sense of a rebuke unheeded by the unruly as a joyful song is out of place among mourners. Corporal punishment, however, is always effective.

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[16-18] A prudent mind firmly resolved is undisturbed by violent and conflicting thoughts, whereas a foolish person is tossed about by the winds of fear, like small stones whipped about by high winds.

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[19-26] As disputes and violence weaken friendship, and disloyalty and abuse of confidence destroy it utterly (Sirach 22:19-22, 24, 26), so kindness to a poor man in time of poverty and adversity builds up friendship and merits a share in his prosperity and inheritance (Sirach 22:23, 25).

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[22:27-23:6] The sage implores the divine assistance to preserve him through stern discipline from sins of the tongue (Sirach 22:27; 23:1); ignorance of mind and weakness of will (Sirach 22:2, 3); and inclinations of the senses and the flesh, lest he fall into the hands of his enemies, or become a prey of shameful desires (Sirach 23:3-6).

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[1] LORD, Father and Master of my life: these words express the tender personal relationship between the author's soul and God, the need of his assistance, and the truth of his providence.

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[7-15] A warning against sins of the tongue through misuse of the Holy Name, thoughtless swearing which involves obligation and incurs guilt (Sirach 23:7-11), blasphemy (Sirach 23:12), talk that is coarse and blundersome (Sirach 23:13, 14), and the incorrigible habit of abusive language (Sirach 23:15).

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[10] As a slave . . . under scrutiny, so is he who calls on God to witness the truth of what he says.

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[16-27] From sins of the tongue the author proceeds to treat of sins of the flesh and their dire consequences. The passion of lust tyrannizes over its victims and, like fire, consumes and utterly destroys them (Sirach 23:16, 17, 22-26). The false security of the adulterer serves but to aggravate his inevitable fate (Sirach 23:18-21). Only the fear of the Lord and observance of his commandments can assure moral safety (Sirach 23:27).

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[16] Two types . . . a third: three kinds of sins of impurity, with increasing degrees of gravity: solitary sins (Sirach 23:16) fornication (Sirach 23:17) and adultery (Sirach 23:18-21).

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[21] Cf Lev 20:19; Deut 22:22.

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[23] The detailed evil of adultery includes disobedience to God's law (Exodus 20:14), injustice to a partner in marriage, and disgraceful offspring.

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[24-25] The judgment of the assembly determined the illegitimacy of children born of adultery or incest and excluded them from the "community of the LORD" (Deut 23:3). Cf Wisdom 3:16-19; 4:3-6.

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[1-27] In this chapter Wisdom speaks in the first person, describing her origin, her dwelling place in Israel, and the reward she gives her followers. As in Prov 8 Wisdom is described as a being who comes from God and is distinct from him. While we do not say with certainty that this description applies to a personal being, it does foreshadow the beautiful doctrine of the Word of God later developed in St. John's Gospel (John 1:1-14). In the liturgy this chapter is applied to the Blessed Virgin because of her constant and intimate association with Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom.

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[15] These substances were associated with worship, being mentioned in Exodus 30:22, 23, 34 as the ingredients of the anointing oil and the sacred incense. Israel was a priestly nation.

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[18] Compare the words of the Savior in Matthew 11:28-30.

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[20] So pleasing is wisdom to man that, far from being satiated, he will always desire more.

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[22] Here the author begins to speak once more, Wisdom having ended her discourse in the preceding verse. Wisdom and the law of Moses are now identified.

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[25] Gihon: understood by some to have been a name for the Nile: cf Genesis 2:13.

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[28-31] Spoken by the author. He had at first drawn a small portion of the water of wisdom for his own private benefit, but finding it so useful, he soon began to let others share in this boon by teaching them the lessons of wisdom.

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[1-11] While praising brotherly love, love of neighbor, and conjugal love, the sage condemns their opposites in the arrogant pauper who despises his brother, the fraudulent rich man who cheats his neighbor, and the lecherous old man unfaithful to his wife (Sirach 25:1, 2). This last, sensual from his youth, lacks the mature blessings of judgment and wisdom in old age (Sirach 25:3-6) and the joy of a peaceful household, where honesty and dignity, friendship, wisdom and fear of God prevail (Sirach 25:7-11).

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[8] Like a donkey yoked with an ox: incompatibility between husband and wife.

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[12-25] Wickedness in a woman is most grievous, painful and bitter to her husband. Through it she becomes vengeful, dangerous and intolerable, jealous, talkative, intemperate and unchaste. Even her very appearance is changed (Sirach 25:12-17). The worst of all evils, a source of grief, a snare and a disgrace to her husband, she depresses his mind, saddens and breaks his heart, destroys his strength (Sirach 25:18-22). She must not be indulged but made obedient or punished (Sirach 25:24, 25).

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[23] According to the account in Genesis 3 to which Ben Sirach refers, sin, the cause of death, originated in woman: Eve, the first human being to sin, induced Adam to follow her example. But it is through Adam, as head of the race, that original sin and its punishment of spiritual death are presented by St. Paul (Romans 5) as having entered the world, to become the occasion for the redemptive work of Christ our Lord.

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[1-4, 13-18] A good wife is as a gift from God, bringing joy and peace, happiness and contentment to her husband (Sirach 26:1-4) through her thoughtfulness, reserve, modesty and chastity, beauty, grace and virtue (Sirach 26:13-18).

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[2] Worthy: gifted spiritually, mentally and physically. Cf Proverb 31:10.

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[6-12] A repetition of the thought expressed in 25:12-25.

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[17-18] The holy lampstand and the golden columns stood in the holy place of the ancient Tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-40; 26:32).

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[18] Among the additions found here in some manuscripts are the following lines: "My son, take care in the prime of life not to surrender your strength to strangers; Single out from the land a goodly field and there with confidence sow the seed of your increase; So shall you have your offspring around you, and in confidence shall they grow up.

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[26:20-27:15] From proper conduct in family life, the author proceeds to social morality, warning especially against injustice in commerce (Sirach 26:20-27:3), and perversity of speech in business (Sirach 26:4-7). The pursuit of justice in these matters is all the more meritorious as it is difficult (Sirach 26:8-10). The discourses of the devout are marked with wisdom, but the conversations of the wicked, with offense, swearing, cursing, quarrels and even bloodshed (Sirach 26:11-15).

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[27:16-28:11] Betrayal of confidence through indiscretion destroys friendship and does irreparable harm (Sirach 27:16-21); cf Sirach 22:22. False friendship based on hypocrisy and deceit is hateful to God and man (Sirach 27:22-24); it soon becomes a victim of its own treachery (Sirach 27:25-27). The same fate awaits the malicious and vengeful (Sirach 27:28-28:1). They can obtain mercy and forgiveness only by first forgiving their neighbor, being mindful of death and of the commandments of the Most High (Sirach 28:2-7). And they must avoid quarrels and strife (Sirach 28:8-11).

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[12-26] Further treatment of sins of the tongue and their havoc; cf Sirach 5:12-6:1; 19:5-16; 20:17-25; 23:7-15. Gossips and the double-tongued destroy domestic peace (Sirach 28:12-16). The whip, the sword, chains, even the nether world, are not so cruel as the suffering inflicted by an evil tongue (Sirach 28:17-21). Not the just but those who forsake the LORD are victims of their evil tongues (Sirach 28:22, 23). Therefore, guard your mouth and tongue as you would guard treasure against an enemy (Sirach 28:24-26).

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[1-20] Some practical maxims concerning the use of wealth. Give to a poor man (Sirach 29:8, 9), lend to a needy neighbor, but repay when a loan falls due lest the lender's burden be increased (Sirach 29:1-5) and his kindness abused (Sirach 29:6- 7); through charity build up defense against evil (Sirach 29:10-13). Go surety for your neighbor according to your means, but take care (Sirach 29:20) not to fall, for the shameless play false and bring their protectors and themselves to misfortune and ruin (Sirach 29:14-19).

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[21-28] The man who provides his own basic needs of food, clothing and dwelling, and is content with what he has, preserves his freedom and self-respect (Sirach 29:21-23). But if he lives as a guest, even among the rich, he exposes himself to insult and abuse (Sirach 29:24-28).

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[1-11] Serving God is not without its trials (Sirach 2:1); moreover, it must be done with sincerity, steadfastness and fidelity (Sirach 2:2-3). Misfortune and humiliation merely purify man and prove his worth (Sirach 2:4-5). Patience and unwavering trust in God are always rewarded with the benefits of God's mercy and of lasting joy (Sirach 2:6-11).

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[12-17] A warning to those who compromise their religion in time of affliction; they fail in courage and trust and therefore have no security (Sirach 2:12-14). But those who fear the Lord through obedience, reverence, love and humility find his mercy equal to his majesty (Sirach 2:15-17).

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[1-13] Sound discipline and careful education of children correct frivolity and stubbornness, prevent remorse and humiliation, and bring to parents lasting joy and delight, prestige among friends, jealousy of enemies, perpetuation and vindication of themselves through their offspring (Sirach 30:1-6). Lack of discipline and overindulgence of children bring sorrow and disappointment, terror and grief (Sirach 30:7-13).

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[14-25] Health of mind and body and joy of heart are judged more precious than wealth (Sirach 30:14-16); bitterness, constant illness and affliction more difficult to bear than death (Sirach 30:17-20). Sadness, resentment, anxiety, envy and anger shorten . . . life; they should be dispelled by cheerfulness and gladness of heart, which help to prolong one's days (Sirach 30:21-25).

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[17] Preferable is death . . . constant illness: the true value of human suffering was revealed through the passion and death of Christ. It serves as reparation for sin, and when united with Christ's suffering, as merit for eternal life.

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[1-11] Solicitude for acquiring wealth and anxiety over preserving it disturb repose and easily lead to sin and ruin (Sirach 31:1-7). Cf Matthew 6:25-34. A rich man who has not sinned or been seduced by wealth is worthy of praise (Sirach 31:8-11).

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[2] The Hebrew adds a verse that seems out of place here: "A faithful comrade drives away reproach, and the friend who keeps secrets is as dear as life."

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[8-10] The Church in her liturgy applies this passage to holy confessors of the Faith.

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[31:12-32:13] A man observing etiquette at table avoids greed and selfishness (Sirach 31:12-13), is considerate of a neighbor's likes and dislikes and is generous toward him (Sirach 31:14, 15, 23, 24), observes proper manners (Sirach 31:16-18), is moderate in eating and drinking (Sirach 31:19-22, 25-30). A good host makes himself one with his guests, is solicitous for them (Sirach 32:1, 2), provides conversation and diversion (Sirach 32:3-6), is modest in speech (Sirach 32:7, 8, 10), is respectful of elders (Sirach 32:9), polite in comportment and grateful to God for his favors (Sirach 32:11-13).

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[32:14-33:4] God is shown to reveal himself through the discipline of his law, a clear and safe plan of life for the pious Jew of old. Direction and counsel are aids in following it (Sirach 32:14-16, 18-24; 33:1, 3, 4). Sinners and hypocrites, hating the law or distorting it, fail in wisdom and are devoid of security (Sirach 32:15, 17-18; 33:2).

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[3] Oracle: as the answer given through the Urim and Thummim to the high priest is true, so the law proves itself true to him who obeys it. Cf Exodus 28:30; Numbers 27:21.

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[5-15] Contrasts observable in the physical universe as well as in the moral order serve the purposes of divine wisdom (Sirach 33:5-9). All creatures are like clay. . . in the hands of their Creator--the fool and the wise man, the sinner, and the just (Sirach 33:10-15). This does not imply that man is created to be a sinner: God is not the author of wickedness. Cf James 1:13-14.

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[16-18] Here the author refers to himself as the most recent of the writers who have endeavored to present true wisdom to their readers.

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[19-33] Public officials should reject every influence that would restrict their freedom in the management of their affairs. They must make their own household subservient to them rather than be subservient to it (Sirach 33:19-24). Slaves are to be given food and work and correction but never to be treated unjustly (Sirach 33:25-29). Great care should be taken of good slaves (Sirach 33:30-33).

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[1-17] Confidence placed in dreams, divinations and omens is false because these are devoid of reality (Sirach 34:1-8). True confidence is founded on knowledge and experience (Sirach 34:9-12), and above all on the fear of the Lord, with its accompanying blessings of divine assistance and protection (Sirach 34:13-17).

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[18-26] To be acts of true religion, sacrifice and penance must be accompanied by the proper moral dispositions. To offer to God goods taken from the poor (Sirach 34:18-22), or to practice penance without interior reform, is a mockery, worthless in the sight of God (Sirach 34:23-26). Cf Matthew 15:4-7; Mark 7:9-13.

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[1-24] Keeping the commandments of the law and avoiding injustice constitute sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God (Sirach 35:1-3). Offerings also should be made to him, cheerfully and generously; these he repays . . . sevenfold (Sirach 35:4-10). Extortion from widows and orphans is injustice, which God quickly repays (Sirach 35:11-18). Punishing the proud and the merciless and coming to the aid of the distressed, he requites all according to their deeds (Sirach 35:19-24).

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[2] Fine flour, together with oil and frankincense, was a prescribed offering to God; cf Lev 2:1-3.

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[13] Cf Lev 19:15.

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[1-17] Making an act of faith and hope in the supreme Lord of the universe, the author begs God to continue manifesting his holiness and mercy through Israel, his people (Sirach 36:1-3, 10-13), and his power and justice through the punishment of the nations (Sirach 36:2, 5-9), that all the earth may acknowledge him the eternal God (Sirach 36:4, 14-17).

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[16-25] Thoughts determine action. Wisdom is the source of good and life; folly, of evil and death (Sirach 36:16-18). If the fruits of a man's wisdom benefit himself, he may be praised in his own lifetime; if they benefit his people, his praise endures after him, in their lives (Sirach 37:19-25).

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[26-30] Temperance and self-control should govern a man's appetite for food, which is intended not to destroy but to preserve life.

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[1-15] The profession of medicine comes from God, who makes the earth yield healing herbs and gives the physician knowledge of their virtue (Sirach 38:1-8). In illness the sick man should cleanse his soul from sin and petition God for help through an offering of sacrifice; the physician, too, does well to invoke God that he may understand the illness and apply the proper remedy (Sirach 38:9-14). The sinner, in contrast, defies both his Maker and the doctor (Sirach 38:15).

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[16-23] A period of mourning for the deceased and care for their burial is becoming (Sirach 38:16-18). But grief should not be excessive, for it neither helps the dead, who cannot return, nor fails to harm the living. The mourner's own end will quickly follow, and the time to prepare for it is now (Sirach 38:19-23).

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[38:24-39:11] More excellent than the useful service of craftsmen-farmer, engraver, smith, potter (Sirach 38:25-34)-is the profession of the scribe (Sirach 39:24), who studies and meditates on the law of the Most High, seeks him in prayer of thanksgiving, petition and repentance for sin (Sirach 39:1, 6, 7), explores the wisdom of the past and present, travels abroad to observe the conduct of many peoples, and attends rulers and great men. Through the spirit of understanding granted by God, he will show forth his wisdom to the glory of God's law, gaining renown for generations to come (Sirach 39:2-5, 8-11).

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[12-35] The sage invites his disciples to join him in joyfully proclaiming his favorite theme: The works of God are all of them good; in its own time every need is supplied (Sirach 39:12-16, 32-35). He describes God's omniscience, supreme power and wisdom, whereby all created things, good in themselves, are ever present to him, obey him, and fulfill their intended purpose (Sirach 39:17-21), bringing blessing to the virtuous, but evil and punishment to the wicked who misuse them (Sirach 39:22-31). Cf similar hymns of praise, Sirach 36:1-17; 42:15-43:35.

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[1-16] Besides the virtues that must characterize our conduct toward God, special duties toward our neighbor are enjoined, such as honor and respect toward parents, with corresponding blessings (Sirach 3:1-9). Even to old and infirm parents this respect is due (Sirach 3:10-13); through it, the sins of children are pardoned (Sirach 3:14, 15). Failure to render respect is blasphemy and merits a curse from God (Sirach 3:16). Cf Exodus 20:12; Eph 6:2-3.

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[17-27] Humility gives a true estimate of self (Sirach 3:17-19). Through it a man performs duty, avoids what is beyond his understanding and strength (Sirach 3:20-22). Pride, however, begets false greatness, misjudgment, stubborness, sorrow, affliction and perdition (Sirach 3:23-27).

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[19] An alternate or additional line would read: "For though many have been great in the course of time, it is to the humble he reveals his secrets." Cf Matthew 11:25-26; 1 Cor 1:26-29.

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[29-4:10] Mercy and kindness toward those in misfortune atone for sin and endear a man to God and to his fellow men.

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[1-16] The former idyllic description of the universe is contrasted with the picture of the evils afflicting humanity. Every man, high or low, is burdened from birth to death with fears, anxieties and troubles, by day and often by night, the time appointed for rest (Sirach 40:1-7). For sinners, the suffering is much greater (Sirach 40:8-10). What they gained by violence and injustice is quickly destroyed; but justice endures forever (Sirach 40:14-16).

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[1] Mother of all the living: the earth from which man was taken. Cf Genesis 2:7; 3:19-20; Job 1:21; Psalm 139:15.

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[11] All that is of earth . . . returns above: a reference to bodily mortality and to the divine origin of life from the Spirit of God. Cf Sirach 41:10; Genesis 2:7; 3:19; Job 34:14-15; Psalm 104:29-30; 146:4; Eccl 12:7. The Greek and the Latin render the second half of the verse: "all waters shall return to the sea."

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[17-27] Of the many treasures making life sweet, such as health, children, friends, music, vigor, the best are called true conjugal love, wisdom, and above all, fear of God; cf Sirach 25:6-11.

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[28-30] Among the Jews, beggary was considered degrading to human dignity; it was agreeable only to the shameless, who had lost their sense of honor. Cf Sirach 29:22-23.

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[1-13] Whether death seems bitter to one who enjoys peace, success and pleasure, or welcome to one who is weak and in despair, it comes to all and must be accepted as the will of God (Sirach 41:1-4). As the human body passes away (Sirach 41:11), so do those who have sinned through the body and their offspring alike, who, needy and accursed, pass on with their parents as if they had never been (Sirach 41:5-10). Only the good name of the virtuous endures (Sirach 41:11-13).

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[13] After this verse many texts repeat Sirach 20:29-30.

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[41:14-42:8] The author illustrates the subject of true and false shame with numerous and detailed examples of sin (Sirach 41:14-22) and virtue (Sirach 42:1-8), following the norm of the commandments.

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[9-14] The author considers a daughter to be a source of anxiety to her father, lest she fail to marry, or be seduced, or lest, marrying, she be disliked, prove unfaithful, or find herself sterile (Sirach 42:9-10). He is advised to keep a close watch on her at home, and on her companionship while abroad, lest he suffer on her account among the people (Sirach 42:11-14).

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[42:15-43:35] These verses comprise a new section. In them the author contemplates God's power, beauty and goodness as manifested in the mighty work of creating and preserving the universe (Sirach 42:15-17, 23, 25; 43:1-27), his omniscience (Sirach 42:18-20), his perfect wisdom (Sirach 42:21-22), his eternity (Sirach 42:24). The conclusion is a fervent hymn of praise (Sirach 43:28-33). Cf Sirach 16:22-18:13.

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[28] All in all: the perfections reflected in creation are found in a transcendent way in God, who alone is their source.

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[44:1-50:24] As in the previous section God's wisdom shone forth in the works of nature, so in these chapters it is also revealed through the history of God's people as seen in the lives of their patriarchs, prophets, priests and rulers. The example of these great men, whose virtues are here recalled, constitutes a high point of the author's teaching and illustrates his belief in the canonical Scriptures.

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[1-15] The reader is here introduced to those men of Israel, later mentioned by name, who through various achievements and beneficial social activities have acquired great renown (Sirach 44:1-8, 14-15); and also to those who, though forgotten, endure through the fruit of their virtues and through their families because of God's covenant with them (Sirach 44:9-13).

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[16] Enoch: because of his friendship with God and also by reason of his unusual disappearance from the earth, this prophet's renown was great among the chosen people, particularly in the two centuries just before the coming of Christ; cf Genesis 5:21-24; Hebrews 11:5. The present verse is an expansion of the original text; cf Sirach 49:14.

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[20] In his own flesh . . . ordinance: the covenant of circumcision; cf Genesis 17:10-14. And when tested . . . loyal: Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac at the Lord's command; cf Genesis 22:9-12.

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[21] The River: the Euphrates; cf Genesis 2:14.

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[1-5] Moses manifested God's power through miracles (Sirach 45:1-3), God's authority through the promulgation of the commandments and the law (Sirach 45:5), and God's mercy through the intimacy granted him by the Lord for his own faithfulness and meekness (Sirach 45:4-5). The very personification of the old covenant, Moses was also a type of Christ, the Prophet and Legislator of the new; cf Deut 18:15.

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[2] God's honor devolved upon him: Moses was actually God's substitute in dealing with Pharaoh, hence God entrusted his own honor to Moses.

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[5] Face to face: on God's intimacy with Moses, see Exodus 33:11; Numbers 12:8. St. Paul alluded to this in 1 Cor 13:12.

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[6-21] The author here expresses his reverence and esteem for the priesthood of the old covenant. He recalls God's choice of Aaron and his sons for this sublime office (Sirach 45:6, 7), and describes in detail the beauty of the high priest's vestments (Sirach 45:8-13). He relates the ordination of Aaron at the hands of Moses, his brother (Sirach 45:15), and describes the priestly functions, of offering sacrifice to God (Sirach 45:16), and of blessing (Sirach 45:15), teaching, governing and judging the people (Sirach 45:17); the inheritance of the high priest (Sirach 45:20-22); the punishment of those families who were jealous of Aaron (Sirach 45:18, 19); and the confirmation of the covenant of the priesthood with Aaron's descendants through Phinehas (Sirach 45:23-25).

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[7] The priesthood of Aaron was superseded by the priesthood of Christ; cf Hebrews 7:18-28.

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[1-6] Joshua, whose name means "the Lord is savior" (Sirach 46:1), was the instrument through which God delivered his people in miraculous ways (Sirach 46:2-6) by destroying their enemies, whose land he gave to the Israelites as an inheritance (Sirach 46:1).

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[3] The battles of the LORD: cf Joshua 6-10.

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[7-10] Caleb, who with Joshua advised Moses and the people in the desert to conquer Canaan, despite the counsel of their companion scouts and the rebellion of the people, merited to lead the Israelites of the succeeding generation into the Promised Land. Caleb in his old age received as his inheritance a portion of land which he himself had previously conquered; cf Joshua 15:13-14.

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[11-20] Of the Judges praised and blessed for their fidelity to God in opposing idolatry, Samuel, a man of spotless integrity, was the greatest (Sirach 46:11-12, 19). He was judge of the entire nation, and was also a prophet and priest who through his sacrificial offering obtained victory over the Philistines. He established the kingdom, anointed kings (Sirach 46:13-18), and even after his death foretold the king's fate and put an end to wickedness (Sirach 46:20).

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[1-11] David, a youthful and fearless warrior, the favorite of all Israel, by defeating Goliath, the boastful Philistine giant, removed the people's disgrace and greatly strengthened their power (Sirach 47:1-7). With his whole being he loved and praised God, and his devotion to divine worship led him to develop a liturgical cult. David fell into sin, but repenting, received pardon from God and the promise of an everlasting kingdom (Sirach 47:8-11).

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[12-24] Solomon, son and successor of David, inherited peace through his father's conquests. He built the magnificent temple of Jerusalem (Sirach 47:12-13) and received from God the favor of unparalleled wisdom, through which he obtained great fame (Sirach 47:14-17). Luxury and sensuality, however, brought disgrace upon him, and because of his oppressive burdens, he disposed the kingdom for division after his death (Sirach 47:19-21, 23-24). Nevertheless God did not withdraw his promise of establishing his throne in the descendants of David (Sirach 47:22).

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[18] Cf 2 Sam 12:25 where Solomon is called Jedidiah, "beloved of the Lord." The same term is used of Israel in Jeremiah 11:15.

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[23] Expansive: the name Rehoboam means "the people is expansive," that is, widespread. The sinner: Jeroboam; cf 1 Kings 12:2, 20, 26-32.

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[47:25-48:11] The prophetic ministry of Elijah amid widespread idolatry is here described as a judgment by fire (Sirach 47:25-26). Through his preaching, miracles and vengeance against God's enemies within and without Israel, the prophet succeeded for a time in destroying idols and in restoring faith and the worship of the true God (Sirach 48:2-8). His miraculous departure from this life gave rise to the belief that he did not die but would return before the end of the world to put an end to wrath and restore the tribes of Israel (Sirach 48:9-11). Cf Matthew 17:9-13.

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[12-16] Elisha fearlessly continued the work of his predecessor by numerous miracles (Sirach 48:12-14), but the obstinacy of the people eventually brought on the destruction of the kingdom of Israel and the dispersion of its subjects. Judah, however, survived under the rule of Davidic kings, both good and bad (Sirach 48:15-16).

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[17-25] The fidelity, trust and courage of King Hezekiah (Sirach 48:17, 22), the zeal of the prophet Isaiah, and the prayer of the people (Sirach 48:20) availed with God. The Assyrian oppressors were routed (Sirach 48:18-19, 21), the king's life was prolonged, and consolations were granted the people through Isaiah's prophecies concerning the future (Sirach 48:23-25), especially the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of his kingdom; cf Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; 40-65.

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[1-10] The author's praise of King Josiah (Sirach 49:1-3), of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel and likewise the minor prophets (Sirach 49:7-10) derives from their spirit of fidelity to the Lord and his law amid the infidelity of kings and people (Sirach 49:4-6, 10).

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[11-13] Zerubbabel and Jeshua, in rebuilding the temple, and Nehemiah, the governor, in repairing the walls of the Holy City also restored what these constructions signify, namely, religious worship and civil authority as prescribed in the law.

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[14-16] The patriarchs here mentioned were glorious because of their spirit of religion, i.e., their profound reverence for God and obedience to him. The splendor of Adam, moreover, was due to his direct origin from God.

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[1] Eyes of the needy: when they look for help; cf Sirach 18:17.

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[11-19] The Hebrew text presents wisdom speaking in the first person, as in Sirach 24. The precious fruits of wisdom: life, favor, glory, blessings, God's love, are intended to arouse desire for her (Sirach 4:11-14). Her disciples are like priests (Sirach 4:14) and judges (Sirach 4:15), even partners who possess her for themselves and their descendants (Sirach 4:16). They enjoy happiness and penetrate her profound secrets after surviving her tests (Sirach 4:17, 18). Those who fail her are abandoned to destruction (Sirach 4:19).

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[20-31] Besides the interior trials of discipline and precept, the disciple of wisdom is warned against external dangers to his sincerity and justice, namely evil, human respect (Sirach 4:20, 21), compromise of liberty in speech and action (Sirach 4:22-25), false shame, and ignorance (Sirach 4:26). He must fight for the truth (Sirach 4:28), and avoid cynicism and laziness (Sirach 4:29), and inconsistency in his conduct (Sirach 4:30).

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[1-21] The son of Jochanan here mentioned was Simon II, in whose time as high priest (219-196 B.C.) great works were accomplished for the benefit of public worship and welfare (Sirach 50:1-4). The author, a contemporary of this high priest, describes in great detail and by numerous comparisons the impression of awful majesty received, the lofty joy aroused, at sight of the high priest fully vested entering the sanctuary, ascending the altar (Sirach 50:6-11), and, in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, encircled by assistant priests bearing offerings, sacrificing the burnt offering on the Day of Atonement, while the trumpets blast and the people bow down in adoration of the Most High (Sirach 50:12-17). The hymnody, the joyful shouts of the multitude, and finally the high priest's blessing, in which he pronounces-once only in the year, on this occasion-the holy name of Yahweh, climax the description of this most solemn Jewish liturgical function (Sirach 50:18-21).

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[22-24] Praise and thanksgiving are given to God for his wondrous works, and a blessing is invoked on man that he may enjoy peace and gladness of heart and the abiding goodness of the Most High.

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[25-26] The author's abhorrence of the pagan Edomites (Idumeans), Philistines and Samaritans can be understood in the light of Old Testament thinking, which does not always distinguish between hatred of evildoers and hatred of the evil they do.

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[25] Not even a people: the Samaritans.

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[26] Seir: Mount Seir in the territory of the Edomites. Shechem: a city in Samaria.

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[27-29] These verses contain the subscription of the author, Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach, to his long and beautiful treatise on wisdom as applying to all of human life, integrating it under the direction of the fear of the Lord.

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[1-12] A canticle of praise and thanks to God for delivering the author from slander, dangers, destruction, death, the nether world, and evil of every kind.

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[12] After this verse the Hebrew text gives the litany of praise contained below. It is similar to Psalm 136. Though not found in any versions, and therefore of doubtful authenticity, the litany seems from internal evidence to go back to the time of Sirach:

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[13-30] An alphabetic canticle describing: a) the approach to wisdom through prayer, persistent study and instruction (Sirach 51:13-17), purification from sin, enlightenment and ardent desire; b) the possession of wisdom (Sirach 51:18-22). The author concludes with an urgent invitation to men to receive instruction in wisdom from him, and to live by it, because wisdom gives herself to those who seek her (Sirach 51:23-26); and for their labor, God will reward them in the end (Sirach 51:27-30). Cf Matthew 11:28; Eccl 12:14.

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[13] In the Greek of 13f there is an expansion introducing Solomon as the speaker. This deviates from the original author's intent. It reads: "Publicly, in my prayer, facing the temple, I asked for her."

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[1-10] The vices of the rich are pride and independence (Sirach 5:1-2), presumption (Sirach 5:3), false security (Sirach 5:4-7), and impenitence (Sirach 5:8), which cannot escape the divine wrath (Sirach 5:9, 10). Cf Proverb 18:23; 19:1; 28:6.

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[11] A proverbial expression condemning inconstancy and advocating sincerity and honesty.

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[5:12-6:1] Proper use of the tongue requires constancy in speech (Sirach 5:12), prudence (Sirach 5:13-14), reserve (Sirach 5:15), charity (Sirach 6:1), as well as the avoidance of detraction, calumny (Sirach 6:16), and double talk, which bring shame and disgrace (Sirach 5:15; 6:1).

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[1] "That . . . double tongue!": people will say this against the man whose deceitful tongue has brought him to disgrace.

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[5-17] True friends are discerned not by prosperity (Sirach 6:11), but through the trials of adversity: distress, quarrels (Sirach 6:9), sorrow (Sirach 6:10) and misfortune (Sirach 6:12). Such friends are rare and their value is beyond estimation, a gift from God (Sirach 6:14-17).

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[18-37] The various figures in each of the three strophes urge the search for wisdom through patience (Sirach 6:19-23), docility (Sirach 6:32-37), and perseverance in trials (Sirach 6:25-27), promising rich rewards (Sirach 6:28-31). Cf Sirach 4:11-19.

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[23] Discipline (musar, in the sense of wisdom) is a perfect homonym for musar, "removed, withdrawn"; thus the path of discipline is inaccessible to many.

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[31] Some forms of the text speak also of the "yoke" of wisdom under the imagery of golden ornaments.

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[1-17] In the conduct of social relations wisdom forbids evil and injustice (Sirach 7:1-3), pride (Sirach 7:5, 15-17), ambition and human respect (Sirach 7:4, 6), public disorder (Sirach 7:7), presumption and impatience toward God (Sirach 7:9-10), ridicule (Sirach 7:11), mischief and deceit toward one's neighbor (Sirach 7:8, 12-13).

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[11] Him who exalts and humbles: God; cf 1 Sam 2:7; Psalm 75:8; Luke 1:52.

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[14] Repeat not . . . prayer: brevity of speech in dealings with superiors and more especially with God is a sign of reverence and respect; cf Eccl 5:1; Matthew 6:7.

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[18-36] The duties of respect and appreciation, justice and kindness should characterize relations toward members of the household (Sirach 7:18-28), and also toward God and his priests (Sirach 7:29-31), the poor and afflicted, the living and the dead (Sirach 7:32-36).

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[18] Ophir was the port, at present unidentified, to which the ships of Solomon sailed and from which they brought back gold and silver; cf note on Psalm 45:10.

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[21] After six years of service a Hebrew slave was entitled to freedom, cf Exodus 21:2; Deut 15:12-15.

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[23] Bend their necks: keep them from rebellious pride; so with the Greek. Cf Sirach 30:12. The present Hebrew text, which is probably not original here, reads: "Choose wives for them while they are young."

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[31] First fruits . . . holy offerings: cf Exodus 29:27; Lev 7:31-34; Numbers 18:8-20; Deut 18:1-5.

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[33] This seems to refer to the observances ordained toward the dead, that is, proper mourning and burial. Cf 2 Sam 21:12-14; Tobit 1:20; 12:12. When this verse is read in the light of later teaching, prayers for the souls of the deceased would also be recommended. Cf 2 Macc 12:43-45.

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[1-19] A prudent man will be circumspect, avoiding conflict with the powerful, the rich and insolent, the impious, the irascible, and with judges (Sirach 8:1-3, 10-12, 14, 16). He will seek friendship not with the undisciplined (Sirach 8:4, 12- 13) and the ruthless (Sirach 8:15), nor with fools and strangers (Sirach 8:17-19), but with the wise and the ancients of the people (Sirach 8:8, 9).

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[5] We all are guilty: cf 1 Kings 8:46; 2 Chron 6:36; Eccl 7:20; Romans 3:9-10; 1 John 1:8.

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[11] To give in to the wicked in one instance becomes an occasion of sin for the future.

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[1-9] Prudence and reserve in dealing with women are the best defense of morality. To preserve the liberty and dignity of his person and the integrity of his possessions, a man must avoid jealousy toward his own wife and familiarity toward all other women. Cf Sirach 25:12-26:18.

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[1] Unjust suspicions often engender hatred between husband and wife and may prompt a wife to commit those faults of which heretofore she had been innocent.

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[5] Cf Exodus 22:15-16: Deut 22:28-29; Job 31:1.

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[10-16:] In social relations, adherence to the law of the Lord should serve as a guide (Sirach 9:15). Associate with true friends (Sirach 9:10), with the just and the learned (Sirach 9:14-16); avoid the company of the mighty and of sinners doomed to punishment (Sirach 9:11-13). Cf Sirach 8:1-19.

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[9:17-10:5] Public office as conducted justly or unjustly benefits or destroys the people, according to the axiom, "as the prince, so the people." Cf Isaiah 24:2. God, however, has sovereignty over both.

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[1] This title is actually the first verse of chapter 1.

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[15] Doves: suggesting innocence and charm.

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[16-17] Though the meeting place of the lovers is but a shepherd's hut of green branches, it becomes a palace with beams of cedar and rafters of cypress when adorned with their love.

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[1:2-8:14] The marginal letters indicate the speaker of the verses: B-Bride; D-Daughters of Jerusalem; G-Bridegroom. In Song 1:2-7 the bride and the daughters address the bridegroom who appears here as a king, but more often in the poem as a shepherd. King and shepherd are familiar figures of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures. Cf Psalm 23:1; Isaiah 40:11; John 10:1-16.

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[5] Daughters of Jerusalem: the chorus whom the bride addresses and who ask her questions (Song 5:9; 6:1) thus developing action within the poem. Kedar: a Syrian desert region whose name suggests blackness; tents were often made of black goat hair. Curtains: tent coverings of Salma, a region close to Kedar.

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[6] Swarthy: tanned by the sun from working in her brothers' vineyards. My own vineyard: the bride herself; cf Isaiah 5:1-7 where Israel is designated as the vineyard and the Lord is the Lover.

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[7] Here and elsewhere in the Song (Song 3:1; 5:8; 6:1), the bride expresses her desire to be in the company of her lover. These verses point to a certain tension in the poem. Only at the end (Song 8:5-14) does mutual possession of the lovers become final.

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[9-11] The bridegroom compares the girl's beauty to the rich adornment of the royal chariot of Pharaoh.

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[12] Nard: a precious perfume, a figure of the bride; cf Song 4:14.

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[13] Myrrh: produced from aromatic resin of balsam or roses.

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[14] Henna: a plant which bears white scented flowers.

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[1] Flower of Sharon: probably the narcissus, which grows in the fertile Plain of Sharon lying between Mount Carmel and Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast.

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[4-6] The banquet hall: the sweet things of the table, the embrace of the bride and bridegroom, express the delicacy of their affection and the intimacy of their love.

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[7] By the gazelles and hinds: the swiftness of these animals and the luster and soft expression of their eyes are suggestive of love; cf Proverb 5:19.

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[8-13] In this sudden change of scene, the bride pictures her lover hastening toward her dwelling until his voice is heard bidding her come to him.

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[14] The bride is addressed as though she were a dove in a mountain fastness out of sight and reach.

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[15] A snatch of song in answer to the request of Song 2:14; cf Song 8:13, 14. Foxes: all who threaten to disturb the security of love symbolized by the vineyard; cf Song 2:16.

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[17] Breathes cool: in the evening when the sun is going down. Cf Genesis 3:8. Bether: a very obscure word; some interpret it in the sense of ruggedness; others, of spices; still others, of sacrifice (Genesis 15:10).

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[1-5] See the parallel in Song 5:2-8.

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[6-11] The lover is portrayed as King Solomon, escorted by sixty armed men, coming in royal procession to meet his bride.

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[2] Teeth: praised for whiteness and regularity.

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[14] These plants are all known for their sweet scent.

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[16] The last two lines of the verse are spoken by the girl, inviting her lover to herself, the garden.

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[3] Pomegranate: a fruit somewhat like an orange, with a firm skin and deep red color. The girl's cheek is compared, in roundness and tint, to a half-pomegranate.

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[4] The ornaments about her neck are compared to the trophies on the city walls. Cf 1 Kings 10:10; 14:26-28; Ezekiel 27:10.

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[6] Mountain of myrrh. . . hill of incense: spoken figuratively of the bride; cf Song 8:14.

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[7] Cf St. Paul's description of the Church in Eph 5:27. This verse is also applied to Our Lady, especially in the Liturgy of the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

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[8] Amana . . . Senir and Hermon: these rugged heights symbolize obstacles that would separate the lovers; cf Song 2:14.

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[9] Sister: a term of endearment; it forms part of the conventional language of love used in this canticle.

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[11] Honey: sweet words. Cf Proverb 5:3.

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[12] Enclosed garden . . . fountain sealed: reserved for the bridegroom alone. The bride's fidelity is implied. Cf Proverb 5:15-19.

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[1] Eat, friends; drink!: the lovers are encouraged to enjoy the delights of their love, symbol of Christ's union with the Church.

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[2-8] A trial similar to that in Song 3:1-5.

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[3-4] The bride's hesitation is due, not to levity, but to strong emotion.

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[6] The disappearance of the lover seems to be a deliberate trial and test inflicted on the girl.

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[7] The watchmen do not know the reason for the girl's appearance in the city streets; cf Song 3:2-4.

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[10-11] In answer to the question of Song 5:9 the girl sings her lover's praises (Song 5:10-16). Gold: indicates how precious the lover is. Palm fronds: his thick, luxuriant growth of hair.

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[1] The daughters of Jerusalem are won by this description of the lover and offer their aid in seeking him.

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[2-3] Determined to share her lover with no one, the girl refuses the aid offered by the daughters in seeking him. She implies that she had never really lost him, for he has come down to his garden.

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[4-9] The lover again celebrates her beauty. Tirzah: probably meaning "pleasant"; it was the early capital of the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 16).

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[12] The text is obscure in Hebrew and in the ancient versions. The Vulgate reads: "I did not know; my soul disturbed me because of the chariots of Aminadab."

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[1] Shulammite: so called either because the girl is considered to be from Shulam in the plain of Esdraelon (cf 1 Kings 1:3) or because the name may mean "the peaceful one," and thus recall the name of Solomon. As at the dance of the two companies: the meaning is uncertain. The question in this verse could be construed as a refusal to dance; more probably, however, the girl accedes, as the following verses suggest.

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[2-6] A flattering description of the girl's charms. Rounded . . . jewels: the meaning of these Hebrew words is not certain. Wine and wheat are symbolic of fertility; they are here associated with parts of the body which have a close relation to fruitfulness.

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[5] The comparison emphasizes the stateliness and whiteness of the neck, and the limpidity of the eyes. Bath-rabbim: a proper name which occurs only here; there was a city of Rabbah northeast of Heshbon in Transjordan. Cf Jeremiah 49:3.

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[8-9] Palm tree: a figure of stateliness. The bridegroom is eager to enjoy the possession of his bride.

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[10] The bride delicately turns his compliment into an expression of the love and tenderness she feels for him.

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[11-13(14)] The girl's answer assures him of her affection and invites him to return with her to the rural delights which are associated with their love and which recall the meeting described in Song 6:11, 12.

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[13(14)] Mandrakes: herbs believed to have power to arouse love and promote fertility; cf Genesis 30:14-16.

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[5] The lovers are pictured walking homeward, enjoying the fulfillment of the desire which the girl expressed in Song 8:1, 2. The groom speaks of their first meeting.

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[6-7] Seal: this could be worn bound to the arm, as here, or suspended at the neck, or as a ring (Jeremiah 22:24). It was used for identification and signatures. Stern . . . relentless: in human experience, death and the nether world are inevitable, unrelenting; in the end they always triumph. Love, which is just as certain of its victory, matches its strength against the natural enemies of life; waters cannot extinguish it nor floods carry it away. It is more priceless than all riches.

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[8-10] The bride affirms her chastity. In Song 8:9 she quotes the course of action which her elder brothers had decided on. While she is yet immature, they will shelter her in view of eventual marriage. If she is virtuous, she will be honored; if she is unchaste, she will be kept under strict vigilance. In reply to this she proclaims her virtue and boasts of having found welcome from her lover.

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[11-12] These enigmatic verses have been variously interpreted. In Song 8:11 the girl alludes to a vineyard of great value which is compared to her own self in Song 8:12. Her enormous dowry, a thousand silver pieces, is in keeping with her intrinsic worth. She has been the generous lover, giving herself and a dowry to her lover, referred to as Solomon, and also smaller gifts to her brothers, the caretakers (cf Song 8:8-10).

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[13-14] As in Song 2:14, 15 her lover asks for a word or a song and she replies in words similar to those found in Song 2:17.

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missing foot note text

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[6] (6-10) In the fashion of a wisdom teacher, Raphael gives the two men a short exhortation similar to the one Tobit gave his son in Tobit 4:3-19.

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[6] (6-7) The Jews considered the duty of praising God their most esteemed privilege. Without praise of God, life was meaningless. Cf Isaiah 38:16-20.

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[8] Prayer . . . fasting . . . almsgiving . . . righteousness: these, together with the proper attitude toward wealth, are treated in great detail by Christ our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6). 9 for almsgiving saves one from death and expiates every sin. Those who regularly give alms shall enjoy a full life;

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[12] (12,15) Raphael is one of the seven specially designated intercessors who present man's prayers to God. Angelology was developing in this period. The names of two other angels are given in the Bible: Gabriel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21; Luke 1:19, 26) and Michael (Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 1:9; Rev 12:7).

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[14] I was sent . . . test: God often sends trials to purify his faithful servants further. Cf Job 1-2.

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[1] (1-18) Tobit's hymn of praise (cf Exodus 15:1-18; Judith 16:1-17) is divided into two parts. The first part (Tobit 13:1-8) is a song of praise that echoes themes from the hymns and psalms of the kingdom; the second (Tobit 13:9-18) is addressed to Jerusalem in the style of the prophets who spoke of a new and ideal Jerusalem (Isaiah 60); cf Rev 21.

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[9] Works of your hands: idols.

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[4] (4-5) Nahum: one of the minor prophets, whose book contains oracles of doom against Nineveh. Here, in keeping with the period to which he assigns his story, the sacred author makes Tobit speak as if the punishment of Nineveh, the destruction of Jerusalem (587 B. C.), the exile from Judah and the return, would all take place in the future. The technique of using the facts of past history as seemingly future predictions, is a frequent device of apocalyptic writers. The Good Land: a favorite name for the promised land. Cf Deut 1:35; 3:25; 4:21, 22.

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[5] Until the era . . . completed: a reference to the advent of Messianic times, in which a new, more perfect temple was to be expected. Cf Hebrews 9:1-14.

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[6] Conversion of the Gentiles is also to come in the Messianic era.

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[10] Nadab: In the Story of Ahiqar, the hero Ahiqar, chancellor under the Assyrian kings Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, adopts his nephew Nadab and prepares him to become his successor. But Nadab treacherously plots to have his uncle put to death. Ahiqar hides in a friend's house, and is finally vindicated (came out again into the light) when Nadab's scheme is discovered. Thereupon Nadab is thrown into a dungeon where he dies (went into everlasting darkness). It was Ahiqar's almsgiving that delivered him from death; see note on Tobit 2:2.

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[15] Cyaxares: Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, and Cyaxares conquered and destroyed Nineveh in 612 B. C.; see note on Tobit 1:15.

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[1] Tobit: in the fragments of the book found at Qumran, is given as Tobi, an abbreviated form of Tobiyah (Tobit 1:9; Ezra 2:60) or of Tobiyabu (2 Chron 17:8), a name which means "Yahweh is good." Tobiel, "God is good"; Hananiel, "God is merciful." The book abounds in theophoric names.

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[2] Shalmaneser (V) (727-722 B.C.): began the siege of Samaria; the inhabitants of the northern kingdom were taken into captivity by his successor, Sargon II (722-705). Thisbe and Phogor: towns of Galilee that have not been identified; Thisbe in Gilead was perhaps the birthplace of Elijah. Kedesh: cf Joshua 20:7. Asser: Hazor (Joshua 11:1).

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[5] Jeroboam established sanctuaries in Dan and Bethel so that the people would no longer go to Jerusalem for the festivals. The gold statues of bulls which he placed in the sanctuaries were considered the throne of Yahweh; but the people soon came to worship the images themselves. Jeroboam also encouraged the high places or hilltop shrines (1 Kings 12:26-33).

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[6] (6-8) Perpetual decree: Deut 12:11, 13-14. Refusing to worship at Jeroboam's shrines, the faithful Tobit continued to bring his offerings to Jerusalem; see 2 Chron 11:16. For the various tithes, cf Numbers 18:20-32; 2 Chron 31:4-6; Deut 14:22-29; 26:12-13.

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[14] A great sum of money: literally, "ten silver talents," about ten thousand dollars. Rages: modern Rai, about five miles southeast of Teheran. Media: the northwestern part of modern Iran.

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[15] Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.): the son of Sargon (722-705 B.C.); neither was descended from Shalmaneser. Inconsistencies such as this point to the fact that the Book of Tobit is a religious novel (see Introduction; also notes on Tobit 5:6; 14:15).

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[17] (17-18) Tobit risked his own life to bury the dead. Deprivation of burial was viewed with horror by the Jews. Cf Tobit 4:3-4; 6:15; 14:12-13.

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[21] Esarhaddon: 681-669 B.C. Ahiqar: a hero of ancient folklore, known for his outstanding wisdom. The Story (or Wisdom) of Ahiqar was very popular in antiquity and is extant in many different forms: Aramaic, Syriac, Armenian, Arabic (Arabian Nights), Greek (Aesop's Fables), Slavonic, Ethiopic, and Romanian. The sacred author makes Tobit the uncle of the famous Ahiqar in order to enhance Tobit's own prestige. See note on Tobit 14:10.

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[1] The feast of Weeks: also called by its Greek name Pentecost, was celebrated fifty days after the Passover. Cf Lev 23:15-21; Deut 16:9-12.

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[2] Almsgiving and charity to the poor are important virtues taught by the book (4:7-11, 16, 17; 12:8, 9; 14:10, 11).

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[5] I washed myself: because of ritual defilement from touching a corpse (Numbers 19:11-13).

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[10] Cataracts: literally, "white scales, or films." Elymais: the Greek name of ancient Elam, a district northeast of the head of the Persian Gulf.

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[12] Late in winter: literally, "seventh of Dystros," the Macedonian month which corresponds to the Jewish month of Shebat (January-February). For the table: literally, "for the hearth"; the gift had probably been made in view of some springtime festival like the Jewish Purim.

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[14] Anna's sharp rebuke calls to mind the words of Job's wife (Job 2:9).

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[6] It is better for me to die than to live: in his distress Tobit uses the words of the petulant Jonah (Jonah 4:3, 8), who wished to die because God did not destroy the hated Ninevites. In similar circumstances, Moses (Numbers 11:15), Elijah (1 Kings 19:4), and Job (Job 7:15) also prayed for death. Everlasting abode: a reference to Sheol, the dismal abode of the dead from which no one returns (Job 7:9-10; 14:12; Isaiah 26:14). The revelation of a blessed immortality had not yet been made. See note on Tobit 4:6.

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[7] From here on, the story is told in the third person. Tobit 3:7 relates one of the several marvelous coincidences which the story teller uses to heighten interest; see also Tobit 3:16, 17; 4:1; 5:4. Ecbatana: Hamadan in modern Iran; this was the capital of ancient Media. Raguel: "friend of God."

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[8] Asmodeus: in Persian aeshma daeva, "demon of wrath," adopted into Aramaic with the sense of "the Destroyer." He will be subdued (Tobit 8:3) by Raphael (Tobit 3:17) "God heals."

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[11] Facing the window: that is, looking toward Jerusalem; cf Daniel 6:11: Blessed are you and "Blessed be God" are traditional openings of Jewish prayers (Tobit 8:5, 15; 11:14; 13:1).

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[17] Tobiah had the right: according to the patriarchal custom of marriage within the family group. Tobiah was Sarah's closest eligible relative (Tobit 6:12). Cf Tobit 4:12-13; Genesis 24.

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[3] (3-19) A collection of maxims which parallel those in the wisdom literature, especially Prov and Sirach (see Introduction): duties toward parents (Tobit 4:3-4); cf also Tobit 14:13; perseverance in virtue and avoidance of evil (Tobit 4:5, 6, 14b); necessity and value of almsgiving and charity (Tobit 4:7, 11, 16, 17); marriage to a kinsman (Tobit 4:12, 13a); industry (Tobit 4:13b); prompt payment of wages (Tobit 4:14a); the golden rule (Tobit 4:15a); temperance (Tobit 4:15b); docility (Tobit 4:18); prayer (Tobit 4:19).

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[6] Before the revelation of retribution for all men in the afterlife-a doctrine taught in the Book of Wisdom-Old Testament man believed that virtue guaranteed earthly prosperity, and sin earthly disaster (cf Deut 28).

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[17] Tobit counsels his son either to give alms in honor of the dead, or, more probably, to give the "bread of consolation" to the family of the deceased. Cf Jeremiah 16:7; Ezekiel 24:17.

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[19] Prayer is the foundation of a moral life.

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[3] Document: in Greek cheirographon. In the Middle Ages, notably in England, a deed and its duplicate were written on one piece of parchment, with the Latin word chirographum inscribed across the top of the sheet or between the two copies of the text. The document was then cut in two in either a straight or a wavy line, the parts being given to the persons concerned. Perhaps this procedure derived from the present verse of Tobit. Duplicate documents, usually one open and the other sealed, are well known from the ancient Near East.

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[4] He did not know: the theme of an angel in disguise occurs frequently in folklore as well as in the Old Testament (Genesis 18; cf Hebrews 13:2).

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[6] It is a good two days' travel from Ecbatana to Rages: Alexander's army took eleven days in forced marches to cover this distance, about 180 miles. The author is merely using popular impressions about faraway places; he is not teaching geography. (See notes on Tobit 1:15; 3:7 and Introduction.)

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[10] Hearty greetings and what joy form a wordplay on the Greek verb chairein, "to greet" and "to be joyful."

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[13] (13-14) Azariah, "Yahweh helps"; Hananiah, "Yahweh is merciful"; Nathaniah, "Yahweh gives"; Shemaiah, "Yahweh hears."

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[15] The normal wages: literally, "a drachma," about seventeen cents, a day's wage for a workingman.

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[22] My love: literally, "sister," a term of endearment applied to one's wife; cf Tobit 7:11, 15; 8:4, 21; 10:6, 13; Song 4:9, 10, 12; 5:1, 2. A good angel: a reference to the guardian angel, though Tobit does not know, of course, that Raphael himself, disguised as Azariah, is the good angel in this case.

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[5] Its gall . . . medicines: belief in the healing power of these organs was common among even the physicians of antiquity.

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[13] Raguel . . . Book of Moses: Numbers 36:6-8 prescribed marriage within the ancestral tribe, but no death penalty is mentioned.

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[18] Rise up to pray: prayer is needed to drive out the demon.

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[2] (2,3) The manner of coping with demonic influences among the ancients seems quaint to us. However, the fish here is part of the story, and not a recipe for exorcism. It is clear that the author places primary emphasis on the value of prayer to God (Tobit 6:18; 8:4-8), on the role of the angel as God's agent, and on the pious disposition of Tobiah.

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[3] Into Upper Egypt: to the desert there. The desert was considered the dwelling place of demons. Cf Isaiah 13:21; 34:14; Matthew 4:1; 12:43.

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[20] For fourteen days: because of the happy, and unexpected, turn of events, Raguel doubles the time of the wedding feast. When Tobiah returns home, the usual seven-day feast is held (Tobit 11:18). Cf Judges 14:12.

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[1-21] This chapter prepares for the following section (Wisdom 11:2-19:22) on the history of Israel in the Exodus, by reviewing the dealings of Wisdom with the patriarchs. It has a parallel in Sirach 44-50; cf also Wisdom 18:9

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[13-14] Joseph.

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[16] Moses.

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[19] Cast them up: their bodies, on the shore.

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[1-2] Adam.

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[3] Cain.

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[4] Noah.

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[5] Abraham.

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[6] Lot. Pentapolis: the five cities, including Sodom; cf Genesis 14:2.

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[7] Disbelieving soul: Lot's wife; cf Genesis 19:26.

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[10-12] Jacob.

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[12] Devotion to God: in the Greek this signifies "piety" or "religion," and is the equivalent of the Hebrew "fear of the LORD"; cf Proverb 1:7.

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[2-4] Few verses in these later chapters can be fully understood without consulting the passages in the Mosaic books which are indicated in the cross references. The theme of this part of the book is expressed in Wisdom 11:5 and is illustrated in the following chapters by five examples drawn from Exodus events.

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[6-8] The perennial river: the Nile; the contrast is between the first plague of Egypt (Exodus 7:17-24) and the water drawn from the rock in Horeb (Exodus 17:5-7; Numbers 20:8-11).

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[5] And of blood, from the midst of . . .: this line is obscure in the current Greek text and in all extant translations. Either one or two words would complete it. The horrible crimes here spoken of (cf Wisdom 14:23) were not unheard of in the ancient pagan world.

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[17] The brunt of God's anger and vindictive justice is borne by those who know him and yet defy his authority and might. Cf Wisdom 1:2; 15:2 but also 12:27; 18:13.

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[1] Him who is: the Hebrew sacred name of God; cf Exodus 3:14.

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[2] Luminaries of heaven: the Latin interprets, "sun and moon"; governors: cf Genesis 1:16.

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[6] The blame is less: the greater blame is incurred by those mentioned in Wisdom 13:10; 15:14-16.

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[6] Noah.

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[7] Often applied to the Cross of our Lord.

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[30] Piety: the sanctity of oaths.

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[31] Perjury is a form of deceit which calls for punishment even though it be practiced in the name of a lifeless idol.

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[18-20] The author here returns to the main theme of Wisdom 10-19 which was interrupted by the digression Wisdom 13:1-15, 17.

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[18] For . . . rest: this may mean that the creatures worshiped by the Egyptians (e.g., crocodiles, serpents, scarabs, etc.) were more patently lacking in intelligence than the general run of beasts; cf Wisdom 11:15; 12:24.

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[1] They: the Egyptian idolaters.

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[6] Sign: the brazen serpent; cf Numbers 21:9.

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[14] Confined: in the nether world, in limbo.

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[22] Snow and ice: the manna; cf Wisdom 16:27; 19:21.

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[6] Fires: that is, lightnings.

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[14] Powerless: the nether world, the home of darkness, has no power against God, nor even against such men as do not submit to it of themselves; cf Wisdom 1:14-16.

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[2] The difference between them: God's distinctive manner of treating the Israelites and the Egyptians according to their respective merits.

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[5] Single boy: Moses.

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[9] Praises of the fathers: cf Sirach 44-50; Wisdom 10.

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[13] People: the Hebrews.

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[21] Blameless man: Aaron, acting according to his office of high priest and intercessor.

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[22] Smiter: the destroying angel; cf Wisdom 18:25.

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[24] Glories . . . grandeur: the name of God and the names of the tribes were inscribed on the high priest's apparel.

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[1] He: i.e., God.

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[2] Them: the Hebrews.

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[3] They: the Egyptians.

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[5] Glorious: more precisely, "wondrous," but the word reflects glorified in 18:8; 19:22.

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[13] More grievous: than that of the people of Sodom; cf Genesis 19.

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[15] Theirs: the people of Sodom.

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[1] Justice: not merely the cardinal virtue of that name (cf Wisdom 8:7), but the universal moral quality which is the application of Wisdom to moral conduct.

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[5] Discipline: here and elsewhere, another name for Wisdom; injustice: the opposite of the virtue in Wisdom 1:1.

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[7] This verse is applied to the Holy Spirit in the liturgy at Pentecost.

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[11] Calumny: speech against God and his providence is meant.

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[9] Let no meadow . . . wantonness: the extant Greek Mss have "Let none of us be without part in our wanton doings." Most Latin Mss have both forms of this line.

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[12-20] Often applied to the Passion of our Lord; many have understood these verses as a direct prophecy. Cf Matthew 27:41-44

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[12] Law: the law of Moses; training has the same meaning.

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[1-8] Verses frequently applied to the martyrs.

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[6] Offerings: the image is that of the holocaust, in which the victim is completely consumed by fire.

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[7] Visitation: God's loving judgment of those who have been faithful to him; the same word is used in Wisdom 14:11 for the punishment of the wicked at God's final judgment. Cf also Wisdom 3:13.

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[10] To match their thoughts: a fate as empty as that which they describe; cf Wisdom 2:1-5.

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[13] Visitation of souls: that is, the last judgment. Cf Wisdom 3:7-9.

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[14] Fidelity's choice reward: cf Isaiah 56:1-8. More gratifying: better than sons and daughters; cf Isaiah 56:5.

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[1] The Latin form of this line, "Oh, how fair is the chaste generation in its glory!" is a later adaptation which is applied in the liturgy to the splendor of virginity.

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[10-11] There are allusions here to Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24), who was young by patriarchal standards, and to Lot (Genesis 19:10, 11; 2 Peter 2:7, 8). Cf also Isaiah 57:1-2.

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[15] The verse here omitted repeats the last two lines of Wisdom 3:9.

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[20] Counting up: the last judgment.

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[4] Law: that of Moses; cf Wisdom 6:10; 2:12.

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[10] Response: a suitable plea before the great Judge. Cf Proverb 22:21; Job 31:14; Hebrews 2:1; Sirach 8:9.

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[1] First man formed on earth: Adam. The author omits throughout the book the proper names of the characters in sacred history of whom he speaks; see especially Wisdom 10.

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[2] In a ten-months' period: thus the ancients were accustomed to reckon the period of pregnancy.

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[14] Discipline: cf note on Wisdom 1:5.

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[1] End to end: from one end of the heavens to the other.

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[7] Moderation . . . fortitude: what are now known as the cardinal virtues.

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[12] Hands upon their mouths: an oft-mentioned sign of respect among the ancients for unanswerable wisdom; cf Job 40:4.

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[19-20] Here the sacred writer mentions first bodily, then spiritual, excellence. To make it plain that the latter is the governing factor in the harmonious development of the human person, he then reverses the order.

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[21] Possess her: in the Latin, "be continent." Though this verse has often been cited in connection with the virtue of chastity, the original must certainly mean "be possessed of Wisdom."

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[2] Teraphim: household idols, used for divination; cf Genesis 31:19, 34, 35; Judges 17:5; 18:17-18-20; Ezekiel 21:26; Hosea 3:4.

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[4-17] In this allegory the prophet becomes the good shepherd of God's flock, which is being slaughtered; he is the defender of the people exploited by bad rulers. The three shepherds, rulers in general, are to destroy one another in a short time (a single month). The service of the good shepherd is contemptuously valued at thirty pieces of silver, the legal indemnity (Exodus 21:32) for a gored slave. The prophet is thus a type of Christ, whose mission of salvation to his people was appraised by the Sanhedrists, the false shepherds, at the same base price (Matthew 26:14-16). In the case of the prophet as well as of Christ (Matthew 27:5), the money is thrown into the temple treasury, i. e., paid to God, showing thereby how shamefully his divine love and care are requited.

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[1-9] Under the image of the deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem from invading enemies, the prophet foretells the ultimate victory of God's people in the messianic age.

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[10] The divine blessings (a spirit of grace and petition) will be poured out on God's people through the intervention of an unnamed sufferer (him whom they have thrust through), similar to the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. In John 19:37 the Evangelist sees in this passage a prophecy fulfilled in the piercing of Christ's side.

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[11] The mourning for the pierced victim in Jerusalem is compared to a lamentation in the plain of Megiddo apparently over a certain personage called Hadadrimmon. The reference is no longer clear. Both Hadad and Rimmon were names of the Semitic storm god, often identified with the god Baal. Some see here a reference to the annual mourning by the pagans over the death of the fertility god. According to others, Hadadrimmon is the name of a place near Megiddo, and the reference would then be to the mourning over the death of King Josiah, who was killed in battle there; cf 2 Chron 35:22-25.

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[1] A fountain to purify from sin: in contrast to the lustral water used in ritual purification; cf Numbers 19:9, 13, 20; 31:23. The Lord himself is the fountain of living water (Jeremiah 2:13); cf Isaiah 12:2-4.

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[4] Hairy mantle: worn by prophets as a mark of their calling; cf 2 Kings 1:8; Matthew 3:4.

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[6] Wounds on your chest: literally, "wounds between your hands." The false prophets, like the prophet of Baal (1 Kings 18:28), apparently inflicted wounds on themselves; to defend himself against the accusation of being a false prophet, a man will deny having inflicted wounds on himself and say instead that he received them at home, "in the house of my dear ones." In the liturgy this test is applied to Christ in an accommodated sense.

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[7] When the shepherd is killed, the sheep are scattered. In Matthew 26:31 the Evangelist quotes from this verse, in somewhat different form, the words, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered, as said by Christ shortly before his arrest in the Garden of Olives and the flight of the Apostles.

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[1-21] An apocalyptic description of the day of the Lord, in which Jerusalem, the figure of God's elect, after much suffering (siege: Zechariah 14:1-3; riot: Zechariah 14:13; plague: Zechariah 14:12, 15), is rescued by the Lord (Zechariah 14:4-5) and given great blessings (Zechariah 14:6-11, 14, 16-21).

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[1] The second year . . . eighth month: October/November, 520 B.C.

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[7] The second year . . . eleventh month: January/February, 519 B.C.

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[8-11] The driver of a red horse: apparently distinct from the man, or angel of the LORD . . . standing among the myrtle trees, who spoke with the prophet. The four horsemen are sent by God to the four corners of the earth (Zechariah 2:10), to see if the whole earth is at peace.

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[12] These seventy years: see note on Jeremiah 25:1-14.

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[15] The complacent nations: the neighbors of Judah; especially Edom, which enjoyed their present prosperity and security at Judah's expense.

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[16] Measuring line: not for devastation, as in Isaiah 34:11 but for reconstruction.

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[1-4] Four horns: symbolic of the hostile forces which, from the four corners of the earth, invaded and devastated the land of Judah. Four blacksmiths: the powers used by God to destroy these enemies of his people.

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[8] That young man: the angel or man with a measuring line of Zechariah 2:5.

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[10] The land of the north: Babylonia (Zechariah 2:11).

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[3] Filthy garments: symbolic of mourning for the dead, or of national catastrophe, and implying acknowledgment of guilt (Zechariah 3:5).

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[8] Men of good omen: the restoration of the priesthood is a sign of the coming of the messianic times. My servant the Shoot: identified, in the earliest form of Zechariah 6:11-12 as the prophet composed it, with Zerubbabel, direct descendant of King David and rebuilder of the temple; and, as such, a type of the Messiah; cf Jeremiah 23:5.

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[9] One stone with seven facets: apparently the same as the select stone of Zechariah 4:7(10) which seems to be a precious gem. The seven facets are explained in Zechariah 4:7(10) as signifying the Lord's vigilance over the world. I will engrave its inscription: the same Hebrew verb for engrave is used in Exodus 28:9, 11 in regard to the inscriptions on the twelve precious stones of the priestly breastpiece.

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[1-4] The enormous scroll, thirty feet by fifteen (the dimensions in length and breadth of the portico of Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 6:3), contains a list of maledictions on sinners, similar to that in Deut 27:15-26. The thief and the perjurer represent all sinners, who are expelled from the holy community.

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[5-11] The woman sealed in the bushel container is a figure of the general corruption of the people of Judah. She is removed from the Holy Land and transported to Shinar, that is, Babylonia, where a dwelling is being prepared for her; this is a symbol of the reign of Wickedness in pagan lands, contrasted with the reign of holiness in the Lord's dwelling on Mount Zion.

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[1-8] The four chariots represent the angelic hosts sent by the Lord to the four ends of the earth. The chariot with the black horses brings the spirit, i.e., anger of the Lord against the land of the north, Babylonia.

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[11] Make a crown; place it on the head of [Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest] Zerubbabel: According to the current Hebrew text, Joshua the high priest is to be crowned. However, since the crown is a sign of royalty, the original text must have had the name of Zerubbabel here, not that of Joshua. In Zechariah 3:8 Joshua is a different man from the one called the Shoot, and in Zechariah 6:12 it is upon the Shoot that the crown is to be placed.

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[1] The fourth year of Darius . . . the fourth day of Chislev, the ninth month: November, 518 B.C.

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[19] The fast day of the fourth month recalled the fall of Jerusalem in June, 587 B.C. (2 Kings 25:3-4); that of the fifth month, the burning of the temple by Nebuzaradan in July of the same year (2 Kings 25:8-9); that of the seventh month, the murder of Gedaliah in September of the same year (Jeremiah 41:1-2); that of the tenth month, the beginning of the final siege of Jerusalem in January, 588 B.C. (2 Kings 25:1).

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[1-8] Divine judgment is about to fall on the surrounding hostile peoples: Aram (Syria), including the cities of Hadrach and Damascus; Phoenicia, with its cities of Tyre and Sidon; Philistia, with its cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod.

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[6] The baseborn: people of mixed ancestry.

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[7] Remnant: see note on Haggai 1:12. The Jebusites: the pre-Israelite inhabitants of Jerusalem, conquered by David and incorporated into Israel.

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[8] My house: the Holy Land; cf Hosea 8:1; 9:15; Jeremiah 12:7.

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[9] The Messiah will come, not as a conquering warrior, but in lowliness and peace. Not like the last kings of Judah, who rode in chariots and on horses (Jeremiah 17:25; 22:4), but like the princes of old (Genesis 49:11; Judges 5:10; 10:4), the Messiah will ride on an ass. The Evangelists see a literal fulfillment of this prophecy in the Savior's triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:4-5; John 12:14-15).

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[10] The River: The Euphrates; see note on Psalm 72:8.

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[11] The blood of your covenant with me: the covenant between the Lord and Israel sealed with sacrificial blood (Exodus 24:8).

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[12] The waiting prisoners: the exiles awaiting the return to their country, where they will receive a double compensation for the double punishment they had suffered; cf Isaiah 40:2; 61:7.

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[5] The host of heaven: the stars, the worship of which was introduced into Judah by the Assyrians. Milcom: the god of the Ammonites; cf 1 Kings 11:5, 7, 33; 2 Kings 23:13.

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[7] He has consecrated his guests: God has prepared those whom he has invited to share as soldiers in the booty, or as beast and bird scavengers of carrion, on the day of slaughter. Cf Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 39:17.

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[9] Leap over the threshold: the reference is to a superstitious custom of the pagans, witnessed to at least in regard to the worship of Dagon (1 Sam 5:5).

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[10-11] The New Quarter . . . the Mortar: sections of Jerusalem (cf 2 Kings 22:14).

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[12] The men who thicken on their lees: those who are overconfident because, like bottles of wine in which the sediment has settled to the bottom, they have remained at peace and undisturbed for a long time.

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[1] Nation without shame: Judah.

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[4] Gaza . . . Ashkelon . . . Ashdod . . . Ekron: four of the five cities of the Philistine confederation. The fifth city, Gath, is not mentioned, perhaps because it was already destroyed.

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[5] Cretan folk: the Philistines, who came from Crete; see note on Deut 2:23.

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[12] Cushites: the Egyptians, at this time under a Cushite or Ethiopian dynasty.

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[15] The exultant city: Nineveh.

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